Life's Trepidations

Where did all the time go?

2009-10-26T13:28:00.007-05:00

That's what I ask myself every day! It's certainly not used in going to the gym or out exercising on my bike or out for a run. A couple of weeks ago, instead of fighting for time in the morning, I decided to fit my exercise regimen into my daughter's schedule by doing TKD with her in the late afternoon.

This is the adults class, but kids can join in.

We just started and are lowly white belts, but we're having a great time and hopefully yellow belts will be around the corner. I sometimes go to the children's class, and I get to run around like a little kid which I enjoy. I'm racing against them - go figure, I'm always losing and have to do pushups, but hey, it's good for me, right?

Me doing a jumping race

What I really like about it is that it provides a more structured environment for my daughter. She's learning how to become tougher and to be more mature, which the teacher tells her she needs to do in order for her to become a yellow belt. I just wished I had a chance to do something like this when I was a kid - but I guess TKD didn't really catch on until the 70's. We watched my friend's son test for his blue belt - and I was amazed with the discipline and the spirit he had throughout his testing. He rocked that test! We saw them break boards, and now my daughter is excited about trying to do this, which is a requirement for your next belt. I'm not going to test until the teacher says my daughter is ready to test to keep her confidence up. Of course, I'll put up a video of my first belt test when that happens.

BTW.... a big congrats to my sis, ShirleyPerly for finishing in her iron triathlon this past weekend! Whoo hoo!

Life almost back to normal

2009-09-17T10:20:00.004-05:00

Now that my daughter has returned to school, I'm almost recovered from the summer! And, this means that I can finally get back to reading some blogs and writing a bit. It's funny how fall weather hit so quickly here - the first week of school, it was still in the 100's, as it had been since June. Then all of a sudden, KAPOW, the weather is now fall like in the 80's with crisp mornings.

I've decided to take a class at the local college, and my husband and I are working feverishly on a project for our biz that starts next week. He's finally starting to use his gym membership and I'm finally able to do some more regular exercise. I started this week in doing morning 2 mile walks, after I walk my daughter to school. Then in the afternoon, I do some other exercise that's more aerobic in nature. I feel like I'm spoiling myself rotten! :-)

Today, I found a race to run. The price is right - FREE. It's at my gym. Though there are several different lengths, I'm going for just the 3 miler, since I've not been running as regularly.

My project for today is...get a chore list for my 5 year old. I'm hoping this will help her become more aware of finances. I've never done a chore list before (with stars and allowance to go with it), but I hear some people swear by it. Would love to hear your comments on this idea.

So, hope everyone is doing well. Will try to catch up to blogs more this week. Next week will start another round of a hectic schedule that will go on for a few weeks. But, it's all good! Better to be too busy than sitting around twiddling my thumbs!

Getting ready for the fall

2009-08-18T13:00:00.003-05:00

I keep saying I'm going to update my blog. Days become weeks, and before you know it, it's been too long! I've been much more active on facebook these days than here on my blog. Maybe it's because I've not done anything interesting in terms of my exercise regiment.

My weeks this summer have been so wholly dependent on my daughter's schedule. And, her schedule has been changing every week. And, so I've tried to just eek out a workout somewhere in between. That's about all I've been able to do, as her camp schedule was so light these past few weeks.

Starting this week, I'm finally going to have a bit of time - yay! This week, we have a full day camp. It's heaven for me! Next week, school starts up again, and we'll be back on a regular schedule. I'm one of those people who need alone time to get "stuff" done. And, this semester, I'm also taking one class. Anyone else taking a course this fall?

Other than this, I'm just prodding along. I try to get a workout in 5 days a week - anything counts as a workout - believe me! I've decided not to participate in races for now, and rather just focus on getting organized. Papers are flying everywhere in my office! It's definitely time to file these receipts and papers away!

The Balancing Act

2009-07-11T08:39:00.010-05:00

It started off great this week.

Monday at the gym for some cardio.

Tuesday an early morning swim followed by 1.5 hours of yard work after I dropped off my child for summer camp. I thought I had accomplished so much tuesday morning just before the real heat set in. I took a shower, but then I found that I was so tired! I struggled to stay awake for a few hours to do some work before I had to pick up my daughter.

At 1:45pm I picked her up from summer camp. By then, I was exhausted. Next came 5 more hours of running around to keep her occupied. At 7pm, I trudged home. By then, I was dazed and confused.

Thank goodness my husband was home. I passed off my daughter to her and vegged. I put on a DVD - a real doozy of a chick flick (He's just not into you). I then just laid there like a bump on the log watching the boob tube. Oh, what luxury! I had not been able to do this in quite some time! Two hours later, I felt like I had recovered a bit. I could then think clearly, at least.

Wednesday - rest day. Felt good.

Thursday - yard work for one hour. I told myself not to overdo it, especially in the heat. Did 4 hours of work for my biz.

Friday - totally slacked off on exercising. Did 4 more hours of work for my biz.

Saturday - today - back on the wagon with a 4 mile run.

Now that I write down what I did, it looks somewhat balanced. But, when I'm living it, it feels like I'm really slacking off in everything. If I'm not working on my biz, I feel like a slacker! If I'm not exercising regularly, I'm a slacker! If I'm not social networking, I'm a slacker! When my yard is a mess, I'm a slacker. When my house is messy, I"m a slacker!

Then, I have to stop myself...

I'm a parent and ....ugh...a housewife. Now, my life is all about mastering the balancing act. More importantly, learning to become satisfied with what I can realistically accomplish in a day or a week...that's the hardest part.

It's about taking stock and doing some hard line prioritizing.

Priority #1: care for and spend time with family. Essentially 6 to 8 hours a day spent here.

Priority #2: get just enough exercise to stay sane. This essentially means to devote 1 hour of exercise a day and no more, since any more makes me too tired to do priority #1.

Priority #3: Housewifey chores that have absolutely have to get done . This means - keep clean clothes at hand, wash dishes so ants don't come, and sweep when I step of lots of crumbs, cook...a little. That's about all I can do in 1 to 2 hours a day.

Priority #4: biz here and there. I need to be happy with a solid 1 to 2 hours a day.

Everything else is Priority #5. And believe me, there are tons of stuff in this category. Everything from mowing the lawn, all other housework, filing the mountains of paperwork in my office, any social stuff, doing social networking, education, relaxing, etc. The list goes on and on. This is my biggest hurdle. There's just too much here to do in 2 to 3 hours a day that I have left.

So, as I'm writing this, I realize that I have to work more on prioritizing. But, wait...that's in priority #5, right? I'm going to work on priority #4 now :-)

Pflugerville Triathlon Race Results

2009-06-23T15:48:00.007-05:00

I finally got my first triathlon for 2009 under my belt this past weekend. It was my friend G's first tri and she did fantastic! It was my 2nd time around on this tri, and with an overcast morning, it made for great weather, even though it was in the 90's. Here's my stats - from this race and last year's race.

Here's the video proof:

Pflugerville 2009 Triathlon from JL on Vimeo.

Things that went well include:
1. I wore a new outfit - my Nike two piece swimsuit. I put on bike shorts just for the bike - and the moisture issues has been resolved - yay!
2. Last year, I was so anxious when swimming - this time, I was much more relaxed - and it was more enjoyable!
3. Maddy, my bike, performed so well! She's my reason for my improved bike time.

Lessons learned:
1. Stop bringing two boatloads of water on a 14 mile bike ride! I don't know why I always do this!
2. Don't buy gummy bear types of energy food as they're hard to chew while biking or running. I had a hard time breathing and chewing!
3. Stop bringing a boatload of water on my run - I only needed 1/2 of a bottle, at least on this overcast day. It's just too heavy to tote. I ended up dumping some of it after I got smart.
4. Eat more healthy - I was eating way too much junk food the week before the race.
5. Should do a few more bricks before the real thing. I only did one half-ass brick, and I could feel it when running. I felt like a slug!

All in all, I was happy to be out there, especially having my friend G with me. It was her first triathlon and she was awesome! Go G!

My Chip Time for the Pflugerville Tri - more to come!

2009-06-23T15:10:00.001-05:00

My Chip Time

Shared via AddThis

Another Bike Ride

2009-06-13T06:53:00.005-05:00

From 2009_06_12_Bike_Ride_Limecreek

Now that the Pflugerville Triathlon is looming near, I've been doing much more biking than usual. Yesterday, my friends, J, G, and I did a 20 mile hilly loop thru the Town of Volente, where they have Volente Beach Park. Muscles are sore from the hills (a good feeling mentally!), but, doing these types of workouts make me more comfortable in thinking I can get thru my first sprint tri of the year.

From 2009_06_12_Bike_Ride_Limecreek

I've not had a chance to do much wilt-proof running since my daughter has been out of school. These upcoming 2 weeks, I'll get to do a few, since my daughter is in summer camps in the morning. I hope this will at least mentally prepare me....wait.I only have one more week until my triathlon! Oh well, at least I have one week.

And, I'm going to do a few sessions in the lap pool. The one thing that I don't do well is sighting. Why don't lakes just have those nice black lines like the pool does? What's all this murkiness about?

Ladies - Help me and my moisture

2009-06-05T09:52:00.004-05:00

Ladies (and gentlemen, if they know anything about this subject), I need your help! I would like to get some advice on triathlon dress. I'm coming up for my first tri of the season. I've only done a few tri's, and it seems like every time I do one, I get a Y(east)-infection. My doc says it's common amongst triathlete women, and I was surprised, cuz I've never seen anyone blog about it.

I've worn Tri bike shorts thru swim, bike, and run, and I've even changed immediately after finishing the race...still the Y creeps up. So, I'm wondering if it helps to just wear a swimsuit and put on bike shorts afterwards and maybe this will cut the moisture. Does anyone actually change their clothes in T1? My tri is less than 2 hours. Have any of you had this issue? Am I the only blogger who wants to talk about this?

Any words of advice would be helpful. I have my Mon(istat) on standby at home, but I'm really hoping I could figure a way to avoid the situation.

You've got the cutest little underwear!

2009-06-03T21:36:00.003-05:00

I just had to tell you a funny story. I was in my gym's locker room. My daughter and I had just taken a shower and were dressing. She peered over and saw another lady in her underwear getting dressed. My daughter then said "That lady is wearing Hello Kitty underwear"!

I had to crack up. The lady wasn't sure what to say at first, cuz she was so surprised. Finally, she smiled and corrected my daughter..."It's actually Victoria Secret underwear"! Pink somethin' or rather. I didn't bother looking closely, but it looked like Kitty to me!

Anyways, another day at the gym. No exercising though. I just sat and watched my daughter take her swimming lessons there. I cannot believe her progress in two weeks! If I could improve this fast, I'd be in the Olympics!

Hello June!

2009-06-01T09:47:00.005-05:00

Now that June has arrived, I now have to get a tad bit more serious about my upcoming sprint triathlon - 6/21/09. It's my first of the season, and I'm still not into the swing of things. My friend, G, is planning to do the race with me - and it's her first triathlon- Yay, G!

I've going to my gym during the past week every day, since my daughter has swimming classes there for two weeks. Today, I'm going swimming in the same pool, rather than the lap pool, so I can keep my eye on her - killing two birds with one stone.

This is our regular indoor pool.

Here's our lovely lap pool, just adjacent.

After her swimming class, it's off for 1.5 to 2.5 hours at the outdoor pool.

Here's our outdoor pool at the gym.

Outdoors, she plays - I watch - I play with her - I feed her lunch - I watch - I take her home - she sleeps - she wakes up all grumpy - I make dinner and soothe the grumpy soul. Ahh..the life of a stay-at-home mom. (It's not as easy as it sounds though).

Disney Fun

2009-05-14T08:32:00.015-05:00

My family and I just returned from a Disney vacation and we had such a blast! First, a quick visit with ShirleyPerly and her husband. Here's ShirleyPerly and my daughter taking a dip in ShirleyPerly's pool.

Our first port of call was Key West. Duval St. is the main drag, and it always has interesting things there.

I've never seen so many trinkets on a bike!

My daughter is still needs to grow into this sandal.
Fast Buck Freddie's has a great window display. Check them out if you ever get to Key West.

Monday was tea time with the Mad Hatter and Alice onboard the Disney cruise.

Monday was also formal nite on the cruise.

Tuesday, we landed at Grand Cayman and saw the stingrays at the Stingray Sandbar.

We then went to Rum's Point, which was beautiful.
I even managed to do a 5K run, sponsored by Disney at their Castaway Cay, the final port of call.

I then joined my family at the family beach at Castaway Cay, which was huge. Lots of room for everyone. Water was calm. Weather was perfect!

Interested in learning more details about my cruise? Read my cruise critic review here.

We then did a 3 day stint at Disneyworld, starting at Hollywood Studios, then Animal Kingdom, and ending with a 10 hour day at Magic Kingdom.

Anyone know this character?

I never thought I'd love Disney as much as I do now. They do a fantastic job with huge crowds. I guess I never quite appreciated the scale of their undertaking until now. We'll definitely be back for more soon!

The best stuff in life is free!

2009-04-23T20:24:00.004-05:00

Today, I finally managed to get back to the lap pool. I discovered that lunch time at the gym is very empty. I guess people at this gym work out in the morning or evenings mostly. Fine by me. I never have to fight for a lane in the pool.

There were 3 of us, and then just 2 of us swimming indoors. I've continued with this new technique, and one of the things I've noticed is that I've always swam with my head up too much. My lower body was always feeling like it was sinking, but with my head face down and eyes looking ahead only, my legs and butt go up and I feel much more buoyant! By the way, these techniques are from Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen, the same lady that ShirleyPerly took lessons from last year. I like her philosophy of trying new techniques until you find one that works. I'm still in test mode, but so far, so good!

And, then I headed to the steam room - ahhhh....I love this room - it's like heaven for me - 10 minutes of peace!

Then shopping...oh, I hate shopping for clothes. I was looking for clothes that don't require any ironing after being stuffed in a piece of luggage. Cuz.... I'm now counting down before I go on my vacation! To where, you ask? I'm headed to see ShirleyPerly for a day and then boarding the Disney cruise for 7 nites of Mickey Mouse fun! I'm so excited! And...I bought a really cheap guarantee ticket, which gave me an inside room lowest level - but I was upgraded to an oceanview on a low level midship - perfect for me! The best part about this that I love is the fact that I didn't pay $1200 extra to purchase a ticket to this oceanview stateroom! Getting great stuff for free really makes my day!

Speaking of free stuff...guess what? Would you believe someone has offered to comp me race entries if I participate in their races! Say what???? Me get a free entry into races? What can I say but HELL YEAH! There's a small provision which I'm more than happy to do! So, I'm ...like....THRILLED! Now, I know I have to get my butt in gear after my relaxing cruise, and not to eat too much while I'm vacationing!

Going Wide

2009-04-16T13:41:00.004-05:00

As I wrote the title, I started wondering what people would imagine this post to be about. Am I getting wider, i.e., fatter? Did I start playing football?

Actually, I was referring to a swimming technique that ShirleyPerly told me about 6 months ago. She learned it from her swim instructor and found it helpful.

Well, I finally started trying this technique out, and......I think I'm going a little faster! I just did a few laps today as I was winding down on my workout, but I was happy to see the tiles going by faster than before!

So, this is exciting, as it's my first swimming revelation since last summer. Thanks ShirleyPerly for that suggestion! It's exciting to finally make a little bit of progress - keeps the motivation up!

Diving back into it

2009-04-03T21:15:00.006-05:00

After quite a long hiatus from swimming (last august!), I finally made it back to the pool. My new gym has a lap pool that is wonderful! After doing a short warmup, I spotted a pool buoy, and I decided to give it a try. I grabbed it and then realized I had no idea how to use it, except it went somewhere "back there with the legs". So, I asked the guy in the next lane who seemed to be swimming well. No go - he had no clue either.

So, I first tried it around my ankles - haha...that was funny - I figured this must have been wrong since I felt like my head was 2 feet under water. I then tried next to my knees, and it felt much better. I then tried it on my upper thighs and it felt about the same, and my balance was way off. But, it was fun to try. I just read an eHow article and it says on the thighs...Alright...and cross the legs - something I didn't do.

I would love to hear your comments on the use of a pool buoy!

I need a .....

2009-03-28T17:03:00.006-05:00

I must confess, it's been 3 months since my last post. Lots of stuff going on. Guilt... Guilt... Guilt...as I've not been running much at all, though I bought 3 new pair of running shoes this winter! So, what gives? You know...life's trepidations...I couldn't even bear to read your posts, and it only made me feel guiltier, so I stopped reading and stopped blogging...until now.

I've been going through some personal challenges that made it difficult to really focus. I felt like I was kind of stuck in this black hole, and was having trouble digging myself out. I finally sought some help and am thankful I did. Little by little, my life has gotten back on track...except exercising!

So, why is it so hard to get back into it? I was tired of the routine. I lacked interest and motivation. I also had a lot of anxiety and concern about child care during the summer, as my daughter would be out of school for 3 months. My gym had this rinky dink childcare room. Last time I went there, there was a sign posted saying childcare was not happening that day due to some highly contagious illness one child came in with. The gym no longer was a fun place either. Though its location is great (1 mile from home), the place no longer felt like the place I had joined 4 years ago.

So, I was thinking of joining this country club which is in the neighboring community. We visited to check out their summer camps initially, but started considering getting a social membership. Me, country club? Haha...I'm not the type, but, they had a nice pool and some other niceties that I liked and it was CLOSE. Still, I was put off by their high initiation fee, and the fact that their workout facility was quite small, as was their aerobics room.

Today, my family and I took a peek at this facility about 6 miles away. It's a place I had heard several parents in my neighborhood talk about, but I never thought I'd be interested in joining because of the high monthly dues. After taking the tour though, I realized why parents sign up. It's a fantastic place for families. Their child care facility is very large, and the place is very family friendly. The facility is HUGE. Lots of space, and..I loved the locker rooms - and the fact that they have towels available - it felt spa-like - and very CLEAN smelling (that was my daughter's remark, not mine).

