The Gillens.net

Turner Falls	Oceanside, CA	Arc de Triomphe
West Point Graduation	Ironman USA	Christmas 2008

Greetings from the Gillen family!  We pray you are well and want to take a moment to share some of our highlights from 2008.  It has been a year blessed with accomplished goals, new projects, as well as other life-changes.   Here are the highlights:

Feb    Austin Marathon,TX - Sarah runs the half marathon while David takes over one hour off his PR by running 3:24.
Mar    Turner Falls,OK - David and Sarah take a fun day trip OK for David to get in hill training on his bike, as well as enjoy the first beautiful, sunny weekend this spring.
Mar    Oceanside Ironman 70.3, CA - David visits Cyndee in San Diego and races in Ironman 70.3.
May    West Point Graduation, NY - Sarah’s brother, Clint, graduated from the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, and the whole family was able to experience the long-lasting tradition of a West Point graduation.
July    Paris Trip, France - Sarah traveled to Paris with her friend, Jamie Walters, for a five-day vacation.
July    Ironman Lake Placid, NY - Through Ironman’s Adopt-An-Athlete program, David teaches elementary school students the importance of physical fitness.  He also races for just under 12 hours in pouring rain in the Adirondack mountains.
Aug    DPT program starts at TWU - Sarah starts her Doctor of Physical Therapy program at Texas Woman’s University after resigning from her position at Richland College.
Sep    Madison Trip,WI - David visits Mike and Peggy while also registering for the 2009 Ironman Wisconsin.
Nov    Triathlon Coaching  - David starts officially coaching clients.
Dec    White Rock Marathon - Sarah completes her second marathon in 4:06 in Dallas’ largest 26.2 mile race.

We are eager to discover what other exciting events and changes await us in this new year!  And we are prayerful that 2009 finds you safe and happy.  Happy holidays!

David and Sarah (and Derringer and Savannah)

December 14, 2008 was a long awaited day on my calendar. David had begun training me for the White Rock Marathon back in August. So, ever since my new role as a Physical Therapy student started, I was in training for the race. The months passed with zillions of assignments, quizzes, tests, and presentations, and all the while, I was up at 4 am each day getting in my miles for the race. In fact, marathon training and PT school have become very connected, if not synonymous, for me. With each upcoming test or assignment, I would tell myself “just like with training, keep putting one foot in front of the other, and soon your coursework will be completed.” So, it’s not surprising that the very week finals were ending with school, so was my marathon training, with the race being just a couple days after the semester’s ending. Finishing the marathon meant finally ending the chapter on this semester, and I could move on to planning the holidays!

David did a great job of making sure I was getting plenty of sleep the whole week of finals, as well as making sure I stayed off my feet the day before the race. I woke up feeling rested and completely ready for the race ahead! As we packed the car, I couldn’t help but think how balmy, warm, and windy it was, as I was used to training in beauiful, crisp, calm 40-degree weather. I asked David to not tell me the temperature because I didn’t want to syke myself out. (Later he told me it was 65-degrees…at 6 am!) We left home at 6:15 to meet the 8:00 am start time for the race. The drive to downtown is only 30 minutes in the morning, so we felt confident we would have time to make it. Certainly, we were within walking distance of the race start within a short time, but traffic was so backed up getting into parking lots, that it looked like we wouldn’t be able to park before 8am! David told me how much he loved me and how proud he was of me and gave me a kiss, and then he recommended I just get out of the car and get to the race start in the remaining time. I was starting to cry as I walked to the start because I so wanted David with me, but I was hopeful he might make it in time.

I found my spot in Corral A at the start line and kept looking for David. We sang the National Anthem, had a fighter jet fly-over, watched the wheelchair participants start…but still no sight of David. I realized I wouldn’t see him at the start and began preparing my emotions and mind for seeing him later. The gun went off, and off we went! Because the full-marathon, half-marathon, and relay started together, it was very challanging navigating the high volume of runners for the first mile of the run. Another challenge at the start of the run was the heat. Within a few minutes, I was sweating and getting very hot…which I was not accustomed to. I decided to keep running my 8:25 pace and see how I felt later, although, I knew it was unlikely I would sustain that pace the whole time due to the elements. And just as I was thinking all these things, I saw David around mile 3!!! I waved to him, took a picture, and told him how much I loved him. I was more at ease now. And not too much further down was Dad, Mom, Clyde, and Nancy cheering me on at mile 5.

