wildcelticrose.net

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Welcome to “things that make me go Squee”.

After “cleaning out the pipes” yesterday by venting for WTF Wednesday, I’m ready to “squee with glee”.

In honor of Pop Fiend’s attempt at decreasing drama for at least one day a week on LiveJournal by promoting “Drama Free Thursday” (for those who aren’t aware, my blog is crossposted to LiveJournal, my self hosted WordPress blog, Blogspot, and Facebook), I offer up my own “special” (in a rode the short bus kind of way) contribution, “Things that Make Me go Squee!!!

* Things that make me go squee!” may has become a regular Thursday spectacle production because “Squee” rhymes with “Drama Free”, and I’m trying to do my part.

I think that almost everyone occasionally forgets to celebrate and share good things. I know I do.

So in the spirit of putting “good juju” out there, here are the current things that make me go “SQUEE!!!”

Last Sunday, I had the honor to once again be a Swim Angel for the Seattle Danskin Women’s Triathlon. This is a huge beginner triathlon and many women have never done an open water swim before. Many are cancer survivors, some in active treatment. One’s first open water triathlon swim can be quite intimidating.

I swam sweep on two waves and picked up swimmers that needed encouragement/help. The first one was having heart rate issues (too high, something I’m all too familiar with), but I got her to relax, kept her near the boats and she finished just fine.

The second woman was difficult to keep up with when she was doing a crawl stroke, but she’d get winded and briefly need the noodle to rest. It was a super choppy day out there, with some good sized waves at times, so I’d see her come up and gasp for air and hand her the end of the noodle. She also finished strong.

After my 2nd wave, there were no more waves starting, so I swam back out from the finish, helped some women in (often they don’t need the help or encouragement until the end of the swim course when they get tired) go back out and do it again. I lost count of how many times I did this.

One woman said that when she becomes a stronger swimmer and triathlete, that she’d like to come back and be a swim angel some day. I hope she does.

I missed Karen and Jenn, but did find Alisa and Robin doing just great.

As I headed back out for the last time, swimming into the sun, I could see the silhouettes of the kayaks, lifegards on surfboards and halos and swim noodles of the other angels coming in with the final swimmers. It was then that “Ride of the Valkyries” started running through my head. I laughed so hard. Then got unceremonially hit by a wave and sucked in a bunch of lake water. That will bring one back to reality quite quickly.

The last woman in the last wave (who was not the last finisher BTW, I checked) was the one I remember the most. She was not built like an athlete. She was someone who was out there changing her life and working very VERY hard. These are the women who (other then the survivors) are the most inspirational.

With all the kaykers, lifeguard and swim angels with her, she kicked her way to the finish, laughing, smiling and knowing that she was doing something extraordinary.

We angels were chanting “Jennifer… Jennifer… Jennifer…”

Soon, the lifeguards were beating out a cadence on their surfboards as were the kayakers on their boats.

The dumming and the chanting were contagious. Jennifer laughed, we all laughed. It was awesome.

The swim angels lining the exit ramp, noodles in the air joined the chant, as did all the spectators and race staff on the shore.

“JENNIFER… JENNIFER… JENNIFER!!!”

I’m telling you, the first place finisher at the Boston Marathon does not get this kind of reception.

I think more than one of us cried tears of joy when she hit the swim finish accomplishing what months ago she probably never dreamed she could.

This race always makes me cry.

You can see me in this picture, I’m the one with the halo and the sparkly pink princess sunglasses

Here’s the first pink swim wave, which consists of cancer survivors taking to the water.

Here’s what swim angels look like on dry ground

How can you tell that you shop at Home Depot too much? (other than having the folks in the garden department ask, “See you tomorrow?” when you leave.

I got a $50 Home Depot gift card in the mail yesterday as a thank you… It was a great surprise.

I am so happy that my wonderful chickens, MaryAnn, Ginger and Lovey provide me with healthy, safe and fresh eggs

I don’t have to worry about the massive egg recall (380 MILLION eggs as of this morning) due to salmonella contamination.

