Adam, Troy, Brandon, Haven












The B-Day Girl and Katie Baker (B-day Girl #2)














Me and the B-Day Girl












The B-Day Girl and Jess Jones/ Myers:)














Party Time on September 19th, 2006 at Jack Quinn's for Jasmine's 21st Brithday!

Break Time

Now I’m back in COS…arrived on Monday night. This week has progressed a LOT like last week…very adventurous and fun…I’ve been doing those things that I never manage to find time for during the training and racing season. Hikes, Frisbee games, mountain bike rides, shopping, late nights with friend, etc.
I’ve been in the pool a few times because this weekend is the Tiburon Mile open water swim in the San Fran. Bay. The Angel Cam web page is a web camera that takes a photo every 30 seconds of the Angel Island Ayala cove. This is where the race starts…on Sunday morning at 8:00am there will be 800 swimmers in bathing suits and wetsuits lined up on the beach waiting for the gun to fire so they can all run at full speed into the 55 degree water!! I’ll be one of those 800 people…hopefully near the front:)!!
Tomorrow morning (after a well-deserved ‘sleep-in’) I’ve got a date with one of the Sport’s Medicine Trainers to form some new running-shoe inserts. Unfortunately, my painful shin splits have returned to haunt me at the end of this season. I’ve already been to Boulder Running Company for new shoes in preparation for getting back into training…when I get my inserts, running should start being fun again!
Afterwards, I’ve got a date with Jasmine for a mountain bike ride! I haven’t been out on my bike in 10 months…ever since I cracked the rear wheel on a bad curb jump…and now I’ve got new wheels so I can ride smoothly. The weather has been AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL, PERFECT, CRISP, FALL-ish…you choose your adjective! I absolutely LOVE it here…after re-experiencing Florida heat and humidity last weekend…it’s so fun to watch the leaves change color and the snow start to build up on Pikes Peak out my window!
I finally got time to drive to one of the local ski stores to purchase my season pass to the Big Five mountains…Breckenridge, Vail, Arapahoe Basin, Copper, and Keystone. It’s got my picture on the front and everything! They even had an option to connect my credit card to the lift pass so I don’t even have to carry cash or a credit card, I can just swipe my lift pass while I’m on the mountain…could be bad news:)!
The outdoor pool at the OTC has finally been re-opened. They just spent a few months re-do and re-building the pool…just in time for WINTER, I know…but we’ve got a few days where the sun is still shinning and the air is warm enough to swim outside. I did a 3000yard workout today with the sun shinning bright. I took a moment to reflect on my beautiful surroundings as I was walking across the parking lot back to my room in a towel and wet bathing suit…and there was SNOW on the mountains in the distance…not something this Florida Girl is accustomed to!

