We Are the Champions

Here are the girls as we got ready for their first race at Team Ford of Alpharetta. It was sponsored by the dealership and Big Peach Running Company and The Bert Show on Q-100.

Then we stretched it out . . .

In addition to the race, there were jumpy castles, healthy food, drinks and face painting. I think the idea was for us to stay and play all day but that didn't work out for us because it was blazingly hot. It looks like The Bert Show is sponsoring a lot of these type of events with the local Ford dealerships - next one this weekend at Team Ford of Marietta.

Way to go, Bert Show.

We were late for the race (duh! what was I thinking?) and had to sprint across the parking lot (very big at a car dealership) and through the building to get to the start line. So the energy levels were not high and low fuel plus overheating = meltdown. Next time, we will get there early for a leisurely snack before the race.

This is the post-race jumpy castle. What more could a girl ask for? You can tell from here that Dagny isn't feeling like herself. No photo of Annika because she was pouting because of mom's "must wear socks in the castle" rule.

Immediately after the start, I started the video. I tried to get footage of both girls while they were running but Dagny ran approximately 25 yards and then walked before insisting that I carry her. She was OK on my shoulders so we caught up to Annika in time for the aid station. They had Fortis Water and Cliff Shots. Because fueling is very important in a 1/2 mile race, we stopped for both. The girls shared a chocolate Shot and each had their own cup of water. Annika took off again run/walking to the finish while I carried Dagny and the water.

Because we passed one family with several children (who may have stopped entirely) and everyone else was finished when we got there, Annika thinks we won. She rocks. Glass half-full, definitely.

Here are two really short videos from the race, in reverse-chronological order. In the first one, I'm trying to get video of Dagny running. In the second one, I tried to get both of them running while keeping up with them.

In other news, Dagny is still sick with the bottom flu so she hasn't been swimming yet but Annika is loving her "pre-team" and her clay camp.

And, look out world - next Thursday my office buddies and I are hitting the Leita trail at lunch for a run. We ran at the Oxbo trails yesterday and it was very nice. I'll be lucky not to have poison ivy but still, a run in the middle of the workday is still a found workout.

I'm still fatigued from the blood donation on Sunday so my workouts are sucking. This is disappointing because I always pooh-pooh those people who say that blood donation knocks them back. Hopefully, I'll be OK by Saturday for my long run.

No Going Back

This morning, after my run while I was full of cereal, coffee and endorphins, I registered for two races. These have been on the radar and in the plan, but now there is no turning back.

I also registered Doug. So no turning back for him either.

The olympic distance race in Chattanooga is do-able, I think. We will know in two weeks after the West Point Lake race. The half iron distance race in September. . . another thing entirely. I will have to get my bottom on the bike to get ready for that one. I'll be hopping on the trainer tomorrow during Dagny's nap because I don't think it's a good idea to ride on the road in the heat after I give blood. That's OK, I have a movie to watch and a BT friend lent me some spinervals DVDs.

It was, however, nice to see at least 10 people from Roswell/Alpharetta on the SC half-iron distance race participant list and Wes and Sarah on the Chattanooga list plus some other NAMC folks. Inexplicably, it made me feel calmer knowing there will be "peeps" there.

And, while I'm on a registering tear, anyone with suggestions for a good December/January marathon, please chime in. Doug and I are considering a destination marathon if we can convince some peeps to join us.

Lotzie, I'm talking to you!

Otherwise, I think it will be Rocket City or somewhere else close.

In other news, we are finally rid of Doug's sister's dog because they come home from vacation today. Whew! I had forgotten how difficult puppies were. And this dog is a springer spaniel so she is high-strung. Having a nervous puppy here really made us appreciate our good old dog. Annie doesn't need for everyone to be seated before she eats, she heels, she knows not to eat crayons, she doesn't chew up markers, she understands the "give" command, and she doesn't bark unless someone walks by while she is looking out the window.

I Like Cold Beverages

Here is a photo of Annika from her last day of school party. It was a picnic and we had a great time playing outside and eating pizza. Note the cool charm bracelet that the teachers gave everyone - quite a hit with the kids. And, here. Is what is going on in our bathtub. For those of you who don't know, this is the beginning of beer. : )
As you can see, it's going a little slow because it's chilly in the bathtub but in about 2 weeks we should have some beer to drink. When we went to my cousin's wedding in Orangeburg, one of my relatives by marriage made the BBQ and the beer and it was awesome. So, Doug's interest in making beer was reignited. Whoo! He is GOOD at making beer.



When we were in college, Doug and Mike used to get together every few months to brew together. Some brews were better than others (usually because of the amount of cold beverages consumed during the brewing process) but they got really good at making beer. When we were first married, Doug got the kegging system (using old Coke kegs) and we had lots of good brews for every holiday and event. But lately, no brewing.



So I'm glad that the yeast is back growing at our house.



In other news, I got new running shoes (Saucony) after a visit to the Big Peach. They tested me and said that my Adrenalines might have been a little too much motion controlling. So, check these out - they are even purple. First run was good. Tomorrow's long run will be the test.

And after that, the girls are running in their first race at Team Ford. Watch out.

A Three Hour Tour

We were supposed to load up the kids, the bikes, the trailer and the ride-a-long and hit the Silver Comet this morning.

Unfortunately, at 5am Annika came into our room to say that she felt like she needed to barf. We got her a bowl, put her hair up and she heaved a little but nothing came. Back to bed for Annika and me - Doug got up and did some dishes from last night's BBQ.

So, no Silver Comet. After we cleaned up from the festivities, Doug went for his run and I got to bike when he returned. I did a tour of the local area with the intention to hit 40 miles. There is a 40 mile route for our area, but parts of it are not appealing to me so I did a modified version.

I loaded 2 water bottles (one with water and one with electrolyte) and my aero-drink bottle, filled my newly-affixed GU flask, and ate a Cliff bar as I was leaving the house. Still, I ran out of fuel. Should have filled both water bottles with electrolyte and brought at least 3 GUs, possibly 4. That's OK - I'm going to get this one day. The aero-drink was great, though. I got splashed on some bumpy places but only right after filling and it felt good because I was hot. And, I only put water in there so I wasn't sticky - see, I'm trainable.

It was an awesome day. I saw a billion people out walking, running, biking, doing yardwork. One little girl doing yardwork with her dad yelled "go biker, go biker" at me. : ) There were tons of triathletes and bikes on the bike lanes down by the river and some passed me on the way there.

I decided to do the neighborhood portion of the 40 mile route first to avoid having to come through my own neighborhood twice (too hilly). Was doing fine and had my first shot of GU at one hour once I crossed 92 to head to the river. As I did the turnaround in Inverness, there was another guy in there turning around. I let him go first and would see him about three more times during the ride - not passing ever, just in the same vicinity.

I stopped to potty and refill all of my bottles at about 1 hr 40 mins. This was not a good sign. It was really hot. I stopped for a phone check at the place where Nat and I usually GU but I wasn't to two hours yet so it wasn't time for GU. As I did the big hill up Wileo, I was disappointed to realize that this ride was going to take me 3 hours. Well, duh! Of course it would - I usually do 3X miles in 2.5 hours so simple math should have told me this. The realization made me sing the Gilligan's Island theme all of the way up the hill so it wasn't all bad.

Anyway, I was (distantly) following a couple as they went up Wileo and Hightower (think I had the other GU here). I caught the woman on the way down the hill on Pine Grove - it's a great downhill and I know where all of the bumps are so I can fly. I fell in with the woman on Shallowford and joked about riding the brakes on the downhill since that is what Nat does. Turns out, the woman is on BT too (Aimster) and I know her in that world. I leave her but say that I'm sure she'll pass me on the uphill, which she does. : )

We hang out and chat all along Shallowford and I was trying not to hang on her wheel on Jones. I peeled off to do Nat's folks' street and lost her and the guy in there because I didn't want to draft all the way home. It felt like cheating - plus, what if they thought I was annoying?

Anyway, after I got back on the regular route, I had drunk all of my electrolyte and sucked every bit of GU out of my flask and I was cashed. Coming past the bottoms on the street, I stated to feel shakey. "Suck it up," I said. "Just one set of hills to go and then it's all downhill." I struggled through the last neighborhood and made it to my 'hood by talking to myself a lot and avoiding the brakes on the downhills (use the hill!). Whew! Once there, I found those couple of bikers again. They were having a drink break. Turns out the guy is also on BT (atl_runner). This was their first time on this route. How cool is that? I offered water/potties, but they declined. Apparently, not everyone needs to pee as much as Nat and me.

I didn't have the energy for a run-off but was able to rack my bike without incident (it's above my head so I have to lift the bike up really high) so next time I'll fuel better and do a run after the bike. I've showered and am clean now and I feel like $1M.

