Beach Week - YAY!!!!!

I graduated from University of South Carolina Upstate's Nursing BSN program about 4 weeks ago and was so excited to be able to come down to Florida with the family for a week. Honestly, I travel out of town almost every weekend, but this is really the first time that I have gotten to actually relax. Of course, I continued to train while I was down here ... but it definitely was a more relaxed atmosphere.


We started out the week with a reveal party. What is a reveal party? Well, no one knew the gender of my sisters baby except me, not even her or her husband. I ordered a cake with the gender specific color inside and then we all got together. Ben's parents were skyping on one computer & my grandparents were on another computer. It turned out great ... and ... it's a GIRL!!!

It has been a great week with the family. Too bad I have to go back to reality soon. My NCLEX is two weeks from today, and I am freaking out! My goal is to study full time until then so I'm cutting down my work hours. I plan to kick this tests butt! =)

Low Country Splash 2.4mi: 05-19-12

This was a swim I have wanted to do for the last several year & was finally getting to do it!

During the summer of 2008, I started racing triathlons. It was then that my love for swimming took hold. Ever since then I have wanted to race this 2.4 mile swim, but was unable to due to it landing during my families vacation time in Florida. This year it fell on the week before our FL timeshare & I was so excited. From really a year out I was planning on racing this event. I was telling everyone I was racing ... but there was only one problem ... I forgot to register for it! Yep, that's right folks. I forgot again! I had asked off work and was planning on driving down there Friday morning after my early bike ride with Nicole & Jeff. We were biking early b/c we wanted to spend the afternoon in Charleston. Thursday night I awoke in a cold sweat when I realized that I had not registered for the race. Stink! I pulled out my smart phone and looked up the website & found where it said "Online Registration Closed [and] No On-site Registration." I was devastated. How on earth was I going to tell Nicole!

I was really grumpy the next morning. Maybe b/c it was 4:30am, but it was also b/c I knew I had to break the news to her that something I had been planing for a year wasn't going to happen b/c of my stupidity. On the drive over to meet Jeff for our bike ride I finally told her. Turns out she had received an email the day before saying there would be registration at packet pick-up. YAY!!!

The morning of the race was weird. There was no bike to haul, no transition bag & no tri suit to put on. We had heard rumor that conditions were dangerous and it might get canceled ... so the alarm goes off & Nicole instantly looks up the website to make sure it was still a "go!" I think she secretly wanted it to be canceled! =) We arrived at the parking lot & the busses were ready to take us to the start. It was bazaar standing there, only holding my goggles, swim cap & towel. We were bused to the start line and it was a throw back to the good 'ol elementary school days. The air temperature was freezing and the winds were crazy! What are we doing!?! I had to strip down to my swimsuit and then stand around while they were doing the pre-race talk. It was sooo cold. Nicole was trying to use me as a wind blocker and hide behind me - stinker!

The swim went great. I had never done a "swimmers" event and was surprised at how aggressive everyone was at the start. They were not there to play nice & if you got in their way they were going to push you down as they swam over you. Thankfully I'm pretty aggressive as well. I held my own & didn't let them push me around. I had overheard some of the swimmers talk & say that once you got to the bridge there was only 3/4ths of a mile left to go. My strategy was to swim strong, but keep enough in the tank so that I could really push from the bridge to the finish line. There was only one problem with that. After the bridge the bay opened up and the water became very choppy. When I say choppy I mean it was the choppiest water I have ever swam in. It felt like we were in a washing machine. It was nearly impossible to incorporate sighting into your stroke while keeping your stroke seamless. Sometimes you looked up & all you saw was water because you were at the bottom of a wave. Sometimes you would put your arm out and all you felt was air because you were at the top of a wave. It really was crazy, but I loved it! My finishing time was 1:00:11. Woohoo!!!

I had so much fun. Even though I couldn't crank it out the tail end of the swim like I had planned, it wasn't because I didn't have the energy left for it. I was so excited when I got out of that water and still had energy. This means my base training is there as I start to venture into Ironman training I definitely felt like I could have gotten on a bike after hopping out of that bay water.


We finished the day by going back out & through the markets and shops in Charleston. It was a great trip.

Lake Murray Sprint: 05-06-12

Playing in the lake with everybody ... even Lily the dog!

You know the old saying ..."don't do anything new on race day?" Well, I kinda botched that one up!

I like this race. The area is beautiful and I was lucky enough that one of my TNTers had a house right there on Lake Murray. Three of my TNTers, Nicole & I went down to race this triathlon. It was so nice to play in the lake & just relax the night before the race. Nicole made us all our normal pasta dinner while I went over some last minute open water swimming tips with the TNTers in the lake and then washed the bikes down.

So happy after its over

Race mornin: The TNTers were all nervous since this was their first triathlon ever. Everyone found their places in TA and got all set up & then went to go get warmed up. Time did not allow me to warm up in the lake & that threw me off a bit, but it's all good. The gun goes off and we are swimming. I had told Nicole to hang on my feet and draft, but I guess that didn't really work. My sighting was right on and I finally got into a nice groove about half way through. After taking that last turn and heading back to shore I started hitting men from the wave before us. Wow, I slammed right this one guy ... he was going perpendicular to me ... um, WRONG way buddy!! Got out and it was a mad dash to TA to get on the bike. The bike felt great! I had recently changed my bike fit around so I could start activating my gluts. This was my BIG MISTAKE of the day. This race was really the first time I had been on a real bike ride with the new fit.

