The Webb's

Yes, the Webb family only produces boys. All offspring are boys, generation after generation. Everyone jokes that Mark will be the one and only that ends up with girls. Ha! With who? I don't know. But that conversation does not need to be started. Here is the line up!

(Paul-middle brother, Daryl-dad, John-oldest bro, Mark-O)

(Us)

These photos were at a wedding immediately following ironman Canada. I am busy trying to cover up the laceration I had on my face at the urgent care the previous day. Constantly swooshing the hair in front of my face. In grade school I was told the boys like that :)

Congratulations to Brent and Dawn on their beautiful wedding.

straps, views, deers, cars and such.

Okay, so I reported about the "new garmin" (well, it has died) but I have been using the same heart rate monitor for years. Disgusting as it is, well, it has mold on it. I never look at it, I wash the strap-the fabric part, but as I handed it to Mark post-ride on Sunday he was disgusted. Oops (sorry no photo). I may have to make a trip to my favorite Road Runner Sports for a new one (would have two, but lost the other one a year ago). So back to the old Garmin and some major cleanage of the strap. It is so used it doesn't even read "Garmin" in the front anymore.

So after a few days of doing "nothing" I was finally able to venture out on Saturday. Ran some miles and felt great, simply because I didn't have to turn my head! Rested some more then Sunday headed to Vashon Island, which is a 15 minute ferry boat ride from our home in West Seattle, for a hilly ride. Gorgeous view of Mount Rainier, saw tons of deer. In fact, one galloped in between our bikes (Mark and Connie and I) and we look over to see her family of 5+ other deer. Mark's response of "is it going to charge us" added some humor to the day. However, he was clipping out ready to brawl :)

(Mt. Rainier)

The weather is turning as we were pelleted by the leaves and pine needles falling from the trees. The gloves have emerged from hiding.

The day broke loose with some gorgeous sun so we opted to walk up the road to the car show. Oh yes, the car show, band, dogs, and fun. And some good 'ole spin outs. Don't worry I fired the videographer and am hiring a new one!

(this is Jack when he is not playing DS)

(Jack and I found this little man in one of the cars and "the perfect car alarm")

(and here is the mini car)

(and the mini car at work)

I finally paid my speeding ticket since it was at the 15 day mark, what would I have done without hte online payment option?!

We finished off our Sunday as a normal Sunday at Mexican, but this time with our great friends Connie and Jeff in Vashon. Don't worry Puerto Vallerta, we'll be back!

Taper Freak-outs have Arrived.

Each taper brings something different, some different type of ache, some pain, something to keep me on the down low and keep my mind off of training. Before St Croix it was this nagging pain around my knee, the VMO muscle to be exact. It was just in a constant "cramp" mode. Mark would laugh it off. "This is all normal, you always have something wrong at this time". I on the other hand...FREAK OUT....what if it doesn't get better, how can I race, blah, blah.

Tuesday marked the official "start of taper" day. All long stuff complete. Focusing has hit an all time high.

Went to swim on Wednesday, had a fantastic workout of a few 100's hard, a few 50's hard. All totally less than 4,000 yds. Came home, took the power nap, awoke did some FB'ing and then out of no where the entire neck ceased. Not like the "just woke up" can't turn my neck to one side pain, this is the can not turn neck in any direction. However, I have learned from experience, I am NOT stressing over this, this is all normal (sorta). I have been lying on my back, without movement for 2 days now. 2 days and three movies that is, or four movies if you count watching Matthew McConaughey's movie twice (Ghosts of Girlfriends Past)!

Okay, so I am getting a bit stir crazy, but with all the hard work done, this is literally forcing me to sit on my bootee'. I welcome any movie recommendations.

Once again Inewmed is hard at work on me, along with Discovery Wellness Chiropractic. I can praise them enough for all they do to keep me healthy, active, and to keep my head on straight (literally). I will be back on Friday (when I can hopefully drive....ugh...I am helpless).