I was so surprised that my husband was even interested. Needless to say, we left with memberships in hand! Open 24 hours a day, LifeTime Fitness is what I think I need to kickstart my exercise program again!

I'm excited and wanted to share my excitement with you! Tomorrow, I go for my first workout with my entire family. I'll come stop by everyone's blog this week sometime!

Haboom. . .

2009-01-20T16:36:00.005-06:00

That's the sound I was making yesterday, all day. You guessed it, I have allergies to the ying yang. The louder I sneezed, the better I felt - for 2 seconds, at least. And, then the kabooming would start all over. I had been avoiding taking allergy meds for personal reasons, but yesterday, it just got to be too much. So, now, I'm loaded with meds, and I just came back from a run. I think it's too early to tell whether the pollen has gotten into my system, but, oh, what a nice day today is - in the low 60's, though the wind was kicking up a bit.

I took Petra's advice - trying a different route today, and did just over 4 miles - thanks for the idea Petra! It was a nice invigorating run! I also am taking ShirleyPerly's advice and not walking around in my nice running shoes - she says it's a big no no! I ahd just gotten lazy and kind of forgotten about this rule.

And, now for the not so nice news. I have decided to not run my 1/2 marathon race this upcoming week. Oh, I have a ton of excuses, but the real excuse is that I've not felt like training. My training has been on and off - mostly off. I just haven't had the inclination most days. I was hoping that if I committed to doing it, I would do it. But, that didn't seem to work this time around. Perhaps I just have too much other things occupying my mind these days.

Anyways, I'm hoping that when the time is right, I will find a race that I will be more interested in doing. Still looking for that mojo...

Where do your shoes buy from?

2009-01-13T09:49:00.005-06:00

If you read my last post, you know that I was planning to get some new shoes. Thank you for your comments, especially DC Rainmaker's comment about looking on the back of my shoe. I bought the exact same shoe - Nike Equalon +2 . When I compared the back of the soles of my new shoe to my old shoe, OMG...I'm a real heel stomper! And, it was also obvious when I put my foot into the new shoe - the heel pad inside was so thick! So, now I know that 400 is as far as I can go with running shoes.

I had thought about getting some shoes about 1 month ago, but I was trying to delay because the cost of the shoe was still expensive. All you runners out there, you know that you can't be cheap when it comes to buying shoes. I bought mine for $130 at Runtex, my local running shoes, and I think the cheapest I found a month back was about $115 when you added s/h. But, knee pain was my last straw, so I started looking again. Still...the same frickin' price...

But, when I googled several times, I noticed eBay coming up. I thought I'd check to see if anyone was selling new versions of my shoes, and sure enough, I found someone willing to sell them to me for $77 total (including s/h and insurance) - I offered a bit lower than the seller were asking and he accepted by bid. So, I jumped at it, and they just arrived yesterday. Today, I'll try them out for a few miles. Hopefully, they will resolve the knee problem.

So, what about you all? Where do you all buy your running shoes - do you know of anywhere else to get a good deal on good running shoes?

Now..... if I could only buy some motivation pills - maybe I'll look for some on eBay - or if anyone has any better ideas....please do tell!

Cedar Alley

2009-01-08T12:42:00.004-06:00

This time of year is notorious for cedar pollen. When the cedar trees start showing colors of red and orange, it means pollen. I wanted to run, but allergy bouts can be really bad. But, today was going to be 75 loving degrees!

I so wanted to go out, and I really needed to get some longer runs in. So, I just decided to do it. Of all places, I picked Lime Creek Road behind my house - a.k.a Cedar Alley. Cedar trees lined the entire way. I cringed when I saw them, but continued. Those male cedar tree is the ones to blame (photo credit: susan).

By the turnaround point, I took stock of how I was feeling - and, I felt nothing in terms of allergies - yay! My feet felt like they were in need of some cushion though. The ground felt very hard. I think it's time for new shoes. The knee felt a bit sore, but not too bad.

So, I managed to do 7 miles today, plus 1 mile of walking, and now I'm at 8 miles. Not great, considering I have a 1/2 marathon at the end of the month to do. I'm still wondering if my knee will hold up. Could the knee be complaining about the shoes too? I have probably 400 miles on them now (counting runs, walks, and casual walking around).

Well, rather than keep wondering if the shoes are the culprit, I'm just going to order some new ones.....now!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-05T10:04:00.005-06:00

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and happy new year. I noticed so many people taking stock of 2008, and so I thought I'd put my own spin to this.

First of all, stats....I love buckeyeoutdoors.com - I just started using it in early March, so I only have 9 months of stats, but here goes:
- 357 miles ran
- 69 miles walked
- 697 miles biked
- 16 miles swam

Oh, you can definitely tell my weakness here! But, I'm amazed that I have even been able to keep up the training log. Thank you all for helping me keep at it in 2008.

I'm not sure what 2009 will bring. My right knee has been bothersome when I run. Feels kind of like torn meniscus situation - ugh. I hope it's just soreness, as I'm not into doing another surgery this year. I also love to run outdoors, but I've acquired a terrible allergy to the outdoors in the winter and spring times of the year here in Austin, which forces me to stay indoors. I wonder if I'm ever going to get over these darn allergies (something I've never had before in my life).

I have discovered a new love though in 2008 - my bike trainer! $89 at Performance Bikes (plus tax) has been one of my favorite forms of exercise. I have a ton of movies to watch, and more importantly, it's so much more convenient to have something at home to do, when you have a young child. I do need to start building a better base, so that I will be ready for summer!

Swimming...well, I'm still not liking it much. I'll do it if I have to, but not til the summer season.

I bought one gift for myself this Xmas - nothing expensive, but this little thing has been a lifesaver! Drum roll please......a ped egg! Ladies and gentlemen, if you have callouses on your feet from running, this will save you! I had horrible callouses on my right foot (should have photographed, but it was too embarrassing). And, using this just once has gotten rid of it! I am amazed! Cost me $10, and it was the best $10 I spent on myself all year.

Can't Elf Myself!

2008-12-09T10:30:00.003-06:00

Seasons Greetings all!

I couldn't elf myself...I mean..help myself...I had to elf myself as well as 4 of my favorite people!

Hope this will get you in a holiday mood!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Long Runs

2008-12-08T13:37:00.008-06:00

This weekend was my 7 mile long run, and certainly 7 miles is a whole lot easier than THE BIG 26.2 miles, which CewTwo and TinaGirl accomplished this weekend. Whoo hoo!!!!! A big congratulations to both of them for completing their first marathon!

Nevertheless, most of the time, I start getting anxious, because I don't look forward to that long run. I'm not sure why I feel this way. And, it's starting early; it's only been my second week training for my 1/2 marathon race coming up in late January. The ironic part about it all is that once I get out and start running, I feel pretty darn good!

And, so it was...yesterday was Sunday, and I knew I had to go out for the long run. I woke up late, hoping I could skip it, but knowing I couldn't. Around 11am, I got out the door for my 7 miler. Around the neighborhood, a quick pit stop at the gym midway through, and then I meandered through another neighborhood to make my 7 miles. I actually just go by time, since I know I run about a 10 to 11 minute pace.

I was quite sore, but I felt great! What was all that fuss going on in my head about not wanting to run? I confuse myself sometimes! I took a shower and called my husband to see where he and my daughter were. And, as luck would have it, they were sitting down for a pancake lunch at IHOP (one of my daughter's favorite places to eat). And, so I drove on over...and feeling quite guilt free, I wolfed down 3 pancakes and some eggs - yummm!

The Date is Here

2008-11-25T11:39:00.009-06:00

I promised to commit to at least one race last week, so here goes.

The half marathon training seems to be a reasonable goal given my schedule (no more than 2 hours max training). The 3M race I selected is in Austin, gives great freebies,and it's a flat to downhill course.

What's not to like? Well, I despise COLD weather running (anything below 60 degrees) - haha...you laugh? I'm very wimpy when it comes to cold weather. But, toughen up, I must .... I shall!

Jan 25: RACE DAY

The next step is to find a training plan to get me to that date!

Wish me luck on that!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!!

What to do on a cold day?

2008-11-22T21:45:00.013-06:00

Today was a cold day, by central Austin standards (high 50's), so I was all about finding somewhere inside to hang out. We looked at our options. Chuckie Cheese perhaps - with boatloads of little children screaming. No, I hate that place! Radijazz - an indoor germophobe playscape area - where my daughter always gets sick? No...pass! Those jumpy moonwalk places - too boring...Then where?

We decided to check out a new place, with bowling lanes, laser tag, mini-golf, pool tables, and lots of video games and a few interesting rides. We tried a bunch of new games, played 18 holes of golf, and even got in a game of bowling. Wow, bowling sure has changed since I was a kid. This bowling place is so high tech - you can even assign players to have bumpers (i.e., no gutters). Perfect! But, it doesn't come cheap - $30 an hour plus shoe rental - so, we just did 1/2 hour, but that was enough for us. It even gave us an average speed of the ball! Check us out!

The Main Event from JL on Vimeo.

Around 330pm, like clockwork, my daughter started crying about a whole lot of nothing. The more you ask her what's wrong, the worse it gets. All parents know what the deal is...right?

So, we headed home for a nap, and me included. But, by the time I woke up, I was in dire need of some exercise. Luckily, my favorite brother-in-law came by my house a few days ago and broke open my bike trainer box (it's been sitting around for almost 3 months), and set me up! Thanks D! And, I grabbed my shoes, and got right on that saddle for 1/2 an hour. I felt GOOD - nice and sweaty!

The room where I have the bike is our junk room, but, we managed to squeeze a bit of space next to the window to set up the bike - and I'm so thankful. I don't like exercising in the cold much. I know, trainers aren't that interesting - but today, it was quite novel. It's the $89 dollar type from Performance Bikes. I heard it whirling in the background, but it didn't bother me much since I had my iPod on the whole time. Maddy (my bike) is happy now that I finally started using her again, and I love my trainer!

Still thinking about my date for a date...no commitments yet...if I don't talk with you before thursday, happy thanksgiving all!

Date 4 a Date

2008-11-18T14:21:00.008-06:00

Today, I went out in search of that mojo that disappeared after I ran my last triathlon back in late August. It was so nice to take a break, but it's been 2 1/2 months since that time, and now I'm starting to feel the itch again. To help me find that mojo, I tuned into Get your Geek On podcast, to get back into the mood of exercising.

Sure, I've had a ton of excuses for not exercising as regularly as I should. "I'm too busy" was a big one. "I hate running in the cold". "I don't want to spend money for a race". "I don't want to wake up early to run". Blah...blah...blah. Do any of these sound familiar?

Well, now, the search is on for me to find some activities to commit to. The 3M half is coming up in late January- that's a possibility. Hopefully by black Friday, I'll have a committed list! Now, that's "a date for a date"!

A Day at the Fair

2008-11-09T10:54:00.007-06:00

This past weekend, my form of exercise consisted of sitting in a car for 6 hours and walking around for another 6 hours. (But, I decided it wasn't fair to count that mileage, since I was sitting around and walking in between). It was a perfect day in a town called Plantersville, TX, about 3 hours from Austin where they hold the annual Texas Rennaissance Festival.

As for exercise, this week, I started out with a great workout on monday, but monday eve, I lost all steam. Was I that tired? I've been exercising lightly for the past few days and drinking miso soup to give my system time to recover. It seems to be helping. I'm feeling better today. I hope to feel 100% by week's end! Have a great week all!

Meltdown and Dallas

2008-10-29T14:30:00.013-05:00

Meltdown...

It seems like ages since I last posted. Well, actually a little over a month. So, what gives? After my Las Vegas vacation, I kind of fell off the exercise wagon. But, after being away from regular exercise and getting involved in too many other priorities, I could feel myself crumbling, i.e., meltdown meadows as I know it. And, it's not a pretty sight. I become very agitated and my patience goes to nil. Do any of you get like this when you don't exercise? I just started exercising on a regular schedule again - nothing crazy - just trying to make it to the gym daily. But, it feels good!

Dallas...

I just returned from Dallas, where I spent a long weekend with my mother and my family. She was originally spending 2 months with me, but due to some unforseen changes back home, she decided to return after only being here a month. I had promised to take her to Dallas, and so we went.

It's funny; I live only 3 hours from Dallas but I've only been there once. My mother loves museums. Me, not so much so. But, I have grown to really appreciate paintings, so our first visit was to Fort Worth, TX Kimball Museum. The Kimball Museum had a special exhibit from Chicago, and there were over 100 famous Impressionist paintings to see.

My favorite? Two Sisters by Renoir - this is one of those paintings that you have to see in person.

We then did the special King Tut exhibit at the Dallas Museum, and then went to the West End District of downtown.

Anyone know what this photo is?

On our last day, we went to the Fort Worth Zoo for my little girl. The highlight of our trip to the zoo was this large aviary area, where parakeets fly free, and you could feed them all!

All in all, a wonderful time in Dallas. But, now it's time to get back into exercising! I hope I'm starting a roll!

Fall Vacation

2008-09-17T20:21:00.009-05:00

It's been a few weeks since I checked in. I've been recovering from a vacation in lala land, as I like to call it. So, from the below photo, do you know where I went?

It was a nice long vacation, where the only exercise was walking, and I mean a lot of walking. We took in all the sights, met my mother there, met my old college roommate, and also met my husband's cousin and his family.

And, now I have 4000+ photos to add to my collection! No, it's not me taking all these photos. My husband got a new camera just before the trip. He then proceeded to snap everything that moved or didn't move!

And, to set the record straight, I'm talking about Las Vegas, where everything is SO OVER THE TOP. The above photo was taken inside the Venetian Hotel where they had an indoor river complete with gondolas to ride!

We spent almost a week and a half there, and then off to the Grand Canyon we went! On the way, we stopped at Hoover Dam for a photo opportunity.

And then off we went on our merry way. Before you know it, we were at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon! And, the view was truly surreal.

booked a place to stay at the very last minute, and as luck would have it, I found lodging inside the park, directly at the rim of the canyon. I decided to splurge and paid $10 extra for a view of the canyon, and though the room wasn't spectacular at the Thunderbird Lodge, the view most certainly was!

Here's but a few of the photos we took along the rim.

The below photo is as close as we got to the bottom of the canyon.

And, this above photo was just a picture, taken at the Visitor's Center. No white water rafting on the Colorado River for us, at least not until my daughter gets a bit older.

But, now I'm back. I've been back for a week already. It's hard to get into the swing of things and getting back on a regular exercise routine. I decided to just take it easy and slowly get into it again. I ran 2 miles earlier in the week and then yesterday I did a short 6 mile bike ride. Today, I'm was sore!

I'll be catching up with all you of you soon!

Sweet and Twisted Triathlon Race Results

2008-08-26T09:31:00.003-05:00

Sweet and Twisted Triathlon - August 24, 2008 from JL on Vimeo.

I always wondered - how sick would someone have to be, before he/she decides to be a NO SHOW for a race? After paying $70, I figured there would be no way that I would miss this race. But, this past Sunday was tested.

Friday, before the race, the stomach virus (or was it something I ate?) hit me. And, it hurt - you know where. And, without a bathroom nearby, I was a goner. Every time I ate, the food left my body via the back door. By the second day, food was scary for me to eat though I tried to eat just really plain food. Even dry toast was not plain enough - it just left me.

Even so, I picked up my packet for race day on Saturday - just in case. I talked with ShirleyPerly, rested, and pondered over what to do all afternoon. I was feeling dehydrated and just tired after all the "episodes".

To be honest, at this point, I really didn't want to do this race, and I was more than happy to hear from ShirleyPerly that I shouldn't do the race, if I felt bad. I could do my own race later, she suggested. A good suggestion, I thought.

But, then another side of me said...."DNS...what? Not again (I DNS'd in July)! Remember, this is your 2nd and final sprint triathlon for 2008 - a BIG GOAL that you've been training for since July. Don't waste your $70! What are you going to do with your free Sweet and Twisted Shirts if you dont' race? You can't just wear these shirts if you didn't do the race!"

I don't know if it was more my thriftiness or just my determination to meet my summer triathlon goal that made me want to do the race. Perhaps both.

At 7pm on Saturday, I went into zombie mode and started packing my stuff for the race. I wondered what the chances were that I was going to race - at this time, it was a definite NO (I had just come from the bathroom for the upteenth time). Still, I put all the stuff in my car and then asked my husband to put my bike rack on.

I went to bed at 10pm and woke up at 430am. I felt the same - my stomach was feeling a bit queasy. I ate regular breakfast - peanut butter on toast and a can of Diet Doctor Pepper and...wait....nothing...my stomach isn't fighting back!

GREEN LIGHT GO!

That was my queue to wake up my daughter and husband. We packed up some food and by 6am, we were on our way to Pace Bend Park for the triathlon, which was about an hour away.

Though I still felt dehydrated, I knew that I could finish the race - as long as I didn't have to deal with "the episodes". Today wasn't about going fast (not that I ever go fast fast, but hey, it's all relative) - it was about getting home to the finish line without falling over.

If you already watched the video, you've seen my swim start. I'm the one in TEAL - I know, it's kinda hard to find me. After my wave starts, I took 2 or 3 strokes and then nothing...what the heck do you think I was doing in the water? ....Looks like I was just standing there!

No...I didn't have to stand and go in the water....I can do that when I swim :-)

No...I wasn't scoping out the competition...I already know I'm not yet part fish.

Yes..I was being absent-minded.

Yes..I had to double-check to make sure my timing chip band on my leg was ok.

Yes..I had to start my darn watch! I always seem to forget to do this in all the excitement.

My swim went...well, you know....SLOW.... I got off-track a lot. But, I wasn't worried - I just wanted to relax and swim my own race. And, I did that.

When I got out of the lake, we all had to run up a hill (they say about .2 miles) up to the transition area. And, it was a ways. I just relaxed and jogged up.

In transition, I spent a little extra time adjusting my shoes as they felt a bit loose.