Perhaps this will make more people consider backyard chickens, farmers markets or at least supporting small local farms instead of factory farms where this sort of thing happens due to crowded, unhealthy and inhumane treatment of these birds.

And let me tell you… with chickens and a compost pile, NOTHING goes to waste from the kitchen or garden.

Speaking of urban farming, my garden continues to grow like mad.

My first Juliet tomato is finally turning red.

My corn is getting tassels

And I have cucumbers…

I also have squash, green beans and apples that are almost ready to pick.

A few more updated garden photos are available by clicking here

I received my pasta extruder (a manual crank, no fancy electric for me) and I made my first batch of yummy home made pasta. It’s easy (the hard part is letting the dough sit for an hour) and WAY better than the dried crap you get at the store.

My blog post about said pasta making is available by clicking here

I went on an AWESOME hike up to Spray Park at Mount Rainier National Park on Friday.

More photos are available by clicking here

I went on an AWESOME hike up to Snow Lake in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness on Monday

More photos are available by clicking here

And here are little smilies for all the squees left unsqueed

And of course, the greatest squee of all…

I am blessed to have really GREAT friends in my life

And you can see a lot of them here… (if I don’t have a picture of you here, send me one)

Insert “squee” of your choice here

I wish everyone a happy and drama free Thursday, as well as lots of things to go “Squee” over.

SKA-WEEEEEEEEE

Now, I’ve got to get back to work, I typed this up last night and posted on my break, (which is now over).

~L

Mood: Gotta Squee

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Welcome to “things that make me go Squee”.

After “cleaning out the pipes” yesterday by venting for WTF Wednesday (OK, I didn’t have time to rant, not that there isn’t plenty of fodder during this election season), I’m ready to “squee with glee”.

In honor of Pop Fiend’s attempt at decreasing drama for at least one day a week on LiveJournal by promoting “Drama Free Thursday” (for those who aren’t aware, my blog is crossposted to LiveJournal, my self hosted WordPress blog, Blogspot, and Facebook), I offer up my own “special” (in a rode the short bus kind of way) contribution, “Things that Make Me go Squee!!!

* Things that make me go squee!” may has become a regular Thursday spectacle production because “Squee” rhymes with “Drama Free”, and I’m trying to do my part.

I think that almost everyone occasionally forgets to celebrate and share good things. I know I do.

So in the spirit of putting “good juju” out there, here are the current things that make me go “SQUEE!!!”

Yesterday was my final, informal open water swim clinic for girlfriends at work who are training for their first triatlhons.

Karen, Alisa and Robin ROCKED the swim. They all swam the whole course and will do fine at Danskin on Sunday.

We had a special guest yesterday. We were out on the middle of the lake when a chocolate lab who lives at one of the houses surrounding the lake decided to jump in off his dock and swim out to play with us. We think he might have been attracted to the orange float which may have looked to him like a dog toy.

He was…

Wait for it…

Dog paddling.

The orange float (my lifeguard can) that I tow when open water swimming was named “George” on the first swim, because the girls occasionally wanted to “love him and hug him and squeeze him…”

And always remember to…

My garden is growing like mad; it’s filled with mutant vegetables thanks to late planting (no freezing and killing like those who got theirs in on time) and filling my raised beds with TagGro. The stuff is magic (or is it voodoo?) I tell you.

My newest crop to come in is crisp, sweet tasty peas… (it’s normally too hot for them at this time of year)

I finally got the fence and pergola/grape arbor stained, so I can get my grapes and marionberries planted (grapes will grow over the arbor, marionberries on the back fence)

The chickens are back on schedule giving me plenty of eggs. Here they are taking care of some kitchen scraps. Between the chickens and the compost bin, nothing goes to waste.

I’ve been making a concerted effort to bring healthy breakfast/lunch to work every day. I have been bringing (in little bags) fresh hard boiled eggs from my chickens, raw almonds, dried cranberries, cherries, cheese and a few shredded wheat crackers.

I realized that was I was doing was “bagged Bento”, so I got a Japanese bento box.

