Iron Girl

Sorry this is so late. I know you all have been on pins and needles to find out how I did in the last triathlon. So, I will take you through the day. Since this is held at a fancy resort, the family stayed with me at the hotel. We spent 3 hours at the pool on Friday afternoon, and then ordered room service where I carbo loaded on pasta. Woke up at 4:30 am and ate my breakfast of yogurt and oatmeal.

I meet up with my friend, Tonya, at 5:30 in the transition area. We laid out all our stuff, and started to “slip” into our wetsuits. After spraying myself down with what looks like Pam cooking spray, comes the task of trying to fit my fat ass in a very tight wetsuit. We then walk about a half mile to the start of the swim. I make Tonya get into the water to do a practice swim since this was my problem last time. As we go into the water, I notice that it is BLACK. Only one thing I know makes water black and that is sewage. EEEEWWWWWW. I told you this race was gross and unorganized. Once we got away from shore, it was fine, but how sick is that? This race starts from land and we run as fast as we can, do a belly flop, and start to swim. Let me tell you this is where your heart rate goes up and you panic. I DIDN’T PANIC THIS TIME. Yippee. The biggest problem was that the bouys were too small, and some of the race issued swim caps that define your division were the same color as the buoy, so it was hard to sight where to go. Anyway, I did the ½ mile swim in 16 minutes, which was in the top 10%.  A note for my coaches:  I have one speed and that is on.  Need to work on that.

So, you get out of the sludge, and have to run .3 miles to the transition area. This is why everyone hates this race. There has got to be a better way then to make everyone run that far to transition. I felt like I ran the whole time, got into my bike stuff fairly quickly, but it somehow took me 6 minutes to transition. I don’t know. With that time, I could’ve stopped and had breakfast.  Maybe sucked down a Bloody Mary.

Off to the bike. I think I’ve told you this before, but they mark in black Sharpie your age that you will be at the end of the year on the back of your leg. I love it when I pass someone on the bike that is half my age. I did ok on the bike. Here is my issue. I get so caught up in watching everyone, enjoying the day, etc. that I forget to race hard. I’m just out for a Sunday ride. I had to remind myself a couple of times to step it up. The bike was 2 miles short of a standard Sprint triathlon. Why? There is no reason we couldn’t have gone one more mile out before turning around.  Another reason why people hate this race.  I finished the bike in 41min.  I did see a girl who was on the side of the road covered in blood.  I guess she went over her handlebars.  The ambulance was on its way as I passed her.  See?  There is good stuff to look at.

Transition time from bike to run was 2:42 min.  I knew what was coming, and would have liked to hang out and have a Bloody Mary at that point, but I had to run.  At least I thought I knew what was coming.  The run was out in the desert in an area cleared out for construction.  All dust and rocks.  Somehow, they made the entire course uphill, or so it felt.  If there was a downhill portion, it was so covered in rocks that you still needed to take it easy in order not to break an ankle.  Excuses, excuses.  I pretty much walked the entire way.  It took me 40 minutes to complete.  Ugh.  I know, I know.  Running is my priority now.  Thankfully, my coaches said to take it easy for a couple of weeks so I've been pretty lazy.

Overall, my time was 1:48:13.  It was 10 minutes faster than my previous race, but the bike was 2 miles shorter.  My husband is so cute.  He took all the times and analyzed them to make me look better.  Here are the highlights:

• I finished 196th of 526 participants - in the top third
• I beat the averages for all 526 participants in swimming, first transition, biking (everything but second transition and dreadful running)
• In my age group, I was the 9th best swimmer
• My favorite - I was the only person named Melissa in the race, making me #1

Just so you know, five of the overall Top 10 performers were from the 40-49 age group.  The first two finishers were 49, and 45.  Ladies, there is hope for us yet. 

The next one is the biggie in October.  Anyone interested?

Teaching children important things from your past

Our cat, Enzo, is obese.  I said it.  We've tried to do interventions.  We've hired personal trainers, we've tried drugs, food restrictions, nutritional experts, but the cat refuses to change. He loves his fat.  He owns it.  He's made it his own.  We are done trying to help.  We love our fat cat, and since he is almost 14, he seems to be fine.  Enzo was running through the house which makes his fat swing from side to side.  Taylor commented that he could use a sports bra.  For some reason, that triggered a childhood song which I shared with the children.  I would like to thank Brad Steck for teaching this to me:

Do your boobs hang low, do they wobble to and fro

Can you tie them in a knot, can you tie them in a bow

Can you throw them over your shoulder like a Continental soldier

Do you boobs hang low.

