Ironman Aftermath

It felt so good to take a hot shower and crawl into a warm bed after being soaking wet the entire day. We all slept in (minus Jamie- Jamie does not sleep! haha!!) and then headed back down to the 'Ironman Village' to pick up our stuff and so the boys could buy finisher gear.

It was such a gorgeous day- sunny with a cool breeze. Once we had everything ,we headed back to the hotel and all the bikes wouldn't fit in our van so 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' decided to ride his back back to the hotel. (Who does a ridiculously hard Ironman and then volunteer to ride the 5 miles back to the hotel-- which included the toughest hill on the course?! He's crazy!)

Once we got back to the hotel and ate lunch, 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter's' family came over and we decided to go hiking. (Again, who does a rediculously hard Ironman and then go on a hike?! 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter is rubbing off on us! haha!)

We stopped for gas along the way, and everyone went in and grabbed snacks. I found Spicy Thai Dorritos (purple bag) that they used to sell in America but no longer do- oh my gosh-- SO good!! 

We ended up going to Huka Falls. It was insanely beautiful. The water was so clear and so blue it looked fake! 

This is also where they shot the part of The Hobbit- where they were going down the waterfall in barrels. 

We found a pretty trail we thought would take us to the water, but it ended up taking us to an industrial area. So we made our own trail and found a great shallow place to get in the water. The cold water definitely felt refreshing on our sore legs. 

Scary story: We were all hanging out in the very shallow, close to shore, part of the water and there was a tour boat that went by super fast, to take people up to the rapids- we yelled and waved and they all waved back and took our picture. We had the GoPro our and we were taking turns jumping in the water and seeing how deep we could go. 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' decided to swim across the water and then when we came back we all got out. As we were drying off, the tour boat came flying back by and cut in- creating waves and a HUGE splash of where we all were just sitting (I think they thought they were going to soak us) but it was literally right where 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' was swimming less than 3 minutes ago. The boat was going so fast, there was no way they would have saw him or been able to spot. 

The hike was so green and pretty- I've never seen anything like it. We made our way back to the car and then headed back to the hotel.

We went back to Pub n' Grub for dinner- seriously, it is that good! Everything was so fresh and so delicious!!

Still tried after Ironman, but excited to be at Pub n' Grub! 

Once we were back at the hotel after dinner, 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter', Jamie and I decided to head down to the hot tub! We got down there and walked in and ended up scaring one of the workers (he screamed) and he informed us that the pool was closed. :(

*Have you ever been to a movie set? 

*When hiking do you follow the path or make your own? I pretty much always stick to the path. :)

Ironman New Zealand Race Recap

'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter's' dad, step-mom, stepbrother and his girlfriend, got in the night before the race. They came by the hotel after we had dinner to say hi and then left so we could get some sleep.

His dad and step-mom came back at 4:30am to pick us up and drive us to the race, even though it wasn't that far (10 minutes away) we weren't sure what the parking situation would be and didn't know how long it would take to find a spot. 

We got to race and we all went out separate ways to do any last pre-race checks and prepare for the day ahead. 

Having 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' double check my tires.

**SIDE NOTE: Everyone in town had been talking about what the weather would be like and everyone told us to be prepared for rain and that it was definitely going to rain at some point during the day. We went into this race planning for the worst- but hoping for the best. Now that we had a chance to experience the course and knew the weather conditions, I think we all threw any goals out the window and set our sights on making it across that finish line. 

Time flew by, and before I knew it we were in our wet suits walking in a sea of athletes towards the lake. We all wished each other good luck, told everyone to 'Harden Up', and got into the water. 

The few minutes we had in the water felt like seconds and BOOM! the cannon fired and we were off. Just before starting, I overheard someone say not to use the buoys and to sight off the large mountain directly in front of us and then to turn at the red buoys, and use the boats to sight on the way back. I wish I could have thanked him because it worked like a charm! I never felt like I was off course and only looked up to sight every 10-15 breaths. 

The swim was really great- I felt completely relaxed and comfortable- I did not push it at all, knowing the day was only going to get tougher. There were a few times I had to stop to let a swimmer cross me- I think it was the same swimmer the whole just swimming left to right in front of me. 

I got out of the water and couldn't help but smile at the huge crowd cheering so enthusiastically. I began to jog the loooooooong way to transition (seriously- it was about a half mile!) and the entire way was lined with cheering fans complimenting my smile or pace. 

Once I climbed 4 flights of stairs, I was finally in transition and called out my number and made my way to the changing tent. The volunteers helped me get my bike gear on and took care of putting my wet suit away. 

