Question:
Which do you like better? My old, nasty riding shoes, or my new, colorful, obnoxious ones? I am just happy I found shoes that accommodate my huge middle fingerish toe.
I love, love these new shoes (thanks Sharpie).
Can someone send me money for a pedicure STAT?
Maybe I will wear both shoes on my ride tomorrow and take a survey around Boulder County.
Speaking of my ride tomorrow – it will be a little slice of hell. I love to be way more dramatic than I need to be. I’m actually kind of looking forward to it.
Coach has me riding from home about 13 miles to the base of a killer hill (well, mountain – it’s Old Stage for you locals). I have to then ride up and down it three times then head for home. Right off the bike is a 40 minute run.
The ultra good news is that today I saw PT Guru and he cleared me and my back to get on track again with Ironman Florida training. Last week I only did about 7 to 8 hours of training. This week, if all goes well, it will be about double that. While seeing the PT today I realized he has treated all kinds of pros, my favorite being Chrissie Wellington – many time world Ironman champ. I wonder if we laid on the same table.
She wrote him a note on this photo, which I’m sure you can’t read, but it was personal and nice.
Let me tell you why I love this woman. She is one of the most inspiring athletes out there, IMHAO (In My Humble Ass Opinion). She is a four time Ironman World Champion (2007-2009, 2011). Not much of an athlete in her early years, she ran her first marathon in 2002 (3:08!!), and did her first triathlon in 2004. How the hell only two years later she became a world champ is mind boggling. All that said, she just seems so damn down to earth (I still haven’t read A Life Without Limits, really need to).
I just so happen to have a picture of Chrissie on my wall in my office from when she made history and ran a 8:18:13 Ironman. With that picture are some incredibly inspiring and motivating words for each and every one of us who has the guts to dream, the will to try, and the balls to make it to the start line.
Sorry for the poor quality, but this is the actual page from my desk. I love all the “What ifs…”, but my favorites are:
- What if you erase doubt, embrace pain and smile from your heart?
- What if your determination becomes bigger than your fears?
Who inspires you to do better and to be better? Jesus? Oprah? Your dog? Who?
Do your feet look as bad as mine?
SUAR
I am inspired by the blogs I read and myself - as in I will feel like a quitter if I don't do x workout tonight ;)
ReplyDeleteMe too.
DeleteMy feet currently look worse, lost both big toe nails after the Bighorn Wild and Scenic trail run (52 miler). I'm inspired by the local amateurs that have a job, a family and still train enough to go out and compete with the pro's. That's a special sort of passion for the sport.
ReplyDeleteI'm inspired by any inherently lazy ass person who gets up and does something about it. It takes guts and motivation. I've never been a lazy person. I've always chased my dream so it comes a bit easier for me...but for those who started from below zero...well, they keep me fueled up.
ReplyDeleteMy feet are looking OK! Do your feet run in the family? They are unique!
I am weirdly jealous of your feet -- haven't run in 8 weeks due to plantar fasciitis and I'm sooooo tortured. LOVE the determination/fears line!
ReplyDeleteHopefully this isn't too strange, but I'm inspired by people I see at the gym or out running, biking, etc. who obviously have 100+ pounds to lose. How easy would it be to just give up and sit on the couch with a bag of potato chips? Gives me a whole new perspective.
Wait until after the race to treat yourself to a pedicure! I have learned that when I go to get them, they never cut my nails as low as I need them and then I end up losing one. Bummer, really.
ReplyDeleteThink of how awesome riding in Florida will feel after all your Rocky Mountain training. Seriously, it will all pay off.
I would kill for your feet. Yes, mine are horrendous. Just this past weekend, my family was trying to diagnose what I call my 'talon toes' (my giant, thick, pointer toe nails that make velociraptor sounds when I tap them, which I do). They were making themselves sick with google images. My dad was crying. Good times that only sick feet can provide.
ReplyDeleteAs a freshman ultrarunner, I'll tell you who inspires me: back-of-the-packers. They work just as hard for their finishes, but they suffer twice as long as the elites. While their reasons for doing it are as varied as their personalities, it certainly ain't for money or fame. Watching them this summer at the Bighorn 100 and Hardrock 100 dig deep and push through to the end was awe inspiring. It enables me to ignore the discomfort of being on my feet for 15+ hours, dig deep and git it done.
