Craftytriathlete

Farewell to the Holidays

2012-01-15T13:04:00.000-08:00

I'll admit it. Every year, I have a terrible time saying goodbye to the holidays and shifting into the routine of the New Year. This year seemed especially hard, I think, because we had such a good time. Sporty Spice had 19 days off of school, and although at times it was a little stressful, for the most part, I really enjoyed living in his world for awihle! We fit as much as we could into the time, but also enjoyed some quality down-time. We started the vacation with a couple of days in the mountains in Arnold. No snow to speak of, which is so odd this time of year. But we had fun nonetheless, and decorated our little house for Christmas, which is always extra-cozy up there.

We came home for one day and then headed north again, this time to the Mister's family's home to do our "family Christmas". Sporty enjoyed time with his 6 cousins and the Mister and I got in a little training and beautiful riding as well as a little down time (I even got in a bit of thrifting!).

Then we headed home to celebrate the official Christmas weekend with our little family, the animals, our new housemate, and her dog. Perfect and peaceful!

We took Sporty Spice ice skating for the first time. It had been years since I had skated and I loved it as a kid. It was surprising how fast it came back, and how quickly Sporty "got his skate on". By the end of the evening he was a skating fool.

We also visited "Zoo Lights" at the Oakland Zoo, something we had never made it to before this year. All the animals are put away, but they have the zoo decorated in lights and rides open. This picture was taken on the train ride around the zoo, all lit up. It was very festive!

Sporty received a new bike with gears (!) from Santa! We opened gifts in the morning with our housemate and had a super peaceful laid-back day on Christmas. The Mister and I both had a run on our training schedules, so we took the kid and the bike and made a family affair of it. For dinner we made
burritos and watched Elf. I think the animals were happy to have us home and we had gifts for each species.

The week after Christmas we were lucky enough to meet up with our friends Amy and her son at The Cal Academy of Sciences in San Franciso. They had reindeer and snow in the atrium! Noah and I also got to go see "We Bought A Zoo"--the plot was hauntingly close to home. And later in the week he had a birthday-playdate with three friends at our house. That was an experience. I'm not sure I'm "that" kind of mom.

Sporty's Birthday is December 29th and he always gets a little gipped as a "Christmas Baby". Well, not this year my friends! The Mister and I had a little surprise up our sleeves. Our kid has wanted to go to Legoland for-EVER and Legos are his all time favorite activity. Sneaky parents that we are, we told him he was starting school the Monday after New Year's Day (really, he didn't start until Wednesday). We even packed his lunch and put on a whole show...and then took him to the airport and flew to Legoland for the day!

It was awesome, and so fun to surprise him!

A great way to start the New Year!! There were some rides, and (my favorite) all the crazy displays of legos--San Francisco! New York! Las Vegas! All done in Legos. And Sporty's favorite...all the Star Wars scenes; we are going through a major Star Wars Phase here.

His favorite thing, though, was building his own Lego car and racing it against other kids' cars.

So the New Year is upon us and 15 days in, I think we are finally starting to settle in to some sort of routine of normalcy, which is both bitter and sweet. I'm excited for the year, and the major triathlon goal of Ironman Lake Placid in...well, just 189 days. This year I am doing something, for me, completely outside my box. I have decided to hire a coach! I have been working with him for about 6 weeks now, and it has felt like a real whirlwind of emotions. The first thing he did was to look at my training logs and tell me it was one of the scariest bits of reading he'd done in awhile. He's from Australia, so when said with an Australian accent, it was even funnier/more tragic. He immediately "grounded" me; ok, so he calls it "re-directing", and cut my training back to almost nothing and has me putting some serious measures in place to get my life back in balance. I've been assigned craft time! And massages! At first I was enjoying it so much I could barely get out for the little bits of training he WAS having me do. Then this week I started getting very nervous that there's not enough time and I'm not training....it has been a very WEIRD emotional experience. We are just starting to ramp up a bit now, but he is completely re-working not only my swim and run, but my cycling as well! I keep having to tell myself to just go with this. It does feel like a bit of an adventure. And I must admit I do feel happier. Stay tuned!

To this end, of balance, I've been getting to spend more quality time with Sporty, even now that he is back in school. This week we went and painted our own pottery--it was fun and we both loved it.

The saddest part of our holiday was losing our sweet Emmalee. 16 years old, Emma was our 3rd-ever cat; she came from my very first vet job--her owner was pregnant and decided she didn't want a 4 month old kitten, claiming the litter box made her nauseous (whatever). Emma was in a cage that first day right next to my computer at work--big mistake. She was so outgoing and reaching through the bars, begging for attention, I took her home at the end of the day. We refer to that time as her "homeless hours". Smartest cat I ever met. She will be remembered for her "dinner table run-bys". At our old house, when the cats lived amongst us, she would jump on the dinner table. She knew she would get swatted right off when she did it, so she'd wait until dinner was served, jump onto one end of the long farm table, and RUN accross it, to check out what we were having each night--just enough to see if it was worth the risk of going back.

Oh, Emma, such a big personality...and her absence leaves such a hole.

Welcome To My House Tour!

2011-12-20T06:58:00.000-08:00

This Christmas, our third in this house, it is actually starting to feel more like a home! Every Christmas I seem to find one thing, be it baking, finding special gifts, something, that is my favorite part of that year's holidays. This year, it seems to be decorating my house! My favorite thing has been to be at home in the evenings, with all my Christmas lights on, and even better if there is Christmas music playing!
So come on in. If you were here, I would serve you some sugar free cocoa and healthy cookies when you came to the front door. And you'd be greeeted by this snowman.

And some birds of different species.

Come on in to the entry way...

This is the "formal" living room, still not entirely furnished, but fun to decorate as my "vintage Christmas" room! Sporty Spice has set up his Disneyworld monorail set at the bottom of the tree there.

My chairs I got last summer...now if only I could find a matching setee...sigh.

Glittery ornaments from Big Lots!

And ones I made from yard sale goodies!

Possibly my favorite thing is my light up vintage village.

Got that whole bowl of vintage beads at a yard sale for four dollars last week.

And into the dining area...snowmen on the buffet...

And on into the living room...come on in and sit down for a bit.

I love this little white feather tree and sure wish I could get a better picture of it.

The big tree is being circled by a remote control lego train this year.

And welcome to my kitchen..

And my bedroom...

Bedroom tree.

It's even Christmas on the nightstand.

I have a fireplace in my bedroom. How decadent is that?

A nod to the tacky.

And finally, what self respecting flock of chickens and a duck wouldn't want lights on their house as well? The feral kitty house also has lights this year.

Hope you enjoyed your stay and you are invited for New Year's as well...

November....and Into December we Go!

2011-12-08T11:43:00.001-08:00

I finished the Cal International Marathon last Sunday! 5 hours and 45 seconds, including the 7 minute (I timed it) Porta Potty line at mile 10. Not a speed record by any means (I did it in just under 4 and a half 3 years ago), but I was really happy just to finish and to know I never walked. I had gotten a cold earlier in the week that really settled in my lungs by Sunday, so I was on the fence whether I should even go or not, but I really didn't want to miss it. So I took it slow and enjoyed the new scenery and people and their dogs (so many dogs!) along the way. It was warmer than 2008 and the horrible winds we'd had last week had died down. And they had pancakes, beer and tomato soup at the end!

To back up, we had a great Thanksgiving week, with Sporty Spice out of school and The Mister off work. We went to Arnold and enjoyed a quiet couple of days, did some training (my last long run!) and watched the last 2 Harry Potter Movies. The only oddity of the weekend was finding this:

under our deck. No collar, no microchip, and UNfixed! Her name is now Jane and she is a sweet little thing with a coat as soft as a rabbit.

We came home the Tuesday before Thanksgiving so Lance could get to his chemo treatment on Wednesday. It's been a tough month and the doctor is changing his drugs, which has made him feel a lot better this week. Every day with my sweet boy is a gift.

As a follow up, Bobette the last little rescue cat is doing wonderful and she is the "squatiest" little ball of cat with a funny little corkscrew pig tail! This week I rode through the meadow where I trapped her and there was this mangy looking coyote just sitting out there staring me down. I SWEAR he was saying, "YOU took my meaty little cat morsel, you b&#@h."

Thanksgiving morning we woke to rain, but undaunted, the Schaefer family set out for our local Turkey Trot! There was some whining from the small man, but he was all smiles when he finished the 5K and wants to go back next year.

And yes, that is his special Turkey Trot Hat, which came in handy with the weather.

I made the entire Thanksgiving meal from my favorite Clean Eating Magazine, including this healthy Pear Pomegranate Pie:

It was very good. I also made the Spice Rubbed Turkey, Apple Fig Stuffing, Souffle'd Sweet Potatoes, Cranberry Apple Sauce, and Roasted Brussel Sprouts. All healthy and delicious. LOVE that magazine!

We spent the weekend after putting up our Christmas decorations! This year we've finally made the big move to a fake tree!

And I'm already thrilled about it! Every year, we finally go pick one out, and then it sits in a bucket of water until the Mister can get time to put the lights on, and then we have to find busy mid-week time to decorate it, and it is a constant source of stress for me because it doesn't get done entirely until the week before Christmas and I never get to enjoy it. NOT this year! Oh no. Ten luscious feet of pre-lit goodness was up on Friday morning and completely decorated by Saturday. This left time to get all the rest of the decorations out and lights up and we've been enjoying them immensely every night! We even have lights on our chicken coop.

And in the Christmas spirit, I took 2 classes at one of my favorite shops in Berkeley, Castles in the Air. SO fun. In the first one, we made this:

I wish I knew the official name of these things, but it has all these movable parts, so that when you move that tab at the bottom, the guy turns into a one man band. It took a surprisingly long time to put together. But my kid thinks it's cool, so that's all that really matters.

I think I enjoyed the second one even more. We made Victorian Christmas Dioramas:

Each person's was similar, but different, as we could choose the images and embellishments we wanted to use. Mine features cats a little heavily. But again, my kid thinks that's hilarious.

I have made a big move this "off" season. (Drum roll) I've up and hired myself a professional coach! I met with him for the first time yesterday. He's a level 2 coach from Australia and a very nice guy. Stay tuned. It's gonna be an interesting 2012!

OFF-SEASON: Bring It On!

2011-11-06T11:36:00.000-08:00

Time to check in on my crazy-monster-training-experiment! Came up just slightly short of my big 5 100-mile ride goal when I woke up in Arnold yesterday to see THIS. I had even packed some pretty heavy duty winter cycling clothing, but it was 30 degrees out when I left. I tried. I did. I'm pretty tough. But I made it 15 miles and my toes hurt so bad I was crying. So I had to scrap it. Turned out we had to scrap the whole weekend pretty much when the dog started barfing (he had his chemo treatment 48 hours earlier, and it usually doesn't cause him many problems at all) and we came home early just to be sure we were nearer to the vet. (He is eating thismorning and seems to have stopped vomitting.) I made pretty much all the rest of my goals in the swimming and riding and running departments, and am happy to declare it Officially Offseason! Of course the Cal International Marathon is in four short weeks, so running will not slow down much until then. It is also time to pay some serious attention to cleaning up my diet! Yikes, it veered off course after Vineman, what with all the animal fiascos, scheduling and crazy training. I'm actually excited to have the time to start cooking "cleaner" fall meals and do more prep so that I have food with me and don't have to improvise, which never turns out well for me.

My monster training also took a brief week "down" (to about half hours-wise) as we had a spay/neuter clinic on October 23rd. It went really really well, and left me with a good feeling for the first time in awihle. We fixed 79 cats in just under 3 hours surgery time! And it went safely and smoothly. We also admitted four cats that turned out to be already fixed, but they received medical attention and one big boy got some much needed dental work in addition to a foxtail being removed from his mouth, which I'm sure he appreciated.

Sleepy head waking up after surgery.

Volunteers watching cats in "Recovery", making sure they are waking up after surgery without any problems.

And of course, there was HALLOWEEN last week! This is Luke Skywalker. We had a good Halloween, although I feel like I didn't do it justice at all. I barely got any Halloween decorations up. We didn't go to any "activities", like in past years. But Sporty Spice had a good time with his class party and parade and trick or treating with friends. I'm thinking I'll just hang little Christmas wreaths on the giant spiders I've got out and call it a day.

THIS was my major project of Halloween week! Meet Bobette (she has no tail). I happened upon Bobette in one of our East Bay Parks last weekend while doing my long trail run. Now, this isn't a park you can just drive up to, like a kid park. No..this one is out in the middle of nowhere, far from any kind of houses, and she was way far from the access road, down near some picnic tables. I see these abandoned cats often on the trails, which KILLS me, me being me, and usually I can tell they are too feral for me to get near or I'm in a place where there is no way I can schlep a trap in to catch them. Bobette wouldn't let me closer than about 20 feet, but kept looking at me and meowing. I knew my fate for the week was sealed. For the next three days, I drove back and forth, an hour each way, to the closest entry to the meadow where she was, carried traps, up and down a hill about half a mile, and SAT in the meadow waiting to see if she'd get in the trap(s). Finally, on day 4...I got up and headed out there at dawn. Set my traps, brought my coffee and a book....figured out which bushes she was hanging out in that day...and about 4 hours later, I caught her! I did my little victory dance in the middle of the meadow, and drove her straight to the vet to be checked out, spayed, vaccinated and "de-bugged" (she had earmites). I wasn't really sure how friendly this cat was going to be, or how much socializing I was going to have to do. But when I went to pick her up from the vet the next day, the technician brought me this purring, headbutting little bundle in her arms!

She is sweet as sugar and cannot believe the turn her life has taken! From coyote bait to this! Full tummy, warm "shnuggy" blanket; she fell asleep the first night home purring. SO nice to finally have a happy ending to something!

So, with that I declare it OFFseason. If you need me, I'll be in my scrapbook room! I've finally started scrapping our Hawaii Ironman trip (from 2 years ago!).

A Little Bit of Training...and A Little Bit of Crafting...

2011-10-16T11:13:00.000-07:00

Hello October!! In a moment of probable insanity, I have decided to wrap up this disappointing triathlon season with a really solid, if not completely demented month of training before the inclement weather sets in. So, we have: Swimming! Masters always goes on hiatus from about November to March, SO, I hereby decree that I shall go to both Tuesday and Tursday workouts all month.

Next up, Riding! As planned, I finished the Foxy's Fall Century in Davis yesterday. One of my favorite rides, it was beatiful this year, no wind! The Mister and Sporty Spice actually did the 50K on the Trail-a-Bike. We are pretty impressed with a six year old who can ride over 30 miles. Must be all that training I've been doing with him, riding that Trail-a-Bike back and forth over the hill to and from school a couple of times a day. Oh, and that's not all on the riding front. One century-great! Five--even better! How about one a weekend (the other four self-supported)? I've already knocked out three. And how's about a trip to the summit of Mt. Diablo every Tuesday this month? Bingo. We have a winner.

And last but not least, Running! With the Cal International Marathon coming up the first weekend in December, it's time to step that up. Running at least some five days a week. Long runs inching up. Last weekend my long run consisted of running to the start line of the Primo's Half Marathon about a mile into town, ran the race (with amazingly even 11 minute miles) and then shunned, shunned I tell you, the shuttle bus back to the start, and ran in true Forrest Gump fashion, all the way back home! 21.5 miles.

Some might look at this as late season training. But no! I see it as EARLY base training for next year!!

And believe it or not, despite psychotic training, I completed a couple of crafting goals! I'm participating in the Christmas ABC swap and I finished my 27 cards!! Doing anything with a deadline these days freaks me out a little, but I did it and they are in the mail.

I also took my second class at Castles In The Air: Vintage Crepe Paper Decorations and Garlands. Not the greatest picture, and I definitely need practice, but it was fun.

I Didn't See This One Coming.

2011-09-29T15:01:00.000-07:00

Well, no wonder I hardly have any followers--my little blog has been downrigt depressing lately! After that last post, I was sure Priscilla would be the next cat of our crossing the rainbow bridge, but I was wrong. We had to say goodbye to Peet this week, rather unexpectedly. And Peet, being one of our "original" (pre-crazy-cat-lady) cats, this one hit me hard. To make a long story short, he'd been looking like he had been losing weight, but otherwise seemed pretty fine, and I took him in for an exam on Monday. Within 24 hours he was diagnosed with renal failure and a kidney infection. An ultrasound and biopsies also revealed lymphoma in his kidneys and liver. The decision to let him go did not take a lot of thinking.

Peet was one of our first rescues way back in 1998, which meant he was 13. We had volunteered to be available to foster kittens at our local shelter and that Father's Day I got a call, went up to the shelter, and was handed 2 litters of kittens, 15 in all, and a surrogate-mother cat who had just weaned her own kittens and might possibly still keep lactating and feed some of these kittens. That whole thing was a pretty rough introduction to bottle-baby-fostering, but we ended up with one kitten from each of those litters, Peet, and our dear sweet Starbuck, who is also gone now. We were told to bring the Momma cat back to the shelter to be adopted or more probably to end up "euthanized" after all her heroic work, and there was no way that was going to happen! We still have her, and she is hands-down the most affectionate cat we've ever had.

