Sparkpeople

http://www.sparkpeople.com/

What I've learned so far:
1). That I eat most of my calories in the form of snacks - that I'm not a big eater of "meals".
2). That I eat between 2500 and 2900 caolories a day.
3). That a lot of calories come from my kids' crusts, and from "popping" things in my mouth without thinking about it. For example, while making a healthy 1/2 sandwich, I will "pop" one slice of cheese and one slice of turkey in my mouth while making it.
4). That I burn between 500 and 1200 calories per day.
5). That what I consider a "portion" is actually twice the size of the manufacturer's portion size (i.e. cereal!)
6). That the weight I gained in the fall when I was struggling with my heart and therefore not exercising at all, can be attributed to the 1000 calorie excess I was eating and not exercising away. I've kept that weight on with holiday junk (but tasty!) food and alcohol at parties during the holidays.

So, what I need to do to lose those 10 pounds is to cut out the mindless "popping" of food into my mouth, quit drinking (well, maybe except at the after party at the marathon this weekend), and toss out all the leftover holiday candy, including what's left in the box of See's Candies. I can't eat even the "but it's my favorite" junk.

I'll re-post about every week or so on this topic. I need to be 155 lbs to race and not feel like I'm lugging too much of myself along.

Little grammar lesson

Here is the Washington Post's Mensa Invitational which once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.



The winners are:

1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

2. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

10. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

11. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

12. Karmageddon: It's when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, and then the Earth explodes, and it's a serious bummer.

13. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

14. Glibido: All talk and no action.

15. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem sm arter when they come at you rapidly.

16. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

17. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

18. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

I laughed my arse off especially at #2, #3, #8, and #17!!!!

Balmy day here in Minneapolis

It's 46 degrees here and awesome, so Terri and I ran the lakes downtown today. It was so nice to be able to take our gloves off and not have our fingers turn black and fall off from frostbite.
We were slow, though. Terri has the excuse that she hasn't run 10 miles since Zurich Ironman (June), but I have no such excuse. My excuse for being slow is that I have gained weight. Like 10 pounds. As of this morning I am 165 pounds of holiday drinking and eating everything in sight (which actually started before the holidays). I wonder if I can lose that before the Phoenix Rock-n-Roll marathon on Sunday. ;-) My heart rate wasn't really high or anything, there is just more of me to lug along and it's slow-going. Arghhhh. I started a food journal today. I've never been much of a dieter so this in itself is depressing.

The kids go back to school tomorrow, which is kind of sad, too. I loved having them around, and we had a really great vacation in Hawaii, and we have snow forts and snowmen in the front yard, and Bobby even tried cross-country skiing. But tomorrow it's back to the old schedule. The dreadmill of the school year. Arghhhh.

On the bright side, I will at least be able to get the house in shape. There is junk everywhere. All the Christmas stuff is still up, and the kids drop all their toys or books or papers or plates - really everything - just laying around for me to pick up. All that little miscellaneous stuff from the pockets of everybody's luggage and carry-ons is laying around, too. I think that may be why I'm in such a bad mood today. The clutter brings me down. In a couple days (like by tomorrow 3pm) hopefully everything will be picked up and put away and I'll perk up. If I've lost the 10 pounds by tomorrow that should help, too.

;-)

Whales!

After two vacations in Hawaii during whale season, I finally spotted the gentle giants! At the end of the day, as the kids were heading back into the water near sunset for more snorkeling, there it was. The plume of mist shooting up into the air. Then a black body, then tail. There were probably four whales together, and yes, I was quite far away, but they were surfacing and motoring around the island. I've never seen this. And I've even paid big bucks to be taken out on one of those "whale sighting excursions". Yea!!! I've always wanted to see this!

Anyway, first the kids swam in the hotel pool for a while. Here are Bob and Bobby by a little waterfall between pools.

Then we drove over to Waimea Canyon and Ko'kee State Park to hike to the falls. It was about a four hour hike and very beautiful, but also quite different from the Na'Pali hike. The kids loved the jungle. My calves are very tight.

