I'm in the hurt locker...

And I don't know the combination to get out.

Those were my words coming in to my last transition off the bike for the run during my first triathlon. Yesterday, I raced the Lake Padden competitive division triathlon, which is basically an Olympic distance, with Megan from work and her friend Paige. I was SO glad I had people I knew at the start with me!

All three of us before the start. Nice caps, huh? 

Driving up, I started to feel the wave of anxiousness that surrounds me when I am not adequately prepared. I wanted to train more, but I am lazy. Way lazy. And as an athlete, that absolutely drives me crazy. But more about that later. Joelybean was good enough to wake up at 4:30 am and drive me up to Bellingham (even though he didn't let me sleep and sang and danced). I got all checked in and Joel helped me set up my transition area from the sideline. So easy to get psyched out when there are fit people walking around with expensive gear totaling more than I make in a year. Thankfully Joel and Megan helped me keep calm. The water was definitely not lounging water temperature, but wasn't super cold. I didn't fit in to the first wave start, so I was in to the second wave start. The swim was... terrible. I knew that it would feel awful. I swam once twice in the last two months or so, and one swim was two days before the race. I decided to swim without a wetsuit, mainly because I didn't have access to one, but also because the water wasn't too cold and I wouldn't have to try to take it off! I got into the front group after the first 50 meters or so, and tried to just cruise comfortably around the buoy and back.   I thought I could get away with it, but Joel saw me swim backstroke about half the way back. My goggles were on so tight that I couldn't see anything, so I stopped trying to site anything on shore and just followed other people. When I got to the shore (FINALLY - such a long terrible swim!) I was super confused about where to go. All I saw was a bunch of ribbons and people, but the way it was lined out I couldn't figure out where to go until I saw someone else do it. Finally, after begging my legs to move, I started running into transition to get my bike stuff on. I lovingly remember Joel commenting on my backstroke swimming as I slowly dried off, ate some honey stinger blocks, put on my shoes and basically took my sweet time. I had Reynauds so bad that I felt like I was just fumbling; turns out I didn't even get my bike shoes on all the way. And off on the bike leg I went. 

About as graceful as a whale getting out of the water.

Photo courtesy of Joelybean. 

I was SUPER easy to spot in my Nuun kit. 

Taking my time and doing my hair... or something. 

Once on the bike I was trying to cheer myself up. The swim was a total psych out. I honestly felt like complete shit -  I am not lying. I was super worn out, my whole body was locked up and cramping. The bike started off with a gradual hill that I was so psyched to make it to the top off, even if people passed me the ENTIRE way. Then, downhill. But no one knew how to ride a bike on the right hand side of the road safely, so passing was limited. I played leap frog with a few people for a while around Lake Samish, before climbing my way to solitude for the length of Old Samish Highway. Then a quick ride through downtown before the steepest hill in all of Bellingham. Joel and I drove up the hill before the race started, and had my legs been feeling better I am sure it wouldn't have been so bad. After about 10 seconds standing on the hill, I was immediately in my granny gear just praying to make it to the top. Luckily I wasn't out of breath, so I was able to thank the people along side the road cheering as well as offer witty banter to other racers. Then one last corner with one last hill before entering transition again. I won't lie, the thoughts coming into transition off the bike were much different than I thought. First of all, I had to pee. So so so so bad. Also, I knew I was about an hour and a half away from a tasty beer with friends after crossing the finish line. I knew I would see Joel, too. Into transition I was quicker this time, but scared for the run with how bad my legs felt. 

Heading out for the run, I so wanted to use the porta-potty. I cursed all the Nuun and water I drank before hand. I was just trying to place one foot in front of the other and before I knew it BAM! A hill. My legs were so tight getting off the bike that I felt like they couldn't move. Eventually I loosened up and settled into a nice pace. I even ran into a friend I haven't seen in about two years who was just out running the open course. Running through my first lap and onto the second Joel was cheering me on. Man, that second lap was a lot longer than the first. I so wanted to just get to the finish area to see my boyfriends face and cross that finish line. And I did. And then finally went to the bathroom! 

I think the weather knew I was happy with my race finish. Joely and I sat outside after going out to dinner and watched the sun set. 

I was so happy I did the race! It was a great first race and not too intimidating. A day later, and I am definitely tired and a little sore. 

Some lessons I learned:

1. Train more. Working out a few times a week if you are a person who holds yourself to a high expectation doesn't cut it.

