First Sporting Extravaganza Weekend

So we're officially and fully immersed into the reason why we're here - Wake Forest Sports! This weekend, we witnessed the women's volleyball tournament, women's soccer, and (for the first time for either of us) women's field hockey. And, I can't fail to mention that the football team also had their season opener on Thursday night at Baylor in Texas, bringing home a 41-13 win!



The round robin volleyball tournament was comprised of Wake, Norfolk State, Davidson (one of the Cinderella story teams from the NCAA tournament last year), and Winthrop - which is where a family friend of ours played and is currently an assistant coach! It was fun getting to see Tara, the daughter of Sandy and Randy Toepke, the Metamora Redbirds' athletic director, and hang out with her a little bit between games. (She's the one with the long blond ponytail.)



Another small world moment occurred when I walked into the volleyball game and saw that one of my coworkers from The Rush Fitness Complex is one of Wake's assistant coaches as well. (Yes, I have a job! Well, I actually have two of them...plus three weekly volunteer commitments, but I'll save all of that for another post). Aaron is one of the personal trainers there, but is slowly working his way back into the swing of things coming off of his own ACL knee injury. (He's the tall guy).

Sunday afternoon involved the women's soccer game, where technically, Chris and I were both just spectators...until a girl needed stitches. I almost always make it a rule to carry a book in my purse for instances just like this, but for some reason, I took it out last night. My mistake - I watched what felt like three hours of approaching Hurricane Gustav coverage on the TV in the training room - but it really was probably only 45 minutes. Those pocket-sized Barnes & Noble classics are really going to come in handy this year!

After the suturing was all complete, we then went out to "the pitch," the playing field where field hockey is played (just trying to use some newly learned lingo). This was also a weekend tournament featuring Wake, University of North Carolina, Michigan, and none other than I-O-W-A! On Saturday, Chris excitedly walked through the tailgating crowd of Hawkeyes and flashed them his Iowa T-shirt he was wearing under his Wake Forest polo. "Even though Wake provides the paycheck, Iowa is still closest to my heart..." and "You can take the Hawkeye out of Iowa; but you can't take the Iowa out of a Hawkeye." (Insert rolling of Dawn's eyes here....puhhhleease!) That did get us invited back to the post-game tailgating, but unfortunately we couldn't go because Chris had to cover the games - darn. A little Demon Deacon on his chest, but a big Hawkeye by his side (At least he got to use his banner - one of the many items I suggested were completely unnecessary to bring to NC).

Wake beat Iowa on Saturday coming back from a 0-2 deficit to win 3-2. And then, Iowa repeated the situation but from the other side when playing UNC on Sunday - and in a much more dramatic fashion. UNC is the defending national champion (with an undefeated record last year), and currently ranked #1 in the country. Chris and I didn't get out to the game until the 2nd half (because of the suturing incident) and Iowa was down 2-0. With 7 minutes to go, Iowa finally scored, and then they scored TWICE in the last three minutes. It was so exciting! Yeah, Hawks! And we didn't even have ANY IDEA what the rules were!

The refs (who wear hot pink shirts and black skirts) blow their whistles and make little hand signs that seem similar to soccer and/or football, but yet it's not quite the same...The girls (who also wear skirts, by the way, but no sort of protective gear) run around all hunched over - their backs have to get sore - and hit this white ball with their sticks. (I realized I've lost the opportunity to use some other lingo here because I'm pretty sure there is probably another name for the equipment besides "white ball" and "sticks"...but you get the drift). The ball appears to be similar to a whiffle ball, but is surprisingly much heavier than one. As evidenced by the girl who got hit in the jaw with it and had to go to the emergency room. My favorite part is when they all huddle inside the goal and then charge out when the ball comes into play. The one part I did pick up on is that you have to be inside the arc in order to score - so if you hit from midfield and it goes in the goal, it doesn't count. In basketball, you get MORE points for being outside the arc; in field hockey, you get zero. Hmmm... that just doesn't make sense to me.

