You think I'm PRETTY!!!!!

Happy Birthday to my husband..... continuing my trend of being wife of the year in forgetting the anniversary...... I wrongly stated he was 53. He is 52. What's one silly year when you are THAT old anyways?????

If you want to learn something about anything...... an obvious scholastic choice is definitely Slowtwitch. Now if you want to see what is by far the post of the year...... it's my boy Phelps....... click here. And watch..... the next time they play the National Anthem you will see him say "I love you Mary Eggers" to the camera. Don't tell Meredith!!!!!


For some reason lately I am getting a lot of questions about my hair. Why it is the way that it is. Do I use a special conditioner? What's my product? What's the secret to my beautiful hair?

Who….. me? Are you kidding?

I certainly appreciate the compliments, but I have a terrible confession to make. There is one big secret.

Neglect.

And I didn't neglect my hair to make it look what's being called beautiful. I neglect it because I am hair lazy. I do not blow it dry (I don't even have a hair drier!), I never put anything in it, and I have 2 styles. Down and up. Not half up with a barrette. Down and up. That's all.

My biggest confession yet….. I have not had it cut in over a year. And I don’t' always brush it. I am considering going to a really swanky hair place and paying $300 for a trim. If I get my hair cut annually, then why not????

If I could successfully grow dreadlocks believe me I would. During the time of an Ironman I am frequently called mountain girl.

Now, I do have a few things that I do, that I have always done since age group swimmer days. My mom is a former beautician turned interior designer so while her beauty regimen didn't sink in, at least I listened to some of the hair care tips.

1. No blow drying ever. It helps that I have a job that doesn't require me to have some cool hairstyle.

2. No products. When did we start calling them "products" I used to call it mousse? I have none. It gets sticky!

3. No flat irons, curling irons, anything with the word Iron in it. I have one step hair and sometimes not even that.

4. Pantene. Shampoo and conditioner. Every time, all the time. I will use nothing else.

5. Conditioner in their hair before I hit the water. Don’t' apply too much or your cap will fall off. I use…. Pantene.

6. No rubber bands. Only fabric coated or scrunches.

7. I don't know if this is a tip you should heed but I can go weeks without brushing my hair. I use my fingers.

8. A simple style. Layered and no bangs. Bangs require a brush and require attention. No bangs.

Yes, it's pretty long. Yes, I suppose it is healthy. During my annual cuts the hairdresser will often remark….. "Wow, you can't even tell you are a swimmer." Which in a strange way makes me feel inferior. Does she know how many hours I long in the pool? Am I not a real swimmer because of the condition of my HAIR???????

So the next time you see a Pantene commercial and some beautiful model flipping her hair in the wind……. then realize this…… while I am as beautiful as she is…. she's got a contract……. and I am her hair double!

OBVIOUSLY!

Happy Anniversary Curt!!!!!

If you know anything about XTerra Athlete Jamie Whitmore, click here for an update on her status. Join me in sending words of encouragement, and help her get nominated for an Extreme Home Makeover as she's been through quite a bit of surgery and could use some home adaptations. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Does it get any better than this? Are you on the edge of your seats every night or what? as your most dedicated #1 Phelps Phan here is last night's great race.........



I almost forgot, I am a terrible wife, but Happy Anniversary Curt! It's been 8 amazing years and I can only hope for another 75!!! At least! Our anniversary was yesterday. Believe it or not, I have no digital pictures of the big wedding day.

Back in the day before digital was mainstream..... there was this thing called FILM........

But here is where we were a year ago on our 7th anniversary.....

That's Luc after he was consciously sedated to set his leg after Curt helped him break it. The day after Luc's first triathlon. Our 7th Anniversary, and the one day in the eternity of me that I decide to get knock down hammered. Well the night before at my sister's wedding. So not only did I spend my 7th anniversary barfing my guts out, I missed a run in my 14 day running camp and then Coach T made me do a double run that week..... and we were in the Peds ED (where I work) with a horrid hangover and a broken leg!

Here's the fracture...... it's a big one.....

