Wow...it's March already!

My updates have been lacking...my bad.  It's only been slightly stressful since I started this whole journey.  But I have some very exciting news: after two and a half months, my mom has FINALLY left the hospital!!!!!!  She has moved in with my brother and his wife until she is strong enough to go home by herself.  I spent the past weekend in Indianapolis with her and she had a great weekend.  She was able to take a shower and wash her hair, she put on clothes (ok, so they were pajamas but anything is better than a hospital gown), she was eating real food, and we walked a lap around her floor.  With that exciting news, I thought is was a great time to update with all of life's happenings lately.


The last time I updated was three weeks after I started my journey.  I'm now well over two months in.  First up, I have officially lost 7.5 pounds.  I am less than 1 pound away from my original 5% loss goal.  I have had quite a few ups and downs but I am thrilled to currently be at 156.5 lbs.  Once I hit that first goal, I will reevaluate to come up with a second more ambitious but still realistic goal.  After last week's loss, I have regained some motivation and position thinking so I'm confident in myself again.


Since the last update, I have also taken the first steps in my Twelve in 2012 goal.  I started out with the Freaking Freezing Frozen Lake Half Marathon on January 28.  It started at the Foster Avenue Beach, went north to about Bryn Mawr then turned around south down to LaSalle, under LSD and back up the Lake Front Path to Foster Beach.  It was pretty cold and there was a decent amount of snow and ice along the entire course.  I finished this race in 2:47:37 with a 12:48 min/mile pace.  While that is arguably my slowest half marathon (with the exception of my run splits in both of my half Ironman triathlons), I was pretty pleased with the performance.  I was sick the week before and still felt pretty crappy that morning.  But the finisher's medal had a built in beer bottle opener so it's a win!


I followed that race up with the Disney Princess Half Marathon on February 26 in Orlando, FL.  This race was bittersweet.  This was supposed to be a weekend celebration with my mom.  It was supposed to be a girls only weekend in Disney celebrating the progress Mom has made, walking in the half marathon, and culminating with Mom's 59th birthday to end our weekend.  Since Mom was still laid up in the hospital, it ended up being only my roommate and me.  We had a blast though and the race was tons of fun.  We started along the highway leading through Disney property.  We ran north to Magic Kingdom and entered the park.  We ran up and around Cinderella's Castle and got to run underneath the castle.  We then exited Magic Kingdom and ran south back down the highway, ran up and exit ramp and headed back toward Epcot Center.  We entered Epcot and ran around the park there ending in the parking lot of Epcot.  This race was even slower than January's half but I am 100% OK with that!  We stopped many times along the way to have our picture taken with a number of characters including Aladdin and the other "princes", Sleeping Beauty and the fairies, and Jessie from Toy Story just to name a few.  Our official time was 3:11:15 but that included multiple photo stops and a bathroom break.  The experience was one of a kind though and we have made the promise to go back and do it again...this time WITH Mom...in 2014.


I'm now less than two weeks away from #3.  Casey and I will be running the Get Lucky Half Marathon in Minneapolis/St. Paul on St. Patty's Day.  I also am starting really train for these half marathons in the hope that I can get a personal best in Indianapolis in May.  I'm feeling pretty positive lately so let's hope that lasts!  I'm also going to try my best to update more regularly (even though nearly every weekend between now and June is jam packed full of activities).  So until next time my friends...

First Progress Report

Alright, I'm three weeks in now.  The first week went great and I immediately started seeing results.  Then shit hit the fan and my life became absolutely insane.  Many of you know what has been going on but for those of you that don't...here's the quick rundown.  My mom had surgery to remove her gallbladder on Thursday, December 16.  We thought this would help her feel better after she had gotten out of the hospital right before Thanksgiving.  By Sunday the 19th, she was back in the hospital and was admitted to ICU that night.  We found out that during the gallbladder surgery, her small intestine was punctured and she had gone into septic shock.  The doctor did surgery to wash her out and inserted drains to get rid of the infection.  And this is where all normal routine for me went out the window.