2. Being passed still doesn't feel good, but don't let it get to you. Everybody has got their own story. 

3. Don't drink so much before hand. It makes your bladder hurt when you are running. 

4. Eat beforehand, you don't want to eat anything on the bike. 

5. If you are a swimmer, don't expect the swim to go well if you haven't been swimming. 

6. Wear a flattering kit if you want your pictures to turn out well. Otherwise you look like a whale with running shoes. 

7. Showering after the race in the parking lot looks weird. But wait, I already knew that. And I will continue to do so. 

8. Just enjoy it. When you want to smile, smile. 

9. Don't act like you know how to 'race' a triathlon if you don't. I was happy to just make it through; now I know something about pace. 

10. Practice transitions. 5 minutes in transitions is a little much. What did I do, take a shower? 

11. Don't go out and buy a ton of stuff before hand, because it probably either won't work or won't be what you want. 

12. Don't have a sprinter mindset. The race isn't won in the first couple minutes. 

13. Swim with your goggles in open water before using them. I made a rookie mistake and used goggles from 2004 (I got them in a goodie bag for Olympic Trials so this is how I know) and haven't swam in them since then. 

14. Take a nap after. This isn't really a lesson, just something really wise to do. 

15. If you are planning out your training schedule WHILE YOU ARE RACING, you should probably follow through and stop being so lazy. 

16. Get sleep before the race. Being tired at the start sucked. 

All in all, a blast. I have my next race in a month and hope to be in much better shape, and also lighter in weight, by then. And yes, I am much more committed to the effort. While I know that the race will hurt (and no, that doesn't scare me) I am hell bent on improving so it doesn't hurt like it hurt this time. 

Thanks for reading! I am going to go sleep now. 

Scleroderma isn't just a weird word...

This is super delayed because the month is almost over, but June is Scleroderma Awareness Month and June 29^th is Worldwide Scleroderma Awareness Day! So, what does this post have to do with anything and why am I talking about a disease with a super weird name? I was diagnosed with a version of Scleroderma a few years ago and have really made an effort to raise awareness and share information with others. My hope in raising awareness about the disease is to eventually be able to treat it and all of its symptoms so even if you don’t remember much of anything I say, just be sure to support auto-immune disease awareness when it comes your way.

I’m actually really lucky; I don’t have a progressive form of the disease and don’t suffer from any of the severe symptoms it can cause. Mine are more annoying than anything else. If anyone has been with me while I am cold, or even warm and holding a cold beverage, they have seen my hands turn ghost white. This is called Reynauds. Some people have Reynauds phenomenon without having any link to an auto-immune problem. There is a simple blood test that can be done that will show this. After noticing that I was having reoccurring Reynauds sessions with more and more severity, I was prompted to take the test. The test is super weird and confusing (my results were like 6 pages long), but I have a limited version of the disease. What is Scleroderma? It’s basically a sclerosis of the tissue. For whatever reason, people with scleroderma have antibodies attacking their bodies, and while it can be genetic the linking genes are not known. Feel free to Wikipedia or WebMD the disease if you want to be freaked out. I did and it scared the shit out of me.

After being totally freaked out by the internet, a family friend who doubled as a rheumatologist spoke to me and my mom and calmed our nerves. She put me in touch with the amazing team at Seattle Arthritis Clinic, where I have been going since I was diagnosed. They're amazing and made me feel so much better. Im totally fine. I went in and did some testing and went over symptoms – turns out those dry eyes were a little bit more than we had expected. I had chronic dry eye. So much so that I was causing serious damage to my cornea’s and was making it incredibly difficult to see or focus. My eyes hurt all the time, burned, and often times felt sticky. Luckily though, my eye problems and the Reynaud’s are the only symptoms I have. Compared to what I could have, I’ll take it.

My eye condition is probably the most difficult. It’s really high-maintenance with a cocktail of eye drops every day and can change very rapidly. When I got back from my winter in South America, I scheduled a few follow-up appointments. Turns out a ‘sickness’ I had in Chile that completely wiped me out was a flare up of something a little bit more severe called Spondyloarthropathy. My auto-immune system basically overloaded and took me out. Every person displays this differently, but my doctors caught the tail end of my flare up because of my eyes; my eye pressure had sky rocketed and I could be causing severe damage to my corneas. So, I got to spend a couple hundo on eye drops that month and pray that the flare up never happened again. My eyes have steadily gotten worse and worse; I am incredibly light sensitive (especially on ‘bad’ days), and always need my eye drops with me. While limited damage has been done to my eyes, my doctors and I closely monitor my condition and recently decided to put eye plugs in. It was so weird sounding but after the initial pain of putting them in it has seemed to really help day to day. Only thing is, my eyes don’t drain so now everyone knows when I get teary eyed at a Disney movie. Oh, the price we pay…