The other thing that I at first didn't understand from this weekend was the caution tape across the bleachers at the volleyball tournament. I can now say with certainty it meant: CAUTION! Sitting on this surface for seven hours or more will certainly give you an aching bleacher-butt! Holy cow - I'm going to have suck up the pride and buy one of those little cushions to sit on or something if I'm going to survive the rest of this year! May I please take this moment to apologize to my parents and other family members who endured many, many hours of sitting on bleachers to watch me play sports - I now feel your pain!

1 Hour 13 Seconds

According to preliminary results - scratch that, I just checked and the official results are in... My first "super sprint" triathlon, the Ramblin Rose (which involved 400 women from ages 9 to 64) took me exactly 1 hour and 13 seconds to complete. My goal was to finish in one hour, so I guess being 13 seconds off isn't too bad. Not that too many of you will really care about the numbered details, but for my own memory and as a record for the future, here is the breakdown:

250 yd swim - 7:17 (275th place - not good!)

Transition #1 - 1:47

9 mile bike ride - 32:32 (77th place - better)

Transition #2 - 0:32

2 mile run - 18:07 (29th place - respectable)

For an overall 51st place!!! (and 5th in my age group!!!) which I am totally excited about!!! (in case you didn't pick up on the extra exclamation points).


So now for a little more of the narrative. The transition area opened for setup at 6:00am. The race director suggested people arrive between 6 and 6:30 to get set up. Since Chris decided it would be too crazy to have a vehicle trapped in the YWCA parking lot, we just rode our bikes in the dark. I can't say I was tickled with the idea of riding my bike home an additional mile and a half all UPHILL after the race was over later in the day, but it actually worked out fine.

We left the house a little after 6:00, and while Chris loves this picture because it makes it look like I was the ONLY one there, I wasn't! (I can't help it that I grew up in a family that likes to be places ON TIME... which is something I'm learning is considered impolite here in the South.)

After staking claim on my little piece of land with my towel, I got my transition area all set up. Bike hanging off the tripod with bike helmet hanging off the handlebars. Sunglasses and race belt with race number inside helmet. Running/biking shoes (same thing for me - different for some people though) on the towel with one sock in each shoe. Little plastic box with flip-close lid (also known as one of those Oil of Olay facial cleansing cloth containers - I love to reuse!) for my swim cap, goggles, and nose plugs. (That part I didn't learn at tri 101 clinic - thought of that all on my own... :) I didn't want those things to get all nasty if they got on the asphalt while I was gone.


After feeling everything was in its proper place, I went and got body marked. I'm not sure why your race number has to be in so many darn places, but they write it on both thighs and both upper arms - in permanent marker! (which actually makes a pretty cool right of passage insignia that I'm not trying too hard to scrub off). At this point, I also put on my super-cool Ramblin Rose tattoo - the only tattoo I'll ever have I'm sure...



They also write your age on the back of your right calf - which again I don't quite understand the reason behind it, but it certainly does come in handy if you're competitive and you are passing people during the bike and the run. (Top three people in each age group usually win awards - ages are typically broken down in a 20-24; 25-29; 30-34; etc. pattern). And, if you're really self-conscious about your age, a warning: they round up. It's however old you are on Dec. 31 of that year... (Here we are getting our last minute pep rally cheers from Emily, our group cheerleader. I'm in the long sleeves - of course - always cold...)



So the swim begins - even numbers make a line on one side; odds on the other, and two people start every ten seconds. I was number 169 (based on our estimated swim times when we registered), so my start time wasn't until 8:33. As you can tell, I'm not too amused at this point and just want the swim to be over with.



I fairly successfully swam a lap and a half (which was really about all I had ever been able to do well during practice), but then I choked on a bunch of water which caused this horrid burping/coughing issue that persisted throughout the rest of the 7 lengths (hey, you get ALL the details in this blog! Sorry if that disgusts you :). Everything that I had practiced so hard for the last six weeks went right out the window and I was in panic/survival mode for the rest of the way. I backstroked probably 3 of the lengths and paused at the ends probably 3 times as well. It was not at all how I wanted it to go, but I finally made it.



