The Gillens.net

Bike Box	Cyndee at Flower Fields	Flower Fields
Pre-race backpacker	Just before swim start	Sunny Oceanside, CA

This past weekend I traveled to San Diego to see my sister, Cyndee, and competed in my first triathlon of the year, the Ironman California 70.3 in Oceanside, CA.

AA canceled over 200 S80 flights on Wednesday due to some electrical wiring safety issues and this wrecked havoc on my standby travel plans, and thus the only way I could get to Southern California on Wed. evening was to fly into Palm Beach (PSP), 2.5 hours away from my sister’s apartment. I felt really bad making her drive all the way out there, but I really needed to get there on Wed. night instead of Thursday. I made it OK and Cyndee picked me up just fine. She wasn’t even that pissed off like I would have been.  She’s a great sister.

On Thursday, I was forced to wait around most of the day at Cyndee’s apartment for FedEx to delivery my bike box. I couldn’t have picked it up at their facility b/c the huge box would not have fit in her Camry. It finally came around 5pm, and I put it together quickly to make sure nothing got damaged during shipping. Everything checked out OK, and I was happy to have my bike in CA for the first time ever! That evening, we went into Little Italy neighborhood of San Diego and walked around a bit before settling on a nice Italian place for some good carbo loading.

On Friday, I got up early and drove to Mission Bay for a final brick workout before the race. It was really cool to bike around Mission Bay and Beach. I didn’t care too much about getting in much of a the workout as I was just making sure my re-assembled bike rode OK while enjoying the simple pleasure of biking along the beach boardwalk. There is something magical about biking along the beach. It was my first time to ever do this, and I won’t soon forget it

We then drove the 30+ minutes from SD up to Oceanside and went to the expo and packet pickup. Cyndee was kind enough to wait in registration line for me while I chatted it up with some online friends. Following packet pickup, we took a short jaunt over to Carsbad, CA and went to the Flower Fields. This 50 acre field of flower was incredible, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, taking pictures almost every minute! For Cyndee’s sake, I’m really glad we were able to do something new and fun that didn’t involve triathlon.  After stopping for quick lunch at an awesome huge salad bar called Souplantation, we made it back to her place just in time to see UT whoop up on Stanford!

Saturday was race day and I won’t bore you with all the race details, but if you  really want them you can read my full race report here.  To summarize in one sentence: While the ocean harbor swim wasn’t as cold as expected, the hills and headwinds on the bike course tired my legs enough to force me to have a sub-optimal run. Despite some tough mental spots on the bike and run, I’m still happy my overall performance. I’m also happy to have snagged an Ironman Lake Placid (IMLP) slot for July 20th, 2008. This was one of the main reasons I did this race.

I, however, was not the star of this weekend. That award goes to my sister Cyndee. She was very supportive the whole weekend especially on Saturday when she got up at 3:30am with me and then spent the whole day cheering me on at the race; over 15 hours! She put up with me converting her breakfast room into my own personal triathlon staging area. She even slept on an air mattress so I could get a good nights rest. I feel kinda bad that this trip was pretty much all about the race, but I still enjoyed visiting with her and her love and support reminded me how lucky I am to have such a wonderful sister.

Turner Falls Overlook	Sarah over Turner Falls	Turner Falls
David at the Falls	Polar Bear Plunge	David @ Rockledge

Sarah and I took full advantage of our long Easter weekend in 2 major ways: a trip up to Turner Falls on Friday and a “Polar Bear Plunge” on Saturday.

On Friday AM, We drove about 1hr 45 mins up to Turner Falls. We parked inside the park and then I headed out for a 2hr ride in the Arbuckle Moutains while Sarah started a fun hike around the park. The riding was great as I found 2 hills that were about twice as long as anything I’ve found in the Metroplex area. I did about 6 hill repeats of 7 minutes of sustained climbing each. The roads were generally smooth and overall it was great ride. Sarah thoroughly enjoyed herself hiking around the park capturing many of these wonderful pictures. She even found a few ponies to play with. After about 2 hrs, we met back up at the car and enjoyed a lovely picnic in the perfect spring weather. Afterwards, we continued hiking for a couple of more hours so I could have a chance to explore more of the park. It was an awesome day.