The Reynauds is also incredibly annoying and at times really painful. Reynauds is a session where your body basically reacts to a temperature change or shock by mimicking hypothermia. I was put on Blood Pressure medication last year to help reduce the vassal constrictions and their severity and have tried really hard to cut caffeine out of my diet (not so successful at that one, though). The winters are incredibly hard with Reynauds, but I do my best with hand and feet warms, socks, lots of jackets and layers, and a good attitude. Simple things can become really painful and the longer the Reynauds lasts, the more it hurts. I actually suffered some Frostbite/toe-bang while ice climbing this winter, which was a true testament to how cold I get and how quickly. My toenail has still not grown back completely! People also notice the creepy white on my hands all the time (the feet is on the bottom and not as visible - it just looks like I haven't learned to walk or run correctly when I have it). I was on a plane flying somewhere and once we landed I went to get my overhead baggage and a guy gasped and pointed at my hands and exclaimed something was wrong with me, as if to alert me. Perhaps a tad too annoyed, I looked down, let out a little shriek, and looked at him and said, 'just kidding, I know. Thanks though.'

I try to balance all of these things with normal life andmust say I do a damn good job at it. All of my symptoms are manageable and only impact my comfort at times. But that is nothing new to a girl who had four shoulder surgeries by the age of 23. Like I said, nothing is super limiting, I just have to monitor stuff a little bit more than I might normally. My doctors have been an incredibly good resource, as has the Scleroderma community. You can learn more information at www.scleroderma.orgor by visiting their Facebook page! Scleroderma and diseases like it are becoming increasingly more common, so join with me as we raise awareness for more benefits, insurance coverage, treatment and a cure!

Caitlin and Megan do Ecuador: Part II

Caitlin and Megan do Ecuador: Part II

Long time coming, right? Sorry folks, I didn’t mean to leave you at the edge of your seats after Part I.

So, yes, we wanted to head to the beach. The same day we journeyed all the way out to the airport (literally takes you a couple hours to get there) to get my bag, we left for the beach on an overnight bus. The buses and their companies weren’t as friendly and nice as the ones I had been on in Peru and Chile. This particular bus company took its security VERY seriously, and patted down every person to get on the bus as well as search bags. Its ok, I had nothing to hide. But the lady told me my bag was too big, and after both Caitlin and I tried to argue with her (me in English, which didn’t help much) we proceeded onto the bus with only slightly ruffled feathers. After a few stops, the bus continued to fill up until it was full. And smelly. And a little bit hot. And did we sleep? Oh hell no. Imagine a red eye plane ride. Now make it hot, and smelly, accompanied by a loud radio playing in the driver’s cockpit that he NEVER turned off. Oh, and you know how I am kind of tall? Yeah, I didn’t fit in the seats. At all. My legs had to be out in the isle the entire time. But the arm rest didn’t go up, so it made lounging out quite difficult.  I think we might have slept an hour total – combined.

Anyways, we pulled into Puerto Lopez at like 3:30 am. Unfortunately in this town with only one stop light, there was no visible Starbucks and my hopes and dreams of a caffeinated beverage were dashed. It was so humid that all of my clothes immediately clung to me. There were bugs everywhere and drunk people still wandering around the dirt roads from the night before. The roads resembled driveways more or less and weren’t marked with street names which made finding our hostel a challenge. Finally, Caitlin and I ponied up a quarter each to have a bike taxi take us to the hostel. Once there, we just sat under the kitchen and waited for them to open. Watching the sunrise on the water was pretty, and luckily we had wi-fi so we could play on our phones.

 

 

 

View from the breakfast terrace.

My breakfast companion.

 

After getting checked in and enjoying some breakfast with the local felines, we were quick to make plans. Stay in side? Uh, no. We examined all beach options and quickly settled on the one in the Machalilla national park, Playa de los Frailes.

Yeah, woah.

 

It was easy to hitch a ride on a bus, pay a couple cents and hop off. Then you had to walk about 3 km down to the beach (or rent a bike taxi). We heard it was this gorgeous and quiet untouched beach and we were both so excited! And we were also excited to move our legs after the bus ride the night before!

