Nicknames, Bruises, Marathons, Etc.

Daniel is a genius nickname creator. He gives nicknames to people he really likes, people he hates, and people he thinks generally just deserve a good nickname- and people he respects.

Take our friend Sean for instance. In our home, Sean isn’t Sean. He is “Fig”. Fig came about a long time ago during the days when we were both lazily on Facebook and watching TV. Sean’s Facebook name- randomly- was Sean Fuegosthechisel Blanton… Yeah no idea. Anyway, I used to waste my time watching this show “what not to wear” and a there was a hairstylist on the show named “Figgerono”. Apparently Daniel glanced at Sean’s “Fuegosthechisel” mumble jumble and registered it mentally as “Figgerono”. The three of us had an adventure in California together and eventually, “Figgerono” was affectionately shortened to “Fig” and the nickname was born…..

Daniel’s other genius nicknames include ultra runner Joe Fejes “Fajitas” in which he though “Fee-jus” was pronounced “Fay- hees” which he then turned into “fajitas” once he realized how fast Joe was a few years ago when we all met. Joe was “hot like fajitas” Dan said. We of course used the term with our friends who spread it, and now speedy Joe is often referred to as “Fajitas”.

But the reason I’m gushing about genius nicknames has nothing to do with Fig trees or Mexican food and everything to do with mad respect!

Respect from the man I respect the most: Dan the Man. So since I started all of this crazy running, Dan has lovingly referred to me while running as “Legs”. Partly as a joke from Saved By The Bell, and mostly because he is obsessed with my legs. (?) I have his respect in the run realm, but I think it will be awhile until I get it in the Bike realm…. See for yourself:

Yeah. I Can’t even shave now. It’s that messed up.

….Those black and blue glory patches are from the past 6 days of hard mountain biking. See, Daniel, the legit fitness freak, is also an avid mountain biker. He is ever so slowly allowing me into his biking world, but I can tell he’s waiting for me to prove my worth before he thinks I’m good enough to hang with him. & These stupid bruises aren’t helping my chances! Dan sees these bruises and he thinks “newbie”. I just know it! He told me if I want to be as fast as him on the bike, I can’t touch my brakes unless it’s absolutely necessary….. Hence the battle wounds pictured above. So I’m out there busting my butt every day, not thinking about running, and trying to earn some biking respect. Dan gets around yargo outer in 1:09. It took me 1:25 today, thats only ten minutes faster than I run the 12.5 mi very difficult loop! Now what I’m begrudgingly going to disclose next is that Daniel does this on one gear. Me? not so much. So I think it will be awhile before Dan refers to me as “Peddles” or “Rim Bender” or “Speed Freak” or anything cooler than just “Oh, that’s my wife.. She’ll catch up later.”
….sigh…. This is why I like running. I don’t feel like a major loser when running! But I’m not giving up on biking awesomeness.

I crazily agreed to a century ride (as my first official bike race) in about 10 days. FYI the last time I was on a road bike was 2008. haha who else is laughing??!!!
But that’s not all of the insanity!

“How about your new nickname can be Ultra MORON.”
I am actually jump starting my return to 100m training this weekend with a marathon- approved by my coach. Yeah, I know it sounds really messed up (because it is) and stupid (definitely) to dive back in from 2 mos off of training with a 26.2 and a 100 mile ride a week later. But at least I can say my mental “Heck Yeah I can do it!” game is back in full force.

I had originally trained and planned to carry a 6:50-7min pace in this marathon, but after 2 mos off of running, I will be lucky just to finish it period. And as for the cycling- I will just be happy to make it halfway! Ha! I will be spending the week on the AT training in between all of this. All while trying not to do too much….Should be interesting.

Stay tuned! If I live through this- I will probably have some humorous stories to share.