Riding the 101.

As night falls.... SD I love you!

Magic!

Stop sight seeing Memphis!

Encinitas!

Riding the 101 is like coming home in some ways. It is where it all really started for me. A trip to the USA with a friend to see what real training was like. I had never done a half little lone a full Ironman. I rode this highway like woman possessed. I loved it. Luke was around here somewhere but I had yet to meet him. We may have passed each other on the highway but we will never know.

It is winter here of course but even in winter it is beautiful. I was so glad I got to take "MO" out here for a ride.

Here are some snaps from my ride today!

Memphis x

Snow one day sunny San Diego the next!

Me and Bogee and the prized medal!!!! Very cool!

It is snowing I swear... the weather lady used the term "flurries"

The Master Chef Bill and second chef Bogee.

The master piece!!!!

This country is HUGE. In the last few days I have been all the way across it and back.

San Diego, Houston, Tampa, Washington, Knoxville, Chicago, San Diego.

What a 48 hours. I had to do some work but you know me I managed to fit in some play!!!!

I arrived in Knoxville after a world wind meeting in Tampa. I was staying at friend and Olympian Bill's Schmidt house. Bill competed in the Olympics in Munich. Not only did he compete but he won a bronze medal. Bill is rad and super fun. He picked me up in the freezing cold. As in snowing cold. I have only seen snow like twice before, OK maybe 3 times. We headed out to the market to buy massive steaks for dinner and I made him take pictures of me in the snow fall as I am a massive dork.

Dinner was cooked buy Bill and Bill's super duper dog Bogee. He is ten and fighting fit. A lab.

After dinner Tony arrived to give me a much needed massage as I was still walking like a retarded crab and needed one desperately. Tony also went to the Olympics for 800 mts. So basically I was a bit Olympic fevered and made the boys tell me all the amazing stories of their experiences.

After the massage another glass of red took care of the jet lag and I went to bed. Yet another 6am flight and I arrived back where I started just 48 hours earlier... San Diego.

It is 2 pm now and I have a date with "MO"

Stay tuned

Memphis x

The Marathon!!!

Dinner the night before with the knocked up chicks !

Maire our marathon virgin before the de flowering!!!

Wow what a great marathon course! It was hilly and challenging and fun. Kind of.

I arrived with my friend Maire early and OMG it was freezing. I was NOT prepared for how cold it was. I had come from 95 degree weather in Australia and had arrived run morning to 40 degree with icy winds. I still did not think much of it as I did my warm up. The problem was we were all in the starting corral for about 7-10 mins getting freezing again. I stood with my pace group as the gun went off and was super excited.

We took off at the perfect pace and headed out. In the first mile there is a steep medium length hill. As we headed up I felt a slight grab in my right quad. No fear I figured it was cold and it would warm up and go away with in a few miles. I was in my tiny tri shorts with a singlet top and a flimsy long sleeve top I planned on taking off later. Mile 2,3,4,5 were fine I found my rhythm and was really enjoying myself. I was ignoring the quad tightness that was getting tighter but not to bad. As we took the side road I took a quick loo break and took the chance to try to stretch the quad. Holy cow I could not lift my quad backwards. Never mind I was running really well till now so I just started running again and slowly closed the gap from the break back to my pace group. Mile 8 saw a massive long hill out the back of Carlsbad. It was not particularly steep going up just really long. As I reached the top I could feel the other quad tightening and strangely the right one loosening. Weird. Perhaps my mind was playing tricks on me.

Last year so many things went wrong in my racing I think I got a little soft in the head towards the end of the season. I had pledged that this year rain hail or shine I was going to hurt in every race and give 110 per cent no matter the challenges. Seemed like this race was going to test my resolution.

Mile 9 saw the other side of that long climb. I was starting to have real quad cramps and the weather was NOT getting any warmer. The descend was giving my legs hell. I was unable to run in my normal stride and I was loosing my pace group by just a touch. The highlight of the down hill was seeing Maire heading up looking amazing and strong. As this was her first marathon I was so impressed with her. She was still with her pace group also. Go Maire!!!

Miles 10,11,12 was a battle I did not want to stop for any reason but eventually at mile 13 I had not choice. I stop near a pole to try and stretch my quads. Both were a mess. I could not pull my ankle to my butt with out screaming like a banshee. It was so painful. I tried not to let it get to me and as soon as I felt some relief I was off again. No actual walking per say just stopping for stretching. That was the mantra.

Miles 14,15,16,17 saw me on the side of the road stretching numerous times more.... I lost count. I started to wonder if maybe I was dehydrated. Just in case I asked people for salt. Eventually one lovely man did. I swallowed them down and hoped for the best.

