RIP VITO 2002-2009

I loved this fish. Clearly, he loved me. You can see how happy he was. He was a cichlid, a Green Terror, almost 8 years old.



My trainer is set up next to his tank and he loved to watch me spin my legs. He liked the movement. He loved being in the livingroom around all the action. He would splash water if you walked by without saying hi. Every morning, he would be waiting for us so could say HI!

We are devasted. He was our beautiful, beautiful Vito. What a horrible way to end 2009.

Racing for Team Kenda (a do-over)

Damn the comments come flying in when I talk about anything "team"!

I had to delete the post below because I made a huge oops and told everyone all my business. It's too late now I know, because I had a lot of hits on this site yesterday and today.

Anyways, thanks for all of those comments. Both on the blog and in private.

THANK you BGW, for this nice, swift, kick in the ass:

...c'mon judi...you know i'm on your side in cycling matters but a few harsh words are in order...wake the fuck up, girl !!!...nobody just hands you anything for free...you're new to the sport, you haven't achieved shit other than to briefly show some great potential in a few cross races & yet here you are w/ an opportunity...

...don't piss on it because you had to spend a few bucks to get it rolling...doesn't matter what age you are, judi, you ARE a serious athlete...you just invested in your athletic future...

Fatmarc sums it up perfectly:

"I don't think you're flashing attitude as much as concern, and fear of the unknown. I think the team thing will work out great for you. It's a good program, you have tons of potiental, they'll help groom you. right now forking out a bunch of cash, you're questioning if it's worth it. You won't really know until the season ends, but I believe it will be good for you. even if you end up transfering to another team this will be good exposure and a great chance to learn from folks..."

Marc hit the nail on the head. I am afraid of the unknown. I am afraid of making an investment into something that might fail. So that's it.

My friends are doing IMKY again. I SO want to do IMKY again. But no, I am riding my bike. Sandi is trying to talk me into signing up. Another chick I raced CX with is also doing IMKY for the 1st time. I'd love to train with her. But I promised Dominic I wouldn't doing another IM in 2010. I would race my bike instead.

So now, I am committed to 15 races, racing for Team Kenda. It IS an exciting opportunity. I will give it my best shot and see what happens.

This week in pictures......

I've got to say, I have the rollers down. my hands no longer go numb from having that death grip. I did a workout the other day where I was supposed to be in the biggest gear for 40 minutes, cadence low 60's. It kicked my fucking ass. But it was on that day, I actually stood up and rode, changed gears, and switched my mp3 player to the next song. But I still can't take a drink of water.



I have also rode out in falling snow and rain. It wasn't too bad. I rode about 20 miles that day, just fucking around on my CX bike around town.



We were supposed to ride the day before xmas eve but our basement has been a wreck for the last month so we cleaned it out. Look at all these tires we threw out!



We got the basement looking pretty organized.

Here are my new rain boots I bought for myself. I also bought pairs for Amanda and my niece Kaitlyn (Dominic's niece but she calls me her aunt).



We went to see Avatar on Christmas night. In 3D. It was very cool.



I got a lot of nice stuff for Christmisakah (what Dominic calls my holiday). Both Dominic and I scored big in the presents department his year.

He got me really nice LG winter riding gloves, an insulated water bottle, Triathlon magazine, and a new cell phone. I got him an airbrush kit with a compressor.

His Mom got us a Jack Lallane power juicer. It is super sweet. I see lots of veggie juice in my future!

My Mom got us new towels for our bathroom.

His Dad got me a really nice long sleeve running shirt.

Amanda got me the Twin Six Vixen jersey which I am so fucking psyched about.

Sandi brought my dogs fresh bones from the butcher and some "Fuck It" chewing gum and some Hemp Muscle Relief rub.

Dominic's brother got me a thermal and some great fuzzy pants to wear around the house (perfect for work!).


Dominic's Mom, Dominic's stepmom, and me


Dominic has one of each of the desserts.


The tree (with a swan on top!)


Now, aren't you glad that fucking holiday is over with!

Goose at Christmas

We had Christmas last Sunday with Dominic's family. His Dad rented out the clubhouse at his condo and had it catered, italian style. Lasagna.

There was this huge goose outside. Or duck. Or whatever the fuck he was. He was guarding the parking lot. We decided to feed him. His name was Mike.



When the caterer tried to get back in his van, the duck wouldn't let him get near the driver's door. It was hilarious. Wish we had got that on video.

Merry Christmas,
Judi, Dominic, and the dogs, Ari, Lucy and Fausto

Destiny

I was outside riding my cx bike today and this song came on. I love these lyrics. How true are those words for me? Why did I make it out and so many others did not.

...There must be
A guardian angel
Or some kind of destiny we have
'Cos we should have died
A long time ago
The way we were livin' in our paths....