I grabbed my bike and took off through town. The sun was barely up and it was cloudy- but it wasn't raining. I was still soaking wet from the water, but the air wasn't too bad. I thought it would feel good if it warmed up. :)
Riding all through town was amazing- the amount of support from the town is unreal- seriously, like nothing I've seen before. It feels like every person/business fully supports every athlete in the race! It was incredible!!
We hit the largest hill by our hotel and I smiled, thinking how nice it would be once we were back in our room. :)
Not too long in, we were out in the country- complete farm land. I kept reminding myself I was riding my bike, in an Ironman, in NEW ZEALAND! It was surreal. I was shocked by how much support was out there- I literally felt like we were in the middle of no where (which was GORGEOUS!!) but there were a ton of people out there cheering us on.

About half way through the first loop, I started getting really cold with the wind, so I stopped at one of the aid stations and used the bathroom and put my rain coat on (AKA, the rain coat I borrowed from 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter'), and kept going. I felt great and literally could not stop smiling.

I finally reached the turn around point and headed back into town. ((Side note: Ironman New Zealand had about 1,200 athletes, whereas Ironman Arizona usually has about 3,200. So there were a lot fewer athletes than I'm used to.) I felt like I was dead last all by myself, other athletes were few and far between. Until the pros came back on their second loop and lapped me. ;)

The sun made it's way through the clouds and it was definitely warming up. I stopped again and took off my rain coat. Only to stop again later to put it back on.... the weather was definitely playing games with us....

I got back into town and was pretty concerned because I still hadn't got my first bracelet. (They track the laps by handing out 2 bracelets, 1 on the first loop and then another on the second loop.) At one point we merged with athletes starting their second loop and they all had bracelets- I freaked out! I started asking them where they got it and they responded with "back there". What?! I missed it?! I slowed down and came to a stop thinking I was going to turn around, when I saw another rider without a bracelet. I asked him where we get the bracelets and he said he thought by the 'Special Needs' bags up ahead, but he was concerned too. THANK GOSH!! I quickly took off again, made my way through town, and received my first bracelet. Yay!

Once again, I was back out in the middle of no where, with a lot less supports this time around and even fewer athletes. This time around there was an extremely strong head wind (that would occasionally switch to a cross wind. I saw 2 people get blown over on there bikes.) It was brutal and I was desperately searching for the turn around point.
When I finally reached the turn around point, which now consisted of 3 people cleaning up and handing out bracelets- I have never been so happy. I figured it would be a slight downhill the way back and I would have the wind at my back- PERFECT! Or so I thought...

Once I turned around, I was ready to throw a few gears on my bike and use the wind to my advantage and make up some time.... yet, I still had major head wind?! How is this possible?! An older athlete who I passed right before the turn around caught up to me and said "I thought we'd be on the right side of the wind this time, but welcome to New Zealand weather!!" What?! Seriously?! Seriously...

It was definitely mentally tough knowing I had to make by way back into town facing a head wind with the unpredictable cross winds. I tried to continue to remind myself I was in New Zealand and this was awesome, but I was getting frustrated and tired and it wasn't working like it had before.

This was the bike course by our hotel-- on a different day with WAY better weather. 

I started watching every mile slowly tick by on my watch and continuously calculating how much further I had. (It's hard doing math when you're 100+ miles in ;))
I was SO incredibly happy when I only had single digit miles left. The wind was not letting up like I desperately hoped it would.
I knew I just needed to make my way back through town and I would be off the bike and unto the run, I just had 6 miles to go. I could this, it's just a 10K left....
About a mile after realizing I was going to make it, I saw a truck pulled off to the side of the road and a guy waiting for me. (I thought it was an aid station- because ever since the turn around ALL the aid stations were GONE!) But he was saying something and motioning that I was cut. With the wind, I couldn't make out what he was saying, so I slowed down as I approached him and he again motioned that I was cut.
Thinking this was impossible, I looked down at my watch and realized I had 5 miles to go and just over 30 minutes before the bike cut off. I told him I only had 5 miles to go and I knew I could do it in less than 30 minutes. He again, motioned that I was cut and said that Medical was pulling everyone from the bike because of the wind and rain in town. (It was not raining where we were.) I again pleaded, that I only had 5 miles to go! He said Medical couldn't let us continue without poncho's and they cannot issue ponchos on the bike (because they could get caught in the chain, etc.). At this point, as upset as I was, I knew there was nothing more I could do to change the situation, and I handed him my timing chip.
I waited on the side of the road with another lady who got cut and a guy who came after me. We waited over 45 minutes for the SAG vehicle to come get us (the whole I was thinking, I could have biked myself into town by this point....) Everything about waiting sucked. I began replaying the whole day and thinking of everything I could have done differently to not have ended up in this situation. The guy who also got cut asked me if this was my first one, I told him it was my third. To which he replied, 'oh, then it's okay.' I tried to smile, but I really wanted to say 'No, it's absolutely NOT okay, I trained hard for this and flew half way across the world for this, and this was definitely NOT okay.' I think he could see I was extremely upset/disappointed and talked to me the entire way back into town about how he has DNF'd at 4 Ironman's, but it was OK because sometimes he was just having bad days.
Looking back, I really appreciated this- if he hadn't talked to me the whole way back, I probably would have been crying and feeling extremely sorry for myself.