After Mom's surgery that Sunday night, I went to court in the morning and then immediately went to Indy to see how she was doing.  The next morning I drove back to Chicago to work a few days then headed back to Indy on Thursday for my regularly scheduled Christmas plans but with an added day to be at home and check on Mom.  Mom stayed in the hospital and I stayed with my brother and his family until December 27 when I had to come back to Chicago.  My time back home was short lived though when I received a phone call on the 30th that I needed to come back as Mom was in ICU again.  So I left work mid-afternoon and drove back to Indy.  I stayed there until January 1 and am back home in Chicago again.  The good news is that Mom is out of ICU and in the med/surge wing.  We are hoping that she won't be in the hospital for too much longer.  This is going to be a long road to recovery but I want nothing more than for her to leave that hospital.


So with all of the driving back and forth and the stress of having my mom/best friend laid up in the hospital, my attempts at regular exercise and healthy eating were nonexistent.  I made a great effort to avoid fast food restaurants while driving back and forth so that was a positive.  And with being so busy, I pretty much cut out all snacks.  So despite the craziness, I still managed to lose weight.  I am down 5 pounds from where I started.  I'm proud of the loss but I'm hoping that I can be a little more consistent now and continue on the track of losing.


Now that I am back in Chicago and Mom is on the mend, I'm hoping I won't have to drive down there until after I get back from vacation.  That means that regular workouts start again tomorrow morning.  I'm going back to my masters swim team this week.  I also begin training for my first half marathon of the year this week.  I'm also making a great effort to NOT go out to eat and will be cooking myself healthy meals for breakfast and dinner and will be doing simple sandwiches and veggies for lunch.  I leave for Cancun in ten days so if I could shed another pound or two before then, I would be pretty happy.  (Cancun will not count so I anticipate gaining a little bit of weight...I'm going to take advantage of our all-inclusive!)  But I am thinking positive and seeing how things go.

Week 1

Week one of Weight Watchers is done.  OK, so it was only 5 days but since I chose Saturday as my weigh in day, I'm counting it as a week.  In five days, I stuck to my points allotment and made it to the gym Tuesday and Thursday.  It was not very easy because I work with people that like to party.  I ended my week with a holiday party on both Thursday and Friday.  Thursday night was a great time and somehow I managed to avoid eating all of the delicious little hors d'ouvres that were floating around on trays all night.  Friday was my firm's holiday party and I'm pretty sure I used all of my weekly points plus on dinner there.  It was a pasta bar dinner so way more carbs than I needed.  But...despite that, I still managed to lose 2 pounds!!!!  Week one down and on to week two now!

What's up next?

I haven't posted since right after Ironman and I never added any photos. So I will do that first. Here are a few from the race as well as my favorite...the giant leap across the finish line at approximately 11:45pm.

Now that those are out there, I can get on with the new excitement.

I am resurrecting this blog site so that you all (my faithful readers) can help keep me accountable. I have set two new goals for 2012. I will track my progress here (and of course on Facebook) so you all can give me shit if/when I lose motivation. So here we go...

My first goal is 12 in 12. I am going to run twelve half marathons in 2012. I have not quite determined which races I am going to do each month but I have decided on January and February. I will begin this quest with the F^ing Freezing Lake Half Marathon here in Chicago on January 28. February I will be walking the Disney Princess Half Marathon with my mom on February 26. My thoughts are that the first few (January - March-ish) will be easier runs just building up my endurance. April-June are going to be a little more intense trying to increase my speed and decrease my time. July and August will probably be easier due to the heat factor. September and October I am going to go for a personal record then November and December will be a nice easy end to my year. The idea is to keep almost all of these races in the Chicagoland or Indianapolis area so that I don't have to travel far or pay for accommodations. I am really looking forward to this as a chance to improve my running and keep myself in shape year round.

My second goal for 2012 is to lose the excess weight I've been carrying around for a while. I've always yo-yo'd with my weight. Even in high school, I have always had some extra padding that wasn't quite necessary. About two years ago, I found myself at my ideal weight. Unfortunately, I didn't get there in the healthiest manner so I knew it would only be short lived. Then I found myself graduating from law school and studying for the bar exam. I, like many people, am a stress eater. So the stress of studying for the most important exam of my life coupled with my insane sweet tooth led me right back where I started. What really did me in and made me decide to make 2012 my year was this past weekend. I went to buy a new pair of jeans and for the first time in two years, I had to buy a size 10 in Express jeans. The 8's that always fit so nicely and comfortably were too tight. That was the final kick in the ass I needed.