It’s perfect, cleans up easily and is reusable (those sandwich bags have to be tossed after a number of uses) and it’s cute.

I’m super excited to be a Swim Angel at Danskin again on Sunday.

It is one of the most rewarding volunteer experiences I’ve ever had and am so happy to be able to help these women (many of them cancer survivors, some in active treatment) take on a life changing challenge and raise money for Breast Cancer Research.

My report from last year is here

This year, I won’t be sick (you can tell from the bags under my eyes how sick I was last year) so this year will be even better (no flu, no intestinal issues, no scumbag neighbors keeping me up all night, no recent death in the family, no selfish “boyfriend” making it all worse than it already was)

Today is my Friday, I have a long weekend and it’s supposed to be beautiful, hot and sunny for the entire four days.

And here are little smilies for all the squees left unsqueed

And of course, the greatest squee of all…

I am blessed to have really GREAT friends in my life

And you can see a lot of them here… (if I don’t have a picture of you here, send me one)

Insert “squee” of your choice here

I wish everyone a happy and drama free Thursday, as well as lots of things to go “Squee” over.

SKA-WEEEEEEEEE

Now, I’ve got to get back to work, break’s over so that I’m not behind before my long weekend.

~L

Mood: Gotta Squee

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Yesterday was the culmination of the (sanctioned) triathlon season here in the Pacific Northwest.

I had grand plans to perhaps do a Half Iron triathlon (and and there were the two marathons I was going to do to earn my “marathon maniac” status)

But my training this year was “epic fail”.

Of course, the goal I set at the beginning of the year was an Olympic distance triathlon which I did complete (three of them actually) It just didn’t feel like “enough” once I completed my first one in early June.

I started out by barely surviving the holiday season (our busiest season at work and the beginning of my Mom’s medical drama)

I had to take several weeks off of training at the end of February when due to the aforementioned mom and job stress, layoffs at work, and having been sick I bonked on the Chilly Hilly ride with a heart rate of 215 (totally sick with cold/flu, stress and sleep deprivation induced).

February through the end of July, my mother was in and out of the hospital and there was much drama, lying, and resurgence of childhood issues including abuse.

Against my better judgment, (after much coercion) I attempted a trial co-habitation with the man I’d been dating for a year. I was always concerned about the age difference and that we were at different stages in our lives.

Thank goodness I kept my apartment, because before one month was over, it was apparent that he was selfish, unyielding, uncompromising, uncaring (he was gone on a solo backpacking trip when my mother’s body was found and left the evening I told him what was going down and that I expected her to be found dead within the week-if he has asked if I wanted him to stay, I’d have told him to go-the telling point is that it never occurred to him to ask), the fact that when I moved out, he refused to repay me for what I paid for a bed (his needed to be replaced and he still has it) and other issues that I won’t share out of respect for him (he’s not a bad person, just not boyfriend material) believe it or not, I let him talk me into “trying to start over” after this disaster. The good part is that the “starting over” was so bad, I was finally able to get pissed off. The more I heal from everything I was going through, the more I realize, it wasn’t me and what I was going through. It was a bad idea and a bad match.

And then there was the drama leading up to my mother’s death and the news that her body had been found and all the legal financial pressure dumped on me as the sole survivor. (not to mention having to deal with her friends wanting this or that, and vulture real estate agents)

After that, I got the flu, then I got a nasty sinus infection, then I tried to break my ankle falling/crashing my bike in the transition area at the Bonney Lake Triathlon three weeks ago.

It was a rough year, and I spent so much of it sick, stressed out and grieving that my training was completely inadequate.

I still raced through it all. I knew that my times would suck and that I’d be prone to injury if I pushed. But I needed to move (when I wasn’t sick)

Yesterday I completed my third Olympic triathlon (which I was hoping would be my first half iron distance) at Black Diamond. My 11th triathlon this year, and my 14th triathlon ever. (I started this silliness late last season)

When I drove through Enumclaw early yesterday morning, the thermometer at a local bank read 37 degrees (F) friends who were at the park (Nolte State Park) said that the thermometers in their cars read between 33 and 36 degrees.

