Race eve!

My kids are crazy tonight.  We just watched Marley mush her first smore into her mouth.  It's really one of my favorite firsts.  I took a thousand photos.  I have the same photos of Payton.  Gooey marshmallows everywhere.  Chocolate and graham cracker massaged around her mouth.  She is probably stuck to her pillow as she now sleeps.   Precise Payton  has the eating of a smore down to a science and pretty much can eat the whole thing without making a mess.  This is my perfect way to spend an evening.  And perfect way to relax the night before my first race in a couple of years.  I still don't know why I didn't race last season.  I guess I just wasn't in the mood.  So to make up for it, I'm starting off this season with my first Olympic distance race.  It didn't seem to daunting until I finally realized, today I think, that I am going to swim a mile, A MILE, tomorrow morning.  Thank goodness I bought that wetsuit so I can be slightly buoyant!  

Jokes aside, this is going to be a fun day.  There is a lot of family here, spending time together.  Today, we took the kids to the pool for a few hours.  Payton is getting better at trusting the water.  Marley is hanging on to her floaty and jumping off the steps.  She really wants nothing to do with us holding her.  Payton so badly wanted to go down the "kids" water slide and is close to finding her courage to do so!  Maybe tomorrow Payte!  She did sit in the slide for just a moment today, which was a big deal.  

I'm really excited for my husband, Eric to experience his first sprint triathlon tomorrow.  It's interesting trying to manage how we will juggle the kids and the two of us in the race.  Thanks Aunties, Uncles, Grandmas and Papas!  I'm really proud of Eric for all of his hard work.  It's a lot for one person to train in a family.  It's been even more work finding the extra time for both of us to train.  We do our best to keep the workout time away from the kids time, which means lots of training when we should be sleeping.  Sometimes, I think it good for the kids to see us training too, it's a great example of goal achievement and fitness.  I'd rather them see us working out then loafin' in front of the TV.

I'm excited for a great day tomorrow in Moses Lake.  I love you Eric...enjoy the swim, ride and run!!!

Mom

I have the most supportive mom in the world!!!  That is how all kids should feel and it is how I truly feel.  This comes in every aspect of my life, and has always been there.  Yes, even in those wonderful years when I'm quite sure she wanted to strangle me.  I specifically recall struggling though an eating disorder.  Other people in my life wanted to take "action" from the "professionals".  My mom told me she had complete confidence in me, she knew I would be ok and she supported me.  Now, I know had I not improved from there, she would have taken drastic measures.  She isn't stupid.  But she knew and said exactly what I needed to hear.  Those words helped me to have the courage within myself to turn the corner.  

Part of turning the corner included finding some healthy ways to view myself and live my life.   This included my continued love of running which eventually turned into triathlon training. During my marathon training, Mom and John where my support team.  The spent endless Saturday mornings driving around Lake Sammamish, giving me water and gu.  I'm sure mom was making sure I didn't get run over or abducted as well.  I specifically remember a race mom came to down in Olympia.  She took her entire day to truck me down to Myllersylvinia State park and wait for me to complete my thirteen mile run.  I can imagine watching marathon running has got to be the most boring thing in the world.  You wait and wait and wait for them to return.  At least in triathlons you get to watch people transition.  I won that race, the only win I've ever had.  I remember winning, because it felt great.  Most importantly, I remember her being there.

I called my mom on Friday and asked if I could come to her house on Saturday morning, drop of the girls and go for a long run.  Of course I could!  They were going to work on their yard so the kids to help.  Well, I don't think they got much of their yard worked on!  But the girls had a great time.  Mom accompanied us to the Mountlake Terrace pool where we took the girls swimming.  I love that she comes to the pool with us and I love watching her swim with her granddaughters.  It is truly a thing of beauty.  I am so grateful that she works so hard to keep herself healthy so I can watch these moments.

Mom, you are the best.  You are the mom I hope to be for Payton and Marley!

Signed Up

I'm officially signed up for the Ironman 70.3.  It's probably best that I signed up yesterday while still on a high from my long workout than today.  Because today I am TIRED!!!  I might have missed signing up if Karie hadn't let me know there were only 45 slots left.  Thanks Karie :)

I'm excited and really nervous.  Can I get myself ready in time?  Can I finish?  As long as I have fun trying, and don't drive my husband crazy, I should be good!  My bike is in the shop, I'm making my new training plan and ready to go!!!  