Emily celebrating after placing in the Novice division!

It felt great ... until the run! I have changed my mentality when it comes to running. My goal is to consider myself a "runner" by the end of the season and so I went into this race excited to see what I could do on the run portion. Ha! With the newly activated muscles on the bike, I was in for a long run/walk 5k. Yes, I said run/walk. I've gotten new running shoes and absolutely love them. My form has improved and also my times. Unfortunately, every time I hit an incline my legs cramped like no other. My legs cramped so bad that I would end up swinging my legs around to put on in front of the other. It was a pretty funny sight!! I stopped a few times to try and stretch them out, but they came right back. Oh well, live and learn right! I still had fun and was excited to feel good on the run (when my legs weren't cramped so bad that they were stuck straight out). =)

Scott rocking it as he ran into the finish chute

TryCharleston Half: 04-21-12

"The triathlon that didn't happen"

Yes, this is where we were supposed
to be swimming for the race!

This was my first half of the 2012 season. I was excited to be going down and racing with the crew. Lots of friends, a long weekend at the beach, and a big race ... nothing could be better! 

... Uh oh, I forgot to register for the race. I knew Wednesday was the last day to sign up, but I thought it closed at 7pm not am. OOPS. Crisis averted - Elizabeth w/ SetUp Events said I could register at packet pick-up on Friday. Whew!

Turns out there has been a stomach bug going around I just happened to get it Friday night. I ended up hugging the porcelain thrown all night. After a rough night I knew there was no way I could race, seeing as I would be going into it dehydrated and still sick. I decided to sit this one out. Nicole ended up having an ear infection & couldn't swim or stay on her bike b/c her equilibrium was all off ... so BOTH of us were out! Ugh. 

I definitely think that pulling out was a good decision for both of us. We rested up and managed to wander out to the race site to see our friends cross the finish line. Even if our cheering wasn't as enthusiastic as normal we still wanted to go out & show our support for the crew.

The Crew

Premature loss of a dear friend

Donny Jacobs: 11/28/85-4/3/12

Today I had to speak at my dear friend's funeral. Since we were inseparable when we were young, the family asked me to speak about his early years. Death becomes a common occurrence to you when you are in the healthcare field, but his death knocked me upside the head like a ton of bricks. When you are 25 you don't expect someone you have been close to since the cradle to fall asleep and not wake up. Donny was a great guy. He was going to be graduating from Vanderbuilt as a nurse practitioner with a specialty in critical care. He wanted to be the best nurse there was, and he was on that path of becoming just that. Even though we had gotten older and started on our own pathways of life, he was someone that I always felt close to even if we hadn't talked or seen each other in a while. Donny showed me that it was okay to set your sights high and then go for them and achieve them. He was an incredibly successful nurse and an inspiration to me for going back to nursing school and achieving my goals.

Below is what I read at his funeral.

Hi – My name Sarah Parker, & I grew up with Donny.

Today is a happy- sad day for us. Sad because a very dear friend has left this earth. But it is also a happy day because we are celebrating the life of Donny, our dear friend. When I think about it- for me, Donny has always been there. Let me explain … the fact is that I honestly cannot remember life before we were friends. Both our parents work at Bob Jones University and we were neighbors in faculty court on campus. Donny and I ended up being play buddies and doing everything together as youngsters, whether we were supposed to or not!

As I started thinking back on all those good times, I couldn’t help but laugh at many of the things we did - and things we got in trouble for doing.

One day Donny, Allen & I were playing tag & I was “it.” The boys started to climb the trees to get away from me, so I went up after them. Higher and higher we went. These trees just happened to be directly up against the back of the Dinning Common, and it turned out if you went high enough you could get up onto the roof … and that’s just what we did! We thought we were pretty cool running around up there and we almost got away with it, but the next thing we knew one of us was stuck and someone had to go get a ladder to save us.

Donny’s love for science started when he was young. I can remember going over to his house & he’d show me all the cacti he was growing or his new snake that he had to feed. He even had those hermit crabs & we would sit and stare at those things forever in the hopes that one would come out of its shell and move into the next/bigger size shell. He promised me that they actually did do it, but I surely never saw it happen!

His family had moved to over Blythwood Street and we moved to White Oak- just one street apart. We walked home from school together almost every day. We would stop, inspect bugs, and talk about any and everything. One day we stopped to look at someone’s new puppy. Time slipped by and we knew that we better hurry home. We gathered our things- well most of them. The next day on the way home Donny spotted my viola case in the ditch. It had been left in there overnight!

I used to get so mad at Donny in elementary school. He started going to LRC a couple of times a week during recess to work on homework. Recess was supposed to be our time during the school day to have fun. It’s when we pretended we were orphans stuck in an orphanage, trying to escape from the evil teachers. Whether it was his choice, or not, back then he learned early that his studies were important and he worked hard to better himself.