That’s just “butt cold”

The lake (Deep Lake at Nolte State Park) was steaming when I arrived.

I needed to get there at 6:30 AM in order to get one of the very limited parking spaces at the state park; otherwise, I’d have to park 1 ¼ miles away in Cumberland and take a bus (not likely, I’d have ridden my bike and hauled my gear) to the park.

By the time I got my transition area set up, my feet were numb from the cold. I walked back to my truck, cranked the heater and hung out there until the start. It takes a lot time for the sun to hit an area surrounded by the Cascade Mountains and old growth forest.

My teeth were chattering (even in 3mm neoprene) when this picture was taken

The water was a “balmy” 64 degrees which sadly, felt good to get into.

I got the snot kicked out of me during the one mile swim (someone even hit my injured ankle). It was like swimming in a washing machine full of boulders. The start area was very wide across the shore, with everyone heading to a tiny point to round the first buoy.

*this shot from last year’s event… Check out how close the buoy on the far left is to the shore (it’s a small lake) No… not the one to the left of the shore, the one behind the shore… We all had to jam into that tiny spot to get around the first buoy (oh, and this shot shows about 1/3 of the swimmers in an average wave…)

I keep saying this, but I have got to stop starting in the back of the swim. I end up getting stuck behind slower swimmers, and there should be a rule that those who breast stroke should start in the back-it’s difficult to safely pass a breast stroking frog kicker.

I had a rather unimpressive transition from swim to bike and hit the rolling hills of the Cascades for what must be one of the most spectacularly beautiful bike courses I’ve ever seen.

The temperature “might” have been up in the 40s by then, but I’m not so certain. I did put on my The North Face Cipher jacket to cut some wind chill on my wet tri suit.

A woman who rode next to me for a time said, “What about that crazy swim?” Apparently she got the snot kicked out of her as well.

The 25 mile ride was challenging without being too difficult. My Garmin shows 1,410 elevation gain, 1,140 feet elevation loss (my Garmin says negative 191 feet of flat. I’m not sure how that works, but let it suffice to say that it was not a flat course)

My legs felt like mush by the time I was done with the bike ride.

I had another unimpressive transition (I was so out of it by this time that I put my bike shoes back on instead of my running shoes so had to change shoes again) to the 10K run.

I was very concerned about my lack of training and injured ankle (it wasn’t sprained but with the kind of trauma it was subjected to, I’m suspected that it would be more prone to injury than normal so I took it very easy on the run, quite a bit of which was on trails.)

The important thing here was to finish uninjured.

I met a very cool woman on the run portion (we also chatted a bit on the bike ride)

Here is my new friend Natalie and I after the race.

I actually managed to eek out a 3rd place finish in the Athena/40 and over divison. There were five women registered. I don’t know how many actually finished (the results page was borked at the time I posted this report) but I’ll take it.

Any finish you can walk away from right…

Here was the course…

My goal this year was to finish an Olympic Distance triathlon.

I completed three. I even (still don’t know how this happened but it’s still showing on the USA Triathlon website) got All American Honors for the Moses Lake Olympic Triathlon. (I think the rest of my times were too slow to even show up on the rankings as that is the only one I could find)

I completed a total of 11 triathlons this year.

And I got a lot of shiny things

I’ll take it.

And I’m planning on 2010 being a MUCH better year!

But I’m not done with 2009. I’ll be running the Seattle Half Marathon, the Norpoint Turkey Trot and some of Bob’s uber fun races down in Elma.

~L

Mood: Tired

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I tested out the Go Pro Hero waterproof video camera today on an open water swim at Steele Lake.

I strapped it to my lifeguard can and we were able to shoot some fun video of each other swimming.  Since neither one of us have seen ourselves swim before it was quite helpful (I’m dropping my left shoulder a bit and need to pay more attention to my rotation)

~L

Mood: Amused

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Today was triathlon number 13 (number 10 for this year)

Yes, it’s an illness, (or as my friend Linea says, “You can never leave the firm.”)