ReplyDeleteVery cool
Deleteomigawd. Absolutely beautiful! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteChrissie is amazing, there is no doubt of it. However the one I think about is Sister Madonna Buder. Any time I feel old and creaky about getting out for a workout, I think of her training and doing ironman at 80+.
ReplyDeleteYou better watch out! I wrote an "ugly feet" post on my blog (For my 2 faithful followers!) and it attracted a lot of attention from foot fetish freaks!
ReplyDeleteweird!
Anyway, right now I can't even paint my toenails because... well, I'm missing a few. It would look strange to have 7 painted toenails ;)
So, your feet are looking pretty good to me right now!
Yeah... my feet are in the ugly club too. They feel much better knowing there are others out there ;)
ReplyDeleteI admire the people who challenge me to do more: and recently this has come from blogs such as this one. Your training is varied, your posts are interesting, and you're committed to the task, and everything that goes with it, ugly feet and all (and that's not the worst of it!).
I found your blog when it was a rainy, dark night in Winter, and I had to run. But I didn't want to. So I looked to the internet for inspiration, and Googled things along the lines of harden the f*ck up and go running. And your blog came up and it worked a treat!! It literally made me shut up and run.
So thanks :)
My dad. He came from a background that set him up for failure (orphanage, foster homes, getting up at the crack of dawn to milk cows before he went to school) but kept his eyes on creating a better life for himself. He worked with less fortunate kids and always had time (and food and clothing) for them. Went on to get his PhD so that his kids (me and sisters) could have a life easier than his. He ran and swam in the 60s and 70s and still is the most compassionate man I have ever met. Ironman finishes don't hold a candle to what he has accomplished in his lifetime.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely tribute to your dad.
DeleteAgree - lovely to read!
DeleteThanks...everyone he meets loves the heck out of him. I am trying to follow in his footsteps with my career choices and helping special kids. Big shoes to fill and will never do it, but I feel we have a bond with work choices.
DeleteMy feet have not been happy the last couple of years. So every morning when I get up, I put the heating pad on and sit with them on it while I drink my coffee. I also roll them on a little nubz ball. It helps loosen them up before I abuse them again. I get monthly pedicures, to try make them happy.
ReplyDeleteMy 2 teenage boys inspire me to be active. I don't want to be the mom sitting on the sidelines, watching them, I want to be with them. This summer they have both learned to wakeboard (I waterski, can still get up on one!) and we've been standup paddleboarding several times. I've gone for long bike rides with my oldest. They are my biggest cheerleaders. My husband is not active, so I like to think their old mom is setting a good example as well!
Chrissie's finish time looks like a date too. It's coming up in a week or so. Wouldn't that have been freaky if IM Florida was on 8/18/13! Just sayin'.
ReplyDeleteGrete Waitz has always been my inspiration. I would wear my hair in pigtails at races and think I was just as fast (I wasn't even close). My toes are way worse then yours I ran a 25K trail race on Saturday and 1 mile of the course was in calf deep mud. Days later I am still scrubbing the mud out of my toenails! Good luck with your IM training!
ReplyDeleteLove your new shoes and that poster of Chrissie Wellington! She is one of my inspirations as well!
ReplyDeleteOK, I see an 8:18:12 at IMFL for you!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely read "A Life Without Limits". You will not be sorry. I loved it and it truly inspired me in my triathlon life. PS- Love your new shoes!
ReplyDeleteMy feet are hideous...hands down. Only reason there is paint on my toes is to cover the broken ugly things that running/training has done to me!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you are feeling better and will be back in the saddle! Good luck on the killer training ride - you'll do great. You will love Chrissie's book - read it as part of your IMFL training! As for inspiration, I run with and try to encourage lots of newbie runners who are just getting started into running; they inspire me the most because they remind me of how hard it was to get started and stick with it at the beginning.
ReplyDeleteYou must read Chrissie's book ASAP, it's amazing. I'm inspired by athletes with Multiple Sclerosis that are still running and doing triathlons, because that is what I hope to be able to continue to do despite my MS diagnosis.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I love the new bike shoes!