I'm surprised we haven't received condolences from the construction industry. Peet was the most prolific behavioral urinator I've ever come accross. Peet peed on everything! Sometimes even us. He was responsible for the building of our first cat-patio at our old house, as well as our old bedroom being tiled. Our cats are 100% indoors, and we did what we had to do. This also led to the construction of the whole cattery in the new house. Peet allowed many contractors to feed their families and I'm sure he will be missed. In heaven, Peet can pee on anything he wants.

So, I've been having myself a pretty good pitty party this week and basically checked out of life. But the upside is that even during a pitty party, I'm pretty productive.
We finally found the bedroom furniture I wanted in June--I LOVE IT! But I hadn't been able to find a duvet cover I liked anywhere. So, I had bought two sheets I was going to stitch together, but could NOT find time to do it, until this week.

This is the fabric closer up.

And this is the giant armoire that goes with it. The nightstands match too. And my new little bedside lamps are from Target. This is pretty exciting because we slept on our mattress on the floor like starving college students for 2 years after moving into this house. I feel like a grown up again!

Cats, Crafts, Quilts and Swimming...My Cup Runneth Over

2011-09-25T17:20:00.000-07:00

The animal travails continue here, as can probably be expected with a largely geriatric population. This is Priscilla Birdbreath. She showed up at one of the locations where I was feeding cats during the time I was unable to drive with my broken leg and the Mister was the primary dinner server to all my feral cats. I went along with him one night and there was Priscilla, sitting in a planter box near our feeding station (in a somewhat rough neighborhood), waiting for him. I said, "Who is
that?" and he said, "I don't know, I just feed 'em. I thought she was part of the group." Poor Priscilla had been abandoned and managed to find our food and water and had been showing up every day for weeks. Shortly thereafter we moved, and I trapped up all the cats and we brought them with us. Priscilla is a very social friendly girl, and adjusted to living with our indoor cats just fine. She was by no means a spring chicken, the vet guessed at over ten years, and shortly after we rescued her she developed skin cancer on her eyelid and had her eye and that lid removed and all has been well. Last week she was drooling and the minute I looked in her mouth I knew I was looking at mouth cancer. The vet confirmed it. Unfortunately, mouth cancers are almost always a lost cause to treat, and always extremely painful when messed with. She is still eating well and not in pain so we will give her these last few weeks as best we can. I'm so glad we found her when we did. Who dumps these animals??...it is my eternal "big question". The day I figure it out will probably be the same day my family has to come bail me out of jail.

On a brighter note:

Even though 2011 has been a fairly low-quantity craft year, I decided to sign up for some classes at one of my favorite art stores, Castles In The Air on 4th Street in Berkeley. I took the first one this past week, a quick Monday night class on making crepe paper flowers! It was fun and I will have to spend some more time practicing at it. These are my initial attempts, a rose, a daffodil and a carnation. The carnation was last and made past my bedtime and it shows.

Training has just been weird. Schedules have been messed up with unanticipated emergencies and I'm still nursing the mental wounds of a very disappointing triathlon season. My goals for these last few months of this year are really thinly disguised attempts at starting my 2012 base training a little early.

Yesterday was the Folsom Lake 2.4 mile swim. It was a beautiful day and I actually had a friend to go with! My swimmin' veterinarian friend, Joy Hollenback came over and we had a Friday night slumber party, got up at 5am Saturday and headed out. This race was put on by a high school swim team and so the crowd was heavily weighted on the very young and the very fast. Most of them were actually swimming a 5K/3.1 mi race. About 25 of us were doing the 2.4 mi. My goal was under 1.30. Not lightening pace in the swimming world, but I've only made that time once before, 9 years ago. I came in DFL--but I did not cry, which was a HUGE growth step for me! And I was only about 4 minutes over my goal. I went non-wetsuit, so it's actually not that bad!

Rare is the Saturday when I don't have to spend all day training, so even with the two hour drive each way, we got home from the swim around noon! I scurried through animal chores, grabbed the kid, got in the Miata and high tailed it for a quilt show I've wanted to go to for years! The Alden Lane Quilting In the Garden Quilt Show is held every fall. They hang the quilts, clothesline-style, all through the Alden Lane Nursery. It was so beautiful, and they had started to put out some Halloween decor. Very festive. Both Sporty Spice and I enjoyed it. And THEN we were lucky enough to just hit the right show time to see Lion King 3-D at the I-Max on the way home! That was the best day I'd had in a while!

Goodnight Sweet Daisy Bean

2011-08-28T09:44:00.000-07:00

or, "The Animals Ate My Week--Part 2".

Last week started with one of our Tri-Valley Fix our Ferals clinics. 42 cats fixed, a lower number than usual, due to many of our veterinarians and volunteers being on vacation. But 42 is 42, and I know that every single cat fixed saves lives SOMEwhere down the line that is overpopulation. But it was an exhausting clinic to pull together.

Sporty Spice headed north to grandma and grandpa's for clinic weekend, and I have to admit, it is easier to have him there during all the chaos and stress. And it nice to have just a bit of quiet when we get home that evening. The mister left Monday to get him and to do a little fishing and I had 48 hours of blissful "hookey playing". I really let myself do what I wanted, put together some scrapbooks I've been meaning to get to, napping, and (ssshhh...) I went to see The Help all by myself and did just a bit of shopping and even more napping. And soooo glad I did when on Tuesday night stuff started going sideways.

Wednesday was Sporty's first day of school and so we all went to bed early, and I was so eager to get back on SOME kind of schedule (any kind...please!). Lo and behold my cell phone starts going off about 11pm and it's one of the caretakers of a cat who came to Sunday's clinic. I'll spare you the gory details, but this kitty was in dire shape and they were at the emergency clinic. It didn't end well and not much sleep was had that night. Wednesday morning I get up all ready to be Super-Mom and make Sporty a really special breakfast before his first day of 1st grade. But before I get him up I go about my animal chores.

I get to the goats and there is no Daisy in the pasture....if you remember, Daisy is the old, lumpy, lopsided goat who was delivered to us on 4th of July. She looked so bad, I truly didn't know if she was going to make it through the weekend. With some amazing veterinary care, love and good food, Daisy has had a truly amazing 6 weeks. She perked up and spent her days hiking about the 2 acres, sitting under Oak trees enjoying her view, and head-butting her friend Isabel. And if I didn't get her hay to her fast enough in the mornings, she'd be hollering at me, with her front hooves up on the gate. That is until Wednesday. I found her on the far side of the pasture, "down", but alert, and happy to have food and water I offered her. I scrambled to get Sporty to school and immediately called the vet. She came out and we administered fluids and tossed about theories of what was going on. The vet had already uncovered "issues" with Daisy, including a large hernia that made her lopsided, but also signs of a really bad goat disease where they can get abscesses not only on their skin, but they are actually internal and can infiltrate the organs. The vet postulated that this might be the underlying problem, but her ultrasound machine was not set up to see those internal abscesses, but that they could do that at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. OR we could assume that's what it was and send her over the rainbow bridge directly. I'll tell ya, was SO exhausted by that afternoon, and Daisy was so alert and her usual sweet self lying there, having to make that decision I sat in the pasture and cried for half an hour. Finally I made my plan, the Mister came home to help me lift her into the car, I picked up Sporty and the three of us set off in rush hour traffic for a 90 minute drive north to Davis. Just me, a six year old and a goat in a Volvo. They were so kind when we arrived and the veterinarian on staff suggested we leave her for the night and they could do the ultrasound next morning. Not every kid gets a tour of the UC Davis Large Animal Emergency Clinic the first night after school starts; mine did.

The next afternoon the vet called and gave us the report: all bad--abscesses everywhere, including her liver and spleen. So I knew there was no choice and that we had done all we possibly could for her. Since she was happy, alert, eating, and not in pain, we decided to keep her there until Friday, when I could pick Sporty up from school early and drive back up there so we could be with her for her euthanasia. It is truly the one last gift I believe you can give and animal and part of Sporty and my "No Animal Left Behind" policy. We bought her her own box of animal crackers, her favorite, and she was so happy to see us. She passed away very peacefully, with the taste of cookies in her mouth (personally, it's also the way I'd like to go) and with us telling her we loved her. Contrasted with a cold shelter death she was looking at 6 weeks ago, it was all worth it. She had that and she had us and she knew it.

Goodnight Sweet Daisy Bean. You've left a hole and you will be missed.

The Animals Ate My Week!

2011-08-09T20:53:00.000-07:00

I'm actually pretty lucky that my animal rescue lifestyle rarely completely obliterates my triathlon lifestyle, but this past week or so have been one of those times. What a week! It started off with Bodie, pictured above. My friend's rescue group rescued Bodie as a pup, a little over a year ago and he was placed with a family who has recently decided they no longer want him (nice). Long story short, Bodie needed an "emergency foster" for a week and like I always say, "I can do anything for a week!" Bodie is a super sweet and happy dog, but he sure put us to the test! I've always joked that I don't need a smart dog (sorry Lance), and I'm now convinced of it. At 15 months, this Australian Shepherd is a busy guy and super active. Much of the week was spent either cleaning up destruction or taking him for hours to the dog park. And to top it off, poor Bodie is deaf. His trainer taught him hand signals, and he knows them amazingly well, but it was an eye opener to have a dog you can't actually verbally communicate with. Imagine if your pet couldn't hear you praise him...and also if they couldn't hear you say "no!" to get a behavior to stop. But we made it, and Bodie is off to another foster home and soon onto what will hopefully be a forever home. Most rescues are amazing in the intricacy of the network that gets them from initial rescue to permanent loving home. I was happy we could be even a piece in the puzzle. We even managed to get to Arnold, with both Lance and Bodie in tow, for a scant but meaningful 48 hours weekend before last.

The work-week then started with the usual madness of coordinating getting Sporty Spice to his daycamps (when does school start?!?!?) and various animals to various veterinary appointments. Emmalee has chronic kidney failure and had to be dropped off for her usual tests, Cerie had an annual checkup. 40 minutes each way. Then back. Then Cerie needed dental work, which necessitated the same drive back and forth this week. Emma also needed an additional test this week, so double the drive..again.

Lance was scheduled for his second treatment of this round of chemo last Thursday but he has been having, shall we say, "potty problems", for which he has been getting me up at all hours of the night to let him out. So, after the half hour drive each way, and appointment, I ended up doing it all again on Monday morning, when he did get his chemo. He seems to feel really pretty good, but his appetite is low and he's been losing weight which has me TOTALLY stressed out.

Where are we now? Thursday? Went out to do morning animal chores and my big white bunny Mavis (below) looked a little "pokey". Off to the 40 minute away vet with her. Poor Mavas. I found her on a bike ride

My Boy Is Nine

2011-07-26T21:33:00.000-07:00

My sweet Lance is nine years old today. He got a birthday walk thismorning, and a trip to the dog park this afternoon...

and a dozen "pupcakes" to share with his friends, doggie ice-cream, and a week long sleep-over party with a foster dog named Bodie who will be here for a week (more on him later).

This dog is the love of my life. I have not had the heart to write much about it, but Lance was diagnosed with lymphoma last November. He went through one course of chemo and has been in remission until since about April. Upon his recheck this past week, his oncologist told me it looks like he is coming out of remission. We started another round of chemo last week and Lance is doing well. Ever since he started the first round, you would never know he was sick. But the future looks uncertain and I am readying to have my heart broken into a million pieces. But in the meantime, we will make is every day count. Happy Birthday Lance! Remembering when we found out you were born, and the day we picked you up and you were a fuzzy little 15 pounds.

On an oddly related triathlon note, Lance was born on July 26, 2002...the same weekend the Mister and I were in Lake Placid, NY, doing the only Ironman we have done together (and his one and only IM). With the thought that I'd do Lake Placid 2012, almost ten years to the day of Lance's birthday, as a bit of a tribute and way to grieve when we eventually lose him, I signed up when registration opened at 9am yesterday. The mister super-surprised me....he signed up too. Now, I hardly EVER bring this up (ok, not), but I beat him 10 years ago (I did wait so we could cross the line together!). This next endeavor ought to finish the marriage right off. But Lake Placid, here we come!

I had a fun post-Vineman rest week and actually did some of the "wild and crazy normal person things" I promised myself as a reward. Tuesday I went to (ready for this?) a movie! in the middle of the day! by myself! I went to see Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris --loved it. And I made it on my little adventure to find "Annie's Annuals and Perennials" the nursery I hear everyone talking about--worth it!--and to Scrapbook Territory and Castles in the Air, 2 stores on 4t St. in Berkeley! All these things so close to home, but it is just so rare to have a block of time to ever go. I had to scramble and didn't have a lot of time at any one place, but I did it!!

Vineman Half Race Report OR At Least I Didn't Walk

2011-07-18T07:42:00.000-07:00

Well, it's over. And a mixed bag it was.

The week leading up to the race was unusually cool, and luckily that trend continued into yesterday. Taper week was great, workouts good, some down-time, and miracle of miracles, that diet finally paid off and the scale on Friday showed me a number in the 130's (albeit 139.8) for the first time in a long time. That was a nice confidence booster as I finished all my animal chores and left for check-in on Saturday. Navigated the check in process, including the mandatory athlete meeting and expo, and headed to my usual Motel 6 to set up the bike, knit and contemplate my "big goal". I wanted dearly to finish this race in under 6 hours. Over a decade ago, I once did a 5.58, and that goal has been elusive ever since! It torments me. The past few years I've done a 6.12, and last year was a 6.05. SO so close. Totally do-able.

The swim is always a deja-vu; oh, are we already here again? Looking up the canyon of the Russian River, unable to see the turnaround bouy. I read on swimsmooth.com recently how it pays to start the swim a little harder than you might. So I tried it. Usually I let myself ease in and warm-up so to speak. Stayed in a pretty straight line, which was good. I do love this swim; it's pretty and straight. Came out in 43.09, roughly 3 minutes faster than last year. Not much, considering I've been swimming 5 days a week as of late, including 2 masters workouts each week. But I'll take it. I would have been ticked it it was slower.

The bike: the lesson to be gleaned from this painful sub-3 hour 56 mile ride is probably not to use too big of gears or you will pay (hear me? PAY) for it later. I think I was lured in by that seductress known as strength, and simply stopped using my head. It's been awihle since I haven't had my own personal gear-mashing warning, the residual pain from my broken leg. So, without that, I think I got a little giddy in search of my goal and really should have been geared one easier MOST of that ride. The moral? Just because you can use them doesn't mean you should. 2.53.46. Yes, people, that was an average speed of 19.3 mph, and about fifteen minutes faster than last year.

But that's when the payment plan began to kick in...The Run: or Why Won't My Legs Work? It was just a sufferfest. Ugly shuffling for 13.1 miles. Mile 5 I seriously started to wonder if I could even finish. I just did NOT want to walk! And technically I didn't, but the speed was hardly discernable from a walk. Why I have come to the conclusion that my major mistake was the bike gear mashing, is that my heart rate wasn't even that high! I just couldn't turn my legs over. I had to actually talk myself into pushing hard enough to keep my heart rate in the target zone. But it hurt! Almost 15 minutes slower than last year. So, between my bike and my run, it was pretty much a wash.

6.08.39

I will now spend the next 364 days trying to figure out how to shave off this 8 minutes and 39 seconds.

A Weekend In The Mountains....Finally!

2011-07-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

Our summer has been so busy so far! We haven't been able to make it up to our Arnold house for at least 2 months. So we were so thrilled to get up there this past weekend. My goals were simple.
#1: To train. The picture above is of Lake Alpine. This amazing place is a 30 mile, uphill bike ride from our front door and 30 miles back down the mountain to get back. It is one of my favorite rides of all times. Sunday I got in a three hour trail run just south of the house, and was happy, again, not to have to answer the question, "How fast can a bear run?". The weather was gorgeous both days.

#2: To knit. I got started on a baby blanket for my friend's new baby. But all I have to show you is this ball of yarn. My love-hate relationship with knitting continues. I got 17 rows in before having to rip the whole thing apart due to an irreparable mistake. I started another go at it yesterday and am 3 rows safely in.

#3: To read. My guilty pleasure of the summer--going back to re-read the second half of the Diana Gabaldon Outlander series (I'm on book 5, above), in order to get to this:

The new one! I read this series about ten years ago and was honestly surprised at how much I liked it, knowing my usual taste in fiction. This series is about a woman who travels back in time, to Scotland 200 years ago, where she falls in love. Part historical fiction, part romance, it is history made fun as you get to know the main characters Claire and Jamie in every 1000-plus page volume. Fun, fun summer reading.

Animal update:

Little black bunny from the previous post made a visit to the vet that same day and unfortunately it was a one-way trip. Poor little bunny was very sick and diagnosed with probable kidney failure. She is buried in our yard under a large oak tree.