I was a bit unsure about this one, as I’ve been off training for two weeks due to the ankle I beat and bloodied up two weeks ago at the Bonney Lake tri. Other than some very light hiking (couldn’t do anything heavy, I couldn’t even lace up the hiking boot due to the ankle pain) last weekend at Grand Teton National Park, I have been a complete and total SLUG!

THIS is what my ankle looked like after my crash in the transition area (I STILL can’t believe I ran 10K on this…)

*note it wasn’t sprained, all that swelling was caused by blunt force trauma direct to my skinny little ankle bone.

I knew this would be all about just surviving (I LOVE inaugural races, so I was not giving this up) so I’m afraid I didn’t take it as seriously as I should have. I didn’t eat as well or get as much sleep as I should have last night (total lack of discipline/motivation on both parts)

I got there in plenty of time to get my transition area set up, hang out with my friend Julie and wander down to the water. I’ve never competed on this course before, but I’ve volunteered on the water twice, once as kayak water safety and once as a swim angel for Danskin.

Since this was a new race, it wasn’t overly crowded. Julie and I were in wave 4 and had plenty of room.

I have GOT to quit starting in the back at these races (with the exception of the Moses Lake Oly which is almost all Ironmen competing for rankings). I just get kicked in the head by the people I’m passing I’ve got to suck it up and start in the middle. I ranked 423 out of 815 finishers on the swim today which is obviously middle of the pack. My swim time was 20:56 (would have been faster if I hadn’t started in the very back and far outside)

I’m finally getting a bit desensitized to my “milfoil disorder” (that nasty, invasive aquatic weed creeps me out) after a few tris in Lake Washington.

My transition from swim to bike was nothing spectacular, 3:58 (it was a bit of a run from the water to the transition area and I was at the far end)

I didn’t feel all that great on the bike, but as it turns out, it was my best event, I ranked 418 out of 815.

This course is deceptive because it looks much flatter than it is. Getting on and off the I-90 express lanes on the floating bridge is hilly, almost always windy, and there are some hills on Lake Washington Blvd. There is one very squirrelly section of switchbacks heading up to the bridge. Luckily, no one lost their momentum and fell in front of me. (it happens)

I usually unclip from my right pedal because the switchbacks are narrow and a lot of people don’t make it up without at the very least getting off their bike to push it.

This is where my ankle hurt like heck. When I twisted my heel out to get my cleat out of the pedal. I think it puts pressure on the bone.

OUCH!

I was VERY careful in transition after my crash at Bonney Lake, got the bike safely racked and hit the road running… (OK, wogging) in 2:10.

My time for the 5K was a rather unimpressive 35:39 which isn’t all that bad considering that I was not trained, rested or otherwise prepared for this race and my ankle was not all that happy after clipping and unclipping.

I finished in a rather mediocre time of 1:48:04, which put me 16th out of 51 in my division and 435 out of 815 overall. It also put me almost a minute below the average time of 1:49:02.

I really can’t complain.

The GOOD news is, my ankle looks like THIS (this was before I iced it which is pretty impressive) instead of like the picture above.

Julie and I both got shiny things. I just LOVE shiny things

Speaking of which, here’s an updated photo of my “shiny thing wall” (kitchen)

I’ll have a couple more by the end of the year; they Black Diamond Triathlon next weekend and the Seattle Half Marathon in November (maybe a few Elma races in between)

I was toying with the idea of downgrading from the Olympic Distance to the Sprint next weekend, but I tend to earn a lot more points for my triathlon club when I do an Oly Distance, and I need to make that my standard distance (when available) because I’m shooting for a Half Ironman next year.

What really hurts is the bike, twisting to clip and unclip and I won’t be doing that any more on a longer course.

I am glad that I canceled both my marathons scheduled for next month; I’m not trained up (life happened) and I don’t want an injury from upping my mileage too quickly to plague me for the rest of the year.

Now it’s time to rest, eat, drink and ice my ankle.

It’s days like this when I wish I had a cabana boy to bring me ice for my ankle and mimosas.