My daughters inspire me to do better and be better, at life. So hopefully I will inspire them to do better and be better than me.
ReplyDeleteI was truly lucky to hang out with her last year and she was so kind and lovely in person. Her book was a fantastic peek inside her head! Glad the doc has you all ship shape!
ReplyDeleteYOU inspire me and a lot of women runners like Shalene Flanagan, Deena Kastor and Kara Goucher, as well as MEB!! I'm terrified to race the Duathlon National Championship in Oct but I'm going to shut up and DO IT!
ReplyDeleteThose shoes are so bright! I love Chrissie & think she's so down to Earth. She is incredibly inspiring & definitely the reason I got into triathlons in the first place
ReplyDeleteMy feet definitely look like your feet. I'd take a picture and post here if I could, they are nearly identical. I like the bright shoes, too! All of my fellow Ironman competitors inspire me and YOU, too! :-)
ReplyDeleteObnoxious.....always go obnoxious.
ReplyDeleteIt's a rule.
My feet look a lot like yours...I just noticed today that I am losing half the toenail on my long "Morton's toe," and I also have funky scars on both feet from having Morton's neuromas (I sense a theme here!) removed.
ReplyDeleteNot to get too cheesy, but my husband is my inspiration all the way. He was DX'd with rheumatoid arthritis when he was 35 and told that his case was so severe, he would probably be on disability in 10 years. He refused to accept that and with tons of hard work & determination he has progressed swimming to biking to run/walk intervals to running a sub 4:00 marathon last year! He never complains even when I can tell he is stiff and sore and always focuses on the next goal (which happens to be an Ironman). I think he's pretty awesome.
You should really read Chrissie's book. I actually liked the non-tri stuff more than her tri journey.
ReplyDeletewell, as a fellow 2nd toe is longer than all the rest, I get my inspiration from many sources. This last weekend I was hiking a fairly steep, rocky but short trail to a popular alpine pass and I passed an extremely old woman that had an equally extreme hunched over posture. She had managed to hike to the top and back of this pass with the assist of hiking poles and a very patient family.BAsed on how slow she was moving it must have taken them all day to accomplish this hike that took my husband and I 2 hours? Now, that was inspiring.
ReplyDeleteI met Chrissie last year at one of her book signings and she just a lovely person!
ReplyDeleteI read her book, and it was great. I already loved her, now I just love her more!!
ReplyDeleteAnd how cool your PT took care of her!! Too cool!
I read her book, and became (slightly) obsessed. She seems like Superwoman and Regular Gal Me at the same time. When I started reading your blog and realized you were in CO, one of my first thoughts was, "Ooh! I wonder if she knows Chrissie Wellington!"
ReplyDeleteHere's obnoxious for you: I inspire myself. See, every so often, I catch a glimpse of what I could do if I lived up to my God-given potential, and if I hold on to those moments really tightly, I can't help but improve. I am also awed by my sister (she ran a BQ time in her 3rd marathon) and inspired by the knowledge that there are people who have overcome so many more physical obstacles than I; so many people who have trained SO much harder than I.
Glad your back pain is subsiding!
Chrissie is definitely inspiring. And so are you! Not enough to make me want to do an Ironman, of course, but never say never!
ReplyDeleteWow she sounds incredible. I love the idea of dreaming big everyday. It's so important
ReplyDeleteI love your shoes
ReplyDeletelove the bright shoes! Pretty sure I don't own anything right now (running gear wise) that isn't neon or doesn't have a touch of it on in some way shape or form.
ReplyDeleteI think soooooo many of us don't chase dreams to the dreaded fear of failure. (myself included)
Have a great weekend!
Those are beautiful feet! Finger-like toes are sexy, don't let anyone tell you different. Just curious, what size are your feet? By the way, I landed on your page after doing a search for women with big feet and long toes, it's one of the few things in life that I get some pleasure from.
ReplyDeleteI just passed this into a colleague who was doing a little research on that. And he actually bought me lunch because I found it for him smile So let me rephrase that. DenverOrtho
ReplyDelete