Mile 5

By this time I was drinking lots of water and gatorade. In a typical 17-20 mile training run, I would only need to drink a total of 20-25 ounces. But in Sunday’s race, I had drank at least 20 ounces of fluid by mile 10 in order to combat possible dehydration. This made my stomach very sore, and with every cup of fluid or shot blok, I had painful stomach cramps. Regardless of the discomfort, I was going to get calories and fluid into my system.

At the 13-mile half-way mark, I had sustained an 8:25 pace, but I warned David when I saw him that the remainder of the race was going to be slow. The wind gusts around the lake (miles 13-18) were 40 mph and relentless. My strategy was to walk the strong headwinds to conserve energy and run once it let up. Boy, these miles dragged on and were the worst of the entire event. It was during this time that I realized my goal of coming in under 4 hours was unlikely to happen. Other runners were realizing the same fate as me, and some started to show their disappointment. I decided to simply have as much fun as I could from here to the finish line and not dwell on missing my goal. I got my second wind at mile 18 when I saw Miranda, Molly, Jack, and David cheering me on, and miles 19-26 were actually the most enjoyable! I tried to motivate other runners, as well as take any and all food and drinks being offered. At mile 21, I drank a cup of beer with some Aggies supporting the racers with their beer table, and at mile 22, I gleefully told David “all strategy is out the window!” I’m here to have FUN!!

McKown Cheer Team

At mile 26, David was waiting in the road to congratulate me. I was so happy to see him, and he told me how proud he was and started crying. I was relieved to almost be done and told him I’d see him at the finish line. I saw Mom, Dad, and the Potts near the finish line and handed off my water belt. I threw my hands up to cross the line half way thinking I was going to do a cart wheel out of joy. But when my legs told me they had no more “umph” to get me airborn, I got down and did two push-ups for having accomplished my second marathon. 4:06:31! This was a PR by 24 minutes!
After hugging my husband and walking around some, we headed to Sweet Tomatos for lunch with my parents. I couldn’t wait to get home and relax, but…

THE WHIRLWIND WASN’T OVER…

David and I got home to find Savannah missing! We went into action mode and started driving around calling for her. I went to nearby parks and walked (slowly) calling and looking for any sign of her. David and I called each other frantically trying to think of any place she might be. Neighbors hadn’t seen her, nor had the dozens of people we asked. Neither David or I wanted to face going into the night without our sweet Savannah, so we just kept looking. As David approached a school, he saw a recently hung flyer for a found dog, and the person posting the flyer was walking nearby to her car to post more. David looked close…it could be her. He got a closer look at the flyer, jumped out of the car, and shouted “that’s my dog!” The woman let him follow her to her home. On his drive, he called me to say he thought Savannah was found, and I lost it! I was so hopeful and relieved and sobbed like a baby. And tied to a tree alongside the woman’s house was Savannah!!! David hugged the woman immediately, forced her to take cash for her good deed, and headed home with our little sweetie. Once I saw her eyes peering out the car window, I was so happy, and David and I hugged and cried some more.

Sad, Lost Savannah

“Unexpected situations can have very blessed outcomes” is the theme of our day. I am thankful for God’s provision, and I pray we’ve seen the purpose of the extradordinary amount of wind, sweat, and tears that the day brought.

Paris Trip, June 29-July 4th

June 29: Departing DFW to Charles de Galle
Jamie and I arrived 4 hours prior to departing so we could check in early and try to get high on the priority list. No big deal, other than it created a few hours extra down-time on that day. Jamie and her mom took a trip after checking-in to Dee Dee’s house in Grapevine, and David took me to Mimi’s Café for a lunch together before leaving.
We met up at the gate around 4:10, and our names were called at that very moment! We got seats! They weren’t in business class, but at least we got on. And we got to sit next to each other. The plane ride offered a couple meals…I don’t really remember them. Nothing remarkable happened on the flight, but we got to watch “27 Dresses” before knocking out for the night.

