Love the Life you Live, Live the Life you Love

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...

"...so...you signed up for another one?" "Yea!" ".........when is this one?" "Next July! In wine country! It's going to be so awesome, everyone can come! We'll do wine tasting, sight seeing, we'll race, and go to a vineyard...." " NEXT July!? Like a YEAR from now!?" "Yep! Plenty of time to train and plan." *Silence* "AM I EVER GOING TO HAVE GRANDCHILDREN!?" The shit that a married female endurance athlete in her late 20's has to put up with. Chris and I have been together for almost 8 years and married for 3. I've gotten my fair share of comments and questions, mostly from prospective grandmas and grandpas. Actually I've been getting them since before Chris and I were even married, oddly enough. It seems no one can wait to see just what little terrors Chris and I produce. And I get it - obviously Chris and I are going to single handedly create the next great summer Olympic team ...

*I'm putting a disclaimer at the top to tell everyone that Chris is NOT deploying . I've been thinking about this blog post since Chris deployed two years ago and have seen first hand many friends and family deploy and TDY, but never had the right words to say or knew how to say it, so I've started and restarted and rewrote and edited it many times, and am just now posting it. This is not about me necessarily, just writing based on my combined experience and other's experiences- because I know many military spouses will be able to relate. Again, this is NOT necessarily a present day post ;)* We were just pulling up to our group run when we got a phone call and I knew within 20 seconds whatever Chris was going to tell me after he hung up was going to ruin my night. I can always tell who Chris is talking to by the his voice on the phone. When it's his parents he opens with a gentle, "hey, hows it going?" followed be this odd fake yawn that both he and ...

I think my favorite part of being a military wife is the sheer number of times I get the pleasure of visiting the DMV office. One thing the US of A needs to fix is this military situation. Is that being vague? Okay, on top of eeeeeeverything else - and I mean everything else - all the way down at the very bottom of the totem pole underneath removing the Asbestos in on-base housing but just above fixing the Army's mess dress (navy blue and black, really?), is the situation with the active duty car registration and driver's licenses. There is a law that to my limited understanding, basically says military can do whatever they want with their driver's licenses and car registration. Currently in my wallet I have: 1. A Missouri driver's license 2. A Massachusetts liquor license (basically I used it to say I was over 21) 3. A Utah driver's license I should note I am a resident of New Mexico but my car is registered in Ohio. I am a resident of New Mexico becaus...

I thought I'd share some things that I've picked up after doing triathlons for almost 10 ( TEN! ) years from people who are a whooooole lot smarter than I am: 1. Bring your own bike pump to transition. Not only will you not have to stress about running around like a beggar or stand in line waiting to use one, but also you automatically become the most popular person at the race. I was Saint Katie, bringer of the air , at Ironman Santa Rosa. Also, they always say you won't get it back...I've always gotten mine back. Just use one of your extra race number stickers to stick on it! 2. Check for a landmark when you rack your bike. Look for banners hanging on the fencing, a tree, a tent...something that doesn't move. I can't tell you the number of races I've done that I thought "Meh, I'll remember." or "They have numbers on the signs" When you're flying through transition with a massive swim PR feeling like a pro, AIN'T NOBODY G...

I knew it was trouble when we walked in. Chris and I have stayed in Air BnBs all over the world - from the Arctic Circle in Finland to Ushuaia at the tip of Patagonia in Argentina. From the haunted house with Ouiji board that locked itself in the closet and the porcelain dolls that I swear followed me into the the bathroom, to the plush condo in Buenos Aires with the rooftop pool. The key to Air BnB is low expectations. If you have the expectation of "This is literally a place to put my bags and lay my head down", you'll never be disappointed! The one in Ushuaia, we literally shared a bathroom with 4 other people. The toilet and plumbing was so sketchy I refused to poop in the house...and we stayed there for THREE DAYS. We slept in two double beds in a small library off the kitchen...on my HONEYMOON. The one in the Arctic Circle had no shower and we had to heat our water with a sauna and shower by pouring a bucket over each others head. Don't even get me sta...

I really hate race reports. And yet here I am, writing my race report. Usually when I write a race report I find starts with useless information that only pertains to myself and finishes with a bunch of excuses on why the race didn't go as planned, why my training was sub-par, why I didn't go faster, etc etc etc. But I mean....if you don't write a race report....can you REALLY call yourself a triathlete? An Ironman? A human being? Unconfirmed, but probably not. The day started at 3:32 when Chris' alarm buzzed me out of my deep slumber... Just kidding. I'm not wasting your time with the arbitrary details of my relatively boring morning. Here's the short and dirty: I woke up tired, ate bland food that I gagged on, got on a school bus, slept on the way to the start while trying to block out everyone's small talk. Best part of the morning? I walked out of a portapotty and bumped into my very best most wonderful friend in the world Julie, who surpris...