We walked a jolly mile or so down to the beach through the rain forest. People kept driving by, curious what these bikini clad Gringas were up to and why on earth they were walking. When we finally set foot on the beach… holy ish.

Caitlin walking down the beach.

The first time we thanked the sun.

 

Girls just wanna have fun.

Catchin' up on some readin'.

 

I am such a good girlfriend!

Total joy. Caitlin and I were both so tired but so in heaven when we saw that this is where we got to spend our day. The water was so incredibly warm and the sand was so inviting. We made some little crab friends and laid down our towels to beach it up. While we spent most of the morning/afternoon there, we really didn’t do much except frolic in the water and sand and take pictures. And read our books. And eat some delicious food we picked up at the street market. The we met a family who was nice enough to give us a ride in the back of a their pickup into town. Free ride!

Once back, we settled into our cabana. I saw that there were bug nets and thought it must be a joke. No way! The bugs were ridiculous. Terrible. Everyone I saw walking around had so many scabs on them it looked like they had perma-pox. That night we celebrated our Irish heritage for St Patricks Day with a few beers by the ocean before heading to dinner to the first place we found with wi-fi and a fan to keep the bugs away.

 

The following day we headed out to the Galapagos. Oh, no, not the one you are thinking of. This was the poor man’s Galapagos. Where the real one costs thousands of dollars and planning I am not yet quite capable of, this trip cost me $30.  The trip to Isla de la Plata starts off with a guide picking you up at your hostel, marches you through the disgusting fish market on the beach, and then leads you to wade through some pretty gross water to get to the relatively untrustworthy boat that will motor you through the Pacific to the island. The boat broke down, which didn’t faze me because I don’t speak Spanish and didn’t really know what was going on and also because I was convinced I was not the slowest swimmer on the boat. Eventually, we made it to the island. It was gorgeous. Totally untouched except for the guide hut on the beach and the trails around the island. I didn’t think it was possible, but the island was even muggier than on the mainland. Im not kidding, my camera took foggy pictures because of the condensation. My camera was sweating, so imagine how us humans felt. Anyways, we headed out on a walk around the island which was quite beautiful and eventually found all the Blue Footed Boobies. Yep, they are called Boobies, and their feet really are blue. Don’t worry; I got a case of the giggles when our guide kept saying ‘Boobie poopy.’ Anyways, the view was amazing and I learned quite a bit about the different bird species and how they interact with each other.  We even found a baby Boobie on our way back to the boat, so fluffy and cute!

 

Our group.

A baby Boobie!

My amiga.

We made it back down and were ushered onto the boat, where someone threw a piece of watermelon out into the ocean. Suddenly these two HUGE sea turtles come up and start fighting over the food. All of us tourists got so excited and started squealing and fidgeting with our cameras, so the boat crew just kept feeding the turtles to keep them around. One thing is for sure, I do NOT want to swim with hungry turtles. They were so vicious, kind of like me when I haven’t eaten for a couple hours!

 

We headed to a cove to go snorkeling, but I was super disappointed that the water wasn’t even clear. No difference, I jumped right in. I saw a couple brightly colored fish and swam after them for a bit, but without knowing what I was looking at I quickly lost interest. So, I just swam around in the warm ocean  and was just so happy to be there! After we all packed back up, the boat started heading away from the island. Caitlin and I were both looking back at the island lovingly when a stingray popped out of the ocean and started flailing around in the air. Not kidding, it was like a National Geographic moment. I couldn’t help but think something was chasing it. Caitlin and I both made weird noises, but by the time everyone else looked the Stingray had lost interest (or lost its battle) and wasn’t jumping anymore. Not too much later, we encountered a pod of dolphins that seriously must have been over 100 strong. There were SO MANY all jumping and playing and feeding. After playing with the boat for a while, we headed back to shore.

Dolphins are really hard to catch on camera.

This was our last night in Puerto Lopez. We were so incredibly sad to leave the sun and warmth, but wanted to head back to Quito to try to get on a climb that we had been emailed about. We headed to a restaurant to get some dinner – dee-lish-us, brushed our teeth in the not so clean restaurant bathroom and catch the night bus back to Quito. I still remember Caitlin running down the dirt street in her flip flops with her backpack on after our bus (that only was driving to the bus station a block away).

Bye bye Puerto Lopez.

This was some amazing eats.

Pros: this bus had a little bit more room. I could fit in the seat. Cons: We were right next to the bathroom that didn’t lock and didn’t have running water, so it required an attendant at all times.

And suddenly, we found ourselves in the mountains again in Quito.