While we were at the Waimea official "Lookout", a rainbow appeared inside the canyon:

Family pic:

But we were here to hike it, so we found the trailhead and began. Here is me with the kids probably getting a little too close to the edge:

We hiked about two hours to get here. On the way up, we met an Ottwa/Ojibwe Indian named Two Dogs, whom we hiked with for a while - super interesting guy. Anyway, he brought a drum with him and sang songs at the top of the canyon, and told us about them and what they meant. He also told us that Minnesota actually means "The Creator playing tricks with you". Makes sense considering that with all the lakes, you constantly have to drive around them whenever you are trying to get someplace.

He also said that a couple of elders in his tribe has passed away in the last year and he was singing for them. How cool was this.

Tomorrow our flight is at 11:30 p.m., so we have one more full day...

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year to all my blogging friends... you guys were such a beautiful source of inspiration, humor, friendship and comaraderie in 2007. Thank you. I've enjoyed meeting all of you, and look forward to the trips I have planned in 2008 with many of you. Bring on CDA, Vineman, Orca's Island, Ice Age Ultra, Phoenix R-n-R, Florida IM...et al. Blogging has really made the triathlon world smaller, and you are all such special people to me.

Here's a recap of yesterday on beautiful Kaua'i.

I went running just before dawn for about 8 miles. It was cloudy and cool-ish, and it rained a few times on the way inland. But after I turned around and headed back to the beach, the sun came out and there was a huge double rainbow behind me. I was starting to wonder why so many cars were stopping to take pictures until I realized the rainbow was their subject, not me. (tee-hee)

I showered, and we all headed out to the northwest shore. Here are Bobby and Ally at the trailhead for the hike. Notice how nice and clean and white their clothes are.

We hiked 4 1/2 hours through thick and very slippery clay-mud. The kids never complained, I was so impressed! It rained on and off all day. We all made it to "the beach", and then up another trail to the pointy cliff, then turned around. Too bad my Garmin battery is shot - it would have been fun to see how far and how high we climbed.

It was a trip that had its dangers. First, Bobby was totally in his adventurous element and took off. I mean, he was so far ahead of us we had no idea where he was. So the first hour was spent with Bob, Ally and me pressing on as fast as we could trying to find him and be assured he hadn't fallen off - it was extremely slippery and he was obviously traveling quite fast. We finally caught him, and he was muddy but fine and was actually really sorry when he saw how worried we were. After we re-grouped and set off again, Bob slipped in mud and Bobby yelled, "Dad fell!". I turned around and saw his feet pointed upward, his head out of sight, but obviously he was hanging upside down, on his back, off the cliff, and he was clutching brush. Thank God for the brush. Those of you who have hiked this trail know what I mean!

We had to cross the "stream" (which rushes across lava rocks just before it dumps into the ocean) to get to the beach. On the way over, it was about thigh high on me, so I put Ally on my back and made my way across. Bobby and Bob crossed holding hands. After hiking to the pointy cliff and back, the water from all the rain had risen to about waist-high on me. I was holding onto Ally for dear life (hers) and was losing her. A couple of big guys on the shore rushed in and grabbed her from me and I made my way over. The look on Bobby's eyes were something I won't soon forget.

All ended well, but I kept playing it all over and over in my head and had a hard time falling asleep last night. The kids had a blast, and Bob and I did, too, so I'll just focus on that and the fact that everybody is still here! Check out the mud - the kids painted warrior stripes on their faces.

After the hike, we swam in the beach at the trailhead to rinse off. There were more tropical fish to watch, so I was of course the bad guy when I dragged them out of the water. We are staying on the south side of the island (Poipu), so we had about an hours drive in wet clothes. We were soaked and starving, but the absolute splendor of that hike is so worth it.
There were fireworks at the Marriott to ring in the new year, but we were all asleep at 8:00. At least we saw New York ring in the new year... ;-)

Kaua'i update

Hello from Kaua'i. Here's a pic of the giant koi that live in the pond in the hotel's courtyard. One of them is 226 years old. Later today we will send out our Happy New Year! from the Na'Pali Coast.

The kids are getting up to get ready for the most beautiful hike in the world. Bob and I hiked the centuries-old trail when we were last here in '96. It's whale season, so hopefully we will see one while we are up there.

Below is Bob with Ally - After a couple hours at the beach watching tropical fish swim beneath them, we got then into dry clothes and went to watch the spouting horn "geisers" for a while. I had forgotten how noisy they were.