All day no one ran past me while I was moving. If I was standing still then yes I got passed but I was holding 8 min miles anytime I was moving which was good. Every step in mile 18,19,20 and 21 was agony. All I was thinking was that pace group 3.35 had not yet passed me so I had only lost 5 mins off my desired time. A testament to how hard I was running when moving.

Sadly mile 21 saw the 3.35 group go past. I was determined to stick with them but as mile 23 rolled around I lost them. The stopping to stretch was my only option. I was thumping my quads and praying that they could keep going. Mile 24 has you back in the thick of Carlsbad with all the crowd and I think that helped but somehow right behind me was 3.40 group. CRAP!!!

I held onto them until that descend into town. You remember the one from the beginning. I came down the hill running as hard as I could and as it flattened at the bottom my quads gave out and I hit the deck. How crazy just .7 of a mile to go and I was in agony. A lovely lady picked my sad ass up off the ground and I limped in over the line.

3.44 and I have never been so proud of myself for putting the hurt on my body like that. It hurt for all the wrong reasons but I made it and with a personal best. While I was honestly aiming for a 3.30 I had amended that to 3.35 after seeing the course. So with all the stopping and pain I feel happy with what I achieved out there. Once again the lesson is never never ever give up.

About half an hour later our marathon virgin Maire arrived. She looked amazing and so comfortable. She was awesome and I was so proud of her. Crazy German.

I was going to pay the price for this and within 2 hours of finishing I was a walking mess. I resembled a retarded crab. Sort of a weird sideways crawl. No rest for the wicked though as tomorrow morning at 6 am I am off to Tampa. Heck this could hurt more than the marathon but I doubt it!

Stay tuned

Memphis x

Mo ... My new ride!!!

The hot new paint job!

MMMM Carbon fiber!

Scott USA are ROCKIN!!!

Clearly this is not my new saddle position!!! I need to get the seat tube cut and a few adjustments but I am ready to roll!!!

Adrian from Scott USA is my hero! He knew I was coming state side for this marathon and sent my new bike ahead for me. Normally we just get our new frames sent to OZ as we get our Sram and Vison parts sent out there also. The bike build normally happens at home with Bob doing all the hard work. This time however I am going to be in the USA for a week and Adrian was kind enough to send a complete bike to me here in SD. I am so excited to be able to ride while I am here as Ironman Malaysia is coming fast.

That bloody race has kicked my ass twice now and god dam it I am going to finish it this year even if it kills me!!! I was really worried that not riding for a week could hurt my preparation a lot.

Never fear Adrian has saved me. After getting a $350.00 estimate from a local bike shop to build it ... they could shove that where ever it fits.... I asked A Man to help me. Last night A Man and I (mainly A Man) put it almost completely together. Now I can take it up to B+L Bikes and get them to finish it off. I should have asked them in the first place but was trying to give the new local business some support. MMM well I never, $350 as if.

My New Contessa is sexy as!!!! I love her. A Man thinks I should name her Mojito or Mo for short. I like it !!!!! Mo she is !!

Tomorrow is the marathon so I will let you all know how that goes!!!

Stay tuned

Memphis x

Avoiding rush hour and road side naps.

I think I ate a whole cow!

Marie, Sum Sum, A Man , Memphis group hug!

A Man and I ... he looks so serious with the new hairdo!

After a great morning but an unobtained swim set I headed south to San Diego. I know this drive well and could do it blind folded... well almost!

I only packed one actual CD and listened to it the whole trip. With Lisa Mitchell blasting from the rental car I made my way down the 405. I was making good time but was getting sleepy. Crap!!! I knew I was going to have to pull over for a nap. Road safety first!!! I pulled up just 10 kms away from where I wanted to get to. Amazing really. My body clock hates me right now. I laid the chair back and made a pillow out of clothes and got some zzzz's. After waking up I drove the last 10 kms to Frog's Gym and went in to do the session.

Frog's is kind of posy with tons of girls in designer lycra who prance around and bend over a lot in front of MASSIVE guys who have more muscles than brains. It's kind of funny actually. There are a lot of pervy old dudes too. Not a lot of actual sweating and working out for these women. So here I am in my running shorts, bra top, knee high compression sox and K-Ona's belting out my 40 min run on the treadmill. Sweating it up and minding my own business. I got a few strange looks about the sox but hey I had been in transit and had no intention of getting cankles ( fat ankles and calves). I left happy with myself that I had managed to stick to the program in spite of no Jimmy waving the whipping stick.

Dinner time was at a steak house. I had been eating salad , fruit and sushi for the last 48 hours as these are the best options when flying. Somehow in the past I have been able to gain 2 kgs on a flight. I think it is all the soda, red wine and cheese I previously decided lived on when travelling. Now I was dying for real food. Summer , Aman , Maria and I all stuffed ourselves at Saska's. Saska's was so good and the steak was as big as my head.