Da' Haps!

September 20th was mi madre's birthday. She is all of 54 years (you can do the math). We went to dinner on Saturday for her pre birthday dinner since her actual special day was filled with a 40+ mile bike ride with her girlfriends. So us folk settled for Saturday. We took the ferry over to her island and went to a steakhouse. Just what I needed leading up to the long workouts scheduled for Sunday and Monday. Food was good, the dessert was AMAZING! My mom is one special lady, she helps organize a ton of workouts on the Kitsap peninsula (they call themselves J.U.G.S. for Just Us Girls. She races and trains nearly as much as I do (added cleats to her cycling shoes this year), and somehow managed to raise me,okay, continues to raise me. I could not even imagine having an 11 year old right now, let alone an 11 year old daughter like me. Happy Birthday Mom!

( Mom at Danskin this year)

Bondi Band was featured at the Trek expo (think Danskin, but it is called Trek). Rebecca (owner) is prego and due any day so I worked the booth for her. If you have never heard of Bondi Band, you will soon, or check out the site. Here are some of her bands (fashion and cool max fabric for working out):

Other titles say:

"Tri Chick", "Fit Happens","I run so I can eat", "I run for beer", "shark bait", "cancer sucks", "Operation Shrink a Booty", etc. Fun stuff and widely popular to all the chicks racing.

Speaking of Cancer sucks. Today marks 14 years since my father passed. He had the crappy cancer, but won it over for 2.5 years, until it finally took him away. He was a huge support of me, especially in athletics. NEVER missed a swim meet or gymnastic meet, built me a balance beam and then a pool in our back yard (dug the thing with his own two hands!). He was a perfectionist (I didn't pick up on that trait). Dad was cool, he is missed.

Sunday was Cycle the Wave (benefiting Victims of Domestic Violence). An all girls cycling event in Issaquah (this is the one that mom got all her friends together, dolled themselves up in pink jerseys, and road their bikes-and later crashed them :() They have three different routes with some fun titles, except for the longest route. It is called the "Burly Girl" so the volunteers ask:

"What event are you doing?"
Me: Burly Girl (did I really just say that-calling myself that?)


Male volunteers on course: "Are you doing the sisters route or the girl power route?"
Me: ughh...the Burly Girl (Crap, do they know I am doing this twice- am I now the "grizzly girl")

Come on could they come up with something a little more, ughh, girly? Like super girl or wonder woman of such.

Definition of burly:
husky, able-bodied, athletic, beefcake, beefy, big, brawny, bruising, bulky, gorillalike, hefty, hulking, hulky, hunk, muscular, portly, powerful, stocky, stout, strapping, strong, sturdy, thickset, well-built.

Seriously lets go with beefcake next year.

The event was, despite the name, fun. I rode with Connie for the first 70ish miles and then she went on to complete her first century EVER. We had so much to talk about that the first 30 miles were easily forgotten about. Rain from the day before caused every slug to come out in all of Washington. Brown slugs, green slugs, you could only dodge so many of them. I look over at Connie's bike and it looks like a huge bug, until we realize it was slug guts! I got to do this last long ride and my longest ride EVER. The last 10 miles of each 60ish mile loop were brutal (took me 1:22 for the last 10 of each-hilly!)



(Yes, that is fuel all over the cat eye, not slug guts)

I have no photos of the ride because Mark was out supporting the TNM athletes at our local Kirkland Sprint triathlon and let me tell you this race is no joke! The mens field was STACKED with local pros Ben Collins, Dave Messenheimer, Chris Tremonte, and up and comer Rusty Pruden. My fellow coach Bridget Jones (yes that is her real name) took the victory for the women.

(Champ Bridget with the hubby and Zooey the new dog)


(Dave, Ben, and our boy Rusty)

Most excitingly Coach M's bro (that is Mark) raced his first tri. The super sprint, which is all the same except the swim was 1/4 of a mile. For starters he did a fantastic job...but his stories are what need the attention.