From Gator Country

I just finished a fantastic weekend in Florida with my family and Gator friends…it would be safe to assume that I’m back in COS since the weekend is over…but, surprise, I’m still in Gainesville, Florida!
My flight on Friday to Gainesville was uneventful. I arrived around 2:30pm and was met outside the terminal by my parents who had just drove up from home. My mom and I dropped my dad off at Dustin’s house so that he could fix Dustin’s scooter (Mr. Fix-it:)! Then we drove to the pool to watch the men and women’s swim team swim in the Orange and Blue meet (100 of each stroke and IM). Everyone looked fast and I’m excited to follow their results this season…Go Gators!
After the swim meet, we relaxed with Dustin, his roommates, and their parents at the house. Around 6:30pm it was time to drive to the Hilton for the 2005-2006 UF Swim Team Banquet…the 6th one that I have attended since 2000…to cheer for all the past and present Gators being recognized and receiving awards. The dinner was really good and Dustin’s team video was spectacular…he is keeping my yearly tradition alive!
While mom and dad drove home that night, I stayed at the guy’s house so that I could attend Saturday morning swim practice…what was I thinking?!?! Since I didn’t bring any dryland clothes, I walked around campus and stopped by Starbucks for breakfast while the team spent an hour in the weight room. At 8am, we all got in the pools…I made sure I was in the ‘slower’ group that was outside swimming long course. The set was 3x (5x300 @4:00, 16x50: 4@:50, 4@:35, 4@:45, 4@:35) and I was flying…could have been the week off I just took, or the ‘slower’ group I was in, or the fact that I only did 2x through the set:) But I had fun and found out that I can still make 4x50 @:35 long course a few times!!
After practice I attended and participated in the ALUMNI MEET! First I entered the 50 breaststroke to see if I could make 2 laps without drowning (I made it) and then the 50 free and a 25 backstroke to lead off a relay (still don’t know how to do backstroke starts:)! There were so many of my past teammates also in attendance, it was more fun to reunite and laugh over old memories than it was to actually swim! I made Dustin sit up in the stands and watch…we actually might have had more of a crowd than the inter-squad meet the day before (admittedly, these people were in attendance to get a good LAUGH:)!
The rest of Saturday I spent relaxing and letting Dustin get the homework and studying that he needed to complete. We scooted into town for lunch, a movie, and a bit of Gator paraphernalia…I’ll be sporting a new Gator ball cap in COS next week! The football game against Kentucky started LATE…kick off was at 7:45pm because it was live on ESPN…and the Men’s Swim & Dive team was recognized at halftime on the field. After Dustin got off the field we headed to his house to get the car and start driving home. We finished the game by listening on the radio…we WON 26-7!! I think we pulled in the driveway in DeLand around 11:30pm and went straight to bed.
Sunday morning started early, around 7am, with a drive over to Daytona Beach for the memorial service for my Grandmother (Granny/Cynthia/Joan). There was about 20 family and friends in attendance and about 10 people took part in the ocean swim…then we all shared happy memories of Granny on the beach during breakfast. My lifelong friend, Beth Grams (soon to be Mrs. Robert Margalis), was in attendance and I grilled her for wedding details…the BIG day is approaching on October 14th!
Back at home, I spent some time with my family before packing up and getting ready for the long drive back to Gainesville to catch my 5pm flight to COS. As soon as I walked in the terminal, I knew there was a problem because the Delta check-in line was backed up to the entrance. I learned that the flight was delayed out of G-ville because of weather in ATL (not bad enough weather to stop my COS connection from leaving ATL on-time!) and I could either change my flight to the next day…or spend the night in the Atlanta airport. Hummmm…let me think!? I called Dustin, he had just pulled into his driveway, to come pick me up for another night.
We went to dinner at his favorite restaurant, Hops…then I aimed for an early bed-time in preparation of the old routine: Monday morning practice at 6:00am!! Thanks to the Gator family for letting me squeeze in practice…fortunately I snuck in the ‘slower’ group doing long course for the main set of: 800, 30x50, 800, 20x50, 800 (I went a 9:25 on that one), and then I got out of the pool for the last few 50s. With all my heart I wanted to complete the whole practice…but I’ve got one more competition…next weekend is the Tiburon Mile open water swim and if I kill my poor arms now, how can I possible swim fast! Hopefully, I will be back in Gainesville this winter and I look forward to (maybe) seeing if I can still keep up with the ‘faster’ group!!
Now I’m waiting on Dustin to get home from his Monday classes. We’ll probably eat some lunch and then I need a ride back to the Gainesville airport…hopefully this time I’ll make it back to MY home in COS! Look out ski slopes…here I come!!!

DAY 47...Arrived in COS

Oh my gosh…it feels fantastic to be sitting here, at my PC, in my chair, in my room, at the OTC, in Colorado Springs!! I woke up early this morning in Rye, NY to help Jasmine and Matt pack their bags and bikes. I had so much time before my noon flight that I hopped on my bike for a short and easy spin one last time around Rye. I stopped by the hotel where my parents were staying to maybe say ‘hello’ but they were sound asleep and I didn’t want to wake them:). The Westchester Triathlon committee put together a shuttle service to get us all to the airport (BIG THANKS!) and I fell asleep as soon as the plane was airborne from White Plains, NY to Chicago. A 2 hour layover in Chicago…and then another nap on the flight to COS!
I have to admit that one of the things I was looking forward to upon my return to the OTC was getting my mail for the past month and a half…and it was not disappointing:)! Lots of prize money and performance bonuses were waiting here for me to deposit! I’ve also been looking forward to sleeping in my BIG, soft bed…too much time sleeping on uncomfortable, twin-size beds during this trip. I just looked out the window for the first time and checked to make sure my car was still where I left it…it is…hopefully it starts without any problems tomorrow morning!
The fun does not stop here…while I was traveling last week, I was contacted by USAT to see if I was interested in an opportunity to CO-HOST a morning RADIO SHOW!! I think I made that decision in about 2 seconds flat…so tomorrow morning I will be awake at 5am driving to the MAGIC Morning Show to co-host the morning drive segment from 6-9am (3 hours on the air…thank goodness there will be a lot of music during that time too:)! I’m SOOOO excited…I just read the outline for the show…here it is:
WEEK OUTLINE FOR MAGIC MORNING SHOW
TUESDAY, SEPT. 19:
6:00 – BE IN STUDIO
6:10 – SHORT NEWS / SPORTS / WEATHER
6:20 – TRIVIA (ROMI GIVES QUESTION ON AIR – SARAH CAN FEEL FREE TO GUESS ANSWER AS LONG AS SHE KNOWS IT’S A WRONG ONE!)
6:35 – ENTERTAINMENT BUZZ  (TOP ENT. STORIES OF THE DAY.  ROMI WANTS SARAH TO GIVE OPINIONS AND ASK QUESTIONS IF SHE WANTS)
6:50 – TALK ABOUT PROMOTIONS HAPPENING ON MAGIC / OTC
7:10 – SHORT NEWS / SPORTS / WEATHER
7:20 – INTERVIEW – SARAH DIMURO (29 YEAR OLD VIRGIN WHO’S LOOKING FOR “THAT PERSON” IN JANE MAGAZINE.  WE’LL LOOK FOR THE OLDEST VIGIN IN COLORADO SPRINGS.)
7:50 – TALK ABOUT THE ATHLETE AND THE OTC
8:10 – SHORT NEWS / SPORTS / WEATHER
8:20 – PHONE TOPIC – WHO CONTROLS THE MONEY IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP?  WE GOT A LISTENER EMAIL ABOUT A GUY WHO HAS TO HIDE SOME MONEY FROM HIS WIFE SO HE CAN SPEND IT ON WHAT HE WANTS.  WE’LL TAKE STORIES AND I’D LIKE SARAH TO CHIME IN WITH HER OPINIONS.
8:50 – TALK ABOUT WHAT’S COMING UP TOMORROW
9:00 – FINISHED!!!

