See Fox Fly

And I don't mean during training. I'm in a car on my way to the Kansas
City Airport to catch a flight to Denver! I just left the client
office and am trying to make it to my sisters hospital because she is
in labor! Skipping practices this weekend but will get back to
training soon enough! Have a baby to kiss!!!

More updates soon! ...and on twitter and facebook!
See ya!
Cfox

--
Sent from my mobile device

I'm racing to save lives! Please help me reach my goal of $4,500 by
making a tax deductible donation at:
http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/txtri09/cfox

See Fox Oversleep

I had every intention of going to the gym, biking, running, and maybe even doing a bit of core work.  Instead I overslept!  Booo!  I'll have to do it once I arrive at the hotel tonight at 9!  BOOOOOO!

See Fox miss Bambooooooo

Beau Broermann celebrated his 3rd birthday (which is my 1/2 birthday...eek) and apparently had a good day! 

I got to talk to him for a couple of minutes on the phone...something about dinosaurs in his ear and cupcakes.  Pretty cute and I miss him a lot.  Hope to see him soon along with the rest of the fam!  The pic below is a daily email his preschool sends out to the parents.  Clearly beau likes to be a camera hog on his bday!!!  I like his style!

bed time!

cfox

See Fox Doubt

So I was alone in the pool today and really did a lot of thinking.  Unfortunately I didn't focus enough on my stroke and instead was thinking about my overall training.  When you are in the water it is so different than running.  While running I have so many distractions...you pass parks, houses, trees, war memorials...you know the usual distractions. When you are in the water however, its just you and the black line.  So tonight I started to worry.  "I haven't been doing enough 2-a-day practices" and "I haven't been doing enough long runs (as evident by my last 10k time)" and "I should be so much stronger than this" and "Swimming in a pool is one thing, but open water swimming is going to kick my ass!"  It started to freak me out.

Don't get me wrong.  I know I will finish.  I will start this race in the water and swim strong.  I will be able to bike the 25 miles.  I will transition to my run...and that is where the fear starts to turn into panic.  I wanted to really compete in this race.  I wanted to run strong to the finish line and feel like I had trained as hard as I could and raced as fast as I could.  Unfortunately between work travel and fundraising events and just getting to know new teammatesI know I have skipped more practices than was abolutely necessary.  I know I could be faster and I wish I had 4 more months to train...(well maybe not...those 4:30 AM wake up calls are tough).  

I was once worried about the fundraising but I'm now confident that I will get there.  Now it comes down to me...my willpower in training and overcoming the mental part of this game!  It's going to be hard...but I've got about 28 days to go!  Maybe I should start sleeping in my runners.

OH!  Funny side note as I was walking to the pool today i passed a house and heard a little girls voice "HI." I look around and notice her inside the house with the window open staring out the screen.  "HI!" I almost laugh.  "I'm in a window!" she exclaims...which made my night.  She looked like me at the age of 4 or 5 but with brown hair.  I'm laughing out loud now as I round the house and say "I can see that" and she says "Do you want to come over tomorrow?" and (while thinking "it's a good thing there are bars on those windows cuz who knows how many people she invites over") I said "I don't think I can" and she just said "Oh, sorry." and by then was out of my line of vision.  Throughout my hour swim every time I got too sad about Marianne or too worried about the race I thought of her saying "I'm in a window" and would laugh and choke on water and it would lighten things up.

Hope you are all working hard and having fun!  send more happy thoughts, power songs, and pennies!

cfox

See Fox Sad

I found out today that a friend of my family passed away from stomach cancer yesterday.  She was diagnosed several months ago and apparently the cancer had spread.  She was a wonderful woman and am very upset about the news.  She was intelligent, and giving, and considerate, and an athlete.  She founded a 5k for her alma mater for scholarship fundraising, had recently ran a half marathon, and I have always known her to be very active.

Tonight I ran to the gym (it is a hot night out there) and did weights and stuff.  It was a good night and workout but there were a couple of times that I was really sad thinking about Marianne...I kept going back to one of the main mantra's I've been repeating to myself all summer "I'm lucky to be here and healthy enough to work out."  So chanel her energy and drive to keep moving.  

Cancer Sucks...all forms...and I find comfort in the fact that research on blood cancers can be applied to other forms of cancer.  The fundraising and training is hard...but when I think of all the ways cancer his impacted my friends and family what I'm doing hardly seems like enough...

There will be more. In the meantime keep fighthing in honor of everyone who has lost their battle, in celebration of everyone who has won, and in support of everyone currently fighting!

much love,

cfox

See Fox impressed!

Lance Armstrong recommended that I watch this...must say I'm impressed...I'm close but still can't quite do this on my road bike!

See Fox with a little spring in her step!

The weather makes a huge difference!  I mean the fact that I dont have to put 2 layers of fleece on to walk to the pool at 6 in the morning is enough to make my day.  This morning the walk was cool and peaceful!  I loved it. 