But the even funnier part in the long run was that Luc had open heart surgery at age four and Curt broke Luc's leg 8 days later, wresting. I was out running. Yes, it was terrific to take Luc to his first post op appointment for his heart..... with a cast on his leg.

So it's been 8 years of bliss, 8 years of fun, 8 years of amazing things. But I still will come back to the fact that he broke Luc's leg twice. And he's never gone faster than me in an Ironman (yet, but doesn't it sound cool to say I wifed and chicked my husband? Glory days........). But he's a billion time National Champion and he will be 53 years old tomorrow and kicks the butt of 20 something guys around here. And he kicks mine by lightyears!

And yes..... I am 34 which does make him old enough to be my Dad. When he was a senior in high school I was pooping my diapers and guess what? I am still shitting myself. So big deal. The age difference bothers people at times. Which I love because this isn't their life. It's ours.

Curt is one amazing guy. He's one fabulous husband. He's one hell of a Dad. And I am really really proud that he gets to call me his wife ;-).... I mean to call him my husband. :-)

So here's to you Curt..... not just for the best 8 (actually ten, because I didn't meet him on my wedding day) years of my life. For being my best friend, my partner and the wind beneath my wings. For giving me the gift of a family, a home (and I don't mean the house) and a place I crave to come home to. I am not just lucky, I am blessed and I am honored to share so much more than a last name. But a life.

The Coaching Files

This picture has zero to do with the topic. It is just a funny picture of Luc!

And..... Phelps does it again. Another great race here!

These days triathlon coaches are a dime a dozen. They are everywhere. Many have a boatload of credentials and many have a boatload of athletic accomplishments. Many have a really good time trashing the philosophy of others and many.... believe it or not.... have not a clue.

In some fashion I have always been a coach. Through college I was a swim coach for an age group swim team and I have to say that through my athletic endeavors I have learned from the best.

Am I the best coach? Certainly not. I am a work in progress and I really love what I do.

What makes someone a good coach? One of the things I have learned along the way is that the top athletes in the world can make great coaches, and they can make really crappy ones. In my opinion the best coach I have ever had in my life was my father. And I don't think he knows how to swim. At least I have never seen him.

What he taught me was how to understand an athlete, because he understands me, even to this day.

At swim meets in high school he'd entertain himself by recording my splits through the 500 freestyle. He's time every single 100, break it into a 50, and then into a 25. He'd even time the flip turns. When I was done he'd show me where I was inconsistent. And he'd do it in a matter of fact way.

Not the do or die way you see most parents do it. It was obvious he did it because he was bored. Swim meets can be boring!

But I started to see the trends. Taking out the first 50 too fast and paying for it on the last 100. With his help I was able to translate that into my college years where I swam the 1,000 and the mile.

And then it began to pour over into triathlon.

I am not sure my father knows how to ride a bike.

But he's taught me to read an athlete, to read myself. To break things down.

I have learned so much form other coaches just like I have learned from my Dad. I think we all have our stable of people who we draw from, people whose philosophies ring close to what we believe in. People we admire, look up to. Who make things simple and who help us learn.

I feel like I have gotten to learn from the best. The people I look to and who I try to learn from are:

Gordo, Kevin Purcell, Paulo (and you need to read his latest blog because it's so damn true it's funny), Trevor Syversen (Coach T), and my all time favorite Chuckie V. These guys are all terrific athletes but it's their philosophies and their teaching style that I am drawn to. It makes me a better coach and also a better athlete. I spend a lot of time learning what I can from this group because I think they have a keen eye into what makes athletes tick.

I once had a coach who told me that it took him 30 minutes to plan a week for 30 athletes. He used Training Peaks as many of us do.... and simply copied plans from athlete A to B to C. After all, Training Peaks has "all the workouts you will ever need." Until then I used a lot of the workouts that Training Peaks had to offer. Until that moment.

If you want a "Zone 2 run, embarrassingly slow.... best alone." workout, then that's your coach. It's true that there's no new workout, but if you are paying a coach good money then they should have their own terms, and their own workouts.

