Hullo....

Well… I’m forced to finally post after being MIA for quite some time. I’ve been busy, lazy and over worked.

Last week, moneysucker numero uno was involved in a three car collision and subsequently, her car was totaled. She did NOT contribute to the accident, however the geese one of the cars tried to avoid did. Though she was hysterical, and weepy, she is fine… a bit sore, few trips to doc and chiro…and all is well and we have much, for which to be thankful. Now, if Allstate would get their act together and give her back some wheels our routines would be all the sweeter. So -- it looks like she got a car last year for her birthday at the end of May…and will get another car for her birthday this year at the end of May.

I realized how much my job/career has permeated my life and way of thinking when, while she was on the phone, at the scene, hysterically telling me she was okay, I said, “do NOT talk to the cops until your father or I get there” and then later I reiterated on her way to the Dr.… “do NOT tell the Dr. anything unrelated to your pain, it will be in your medical records for life only to be subpoenaed to incriminate you on a later date”… hey, what are mom’s for?!

Wedding planning is still going strong… I changed the food, not once, but twice…. but have promised the caterer…I will not do so again.

“We” began work again on the house, to finally relocate the stinky feet moneysuckers to the second floor of the house. It will be a lot of work, but in the end they will have the floor to themselves and my downstairs can return to smelling like hearth and home and cakes and cookies and cinnamony goodness and girly lotions and shampoos and minty embrocation….and well a lizard and a fish and one teeny puppy.

Yesterday, I rode with my duly betrothed for the first time in a long time. We train separately, mostly…but I enjoy my rides with him, best of all.

She Rides a Bike continues to inspire me to park my car, permanently. Though carpooling and maneuvering a tandem for 7 presents a bit of a problem. In the interim I make snide comments daily to him about “all these bikes we have and we’re still in a freaking car”. Speaking of which “she” had a recent blog about a contest wherein you take pics of yourself in your fabulous commuter clothing and “all spandex” is forbidden…. tisk tisk...which brings me to…. possible future blog posts of “How you TOO can commute and look hot in spandex” ; )

Granted, if I had an Electra Cruiser I would be wearing buttercup yellow sundresses with pigtails and ribbons and pedaling away whilst I conversed with my spotted puppy in the front basket AND if I don’t get an Electra Cruiser in pretty colors, with a cute little basket and a flower and a bell and streamers for a wedding present…I’m going to PITCH A HISSY….southern belle style…and there aint nothing purty about a southern belle hissy.

Check it...

Hilton Head was great. We got there Thursday night about 9:00. Friday, Rob and I explored the island a bit on our bikes, rode the bike course, found Al’s shop and perused it…tested the ocean water for his swim on Saturday, etc. etc. I did not prepare for my run. Truly, when you haven’t been running consistently for about a year, last minute training just really isn’t going to help so much. We said all along that we were there to have fun, vacation, and hopefully, just not come in last place.

Saturday dawned bright and early, we left the kids in their room…headed to body marking, got set up in transition and then they headed down to the beach close to seven to meet us to see the race start. Rob had an adequate swim, it was wet suit legal, but he opted to go without it. He definitely was not the first out of the water, but also not the last. It was a solid swim, just what he wanted. I knew he would make it up on the bike, so I wasn’t worried. He recently sold his time trial bike due to lack of use so he rode the Look. No aero bars, no aero helmet….just a regular ol’ road racer in teeny little tri-shorts! He had a great bike split. Thirty sixth overall out of over 200. Then came the run, it was getting hot by this point, muggy and much of the run was in blaring sun. I had two goals, to finish and be under 30. I finished… I was 18 seconds over my “goal”. But still had at least 50 people that finished behind me. It was very very average, but I’ll take it, since plenty of people behind me actually trained and since spending all of last year running through injuries, I’ve been cycling…not running, at all.

In the end, at results time… “we” were good enough to snag FIRST PLACE in the mixed relay division. We were thrilled, shocked actually…could not have done it without Rob’s bike split. The second place finisher behind us had a gap of more than 10 minutes over his bike time. Maybe I should bow out now, since it was my first triathlon effort, even though it was a relay and I have a first place overall plaque to prove it. However, even with the first place, my run time was disheartening to me… andddddddd that means I’ll be back….to do better.

For now, I’ll take solace in these pics and the fact that even if my run time had been faster, we would still have gotten first! The two oldest were there to see us win and that earned us some cool parents points...we'll take it while it lasts!

Long time...

no post!... busy week, work beckoned. Off to Hilton Head today for the weekend, for the triathlon. Will catch up next week...with details. Auf Wiedersehen.

Ready for the weekend...

Happy Friday…again. I started my day early downtown at 5:15 for my boot camp. It was a very good one, lots of running, lots of push ups, lots of plyometrics, lots of sweat. I love being up early sweating before the rest of the world….it’s good for the soul. I’m concentrating on getting my push ups the way that Sam wants them! I’m relatively good at push ups but keeping arms in, next to my side has been a different “form” to learn…and I think my muscle memory wants to revert.

Tomorrow morning I’ll be getting dropped on the ride from Go Tri at 8:00. We have our first “event” that we have to do as a team to be considered a sponsored team with USA Cycling. It’s basically a fun/training ride called “Tri the Mountain” leaving out from Go Tri, including the climbing route BEFORE Paris mountain…this is NOT the Buncombe route. They will add in as much climbing as they possibly can before actually getting to the climb. It’s not billed as a race, but Al will hammer, Rob will, whomever else shows up probably will also and I’ll be “that girl” that makes them wait at the top.

After that, back to the shop for drinks/food/camaraderie… we may have the smallest team in Greenville, but I guarantee it’s the most fun. It’s like a summer, fourth of July picnic, drinks, laughs, fun… all the time. There’s something extremely rewarding about hanging out, riding, training, racing with serious, dedicated and successful athletes, that still know how to have a good time, that one beer isn’t going to ruin their season and that it’s okay to live a freaking little. Al’s graciously opening up the shop, we’ll probably throw in some drinks/food so stop by if you are feeling froggy on a Saturday morning.

Next weekend we are returning the favor and heading to Hilton Head for the Go Tri Sports HH Triathlon. Rob and I are entered as a mixed relay, he will swim and bike, I will run. Heading down Thursday, taking the two oldest moneysuckers and making a weekend of it. Should be fun, I haven’t run on flat ground since high school track!