Copy Cat

Okay, I'm just copying what I've seen on other people's blogs recently which is not very original but these things can be fun, too. Anyways, two posts in one week from me is like a minor miracle recently, so, you're welcome ;)

A: Age – 31

B: Bed – Queen

C: Chore you dislike – ummm, every chore? But probably cleaning the bathroom (shower, toilet, floor…yuck)

D: Dogs – Tassie, pronounced Tazzy – we spelled it the Australian way because she is named after Tasmania, which the locals call Tassie (fantastic place to visit, FYI). Now thinking back, I wish we had just spelled it Tazzy because most people assume it’s like Lassie with a T. Sorry for the confusion :)

E: Essential start to your day – toilet

F: Favorite color – I don’t have a strong opinion on this, I like red and blue and green…but I seem to own too much black.

G: Gold or Silver – of the two, probably silver

H: Height – 5’8”

I: Instruments - forced to take piano lessons when I was 8 but I never practiced and got reprimanded pretty much every session. I hated it.

J: Job Title – Financial Analyst & Coach

K: Kids – not yet

L: Live – Cary, NC (also known as the Containment Area for Relocated Yankees, whatever, haters, this is a damn fine town)

M: Mom’s name – Nancy

N: Nicknames – Annie by parents (I love this nickname), Bri by all ya’ll. Full name is Brianne but whatever you call me, don’t let it be Briann-a!

O: Overnight hospital stays – none, I’m lucky I guess

P: Pet Peeves – people who have to ‘top’ every story (aka: ‘toppers')

Q: Quote from a movie – Fight the sadness, Artex! (Neverending Story anybody?)

R: Righty or Lefty – Righty

S: Siblings – Two older sisters, Heather & Shana

T: Time you wake up – depends on the day, but typically between 5:15 and 6:45. Can’t seem to sleep past 7 EVER anymore :(

U: Underwear – uhhh, yeah. People think this is optional?

V: Vegetable you don’t like – cauliflower. Most other vegetables you can load with butter or cheese and be fine. Cauliflower is THE WORST.

W: What makes you run late – Marty. I’m not a late person, really. I’m a chronically early person and get anxious if I’m late.

X: X-rays you’ve had – teeth (of course), foot and I think shins at some point. Nothing major.

Y: Yummy food you make – not much of a cook. I like to bake but Marty doesn’t like dessert so I don’t bake much since that would mean I would eat it all. I think I make pretty good homemade chocolate chip cookies but it probably has more to do with the fact that there’s tons of butter flavored Crisco in the recipe

Z: Zoo animal favorite – Zoo’s sort of make me sad, but I guess I always liked the gorilla exhibit at Busch Gardens in Tampa

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Diving off the blocks

I'm planning on doing the North Carolina Master's State Championship meet in early April. No need to qualify for this or anything, you just simply sign up. We have several swimmers from our team who are going to do it, and I thought it would be fun...and scary since this is COMPLETELY out of my comfort zone.

First things first, I need to learn how to dive off the blocks.

I've gone off the blocks several different times at the pool we swim at with little success. I either:

a) lose my goggles
b) belly flop
c) go way too deep

So although I want to look like this:

I inevitably look more like this:

I've been putting off practicing because...because...frankly because I'm not good at it and who likes trying skillful things as an adult that you're not good at in front of lots of other people.

Time to check my ego at the door. Plus, it's getting awful close to the beginning of April and I'm not going into that meet unprepared.

Alysia and Kari showed up at Master's this morning (a miracle in itself) and at the end Alysia practiced her starts while Kari stayed in the water and laughed at me. I started by diving off the edge of the pool, and belly flopped (more like thigh slapped) my way through a couple of starts. Marty got a noodle to help me jump up and out, but then I was going too deep.

Erik helpfully rolled his eyes and said it would be easier if I just went off the blocks. I ignored my silly fears and did it. Several thigh slaps later, a couple of too deep entries and maybe one that went semi-correctly, I had to call it so I could hit the showers and get ready for work.

My thighs and hips looked like I had gotten a wicked sunburn.

BUT

My goggles stayed on the entire time. Total win!

Then in the locker room, Becky gave me a tip about how I was throwing my arms that I'm eager to try out next time. Oh yes, there will definitely be a next time.

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Camp Fun

Oh man, I had a blast at tri camp and am trying to keep my head above water now as I'm back at home and in real life. No more just thinking about swim, bike and running in the Florida heat.

