Where to begin...

A lot has happened since I last blogged about Vineman. When I say a lot, I mean, A LOT! I'll do a quick recap:

Raced Rev3 OOB - Steve did the 70.3 and I did the half aquabike - I had an awesome ride, and Steve had an awesome race! The swim was kind of nuts, the current was CRAZY. That's really all I can remember at this time, ha!

Lobsterman Olympic - again, the current in this swim was crazy, therefore everyone's times were about 3-6 minutes slower. I had an ok day - I didn't run for 3 1/2 weeks leading into this race due to some piriformis issues I was having - I raced as hard as I could, and when it was over, I was pain free the whole run, so that was a big plus. We spent the night in Portland, parking our butts at Novare Res. I've blogged about Novare Res before -- I sure am going to miss it! (More to come on this, if you don't know already). This was our traditional trip to celebrate Steve's birthday. Normally we celebrate it in the off season, but it had been kind of a crazy year for us and we thought we deserved a fun night of big craft beer.

Rev3 South Carolina - this was the most adventurous 70.3 we've ever done. We drove from NH to Anderson, SC, it took us 16 hours. I was sick as a dog so Steve had to do most of the driving on the way down, thank you! It was almost 2100 total miles of driving. Phew! I'm tired just typing that. This was a very fun trip for us, we enjoyed all of it, even the 2:30 am drive post race!

Back to the race. Anderson, SC is in the heart of Clemson fanatics and the Bible Belt. So just imagine orange and white, bible reading, waffle eating, fast food loving people.

There was so many waffle houses and Popeye joints I was reminded how gross we are as a nation when it comes to the nutritional choices over 50% of Americans make. 

Since I was sick all weekend, race morning came and I was only able to put down half the applesauce I'm supposed to. This may not seem like a big deal, but given that I was very dehydrated from the days leading into the race where I'm usually sucking down NUUN and water, but wasn't able to for this race because my throat was so sore it set up the race for a pure suffer fest. The swim was my worst 70.3 swim to date, YAY! I was happy to be out of the insanely warm water and get on the bike. I was so hungry and thirsty, I immediately sucked down an entire bottle of Perform and had my half power bar, 20 minutes later and I had the second half which I always carry on the bike in a 70.3 for emergency use - this was one of those times. Steve took off in the first swim wave, I took off in the last swim wave, in a race that had under 380 participants -- needless to say, it was a very quiet, lonely ride. I was surprised how poor the road conditions were for being down south. They were just as bad as in NH where we have pretty nasty winters with snow, salt and plow trucks that destroy the roads every winter. When I finally got to T2, I thought about stopping. I was depleted of everything. It was low 80's but very high humidity. I racked my bike, put on some icy hot on my piriformis as a precaution. Sneakers on. Off I went running. I didn't realize it was a two loop course and about 400 meters ahead was Steve! I tried like heck to catch up to him, but he was running very strong. It was nice to see him on the course, even if was his backside! The entire run was awful, I had to stop at every potty stop, and I felt lightheaded, dizzy and nauseous all at the same time. Steve finished the race, and I was heading out onto the run, he yelled how do you feel -- apparently I gave him a not so nice look. After one more loop, which went by faster since I could remember different sights and aide stations. After more potty stops, wanting to crawl over in the fetal position I made it to the finish. Was so happy to be done. Ended with a small PR, but it should have been much better given what I put into the race and my fitness leading into it. Steve had an awesome race - great swim, solid bike and awesome run!

Immediately following the race, we changed and jumped in the car to make the 10 hour drive to Bethlehem, PA! We arrived at 3 am, woke up at 7, showered and got to Steve's (eventual) new boss's office by 8:30. After a couple hours there, the head HR guy, Jon - drove us all around LeHigh Valley to show us the area. By 3 pm we decided we were moving to the area as Steve accepted the new position! We stopped to grab dinner and toast to the new opportunity and we headed out back to NH. After another long drive, we arrived home, in our driveway at 1 am. Ahhh - bed!!

Wait, job? Bethlehem, PA? Moving out of state? Huh? Yes, that's right folks, most of you already know this by now, we are living in Bethlehem, PA as Steve is the new VP of Enrollment Management at Moravian College down here. After doing some job searching, applying, interviewing, I also got a job as Associate Director in FA!

In between South Carolina and IMAZ was the packing and moving. We decided on a start date with the college for Steve and we had 2 1/2 weeks to pack up our lives and move. This was right smack in the beginning, middle and end of overload. Needless to say, I only hit about 10% of training during that time, looking back on it now, it was actually a total of 3 swims, 2 rides and 2 runs. During weeks that were scheduled to have swim, bike, run everyday. After some emailing back and forth with Tim (who is awesome, by the way), I decided I would hit my workouts the two weeks leading into AZ and continue with the plan to race. With Steve starting a new job, and only two weeks left til race day, he decided to not race. This was a good idea. Sometimes, making the decision to NOT do something is tougher than making the decision to do it.

Steve and I met up in AZ at the airport, after not seeing him for 10 days. I was so happy to see him! I hit all my training those two weeks and I was actually feeling really good well rested. I maintained my diet and got to where I needed to be, despite eating out for about 10 days in a row while we were packing and moving (gross, I know, but this is real life when you work full time and have to up and move your whole life).

I raced, had a nice PR in 140.6, I biked very well for me and couldn't have been happier with the results. I got what I put into it.

Enough with the writing, here are some pictures from post Vineman to now:

Road trip to SC!

We stopped here for breakfast

Love Rev3 transitions

Total miles for road trip.

Steve and Sam. Best buds.

Soaking up some rays.

Mmmm, salt water.

Getting some work done.

Congratulating my mom on her first marathon finish!

Packed up again, this time for the move!

Peeps are made in Bethlehem, PA.

Doing work on the trainer, I was saying hi to Steve over 300 miles away.

Transition at IMAZ.

There she is, no one to the left, but the next morning, somehow about 7 more bikes fit on here.

First post race off season meal.

Swim start. Photo cred: Mary Eggers

Best Mex ever.

I changed out of the tri kit, because I knew it got dark and and chilly at like 3 pm in AZ. Decided being in dryer clothes for 26.2 miles would be helpful. It was.

We shot guns for the first time - Steve was really good. Clearly, as shown above, I'm not.