I am a coach who is a work in progress, aren't we all? But I relish in the ability to be able to study my athletes, to see improvements, to watch them grow. I love when we collaborate, share ideas. I love the feeling that we have around here of team.

We have a Google group where we throw around workouts, ideas, funny stuff. Many from this team travel together, we have group workouts, we go to training camp together.

Some coaches warn against becoming friends with your athletes. I thrive on the personal relationship that we all have together. Sure there are times when an athlete moves on or for whatever reason has to end the coach/athlete relationship. I created an Alumni group, so once you are part of this team, you are always part of this team. Take the awkwardness out of it and just get down to the real deal. We all love what we do and I love working with athletes.

So when you are looking for a coach, look at their philosophy. Look at how they interact with their athletes. Look at their credentials but if you can talk to an athlete they coach that's much better than a "level 9 coaching certification.". Interview them, ask them a lot of questions. Sure look at their race resume but just because they are the Ironman World Champion doesn't mean they are a great coach.

Look at my father. He wears the same New Balance sneakers he bought 20 years ago and he's never run a step in them. But he's one of the greatest coaches I have ever had, if not the best.

Vive Le USA!

I am so tired this morning and I believe it is for the greatest reason ever. I stayed up late. So did my husband. So did my 7 year old son.

We stayed up late because every four years swimming takes center stage. every four years we get to see things we don't get to see in hockey, football or the other mainstream sports.

Every four years we dive in, we hold out own breaths for the most exciting races in the entire world. And last night was no exception.

If you live under a rock you missed the greatest race in the history of swimming. Click here to have your heart jump out of your chest. Close the office door, get our your USA pom poms and get ready for three minutes of jaw dropping arm flailing SWIMMING.

While I am the number one Phelps Phan in the world, don't forget that this was not a 4 X 100 meter relay. This was the men's 400 freestyle relay. The difference? It's not four guys swimming 100 meters each. It's four teammates achieving a dream by swimming the fastest 400 meters ever.

Watch the world record line and watch how they completely smash it.

Do you know who Jason Lezak even is? There are four guys who stand behind Phelps. Four guys who swam not just their assess off last night but they swam from their hearts.

Study the last 25 meters of this race and listen to Rowdy Gaines state how this feat would be impossible. There was more than wizardry and box of hurt style pain going on in that pool. It was swimming straight from the heart and proving that the impossible was damn possible.

The French said they were there to smash the Americans. The Americans stood quietly and used that as fuel to stage the biggest upset there ever was.

And my boy Phelps got off his gold medal podium last night to shake the hands of the four frenchies who came up short. Damn classy if you ask me.

So what does this all represent?

Sport can tie us together. As community, as athletes, as people and as a nation. Tell me with honesty that your heart rate does not elevate as you watch this particular race. As you watch the Americans as the underdogs charging through the door and nailing that wall first.

While we got that gold medal, it isn't the medal that is the important lesson. It's smashing through barriers. On paper it did not seem feasible that this relay team could defeat the French. Screw what's on paper. On any given day anyone can be the victor. What it takes is very simple. Play all the head games and mind tricks that you want. I believe it comes down to one simple theme.

Believe that you can.

We, including me, make it much more complicated than that. We think it out too much and get caught between our ears. That's our most dangerous place.

What do you think was going through Jason's mind as he closed that gap on frenchie last night? I think I can safely say that he will try to tell you he was thinking of something..... but in reality he was not thinking of anything at all. He was just F-Ing swimming his damn ass off.

So keep it simple. Believe in yourself and go from your heart. You've prepared, you are ready and that's all you need to know. Use this awesome Olympic experience to refuel and recharge. Get your American Flag and come on over to our house because we watch it real time.

When Nathalie Coughlin takes that backstroke start and accidentally hugs the lane line I am screaming at her to straighten out. When Pearson takes his long strokes I am cheering him to keep his head down.

When Phelps is swimming..... sorry neighborhood but I am right there in the cube with him, screaming at him.

My heart stands still at the same time that it beats uncontrollably. I reach when they reach, I don't breathe when they flip turn.