Daisy the goat has had quite the week! The first 2 days she was here, she sat by the gate and was rather subdued. That first Monday I gave her a medicated bath for her dirty, flaky skin, and she seemed to immediately perk up! I knew she still had some sort of serious medical issues most likely, but she sure seemed to feel better. And she sure did eat a lot! I'm not sure how well she was fed where she came from. This week the goat vet came out to the house. I doubt she had ever seen one of those--let alone one as nice as Dr. Dana Conley. She brought her mobile ultrasound unit and we took a peek. It appears her lopsidedness comes from hernias, so parts of her insided are less protected by a body cavity wall. This is something she can live with and even if they could be repaired surgically, her advanced age (she is indeed ancient) would probably preclude it. She was wormed, de-flead, had blood drawn, put on some arthritis medication, and had her hooves trimmed. She is like a girl who just got new shoes. She is all OVER the couple-acres-hill! But her true nirvana seemed to arrive this week in the form of a whole bale of alfalfa hay! I put out the first flake and she spent the next 12 hours sitting there, chewing and chewing. When I brought her down to the driveway for the vet yesterday, the she got so excited and the look on her face said one thing: "The Mother Ship!!". This week she has even started talking to me when I approach the gate to bring food or come pet her. I'm so glad she has come here for her retirement and hope we can make her time left the best it can be.

And alas, this week is the Vineman taper week! It is so nice to have some time and energy for some other things. Saw a friend yesterday, took Sporty to the library, pulled some weeds. And the great short workouts where I come home convinced someone has swapped my legs out for Chrissie Wellington's....taper week indeed!

Vineman or Bust.

Never a dull moment

2011-07-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

So. My neighbor does dog-rescue and runs a "traditional" rescue group (fostering/adopting out) out of our local animal shelter. We have become friends in the symbiotically dysfunctional way that animal rescue people form most relationships (I'm joking...sort of). So, she calls me on Friday before the holiday weekend with the "euthanasia list" in her hand. Not many people know, but around the country in shelters everywhere, the staff gears up for fireworks and 4th festivities by clearing out space for all the animals who will become spooked, run away, and end up in the shelter by the end of the long weekend. And they do this in the most logical way, of course. They kill everything. Problem solved. So, there are 76 healthy adoptable cats on this list she is reading to me. It took everything I had to remain in my right mind and stick to the fact that I'm at my unofficial "cat-limit" and say no. But I did definitely have room for 2 rabbits. So, she dropped off the two above. Eunice is the black and white bunny and is doing well with the resident bunnies here. The little black one has a vet appointment this afternoon as she has some definite "issues" and she may or may not be coming back home today, depending on the prognosis for quality of life.
But oh, no, I didn't stop there! I said bring me one of THESE....

Meet Daisy. Daisy arrived in my rescue friend's mini-van. Daisy has been seriously neglected. She is so thin you can feel all of her bones. And her hooves are so grown out she can hardly walk. She has some sort of growths all over her "saddlebags", and her skin is a mess.

But she is sweet as can be and loves to be loved. And our other little lonely goat has been doing a goat happy dance (seriously...it's hilarious) all over the pasture all weekend. She is SO happy to have a friend since she has been alone since Thunder died last year. Daisy has been eating and drinking like a champ and let me subject her to grooming and a medicated bath yesterday. Thismorning, all though she still looks lumpy and lopsided, and the farrier has yet to fix her feet, she was so full of herself she was up at the top of the hill munching away on grass. I don't know what her prognosis will be once the vet comes, but at least we will provide her with some dignity at this end of her life.

I got in an itty bitty bit of crafting this weekend between Sporty's race and sorting out animals. I finished this 9 X 9 scrapbook for my friend's new baby girl. I won't post all 20 pages, but it came out really really cute. I had a boatload of girl-baby scrapbook stuff.

sorry, this last one is sideways.

And The World Contains Another Triathlete

2011-07-04T21:09:00.001-07:00

Setting up Transition.

Bodymarking!

The start.

Bike Out.

The finish!

Sporty Spice did it! He finished is very first triathlon! This race was part of the Jenny's Light Kids Triathlon series. It was held at the College of San Mateo, which was a beautiful campus. We were all up and in the car by 6:30. It was going to be a really hot day and Sporty's wave was last. We got there, set up his transition area, checked in and got body marked (what a proud moment!). Then we had almost a two hour wait by the pool, for the older kids to start. There were maybe 80 kids in all, ages five to twelve. Lots of parents, some with M-dot tatoos, and at least a couple of recognizable pro-women with their kids. The announcer was very funny, making comments on the p.a. system like, "ok, kids you've trained for years for this, and you're almost ready to live your parents' dream."

Sporty had a mini-crisis at the start and there was a little crying. I had a feeling there was going to be, only because the pool at his swim school is an indoor wading-type pool, and this one was a big, bright, deep, Olympic sized pool. It had to look intimidating. Luckily for us, they were allowed to use kickboards for the 50 yards! And still, my kid was last out of the pool--takes after his mother. And like me, he was pretty happy to get that swim behind him and get on that bike. Sixteen inch wheels rolling as fast as they could, off he went for the mile loop (2 laps!), powered up the little hill and back down without wiping out (whew!). And on to the run--half a mile--he took off running as fast as he possibly could--and through the finish chute! Professional Becky LaVelle gave him his medal and took his timing chip. He was so proud! It was absolutely one of the cutest things I've ever seen and I couldn't be prouder. When we got back to the car he asked if his race was going to be on tv.

Lookie What Sporty Got!

2011-06-29T10:51:00.001-07:00

MAIL?? FOR ME?? WELL, WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE??...
ah
AH, MY FIRST USA TRIATHLON LICENSE!
AND I'M ONLY SIX!
WATCHOUT MACCA!!

Yes, it is upon us. Sporty's first triathlon is this coming weekend and we are training hard. Stay tuned....

As promised, June in our household was nuts. It started off with our aforementioned visitors. Brett has just posted his podcast from Escape From Alcatraz on www.zentri.com so both his Ironman Texas podcast and this latest ones contains bits of audio from their trip here and glimpses of life at our house. So fun to listen to on my runs this week.

While our houseguests were here, our little family actually had to leave for an overnight to the Mister's parents' up north several hours where we attended a graduation party for our eldest neice as well as a 50th anniversary party for his parents. The next week contained Sporty's kindergarten graduation and end-of-year festivities. The weekend before last, the Mister did his third-this-year 200 mile ride so Sporty and I were on our own and made it to the local Wildlife Museum and to see Mr. Popper's Penguins, which we very much enjoyed. The following Monday my good friend gave birth to her first baby, a little girl named Madeline and I was lucky enough to see both mommy and baby in the first 12 hours after her arrival. So amazing! And I couldn't be more thrilled for her.

And all along, I was finishing 3 weeks of major training (some might say overtraining--but I had the time and it felt ok). 70 mile rides, 15 mile runs and trips to the summit of Diablo each week for starters. And getting ready for a June 26th feral cat spay neuter clinic....

NO KITTENS FOR ME! NO SIR!!

Our clinic went well, if a bit smaller than we'd like. We fixed 60 cats. One cat didn't make it through surgery, which is always hard. He turned out to have an enlarged heart that we couldn't have known about and which just couldn't handle the anesthesia. But on the upside, one little itty bitty calico kitten with the saddest eyes I've ever seen, who was too tiny to be fixed that day, went home with one of our volunteers, and is going to live her life in one of the best homes I know of.

Belated Race Report: San Jose International Triathlon--1500 yard swim, 26 mile bike, 10K run.

It dawned on me the morning of the race that it had been about 3 years since I've done a race this short! This race is flat and fast! And the weather was very cool, which I have never experienced there. The swim start was chilly and almost everyone was shivering, despite the wetsuits. A great improvement this year was that they changed the swim course, from the old one where you practically need a map and a gps unit not to get lost on all the weird turns, to two nice triangles. The sun came out soon into the bike and I was moving! My bike time turned out to be third fastest in my age group. I met my own goal on the run: just get it under an hour, which I was happy with after going so hard on the bike. All told, I placed 13th out of about 60 women in my age group. If I could just learn to swim, I could see top ten!

I did this race in the midst of my Cambiati diet experience which I have yet to give an update on. I finally finished my 28 days that involved the cleanse. Parts were tough, but other parts were easier than I expected. It was interesting, and the diet was rather involved and hard to sum up in a nutshell. But I accomplished my bottom line goal. In six weeks total, I lost 10 pounds and a significant percentage body fat, which has made such a difference training. And I must say, that I was able to put in these three high volume weeks without feeling nearly as beat up as I think I would have before.

SO, my plan, until Vineman 70.3, which is three weeks away, is to basically stick to the primary list of foods that you start this diet with (non-inflammatory, non-allergenic) and then start adding some foods back to do the last part, where you figure out what foods you might have reactions to. It's just working too well to mess with before that. One other thing I have grown fond of as part of this diet is the post-workout protien and fruit smoothie. I hadn't really tried this before, although so many people I know do it, and I swear it makes recovery faster. I also like the eating only at certain times of day thing. Only ten pounds away from ideal race weight now!
I am drinking my first cup of coffee as I write (in almost 8 weeks!)--although it's decaf. I'm a hard core coffee drinker and had never successfully kicked it before. So I'm loathe to ever go through that process again. And I must admit that my energy level is much more even without the massive caffeine intake. My ART person told me not to even go back to the decaf, that I was looking for my old habits, which I'm sure has some truth to it. So I thought about it for several days...and decided that if a cup of of decaf coffee with some lowfat coconut milk is my worst habit, then cling to it I shall!

Help! There is a Triathlete in My House!

2011-06-21T18:21:00.001-07:00

Or, there was! This is now a very belated post, but I cannot miss writing about one of my most exciting parts of June!

THIS is the Blankner family from College Station, Texas! That's Emily, her husband Brett, and their six year old son, Kai. Now, they did not know me before they arrived, nor did I know them, perse, but I felt like I was the hostess to rock stars! Coach Brett does the most wonderful podcasts about triathlon and balancing life and family that can be downloaded at his website www.zentri.com. I started listening to him after finding them while rehabbing my broken leg. Brett's podcasts got me through my rehab and training, all alone, for Ironman Hawaii. I had to train at a walk, for anybody that remembers, and sometimes the only thing that got me out on that silly 6 hour training walk (ugh, hurts to even think about it!) was knowing I had one of his episodes to listen to. It was like having somebody there to train with, and not only was the guy a character and had a family just like mine (one triathlete, one other athlete/supporter and a six year old son), but he was funny and informative at the same time. SO, for the past couple of years I'd been thinking in my head, "wouldn't it be cool if I could somehow repay this Coach Brett fellow for all he has done for me, that he doesn't even have any clue about?!". Lo, and behold, a couple of months ago, Brett anounced in a podcast that he had qualified for the hard-to-get-into Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon. I emailed him straight away and said, "Bring the family! Come stay at my house! I'll loan you one of our cars! Come and do this race!".

And out they came! I picked up my little adopted family at the airport the Thursday before the race and they were delightful! I felt like I had famous people visiting. We enjoyed their stay so much! Emily, who is a nurse and a runner, was so enjoyable to be with and Kai and Sporty Spice were a match made in heaven. And to get to talk tri with Brett in person was like a crazy dream come true. Brett met up with Jamie Patrick, the ultra swimmer who is planning to swim down the Sacramento river this summer, and that was interesting to hear about even second hand. We took the boys to the Space and Science Center which was fun. And Brett had a great race and got to check one of his dreams of his list at Escape From Alcatraz. It was so fun to have them here, it was actually a bummer when they left. I'm so glad I took a chance and sent my email to invite them. Triathlon truly is more than a sport. I know it is a lifestyle, but it is also a sort of family in many ways.

Check out Brett's podcasts and website at www.zentri.com!

Single Parenting Weekend

2011-05-15T11:08:00.001-07:00

Ok, so the Mister was gone this weekend for his second of three 200-mile bike rides this year and Sporty Spice and I did what we do best. Added to our menagerie. Meet Sam, the guinea pig. He is SO cute! His family and two little boys loved him very much, but found out they were severely allergic to him, so he needed a new home and a new kid. He loves to be petted around his ears and run around. The Mister is just counting his blessings because he came home to this instead of the large black sheep I was "this" close to rescuing/adopting; he was picked up as a stray at the local shelter, but someone else adopted him before I could get there. He would have been perfect for our lonely little goat Isabel.

And what is this, you might ask? THIS, my friends is proof....proof of the TOENAIL FAIRY! Known by few, but mostly by endurance runners, the Toenail Fairy is the much maligned step-sister of the Tooth Fairy. She wears one of those terrycloth sweatbands from the 70's and sports one of the original pairs of Nikes. She runs about at night, placing money under the pillows of all the good little runners who have left her their toenails which have fallen off as a result of running too much.

Ok, it's really hard to spend a whole weekend with a six year old and not start to think at their level. Sporty gave me the most disgusted look when I suggested we try to summon the Toenail Fairy with this latest little gift from my toes, but then thought it was pretty cool when I told him I doubted any of the other kindergarten mothers could do this trick.

On a totally unrelated topic (well, related to running I suppose) is my report on my first week of this Cambiati Diet. I had very mixed feelings about it as the week went on. They ranged from "this might be the greatest thing!" to "F--- This!". The whole diet is a bit hard to explain, even the small part I think I understand, but nonetheless, it's gonna need some tweaking. It is a high protein diet, but not too extreme. I came home from a 15 mile run on Thursday thinking I was going to DIE; I'm clearly gonna have to add some carbs somewhere. The first two weeks of it are "practice" weeks before you start the real 28-day thing with the cleanse. Part of it is to get anti-inflammatory, possibly allergenic foods out of your diet, and I did succeed as far as not veering from that. And I started my coffee-taper, which saw my last coffee for at least 5 weeks thismorning. That's the part that scares me most. Will update after week 2!

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T09:18:00.000-07:00

Sporty Spice's Kindergarten class had the cutest Mother's Day celebration. Yes, he made me that hat out of a paper plate. They sang songs and even did a little dance for us. Happy Mother's Day!

Tomorrow I'm launching into an entirely new adventure in nutrition and I must admit I'm a little scared. I've never done anything "organized" with the exception of a single Weight Watchers meeting about a decade ago, which I left in tears. Tomorrow I start the Cambiati Wellness Program (www.cambiati.com). And it looks like it's gonna be a full time job for awihle, until I get used to it. And I don't doubt it's gonna be tough. But something has got to be done, and it's got to be done soon. Mostly, I believe I've got to get sugar out of my life and reset things. I thought I had this done and behind me, and then somehow after IM Florida, and the holidays right after that, that nasty sugar started weasling it's way back in. And then I could go five or six days without it, and the cravings would hit again. It's horrible! And secondarily, I'm way too tired all the time, even given the training; it just doesn't seem right. This diet is primarily a 28 day cleanse (which part, for me, won't start for 2 more weeks--I'll be easing in for the next 2 weeks) to reset your body, get allergenic foods out, and it basically follows the Paleo plan. I was surprised at all the ins and outs of it, and so these first two weeks will be trying to figure some of that out. Watch out! Blogging to come!

Clearly, We May Have Watched Too Much...

2011-05-03T17:58:00.001-07:00

Sorry, we couldn't help it.

Wildflower Weekend!

2011-05-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

There is still, to me, something so WRONG about something with the word "flower" in its name being so painful. That is how I got sucked into this whole thing 12 years ago! Wildflower? It sounds pretty, and nice, like a flower! What a completely deceptive name for what I believe is the hardest Half Ironman race within driving distance. And, as usual, it lived up to the expectation, once again.

I knew going into this one that most likely I wasn't going to PR, which made it hard to get myself psyched up for this race this year. I had put in the training, but my focus has just been "off" somehow, lagging. My nutrition this year has been less than exemplary and I had a feeling I was about to have a very expensive, very visceral lesson on why holiday eating should end with the holidays (in other words it should end with Christmas, not Easter).

I've done Wildflower under so many different circumstances. The old days with the TS Tri Club. Days with friends, be it many or a few. The year I did the Mountain Bike Course less than three months after having a baby and a blood clot in my lung. The year I came out of the pit on the run course to see my friend Nancy on the way down, swearing like a truck driver about how she was reconsidering our friendship altogether for my having gotten her into this thing. Years it rained, years it was ridiculously hot out there. A year I missed due to lack of motivation and a year I missed it because I had a broken leg. Ah, Wildlower. Let me count the ways I love you. This year, having no friends to speak of, and knowing it wasn't going to be a performance worthy of uprooting a husband, six year old and large dog with cancer, I opted for the Jiffy Solo Mission. By the time I got packed and got my animals all set up on Friday, I didn't leave until 3:30 Friday; I arrived at Lake San Antonio with just enough time to get to check in before it closed and get my sleeping bag set up before dark. Got my bike and race stuff ready, ate my pre-prepped dinner, and settled down with my headlamp and book for a cozy sleep in the back of my car. Luxurious.