When we finally got back to the transition area, I thanked him for keeping me company and we went our separate ways. At this point it was raining pretty hard and I desperately needed dry clothes (I was still in my wet tri-kit from the swim. So I changed into my morning after clothes and put my rain coat back on, and began the impossible task of trying to find 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter's' family in the massive crowds.... no luck.
Since I didn't have my phone, I waited by the run turn around hoping to see the guys and be able to cheer them on. Luckily, there was a public restroom that had coverage, I could stand under as I watched (and I could run in every few minutes and use the hand dryer to warm up! ;))

After a few hours, I saw 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' making his way to the finish line. I ran to the gate and screamed so loud cheering him on. He seemed so confused to see me and asked what I was doing. I told him I would explain later and to hurry up and go finish! I took a short cut to the finish line and saw him cross-- he looked completely toast.

I waited for him to finish in the tent- getting his medal, food, etc. and when he came out I gave him a huge hug! He didn't look happy though- I asked what was wrong and he started to tear up saying this was the hardest race he'd ever done and there were SO many times he wanted to quit and give up, it was SO hard. He said it was so hard that if this had been his first race he probably would never do another. It broke my heart, but I told him that made the finish that much better because he didn't give up and he finished!!

He changed into some dry clothes and we found he stepbrother and his girl friend, who informed us 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter's' dad went to the hospital! (More on that later...) and we went to watch for the other guys.

'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter's' medal and finisher shirt. Both were SUPER cute!! 

We saw them all coming and cheered our butts off for them (all looking so confused to see me- haha!!) and 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' actually ran the last couple of miles  with our friend David to the finish.
Once everyone was finished, we waited in the tent- hoping the rain would let up (it was just a downpour at this point) and trying to stay warm. Once we watched the midnight finishers, we decided to face the wind and head home. (Ironman New Zealand let's you leave your bike and everything and then pick it up the next day- which was so nice for us, since it would have required multiple trips in the rain.)

We made our way to the van and headed to the only place that was open that late- McDonald's!! It was so, so good! They used all organic, grass fed, never-frozen, beef and you could definitely taste the difference!!

Once we finally made it back to our hotel room, we all quickly ate and went to bed.

This is our whole group the morning after Ironman. :)

*What's the craziest weather you've raced in? 

*Have you ever not finished a race? 

MAJOR bike problem!!

Remember how cool I told you Nigel at the bike shop, Pack n' Pedal was? How he was super nice and extremely helpful? Listen to this.....

We went into the bike shop after our morning swim, and Nigel asks if I got his email..... No, I hadn't checked my email since we got to New Zealand. This already did not sound good, and I started to get worried. He told me he sent me an email late last night after he got a chance to look at my bike.
He said that the wheel did not need to be trued. He told me it looked like during the plane ride, the CO2 in the tire expanded so much that it caused the wheel to warp and expand-- which is what was causing the rubbing. (At this point, all I'm hearing is that my wheel is completely unusable, I'm 2 days away from an Ironman, in a foreign country, and looking at spending over a thousand dollars (that I don't have) on a wheel.....)
Mere seconds away from tears streaming down my face, Nigel finishes explaining and showing me what happened, and doesn't even hesitate or pause before immediately saying "so what I've done is, I've brought you my personal race wheels from home to borrow." Just as causal as can be as he retrieves them from a bag. WHAT!?!? I was literally standing there in shock as he said that and showing me his amazing, tubular race wheels! Still shocked, I began thanking him profusely and hugging him. Who does this kind of stuff?! I was so beyond grateful! (I have been going to the same bike shop in Arizona since I started riding, and there is no way anyone there would do something like this for me. So you have someone I've barely met, do something so unbelievably kind- was amazing! This is the kind of stuff that happens to you and you never forget.

