Search and Rescue

I haven’t sat down to write in some time.  The other day, doing a long run in the sunshine, I thought….where have I gone?  It then dawned on me, “Paula has been a little lost.”

Getting too caught up “life”....  Not really my style.

I learned years ago that there are things I cannot, should not, and honestly really do not want to:  Control. 

Life is so much easier, happier and joyful when I just live and let God have the control He should.  Needed a reminder of that.

As most of you know, I had a few races this year that I was planning.  Some I have done, some not, and some I had decided to let go of until another year.  I got into a serious FUNK this winter/spring.  Not wanting to do a whole lot.  It happens.  I just don’t think a lot of people realize it happens.  Not sure if it was necessarily depression, (I'm not into labels)  just a lack of wanting to train.   I was not completely couch bound, just not into my normal routine.  I had decided that I was going to take this year off from racing.  I had a few minor set backs through the winter that tried to side-line me.  One serious cold that hung on for weeks it seemed and then a diagnosis from my Dr of a “sluggish” thyroid.  I knew something wasn’t right.  My serious tiredness, sometimes utterly exhausted, my inability to get and stay warm, I just felt “off.”  Long story short, we are working on getting that back on track. 

Also as women, we tend to want to “fix things” in our lives or get caught up in things that we shouldn’t.  That is NOT how I roll…but for a few months, I allowed my self to get swallowed up into aspects that were not mine to dwell over and control.   Mentally and physically I needed to get back to myself.  I am not a “worrier” not a “follower” not a “drama queen” not a “gossiper” not a “downer” not a “complainer”  If things aren’t RIGHT in my life, I change, adapt, and let go, to allow God to take over.

Send Search and Recue out to find Paula, please!

Thank goodness the Life Boat showed up!

Fast forward to now.  Mind changed on racing, and moving forward with training.  I decided to dive in and hire a coach.  That has given me some focus.  A plan.  I am right back where I love to be.  Training hard everyday, back to my yoga practice, back to having my quiet time.  God needed to remind me that in the quiet, is where He is.  When I get too busy doing “stuff” I have a hard time hearing His still, small, voice.  I allowed unnecessary busyness to sneak in where it shouldn’t be, and was not invited to be.

I am on track training for Ironman Canada.  Have a ½ marathon this Sunday, Missoula Marathon (in Missoula Montana) and next Sunday, Fueled By Fine Wine ½ (in Dundee Hills/Portland, Oregon) which will fulfill the criteria to become a Half Fanatic, on track for the Chicago Marathon in October (shout out to my RMM girls that are joining me) and have a lot of fun travel and adventure coming up. 

Now that I am in the life raft…I am allowing God to lull my life me back to where I love to be.  IN the raft, drifting with the current.  Slowed down, enjoying the moment, loving the quiet, not sweating the small stuff, getting rid of the “busy,” inviting in the joy, laughing, meditating on His greatness, accepting His grace, enjoying every day that I have left of this fabulous life.

It’s going to be an amazing summer!

~Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."  Matthew 11:28-30 The Message

Girls Just Want to Have Fun!

I let this blog go too long, between writing.  Especially in the summer, when I am running around having fun, and not sitting down to take care of it.

Summer is in full swing here in beautiful Coeur d’Alene (I think) and it is gettin’ busy!  Filling up with fun nights downtown with friends, dinners al fresco, camping, SUP, beach days, hiking, boating, you name it!  I feel like summer is my down time, but at the same time I am busier than ever….but in a fun way!  Our warm weather is way too short to not FREAK OUT in the sunshine every chance I get!!

Two weeks ago, a bunch of crazy girls and I went down to Portland, Oregon to run the Fueled By Fine Wine ½ Marathon.  We did this race last year with a smaller group of girls, but as word spread, we had a much larger group representing the 83815.  We had a BLAST!  The drive over was a blast, and full of giggling between my friend and I.  It included a stop at the Naked Winery.  Our favorite place to stop in Hood River (and our favorite wine club) They always treat us so great!  Their wine is incredible…I cannot get enough of it.

 Naked Winery with Alicia, Brenda & Dee

The day before the race we spent the day in Pacific City hangin’ on the beach, watching surfers (ummmm….even in a wetsuit that H2O is FREEZING) having lunch, and climbing the Dune of Death!

Such a great day!  After getting back we met the rest of our group for dinner at the ever-fabulous McMenamins.  Some of our girls spent the day making an amazing drive while supporting the boys on their Seattle to Portland Bike Race!  They did such a great job!  Rode over 200 miles in one day, and were still up for a fun dinner with us!  Great job C & B!!  You two ROCK!!