Maybe I will be able to get a taping of the show for proof that I was ‘on the air’:)! Speaking of getting tapes of the show…in the huge stack of mail that I just waded through, I found a DVD copy of my live news interviews for the IronKids races…those were up in Denver in July.
With an early morning wake-up call...I’ll be heading to bed soon. Of course, I could start unpacking, maybe do a little laundry, take my bike out of the box, something else productive…but of course I’m just going to RELAX and REST and RECOVER and enjoy being home!!!

I've disappeared for the past couple of days..Hopefully this has not interrupted anyone's daily life:)! I've been hiding out in the beautiful little town of Rye, NY...in the guest bedroom at the Gormley home!
I finally arrived back in the good-ol'U-S-of-A on Monday afternoon...my flight from Frankfurt, Germany to Newark was only about an hour late. Only ONE hour is VERY impressive considering the date I was flying...9/11...and the location of my destination...the USA!
I must have gone through every - single - solitary type of security measure ever invented before boarding the plane in Germany. I went through 3 metal detectors, my bag was x-rayed three times, my laptop was examined twice, all liquids and gels were removed from my bag, I was patted down, wanded with a metal detector, and critically matched to my passport photo!
Finally, I got on the huge 747...and breathed a HUGE sigh of satisfaction when I realized that it was only going to be about 1/3 full for the flight. I immediately took claim to a middle row of 4 seats and settled in for a nice, long trans-Atlantic nap!
My nap was well deserved...it was the day after the Hamburg World Cup Triathlon! My race started at 2:30 in the afternoon on a beautiful sunny day in Germany. This was officially the LARGEST professional triathlon that I had ever competed in...79 women lined up on the starting line...and there were a reported 50,000 spectators lining the course in Hamburg!
The start was a mad house! I was number 42 and luckily chose a starting position very close to the left side (I might still be underwater if I was in the center of all 79 women!). By the time we rounded the first couple of buoys, I was in my traditional location: the lead:). The swim was fast...and probably a bit short...and I hoped on my bike with a small lead over 7 or 8 women.
They caught me during the first lap and I was fortunate to work with some of the most amazing women triathletes in the world right now...the names on the suits were: Fernandez, Tanner, Moffet, Blatchford, Bennett, etc! It was just mind-blowing to know that I was racing with these women!
It was also mind-blowing to know that I still had a 10K run to complete...and unfortunately, it was not as spectacular as I hoped. I dropped back about 25 places for my 33rd place finish...but the experience was unbeatable. That is the exact course for World Championships next year...very much my style...and now I am very familiar with every part.
Back to the present time - I'm in New York preparing for my 6th and final race of my 47 day "Europe/North East USA" trip. The Westchester Triathlon is on Sunday...start time of 7:25am. The city of Rye is fantastic, the race organizing committee is amazing, the Gormley family is unbelievable, I'm running out of descriptive words and I need to take an Economics Quiz online...LATER:)

Photos from 640 Jumps

Brent McLarty (a.k.a. my dad) in the plane before the jumps started...he was the first pilot to fly (from 8 - 10am) and also set the fastest cycle time: 1 min 54 sec!