The bike route was lots of rolling hills - 2 loops around. But, first I had to go up another hill before I could mount my bike. After about 100 yards, I got off and had to re-adjust those darn shoes - they were too tight! I tried to drink a lot during the bike, and after 45 minutes, I decided to put a Clif Block in my mouth and said a little prayer. I was worried that it might upset my stomach - but, THANK GOODNESS, no volcano eruption! I had a couple more also before the end of the bike leg.

I was a bit disappointed that my average bike speed wasn't any faster than my last race given that I had now had my new road bike. But, I guess, the big difference was that this race had hills and the other didn't. Plus, I was plain 'ol tired by the first loop! By the time I reached the end of the first loop, I was ready to go to T2. But, of course, I couldn't...one more loop to go.

By the time I reached T2, I wasn't in good shape. I'm never THIS TIRED, I said to myself! Running is my strongest sport, yet I felt I was falling apart. I passed by the bathroom, but had no desire to go - that was very odd for me. I ALWAYS like to go by this time - it was like clockwork. But, the clock wasn't working well today.

I SOOOO WANTED TO WALK.... But, I thought of Jeanne and her new mantra to NOT walk during a race. So, I ran...BUT ever so slowly. By this time, it was quite warm and humid. I couldn't pass anyone, unless they were walking. Sure, I wanted to, but not today. When I got really tired, I thought about DC Rainmaker doing his Ironman and said to myself, "surely, I could do 5K ...after all...he's doing a marathon at the end of his race". That helped. And...then I saw the 1 mile marker...oh gosh...2 more to go? So, I kept repeating these thoughts in my head for the next 2 miles. Just keep trudging along...don't stop and walk...this is your sport....it's only 5K not a marathon!....you're strong and YOU WILL MAKE IT....

And, just when I thought I could go no more, I heard the crowd. Where are they, I thought to myself? I ran down the hill slowly. I saw no one. I still heard them. I zigzagged back and forth through the trail for half mile before I saw the finish line. What a beautiful sight! I picked up my speed by .1 mph, and started looking for my hub and daughter.

They were about 400 feet from the finish line - and my daughter was ready to run with me to the finish! I grabbed her hand, and off we went. I was never so happy to cross the finish line! I HAD MADE IT!!!!!

There was great food plus mimosas at the finish line, but, mimosas and my tummy weren't about to become friends that morning. I passed on the mimosas but grabbed the other food.

My race results are included at the bottom of this post.

Sweet and Twisted Race Results

2008-08-24T14:02:00.010-05:00

My goal for the 2008 season was to run 2 sprint triathlons, and this was the 2nd and final one of my season. I'm happy to say that I accomplished this goal! It wasn't pretty though. I was dehydrated during the bike and run part of the race, but I MADE IT! More details later.

Placed 20 of 58 women age group 45-49
Placed 194 of 417 women.
Placed 368 for swim: 16:32 500M (3:18/M)
T1: 6:07 (swim exit was a long way from T1)
Placed 191 for bike: 58:06 (15.1 mph)
T2: 1:36
Placed 125 for run 31:35 (10:11/M)

Here's me AFTER the race - see how happy I was? :-)

Splash and Dash Race

2008-08-21T19:21:00.010-05:00

Note: I'm wearing a teal top and a red swim cap.

Splash and Dash - 8/19/2008 from JL on Vimeo.

My Splash and Dash Race on Tuesday 8/19 started at 6pm and I was really excited about the race. But, at 4pm that day, the skies turned dark and it thundered and poured down rain. Then, as I looked on, I saw a bolt of lightening. Oh no! Was the race going to be cancelled? 15 minutes later, the rain had stopped, and the skies above my home no longer looked so ominous. So, what about the race location 15 miles away from my home? I debated for an hour as to whether or not to go to the race, given the weather. But, at 5pm, I made up my mind to JUST GO.

My daughter and I jumped into the car and off we went. And, luckily - no rain at the race site - yay! My hub joined us at the race site, Quarry Lake. So, with my trusty videographer (hub), and my personal cheerleader (daughter), I was ready to race!

It was a very informal race - no timing chip, so the final results are just estimates. That didn't matter to me. I was mainly here to train in open water. This was about a 750m swim, followed by a 3K run. I kept my goals simple - to finish without spazzing during the swim.

I hung out at the back of the swimming pack. There were quite a few newbies to this race, like me, so I was in good company. And, when the race started, I was slow...slow...slow. I kept wondering...is there anyone else behind me? I did my usual - breast stroke and freestyle the whole way. By midway, one of the kayakers was hanging around me and so I figured I must be the LAST swimmer. I definitely need to practice sighting when I freestyle - as I swam off track a few times. When I reached shore, there was no one to help pull me out - oh, I missed those helping hands!

The run was only 3K, and it was 3 laps around the lake. It was kind of hard to know where I stood with 3 laps around. I tried to remind myself that it didn't matter. I was here to run my own race and that this was just a training race.

The finish line was made up of a few cones and some folks writing down times. My daughter was so happy that the race was done, as she was waiting to get a free hotdog. And....I didn't realize how good a hotdog could taste after a race!

And, all this (race and food) for $10. A great experience!

Oh yeah, here are my unofficial race results:

750M swim plus transition: About 20 minutes
3K run: about 19 minutes

My Olympic Moment - don't miss!

2008-08-14T10:03:00.002-05:00

After you watch my Olympic moment, it's time for you to get to your blog and post your Olympic moment!

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Tabby Moments, Workouts, and Chivalry

2008-08-07T20:20:00.014-05:00

As the days go by, things get easier. Life starts to return to normal. There are no more bad dreams. There are still many lingering moments when I think of my little tabby kitty, like in the morning when I go to feed my one remaining cat, or when I go to bed and there is no longer a need to leave space for her to sleep.

But, I've been looking at her every day since she past, as I've been painting her using Corel Painter and wanted to share my painting of her with you - as I know some of you are cat lovers - enjoy!

On the workout front, I went to the gym on Wed- the first time in a long time - to do my workout. And, boy, how boring the treadmill and stationary bike was! It's no wonder I've been outside this whole summer!

Yesterday was my long swim - it should have been 48 minutes, but I was feeling sick to my stomach! What's going on? I think the wind was acting up a bit, and it made the water a bit wavy. Plus, I wasn't feeling in tip top shape this morning either. So, the workout was only 41 minutes before I decided I better get out before I lost my breakfast.

Then yesterday evening I went to a bike maintenance hour long class at the Bicycle Sports Shop, where I bought Maddy, to learn how to change a tire - oh gosh, when the instructor does it, he makes it look TOO EASY. When he let me try, it was definitely a bit harder. But, at least I was able to see the entire process - the part about putting the tires back on the bike, especially the rear one, has been the part I've been most worried about. But, the instructor made it look so easy again! After the class, I feel a tiny bit more confident.

Today is my long bike ride. After my ride, I'm going to start practicing taking the tires on and off the bike. On and off and on and off - until I can do it in my sleep! The next time I ride, I'm going to take that tube on and off and so on...again, until I'm can do it with my eyes closed! And then next week, I'm going to go to the same bike maintenance class to ask more questions - as I'm sure that I'll get confused on some of the steps. And, then...of course, there's those C02 thingies I have to contend with! In the end, I want to be prepared for that one day when I hit that big nail and I'm all by myself. But, one thing is for sure....always expect me to ask my husband to help me if he is around - I'm all for chivalry!

The Day After

2008-08-05T12:58:00.008-05:00

Yesterday was one of the worst days of my life, and with each comforting comment, I felt a bit better. Thank you for that.

My little girl of 4 years saw me crying last nite. She gave me a hug and kissed me several times (she's the hugs and kiss type), and said to me "It's ok mommy. Miss Pokino is at Rainbow Bridge with (she spouted the names of pets who have left us)......., and they are waiting for you there. And, when you die, you will see them again!" It was the nicest thing she could have said to me. I laughed and nodded my head.

I have tried to teach my daughter about death, and to talk about it openly. I think this society is so strange in that we don't like to talk about death much - how in the heck are we supposed to deal with our grief? Just hide it away and let no one see us cry? I realize everyone deals with grief differently. I just want my daughter to grow up feeling comfortable talking about death, knowing that death is a natural thing in life, and that people will cry and be sad and sometimes do weird things, as that is part of the grieving process.

Last night, I brought my big red cat (the only one left) to bed with me so that I could hug him - he didn't mind - all 25 lbs of kitty, that is. I then dreamed about my tabby kitty who I lost, but it wasn't a good dream. I hope tonite will be more restful.

This morning, the house seems eerily silent. My tabby kitty used to always meow for food in the morning and..pretty much all day. There is only one bowl to feed, Two years ago, there were three bowls. There are no cats to pill. Strange. I still have four litter boxes - but, I guess that's too many for one cat now.

Thank goodness I have one cat left. This one cat is quite a personality. I initially called him my replacement kitty, when my other favorite orange cat died suddenly several years ago. I was so distraught when that happened. I went around aimlessly to the shelters, looking for another orange cat. They're not easy to come by! I finally found one at the downtown Austin shelter. I think my husband thought I was crazy, but it was the way I dealt with my grief. Here is a photo of me and him.

So, as I grieve, I went back to my exercise routine. I swam 30 minutes and came home. I fiddled with my cleat before riding my bike. I wanted to try different positions of the cleat to see if that would help me clip out easier on my left foot, which is the foot I like to use, when stopping my bike. I got on my bike, and the first stop sign, I wanted to clip out with my right foot. I clipped out easily and then I leaned towards my left side (WRONG SIDE DUMMY) and....in slow m----o-----t-----i----o---n...I did another doozy on the ground. D*MN it! Club initiation #2. I hopped back on quickly, and road a half hour. I fiddled again with my left cleat, and voila...I'm able to finally clip out on my left foot, when my foot is in the UP position. My husband joined me for the next half hour bike ride, so I got in my 1 hour of bike riding according to my training plan.

Here's the problem I was having with my left foot: I realized that when I coast with my bike, I always like to keep my left foot UP, and my right foot DOWN. But, I was unable to clip out easily when my left foot was in the UP position. I had tried to loosen my clip, but it was in the loosest position - and still I couldn't yank it out unless I yanked at least 2 times. People told me to just clip out in the down position - but. CRAP...it's not easy to change one's ways, especially when you have to brake quickly. People told me...just build your muscle...but these approaches were NOT helping me NOW. So, now I'm much happier and my sense of confidence is higher. I still want to fiddle a bit more with my cleat positions a little more to see if I can adjust them to feel even better. But, that's the next ride.

This afternoon we have a storm system coming in. Lots of rain this evening and tomorrow is what I've read. Good for our plants. Not good for my swimming tomorrow. Oh well, there's always the gym.

Somber Day in August

2008-08-04T15:35:00.008-05:00

This morning, I pondered when I would have to take that trip to the vet's to put my kitty to sleep. I dropped off my daughter at school and then I decided to skip my workout today. I wanted my kitty to know that I was here for her. My kitty had hidden from me all morning. She appeared at lunch time. She hadn't eaten all day. She looks so tired. I'm in agony because she's in agony.

We laid on the couch for a bit, she purred and lay like a kitten. But, later, she got up and preferred resting in my cabinet. I sense it's time for her. She's having a hard time breathing. She's having more bad days than good now. I called my vet to find out when I could come by. 5pm tonite. Dr. Treadway made room for me and agreed it was time.

Having gone down this path before, I know what I have to do, and what lies ahead when I see Dr. Treadway. I want to take this trip alone. I just want it to be me and my kitty. I will drive almost in a trance the 10 minutes it takes to get to the vet. Dr. Treadway will gently take my beautiful kitty from this earth and place my kitty in God's care where my kitty will be well cared for. That I believe.

My tears are now flowing like a river. There is great sadness in my heart. I know kitties can't live forever, but it's just so hard to let go. Especially after all we've been through. I know she'll be in a better place, but I will miss my little tabby kitty so much. God, give me strength to see this day through...

August 4th, 2008 is a somber day. It is the hottest day of the year so far. It is my kitty's last day on this earth. I love you, Miss Pokino - always and forever will you remain in my heart.

When is it time to let go?

2008-08-04T06:35:00.006-05:00

When your pet hurts, do you know when it's time to let go?

This is the question I have been facing for the past few weeks with my beloved kitty of 17 years. She has been with me for all her life. One day I came home and discovered that my new cat had kittens much to my surprise. Only two kittens, and this kitty was one of them. She was the runt of the litter, but she also was the cutest little kitty.

This kitty has always been a bit on the skittish side. Never a lap kitty, but she always liked to snuggle at night at my side. She and I went through 5 moves together, including one cross-country. And, in every one of these moves, she was the one who ventured through the rooms of the house first. She was always my faithful friend. The only thing she ever complained about was one of my other kitties who she didn't care for.

Then, one day, just before Easter in 2004, she became really sick, had an operation, and it was then I discovered she had cancer. Given her age, I chose no chemo drugs. It took months of rest and lots of pills before she started feeling better.

Since then, we have had 4 glorious years that I never expected. She went back to her skittish self and life was good.

But, then, last month the cancer hit again with a vengence. I tried a chemo like drug, but it only made her catch a cold and an infection. But, it didn't help otherwise. Now, she's getting over the cold. But, she's very tired. I can see the look in her eyes. I can hear it in her meow. She's having trouble breathing; I thought it was because of the cold, but, now that her cold has subsided, it must be because of the anemia setting in.

I thank goodness that our society deems it acceptable to put pets down, if they are suffering. But, when do you know when it's time to make that trip? I know...you'll know when the time comes. I fear that time is near, if not today.

I've had to make this trip before just a year ago when this kitty's mother became sick. It was gut wretching to make this 10 minute trip by car to the vet. I'd rather run two marathons than to go through this again.

Yet one year later, I'm in the same spot again, only with my other kitty. And, there is no choice to run 2 marathons instead.

I disdain the thought of having to make his trip again, but I know I will have to, and soon. I don't want my beloved kitty to suffer, but at the same time, I don't want one bad day to make my decision for me. I know there is little I can do for her at this point, except spend time with her. Secretly, I was hoping she might bounce back, like 4 years ago. But, that's doubtful at this point, given her recent bloodtests have shown higher and higher white blood counts, and lower and lower red blood counts.

Having pets in ones life is so wonderful. I know there's always the end of life time to face. I was lucky to get 4 more years with this kitty. I just need to make peace with the idea. Writing about it helps. I am so sad inside but I have no tears at this point. I guess I'm saving the tears until I have to make that trip.

I am not a church goer. I do believe in God though. And, it's times like this when I ask God for help to give me the strength to make this trip when the time comes to let my pet go.

There's a book that I saw at my vet's office. It's called Cat Heaven, and it's a wonderful book about where cats go when they die. I smile when I think of it. Heaven looks grand. God waits for all kitties and has a place for them in cat heaven. The kitties are healthy again and they can roam around and play all day. It's a really beautiful book; it comforts me at a time like this.

The WHEN question has been answered!

2008-07-28T12:21:00.006-05:00

This week of training is light - yaya! Today, starts with a 17 minute swim followed by a 35 minute bike ride. Yeah...short! I remembered when 17 minutes swim was grueling. Now, it's almost a drop in the bucket.

17 minutes swim at my pool and voila...swim is done! I had taken my hybrid bike to the pool, so I unchained it and...darn it..I hit my toe on the kickstand...(yes, I have and love my kickstand, so
don't make fun of me!). I knew I shouldn't have worn my slippers on my bike..oww.....Duh...

So, then the bike. 35 minutes on Maddy (my bike) went by quick. My wonderful hub just put my cyclecomputer on my bike. I managed to get to 28 miles an hour - ok, it was a hill going down :-) On the straightaways, 20 miles an hour was a never happening thing on my hybrid. On Maddy, it happened. I love Maddy - my bike..not to be confused with the wonderful Maddy of Central FL.

My sis, ShirleyPerly, suggested I learn how to clip out on both sides to avoid being caught on the wrong side. I normally click out on the left side, since I like to start with my right foot. So, after my short ride, I tried practicing clicking out on the right side, and it was actually easier! Hmm..strange..the tension on my left side is the loosest it can be. I think it's all about my muscle coordination on the left. I practiced several times on the right. And, then left, and then right. Right feels strange, even though it's easier to click out. So, in the future, I'm going to try to make it a point to alternate which way I click out on a ride so I can practice both sides.

I finally got to my driveway, and one more click out. I stopped quickly not to hit my garage door. I couldn't decide whether to click out on my right or left.

I tried quickly to click out on my left...

One turn on the shoe, but no cigar..

And...then...plunk!

I tried to break my fall with my hand.

I heard my helmet hit the ground.

I was down for the count.

But, my right foot was now out of the clips.

Maddy landed right on me.

No audience to see me go down. Darn...

So, as everyone knows..it's not a question of if...it's a question of when!

And, for me..the question has now been answered...hopefully for the last time.

Somehow, I'm not so sure if it's my last time down.

Damage? Maddy seems ok. An itty bitty scrape on my knee.

Two bruises on my left hand as I tried to break my fall.

I just thank goodness that:

a. I had my helmet on - My helmet hit the ground - but inside, my head was safe and sound.

b. My bike shorts avoided any scrapes on my thigh.

I feel like I just passed my bike initiation!

Hurrah!

Next Race

2008-07-23T22:17:00.004-05:00

With a new bike in hand, the next step was to sign up for a race! So, with that, I promptly signed up for my 2nd sprint triathlon for the season - the Sweet and Twisted Triathlon race August 24th!

This is an all women's race, and I've heard it's a very friendly race of no more than 500 women. It's about an hour away.

I'm excited!

ISO Maddy and Sally

2008-07-23T08:29:00.004-05:00

If you know me, you'd know that I'm a very practical person. I don't buy fancy or fashionable stuff. I buy stuff that is functional and works for me. That goes for clothes, cars, computers, bikes etc.