After climbing out of the pool, you have to run out of the YWCA into the parking lot (yes, barefeet) and find your bike. Granted, they are numbered and you were the one who put your bike on these tripods, but as you can imagine when you're coming out of the building a little discombobulated already, it's sometimes tricky remembering EXACTLY where your bike is! Luckily, I was at the starting point of the middle rack (so I wasn't all the way on the end, but I was the first one of my section of tripod) - and our row was right at a crosswalk, so there were huge white stripes right where I needed to turn - very handy! I found my bike, put on my race belt (which has your bib number snapped to it so you don't have to put pins through anything and you don't have to try to throw on a shirt over a wet body), bike helmet, sunglasses, socks, and shoes, and I was off. You have to run your bike (no riding) through the transition area until you get to the mounting line and then you can hop on and go.



I had ridden the course three times during training, so I felt pretty familiar with the route. The person right in front of me however, missed the first turn, slammed on her brakes (which created an impressive screech) and had to turn around and come back. Just as I was approaching "the big (dangerous) hill" I saw a couple turn left in front of me and then I heard what could have been a gunshot! I think her tire just popped, but it was enough to startle/distract me and I didn't get my gears shifted all the way down to my smallest ring - which totally meant I was never going to make it up the dreaded hill (so described because you have to make a sharp right turn over a little cement bridge that crosses a creek as you attempt to climb up this uneven, narrow sidewalk that has a chain link fence on one side and forest on the other.) I think I might have used a swear word as I hopped off my bike and ran it up the hill, knowing there was nothing else I could do. (Which in the end, wasn't that big of deal because I actually caught somebody who was riding up it). The rest of the ride seems pretty uneventful looking back on it. I was pretty disappointed with the swim so that gave me a little extra motivation to move it on the bike.



The first half of the run was not as good as I've done it in the past - I could tell I was not moving very swiftly at all. I was miffed because the first part of the course getting from the transition area to the road was not well marked at all. The volunteer told me to stay to the left - so I went to the left side of the blue and white flags - which as you can imagine led me right into those bushes! (I guess I didn't think three was enough - I wanted to add the fourth sport of hurdles to my competition apparently!) The course was out and back with the first mile being all uphill (towards our apartment), and then naturally, the return miles being all downhill - rejoice! Again, not completely satisfied with the communication of the layout of the course: As I was approaching the last little bit before I turned to head for the finish line, I did one of those awkward you-go-that-way/I'll-go-that-way kind of dances with another runner who was just heading out. The whole stay to the left thing really gets me - I'm pretty sure the guy who set this all up lives in America, but maybe he's forgotten that we drive on the RIGHT side of the road here!)



Everything is timed by this fancy little chip you have velcroed to your ankle, so everytime you run over one of those handy orange mats, it records your time. If you notice, the sunglasses are now on top of my head. I usually don't run in them; I typically wear a hat. But after having a swim cap and a helmet on all morning and the temperature increasing as time went by, I felt it was going to be too hot for the hat that I had, so I decided to go with the head band and sunglasses for the run instead. Sometimes when my head gets that hot during a run, I like to pour a cup of water on it to cool down some. That works perfectly well when you have on a hat; not so well when you are wearing sunglasses. The lenses got all smeary - and notice I'm wearing what I wore in the pool, so it's not like I've got a dry patch of anything to wipe them on... so I had to run the rest of the way with them propped on my head. (Not exactly effective - but oh well - now I know...)



One more minor detail to remember for future races... If you look carefully at the picture of me leaving for my run (two pics up), you will notice something sticking out of the leg band of my shorts. Mid-bike ride, I ingested a little pack of Gu (that's really what it's called) - 100 calories of pure energy as a little pick me up for the rest of the race. Mmmm...I went with the Triple Berry flavor in honor of the triathlon. Not wanting to litter and following the tip of Emily, our queen leader, I put the wrapper in the leg band of my shorts when I was done to throw away later. Well, later finally came when I was done and Chris and I were sitting on a concrete parking lot block. I couldn't believe how sticky the magic marker was making the back of my hamstring! (For the record, when we took that group picture before the event began, I had the shadow marking of 28 on the back of my leg from squatting so low.) As I felt more and more, it finally dawned on my that the stickiness had absolutely nothing to do with marker - and everything to do with the pack of Gu that I forgot to take out of my leg band! This may be more information than you're interested in knowing, but apparently I littered on the run route because that little wrapper was nowhere to be found in my shorts!

