What About That Kona Slot Lance?

Dear Lance,


It really makes me sad that you have been most likely lying all these years about using performance enhancing drugs.   I  was one of those who felt that if you did use drugs, then it would have shown up in blood tests all these years.  I didn't really understand why the anti-doping agency kept harassing you.  I am still very angry at them for being so mean to you, even now.   I had faith in you, Lance.  You were my hero.


Unfortunately, I have doubts now.  Well, I had doubts back then, but a negative test is a negative test, right?  And if you said you weren't using drugs you weren't using them, right?  


Wrong!  Apparently you used drugs to mask the fact that you were using enhancing drugs.  Is this true, Lance??  Say it isn't so, Lance!!


I am very disappointed, Lance.  And to think I just got an email from you a couple of days ago inviting me and a guest to come ride with you in Austin. Remember sending this to me, Lance?

Dear Kristy,       We’re organizing the biggest bike ride Austin’s ever seen, and I want you to be there             with me.  If you register by June 24, you and a friend could help lead off the Team       LIVESTRONG Challenge Austin with me on the starting line.       Register for any Team LIVESTRONG event today and you and a guest could ride        with me in Austin.       See you at the starting line.       Lance And what about that chance to race with you at the Ironman World Championship in Kona this October?  For a mere minimum starting bid of $40,000, I was offered a slot in the race, a new bike, hotel accommodations and a training ride with you. Of course, you realize I could've gotten one of those Kona-Inspired racing slots for free if you had just voted for me and shared my awesome video with all your followers.  It may sound like I'm a little bitter about that, but I'm really, really not.  I'm good.  Really! Well Lance, looks like neither one of us will be at the start line in Kona this year, but it least I get some complimentary Yurbuds. What did you get? Yours truly, Konabarbie

My Kona Inspired Contest Entry

Click here to watch my Kona Inspired entry.   Please be sure to vote at the bottom left hand corner. Thanks!!

A couple of months ago, Ironman started a contest called Kona Inspired which would allow regular athletes, who may not be fast enough to earn a Kona slot because of busy lifestyles or physical challenges, to tell their story of how they live the Ironman mantra "Anything is Possible".  From the entrants, they are picking 8 to compete in Kona this October.

I immediately started working on my own video to submit into the contest and tell my story of how I live the mantra "Anything is Possible".  Believe me - around my house ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!

I finished the video and then was afraid to submit it because I set the video to the song "Beginning and the End"and after all the copyright issues popping up and all, well, I didn't want Sony or any other music group coming after me.  And I wanted to do the right thing (of course)

(I was really just afraid of Sony)

So, I decided to send an email to the group's manager, who then directed me to the correct place to go (no, not there) which was Provident Label Group,  a division of Sony.  They said I needed to get a master license and needed some information from me.  I filled out the request they sent and waited.

And waited.

Finally, last week I hear back from them telling me that they approved my request.   They probably got some good laughs and some"who the heck is this person" as it was tossed around like a hot potato or stuck on some unlucky person's desk.   Nobody knowing exactly what to do with it.  They were very nice and polite about it though and apologized for the delay saying that this was such an "unusual request" and had to go to many different levels.

I love the song and had decided that if it didn't get approved, I wouldn't enter the contest.  None of the other things I tried with the video seem to mean as much to me as that song set to my story.  

To me the song which is about life having beginning and end is very much like an Ironman, which has a beginning and an end.  In Ironman, just as in life, sometimes in the middle of it you have to dig deep and find the strength to keep going, pull yourself through the rough patches, to finish strong and never, ever give up.  To me that strength comes from my faith in God.

I am just glad I finally have approval and it didn't end up in the garbage. 

So anyway, here it is so please vote for me!  Take pity on me! 

I'm slow, but qualifying for Kona has been a dream of mine since I did my first Ironman in Florida back when I was faster.  Faster, but still not fast enough.  I would have to take almost 4 hours off my total Ironman time to even have a chance to get a Kona slot.

Vote for me!

Pictures Of Kona 

Iron Girl Gone Bad

The pool is shaping up nicely

It seems like I spend more time these days taking pictures of bodies of water (such as swimming pools) than actually getting in them and swimming laps.  I realize at some point this has to stop if I am going to race this year.  I'm always in the pool a couple of times a week by now.

 I could use the excuse that I am no longer a member of the Y and my new gym doesn't have a pool.  I could also say that the pool in the back yard has looked more like a fungus filled mud hole until a couple of days ago.  It looks very inviting now, but it isn't quite long enough to swim a good lap in so there's my excuse for that.