(Brother Paul and Coach M)

Night before race on phone with Mark:

M: "Pump your tires to 115 tonight, they will lose some air overnight and you will be fine".

P (Paul is bro's name): "What I just pumped them to 60 isn't that enough?"

M: "Okay, what fuel are you bringing?"

P: "Fuel?"

M: "Pack everything tonight in a back pack, including your wetsuit, you don't want to forget that."

P: "In a back pack? I thought I just put it all in a garbage bag."

M: "Meet me at my place at 5:30 am."

P: "Why 5:30 when my wave doesn't go off until 8?"

Post Race comments:

P: "I freaked out in the swim as soon as I got kicked, so bro, I turned over on my back, lifted my goggles up and did this (picture Paul swinging both arms simultaneously in a backstroke fashion). I started passing people like crazy. And then I didn't even have to sight (remember goggles are off), I would just watch the people's eyes behind me and make sure I was going straight that way." (I need to learn that style!)

On the run: "I was cramping in my calves and people started telling me not to stretch, I was like, heck no, I want to stretch my calves and I will!"

And of course Coach M credits himself for Paul's quick transition times, however, Paul credits it to the fact that he "rode" his bike out of transition with volunteers yelling "get off your bike". Oops!

Will he do it again....YES! It just brings back all the first timer stories.

Happy b-day wishes to my mom and congrats to Paul on his first (of many to come) triathlon!

Charity Month

September has turned into a time of charity (just like December) and training, meshed into one. It has been GREAT to do what I love, give back, and train in the upcoming weeks to Kona.

It started this past Saturday with the Swim Across America event. This is a fundraiser for the American Cancer Alliance, specifically this event was for Seattle. I did the 2 mile option in order to practice my drafting, patience, and sighting skills. The water was beautiful, and as you can see not even the slightest wave, by far the flattest water EVER! This made for a most enjoyable swim, I even snuck in a few peeks of the beautiful homes we were swim past in Mercer Island.

I chose this event because it was close to home and benefiting the Cancer Care Alliance. My father passed away of cancer 14 years ago, nearly to this day, due to cancer. My parents supported my in all my swimming events attending EVERY swim meet and nearly every practice. Not to mention the daily support of feeding me! I could not pass up this opportunity to swim and support him at the same time.

Chuck swam in 1 hour flat and he was my top sponsor for the event (thanks so much Chuck)! Liz and Mom thank you too for your generous support!

I was 1st female and second overall in 41:08 (I was planning for a 46, but the water was good to us!)

SAA was so well run, had amazing support and we could not have asked for a more sun-filled happy Seattle day.

Then Sunday came. Hmmm. The MS 150 bike ride (benefiting Multiple Sclerosis) was happening, day 2 of it at least. I had a lot of athletes doing the first day so I decided to "use" their hard earned donations and participate in day 2 which had a 70 mile option. Rode the 70 then tacked on a few extra, and then a few more due to my lack of navigation skills. The ride itself consisted of LONG perfect training roads

with GORGEOUS scenery.

I will definitely be back for this ride as I had no idea how beautiful Skagit Valley was, and it is only an hour from Seattle. Oh, and the Lululemon factory outlet is only 5 miles from here! That's enough to make me ride out here EVERY weekend. Maybe coach can put that into my trainingpeaks, then I have a reason to train and shop:).

(I finally got that waterproof camera so I can get it all sweaty and take photos at all times!)

Today (Thursday) was Erace Poverty charity time. At the Seattle Athletic Club the staff runs on the treadmill for 12 hours straight (in 30 min increments) and members donate to their favorite trainer. One of our trainers, Jeff Bates, started Erace Poverty and he sends monthly newsletters when traveling on his missions.

(This is Rob (ie: the boss), I signed up to run after him (ie: bonus points!)

