Trying to get back at it.....

Ok so I have been trying to get back at it after being SO sick. I did hit two Phat Chicks bootcamps last week...one night I had both kids in tow as well. I also hooked up with a friend that I've been trying to find some time to ride with for awhile now. We went out on Sun morning and boy the weather was just perfect!!!! We rode across Burlington into Hamilton along the lake...breath taking! a total of about 36k. It was great just what I needed...until I wiped out! ;Z. It was the worst one this summer cause I was on an open trail and had lots of room to fall and tumble all over the place...ouch! right over the handle bars and a drop roll to the right shoulder. As I laid there calling out my friends name so he would look back and realize I wasn't behind him anymore I was doing a 'is anything broken' check and thinking, "Oh crap did I just screw my family over?!"....So I'm happy to report nothing but my ego is broken :)...and I am showing off all the war wounds as they surface!!

And now....now I have a cold...sigh...really! But it's forced me to slow down, the last two nights the kids were in bed at 7pm I was in my PJ's at 7:05pm and sat on the couch with my husband just watching TV and resting until 10pm!!!! WOW it felt strange to just sit and watch TV cause still most of the time I am working out in front of the TV, AND to be in a room with my husband for that long was nice cause our summer has been SO busy with me training and him working 3 jobs!....I was like, " Hi I'm Gail and I am your wife, I live in this house too" LOL!!

I find it hard laying around day after day. It reminds me of two things. First when I was younger I suffered from depression and that's all I did, then when I became over weight and unhealthy that's all I did too. So although I'm not either of those anymore it reminds me of those times and starts to feel like it again....and as I've always said all along I wasn't in this for the looks of things, but how I feel!

I was reminded the other day that although I might be doing the same thing (laying around/resting) it's for a different reason...I need to remember that....for a different reason.....


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You can't keep a good woman down....but now what?!

So want to know what happens after the big build up to the big race day?!! The following weekend you get very very sick! Yup that's what happened to me :(

After my Tri, which by the way I continue to feel very happy about. I took Mon and Tues as rest days. I didn't realize it but it's been a busy summer of training!! When I finally didn't HAVE to do anything I was able to see how much energy I had been putting out. However by Wed night I wanted to do something, so I went for a run. I LOVE these fall nights so nice and cool and refreshing, even if you don't run I highly suggest you get out for a walk it will do you wonders trust me :)

So the run was awesome! I picked a route and just ran it...no stopping....no turning back. I love that failure is just not on the list of options for me anymore. So I ran 8.6k which is my longest run on my own so far :). Then the next day woke up not feeling that great and by the next morning I was done....swollen throat pain into my ear, fever of 103.6. I had a BAD case of strep and had to be put on IV for two days to get fluids back in me....gesh!

What sucked about that was that I missed the big dinner that all the Mommy's in Motion had cause I was too sick. I was REALLY disappointed about that cause I wanted to hear how ever one's race went :(
I also had to pull out of a 10hr Adventure Race that I was in with a team of 5 other girls the next weekend.....god that KILLED me to have to do that! But I had to make the call. Even though the fever was gone and the throat was better I had no energy, just showering and getting dressed made me ready for a nap! I went from running over 8k to trying to go for a walk....sucked!!...............But someone said to me that is the sign of a true athlete, knowing when to go and knowing when to stop. I also had to think of my family and how much I am needed. Plus it scared the crap out of me being that sick.

But you can't keep a good woman down cause I still showed up for the Adventure Race to cheer lead the girls on and take pictures I wasn't going to miss that adventure!...It was awesome to see them come in first in their division!!!! and it was our first race! PHAT CHICKS F'N ROCK!!!!






So now what!?? I find myself very worried and really thinking a lot about what I will be doing with myself through the winter. Funding is VERY tight for us so I can't sign up for a bunch of stuff and I don't know how long I'll be able to run outside as this is my first winter as a runner. I often find myself worrying about all the weight coming back on and how embarrassed I would be if that happened and how unhappy I would feel about it too......I'm in limbo right now trying to figure out a new weekly exercise routine. If anyone has ideas or could share what they do in the winter to stay active that cost little to nothing that would be great :D




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Race Day!!

Ok so at the start of the summer when I first saw the post on Momstown message board about who wants to do a Triathlon I thought this would be a crazy awesome thing to do...it's going to be SO frigg'n hard but that was what I liked about it. I saw myself JUST being able to make it over the finish line....crawling in fact is what I envisioned...and having tears in my eyes of having finished.....


OK so fast forward to yesterday and it was NOTHING like that! I feel like I did great and I felt GREAT and strong doing it!!! WOOOO HOOOOOO!