This morning, I hopped on the scale and made a vow that this is the last time I will see 164 pop up on the digital screen. {side note...kind of hating that I put that number out there for all the world to see, but hopefully having to post that number will keep me motivated} I signed up for three months of Weight Watchers online this morning and began tracking. My ultimate goal is to be able to report back around this time next year that I have lost twenty pounds. But that is a big goal for me and I'm not focusing on that just yet. I'm starting out small to keep myself motivated and to keep the goal realistic. So I'm starting out with a goal of losing 5% of my current weight before I go on vacation to Cancun in four weeks.

So 2012 is going to be MY YEAR!!!!!!!!!

Cari Kauffman, you ARE an IRONMAN!

Well, it's all said and done now. Louisville was this past Sunday and I'm back in Chicago preparing to go back to work tomorrow. What an exciting weekend it was though! Since I'm writing this post, you all should know that I did indeed survive :-) And I did finish! Bear with me as this will probably be a huge post...I have lots to share.

I headed down to Louisville Friday afternoon to check in, pick up my packet and all my information, and attend the welcome banquet and age group athlete meeting. I got down there a little early and had lunch with a few sorority sisters that I haven't seen in a really long time too. Then I headed over to the Galt House to check in. Check in procedures were pretty standard and I got all my stuff and checked out the Ironman store. I spent a pretty penny on Friday but made sure I didn't purchase ANYTHING that said "finisher" on it so as not to jinx myself! Then I headed back to Mom's for the night.

Saturday morning, my roommate Staci, Mom and I packed up the car and headed to Louisville. We checked into the Marriott and I put all of my gear in the appropriate bags to take to transition. This was a completely new concept for me. Normally I pack my backpack with all of my gear and set it up next to my bike. Here we were given 5 different bags to use for all of our gear. We had a morning clothes bag that we dropped off at the swim start to put our clothes and anything we had on us at the start of the race in. That bag was then transported to the finish so we could get our things back at the end. Then we had a bag specifically for the swim to bike transition and another for the bike to run transition. Finally, we had two special needs bags (one for the bike and one for the run) that we could retrieve at about halfway during the bike and the run. So I separated all my stuff into their respective bags and Staci and I took my bike and bags to the transition area. Once that was all set up, we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed an early dinner so I could get to bed and rest up.

Sunday started super early. My alarm went off at 4:30 and we were out the door around 5. We made a stop at transition to drop off my special needs bags, fill up my water bottles, and pump up my bike tires. Then we walked about a mile or so down the road to the swim start. Louisville does an interesting start...instead of a mass start on a beach or in the water, it was a time trial start where they sent off athletes one after the other off of two boat docks. It was also a first come first serve on starting position. We got down there around 5:30-5:45 so I was pretty far back in line. I didn't get started until about 7:37. For those of you wondering...yes, we did swim in the Ohio River. It was a little on the murky side but as far as I know, I didn't catch anything! The water temperature was about 85 degrees so wetsuits were not allowed. Once I got started, we swam upstream and around a little island before heading south to the swim end. I pretty much ROCKED the swim! I finished the 2.4 miles in 1:06.32. That was fast enough to place me 20th in my division and 437 overall in the swim.

