GUESS WHAT???? I FINALLY received my Timberman Medal!!!!!

Sorry for shouting but if you've been following along... my race was on August 22, 2010... that's about 3.5 months ago... I've gotten progressively more bitter about it as time dragged on...

So... needless to say, after receiving many back and forth reponses from Ironman, including: ' it will ship in 2-4 weeks', 'it will ship in 3-5 weeks', 'we received a shipment but there still weren't enough', 'we are still waiting for additional shipment', 'it has been shipped', 'it's been shipped 3 times we are not sure why it is not reaching you... what is your address again?'...

I then find out that the mailing company they use 'can't ship internationally' - Wow!  How inconvenient for me, eh? 

After firing off several increasingly irate emails to the organization (I mean, really, 3.5 months after the event I still didn't have a medal???)  guess what arrived in my mailbox??

No, really... GUESS...

I didn't get a medal....


I GOT THREE MEDALS - each mailed separately, 2 of the 3 had a mislabelled address... they all arrived within a day or two of each other...

(In other news, earlier this year, my husband received an award for SOMEBODY ELSE who had placed in her Ironman race...her FIRST NAME was similar to his LAST NAME... so we can see why that was confusing to the people mailing stuff out...ahem...)  Come on, guys... all that money that you collect in race fees, and you are wasting it on preventable inefficiences like this?  Shaking head...

Anyway... so now I have 3 Timberman medals and unless Ironman is trying to send me the message that I finished the race 3x slower than the 'average bear'... I now have one at the office for inspiration every time I think I can't do something... one on my bedpost... and one in my bag - to show every single person who will stand still long enough!!  YEAH!!!  

Glub, Glub, Glub...

I attended a swim clinic hosted by NRG yesterday in Toronto.  (No, I haven't swapped coaches - JJ is now part of their coaching team...)  What fun!  I got to see myself on underwater video and while by no means do I resemble Dara Torres (sadly...) I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't look like a drowning guppy!

We had 5 coaches on deck for around 18-20 people so we had tons of personalized attention and it was really well-organized from start to finish.

It was my first swim in about 6 weeks since my physio said 'no swimming till we fix your shoulder' but I got the go-ahead as long as I promised to work on technique and not mileage. 

The best parts for me:

- I got to see myself on video and will be able to download it later for my (and others' viewing pleasure... my husband might like to see it, although he too will likely be sad that I don't look like Dara Torres... I mean... have you seen that woman??  Wow!)

- I learned which part of my stroke is the culprit for my shoulder impingement and it's not the part I thought!  (I thought it was my 'pull' but in fact it's because my right elbow is too high during recovery and I'm pinching things that way...) - that alone was well worth the 4 hours! 

- I got to work on bilateral breathing which is far easier for me than I remember... and should help with my shoulder... plus I was able to find and practice (believe me it will take a lot more practice) a not-so-high elbow recovery that did not cause me to squeal in pain under the water.

How cool is that??

I met some really great people who were also attending the clinic - some had just come back from Ironman KONA... and some had done some really cool races, like Ironman Cozumel and Escape from Alcatraz!  Wow!  Yes, I am very impressed :) 

It's so much fun to live vicariously through others' race experiences and adventures... especially when I know that I'll never be fast enough to qualify for Kona (I guess there's always a coffee tour...), I'll likely never acclimatize to heat sufficient enough to race in Cozumel (there's always snorkeling...) and Alcatraz, while it sounds like a blast - 51 degree water temp is a definite 'No &%# way!!' - I'd dunk my face and come up with icicles on my nose!!  Then my lungs would surely implode and I'd have to hope that the sea lions took pity on me and dragged my sorry and unconscious a$$ to shore!  LOL! 

But, I digress...

This was all to say that if you live in the Toronto area, I'd highly recommend checking out NRG for when they host these training clinics - they are well worth the money and time!