Up at 7:00, downed my thermos of coffee and took off for the transition area, fueled as always, by oatcakes and the Days of Thunder Soundtrack. It wasn't windy when I got there. But by the time the Old Woman division went off about noon (oh, ok, it was 9:25), there was a darn good chop on that water! The kind where if you try to bilateral breathe and come up on the choppy side, you are now gasping and sputtering for air. My new Zoot wetsuit is still great (although tighter than it was in November), and very bouyant on the waves (waves on a lake?) that were now forming. Very bouncy swim! So much for my under 45 minutes I was looking for in the only sport where my lardass wasn't going to be a defining feature....48.46 (compared to 48.17 last year...aaaaaa!). On to the bike and the goal there is ALWAYS the same: stay upright and alive long enough to get past the people doing the mountain bike course--their course starts out the same and then veers onto the trail about a mile in, right as the hill out of the lake to the ridge hits you like a ton of bricks. Made it through the sketchy masses of beginners and mountain bike people, up the bad, bad hill, and to the crest where we were met with...a...giant...HEADWIND. By the ten mile mark I was pretty sure this ride was going to be no land speed record. At the fifteen mile right turn in Lockwood it became a sidewind--the kind that seems to want to scoop up my aerodynamic (from the front at least) bike frame and sweep it inland a few miles. That always scares me and makes me a little cautious, especially knowing I had done this trip solo and there was going to be NO one nearby to claim me from the hospital. Lots of ambulances going to and fro with sirens blaring on the course, more than usual, although I never saw an actual accident like I have in years past. When we finally turned back towards the Lake about mile 35, to head towards Nasty Grade, I wouldn't exactly call it a tailwind, but it was at least less noticeable, which was nice, but also made it feel warmer. The temperature wasn't near unbearable; my best guess is that it was between 75 and 80 degrees. I'm here to say Nasty Grade isn't any flatter than it was last year. And I will admit to feeling a little tentative on the big descent given the wind. Hobbled back in with a 3.32.47 for the 56 miles (compared to last year's 3.26.28--an increase in time contributing to a mix of wind and ass fatness). Into T2 not feeling thrilled about the run, and just telling myself I was "just going out for a little 13 mile run". That run is so much more brutal than any other half, with the hilly trail! Off I went at my little jog. My new goal, since last year, is to just keep running (I want walking to be a thing of the past). I wish I could have made it faster and will admit to a bit of tentativeness due in part to knowing I was going to have to drive home right after I finished, but I did at least jog the whole thing. It was hard to be motivated too much beyond that, knowing my PR was not going to happen that day and I wanted to keep myself in one piece. 2.34 compared to last year's 2.26, and I almost felt guilty that I felt a little too good when I was done. Total time: 7.06.22 (the sub-6.30 was not to be this year. Someday.) Last year: 6.50.06. 2008, pre-broken leg: 6.41.54. And with that, I pronounce a ban on all cookies and baked goods during Christmas 2011.

Took a shower, threw my bike in the car and was out of there by exactly 6:00pm lastnight. Home by 10, just in time to crash into bed and spend much of today catching up on things and watching all my recorded shows about the Royal Wedding!

Rainy Weekend and Scrapbooking

2011-03-20T14:22:00.000-07:00

I'm officially only three years behind on my scrapbooking! Hooray! I LOVE scrapbooking, and once I start it is hard for me to stop. I'm not actually 3 years total behind (I have scrapped some here and there events since then), but these are from 2008--a water park playdate and Sporty Spice at his art class. I have taken a vow this year and plan to stick to it to the very best of my ability: not to buy a single craft supply this year unless I absolutely have to have it to complete a very specific project. It's going well. I'm doing this because I have a LOT of craft supplies (a sick, unhealthy amount of craft supplies--the word hoarding is on the tip of my tongue). This weekend is the big Scrapbook Expo I have so enjoyed going to in years past. But instead of going this year, I instead took out some of the page kits I bought four years ago and haven't had time to use! (Sick, I tell you.)

The weather has been crazy this weekend and I am so lucky I had the flexibility this week, upon seeing the weather forecast, to switch up some of my training days. So I got my long ride and my interval ride in the bank before the real rain started. Did my interval run on the treadmill lastnight (a first for me, I think) and look pretty doomed to a two hour treadmill at the gym this afternoon. This is the first week of Build weeks, and with the volume coming down, it feels so oddly...I don't know, moderate? It's weird, and I'm almost having difficulty adjusting to it. I have forgotten how to do anything "half way", so to speak. But it's good.

My Dirty Little Secret

2011-03-20T13:39:00.000-07:00

I have admitted to my crafting addiction.
I have been forthcoming with my un-natural attachment to triathlon.
I think it's time to come out about my "cat thing".

Quite simply, my "other passion" is for cats, namely feral cats and Trap-Neuter-Return.

What is a feral cat, exactly?
A feral cat is what some people might call a "stray" cat or an "alley cat". A truly feral cat is the result of a once domestic un-fixed cat...and at least one irresponsible human. The domestic cat is either lost or abandoned and it, and/or its offspring have reverted to a feral state, not knowing the love of or trusting a human. They eek out a survivial as best they can wherever they are, but left un-fixed, are able to reproduce up to four times a year (as are those offspring!) as early as four months of age. Not being easy to approach or catch, breeding goes unchecked. Overpopulation continues and suffering needlessly ensues. If these cats are taken to an animal shelter, they cannot be re-homed (unless they are caught at a very young age and rehabilitated) and are killed.

What is Trap-Neuter-Return?
TNR is the humane alternative. All of the cats in a group (called a colony) are humanely trapped, taken to a veterinarian for spay/neuter surgery, vaccinations and ear-tipping (a universal symbol indicating they have been neutered). Then they are returned to their home territory (where they were found) and a person (caretaker) assumes responsibility for providing them with food, water, shelter and monitoring for any newcomers to the colony.

Why is TNR the answer?
The bottom line, and what I tell people, is that when you encounter a feral cat or group of feral cats, there are simply 3 options.
ONE: Do nothing. Turn a blind eye and hope the problem will get taken care of somehow or just go away. Unfortunately, this option just results in unchecked breeding, and a problem that grows exponentially, with all of it's ensuing suffering, fast.
TWO: Trap-and-Kill, the traditional means of controlling feral cat populations. Trap them, take them to a shelter to be killed, and think your problem has been eradicated. Wrong. I have now seen it in action. Invariably, one or two cats will be left behind. They now have even more of whatever resources led the cats to this spot in the first place. And nature doesn't like a vaccuum, so these leftover cats will start to have even larger, healthier litters until the void is filled. Also, there is now room/resources for un-fixed cats from down the street to join in. So the colony will very quickly return right back to the number it started at.
THREE: Trap-Neuter-Return. Once the majority of the cats in a colony (and hopefully all of them) are fixed, the colony number stabilizes. The annoyance behaviors associated with mating (roaming, howling, spraying) disappear, the cats become healthier, there are no new kittens and the colony itself becomes a more cohesive unit, showing more assertion to it's territory, limiting un-fixed newcomers from this space. With the compassion of a caretaker, these cats are allowed to live their lives with quality and over the years, the number gradually dwindle naturally and the colony eventually disappears. It is the difference between life and a horrible terrifying death in a shelter for these cats, who are no different than our own pets.

And THAT, my friends, is how I came to start my spay-neuter program, Tri Valley Fix our Ferals (www.tri-valleyfixourferals.org). Every 8 weeks I recruit about 10 veterinarians and about 40 volunteers and we borrow the clinic facilty at our local SPCA. We bring every last supply we will need, down to our own drugs, surgical instruments, autoclaves, needles, cottonballs, whatever we will need--and we fix about 80 or 90 feral cats that day brought in by concerned cat lovers who have trapped them for the clinic day. These cats lives are changed and improved immediately that day, and UNTOLD numbers of kittens are prevented. We just fixed our 2000 th cat. The math is mind boggling.

Now, back to my cute picture up there. These two kittens, and another young black adult male I found while stopping to pee behind a bush on a bike ride up near our mountain house last month. So, last weekend, I shlepped up 3 traps, headed from our house down the mountain at 4:00am both mornings, set my traps, and waited.....I got em! ( I swear, I should take up fishing.) Brought em home and they were all fixed on Friday. Now, the only other thing about Trap-Neuter-Return: if the cats look at all like they are going to be able to be socialized (which is a ton of work, I might add, and a very imprecise science based completely on the personality of each cat), you always TRY not to have to put them back if you think you have any shot at all at giving them a life somewhere as a domestic, loved, pet cat with his or her own human. This little siamese cross (he's a boy) is a total muffin and will have no problem. The black adult male is actually showing huge promise as well. This black and white one is a pistol! But I'm not giving up yet. So, if you know of any potential homes, I will be hot on the trail very soon for some and a little stressed out that I cannot absorb even one more here.

Besides my early morning trapping adventure, we had a wonderful day at Bear Valley Cross Country skiing...and I got to use my Skate Skis! I hadn't been able to do that since breaking my leg and was so pleasantly surprised that I could do it. The break being on the far right side of my right tibia at the knee, I was somewhat doubtful if that scar tissue would ever break up to the point of me being able to make the skate-ski motion again. So great!

What a Week

2011-03-09T15:17:00.000-08:00

Last week was unbelievable. I thought I'd give a little narrative of the week of an animal rescue person/mother/triathlete. It was one of "those weeks". To help sort out training stress and life stress, I'll put training notes in italics.

Sunday, Feb. 27:
Clinic Day. Exhausting as always. We safely fixed 83 cats and it went really well. More on the clinics later, hopefully, but for now you can visit www.tri-valleyfixourferals.org.

Monday, Feb. 28:
Up at 5am, stretched and hit the pool. I'm on the third of three "on" weeks and am aiming to do what any trainer or coach in their right mind would say not to do: I'm going to make up 7 hours of training I missed last week before the clinic in addition to my planned 15.5 hours for this week. I know it's stupid, but I've done it before, and it works for me. Not the preferred plan, but it works.
I was scheduled to work in Sporty Spice's kindergarten class for the morning. I enjoyed it as always, but was there longer than I had planned and missed my Pilates class.
Related to training, I went home and did some cooking of some basic good foods, squash, quinuoa, to eat all week to stay on track.

Tuesday, March 1:
Rode, a 50 mile Palomares loop with a half hour transition run. Then hit the gym for weights.

My neighbor does dog rescue. She asked us to do an emergency foster for an 8 month old chihuahua corgi cross. Sounded easy enough. So she brings the dog down that night, and I'm quickly figuring out she may have had a "bit" of wine before coming over. The puppy is as cute as can be and is frolicking with Sporty and our dog...it was beautiful....for about 15 minutes until the dog went full-Cujo. And never turned back. So there we were at about 9:30 pm, with an inebriated rescue woman, a vicious chihuahua and a screaming six year old in my house. We finally coralled the dog and said rescue woman took her back home (at last report the dog is actually shaping up well with a lot of work with a trainer).

Wednesday, March 2:
Swam--speed workout.
Dropped off one cat at the vet for an ekg.
Hit the gym for an hour on treadmill and weights.
Picked up Sporty and got him to swim lesson.
Emailing back and forth with rescue group regarding three feral cats I saw near our mountain house and a plan for trapping and fixing them.

Thursday, March 3:
Wake up and start making Sporty's lunch and checking his book bag, where I find a letter from the school. This one I'm going to have to save for his scrapbook because I'm sure some day we'll laugh at it. He has been recommended for "The Rainbow Room", a "special place for kids going through stressful times" (like a divorce or big move...huh? animal rescue? ironman training?) where they will give him a "special friend"...who just happens to have a PhD at the end of their name.
Swam (drills)
Weights
made up Pilates class
Rode trainer one hour with tempo work
Half hour transition run
Picked up my "new cat" (hooray, I didn't have enough cats!) . Sporty's kindergarten teacher is moving and cannot take her 12 year old cat who has been having some medical problems. Welcome Princess Nephretite! Set her up in a cage for now and was up until 9pm doing animal chores.

Friday, March 4: (thank goodness)
Got up at 5, stretched, and did my long swim--2600 yards.
Came home and after animal chores, rode my bike allll the way to the tippy top of Mt. Diablo (including the last grade to the top parking lot--oh, yes, indeedy.) Very proud, as this is the first time since breaking my leg.
Picked up Sporty, grabbed a urine sample from one of the cats, and boxed up Princess Nephretite for a vet checkup. She turned up hyperthyroid. Translation: medications and then considering radioactive iodine therapy (I'll cross that bridge in a few weeks). On the way home, I go to the bank to make the clinic deposit and come to find out the bank has cancelled my clinic credit card as they have a new policy and I need a business-card. Hmmm. I get back to the car and my cell phone is ringing and it is the phonescreener team telling me the phoneline has already been shut down. (It got resolved, but not until Monday.) Raced to Target to get a birthday party present for a six year old.

Saturday, March 5:
Brushed out one of the bunnies, trying to be responsible, and put a hole in him, from which he is now recovering nicely.
Rode out Calaveras Rd. for a total of about 50 miles round trip; did a 10 minute transition run.

Sunday, March 6:
Had planned to do a 3 hour trail run but it was raining, I was tired, and I had a ton of loose ends from last weekend's clinic to wrap up--did the run the following day.

Bring on the rest week!

Last Christmas Crafts....I swear!

2011-03-06T20:38:00.000-08:00

But first, my one Valentine's Day craft that actually got finished. I got these chipboard heart albums on a craft store clearance aisle last year..for 39 cents a piece. Score. I made several of them, a couple for teachers' gifts and a couple more for a friend and myself.

I just couldn't let go of my Christmas crafts I had planned. These little clay-snowman boxes had been on my to-do list for a couple of years, ever since I saw them during the annual Jolie Paquet (http://jolie-paquet.blogspot.com/) holiday web craft-fest.

And speaking of Jolie Paquet, my wonderful friend Amy (http://lifebycandlelight.blogspot.com/) gifted me with this wonderful scrapbook kit at Christmas on our first meeting this past holiday. It too was from Jolie Paquet. I had such fun putting it together.

And lastly, my "sock-snowmen"! Copied from an idea I saw in an old Mary Englebreit magazine from years ago. Until next year...Happy Holidays!

On Flexibility in One's Training Schedule

2011-02-21T19:41:00.000-08:00

(I have my grownup computer back! Hooray!)

This might possibly be the happiest dog on the planet. His training remains the same despite weather issues. Mine does not. THIS picture is of the road in front of our house in the mountains where we were this weekend, and where I had planned to go for a long run one day and possibly a ride or ski the other. NOT. But I am proud of my tenacity and creativity with last week's training nonetheless.

We were home during the work week and the weather was unsettled, bringing us our first real rain in weeks. I let the Mister take Sporty Spice to school early on Tuesday and headed up Mt. Diablo in attempt to beat the rain, which I DID. I have a goal of seeing the top of the mountain before Wildflower, and it will be the first time since the broken leg. Today there is snow on top of even this low-lying mountain.

Thursday it rained again and after scrapping plan A of riding, and plan B of running outside (it was pouring! and cold!) I did something never before done by me...I ran on the treadmill at the gym for 2 hours. Yes, 2 hours. The only way this was possible was with the help of those little personal tv consoles on the treadmills there.

The weekend brought the flexibility of training-challenge to a new high. We had never before been to our mountain house on a day where there was that much snow and plows not keeping up. This meant arriving after dark Friday night and actually having to send the Mister down the road to shovel us a path inside; luckily we were able to get the car to the end of our road. But this meant we couldn't leave to go anywhere by car all day Saturday, not the store, or the ski trails, no where. So we strapped on our snow shoes and headed out--onto our own road! There had been some plowing before the last dumping and that was really good snowshoeing, just a foot or so of snow. Not feeling this was adventurous enough, we blazed our own trail over the usually "dirt road", snowshoeing through about 4 feet of powder. Now, if one wants a workout, THIS would be it. I managed to patch togfether 2 and a half hours of this and it was actually very very nice. And the dog was in dog-paradise! Which is so wonderful to see, as our boy has been battling lymphoma and having chemo treatments once a week. He had a perfect day, and it made the last 10 weeks worth it all.

The plow came...finally....at 1:30am on Sunday morning, which was one of the oddest experiences the Mister and I have ever had. We both woke up, sitting straight up in bed yelling--we were both totally sure it was an avalanche! It was so noisy and lit up the house!
My workout hopes were high---until I realized it was 20 degrees outside and the road completely iced over. I had to tippy toe my bike down to the main road, but had had the smarts to bring my mountain bike and managed to get in a 3 and a half hour ride down the mountain to Murphys and back on the road. It kicked my butt.

I did manage to get some other things done on my to do list this weekend!! I finally watched, in it's entirety, my new Swim Smooth Master Catch Class DVD--very very informative and I can't wait to try out my new drills.

I finished the Charles Dickens novels I've been reading for Oprah's book club! Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. I feel so smart!

I planned my garden for the year and made lists from all my seed catalogs.

And I finished all my training totals from 2010! Ready?
In 2010 I swam 256, 350 yards.
I rode 3,851 miles.
And I ran 997 miles (and if you know me, you would know that if I had known this was the number earlier, I would have been out at 11:30 pm on Dec. 31st to get in the last 3 to make 1000.)
Adding weight training, I spent 814 hours of 2010 training and racing.