Of course all through the summer we trained in the stinky nasty heat, then when race day came...cold, windy, cloudy with a bit of rain...GREAT! I realized that morning that I could train hard and get strong but there is still things that will be out of my control....like how windy and cold it was that morning. So I told myself that no matter how I got thru this race it was going to be good....and it was!


The swim was wicked...bit chilly but nothing major, in fact the group that started 3min before my group...I caught up to them in the water! So coming out of the water I was pumped!....during the transition to get on the bike I decided that I wasn't going to spaz out. I was just going to take my time and get going...which I did and must say that trying to tie up shoe laces with fingers that you can't feel cause they are so cold from the swim was interesting LOL!!! The bike was good, bit windy which slowed me down a bit, but I just kept pushing those peddles down......now getting off the bike....


So just a quick FYI for those of you that don't know but when you go from the bike to a run it's called a Brick....cause your legs feel like bricks!



WELL!!! After a cold swim and a windy,cool and hilly 10k bike I stepped of that bike and thought OMG!I've NEVER felt my legs be like that before (even during training)....but I knew I just had to keep moving. So I parked my bike and dropped my helmet and just started running....once warmed up it was all good plus I saw Suzie, my Phat Chick trainer who was doing the Duathalon that day during the run. "GO HARD!!!!" she yelled....so the last straight away to the finish I just gave'r! full out sprint WOOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!! and I had the Phat Chicks and the Mommy's in Motion team cheering me on....such a lucky girl I am 8-D




22nd place out of 130 people, came in 7th in my age group out of 53... finished in 52min, but my fav part of the day...I have two....my Daddy saying how impressed he was with how well I did and the family picture that I got with my boyz after the race (brings tears to my eyes as I type this) xoxoxoxox



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Eat, Sleep, Train & be a Mommy!

Ok so here I am again...the night before a race. I feel like I could puke! I must say I am a bit stress'n here. Been thinking about the race a lot and it's getting me stressed, which I don't like. I want to have fun! I want to chillax on myself and REALLY accept that I will do the best I can and YES that will be good enough. I'm just worried about letting myself down with something happening like what happened at the adventure at the start where I had issues on the bike and really slowed down my team. At least it's all just on me tomorrow!

It's been an interesting week leading up to this race. I have a Nike shirt that I LOVE wearing cause first it's purple (my fav colour) and it says, 'Eat, Sleep, Train' but because of the type of week I had, as I was putting the shirt on this week I added on the end to that saying, 'and be a Mommy'.

The week wasn't too much different then any other....besides my growing stress of the up coming race. But it sucks when the kido's get sick! So between meeting with the other Mommies and our Tri trainer Nancy Hasting from Second Wind Conditioning ( Who by the way is awesome!!! even if I did feel like giving her the finger during some of our Tues trainings!!! LOL!) showing other Phat Chicks the course and prepping my stuff for race day. I had to deal with, puke, high fevers, puffy eyes, a mysterious rash, all day crying and request to be 'uuuup', making breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks in between, extra laundry from the puke, major poopy diapers AND underwear (the kids not mine!).........sigh....I could go on and on and if you are a mommy I know you have this same list.....and more to add to....so really as I write this I think the Triathlon will be a nice vacation!! LOL!!

I mean really!! One day I found myself sitting there trying to eat my lunch after I have fed the kids and finally got a chance to sit down at the table. I bit into a sugar snap pea and think to myself, "Hmmmm this tastes, sweet and juicy with a hint of poo!"....oh right I forgot to wash my hands after the last diaper change.....NICE!.....REALLY!!! ( If your a parent your laughing right now and if your not you're totally grossed out I bet...but so is the glamorous life of a stay at home mom)

So my bags are packed, my lunch for tomorrow is packed, the boys lunches for tomorrow are packed and dinner is ready to go in the crock pot in the morning. My hubby and both kids, Mom and my Dad will all be heading up to be my cheering section. I'm really looking forward to the pictures that will come out of tomorrow. I LOVE having all these pictures of me doing all these different things :D



I just can't end this without mentioning Mer (my Phat Chick trainer that had a tragic accident) she had offered to help me train for this Tri when I first told her that I was thinking of doing it.....she never had the chance to do that. But she will be with me and the other Phat Chicks out there. I have her pink ribbon on my bike but I will also be sewing a ribbon on my sports bra cause I NEED her out there with me in the water and while I'm running too......this one's for you Mer lets rock it girl!!!! xoxoxoxox



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...and the journey goes on....common question

So I have had a few requests to continue on with this blog...I'm very touched and don't really know how to take that in :)....but what I have LOVED most about this whole thing are the stories and journey's that you all have let me be apart of and I thank you for that.