And, if you have read my previous posts, you know I have a hybrid bike, a 7300 FX Trek hybrid specifically. When I got this bike a few years ago, I was pleased to find a functional bike that I could tootle in. Road bikes were not for me - I had no use for thin little tires. I especially had no interest in going clipless - too scary for me! In short, I was very happy with my hybrid bike up until the triathlon I did in June 2008.

On the triathlon bike leg, I hated the fact that I was working so hard just to maintain 15 mph, while others were tootling past me on their road bikes. Even though I caught up to several of the ladies during the run, I didn't feel redemption. I felt a real sense of inequality. I wanted a level playing field. So, it was then when I decided that the next step for me and triathlons was to buy a bike. But, I then had to deal with clipless - eeek!

Enter Jeanne! Jeanne's post on clipless pedals gave me the confidence I needed to consider buying my next bike and going clipless - thanks Jeanne!

But, then....how do I shop for a bike? I had ABSOLUTELY NO clue.

Questions like this popped up in my head:
1. Tri or road bike?
2. Aluminum or carbon?
3. Women specific or men's version?
4. How much to spend to buy a "decent" bike that will last a long time?
5. How will I know this is the right bike for me?
6. What's all this about components and stuff - do I have to understand that?
7. How in the world do I narrow down the selection of bikes available?

So, I started to ask several of you. Starting with Jeanne, and then Rainmaker, ShirleyPerly and her hub, and Jenny, I started educating myself about bikes and about bike gear. I then making my mental list of things to look for. I came up with two main criteria:

#1 Find a bike which I feel comfortable riding. The most important priority - but, I still had no idea what to look for in terms of comfort - don't all bikes ride the same, I was thinking?

#2 Find a bike that will last my lifetime (figuratively speaking) - a good investment, whatever that means!

My hope was that my other criteria would somehow fall into place.

My plan was to purchase a bike towards the end of the year. I thought I'd start looking around now so that I could start getting familiar with what was available and prices. Upon initial inspection of bikes and prices, I thought about $1000 for a decent aluminum road bike would be where I'd start looking.

Two weekends ago, I went into the first bike shop and felt disillusioned - I tried the Dolce but the geometry was all wrong for me! Were women specific bikes not for me I was thinking?

Last weekend, I went into another 3 bike shops in town. I added another criteria to my list:

#3: Find a salesperson who I can trust, who will provide me with the best service, and answer all 100 of my questions, and my husband's 1000 questions. After all, I'm not spending peanuts here!

Ultimately, this third criteria was the deciding factor in where I purchased my bike and what choice I made, not price.

Two days ago, I became a proud owner of a new road bike! This bike moved with my every turn. She just molded herself around me. My salesperson was fantastic. Rick at the Bicycle Sports Shop in downtown Austin let me try a host of bikes. I liked the fact that he didn't try to upsell me in the beginning like one salesmen tried to do. Instead, Rick started with the basic aluminum road bike, which is what I wanted. His first objective was to find my size. That made sense. He then took a lot of time to ask me questions to understand my objectives. I liked the fact that he researched information for me so that I could compare bikes and cranksets. He treated me with kid gloves.

When I had concerns, he educated me. When I finally decided to buy the bike, he suggested Look Keo pedals - whaaaaaat? these little thingies that caused fear in people I talked with? Me? He reassured me that I would be fine in these after watching me ride. Trust this guy? At this point, I did. I decided to go with the ones he suggested. I went with the Shimano R085 shoes - they felt the best on me and they offered 3/2 holes in case I wanted to go with a different pedal that I had initially thought of using (one with regular pedal on one side). He then fit me on the bike. He even stayed 1.5 hours after his shift to sell me this bike. We ended up buying a bike for me, a bike for my daughter, and a new rack for our bikes, plus the bike misc.gear stuff!

I'd like to thank you - Jeanne, Rainmaker, ShirleyPerly and her husband, Jenny, and my other brother in-law for all your help in educating me about bikes. I'd also like to thank my wonderful husband who advised me throughout the bike process and ultimately bought all this stuff for me.

Names for bikes? Sally is my daughter's first pink bike. Maddy is my new beautiful road bike.

My first ride:

Yesterday afternoon, I took Maddy out by myself - I was a little nervous, this being my first time trying to clip in/out. Before I could get out, I started procrastinating. I started doing dishes, cleaning stuff in the house, but then I just said it's 4pm! Get out there and try! I took Maddy out and put my right foot in the clip and off I went!

Could it be that easy? It was fairly simple to clip in. I then had to stop - so I carefully picked a place next to some lawn to clip out. Turn the foot..and....eerrr..turn the foot..and off the clip the shoes came. I practiced for another 20 minutes or so -clipping in and out. I then later went on a short ride with my husband who came home early.

The night I bought Maddy, I started having huge concerns about the double compact crankset she has, since I was used to a triple crankset on my hybrid bike. I was getting beyond paranoid - I had to conquer the Lime Creek Alps on this new bike!

I tried a big hill near my home (about 75% the Lime Creek Alps steepness and 50% as big) to try out my low gears. I was on the lowest cog, and the tire was not spinning as much as my hybrid, so it felt harder. I realized what people were telling me - a different feel completely on a road bike. Hamstring muscles were deployed and remarkably, I felt less winded at the top of the hill - how's this? I was surprised.

I felt good. We kept riding and I broke away from my husband on the straightaways - he was on an old timey 10-speed bike, and Maddy was just too fast! I felt good being able to pull up on the pedals - yayay! More power! The playing field is now be level!

I have no idea how fast I was going as I don't have a cyclecomputer on the bike yet. But, I was cruising at a nice clip!

I saved the best for last...photos of the bikes...

Here is a photo of Sally - she's a 16" trek float bike:

and, here's the photo of Maddy - she's a 50 cm trek madone 5.1 women's specific bike: This is a stock photo from Trek site. Maddy's handlebars are black and has a slightly different seat than the photo.

Kitty, Training, and Bike Stuff

2008-07-21T12:21:00.005-05:00

Kitty:

First of all, I'd like to thank all of you who commented on my last post. It was a bad early week that worked itself out. Daughter ended up having a short lasting cold. Kitty is at least eating this week, but her anemia has worsened, so I expect that I will have to make the hard decision of putting her down soon. But, at least she seems to be in better spirits and is eating, so I am happy about that.

Finding the strength to do the right thing and stop any suffering sounds like a simple decision, but I discovered it was far from that when you have spent 17 years with your pet. They are your close family - they are like your children - you cherish them always.

When this Kitty's time comes, I know I have to be strong though I feel so weak in on the inside right now. Luckily, I have the best vet in Austin. Dr. Treadway, the owner of Lakeline Animal Care is the most remarkable vet I have met. Her experience, knowledge, caring attitude, and compassion towards pets and people are what makes her so special. I know my Kitty and I are in good hands. I know that when the time comes, she will help me get through it. She is and will always be my Kitty's angel.

Now that my household is in some better order, I felt like I could get back into training.

Training:

I started a new training program a few weeks back, and I'm on my third week. Boy, this is much easier than having to come up with plans for the week myself! Just look at the paper, and do it! A training program...for what? Well, I've been thinking about another triathlon in August, though I've not yet signed up for it. But, I want to make sure that I'm more than ready. Plus, it gives me a break from having to come up with workouts! I grabbed this free workout program from beginningtriathlete.com.

I did a 20 mile bike ride northeast of my home. At a little less than the half way marker, I came across a new swim center that I had heard about called Nitro. I've been wanting to check it out, and gees..it was so nice. 50 meters and lots of lanes. Just a beautiful pool. It was packed with kids taking swimming lessons too. I am thinking of paying a monthly fee so that I can do lap swimming here during the off season.

I then went on a country road where I found some beautiful farmland tucked away behind a busy street. Cows chewing their cud. Lots of pastureland, and then a doggie barking at me from this house I passed. But, then the doggie kept barking and seemed to be getting closer! I turned around and he was running after me! Eeek! I started spining as fast as I could go on my bike and before long, I no longer heard a bark. Well, that was my excitement for the day! Ah...no pictures of this beautiful area nor the doggie...but, I swear it's true!

Bike:

I have so much to tell you about bikes! But, I'll make this another post, as this one is getting long. Stay tuned for my next post on my bike search!

DNS

2008-07-16T08:03:00.005-05:00

Sometimes life takes over. Tuesday morning started with a child with a 103+ temperature. And, lots of crying and holding. I gave her some motrin, and then I had to drag her to the vet with me, as I had a very important appointment.

The vet visit was to find out why my 17 year old kitty has not been eating well - a blood smear confirmed that she was in stage 4 lymphoma. Her white blood cells had doubled since Saturday, just 3 days before. I first found out she had cancer 4 years+ ago, yet she had been fairly well in the last few years. Now, I'm pumping my kitty with 5 different meds in attempts to keep her comfortable for her remaining days. It was depressing news to hear, even though it was expected. The vet said a week or two if my kitty didn't respond to the meds, or at best, a few months. At the vet, I read the book Cat Heaven two times, trying to make myself feel better.

So, it was this day that I DNS'd - did not start my race. I felt guilty not going to my Splash and Dash race, but I felt even more guiltier leaving my child and my kitty. My daughter wanted desperately to go to my race. My kitty sat in my office all day, not doing much.

The race has come and gone without me yesterday. Today, daughter is feeling better; my kitty is eating better but still looking dehydrated. Today, I wonder how I would have done on the race...I guess I'll never know.

Think Brick!

2008-07-11T20:53:00.010-05:00

Did you notice that I just changed my masthead on my blog? Some of you may recognize the place. It's one of the crown jewels in downtown Austin, right next to a beautiful running trail. It's called Barton Springs, and this place is a beauty! I just went downtown on July 4th for a run and then some splashing around in Barton Springs, but no swimming, given that my daughter was with me. Still, we had a good time. And, even though there were a ton of people there, the place still didn't feel that busy as the pool is huge!

Speaking of swimming, I'm still working on it. I have finally figured out how to swim without having to take a breath every other stroke. I realized I was becoming more tired, as I gasped for air every other stroke, rather than relaxing my breathing more and breathing every 4th stroke - a little trick I learned from goswim.tv. So, I'm feeling just a tad bit more comfortable doing the freestyle, but I still rely a lot on the breaststroke to get me through the workout. I guess I'll see how well I do, as I have a swim/run race this tuesday evening.

This is more of a training race for me - I'm just trying to go the distance - not vying for a PR or anything. I know it takes me about 40 minutes to do 1000 yards. So, I estimate it will be about 33 minutes on the swim and a 29 minutes on the run for a total of 1 hr and 2 minutes. Plus a transition of probably 3 minutes - gees - how long does it take to wipe my feet and get some shoes on? I better practice transition again so I have my stuff ready! So, I'm estimating my time to be between 1 hour and 1 hour 10 minutes. I'm always conservative, but this time, I really am not trying to go all out as I get so nervous. I just want to treat this like a training brick session, just with other people. Think brick, think brick. That will be my mantra for tuesday. Let's see if that helps keeps the butterflies away!

Happy 4th of July

2008-07-01T14:52:00.014-05:00

I finally plunked down my 10 buckeroos for the Splash and Dash race in mid July. It's a 750m swim followed by a 3 mile run. Here in central Texas we have a lot of granite quarries, and one was turned into a lake. I've swam this lake once before as part of a swim clinic 2 years ago, when training for the Danskin. It was a long haul for me, but I made it. So, I figure that I'm about in the same condition now, as I was back then. I'm not too nervous about this...not yet at least! And, I've got my committed videographer hub and my #1 cheerleader, the GoMamaGo girl, accompanying me again, which I really appreciate.

I wanted to mention something that DC Rainmaker mentioned in an earlier post - it's about a fellow triathlete blogger. His name is Steve. I couldn't believe this guy - he's doing TWO IRONMAN races in ONE WEEK!

Whaaat? Did I read this right? That's like SUPERCRAZY, ULTRA HARDCORE stuff! I checked out Steve's blog and found out that it's to support a cause that is near and dear to his heart. Here is an excerpt from Steve's blog.

This is my wife and son. She was diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia, an incurable and deadly bone marrow disease. I will complete 2 Ironman Triathlons in 1 week to raise money for the Aplastic Anemia Foundation (www.aamds.org).

Upon reading this, I knew I wanted to donate to Steve's cause. Any man who is willing to do such a feat in support of his family is a phenomenal human being in my book.

I hope everyone has a great 4th of July holiday weekend!

Pflugerville Sprint Tri Video Evidence

2008-06-24T07:32:00.010-05:00

Ok, here's the video evidence.

Note: No alligators to swim with - darn (more like thank goodness!)....Sisters will be sisters when it comes to putting race belts on....and lastly, listen carefully to my biggest fan in her very shrill voice :-)

Pflugerville Sprint Triathlon - June 22, 2008 on Vimeo.

Lake Pflugerville Sprint Tri Results

2008-06-22T17:37:00.014-05:00

The race is over, and I am one happy gal! For those of you who read my previous posts, you know that I told myself that if I meet or exceed my goal, I'd treat myself to a new tri outfit, and then the day before the race, I ended up buying one and then wearing it at the race! So, now, the pressure was on to ensure I met my goal! And, the bottom line? I earned my tri clothes!

About the race: This was a great race put on by Jack & Adam's. With less than 375 people participating, it made for a very pleasant experience. The support was great. Parking was plentiful, and best of all, my two most favorite people in the world came to support me. My hub and my daughter. My four year old daughter woke up at 530am to see me race, and I was so proud of her. My husband drove us to the race, which was very easy to get to, and helped me grab my bike out of the car.

And, then it happened. My daughter started screaming while standing next to the car. I had no idea what happened. And then my hub figured it out - FIRE ANTS on the grass where we parked - EEEK!!! I felt so bad for her! She was terrified and screaming at the top of her lungs. I'm not sure that they bit her, but they certainly tried to. Luckily, she did have tennis shoes on. After the incident, she didn't appear to complain of a problem, so I'm not sure if she got bit or not. I found out later that they only reached her shoes (phew!).

Prepping for the race: I was in the 3rd wave - 45 and up ladies. Here I am preparing for my wave.

Results:

The Good and Bad: The good news is that my run time is unbelievable to me! I never run this fast! The bad news is that my swim time was slower than molasses - nevertheless, it was fast for me!

Passing and getting passed: During the swim, I think I must have passed one person and was passed by countless people. During the bike, I was passing several people at first, but then during the 2nd half of the course, all I could see were butts passing me. Big butts and small butts. And, they just seemed to be cruising along, as I was biking furiously! However, I think part of it is because I have a hybrid bike. That's ok. Finally, during the run, it was time for some revenge. I was the one doing the passing. There was only one guy that I passed who caught up and passed me the last 100 yards. I tried to keep up, but he was too fast.

Why co-ed tri's may not be so bad after all: I was so nervous with the swim was because there were guys swimming with me. I really was scared they would kick me hard. The reality was no one kicked me hard. In fact, I ended up kicking more people! I realized something at the end of the race. I love to pass guys during the run! So, I guess it's not so bad to do a co-ed tri after all.

The Good Stuff:
1. My family came out to support me! I wanted to do my best so that my family would be proud of me.
2. I had practiced my T1 transition the day before, and this was a very smooth transition for me.
3. I almost hit this guy on the bike - I have no idea what he was doing, but he U-turned just in front of me. As luck would have it, he missed me!
4. No flat tires - yayay! Thank goodness since there was no support on the road, and I'm very slow in changing tires.
5. My run time is unbelievable! So unbelievable that I think the course isn't measured correctly. I think a 9 to 9:15/mile is more about the speed that I think I was going.
6. The weather was cooperative, even though it started to get quite warm during the run.

Lessons Learned:
1. I should have brought my flip flops so I didn't have to walk barefoot to the swim start.
2. During most of the swim, I was really nervous. I couldn't get into my stroke at all. I did breastroke most of the way and even with that, I got really tired. Next time, I'm really going to focus on relaxing during my swim.
3. I forgot to take my helmet off in T2! Luckily, I had to go to the restroom before I started running, and it is then that I noticed I still had my helmet on, so I had to run back and put it down. Next time, I need to just remember to take the darn helmet off.
4. I dropped my water bottle during the running part, even though I thought I was focusing - obviously, I wasn't focusing on returning my water bottle to my waistpack when I took a swig!
5. I accidently switched my water bottle with my daughter's apple juice bottle. Next time, I'll verify I have my drinks in the bottles I use.
6. I brought too much liquid during the bike. Next time, I really only need to take one tall water bottle, instead of 2 bottles, and leave the other water bottle for T2.

All in all, I had a terrific morning! It felt great to get a sprint tri under my belt. I felt that the experience was good for me. Now, I really want to do another Sprint Tri - but, I first have to find one! There are several, but for one reason or another, the timing or location isn't convenient. So, now that I've done this race, I will have to get more serious to find another race that works for me. My goal is to do just two sprint triathlons this season. That fills my goals for the season.

Thanks to my hub for his support and for being so patient, while I raced. Without him, I wouldn't have enjoyed the race half as much. He took some video and photo footage, so this week I hope to share it with you. What I have here is just a preview. More to come!

Thanks to my daughter for cheering me on. With her shrill voice calling out "go mommy go, go mommy go", this really gives me some adrenaline when I need it the most.

And, thank you my fellow bloggers for all your support. Your blogs and comments to me really enticed me to get excited about this race. Special thanks to Ellie, who is the main instigator for me signing up for this particular sprint triathlon.

All Ready!

2008-06-22T05:02:00.005-05:00

I am all packed up and ready to go to my triathlon this morning! I went to sleep at 9pm, if you can call it sleep. I felt like I was only half sleeping the entire time as I was excited about the race.

Today calls for 30% isolated thunderstorms in the morning. I have my trash bags to put my gear in, just in case it's a wet morning. I've never dealt with rain when swimming or cycling. We'll see if it actually does come down.