June 30: Arriving in CDG
At 9:38 am, we arrived! We got our luggage, used the restroom, and then started toward the RER Line B (suburban train to take us to Paris). The airport was very crowded, and the walk was very long, but we were confident we were navigating it like pros! That is…until we were told to STOP and TURN AROUND by men and women carrying machine guns. This was a turning point. Do we stay? Do we turn around? Jamie is really wishing she had packed Dee Dee’s “French for Dummies.” Okay. We turn around and eventually find out to just wait in that area. A bag was left unattended, and the police had to secure the area. After about 10 minutes of confusion, we were on our way and feeling like pros again!
We bought our RER tickets and took the train to St. Michel where we bought our 5-day “Visite” pass for the Metro. After helping some Chilean tourists, we made our way to our hotel stop at Vavin. We’re almost there! We get out on the street and are a little confused by the 5-star intersections. We walked around a bit, and then we finally got to our first hotel, L’Atelier Montparnasse. Upon arrival, the nice assistant showed us to the hotel elevator and explained “it is small, and I will send your luggage up later.” What?! Could it be that small that we wouldn’t fit? … Well, uhmm… this thing was like a tiny phone booth. Jamie and I crack up, but my claustrophobia sets in, and I start thinking “Jamie, stop breathing my air!”
We squeeze out of the elevator and go to our room. It is so cute! We knew we’d have blast here. We decide to unpack, and Jamie is ready for trail mix her mom made her. As she unzips the bag, trail mix literally pours out of the suit case and onto the floor! Oh my goodness, I had no idea how excited she was to pack her trail mix! After cleaning it up and changing clothes, we walked to the second hotel we will stay in and visit the nearby Luxembourg Gardens. The sun was so nice, and we sat and sunbathed with hundreds of others.
After our break, we get ambitious and want to navigate the area right away. We plan to walk to the river and visit Isle de Cite. We stop at the Pont Neuf for pictures. Then we continued to Saint Chapelle. We didn’t have a museum pass yet, so we take pictures outside. Not far was Notre Dame, where we strolled through the inside. Out back, we listed to a jazz band play while resting our feet. We were really starting to fall in love with the culture.
We read in Rick Steve’s to go to La Pallete and sit outside. La Pallete was very hip, bursting with young Parisians. We orded cold Perrier but later found out there was no food served. So, we were off to find food! Near the Luxembourg Gardens we stopped at the News Café for dinner.  After refueling, we had a few miles left in our marathon, so we head to the Eiffel Tower. As the sun was setting, we walked around and watched others having picnics on the lawn. The evening was clear and cool, and we hoped to come back later in our trip

July 1st
We went for a run around the Luxembourg Gardens, and enjoyed the morning there with many other runners! Jamie got a touch of asthma, so we headed back to the hotel for her inhaler. We walked a bit to find coffee, and I order my first café au lait. We packed up, and we moved to our new hotel, Hotel Perreyve on rue Madam. Our room was ready for us, and we checked in!
Our first tour was at the Muse D’ Orsay. We stood in line with hundreds of others, and bought our Museum Pass. Jamie’s favorites at the museum were the Renoir and Monet paintings. I agree…I love Monet! We stopped at Café de deaux Musee to refuel. After a late lunch, we went to Arc de Triomphe. We wanted to go up in it, but it seemed to be blocked up. So, we decided to walk the Champs Eleyse were we toured the Toyota store and were amazed at all the futuristic designs. We also toured Louis Vitton and picked out a new set of luggage.  We continued to the Petit Palaise for a short walk and cold drink. We loved the small café there, as it has cold a/c pumping!
We hopped on the Metro and headed to the Moulin Rouge. The only shows available were at 11 pm. What?! Are we even acclimated yet? No…we decided to skip a late show. We decided to pick up some fresh fruit, nuts, and biscuits for a picnic on the hill of Sacre Coure. So many people had the same idea, but it was lovely! The view from the mountain was incredible, and all of Paris shined before us! We took some pictures and headed down the mountain to a shopping district. Too bad we were late in our shopping, since the stores closed up at 7pm. But we found a nearby internet café and let our loved-ones know we are safe.
Jamie and I were hoping to sit on a café porch and drink wine this night. We went by a popular area, but very few seats were available to sit. We decided on a front-row table at one café. Jamie ordered a red wine and I a white wine. However, we both got white wine. The waiter didn’t get the order right, but the gentlemen next to Jamie were more than eager to help her! (Ooh, La La!) She declined their help, and we enjoyed ourselves, anyways. The sun was going down, but we couldn’t believe it was already 10:45 pm! Never would it have been this light at home.

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Sorry about lack of updates but we have very limted internet access here.

LP is incredibly beautiful, but it’s been raining off and on both days w/ some really good down pours yesterday.  Warmer than I expected, but still nice around 75 ish.

Place is really buzzing as I expected.  Everyone you see is a fit triathlete.  I’m quite excited and nervous.

Practice swims have been great as the lake is quite clear.  Warmer water that I’d hope for (71 degrees), but it’s so nice to swim in a WS as it really help my body positioning.

Lodge is quite cool and spacious so that’s good.

Hills are quite long and steep.  Tougher than I expected.  We biked the run course yesterday and the 2 big climbs at mile 9 and 10.5 are very significant.   We’re going to drive the bike course today, but we saw the last 12 mile climb on our way into town and it’s not so-so bad, but parts are quite steep and long.

