65 super fun miles!!

Today's bike ride was one of those rides where you're having so much fun and feel so great you feel like you could go forever! I loved every second of it!

We started super early to try to beat the heat and rode the beeline, our favorite. :)

We started with a pretty decent sized group, but by the end of our second loop it was just me and Diane left. We both felt great!

I'm really enjoying training this year, I feel like Triplex is really kicking my butt into shape and that's making the longer/harder workouts seem easier-- and I'm LOVING that!!

After I did some adulting (grocery shopping and meal prepping) Carsen and I hit up so FroYo.

*What did you do this weekend? 

*How often do to strength train? I usually do Triplex 3-5 times a week.

Mountain Man OLY!!

Today was SUCH an awesome day!

I've done a race this race before (and a race recap), so I'll just give you the highlights from today.

*Got there pretty early, set up transition, and hung out with friends.

*While walking down to the swim start with a group of friends, our friend Christian noticed a girl's wet suit was on inside out. He tapped her and said 'I don't want to freak you out, but you've got your wet suit on inside out'. She was with 2 of her girlfriends (who were also racing and had their suits on correctly), and she laughed and thought it was joking. She then asked him if it would make a big deal (being inside out), and he replied with 'I don't want to rain on your parade but...." She didn't seem to bothered by it-- but I did notice her later on changing it-- thank gosh!!

*Had a GREAT swim- felt great the whole time and really pushed it. (Averaged 1:58 and came out of the water 2nd in my age group.)

*Bike was fun- I know the course and know when to push it. But, my front break was rubbing and I had to stop twice to adjust it. Not cool. (Averaged 16.89 and finished 6th in my age group.)

*Felt good on the run- saw a LOT of friends (both racing and spectating) and it was awesome! ((Averaged 10:25 and finished 3rd in my age group.)

*Finished 4th overall. 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' killed it too!

*Grabbed some amazing food with Maria and her family before driving home.

*Once we got home, Carsen and I hit up Baskin Robbins. It was amazing!

*Anyone race this week? 

*What's your favorite kind of ice cream? Chocolate chip cookie dough!

Flagstaff again!!

I bet you'll never guess where we went again this weekend?! FLAGSTAFF!! I know, you probably shocked and never would have guessed it! ;)

Since the race is next weekend, it's SO hot in Phoenix, and hotel rooms are only $68 dollars we couldn't really pass it up. It's SO much cooler up there and it's so pretty!

We left a little later than usual, got food along the way, drove straight to Buffalo Park for a run.

It was gorgeous and we finished our run right as the sun was starting to set. Tried to take a photo of me running with the self timer on my phone. Who knew how hard it was to actually get a running picture like this?! 50 tries later and this is the best I got....

Props to all you people who take running selfies on the daily!! I still don't know how you do it!

After our run we were starving and didn't really know what we felt like. 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' was google-ing directions to a restaurant a friend recommended and I did more important things like take more selfie. ;)

Oh my gosh guys! It was seriously the BEST pizza ever! (We almost got another pizza to go do we could have it again tomorrow!) Pizzicletta, we will be back! They also had gelato that we go to go and ate back at the hotel room.

Funny story:: I asked 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' to take a photo of me with my gelato because it was melting.... I have about 10 photos similar to this one:

*What did you do this weekend? 

*What is your favorite kind of pizza?

100 days from today...!!

Ironman Arizona is 100 days away!!!!

I literally don't even know how this is possible! I feel like we JUST did Ironman Arizona and like we JUST got back from New Zealand!!

Time is flying by! I can't believe it! But ready or not- here it comes!! I have some pretty big goals for this race- mainly to redeem myself from last year after having a not-so-great race and hopefully PR and beat my original time of 14:45.

Definitely starting to feel real....

*Is anyone racing this weekend? 

*Anyone else doing Ironman Arizona?!

Something old, Something new, and Something blue....

Something Old.....

On of 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter's' best friends from elementary school was in the country visiting (from Laos!) and stopped in AZ to see us! Bonus- he had his fiance with him and it was so great to meet her!
I absolutely LOVE when these two boys get together because it's like they never missed a beat (even though we haven't seen him in a couple years) and the stories from their childhood and high school are freaking hilarious!!!

We hung out with them every night they were here, and one of the nights they came over and we all cooked dinner. Darren's fiance cooked us a traditional Laos meal (which was so, so, SOO good!!) and 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' made a ton of delicious food too! It kinda felt like Thanksgiving where you just keep eating even though you're full because it's too hard to stop! haha!

Something Blue.....

For the dinner, I tried to make a copycat recipe of the ToadStool Cupcakes-- I'm still super obsessed with them and cannot wait to have the real thing again!!

I made them mini to really recreate the ToadStool and they were really good but not that same.

Something New....!!

And for the grand finale of this post.... I finally got my new Triplex tri kit!! I absolutely LOVE it and cannot wait to race in it next weekend!!

*What's your longest friendship? My sister for 27 years! haha!

*What's your favorite dessert? I don't even think I need to answer this....

So many fun things!!

After we finished the race, we all took showers and headed to the Saturday Market for lunch. It was so awesome! They had all kinds of booths with different crafts, clothing, fresh food, and food trucks. All the food we got was AMAZING too!!

As we were leaving, we saw Toadstool Cupcakes and 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' insisted we stop.

YOU GUYS!! I definitely know my way around a cupcake and I am not kidding when I say these were the BEST CUPCAKES I've ever had! I'm not even kidding!