Yesterday, I went to packet pickup at Jack & Adams, a local triathlete/cycling shop sponsoring the race, and I couldn't resist in getting a new tri outfit! And, I'm breaking the cardinal rule by wearing it on race day. The shirt looks way better than the dingy white one I have today. The shorts I have are slightly too big, and so the crouch sags; the new shorts fit much better.

The one thing I didn't do before the race was really train with the old tri clothes I had before, so I'm thinking that I'm not much better off wearing my old tri outfit. Time will tell.

So, wish me luck as I venture back into the world of triathlons!

Sprint Tri Goals

2008-06-18T08:38:00.009-05:00

During my early morning bike ride, I realized that i had not put down any goals for my sprint tri race this weekend. I guess I was thinking that the goal was just to DO IT! But, that's not quite good enough, is it? So, I did some calculations, and 'm figuring that my goal will be to finish in 2 hours.

For 1:59 or better, I think I deserve something more! Maybe a new triathlon outfit? That means that I have to then sign up for another tri too! :-)

In the Good 'ol Summertime

2008-06-13T11:31:00.017-05:00

Now that my official 10K race is done and over with, my next endeavor is a triathlon coming up next week. It's a sprint triathlon called the Lake Pflugerville Triathlon. It's a 500m swim, 14 mile bike, and 3 mile run. And, it claims to be from 1st timers to old timers! It's a small local tri in its 2nd or 3rd year, with no more than 300 participants if memory serves me right. Their website seems to be on the fritz right now, but hopefully it'll be back up soon. It's my 2nd official triathlon ever, if you don't count Simply Stu Triathlons. I like the idea of doing triathlons, as running alone seems to lead to injury for me, plus running, running, running - I simply get bored of running after awhile! Did I say...get bored of running?

Yes, come on now...I'm sure you've come across a time in your life when running was getting a teensy bit old. Now that I've incorporated swimming and biking, running gets much more interesting, especially running after I've done some biking. I'm training to beat the lead lady syndrome, if you know what I mean.

I've been doing some training, but I'm not as confident as my 10K, given that I've not done the full tri distance yet. Instead, I've done a few bricks of just swimming/biking or just biking/running. And, then I've done just running or just biking or just swimming. So, this will be an interesting one. At least I have this week to tri the distance before the race! Oh yeah, I have to got to practice that T1/T2 stuff too!

So, I'm just trying to plan my last week of training and since I have not been much of a planner for my workouts, here goes:

1. Monday - swimming 1000 yards/biking 15 miles/running 3 miles
2. Tuesday -running 3 miles. Practice t1 and t2.
3. Wednesday - swimming 1000 yards/ biking 15 miles
4. Thursday - running 4 miles. Practice t1 and t2.
5. Friday - stretch/strength training in gym / 1-2 miles walking. Practice t1 and t2.
6. Saturday - rest
7. Sunday - RACE DAY

Next week, I'm going to do my running and biking outdoors to practice dealing with the heat. The heat can be your friend, if you practice in it - something like learn it, live it, love it!

Speaking of heat, I don't know what is up with June in Austin - it's like our dog days in August - check out the weather forecast for the upcoming week!

The good thing about this weather? No allergies! Yayay! After a tough allergy spring season, I am overjoyed that I can actually go outdoors without taking a handful of meds!

So, what's my next goal for July?

I hereby am officially committing myself to the Pure Austin Splash and Dash. For $10, I can splash for 750m in a lake and dash 3 miles in the heat of the summer (6pm)! Can't beat that!

And, then what's up for August?

I'm thinking of doing the Protest Duathlon; I'm not completely committed just yet, but it's close to home and the timing is good. Actually, they don't care what you protest, swimming, yucky tshirts,etc. It's all for fun. I'm just trying to mix things up to keep the events interesting!

I've realized that it really helps for me to plan ahead and commit BEFORE I run the last race on my books. In the past, I've been notorious for stopping dead in my tracks after the goal has been reached. This happened in my last marathon in 2005. Then again after my first official triathlon in 2006. Knowing this about myself, I'm determined to get into shape this summer by keeping the races coming!

How do you keep yourself committed to your goals? Are you ever goal-less (is that even a word)? And if so, are you able to carry on with your exercise routine happy as a clam? I'd like to hear from you!

The It Girl Of Austin

2008-06-09T09:22:00.028-05:00

Jeanne, a lady who can do anything she puts her mind to, tagged ME! So now I'm the It Girl. Does this mean she's giving me some of her special powers? (I think so!). All I gotta do is answer 5 questions about running - easy enough! And then share my magical powers to others!

So, here goes the 5 Q&As.

1. How would you describe your running 10 years ago?

Non-existent! That was 1998 when I lived in No VA. I ran off and on during my 30's, but I think the only race I recall running was in 1989 or 1990 - the Mike's 10K race in Springfield, VA. Does Mikes Restaurant or Mike's 10K race even exist anymore? (it is (was) a restaurant in a standalone brick building in Springfield, VA). I googled for it, and didn't see anything. Correction: I just found a listing for Mikes American Grill - but nothing for the 10K race they used to sponsor way back when.

2. What is your best and worst run/race experience?

My best running experience was the Freescale Marathon in Austin back on Feb 13, 2005 which holds my marathon PR - 4:44:39 (10:52/mile). After my daughter was born, I needed a way to get back into shape, and marathon training was the way to do it. And, with no injuries thanks to chi running, a technique of running that improved my stride and reduced injuries.

The worst race/running experience was when I did the Motorola 1/2 marathon in 2004, the year I was pregnant. I walked almost the entire way, and managed to stay a step in front of the sag wagon the entire time. There was a bathroom stop at every mile, and I used it. When I got to the finish line at 3:30:47, I was so disappointed - there was slim pickin's in terms of food for the back of the packers. And, I was a starving pregnant lady (btw: do I look 5 months pregnant in my photo?). I then climbed onto a bus provided by the race and headed to the marathon finish line where I would meet my hub, ShirleyPerly, and her hub. I made up for food there!

3. Why do you run?

Two reasons. (1) I love to eat (too much!) (2) it's a huge stress reliever. Running is what I feel most comfortable doing in terms of exercise, so I always turn to it to maintain or lose a few pounds. I have also found that running really clears my mind and mellows me.

4. What is the best or worst piece of advice you've been given about running?

Gees, I'm not much of an advice giver. So, I'll tell you the best and worst piece of advice I've heard.

The best piece of advice I've heard is from chi running, which I mentioned earlier. I never realized how much I pounded the pavement, literally. It's no wonder I had plantar fasciitis and knee problems!

I'm not sure that I've heard any really bad advice from anyone. Rather, I will get advice that may not be appropriate for me. It might be appropriate for someone else though. I am open to different approaches, and I will try something once, if it seems to make sense to me.

5. Tell us something surprising about yourself that not many people would know.

The scariest night in my entire life was a night in the hospital that I spent with my baby without my husband just after she was born. I was paranoid the entire night. Why would someone entrust me with this baby (Oh yeah, I'm the parent...but, that assumes I have some clue as to what to do - NOT! )? When the baby's diaper needed to be changed, I asked the nurse to do it for me. After all, I was in pain, I was cathetered ,and I was plain scared out of my wits. Diaper changing was not a skill on my resume! When the nurse didn't return my baby back to my room after my baby's weigh-in, I thought she had stolen her. I must have rang that bell 5 times asking where my baby was! When I was ready to go home, I then wondered why on earth anyone would let me leave the hospital with this baby! I kept secretly hoping someone from the hospital would come home with me and change the diapers, so I wouldn't have to learn.

Recalling this night makes me realize how much I can fear the unknown - after changing upteenth diapers in my first year, I laugh at the thought that I was scared to change diapers! Sometimes, I fear the silliest of things. Like, for example, the two scariest things about my upcoming triathlon is not whether I can do the swim, bike or run, it's being able to take my bike off my darn car rack (I've never done it before) and finishing last. Now, how silly am I? How hard can it be to unrack a bike? It's got to be easier than learning how to use clips on a bicycle, right, Jeanne? And, Ellie reminded me that I'm a winner whether I finish first or last in a race - the losers are the ones sitting at home on the couch!

Alright, now that I have spilled my guts to the blogosphere, I now would like to hear the answers of these questions from:

1. Akshaye
2. CewTwo
3. Carly
4. Jim
5. Maddy

'IT' GUYS AND GALS: Here's what you're supposed to do:

1. Copy the rules (or your version of them), and the set of questions onto your blog post, provide your own answers, and then tag 5 new people.

2. Be sure that everyone tagged knows they have been invited to play, go to their blogs and leave them a special comment letting them know, and refer them to your blog for details.

3. Once they've answered the questions on their own blog, they should come back to yours to tell you.

10K Race Report

2008-06-07T14:00:00.032-05:00

This morning, I ran my first 10K race - the Round Rock Roadrunner's 10K, and it was a perfect race! Thanks to all who commented to my last post! I appreciate your words of encouragement.

The night before the race, I laid out all my stuff. Did I remember everything, I asked myself? It had been some time since I last participated in a race. I went to bed at 930pm, but kept tossing and turning. I was so excited to begin the day! Finally, 530am came around, and I woke up to a beautiful morning. The day was full of surprises. There was heresy in my household - my daughter actually woke up at 6am and wanted to go to the race with me! I was thrilled! I ate my typical breakfast - 2 slices of toast with peanut butter. I downed 3/4 can of soda. I can't do fluids in the morning, so that was it for me. I put my gear in the car, and loaded up my little girl and husband, and we were off to the race!

The race was only about 20-25 minutes away from my house at a county park. We arrived at 7am. Parking was a breeze. This race was only about 250 people and about 60 kids, according to the race director I spoke with yesterday when I picked up my packet. The morning was cloudy, and it was also a bit humid. The first stop was bathrooms. And, I don't mean Portos. I mean REAL bathrooms - and no lines! I was lovin' it. . So, far so good. I took two trips, before I was ready to line up at the start, but first, we ran thru the finish line chute for fun.

The start line was about a 5 minute walk and the finish line was inside a small stadium. Runners would do one lap around the stadium before crossing the finish line. Like the Olympics - pretty nice!

When I arrived to the start line, I saw a few people that I knew from my gym. I picked about the middle of the pack and took a moment to get my iPod ready (Thanks Maddy - as you said, there were a ton of folks with iPods). I thought about the time of month for me - a powerful time according to ShirleyPerly (and knowing this really helped along with the motrin I took before the race).

The National Anthem was sung, and the gun went off on time to signal the start of my first 10K in 2008. I started off fairly fast - not my comfortable 10/mile pace. I was feeling a bit uncomfortable, but after all, it's a race - I figured I'd slow down later if needed. We must have gone about 2 miles before we hit the trails which were both crushed granite and mulch. The granite was ok, but the mulch trails were soft and also had a lot of small rocks to be careful about. The good news was that I was passing other runners on the trails!

But, as I got to mile 3, I was passed by a few folks. In particular, this tall guy - about 200 lbs. I vowed to run him down later, but not now. I wasn't ready. So, I kind of drafted behind him for about 10 minutes or so before I let him go. I was tired. The pace for me was a bit fast. There were moments during this part of the race that my mind lose some focus. I started slowing down. The trail kept going and going! At mile 4 or so, I saw that guy again, and eventually, I caught up to him and passed him. For the remainder of the race, I kept wondering if he'd sneak past me, but I didn't bother to turn around and check. And, as luck would have it, I managed to catch up with every person who had previously passed me. Then, I saw the clearing - the stadium would appear any minute!

When I finally made it to the stadium for one last lap, I was wondering how much energy I had left - could I sprint? Well, maybe. I started running faster and another woman passed me - oh no! I had more left in me, and then we were neck and neck. She started slowing down, but then I said - 'come with me'! She said she'd try, and we both raced towards the finish line with about 3/4 of a lap to go. We passed another guy - and I asked him to come with us, but he couldn't. The last 25 feet, I went all out and sprinted as fast as I could down the chute!

I made it! 9:01/minute mile - chip time 55:57. I was thrilled with this time! Albeit, it's not a PR (I did a 52:48 time on a 10K street race in 2003 but hey, it wasn't trail, right?), but nevertheless, I was just hoping to beat 1 hour, so this time was looking pretty darn good to me!

And, the best part about it was that I was second in my age-group (40-49). No medal or anything for 2nd place age groupers. And, yes, it was a small race. And yes, the first place finisher was a whole 2 minutes in front of me. But, I dont' care about any of that! I placed 85 overall and placed 18 for women.

And, then, I won a raffle prize - a Chick-Fil-A goodie (cooler) bag! Ok, I never eat there there, but I never turn down a prize! Actually, I needed a small cooler bag for my daughter's drinks as mine was on its last leg, so the bag was perfect!

I thought about my new friend, S, who I had started running with, who had helped me not only to run at a faster clip than I usually do, but also to practice sprinting. Those runs with S really gave me confidence! I thought about my desire to pass people - I think the ShirleyPerly posts influenced me there!

Next was my daughter's race. She was not feeling up to running. She didn't want to wear her race number, nor her shoes. I wondered if she was even going to run. She started with slippers and then took those off and wanted to go bare foot. Then, she wanted to walk on the grass, instead of the track. And then, my husband managed to entice her to run, and she chased him barefooted all the way to the finish line! Victory is sweet!

The last part of the race day was spent at Home Depot's workshop. All the kids were able to select one item to build, and Home Depot gave each child a small craft to build. My daughter selected a castle, and my husband helped put it together.

All in all, there's much to be said about this small race! Parking is easy. No lines at the bathrooms. You can pass the start line within 2 minutes of the gun going off. Enough post-race food. Good probability to win raffle prizes. And just a relaxed atmosphere. And, all for a great cause - TAPS.

A stop at Starbucks for 3 shots of caffeine and a sandwich, followed by more shopping, and our morning was complete. Here's me with my raffle prize! Moos, coupons, and my cooler bag!

Finally, and ode of thanks. Thank you hub for watching Tina while I raced and for capturing my event on film and in photos!

It's that time!

2008-06-05T17:08:00.003-05:00

This saturday is my first official race in ...drum roll please... 2 years! At least, that is my recollection of how long it's been. I decided to do the Round Rock Roadrunner 10K race, a trail race course in a local park, which I've never been to. I like the idea of running a race in a new location.

I used to run a fair number of races a few years back, but due to changes in my family and "other stuff", I took a break. Mind you, I was never fast. I just enjoyed participating. Anyways, as you know, I've been trying to run regularly for the past few months, knowing this was my next goal. And, it's almost here!

I still get nervous. Lots of things are going thru my mind. Like what, you might ask? Like these 5 thigns:

1. Will it be hotter than heck or will I luck out and get some cloud cover during this race? This whole week has been hot, but in the past few days, we've gotten some wind and clouds in the morning which has made it somewhat bearable to exercise outdoors.

2. Should I bring my iPod, even though they say 'no iPods'? I know what you purists are going to say! But, I love my tunes! I don't know..I'm still on the fence with this.

3. Will I be able to go to the BR enough times before the race? I like to go thru the lines twice! You laugh, but when I get nervous, I always want to go to the BR! And, when everyone else is at the start line, I'm usually running over there for one more round.

4. Will I make sure not to drink too much before the race? I love my soda in the morning. This is my downfall. I have been trying to really limit my soda intake before running in the morning, so I think I'll be ok.

5. Will my monthly female fun be at its peak level on saturday? I can't believe it always seems to hit me at the most untimely of times...grrhhh.

I have not run a race alone in awhile either. In the past, I usually had the husband race with me, but with my daughter, such is not possible. Meaning, there is no way in hell that she'd be ready to go at 630am (waking her up before 7am is heresy!). But, the good news is that my husband and my daughter will drive up separately and hopefully meet me at the finish line.

My daughter will also have her moment of glory, as I entered her in a one lap kids fun run - only an 1/8 of a mile. I hope that she will be in the mood for this.

And, yes, I will hopefully have some photos to post!

Why Virtual Runners Rock!

2008-05-23T12:34:00.007-05:00

Today, I wondered how I was going to be able to run my mileage. I had planned on running 8.2 miles, but found myself with a total mental block. I dropped my daughter off and went straight to the gym. I wasn't in the mood to run. I got on the treadmill and started running. Why was I so tired mentally? I wasn't sure. I did know that my thighs were feeling tight after cycling and running the other day. I needed some gusto...some umphh!! Virtual Runners Rock group, help!!!!

5 minutes later, I was ready to jump off the treadmill. I still wasn't mentally interested. I then thought to myself - I got to log some decent mileage. I could be as weak as I wanted to, but I gotta log something good!

20 minutes later, I was still not interested. But, I pressed on, hoping that my mental state would improve.

40 minutes into the run, I took a deep breath and something strange happened, my mind cleared and running felt good!

8.2 miles later, I lowered the speed to a walk. I made it!

Another 1.5 miles of walking, and my friday workout was a success! It felt so good to know I was able to run 8.2 miles continuously. That is the most I've run. Sure, it was just at a 10 minute pace, but I'm happy!

On Monday, I'll be even happier when I log my run for the team! I really depend on the team to help me get through the long miles! Just being part of this team has made the world of difference. I feel more committed. Even when I'm so not wanting to run, I'll run. That was NOT me before joining the team. THANK YOU TEAMMATES!

I really wanted to make sure I did this workout today, as my mental training needs work, and what better time to train than when you don't feel like it? I knew I had to push through the negative attitude.

I'm starting to feel mentally ready that I'll be able to run my 10K in two weeks, although I will need to train a bit outdoors these next two weeks though, as I've been basking in the A/C while doing my runs.

This weekend - 95+degrees. Hello summer!

25 Q/Hr

2008-05-20T16:09:00.018-05:00

Monday and Tuesday were challenging days for me! No, I wasn't tri'ing or just running. I was just being a mom. My daughter was sick and so she stayed home from preschool. It's amazing how many things a 3 year old needs and how many times she wants to call me within an hour. .

Those of you who have gone through this, I know you know all too well. Those of you who have not been blessed with young children, here's a view into my non-running life as mom.