On Saturday AM, we met a group of about 15 triathletes for an open water swim in Lake Grapevine followed by another ride. The water was quite cold (~63 degrees) as you could imagine, but I managed better than last weekend when I did the same thing. I swam almost 1.5 miles and this was the perfect practice that I needed for my 70.3 mile triathlon next weekend in the San Diego area. Afterwards, we changed out of our wetsuits and into our biking clothes and headed out for a 34 mile ride. It was the first time on the Flower Mound country route for many of the riders and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Sarah was very kind and gracious to lead the more in-experienced riders so that I and other veteran riders could ride our own speed. She’s the best and it wouldn’t have been the same without her.

A great weekend.

New Hampshire	Williamsburg	San Francisco Area
San Diego Zoo	Ohio Reunion	Westminster Abbey

Sarah and I had a very full and active 2007. Below are the highlights:

Trips:

1. 1. London - A week long trip at the start of the year
2. 2. Vegas - Sarah’s conference trip in Feb.
3. 3. Louisiana - Another conference trip for Sarah in April
4. 4. San Diego - David’s first ocean swim in April
5. 5. San Diego - We both go visit Cyndee in May
6. 6. New York - Another conference trip and short visit to WP in May
7. 7. San Francisco - Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon in June
8. 8. Ohio - Gillen Family Reunion in August
9. 9. New Hampshire - Timberman 70.3 mile triathlon in August
10. 10. Maryland - David visits Mike, Peggy, and Jack in Sept.
11. 11. San Diego - David goes on another quick trip to see Cyndee in Oct.
12. 12. New York - We both go see Clint play rugby at West Point in Nov.
13. 13. Williamsburg - our Christmas vacation in Dec.

Other notes of interest:

1. 1. Our first niece, Molly, is born.
2. 2. Sarah completes all of her 14 PT prereq’s with a 4.0!
3. 3. Sarah starts volunteering with multiple physical therapy facilities.
4. 4. Sarah gets accepted to the Doctorate program in Physical Therapy at Texas Women’s University
5. 5. David runs his first trail marathon in Feb and first ultra-marathon (50 miles) in March.
6. 6. We threw 3 successful parties: Miranda’s baby shower, and Tour De France party, and a Hawaii Ironman party.

David and I enjoyed our holiday-time vacation last year to London so much, that we wanted to plan another vacation either before or after Christmas for this holiday season. I would be done with finals and between semesters starting on December 14. But being conscientious to our need to save some extra money before starting graduate school, we decided to travel domestically. David was very gracious and at one point said, “Sweetie, since you’ve worked so hard this semester, we can go ANYWHERE you want.” There was only one place I could think about visiting this time of year…Colonial Williamsburg! I had never been there before, and I could only imagine that during the holidays, the traditions and celebrations of Christmas over the States’ and colonies’ 400-year history would be wonderful to experience. Wonderful, delightful, tearful, joyful, and beautiful only begin to describe how amazing our trip was to Williamsburg, VA.

DAY 1: Having blazed through the past several months at a break-neck pace, I was certain David and I would probably just want to check into the hotel and relax most of the first day. After landing early and checking in, our hotel room was not quite ready, so we decided to drive around and get our bearings. Little did we know that we wouldn’t make it back to the hotel until well after dark!

As soon as we headed down Duke of Gloucester Street, we were so drawn in by the perfect, quaint beauty of the town…there was no turning back! We started with a show and reading of the Declaration of Independence at the Capitol. We spent some great time in the cool, sunny weather walking the town and admiring the hand-made wreaths on all the doors of homes and kitchens. And after dinner, we joined other visitors and townsmen at the taverns for caroling. The fifes played several songs before the choir arrived to lead the singing. David and I stood near a warm fire and enjoyed our open-air Christmas caroling before deciding to call it a night and head to the hotel.

DAY 2: Yes! Sleep! I haven’t known what it is to get up after the sun has risen in a very long time. David and I finally got moving and headed for a run late in the morning. We ran down Duke of Gloucester and past the College of William and Mary. It was a cool, cloudy morning, and the run was perfect to get us excited and ready to do some more exploring. That is, after a huge breakfast buffet and post-buffet nap. Yes! More sleep!

We made it back to the museum around 1 p.m. and went on a Christmas decorations walking tour. We saw a number of decorations from the previous day, but the guide showed us some special out-of-the-way decorations that we really enjoyed. One kitchen baked a number of gingerbread horses and made 3 horse-themed wreaths for the front door and windows. It was one of our favorites. Other decorations were made from all kinds of fresh flowers, vegetables, and fruits that persons back in colonial days might have access to. Christmas trees and other decorations were not a tradition during the colonial period. After being restored, Williamsburg first Christmases were noted as rather bland without decorations, so it was decided that wreaths and greenery would be appropriate for the holidays. Everything was picture-perfect looking.