(Littering, by the way, was very much the anti-image of this event. The Ramblin' Rose tris were all advertised as "Race without a Trace" and attempted to be carbon-neutral events. Packet pickup involved a (very cool) canvas messenger bag instead of a plastic throwaway bag and zero little slips of paper. All advertisements and coupons that often find their way into packet pick-up bags were delivered digitally to your email. Instead of paper cups or plastic bottles of water at the finish line, everyone was given a reusable plastic bike bottle and there were Primo water spigots (like Hinkley & Schmidt machines - except Primo's plastic is made from plants, not crude oil!) You could even buy $3 carbon offsets (but since we rode our bikes, I figured I did my part...)


And so I'm done - I've done it - I can officially call myself a triathlete. And I couldn't have done it (and nor would you have these fantastic photographs) without my dear husband! He was a trooper! (Did I mention that there were 400 women at this event? And did I mention that we then had a post-race party for the training group at our apartment building (rooftop/cabana room) from 3-7 later on in the day? And that he went down to the lobby to let them all in when they got there? And that he went and picked up the three batches of frozen gourmet custard (Red Raspberry, Oreo Mint, and Mocha Chip. Triple Mmmmm!) that Wolfie's donated for our party? I'm going to have to start calling him a saint!) I gave up at least two nights a week with him to train with the girls (sometimes three), so I really do appreciate all of his support these past six weeks. It got him fired up enough to want to do a triathlon as well. And, this was the kind of event that I definitely knew right away I would want to do again - (unlike when he suggested running another marathon as I was stretched out in the back seat thinking I was quite possibly never going to run again two hours after finishing my marathon four years ago.) At this point, I figured I put in all of this baseline groundwork - so why not do one more? Three weeks from now, Chris and I will both be competing in a sprint triathlon, which is just slightly longer - 300 yard swim, 12 mile bike ride, 3.1 mile run.

I promise the post won't be as long (and we obviously won't have many good pics), but we'll let you know how it goes! Our biggest concern is figuring out where we can swim (as inexpensively as possible) since my free membership at the Y is up. But then my cynical side says - does it really matter for you? You practiced an awful lot and it got you on the 7-minute side of nowhere... Maybe I could just go back to practicing in the bathtub.

My Make-A-Wish Fulfilled

I’m sure everyone has heard of the Make-A-Wish foundation that gives kids with life-threatening illnesses a chance to have a dream come true. The wishes often seem to involve taking exotic trips or meeting famous people. While I am certainly not a child (nor am I aware of any life-threatening medical condition), I had a Make-A-Wish moment last night.

Chris and I went to this amazing outdoor amphitheater in Charlotte for the Kenny Chesney / Leann Rimes Poets and Pirates Tour – but really we went just for the Leann Rimes part of it all. OK – I went for the Leann Rimes part and Chris was really just along for the ride. (Our friend Jake, who’s working on making it big in Nashville himself, would cringe if he knew we actually stuck around for the Kenny Chesney part…He and Chris definitely enjoy the classic country more than the mainstream/rock that Chesney produces, but Chris still sang along and had a great time!)

My obsession with Leann Rimes began just six months ago when I was reading my sister’s Fitness magazine. I was completely blown away by her focus on fitness. She runs, does yoga, goes to the gym, eats well, etc. etc. etc. And – she can bench press her own weight (120 lbs.)! I’m so impressed!

I can honestly say that growing up, I was really not a fan of hers. While it was impressive that she was only 13 when she had her first hit single, the song itself, “Blue” kind of annoyed me. Then, I couldn’t believe that she would have the gall to release “How Do I Live” at the same time that Trisha Yearwood did it for the movie Con Air. I have now learned that she actually recorded it first, and at the last minute, the movie producers decided they wanted an older singer who was more recognizable to perform it. Her release of that, incidentally, still holds the record for longest running song on the Billboard Top 100 at 69 weeks – and apparently helped her to win the Billboard’s 1997 Best Vocalist Award (which was a question we missed at Trivia Night a couple weeks ago – I’m sure I would be ousted from the fan club if they knew that!)