Weezer, Everybody get Dangerous

A couple years ago I was sitting at my desk at work, and I got a call from my friend Laura. She lives in Chicago. We've been friends since 8th grade.

L - I have bad news.
J - What is it Laura?
L- RJ is dead and Chris has been in a bad car accident. They think he's paralyzed.

Holy fucking shit.

L- RJ died Friday night and Chris' accident was Saturday night.

Two totally different horrific accidents involving two guys who were great friends. All within 24 hours of each other.

Desi, RJ, Chris and Kyle - all great guys. XXOO.

RJ was a friend from way back in high school. He was an accomplished jazz musician in Chicago. I had even been to see him play in a cool jazz club, on the south side of Chicago. RJ was all fucked up on drugs at the time of his death. He had been trying to get into his parents building, and when they refused his entry, he tried to climb the side of building. He fell to his death.

Chris was also an accomplished bass player, in two different bands. The news about RJ's death had spread and Chris had been told, but he had a show in Indy that Saturday night. On his way back from the show, there was an accident. Chris broke his back and his girlfriend died.

Chris had no health insurance at the time of his accident. They have benefits to help raise money for his health care all the time. I wish I had like 100k to give to his Mom to get him the care he needs. He's been in a nursing home for 2 years but was recently moved to another hospital for surgery.

I have only been to see him once, and that is just unacceptable. So I met up another friend from years back, and we went to see Chris yesterday. Marcus visits him more often.

When we walked in and I saw him, it kind of took my breath away. My friend is a bag of bones with a beating heart. I walked out real fast and teared up a bit. I asked the nurse if we should wake him, and she said yes.

He was flat on his back and has to stay that way for 4 weeks due to the surgery. He only had a few more days until he could sit up. It was difficult to comprehend.

Marcus was really good about keeping the conversation up. Chris told me our friend John C was visiting and telling him all I do is ride and run 1000's of miles now. I did not want to talk about it because I get to use my legs and Chris doesn't.

Then the nurse came in and gave him his pain meds - a nice big shot of shot of Dilaudid right into his IV. It was time to say goodbye, and I gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Ever since, all I have thought to myself is why why why did this have to happen to him??

I had a heavy heart all day yesterday and today, especially as I rode past the hospital he's in. It's just wrong that this happened to him. If anything like that ever happened to me, someone would have to kill me with a lethal dose of heroin. Period.

I am going back with a movie next time.

sugar free

I am trying to find the courage to go see a friend of mine that I grew up with. He was in a car accident 2 years ago and broke his back. He is unable to use his arms and legs. He's been on my mind a lot since I found out he was moved to a nearby hospital. I mean, it's like a 10 minute drive. There is no reason not to go see him. It scares me.

I am about 80% healed up. I can ride rollers, the trainer, swim, and do some light lifting. No push ups though.

Coach Dave has started giving me some workouts for the week plus 2 rest days! LOL!! I can cross train on my rest days so of course I swam today. I dug out one of Jen's swim workouts from IMKY training. I kept it at an easier pace, since the harder I went, the more my chest hurt. I swam 3K.

I taught Fausto to fetch the paper. It's SO cool.




Dominic likes to have his paper in the morning. It helps get him through the day, that little ritual. Sometimes, he gets all bent out of shape when he can't have his paper in the mornings. He reads the front page and then the local section. He likes the forum too. He reads all kinds of political bullshit.




Dominic is lifting heavy again. Not looking too much like a cyclist, LOL.

Just riding....

Aren't these boots cute? I think they are perfect for CX races.




I need to get used to riding. Everyday. I don't need to focus on swimming and running anymore. It's hard to get that out of my head. Like, really hard.

My chest is feeling a lot better. I've been on the bike everyday so far this week for an hour each day. I am not pushing it. Sunday and Monday I rode rollers and today I did an hour long Spinerval DVD.

Thanks to Julie, I now have a cycling coach. He's races road/CX and is starting to get into coaching. He's going to be giving me specific workouts for road racing.

He wrote to me:

It sounds like you have great endurance fitness. However, as you've mentioned (and is normally the case), endurance athletes typically are underdeveloped in regards to their anerobic/sprinting ability. This makes the constant accelerations in crits and CX very painful. That is where you have the most to gain from working with a coach and having specific workouts.

You do know that Dominic has been telling me this for two years?

So now I will finally get those interval workouts I so desperately need for racing. I have to stop thinking about doing century rides all the fucking time, and instead focus on fast, short rides.

I am excited for 2010 and riding for Team Kenda. My bio is on the site and I really need help with the wording - anyone have anything to offer? Amanda?

Updated ++

BGW has just informed me I have made it on Drunk Cyclist again. How fucking cool is that?? Gnome, you rock.