So what's going on now? What's your next challenge? are common questions that people are asking me. Well all through the summer every Tues night I have been training with a group of other moms from Momstown to do a Triathlon on Sept 5/10.....gulp! Our team name is 'Mommy's in Motion' LOL!!! Isn't that awesome!! I'm becoming a shirt slut...first I got my Phat Chicks shirt, then my RacedayRush one and now this one! SO COOL! It's neat to see not only has my wardrobe changed in the size of the clothes but also the type. I think I have more workout clothes then I do 'normal' clothes....AND OH!!! OH! OH!....I spent some time in Lulumon the other day!!!...Lulu and I are now BFF's!!! Which is awesome cause when I went in there a few years back and grabbed the largest sizes that they had, went into the change room and once I had the clothes on looked at myself in the mirror and said out loud to myself, "WHOLEY CAMEL TOE!!!!!" I took the clothes off and got out of there SO fast and hadn't returned until last week LOL!!


Another common question I get asked is, "How do you fit it all in?" My answer to that is you CAN if you WANT to and us mommies/woman can be very creative. I've had to fill up a bag of toys for the kids and bring them to the field behind my house dump them and the bag of toys in the middle of the field in order to get a workout in. I've also bathed the kids and given in to letting Owen have his soother (even thought he's not in bed) and Nicholas to take his blankie outside (which we NEVER do cause blankie is scared of outside AKA I don't want to have him get lost OR dirty) and put the boys in the jogging stroller with their PJ's on and went for a jog to the lake and back even thought it was past their bed time, just so I could get a jog in.....and want to know a tip. It works better past their bed time cause they are too tired to fight while in the stroller LOL!!
I also take them out to Phat Chicks Boot camp with me with the bag of toys in tow and sometime have to get them involved in order to help them stay happy for the hour. Like today I did inch worms with the 3 1/2yr (35lb) on my back, then he sat on my tummy while I did crab crawls back. At one point I had to hold Owen 20mth old (25lb) while doing squats....and you know what I was thinking each time?!...."This is going to give me a better work out!!" LOL!!....However involving my kids has really turned out to be such a great thing. Nicholas is always wanting to show me his pipes and how strong he is, he even said to me tonight that he thought my pipes and his pipes are the same size!! LOL!!.....GOD I could just pour ketchup on him and eat him for dinner I tell ya!! :P


So any Mama out there who tells me that kids and family get in the way of them taking care of themselves...well sorry ladies I'm here to burst your bubble...someone has to do it and I'm OK if you get pissed at me for doing it...but that's BULLSHIT!! I speak from experience!....think about something you REALLY like to do or have in your life. You find ways to do it or have it, even if it's not a healthy thing. I KNOW you find little tricks or ways to make it happen...so you have the power in you! Now you just need to use those powers for good :D



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Can't forget the video!!!

Click here for the awesome video of the race :)

So how did it go!!??!!!

It was THE craziest CRAZY ever in my life!!! Hills straight up, mud to your knees a sports induced asthma attack and that was just during the first 50min while doing the 15k bike ride! So over all IT WAS AWESOME!!! :D




I will report that I got to do the underwater points that I ROCKED in like 2min...really it was a little too easy but fun non the less and it was cool cause my husband and Dad and his girlfriend had come up for the weekend and they were on land cheering me on at that point, taking pictures and filming....very cool!


We did get stuck at one check point...I think it was CP41. We couldn't find it and got so lost trying that I couldn't even tell you on the map as to where we were. We spent 30min looking for it until Amy and I said we're done here lets move on...we had to drag Shane back to the boat kick and screaming pretty much, all the while me saying, "BROWN let it go!! It's going to be OK!"....boys GESH!


The weather report for the day was thunder storms but the weather ended up being perfect racing weather. No thunder storms, not even rain just overcast which was good cause if it was sunny we would have cooked out there.

God I had SO much fun! It's all I have been thinking about this week as I change diapers, bath kids, do the laundry, do the dishes and make dinner :D The one time that sticks out in my mind was the end 1000000 mile run we did....ok it was more like 4k but it felt like 1000000 miles! It was at the end and we ended up running around the marsh to pick up 2 more check points. I knew we were running late so we just had to book it back. We just kept running and running and running and running some more. A little voice would pop up in my head and say, "God I want to stop!, I can't wait until we are done, Just stop and walk for a min!" But I had to tell it to F off cause running, even if it was slow, was better then walking or stopping all together because that was minutes ticking away!.......we were 9min late and lost 90pts oops! But we made it to the end....THANK GOD!!!!



Next bring on the grub :P We had a great time at dinner and laughing and talking about the day the two other teams won 2nd and 3rd in the all woman's heat!! SO impressed with those chicks! xoxox




So all week everyone has been asking how it went. I was even asked if I was thinking about doing it again next year. My reply, "I was planning on doing it next year at dinner that night!".......




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