Yes – I even joined the fan club. Members have access to behind the scenes photos/videos, her personal blog (which includes video of her talking, so I know she is actually involved in the process at some level), and the possibility of meeting Leann at a concert – which, I got to do!!!!




For each concert venue, they post a Meet and Greet date/time when fan club members can log in to in order to try to get a spot to meet her for that concert (maximum of 20 per show). I was online refreshing the screen for a good ten minutes before the posted time – I actually saw the icon change over, so I’m pretty sure I might have been the first one to log in for the Charlotte venue. Chris can attest to the fact that I was slightly high-strung yesterday in making sure we arrived in plenty of time. On the way, he had to stop by the high school where he’s covering football games on Friday nights to meet the athletic director/coaches/etc. so I definitely had 20 minutes of practiced patience in the car!

After we found our seats, which were five rows behind the VIP boxes, I went over to the side entrance for backstage and waited ever so anxiously for the big moment! The fan club members got to go last (there were also some radio station winners and others, but she only signed things for us).

While it was expectedly short, it was still one of the coolest moments ever! I’ve met a famous singer/author/movie star (Coyote Ugly, anyone? She did all of the vocals for the lead plus made a cameo at the end – but that was still before her revolutionary fitness phase).

The concert itself was awesome! She sang for over an hour and had a good mix of old and new songs. Her voice is just so obviously amazing, but her ability to dance, run, and jump around on stage in huge heels is my next point of awe – I can hardly walk in them let alone move around the way she does.
And, oh yeah, Kenny Chesney was insane! He’s been Entertainer of the Year repeatedly for good reason. It was craziness! The backdrop video screens are completely unbelievable! The whole concert is basically the biggest karaoke you’ve ever seen! The most hilarious part of the night was when Kenny pulled this (maybe 9-year-old) boy, dressed in shorts but no shirt, cowboy boots and cowboy hat up onto stage. The kid danced like mad for a solid three minutes at least – including a spin-on-your-back break dance move that Kenny subsequently tried to imitate. It was so spontaneously funny!

The night was phenomenal! It was pretty much a dream come true. Initially, I hesitated to compare this to a Make-A-Wish situation because I don’t want to disrespect the organization in any way by associating myself with the idea of it all. But then I was reminded of a conversation I had with my friend, Amber, about our adventures here in NC. I commented to her that we were just trying to do as much as we could while we were here since we knew it was going to be for just a short time. As I said that to her that day, I then realized – shouldn’t that be how all of us are living our lives everyday no matter where we are? We are all on Earth for just a short time – we should always make the most of it! Take advantage of any opportunities that come along to live life in new and unexpected ways. As our aforementioned friend, Jake, likes to say: “Get busy livin’, or get busy dyin’!” I kind of like this getting busy with life thing!

Hanging Rock State Park

Aaaahhh (pleasant sigh)... Sundays are scheduled to be "rest days" in my triathlon training program. So, I was heistant when Chris suggested we go to Hanging Rock State Park last Sunday, but it's not like I'm an Olympian - who needs rest? (Apparently I do since my workouts on the following Monday and Tuesday were practically worthless after hiking for three hours to an elevation of some 2,000 feet.) But it was absolutely worth it! The views were spectacular, and it was just so beautiful being out in nature.



After climbing to the top of Hanging Rock - which incidentally, I can say I wouldn't have been quite so eager to do had I seen that week's news involving the collapse of the famous stone archway in Utah - we ate our picnic lunch and then went in search of the several waterfalls. The water was refreshingly cold and we spent a good hour or so lounging in the wading pool.