One year we were fascinated by ladybugs and we started catching as many as we could at recess. It was our personal science project. When we walked home from school together we would catch even more of them. Our poor mothers got stuck with all the forgotten ladybugs, squashed in our backpack pockets … and the smell was not nice! We tried so hard to be legitimate scientists. We tallied the number of spots each bug had and gave them names. Donny learned what they liked to eat and we made them a home. It was really just a huge pickle jar from school with holes poked in the lid for air, but it was our little creation. My mom was a K4 teacher and she figured out a way for Donny and I to come over to her class and teach them about a ladybug’s life. Ok, maybe it helped that his dad was the principle! We must have been in either 3^rd or 4^th grade at the time. I will never forget how excited we were walking across the playground, over to the other elementary building, holding our big pickle jar full of ladybugs. Donny was a leader and a teacher at heart from the beginning.

It is neat to see the different qualities that made Donny special as a young boy, represented in the grown up version of the Donny we all knew and loved. What you saw in Donny is what you got. He was one of those loyal friends that you could always count on. He had a heart a mile wide, and a smile to go with it.

Donnie has been a major inspiration in my own nursing pursuits – he was a constant encouragement and cheerleader to me. I will greatly miss my friend

Downtown Columbia Sprint Triathlon

This triathlon was close enough to home so we decided to save some $$$ and drive down the morning of the race. Jeff came with us as the babysitter, so AJ was able to come too! They were great cheerleaders! I stayed at Nicole's house and she even cleaned my bike while I was at work ... my my how the tables have turned!

4:45 am - I am blinded by my room light being turned on in an attempt to wake me up ... thanks Nicole! You're a great alarm clock =)

The drive wasn't very long, but I still managed to pass out ... that was until Jeff took a picture of me and used the flash. I remember waking up from my nice slumber and saying "you're sooo mean!" Of course that picture quickly got uploaded to Facebook. Btw, don't listen to what they said, I was not drooling!

Guess you could say it was any other normal race morning. This was my first race wearing my new On On Tri jersey! We got to transition, set everything up, got body marked, laughed with friends, tested out the bikes ... ooo... why isn't my bike shifting into the big crank. I start to panic & was not very happy. Thankfully there was bike mechanic there and he tightened up my cables for me, and then I was all good again. =)


What?!? It's already time to go into the pool?!? We start lining up in numerical order and I started to panic again. Seriously? I am #49. What if I am not fast enough for being #49 and get passed ... I don't like getting passed in the pool! They tell me to go and I take off running. Last week I walked to the edge and then dove. Well this time I was feeling a little confident and decided to run and then dive. Haha! You know you are in the air way to long when you feel like you are floating in the air and wondering what's going to happen next. And then all of the sudden I just kinda went kerplop into the water & my goggles ended up around my neck. Ooops! Gotta practice that a little more! Ok, so it turns out #49 was perfect. I didn't get passed, but I did pass 3 people! The swim felt pretty good. I ended up passing the first guy at the first wall but then it was clear sailing till the last 50 where I hit the 2 ladies. After climbing out of the pool I took off running into transition. 44 seconds baby & I was out on my bike!

The bike was a 3 loop course through downtown Columbia. This year my bike was a little faster than last year, and the course felt so much safer! I pushed hard & I only threw up once! Yes, maybe I'm on the mend! It was a technical course and you definitely needed to be alert. Every time I take a fast corner I still get nervous & feel my bike sliding out from under me (even though it's not), but at least now I don't really slow down because of it anymore. Katie whizzed by me at one point & yelled out some encouraging words. At the end of the last biggest hill, Nicole passed me and hollered at me too. Maybe one of these days I will be zooming around like them =)

Ah, the run. Hmm ... well it was slower than last year. Obviously I was not happy about this. I could chalk it up to the 55mi bike and T-run from the day before, but whatever. That's what happens when you are training for a 70.3 and are using this race as a training day. It is disappointing to see the lack of improvement in my run. Honestly its my own fault though. My coach (Nicole) tells me what I am supposed to do ... I have just had issues getting it done. Look at Katies freaking awesome running form in the picture below. I think she's even smiling! Yep, that's what I have got to work on! If anything the run this past weekend was a wake up call and helped me realign my training priorities.

Even with the slower run I was able to bring home 2nd place in my age group (25-29)!!

I am now on recovery week. Yay! Since Sunday's race I have already been working on my running drills and I will continue to work on the run as the weeks go by.

Going Local - New Racing Team

Power On!

I am racing for a new team!! This season I made the decision to support my local triathlon shop and will be racing for On On Tri. I am so very excited about this opportunity. They've got great customer service and dedicated to providing athletes with equipment, knowledge, & service to support them in obtaining their athletic goals. Al & Jamie over there are fantastic! If you need anything and are in Greenville head on down to 400 E McBee Ave, and if you're not local ... just click on their logo on my sidebar to go to their website (www.onontri.com). Check out their online store, services and don't miss the On On Tri University for some great reviews, blogs & videos. You will find great info, great gear and great prices!!