1. Mommy, can I have some apple juice?

2. Mommy, I'm hungry. Can I have some bagel with cream cheese?

3. Mommy, will you play a game with me? Let's play a game like get my (43) stuffed animals and line them up. That'll be fun!

4. Mommy, will you play another game with me? Let's lay out all these blankets (14 of them) around the furniture and pretend they are islands. We can hop from island to island. First you, then me.

5. Mommy, can you check my temperature?

6. Mommy, can I water the plants outside?

7. Mommy, can I color?

8. Mommy, will you color with me?

9. Mommy, can you please copy me? Do everything I do.

10.Mommy, do you like my coloring?

11.Mommy, can you turn on the TV?

12.Mommy, I don't like this cartoon, can you turn on something else?

13.Mommy, can I do a puzzle?

14.Mommy, I need help on the puzzle? Will you help me?

15.Mommy, where is that last piece to the puzzle?

16.Mommy, can you read 10 books to me?

17.Mommy, do you want to play bingo?

18.Mommy, follow me. Can you follow me all over the house?

19.Mommy, can I put on my big dress?

20.Mommy, can you go to the bathroom with me?

21.Mommy, I'm tired, will you sleep with me?

22.Mommy, where's my purple baby (her fav doll)?

23.Mommy, will you play another game with me? Let's pretend I'm the doctor. My name is Dr. Princess Skirt.

24.Mommy, will you play another game with me? I'll be Pink Girl 1 and you be Pink Girl 2. Ok?

25.Mommy, what time is Papa coming home?

AH, I have an answer for that last question - NOT SOON ENOUGH!

Then she says things like:

1. Mommy, I love you.

2. Mommy, you make the best food ever!

3. Mommy, I had so much fun.

These little things she says makes it all worthwhile!

Here's the two of us and a card she made for me for Mother's Day. You think she looks like me?

Scaredy Cat!

2008-05-11T21:15:00.010-05:00

Would you run in an area where there was a mountain cat sighting?

That's been the question I've been pondering about for a couple of weeks when I saw this news report of what people think was a mountain lion in a residential neighborhood area in Austin.

What freaked me out is that the sighting of the "big cat" was somewhat near a park where I have started running on Saturdays with my new group.

I decided to stop running there. Call me a scaredy cat, risk averse, whatever... I'm not ready to face this cat!

Rookie Swim

2008-05-09T11:23:00.008-05:00

It was two years ago since I last did any laps. In 2006, I had the Danskin Tri on my mind, and that included an 800m swim. That was the first and only "official" tri that I have participated in.

2007 was a tossed year - no swimming.

This year, I'm gearing up for a tri in mid June. So, I knew I had to get out to the pool this week (pool just opened 5/3), at least to just get my feet wet. It was 90 degrees outside last thursday when I decided to go for my first swim in 2008, and I road my bike to the swimming pool. No one at the pool - great! The water felt a bit chilly at first, and I thought to myself - this is nice -it's better than the bath water feeling which is what the water feels like by July/August. I tried the breast stroke. That felt normal. Then the front crawl. My left shoulder felt very sore. I tried adjusting my stroke - still sore, but bearable.

I spent a total of 19 minutes in the pool - 10 laps. A slow swimming record! I was breathing semi-hard, but mainly, I was just thirsty - and I forgot to bring water! Oh well. I wanted my visit to the pool to be short and sweet. And, it was.

I tried this new silicone cap that ShirleyPerly gave to me, and it fit very snug. I tried it without ear plugs, but found that I was still feeling queasy afterwards, so next time, I'll try it with my earplugs. I'm also going to bring some tunes - maybe that'll get me through some more laps.

Fellow swimmers - some words of advice please - what the heck do you think about as you count the laps?

Caribbean Cruise Slideshow

2008-05-01T22:19:00.004-05:00

Below is a slideshow of my Caribbean cruise done using Animoto - enjoy! It's best if you click to play and then press pause right afterwards - this will buffer the slideshow so that it will play smoothly. Once fully buffered, you can play the whole thing. Go grab your coffee/soda and once you return, it should be complete.

RunningGeezer 26.2 Question about Favorite Races

2008-04-29T13:12:00.013-05:00

In Running Geezer 26.2's post, he asked if we had a favorite race that we'd like to share. Here's more details about my picks:

Best Party Race Ever: Bay to Breakers - San Francisco Bay Area. It's a 12K race from downtown area (Bay) thru Golden Gate Park to the west most point - Ocean Beach (Breakers). I ran it May of 1986 - the 75th Anniversary of the race which started in 1912. OMG - almost 22 years ago that I ran it, and it STILL was one of the most memorable races I had ever run. Back in 1986, there was 80K+ people who participated. I still remember getting onto the BART that morning - everyone seemed to be dressed up in garbage bags! And, when the race started, we stood there - and stood there - and stood there. Maybe 20-30 minutes later, we started moving - slowly - and it took almost a mile before we were even able to run. I didn't care - I was just enjoying myself and taking in the atmosphere.

Lots of people dress up for the race. I still remember there were two guys dressed up as boobs, running together - what's SF for you. I think they even made the news. There's also a centipede race competition (13p+ strung together). It was just so much fun to be a part of this race. I remember reaching the Haight District and running through Golden Gate Park - thinking, now this is the way to see the city!

I still have the program guide for the race - can you believe that (see photo)? The most surprising thing about this race was when we finished, a friend of mine found us at the end of the race quite by accident- 80K+ people and she found us! Now, that was amazing.

Please indulge me if you have run the Bay to Breakers race! What's your story about this infamous race?

Most memorable race in Austin is the Decker Challenge - a 20K hilly course. This was one of several races that was part of what they dubbed the Distance Challenge, culminating in what was then the Motorola Marathon (now the AT&T Marathon). I originally planned to do the marathon that season, but I became pregnant, and decided to step back and not continue, but my husband was running the Distance Challenge, so I went with him to the race. He picked up the shirt that morning, and I saw it - a green long sleeve shirt - I know...it doesn't loook too interesting but it was love at first sight for me and I HAD TO HAVE ONE! I paid for an entry and told myself I'd just take it easy. The first 7 miles were a killer - anyone whose been pregnant knows they have to go to the BR every mile they run/walk. There was no BR for 7 miles! And, then, there was no BR for another 3 miles! I barely made it - it was a real test for my body. I have no idea what my final time was - the only thing I know is that I finished and got the shirt - and now, I remember surviving that course every time I wear the shirt (which is at least once a week!). It is so comfortable that I have also graciously adopted my husband's green shirt into my wardrobe! Since I love the shirt(s) so much, I consider it one of my favorite races!

You got a favorite shirt from a race? What race is it from and what's the story behind the race?

Post Vacation Motivation

2008-04-27T10:42:00.010-05:00

I'm so glad that I had a virtual race on my schedule just a week after my vacation. This past friday, I scheduled a 10K virtual race, but the weather looked ominous. Since I'm not like DC Rainmaker, who runs/bikes/swims through anything, I dropped off my daughter at school and then drove to the gym. 10K later, I met my goal - just under a 10 min/mile - 9:46/mi or 1 hr 50 sec.

Speaking of virtual stuff, running as part of a virtual team has been very helpful for me. I used to take it easy on friday, but now, I feel committed to run on fridays to meet my commitment for the Virtual Runners Rock team, made up of 6 of runners (myself, ShirleyPerly, Maddy, Marathon Chris, CewTwo and WV Momma), which is part of the Run the World campaign. While I know many of you are so self-motivated, I need more of a push. And, this team has really helped!

I also just joined a small group of women from my gym, training for a 10K. I realized I hadn't run with a "real" group since gosh knows how long - was it high school? I don't really remember! I had run with my college roommate, and also with my husband in the past, but it was always not more than the two of us. There were 4 of us running Saturday morning - just a couple of miles to start. The group is sponsored by my gym, with the goal of running a 10K in early June, see below. I find that I need something to motivate me to exercise on a Saturday morning - when I usually sleep in! This fit the bill - and it's free. Can't beat that!

So, I'm now committing to the Round Rock Roadrunner 10K race on June 7th, which benefits Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, TAPS, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting military families who have lost loved ones in the service of our country. This is my next racing goal. While I can run under 10 minutes indoors, I'm not sure if I can do the same outdoors. I'm going to shoot for a 9:45/minute outdoors.

Voyager

2008-04-22T12:18:00.023-05:00

Well, I'm finally back from the Western Caribbean. We went on a 7 day cruise that was fantastic! We went on the Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas ship. The food was too good to pass up, and my sweet tooth got the best of me - and the result? I'm 3 lbs heavier! Eeek!

In Jamaica, we were originally planning to go shopping at Montego Bay and to check out the public beach near the shopping area. However, once we saw the shopping area (looked like very rundown, and this is an understatement), we asked the driver to take us elsewhere. We chose to go to an all inclusive resort called Sunset Beach, which had a newly built waterpark. The place was not crowded. It was a beautiful resort, and there was lots of room at the beach and in the waterpark. The food and drinks weren't too good (ship food was better!), but at least it was palatable. My daughter really enjoyed her time at the beach - it was her first time collecting seashells, and she could have done this all day, if we let her.

The waterpark had a lazy river pool area, where you can sit on a tube that will meander through the waterpark. After sitting in a tube for a bit, my daughter decided she wanted to use her swimmies, and she really enjoyed swimming in this lazy river area, where she could tootle along with her face above the water, just kicking gently and having the current take her. Happy kid makes for a happy family.

The next day, we took tender boats to Grand Cayman, where we planned to take an island tour, followed by a boat ride to the famous Stingray Sandbar. The tour stopped at the famous Tortuga Factory, famous for its rum cakes and rum liquor. We then stopped for half an hour at the turtle farm, where we saw baby, yearlings, and very old turtles - lots of fun for my little girl. I even had a chance to hold a turtle - although I don't think the turtle was too happy about this.

By the end of the island tour however, the surf had become too strong, and the stingray sandbar was closed. Darn, we were looking forward to this, so we ended up spending the rest of the afternoon at a local beach, which was very crowded with cruise ship passengers. The beach was part of 7 Mile Beach, and we were lucky to find a corner patio area of a beach club, where my husband and I tag teamed - one sipped tropical drinks, while the other played on the beach with my daughter.

Our final port was Cozumel where we docked directly at the port. The water was surreal - it looked like someone colored the water blue! The first photo in this post is from Cozumel. In Cozumel, I had booked a dolphin encounter for the family, and we headed to Chaunkanaab Park with the tour guide, which is about a 10 minute drive from the port. After mulling around for an hour, it was our turn to go into the water. There were about 15 of us, and we spent nearly an hour in the water with one dolphin. It was much more time than what I expected and my daughter was actually gettng a bit chilly in the water, even though it was almost 90 degrees outside. Thereafter, we took a cab to the main Cozumel shopping area and tootled around for an hour before heading back to the ship.

The ship then headed home to Galveston, and we spent a day relaxing on the ship. Yes, there was a beautiful gym onboard, but since my daughter wasn't interested in playing at the kids club, so we spent each day entertaining her. My husband and I did some tag teaming, so that each of us had an hour to ourselves - I took one spin class on Monday and I walked around the deck on saturday, trying to put some mileage in. We went to all the shows, and we also played ping pong, miniature golf, and even went ice-skating!

All in all, we really had such a wonderful time on the cruise. It was very relaxing and a lot of fun. We drank good wine, ate good food, and really enjoyed our time together as a family. And, the service was fantastic! We will never forget our wait staff and our stateroom attendant, who really made our trip comfortable.

The only really difficult part of the journey was the disembarkment process. Immigration had 7 employees to handle over 2500 people - needless to say, it took 2 hours to get off the ship and get our luggage.

By the time we picked up our car, it was 1 pm. We headed to a nearby town called Kemah, which had a boardwalk. The place was packed with people and we ate in a very touristy restaurant and then hung out at a new place where you could feed...STINGRAYS! So, we did get to see Stingrays after all! Our trip was complete! We then headed home to Austin.

Thinking of going on a cruise?

Prior to this cruise, I did a lot of research to find a good cruise line that met our needs and offered a decent room. We went for a Royal Caribbean balcony D1 room port side (left side) and aft (towards the rear), and we were very pleased with the room. We ate at the Main Dining Room almost every evening and some mornings.

If you are thinking of taking a cruise, I highly recommend Royal Caribbean. I would say that Royal Caribbean caters more to adults than to children - it was very relaxing and the noise level was low, in comparison to what I recall on my last cruise. It seemed that 50% of the folks were senior citizens, and the rest were a mix. And, since it wasn't spring break, there were very few children - I'd say no more than 50 young children on the whole ship!

What was the cost of the cruise? $3400 for 3 people plus a $250 credit from our travel agent. I also bought insurance (additional cost). I booked via Costco, including the insurance. Costco offered the best deal - I found out that prices were all the same for this Royal Caribbean cruise at the booking time - the only difference was incentives offered by the travel agents.

Well, that's it for the cruise - now, it's time to get back to reality. It's also time to start planning my next vacation!

Anticipation

2008-04-08T07:53:00.009-05:00

This week, I'm trying to keep a low profile. It's a week before I go on vacation and I'm so excited!. I'm just trying to make sure I stay healthy. The weather here is warm and beautiful these days and I am so tempted to go out for a nice run, but alas, the pollen is also out in full force. Last year, I made a mistake of thinking I didn't get allergies, and I went through 2 months of being sick on and off again. This also led to my shoulder injury when I tried to get back into the gym and increased my weights too fast (though I thought I was doing it pretty gradually). Lessons learned.

I have my meds - Sudafed, Mucinex, and some prescription nose spray. Any sign of scratchy throat or stuffy nose or dry cough, I run to my med cabinet. I now know that these signs are classic allergy signs for me. So far, I've been taking the meds on and off since January, and I've managed to stay mostly healthy. knock on wood. But, this week, I'm not taking any chances - I'm staying indoors for my workouts.

I hit the gym at 6am this morning and got on the exercise bike for 50 minutes. Ahh...and good workout, and my legs feel a bit like noodles, but it's a good feeling!

Hopefully, I'll be saying bon voyage soon! The above photo is the ship we'll be sailing on - the Voyager of the Seas. This is my first time on a Royal Caribbean ship - anyone with experience on Royal Caribbean? I'm just hoping my little one will be over her cold - she just managed to get sick this past Saturday!

Simply Stu Race Videos

2008-04-01T19:37:00.006-05:00

Finally had a chance to put together two short videos of the Simply Stu Race, one for me and one for my daughter, Tina.

My Race: Since I had no race support, I couldn't take any actual race shots of myself.

In fact, I was musing to myself...hmmm.I could have made up the stats and all! You never would have known! Of course, I was just musing - this race DID HAPPEN!

BTW...Ellie, you were my inspiration for the bike ride part of the race! Have a listen...

Tina's Race: Today was a strange morning for her. Normally, she loves to run and she's a very fast runner for a 3 year old. But, everyone has an off day, and today just happened to be hers. She was feeling shy on race day and only wanted to walk the race. Here's what we managed for the Simply Stu race for 2008.

Switch to Swoosh

2008-04-01T07:59:00.009-05:00

After my Simply Stu Race last Thursday, my feet were really sore. At first, I thought it was just my lead legs after riding the bike, but when I tried to run again on Sunday, I realized that the shoes were just worn out.

I thought about it for a few minutes. When was the last time I bought new shoes anyways? Uh...sometime in 2004, when I bought 2 pairs of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 5 shoes in preparation for the Motorola marathon in 2005. Ghastly, huh?

So, I marched on over to my local Runtex store and tried on a few pairs of shoes. I started the shoe search by trying on the latest version of the Brooks Adrenline - now GTS-8. Brooks are nice in that they offer wide widths, something I definitely need for my fat feet. The latest version felt great - very familiar - just like my old ones, except cushier.

But, I figured I should go through the exercise of trying on a few other types of shoes. So, I asked the salesperson for a few other suggestions. She brought out some Nike Air Equalon+2's as well as another brand that I don't recall.

Seeing the swoosh, it took me back many years. I remember the day (way back in high school) when I got my first pair of blue waffles with the yellow swoosh. You guys remember these? The year was 1978, and I was a freshman in high school. Blue Ribbon Sports, renamed Nike in 1978, was all the rage for the X-country team that I just joined (don't think I was fast, just because I was on the team!). I think they must have been about $40, which was was a pretty penny back then for shoes.

Fast forward to March 30, 2008. I grimaced when I saw the swoosh on the box. What in the world is she bringing me Nikes to try on? Did she not hear me tell her that I had my fat feet? (in case you don't know, Nike has traditionally carried only narrow widths).

Well, yes, she was listening. The salesperson told me that Nike now makes a shoe with a large toebox. Hmmm...I was skeptical. But, I tried them on to be courteous, and I was amazed at how they felt - nice and roomy for my toes! At $129, they didn't come cheap, but if it means no injuries to my feet, they will be worth the investment.

So, I just tried them out yesterday for a longer test drive on the gym treadmill and ran 6 miles straight (first time I ran this far since my shoulder surgery). They felt so cushy! I adore them! You can imagine how much padding I must have had left on my old shoes after 3-4 years. Next to zilcho - btw, is that a word? I can't believe it took me this long to get a new pair of shoes. Obviously, I wasn't too serious about running for the past few years!

I'm still very surprised that I bought a pair of Nike shoes. And, to top it off, my husband also bought a pair of Nike shoes (he's not a Nike shoe person either!) So, Nike has definitely done something right in my book, since we both switched!

So, tell me...when was the last time you bought some new running shoes? What's your favorite brand/model and why do you like them? I would love to hear from you.

Simply Stu Race Report

2008-03-27T19:38:00.019-05:00

Hey, I'm a day early! The Simply Stu Race weekend has yet to begin! But, that's the beauty of a virtual race. I decided today would be a better day, weather-wise, than tomorrow, so today (thursday) was my Simply Stu race day. My plan was to do a duathlon:

Plan:

- a 3 mile run (goal 11 minute mile for a total of 33 minutes),

- a 15 mile bike ride (goal 12 miles/hr for a total of 1 hour 15 minutes),

- a 3 mile run (goal 11 minute mile for a total of 33 minutes).

