What is Multiple Myeloma?

The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, (MMRF), just posted this tweet on twitter....what is Multiple Myeloma. Here is their link that describes the disease: http://www.themmrf.org/living-with-multiple-myeloma/newly-diagnosed-patients/what-is-multiple-myeloma/

Thank you again to those who have donated, I am now up to $1851. My Aunt Linda made a generous contribution last week. Thanks Linda! I got the email from the MMRF race coordinator, Jane, that it was time to register last Thursday. So it is official....I am registered for the NYC Marathon on Nov 6th. They have the charity racers register after all of the racers that won slots are completed.

Last Sunday my long run was 8 miles. The nice things about having my 70.3 August 14th is the run build is perfect for the NYC Marathon. Most Marathon training plans are 18 weeks long, and around week 6 you are doing a 13 mile long run. That will be August 14th for me....perfect! I started my base building the end of January for my triathlon season. Come November I will will be close to a year of training. I should be ready! The worst part is training in the summer heat. So early wake up calls are the norm now until late fall...yippee.

I taught a yoga class at the local Lululemon store last Sunday. It was a blast. The yoga studio I teach at was the featured studio for the month of June. I led the students, (mostly beginners), though a modified Bikram class for one hour. My Lulu wardrobe is pretty advanced, so in exchange for teaching the class I got to add one more piece to my collection :-)

Long hot days, lots of time in the pool and naps.....ahhh summer time.

Have a great rest of your week.

ACA

20 weeks and $750 to go!

Thanks to my generous friends and family, I only have $750 to go to reach my Nov 6th, $2500 goal for the MMRF! My step father Barry, the LaPan's and my friend Wendy all donated this past week! My donation only yoga class got pushed back to August or Sept (not sure yet) instead of July, but that should be a great class and a sure way to put some $ in the MMRF bank! I will give more details when that is firmed up.

My mothers passed away 12 years ago on the 17th of June. She was only 52. This year alone the MMRF has opened 30 clinical trials, (there were two when my mother was alive), they have helped to advance eight new drugs into phase 3 trials, (the last stage of clinical testing), and they have founded two new companies focused on developing new treatments. That is a success story in itself. The MMRF is making progress and great strides each year to find a cure!

On a lighter note, Mike and I went to Vegas this past weekend for some fun and a spa conference I attended. Saturday night we saw "O". Wow....a yoga teacher/swimmers dream show! It was amazing. And I thought I trained hard for my sports....not so much!

But before we left town I did complete a 56 mile bike ride in AZ summer weather. It's going to be a long summer as it is already supposed to get up to 108 today. My 70.3 isn't until August 14th. I am envious of my friends doing earlier races this year.

Be well

ACA

Home is Where the Heart Is

I love recovery weeks. My coach puts in one recovery week a month. Perfect time to head to Tennessee to see my Dad and Kathy.

I have been here since Weds morning....it is already Sunday...time flys too fast. I had some great talks, walks, meals with my parents. For years now, whenever I am home, my BF Brandi (pictured here) comes up from Atlanta and spends the weekend with us. She came up Saturday morning with her funny dog, Vinnie and we had a great time eating, talking, and drinking Vino. We are both headed back to our respective homes today.

It is hard to leave.

My Mom made a needlepoint years ago and framed it for me- it says "Home is Where the Heart Is". Since Mom passed away in 1999, I have lived in Boca Raton, Miami, Jacksonville Beach, and Scottsdale. I have spent so much time in Tennessee with Dad and Kathy over the past 15+ years that I feel at home there. So many memories and good times we have had in Tennessee, (aka Camp Anderson). Over the past three years I have been creating a home in Scottsdale. The last 18 months I have really considered Scottsdale home. I found Mike, made great friends, bought a home and have a real sense of community there. This is the first location that I have felt this way in my adult life. TN is home because Dad and Kathy are there, Boca Raton was home when my Mom was alive , but Scottsdale is MY home. I do however wish my TN and Scottsdale homes were closer in distance. But I come back to, "Home is Where the Heart Is" when I get sad (like now) and that gives me peace.