Parade

The Annual Reindog Parade was today. Dominic didn't have to work until 5pm so I took a long lunch (I work 10a-10p on Saturdays). Sandi came by my house and we all went together. It was fun. Mt. Amams is a pain in the ass to find parking though.

Fausto loved it. He always thinks the 'more the merrier'. Every adventure is like a party to him. He is so sweet with every dog, baby, human. His temperament never ceases to amaze us. He got a lot of laughs as people called him a dalmatian, or a cow. One guy yelled at him to eat more chicken.




*if you look close, ari has a slight hard on. LOL!


Dominic's been in such a bummed out mood. The holidays are making him miss Bruno. I am trying to keep him busy doing stuff. It seems to be working. He had a great time today.

Tomorrow we are going to see the Nutcracker. Ryan's girlf, Kristi, is in it. It'll be me, Dominic, his Mom, and his niece Kaitlyn. I am looking forward to it.

Tomorrow night Dominic and I are going to a friend's xmas party. I am psyched to get out and see some people we haven't seen in forever.



I really don't like not working out. Of course you knew that rant was coming. I don't know how long this shit can go on. The pain is still a 6-7 on a scale of 1-10. :( I have read that a rib/breastbone/sternum injury can take 6-8 weeks to heal.

Cute cow

Playsuits provided by Zola Wear. Jane Frantesi, President of Atlanta Dobe Rescue, is also the creator of Zola Wear and an amazing person. She's done 4+ IM's and encouraged me to sign up for IMKY. In fact she inspired me to start doing triathlons altogether!

So if you have a big dog that gets cold, try a playsuit. They are adorable. The added bonus is for rescued dogs. They get a nice discount.



Since Zola and Lucy are the same size, Jane sent Lucy one of Zola's hand-me-downs, for free! It's so cute and Lucy is always cold. She loves her new pajamas.



They can even poop and pee in them!



* It's freaky cold here but at least we aren't having a blizzard. Winds up to 45mph yesterday. Dominic wanted to go ride his 9'er. I said no.

* It was 15 degrees and windy as hell when I took the dogs out for their hike this morning.

* I put on jeans today for the first time in over 3 months. To me, jeans = dressing up. I hate dressing up. In fact, since I started working from home, I have only worn the following items: warm ups, hoodies, and yoga pants.

* Yesterday I had my semi-annual doctor appointment with my internist. He's a runner and he loves hearing about my races and seeing pictures via email. I told him about my bike crash on Sunday and he ordered an x ray. I was in a lot of pain and just needed to know if anything was fractured. The x ray was normal. I must have just bruised something really bad. I am taking it easy for a few days.

Have a good weekend.

After 'cross.....

My first cyclocross season is over. I'd say it was pretty successful. Much thanks to all of you that told me to go for it. I am so glad I did. I have been trying to sum it all up and I've come to the conclusion that CX people are all fucking crazy, especially the women. I am so ready for next year!! I am going to be one of those freaks counting down the days.....

My crash on Sunday must have been worse than I realized. I am sore as fuck and it's been 2 days. I haven't done shit except walk dogs. My ribcage is sore, my chest hurts, my knee is scabbing up, and I have bruises in spots that I didn't even know were banged up. I hurt.

I walked the dogs this morning with a friend of mine, on her church's property. We had 6 dobermans and a pit bull, all running loose. It was awesome to see them all run and play.






I did some shopping on Sunday. I found this Batman hat for Dominic. You have no idea how happy he was when he saw it. He yelled AWESOME so loud and ran in the bedroom, like a little kid. Dominic is very much into Batman (check out the Bat Tank).



*** Updated 12/8 3pm

I tried to go swim. Listen to me, don't try to swim if you have an UPPER BODY injury. Like a bruised sternum. Or whatever the fuck is wrong with my chest. I made it 1000y somehow and then got out after my CX cough came back.

Sucks ass.

Storm the Greens CX - COLD BRRR!

Amanda was nice enough to drive down with me to Louisville, for one more CX race. It's only a 90 minute drive. We had coffee, talked shit, and the drive went by fast. Oh and she baked muffins and scones! How cool is that?

It was fucking cold too. Like, in the teens I think. I didn't check.




We made it down there way early so I got in a couple of practice laps. It was so cold. My toes were numb and it was sucking pretty bad.

The course was nice and flat, a few little rollers, and very worn down and ridden a lot. You could easily take lines through the "sand pit" which was frozen. There were a set of barriers that were almost knee high, impossible to jump over. I even saw one girl putting one foot on top of the barriers and then hoping over. Then there were two areas that went onto pavement. The first part went right back up off the pavement and up a little hill and into some nice twisty turns, then downhill again and onto this paved sidewalk again. Only there was a long stretch of it, and then back onto the grass and up another set of wooden stairs (3 sets of stairs plus one set of knee high barriers total) and then down some grassy hill and onto the pavement where you ended up at the finish.