46 miles and change at a 14.XX pace (including the potty break, the water, stoplights, etc). Whoo! It's a new record distance for me!

Annika is feeling better now and is enjoying Miss Spider on TV. I had to put the kaibosh on SpongeBob. He's just not very positive.

Again, the most thoughtful drivers on my ride today were the landscapers. I'm guessing that this is because people buzz them or honk or yell at them too so they know how it feels.

Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood??

Tuesday, I was supposed to get up early and run so that Doug could swim. And I overslept.


I went to work, had instant noodles + frozen spinach and a banana for lunch and my tummy was off. And then I got tired. Luckily, the machines at work have Diet Dr. Pepper in them. Yum-o. Anyway, I drank my nice bottle of tasty but not caloric chemicals and felt much better. Caffeine is my friend. The tummy, not so much better.


So, when I called to tell Doug I was on my way, he said "why don't you come home and put on your running clothes and go out for a run?" "I'll feed the kids and we can eat together when you get home." Well, I certainly am not one to skip a gift workout so I changed clothes like Superman and went out on my run.


Into the blazing heat and humidity. Punishing. This run was punishing. The hill loops I did on the bike on Monday left me with aching calves and quads. The heat did not help the tummy. I now totally understand why everyone blew up on the run at the Gulf Coast Triathlon and Florida 70.3. The possibility of this kind of heat makes me glad that we are doing our first HIM in the fall. Luckily, on this run, I could stop at the clubhouse and again at home to use the potty. I wanted to quit for all of the first loop (2.85 miles). Then, I almost returned to the house after my short out-n-back at the beginning of the second loop for aoother "break" but told myself to HTFU. Clouds started to roll in just after that pep-talk and the run was instantly more bearable. Whew!


About a mile later, I was coming up a hill while a guy in a Honda waited for me to pass. "You didn't have to wait on me," I joked, "I'm not going to beat you." This is funny because I was sucking it up the hill. "No," the guy said, "I wanted to see if you needed a ride home - there is bad weather coming." Then, as he passed me on his way out the guy said that there was a tornado warning for Woodstock. I thanked him and said that I was close to home. After that, I picked up the pace. Fear is a good motivator.

With a mile to go, I passed another guy. This one was out walking his dogs. We chatted about the lightning and he, too, offered me a ride home. See, this is why I love our hood. There is the dark-30 club that says hello when I run in the morning (counted 7 this morning, not counting drivers and landscape/construction workers) and in the afternoon everyone wants to help out.

I had planned to run for 60 minutes with a goal of 6 miles. I got the 6 miles but only 59 minutes. The weather got so ugly that I couldn't even run right in front of the house so I raced inside. So I could have dinner with Doug while we watched the trees bending over and the hail raining down on the yard. It was a nasty storm. Will post the photo when it migrates from my phone - soo slow to do that!

Death of a Disco Betta Fish

Our fish Shelley passed over to the big flush yesterday. Here is a link to my only photo of him.



No one liked Shelley and he was regularly ignored at our house. I fed him every day, but his bowl only got cleaned on special occasions. He even spent some time in the wine chiller when I accidentally broke his bowl while cleaning it. But he really most preferred the plastic "O" bowl he started in - the one in the photo. We thought it was too confining for him, but those luxurious glass bowls were too spacious or too exposed or something. He didn't like them. I don't know why. He was a mystery.



So anyway, Doug changed his water and we dropped him off at Aunt Katie's house when we left on Friday. By the afternoon, the phone calls began:



"Shelley isn't looking good - he's just sitting there." He always does that. He doesn't move much.



"He's swimming upside down now." Really? Because his mouth turns up so he can gulp insects from the surface (or beta pellets, but whatever).



And finally, he was just floating. No tapping would rouse him.



He was a good fish and probably just got old. According to the internet, Bettas only live for 2-3 years and let's face it, a fish's life at my house is hard. You will note from my perusal of the blog archives that we have had him for 2 years.



HOWEVER, to further prove that we should not have fish. . .



Doug, Uncle Robbie and the girls caught a bunch of sand fleas, angel wings, what I think was a spindle and various tiny fish at the beach today. Aunt Jennie and I instigated a catch and release program which worked OK when Dagny and Sophie didn't drop the fish into the sand. But Annika wanted to keep the fish in her bucket until we went back outside this evening.



Fine. SIGH.



So, we went down to Jen/Rob's condo for lunch and upon our return tucked our exhausted children into bed for their naps. And went out onto the porch to find a bucketful of dead fish. Oops. So much for catch and release. Doug released them back into the ocean and hopefully we can avoid bringing any more away from the water.



They were really cool to watch, though. The spindle put out his foot and climbed up the top of the bucket and the angelwings opened and put out their stalks while we watched. And those sand fleas were fast! They can burrow into the sand faster than you can blink your eye.

Take It Easy

You know how I joined the streaking challenge on Paul's blog?

Well, I've been sucking at the streaking. Things come up, you know?

I exercised 11 hours the week before last, but still had a goose egg (that means I didn't manage at least 30 minutes of exercise) on Friday. I had to get up early to pay bills and didn't get them finished in time to do some working out before it was time to get ready for work. And then we went out for dinner after work and I was too tired to bother when I got home after bathing the kids. Dagny melted down when it was time to walk the dog so I didn't even get to do that.

And then, when I did my bills this past week I noticed that my computer needs backing-up and I haven't filed anything in about a month. And, I am short-tempered and had the freakout mentioned in the previous post when I wanted to pull my hair out. So, what I'm saying is, though I enjoyed the big training week and seizing the day when each swim/bike/run opportunity arose, I don't think I can sustain the 11 hour training weeks right now. When I read about evaluating your average training volume in Joe Friel's Triathlete's Training Bible, I didn't quite understand what he was talking about. But now I think I do. I can't do 11 hour weeks every week and still maintain my job and a reasonable degree of organization in my house. And that is OK.

Every hour spent training is good. Just like every hour with my kids is good. There may not be enough of either of them so it's good to appreciate what I get.

And, goose eggs on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday last week. Because of the packing and the wedding and what always happens at work on the day before vacation. But, you know what? This week is a whole new week and I got to run 6 miles this morning and it was lovely.

Wastin' Away Again in Beer-ville

I had a whole bunch of posts in my mind on Friday, which I thought of during the trail run Doug insisted I take after I freaked out about not getting everything done in time to leave for our vacation on Friday. Sure, I got up at 4 and paid the bills. But I didn't get any of the filing done and there is that other pile of "things I need to address" plus the pile of work in my backpack and the suitcases that I hadn't yet packed.

But, he insisted I would feel better after a run and he was right. I ran up to the good park and ran around once (3 potty breaks because freaking out + nervous tummy = lots of stops) and then came back home. I ran almost 7 miles if you count the walking in mile 5/6 to get to one of the stops, which I do. I saw some runners who weren't very friendly to me, even though I said hello. Maybe it was because I took too long at the water fountain. Dunno.

Anyway, we made it. The suitcases were packed and we left right on time. Sure, we forgot some stuff but nothing huge. And, Annika was beautiful at the wedding even if she didn't stand still and the party was great. My aunt and uncle's house is a little bit of heaven for my family and they pulled out all of the stops to make a super party. Their nephew (Barney) made the BBQ and the beer and it was awesome. The bride and groom did a slideshow of photos from their lives and one of the bride's songs was "Boondocks". I was a little worried about her using that song since the groom's family appears to be from town but I think it says a lot about her and her family. Maybe we'd all be a lot happier if we'd stop trying to keep up with the Joneses and just be who we are.

And today?

We've made it to the beach after checking out all of the bikes driving home from the Gulf Coast triathlon (I asked a guy at the Whataburger how it was and he said "hot") and are gearing up to go to the Irish pub for dinner tonight before my sister gets here with her family, when we will switch to Margaritaville or Gin&Tonic-ville. And I haven't even checked my work email yet.

The Tracks, Redux

So, today I rode past the tracks again with Nat and Doug.

It's unanimous. Those are bottoms.

Hope they washed off before getting back in the car!

Take the Dumbass Biking

Earlier this month, we signed up to ride in the Roswell Mayor's Ride - 20 mile loop. It's part of the Roswell Criterium festivities. Doug was going to take Annika on the ride-a-long and I was going to pull Dagny in the trailer.

So, you can see where this is going.

Dagny has been feeling icky since Friday. She has a cough and a lot of phlegm. On Friday at Annika's soccer game, she choked on the phlegm and vomited on the field. Oops.

This morning, she apparently choked again or she has some kind of stomach thing. It could be either one because she has a horrible, gagging, old smoker's cough and she hasn't eaten any appreciable amount of food since Thursday. Remember, this is Dagny. She eats everything.