So to start - I left Monday night and flew to Tampa. Delayed flight had me getting in late, but all the early arrivals to the beach house were up and greeted me. There were 6 of us down there for the early part of the camp which officially started Tuesday morning. Great group. So many laughs.

Wednesday night saw the arrival of everyone else - the shorter version of the camp started Thursday. We now had a total of 14 of us and we swam, biked and ran ourselves to new tans.

The weather was incredible this year. Whereas last year it was really chilly (for Florida) this year was warmer than ever. I don't think the low ever got below 65 and most days were pushing 80. Lots of sunshine and only some fog in the mornings which was a blessing during our long run and long ride. I even was able to swim in the ocean (with wetsuit, although Marty swam without one most of the time). The water was right around 70 degrees. Our typical swim was from our beach house down to a bar about .75 miles away. No, we did not GO to the bar! Sheesh, what do you take us for? ;) That place was always packed, though. Does anyone work around here?

There are lots of tri camps around but none will have a 'Shhh...Don't Tell Momma' store within a couple of miles. Yes, that is a real store. You cannot even imagine the number of jokes and the amount of times that name was said during the day. Just in case you're wondering, they answer the phone with just "Don't Tell Momma" (we were curious!). I may or may not have a totally ghetto gift certificate from them courtesy of our hilarious campers.

The last day of camp was one of the Gasparilla races (half marathon or 8K). We were about half and half for the races, and of course yours truly did the short one. The half marathon started at 6am (suckers!) and the 8k started at a much more manageable (and hot) time of 9am. You may have already seen the self indulgent article I posted that was in the Tampa Tribune. The reporter has known me since I was really young and didn't realize who I was since Marty registered me as Bri Gaal and everyone down there knows me as Brianne Harrington. We had a great conversation catching up on the past 10+ years. His article was very nice :)

So quickie race report - all the fast people did one of the other races (obviously). They also had a 15K and 5K on Saturday. I'm not trying to poo poo my win, but seriously, my time was nothing to write home about. But you betcha I enjoyed breaking the tape and hitting up the VIP tent! My legs were not surprising, pretty dead on the warmup. I didn't care, though. I was just out there for fun and to get a good tempo run in.

As usual, there were lots of people ahead of me at the start. By the first mile I had creeped my way into 3rd place and realized my friend Christina was leading (she had a baby 7 months ago, by the way). I caught up to her at the 2nd mile and dialed back the effort a bit so I could run with her for awhile. I wanted to talk and catch up but she was breathing a bit harder so I left her alone and didn't annoy her. At the 3rd mile I told her I was going to pick it back up and I tempoed it back to the finish, where they made a big deal about me being the record holder (side note - this was the first year they had ever run the 8K - hahaha!) When I finished I got to shake Joan Benoit-Samuelson's hand. So cool.

After the race, there were several trips back and forth to the airport and bike shop as people got ready to leave. A few stayed over Sunday night and we had an impromptu party with them, my friend Joy from high school, Christina and her husband, and Kathy and Anders - love all those guys! Wish we were closer so we could all hang out more.

And now, pictures.

A little foggy, but still a nice ride up the beach to Clearwater, down the Pinellas Trail to downtown St. Pete where we stopped for...


Gelato! And if you're name was Bri, a giant, warm chocolate chip cookie. I felt like a new woman after. Someone asked me what woman...har har.


Dinner with some of the campers at the house before Sue did a mental toughness talk. Excellent stuff from an excellent person.


Fort DeSoto ride - got lots of sun today.


Treasure Island Beach. Great open water swimming this year.


That's us! Another sunset on the beach.

Our core group of 'long week' campers (sans picture-taker Marty). Such fun people.

Camper Carlos having a zen moment as the sun sets.

Laugh/chuckling as they make a big deal about me winning the 8k. One more side note, this was not called an 8k, but rather a 5 + 3k. Uh, what?

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End of Camp with Surprise Win!

Local Runners at Home in Gasparilla 8K

BY BILL WARD and FRED STEIER

Published: February 28, 2011

TAMPA - When Brianne Gaal returned recently to her alma mater, St. Petersburg's Northside Christian, to be inducted into the school's Hall of Fame, something a little disturbing dawned on her.

She realized that some of the students there may not have been alive when, under her maiden name of Brianne Harrington, she was winning nine state titles in cross country and track between 1994 and 1997.

"Some of the students were calling me 'Ma'am' or 'Ms. Harrington,'" said Gaal, 31 and living in Cary, N.C., with her ex-pro triathlete husband, Marty. "That's a little weird. It made me feel so much older than them, even though I still feel like a little kid inside."