Couple of minor problems: 1) Forgot my battery charger for my camera and it’s completely dead so we’ve been having to rely on Brad’s camera and we haven’t been taking nearly as many pictures as I would’ve liked, but oh well.  2) I burned a decent blister on the tip of my finger when I accidently touched the top of a lamp light bulb.  Minor pain though.

Overall, I’m ready and excited.  Having been sleeping quite as well as I hoped to, but that’s probably to be expected w/ the nerves.

I’ll try to post on Monday!

College Graduation 1997

2001 Austin Marathon

As I’m getting both excited and nervous before my big “A” race of the year, Ironman USA in Lake Placid, NY this Sunday, I’m going to take a minute to reflect back on some things I’m proud I accomplished.

Weight Loss

As I kid I was thin and active in sports, but things changed my 1st year of college when I tripled the normal “Freshman 15″ weight gain and put on 45 lbs!  I went from 175 to 220 in about year!  Ouch.  I hovered around this weight for most of my college years as I became less and less active.

I picked up running in graduate school in the late 1990s, but I didn’t drop much weight as I continued to have bad eating habits (eating out a lot, regular cokes, not understanding the basic calories in/out principle, etc.).   After I graduated and started working full time, I put on even more weight reaching a maximum of 252 lbs (and a 44 in waist) when I weighed in as a “clydesdale” for the 2001 Austin Marathon.  Disappointed about not losing weight during marathon training, I tried to join a local gym a few months after the race.   They tested my blood pressure, and it was high enough that they required an “OK” note from my doctor before they’d even let me join!  Now while I knew I was heavy, I had previously thought I was always in decent health.  So to have someone tell me I had high blood pressure was quite a shock and turned out to be a pivotal point in my life.

I went to the doctor, got the note, joined the gym, and started working out during lunch.  However, it wasn’t the physical exercise that really helped me lose weight, it was the new eating habits.  I switched to diet coke, started having protein smoothies meal substitutes, minimized eating out, went to bed hungry occasionally instead of having that nighttime snack, ate a lot of fruit, etc, etc.   Lo and behold, the weight started coming off nicely.   I can’t remember exactly, but I’m pretty sure I was close to 200 lbs by the end of the year.

Now, as I’m about to race my 2nd Ironman, I’m about 170 lbs and have a 32 inch waist.  I’ve been under 190 for 4 years now and I’m proud that I’ve been able to keep the weight off.

170 lbs = Ironman Weight

2008 Austin Marathon

Sharing My Passion

Over the past few years, I’ve developed quite a passion for physical fitness, and I’m proud that I’ve been able to share that with a few important people:

• My wife Sarah: Our first date was a half marathon and the rest is history as they say.   Sarah already enjoyed running before we met.  I simply encouraged her to start racing and achieve her best.  She now consistently places in the top 5 within her age group at most her races.   We enjoy swimming, cycling, and running together and exercise is a big part of our lives.   I’m so happy that we share this together and its a big reason for my success.
• My best friend Jason: Volleyball has always been our first love together, but back in 2001 I partially inspired him to run with me in the Austin Marathon.   While we didn’t have the opportunity to train together much as I was in CA at the time, we did enjoy swapping training war stories and celebrating our successes after the race.

Learning Triathlon

Ironman Prizes

Sharing their logs

• A younger generation: Just recently, I started visiting a classroom at a local elementary school to encourage them to engage in and log physical activities.  This is part of NA Sports program called Adopt-An-Athlete where they provide a neat log booklet for the kids to log their exercise along with some really fun prizes to reward them.   I, as the athlete, go into the classroom for about 30 mins once a week and teach the kids about the importance of physical activity along with what triathlon and Ironman are all about.   While the Ironman training itself often feels like such a selfish endeavor,  this program provided me the perfect opportunity to share my enthusiasm with others while giving something back to the community where I train.

Even though I still have to race the 140.6 miles on Sunday, the hardest part is actually over: the training.   Training for my 2nd Ironman has been more enjoyable than my first primarily because I involved more of my friends in the process.  I’ve done a handful of key workouts with close friends such as Brad and Greg, and it’s been great sharing my training with all the super supportive members of BeginnerTriathlete.com.  I’ve also had the pleasure of meeting some other local athletes racing IMLP and it’s been fun training with them occasionally.

I’m confident in my training and I know I can finish.  I hoping to set a Personal Record (12:43) despite the tough course, and if the weather cooperates and I have a perfect day I could go sub 12 hours.  My friend Greg however made his own prediction of 11:48!

Wish me luck, and stay tuned for another report after the race.

- David