Have a great day everybody. Thanks for being a part of my 2007. You all enrich my life and I am grateful you are all a part of it!

xoxoxo

Jenny

Family vacation

So there was about a foot of fresh snow in Minneapolis when we left. But we're in sunny Kaua'i right now, and it's beautiful! Yesterday the kids ran down to the beach jsut as we arrived - below they are actually putting their feet into an ocean for the first time.


Here the kids are on the beach at sunset near Waimea. Bobby and I ran down this beach for about 30 minutes. Bob and Ally drove the car down and picked us up. Bobby never tires... my little endurance athlete. Who know that the age of nine would mark the time that he can run farther and faster than I.


The temperature calls for more lows of 70, highs of 80 degrees... I went running for about 75 minutes this morning and found a cute church called Kaua'i Christian Fellowship, so I ran in, borrowed a cell phone, and called Bob to bring the kids down. It was a nice service - very casual (which I like). The lead singer in the band didn't even have shoes on, and the pastor wore jeans. But the message was true and beautiful in its sincerity.

We have spotty connection here in our room, but I will try to get some more pics loaded later.

Happy New Year everybody.

Well, we are off to explore the island.....

We did... and here's proof!

It was -4 degrees when I got up, and Laura and I had to do an 18-miler today. So we agreed to help each other tough out a dreadmill run - and we did it~! This is the furthest either of us has ever run on a machine, so we are really proud of ourselves!

Thank you to IronGreg, Rachel, and IronNick for talking us through the tough moments. Woo-hoo!

Confession time...

First I have to confess that isn't really me in my last post. If you thought it was Shame on you!!


Well, it's my head, OK? My girlfriend Holly is a whiz with Photoshop and when she has a spare moment and needs to amuse herself, she does things like this. She's the one who travels to marathons with plastic fake poop and leaves it on the floor in bathrooms and stuff. I love having her around and I am so glad she's my friend because I think it's just hilarious when these pictures come over unexpectedly. I just can't stop laughing!


It all started about three years ago when somebody sent me a picture of a really fat lady and I forwarded it on to Holly with a note that said, "this is why we run". She sent it back with a reply, "yeah"... only now the picture had my head on it. I laughed so long and hard that I ended up using this picture as my profile picture for the Tri Club. It still makes me laugh. You can actually see her belly button sticking out from under her dress. C'mon - it's funny - admit it!!!



Below is IronGirlNyhus also having a fat day, and killing time at the casino after the Deadwood Marathon:



...yet she's also been spotted having days when she just needs a decent meal:



... and this is our Gear West Triathlon coach, Kris:



Remember when I went to Brazil to do Ironman with TriNick? Well, Holly caught him sporting a swimsuit we've never seen him wear back home. Busted!!!




So who is this Holly? Well, here she is below (in black arm warmers and hat), racing in the NYC marathon with our friends Deb, Rom, and Cathy-Mac.




Ahhh... anyway, I love when these little pick-me-ups arrive in my inbox.


My other confession is this:
I know I told a few of you that I was "done with Ironman". I felt ready for the "next adventure", I'd already done it five times, and it's so expensive and with business so slow it's just not a priority, (three completely valid reasons) but when push came to shove and the deadline approached for submitting my slip entry for Ironman Florida 08........ I buckled. I went ahead and registered. I couldn't help it. I love this sport and want to keep it in my life. It's who I am and it's what I do. I LIKE having an Ironman on my calendar. I like hanging out with true-blue fantastic people, meeting more truly fantastic people, and having a decent reason to watch tv (on my trainer). Watching tv by itself makes me feel like I'm doing something I shouldn't be.

So. I'm in.

My girlfriend Erin will be doing her first Ironman in Florida, raising money for Team Ortho, and I want to be there. She hasn't even done her first triathlon yet, but that's okay. She ordered a bike and it should be here in about a week. She said she remembers how to ride one because she had one as a kid. [Gosh, don't you just have to love that spirit??] I'll try to get her to blog because you all will just love her. Those of you doing/ spectating Phoenix Rock and Roll will get to meet her, as she is rooming with me, IronGirlNyhus, and Greg.

Have a good night everyone.

IRONJenny ;-)

Funny!