Oh, and a cabana…

~L

Mood: Tired

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A bad triathlon day is better than good days doing a lot of other things.

But those other days don’t usually hurt as much.

I knew I wasn’t trained up, had been sick, stressed out… blah blah blah…

What I didn’t plan on was getting injured (in transition no less) or to wake up feeling the way I did.

I was “on it” last night. I ran my errands, got all of my tri gear together, made crispy bits to have for breakfast (diced potatoes with garlic, cracked pepper and parmesan cheese baked (tossed in a touch of olive oil) until crispy and even got my espresso machine set up and ready to go.

USATriathon releases were printed and signed, maps and driving directions were as well.

My nutrition was good, I was hydrated and I had time to get a full night’s sleep.

I was on it.

I was ready.

I was calm even after getting a letter from someone I recently ended a relationship with and had asked nicely not to contact me because of all I’m going through (it upset me for a number of reasons that I won’t go into here) and I also received the probate papers and will for my Mom’s “estate”.

I felt good.

Gee Lisa, tempt fate much?

I’ve been having “issues” with my digestive tract since the 14 days of high does antibiotics I was on.

I thought I was done with that, and I stopped taking the probiotics.

I started cramping up last night, I woke up this morning in agony, nearly doubled over and spent a good deal of time in the bathroom.

I had also been attacked by the “snot monster” in my sleep. I don’t know what set me off, but I had to neti-pot twice and was still snotty.

And just to make it extra “fun” I had “girl” cramps.

It was also pouring rain, monsoon like rain, which although expected didn’t help me feel any better about doing an Olympic distance triathlon.

I had to stop for bathroom breaks twice on the way up there and was afraid I wouldn’t be there for packet pickup on time. I called Annie who confirmed that I’d still be able to pick mine up.

I had to park a bit father away than I’d have liked.

When I first got to the very crowded registration table I had forgotten my signed release form. I also realized that my USATriathlon number is not on the card/checklist on my bag. (there are a bunch of other numbers on there, just not that one)

Gene was there so I asked him to watch my bag and bike and ran back to get all of that.

When I got back to the table, I didn’t have my bib number (that’s how this group looks for our packets and I know this) I started to walk away to go find my number, but they had a list there.

I was in pain, stressed out, running late and apparently very much affected by yesterday’s mail.

Some of my friends asked how I was and I started to cry. They all thought I was insane to be there at all, more or less doing the Olympic distance. (I wasn’t going to change to the sprint)

I needed to do this. I needed to not quit, to not let anything beat me. I needed to see my friends and I needed to do something physical and active. Going home and laying around feeling sick would have been bad for me physically and emotionally (in addition to everything else, I’ve been very bummed out about my lack of training/fitness and my body fat composition as of late)

I’ll tell you, when Gene says someone is psycho when it comes to triathlon and training, that’s pretty bad. He’s about as “nuts” as you can get.

I got my transition area set up (barely) and make another trip to the bathroom.

Since we were all soaked to the skin, it was difficult to get wetsuits up and on.

I walked out to the lake for the swim start and noticed how far apart the buoys seemed to be (I think our swim at Moses Lake was a bit short)

Here I am getting used to the water; the lone pink cap in a sea of blue capped icky boys… THERE WERE BOY COOTIES IN THE WATER!!!

Annie found me, hugged me and helped me zip up my wetsuit. (I started crying again, I was a mess) She was so incredibly sweet (as were Kathy, Jill and Gene; I am blessed with wonderful friends)

She got a shot of picture of me lifting my pigtail up to put my swim cap on…

I was feeling a bit “wheezy” at the start of the swim which I’m sure was a direct result of whatever set off my allergies. It always goes away once I relax and warm up.

I started in the back and to the outside of the swim and took my time.

I may not be a fast swimmer, but I am a strong swimmer and am very comfortable in the water.

For a brief moment before the first buoy, I thought about turning back, giving up, going home. being sick and feeling sorry for myself.

Then I thought about the women I encouraged at the Danskin triathlon as a swim angel.