After I belted this out, both kids looked at me with empty stares.  No one knew quite what to say. 

My work here is done.

American Idol Conspiracy Theory

I'm in Arizona again this week. Home away from home. In the past week, I have only slept in my own bed one day. Last weekend, we went to Seattle to see the Red Sox series of games, which was awesome but extended my travels. I will have to reintroduce myself to the kids when I get home.

I had dinner with an old friend here this week and he has an interesting American Idol conspiracy theory that he shared with me on Monday, two days before the finale. He is convinced that the whole thing is rigged. I was a couple of beers into it, so bear with me while I try to repeat it. It goes something like this:

He was convinced that Kris would win because he could only sell CD's if he won. Adam had to make the top 2 to avoid controversy. So, it was ok that Gokey had to go at number 3 because he will still sell CD's and have a career. This has happened over the past as well. Basically, it is all about the record producers selling the maximum number of CD's.

He actually may be on to something. I have another theory and it was that after Adam heard the "winning" song, he did not want that to be his first single and he begged everyone he knew to vote for Kris. How bad is that song?

Happy Mother's Day

This is the letter I received from Taylor today:

Dear Momma,

Good morning!  Happy Mother's Day!  When are they going to make a kid's day?  Nevermind.  Thank you for giving birth to me.  I love life.  I've really never thanked you about that.

Also, I just wanted you to know how proud of I am of you for doing triathlons.  I go to school and brag all the time about having a tri-athlete as a mom.  I've very happy about the amount of money Team in Training raises for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Just think of all the people you've helped.

Momma, thanks for getting me to do Seussical Jr.  If you hadn't been there, I wouldn't be a bird girl, and that would stink.  Thank you for being there for me and pushing me along (Literally).  Just kidding.

Love,

Sugarfoot (aka)

Taylor Mae

I've created a monster

I have a big meeting today where I will wear a suit, but don't really need to get dressed up yet to take Tay to school.  So, I throw on a pair of shorts, t-shirt, and tennis shoes.  Hair in a pony.  Hey, I showered.

Taylor comes in the room and looks at me and says, "Your outfit just screams Target." 

Nice.

This is the same child that when she was 7, and we were in Australia, came into the room while I was getting ready for work.  It was 4:00 in the morning, but she was up because it took awhile for everyone to get adjusted to the time difference.  I woke up really early so I could drive to work when no one else was on the road.  It was SOOOOO scary driving.  Wrong side of the road and wrong side of the car.  Anyway, she comes in all sleepy, rubs her little eyes, lifts her head up from my feet to my eyes very slowly, and says, "You aren't going to wear that, are you?" 

You might think it is mean, but the little thing doesn't have a mean bone in her body.  The sad truth is that she's right.  Fifty percent of my outfit was from Target, and it was time to lose the tight skirt.  All those years of nagging her about her clothes are blowing up in my face!

Could my life be any more boring?

I'm not complaining about my boring life, but it's hard to write a blog when there is nothing going on.  My pool heater pump broke. See how exciting?  I was thinking about washing the exterior windows since it was hard to see out of them, but found someone else to do it.  Even more excitement...

I know you guys are sick of triathlon talk but I think that is where my head is at the moment.  I have another one on Saturday.  This one is not as well organized as the one a couple of weeks ago, but it is at a fancy resort.  My plan was to take the kids out of school on Friday and go to the resort and let them play in the pools and the beach.  I know, a beach in Las Vegas is creepy.  You should have to swim in it.  Big ew.  However, work always gets in the way and I have this big meeting on Friday afternoon that is completely ruining my pool plans.  We will get there eventually.  I have to check in my bike, etc.  The kids are looking forward to it, so I will try to carbo load by the pool.  Hmmmm, eating a bunch of carbs in my swimsuit.  Something not computing here.

Krys, Ginny, Fred, and Jaye are also coming in this weekend.  Not the greatest timing with the tri but it will be great to see everyone and we have a pool day scheduled on Sunday.  What a great way to spend Mother's Day. 

Will do another recap of the race on Saturday.  I know you are thrilled.  Your life can't possibly be as boring as mine.