Let me tell you 30 min is a long time for this girl to run on a stinkin' treadmill...ugh! It was great for me though because I have had a nagging foot issue, had an MRI, took a week off of running, then had the IT band flare due to "not running" so now I am building back up and my calculations have me spot on for Kona :) (positive thinking!).

Thanks to everyone for their support and donations to make these events happen while America fights the war on cancer, MS, and poverty.

As exciting as the Sex and the City movie.

It came out, I pouted because I wanted it, everyone else was getting one but me. Aghh...you whine enough and this is what you get:

Yeah! The Garmin 310XT was sitting on my counter top at home just waiting for me. We went for a swim....and well, I have a lot of reading and figuring out to do because it said I swam double the distance (or maybe I did swim a mile in 11:05 J/K) . FYI Greenlake is .46 across from buoy to buoy.

Road Runner Sports is the best (well really, my boyfriend is the best). But you can now pick one up there.

Thanks Mark, I will put it to good use (by strapping it onto you and making you swim so I can analyze your every swim move! :)

Canada Recap

Ironman Canada came and left and here I am super delayed in posting. There was too much training, activities and racing to be had that the computer time was limited.

I got in some GREAT training rides with friends Connie, Hallie, and Nick (well Nick may not like me after the long adventure we took him on :)).

(Connie at Yellow Lake)

Another solid run with Hallie and a few fantastic swims from outside our home. Mark's father canoed alongside me on the last swim. Probably because I swam to the wrong house on the first attempt by myself. A few of us participated in the 5K run race. It was right along Main street and I just happened to have a few athletes eating dinner so they got up out of their seats to do some cheering (thanks Smith family and Travis).

I was very happy to finally meet D! She was putting in the work at the Gatorade station, as we saw her there, morning, noon, and night!

The boys were pretty chill leading up to race day, in fact, they decided to set up their personal photo shoot (you would think it was their wedding day). Below is one of 1000 photos taken. We will have a calander out next year for them!

(Jeff, Thomas, and Mark)

They also had some social "ice bath" time too. Where they were able to discuss race strategies.

(Jeff, Mark, Darin)

While we made posters.

And put on TNMULTISPORT tatoos.

Thomas's family put together a hilarious write up for the boys. Text below photo.



IS IRONMAN CANADA READY FOR THESE GUYS?
Mark Webb, Jeffrey Cunningham, and Thomas McJilton have all gone through hard training, lots of long days,
and several permanent markers, but their friendship remains their greatest training asset.
Ironman Canada may be known
for various things; long hills, hot
weather, and bald men, but three
Yanks think the multi-sport world is
theirs for the taking. “Since I decided
this is going to be my first, and last,
Ironman event, I’m going all out,” said
Jeffrey Cunningham, the rookie of the
trio.
Orthopedic socks seem to be
Seattle native Mark Webb’s secret
weapon. “ I think socks like these say
something about a person,” said
Webb.
Thomas McJilton, wielding his 19th
black Sharpie maker, has spent many
days color-coordinating his biking
ensemble. “Whether I broke
international child-labor laws by hiring
Maia Cunningham as creative
consultant is for the courts to decide,”
said McJilton.
With race day looming, the three
triathletes prepare themselves by
shaving their heads, legs, and chests
in a vain effort to reduce their finish
times. The coolness factor, however, is
virtually guaranteed.
The families of Webb,
Cunningham, and McJilton wish
them well on race day.

Race day was a 3:30 am wake up call. Mark and the team did absolutely fantastic and as a coach I could not have asked for a much better day for them.

(Mark running)

Mark had a 2 hour PR from his previous ironman experience finishing in a 10:19.

Post race was spent SLEEPING for me.....I was exhausted for two days following. I did get up for the team barbecue and also for a little wine tasting.

Canada was a super great experience all around. Thanks to everyone who made the journey to support the team mates and to hang out at our pad!