To see her win Gasparilla's 8k race Sunday, Gaal still looks and runs a lot like that skinny but incredibly gifted Northside kid from the 1990s. Thing is, Gaal had no plans on being the first woman across the finish in the race's first year. Her winning time for the approximately five-mile distance was 32 minutes, 34 seconds - just over 6:33 per mile.

Taking second was 37-year-old Rae Ann Darling Reed (33:26) of Bradenton and third was St. Petersburg's Christina Noordstar (33:57).

A veteran of several of Gasparilla's 5k races and a former standout for the University of Central Florida, Gaal said she entered Sunday's 8k as a finale to a triathlon training camp she was staging with some of the athletes she coaches with Marty, who took part in Sunday's half marathon.

Next thing she knew, Gaal saw Noordstar, who is also an accomplished runner/triathlete, and caught up with her. Then Gaal passed her and found herself breaking the tape at the finish line.

"I'm really surprised I won," said Gaal, who works as a financial analyst. "I'm surprised that I felt that good after a ton of runs, bikes and swimming in the ocean."

The men's 8k winner also was surprised with his victory. For Joshua Prevatt, however, it was his fourth race of the weekend as he was completing the circuit for the Michelob Ultra Challenge involving all four of the Gasparilla events.

Prevatt already had run the 15k and the 5k on Saturday and less than two hours before the start of Sunday's 8k, completed the half marathon to earn seventh place overall. The 26-year-old Brandon resident crossed the 8k line in 28:06, well clear of second-place finisher Anthony Calingo of Tampa, who finished 34 seconds back.

When asked what he did between the two races, Prevatt laughed and said, "I warmed up for a couple of miles to stay loose."

He noted he was riding the high he got from the half marathon.

"My half marathon time (1:15:35) was only 45 seconds off of my PR (personal record), so I thought why not go for it. I am running the Fort DeSoto half (marathon) soon and will be going for 1:14. Today's results are encouraging."

As with the women's winner, Prevatt is local, having run for Riverview High. He led his cross country team to the state meet his senior year (2001) and ran at the state track meet the following spring as part of the 4x800-meter relay team.

"But then I took a couple of years off after high school," he said. "I'm just now really getting into (distance running and racing)."

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Pretty Please?

Oh hai, spring! Iz you here to stay?

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Happy February 9th

Time is flying, have I not updated in awhile again?

We hosted our Master’s team party this past Saturday night. We weren’t supposed to, but the original host was out with the flu. Marty yelled from upstairs on Friday night, “Bri, we’re having the master’s party here!” Typical freakout ensued with shouts back to him, “NO! We can’t have the party! The house is a mess! It’s too small! I’m not ready for this! Too much to do!” Saturday went like this: work, craptastic run, cleancleancleanclean, Party! Which of course was very fun.

Sunday found us at Kari’s superbowl party cheering for the Steelers. I’ve never been a Steelers fan but I am a Kari fan and want to keep our friendship (and my life) so I am now! We actually stayed up for the entire game this year, not sure when that’s happened recently.

Sources beyond my control have been keeping me from getting a bike ride in. I had planned on riding the trainer last night, but our pump broke and caused my tire to go flat. I ran out to get a new pump but by the time that was all done it was getting late and I still hadn’t eaten dinner. New plan: ride trainer in the morning. So I got up at the butt crack of dawn only to find the bolt that tightens the trainer spinny thingy (technical term) to the tire was completely stripped. Luckily, Kurt Kinetic has some awesome customer service and one little email has granted me a replacement bolt that’s been dropped in the mail. Doesn’t fix my riding problem for the week but I’ll get outside this weekend and cut my losses.

Here's a picture to make this post more interesting. The Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus train was stopped behind our house for at least a half hour the other day. Hope a clown didn't escape.

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Fun Weekend and Other Stuff

This past weekend I did some of this:

And some of this:

We had some crazy warm weather all of the sudden - skiing was fine and luckily they had a lot of snow but the next day it was 60 degrees! In the mountains! Then yesterday it got up to almost 70 and it was awesome running in shorts and a t-shirt. It's not to last as today it got cold again. Boo.

BUT in just a few weeks we'll be down in Florida for our annual training camp! Can't wait for that.

Did you guys here the Thorpedo is going to stage a comeback? Here's a not so great article about him which also details other athletes who have retired and tried to comeback only to fail spectacularly. Let's hope he prove's them wrong. I like the guy. Ian Thorpe to try for London 2012.

And here's a nicer article about his comeback. Thorpedo is in the pool again.

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