tag, I'll bite

10 years ago I was
Enjoying summer vacation… between my Junior and Senior years in High School! Living with my parents in St. Charles, Illinois. Starting to think about college. Going to cheerleading camp and hanging out with my BFF, Lindsay. (our favorite summer activity was setting a sprinkler up next to my trampoline and jumping through the spray… this could last for hours)

5 years ago I was
Fresh out of college. Using my marketing degree from UGA as a Territory Sales Rep for Rubbermaid. Spent most of my time driving between accounts in Atlanta and Birmingham.

1 year ago I was
Pretty much doing the same thing. Raising money for MDA, having fun training for triathlons, enjoying all Greenville has to offer…

5 things on my to-do list today
Pack for my 4th of July getaway (going to Franklin, NC: family time, and mountain time!)
Watch more swimming on NBC! Love, love, love the Olympic Trials!
Do a few loads of laundry
Call Leah about Chattanooga
Oh, right… stay dialed in at work until 5:00 (darn Holiday weeks are distracting)

5 snacks I enjoy
Ants on a log (celery w/ peanut butter and raisins)
Lara bars (cherry pie)
Soy chai latte
Hummus
Anything including the following flavor combinations
- mint/chocolate
- chocolate/peanut
- peanut butter/banana
- chocolate/banana

If I were a billionaire I would
Try to donate, aid, fund many things close to my heart (college funds for family members, medical bills for friends, help our MDA office make budget for the year…)
But, on a more fun note… I’d buy an island, build an amazing house, get a plane & pilot (heck, maybe get my pilots license) and bring everyone I know over for Vacation Time!

6 people I want to lunch with tomorrow
Sorry, I really can’t narrow it down… and this blog has a power to make people mad w/out me even knowing. So, for that reason I plead the 5th.

5 places I have lived
Manila, Philippines (where I was born)
Peoria, IL
St. Charles, IL
Athens, GA
Greenville, SC

5 jobs I’ve had
- Sales associate, Champs Sports
- Intern with the American Jr. Golf Association
- Super CDA (cheer & dance association) camp counselor through regional director
- Delnor Heath & Wellness membership coordinator
- MDA Program Coordinator

RUN IN rocks

Ladies of HTFU... way to show RUN IN some national love!! (sporting their shirts: Jen in IL; Marit in FL; and Mary in NY)
While we're saluting the #1 store of all things RUNNING, and I'm still working my double RR, I thought I'd post some pictures from Saturday's Candlelight 5K.

RUN IN race tops were all over the place - including the front of the pack, taking both the OA Male and Female titles. Actually, the winning "flock" was a 4 (or maybe 5) way tie... Man those Kenyans can run. Greenville's Becca Prichard (amazing runner and RUN IN employee) claimed first in the female division! Another RUN IN athlete, Julie Seymour, followed quickly behind in 4th.

The race started at 9:00 pm... the entire course was lit on both sides by luminaries & Set Up did a great job with the timing (it couldn't have been easy to direct a 1,900 person race in the dark)!

RUN IN employees: Andrew, Anthony, and Sam

hUMp dAy

I've been trying to muster up energy to do a double race report; a recount of my Saturday races: Tri the Midlands Sprint and the Candlelight 5K. But, after basically redlining to the brink of "wet my pants status" for 85 minutes in total that day... I've put off trying to remember the details and write about both races.

I do, however, recall seeing stars as I crossed the finish line of that 5K - it was 9:20 pm... but the stars weren't pretty little specks of light twinkling in the night sky, I think the stars were more a sign that I was about to pass out.

Instead, I'd like to thank Matt for an awesome Wednesday morning ride. We celebrated hump day by doing repeats on Greenville's own little hump: Paris Mountain. What a way to kick off the day... up at 5:00 am, setting off in the dark to meet Matt at 6:00 (yes Mom, I did wear the reflective vest you got me), riding into the sunrise via Furman Univ, and up/down Paris for a bit. It was a perfect morning - still, cool, with only the sounds of my heavy breathing and pedals churning.

