Hey there ironman!

Mike rodriguez of chicago illinois...you are an ironman!

Should be coming soon. 15 minutes we think. Get on the feed everyone!

He's passed mile 20! He is on fire!!!

Fwd:

Coming soon to a finish line near you! Watch the live feed starting around 11 eastern time!

The sight in la grange! (Mikes not in this picture)

Pro athletes are through and now we wait.

Ready to roll!

Setting up transition!

ITS TIME

ITS FINALLY FREAKIN HERE! I'M OFF TO THE SWIM!!! WISH ME LUCK

I'M ABOUT TO JUMP OUT OF MY SKIN

Making the final preparations!

OMG ITS ALMOST HERE

OMG ITS ALMOST FREAKIN HERE!!!! So its ironman eve and i'm slowly getting kinda nervous. My mini tri went great this morning, and the day has been good. I hope it all carries over to tomorrow. Well I'm hopefully off to bed, so i can wake up at 3am. Wish me luck!!!

Holy crap batman

I told barb i would hold my breath until she turns this car around and takes me home. She preceded to plug my nose. Now thats love.

How to track me in Louisville!!!

From barbs blog on how to track me! I'm to lazy to write my own.

To get updates on Mike's progress, here's what you need to know:

1. Follow Mike (#357) online at www.Ironman.com (look for the Ironman Live information on Sunday). They'll be posting split times along the way and you can access live video footage throughout the day (see the Athlete Tracker). Starting in the early afternoon they'll have a camera set up at the finish line and that'll run until midnight (click Audio/Video within the tracker). Check for updates throughout to predict his finish time and then watch him break the tape to become an Ironman! We anticipate him finishing as early as 10pm and as late as 11:59. ;)

2. I'll be updating the world via Twitter each time we see him on the course. We've got Mike all set up with a Twitter account now, so any updates I'll be sending can be seen here and here.

3. When I remember, I'll try and do a bit of photo blogging. Using Mike's phone...posting to Mike's blog.

4. If you can't wait (or are away from your computer) and need an immediate update...you've got my phone number. Just text me. Or call me. I can't guarantee I'll hear you over my cowbell; afterall, I am an equal opportunity cowbell kind of gal and will be valiantly cheering for everyone...and naturally, extra loud for Mike.


If you can't tell, not much will be posted on here during the race. You'll have to head over to here to get all the updates as they come.

We've got lots to do and so very little time to do it in. We're leaving bright and early tomorrow morning, and we still have a ridiculous amount of packing to do. So have a fabulous day...and I'll touch base when we're in Louisville!

Look how cute and creative my wife is!

This is what I woke up to on monday!

These videos she has me watch on tuesday! Thanks Tony!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qae_TUTeGo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zStIm0gNnUw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64B5aHnvdh8http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZM3OJ1X178

These inspirational quotes were left all around the condo! Even in the freezer!

Who has the best wife ever! ME! I love her so MUCH!

1 Week Away

Um so next Sunday at this time I should be on the run. Keep your fingers crossed!!! OMG!!!!! Well I've been watching Ironman Canada pretty much all day today and just saw my coach finish. I'm now pretty excited for Louisville!

Happy 4 Year Anniversary

I'M # 357

So after repeatedly pressing refresh on the Louisville Ironman website for the past few days, I got a call from my lovely wife. She called to let me know that she had contacted the WTC who is the event sponsor and found out what my race number is. You know that overwhemling feeling of excitement mixed with nerves and scaredness you got before you were about to lose your virginity because you had no idea what the hell you were about to do. Well thats how I felt when she said she knew my number

I'M LOUISVILLE IRONMAN PARTICIPANT NUMBER...

357

BRING IT ON BITCHES!!!!!!

(Can you tell i'm in taper madness)


Well I'm off to go get ready to take my amazing wife on a pre-anniversery date to the Steve Wilkos show taping. Laters!

Where is my bib number?

Oh where, oh where is my ironman race number
Oh where, oh where can it be
With its assistance it can help identify my body
Oh where, oh where can it be?

12 days

Um i'm 12 days away from Louisville!

About 297 hours still the start!

17820 minutes till the horn sounds!

OK i'm obsessed! And I want it to finally happen!

Well besides freakin out about the actual day, I have been training. Saturday I had a easy 8.5 mile run, and today I rode around 50 miles on the lake front path. My legs are finally back to normal from my final big build weekend. This weeks workout isn't so bad. I'm gonna move my 35 mile bike to friday, and do my 10 mile run on saturday before we leave for Indiana. I've been checking the louisville website hourly to see if they had posted my race number yet. I think when it is actually up I will puke a little in my mouth. Well its time to go back to watching the olympics!

So who is freakin out that louisville is only 16 days away? So after a pretty good day at home, I went to Ohio Street beach for a long swim. The water was pretty choppy and it was a pretty tough swim. A few times when I went to go take a stroke, my arm didn't even make it out of the water because the waves were getting that bad. I couldn't even breath properly because I would get a mouthful of the lake. Overall I did a mile and a half and when I was done I just felt dejected. That feeling was made even worse when someone said that i might not (won't) make the cut off time if i fuck around like i did in the water today. I don't know what they hoped to achieve by saying that. But no one wants to hear that after 8 months of training.

Well theres 16 days till the big day and this guy just realized he needs to get a new pair of shoes pretty soon. Thats hopefully tomorrows adventure!

Boy am I tired!

Wow, what a weekend I just had! Friday afternoon I ran 20 miles on the lakefront path and yesterday I biked 100 miles in Barrington. Even though my legs are pretty stiff and my quads are tender, I feel pretty good about it. I'll post more about my weekend, when I get back from taking my little brother back to school!

PS... I got the best wife EVER!!! I'm extremely lucky!

PPS... ONLY 20 DAYS TILL LOUISVILLE!!! (OK, now i'm excited)