So, after she barfed, I bathed her and put her back in bed. She seemed completely fine with no trace of fever, so Doug and I thought we could still ride. We readied the bikes and car and I went upstairs to get the girls ready. While I was braiding Annika's hair ("just like Aunt Matalie"), Dagny coughed and it made her barf again. OK, bike ride off.

But she was so excited about riding in the trailer. She calls it her stroller.

So, we decided I would take her on the 6 mile family ride in the trailer and just bring a bowl with me in case of more upchuck. She was fine. She is weak from the lack of food but she sipped her ice water during the whole ride with no sicks. Then, she ate a whole bag of cheerios while the I was busy doing some tire work. She is napping now after a cheese quesadilla so I'm hopeful we will be able to make it to the race and possibly the party at Nat's folks' house tonight.

So, the tire work. SIGH. Just let me tell you. . .

We were LAST on the family ride. There were 3 year-olds who passed us. My bike was so heavy and hard to pedal. I couldn't figure out where all of my bike strength had gone. And something was making a rubbing noise. I checked my brakes and the back ones were rubbing so I adjusted them to no avail.

Once we finished the ride and returned to the park (after enduring much ridicule from the other riders), I realized the problem. Not only was my back tire really low (so low you could see it poking out on either side of the rim), the whole wheel had come out of the bracket and was rubbing against the frame. Oh! So that was the noise. No wonder!

I took the tire off, checked the whole tube and reinflated it with my C02 cartridge after I read the instructions again. The repair kit tire levers were flimsy but I made them work. After I got the tire back on, Dagny and I decided to ride to Starbucks after a quick detour to the potty. However, when we went to get back on the bike after the potty, the tire was flat again.

Maybe I should have used a fresh tube. But it wasn't leaking! Ugh. I took the tire off and put the new tube in while other Bike Roswell folks walked around me in the set-up/potty area. Then, I got the tire and new tube back on the wheel and tried to complete the refilling. I was pretty pleased with my handiwork. However, as I was working on the refilling (with some difficulty), some guys came to my aid and tried to fill it for me. Oops. That didn't work - they didn't do well with the C02 either. One guy went and got his "real pump" and set me right. They put my tire back on and I was on my way. Back up the hill and to my car to go home because Doug and Annika finished the 20 mile ride about that time.

And, no ride tomorrow because I have a work meeting. On my day off. SIGH.

But, the family ride was a lot of fun and we will definitely do it again next year. And I've had a yet another reminder that I need to check that back wheel on every ride or at least if it's making a rubbing noise.

The Tracks

HA! Dorothy asked about the tracks I posted a photo of last week. This reminded me of a song that my friend Yvonne liked in college called "The Slacks". It was by Trip Shakespeare, a band that she thought was the next big thing.

I wore the pants
I said relax
We did the dance
They call the slacks

It really was a good song, though.

Anyway, I thought the tracks were moons. If you know what I mean.

They looked like someone sat their bottom in paint, crabwalked forward and sat down. Again and again. I could be wrong and Doug thinks I am wrong but that is what I thought. They are on the way out the Hwy 92 entrance of Waverly Hall if you want to make your own inspection.

Sing a New Song

Since Annika was a baby, we've been agonizing over whether to do the private school thing or send her to our local public school. Having swum the sea of mediocrity ourselves, we firmly believe that public school is more "real world" than private school. Nobody holds your hand and makes sure you do all you need to do to graduate in public school. Nobody reminds you at UGA that you need X,Y,Z classes or that you have to take that test. If you don't graduate, tough for you.

When it came to Annika, though, we thought maybe it would be good to be in control of the brainwashing that occurs in school. Sure, religiously-based schools have brainwashing and biases too, but at least you know what you are getting. If you go to Catholic school, you are getting the Catholic party line. It's pretty easy to know what that is. If you go to public school, though, who knows what whims they may be following. Like when my sister was in elementary school and they stopped worrying about spelling - "whole language," I think it was called. Thank goodness for spell-check. . .

Similarly, if you pay for the school you have more say in what the school does. No one is going to put your kid into World Geography instead of Economics just because it is convenient or because "freshmen don't take Economics". Also, you have license to complain if your kid gets put in the class of the teacher who hates her job and thinks that her big writing break is always around the corner.

That's the idea, anyway.

So, we made our application back in the winter, and have been worrying about it ever since. Would she get in? How do we pay for it? Is it the same academic standard as the other school? Would it be OK that we aren't the world's greatest Catholics?

But alas, Annika was not offered a spot at our chosen school. Rumor has it that there were only 8 non-sibling spots available. I don't know if that is true or not.

So, today we registered for kindergarten at our local public school. And it was fine. There was a lot of beaurocracy, but we saw Annika's favorite neighbor (Maddy) and another neighborhood friend whose brother is also starting kindergarten in the fall. Annika is pretty excited because Sarah Anne is also going to this school. And next week, we have the open house.

I think it's going to be OK.

John Tanner State Park Sprint Triathlon Report

Nuva Nos! It's the first race of the season!





Doug and I dropped the kids at Nana/Papa's house on Friday after dinner and left home at 5am on Saturday to drive to Carrolton, Georgia. In case you didn't know, Carrolton is near Bremen.



I have a new immodium protocol courtesy of my sister and brother-in-law (the doctors) so I ate one before bed on Friday, ate some oatmeal and gulped a half-cup of coffee before we left the house, and ate a bit more oatmeal at 6:00 (2 hrs before race time) - as much as I could stand.



The sun was up when we got to the park and we set up our transition area in a leisurely fashion after the obligatory potty break(s) and another immodium. Race numbers were assigned in alphabetical order, so it was very nice to be next to Doug. We made friends with a nice guy named Daniel A. who gave me good wetsuit advice. In the linked photo, Daniel is the All-3-Sports guy on the right. He looked like a pro and came in 3rd overall in the race. We tested the water and it was 74.5 degrees. Doug never wavered in his wetsuit-wearing decision (on), but I was worried about getting mine off. When we practiced last week, I had to sit down in the water to pry it off of me. Daniel said that if I was a decent swimmer and not good at getting the suit off, I'd waste any time gains from wearing the suit in trying to get it off. That sealed the deal for me. Wetsuit back to the car.



We searched for and met Pop, who is on the BT board and was doing his first race. We saw some of the NAMC crowd and Annika's soccer coach from last fall (Coach Steve). It was nice to see so many familiar faces.



I Gu-ed up (Expresso Love flavor, in the flask) and we picked our way back down the hill to the lake for the pre-race meeting. The announcements were loud and coherent - super organization at this race. We met a woman doing her first race (Heather-Nicole) who was nervous about the swim. She was nice and I only left her when it was time to wade into the water. I seeded myself towards the back (AGAIN) because I wanted to wait as long as possible before getting deeper into the cold water but I miscalculated and was late. So I had to wait for the crowd to clear before actually starting to swim.


Swim




The first 100 yards were tough. I was in a crowd and people were all around me and bumping. I tried to just do my regular breathing and stroke while avoiding the other swimmers. At the first intermediate buoy I realized that I was just chopping with my forearms and not stroking with my hands at all. Well, duh - no wonder I was getting tired. I gave myself a pep-talk with some bad words and switched to a regular stroke and concentrated on finishing each stroke all the way to the hip. The water was very calm so it was a breeze to check position on my breaths without much lifting of my head. Thank goodness I stuck with the bilateral breathing last summer! I still need to work on actual sighting if there are waves. I did much better going around the back stretch and up to the finish line. After I rounded the final buoy, however, I got a big smack to the head/ear. I don't know if it was a foot or an arm, but it hurt! No lasting damage, though, so I was able to stay strong on the back side. There were 2-3 pink caps in front of me at the finish so I knew that I was pretty far back in the pack.


12:47 - almost 2:00 per 100 meters



My transition was slow, as usual. 1:51. What the heck was I doing? My Team Zoot/Gu uniform was already on - all I had to do was apply helmet and glasses, put my flask in my shirt and put on my shoes and socks. Jeez. I'm going to have to practice this.



Bike



So, I was hoping that all of the trainer rides and my recent bikes would have translated into a blistering bike leg. Alas, not so much. It wasn't horrible but I really struggled to keep a high cadence and go fast. I was awesome on the downhills and passed lots of people on those. But those folks almost always got me back on the next uphill. Only three women passed me, but two had 37 on their calves. RATS! I was able to pass the other lady and I think I got out of transition before the two 37s. I also would have been faster if I hadn't had to stop after I dropped my Gu flask shortly after the mount line. Yes, I know I said I was going to mount it on my bike - I've had the bike mount for months, but it just isn't on the bike yet. And, in the last mile, there was girl in front of me in a red shirt with a number 4 on the back on a MOUNTAIN BIKE. But could I catch her? No!