I had not goals for transition time.

Actuals:

I planned to start at 10am, but after 3 pre-jitter bathroom breaks, I started a little after 1020am. The day was cloudy and in the mid 60's with some wind.

Here's the final results of my race:

Run: 3 mile run - final time 29:35 minutes or 9:52/mile.

T1: 6 minutes

Bike: 20 miles - final time 94 minutes or 12.77 miles/hr.

T2: 6 minutes

Run: 4 miles run - final time 42:19 minutes or 10:35/mile.

I met and exceeded my goals, so I was very happy!

The great thing about a virtual race is that you can always change the distances after you get started, but of course, the distances can only go 'up'. The first part of the race (the run), I felt great! I decided to keep it at 3 miles, since it was the just the first leg. I took my mandatory pit stop, jotted down my time, and then I pulled out my bike from the garage.

When I hopped on the bike, I realized that it was going to be a bit tougher today with the wind. Around mile 5, there was a campground, and I saw what looked to be a bunch of boyscouts in their blue uniforms. I wondered what in the world they were doing at the campground - much less at 1130am in the morning! As I got nearer to them though, I realized that they were firemen in blue uniforms, having some sort of meeting there. Perhaps, it was related to water safety week. Who knows. At mile 7, I decided to go for a full 20 miles, instead of 15. After all, 20 was my secret card; I felt good, and it was time to show the card.

The bike ride took me on a country road (Lime Creek Road) behind my home, and it included the LC Alps, which I had mentioned in an earlier post. At 16.5 miles, it was time to conquer the Alps, and I was struggling mentally to get up the big hill, which has 4 mini hills, the 3rd and 4th one being the kickers. After the first 2 hills, I was mentally tired of the hill, and I wanted to walk my bike up, but I knew I couldn't give up that easily. I thought of Ellie and her quest for SavageMan in September 2008, which includes a monster hill. If she could do this race, surely, I could get up this hill! I sucked it up, gritted my teeth, and finished the toughest hill, #3 and #4. I was tired and estatic at the same time when I finished my monster hill. The rest of the bike course was easy streak.

After I got off my bike, I took my mandatory pit stop, and off I went on my final run. And, boy, my legs felt like LEAD. I was pounding the pavement; I couldn't seem to lift them. After a half a mile, I caught my stride, but I was still running heavy. I decided to go for a little more than 3 miles - maybe 3.5 or 4 I was thinking. I took a detour off my course, and cursed myself at mile 2 for doing that. I was really getting tired mentally more than physically. The wind was really getting to me. Mile 3 and 4 were kind of a blur. I was trudging at this point. I finally crossed the last major intersection back to my street and my garmin showed exactly 4 miles when I crossed my driveway - how's that for luck?

I got home and found my two cats asleep. Neither of them much cared about my feat. I should have been happy, but instead, I was just tired, more mentally than physically. How could that be? I later realized that my mental state hadn't received enough training since I had my shoulder surgery. I was fighting myself more mentally, than I was physically today - my mental limit was 2 hours, and today, I was out there for 3 hours. I remember when I ran my last marathon a few years back, at mile 20, my legs were physically so tired, and I relied on my mental toughness to push me to the finish line. It was a great feeling to know how strong my mind was at that time. I yearn for that feeling once again. More training...more training... The good thing is...I have all spring and summer and fall!

I then looked at the bright side. I thought about what I just accomplished. Last month, I was seriously wondering how I could do the Simply Stu race. Even two weeks ago, I was wondering if I was just kidding myself about the distances I chose. I'm glad I had your support and this blog - otherwise, I think I would have talked myself out of it. So, thank you my blogger friends, for all your support!

As for virtual races, there are some great advantages in doing a virtual race for me:
- FREE...FREE...FREE!
- I don't have to wake up early!
- I can go to the bathroom up to the very last minute.
- There's never any lines to the bathroom!
- I can make the race LONGER than I planned, if I so choose.
- I can commit any day of the week for the race.

However, there are definitely things I miss about a real race:
- I missed the adrenaline that comes with the sound of the horn when the race starts.
- I missed pacing myself with the other people around me.
- I missed the exhilaration when crossing the finish line.
- I really missed the great after race food and activities!

So, now that I have the Simply Stu race under my belt, I am planning to outline a schedule of both virtual and real races for the next several months. Stay tuned!

By the way, thank you all for your pizza comments from my previous post! I think you were right - it must have been pre-race week jitters that led to the cheese pizza craving. After the race, I've had little interest in cheese pizza now. I must say, I was nervous about the race beforehand!

Lastly, in the mail today was...none other than our Simply Stu Tshirts - one for me and one for my daughter (we'll look like a bowling team :-) So, we'll have to show them off in a future post!

Simply Stu Race on Paper

2008-03-26T13:34:00.011-05:00

After reading several posts, I knew it was time for me to sit down and plot my course for the Simply Stu race for the weekend. Actually, I'm planning to do it either on Thursday (tomorrow) or Friday, so that I can spend time with my daughter do her 3 sports this weekend.

My race will actually be a duathlon - 3 miles run, 15 miles bike, and 3 miles run. For me, this is a big step since my shoulder injury. But, the weather is on my side; we're expecting hi low 80's tomorrow and friday, so a morning duathlon would work well.

Goals for the race? My first goal is simple - to finish! My second goal is to run 11 minute miles and bike 12 miles/hr, so my 2nd goal looks like this:

Run: 33 minutes
Bike 1 hr 15 minutes
Run: 33 minutes

Kinda' pokey, but honestly, I would be really happy if I could just finish! The run is all flat, while the bike part is hilly, including the infamous LC Alps at mile 12.

It's been a strange week for me. I had this huge craving for cheese pizza. I have never even liked cheese pizza before! Pizza Hut hand tossed cheese pizza hit the spot! It's really strange, because I don't eat fast food at all, and here I am at Pizza Hut buying a LARGE cheese pizza to go! I even ate some greasy Costco cheese pizza for dinner last nite. So much for the diet this week. I gave in to my cravings, and I had it 4 meals in a row. Hopefully, the darn craving is gone!

Also, something reminded me of my age - it came in the form of 20 grey hairs that were hiding. I flipped my hair a different way this past weekend, and I was dumbfounded. I had barely seen any grey hairs since my first two found in 2000 (when I turned 40). And now, 20? What gives? Now, I know that I shouldn't be doing this ,but I just plucked them out and felt so much better!

The grey hairs reminded me that I'm not getting any younger and I'm so glad that I got into blogging and exercising after my shoulder surgery a month ago! It's time for the Simply Stu race! After this race, it's time to set my next goal! Who else is doing Simply Stu?

Thanks to all my blogger friends for your posts, which really help get me inspired! I'm off for my workout!

Shoulder and Weight Updates

2008-03-22T06:54:00.011-05:00

I figured it was time to update some info.

Shoulder: As most of you know, I had arthoscopic surgery on my left shoulder on February 21, 2008 to fix a shoulder impingement problem that had been going on for almost a year.

After two weeks and my doctor's ok, I visited my Physical Therapist, who gave me these dastardly exercises that have really helped my range of motion. I've been quite diligent with my shoulder range of motion exercises.

On March 4 (2.5 weeks ago), I had noted some tasks that were easy, hard, and impossible. Reviewing this list today made me realize that I've come quite a long way. Here's the list of hard and impossible tasks from 2.5 weeks ago, and a few new tasks.

Easy

Riding an upright bike (was hard 2.5 wks ago)
Bathing a 30 lb child (was hard 2.5 wks ago)
Putting palm of hand flat against waist (was impossible 2.5 wks ago)
Lifting a 30 lb cat or child for 2 minutes (was hard 2.5 wks ago)
Running (was impossible 2.5 wks ago)
Jumping (was impossible 2.5 wks ago)

Somwhat hard

Putting on a bra (was impossible 2.5 wks ago)
Most overhead activities (left hand over head) (was hard 2.5 wks ago)

Not doing at this time:

Weight lifting (new)

What happened to the kitty litter 30 lb tub? Well, I've moved to smaller tubs for now, so I don't know where I stand with that.

My shoulder does get quite sore from the daily (some twice daily) exercises, but I'm hoping that in the long run, I will be pain-free. To make a long story short, I've been quite pleased with my progress, and I think my Simply Stu Triathlon goal (see my sidebar) has helped push me faster than I would ordinarily have.

Weight: I just stepped on the scale, and it proclaimed me 120.4 lbs, 22% fat. My last stat was 121.3 lbs and 22% on March 7, 2008. While that may not sound like much progress in 2 weeks, any downward progressions sounds good to me!

I'm going to need a new goal after the Simply Stu Triathlon to keep me in line, especially since I'm going to be heading on a cruise in mid April where food will be in utter abundance. So, stay tuned for my next goal (that's a secret for now :-)

Spring Break

2008-03-21T07:54:00.007-05:00

For some reason, I seemed to have lost my spark of writing energy this week - I think my mind is on Spring Break or something. Yeah, it happens every so often, and I just have to get through it. Maybe it's my mind telling me to refuel by reading more, which I also enjoy doing.

I found a blog called IFoundYourCamera that may one day come to use for those of you (or one of your family members or friends) who enjoy taking photos, and heaven forbid you lose your CAMERA! It was created by a college student from the University of Winnipeg, CA. There's an accompanying facebook site also that has more info and comments from people who lost their camera.

So, just a site to keep in the back of your mind. You never know when that sleek travel camera that you love might find its way out of your pocket.

Here's a YouTube video that describes the site, if you have any interest.

Peter's comment on the Internet talking back

2008-03-18T02:58:00.008-05:00

On one of my long walks, I was thinking about a comment Peter made to me in my last Carpe Diem post regarding my mention of my blog as my diary. I started pondering some questions.

1. Does your significant other (or best friend) actually read your posts?

2. If they don't, do you ever feel like saying to them - just read my blog?

3. Do people tell the Internet secrets about themselves, even deep dark secrets?

4. Do you have a secret(s) that you wish you could share with others in your blog, but haven't mustered the courage to do so, for whatever reason?

Here's my rundown:

#1: For me, I doubt my husband reads my blog - although I've suggested it. Hubby, if you're reading this, comment to me, and I shall be surprised!
#2: No, I've never said to him "just read my blog". I figure he has his own interests, and prefers stuff comes out of my mouth in between the "mommy, I need your help" requests from my daughter that occur every 3 minutes. But, I can imagine someone who would say this!
#3: Yes, people do tell the Internet their secrets - I encourage you to check out PostSecrets project, a very interesting community blog that I heard about via SXSWi that will make you smile and bring tears to your eyes; at least it did for me. Over 200,000 anonymous postcards received for this project. Obviously, people want to tell their secrets - but want to do so anonymously.
#4: Finally, for the last question, yes, of course I have secrets. Are they deep dark secrets? No, not really, but they're definitely scary to me right now. I'm waiting til the end of the month before deciding whether I'm ready to share.

I would love to hear your answers to the above questions. Plus, any secrets you want to share, you can share here too, and if you prefer, you can opt to do so anonymously when you comment.

One more thing, it's EvoTri voting time again! And, please vote for the humbletriathlete! Check out her March 14, 2008 blog post for the 2nd EvoTri contest and vote by 3/21!

Carpe diem (Seize the moment)

2008-03-12T16:47:00.002-05:00

When I was young, I tried to write in a diary, but always found it to be such a chore. I wondered how or why people did this. Writing a blog post is a much better version of writing in a diary - the diary writes back! This morning, my diary wrote back and said - if I'm up at 2:00am, maybe I should run at 2:00 am! Seize the moment! Git 'er done! That comment came from Rural Girl, and she really inspired me to get outside today and run.

Although I wasn't running at 2am, as she suggested, I did seize the day and "got 'er done". I also had a little help from Mr. Sun who brought blue skies and 75 degrees weather to me.

I started the day with some new rehab exercises from my Physical Therapist - oh, how boring these exercises are! I couldn't believe when she told me that I had to do some twice a day, and the rest daily! Ugh.... But, if it means full range of motion in a month, I'll do them!

After eating lunch and taking a short nap, I was ready to go for my run. I was just about to walk out the door, when my 3 year old daughter awoke from her nap, and insisted on coming too, even though her father was insisting she stay with him at home. My husband pulled out the jogging stroller, and my daughter and I headed back to Lime Creek Road (the same road from my last video).

During my warmup, it felt awkward to run. The stroller felt like it weighed a ton - I was sure my daughter must have secretly put some 500 lb crystals in the stroller! I hit the 1/2 mile marker and wondered how I'd even manage 2.5 miles today. My daughter kept rambling about something, which made it very difficult to concentrate on my running. I wanted to stop. I thought of Rural Girl. I was grumbling! I kept going.

I hit the 1.5 marker and wondered for a second whether I should head back. I then decided to keep going. At 3 miles, I came across the infamous LC Alps hill, where I stopped. I showed my daughter the beautiful view, and we promptly turned around. I made my goal for the day!

I walked the 3 miles back to my house. The last .5 mile, my daughter jumped out of the stroller. It was potty time, but no bathroom around. Thank goodness for bushes. She never seems to mind (unlike me!), and she did her little tinkle and decided she wanted to walk. I was rolling my eyes, but said ok. She then promptly stumbled and skinned her knees! Oh, it's so painful to see. But, she was a trooper and insisted on walking home the rest of the way.

At home, I realized how exhausted I was - I felt like I ran a half marathon or something! I felt pretty silly for feeling this way. And, like all moms, there's no rest for the weary. I had to feed my daughter something immediately and then start dinner. I grabbed some cereal for her to eat, took a quick shower and headed back to the kitchen. I was so tired, but at the same time, I was really happy about what I accomplished today. Thanks Rural Girl for the push!

Reaching this goal, I feel like I'll be ready to do the Simply Stu race (see my sidebar for my goals for the race) which is at the end of this month.

Sleep ...come and get me..

2008-03-12T02:12:00.006-05:00

I'm just starting to rev up my engine this week. My goal for the week is to be able to run 3 miles - well, maybe 30 minutes really. I'm supposed to be doing 2.5 miles tomorrow, but I'm not sure that I'm going to even be able to stay awake for the run, since I'm wide-eyed and bushy tail now.

So, what am I doing at 2am in the morning? I can't seem to stop playing this web app called Bitstrips, one of the finalists in the 2008 SXSW web awards. I thought I'd be the last person interested in creating comic strips. But this app is like Twitter - it's highly addictive! You get to create your own characters, plus, they have SXSW characters, and other miscellaneous items already built and ready for you to incorporate in your comic strip!

Anyone want to be bitstripped?

Imagine by Archuleta

2008-03-10T14:02:00.009-05:00

I couldn't help but write this post after stumbling across this YouTube video of this absolutely talented 17 year old, David Archuleta, from Utah. You have to see and hear for yourself. Randy said it so well, when he said "you're singing with such maturity beyond your years...". I do not watch American Idol at all, but now I'm interested in seeing whether he will take it all!

It's so inspiring to see this kid go after his dreams. As talented as he is, it also takes "courage, patience, and perseverance" to have gotten this far on the show. Wise words from ShirleyPerly for anyone with a dream.

Back in the Saddle

2008-03-09T19:16:00.005-05:00

Here's a little movie from my first bike ride after my shoulder surgery. This was from last wednesday, when we had an absolutely perfect spring day in Austin. I can't wait til that weather comes back, as I want to get out there and ride again!

Austin in March

2008-03-07T15:49:00.005-06:00

Hey, they finally changed the Blogger dashboard to reflect info on the SXSW (South by Southwest) Blogger Party in...where else but my town - Austin, TX! Alas, I won't be going, but I love all this blogging stuff and blogging is a big topic for this conference. I had no idea that SXSW had a technology piece to it, called SXSW Interactive, until I started seeing a bunch of tweets from these geeky folks I subscribe to, all descending upon Austin. If you enjoy all this blogging technology stuff, be sure to have a read.

Anyways, March is a strange month for weather in Austin. Some days, it feels like I'm in San Diego. Then, a day later, we get hit with wind chills bringing the temperature down to the mid 20's - what I term "Stuville" (for Simply Stu in Wisconsin). But, at least, I know that spring is trying to break through, and it will be here soon enough.

On cold days (below 50 for me!), I head to the gym and this morning was no exception. Today, I just walked on the treadmill and did a leisurely stairmaster climb, as I had some shoulder pains the night before.

And, today I also decided to jump on the scale (I hate that scale!). After reading a post from Nancy about signing up for a Biggest Loser program at her local YMCA, I knew I needed to get on this bandwagon too. But, I was surprised to see the weight - 121.3 lbs. It seemed wrong (I was thinking I was weighing at least 130), so I tried weighing myself in the gym too, and the weight was about the same. I guess it must be that I've lost muscle weight. Sadly, the fat percentage was 23%. (eek, I'm telling you !) But, at least now I have my baseline, and I've put a weight tracker on my sidebar to keep myself honest.

A Beautiful Day in Central Texas

2008-03-05T15:10:00.000-06:00

Today, I decided to venture out on my bicycle for the first time after my surgery. Last week, I had tried to ride a stationary bike, but it was very difficult. But, today was made for riding! Stay tuned for a full report later in my next post - "Back in the Saddle".

Stitchless

2008-03-04T10:48:00.000-06:00

Today's been a great day so far! Yesterday evening, the winter weather came back with a fierce bite of artic wind - I felt like I was in Stuville (Wisconsin)! And, now, today, it'll be almost 70 degrees. Go figure.

I woke up at 6am, which is a bit late for me (I'm now a 5amer), and played on my computer for an hour before waking up the grumpy little girl (my daughter). After getting her off to school, I headed to the gym with my trusty iPod in hand. I chose on a recumbant bike and tuned in to Coach Troy for a 30 minute Spinervals session. I just love Coach Troy - he's so motivating to listen to. This session was the first exhaustive workout I've had since my surgery. Only 30 minutes, and I was wiped out, but I felt good. I have to agree with Akshaye - I almost feel like I have to report to my blogger friends, and because of that, I make sure that I don't wimp out on my workout!