So after he switched my wheels with his, he told me he wasn't even going to charge me a rental fee-- because he assumed I wasn't planning on having to pay to rent wheel when I decided to come to New Zealand, so he didn't want to put me out. (The guy was amazing!) He explained to me how tubular tires were different from mine and what to do if I got a flat.

I thanked him for the millionth time and we left to get a bike ride in, with all the guys now jealous of my new wheels. ;)
We took them out for a test ride around our hotel and they were great! So smooth and the boys said I sounded really cool when they passed me. HAHA!

'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' made dinner for us tonight, and we ate on our hotel patio. Not a bad view. ;)

*What's the nicest thing a stranger has ever done for you? 

*What's the nicest thing you've done for a complete stranger? 

Tourist training!

We woke up early this morning and made the 4 hour- unbelievably gorgeous drive, from Auckland to Taupo. We will be staying in Taupo for the rest of our trip since it's where the race is.

 stopped along the way at a tiny cafe, and the boys absolutely LOVED it! They all tried meat pies and were instantly hooked- I cannot tell you how many meat pies they consumed throughout our trip- WAY too many to count! ;) 

Once we reached Taupo, we checked into our hotel and the first priority was to start putting bikes together. Once we had all our bikes together, we decided to take them out for a test ride and make sure everything was ready for for the race.

We had a GREAT view of the lake and that road was a part of the course which is awesome! We will definitely get some practice in!  

Before we even started, I noticed my bike tire was rubbing, we thought it was my brakes- but after adjusting them it was still rubbing (to the point I could not force a full tire rotation from my bike tire). We then assumed it must be something off with my tire and it would just need to be trued- a simple fix. Luckily, when we were in town exchanging money, we found a cute bike shop with super helpful staff!

We decided to take it into the shop after the boys finished their ride-- and I went back inside and freaked out. :)

We took it into the bike shop, and Nigel- the mechanic, was the sweetest (most helpful) guy ever! He said he could not only true my tire, but he could also do a full tune up Friday night before the race! What?! He was seriously amazing!!
I left my bike there overnight, and he said it would be ready first thing the next morning (seriously- amazing service!).

We left, and headed down to a Splash n' Dash. We saw that we had to get all of our wet suits treated before we use them in the lake and they were hosting a open water swim- perfect! We got to get our wet suits treated and take our first swim in the GORGEOUS, crystal clear lake! (If you've read my blog for awhile, then you know I swim with my eyes closed in open water swims, but Jamie told me to open my eyes and try to swim 5 strokes. We were close enough to shore that I agreed and it was incredible! I could see the bottom of the lake and so far ahead of me! I seriously felt like I was swimming in a fish bowl it was so clear!!)

We swam a little before the Splash n' Dash and then hung out before it started. Since 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' and I were the only ones from our group to do the actual race, there was a whopping FIVE people registered for the 1000 meter swim. (So much for practicing swimming in a large group of people....;))

It was awesome though. I literally could not stop smiling for the entire swim- just thinking to myself, 'holy crap, we are in New Zealand! I'm swimming in New Zealand!' We finished and talked with some of the locals- all of whom were extremely fast!
 ((Side note: we looked up the average course time for Ironman New Zealand and compared it to Ironman Arizona; New Zealand had a faster overall average finishing time. We thought that was because the course was easier (flatter/downhill, whatever). We quickly learned that that was NOT the case. It had a harder course AND a faster finishing time, because the people here were SO much faster than Americans! I'm not joking. Almost everyone we talked to had qualified for Kona (the World Championships) or missed it by a couple seconds. Yeah...))

After the swim, we all did a short 5 mile run and then headed to 'The Pub and Grub'-- which quickly became our favorite spot to hang out at and eat for the rest of the trip. :)

*What's the smallest race you've ever done? 

*Have you ever lost or broke something while traveling? 

Best flight of my life!!

We made it to New Zealand!!!!

I still cannot believe we are here!!

Look how cute their money is!! 

Let's back up a minute- so as you know, I was absolutely terrified for the flight coming over here- it was the longest flight I've ever done and it was flying over water. We got onto the plane (which was beyond amazing!) and got settled into our seats. Each seat had it's own TV, blanket, and pillow. Since it was a night flight they turned out all the lights and there was just a soft purple glow.
I was surprisingly calm as we watched The Hobbit's version of the safety video on my TV screens and as we took off. (I think because it was a biggest plane and I had head phones in I couldn't feel or hear it so that helped.) We both had to watch it on mine because 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter's' TV screen was not working, and he was paging for help and sending messages saying 'PLEASE SEND HELP!' he was not a very happy camper. They did get it fixed a few hours into the flight though!