The ground was frozen but as the sun rose, the course got very slick.



Suzanne had the most rockin' socks on ever.



While the cat 4 men raced, Amanda and I sat in the car trying to defrost my toes. I had on 3 layers and a Batman thermal over my baselayers. I had on 2 pair of gloves, 2 pair of socks, tights under my shorts, and a hat under my helmet (forgot a balaclava!). My toes were frozen. Numb.

Once we finally lined up, I just wanted to get this race over with.

About 3/4 of the way through the 1st lap, I went down. Hard. I came around a corner going pretty fast, and onto the pavement I went (everyone was saying to take the left side but it was slick and I bit it BAD). I went over my bars, skidded on my fucking chest, and got the wind knocked out of me. I don't know how I got back on my bike, but I did. I was HURT. I really did not think I would finish but I had to try. I knew if it hurt too bad I'd stop. But the bike was ok, so I continued on.

The chick in front of me in the picture is usually the winner of every fucking race I do (she is the Ohio Champion in my a/g). But she got a flat I ended up passing her. She got another wheel but never caught back up to the leaders. She did, however, pass me, as you can see.



Usually we only do 3 laps and I totally thought I was done when I heard the announcer say "One more lap" and I was like "are you fucking kidding me"? but that gave me the chance to pass one other girl.



I ended up 7th out of 12.

This is me showing off my boo-boo.



Good friends!!!



Suzanne's typical "after race" smile.



Tonight my knee hurts and my chest hurts. I have a tad bit of CX cough and my sternum must be bruised or something. I am going to take a hot bath now and burn my new pumpkin spice candle.

This is the last race report for a while. It's time to focus on getting through the holidays.

Thursday yo

I am racing again on Sunday. One last CX race down in Louisville. Dominic has to work so Amanda is going down with me (thanks girl!). I can't wait. A road trip. I am excited, but also sad this is my last race. I really like cyclocross. A lot.

Dominic is building me an old school MTB with parts he found in our basement. We have so many bike parts down there, it's scary. He rebuilt some shifters and found cantilever brakes. He's going to paint it too. We aren't putting more than 40 bucks into it. I am looking forward to more off road riding this winter. Especially on an old beater bike.

I am convinced the off road riding is helping my bike handling skills, like tremendously. We rode fixies on Tuesday on an 8 mile bike trail. I was so comfortable riding my FG, taking corners a lot better even!

I accepted the spot on Team Kenda. The director and I talked on the phone for an hour. He started including me on the team emails. I talked my decision over with many folks (thanks Fatmarc, Aaron, BGW, Mitch, Julie, Beth, and of course, Dominic. I think I have pissed off a few people in the process but sometimes I guess you have to do what's right for you, when the opportunity arises. Even if it's selfish.

I keep thinking that the director is going to come back and say "Sorry, but we found your blog and we don't think you'd be an appropriate member of this team due to your past". My past has had a way of creeping up on me over the last 10 years.

Like the time I was hired at American Express for my first travel agent job. Getting past the "Have you ever been convicted of a felony" part on a job application is hard. It had only been 3 years since my arrest. Miraculously I got hired. Two months later, the background check officer called and told me I still had warrants for my arrest in San Francisco. I had been back in Cincinnati for almost 4 years! Luckily, all I had to do was fax in copies of my drug treatment graduation and the warrants disappeared. *the felony is now almost 14 years old.

But I digress.

So when I know it's official, and I know for sure I am a part of Team Kenda, I'll let you know. Somehow part of me feels like I made a mistake. I am not sure.

Dominic and I are getting back to some serious dieting. No sugar till Xmas. Instead of the big breakfasts we were having, it's now oatmeal, grapefruit, eggs. No ice cream, no chips. Usually I eat whatever I want between Thanksgiving and Xmas, but not this year. I need to get my discipline back!

Training has been really nice. No pressure, just spending as much time on my bike as possible. Running once a week. Swimming once a week. Or twice. Or not.

I had a great, easy 2500y swim on Monday. I had CX cough all day. I didn't do any 50's or 100's or sets of any kind. I just swam 100 lengths and got out. Felt really good.

Tuesday I rode 24 miles on my fixie and then ran 7. I had a wonderful run. I like running when I only do it once a week.

Wednesday it was pouring, freezing cold rain. Dominic and I rode for an hour on CX bikes when he got home from work. We rode at Dunhum Golfcourse. I have been walking my dogs there for 6 years and it is the perfect place for a CX race. We had a blast but it was COLD! I crashed into a tree and hurt my middle finger. It doubled in size overnight.

Today I did the Have Mercy Spinerval DVD. It's two hours. Torture. The last 30 minutes sucked.

That's all I got for now......have a great weekend.

XXOO!