I've made it!

At work we are in the middle of the annual Staff Survey. In the glossary at the beginning, I've discovered that I'm officially categorised as 'middle management'.

Sounds like success in the 1950s, doesn't it?

before the race

do I look ready to go???

I've just realiaed that I'm not going to be home for the next 7 weekends...

This weekend I'm in Perth, the following weekend I leave for Thailand for a week (so that includes the following weekend) and then the weekend after that I head back to California for 4 weekends (including one weekend in Atlanta!).

I'm going to start the daily Berocca now.

Triathletes are insane

I can say that cause I'm one. Woke up Sunday morning to constant rain and very cold conditions - don't know the temp, but it was cold. Especially since the end of Nevember is the start of summer. Hello?!

I put all my gear in the car and drove down to the course at 7 (for an 8am race), fully expecting there to be noone... and far out if every single triathlete in Canberra was there, keen as. Sheesh. It was ridiculous. I stood my ground and until 7:35 was not going to race, but decided at the last minute that since I"d already paid, and everyone I knew was out there, about to race or volunteering for the race is some form, I should really just harden up and do it. So I did.

The swim (in the lake) was okay - it was freezing, but I felt strong and my shoulder didn't give me any grief. Coming out of the water I had no idea where in the standings I might be, the entire bike transistion looked empty to me, so I was convinced I was last out of the water. (Not entirely true). In my rush to set up transisiton before the race I forgot to leave out a pair of socks (they would've been soaked in any event cause of the rain) so I had to put my shoes on with no socks for the ride and the run (but no blisters, which is good!).

Headed out on the ride (18K) and it was okay, but freezing in my tri-suit. Had a gu at the start of the ride and it went okay - felt like I was slogging through most of it (a 4 lap course can get repetitive). As I started out on the run, my toes, which had been frozen in the lake, were still numb having not participated much in the cycling portion, and they stayed frozen for the entire 4K! Usually there is pain off the bike, but it eases as the Ks tick by, but my feet were ice blocks the entire time! Not such a fun feeling, but I think my last 2Ks were faster than my first 2, which is a good sign.

All in all, a good race in crap conditions. I got home, cleaned the bike, cleaned me, fed me, and went to sleep. Went to an indoor soccer game - usually I can back up a soccer game to a race, but not yesterday - I was dead. When I went to sleep last night even my ankles were exhausted. I slept very well! :)

Next race is the Olympic Distance (1K swim/40K bike/10K run) at the end of January. Luckily I have a 4 week training camp in CA leading up to that... so all should be good!! (yes, I just called my holidays a training camp...)

official Katie

This is at the launch of an egg safety campaign in Victoria last week. I was the MC for the event.

So nice!

Look at this pretty cactus flower in my front yard! It smells divine too!

I found my heart in Noosa

A couple of weekends ago I did some travelling that wasn't for work! It was a novel experience - one I'd like to repeat!

I went up to Noosa (on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland) for the Noosa Triathlon festival - the largest triathlon in the southren hemisphere and the start of the racing season in Australia. It's an olympic distance (1K swim/40K bike/10K run) and it was the olympic distance debut of a bunch of novices from last year. I didn't compete because of my shoulder injury but went up as team mom - drove the Tarago and 5 nervous athletes around all weekend. I loved it!!!!

Here's me and Kate and Frances - the core of the A-Team - and my best mates in Canberra:


Transistion before:


Transition after (with about 4000 bikes!!!):


Frances with Emma Snowsill (Australian gold medalist in triathlon in Bejing - she's TINY and so impressive!):


We had heaps of fun and I'd love to tell you more, but what happens in Noosa...

My first tri of the season is in 2 weeks - 23 Nov - 400m swim/16K bike/4K run. Should be fun!

And I thought Christmas came early in the States!

I was in the mall last week and guess who's coming to town this Saturday?


At least in the States there's Thanksgiving to give some sort of a limit to commercial Christmas exposure!

Unrelated... I got to watch the election returns coverage from a party hosted by the US Embassy at the National Press Club. I got to take the afternoon off work and have mini hotdogs, mini hamburgers, and red/white/blue m&ms and jelly beans. Yummy. Although a bit sad that this is the defintition of 'American fare' (plus donuts and pretzels).

Anywhoo... the room was decked out and they had a CNN feed so I was content. There was a lot of schmoozing by these second tier (my presumption) diplomats - none of whom I needed to schmooze so I dis work in the corner and watched it all. THe US Ambassador to Australia (I know - you were thinking it'd be the Ambassador to Chile?) spoke - he's from Georgia and it was cool to hear a Georgia accent again. Reminded me of the last time I talked to RYW on the phone - I miss that accent!!!




see how I captured the bald (sorry, balding with a combover) head right in front of me - that's so you can feel like you're right there with me!