I finished my first movie and fell asleep. I pretty much slept the rest of the way there- they woke us up at some point with breakfast- that was delicious! I tried starting another movie- but fell asleep.

I was sitting next to a Mormon missionary, and as we were landing I could tell he was really excited. I asked if he was just starting his mission or returning home from it- he was returning and he was super excited! We chatted a bit about doing Ironman and some fun places he recommended going. When he finally was reunited- we heard lots of clapping and cheers!

Going through customs was nothing spectacular, they basically asked why we were coming and told us to have fun. We did have to x-ray all of our luggage again (it was always a pain with the heavy bike boxes) BUT they did have the cutest little puppy sniffing all of us and our bags! He was super excited and you could tell he absolutely LOVED his job! ;)

We spent at few hours at the airport waiting for our rental van- which we thought would be more than big enough  for the 4 of us but we quickly found out we suck at car tetris  we barely fit!!

While we were waiting at the airport, I found us a hostel to stay at. We were all borderline scared to stay at a hostel in a foreign country because of the movies- but it turned out to be AMAZING once we got there. We had a private room, aka apartment, so it was just us and it was pretty decent size. Plus, we were right in the middle of the town, so there was a ton of stuff to check out around us, and we had a GORGEOUS run right along the beach.

After our run, we wandered around town and just took everything in. It was Chinese New Year- so EVERYONE was out celebrating and it was an awesome experience!
Our hostel was at the top of a hill, and I literally think we walked up and down that dang hill about 10 times! Definitely a work out!

Once we finally made it back to our room for good, there were fireworks right outside of our window! (I'm assuming for Chinese New Year.) They were incredible and we had a GREAT view!!

We are leaving Aukland tomorrow and driving 4 hours to Taupo- which is where the race it and where we're going to stay the rest of our trip.

*What's been your best (or worst) plane trip?

*Have you ever stayed in a Hostel? If not, would you?

New Zealand here we come!!

We definitely stayed up WAYYY too late packing - like 2:30am late. (Secretly, that was kinda my plan- so I would be super tired and sleep for a majority of our 13 hour flight.)

But I had to wake up and be at work at 7am- that sucked. I worked for a little bit and left at 11. 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' and I then drove to meet our friends, load our super sweet mini-van rental, and drive out to LAX.

It was jammed packed!! (4 bike boxes, 4 suit cases, and 4 back packs!) We made it to California just in time for some perfect weather.... not.

Wonderful phone pic.... I need a new phone. :/

If you know me- you know I absolutely HATE flying. (Even the 1 and a half hour flight to my dads house in Colorado is still absolutely terrifying and I've done that a million times.) So just the thought of 13 long hours on a plane-- scared the crap out of me. (We planned pretty well and made it to where our flight left LAX at 9pm and then arrived in New Zealand at 7am- a day ahead. Hoping we would sleep a majority of the flight since it was overnight.)

Our last selfie in America for 2 weeks! We just finished stretching and are literally about to board the plane- I am terrified!!

What's the longest flight you've ever been on? 

Have you ever left the country? If so, where did you go? 

20 loooong miles

I did it! I ran 20 miles tonight!! It was anything but pretty- but I did it.

'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' joined me for the first 2 miles and we kept a 9 minute pace per mile. It went by so fast and felt great! Then I dropped him off at the house and kept his watch and kept going for another 18 miles.... 18 loooong miles. Alone.

I ran my 4.25 miles loop around my block and by that point, it was starting to get pretty dark. Since I don't like to run by myself in the dark, I decided to stay in my neighborhood.

I had music, but I still got bored, and I could see my dogs from the window get so excited every time I passed by, so I decided to grab one of them, run a mile, switch dogs, run a mile. I repeated that 4 times.

At this point, I was getting extremely bored in the neighborhood and ventured out down the road a bit. I still had my music on and a pretty intense song came on about a women walking to her car and someone following her... yeah, I definitely started running faster! haha!

I went back home to refill my water bottle at 17.75. At this point, I was planning on finishing my last 2 miles inside on our treadmill, but when I walked in, 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' was cooking dinner and told me just to finish it.

So... I went back outside and ran out 1.15 miles and then headed back. (longest 2.25 miles ever!) I was SO ready to be done and SO glad when it beeped 20 miles.

This was literally me getting into bed tonight. Haha! My legs are dead!

From my Instagram: TeamSprinklesAndGlitter

This was my last long workout before Ironman New Zealand and I am officially tapering. It's crazy that we are already so close! we leave in 11 days!

What's the longest run you've ever done? 

Do you run outside or on a treadmill?