To close I want to honor the 18 Soldiers and Marines killed in Iraq and Afghanistan this week. Sending prayers to their family's and communities.

View Photos from Deuces Wild Triathlon Festival - Saturday

View Photos from Deuces Wild Triathlon Festival - Saturday

Deuces Wild Triathlon

I skipped a week....whoops ;-)

It's been busy. Every day seems to fly right on by.

This past weekend was my Olympic distance Triathlon prior to my 70.3 in August. It was quick after the Tempe International Triathlon (3 weeks). All in all, I felt ready for this race. My weak link right now is the run, but I was able to work myself up to the 6.2 miles last Sunday. My coach has been slowly building my runs weekly as I took so much time off from feet issues last year. It's crazy to think I have only been back running for 16 weeks.

Deuces Wild Triathlon Festival...http://trisportsracing.com/
A bunch of my friends attempted to do this races last year, (a nasty stomach flu took most of them down), so I had a good idea of what it was going to be like. It is a race in elevation (6300 ft), a lake swim, (COLD), a fast rolling bike course with a few good climbs, and a sun exposed moderately hilly run through the park.

I drove up to Show Low Friday morning, (a beautiful three hour drive) quickly unloaded all my gear at the house, and then headed over to the race site for packet pick up and to scope out the scene. When I say it was windy, I mean it was windy....30 mph sustained winds. It wasn't supposed to be much better on race day either. There was a horrible fire about 50 miles SE of Show Low and because the winds you couldn't smell the smoke. But you could see the dense smoke clouds in the distance. After packet pick up my roommates Jamie and Byran and I had a carb loaded dinner and went to bed early.

5:00 am wake up call, (not that bad actually) and off to the race to get transition set up by 6:30. I put on my wetsuit and was in the water for a 8:08 start. My coach said that it would be harder to breathe in this water bc in higher elevation there is less O2. So I was supposed to start slow and build. Well I started slow and within two minutes I was gasping for air. Now I can swim upwards of 60 min at this point continuously....but after two minutes I couldn't breath!?!?! So I did a mix of backstroke and free style until the torture was over 1500 meters later. Plus that water was freaking cold....58 degrees! Because I put my wetsuit over the timing chip I didn't get a number for my swim split, but with transition it was 40:17. Not my best as I was hoping for 35 min with transition.

Next up the bike....
It felt great to get out of that damn water and move on to something I was comfortable with. At this point (9 am) the wind was really blowing. I heard that during the bike portion of my race there was some 40 mph wind gusts. I biked my heart and lungs out...literally. I passed several girls in my age group that passed me in the swim, and many men who started 4 min before the women's swim start. I ended up with a 1:23:28 time averaging 18 mph. With that crazy wind I was ecstatic to place 5th out of 18 in my age group on the bike.

Lastly the run.....
So I started off with severe cramps in my diaphragm and stomach from pushing so hard on the bike and not drinking enough. With those wind gusts drinking and holding on to my bike was not fun. I had to walk/run most of the first two miles. It sucked! I just wanted to be able to run the whole damn thing. Once I got over the cramps I was able to hold on to a slow but steady pace. I really had a hard time breathing throughout the run course. There was a nice big hill that they had you finish on and that was a partial walker for me too. But when I walked I was seriously power walking ;-) Still....not cool. I had a 1:09:43 run time with transition included.

I have a whole new appreciation for altitude racing. But, I did it and really enjoyed the race, my friends, and meeting new people. I was so impressed with the Tri Sports company out of Tucson who put this race weekend on. There were four races on Saturday and Sunday they coordinated- a 70.3, an Olympic, an Xterra and a Kids Duatholon. All went off without a hitch.

My total time was 3:13:29 12th out of 18 in age group. I wanted to finish in 3:00, but did not happen in Show Low for me this year. I am proud I finished and was able to keep my shit together in the moments I wanted to quit. Mental training at it's finest.

Onward....