This is what the pilots must do with the planes in order to beat Jay to the ground for the next jump...it's basically a "controlled CRASH"!!!

That's what Jay looks like from inside the plane...right after he exited the door at 2100 feet...notice his hands are already pulling the rip-cord to deploy his parachute (no time for free-fall at that altitude).

And this is what Jay looks like from the ground when he jumps out of the plane and starts spiralling down to the ground...already getting ready for another jump!!

World Record Skydives

Last weekend, my Dad flew up to Indiana to be part of the team of 100 volunteers that helped Jay Stokes set a new World Record for the number of skydives in 24 hours!
Jay's goal was 600 jumps between September 8th at 8:00am and September 9th at 8:00am. That means he needed to make a jump every 2 minutes and 24 seconds...non-stop...for 24 hours!
My dad was one of the pilots and he flew for 6 hours (3 x 2 hour segments). His fastest cycle (from when Jay entered the plane, taking off, climbing to 2,100 feet of altitude, letting Jay jump, diving back toward earth, landing, and driving by so Jay could get back in the plane) took only 1 minute and 54 seconds!! Dad's average was 2 minutes and 3 seconds for when he was flying for Jay.
So with the help of pilots, planes, packers, timers, videographers, cooks, etc...Jay made 640 jumps!! Click here for a CNN video clip of the action! That's MY DAD FLYING THE PLANE:)
Jay's website and BLOG tells about how his record attempt raises money for the Special Olympics...there are lots of great photos from the record setting day...and updated posts while the jumps were being made.

This is my artistic photo from the trip...the FULL moon was rising when we were touring the castle...it was HUGE!!

After dinner in Bacarach, we hiked up the hillside to the castle...walked through a couple of these arches on the pathway.

After Lausanne, I traveled back to Sembach for the week. We took another sightseeing trip to the Rhine River...this time to ride our bikes in the sunshine. (L to R - Cliff, Jaz, Michelle, Sarah)

And here they come...the Elite Men climbing up d'Ouchy during the World Champs.

Jasmine and I asked one of the other 35,000 spectators on the Lausanne course to take a photo of us while the Elite Men were racing.

This was my favorite building in Lausanne, Switzerland...we walked by it on the way to the pool...this is what I imagine buildings in little European towns look like.

My beautiful flowers from the Aquathlon world champs...too bad I couldn't bring them with me...but this photo will last longer:)

Live From Hamburg

Just a quick update…I arrived in Hamburg, Germany this morning. It was a short flight from Frankfurt. I officially checked out of the Sembach Air Force base…it was a great place to stay and train and I’m so glad that I was offered the opportunity! Thanks USAT!
Jasmine and I forgot to get hotel reservations in Hamburg until the last minute…so the host hotel was completely full (thanks to the 6,500 age-group competitors competing in the race on Sunday morning). But I did manage to find a reasonably priced hotel just down the road from the race site…and I’m sitting in our room right now on the free internet watching German MTV.
Tomorrow morning we are getting up around 8am…eating at the free breakfast buffet…riding over to meet some other USA athletes at the host hotel…biking the course…relaxing before going for some open water swimming…and finally, cheering for the men’s race at 3:00 in the afternoon!
After all those events, it will be time to come back to this room and relax and get mentally and physically prepared for my own race on Sunday…2:30pm start (which will be broadcast live on the internet at 8:30am Eastern Standard Time at www.triathon.org).

The start...Jasmine is closest to the camera and I'm right next to her...notice the sweet new patterns on the sleeves of my wetsuit!!

Out of the water and into transition in my new Orca Apex 2 wetsuit and Speedo FS2 race suit!:)