On Pushing Your Kids Into Obscure Sports

2011-02-07T17:50:00.000-08:00

Sorry. I realize these pictures were just hanging out there with no explanation for a few days. My laptop (the one that wasn't stolen) went over the rainbow bridge last week and I am using Sporty-Spice's itty bitty Nickelodeon computer to communicate with the outside world. I believe it has an actual picture of a Rugrat character on the front. Very grown up.

So, back to our adventure of 2 weekends ago. Cross-Country Ski Orienteering! Orienteering is a very fun sport the mister and I did several years ago when preparing for adventure racing. Basically, you get a map and a compass and have to find checkpoints and it's timed. They have em where you run, where you ski, and even where you ride a mountain bike or horseback ride. We had done this same ski-O and I'd always thought it would be a fun sport to do as a family. Sporty loved it! He especially loved the little finger tip "dibber" you put in the checkpoints--a digital indicator you were there and found it. It took him 147 minutes to complete the course, which in 6 year old time must be like 12 dog-years, and he stuck with it. That surprised me. I am on a quest to introduce my kid to obscure sports in leiu of organized team sports like (shudder...)soccer teams because a)I have my own stuff to train for on weekends and am selfish, b)that would preclude our going to our "happy place" in the mountains many weekends and c) did I mention I'm selfish? Check out orienteering at www.baoc.org/.

Since I can't post any more pictures until I get my other computer back, I will have to forgo illustrating my craftiness of late (I'll catch up later) and talk about training.

It seems like most years, getting started with the "real training" in the late winter/early spring, for me, is like watching a baby bird try and take flight, only to keep falling out of the nest and bashing it's head upon the ground...over and over.....until it finally gets liftoff. I'm still in a bit of the nest falling phase, and hoping for liftoff soon. And I can't even so much blame the weather, which has been great, or health during cold and flu season. I think I'm just adjusting to the idea of moderation and training for halfs. Just an adjustment in thinking, somewhere. I've pretty much put in the training I planned to for base, and it is fine. It's just a little bit of low-enthusiasm factor just yet, not-great focus, and some horrible eating choices during the holidays I'm paying for now. On the upside, I've enjoyed some great mountain biking the last few weeks and a couple of trail runs! I hadn't realized just how little trail running I'd been able to do since my injury and how much I missed it. This is rest week after the last base phase, so tomorrow is the offcial start of Build 1--11 weeks to Wildflower!!

I am taking a very cool online class through Brave Girls Club, called Soul Restoration (http://soul-restoration.com). We are restoring our "soul-houses" through collage and journaling. I'm pretty sure my soul house is in foreclosure, but we'll see.

I can't stop making Christmas crafts

2011-01-16T10:33:00.000-08:00

And on the moderate craft front, I can't quite seem to abandon my list of Christmas crafts I had wanted to make and didn't get time for in December.

I made this adorable little paper village (a kit I got for like, 4 bucks on a clearance rack somewhere) while watching tv. And these Christmas ornaments came out so cute! They are made from some thrift store tart tins and Christmas odds and ends I scored (it was a major score) at a rummage sale a couple of years ago.

My plan, to implement the Moderation-theme in my crafting this year is to try really, really hard, not to buy a single craft supply unless it is a very specific item needed for a very specific project. I am totally serious. My craft supply hoarding is completely out of control and I am afraid they are going to do a whole special episode on that Hoarders tv show about me and my craft stuff. I could craft until kingdom come solely with the supplies I already possess.

Moderation

2011-01-16T10:15:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to come up with a word that I would want to focus on in this new year. The word Balance is always on the tip of my tongue, but perhaps it is too easy while being too ambiguous. How does one get to "balance"? For me, my missing it by a mile or more seems to occur when I don't practice moderation. Moderation does not come easy to me. If I'm in for a penny, I'm in for a pound, so to speak. Just workout? Just do some triathlons? oh no...it's gotta be an Ironman. Go out and rescue a cat? Just one? Why not thirty or forty? Fix a few cats? Certainly starting an energy-sucking non-profit that consumes my life but fixes a lot of feral cats would make more sense.....you get the idea. Thank goodness I never got the urge to start foster care/adoption for children or I'm sure I'd be putting Mia Farrow to shame.

There has GOT to be some middle of the road here. And I'm gonna try to find it.

In terms of triathlon this year, I am definitely looking forward to.....HALVES! Yea, beautiful, manageable yet challenging half-Ironman races. I'm signed up for Wildflower (okay, so I had to pick the hardest one) in late April and Vineman in July. This year I would also like to see some....VARIETY! I am desperate for a change of pace. Cross-country skiing...bring it on. Some shorter, fun races...I'm there. I'm even looking at some entirely different things....I have a bug in my bonnet to try this "Tough Mudder" (http://toughmudder.com/) and possibly reprise my not-so extensive adventure racing career. Anything interesting that does not involve mind-numbingly long workouts for weeks on end.

Any other suggestions? The weirder the better.

As long as it is weird in moderation.

The Grinch is Driving My Volvo

2010-12-30T11:41:00.000-08:00

If you see him, let me know.

Shalom, I am converting to Judaism after this past holiday week. Our little family went North for just 2 days to spend Christmas with my in-laws. We came home Sunday night to find our house robbed and ransacked. All that really matters, at the end of this story, is that all of our animals are safe and accounted for. I am all too aware of how differently that could have been. Secondly, our bikes were left untouched. In our world, that is big. The rest of the stuff, big screen tv, laptop computer, camera, jewelry, m
oney and our safe containing birth certificates, passports and credit cards...and my car... can be replaced (sadly, our wedding video cannot). Just unbelievable.

It's going to take awhile to come back from this and feel secure again.

The holidays were busy, and overall, prior to this, they were good.These little snowflake ornaments and bird-and-tree-spools are about the sum of my craftiness however.

...and The Rest of The Disney Adventure (oh, yes, there's more)

2010-11-20T06:10:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, November 10, 2010:
We started today off with the thing Sporty has been asking and asking for: to ride the monorail. We took the boat to the Magic Kingdom and then the monorail to the Polynesian Resort where we had a Hawaiin style breakfast with Mickey, Pluto, Lilo and Stitch. The look on Sporty's face was priceless (well, it could have been the characters, or it could have been the fact he was allowed to eat bacon). They even served Mickey Mouse shaped waffles.

From there we went to Disney's Animal Kingdom. Pretty cool. The new Everest roller coaster was the best ride!

Sporty loved the petting zoo and you'd never guess he has his own pygmy goat in the backyard. There was also this amazing safari ride where you got really really close to all the animals in this cool preserve setting.

Sporty also loved this dinosaur maze-playground thing. We left that park at 5:00pm and headed to Downtown Disney for dinner at this amazing Rainforest Cafe where it was like you were eating in a rainforest and there was a "storm" every 20 minutes and the animals started moving.

Then, on to possibly the high point of Sporty's trip: The Lego Store! Big excitement.
Yep, it's a Woody, made entirely of Legos.

Stopped at Goofy's candy store on to see Cirque du Soleil! Nouba. Wonderful.
Thursday, November 11, 2010:
Had breakfast downstairs again: me and my cinnamon roll and Sporty and his chocolate croissant. Then we took the bus to Disney's Hollywood Studios. The biggest attraction there was the new Toy Story 3 ride, where you ride through and earn points shooting at these 3-D Carnival midway games.

We also went to a Playhouse Disney show with Mickey's Clubhouse characters and the Little Einsteins. And we went to the Narnia Prince Caspian thing. We were so tired from the whole week, going to bed at midnight or later!--we cut this park a little short and came back to the lodge. We had lunch at the western-themed place just off the big lobby that I remembered from our last trip. Excellent bbq and the kids do a "pony ride" around the restaurant on those stick horses. The boys went for a swim in the amazing pool there, all landscaped to look like an outdoor nature-Yosemite-like place with a water slide through the rock formations. I got in a nap before we took the boat back to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey and Minnie's Christmas party! Amazing holiday decorations on Main St., and Christmas music playing throughout the park, everyone dressed for Christmas, even the characters. You had to pay extra for this event, which was from 4:00pm to midnight and everyone else was booted out of the park, so there was hardly any wait for the rides. We hit Space Mountain three times and went on some things we hadn't been on yet--Snow White, Dumbo and the Teacups.
The special Christmas fireworks started while Sporty and I were on the Dumbo ride and we were right underneath them. They had stations all over the park with Christmas cookies and cocoa. After another ride on the Thunder Mountain Railroad we sat and watched the amazing Christmas parade, did our shopping--Sporty finally bought his monorail set we'd been hearing about all week--and took the boat back, getting in about 1:00am.

Friday, November 12, 2010:
Last day at the happiest place on earth! Had breakfast at the lodge and then the boat to the Magic Kingdom where we took 2 loops on the monorail. Ferried back and it was time for the bus to the airport.

Part 2: Our Visit to The Happiest Place on Earth

2010-11-16T15:09:00.000-08:00

Sunday, November 7, 2010:
Rigor mortis had set in by morning, although oddly enough, mostly in my hip flexors (which have plagued me ever since the broken leg and which were what I was feeling during the run, but they've never been a post-race issue). My actual injured leg was stiff in the knee, but I've had worse just training. My chafing was almost nonexistent compared to other races. But the fate of one toenail on my right foot looks uncertain at best. I had a big list of things I was planning to do that I knew was a pull-out-all-the-stops recovery plan to get me up and onto that plane back to Orlando by afternoon and I did em all. Compression tights, my stretching DVD, heat, ice, pain gels, even eating a huge spinach and chicken salad at 8:00am. Hobbled around to pack up and leave the condo by 11:00am. We headed back to the expo to pick up my last bags and my finish photo. Then on to lunch at Sharky's for gumbo, fish tacos, and my full 2010 quota of all things fried (shrimp, fries, onoin rings)---mmmm. Did a bit of window shopping in Panama City Beach to kill time and then headed for the airport. Forgot to drink my last coconut water I had saved for recovery, which resulted in a security search of my bag and a TSA tossing it (aaaaa!). Two short flights later we were in Orlando and onto the Disney bus, but all-told we didn't make it to our room at the Wilderness Lodge until after 1:00 am and we were zombies.

Monday, November 8, 2010:
Waking up in the Wilderness Lodge...and then watching Sporty Spice wake up like a kid on Christmas morning, was pretty cool. We can see the pool and courtyard that looks like Yellowstone Park out our window. Very sunny but a little cool out. We headed down to the little pickup breakfast stop downstairs. I must say I believe I had, hands down, the best cinnamon roll of my entire life.
We took the boat over to the Magic Kingdom and we were there!
An unexpected surprise was that they had already decorated and started all the festivities for Christmas at the park.
Cinderella's castle is all draped in lights. With the cool weather, it works for me. The first ride Sporty wanted to go on (of course) was the train ride around the park, so we got the lay of the land. Our next ride was Space Mountain. Sporty headed right in and took the very front seat; definitely the first ride of that caliber for him and he did great. We did Tomorrowland, including the Buzz Lightyear ride and the People Mover and on to Frontierland and Adventureland where we hit the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Carribean, among others. Had lunch at a colonial tavern place. Then on to my favorite--Fantasyland! Small World, Peter Pan and then Toon Town, which Sporty loved, being such a huge fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We met Mickey at his house and had our picture taken with him.
We were SO tired by the time the park closed at 7:00 pm! We took the boat back to the hotel and had the best dinner at the fancy restaurant there. Wood smoked salmon and a berry cobbler. It is so amazing to me how Disney can carry a theme (Wilderness Lodge, Pacific Northwest) to the Nth degree, even to the menu. Sporty had the coolest dessert: a white chocolate Mickey Mouse puzzle with frosting "paint" on a palette-shaped plate.
Cruized the gift shop and came upstairs and called the pet-sitter. Our 20 year old diabetic cat passed away in her sleep today, and although not a huge surprise, it saddens us nonetheless.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010:
Our Epcot Day! First we grabbed some coffee downstairs and did a couple of clues from this Hidden Mickey Hunt Sporty Spice is obsessed with. Then onto a bus headed for Epcot. First thing, we headed straight for France and had pastries and coffee for breakfast.
Then we went back to Futureworld, where there were so many things to see. Sporty loved the spaceship flight simulator and the race car test track (we did that one twice). We went to the Innovations building where there were all these cool interactive exhibits and "shows" and games; one was a 3-D storm-readiness thing and one was an interactive recycling game). We did the Nemo ride at the aquarium-exhibit part which was really cute, and came back after dinner for Soarin', this really cool simulator ride that makes you feel like you're soaring over California in a hang glider.

Then we got to my favorite part--the different countries. We went on the boat rides in Mexico and Norway and looked in some shops. By the time dinner rolled around we were starving. We got into the most amazing buffet in Germany. Wonderful German food in what felt like an outdoor restaurant in Germany. And there was a German band and the kids, Sporty included, were all doing the chicken dance on the dance floor.
We ended our night with the amazing fireworks and light show they have. And with Sporty buying this cool Buzz Lightyear light up toy--and then tripping and splitting his lip open on the cement on the way back to the bus.

THIRTEEN HOURS. TWENTY FIVE MINUTES. AND 37 SECONDS.

2010-11-14T09:04:00.001-08:00

We're back! And before I get mired in the usual PIMD syndrome (Post-Ironman-Depression) I'd better chronicle our wonderful trip. We've come back to piles of laundry, unpacking, mail to sort, bills to pay....and some really really horrible news about our dog-son, which I'm not ready to deal with just yet (along with a couple of animal related losses during our absence). So without further ado, here is the first installment of our amazing trip, in possibly even greater detail than most people can handle....

Tuesday, November 2, 2010--We're off!
(oh, look at that! during my absence, blogger has updated their program so it puts the upright pictures upright for idiots like me! Excellent!)

Weeks and weeks of detailed planning, plotting, cleaning, and heavy lifting have all come down to this 5:00 am wake-up and goal of 6:30 leaving for the airport. Setting up as many animals as we have , to leave for 11 full days and get both of us and a five year old onto a plane is like planning a space shuttle launch. Our animal sitter is wonderful and amazing to even consider taking on this job. The dog has been transported, along with 2 weeks of pre-home-cooked meals to grandma and grandpa in Redding. He has been my more than constant companion since my broken leg and our move last year (read: I can't go to the bathroom by myself) and he is a nervous wreck. I'm also leaving behind three cats with medical issues, which has me more nervous than usual. Emma, our fifteen year old, who is doing quite well with her chronic kidney failure, but who will need fluids and sub-cutaneous fluids every day. Norris, recently diagnosed with FIP, who looks very perky and happy, but for whom any drop in weight during my absence will be a concern. And lastly, Faith Louise, our twenty year old diabetic cat with a lifelong attitude problem. She started showing signs of a respiratory infection the night before our departure (of course), which despite her general happiness and still pretty good quality of life, has me worried.

So, I get up in time to stretch a bit and do a half-hour spin on the trainer while watching an IMFL video from 2001, do my last bit of animal chores and we are off, our friend Brian driving us to the airport. The moving walkways and airport trams thrilled Sporty Spice, so Disneyworld ought to blow his head clean off. Our flight was good; we flew on Virgin and the personal tv monitors were a huge perk. I was wearing my IM Hawaii jacket and a woman across the aisle asked me if I was going Ironman Florida. I made a new friend and possible training partner! My new BFF and her husband just moved to our town about a year ago, and she had hip surgery this year and has been training alone also! This will be her first IM; her husband did it last year and will be spectating this year (he packed a whole separate box of wine!). We eagerly exchanged phone numbers. Our bikes were even on the transport truck together. In Orlando, we got our shuttle to a hotel near the airport and it even had a decrepit but functional treadmill for me to use for my half-hour run while the boys hunted down dinner.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010:
Up early, especially if you consider it is 3:00 am in California, and off to the airport again. From Orlando we will fly to Atlanta and then take a connecting flight to Panama City Beach. When we get to the gate for the second flight, just in time for boarding because our first flight was late, we found our "peeps", all lined up to board, M-Dots on clothing, backpacks and skin everywhere.
Funny to be back in Panama City Beach after a seven year absence. Staying at the same condo complex as the other three years makes me miss my Iron-friend Cecilia, and her wacky family, who were our traveling companions from 2000-2002. It definitely won't be the same without them, the laughs and Ironman antics and stories, not to mention the infamous tuna buns and holy water!

When we get here it is raining....a lot. We hit the Subway for a sandwich and back for a nap. Wonderful. I abandoned my plan for a run and a short swim due to the wind and pouring rain. It felt like heaven to relax and read my new Anita Shreve book and do some cross-stitch, but when I saw people out running and swimmming it made me feel a tad guilty.

We headed to our favorite Wal-Mart, where (I'm not lying), they had a guy standing there trying to re-stock the bananas and he couldn't go fast enough. The trip to Wal-Mart in Panama City Beach is so much more than a shopping trip. It is an American cultural experience that is not to be missed. You know that website peopleofwalmart.com? I will swear to my dying day that that camera is set up soleley in the Panama City Beach Store. And we got to see these people in the flesh (pardon the pun)! I could stay there all night. In California a triathlete grocery shopping more or less blends in. Not here by golly! The bodies, the fashion choices, and the cart contents are the dead giveaways. I see things in these grocery aisles I haven't seen since childhood, and I think might be illegal in California now. Remember Kraft Pimiento cream cheese in the little clear glasses you could use later to drink out of? Potato buds in a box? I see a LOT of white bread, and I see athletes cleaning OUT the produce aisles and gatorade. We come back to the condo and make our healthy stuff and it's off to bed, trying to get on the right time schedule.