Later, we toured the Magazine and saw a show presented by slaves hoping to be freed by the Britons. Afterward, it was starting to rain, but we were able to do some more walking and shop-visiting. That night, we had tickets to a “Christmastide at Home” tour, which turned out to one of the most special events we were able to experience. We were lead through several Christmas scenes from four different time periods. Each scene presented us characters celebrating Christ’s birth with hearts of hope and joy and thanksgiving, even when faced with slavery and war. The experience was very touching, and it really sticks out as a special part of the trip for David and I.

DAY 3: We slept in even later than the day before! After running and napping, we headed to brunch. And I’m sort of embarrassed to say that we didn’t make it to the museum until after 2:00 p.m. (We love our down-time on vacation!) David and I were able to participate in a “Holiday Punch Bowl” at the Raleigh Tavern where some locals, as well as Gen. Lafayette, shared with us their stories about the Revolution. David and I then headed over the College of William and Mary to walk around and try getting some photos when the sun popped out. The campus was beautiful, and singers from the College delighted visitors at Merchants Square with carols. Also during the day, we walked through the Williamsburg Inn and took pictures in front of the tree and yule log.

For our final evening, David and I planned to go to the Bruton Parish Church for a Christmas concert. Fortunately, we walked through the church’s back yard nearly 45 minutes before the program was to start, and we saw that it was filling up. We decided to go on in, and we were so blessed! We were able to grab a couple of the last available seats on the main level. Balconies were even filling up. At 5:30, the concert began, and we were entertained by the church’s choir and orchestra performing Bach’s Wachet Auf and Rutter’s Gloria. The event was beautiful with more carols to be sung, and an oboe concerto concluding the evening.

Our trip was extremely special. It was a perfect way to end a busy time and semester for us, and we are so grateful to have had the opportunity to enjoy this Colonial Christmas!

See all of our Williamsburg pictures here.

- Sarah

This was my last triathlon of the season and it was certainly an emotional roller coaster. The weekend started out great with a nice visit with my friends the Schayots. Their 9 month old twin girls are precious and I was shocked about how different they looked and how much baby fat Willa had. She was quite cute despite having a bit of a cold. After short visit at their house, I did a short brick workout at my old college, Southwestern University. It was really neat to be back on campus, but it seemed much smaller and I was shocked that I used to drive to class sometimes. It couldn’t have been more than a 5 minute walk.

After a quick lunch, my Dad and I head to packet pickup for the race. We racked my bike in transition and attended the pre-race meeting. When we got back home, my Mom told us her resting heart rate was 130, she had chest pains, and that she wanted to go the hospital! We drove to ER quick and after they ran a battery of tests they were afraid that she had a clot in her heart or lungs. After a few more tests, they finally called her cardiologist’s office and they recommend that they give her some treatment for her irregular heart rhythm and go ahead and admit her to the hospital. When we left that night, my Dad and I thought they were going to have to put her under in the morning and go down her throat with a camera to try look at the back of her heart for blood clots. If there wasn’t a clot, they’d try to “shock” her heart back into normal rhythm. If there was a clot, they’d give her blood thinners. Either way, we both were extremely nervous. It was really an emotional day. I walked around the block before going to bed just to try to gather my thoughts and pray.

I didn’t really feel like racing, but I knew my Mom would be upset if I didn’t race, and I knew she was in good hands with my Dad and the doctors. So, I got up and drove to the race at 5am on Sunday, but my mind was obviously else where. The race went relatively well, but I often found myself just going through the motions without really focusing on the task at hand. If you want to read more about my race, you can view my race report here.

Immediately after finishing, I called my Dad to see how my Mom was doing and he said that the treatment for the irregular rhythm worked really well over night and they decided that they didn’t need to check her heart for a clot! They had give her some different medicine to try to lower her heart rate and they were just waiting for that to take effect. I quickly packed up my gear and headed to the hospital. My mom was in much better spirits and within a few hours she was discharged.

There is more testing and treatment to come, but things have stabilized and my Mom is in the extremely capable hands of my Dad. I’m really glad he’s there. He really takes good care of her.