Wetsuits

I guess mom and I are official triathletes. Well, at least we might look the part...or partly the part! I found a screamin deal on XTerra wetsuits and figured I would give it a shot. My Sergeant is a major deal finder and think he is starting to wear off on me! As soon as I ordered our suits and received the notice that they were on back order, I became a little nervous. The cop, who lectures people on bad internet fraud moves became concerned when the backorder email which said my bank card wouldn't be charged until they were shipped. My card was immediately charged. So I called and spoke with a very nice man who told me, no the email was sent out by mistake. After a check of my bank account to see we hadn't been drained of funds, I became excited again at the prospect of being one of those cool-wetsuit wearers. Then I realized I better get moving in the pool so I can actually swim the mile I've committed myself to! The suits arrived yesterday and mine, so far, fits just right. Mom gets hers tomorrow. I can't wait to give it a try, but will probably have to wait for a bit warmer temperatures. Finally, I thought about a few years from now, when I get the team going and some amazing kid is going to get to use this suit and realize they can do great things!!!

Happy Birthday Margador!!!

I woke up early this morning, as I do many mornings, and REALLY didn't want to get out of bed. But I did, because I told my mom I would meet her for a swim. As I told my husband I was leaving, he rolled over and said in a slurred tired voice, "Tell your mom I said happy birthday". How does he remember these things when he can't remeber to put down the toilet seat?

I set off for the pool trying to wake up and excite myselft about the day. It didn't happen until I saw my mom getting out of her car, ready for the swim. She had no idea I was going to give her sprints as a workout for her birthday, but took it on with joy and vigor as she does all of her workouts.

This is her second season of triathlons. At 62 years old, my amazing mother completed her first triathlon. Alghough she will never live down the world record time she set in "slowness" for her transition, she did fabulous! I am constatnly amazed by how fast she can swim. I actually try not to leave the wall when she does so I don't have to realize she beats me all the time! Her first race of the season will be the Moses Lake Triathlon in June. I loved watching her race last year but am even more excited to be in the same race with her.

I posted the photos of the horses "rears", because about thirty years ago my mom and dad bough me my first "Orange Pony". My mom was really into raising and showing horses, a passion she passed along to me. Peaches was my pony and she taught me how to ride, fall off, and the joy of laying on your soft fluffy pony on a warm summer afternoon. My mom and I rode, showed, cleaned stalls, gave shots, carried water, threw hay bales, spent nights in pick-up trucks, and had some amazing years enjoying our four legged friends.

We both went our separate ways from the horses and I think really missed those lazy rides and days of hard work. Now that we train for triathlons together, I have found myself comparing triathlons to horse shows. Although expensive, they certainly fit into the budget better than the horses and our bikes don't bite as often as Mr Todd did. Most importantly, we have found a passion both can share and experience again together. We have learned, it isn't the ultimate events that we love, but the mornings together in the water or day on the trail, spending time, laughing and loving.

Happy Birthday Margador! You are beautiful and amazing. You inspire me and make me aspire to be like you each day...Geeze :)

The Season Begins

Last season was a season of watching my Mom, who was 62 years old, complete her first triathlon. It was a completely fulfilling experience as she let me be her coach. I think personal training and coaching in kind of like counseling and you really shouldn't coach or train your family. Well, we certainly broke those rules! I have loved the races I have completed, but last year, it was an even better feeling watching Mom finish her first race. The best part is, she wants to do more. She is now training for the Moses Lake Triathlon which looks to be an entire family event. Of course, I am breaking the rules again and training my husband.

This year's season began with watching again, which I completely loved. My sister-in-law, Karie, completed her first triathlon in Tucson last weekend. Eric and I flew down and suprised her two days before her race. I wans't sure what would stress her out more, knowing we were coming or being suprised with the fact that we were there. I knew if she knew we were coming, she would spend time worrying about whether or not her house was clean. Seeing as we don't care too much about clean houses, we chose the suprise route. I really enjoyed spending the two days prior to the race with Karie and Aaron. I think I gained a few pounds pre and post-race eating for her! Of course, I was completely teary eyed as she started, transistioned and finished her race. And she ROCKED!!!!!

Now that observing is over, I'm ready to begin a new season of triathlons. I'm looking forward to trying out the Olympic distance at Moses Lake this year. Mom and I ordered new wetsuits...we will see how that goes. I'm mostly looking forward to racing with my husband, mom and two sister-in-laws!

Storage Space!

Yeah!  I didn't think I would actually start accumulating items for Orange Pony Tri, but when they present themselves, I purchase!  I especially love garage sales of my friends.  We now have one bike, one wetsuit, and one bike jersey.  I really want to find a way to provide equipment for girls on our team, so there are as few roadblocks to their success as possible.  Thanks Gibsons, and I love the healthy lifestyle your family leads :)