My Buddy and Me

Pete and I attended our first Sports Bras to Sports Bars event of the year on Monday. The group has grown! We ended up just walking, because for an unknown reason, my shoulder was really hurting. Weird. So many amazing women. We walked with one studette who has lost over 150 lbs! How wonderful for her. Pretty inspiring.

Whenver Pete and I get to hang out like that, or during the evenings when BDR isn't around, I like to think of how fabulous my pup is. Cheesy, I know, but he is lovingly spoiled rotten, goes everywhere with me - and is just My Buddy. So much so, that oftentimes, I just call him Buddy instead of Pete. And whenever I do - I can't help but sing him this little song.



And watching that video makes me want to go check out some more old school Saturday morning cartoons. Could be a good activity tonight before the Grey's season finale!!

GOTR Rocks.

Its for reasons like this that I love Girls on the Run: http://mollyontherun.blogspot.com/2010/05/childs-hand-in-yourswhat-tenderness-it.html . Seriously, when a "mancoach" is man enough to run in pink and be cheesey for the sake of the girls - that's what its all about. He got out of his "boy box" and if he can do it, so can all us girls!!!

This is a crazy busy week, as our council has Founder Molly Barker arriving tomorrow to visit our sites and support our season-ending 5k. Combine that with the hectic-ness of learning a new job, one of my best friends leaving for Tanzania for 9 weeks, training for the upcoming WIN triathlon and enjoying my dog and my man - life is busy!

But busy is good. Life is good. And I wouldn't have it any other way!

Heritage Du Photos

Heritage Park Duathlon

This was my first duathlon, and all in all, a pretty good experience.  I have NOT been training. I tried to start up again this week in an effort to prepare for the WIN tri coming up at the end of July. Then the weather put a damper on that.

I did do one 2-mile run on Tuesday, that totally kicked my ass. Needless to say, I didn't feel ready for a race.

I was even considering sleeping in, since Karli had predicted storms all day, and riding my bike in the rain is one of my least favorite things to do.

Luckily, I woke up to 55* and fog and decided to give it a go. The first leg, a 2 mile run, went decent. I didn't expect to go fast. I just wanted to keep going and have fun along the way. I ran most of the leg with Rebecca, a new KCM pal.

Getting to the bike, it was definitely wet from the fog, but still no real rain. At some point on the 3 laps, a decent mist started, but it wasn't too bad. I felt great on the bike, even the one hill on Pflumm that I used to seriously struggle with. Maybe I'm in better shape than I thought. I ran across several triathlon friends and several other people that I know outside my athletic endeavors. Friendly faces always make races more fun!

A definite highlight was seeing the Diaper Dandy crew in Nascar gear, on single speed cruisers...

The final leg, a 3 mile run, felt pretty good as well. Of course I did some walking, and I could have pushed a little harder, but my whole goal was to finish and just have fun. Mission accomplished.

Run with T1: 50/52 23:34
Bike: 18/52, 44:04
T2: 42/52 2:09
Run: 40/52 30:09
Total:  33/52 1:39:55

Race highlights: 18th woman on the bike! So much better than in the past. I even heard someone say (shocked), did Trish just pass us?! Hell ya I did!!

Maybe if I actually train a little better for WIN I can rock that race! Novel concept...

Caught pink footed!

One of my dearest friends had an interesting incident with her 3 year old this week. She is an amazing photographer, and luckily was able to capture said incident even though she had to have been FUMING!

I cracked up and had to share!!

I'm SO EXCITED to share my big news! I have begun a new endeavor as a Mortgage Consultant with the Kansas City Mortgage Group.

Finding this position was one of those karma things I think. A contact of my oldest brother used LinkedIn to seek out a new hire. We met a few times and discussed the job, company, culture, etc. And I first sat down with him just for interview experience. But the more I learned, the more intrigued I became. Its a job where I can essentially be my own boss, create my own destiny, and help people all at the same time. Its pretty much ideal. Plus, meeting the rest of the team left a great taste in my mouth and as we all know, first impressions are pretty important.

The mortgage world is definitely different than where I'd been previously. (But really, construction and non-profit are unique monsters in their own regard!) I know that my experiences are totally going to translate to success as a mortgage consultant. And - if I learned anything from completing the Ironman last September, it’s that determination and a positive attitude will allow you to achieve anything you set your mind to.

One of the coolest things about my new company is the people I'm working with. Everyone is so friendly, welcoming and helpful - and there is a ton of knowledge here. They have more than 50 years of combined experience, and for a young company that is amazing. For the second straight year, KCMG has been named by the Kansas City Business Journal as one of the Top 25 Mortgage Brokers in Kansas City. And now, I get to be a part of that.

One of my first tasks was to get fingerprinted (TGO would be proud!) and get my official photograph done. It was pretty fun to be ANTM for an afternoon. Tyra would be proud. Here's my favorite:

I'm able to do loans in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Colorado - so if any of you out in bloggy world are looking for a new home or to refinance your current loan - get in touch! You can email me at trish(at)kcmortgage.com.

I also just sent out a big announcement letter. If you didn't get one, and want it - please let me know!

Back on 2 feet

Pete and I had a great run yesterday evening. It was only 2 miles, but it was hard and my legs were tired! The road to a WIN has now begun! I'm even back to trying the 100 Pushup Challenge. That is one hard program. I did some other strength stuff too, situps, planks, bicycles, the glute-bridge thing that I don't know the real name for. And, this morning, I can tell I got a decent workout in!