It's amazing how I can begin a day with such calm and beauty, only to be slammed back to reality after coming off the mountain and joining the downtown traffic. Even still, I'll smile throughout the day as I think back to the morning ride! How awesome it is to have friends that'll get on their bike to join you, even before the sun comes up.

~Thanks again, Matt (hope you made it to that meeting on time)

Midlands Race Article

Local uses knowledge of area to win title
By JOSEPH PERSON - The State

The first Tri the Midlands triathlon attracted competitors from as far away as Pennsylvania and Indiana. But it was a local woman who used her knowledge of the surprisingly hilly Lake Carolina terrain to win the inaugural sprint-distance race Saturday morning at the planned community in Richland Northeast.

Lindsay Agostini, who lives in Wildewood but often trains at Lake Carolina, built a comfortable lead during the 500-meter lake swim and held off Greenville’s Ashley Long during the bike and run portions to capture the women’s title in one hour, five minutes and 27 seconds.

Long, the former Georgia cheerleader who won the female open division at the Lake Murray sprint last month, finished second in 1:05:45.

“(Long) is an awesome runner and an awesome cyclist, so I knew I had to be the first one off the bike to win,” Agostini said.

Spartanburg’s Chris Olson was the top overall finisher in 56 minutes, 30 seconds. Agostini, a distance swimmer at her Michigan high school, held a 78-second edge on Long leaving the water. The 41-year-old Agostini said her familiarity with the roads surrounding the community helped her stay in the right gears and maintain good speed during the 12-mile bike loop.

“It was a huge home-field advantage,” she said. “I’d never beaten Ashley, but I knew the course. She usually beats me quite handily.”

By the turnaround point of the 3-mile run course, Agostini’s lead was down to 40 seconds on the 27-year-old Long, who made a strong kick but could not catch her older rival.

“She’s a phenomenal swimmer, so I knew I’d have to go hard to catch her (after the swim),” Long said.

Agostini began doing triathlons in 2000 and has developed into one of the country’s top competitors in the women’s 40-44 age group. She finished fifth last summer at the Long Course World Championship in France and qualified again this year, but is racing in Ironman Wisconsin the same weekend.

Agostini said she was grateful for a race where she did not need to bring a passport or carry-on luggage. The Lake Carolina event had 367 individual finishers, including 85 in the novice division and several hundred from South Carolina.

Said Agostini: “It was nice to only drive 10 minutes.”
And nicer still to win by 18 seconds.

**Lindsay: GREAT race... I had a blast! Thanks for your kind words.

College Days

Sometimes I wish I was back in college, so that’s exactly where I go… and there are so many great campuses to choose from! Furman University is about 10 min from my house, Clemson is 45 min away, and The University of Georgia (aka, heaven on earth) is a 1.5 hour drive.

Furman is always crawling with Greenville athletes. Runners meet in the morning to organize group runs; cyclists are able to assemble in a parking lot and ride off into the mountains (or across the street for Paris Mountain repeats); and now, there are track meets every Tuesday night – open for anyone to race: Long Jump, 100 Meters, 200 Meters, 400 Meters, 800 Meters, 1 Mile (or 1600 Meters), or 3200 Meters (all free, thanks to Run-In). Many races go through the campus… because it’s beautiful and so close to the city!

A bit further away, we’ve got Clemson University… the campus is no UGA, but they have a great lake. Thanks to G’ville friend/swimmer, Steve, there are organized group swims every other Wednesday night. After getting in his own swim, Steve kayaks while our group takes off from the East Street Beach. Sometimes we’ve got so many people, it feels like the wave of a triathlon taking off. Then, Steve has a cooler with cold drinks and beer waiting on the beach. Dare I say it… I LOVE these swim workouts! Lake Harwell is fantastic. You see the Clemson Crew teams out practicing, students running along the dam, sail boats, people enjoying the summer in boats, on jet skis, etc…

Ah, and The University of Georgia……………

Let’s have a moment.