And yes, I bawl my eyes out when I hear our national anthem and I see the looks in their eyes as they bring home Olympic Gold. So come on over, you are at home with us! We will stay up late and scream loud and at 5am when training begins we will be tired but it will be worth it.

We are experiencing history and we are experiencing a unification that goes beyond anything. And means more than a medal. It brings us back to who we are. Athletes, people, a community...... a Nation. GO USA!

Oh Canada

(I had to temporarily delete my swim helmet pictures because I wrote this first and couldn't figure out how to change the order.... they will be back!)

My favorite race in the world is Ironman Canada. Curt did it in 2001 and I signed up for 2002. When we returned home from that trip 9/11 happened and I didn't get back on an airplane for four years. I had my spot changed from IMC to Ironman Lake Placid.

In 2003 when I qualified for IM Hawaii at IMLP I told my husband I didn't want to go. But if the choice at the finish line would have been Kona or Canada.... I would have jumped at the chance to race IM Canada.

I still would.

I someday will. When I can fly out there to sign up for the damn race!

I think it is the most beautiful Ironman race on the face of this earth. And this year I will be on the edge of my seat, biting my nails, throwing up on the hour as I watch one of the best female races unfold on Ironman dot com. Please let there be no issues with Ironman dot com that day or I will die. Completely die.

The start list is full of incredibly talented females who need a spot to Kona. And who all have a wicked chance of being #1. In fact this might be the one race that if you study the splits of these ladies it is more than feasible that there could be six of them battling for the top spot at mile 22 of the marathon.

Besides Hawaii this might be the most exciting race of the year. If I could name my dream job it would be race day commentator. What I would do to be in the lead vehicle watching this all unfold.

How will it unfold? My heart rate rises just thinking about it.

Let's take a look at some of the players, their strengths, their weaknesses, their chances: and for the record I stole pictures from their websites. No permission ;-)

The favourite: Lisa Bentley 11 time Ironman Champion

Strengths: Lisa is an eleven time Ironman Champion, and Ironman Canada is her race. It's her favoutire (please note my Canadian spelling). It's her home country. She knows the course like no one else. Her experience, her talent, her amazing strategy and insanely positive mental attitude get her through anything. She's tough as nails and she has the biggest smile in the world. She took a light racing year to heal an injury, so she may turn her weakness (overracing) into her strength. By this time in her season she's got at least 1 or 2 Ironman races under her belt. This may be the first year she comes into this race rested. Now that could be scary. She will run as fast as she has to do come through that finish line first.

Weakness: It's almost funny to say that any of these ladies has a weakness. I suppose you could say her bike..... but she's been steadily improving, and her swim is right there as well. Her weakness might be that she did have an injury, but she's healed and she's rested. Maybe age? At 39 years old she appears to be fitter than ever.

The Under Dog: Desiree Ficker 2nd place 2006 Ironman Hawaii

Strengths: Being the underdog seems to suit Desiree well. Her fans have been on the fence on whether her 2006 Ironman Hawaii performance was the real deal or a lucky day. But remember in 2006 no one gave her even a top 10 prediction. Desiree has improved her awesome run with her Olympic Trials focused marathon training. While it seemed to impact her swim and her bike she's teamed up with Carmichael Training Systems and you'd better believe she will be ready. She's hungry for a good Ironman race this year and she's hungry for Kona. She's got a good head on her shoulders and she finishes what she starts.

Weakness: She focused so much on her run, has her swim bike combo weakened? Nutritional issues took her out of IM CDA, are they resolved?

The Dark Horse: Bree Wee; First Ironman ever was Kona, #1 Amateur. Fastest Amateur ever!

Strengths: Bree's first ever Ironman was a 9:46. In Hawaii. Bree's second ever Ironman was a 9:37 in Japan. There's something special about this Hawaii native. She lives and trains in Kona so that means she's good in heat, humidity and wind. She's got the passion for it, she's got the talent for it and she's got the hunger to race in her hometown (Kona). Her swim bike run combo is amazing and as of yet we haven't seen her show any real weakness. She runs a 3:00 marathon in the Honolulu marathon and claims she makes pacing errors yet still runs a 3:17 or less in an Ironman. I think she will be a surprise factor in this race. Don't forget she's a Mom too, which means she knows how to maximize training.