What kind of angel/mentor/role model would I be if I quit?

Nope, my Danskin women deserved better than having an angel that was a quitter. (I was in no physical danger, I was just not feeling well)

Once I got around the first buoy (the first time, Oly distance swims the course twice) I relaxed and told myself, “It’s just like a swim around the lake with Gene after work.”

I was worried during my second loop that the Sprint distance might start and I might be mowed over. It didn’t happen, but when I stopped to poke my head out and look, I was treated to a cramp in my right calf. I flexed and worked it out.

I exited the water after about 40 minutes which wasn’t all that bad. (I was happy to have not been last)

I ran to the transition area and got out for the rainy bike ride in 2:59 which really wasn’t that bad a transition time, especially since I hadn’t done a triathlon at all in the month of August.

The bike course was hilly and a lot of it chip seal with some loose gravel. It was not as wet as it could have been, but I was still concerned about the bike going out from under me on a corner.

I did not feel like I really had my legs under me. They were tired and untrained.

I was pretty stressed out by the traffic. There were no real bike lanes and most traffic either followed close behind or raced past within inches.

Part of the reason I wasn’t worried about doing this with my intestinal issues was that I had been eating well and had consumed plenty of electrolytes and fluids.

That’s when my bladder decided to join my intestines, uterus and calf muscle and also cramp up on me. My body was one giant painful cramp. (not due to electrolytes, I’d have stopped if that had been the case)

I’ve never had to do this during a triathlon, but I had to pull of the bike course and find a place in the woods to “un-hydrate” (hey, at least I wasn’t doing this one for time, I got passed when this happened)

I was slow, sore and felt like crap, but at least I wasn’t last.

One positive note about this ride, (which will only be appreciated by my cycling and triathlon friends; everyone else may want to pass…)

I learned how to do a “snot rocket”.

I’ve always thought it was rude, crude, crass and disgusting.

Due to my snotty condition and the rain and wind, I had no choice. I felt a small sense of pride when that thing went flying (and didn’t hit me) It was perfectly executed.

I wheeled into the park carefully (good thing too, I heard later that riders were slipping as sliding around that corner)

This is where it got really interesting…

As I was running my bike into transition from the dismount area, some guy that had already finished, decided to just mosey into the transition area entrance which was very narrow (no room for two people and a bike)

The volunteers yelled at him“BIKE COMING IN!” and I said, “excuse me… Excuse Me! EXCUSE ME!!!”

I almost took him out, and I wouldn’t have felt bad about it. He was a healthy young man that knew better.

I had to dart and dodge to get to my bike rack, I went to hit “lap” on my Garmin and lost control of my bike (the areobars make the front end squirrelly) It went down, and I almost went down with it (I went partially down and over it), banging my ankle and leg pretty good. I’d like to blame that on dodging people and the crap that was inconsiderately strewn all over even the main paths but it was all me.

I limped to the rack only to discover that the sprint people who I was sharing space with (they came in earlier that I did because they only did one bike loop) hadn’t bothered to leave any room for my bike and had thrown stuff all over the place. I had to move bikes and unbury my neatly stowed gear.

There was a lot of VERY POOR TRANSTION ETTIQUITE!!!

I was out of transition and on the run course in 2:32 which would have been a lot better if it hadn’t been for the incidents getting in, all the crap I had to dodge, and not being able to get my bike racked or access my gear easily.

All I can say about my run (also hilly) is that I finished. It wasn’t fast, it wasn’t pretty but I finished

As I was coming into the park my friends were just leaving (they had all done the shorter race and waited as long as they could before they started to get hypothermic. They honked, yelled and cheered from the car. It was a nice feeling!

Gene was still there waiting for me to come in to cheer me on and make sure I was OK. He had shown up just to support us and his friend’s son who was there doing his first triathlon.

What an AWESOME friend!

I got my finsher medal and a 3rd place medal for my division,-not because I was fast, because it was a small division; I don’t’ care, I’ll take a “pity medal” A lot of people didn’t race at all because of the crap weather and I certainly worked hard to get through it.