This is just part of a funny blog post that one of my Gear West teammates just sent me. He's describing Cycling in the Fall Season. This is his take on triathletes:

For the full hilarious blog post, go here.

The Triathlete
At this point in the year The Triathlete has transitioned from short-shorts and half-shirt to full-length tights and loose-fitting long-sleeved runner's jersey (which is an outfit that is a helmet away from a pair of pajamas). However, he (or she, of course) has not yet transitioned from the 53x14 gear, nor from the "tuck" of questionable aerodynamic benefit that is less Pro Tour time trialist than it is pedantic professor resting his elbows on a lectern. Not even the vibrant colors of autumn are enough to distract The Triathlete from his or her mission of beating leisure cyclists over modest inclines, striving to improve on "personal bests," and abstaining from all aspects of cycling except for the going forward with your head down part.

Hahahaha!!!!

So now that I am in the off season, I think I'll get some sun in the tropics.

okay... so my friend Holly has too much time on her hands again. She titled this one How Not To Wear A Thong...

Aye. Que Cosa???

I am thankful 4 u!

This morning I got up to run the Drumstick Dash with my good friend Diane. We made a new friend Norbert along the way. It was a beautiful run - fluffy snowflakes falling on our 10K....
Then home to make sweet potatoes, sauteed spinach, spiral ham and a chocolatey dessert. No traditional Thanksgiving fixin's this year.

Below is Bobby - yesterday they were off from school so he and I went exploring in the woods. We found a stream and a foxhole and a lot of kindling for the firepit.

Have a wonderful day, everyone. I am truly thankful for all of you!

xoxoxo,
Jenny

Before/ After

Before

After

Since we've lived in this house for two years now I decided to decorate my room. The paint is Benjamin Moore's "Meditation" from the Affinity Line; the bedding, lamps, pillows, drapes and candle are Target.

Ironman Florida

We arrived at the airport with sufficient time for TriNick to visit "the bathroom"... you know... the one made famous by the horny still-in-closet senator. Nick promises he did NOT tap his foot or reach under the door, as this security guard will attest.

After we arrived, we headed down to the beach for a warmup swim with some of our Minnesota buddies: Nick, me, John, Leanne, and IronGirlNyhus. I got stung three times by jellyfish.

Here is the group picture of the MN Ironmen.

We made a bunch of signs for our friends... that's Betty, Laura's mom on the left.

And Laura made one for the legendary Frank Ferrar. Do you realize he raised over $200,000 in charity for this one race? He is an amazing man.

... that night we found a few bloggers (surprisingly!) in the hotel bar... MicheleK, Lana, Trimama, me, and Mrs. Bigun.

Here I am on the bike course... IronGreg drove by ringing the cowbell. Can't ever have too much of that... I did have some trouble on the bike between mile 49 and 63 when my heart started pounding out of my chest. I could not get it below 230 beats, so I sat upright and coasted at about 15 - 17 mph for about 45 minutes. I threw up when I tried to get back into my aerobars. I was getting freaked out because I was in the middle of nowhere, so when I got to the aid station at mile 63 I got off my bike, went to the bathroom, ate, put some more sunscreen on and stood next to my bike until my HR was down to 139. Then I got back on and was fine the rest of the day. Hence my negative split if you were following irnmanlive.com.

... and dancing on the run course - halfway there! My heartrate average was only 132 on the run - I never even SAW 140 beats. So I was low on the run and high on the bike. Weird.

... and at the finish with IronGirl Nyhus. Laura decided not to race, so she took pictures and supported/ cheered all day. Thanks Laura! I love you!

So my stats were:

Conditions: no wind on the bike; nice breeze on the run. Low temp maybe 55; high temp maybe 75degrees. Ocean? not even a ripple. Smooth as glass. I did see two jellyfish on the swim, but did not get stung.

swim

2.4 miles - 1:08:15 (pace 1:49/100 meters)

bike

73 miles - 3:53:14 (pace 18.78 mph)

39 miles - 2:00:36 (pace 19.4 mph)

112 miles - 5:53:50 (pace 18.99 mph)

run

13.1 miles - 2:27:02 (pace 11:13/mile)

13.1 miles - 2:35:54 (pace 11.54/mile)

26.2 miles - 5:02:00 (pace 11.34/mile)

TOTAL

12:12:13

Here we are at post-race registration for 2008 with Lana, MicheleK, Taconite Boy, and Trimama - who is on the phone with Kahuna, who said he'd do it with us.