37:36 for an avg of 17.87 mph



The whole last half of the bike I was telling myself (out loud) "shoes off, hat off - shoes on, get visor and number". So this should have helped me get this transition done in record time. Again, not so much. The NAMC folks have advised that I need lace locks so that will be my next gear purchase. Transition to run was 1:11.



Run



I didn't have heavy legs to start the run the way I usually do in a brick. But, my left calf acted like it wanted to cramp up. I didn't stop but babied it a little. The around-the-lake part of the run wasn't bad - it was shady and though the path was bumpy, it was nice. I maintained a fast pace but was at the top of my heartrate range. I know this because as much as I'd like to think that I am delicate and graceful and silent like a panther on the run, almost invariably, the other racers all turned to look at me as I gained on them. I told one guy "I know, I sound like a freight train". I don't think I was gasping or wheezing but I was certainly breathing hard (what's the motto? "In a sprint, if you aren't hurting, not going fast enough!") and my footfalls are pretty heavy. Oh, well. Maybe they could just hear all of the water that I drank on the bike sloshing around inside of me. As we passed the bridge to the finish for the out-n-back portion of the run we started seeing other racers coming towards us. FUN! I yelled for everyone and had a great time. I think the run is my favorite part. I yelled for Heather (NAMC buddy) twice, which I thought was weird. Turns out that the first Heather was actually Rebecca. Oops. Had to apologize for that! I saw Doug and he looked good. Shortly behind him was Coach Steve, who looked very fresh while I was starting to wane. The turnaround was way up a hill and I've never been so happy to see a volunteer. I told the guy so and we laughed about it. I walked through the mile 2 water stop (I know, what a wuss) but I needed to rinse my mouth and the lady with the 45 on her calf in front of me stopped too. The last mile was more rolling but more downhill than up. I yelled for everyone and had a great time. I was redlining the whole time so the run was tough but I tried to ignore that part. I passed a guy from our neighborhood (Danny) whose family I had seen coming out of the swim. He was trucking right along. I didn't tell him about the hills coming up.

I found the mountain bike girl (#4) as we crossed the bridge to the finish. I poured it on but couldn't catch her. Rats! I made sure to stop and tell her how awesome she did.

22:39 for the run which is a 7:19 pace. I can't complain about that at all.



So, my total time was 1:16:06 and that was good enough for 3rd place in my age group. Courtney and the real Heather both did 1:15 or under so I felt guilty getting the hardware when they didn't get it for better times. I was 5th on the swim, 5th on the bike but 2nd on the run. That run saved me in a big way. So, next time I know what to work on. I feel much better about the open water swim, too, so that is a good thing.

What Happens At Nana's

Our girls spent the night with Nana and Papa last night and played with cousins Sophie and Julia until after lunch today. Needless to say, they didn't sleep much, ate a half-package of Twizzlers and have been napping now for almost four hours.



That's right. Four.



And, Doug is on his way to get our babysitter now so that we can have dinner with some friends.

Methinks that getting to church in the morning will be tough tomorrow.


Anyhow, in other news:

What do you think those prints are?

I saw them on my bike ride Wednesday and thought "Hm, they must have run over something and their tires got it all over the road."

Then, "Looks like butterflies."

However, as I went up the hill out of the neighborhood, I thought of something else it might be and went back for a photo. I know the photo would be better without my shadow, but my heart rate was up from biking and I was nervous about the guy who was innocently doing yardwork across the street.

I'll post tomorrow what I thought they were. Doug didn't agree. You'll notice that the prints are not as regular as you'd think they would be from tires.

And, I got 3rd place in my age group at the John Tanner State Park Sprint Triathlon today. Whoo! My time wasn't awesome (placement depends on who shows up in your age group, obviously and the faster 35-39s must have stayed home!) and the bike and run were HARD, but it was a really fun race and we saw all sorts of NAMC and BT folks and a guy from our neighborhood at the race. Doug beat my bike time by over 4 minutes. He kicks ass. The youngest racer was 13 and the oldest was 87. That is not a typo. That guy is a BAMF. I'll post a race report with a photo of my cool team ZootGU uniform once the official times are up because I still haven't learned to use the multisport function on my Garmin and Doug read my times off to me so I don't remember them.

Nuva Nos!

My Grammy is Ukranian and her husband (Grampy) was Lithuanian. At their house, every time a different vegetable or event occurred for the first time in a season, the family would yell "Nuva Nos!" and smack each other on the forehead with the heel of their hands. It looks like the "I coulda had a V-8" smack. BUT - you have to be the first one to notice the item or event or it doesn't count.

So, it was always a big deal to realize that we were eating the first hamburgers, beets, radishes, corn, etc. of the season so you could be the one to yell "Nuva Nos!" and smack someone on the forehead. My internet searching has not revealed which language this phrase comes from and I'm sure the spelling is wrong, but I'll report back after I ask Grammy.

Anyway, the point is . . .

Nuva Nos! It was the first bike ride of the season today!

I rode from school and got a great 30 mile ride in. It was beautiful outside, no cars tried to kill me, and the Lemon Sublime GU I ate was actually pretty good. The vanilla is always good, but I was a little worried about this new flavor. I'm still afraid to try the Strawberry-Banana. Jerry swears by it, but I'm not convinced.

THEN, after a stop at the Peak Sports Nutrition store to buy some electrolyte drink and use their potty, I ran 3.11 miles and finished just in time to pick the girls up at school. SO much fun! I can't wait until Nat gets her bike back so we can ride together. However, I may need to eat more on the bike. I think I was OK on fluids since I had to stop for the potty break but maybe some more calories would be good. Hopefully my GU2O will get here soon and I can start trying that out.

AND, Doug and I took the girls to the lake yesterday to try out our wetsuits in preparation for Saturday's race. It was the maiden voyage of the new Zoot wetsuit that I got for Christmas. The link is not a photo of my actual suit because mine is not this cool-looking but I felt super-cool in it, not at all like the neoprene-covered cow I was when I tried it on four months ago. When you unzip and roll the top down, so you look like a real pro (HA!), you can still read the Zoot because the logo upside down is exactly the same. I'm sure I looked just as ridiculous and ungainly as before, but it's all about how you feel, right? I forgot my camera to record our swim for posterity, but I'll get a photo at the race.

However, as I flailed away in the lake trying to talk myself into going close to the buoys I wondered what in the heck was I thinking signing up for a 5K swim. Open water swimming is HARD. I thought I was a bad-ass because I've gotten up to a 6,000 yard continuous swim in the pool. Not so fast, bad-ass - more like candy-ass!!

In other news, the girls and I are off to Aunt Jennie/Uncle Robbie's house for dinner tonight to see the baby. Hope everyone had a super day today.

What We Did for Spring Break

Many of the neighbors went on trips for Spring Break. I know this because there was zero traffic and our neighborhood was a ghost town last week. We didn't go anywhere so we got to enjoy the girls' company all week.

Because I had a giant allergy attack on Tuesday, the girls and I had to bail on Nat's playgroup and do indoor things on Wednesday. We went shopping and baked cookies. Below, you can see my new and improved cookie cooling method - keeps the crumbs off of the counter and the floor. We made a double batch of Nestle's Tollhouse Cookies (the recipe on the back of the package) and did half with chocolate chips and the other half with mini M&Ms and cashew pieces. The cashews were very tasty in the dough but were lost in the finished cookies. I guess their flavor was too delicate or too much like sugary buttery flour.



Our niece, Julia Ann Williams, was born on Tuesday afternoon (April 8). She weighed 7lbs and was 19 inches long. Doug dropped me off at the hospital after we went to the Masters Practice Round in the morning. Julia is my sister (Jennie) and her husband's second daughter. She is very cute and huuuuungry. That's her dad (Robbie) holding her in the photo.



Here are some gratuitous photos of Dagny playing on the playground at Annika's last soccer game. She pulled the clips out of her hair, so it was all aflutter.



In other news, we are the house of pee again this week. On Monday, the dog let loose during her nap and created an ocean under our kitchen table, where Doug, Annika and I were sitting (I was going to call this post "Ocean Sized" but decided against another bathroom-focused post). That's 3-4 loads of laundry to clean the towels we sopped it up with and my computer bag which was also doused.

Then, Dagny's diaper leaked during her nap yesterday and again last night. 2 more loads of sheets.

And Annika wet the bed last night too. 2 more loads of sheets/comforter.

Luckily, I forgot to pack underwear to put on after my swim this morning so I still have clean ones to wear tomorrow because there is no telling when the next load of actual clothes will get done.