The WHOLE gang together representing the 83815 at McMenamins

The race itself was hard and hilly.  Oh man, those hills!  We had such a great time, taking pictures along the way, laughing, and running through the vineyards.  The views were spectacular, as always!  That race is just top-notch!  And of course with the whole Tiffany and Co theme and prizes, great swag, awesome race shirts and medals, how could you NOT want to race, right?  I am hoping that next year they raffle one of those beautiful Range Rovers that are parked there and are race sponsors.  Hint Hint!  This has become, in the last 2 years one of my favorite races to run.  It is a tough course.  Very challenging.  This year, we took our time.  No agenda for a good pace.  And with a couple of injured friends, we looked at it as a “fun time together” no pressure.  It was certainly not my fastest ½ marathon, but possibly one of my most memorable! 

Girls just wanna have fun!

Post race, we headed for lunch and spent the afternoon wine tasting at some amazing vineyards in the Dundee Hills.

At Four Graces

Heading home Monday, we took our casual time.  Hiking Multnomah Falls, which was so breathtakingly beautiful and of course stopped in Hood River to get "Naked" again!!  

It was so nice to have such great friends all around, and great bonding time.  Can’t wait for next year!!

Nice Bling

This was on the car ride over!!

 All finished and ready for wine!  GREAT job Kim on your first 1/2 marathon finish!!

Kim, Me, Natalie & Alicia

It's Summm-aaahhh!

As summer is rolling into Coeur d’Alene (we are going to have summer, right??) and the race season is starting up, you’ve just gotta love the fun and a excitement around this city!  Car d’Lane is this weekend….and I keep seeing the old cars and hot rods coming into town.  Ironman is in a week and a half!  After racing it last year, this season as been so different for me.  I get to be out there volunteering, and supporting all of these amazing athletes racing this year.  I am over-the-top excited for my friends racing this year.  Some, veterans of IMCdA, and a few first timers.  It has been fun listening to them talk about their upcoming race.  Nerves are kicking in.  Ironman is quite a ride…I don’t care who you are.  I have a few very close friends racing for the first time, and I get just as excited for them, as I was last year for my own race.  Just seeing and being around people that you just KNOW are over-coming huge fears, over coming not being able to swim a year ago, not ever being on a road bike a year ago, or never even running a 5k before.  It is amazing to me to be on this journey with them.  Overcoming obstacles.  Putting yourselves out there.  It is exhilarating!  I absolutely cannot wait to see them along the course, make posters for them on the run, and see them cross that finish line.  WOW!!  What an accomplishment.  Seeing it from this view, and not a racer is amazing!

I am volunteering for Saturday bike check in.  Seeing athletes bringing in their bike, stetting them up, watching the quiet nerves, excitement, and adrenaline as they walk into transition with their bags and set up what they will use for race day.  Last year, just getting into transition made my stomach flip-flop!  I practiced running from the changing tents to my bike, counted the rows, knew what tree to sight off of in my line up, ran it several times. 

I am in the kayak in the water for the swim.  I am sure I will not see anyone I know, but every one of them, I will know….IM swimmers.  Churning and tearing through that water.  It will be an amazing vantage point..

Then catching.  Seeing these friends and athletes cross the finish!  Exhausted and exhilarated!  It’s going to be an amazing day!

My next race coming up, Fueled by Fine Wine ½ marathon in Dundee outside of Portland Oregon.  Ran this last year and going again with a whole entourage of girls.  One BIG girls trip to run and eat and laugh and drink wine!  What more could a girl want?  I cannot wait!

I started my Asylum (Insanity) camp yesterday.  I am going to try and chart my progress.  We weighed in, took measurements, did body fat and did our first day of assessment yesterday.  GULP!  That was tough!  It’s amazing, you can be in great shape and as soon as you add in new things, you seem to be completely out of shape.  I am a forward moving kind of girl.  Swim forward, bike forward, and run, run, run forward (ok, and sometimes sideways ;) all of this jumping and on my hands and feet bear crawling is all new to me.  I sweat, I moan, I want to lay down and cry, and I dislike (not really) our coach because he laughs at the torture he brings us.  But in 8 weeks, I will have a big happy smile on my face, and a rockin’ BOD!!

~~Keep ya posted!

To my IM peeps, YOU guys are utterly amazing.  Your training is almost done, and you have done it well.  You are ready.  You are confident. You are fast.  You are rock stars. You are strong.  You are competent. You are an inspiration to EVERYONE around you.  You are going to hurt, and be tired, and sweat and cry, but you will be an Ironman on June 26^th!!!!! Woot Woot!!

~See ya at that finish line!

Fueled by Fine Wine ½ Marathon, Vixen, Diva, and Dominatrix style.

Just got back from a fun-filled weekend with the girls.  Racing, wine, good friends and the ocean.  All wrapped up in one little package. 