Thursday, November 4, 2010:
OK, today I've got to pull myself together and remember I'm not here to cross-stitch. 9:00am--it is pouring rain and there is thunder and lightening. Our condo is right on the beach so it is a pretty good show from our 5th story window. And I'm watching some big groups of swimmers out there--is that safe? It's not looking so fun to go out in but today there isn't going to be much of a choice.
....stretched to my obsessive compulsive but tried and true stretching DVD. Went out for a half hour run, mostly to test another in a series of leg braces to put in my run special needs bag.

The big surprise factor here this week seems to be the colder and windier-than-we-expected weather conditions, although the rain stopped a little bit before noon. The expo and registration was a zoo when I passed, so I decided to go straight out for a swim after the run. The white sand beaches here are beautiful as usual (no trace of this year's BP oil spill that we can see). The boys came down to the beach and we found a crab that scared the pants off Sporty Spice--I hope he will ever get in the ocean again.

After a short swim, it was off to register. Because of the weather, almost everyone apparently waited until the same time to do it, resulting in a 2 hour line to the reg tent. Seeing what I had seen passing earlier, I was so happy I had thought to bring my book. The boys went to the Janus tent to make their signs for the course and then we hit the merchandise tent. The warm clothes were flying off the shelves and I bought things I could WEAR on Saturday: long sleeves and a beanie!

Back to the condo for a very quick nap and dinner before I had to head back to the mandatory athlete meeting. Same speech as usual for the most part. On the way there I saw a cat in a corner of the parking lot, which when I stopped and crouched down, was followed out of the bushes by three more. Great. However, knowing what I know, these guys had a feeder, probably resembling myself, from the way they formed an orderly line and just sat, looking at me. And they looked pretty healthy, coats actually shining under the street lamp. The mister asked the security guard at the parking kiosk and he said yes, they had a feeder and yes, she'd been trapping and fixing them. Hooray. At least I don't have to think about that all weekend. Back at the condo, a bowl of cereal and some heat and ice for my leg, and off to bed.

Friday, November 5, 2010:
Ironman Eve and the nerves are starting to frazzle. More over the cold than the actual race, I think. Coming up with some pre-emptive strikes today as I prep my gear bags. Stretched. Went for a half hour ride. Came back and finished filling my gear bags. Headed down to drop off along with my bike. Sunny today but very windy and not all that warm. Made the last minute decision to buy a new Zoot long sleeved wetsuit. Came back and went down to "swim". I use that term loosely, as it was so windy and the waves were so big, I could NOT get past the breakers. I am at a complete loss for what to expect from tomorrow. Came back in and "shut it down". Got my last stuff together for tomorrow. I am ready to get this thing going.

P.S. The pet-sitter called this evening just before bed, crying so hard she could barely speak. Despite our very best efforts to critter-proof our bird enclosure, a raccoon, it appears, managed to get it's paws through the mesh and proceeded to murder our little Melody-duck. I'm going to try really hard not to think about this right now.
Saturday, November 6, 2010--THE BIG DAY:
Approximately two years ago, before the broken leg and before Kona, I sat down and wrote out my "big dream" triathlon goals. I wanted to beat my own time at IMFL 2000, my personal best of 13. 33. 09. And I wanted to do it exactly 10 years later to show that aging doesn't always have to be a negative. After my injury, I was realistic, knowing that I may have to live without fulfilling my goal, but I wasn't ready to stop trying.

My alarm went off at 4:30 am, after the usual fitful pre-race night of sleep. Downed my oatmeal, banana and some nuts, and filled my travel coffee mug I bought at the expo, knowing the longer I could keep drinking warm liquids up to the swim start, the better. They told us it was 38 degrees in the transition area when I got there, but hallelujah, the water temperature was 72 degrees. I like heading to the race starts alone now, without the family, as I can stay totally focused on what I need to do. This was especially good today, as by the time I navigated all the massive amounts of people and IM chaos, I barely had a minute to spare by the time we had to stage the start.

Headed out of the condo at 5:15 am to walk the mile or so down to the transition. Had to drop my special needs bags, get to my bike to put air in my tires and drinks in my bottles. I also wanted to get into my bike gear bag and open up my air-activated hand and feet warmers to give em time to work before I needed them in a couple of hours. Potty stop, wetsuit on, drop off dry clothes bag, and got to the beach as the sun was coming up and the pros were starting (6:50 am). The surf looked relatively calm and the wind hadn't kicked up yet.

7:00 am and off went the cannon! Between the surg and the 1700 swimmers, it was the usual swimming in a washing machine feeling. My new wetsuit is awesome (for the chunk of change I had to plop down for it on Friday, it had better be!); not only kept me warm, conserving that energy it would've taken to heat myself, but it is way thinner and more flexible than my older one. I love technology! Plodded along at my little swim pace, trying really really hard to use my new recent stroke changes the masters coaches have given me and just focus on that. First lap done--peeked at my watch at the beach turnaround--about 44 minutes, not bad for me, especially if I can remotely duplicate that on the second lap. Lap 2--pretty darn similar to the first, minus the initial chaos, but also minus that big draft. Saw two or three jellyfish, about the size of baseballs, and tried to steer clear of them. I think the best part of my day, besides the finish line, is always the same: getting close enough to the beach to be able to HEAR the announcer and the crowd. Only then do I know I'm home free. Up ad out of the water, my watch saying about 1.33. Not the elusive 1.30, but I'll take it and I feel pretty good.
Still cold, as evidenced by this picture of my favorite cheerleader.

This years T1 transition tent wasn't quite as fully staffed with volunteers as past years and I noticed most were younger people, perhaps lacking that imperative mothering skill it takes to dress an adult in an exhausted, disoriented state that those Florida grandmothers of past years had. Which was fine, but combined with the fact we were putting on actual layers of clothes (when has that happened in an IM?), it was a pretty long transition. Let me tell you, whatever money I spent and bizarre solutions I came up with on Friday to keep me warm going into the bike--so well worth it! I had my usual race skinsuit, and added a pair of arm warmers and a brand new long sleeved jersey jacket thing I'd bought at the expo, in addition to an ear-warmer I'd bought there. My hands were my biggest concern and I had bought disposable hand and foot warmers, which might just have been a lifetime-achievement level good idea, along with the plastic baggies over my toes and (get this), a pair of rubberized garden gloves with floral fabric on top--the only thing we could find at the Wal-Mart. And no, zoot has not startedselling gardening apparel. It was stylish, I'll tell you. Headed out on the first loop of the bike and it was, in a word...windy. Started conservatively with a hope of anywhere near a six hour ride and a strategy of staying steady and maintaining focus enough to keep asking myself, "what else can I do right now?? push harder? pedal faster?". My nutrition strategy was simple. Cytomax in the bottles and switching off every half hour between gu and kids Clif bars. Knowing it was cold, I absolutely forced myself onto that schedule, no slacking 10 or 15 minutes here and there like I sometimes do when I feel full. That plan was perfect. My other plan was to make myself wait to the 56-mile halfway point and special needs bags to go to the bathroom. Since I had to pee, it made me ride a lot faster! I also planned to use that very short stop to kind of push my "mental reset" button and treat the second half exactly like the first. I knew I did NOT want to end the day just short of my goal and have even one iota of asking myself what I could have done differently. That, really, is almost always my ultimate goal. It remained so windy and cold, the only thing I ditched in my bag were the warmers and gardening gloves. I hit that stop at precisely noon. My girl-parts were especially cooperative on this day in the chafing area which was great! Second half--really good. Just felt very steady and consistent. I'd say I was in the aero bars 90% of the ride. This year our first names were on our race numbers which was kind of cool. This chick, Gina, and I were playing leapfrog from about mile 80 to mile 100. Women do not generally pass me on the bike and stay away, so not letting her get away was a great boost and I knew it was upping my speed. Gina got away at about mile 100 and I let her go, knowing at this point I'd better start collecting myself for the run. As we hit the main drag in Panama City Beach--I could feel it--oh yes, the merest inkling of a flat on the rear. I kept looking back. It didn't look FLAT flat, but I was definitely starting to feel the bumps. With about five miles left,I decided to just ride as fast as I could on the straights and be really careful on the turns and just hope I could make it. As I dismounted and my bike to a volunteer I took a second to check and indeed, it was going flat. Phew! I can NOT believe I dodged that bullet.
Into the change tent at T2--less congested than T1. I always think the same thing as I head into transition--fast, but deliberate. Don't dilly dally, but don't forget anything. Still had on the arm warmers on, but tied my jacket around my waist and hung on to the ear warmer. It could be cold after sundown. Grabbed my new fuel belt (so much more comfortable than the old one), hit the bathroom and headed out. M optimistic goal was to run the first half if at all possible and then re-evaluate. Gu every three miles on the first half and then switch to my tried and true cola-broth-pretzel-banana rotation for the second. I started jogging and felt ok! It was a really slow pace, but the farther I went, the more comfortable it felt and I knew if I didn't push it much harder I could hold that pace for a LONG time. Hit the turnaround and deiced to see if I could run to mile 20. I was afraid if I walked at all, even the rest stops, I might not be able to start again. So I just kept shuffling. I was watching my watch and doing some extensive triathlon math. At the turnaround, I knew if I could stay just a little faster than my walk pace and hold that as long as I possibly could, I just might hit my goal and not have to kill myself the last 2 miles. I seriously kept thinking, "WHERE is this run coming from?!?". When I hit that final turn and I looked at my watch I KNEW as long as I didn't trip over anything, I was going to make it.

Final time: 13 hours, 25 minutes and 37 seconds.
Met up with the boys, who brought me warm clothes and a sandwich. I stuck exactly to my post-race plan, knowing it was going to be crucial to my recovering in time to get myself to Disneyworld on Monday. Still, I had a bit of the post-race-near-passing-out-shivering-cold-in-my-foil-blanket thing as I walked to the car. Happy to see the condo and my bed, but as always, not much sleep at all that night from the adrenaline and seizing up muscles.

Despite the rougher conditions, I did what I came here to do. I can hardly believe it.

The Ugly Truth About the Taper

2010-11-01T05:49:00.000-07:00

Insomnia. Which is actually perfect, because you couldn't afford to sleep even if you wanted to and make it to your plane's departure. And what does a good tapering triathlete do with all this extra energy? Well, I was up at 3:30 am thismorning doing my kid's homework that is due today. The assignment was to disguise this picture of a Thanksgiving turkey so that the farmer won't eat him for dinner. Gosh, I hope my turkey is better than the other kids' turkeys!!

Out late lastnight trick or treating, which was so fun. Being five and trick or treating...don't you remember that?! And my little Sporty Spice did the absolute sweetest thing when we got home. He very sincerely assessed his haul...and then took a plastic ziplock bag and put some of his very best chocolate candy, which he loves at least as much as I do, in it and marked it "for mommy from Noah for after her big race" and put it in a special place in my bedroom for me for when I get home. Now THAT is true love.

Florida or Bust

2010-10-31T07:57:00.000-07:00

But before I go...Happy Halloween! These little kitties are all dressed up to celebrate the day! I made four of these..one for Sporty Spice and three for friends' kids and they came out so cute! I definitely stole the idea...from the Wishcraft catalog. They wanted $98 for these personalized cats! Yikes. I knew I could whip those up! The real beauty of being a craft supply hoarder is that when you see an idea, you just go to your stash and boom! you're good to go. I love that.
This little tag banner was a "Bellaween" project from a couple of years ago I am just now getting around to making.

And now that I have successfully used crafting as a means of procrastinating and avoiding reality (it is SO good for that!), I guess I should address the big....looming....event.......Scarier than Halloween! Ironman Florida is now less than a week away!!!

I don't know how to accurately sum up how I feel. Every time is so different. I am really, really anxious this go around. Mostly around the pain in my leg. I always say the motivation I, personally, have when I train every day or do something else that will be beneficial to the training or recovery, I do it for one reason. This will be the seventh time I've stood on an Ironman start line, the fourth in Panama City Beach. I KNOW what it feels like to stand there waiting for the start cannon. And the LAST thing I want to have to ask myself on that morning is "was there something more I could have done? Something less? Did I give 100% during these past months? Was there something I would have changed?" I'm sure there will always be a small degree of second guessing, but I want to stand there looking out at the sunrise over that ocean, with my feet in the sand, surf rolling over my toes, with as few of those thoughts as possible. I think I have a few more of those thoughts than usual this time. I don't know if I took training TOO seriously at times or not seriously enough...really. Sometimes that middle ground, so crucial, can prove elusive. This past month has been really hard, both mentally and physically, with some pain from my leg I thought was behind me. But, in parting, I can only say, I will give 100% on the day. I will do my best to crowd out any of those thoughts and focus on every second and what I can do, if anything, at that moment. To finish will be wonderful, to be near any of my previous IM times, especially that of my first one exactly ten years ago...divine.

One more Halloween craft tidbit

2010-10-29T05:51:00.000-07:00

I have to admit I did not make this banner this year. I think I made this cute vintage tag banner last Halloween, but I still love it.

As I do these little "jar babies" from a couple of years ago.

Scary Spice Nearing Florida

2010-10-29T05:44:00.000-07:00

Yup, that's my friend Scary Spice, back there on my aero bottle cages on my tri bike. She goes everywhere with me and she has seen some stuff. As I see where we are headed, Scary sits back there thinking about where we've been. Sometimes we chat. I might train alone, but I'm never really alone, which is nice.

Scary is somewhere in the midwest right now, on a transport truck. I dropped her off with explicit instructions to protect our bike on Tuesday, and she will meet me, with the bike, at the transition area in Florida one week from today. There were already some bike friends lined up to go with them.

I hope they are having a safe trip. I'm sure Scary will tell me all about it when we meet up next week.

What?!?!? Next week?!?! How did we get from "months away" to "next week" ?!?!?

Proof that I have actually used my kitchen at least once while training

2010-10-23T05:27:00.001-07:00

I do love to cook, even though frozen Trader Joe's entrees have been a bit of a staple around here while training. But I did manage a couple of my favorite fall dishes in the past week or so. The fruitstand I go to has started to get the best apples and pears in and I rustled up a batch of my favorite: Crock Pot Apple Pear Sauce. There is no real recipe, but it is genius. Peel up a bunch of apples and pears (I have one of those very cool Pampered Chef apple corers, which thrills my kid, so it doubles as entertainment.) Pour in a bit of water, and some of your favorite spices (just go crazy), turn on the crock pot before you go to bed. You wake up to the smell of baking apples and everyone thinks you're brilliant. About 50 calories per half cup, for anyone who is interested. Put it in oatmeal, pour yogurt over it, eat it plain.

The picture is of my absolute all-time favorite soup recipe, which I've been making for almost 20 years now and every person I've introduced it to has fallen madly and passionately in love with it. I shall give you the keys to the kingdom and share this recipe:

Armenian Lentil and Apricot Soup

3 tbls olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/3 cup dried apricots, chopped
1 1/2 cups dried split red lentils, rinsed thoroughly
5 cups chicken stock or canned broth
3 medium sized ripe plum tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbls fresh lemon juice

1. In a large soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and dried apricots. Saute, stirring occasionally until the onion is soft, about 12 minutes.

2. Add the lentils and stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.

3. Stir in the tomatoes, cumin, thyme, and salt and pepper. Simmer, covered, for another 10 minutes.

4. Season with the lemon juice and additional salt and pepper. Simmer, stirring, for another two or three minutes.

***I'm usually in a hurry and tend to use a big can of chopped tomatoes, juice and all instead of dealing with peeling and chopping.
I also use way more cumin and thyme than 1/2 teaspoon!
Me being me, I also cut the olive oil and only use one tablespoon, which, by my best math estimates, makes this soup approximately 160 calories per cup serving.

And a little decor...

2010-10-23T05:12:00.001-07:00

I will have to take some pictures of the outside this week. Our first storm of the season is blowing in this weekend, so I'm sure they will have to be "adjusted" anyway.

This is the thing about training for IM Florida, that I remember well from the other years I did it: leaves are changing on the trees, the weather is changing, the holidays are revving up...and I'm thinking, "What?!?!? I'm still training?!?!? Isn't the season over?!?!?". But then you land in Florida, where it is perpetually summer, the people are old, the food is brown, and somehow it is all right again.

Some Halloween Crafting

2010-10-22T15:27:00.000-07:00

This is a little wall-hanging from the "Bellaween" e-zine that was out, I think, 2 years ago. Took me that long to sit down and make it.

These were about as simple as a craft can be. These are plastic pumpkins and the rhinestones came already in those swirly shapes. Instant gratification. So unlike just about anything else right now.