Ba-Wit-Da-Ba

What! Camping out for football tickets?

No? What about Rolling Stones or Smiths tickets?

Nope.

Camp.

I camped out for summer camp registration this morning. You know that you are jealous. I arrived at 5:30am in the freeeeezing cold and was number 9. I got all of the camps I wanted (alas, with no price discount for being early) so that is a good thing. Met some nice neighbors and we've already planned who is to bring the warm beverages for next year.

In other news, now that my kids' camp aspirations are fulfilled, we trekked to IKEA yesterday and bought Dagny her new big girl bed. Actually, it is bunk beds. I don't remember if I posted about the harrowing trip to IKEA a few weeks ago in which I picked out linens with both kids and nearly killed myself. Will post photos once I've washed/ironed/hung drapes and removed the extra furniture and cardboard boxes from the room. Dagny is alseep in her big girl room RIGHT NOW only two hours after I laid her down to nap,

And, I scored a big goose egg on the Challenge yesterday because Doug and I spent the entire afternoon assembling the bunk beds and the beautiful blue dresser. My fingers are sore today, though, which should count for something.

God Save the Tween

Annika has informed us that she no longer likes the music in her i-pod. She has requested new tunes.

Out go those darn Disney songs. Ariel, Wiggles and Laurie Berkner - you are chopped liver. You've been supplanted by the offspring of none other than Billy Ray Cyrus.

That's right. We are in the tween world now.

The world of Hannah Montana.

For those of you who have not recently wikipedia-ed Hannah Montana (because I have), Hannah Montana is a show on the Disney Channel about this pop star named Hannah Montana. Only, instead of the rock-and-roll lifestyle, she wants to live like a regular kid. So, she is incognito and living in Malibu as Mylie Stewart and only her family and close friends know. The show is squeaky clean and pretty cute. Mylie is always getting into some kind of jam and making faces at her predicament, which somehow works out in the end. Typical sitcom material. But Annika LOOOOVES it.

Actually, for car audio, Hannah Montana is a good bit less annoying than the Veggie Tales. "So we've got that going for us, which is nice." Don't get be wrong. I really like the message of the Veggie Tales a lot and if Annika wanted to sing "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" all day - I'd do it. I even sing along. But after one time through that CD, my head starts to hurt.

Interesting, though, is that Dagny can't keep up with the words on Hannah Montana. She is still Laurie Berkner speed. "Hey Victor," "Hey Freddie," "Let's eat some spaghetti." So the "kids" mix on my i-pod alternates between the oldies and the new stuff. That Doug, he is smart.

Anyway, my point is not necessarily that Annika is a tween because i-village says (and you know they know everything) you have to be ten to be a tween, but she WANTS to be a tween. Which is almost as scary. Suddenly, the music on our i-tunes is not the only music she hears. Next thing you know she will be wearing black and listening to the Cure and the Smiths and Bob Mould . . .

Or not, because now all of those guys are old like me. She'll be listening to some other whiney wankers. Sigh.

Wuss

On Tuesday, after my easy swim on Monday and recovery run/walk in the morning I rolled my ankle. No, not the one that I rolled before my 12 miler a few weeks ago.

SIGH. Really, Grace is not my middle name.

Doug and I had just been talking about how the nightly dog walk (he Garmined it at 0.5 miles) with the girls would have me goose-egg free for the rest of the summer, even if it wasn't a "workout" per se. It does make me sweaty but mainly that is because Dagny poops out halfway and I have to carry her. So I don't think it really counts. The ankle went over as I was carrying Dagny on my shoulders down the rocky, pebbly, grass-clippings-covered hill. Doug had followed Annika back on around towards our house (Annika likes to run and beat all of us, which is why we had to Garmin). I thought the shoulders would be better so Dagny's weight would be evenly distributed and so I could see my feet. Dagny disagreed - she wanted to be held in my arms. Turns out she might have been right. Luckily, I was able to keep Dagny on my shoulders so she didn't fall. She's still talking about it, though, so I think it was scary.

No matter. My activity for Wednesday was my endurance swim. Made extra fun because it was only arms. On Thursday morning, I didn't get to run as planned because of the ankle. No matter, a bike ride or a yoga in the evening would suffice for purposes of the streak. Except that my naggy cold symptoms turned into a fever and I couldn't breathe. Thursday was a goose egg. Unless the paint fumes from upstairs stop searing my lungs, today might be too because now it's raining. I know that Nat would have exercised in this situation but today I'm a wuss. Sissy. Wimp.

But tomorrow, boy howdy, I think I'll be able to run. My ankle is still a little swollen but it looks much better and I have a full range of motion. : )

Going the Distance

Doug finished the ING Atlanta Marathon yesterday, with a time of 4 hrs 30 minutes. He looked good coming up Marietta Street to the finish and kept running the whole time. He's a rock star!

I was better trained for the half than last year and managed to achieve a 3 minute PR even with a potty break. While I ran a better race this year because I paced myself (amazing - have never really done this before) and held off on the sprinting to allow a strong finish, I was lonely as I ran. Next year I'll have to talk someone who doesn't mind potty breaks into running with me.

Here's the report:

I got up at 4, ate Joe's magic breakfasts (steel cut oats with soy milk followed by an immodium), and rode to the GA dome with Doug and Jerry. We arrived at 5:45 to find a ghost town. There were no people anywhere and it was freezing. Signage was absent so we blundered our way to the Team 65 Roses meeting place to have our photo made. We checked our bags and I lost everyone. Doug, Jerry and I were to meet back at the potties after bag-check and we were right there with all of my neighborhood ladies. The next minute, I was alone. I waited around for a while and searched the crowd for Doug, but couldn't recapture him. I trudged to find my corral and some nice man gave me his trash bag to wear. Bless him. It was freezing so that helped a lot. I found a line of open potties, visited there and ran into Nat on my way back to the corral. I was so happy to see a friendly face, whew!

In my corral, I met a nice guy from Dacula who is doing Ironman Arizona in two weeks. He was doing the ING half as a training race and was aiming for 7 minute miles. HOLY COW. Anyway, we finally started - after some guy yelled "go" (no fireworks, no cannons). Only my group was corral #2, so we didn't go. We shuffled up to the start line. THEN, we got to go about 6 minutes later - no explanation from the race folks on this. It was weird. The corrals were much improved from last year's chaos but ING could do better with signage and directions because many people were wandering around with no direction.

I had planned (with coach Doug) to run 9:15 the first mile, then settle in for 9:00 miles and turn it up at the end for a fast finish. Alternatively, Doug recommended using the training partner function on my Garmin and keeping up with that to see if I could beat last year's time. I didn't quite remember last year's time and I don't know why the training partner didn't work but I was adrift from the start. I knew I had seeded myself OK (a little behind the 3:50 marathon pace group, who said they were doing 8:45 per mile) but people passed me like I was standing still. It was hard to slow myself down.

Mile 1: 8:13 - Oops. Need to slow down. Mile 2: 8:24 - Not such a bad pace. Breathing OK - this is the downhill part of the race so it's OK to go faster (rationalize, excuse). Mile 3: 8:25 - Maybe I'll try to slow it down a little but stick generally with this pace.

I saw the King center up close and that was really neat. We came upon it from the back and it's really a cool design. I don't remember seeing it last year. Then, we turned into the Sweet Auburn area where the Lupus foundation was manning a giant water stop with the "Rocky" song blaring. It was awesome. Those folks were so happy. I got all choked up thinking about them.

I got hot between miles 2 and 3. I took off my thermal shirt (which I was wearing over my Team 65 Roses shirt for the start). Then I put it back on. Then I put it back on underneath my team shirt. Then I got hot and took it off again. All while I was running. Without showing my jog bra. Idiot! I carried that shirt on my waist or in my hands until mile 8 until I dropped it at a water station. Little did I know that I'd need it later.

In Mile 4, I started to hurt. It was cold but I had not worn tights. AGAIN. We all know what my IT bands do in cold weather. Miles 4-6 were OK, but not as pleasant as 1-3. I averaged about an 8:45 pace while people still streamed past me. My tummy got angry in mile 5/6 and I had to stop at the place where the marathoners and half-marathoners diverged in mile 7/8. I put it off as long as possible because there were lines at all porto-potties, but it was for naught. I had to stop, and wait, and potty. SIGH. I ate my GU while I waited. The GU and the break helped me rally a little and some good songs came on in mile 7 (Wagner - Flight of the Valkeries), which helped also but miles 7-9 were my dark zone. I hobbled along and tried to hold some energy in reserve for the last 5K.