Brenda, Michelle, and I hopped into the car and headed out Friday afternoon towards Oregon, where we would be running the Fuel by Fine Wine ½ Marathon in Dundee Hills. We were excited and giddy as we took off.  The drive over was gorgeous as usual…well, once we got to the Columbia Basin, and onto the Hood River.  Our first stop was the Naked Winery in Hood River.  What a place.  We tasted some fabulous wines, and has some pretty good laughs when we started noticing the names; Vixen Syrah, Tease Riesling, Naughty Chardonnay, Penetration Cabernet, Diva Sangiovese, Dominatrix Pinot Noir to name a few.  We tasted, we loved, and we left…how’s that for a one night stand?

Onto Portland to our friends Angie, and Thomas’, who were so sweet to put us 3 crazy girls up for a few days.  They were the greatest hosts, and we loved hanging out with them, their friends, and dogs.  Angie was also running the ½ with us. 

Saturday started and we were anxious for packet pick up at the Dobbes Winery.  We got there and the 4 of us IMMEDIATELY noticed all the beautiful blue, Tiffany & Co boxes sitting on the tables, alongside, various bottles of wine, and gorgeous race medals. They handed us our race bags, cute little reusable bags by Wine by Joe, filled with all sorts of goodies.  Race stickers, LOTS of coupons for free tastings in the Dundee area, and a fabulous Columbia Titanium tech shirt.  We all sat and drooled over the medals, and were impressed with the schwag and the Land Rover, and Tiffany sponsors. 

Michelle, Angie, Myself & Brenda

Then we headed to the beach.  What a great day in Pacific City.  The sky was blue, and sun was out, and the waves were…cold.  We all put on our wetsuits to get in for a dip.  All of us were dipping in and out up to our knees.  COLD.  The before we knew it, we were all in.  Diving under waves, and splashing around like a bunch of kids.  We got out, had a quick lunch at the Pelican Pub.  Fueled up to hike the Dune.  The huge dune.  Again like a bunch of kids, getting to the top, climbing trees, and running back down so fast our ankles were surely flying over the backs of our heads.  We considered rolling, but sand…hmmm. 

We set back out for some more wine tasting.  What a day!! 

Sunday was race day, and we headed out early to get to the start.  None of us knew the course.  Hadn’t seen a map, but had heard it was hilly, and that is would probably not be a PR course.  The first few miles, about 5-6 were nice.  Gentle rolling hills through some low- lying vineyards in the valley.  What we didn’t know, that starting at about mile 7, we were climbing out of the valley.  The course went from rolling to some pretty significant climbs.  Hilly, at this point, was an understatement.  I was trying to take in all of the sites.  We were running on paved roads, then off to gravel, then into and through the vineyards and on Jory soil, which is what they plant the grapes in.  It was breathtaking.  No really…it was taking my breath away.  The hills.  HA.  It was some beautiful country, and once getting to the top, we could have not asked for a better view.  The valley below was stunning.  All you could see was vineyards for miles.  With the magnificent Mt. Hood, Mt. Saint Helens, and Mt. Bachelor in the background. Amazing.  The course was a challenge, which I loved. All of us ran a great race!!  We finished to a great post race party, where they handed us our medals, and a free wine glass and onto a huge tent full of vineyards for us to taste, and a lot of great post-race food, and even some chocolate!!  Did I mention wine tasting?

  Then off to the awards and raffle.  This was when was we were getting excited.  All of those little blue boxes perched on the table. They handed out age groupers, and over-all awards and we patiently waited for the raffles.  Calling off random bib numbers, was putting us girls into a frenzy.  They handed out caps, and socks, and wine….and then, the big boxes….”Closest number to 600????”  I was number 596.  WooHoo, we were all screaming as I ran up for my BIG blue Tiffany’s box to find inside a gorgeous wine decanter.  Unbelievable!  I was pretty darn happy with this day!!

We spent the rest of the afternoon, wine tasting at some various vineyards, visited a lavender farm and back to Thomas’ and Angie’s for a BBQ with their friends.  A send-off for a couple of them heading to race Ironman Lake Placid.  It was the perfect ending to our day.

This was a wonderful race!!  This was the first year, and it was so well run.  It was a great course, great location, great, post-race party!!  

We cannot wait to do it again, and have already made plans to make it an annual event. 

We also decided after coming back on Monday and stopping in Hood River again, to become wine club members at the Naked Winery, that we would like to run as Team Naked.  The Diva, The Vixen and The Dominatrix.  Our weekly training is going to consist of some good hill repeat training up to my house….1-mile uphill.  Followed by wine repeats, on the deck.  Cheers to good friends, great wine, and a challenging but spectacular race!!!