jon | 
04 21st, 2008| 
The Tri For The Cure weekend was a total success. Nearly One Hundred Thousand Dollars was raised to battle Cancer, Hillary won the race, and Splits59 made our debut as an event sponsor. On Friday night, Hillary spoke to an audience of approximately fifty eager and fit women. Many of them first-timers who were seeking last minute advice from the 26X Ironman finisher. Saturday morning, Hillary and I did an easy treadmill session before setting up our booth at the Gainey Village Health Club and Spa, the location of the expo and race packet pickup. Many of the athletes stopped by to say hello to Hillary who was busy in her role as Splits59 spokesperson and top sales woman. She is a pro at this as well. The girl can SELL!!!! The response to our clothing was overwhelmingly positive. Interacting with the athletes and seeing their excitement about the line was thrilling. Sunday brought race day. Hillary won the pro event and than went out on the course to cheer on the other athletes. I cant wait until next year!
I am excited to announce that Splits59 will be attending the 2nd annual Tri For The Cure expo in Scottsdale, AZ from April 18-20th. Our Splits Girl, Hillary Biscay, will not only be racing but will also be in our booth giving the athletes last minute tips as well as showing off the latest, coolest gear from Splits59. So stop by and say hello to Hillary and the Splits team. For more information about the event click on the links below.
The Splits59 store opening event in December was an exciting, long-awaited day. Over two years of brainstorming, planning, testing, and a whole lot of other work led up to the launch of our brand. It was a bit like how I’d imagine it would be to give birth after a very extended pregnancy!
The vision for our brand began nearly three years prior, with Jon and I having many discussions about what we thought was missing from women’s sports clothing brands, and what our perfect clothing line would include. The following year, 2006, we began to sketch out the Splits look. In my travels, I acquired samples of all of my favorite elements of sporting style; I’d buy a top because I wanted to recommend its color scheme, or a pair of shorts because I liked the way the seams were done. The other members of the Splits team did the same, and then we would all get together and have brainstorming sessions as I modeled each piece, discussing what worked and what didn’t, from both aesthetic and technical perspectives. The Splits designers used our ideas to come up with the first pieces they created for trial.
Little did I know that when I had these first pieces in hand, we were still very far from having the first line finalized, let alone ready for public consumption! The Splits team wanted every detail of design and function up to their standards, regardless of how much time it took to make things perfect. Arriving at that point required many iterations of certain products, like two of my favorites, the tri shorts and booty shorts–a.k.a. the short run shorts. I raced and trained in many versions of these during the development process, testing different inseam and rise lengths, materials, etc. My comments on preliminary versions ranged from, “My butt is hanging out of these!” to “Here is a photo of the chafing these shorts gave me,” to “The waistband on these shorts is flattering because it sits low and not so tight as to dig into my hip fat!” And they were all modified–or not–accordingly, until every detail of each piece was deemed suitable to represent our brand.
Now you know why I am pretty much obsessed with every piece in our line, and why I wear almost nothing but Splits59 before, during, and after each training session and race! I am also eagerly anticipating upcoming lines, as a number of my favorite pieces have yet to be put into production–and we are coming up with new inspiration and ideas all the time. In other words, there will be no shortage of cute new reasons to get out the door for that run!
If you ever wanted to see just how limitless the range of authentic human emotion can be, look no further than the marathon finish line. In a mere matter of seconds you will see it all. Pain , passion and pride. Joy and regret. Big toothy smiles and wet, uncontrollable tears. Clarity. Humility. Honesty. None of it contrived, all of it real.
It is amazing what we can evoke by simply moving our legs and pumping our fists.
The physical benefits of what truly focused activity can do for our bodies is somewhat universal, but the benefits it offers our minds, well that, is often personal.
Some of us keep moving to stay ahead. For others, every step forward is a chance to look back. It is about reflection and redemption and resurrection. It is about losing ourselves and finding ourselves.