My stated goal for this race was under 2 hours but the super-secret goal was under 1:50. My running book said I could do 1:38 (HA!) so I thought the 1:50 was a stretch, but reasonable. At the 10K mark, I was at 53 minutes. I did some math, out loud, then re-did the math and came up with the conclusion that 1:50 was a virtual impossibility. This brought me down, inexplicably, because I know it was a dream to begin with. But still, I was down. The hobbling didn't help. I tried to talk to some folks around me as they asked each other questions but no dice. I was an island.

At mile 10.25, after we exited Piedmont Park and went up some big hills (which were really hard), I gave myself permission to speed up. Amazingly, it hurt less to run faster. Maybe the faster running made my legs warmer? Mile 10 was 8:41, Mile 11 was 8:00. I started to pass people and good music came on my i-pod. Mile 12 was 7:44. Whew, this part thru GA Tech was tough. I saw the best sign there: "Your feet hurt because you are kicking so much ASS!" It made me laugh out loud and then the girls holding the sign started cheering for me because they were Team 65 Roses too. Awesome! What a boost, right where I needed it. Mile 13 was mostly on Marietta St, I think, and it seemed to take forever. It wasn't a ridiculous climb like last year, but I was getting to the bottom of my tank. Mile 13 was 7:37. The drive to the finish was slow because of the sidewalk and twisty fence maze but that was because of tornado damage to the park. Next year will be better.

Garmin said 1:52:53. Chip time was 1:51:32. That's a PR by 3 minutes. Still a win despite not breaking 1:50. I'll bet I would have broken 1:50 if I had worn tights and not had to potty.

After I finished, I declined a space blanket (again, an idiot!) because I was hot, got some water and hit the potties. Then, I stood in a freezing wind to get my bag. Thank goodness I put an extra shirt in. I changed shirts in the middle of the sidewalk into a clean fleecy shirt and put the team shirt on top. Then, I high-tailed it to the appointed intersection - which was missing! I never found Thurmond St so I stayed at Marietta and Baker Street. I passed a Starbucks on the way there and used their potty. I stood in line for hot chocolate for a while, but the line wasn't moving so I left. As I was texting my location to Jerry, Joe and Nat, Jerry came by and yelled at me. He looked awesome. Strong and happy. Yay! I had missed Jennifer and Virginia because I was slow getting to the meet-up. Then, Devon and Mickey came by together. I cheered for them and all of the 65 Roses runners and anyone else who had an identifier on (Clemson shirt, pink skirt ladies, etc). The marathoners started to come thru and they looked so fast! After I thought I had missed her completely and given up, Sarah came by. Jerry joined me with some hot chocolate and then Joe came and blocked the wind while we waited for Nat. I got to introduce Jerry and Joe to Sarah as she went to hang with the Peachtree Tri Club folks. At about 3:30, Nat came by. She wasn't smiling and didn't wave so I knew she was irritated. In addition to the sea of half-marathoners, there was a group of high school kids running at the same time so the marathoners were dodging everyone. We abandoned our post and went back to the Carvel store for hot chocolate. Mmmm. The best hot chocolate ever. And a warm chair. We used Joe's phone to track Doug online. The tracker estimated a 4 hr 24 min finish so we headed back to the meet-up at that time after lingering in the warm store. Right on time, there was Doug! Hooray! We went and got his bag of stuff and met him as he came down from the finish. Then, we hiked back to the car and met at Taco Mac for post-race beer and nachos. mmm.

Doug and I have been talking about the race a lot yesterday and today. I ran a good race but was really sore yesterday. Better training would have helped this, and tights, and not eating spaghetti with meat sauce for dinner the night before. But, I think I would have had more fun with a buddy. I was lonely out there. Maybe I need to make a better distinction between my "A" races and the other ones. This was supposed to be a "B" or "C" race and I ran it like an "A". I'm sure sore like an "A". Overall, though, it was good and I'm pleased with my time. Here are times for the peeps, minus Sarah and Maja, who I couldn't find.

Marathon
Doug: 4:27:38
Nat: 3:38:18

Half-Marathon
Jennifer: 2:15:24
Virginia: 2:13:01
Jerry: 2:15:42
Devon: 2:26:19
Mickey: 2:22:42

All Geeked Up!

Doug and I have dropped off the girls, been to the expo, we've got the bibs and have set out the outfits. Ready to GO!

If anyone wants to meet me post-race, I'll be at the southeast corner of Thurmond Street and Marietta Street (or as close as possible to that on Marietta St) cheering for all of the other finishers and waiting for Doug to finish the marathon. I'll be wearing the Team 65 Roses shirt (grey with red rose), hot pink running skirt, and light pink visor.

I'm bib #12056 and Doug is bib #819 if you want to track us. Here is the link: http://www.inggeorgiamarathon.com/Race_Info/Race_Day_Results_and_Tracking/Map_Track.htm

Have a great race, everyone!

Pick Your Poison

At long last, I'm IN!

I've been trying to get on Team 65 Roses since we talked about doing the ING race this year. Unfortunately, I registered for the race with Active instead of the team. So, today, FINALLY, someone responded to all of my pestering and I'm in.

So, now when you go to Team 65 Roses to do your donation (I already did mine), you can put Doug's name in or mine. Apparently I was wrong and they do keep track of how much each athlete raises, but there is no minimum. We will see who is the better fund-raiser, but I think Doug has an advantage since I posted his plea here, and on both of my mom's boards and only sent mine out in an email. I'm crossing my fingers, though.

In other news, Annika has her first official after-school playdate today. We discussed more than three times the need for her best behavior and listening and following directions. I'm crossing my fingers for this too.

And, so that it doesn't get lost - go over to the Becoming Ironman blog because XT4's post is beautiful today. I'm repeating this in case it gets lost because I've posted twice today. And that never happens.

Beautiful

XT4 has a beautiful post today on his blog. Go and check it out.

Don't Worry - Be Happy

The UPS store near us has a slogan (which does not appear to be on the internet) that says "Don't worry, we'll take care of it." Please allow me to tell you again that I LOOOVE our UPS store. Today I hot-footed it from my swim to Target to get the present for my cousin's wedding shower (on Saturday), picked up the girls and then dashed to the UPS store to ship the present. I had purchased a box at Target, which I picked out by assembling all of the boxes in the packing aisle and testing to see if the gifts fit in them. The girls and I packed the gift and wrote the card in the car and were ready to go once we got to the UPS store. We had an appointment to meet my Grammy, you see, to try on the bodice of Annika's dress, so we needed to hurry to make it on time.

I clunked my box on the counter while the girls headed straight for the stash of toys they keep to occupy youngsters while their parents are shipping things. "Oh, no" I thought, "the guy isn't here." The guy is the man who owns the store. He is very tall and solves every problem I bring to him. He is the fairy godmother of shipping.

Clink.

The Pyrex loaf pans were banging against each other in my very carefully packed box. Crap.

"Is there glass in there?" the UPS lady asked, in a matter-of-fact tone while she gave me the eye. She was not looking very friendly. I started to get nervous.

"Um, yes. Just these two pans, but I've got the dishtowels folded between them. Do you think they need more cushioning?" (Pursing lips and wrinkling brow)

"If they are glass, they need bubble wrap." "And this box is way too small." "You need one two times this size." I'm was frowning and envisioning how we are going to repack and not wanting to do it. But, there was no arguing with this woman. She didn't want the pans to get broken.

"OK," I sighed and bit my lip as I fought the idea that the shipping would cost more than the present itself.

So the woman took my stuff in my box and bubble-wrapped those pans like they were going to the moon. Seriously - one was as big as the whole box I'd wrapped everything in before. Then, she packed them with the other stuff (all supplies to make the recipe that I was required to send with the present - pretty good idea, eh?) in a gigantic box, which she taped on all sides and filled with packing stuff. For $6. Including the cost of the box. And shipping wasn't that much - even though I had waited until the last possible moment to send the gift to get there the day before the shower.

So, don't worry. My UPS store will take care of it. Even if the guy isn't there and you are a dumbass and wait until three days before the shower and pack incorrectly in a too-small box.

I don't know if the recipe/supplies thing was what we were supposed to do or not. The instructions just said to send or bring a recipe. But, I remember when Doug and I were in college and first married and how I'd have to buy a pan or some other piece of cooking equipment every time I tried to make a new recipe. We even used a Waffle House cup as a measuring cup because someone (Mike, I think) told us it was 8 ounces. So, after I wrote my recipe this morning, I thought I would just include stuff from the registry that my cousin would need to make that recipe. I think I covered all of the bases except for a liquid measure and cooling racks. : ) Hopefully someone else will take care of the liquid measure. Jen, Emily?

And, by the way - did you know that Target's registry prints out with the aisle numbers on the page next to each item? How cool is that?