After coming out of the water, I ran into transition and someone was waiting there with my bike bag. I headed into the changing tent and there was someone there waiting to help me with whatever I needed. Because we had a men's and women's changing tent, I was able to completely change. I took off the wet swim suit and put on fresh dry cycling shorts and my tri top. The lady assisting me helped me change, dried my feet, put my socks on, then took my bag and sent me on my way. I grabbed my bike and hit the course. I felt pretty good when I got started on the bike but it didn't take long before I hit the hills. There were some pretty big ones! And just in case you weren't aware, there aren't many hills to train on in Chicago! So I was definitely not prepared for that (which pretty much explains my 8:09.16 bike time and average speed of only 13.73 MPH). I did really well with nutrition along the bike course though. I found these little pouches of applesauce that were fantastic. They were a nice change from the usual Gu and Gu Chomps and since I don't eat fruits, it gave me the nutrients I was missing out on. One of the cool things about the bike was that around mile 30-something and 60-something, we went through a little town called LaGrange. They set up a little festival in that area so people could go out and watch. The first time through, I heard my mom cheering but didn't see her. One the second lap, I got out of my aero bars and looked around. I was able to see everyone that came to watch :-) Erin, Staci, Courtney, Ashley and Mom were all there cheering as I went by. I gave a little wave and continued on. The upside to all of the hills on the ride was the downhills! At one point I looked down and saw I was going 43 mph down a hill. That was pretty exhilarating. And I really only had one problem with people on the bike. One man started to pass me (going downhill mind you) and practically ran me off the road. So I of course threw some obscenities his way and he yelled at me for not backing off while being overtaken. I politely told him to F--- off and apologized because I didn't realize he was going to pussy break on the downhill. I wasn't even pedaling so it was not my fault that gravity was pulling me to the bottom of the hill. And you know what...I'm a little topheavy so I go down hills fast! I never encountered him again so I rode on in peace. Somewhere between halfway and the end of the bike, my feet really began to hurt and cramp up in my shoes, my butt went numb and I started doubting myself. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to finish the bike, let alone the run that followed. I kept trying to shut the voices in my head up and eventually, I made it to the bike finish. After 112 miles of pedaling, it was rather difficult to get back up and walking. I hopped off the bike, handed it off to one of the volunteers, and headed back to the changing tent.

This time around, I suited up for the run, grabbed some more applesauce and hit the road running. As I came out of transition and turned a corner, I miraculously ran into Erin, Ashley, Staci and Courtney! They jumped on the sidewalk beside me and stayed alongside me for about the first mile or two. Luckily, Staci had some sunscreen because I forgot to put it on my scalp and I didn't want a sunburn there! Then Courtney helped get the tag out of my running shorts so it wouldn't keep rubbing against my skin and she had some chap stick to relieve my lips! After about two miles, I took off on my own. The first couple miles were tough getting into the running. I walked the entire fifth mile. Then I started running for ten minutes and walking for 15. Then I realized that 15 minutes was not really necessary so I switched it to ten and ten. I continued on that way for the remainder of the marathon...walk ten minutes, run ten minutes, repeat. At the 13.1 mark, I got my special needs bag and popped some ibuprofen. Then it was time for the turnaround. This was the BIGGEST FREAKING TEASE!!!!!! As it turns out, the turnaround near mile 14 is right NEXT TO the finish line. So as you are running up Fourth Street, you see the bright lights and hear the announcer at the finish line and see people running towards it. There is a sign that says, "Finishers left; 2nd Loop right." So I had to make the turn knowing I still had 12 miles left to run. About that time, it also started getting dark and Staci hopped in with me for another mile or two. I was so thankful to have her with me because at that point, my stomach had started bothering me and I wasn't sure how much I was going to be able to run. She kept me going then left me on my own to get to the final turnaround. About mile 15-ish, I started drinking Coke in addition to the Perform and water. They had some good food along the course too :-) I had some chocolate chip cookies and pretzels and when it got dark, they had chicken broth. I hit my second wind around mile 20 and picked up the pace a little. I also started cheering on everyone I ran by. This put me in a much better mood and then I made the final turn just before mile 21. Then I knew it was the home stretch. I was very cautious on time too because I knew I had to finish before midnight. I knew at the turn around that I was going to make it. All I had to do was keep up the pace I was going and I would finish well before midnight and if I didn't slow down, I could finish in under 16 hours. Staci found me somewhere around mile 25 and ran me in. She dropped off right before the final chute and I headed home. I saved up a little bit of energy so I could cross the finish line in style (think flying leap with arms thrown up in the air)! I wanted to have a good finisher photo :-) As it turns out, I did the run in 6:27.20 and negative split it by about two minutes. Seriously, who negative splits a marathon at the end of an Ironman?! Well, apparently this girl does!

