Wednesday, May 26, 2010

AFLAC Iron Girl

Logan with his cheer sign.

Harry was a big help during the bike rack day!


Port a Jane...cost me extra time during transition...if only I could pee in my wetsuit at the end of my swim!


Girls Gone Iron!


Deanna and I...minutes before the race start...
I have always been intrigued by triathlon event such as Iron Man but always thought "No way, those are for the hard-core, I could never do anything like that!" Wrong...sorta... In 2003, I had heard about "Sprint Distance Triathlons", although they have varying distances, they are similar to the traditional "Tri" events. First you swim, next you ride, and finally you run. I began training in late 2003 and in late March I decided that perhaps it wouldn't be wise to continue, I was pregnant with Logan and running was miserable with the extra load up front. Two years later I thought I'd give it another try but as luck would have it...I got pregnant, this time with twins! Anyway, early this year I decided that no matter what, I wanted to do it Before I turned 40! Now with the race behind be I've come to the realization that anyone could do it as long as they have the desire and discipline. The third finisher was 50 and there were a few 60+ gals out there too. Shockingly, there was also a majorly pregnant gal, she had to be at least 8 months! In retrospect it was probably a good idea that I didn't do it whilst pregnant. However, if it was something I was doing regularly and then became pregnant, that may have been fine. I'm guessing the lady I saw was probably a seasoned triathlete, at least I hope that was the case!
My total time was 2:00:14, my goal was to finish in 2 hours or less.
The first modern long-distance triathlon event was the Hawaiian Ironman. It included a 2.4 mile (77 laps) swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile run. The idea was conceived during the awards ceremony for a 5 person team running race in Oahu in 1977.
My event only consisted of an 800 meter swim (1/2 mile), 18mile ride and 3 mile run.




Sunday, April 11, 2010

Amazing

It's amazing the amount of time that has passed since I last blogged. Almost one year...
Facebook has taken over the little time I had put aside for blogging and I really don't participate in that deal too much. I just haven't felt like sharing every detail of my life with all my FB friends.
I'm super happy though that I've been an active participant in my life! I've been spending tons of time with my family, working on connecting more with my spouse, trying to nurture our relationship and keep it alive. Amazing how the kids take up so much time and space all at the expense of the thing that brought them here in the first place. Crazy. I really try to keep them all busy and active: exploring the outdoors, going with me to the gym, playdates at the park or a friends home, visits to the Natural History Museum, weekly trips to the library, swim classes, choir, dance, soccer and a clay sculpting class for Logan. I've also been practicing more yoga in front of them, sometimes they join in and other times they just use my asana as a prop - a tunnel, bridge, pony or whatever they need during imaginative play at that moment.
The newes addition to my life is that I began swimming two months ago and love it. I try to get in 3 days/week and swim a minimum of 24 laps or 800meters. So far my personal best swim was 1800meters - that happened because I left my dear friend Keela in charge of my workout. It was awesome! Swimming is like yoga in the water. You get to clear your head, focus on your breathing, be alone with yourself just as you are, move and flow in the moment, some days you feel strong, unstoppable...and other days you're wondering what's stopping you...no two days are the same, it's a beautiful balancing act of effort and surrender. Mentally and physically stimulating all around. Today, I picked up a road bike to borrow for an event next month, tomorrow I go for my first ride with my coach. It should be interesting.
We will go for 11 miles, he wants to check my form, posture and comfort level. He will be teaching me the basics...I can't wait!

Sunday, July 5, 2009

4th of July Weekend

I taught my first Yoga class for the Dragonridge Spa up in MacDonald Highlands. It is a beautiful facility. The studio is set up high on the second story with large open windows wrapping around the room, surrounded by beautiful palm trees, mountains, flowers and various greenery. It's a wonderful way to practice and have the opportunity to see nature and the outdoors as you're breathing and flowing, bathed by natural beauty....
The homes are stunning, I would probably lose myself if I lived in one of those monsters. Many of the architecture is very appealing neutral earthtones lots of green, hey they are on golf course, d-oh.

After class, I decided to make raw/vegan/sugar-free wheat free & gluten-free apricot sorbet and apple pie. Logan has been wheat, gluten & sugar-free for two months now and the results are definitely noticeable, greater awareness, focus, more relaxed, increased appetite and most important he acts happier and has a greater, healthier ablility to deal with stress and anger.

While I taught, Larry and Harry took the kiddos up to Cold Creek for the relief in weather (20 degrees cooler). They returned covered in mud from the "cold creek". Larry said that the twins took a couple of nose dives but all in all they had a terrific time.

We watched the firework display at the Vetran's Memorial Park in Boulder City. Just in case the kiddos were less than polite, we decided not to do the social party thing with our friends. The kids were outstanding, they ran around like a herd of wild horses, played frisbee with other kids and when firework time came they watched, in awe. It was great!

I will post some stuff from Logan's birthday (6/15), and our trip to Redondo later...

Monday, May 18, 2009

Geocaching


Larry and I had been talking about taking the kids out on a "treasure hunt" for the past year. Well...we finally did it, we went out with our GPS, downloaded the coordinates in the Cold Creek area of Nevada and began our seach. We found 4 "Caches" total. It was very exciting and loads of fun, next time we go out we'll have to let the kids find the treasures. Larry and I each found two, we were like kids ourselves. It was a blast. Thank you Larry for getting the ball rolling!
We're planning on doing this again during Logan's birthday weekend in June. We will leave 0ne of the travel bugs there. Travel bugs are items (mouse, other plastic animals, etc., attached to a metal dog-tag like chain (the kind military personnel wear) with an engraved plate containing a tracking code so people can see where the item has been.
I think this will become a lasting family activity. I can't wait to go again. Not to mention it's good exercise!

Saturday, May 9, 2009

15 Years Later

On Thursday, May 7, Larry and I joyfully celebrated our wedding anniversary! We decided to spend an intimate dinner together at Tommy Bahamas in Town Square, we had rum punch (tasted like the one we had in Jamaica - Appleton's Rum), Scallop Sliders (would make a meal for one), Lar had the Filet Oscar topped with lump crab and I had the Seared Ahi with the sweet chili pepper sauce (I will crave that in the future I'm sure). After dinner and a lively conversation with our waiter (he graduated with a degree in Psychology) we walked to the "fake" grass area where there was a free showing of the movie "Cars". (mental note: bring kids to this sometime) We left quickly and decided to take the Hoopdee to a wide open space where we opened up the hatch and kicked back so we could get a great view of the moon (almost full) and of the city lights. It was the perfect night, not much fuss or hoopla, just like our relationship. Here's to another 15+.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Chukar hunting in Northern Nevada

Larry was so excited to take his brother Nick (from MD) and friend Harry on this hunt. They were very tired when they came home after a weekend of chasing, climbing and flushing. Nick said that was first and last time he would go on that tough of a hunt. Bailee is exhausted after such a hard days work. The guide said that she had a lot of stamina compared to many of the other dogs he had seen.
Larry sure love hunting birds. I don't really understand it but I've come to accept that it's "his thing", and I'm okay with it.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Shopping at Fresh & Easy

While standing in front of the "sample table", Spencer proceeds to grab a cup (of juice) which spills everywhere, (on Spencer, Sedona's arm, Logan's shoe & the floor).
Me: "Can I please have a paper towel?"
Logan: "Boy, that is sure a good floor cleaner, tastes good too."
F&E Employee (laughing & caught off guard): "Yeah, you're right, it is."
I didn't realize how funny that exchange was til a short time ago as I was relaying the story to my mom. That Logan is a hoot!