(Just to clarify: The picture of me makes it appear that I am sliding down the rock wall, but I am certainly not that adventurous. I could only handle sitting there long enough for Chris to take a picture. The realistic version of a waterfall (aka frigid water beating on your back) is not as glamourous as it seems.... )

Overall, another great day taking in the beauty of North Carolina! This tired body would have classified the trail slightly higher than its current "moderate difficulty" rating, but as I said, it was definitely worth the work (and the soreness) - oh and the humor of the pharmacy TRAILER at the foot of the park. This was definitely country-style NC! Too bad nothing is open on Sundays here, so I couldn't even stop in and get some meds for my aches and pains.

Chris' Job

For those of you who have been wondering about how Chris’ job is going – HE ABSOLUTELY LOVES IT! He is getting to see injuries he’s never seen before, and take care of athletes that are at such a higher level than he’s ever been around. Comments from him about the height or the strength or the speed of these athletes are commonplace. It’s practically unbelievable. I guess they’re not quite Olympic-caliber athletes, but it seems pretty close.

There is one athlete in particular that I will be keeping my eye out for – (although Chris is not all that impressed by it). Cheyenne Woods. Freshman golfer…. Wait for it…. Yes – Tiger Woods’ niece is coming to Wake Forest! I’m just hoping he’ll come to visit.

Last week, football practice officially started, and you would think that Chris had won the lottery or something. I’m sure you all know how much he loves football. He came home near giddy every night. Chris couldn’t believe that Coach Grobe actually came over and talked to him! Sure, he must be a pretty good coach if he won the Coach of the Year award two years ago, but he’s certainly not the President of the United States or anything… (Although he does make more money than one! His salary is just under a million dollars a year! That’s public knowledge found online, by the way. I’m not divulging any Wake Forest confidential secrets or anything.) As the coach of the team that Chris is taking care of, I would expect him to acknowledge his appreciation at least once. But Chris was on cloud nine that night.

On Saturday night, they held their first scrimmage, so here is a picture of Chris at one of his “offices” for the year – BB&T Field/Groves Stadium, which seats 31,500 fans. It just underwent a $1.5 million dollar refurbishing, which included the addition of the Bridger Fieldhouse and the Deacon Tower – a seven-story press box with luxury suites, as well as next generation FieldTurf and a brick façade refacing involving 89,000 specially made bricks.

My absolute favorite part of the game was watching the second through seventh string quarterbacks perfect their synchronized signal calling on the sidelines. I couldn’t tell if they were trying to do the Macarena or the YMCA, but it was hilarious! There were definitely some great shoulder shimmies, hip wiggles, and even a pirouette or two. (OK – maybe not pirouette exactly, but definitely some hopping action.)

Here’s a picture of Chris caught in action - “working.” The poor guy in the upper left is about ready to die and there’s Chris playing catch with two little kids. (To be fair, he wanted to make sure that I pointed out that this was AFTER the scrimmage was over, and that he did ultimately attend to that athlete after the trainer was done.) Everyone will be happy to note that Wake Forest won! Haha! From my professional opinion, I’d say their defense is pretty good. Offense…we’ll have to see.

Conveniently, Suzi (the other fellow - the one on the right) isn’t a big fan of football so they split up the schedule accordingly and she took a lot of soccer games. After the scrimmage though, we met up with her and her friend, Sheena, who is also from Ireland. I thought it seemed sort of cliché, but they wanted to go to Finnigan’s Wake, one of the Irish pubs in town. It was very interesting getting their perspective on the Americanized version of Irish. For example, this pub has a Sunday roast beef dinner, complete with veggies, potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding – which is completely English, not Irish. And, as Chris pointed out – Potatoes? Seriously? Have they never heard of the potato famine in Ireland?

So far, their schedules have been pretty tame. This weekend, however, really gets them going. They both have to cover the Twin City Soccer Tournament from 8am-8pm on Saturday and 8am-5pm on Sunday. They each have a high school football team that they will be covering which starts up the following week and the rest of the fall sports at Wake will be getting underway as well. I think Chris said he has 33 events to cover in the next two and a half months, not counting training rooms or clinics, of course.

Oh well, that’s why we’re here! It’s a good thing he loves it as much as he does!