After dinner we headed back to Summer's house where Aman and I will attempt to build the new bike. I will let you know how that goes!!!!

Stay tuned

Memphis x

LA with JF

Ivette and I .... this is her Blue Steele pose!

Jen F , David "Boot" Bond and Memphis in K-Swiss!!!

Laurel and her amazing new season samples. I am so sad I am not sample size!!!Surely something can be done about this Laurel!!!!

Jenny in front of herself !!!!

I was happy to finally arrive in LA. What was meant to be a early dinner turned into a late night affair. I finally picked up friend and fellow K-Swisser Miss Jenny Fletcher. She had been patiently awaiting me at a Peet's Coffee for like 3 hours ... ooops! We headed out for a dinner at a yummy Japanese place. After stuffing ourselves we headed back to her house to get some sleep before our scheduled 6.30 swim. Now I had all intentions of getting up for this session but considering my long day of flying and not getting to be until 12.30 it was looking a little shaky.

The alarm went off and I pushed my way out of the haze only to do the math and realise that if I did indeed get up it would actually be 11 pm for me on my time. Clearly this was unreasonable and I went back to sleep. I don't think Jen minded either as it was torrential rain and gail force winds outside.

The day got underway at about 9 am and we headed off to the K-Swiss head quarters. There we caught up with all the usual suspects and raided the goodies closet. A must if the big boss ( Erik V) is down in OZ for the Australian Open Tennis ha ha. I went in to see Laurel my favorite K-Swiss designer and she had so many super awesome shoes coming out it is amazing!!!! I hate that sample size is a 7.5 as I am a 8.5 boo. That bloody Katya Myers gets all the breaks with her tiny 7.5 feet :)

After we smuggled out the good stuff I had to make a break from the big smoke and head south to the homelands of San Diego!!!!

Let's hope I make it before the rush hour.

Stay tuned

Memphis x

Memphis on the road... SOLO!!!

Me and my K-Swiss Tubes waiting in the Airport.... We miss Jimmy!

I have packed my bags yet again. However for this trip I will be SOLO!! No Jimmy and no bike!

I am headed back to the USA for 10 days. There is a whole bunch of work to do on our not so top secret project. I will reveal all after this trip but very exciting.

In true Hillary Biscay style I have snuck in a marathon. After last years pitiful ending to the season I kept the running up all off season and harassed the poor people at Active.com to let me in the Carlsbad Marathon. Finally I was let in but sadly it was due to a lovely lady being injured. Get well soon Kelly!! I will be competing with my friend Marie. She is a crazy German girl that has just gotten into triathlon. Her coach is non other that Peter McKenzie.... Luke's Dad and considering his success with coaching Luke, Jac and Guy over the years I am expecting great things from her. She wonders when in her life did a marathon become a "training day ". She will be awesome.

As I write this I am in San Fransisco transit area. The plane ride over was pretty funny. I felt sorry for the poor fellow who had to sit next to me. I think I talked the first 4 hours straight. Turns out he is from a small country town about 70 kms away from my home town. Newdegate has a population of about 200 and so does his so the chances of running into each other was pretty slim. He did not seem to mind the endless chit chat. Us country folk like a chat.

The storms are in and there are delays. I am hoping for the best but you never know. This is my first winter in forever. I had to send the sweaters/jumpers out to be dry cleaned as they hadn't been used for 4 years...seriously. Ugg boots and scarves heck my tan will rub off by the time I get home.

Stay tuned

Memphis x

A quick trip !!!

Over the weekend Luke and I headed south to Melbourne. We were shooting a TV ad for K-Swiss. It was a blast. We caught up with Erik, Terenzo and Kel. It was a fly in fly out affair. However I am happy to report a Serena William's sighting and a quick exchange of hello's as we left the hotel. A brush with fame. She is a massive woman. I would pee my pants if I had to attempt to return a serve from her.  The Australian Open starts tomorrow and sadly we missed all the action. 

Noosa is getting busy. All the Euro's and people from the colder areas of the world are arriving. No one loves riding in freezing weather. So unless you live in Hawaii, Tuscon or Florida the chances are you are looking for a winter escape. Over the last few years a lot of our friends are heading here. 

I will keep you informed of the exciting trip coming up next week and will find the camera cable soon I promise. 

Stay tuned 

Memphis x 

More of NYE and visitors.

NYE with the boys!!!

Oh dear Mina and I are at it again. 

SO gangsta!!!

Site seeing... searching for waves! 

Family!

At Byron Bay!

Hippie Chick... at Nimbin.

Ladies who lunch!

I was sent through some of these classic christmas NYE pictures. 

I have been playing around with the color of my blog. I have had some complaints so I am going to change it again .( winks and smiles at Phil :) 

Hopefully this one is better.

Stay tuned 

Memphis x