  

Practice wasnt my strongest.  I wanted to stop the entire time, but I somehow managed to talk my self into staying strong.  I actually finished the practice which is a good thing.  After being out of town all last week and missing practice I think my arms got lazy.  I wasnt supposed to swim today at all.  Instead I have a 60 minute run on the agenda...but I plan to do that later.  For now, I'm just happy that I got one last swim in with Kait before she leaves (tomorrow) for her race.  She is trying to qualify for the San Fran Tri which I totally believe she can do!

ok...back to work.  

send your pennies, powersongs, and good luck wishes!

cfox

See Fox sacrafice sleep...in the name of the blog???

OMG...its almost midnight and I'm still updating!  Have to give Jeff Bell credit for the 2 latest editions to the playlist.  ACDC and Bon Jovi were both his call and great additions!  Add them to your workout list and think of us!

And Emily...give girl talk another chance!  They are soooo fun on a run!  

See Fox surrender her soapbox for a moment....

INTRODUCING SARA GIMMY!!! (aka TC Gimmy, TC Gim Gam, and work out buddy)

I asked my friend and teammate Sara (pictured above teaching us to change a tire) to write a guest blog for me and here is what she has to contribute!

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I like peanut butter. I mean, I really like peanut butter. I'm a little partial to Skippy, but I do enjoy Jif or even store brand. Sometimes I'll opt for Smucker's for the natural variety.

 

You know, I always enjoyed my Skippy smooth PB: its texture, its artificially sweet flavor, its nutty scent, and its ability to make anything taste like heaven. But for years, I consumed those protein packed calories aware of said protein, a touch of sodium, and a fistful of fat. And for the longest time, I never really thought about it. 

 

And then came triathlon. 

In case you didn't know this, triathlon is essentially code for: We put peanut butter on everything. We encourage you to eat peanut butter at all meals. In any form, at any time of day. It has to do with the protein and caloric content. We like both of these things in endurance events. But that's the last that I mention anything about the nutrition facts. They don't matter beyond this point. Instead, I will share with you wonderful thoughts about peanut butter.

This one time, I was running with my friend, Kait. And naturally the conversation turns to peanut butter and she says, "You know, the average lifespan of a jar of peanut butter in my house is about two weeks."

I said, "Is that a long time or a short time?"

She says, "It's so fast!"

I said, "Oh." A jar of peanut butter lasts about one week in my fridge. And I don't share it with my roommates.

So where does it all go? Let me tell you...

I used to be a fan of the smooth variety, as I mentioned. But last summer, I stayed at Suzanne's house before the New Jersey State Triathlon and she told me not to bring any peanut butter (pre-race food of choice, normally on a rice cake) because she had some in stock. About 4am on a Sunday morning, I met Skippy Super Chunk. It was a life changing experience. I never liked chunky peanut butter, to be honest. But something about the super chunk made my tummy happy (maybe it's relentless chunk? I just don't know). I use Super Chunk a lot like I would with the Smooth PB: on a rice cake, on a spoon, in a recipe for peanut butter balls, on an apple, celery, or a banana. Sometimes with jelly, it can be a little much. But if sugar is your thing, then don't let me stop you.

Sometimes, I try to be health conscious and eat the natural peanut butter. You know, the kind that has the oil on the top, and you get shoulder cramps trying to stir it without pouring the oil over the sides the first time you open it. Now, I find the natural peanut butter is great on bananas, particularly bananas that have ripened further than most. On a rice cake, it can be a little dry but adding jelly makes all the difference. I think once I put it in a smoothie with a banana, soy milk and a tablespoon (or two) of chocolate syrup. Yep. I really like peanut butter.

For the record:  I adore Sara Gimmy and want to be like her when I grow up and I'm insanely jealous that I wasn't on this particular run with the girls!  

To follow Sara's blog check her out at: http://runsararun.tumblr.com/

See Fox Sweat

I had a crazy work day today and by the time I got home from Baltimore I decided I just needed to rest...so I did.  And before I knew it 8:30 had snuck up on me and I hadn't worked out all day. I was talking myself into the idea that one night off wouldn't hurt me...when all of the sudden my brain was overturned with the following thoughts in immediate succession...1) taking the night off will not help you finish the race strong. 2) cancer sucks and you are lucky that you are healthy enough to work out today! 3)  If you hadn't taken so many running days off you would have had a better time at the Remember the 10.

Damn It.

I have to do it.  So I jumped up, ate a banana, got ready and was headed out the door by 9:50. I ended up clocking a faster pace than usual and felt good on my run to the gym.  I told myself I would run back but didn't believe it.  Today's schedule called for core training and 50 minutes on the bike.  I didn't do any strength work but did abs for a minute before jumping on the bike.  I did an hour and kept my RPM at about 100 the whole time so it was tough but felt good....AND I ended up running the whole way home.  So today was a 3 mile run and a 18 mile bike.  I had the resistance pretty high so I feel good about my performance today.  I do need to be at the pool in about 6 hours...so that will kinda suck but Kait will be there with me so it will be pretty fun...and besides: I want to finish the race strong, cancer sucks, and I'm lucky to be healthy enough to work out, right?  

Lots of love to my cheering section!  (especially Em for keeping me entertained on facebook all night) Adding new songs to the mix tonight!