In other news, I know I can do my swim! For the 5K swim in June, I've been increasing the distance of my long swim by 500 yards every 2 weeks. I don't know how you are supposed to train for a swim of this distance, so I've been trying to do a long swim every week just like my long run. Then, the other days, I do a recovery swim or drills just like I would if I were running. So today my long swim was 5,500 yards, which is just slightly over 5k (5,468.066 yards, according to the internet). I did it! I know that the pool is way easier than the open water and I could easily have miscounted because 220 laps is a lot of counting and I get loopy when exercising that long but wow, that is a big hurdle. Now, to get faster. . .

Stephie Don't Preach

I've been telling everyone - Nat, Wes, and Charlie among others about how they need to be doing more recovery time and tapering.

So, did I listen to my own advice?

Nope.

Yesterday, I couldn't decide how much to do for my pre-race long run. I consulted my running book and decided that all of the half-marathon training plans were inapplicable to me because of their weekly mileages (40 miles a week!). Regardless, I settled on 6-8 miles for my last long run before the race next week. I ran in the morning and it was not a fast run, but it wasn't overly painful.

Annika was at the GymDogs with Grammie and Grampa, so Dagny and I went shopping and to the park and ate lunch. Then, Doug smiled upon me and kept Dagny while I rode bikes with Natalie. We had two hours so we rode for 30 miles. Oops. I thought my legs felt a little tired, but it was at easy pace and we had an awesome ride. It was probably a bit dumb to do on the weekend before the race. Then again, I'm only doing the half and it's not even an "A" race so who cares if I'm tired. I'm so excited about watching all of the finishers. If I have a decent race, I'll get to watch everyone come across this line while I wait for Doug's finish. FUN!

Annika adored the GymDogs and spending the night in the RV with Grammie and Grampa. We had a great time at Easter church, brunch and the egg hunt. Annika and I did a recovery walk today to keep the streak alive. A lovely weekend overall.

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

I've got some favors to ask, dear reader.

Favor #1: Internet and triathlon goddess Sarah is once again hard at work on a contest with folks at Evotri. Please link over to her blog and follow the directions to vote for her. No cash required - just an email. If you have not watched her video yet, do it now. It is truly inspiring.

Favor #2: My dear husband recently sent the following email to all of his friends:

Dear Friends,

At the end of this month I will be running my first marathon as a way to remember a friend that passed and to raise money for a cure for the disease that took her. I've done the training to get myself ready for the race, but I haven't started my second goal. I need your help to raise money for a cure to cystic fibrosis. If you are interested in helping, please follow this link to learn more about cystic fibrosis and to donate. http://www.milesforcysticfibrosis.org/

Thank you,

If you can spare some cash, could you please link over there and donate what you can. 65 Roses is not a fancy organization and they aren't keeping track of what each athlete raises, but runners are requested to seek donations for the team. Those of you that are running, keep an eye out for the runners on the 65 Roses team (purple shirts with red roses) at the ING Marathon/Half Marathon and give them all a big shout-out. Doug didn't publish the story about our friend, so I won't either but she was truly an amazing person and we are lucky to have known her.

Thank you for your support.

I'm a Loser, Baby

Yesterday, I fell down on my exercising and laid a big fat goose egg for the Challenge.

I have any number of excuses, but the fact remains that I chose to abandon the search for the yoga DVD and get in bed after we put the girls down at 8pm. I felt the heavy mantle of guilt, especially since I promised to fight Paul for the 10th place spot and Wes got up at 11pm on Monday to get his 30 minutes in. I did get up once, but only to remove the soccer beverages from my car and stow them in the fridge in preparation for being the snack mom at soccer today. Then, I fell immediately to sleep because today is a big day.

It's 8:30am. I've run 12 miles, made oatmeal, fed myself and the girls, filled goodie bags for Annika's party, checked the RSVP list twice and arranged my sister's visit this morning. All that remains now is to hit the Publix to pick up the cake and ice and get us all dressed. Thankfully, this morning's rain has cancelled Annika's soccer practice and game so I don't have to leave the house ten minutes ago like I thought I would.

Which is good, because I am back in my pajamas. Now there will be time to shower!

Name, days in current streak/goose eggs in 2008
Steph Bachman, 0/4

Relaxation - Not for Me

Yesterday I had planned to do my long swim if I got out of jury duty in time. Alas, no. So, I came home and put on the Yoga for Triathletes DVD so that Annika and I could get my 30 minutes in for Paul's streaking challenge.

All of the folks on the BT boards are always talking about how they love the yoga and how it helps them and keeps them healthy (uninjured), etc. My friends love the yoga. I'm not disputing that some flexibility work would help me, but really?

I just would rather sweat than yoga.

Annika insisted that we do all 3 sections of the video (Energy, Strength and Flexibility). That is an hour and a half of yoga, folks. Without even sweating much. What is the point? Dagny was napping or we would have gone out for a walk instead. Luckily, I was able to fast-forward through the "Strength" section while Annika wasn't looking. She didn't follow the directions or even face the TV. She thought it was fun to sit on me while I did the poses and make forts out of her sections of the mat. Then she got mad when I used part of her mat (she wasn't on it at the time) to cushion my knee. She really wanted to watch Madagascar more than do yoga. So, I got through my hour and quit.

Yoga might make you more flexible and ease your muscles, but it doesn't make any endorphins. None. At all. I might still have to log a goose egg for this. It feels like cheating to count yoga as working out.

In better news, today I did my long swim (thanks to Doug) and rode my bike on the trainer. I watched "Kill Bill Vol 1" at full volume. This is not a bad trainer movie. I bought it after Annika was born and we hadn't watched it yet. It had good music so I was able to get my rpms up to a 93 avg (for me, this is awesome) even without the spinups. And, since I couldn't read the subtitles for the japanese language parts of the movie, it won't be annoying to watch again. : ) Please note, however, that there is way too much violence to watch while kids are in the house.

And now, Annika and I are going outside to run. She has Mark's camelbak on and wants to try it out.

Technology

I'm in jury duty today. And they had Wifi in the jury waiting room.


How cool is that?


You guys all need to update your blogs now because I've already done the work I brought with me and I'm bored. So far I've met some characters here. In the interest of privacy, I won't tell you about them, but very entertaining. Lots of people want to talk politics, but I'm avoiding that stuff. I'll have to break out my newspapers in a minute. My group was required to be here at 7:45am. I was worried about traffic so I was even early. My buddy that works in the record room is in the office now so I have no one to talk to. It's nearly 10 after 10 and we haven't done anything except watch the Brenda Wood orientation video. SIGH!

While I'm sitting, here are some photos that were stored on my computer for your viewing pleasure.

The first is a photo of Annika with her basketball coaches. Bless their hearts. You can't even tell that she was the worst one on the team. They really tried hard to have every player get involved in the games (keeping a chart on who had been in, who got to take the ball down, who got to shoot, etc).

For all of you who've not done a triathlon yet, here is a photo of my bike in the transition area at my first race last year. Notice that I'm the only idiot who put her stuff under the back tire. Duh. You want your stuff to be where the handlebars are (even though there is less space) because you take your bike off of the rack from that direction. Otherwise, you have to run all the way around the rack to get to your stuff or take your bike down to ride. Annika lent me her blue strawberry towel because it matched my outfit.

Annie - what about that triathlon? Have you picked one? Are you registered? Do you want me to run with you? Volunteer and cheer you on?

To update on my sickies, Annika had an ear infection. She is doing much better now. Dagny's fever finally broke on Sunday night but her chest was crackly so we went to the doctor's office yesterday. She seems to be doing better and only woke once last night. Doug isn't even sore after his 17 miler on Saturday and I'm starting to get rid of my soreness today (finally!).

The Wonder of Running

Taking down the Christmas lights gives you a lot of time to think. So, the thought that I just couldn't get out of my head as I wound the strands around my arm on Saturday was this -

"Can you believe that fat-ass Steph just ran six miles at a 7 minute pace? Boy do I ever owe Ty Robinson an apology!"

Ty Robinson was the kid in my 4th grade class who beat everyone in the President's Physical Fitness Test with a 7 minute mile. I barely finished my mile in 14-16 minutes that day and it hurt like heck, I tell you! I remember giving Ty a hard time because his dad was a runner and he was a fool for running when no one was chasing him. I just wonder if the gym teachers were dismayed at the pathetic shape we were all in (except for Ty, obviously).

My fitness did not improve until after the 40 lb weight gain from 7th-8th grade and Kim Thompson's comment about my fat ass. Yeah, the kid I "went with" in 7th grade did call me Fat Albert upon the inevitable break-up but it was Kim's comment that stung. We had been friends since kindergarden. I was even present for her first kiss in the exploratories hall one afternoon. She didn't mean anything by it - it was an offhand remark to a mutual friend about something that was clear for all to see but it was a wake-up call for me.