My official finish time was 15:58.52 and I finished 2119 out of 2276 finishers. 2439 people started the race. After I finished, I got my medal, my t-shirt and my hat and met up with Mom and the girls. I picked up my morning clothes bag and headed straight for the bar at our hotel. The bartender told me they had already done last call but the look on my face (and the fact I looked disgusting) made her feel sorry for me so I got my post-race celebratory beer! Then we ordered a pizza to the room and I washed up. I ate my pizza then proceeded to pass out.

Monday morning I woke up around 8 and got up and moving. I walked over to the Ironman store and stocked up on all my finisher apparel. After spending a small fortune, I went back to the hotel and we packed up and headed home. I am still surprised at how good I felt yesterday morning and even today. I have the expected soreness in my legs and back but I am walking (almost normally) and am getting around quite well. I am still pretty tired and slept 9 hours last night and took about a two hour nap this afternoon but I think that is to be expected too. The worst thing of all is that my big toes are really really sore and might be infected. If you are wondering how bad one's toenails can hurt, I'll tell you that I almost passed out last night just getting a pedicure. I was looking at my toes, my nail was black underneath and she pushed down on it. My vision slowly faded to black, I got all hot and sweaty, started to feel nauseous and knew I was going to pass out if something wasn't done. So Mom got them to give me some water and a cold wash rag and I came back before actually passing out. I've been loading up on ibuprofen and have had my feet up most of the evening in hopes that the swelling goes down a little bit. But overall, I'm feeling pretty good!

I've had a lot of people ask me if I will do another Ironman. Honestly, I have no idea. Ask me again in a couple weeks when my feet are back to normal and I have forgotten how painful it all was. Then I might consider doing another in a couple years. I know for sure though that I cannot take the time to train for a full again next year. Maybe I'll convince my brother or some friends to do one with me in a few years. Until then, I will stick with the shorter distances.

I know this post is dragging on but a few final thoughts. THANK YOU SO MUCH to all of you that have continued to read this blog and follow my journey. All of your good luck wishes and congratulatory posts, phone calls, texts, etc. were greatly appreciated. I could not have accomplished this without such an amazing support system that had my back throughout the past 30 weeks. One particular member of my support team deserves a little shout out here: my boyfriend Casey. He was bummed out that he missed my race because he was on vacation with his dad and family/friends in Canada. He was way outside of civilization and has not had cell phone reception since Saturday. He won't get it back for another few days either so he has no idea how I did. But he gets a shout out because he was sneaky and had been talking to my mom for a few days. When I returned to her house Monday afternoon, he had sent a very thoughtful card to her house and inside was a gift certificate for me to go get a massage to aid in my recovery :-)

And finally, a very special thanks to the amazing women that made the trip to Louisville to watch me accomplish my dream! My mom has always been the foundation of my support team and she showed that this weekend. I know it wasn't easy for her but she saw me on every leg of the race and had just as long of a day as I did. My roommate Staci drove from Chicago down to watch me and even sacrificed a vacation day so she could be there with me. Ashley stayed up way past her bedtime to watch me cross the finish line even though she had to be up super early Monday morning to teach. Erin was quite possibly more excited than anyone during the race and made her presence known by yelling her heart out and ringing that darned cow bell! She also has been a huge support through this entire process as she is my go-to person to call on my way home from work. She listened and helped me out the whole way so it was extra special to have her there at the end seeing me cross the finish. Courtney is quite possibly one of my busiest friends but she still found the time to get down to Louisville and watch. She also removed the tag of my shorts with her teeth when I am pretty sure I was smelling pretty ripe. If that isn't friendship, I don't know what is! These women are the very definition of a best friend and I could not have made it through without them being there along the sidelines. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!

SO CLOSE!

Well, my bags are packed and the car is loaded up...I'm heading out tomorrow after work! I can't believe that Ironman is THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!! It seems like just a few weeks since I signed up and started training when in actuality, I've been training for 30 weeks. In terms of gear, I think I have everything that I need. The only purchases I still need to make are some more nutrition (Gu, Chomps, Luna Bars, etc) and the new spray on sunscreen you can use when you're wet. In terms of training, I'm as prepared as I can be. Yes, I should have put in more miles running. But I'm feeling pretty confident about the swim and the bike. Let's just hope adrenaline will get me through that marathon :-)

For those of you that have followed me on this journey, you can follow me on Sunday too! If you go to www.ironman.com you should be able to track my race. I'm bib #104. Race start is 7:00am EST. In order to be an official finisher, I have to cross the finish line by midnight. However, my goal is to finish in 15 hours so by 10:00pm EST. You can always check back to Ironman later to verify that I did indeed finish and didn't die out on the course.

