The greatest accomplishement is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall.
-Vince Lombardi


Man i fell off my blogging wagon. i was doing so well there for a bit. but it's been so hectic these past few weeks. boss has been on vacay so uhhh yay, everyone diverts to me..hahah boo. hehe so time to play catch up. and what better way then to do so w/ pictures! hehe haven't done one of these picture recaps for a while=P. so, what's been going on in this world of mine? well, for starters i got to see one of my favs in concert w/ one of my favorite peoples!

yep, that's miss janet at center stage w/ her combat look going on. she ended her set singing  "together again" and it had pictures of her and michael scrolling on the screen. ahhhhh. i was all excited and dancing around when she started singing. and then bam...once the pictures of janet & michael growing up started playing my eyes were getting all watery and sad. hahah dang you janet! but such an awesome, awesome tribute to your brother. i loved her concert....all her #1 hits. she's still got it, janet you rock! love love love...

let's see..then after the concert had to get into baking mode. why?? well, because i was asked to bake some cakes for our friends' twinsies that were turning 1! a bit stressful since i found out at the last minute, but i think everything turned out okay. i don't think i've ever baked so much in such a small amount of time! i had 2 small smash cakes for the girls and then a 2-tiered cake..each cake filled with 2-layered cakes. hahah and then the following day was my godson's bday and a belated bday for bro-in-law so i baked cuppycakes for my nephew and a cake for the bro. and to surprise my parents for their belated wedding anniversary i baked them  a cake too. phew. it was an 8 cake & 36 cupcake type of weekend. y'know..the usual! hahah at least our house smelled of freshly baked goods. yum yum. hahah.

twinsies cakes

and then the weekend after was the weekend i've been waiting for. the time to see if all my training finally paid off. it was triathlon time!!! welcome to sunny san diego for the spring sprint. it was a super sprint...so a good introduction for me into this new lifestyle.

south shores park to pick up our race packets

 and check out the course!

the lovely board letting us know what color cap we'd be assigned based on our age group and what time our wave start would be. hehe well i started at 7:20, no need to let you know my age=P. after we got our packets and previewed the course we were off to explore sd and have a big 'ol lunch.

well now, this meal was totally different than the meals i'd have the day/night before a running race. ha, hubby said it doesn't matter about the whole carbing up thing bc we're burning so many calories as it is. so uhhh yeah, here's our food splurge=P. don't worry..we couldn't finish all the fries..hahah.

i always get paranoid that we might forget something, so here's our pre-race gear check. ha, after everything was checked off...we put all the gear back into our transition backpacks only to unpack it again on race morning in the transition areas=P.

here's the swim preview. our swim start was to the left of this boat launch ramp that i'm standing on. hubby's wave was right before mine so it was really nice to have him there to pump me up and reassure me that everything would be okay. of course i had my morning jitters...so he stayed with me to warm up a bit in the water and get used to it again w/ my wetsuit on.

we pretty much swam in a rectangle around the buoys (which obviously aren't there yet) and beyond that ramp on the left side. we come back to the ramp on the left and swim back up to shore. the swim distance was just 1/4 mile..i know, not far for the experienced athletes...but a big accomplishment for myself. it was funny because the swim was actually the easiest sport for me that day out of the 3. crazy right? maybe it was the morning adrenaline but it wasn't as scary as i thought. i think all our training sessions swimming at the lakes & the bays helped A LOT! so yay to conquering my fear of open water swims in LAKES & BAYS!!! haha oceans are still another thing i need to tackle. thought i still feel like the wetsuit makes me feel like superwoman bc i know it'll always keep me afloat. hehe without it, well i might just freak out all over again. 

i wasn't the fastest one in our wave, but i wasn't the slowest either. hehe so that's just fine with me. just so happy i finished it! rounding that last bouy and being able to see the exit ramp and hearing the crowd cheer us all on just brought a huge smile to my face. gave me that burst of energy i needed to finish up the swim. and off i went running to take off my wetsuit and run to...Transition 1 (swim-bike changing). imagine picture below full of bikes on the racks and all the bike/run gear below our bikes.

my transition stuff is on the left, and hubby's is on the right..ooooh matching white towels..hahah

this area was so so crowded! well now.. when i got to T1 i was so happy that my bike wasn't the last on the rack bc that meant i wasn't the slowest..hahah. but i think i spent way too much time talking w/ another 1st time triathlete that our transition time was super slow. coach would be so disappointed..hehehe. 

and off we went to the bike course. 2 loops around the island (a little over 9 miles total, not too bad right?). i think i took it too slow on the first loop because i was just trying to get into the groove of things. by the second loop i increased my speed..but oh man..with about a mile to go i was so uncomfortable. hahah it might be tmi..but i need a new saddle dude!! this stock one on my bike is not comfortable anymore...not so friendly to my lady parts! hahahah..hahhah...so umm yeah, note to self..time to test out new bike saddles. finished the bike and it was back to the transition area for T2 (bike-run transition). was a little faster here but so hard to put my running socks on bc my feet were still a little damp from the swim. the bike was pretty short and it was kinda windy so my feet didn't dry in my shoes like i had hoped. oh well. off to the run we go (no pic of the run, but part of it was next to the bike course like the above pic). 

oh man...i was SO SO disappointed in my run. i think i took this last sport for granted in my training just because i felt like i already had a good running background. man, being a runner is one thing..but having to combine it after swimming and biking is a whole new world. i was so worried about the swim that i'd sometimes replace my run workouts/brick workouts with the swim instead. so i was really prepared for the swim, boo but not the run. it was a 5k (3.1mi) run and man, that first mile my legs felt like bricks. ha, hence the term brick workout (having back to back training w/ 2 sports)...never put that together until lou pointed it out. you do back to back workouts to get used to that "brick" feeling. and well, i'd do a lot of bike/swim or some swim/run workouts..but not bike/run. big difference for me i think as these two use the most energy from my legs. 

i was seriously hating the run during that first mile. those thoughts of "why am i doing this?" " what the heck was i thinking???" were constantly ringing in my head. then i got quite humbled when i saw people in waves after mine passing me on the run (you can get body marked on your arms/legs where they write your age on your calf. coach likes to say that it's a little motivational thing to see where you are in the race. if you pass people who are younger than you you feel great, haha and if people who are older than you pass by well then you feel humbled=P). so you could say i was getting extremely humbled and bummed that the run was feeling hard and my muscles were tightening on me. and then after the first loop, hearing someone in the crowd yell "good job young lady, keep going!!" as i turned the corner gave me another boost of energy. 

and well off i went on the second half of the run. a bit refreshed after having to take a minute to stretch out. and on that last turn i heard the announcer yell for all first time triathletes to raise their arms so they know who we are and they can cheer us in. so i proudly raised my arms with a huge ass smile and sprinted towards the finish line. and after crossing the line i saw hubby waiting for me on the side to greet me=), loved that!! the whole race just went by in a blur, it was so fast...but i did it, yahoo! got to have a nice lunch afterwards with the fam & jenn-tot's fam at extraordinary desserts to celebrate. so so blessed to have such supportive family & friends who kept encouraging me during my training. thank you thank you!!!!

hehe so yeah, i think i want to try another one=P. still in training mode these days..so we'll see how it goes. maybe a farther distance this time. i've doubled my swim distance, need to get a new bike saddle, and i'm trying to be better with my run trainings! 

i'll end with this sexxay picture of my salted sweaty tri-shorts. hehe did i motivate you know to do a tri? do iiiiiit.=)