I started walking the summer after 8th grade. I walked all over our neighborhood - until I was sore, even. Granted, I had ulterior motives because the boy I liked lived only about a mile away, but somthing changed. We moved at the end of the summer and school started and I made sure I was in some kind of activity (band, tennis, swimming) every season so that I had to move. Even in college. And that is how I escaped the fat Steph. She comes back, sometimes, and I have to outrun her but I can do it now. She can't do 7 minute miles : )

So, Ty Robinson, I'm sorry I gave you a hard time. You were right.

In other news, Dagny's fever seems to have broken (finally!). She was still up 4 times last night but never with the glowing-heat of the fever. Pshew! We are going to the doctor today, to have them listen to her chest because her cough sounds really scary.

And, we took the ride-along for a successful test drive at the river yesterday. Doug (with his superior balance and grace) took Annika with that while I towed Dagny in the trailer. It was really fun and now we know that we can risk a longer ride at the Silver Comet. Whoo! Thank you to my boss for giving us this marvelous toy.

The title is from the Innocence Mission's song "The Wonder of Birds." I still love that song.

Super Duper Fly

or, the Chattahoochee Road Runners 10K race report.

I was late leaving the house (surprise) and had to book it to get to the race site on time. Doug had given me excellent directions and I got there with time to spare with extra clothes, my visor, a towel, my i-pod, my garmin and water.

Warm-up was two trips to my car from the porto-potty area where Nat's car was and a quick loop around the parking lot in which I had to slow Nat down with the "this is the warm-up" reminder. I met Dani, a blogger friend fo Nat's but never saw any of the BT crowd. Luckily I wore my blue running skirt because Nat had on her pink one. Can't be all matchy-matchy. I had eaten Joe's magic breakfast (steel cut oats with soymilk) for breakfast but the takeout chinese dinner from Friday was not helping me. Stood in the potty line 3 times.

We dashed from the potties and ran to the start line just before the start. It was not marked with a banner but we quickly figured out where the front was (they had a tape in front of them) and jumped into the crowd behind them. We fought the humanity to get back from the front. Nat stopped about 50 yards back from the start but I kept going back. I was worried about being caught in a flood of 6:30 pacers like Doug did last year. I got to a lady who said she planned a 9:46 pace and figured I was safe. Until the lady on the other side started talking about 10:00 pace. Oops.

Oh well, too late because we were off. I dashed in between the other racers and allowed several men to "break the trail" for me. It was hard to breathe from the start - I felt like I could only draw shallow breaths and my phlegm kept coming up. Doug and I later decided that this is because I ran most, if not all, of this run at or above my LT. Meaning, that I kicked ass.

Anyway, the clouds were parting and the sun was starting to come out and I got to mile one just as Garmin beeped and it showed a 7:09 first mile. All right! Not the 6:46 it felt like! Hmmm, could I hold this pace? I decided to give it a try, but I turned up the tunes to give myself a mental boost.

Mile two was equally fun. Nice rolling hills, beautiful homes to look at, nice volunteers and police to wave at. 7:18. I was trying to catch up with Nat, but I didn't have her in sight.

Mile three started to get hard. I found Nat and realized that either (1) I was running over my head or (2) her legs were killing her. I tried to shorten the distance between us because it was HUGE but it was slow going. This mile was 7:10! I gave myself some raise-the-roof for keeping such a constant pace. Only 3 miles to go.

Doug had told me the mile 3 into mile 4 was the big hill. It didn't feel horrible, except that I was gasping for air. The sun started to get in my eyes and I wished aloud that I had brought my visor. No one around me responded. Tough crowd. I had some water and was gaining on Nat more steadily now. I argued with myself over whether I should stay behind her, pass or run together. Would staying behind be cheating since she was pacing? Would passing make her mad because her legs hurt or would we run slower if together? Turns out, all of the conflict was for naught; I couldn't hold the pace anyway. I caught up to Nat, said hello, told her I was sucking it (which I was), heard that her legs were locked up and then fell back again. Mile 4 - 7:04.

Doug said after mile 4 was all downhill except a small rise at the very end. Whee!! I figured I could hold the pace if going downhill but it was very hard. I spent a lot of time with my eyes closed. Pigtail girl in the black hot pants left me in the dust. Turn, turn, turn, I chanted to myself (not like the hippie song, more like a drill sergeant). My running book advises quick turnover with small steps on the downhills so I tried to do it. I got a horrible side stitch. I tried rotating from side to side, breathing on the other foot, lifting my arm in the air - nothing worked. Some kid passed me like I was standing still. He made it look easy. Later determined that he was 11. Mile 5 - 7:00; Mile 6 - 7:17. Ow, this was getting hard. A big guy in a red shirt ran next to me for a while. Then, he hung right on my left elbow. I couldn't shake him off! I don't like people to run that close to me. We came down a long curving hill and turned up into a parking lot. The announcer cheered for me, which made me laugh. He joked about my big smile. I knew I was running fast, so I was thrilled. Then, I turned the corner and could see the clock. 44:13. Holy cow!

Could I do it? I put on every bit of speed I had and sprinted to the finish. Small steps gone, I dashed like my life depended on it. Whoosh! I got under the clock at 44:45:90.

I walked for about a minute to outrun the stars that were crowding my eyes, found Nat, stopped my Garmin and we grabbed water and headed for the buses. We turned in our bibs but realized that we were supposed to keep the numbers. Ooops. The chips were in a pocket behind the numbers like a Fedex or UPS envelope. Do over. The guy collecting numbers dropped them all on the ground for us to paw through. Got our numbers and hit the bus. Nat and I got our shirts, the nice race volunteers helped me get Doug's shirt and we decided that since there was no possible way for us to place, we left.

I was thrilled. My stated goal was under 48 minutes. All racers have a super-secret goal, though - one that is probably outside of the realm of possibility but which we'd really love to hit. 45 was my super-secret goal. I had not even told Doug about it - only Nat, in a fit of trail running weakness. Nat was not so happy because she thought she could have gone faster but her calves rebelled. We calculated that her optimum pace was actually 8 seconds per mile faster than she went (HA!) but she will get it next time when her legs are healthy.

Great race! Will definitely do it next year!

Results:

Nat: 44:33:05 for a 7:11 pace, #262 overall, 36th woman, and 1st in the 35-39 age group
Me: 44:45:90 for a 7:13 pace, #266 overall, 37th woman, and 2nd in the 35-39 age group

WHOO! I've emailed the CRR club and said that I would meet them at a time and location of their choosing to pick up our hardware. : )

And, Doug ran 17 yesterday and I FINALLY took down the Christmas decorations. Neighbors, you can thank me now.

Back in the High Life

We had a marvelous evening planned for yesterday. It was Virginia's 9th birthday (leap year baby - she is actually 36) and we were going to drop the girls off at Nana/Papa's house for a sleepover and run the Chattahoochee Road Runner's 10K race this morning. Then, the plan was to go to Sarah Anne's birthday party at lunchtime and then to Pete and Sara's house for homemade lasagna dinner.

Alas, the plan was foiled.

Dagny had a fever on Thursday but nothing to worry about. When I got home yesterday, Doug said that her fever was 105 degrees. With the ear thermometer.

Holy cow.

Party plans and the shower gel that had spilled all over the back of my car were forgotten. We dosed her with Tylenol and held her while waiting on hold for the doc's office to answer the phone. Then Katie called and I had to hang up. Luckily, the fever started to come down (to only 102) while I talked to Katie. However, while Dagny's fever was coming down, Annika's complaints about her ear intensified to the point of crying.

So, I loaded Annika in the car after Doug triaged the soapy mess and took her to the minute clinic at CVS. Ear infection. This is not a surprise since she's had a cold/cough for a week. We are still medicating Dagny with tylenol and motrin, but she is completely OK when her fever is down. I'm guessing roseola.

Doug took Dagny and went to pick up chinese food. We met back at home 45 minutes later to share the takeout goodness and start Annika's antibiotics. The food was awesome - click here for other reviews. We know the owner and he is a nice guy, too!

Doug decided to take one for the team and sit out the race so I could run. Instead, he's out doing his long run now in the beautiful sunshine. Annika is feeling better and is at the birthday party. I'm having leftover singapore vermicelli noodles and listening to Dagny watching Oswald. I had a blast running the race with (behind) Natalie, and Doug used the results to figure out my approximate LT. I'll post a report on that once the official results are posted and I've collected Annika from her party, but the upshot is that things are looking up today (that's a 5*8 song, in case you were wondering - almost used that for the title but I enjoyed my High Life so much last weekend that I used that instead). Champagne of beers, indeed.