Love the Life you Live, Live the Life you Love

My first mountain bike was named Rex. It was a piece of shit. I bought him when I lived in Logan, Utah getting my master's degree and became suddenly inspired by the surrounding mountains and all the people shredding in the hills while I ran - lame. I too wanted to shred mountains. I found my Gary Fisher Trek 29er on Craiglist for $500 that appeared to be my size and at least semi-functional. With an income of about $400/month, I pestered the poor man relentlessly for two weeks until he agreed to sell the bike for a whopping $225 - pedals, bike cage and extra tires included. My first ride out my chain dropped down between by chainring and frame, locked up my pedals and I went head over feet into a gravel ditch in front of some guys fishing in a lake. I cried the whole way home. Not shown: road rash all over my arm and side A few months later I attempted again, this time bringing Chris along. I was riding along in front on an open, winding path and out of nowhere-  my br

"This is ALL Rachael's fault." That's all I could think around mile 9 of Buffalo Springs. I was on my second loop of the brutally hot run, going back and forth between jogging and walking, desperately looking for the next aid station that was never close enough, constantly looking down at my watch and thinking "how on God's desolate Earth have I only gone a QUARTER OF A MILE SINCE LAST TIME I CHECKED MY WATCH!?" .....and a stranger just poured a cup of ice down my bra that I, without words, just pointed and motioned to my shirt. It's not every day a teenager gets to dump ice down a woman's tri top. What can I say except thank you, and you're welcome. "DAMNIT RACHAEL. This was a terrible idea." Mile 10.  I put one foot in front of the other down the hill, my entire kit soaking wet with sweat and ice and gatorade and water and, yes, pee. So much pee. I knew in a few minutes I would see some of my Trail Dog Tri teammate

After competing 3 Ironman length distance races in a calendar year, as of October 15th, 2017 I was done. DONE. D-O-N-E with Ironman training. By that time it had been a solid 2 years of training or racing Ironman. I was training peaks addict. I was a slave to my coach's instruction. I woke up every morning and my first thought was, "What training do I have today?" I wasn't quite burnt out, but I had definitely forgotten how to live my life any other way, all while adamantly maintaining I don't take triathlon "THAT" seriously. Just like I try to tell people I'm not "that" competitive. So when I completed Kona and realized my season was over, and came to the conclusion that if I want to keep this endurance lifestyle up my whole life I needed to maybe not do an Ironman race every 3-4 months on average, I literally had forgotten how to be a normal person. With a blank training peaks schedule and no races on the horizon, I found myself on the

It's been over a month since racing Kona, and I'm starting to wonder if it'll ever sink in that I qualified for and finished the ultimate Ironman race. It's been almost 4 months since I qualified at Santa Rosa and my head continues to go to, "oh wow Kona" whenever I hear the word - it's almost like it never happened at all. I think the big issue I have is that over the years I built it up so much in my head and imagined what it would be like, that when I was actually there and racing the race, I just realized it's just another town. Just another Ironman race. Still hard, still amazing. I've compared it almost to a wedding. Girls dream about their wedding for years. We watch movies and plan it out in our heads on what every last detail is going to be like. I thought I would literally turn into a princess on my wedding day and be perfect in every way. But the day came and I realized that I had tan lines from my sports bra that showed up in every

Co: Eagle Bicycles What's Your Type? : Eagle T3 The Good Stuff: Di2 shifting, Shimano Ultegra components, Shimano 105 brakes, Apollo crank, Adamo road seat You See me Rollin': Eagle 60/88 Wheels with DT Swiss hubs Nice Bum, Where You From? :  https://eaglebicycles.com/shop/eagle-t3/ Picture Prove It: I have to admit, I was both nervous and hesitant about this bike. You know what I like when I invest in a product? Buzz words such as: Widely known. Super popular. "Everyone has this". And Eagle is frankly, none of those. (Yet.) I already knew I LOVE my Eagle 60/88 wheelset they sent me back in June for Ironman Santa Rosa. These wheels feel so awesome and look badass on my tri bike - even my husband is jealous of my setup. I look so pro rolling up to a race with a 60/88 wheel set and I loved those DT Swiss Hubs. They roll over potholes, that bumpy pavement that is the stuff of cyclists' nightmares and pretty much anything I threw at them. They fly down

I travel a lot. I’m currently writing this flying over what I assume is Oklahoma. Or maybe Missouri. When I lived in Ohio there was a running joke at my work that I never had more than 2 days of vacation days stored in my account and every Friday morning when I walked in, hair wet from my swim with XXL large coffee in hand, looking exhausted but happy, the front office ladies would ask me, “where you flying to this weekend!?” To which I would respond “Florida” or “California” or “Colorado” or, on one occasion, “Argentina!” and another, “Finland!”. They stopped being surprised after about my fourth trip in a single month. The key to staying happy in Dayton was to leave Dayton – as often as possible. (No offense). And while I love New Mexico with all my heart, my family is in Missouri, Florida and New England and my best friends are in California and Ohio. And my heart is all the places I’ve never been. So my Southwest credit card rarely has a chance to even cool off before I’m d