I have always been a pro at good excuses to get out of swimming too much.  In fact, the only time I have ever put in a consistent 3 days a week, at least a mile or more swim is when I have signed up for at minumun a half ironman.  More if I am training for an Ironman.  But not much more.  I just make one of my swims a long 2 hour straight swim.  Sprints, not so much.

I realize I could do so much better in a race if I got in the water on a regular basis.  My lack of water time was never much of an issue when I was a stronger biker.

That's the other problem.  In order to be a stronger biker, I know I need to put more time in on the saddle and that doesn't mean just trainer rides, exercise bikes or spin classes.   I love (loved) biking so I don't really have any reason for not riding except I'm just being bad.  I'm an Iron Girl gone bad.  It's a simple as that.

Donuts, alcohol, chips, sugary sweets combined with no swimming and very little biking.

Put me in time out!

Cream filled Dunkin Donut....

I eat way to much sugar including pigging out on Dunkin Donuts this week along with other kinds of sweets.  The other day I recklessly started tweeting about all the Dunkin Donuts I was eating and the next day the" Find Healthy Snacks Girl" was following me on Twitter.  Coincidence or is "big brother" watching?   Was this a sign that I need to become a healthier snacker or else??

I was so worried that the Murph and I checked our blood sugar levels with his dad's diabetic kit when we were in New Jersey a couple of days ago.   I was relieved to find that despite all the sugar, desserts, pasta and alcohol I had consumed all that day, my blood sugar was normal.

 But now what?  It is May and I haven't been in the pool since last October.   I have only been on my bike a handful of times and here I am wanting to qualify for the Ironman World Championship in Kona.  I am also planning on doing some races in June.  Less than a month away.  I know I can do it even without all the training and discipline I usually have by now because I have been racing for almost 15 years.

Will it be painful?  Yes.  Will my time totally suck?  Yes.  Do I need to get my procrastinating butt in the pool and on my bike?  Hell, yes!  Enough already.

I have a Running Nazi to hold me accountable for running.  I just need to find a Swimming Nazi and a Bike Nazi.  Then I will swim way more than I want and bike more than I want.  Then I will get on here and write blog posts about them cussing at them to make me feel better.

It's a perfect solution cause then I will get all the training I need and lots of writing practice too and they will never know that I blog about them.  The Running Nazi doesn't know unless I tell her and she doesn't care anyway.  (I don't think she cares)

My goal is to get faster.  To get faster I need to go shorter distance first and then get longer and try to stay fast.  Then I will be fast enough to qualify for Kona.

 I'm already fast enough in my dreams.  Blazing fast.  In my dreams I swim every single night.  At some point during REM sleep between frantically searching for my bike helmet, goggles, race number, and various other race gear (during my dreams for some reason I always forget my racing gear) and getting lost along the course.

 Getting lost on the course is a recurring dream since that time last summer when the Nazi and I got lost running without fluids in 90 degree F. temps in what should have been a familiar neighborhood.

Then the cat usually wakes me up from this dream/nightmare by pawing me in the face.

My plan is to just slip in and start training like I've been doing it for months.  Hopefully, my body won't notice.  I have been running fairly steadily thanks to marathon training so the running part is easy.   I have also been working out at the gym doing weights and at least 30 minutes of cardio every single day for over a year now.

It's all mind over matter anyway.  This should work, right?

RIP Whitney Houston - One Moment In Time(Grammy Awards Live)

Back in the 80's I bought everything Whitney Houston had out.  She's never sang anything I didn't like, but "One Moment in Time" is my all time favorite for many reasons.  My one moment in time will be the day I qualify for Kona Ironman World Championship.  My next moment in time will be the day I cross that finish line in Kona.....

Whitney Houston had such an awesome voice and amazing talent, it's so sad and tragic that she died at age 48.

RIP Whitney Houston (1963-2012)

Big Day in Kona

Today is a big day for triathlon.  I have been following the Ironman World Championship in Kona all day.  The top pros have already made it to the finish line.  I have been tracking my peeps from Alabama and Florida and the Alabama friend was second to last out of the water and now I am anxiously waiting to see if she made the bike cut off.  The bike cut off time was about 10 minutes ago and her final bike split isn't posted yet and no news from the facebook friends who are in Hawaii with her, cheering her on.  They have been posting all day, but no news yet.  I hope she makes it!

The Murph and I have been talking about it and have decided that I should go ahead and try to qualify for  Kona.  If I do (by some miracle) then we would take another trip to Kona so I can do the race.  No waiting 4 or 5 years to go back.  Of course, it may take 5 years before I qualify (if I ever even do qualify), but if I qualify this year, we will go next year.  I just have to decide which races to do to try to qualify.  There are 2 half ironman triathlons I could do or pick a full one like Ironman Florida or Texas or Canada again.  Decisions...