Good puppy!!!

I love this dog!!! He is more human then dog. We have so much in common. We both:

• love napping



• can go from sleeping to running in 3 seconds



• are a little afraid of water



• like shoes (he for chewing, me for running)

and much more. The napping part is our favorite :-)

I took Jack on my run yesterday. He is not the best listener (it works 1 out if 3 times :-). The snakes are out in the Mountains in Phoenix this time of the year, so I am always worried we will run into one. Yesterday we ran into coyotes. 2 of them about 20 meters in front of us. Immediately I yelled: Jack, stay!!! (Thinking, as good as he is listening to me, we will see what happens). But to my surprise he waited and did not go after them!!! Yeah- good dog. Coyotes are a little scary...they were about the same size as Jack...and two of them...but everything turned out good. He got a big reward at home (and probably didn't even know why :-)

Now back to last weekend: The Tempe International Triathlon

I competed in the sprint triathlon, because I wanted to get a speedy workout in before Memphis. The race was not very well organized, or maybe they just had a lot of bad luck putting it on. The start was delayed by 45 min (they kept telling us 5 more min, 5 more,...so we were standing around half in the water for 45 min). I had to swim around a boat and a kayak in the race (I am not even sure why they were in the middle of the course)...the bike was pretty uneventful. Onto the run I was in no mans land. I started 3 min behind the guys. I had 3 guys in front of me, but out of sight. I tried to follow the cones, but some of them were for car traffic...hmmm...not really sure how I am supposed to tell which are which...I ended up going the wrong way once on the way out. On the way back, on the other side of Tempe Town Lake we had to cross a bridge...too bad it was a little unclear WHICH bridge we have to run on...I asked a guy who was cheering and he said: I think you are on the right one :-)

Eventually we all made it to the finish!!! I heard from a lot of people afterwards that they went the wrong way at some point of the run.

The Phoenix Triathlon Community is amazing. Everyone is so friendly and there are so many racers out there. It was great to see how many people did the back to back weekend Triathlons (Rio Salado and Tempe International)!!!

Weekend fun...and another race :-)

For some reason my last blog post about the Rio Salado Triathlon and the Barnhardt Trail hike disappeared. I am hoping it will re-appear but until then, here are the pics of the trail again:

USAT Elite Duathlon Nationals

What a weekend. The original plan was to drive to Tucson on Friday, to be there for packet pick up and bike check in. Bike check in got cancelled due to high winds, so we ended up driving the 2 hrs south in the morning.

I went to bed at 10 pm, with my alarm set at 3:30!!! Uhhh...that is in the middle of the night. At midnight I heard a doorbell...oh no, what the heck.

I am glad my friends were staying with me or I would have called 911 immediatelly when I looked out the window and saw those two mysterious people in front of my door...I opened the window and all that came out of me was: do you know what time it is? Then they pulled out some ID and said: Angela? We are here from the WADA. Can we come in?

At midnight??? OK, I guess. I was sure I could pee, but when they said I had to fill a certain amount in the cup, I wasn't sure anymore. 1.5 hrs and 5 glasses of water later I finally could go. We sat around for 1.5 hrs and I got to ask all the questions I wanted about the Anti Doping Agency... did I mention this was between midnight and 1:39 am?

Back to bed with 1.5 hrs until my alarm would go off...but now that I drank so much water I constantly had to pee...at least I was well hydrated for the race, right?

Pam was so nice and drove me to Tucson. I set up transition, went for a jog, got to catch up with Tucson Elite Triathlete Teri Albertazzi, who I hadn't seen in a while. It was nice. I really didn't know what to expect for the day, but I guess it is out of our hands anyways...the training is done. I was nervous standing on the start line with all those great athletes, but somehow I (off course) found a story to tell :-) I actually think this is the part where someone asked me if I am eligible to become the National Champion and I said: yes, the rule book states that I count as a US national since I had been in the country for more then 3 years...more about that to come

The gun went off and we didn't mess around. Nicole LaSelle set the tempo high and we were all pretty close together going into T1. I actually think we were 4 people hopping on the bike at the same time.
The bike was 2 loops. I passed Nicole, she passed me back. I passed her right before the first turn around and somehow the gap grew. When I got off the bike I had a 1:50 min lead. But in my head the rest of them were RIGHT THERE...A 1:50 lead can shrink easily. You never know what happens in a race.

Off I go...

I managed to stay away and finished in 1:34:10, 1:59 min before Nicole. It was so much fun holding up a banner for the first time crossing the finish line. A minute later I got asked a whole bunch of questions - ahhh...that was a new experience.

JR- I WON!!!

After the race I got asked if I wanted to go to worlds...are you kidding? YES!!! Spain, World Championships? Off course. Before Pam and I rolled out of the parking lot I wanted to make sure that they counted me as the National Champion...I asked the person in charge and he said: sorry, you are the winner of the race, but you are not being awarded the National Champion Title...wow, that was disappointing and a little shock. I asked him about the rule, that clearly states that I can be the Champ if I had lived here for 3 years...Well I have been here since 2003, am a legal alien, have a house, a husband and a dog (:-) in the US, started my triathlon career here, work here,...due to a hidden rule that states that I needed to be released from Germany (I am still trying to find it) I do not count as the National Champion...

It was still a ton of fun and am super happy about the race, the result and how the day went!!!

I am still hoping this will be resolved and I get to go to Spain and race at the World Championships :-(

We stayed until awards, and I kept searching on my phone for this rule until my battery died...

At awards being called up as the winner of the USAT Elite Duathlon Championships

The race was a ton of fun. I am glad my one week-no-racing week is over and I get to compete the next 4 weekends again!!! Only 4 more weeks before I pack my bags to go to Germany, visiting my family and racing in Germany and Austria!!! Exciting times!!!