We have to take a moment and recognize just how lucky we are, us, the runners, the cyclists, the physically active. With each run, or bike ride, we are a given a blank canvas to paint any emotional color we so choose. As the blood flows, so do the feelings. The harder we push on the outside, the more we feel on the inside. Each time we sweat we are given an emotional second wind. A chance to let it out. We go hard to breathe easy.
Motion creates emotion, and that is good for the heart
I don’t know when it happened exactly, but somewhere in the past six months of marathon training I began to consider myself a runner. I’d go to the store and the guy at the checkout would comment on the giant jar of peanut butter and the three big bottles of Gatorade I was buying and my response would be, “I run a lot.” But after crossing that finish line on March 2nd, I feel like I’ve earned my more than just the “I run a lot” moniker. I’m a runner.
I realize I’ve become a runner because I keep trying to convince my friends to run with me. Run anywhere, any distance, for fun or sport. I’m proud of my black toenails. I’ve already lost one and another one is on its way out and I love telling people about them, if they ask, of course. My podiatrist even gave me the missing nail to keep as a souvenir. “Here. You can gross your friends out with this,” he said, handing me a little specimen jar. I think that makes him cool. Really cool.
So far, I haven’t planned to run another marathon just yet. I’m still in physical therapy for the Baker’s cyst in my right knee and the IT band torture my body put me through towards the end of my training. But the physical therapy was a godsend; I ran the marathon pain free, other than the normal muscle pain, thanks to my therapist. He doesn’t want me running another marathon this year, and so far I’m listening to him. I’ll be running the Santa Monica Classic 10K in May, and I’m planning to run the San Francisco Half Marathon in August, but those don’t even total 26.2 miles together, so I think I’m playing along admirably.
You may not understand why I’d say all of this after you read the following breakdown of my marathon, or you might be right there with me, but all I can say is that the human body is designed to forget pain. The thing is, it’s not like I’ve forgotten the pain, it’s more like I’m proud of my ability to endure it. Somehow I turned into one of the masochistic nutcases I’d always ridiculed. I think it happened somewhere in the time that I turned from a woman who runs a lot into a woman who is a runner.
The breakdown:
Miles 1-3: I’m feeling great. It’s still cool enough. Even the uphill isn’t taxing.
Miles 4-9: Still feeling good. That downhill for the past many miles was sooooo nice. The flats are good too. Hey, there are my friends to cheer me on!
Miles 10-13: Thoughts of are we there yet begin to creep in. Hey, my friends are back! This is cool!
Mile: 13: If a marathon were an apartment building by the freeway, the sign would say, “If you were running a half, you’d be home already.” Sadly, I have one more half to go. I start thinking about how half marathons are the distance for me.
Miles 14-18: Thinking to myself, you can do this. You can do this. Peppered with why did I do this? Why did I do this?
Miles 18-20: With each step I thought, this if the farthest you’ve ever run. This is the farthest you’ve ever run.
Mile 21: I hate myself.
Mile 22: I turn to the four people in my group who are still with me and say, “See that hill up ahead, I am so walking that.” We are all in agreement.
Miles 23-25: Water. I need water. I have come this far, I cannot quit. My friends are still here? Wow, they are brave souls. I think I tell them I want to die. A policeman cheers for me by name.
Mile 26: I see my coaches and run towards them. It is so nice to see them.
Mile 26.1 and 26.2: Run, Forrest, Run! I sprint to the end like I’ve never sprinted before. Which is true, because it was probably more like jogging a little faster because I was exhausted. But I wanted to get there as fast as humanly possible. I wanted it all to be over. And then it was.
What is the lure of a marathon? Why do millions of people believe it to be one of the supreme athletic achievements? Why does marathon garner a place on many of our so-called “Bucket Lists” to do before we die?