The day after is always a relaxing one with chillin' and swillin'. Here are Bigun and Tac Boy getting out of the water after about an hour swim. Di and I watched them for a while, but they swam too far down the beach and our Bloody Mary was getting hot, so we gave up.

Me, Di, and Bigun poolside. Have I told you how delightful and funny these people are? I would go anywhere to a race with them.

Blogger girls: Trimama, IronGirl Nyhus, TriFeist, Mrs. Bigun, me and TriandBeHappy.

This is Di, Trimama, Bigun, me and Taconight Boy after the awards ceremony, posing with my 1st place Athena trophy. Even though I was 24 minutes slower this year, I defended my title!

Last day - meeting at Java Joey's to share pictures and say goodbye.

... and a good time was had by all...

The End!

IM Florida '07

Best part of the weekend: meeting Diana and Bigun. You guys are just the bomdiggity. ;-)

Watch for full report and pics; but first I have to get the kids to school and watch Thursday's episode of Survivor. But you guys are RIGHT after that. For now I'll just say thank you SO much for all the emails, comments, phone calls, well-wishes, prayers, etc.
xoxoxo
Jenny

Monster Dash!

Hundreds turned out for the annual Team Ortho Monster Dash around Lake Harriet yesterday. We dressed up as runaway patients. Here are Ally and Bobby waiting for the start.


And here are Bobby and I running and handing out candy..

... the view as we ran by...

... Flash...


This guy is a baby in a high chair... how clever!

There were also some people paddling a canoe, three blind mice walking a seeing-eye dog, etc. I love these kinds of events.

Bob pushed Ally in the burley which she didn't once get out of. Oy.

But Bobby did great! We finished the 5k in a net time of 35 minutes, which I think is great for a 9-year-old! this was his first chip-timed event and now he wants to try to beat his time at the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. woo-hoooo! go Bobby!

Here's a rule that I actually like!

Those of us doing Ironman Florida received this email today...

Notice in regard to family members through the finish line
Due to increased concerns about safety in regard to the finish line area at North America Sports events, the following policy has been put in place.
Athletes will be allowed to cross the finish line area with one family member ONLY. Please respect your fellow athletes by adhering to this policy. If this policy is not followed at NA Sports events, we will be forced to eliminate the privilege completely. Please adhere to the following points as well.
Please only have persons accompany you that can run through under their own power. We recommend children only be allowed from the age of 6 and up. No carrying of infants. Many athletes are not coherent enough to handle infants safely.
NO PETS OF ANY KIND. Crossing the finish line with an animal of any kind will be grounds for disqualification.
Please understand that the Ironman is a unique accomplishment for ALL competitors. Many athletes who do not run through with a family member have had their photos ruined at events due to excessive congestion.
Also remember that safety is our primary concern.

Thank youNorth America Sports Staff

Much as I hate to spoil the fun for those athletes who bring their families to share their accomplishment, this is great news to me because...

I don't even HAVE a finish photo from Brazil '06 because some guy had at least ten family members kneeling and posing for a group shot as I tried to squeeze past them.

I think this is a fair ruling and I hope people adhere to it. We ALL have a right to be there, including those of us who are lame enough to even bother showing up to do an Ironman without our families. We ALL still want a finishline picture!!!!

p.s. My race number is 2487...
;-)

A nice day...

It's BEAUTIFUL in Minneapolis today - 70 degrees, sunny.... I got up and ran 15 miles with my running club this morning. It took us 3 hours to run 15 miles, but that's OK. My heart does do its racing/ pausing thing, and I am huffing and puffing and even talking is a huge effort. (Those of you who know me will surely wonder if I will ever again even bother putting my running shoes on knowing this!) But I got it done and need to just be grateful that I am running at all. But I believe you can be hawt and slow at the same time.

The "fractionated potential" which is the name of the irritated spot Dr. Doug saw, is about the size of a quarter, and on the back side of my heart. It's where a lot of the random electrical charges stem from. Dr. Doug thinks it will go away by itself in a couple of months, and I hope so too. Otherwise he can try encircling the area with ablation, in essence shutting it off, but that still sounds like a lot of burning on a heart that's already got its problems. I will wait out the next couple months and then re-visit.