I Hope This Isn't "The Ironman That Teaches Me the Great Overtraining Lesson"

2010-10-21T19:45:00.000-07:00

And just as I was gloating about how good my leg was feeling compared to a year ago. I mean, I was really noticing, "wow, I can go about not only training, but my chores and errands, and not be in pain", and "wow, the stiffness after a long run is so noticeably less". And then I got to my 20-plus mile runs in preparation for this Ironman. Weekend before last, I'd worked up gradually to my longest one, a 24 mile. Yep, that was the run that did it. The run itself wasn't so bad, but the soreness in my (previously broken) leg started that evening...and hasn't much diminished. I'm on an all-out effort to pull out all the stops on my "tricks" for putting it back together. ART therapy, massage, stretching and more stretching, whirlpool, ice, Pilates, pain cream and compression tights. And I'm trying not to freak out. I have just over 2 weeks remaining and the taper is officially here. Which has brought with it the reality of the work that is going into leaving this many animals with a sitter, 3 cats with ongoing medical issues, and what it is going to take to get them set up for me to leave.

So I think I shall think I shall dwell on something completely unrelated...Halloween! I've been crafting and decorating, and managed to get Sporty Spice to the Picture place with his costume last week. Isn't this the cutest astronaut you've ever seen? And appropriately, we have tickets to a big Halloween party at the Chabot Space and Science Center.

What a Difference A Year Makes

2010-10-09T09:31:00.001-07:00

It's hard to believe it was a year ago this weekend I tripped over the finish line in Kona! The big party is happening there today...and I am exactly four weeks away from another finish line. Tapering starts in another week and it is starting to feel like it. The nervous energy with nowhere to go. Today I'll start the big countdown calender of the epic list of things that have to happen in the next 28 days to get this many animals taken care of, one bike on a transport truck, and 3 humans on a plane. But first I have to go ride about 100 miles. Happy Ironman Day!

Belated Post on Mountain Crafting

2010-10-08T09:21:00.000-07:00

With all that's been going on here this week, I forgot to give an update from last weekend, when we "headed for the hills". Training was great, as it was a rest week, so nothing too long. A nice ride on Saturday, about 4 hours, and a 2 and a half hour run (in the rain that I totally didn't expect) on Sunday. Lots of time for crafting. I'm on a Halloween roll! I made these "spooky" decoration-blocks in Arnold, and started making several of each of these 2 Halloween cards. I actually made these wool felted cat-pins before leaving and may give them to the vets who come out to work at the next clinic. More to come! Sporty Spice has been home sick from school the last two days and there has been a little crafting to get me through the enforced captivity.

Goodnight Little Thunder-Man

2010-10-07T16:44:00.000-07:00

Thunder the pygmy goat came to us with his pygmy goat friend, Isabel, a little over a year ago, when his parents had to move to retirement living. He was an older goat when he arrived, but was the sweetest spirit, friendlier than Issy. The two of them were so funny to watch, like a little older couple, butting heads, literally, over the food bowl. They made friends with the two little larger goats next door and the four became inseparable in the past several months. We are so sad this week, as Thunder has left us to go over the Rainbow Bridge, "to the trail" to join Gracie, and Buddercup and Phaedrus and so many others we have loved and lost. Isabel is lost without him; we will have to find her a pasture pal soon. For now she is hanging out as close to her two nextdoor neighbors as the wire fence between will allow. Goodnight little Thunder-Man.

Look what flew onto my porch last week!

2010-09-29T23:53:00.000-07:00

This is one witch who won't be put away after Halloween! My friend Amy sent her to me(I shall have to figure out the mystery of how to put in a link to her blog). She's a kitchen witch! The tag attached says she will protect the cook from burning things or ruining others. With as out of practice as I've become lately with cooking anything besides microwave enchiladas, goodness knows I can use all the help I can get. Thank you Amy!

...and You Know You Have Been Swimming Too Long...

2010-09-28T17:49:00.000-07:00

when you have a swim like I did today!

Usually I swim at 6:30 in the morning, but this being rest week, I was able to head to the San Ramon Olympic Pool in the full glory of daylight. And yet...just like in the dark of the morning...the moon was still out!

Hear me out. I was in the second to last lane on the deep end, and two lanes over to the left was a male swimmer in his 30s or 40s, swimming well, in a dark blue speedo. He was doing a set, and being faster than me, he was just in my peripheral vision. Soon after starting, I pushed off the wall and took my first left side bilateral breath..and it was about then that I noticed, well...his crack starting to show. Hmmm. He was about half a dozen strokes away from the wall ahead, and by the time he reached it, his speedo was at his knees! Interesting. He got to the wall and pulled it up, but I must say he now had at least MY attention. So we both carry on. And it keeps happening! Swim....migrating speedo...full exposure...pull up...swim...repeat. For, like another 500 yards. I thought, "well, this guy HAS to be one of those anal (pardon the pun!) triathletes, because he is NOT going to miss this workout, elastic or drawstring be damned! I was so glad when he finally got out, because half the goal of my workout was to give 100% focus to my sets of 500s today.
Will the perks of this healthy lifestyle NEVER END?!?!?

You Might Be Running Too Long...

2010-09-28T17:10:00.000-07:00

When, half way through a 20 mile run on a hot day, while listening to your I-pod...
You start not only enjoying, but identifying with...a Miley Cyrus song!

I can almost see it.
That dream I'm dreaming, but
There's a voice inside my head saying
You'll never reach it
Every step I'm takin'
Every move I make
Feels lost with no direction,
My faith is shakin'
But I gotta keep tryin'
Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waitin' on the other side
It's the climb

...and Crafting.

2010-09-24T17:33:00.000-07:00

The swap that never ended! But it was fun. A vintage abc swap where 26 participants made 27 copies (yes, 27! one for charity) of a very themed little four by six inch card representing a letter of the alphabet (they were assigned). The swap organizer is, amazingly, going to assemble these into little books and send them back to us with the full alphabet!

Some Back To School Notebooks (one for my friend Amy)

Twelve Weeks Out--Ironman Meltdown

2010-08-15T18:32:00.000-07:00

I am not entirely sure WHAT happened this week. Granted, it was a tough week. Second week of minimal childcare and trying to get one of our spay/neuter clinics together for a week from today. Sporty Spice went to Science Camp in the mornings and I scrambled to try to get the training done during that window. Then he and I were home most afternoons with me trying to work, feeling bad because I couldn't concentrate on the clinic and bad that I couldn't concentrate on my kid. By Thursday I was starting to disintegrate. By Saturday I had burst out in some sort of stress RASH (oh, it's lovely) all over. I had tried to re-group today, to no avail. I've got twelve, count em TWELVE weeks to pull this Ironman together. I feel so angry with myself and struggling to regroup. One more week until Sporty Starts kindergarten and I have lots to do in that area this week. I'm going to carry on with the plan, meaning this week is a Rest/Test week. I'm frustrated and worried. And itchy.

As a consolation, I did get done a few projects I had half-finished, which was nice. The roll of Cath Kidston wallpaper goes on. I finished this (somewhat large) serving tray I made from an old picture frame I painted white and added little feet to. I also added wallpaper to shabby up this little green table I bought at a yard sale years ago. And these little rocks....they are "memory rocks" I've been meaning to finish...with the names of all our precious foster bunnies we've had and have passed over the "rainbow bridge" in the past few years. The passing of our sweet Norton a couple of weeks ago finally got me going to make finally finish these.

The top photo is of some very cool little push pins I made to put on my new bulliten boards. A bag of craft buttons from Michael's, some thumb tacks and a glue gun. Presto.

My little training hiatus has also allowed me to finally get started on the 27 (yes 27) little alphabet pages I need to make by September 10th for the fun (but right now bitty bit stressful) abc swap I'm participating in. More on that later, I'm sure. I'm letter E, and was very relieved to see some emails this weekend from other participants, that they were not all that far along either.

Welcome to August--Month from Hell

2010-08-08T13:05:00.000-07:00

We've known it was coming for awihle....and it is here. 21 days of somewhat unpredictable childcare, upping the training hours for Ironman Florida, and a clinic on the 22nd,for which we don't yet have a full team of vets...It's kind of like our own Tour De France--without the caravan.

If there is a daycamp happening, you can bet Sporty Spice is in it. And my bike and I are just about living in the car, and jumping out for a ride between shuttling him up and down the Tri-Valley area for the different camps. He may get some sort of frequent flier award at the gym childcare.

This weekend has consisted of training and getting ahead of the "animal-curve", cleaning, grooming, vaccinating, nail trimming, flea treating, and resolving the "great duck war of 2010". I was, however, rewarded, with my first chicken egg!

The last week of July Sporty Spice and I did 3 days of "Camp Mommy", which was very fun. No childcare, but tapering for Barb's Race meant we could do some fieldtrips and have some fun. We went to the dollar showing of "Hotel for Dogs" and it was surprisingly good! The portrayal of Animal Control was frighteningly spot-on, and had this mommy laughing out loud at all the inappropriate spots, where the kids were all afraid. We also went to the water park at the pool where I swim and S.S. finally got up the courage to go down the water slide.
The second day we went up to Tilden Park in the Berkeley Hills and rode the steam trains. Then we went to the Lawrence Hall of Science, a wonderful place I hadn't been to in years. They had a great exhibit on roller coasters and Sporty got to make a boat and float it down their water features outside.
The last day we went to Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek. We used to live near a similar nature center and went there a lot. Lindsay is amazing and we got to see the most incredible presentation with a bald eagle.
We had such a fun time and I must say, I am really liking the 5 year old phase. It suits me much better than the infant/toddler thing and having only one kid, we really have fun together.

Quilting Report

2010-08-01T11:23:00.000-07:00

Rare is the week when I can balance triathlon and crafting! I'm so excited that I finally finished my Yo Yo Sisterhood table runner! I started the applique part over a year ago when I was a shut-in with my broken leg, but couldn't get around well enough to use a sewing machine. And this was a perfect project to FINALLY try my sewing machine out for it's quilting capacity. Very fun! And it came out pretty well.

And from the garden...I've been collecting old plates from thrift shops and yard sales for about a year and finally started my "plate border" around the chicken and duck house to make a border garden around it. It's really really cute. Now I just need more plates.

Race Report: Barb's Race 1/2 Ironman

2010-08-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

Race Report
Barb’s Race Half Ironman: 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Santa Rosa, CA

Well, I’m thrilled to say that I don’t think there is a single part of my body that does not hurt thismorning. My goals were simple. Goals One and Two for any race are always the same, no matter the race. ONE: Finish. TWO: Finish without pooping on myself. Simple. Goal three for me Saturday was to end this race with nothing left besides the energy and mental capacity to get myself home. (The only error in this plan, as my family was to witness, was that I didn’t really work in the animal chores into that equation and they darn near put me into a coma when I got home.) I didn’t want to leave this race wondering if I could have gone harder and survived. My ultimate goal, as has been the case every year I’ve done Barb’s or Vineman, is to beat my elusive PR—5 hours and 58 minutes at Vineman about 10 years ago (I clearly remember urinating on myself to accomplish this); I’ve been trying to go under six hours ever since to no avail. The closest I came was 2 years ago when I flatted, and not counting the time to repair it, my unofficial time was 6.12. My method was simple. To take every second as it’s own entity, bringing myself and my focus back, time and again, and asking what I could be doing better: can I turn my arms over any faster during this swim? Can I keep my elbows up? Can I up my cadence, can I push a bigger gear? Can I run more relaxed? Can I push my run a little tiny bit harder? Breaking it up into these itty bitty moments to keep my focus.
Barb’s Race is great for the whole all-girl thing and the camaraderie; the competitive element is not nearly as palpable and sometimes this distracts me. It is an interesting day as there are people (male and female) competing in the Aquabike swim/bike race as well as the full Vineman (you couldn’t pay me…). The hardest part of this race is so often the hot weather. This year was by far the coolest I’ve ever seen this course. The swim was foggy, not clearing until partway through the bike, and the run, I’m guessing, was about 80-85 degrees at the end, far cry from the 110 degree year. The scencery is always so amazing.
I do like that swim, so different from the usual lake or ocean swims, up and back in the Russian River out of Geurneville. I love the cozy feeling of being surrounded by the tree-lined shores, and the current on the way back is my new best friend. I love the warm water as well as the fact you can often see the bottom! The official results aren’t up yet, but my watch said somewhere around 45 minutes. You can almost set your watch by my swim, sadly, despite any amount of swim training I do.
Onto the bike! After the initially alarming mental question of “why does this seem so HARD??”, I quickly assessed that I was unable to get out of my big ring and began a short session of rolling-problem-solving, not wanting to dismount to fix the problem until I was pretty sure what it was. Hmmmm….something in the routing….pulled over, jumped off, sure enough, the housing had come out of the braze on getting the bike in and out of the car…yanked it up, popped it on, got myself back on and safely back onto the road. Maybe cost me a minute and a half, tops, with another minute and a half to get my rolling rhythm back….bummer. But after that, no one passed me and got away with it! Hello! I’m BACK! Not even the Relay guy in the Stanford jersey that I played leapfrog with for miles. History. I pushed that bike ride from start to finish; I think the problem of so many people slowing down at the end of a bike leg isn’t always an endurance problem as much as a focus problem. So, my refocusing plan worked really really well. My accumulated stopwatch time off the bike was about 3 hours 50 minutes. I knew it was possible to hit the big goal, but it was going to be close. As much as I did not want to, I had to visit the porta potty (see goal two) which probably cost me a minute.
Out onto the run! And AGAIN, the curious phenomenon I experienced at Wildflower happened. I started running, and like I was possessed by the spirit of Forrest Gump, I just kept running! Where are these runs COMING from?!?!? Before I broke my leg, I never ran a whole run, even in shorter races. Now, I start running, and after the year of training to walk a marathon last year, my brain is completely turned off to the idea of EVER walking again, if I can run. Bizarre! I don’t even walk the aid stations. And the oddest part is that it is pretty soon into the run that I realize I just don’t envision walking at any point in this run. God, I hope this lasts.
So, I truly left it all out there yesterday. Unofficial time on my watch…Including mechanical and potty issues….6 hours 5 minutes. I WILL TAKE IT, thank you very much!! I really really needed a touchstone race to know where I was in terms of training for Florida. It’s all systems go starting tomorrow morning. Today I plan to do absolutely nothing I don’t want to do, to take a nap, and eat an entire watermelon by myself.

Race Report: Barb's Race 1/2 Ironman

2010-08-01T10:25:00.001-07:00

My Boy Is Eight!

2010-07-28T09:52:00.001-07:00

My first baby, Lance Armstrong, turned eight years old on Monday. We celebrated with special dog ice cream and Sporty Spice and I made up the traditional batch of birthday PUPcakes. Mmmmmmm......Happy Birthday Lance!

On the multi-sport front, I did a FUN little duathlon this weekend at Lake Del Valle in Livermore in keeping with the "train my weaknesses" theme. A one mile swim in wonderfully warm water and a 5K out and back run. An On Your Mark event, which always, always succeeds in providing an atmosphere of fun. Got in my car from there and headed straight for the mountains. Crafty project almost done...stay tuned.

Oh, for goodness sake, does anybody know how to tip these pictures upright? It can't be rocket science!

The Art Of Racing In the Rain by Garth Stein

2010-07-23T06:09:00.001-07:00

What an amazing little book, the best part being the story being told from the viewpoint of a dog. For anyone who loves or has ever loved a dog, and wondered about their thought processes, this book offers a touching, sad, and often very funny possiblity. Denny is Enzo the dog's owner, and Enzo chronicles Denny's life through a particularly tough stretch and past it. As the person who recommended the book to me said, "I believe in the philosophy of this book."; which, to me, reflects how life gives us situations, for better or worse, but it is up to us to choose how to deal with it.

I Have A Roll of Cath Kidston Wallpaper and I'm Not Afraid To Use It

2010-07-20T06:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I do NOT know what got into ME this past weekend! Perhaps it was the fact that the Mister was entertaining his family and had Sporty Spice in tow, leaving me some kid-free time. Perhaps I was driven by the fearful knowledge that I will be doing not much beyond training and scooping poop for the next 110 days until Ironman Florida. Whatever it was, I not only got in a four hour ride/run brick on Saturday, and a three hour (very hot!) run and a one hour swim Sunday--along with two short naps, but I whipped out projects left and right, those projects that have been on my to-do list forever. This, in addition to my usual animal chores and Tour De France viewing (poor Andy Schleck; I wanted to cry for him yesterday).

My biggest complaint about our new monstrous house is that it feels like living in a hotel and does not reflect an iota of cottage charm, even if it is a cottage on steroids. One roll of Cath Kidston wallpaper later....and voila. In our last house I had done something similar to some glass-doored cabinets in the kitchen with fabric. I....LOVE....IT!

So, then I just kept going! On to paint this pink dresser I bought at a White Elephant sale years ago and it has gone through many incarnations. This is going to go in my "quilt area"--which the Mister keeps referring to as a "Media Room"--silly man. I LOVE this too! Knobs were procured at Target after a statewide (well, almost) search of every Marshall's store to find another set of knobs that I like even better that I only have six of. No luck.