Weakness: Now this is a reach...... the only weaknesses for Bree is her "run pacing" (pulease!) and (this is a big reach) the fact that Ironman Canada is not on an Island, which is where Bree races at her best.

Others to watch out for:

Belinda Granger.... need I say anything more? She's one of two women to ever beat Bentley on her home turf. She's set for Kona so she can relax if she needs to!

Andrea Fisher: To five placings at Ironmans all over the world. Bronchitis soldelined her last year but don't count her out!

Rebecca Preston, Lori_Lynn Leach, Amanda Balding, Heather Wurlete, Deanna Frank, the list goes on and on and on. One thing is for sure, this will be the race to watch for som many reasons. Who will go to Kona? Who will win this legendary event? Who will come out on top and will Ironman dot com please not fail me?

The Gift

Sorry for the blurriness...... I had to take it quick and then save the guys from the shark!

Being a triathlete is a gift, a blessing, an honor. I am so grateful to be able to do the things that I can do, and to be able to have this sport to call my passion. I think of the rewards I have been given over the years I have been a triathlete and they are larger than winning, qualifying etc. This sport has given me family and friends. A platform to earn a living promoting the sport that I absolutely love.

Within my circle of friends we talk about triathlon the way others talk about football.

How about that Chrissie Wellington?

Will Bentley win #12 at Ironman Canada this month?

How about Gordo.... will he win IMC???

It's times like these where I feel like I won the lottery of life.

These are the thoughts that I had on my Tuesday long run. I chose a route from home, measuring just over 9 miles. After being tortured at the doctor again I strapped on my beloved running shoes, my skirt, my visor, pressed the button on the Garmin and I was off.

Over the past year my passion for running has grown tremendously. Since Coach T dialed me into my V Dot I can run just every single day. My injuries from running..... gone. My recovery...... faster. We haven't been able to do that much with speed because I've been on the Ironman wagon, but we dialed my IM pace in pretty well. Now it's time to really become a runner.

As I ran today I chose a route that gave me gradual elevations at about mile 5. I held that E pace up those hills strong, I didn't have to fight for it like I used to. I was smiling ear to ear.

I ran past barn houses and horses and through tree covered streets. Around where I live I have wide shoulders and crushed stone just outside of that for the horses, which allows me to run on a softer surface if I choose. And I do.

The sun was shining and it was hot. It'll be hot in Texas. I have been working on my sustainability in the heat and it's working. I didn't feel suffocated I felt empowered.

It was nice to run with water and Nuun in the Fuel Belt. Gone are the days of carrying gels and such. Those Ironman pounds are beginning to fall off. That flat feeling is vanishing.

I thought about my accident today. I think about it a lot. It was a complete freak accident. The chances of it happening again are nonexistent. The chances of it happening to you are even less. I was in the right place at the right time for the perfect hit. And man do I realize how lucky I was.

You realize the big picture when you stand in front of people who were at your wedding and on your honeymoon at Ironman Canada (There were 8 of us!) and you can't remember their names. You realize just how fragile you are when you are thinking a thought, looking someone in the eye and completely unable to make that thought a word.

You realize how lucky you are when you understand that what you are going through is temporary. Some people live their entire lives like this and still in the big picture things can be so much worse.

As I completed my run this morning I smiled and don't tell anyone..... but I even cried a little. I just feel so grateful that I get to be here doing what I really love to do. While I was not cleared to race this weekend I will be there to watch as my husband and my son enjoy their days and the sport that helped bring us all together.

Some Pictures!

A few pictures from USAT Sprint Nationals:

Here is Kim and Jeremy ..... Uncle Glenn's cheering section!

Here are some of the gang:

They had 10 minutes between each swim wave which made for a great swim for everyone and a nice clean bike course!

Luc Eggers putting timing chips together at the Score-This tent!

Curt and Dennis at the finish line.

A picture of the Old Gaurd: Dennis, Curt, CJ ..... CJ has been dying to have his picture on the blog here (which it is..... right hand column!