They were mini too, so we tried a few flavors. So, so, so good!! I'm already looking it up to see if they ship to AZ!

After the life-changing cupcakes, we headed to a belated birthday party for 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' and his dad (their birthdays are a day apart). This is what I was most excited for- because the friends house who was hosting the party has a pet raccoon! 'Ray the Raccoon' and I was BEYOND excited to meet him!

Look at his teeny, tiny paws! Oh my gosh- I can't even handle it! 

My mom had a pet raccoon when she was younger and always talked about how fun it was and how he used to sleep in her shoes, so I could not wait to meet one in person! Since I was so excited, Kelcie, 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter's' step-mom, called on the way over to make sure they still had it. They didn't! About a week ago, they found a animal rehabilitation center that had 2 other raccoon's that were the same age as Ray! They would spend 2 years together at the center (until they reached adulthood) and then they would be released back to the wild. They figured that would be best for Ray (who they found out was a Rayanne! ;))
I was super happy that Ray would have friends and eventually be back in the wild, but I was so sad I didn't get to meet him! :(

BUT- I did get to see 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter's' step siblings and they are some of my favorite people!!

We had some of the BEST food and then had some amazing birthday pies for desserts (with other cakes, homemade, ice cream, rice krispy treats.... everything was SOOO good!!)

We left pretty early because the next day we had BIG plans: we were going white water rafting!! I've never been and it's on my bucket list, so I was pumped!!

We got to the water and got everything loaded up and took off. We went about halfway and then stopped to have lunch. ('Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter's is a guide for lots of camping/rafting trips, and they had EVERYTHING! A portable table, fresh vegetables, sandwiches, etc. It was awesome!)

Then we got back on the raft for the more difficult FUN part of the river. Oh my gosh, YOU GUYS! I was dying laughing the entire time!! 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' and his stepbrother, Mikiel, were in front and they were paddling SO hard, and then we would hit a big wave- and they would be up in the air (not even close to the water) and they would still be paddling SO hard! (I'm laughing so hard just thinking about it!)

I had the absolute BEST time and I cannot wait to do it again!!
After we finished the rafting trip, we had to pack up and head to the airport. (Where we took a ridiculously small plane to Seattle. I hate flying, so this was NOT fun for me. haha!)

*Have you ever been rafting before? 

*What was your favorite part of the weekend?

Tri at the Grove Race Recap!!

This weekend, we headed up to Oregon to not only see 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter's' family again (remember he was just there last weekend?), but also to do the Tri at the Grove race!

'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' did this race last year with his dad- for his dad's FIRST triathlon!- and loved it so much we decided to come back. 

'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' flew in on Thursday morning, and I flew in Friday morning (with a stop in San Fran! I so desperately want to go to to that city and check it out! Definitely on my bucket list, it looked beautiful from the plane!) 

Once I got there, we jumped on our bikes and did an 18 mile ride. The weather was amazing and it was so pretty!! 

He was SO excited for another picture!

We hit up packet pick-up and then made our typical pre-race dinner at his dads house before going to bed. 

We woke up bright and early on race day and his dad had made me pancakes- they were SO good! Then headed down to the race. It was pretty cold (compared to Arizona) and I was really hoping it would warm up before it started. 

We got our transition areas set up and headed down to the water. It was a beach start with the guys starting 5 minutes ahead of the girls. It was a smaller race, so it was nice to talk with the other athletes in the water before the start. 

3-2-1! It was go time! (However, a little awkward, because right as we were about to start, the boat came in with a rescued athlete, who needed the EMT's (who were waiting with a stretcher). So they were yelling for us to "MAKE A HOLE!" for the boat while they were doing the count down. Luckily, we maneuvered around and the boat was able to get to shore, and then we all scrambled to take off.)

I started out pretty fast but still felt like everyone was passing me- haha! I got to the turn around point and remember thinking I was last. I tried to push it even harder on the way back and was so excited to see land!

I quickly got out and took off on my borrowed bike. (I was borrowing one of 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter's dad bike). The bike course was beautiful!! There were tons of tall trees and everything was SO green! Seriously, it was so pretty, definitely one of the prettiest races I've ever done! 

2 interesting things I saw on the bike course::

*a four year old mowing the lawn on a riding lawn mower. He was leaning back so far in the seat and had his hat on backwards. I think I laughed out loud at this! 

*a sheep with his head stuck in the fence! I felt so bad for him, and if there was a way I could have gotten to him, I would have tried to help, but there was an electric fence around the property. 

After the bike, I headed back into transistion (and saw 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter's family- who cheered so loud for me!) and took off on the run. 

Oh. My. Lanta! If I thought the bike was pretty- the run was even better! It was an out-and-back course right along the water with tall trees providing shade for the entire course!!

So much green!!!

I saw 'Mr. Sprinkles and Glitter' about a mile in and told him to push it to hit his goal. I felt amazing and the beautiful scenery definitely helped! I think I had my fastest Olympic run time on this course! 

He always has the BEST race photos!! 

I finished in 3:11- which is no PR but got me 4th place for my age group.

Out of all our friends that were racing, everyone made the podium except me. :( But I cheered REALLY loud for them and took lots of pictures when they got their awards!! haha!!

Now we are off to the Saturday Farmer's market, a belated birthday party (WITH Ray the Racoon!), and white water rafting tomorrow! I'm so excited I can't wait!

*What is the prettiest course you've ever raced? 

*What is your favorite animal? All of them! ;)