I'm really hoping tonight's storm holds out and I can get a decent bike ride in before the thunder and lightning strikes. I'm so lucky to have borrowed a mountain bike from a friend, but I had to drop it off at Elite to get the pedals changed and TGO's tires swapped out. We had planned to ride the Peddler's Jamboree over Memorial Day weekend, but a family wedding is pulling TGO to Milwaukee instead.

So I'm hoping I can convince him that we need to instead race the Dirty Duo later in June. I mean really. There is a huge mud pit that you have to crawl thru to get to the Finish Line. How fun is that?!!?

Anyone else planning to do that race?? Have you done it in the past?

Brrrrr-ainy day!

Whats up with this crazy May weather!? Its supposed to be getting warmer, sunnier and all around gorgeous-er. Instead, its cold and rainy. Wah.

I was looking forward to a Sports Bras 2 Sports Bars run tonight at Pizza 51 with some wonderful women, delicious pizza and cold brews. Alas, the pending T-Storm is raining on my parade.

Luckily one of my fellow runner-girls and I are still meeting for cocktails to celebrate my new job!! She also informed me that there is a Happy Hour app for the i-phone. That might just be the best news of my day!

I'm hoping to get crackin' on my new training plan, utilizing the 100 Pushup plan for strength training, and Lake Quivira for open water swims once it gets a bit warmer out. Cross your fingers that will happen soon!

It might be time...

TGO is picking up the bikes from Elite Cycling as I type. I borrowed a mountain bike from an amazing athlete and friend so we can ride the Katy Trail soon. In the meantime, I'm hoping to hit the Indian Creek and Tomahawk Creek trails to test out the borrowed ride.

As we took Pete for a long walk last night (after TGO made dinner for me!) I started getting a bit of the itch. I think it might be time to start training again. I'm a little hesitant, because I've been in this mode before but it hasn't stuck. I don't want to go spend my life savings to register for a race, so I thought. Hmm... Maybe I should actually find a training plan for the Sprint Tri I'm already signed up for. Novel concept huh? Train to be prepared, and then I can race it and do a little more than just go out for fun and to finish.

So I'm going to try Hal Higdon's Tri 2 program that I found online. It almost seems silly after the LOOOOOOOONG distances I was doing this time last year, but then I remember: I don't think I could run a mile straight right now. Maybe training will be necessary!!

Also, I've had a GREAT week, and I'm excited to share the big news with the e-world next week. Stay tuned!

Last of the Vacaticans

Back to reality on Monday morning. More about that to come...

But first: what a great last few days of vacation! I got to really enjoy 2 weeks of spring. The highlights are as follows....

- Royals v. Twins for Monica's birthday. Went out to the K with TGO and a whole bunch of friends. Despite the slight drizzle and slightly chilly temperatures, it was a ton of fun to get out and watch some ball.

- Lots of Pete time. Between long walks, Shawnee Mission Park and Lake Quivira, Pete and I had some serious quality time together enjoying the sun. I swear, watching him chase a tennis ball out in the lake is pretty impressive. My dog swims better than Michael Phelps' dog that's for sure. He'll even dive off the docks to retrieve his beloved yellow ball.

- Trip to Minnesota-yah you betcha with Mam and Dad to see Gramma and the family. We even went to the store to get Coke and have them put it in a beg for us. (It's funny if you read this with a MN accent, I promise. We'll at least its funny to me.) It was great to see a good chunk of the family and spend some QT with my 87 year old grandmother, Aunt Kerri and Uncle T. The highlight (or maybe I should say Lowlight) of the trip? When Gramma asked for sugar cookies and complained about not being able to bake in her apartment (they live in memory care and the stove/oven are turned off for safety's sake), I offered to bake with her in the main living room. After getting the break and bake dough from the store, Gramma had no interest in baking with me. So I took them down, set the timer and returned on time to take them out. However, the cookies were still doughy in the middle so I let them bake another 90 seconds or so. When I took them out, the smoke escaped from the oven, setting off the fire alarms. The staff at Croixdale sure responded quickly! Luckily the residents couldn't hear the alarm (that's what happens when you're pushing 90) and the Bayport FD was on its way. No real fire, just burnt cookies... and the worst part? Not that I didn't get to meet the cute firefighters, although that too is a tragedy... the cookies still weren't done in the middle, just burnt to a crisp on the bottom!

- Totally booked social calendar for the rest of the weekend. The KC Multisport Wine Tasting at the Cellar Rat was Friday night. Tons of fun and a great chance to catch up with all my swim-bike-run buddies. Saturday, we went to TGO's friends' BBQ, my friend's BBQ, to Tanners to meet one of his buddies and to a bar to celebrate his sister's birthday. And we still made it home by 11! Sunday Funday brought a Reedy family picnic at Lake Quivira, where Pete again got to swim, play tennis and basketball (yes, he played all three sports better than most of us humans!) and we all enjoyed Johnny C's pizza and cupcakes. Afterwards we toured the Boulevard Brewery and completed the day with cocktails and dinner on the rooftop at The Well. And we topped it off with gelato from The Sweet Guy. I don't think the day could have been any better!