Already wielding a paintbrush, I finally re-painted this white cabinet for the formal living room. I bought it at a yard sale years ago from our neighbor who was a stripper (another story for another day. I've always loved the shape and detail and I think it is happy in it's new spot.

Two other projects had been haunting my list. And they are done...and DONE! I saw this idea for these adorable herb garden markers on Anne Sutton's Bunny Hill Quilts site/blog. The hunt for real silver was the toughest part, and I scored big one weekend at the new thrift store in Arnold--a buck a piece.

And, lastly, these bulliten boards I made for my craft room from the most amazing fabric I think I've ever owned. It was a balloon shade in Sporty's nursery at the old house. I painted these cheap bulliten boards I had lying around and voila! I am scheming on little push pins made from buttons-over-tacks for them. Stay tuned.

Reluctant Model

2010-07-16T18:42:00.000-07:00

Okay, yes, I know it is mean to make little Sporty Spice model my yoyo shirt craft project of last weekend since he is a boy. I wouldn't make him wear it to school or anything! I just needed a model. And this one turned out to be especially effective as I wanted to point out that I BOUGHT a women's size LARGE at Target to make this shirt and after it shrunk...it fit a five year old boy. Back to the drawing board. Good concept though.

We Have The Fever....Tour De France Fever

2010-07-15T06:51:00.000-07:00

For the first time in a few years, I am doing my darndest to follow this year's Tour De France in the way it should properly be followed. At 5am on versus tv, for three weeks. The voices of Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin have always defined summer at our house. The scenery is so stunning, and the race exciting. Brings back SO many memories of our "Trip of a Lifetime" in 2001 where the Mister and I went on a Breaking Away Bicycle Tour to follow the Tour, ride many of the mountain stages, and be on the Champs Elysees to see Lance Armstrong win his third tour. We waited for the tour to pass through atop Luz Ardiden, we rode the Tourmalet and Hautacam in one day, we saw a time trial, we caught feed bags in a feed zone, we got tossed out of restricted areas by Lance's bodyguard, we chatted with Lance's mechanic, we brought a pound of Peet's coffee and managed to deliver it directly into George Hincapie's hands, we came home and saw ourselves on the ESPN coverage.

A once in a lifetime trip, but watching on tv is a lot less exhausting!

....and in the craft room...

2010-07-11T07:37:00.000-07:00

And the week sans-kid was not without a bit of scrapbooking. I realize that the crafty part of Craftytriathlete has been less than obvious lately.

Meanwhile, in the garden.....

2010-07-11T07:17:00.000-07:00

With Sporty Spice at Grandma and Grandpa's the week after the clinic, I got finally got to a bit of yard work between workouts! I love these hanging cone planters! And I got six of em at a Tuesday Mornings Store for cheap. And I am so proud of my first rose that I am putting up a picture. The gardening here at our new house is a whole different ball game with the hotter temperatures.

Also spotted in the garden....just outside the little house where my relocated feral cats live (who I'm sure are all hiding inside after seeing these!). Can you see the antlers on these three???

It only took us a year to hang these....

2010-07-11T07:14:00.000-07:00

We've been in the new house just over a year now. And we hung our first pictures last week. Again, sad.

Happy Belated Fourth

2010-07-11T07:01:00.000-07:00

I guess it doesn't matter how late I am in posting our holiday happenings, as I only have two followers....

We managed to do a little bit of Independence Day celebrating, in Arnold for the weekend. We missed the parade (who has a parade on the THIRD?). Got in a beautiful road ride up to Lake Alpine and back and a 3 and a half hour trail run to wrap up the last of 3 loooong training weeks. Came home the evening of the Fourth, and the Mister and Sporty headed out up our hill to look for fireworks to no avail. They came home, flipped on the big screen, and watched the ones over the capital. Sad.

Look What the Cat Drug In

2010-07-01T06:06:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, as I headed out for my long run, already feeling a bit pro-crastinate-y, I fell victim to a yard sale just up the street. I actually ran back home and got the car and some money for these...
I was positively smitten with these little metal children's kitchen appliances! Of course the best part is the perfect pink of the little fridge (I must find some itty bitty magnets), but, get this...the stove/oven...has a cord and plugs in! Now I ask you, in what century, did we allow children to play with miniature working oven burners where they could heat up their own cups of tea?!?!? Yikes!

2010-06-30T17:50:00.000-07:00

Keeping up this little blog is no small task when a month is as full of training as this one has been!

The first weekend of the month The Mister took Sporty Spice up to his parents' (about 3 and a half hours north) for a visit/fishing weekend, leaving me on my own back at the homestead to hold down the four-footed-fort, as well as to train and to do the Lake Del Valle open water swim I had already commited to. After several years, now, of almost 100% lone wolf training, the weekend turned out to be a festival of socializing on the move! Friday, my good friend Nancy, of the ill-fated Ironman New Zealand fame (she subsequently went off and got a real job as a veterinary pharmeceutical rep) joined me for a post-swim 2 hour run on the Ironhorse trail through San Ramon. I did some interval work, and Nancy did some running and some interval swearing work (at me). It couldn't have been too bad, as Nancy was up to join me, Dr. Lori, veterinarian extraordinaire, and Kirsten, another veterinary pharmeceutical rep (I am on a mission to bring the entire veterinary industry to the dark side of triathlon)for a ride out and back over Calaveras Road. I rode to and from my house to meet up with them, to get a 60-miler in. Sunday dawned with the early morning arrival at my house of Dr. Joy, another of the world's best veterinarians; we packed up and headed out to Lake Del Valle for the 1.5 mile open water swim. Excellent goodie bags, including a free set of Finis goggles! Score. Beatiful day. It was the State Championships for the actual fast swimmers, which made the crowd a little "swimmerish" (translation: fast). It was Joy's first Open Water swim, and she was in the wave ahead of me,as she was going sans wetsuit. Wetsuit or none, Joy kicked my butt. It was one of my slowest swims in years....lifeguards hovering on the surfboards....escorting me in....and to add insult to injury, I had to run for 2 hours when I got home.

It was SO bad, that I knew SOMEthing had to be done, and to be done soon! I bit the bullet and FINALLY got myself to the Thursday night Master's Swim at the gym. I had been trying to talk myself into it for weeks. I know I'm slow. It's just hard to put it on display like that. The coaches were very nice and gave me and one other swimmer our own slow lane. I'm dying to hear any input these coaches have and it is not really that intimidating. A good move, and I plan to keep going. I'm running out of ideas. I read...I look at videos...I drill...I swim....I sign up for stuff...I'm actually getting SLOWER! What the F?

June included a couple of relaxing mountainous training weekends in Arnold. It snowed so late into the year this year, that the first one still included a down-the-mountain ride. Not one, but two loops of the Angels Camp to Murphys route. The second weekend I could finally point the bike uphill and head for Lake Alpine. A beautiful day, but still windy, still much snow at the Lake. Beautiful. I don't know why the sky seems bluer up there, and the trees greener. Both weekend runs were long trail runs.

I'm loving my I-pod, and more specifically, I am loving listening to podcasts while I run! Makes the time pass so much faster. My favorite podcasts right now are coming from Coach Brett at Zentri.com! Gooooood stuff. And for pure humor, The Secret Show podcasts from my favorite radio hosts Sarah and Vinnie on KLLC.

Today is Wednesday of the third week of three training weeks....C'mooonnnnn rest week! I haven't been skimping either, with Sporty Spice away at grandma and grandpa's for the week...make hay while the sun shines. And lots of naps. The perfect train-rest balance. Sporty Spice will be back tomorrow and I will spend the last of the three long weeks putting in some vertical feet again.

still learning...

2010-05-29T06:30:00.001-07:00

okay, clearly I am still learning the ropes of this blog thing. I wasn't near done with my May commentary. And for someone as technically challenged as myself this whole inserting picture thing could take a while to get the hang of.

The Mister (husband) completed his second Double-Century, 200 mile ride in Davis, CA on May 15th. So Sporty-Spice (son, age 5) and I had a whole Mommy and Me weekend thing going. We started with the Chabot Space and Science Center after preschool on Friday afternoon. This is one of his favorite places and a very cool outing for kids of all ages if you are in the area (Oakland Hills). We stayed up way past our bedtime that night watching his favorite show, America's Funniest Home Videos and eating Trader Joe's pizza and frozen yogurt (wow, mommy IS off training, isn't she?).

Saturday started out with us doing our second 5K run/walk together, this one in Concord, benefitting Kops for Kids, a group that helps at risk youth. From there we went straight to the Oakland Zoo for Celebrating the Elephants Day. It was wonderful! We got to take a tour of the usually restricted to public elephant barns and make them "treat boxes" that the zookeepers tossed to the elephants that afternoon. They eat the whole thing, box and all, filled with hay and various goodies elephants love.

The following weekend Sporty Spice and I went to a Rummage Sale where he found and I bought a very large, extremely noisy Tonka fire truck (whose batteries may need to go missing in the very near future). And we also went to find us some "Mini-Love".

Although we didn't come home with one of those, we did come home with these a few weeks ago.

We passed by all the big tubs of cute little fluffy one week old chicks and went straight for the molting, bald four week olds that I was afraid wouldn't get a home. They don't have names yet. Any suggestions???

As I mentioned, the weather here has been incredibly rainy, windy and cool for May, making training soooo frustrating. Hours are ramping up now in the first cycle for Barb's Race and getting them in around the hours I have kid-free have been a challenge. And it just plain hasn't been all that pleasant. There was some roadside crying this week. But the weather man assures me that it is all about to change, starting TODAY. We are headed to Arnold thismorning for the weekend, and I plan to be on my bike from noon to six today. As god is my witness.

I had so much more crafting I wanted to do in my time off. The one thing I did accomplish was to participate in the Sweet Goodness Girls Vintage Cowgirl Swap. As my box should be arriving at my partner's doorstep today, I think it is safe to post a few photos.

May In A Nutshell

2010-05-29T06:08:00.000-07:00

What happened to May?!? Northern California saw it's most rainy May in many, many years and this made outdoor activities most unpredictable. I had quite a few projects on deck for my two "low training" weeks after Wildflower and before training for Barb's Race on July 31st really kicks in. I did get to take my much-coveted solo outing to Berkeley one morning and I went to the Art Museum and walked along Telegraph Avenue. It's been 20 years since I graduated!! Twenty?!?!? Two-oh?!? I was thrilled to see many of my favorite places still there. Milano, the cafe where I used to spend almost every evening studying, Intermezzo, the restaurant with the best ever salads and home-made bread. Moe's Books and Amoeba Records.....

My little respite of indulgence was hampered by a sick cat and a sick kid, but both are on the mend.

I did get in a few mountain bike rides on Mt. Diablo, my new backyard. All this late rain has left things green and wildflowers blooming.

WILDFLOWER LONG COURSE

2010-05-13T06:39:00.000-07:00

WILDFLOWER LONG COURSE
Half Ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13 mile run)
May 1, 2010 Lake San Antonio, CA

2010 got off to a rocky start, with January and February consisting of (besides buckets of rain! And cold!), getting past having the metal pin taken out of my tibia in December, unexpected dental work, including a tooth pulled, and not one, but two colds (thank you Noah)! Struggling to regroup during March and April was tough, as our wet and cold weather continued…
Now, mind you, this is going to be a looooong year, with Barb’s Race at the end of July and the Big One, Ironman Florida alllll the way in November, so I know will be a price to be paid for getting too excited too soon into the year. But I was nervous, anxiety-ridden, even, going into Wildflower. Kona last October was pretty much a once in a lifetime experiment in calculated stupidity, and finishing was absolutely the ONLY goal. Which, on some small level, was a little demoralizing, after finally feeling the least bit competitive with anyone other than myself in 2008. Don’t get me wrong, I savored every minute of it. It was just weird in that way. Wildflower was going to be the test of truth….how much was actually lost last year, strength and speed wise? Would I ever be able to “race”, even in the loose sense I use that word? Only the clock would tell…..and it wasn’t gonna lie.
Having an 85 cat Tri-Valley Fix our Ferals clinic the weekend before was both good and bad. Added stress, yes, but also a place to channel all that ridiculous energy of taper week; there are 85 fewer breeding cats in the world AND my CD’s are alphabetized! Excellent! Taper week was tough this go around. Turned out none of my friends were able to make it to the race this year, so we decided to turn it into a camping adventure and Dan and Noah would accompany me. Knowing the logistics of Wildflower, we reluctantly decided to leave Lance at Club K-9 in an attempt to all make it home alive, unharmed and still married. So Friday, after the traditional pre-race brick workout and tucking in the masses of animals for a 2 day stint of self-management, we picked Noah up from preschool and headed out. We arrived about 5pm, and the campground was looking pretty full. We found a bitty spot right next to where I had camped with Lori and Ray 2 years ago, and set up camp. Beggars can’t be choosers, so our site had a definite, shall we say, “slope” towards the lake, and Dan tried to do some relandscaping to prevent any of us from taking an unscheduled swim. The best part for Noah (and ultimately for us) was that there was a kids play structure about 500 feet from our site. The best part for me was a bathroom at about the same distance. Tents were pupped and off we headed to registration/check in. Bike set up, clothes and transition bags set out and off to bed….
Knowing the Wildflower madness I was at the shuttle boat launch with my bike and bags 2 full hours before my start wave. Good move. Set up my transition area and had lots of leisure time to stretch and listen to my Ipod and contemplate the port o potties before squeezing myself into that wetsuit. Being old now, and a girl, my start wave was the very last one before the Relays—9:25 am. The water was cold when we got in, but not troublesome once the horn went off and we were into the open water. My swim is…well, my swim. I survive it as best as I can and hope against hope to balance bettering my last time with having enough energy to do the rest of the race. Did my darndest…my swim has been the bain of my existence as of late—turned in a time of 48 minutes and change (5 minutes slower than my 2008 time—what are ya gonna do?). Ran up the ramp, saw Dan and Noah, had a very good T1 (faster than 2008) and onto the bike. That Lynch hill right out of the gate is simply an insult to all things good and right in the world. And before you get there, you have to navigate, no!, survive, getting around all the people heading onto the mountain bike course. Made it onto the top of Lynch hill and off we went. The bike course was, and this is my favorite way for it to be: fairly uneventful. Worried that I have had no barometer of my returning (or not returning—you be the judge) cycling strength/speed, I just wanted to keep steady, stay absolutely focused throughout, and give it what I felt to be my 100% while not trashing myself. Some sort of karmic balance between pushing and spinning (thank you computrainer for your faithfulness and tempo workout feedback these last months!). One bathroom stop—darn aging process!—2 minutes lost—I TIMED my bathroom stop as I STILL can’t pee on the bike! And it’s just not something you want to, well…practice. Being in the last wave, and being a really BAD swimmer and relatively strong cyclist, I had LOTS of people to pass. And pass them I did, which was the first time THAT had happened in awhile (like about 18 months, to be exact) and I started feeling like a rockstar with the ensuing optimism. Time: 3.26.28. 2008….3.18.19. I’ll take it! As will I take a faster T2, by 6 whole seconds, thank you very much.
And now for the test of truth…the “run”. I didn’t really have a plan, per se, for the run, beyond eating a gu every 3 miles. My usual best case scenario/personal rule is run as much as you can, but any time you have a paper cup in your hand you are allowed to walk. So I headed out in my newfound shuffle-pace and thought I’d just see what happened. Pretty soon my obsessive thought pattern turned to the last year…more specifically how much WALKING I had had to do in the past year. I had to train for the whole flipping Kona Ironman marathon at a walk….on a flat bike trail….in Danville…in the summer. I decided that I never, ever wanted to walk again as long as I could run, and by mile 2 I decided as long as I was alive and breathing, I’d be running. By the massive hill about mile 4, I kept thinking about the first doctor I saw after breaking my leg who told me I’d never run again. Well, then I HAD to keep running. Mind you, my run was little more or less like a jog at best, but I kept it going….with or without the paper cup!! At WILDFLOWER! Toughest half run I know of. I just kept plodding along, thinking I was just happy not to be walking….like the at least 3 MEN I passed by---with M-DOT TATOOS ON THEIR CALVES!!! HA! Take THAT ya stupid horse, and you, even stupider doctor! Not knowing what to expect from this race at all, I knew deep down in my overtaxed heart that I’d be thrilled with anything under 7 hours. My 2008 time was 6.41.54. I always wished to beat it, but I was realistic. I saw the magic time come and go…but I was about half a mile away from the finish. I mean that in an “ONLY” half a mile kind of way! I was indeed going to make it in under 7 hours: 6.50.06 to be exact! As I ran down the finish chute, so thrilled with myself, about 500 feet from the finish line, Dan heaved Noah under the snow fence barrier like a torpedo and he scooted out, took my hand and ran to the finish line with me. It was indeed a very sweet victory, personally. I checked my actual times on the website Monday morning to write up my race report and looked at my run splits. 2.26.45 on Sunday. 2008: 2.32.44. Oh, my gosh, I’m the six million dollar woman! Is it possible that they put it back together STRONGER and FASTER?!?!? I have to go send another thank you note to my orthopedic surgeon now.