the big secret.

so yes i have been absent for a few days, i know. but i just couldnt be here posting about other things when i couldnt yet tell you the thing i really wanted to. it was just too hard. plus i wasnt really ready to say all these things out loud yet because as soon as you do they become real. and you have to stick to the things you say, for real. 

after great support from a loving boyfriend (whos having just as hard of a time keeping it a secret as i am), supportive family, and friends cheering me on...i am now ready to tell the world. i have finally decided on my next race, and its a big one. i am going to do a... TRIATHLON!!!! omg, i know. 

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i realized a long time ago that i dont have a full marathon in me. i have mad, mad respect for those that do seriously. but its not in me. i love coming home from a 10/11/12 mile long run and know that the finish line is not far from that. i cant even wrap my head around coming home from those long runs and know that i am not even halfway. so i was in my spin class on january the 4th and thought hmmm...maybe i could do this.  i came home and put it out of my head for a few days knowing that tinkerbell was coming and thats what i needed to focus on. then i started to do a little research which quickly took over and completely freaked me out. there was so much, and things to buy, and theories to subscribe too, and nutrition. i couldnt handle it all. so i put it out of mind, i had to and continued soaking up my tinkerbell training. 

after 2 weeks i was ready to tell richard. he was the only one (sorry mom) i was ready to even think about it with. and i hadnt even said a word to anyone about it. i told him the night we went to see phantom over dinner and got no reaction. like literally none. he just looked at me and said i knew it was only a matter of time. i cant lie, i was a little disappointed. then he started making comments here and there about how cool this was going to be. and that he would be dating a triathlete, or what a cool medal to put on the wall, and i cant wait to see your moms reaction when you tell her. so i knew he was in. i even decided on my distance, the olympic. thats a 1500m (.93 mile) swim, 24.8 mile bike, and a 10k run. holy crap.

he has been there supporting me
since my very 1st race!!

once i finished tinkerbell i texted a family friend that was a competitive swimmer and just completed her 1st 1/2 ironman last year so i could ask questions. i met her for lunch and got the perfect reaction, excitement! being a swimmer herself, she was great to talk to since i am terrified about the swim. she was sooo helpful and knowledgeable about the technical stuff and the girly stuff like what to wear. i had let it slip to my runner group friend and he had given me a few pointers that satisfied me till i was really ready to start having conversations about it. i had decided before pushing it all aside that i would do a local one at lake mead on april 21st called rage. it had the 3 distances, which i had just learned about, and i didnt have to travel. with all the other costs going into this i wasnt ready to add more. 

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after talking with her it was time to tell my parents. i was thinking my dad would be totally ok with it, but my mom, probably not so much. she worries that im not taking enough rest and that im beating on my body. she wanted me to take at least 6 months off after tinkerbell from training/running anymore than a 10k, i talked her down to 4. i was nervous/anxious/excited all day i damn near blurted it out. my dad was soooo stoked. the whole meal he just kept grinning and saying a triathlon! it was seriously cute. my mom was instantly worried instead. she instantly whipped out her phone and started counting weeks. luckily i had real things to tell her from other athletes and the things i had read. she wasnt totally on board but did offer to ask around at her school about a bike, so i knew she was supportive. 

they are always there by my side!

since then its kind of taken on a life of its own. i started telling a few friends and the guys at my runner group. my running partner derrick was so excited he signed up for the same race and distance. i got advice from another friend and scored in her volunteering her road bike to complete the race in. my mom also came through and found 2 people the first day that were willing to let me borrow theirs if i needed it. richard has been concocting his 1st facebook status as soon as this goes up for days :) its seriously so cool to have him be so supportive in something completely opposite!

i have been doing some concocting of my own, as in a training plan. dang was this hard. i mean to fit it all in, and school, and work, and sleep, and a little bit of a life. wow. i dont know how people do this with kids. dang. after much research and blending plans together i have decided to swimming 3 days a week because that is my biggest weakness, biking 2 days, and running 2 days. i had to give up a rest day to make it all work so i made it count and put it on sundays so i can sleep in too. i kept in body pump so i can strengthen my upper body to help with the swimming and keep my lower body strong too. i have also added 2 double days. i have avoided these like the plague for years, i wont lie. but to get all this in and my body ready for things to come i had to. here it is though, always a moving target and subject to change. but the 1st week has been successful. check back tomorrow for the recap on that!

now dont worry, i will always be a runner. it is my first grown up sport love. this is just the next challenge and something i cant wait to try. i wont be the skinniest one out there or anywhere near the front. but i wont finish last. i will always return to running. it will always be my therapy and make my heart the happiest. 

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the background.

two weeks ago i made one of the largest decisions of my life, i moved in with my boyfriend.  now while this may seem like a semi-big deal to most, to me it was rather large.  let me explain a little better.

i am a pretty independent girl, college graduate, with a great job, out to have a good time, and a level head on my shoulders.  i was never the drop dead gorgeous girl that guys would buy drinks for or stop in their tracks to talk too.  i am however the nice, pretty girl with beautiful friends.  i often was stuck with the friends of those guys i just described, who did those things for my friends.  all those things changed the night i met my, now, amazing boyfriend richard.  we met in a bar through mutual friends where we had great conversations and he even let me teach him how to line dance, well sort of.  he asked for my phone number and said he wanted to take me out on a date next saturday.  while yes he waited the dreaded three days, i still agreed.  the short version of the story is, i got sick (literally) had to call the date off, and then cancelled any future plans he tried to make.  leading me to tell this great guy i was not interested, even though i really knew nothing about him.  he however, did not except my excuses and became the first, and only guy to ever fight for me.  fifteen months later we are still together and stronger than we ever have been :).

we decided in the beginning of the summer that we were ready to take that next step in our relationship and move in together.  this was a pretty huge step for us both.  this was the longest, and by far the healthiest relationship either one of us had ever been in.  we both brought our own set of obstacles to the table, that we were actually willing to help each other overcome.  now i am the typical "girl" in our relationship and over think just about everything:)  i may not always tell him this, but i still think he knows lol.  one of my largest was my family.

i grew up in a fairly conservative, mom dad still married, i am the oldest sister household.  i have one younger brother and we had no pets.  we are a very tight knit family, the four of us are the only ones we had in las vegas where we were living.  while my family is pretty supportive in the things i do-tattoos and piercings, not so much hehe-i knew the moving in idea was not going to go over well. 

i kept things very quiet until things actually happened.  for awhile it was great to keep the secret just between us and have this thing we had done together and were so proud of.  then reality set in and i knew that i had to tell my parents.  now, i do have to say that being completely upfront honest with them was the best policy, as cliche as that sounds.  i got to the point where i set reasonable expectations for what i actually wanted from them.  i knew they would not jump up and down for joy, i just wanted them to eventually be ok with this idea.  i decided, much to richards relief, that this was best done on my own.  when i told  mom, she actually said she already knew, it was just a matter of time.  then inevitable questions started, thank goodness i had so much time to think, i actually had the answers.  dad did not react quite as well as mom.  he did react thou, exactly like i expected him too.  "on the one hand, i am very excited for you, because you sound extremely happy and ready to make this move.  on the other hand, i am still your dad.  and as progressive as i am trying to be...you are still my daughter, living with a boy, before you are married."  the rest of my very large extended family as been pretty supportive as well.  i mean hell, my aunt sent us a housewarming box full of kitchen towels:)

so with this beginning, i bring my journey of a 25 year-old girl in 2010 just starting out her newest adventure of living with her boyfriend:)