As a longtime athlete, playing soccer since I was 5 and starting gymnastics soon after, I understood the many pleasures of running, but had long dismissed endurance sport as something I wanted to do. I believed it was designed for people built differently than I am, or possessing a masochistic gene that I knew I did not have. Never having run more than six miles in my life, assuming that’s approximately how far you run as a midfielder in an average 90 minute soccer game, I never thought I’d need to run longer or farther to feel satisfied. Indeed, knowing the supreme exhaustion and elation one feels after a game, why would even you want to?
Fast forward a few years, okay more than a few years, and I’m living in Los Angeles, the bastion of beautiful people by the sea. I’m eating well, I’m working out, but I’m not feeling truly motivated or inspired. If I could just find something challenging to do, maybe set myself a big goal to achieve, and tell everyone about it so I can’t quit before I’m through, I could probably get myself in pretty good shape, right?
Right. After a lot of thought, I decided that a marathon was just the challenge for me. So I began my training. (And a week later I began working as a writer for Splits59. Now that’s good karma.) Now, six months later, having experienced all kinds of different aches and pains I didn’t even know existed, I am tapering for the LA Marathon, my first ever endurance race, and you know what? I’m pretty excited about it. Sunday March 2nd marks the 23rd Los Angeles Marathon, and this time I’m going to be running it, not just spectating. Please cross your fingers that it doesn’t get too hot on Sunday…. Thanks!
Our vision of opening a retail store to serve the active woman has finally been realized. The dedicated Splits staff thanks all of you who have assisted us during this incredible journey. Many of you wear-tested the earliest prototypes giving us feedback that has led to the authentic styles of our first collection. So now it’s time to see it all up close. Come visit us!!!
We are making progress on the store. Every day is a new adventure. Today we installed our temporary window display. As we were putting it up people stopped to ask questions. The buzz is already starting. Take a look and tell us what you think.
We began construction on the store today. What a thrill! The place looks like a war-zone but through all the dust and debris, I can envision the new clothes lining the walls. It’s going to be amazing! I will continue to post pictures during the buildout so all of you can keep tabs on our progress. We are on schedule for a mid-December launch!
The alarm buzzed at 4:00 a.m. but I was already awake. I went into the kitchen and saw Hillary already eating her traditional race day breakfast of bagel and peanut butter. She was relaxed and smiling. We watched some old re-run of Melrose Place while listening to her iPod. A mix of Missy Higgins and Snoop.
Special Needs bags in tow, we made our way over to the race start at 5:10 a.m. This is always one of my favorite moments of an IM; all the athletes shuffling along in the pre-dawn darkness, always an eerie silence. The calm before the storm. The 6:45 pro swim start saw little wind. There were already blue skies and temperatures reaching the low 80’s. It was going to be hot out in the lava fields. Not just for the athletes, but for me and my friend Babak as well. We had purchased bikes days earlier for better mobility on race day.
After watching Hillary exit the water, we headed out onto the bike course. A short time later, she was climbing Palani (pushing a big gear of course) in her new Splitsfiftynine race kit. Both looked hot! (See pic.) After she turned onto the Queen K, I went for a short run/swim with my friend Lukas (’06 Kona Finisher). The water is absolutely majestic in Kona. The sealife is colorful and abundant, making the lengthy swims a bit easier.
I waited for her to come out of T2 on Alii Drive. She looked fresh and ready for the run. Babak and I grabbed our bikes and headed out to the Queen K. We began to leapfrog her, offering encouragement all along the way. We finally waited for her at the Energy Lab. Already there were a string of athletes making their way down into the furnace while the male leaders were heading back into town. It’s difficult to describe the scene at the entrance of the Energy Lab. The athletes had a look on their faces that read part determination, part terror, knowing that when they came out, they wouldn’t be the same.
Hillary was no different, emerging from the E.L. looking as though she had dug deep within herself both mentally and physically in those few miles. We leapfrogged her a couple more times over the last 10K and then sprinted to watch her at the finish. She placed 20th in her Kona debut as a pro! Quite an accomplishment. And as a testament to her character, Hillary returned to the finish line, cheering on the final finishers and staying past midnight.