After I got home, my kids went to a neighbor's house to help them decorate for their Halloween party, so my girlfriend Stephany and I finished another little project. Steph is entering some of her works in an interior painting/decorating contest and she wanted to add something in which she had used metalic paints, so we did this today...

... isn't she insanely talented? The middle part of the wave is copper metallic paint, and it is so cool looking in person.

[I still have to post my pics from the Art Wall - I know, I know... but I need to buy a couple more frames: for Di's and Andrew's and the second one of Cheryl's. They don't have the exact frame as the others, but I will just have to mix them up. The ones I have there already look awesome.]

Test Drive

On my last two 50-mile bike rides I tested a new product that I LOVE. They are the arm-warmers from Zensah. They are so soft you almost can't tell you are even wearing them. They protected me from the 50 degree wind, yet I never felt like I needed to roll them down after I warmed up.

I have worn them twice. I washed them with regular clothes (another bonus - no special care needed) and hung them.

Laura took a picture both times, so I will post them when she gets around to forwarding me the pic. Momo will be glad to know they are available in PINK!!!


I also tested Zensah's compression shorts. While they are super (I mean SUPER) comfortable - no seams, no riding up, no tight or itchy hems, unbeatable breathability - they weren't a style that I would wear. But for the men?... I see you guys wearing compression shorts under your running shorts - you really have to try these - I can't imagine anything else this comfy.


If you head over to Tri-Dogmom's website, you can order online and SAVE 30%...! Go do it! It's her post dated October 10th. You won't regret it. While you are there, check out the winter tops and beanies. I will be buying some of those, too.

Getting back in the saddle

Well, I was given the green light to train again this week:

Run for 70 minutes (10:45 pace)
Swim 2700 yards
Trainer for 40 minutes

I feel slow and "winded" but I'm out there. The hardest thing for me to get my head around, is that it's "OK" for me to be out there! I still can't grasp that this feeling in my chest should be considered "normal". But I've seen three different cardiologists and I have to assume they must know what they are talking about.

The good news is that after about 20 or 30 minutes, my heart settles into a rhythm that I don't notice, and that must be good. Even though Dr. Doug couldn't ablate all the areas, I'm still banking on it all just going away someday, just like most non-heart-related viruses do.

I am going to IM FL on Oct 31st; bringing my gear and bike. I'm just going to try the swim, and see how that goes; if well, then start the bike and see how that goes, and take on the day in segments. Last year I finished this course in 11:48, so that gives me a spare 5+ hours before the cut-off time at 17:00 hours. I'd like to try to finish it, but won't be embarrassed by a DNF if that's what the day brings.

Twin Cities Marathon Report

Boy, I sure picked the right one to sit out. It was sticky, hot, humid... I've never seen so many zombie faces! My friend Robert said that people were walking as early as mile 10 and 12. That's crazy!



There were a few of course who toughed it out with a smile:




... and the spectators looked great...




But all the people I train with and know were between 30 and 90 minutes off of their normal pace. Even the announcer kept commenting on how she'd never seen so many people still coming across the finish line at the 6 hour mark.

Kudos to the fan who still managed to stay live and cheer for his wife in this outfit. Oh, wait... omigosh... we KNOW that guy!!!







Over in Chicago, I called my girlfriend Diane to see how her race went and she told me that even the first water stop was already out of water, and the temps were rising up -- she saw 95 on a bank's thermometer, and then again, no water at mile 17 either... . She said there were so many ambulances screeming...

Finally, the medical staff could not keep up with the need for them, and the race was "called" at about the 4 hour mark. So everybody had to either get on a bus or walk in. No more running. I can only imagine the phone calls that race director is getting today... but what can you do? That had to be a pretty tough call. 40,000 people do that race, although I read that 10,000 registrants didn't even start. But at least 20,000 disappointed runners... wow. One confirmed dead and three in critical condition. Just too hot a day.

Diane did walk in around 5:15 and receive a medal at least. She was a good sport and declared, "oh, well, at least I got to be a part of history!"

Congrats to all of you who raced in the heat - that was amazing.