And, today was also Texas primaries, and I promptly stopped by the polls to cast my ballot. 10 minutes later, and I was out the door - sweet!

Then came the Doc appointment - my 2 week followup from my surgery. And, the verdict is in - all is well! It's time for rehab (starts thursday)! That was the best news yet! I was estactic!

The stitches were taken out, and now, I can finally take a shower - yay! All that is now left are some bandaids that the nurse put on.

And, now I'm officially on the path to recovery. I'm still on pain pills, but I'm going to get off the vicodin and move to the ibuprofen. Actually, this surgery recovery has been much easier than going through a knee surgery rehab, which I did twice. After knee surgery, I didn't exercise for 6 weeks and recovery was harder to deal, since I was a lot less mobile. And, since it was my left shoulder, and I'm right handed, this makes it even easier.

As of today, here's some things that are easy, hard, or impossible for me to do.

Easy:

Driving
Walking inside or outside
Riding a recumbant bike
Typing on my computer
Sleeping, so long as I have a pillow under my arm

Hard

Putting on a shirt that doesn't button in the front - 99% of my clothes
Trying to pour a 30 lb tub of kitty litter into a pan with one arm
Riding an upright bike
Bathing a 30 lb child
Lifting a 30 lb cat

Still Impossible

Putting on a bra
Any other overhead activities (left hand over head)
Running
Jumping
Putting palm of hand flat against waist

I'm now going to start working on the "impossibles". For my next post, I plan to write out my plan for the Simply Stu Tri for my daughter and for myself. However, I think I may vote for duathlon instead since it's only 3 weeks away.

Learning to Blog

2008-03-03T15:52:00.000-06:00

The thing about blogging is ... at first, you have no idea what you want to write about. I think that's why it took me so long to really get started blogging. I thought I had nothing to say. Another reason was, I was plain too busy!

For those of us who are not born writers, we struggle with our first posts. When we finally get them up, we wonder if anyone is ever going to find our blogs, much less read them, and, heaven forbid, leave a comment on our blog!

My first post ended up being really short. I started with a list of 10 things about myself, and edited and edited. I think I must have edited it least 20 times. Then, I wanted to delete the blog, as I was feeling strange about the whole thing. After all, it was still private - no one would be the wiser!

Like a race that wasn't going well, I still trudged along, hoping it would get better. I wrote two more posts about my shoulder surgery, and they were a bit easier to write. I then decided it was time to let go of the reins and go public. Was I scared? You betcha. Why? I didn't want to be all alone in the blogosphere.

What helped me most with blogging was talking to ShirleyPerly, and getting her feedback about why she blogs and how she blogs. In addition to great running/tri advice, she gave me some blogging insights which really helped me get over my blogging fears.

For anyone who is new to blogging or has a friend who is thinking about blogging, I share this advice with you to get to blog bliss:

1. Keep writing! It does get easier. She then told me that she is an editing fanatic too. I felt a whole lot better knowing that I'm not the only one who posts and then re-edits! So, how many times do you edit your posts once you hit that PUBLISH button? By the way, I accidently hit publish, and then had to re-edit this at least 15 times!

2. Read other people's blogs on a regular basis. She told me that she tries to visit the people on her list once a week, and she draws inspiration from those she blogs regularly with. I checked and her list is SO LONG! I was amazed that she did this. So, what about you? How many blogs do you regularly keep up with?

3. Comment on other people's blogs. To be honest, I never realized the power of commenting. I do know that when I received my first set of comments from people, I was so thrilled! Someone is reading my stuff! I then started visited their blogs and commented. I now realize the beauty of comments - no more lurking for me!

4. Find blogs that interest you. This was the hardest thing for me. I didn't' know where to start. What type of person really captures my interest in the running/tri community? And once I figure this out, where can I find them? ShirleyPerly suggested I use her list as a starting point. From there, I am now starting to branch out. What I have discovered is that I enjoy reading blogs about all kinds of people - people who walk, run or tri; people who are old or young; people who are single or married or divorced. It really doesn't matter, so long as their posts are genuine.

5. To really connect with people you are interested in, try to comment and read regularly, but remember that the relationship only develops when you both parties make the effort to read AND comment. ShirleyPerly and Ellie agreed that "one way commenting" gets old quick. For me, many times, it takes several visits to a blog before deciding whether I can relate and connect with them or not.

This week, I've been inspired by many, many posts. In turn, they have really inspired me to write! Now, my mind is going crazy - I have so many ideas for posts! Here's a few posts that really caught my eye in the last day or two.

Marathon Moms, a new blog, written by 2 ladies who are just extraordinary writers. I just happened to google for moms and blogging or something like that, and I found them. Since I have a young child, I was just loved and could relate to their March 2 post - Home Alone.

DC Spinster (Peter) who just posted a very heartfelt story about his son's birthday, followed by his 3K race. The post really touched me. I'm still looking at his blog now, wondering if I could write such posts.

Ellie is one of my favorite bloggers. She is such funny person and so genuine. Her March 3rd post - What You Didn't Know (about 7 random things about herself) has the funniest story about a rooster. She really inspires me to do things I never would have thought of doing.

TJ's recent posts talk about his training sessions with his daughter, in preparation for the Simply Stu Triathlon. I am so inspired by parents who teach and train with their kids.

I turned to Akshaye and ShirleyPerly for my daily inspiration tonic. They talk about training and getting through their injuries, one day at a time. They really inspire me to head out the door, even though I can't run yet due to my recent shoulder injury. At least, I can walk and use a stationary bike. This morning, I headed to the gym and walked on that treadmill for 45 minutes. I then tried the recumbant exercise bike which I found very comfortable as it didn't put any pressure on my shoulder.

So, what are some of your favorite posts you've read recently? I would really appreciate your input, as I'm still very new to the blogging world.

Not Just a Sunday Stroll

2008-03-02T14:58:00.000-06:00

Sunday walks are always nice. My little girl and my husband went to a birthday party this afternoon, so it was a perfect time for me to get some exercise. I checked the weather on weather.com, and it said it was in the low 70's. But, with wind and many rain clouds lurking, it felt more like the 60's. Still not bad for a nice walk. So, I grabbed my key off my regular keychain, and I put it on a new keychain by itself. I then stuck it in my jacket pocket and zipped up the pocket. Off I went with my iPod. I tried listening to a new podcast called TWIL (This Week in Law), but, it was putting me to sleep, so I switched to TWIT (This Week in Technology). Usually TWIT is more interesting, but this podcast, they didn't have a lot of tech news, and these guys were bantering about the death of HD and other uninteresting information. 15 minutes already gone by, and the clouds were looking ominous. Time to turn around.

At my turnaround point, I thought about going a different way home, but for some reason, I decided to check on my key, and lo and behold, my pocket was open! Oh, my goodness. I was worried! Where in the world was that darn key? Needless to say, I had to follow my footsteps back the same way. I finally returned to my home, and as I was entering my driveway, the rain started coming down - at least that was good timing! I hurriedly opened my garage. I then scoured the garage to see if I dropped that darn key, but it was nowhere to be seen. My heart sank. I knew I put it in that pocket, and couldn't believe that I didn't zip up the pocket correctly.

I took the jacket off. I looked in the pocket again. Still no key. Thoughts of the locksmith and the cost to rekey the house were making me feel quite unhappy. I was about to throw in the towel when I spotted another little zipper behind the first pocket - lo and behold, another pocket! The key is still in my possession the whole time - duh! Life is good again.

I don't know if anyone else has done this before, but it's not the first time I've misplaced keys. I really need to get one of those key beepers, where you can press a button, and the key starts beeping at you. Truthfully, it would really save me from a lot of anxiety I get when I misplace my keys. Ok, I've put it on my list of things to buy!

Tag, I'm it with 7 random/weird things

2008-02-27T17:17:00.000-06:00

Social experiments? I'm all for them! I was just teaching my child this morning how to play "Tag, you're it". And, along comes Rural Girl tagging me! She has some great things listed - check her list out!

It's works like a chain letter...

1. Link back to the person who tagged you. You want others to know who bestowed this feat upon me.

2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog. Believe me, give yourself a few minutes (or maybe an hour in my case), and you'll be ready to write a book!

3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. For those lucky people that I tagged, you'll thank me later! I look forward to reading your 7 things!

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Ok, on with the show. Here are my 7 things.

1. I can touch my nose with my tongue. Can you? My daughter can't. My husband can't. Can you - oops, I already asked you - well, can you? Who cares? I dunno.

2. When my daughter was born, I wasn't really sure she was mine - she sure didn't look anything like me nor my husband. I then saw her toes and knew that noone was playing a trick on me in the delivery room; her toes look just like mine :-).

3. I'm the J in J&S Designs, who is the designer of the Simply Stu 2008 Tshirt Design, for the Simply Stu 3rd Annual Triathlon. Never heard of this triathlon - come on! You have to tune in to Stu's podcast and take a peek at his website for more info on this great triathlon. The best part about it? It's FREE and it's a great way to enter the 2008 season. It's March 28-30th - participate and buy a Tshirt from Stu!

4. My two favorite household friends are Miss Hoover and Miss Bissell. I love these ladies! Miss Bissell (QuickSteamer) for quick carpet cleanups for households with young kids and pets. Miss Hoover (Floormate SpinScrub) makes me feel like I'm not tossing dirty water around with a mop on my tile - plus, I have a lot of tile in my house.

5. When we built our home, I customized it to include a cat room. No, this is not a room where cats take in the sun. It's the kitty litter room. No more cat litter in the bathroom or utility room! Yay!

6. I have recently started another blog called Macerella - come pay me a visit if you're interested in web stuff, mac stuff, tech stuff. I just posted an article about Twitter and how to start tweeting. See my Tweets on the sidebar of this page - read my article if you want to add your own tweets to your blog.

7. My most memorable thought of a triathlon was getting my number written on my arms and legs. It made me feel like a true triathlete - it felt so official! I look forward to the day where I get those numbers put on again!

My 7 things now in blogspace, I now pass the baton to the next lucky 7 runners! Have fun with it!

ShirleyPerly
Peter
Akshaye
Ellie
Susan
TJ
RunningGeezer262

Now available...the first Evo Tri Blooper Reel

2008-02-26T16:07:00.001-06:00

I couldn't resist the idea of doing a bloopers reel for ShirleyPerly. I scavanged the trash for some interesting footage to put together a reel to give her a good laugh. ShirleyPerly has seen it, blessed it, and gave me the OK to publish to all of blogland to have a good laugh.

After you see it, you might ask...why is she the big Kahuna? Is she competing with the Kahuna of TriGeek Dreams? No, nothing like that - it's a private joke between me, my kid, and her. You also might ask...why would her ribs hurt? If you check out ShirleyPerly's blog, she describes details of her recent bike accident. Lastly, why in the world would I make a blooper reel of some triathlete and why would I have this person's trash? My Mac, my trash! She's my sis ...that's why. Hope you enjoy it!

Who Inspires You?

2008-02-25T11:44:00.000-06:00

I've only done two triathlons in my life, and those were a couple of years ago. I'm interested in tri'ing again this year, so today, I started wondering, who really inspires me to do triathlons?

The people that I thought of are not famous celebrities, but rather age-grouper people. People like you and me. These people are my inspiration and my heros for the sport.

In no particular order...

Simply Stu: As one of my favorite podcasters, he has a true passion and heart for the sport of triathlons. I've been an listener of his podcasts since the early days. He is a very caring person who really gives back to his listeners. Stu gave me the inspiration I needed to do my first triathlon in 2006, which was the first annual Simply Stu Triathlon.

HumbleTriathlete A person who reinvented her life at age 40, she is now a full-fledged triathlete age-grouper. Throughout my life, I've seen her succeed in so many things. I figured she was fearless and God had given her the talent. But, I have since learned that her success has truly been earned, not given. She also inspired me to start this blog to help me realize and conquer my tri trepidations. She's been a Type-A person, who is nothing like me, but at the same time, understands me like no other person. It must be the genes.

Ellie: She is a long time marathoner and triathlete age-grouper, who is still going strong in her 50's. She has an amazing track record, which includes two ironman races (which included one swim full of jellyfish!). I had the opportunity to meet her not too long ago, via Humble Triathlete, and was really inspired with her spunk and free spirit attitude. I love reading her blog posts, as she truly speaks from the heart.

Hubby: I think of my husband as "the curious one". He really enjoys trying new and different things. Rock climbing, running marathons, flying a plane...who knows what other 'curious' things he's going to come up with? He inspired me to run my first marathon by placing his first marathon medal along with a picture of himself on our mantle. I don't think I would have ever done a marathon (and certainly not a triathlon!) if I had not met him.

So, who inspires you and why?

Why Swimming is Hard

2008-02-25T06:50:00.000-06:00

I've been trying to think of all the excuses I've had about why I don't tri, and they always seem to lead me down the swim path. Funny, I learned to swim as a child. Though I was never very good, it was no different from me learning how to use a bicycle.

I'm envious when I see people swimming like fish. They seem to just glide through the water with little effort. Heavy-set people, normal size people, thin people. Doesn't matter. I keep wondering...what are they doing that makes them swim so effortlessly?

So, why all my trepidation about swimming? Well, here are my reasons:

1. Water in my ears is a killer for me. I've tried several ear plugs, but none seem to stay in my ear well - and when they don't stay in, I get a really bad headache and feel nauseated when I leave the pool. I'm not sure what to do about this. Any ideas?

2. I don't freestyle well - when I breathe, I feel like I'm gasping for air. I know I need to focus on my technique to improve.

3. I get bored swimming laps. I did get an mp3 player to relieve the boredom, but still swimming hasn't caught my interest.

Where to next? Well, nothing until my shoulder recovers. But, it helps to write down my reasons, as it gives me a place to start when I get back into the pool.

Gauze B Gone

2008-02-24T07:20:00.000-06:00

It was 5am, and my internal clock rang, and I awoke in a hurry. The first thing on my mind was...get that hunk 'o gauze off my shoulder! But first...duty calls...as I headed to the kitchen and opened up a can of cat food for my hungry kitties. Then, a few other kitty duties later, and I was ready to look at my shoulder.

That huge hunk 'o gauze was taped to my skin quite well, and I had to get a little help before it came off. What remained were a few pieces of gauze covering my 3 stitches, plus some doodle marks from my doctor. Further up my neck were marks left from the sling I wore, which I wore for a day after my surgery.

All in all, nothing too thrilling, but at least now I could pull my arm away from my side without it sticking! 9 more days until the stitches come out.

Hunk 'o Gauze

2008-02-22T16:31:00.001-06:00

It started back in April 2007. After being sick off and on for 2 months, I finally thought I kicked the cold that I had. I gradually started regaining my strength at the gym, when I started feeling some twinge in my left shoulder. I would later find out what shoulder impingement is about.

After going through 2 rounds of cortisone shots and physical therapy with no lasting results, I finally decided to go under the knife. I was concerned that if I didn't move forward with the surgery, I might end up with a full rotator cuff tear, which is more severe.

Yesterday, I had arthroscopic surgery on my shoulder (called a shoulder decompression or arthroscopic acromioplasty), in hopes that this will permanently cure me of the aches I've been experiencing. The surgery included cleaning out some tissue and shaving the acromion bone to prevent further impingment. A relatively common surgery, this surgery took about an hour to perform under general anesthesia, followed with a post surgery nerve block.

It's way too early to tell, but it's definitely quite sore today. They say it should take 2 months to heal 80-90%, so I'm hopeful that I will be able to be pain-free soon! For now, I have to just rest easy and see what the doctor says in 10-14 days.

I hope to do the Simply Stu Triathlon the last weekend in March 2008, but I will first be checking with my doctor as to what I can do before I make any commitments.

Close encounters of the Triathlete kind

2008-02-16T14:22:00.000-06:00

After much anticipation, I have finally started creating this new blog. I had created a few websites and blogs for myself in the past but not any that I kept up. And, the last one in Blogger was one I never published - guess that one doesn't count. Anyone else do something silly like that? I guess I wasn't really ready to start a blog, as I wasn't serious about getting back into running and doing a triathlon. So, what changed?

One day, I met a guy, who is also a personal trainer, at my local gym, and I found out that he was planning to do his first triathlon this year. He told me his daughter was a triathlete, and that he coached her, and now, he was planning to do one himself. I thought..hmm, that's an interesting idea, and one I had not thought about in awhile.

Then, my favorite tri podcaster, Simply Stu, contacted me about a Tshirt logo. I was thrilled to help him create a design for his 3rd world-wide annual Triathlon, to be held March 28-30, 2008. My very first triathlon was the Simply Stu Triathlon in 2006. I started wondering whether I should participate in the Simply Stu Triathlon this year.

I then received an email from Rural Girl to create a logo for her Run the World group.

Then my sister, the HumbleTriathlete, contacted me and came out to work on her EvoTri video application. Why come all the way from Orlando to Austin? Well, I have an iMac and all the cool software to create a video. Check out her finished video on YouTube. My contribution to the video? Well, I can say that I am the creator of the bass voice who said "Vote for Shirley Pratt", compliments of GarageBand. I had a hoot working with her on this.

Then, we met up with her blogger tri friend, Ellie, who also lives in Austin. She's a two time ironman triathlete finisher, and I was just in awe of her. She has a real zest for life, and it was so great to meet her.

I kept wondering to myself, why am I encountering all these triathletes? Someone upstairs is definitely hinting to me, not once, but several times. Maybe I should give it a tri!

3 Things About Me

2008-02-16T10:04:00.000-06:00

So, why am I starting this blog? Here's 3 reasons I could come up with:

I need to get in shape - the story of my life.
I've been inspired by several triathletes who I've recently been in touch with.
I'm in need of some goals, and goals are easier to attain when you write them down!