Race Day in Reverse

I’m in the Geneva Airport in Switzerland. They were so thoughtful when they designed these ‘Power Stations” for people to recharge their electronics…but of course they don’t have FREE wireless internet…that would be too much to ask for:)! But at least I’m not draining my computer battery while I type my post race report and this blog.
My flight from Geneva to Frankfurt leaves in about an hour. I wish I didn’t have to spend so much time in the airport before my flight, but since we had to take a train here from Lausanne…we are at the mercy of the train schedules! Taking the train with my BIG bike box was not a problem because they are very athlete/activity friendly in Europe and have places on trains to hold bikes and such. Now, getting onto the plane with my BIG bike box…is never such a pleasure. I had to pay a nice large fee for checking my bike in today.
Going backwards in time…last night I had a great time with my friends, teammates, and competitors at the post-race party/dinner in Lausanne. We walked down to the lake and found the huge tent where they were serving dinner, awards, drinks and dancing. I didn’t stay out as late as some people…my body needed some rest and a good night’s sleep after the race and all the cheering…I’ve got another big race in 7 days to focus on!
Backwards in time again…I almost missed the whole dinner. Thanks to Jasmine for waking me up from my nap just in time to walk down with her, Manny and Lesley. I was exhausted and took a solid nap from 6pm until 7:45.
Backwards again…after my race was over and I gathered up all my gear, Jasmine and I walked up to our hotel and cheered for the Elite women’s race at the same time. They were biking up the hill as we were walking so we got to cheer for a few laps. Between laps, I ran into the hotel and took a quick shower with the TV volume up as loud as possible because the race was broadcast live on channel 2 (which was a useless action because the broadcast was in French:)!
Jaz and I stuck together the rest of the day running all around the race site cheering for all our American teammates. The women raced solid and Laura was 8th, the top USA woman. The next race was the Elite men…we cheered on the hill during the bike and on an out-and-back section of the run. The USA men’s top finish was Hunter in 7th after a non-USA group broke away on the bike and had a substantial lead starting the run. The final race of the day was the U23 boys…and Jaz and I cheered with all the energy we had left! Manny was the top USA finisher in 6th place after a fantastic run.
Backwards once more…the U23 women’s race started at 7:30am. We still had cloud cover and cool air from the night before. I exited the water in first place and rode two laps on the bike by myself. When the chase pack caught me, I couldn’t hang on up the hills so I got dropped. I started the run with the second pack of women and still in the top 10. Right at the end…400 meters to the finish line…one girl passed me and I finished 11th overall! Jasmine had a great race and finished 7th!

Busy Days in Switzerland

Since that exciting Wednesday when I won the Aquathlon World Championships (two days ago)…I’ve been focusing on the real reason I’m here in Switzerland…the U23 Triathlon World Championships on Sunday, September 3rd at 7:30am!!!
The pre-race meeting was Thursday morning…in the beautiful IOC Museum down the street from the race site. Lausanne is the home of the International Olympic Committee and the museum has a lot of really cool statues, photos, memorabilia, etc. from all the past Olympics. It also has a big auditorium room where I sat with all the other U23 competitors and coaches to listen to the rules/course/timetables related to our races.
Most of the rules I know and I’ve heard them before every ITU triathlon I compete in. This time they made an announcement that if you did NOT attend this meeting, you would be moved 10 places back at the start line for choosing your starting position. I’m glad I attended:)!
Speaking of numbers…I’m number 6 and Jasmine is number 7…so we get to start right next to each other!! You can see the official ‘start list’ for my race and all the other races on the ITU website. You will also find your local time for the live broadcast of my race…unfortunately, if you are on the East Coast of the USA…I will be racing from 1-3AM! Bummer:) But you can always go online later in the day and see my results…and watch the other American athletes in the Elite races.
Lausanne is a very expensive city because most of the industry revolves around tourism. This makes finding reasonably priced meals and groceries a fun adventure:). Fortunately, we had a U23 team dinner last night that was at a pasta/pizza joint across the street and it was covered by USAT (BIG thanks here to our National Team Staff!). I had some simple but yummy spaghetti and salad. I’m working on my carbo-load for the race!
The race is going to be A LOT of fun…I’ve been on the swim course, the bike course and the run course! Of course, the first part is going to be pretty easy for me and I think I spend a total of 2 seconds of mental preparation on the swim. Now the BIKE is a completely different story…I keep trying to STOP thinking about it because I start mentally sweating when I think about the 14 HILLS that I have to climb during the 25 mile/7 lap course! I rode 2 laps yesterday and 2 more today during training…tomorrow I’m going to give my legs a rest before killing them on Sunday morning. The run course is really simple…just 4 loops along the water front. It’s all on flat pavement which will translate to fast running (if anyone has any energy left in their legs after the bike ride I mentioned earlier:)!
In other parts of my life…I’m trying to finish my first Leadership class assignment because it’s due on Saturday. Obviously, I’m not working on it right now…you must realize what my priorities are in life:)! The assignment is an Application Paper, basically a lot of information about myself, my goals for my life and details about my business (my ‘business’ is myself – one professional athlete at your service).

Carrie Berrie Pie just sent me this photo from my national triathlon in Long Beach in June...it was SOOOO cool that she drove down to watch me race (I think that's why I did so well in the race:)!