Tune in Monday or Tuesday for an update on the blog. Thanks for all your support thus far and send good vibes my way this weekend!!!!!!

**Anything*is*Possible**

2 WEEKS AWAY!

Well kids, we are less than two weeks away now! Ironman Louisville is quickly approaching. And now that we are at the two week mark, it’s time to start my taper. This is my favorite time of the year. I’m pretty sure my swim coaches hated me and my teammates during taper time. I have tons more energy during this time and do my best to be obnoxious :-)

I ended my training on a pretty good note before heading into my taper this week. On Saturday morning, my roommate Staci drove me and my friend Andy (hereinafter “A Ho”) up to Milwaukee, WI. It was an early morning getting up at the asscrack of dawn. And poor Staci didn’t get any coffee before we got on the road. We got up to Milwaukee around 7:30 in the morning and Staci drove right back to Chicago. A Ho and I started our 98.95 mile adventure at Veterans Park along the lakeshore. We headed south along the lake to the Oakleaf Trail running through Milwaukee County. This trail was beautiful. We got some great views of the beach and the lake then went through the woods/forest in the shade for a while too. We saw this pretty big dog walking down the beach too with a big fish in its mouth J It as happy as could be and incredibly proud of his catch.

When we came off the Oakleaf Trail, I pretty much lost track of trail names and where we went. I had directions that should have gotten us most of the way on bike trails but it got to be a little tedious so we just kind of went in the general direction of Chicago and hoped for the best. We tried to stop about every 20 miles and shortly after our second stop around Racine, WI, A Ho had a little mishap. I stopped abruptly as my CatEye cyclometer went flying off my handlebars and he wasn’t quite ready for that and took a tumble. He got a little scraped up and had to continue the rest of the ride without front breaks. We also ran into some unpaved trails around Racine which weren’t very much fun on a road bike! My tires weren’t made for that.

So we pressed on towards Kenosha. But at mile 43.5 just north of Kenosha, we found ourselves in a storm. The wind started to pick up and it began to sprinkle. We stopped at this abandoned building so I could take a look at the map and directions to figure out where to go when it started to hail. We hung out there for a little bit and let the storm pass before venturing out in the rain. After we left Kenosha, I pretty much lost track of where we were until we hit Waukegan, IL. The rain subsided about 10 miles out of Kenosha though so we started to dry off. We made a couple of stops at some gas stations to refuel with Gatorade.

We had a nice little scenic tour while getting in our ride. Once in Illinois and past Waukegan, we entered some really nice areas. When I lost the trail we were supposed to be riding on, we just rode down Sheridan Road. We found ourselves riding by HUGE houses in Glencoe and Winnetka. We rode right by Ravinia too. Steely Dan was playing Saturday night so we saw everyone walking over to the show. The last probably 30 miles of the trip seemed to drag on forever but once we got to Northwestern University, I had a renewed energy and excitement that we were going to make it. About that same time, A Ho was ready to kill himself (or me for making him do this!) As we got closer to home (somewhere around Loyola University) it started to rain again. By the time we made it onto the Lakefront Path, it was a pretty steady stream of rain.

We finally made it home nearly 8 hours after we started in Milwaukee. I originally thought it would take us about 6 hours but we had a few unplanned stops and the fact that I really didn’t know where we were going didn’t help. But luckily I have a good sense of direction and we both were determined to get back!

I felt pretty good when we finished and still had a good amount of energy. That made me feel pretty good knowing that in two weeks, I will bike 112 miles and go straight into a 26.2 mile run. While I don’t think I could have run that far after our ride, I know that I could have immediately started running. So I’m just banking on adrenaline to get me through.

I’m freaking out a little bit now that we are so close but I’m also getting excited. I’m really doing this!