We’ve all been talking about escalating gas prices, so it’s not often I can justify the 1.5 hour drive to Athens. But, sometimes the stars align… and I can find an excuse to drive to UGA.

This past Sunday, I had a long run on my schedule…. And nothing else pending. Nothing else to do during the day. The day was wide open, and I heard Athens calling. So, I filled up some water bottles, packed up the cooler, grabbed my running shoes and a visor, and got in the car. I love cycling, but it can feel amazing to just get up and go (without all the steps required to get ready for a ride).

*Before leaving, I even rummaged around in my CD’s for country albums I’d gotten in college.

After one hour on I85 south, with Tim McGraw blasting, windows open, I got off at the Commerce exit and knew I was 20 miles away from God’s Country. As I pulled my car into the parking lot at the intramural fields, I realized the air just smelled better. I felt like I’d gotten home. And as far as my running is concerned, Athens is home. It’s where I started running… where I fell in love with running.

I looked around as saw familiar sights: college students playing tennis, throwing the frisbee, napping in the sun, walking dogs, running. It felt so normal, it’s like I’d never been away.

I started the run with two laps around the trails (about 1.2 miles each), then crossed the street toward campus… I apologize, the rest of this description might not mean much to you. So, I write for myself. Around the Ramsey Student Center (home to an amazing aquatics facility), along River Road up to the football stadium, left toward Stegeman Coliseum, around the Coliseum past the Astroturf practice fields, up to the track and once around, to five points (past Smoothie King, where I promised myself a smoothie after the run), all the way down Milledge Avenue (smiling at each frat/sorority house), and dooooown --- uppppp to Broad St. Downtown Athens!to North Campus, right under the arch and through the quad, stop at the library for water, past the business school, down the hill to the open horseshoe side of the stadium [pause at the stadium to smile at the field], up and through the math/science buildings (hummmm, maybe that’s why I sped up), back to the intramural fields and one last lap around.

So many times I’ve run by these things… I can close my eyes and picture each step. There’s no way to describe how good it felt to run around my old stomping ground. After finishing the workout, I changed, downed the drinks I’d packed, and headed to Smoothie King for my post run treat.

Sometimes you’ve just got to go home.

I heart nuun

In case you don't live here, or you haven't read about the Festival of Flowers race day conditions, or you don't watch the national weather... let me tell you: it's been HOT down (or up, depending on where you're located) in these parts.

Summer introduced itself FULL force - and my body has responded, by sweating. And I sweat, heavily, there is no glistening or glowing about it. When I started running for exercise (college - Athens, GA), I had no idea my body could produce enough sweat to actually SOAK every stitch of apparel I had on. I'd finish a run looking as though I'd jumped in a lake, shoes and all. What's a girl to do with clothes so wet you could wring 'em out?! Well, that's when I began showering with my running clothes on. Strange, you say?

It was either shower with the nasty clothes on - and at least provide an initial rinse - or build a pile of gross running stuff that was liable to grow visible mold in less than 24 hours. (I'm single and I don't have kids, so I'm not about to start doing laundry on a daily basis).

Since college, I've actually learned a thing or two about hydration. After running miles around Athens, in the heat/hills/humidity, I'd down a bottle of water... then wonder why, later that day, I felt like I was going to die.

Now, I take a more proactive approach. Thank you nuun. I can sit at my desk all day and enjoy nice flavors (citrus fruit is my favorite)... without the calories or sugar found in other sports drinks. Then, during training, I can add nuun to my other mixes. (or for a Super Duper pick-me-up, try mixing Burn with nuun! Sally and I call it an energy elixir)

I used to suffer from horrible foot/toe cramps during swimming. But, by drinking a bottle w/ nuun before the workout - I'm able to kick hard without cramping up. Like I said, I heart nuun.

CONGRATS

MOM - 3rd place 55-59 at the Age Group WORLD Championships!! In her first trip to World's, she races her way to a top 3 finish (1st American). Amazing... I only hope it runs in the family.

Jen - 9th place AG!!

Way to represent.