When we went back to get my bike, I took my shoes off. I noticed blood on my shoe, then I noticed my sock was soaked in blood.

Then I noticed THIS; I actually ran 10K on this; my guts hurt so bad that I didn’t even notice this until it was over. (I’ll do photo updates if it turns cool colors)

I’ve also got numerous cuts and bruises on my leg.

I’m not sure if I should feel stupid for doing it in so much intestinal pain that I didn’t notice this or if I should feel like a read badass…

After the race, I headed over to Kathy and Jon’s for a wonderful BBQ. They are wonderful hosts and Jon is a great cook. We all had a great time, and since we weren’t getting into our wet suits at the same time (I was doing a different distance race) we found a way to do the obligatory triathlon “butt shot” (hey! My butt’s popular, everyone wants to grab it)

I came home, took a nice bath with some of my duckies and glass of champagne and have been icing and elevating the ankle.

I knew I’d survive this race, no matter how uncomfortable it was… For a number of reasons…

But the biggie? I found this cute little guy in the parking lot…

A good luck ducky

Here’s the course.

Now, it’s time to ice my ankle again

~L

Mood: Tired

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Triathlon # 11 is in the bag. (and to think that I haven’t even been doing this for a year yet)

I got a little crazy this weekend and decided to do not one, but two triathlons. (it is vital right now that I distract myself from tragic things I have no control over-the gory details are on my blog, but you probably really don’t want to know)

Hey, they were just little sprints so it was like doing an Olympic distance over two days instead of all at once right?

First, was the Ft Lewis Triple Threat Series Triathlon on Saturday.

This one was on the base, so I had to get there early to get a pass and get through the gate.

It was an easy process and I was there in plenty of time to get my transition area set up and go check out the lake. (this is a part of American Lake which is on the military base and not open to the public)

We got nice long sleeve t-shirts with our registation.

I ran into my friend dragon boat friend Fay who I haven’t seen for some time

Bill was there doing the REI bike tech thing.

I had a rough week last week fighting off the crud, not getting enough sleep and dealing with a family crisis so I wasn’t feeling well.

I also started in the back because it was a mass start (everyone at once) and I didn’t feel like getting kicked in the head. I got squigged out on my warm up swim because of all the milfoil The stuff creeps me out (I did show some self control and did not squeal like a girl when it touched me), and with swim goggles it seems magnified and to be reaching up to grab you. I finished my warm up swim with my eyes closed.

I had a hard time on the swim, because I was snotty (the downside to wearing nose plugs means that snot runs down the back of your throat) and kinda wheezy. I also had a difficult time completely filling up my lungs.

Since I started in the back on the swim, the water was churned up and I couldn’t see the nasty milfoil.

I exited the water after the half mile swim at 20:10.

My transition from swim to bike was 3:01 (not 100% sure on this, I goofed up hitting my lap counter)

The first bit of the bike ride was pretty bumpy but once we got out onto open road it smoothed out a bit.

It was a closed course with lots of nice young soldiers blocking intersections for us.

My right calf and hip were a bit tight, likely as residual from the previous weekends 204 mile STP ride.

There were also some pretty significant headwinds on part of the course so it didn’t feel easy.

I came in on the 15 mile bike ride at 55:04 which was a 16:34 mph pace-I felt like I was going slower than that, but I guess I did OK.

My transition from bike to run was 1:58

I didn’t feel great on the run. It was getting warm and because I was either having allergy trouble and/or was fighting of an upper respiratory bug and was snotty (given the amount of snot that flowed out of my on the bike ride, I’m surprised there was any left)

I came in on the 5K at 32:26 (about 10 ½ minute miles) for a finish time of 1:52:32.

I guess that’s not too bad for someone that wasn’t feeling well physically or emotionally.

This is the first triathlon I’ve done where there were no finisher medals. Since I was in a big age group and didn’t place in the top 3, I didn’t get a shiny thing.

After the race, I rushed home, got unloaded, cleaned up and met Annie to go up to Seattle to pick up our packets for the SeaFair triathlon the next day. We got nice tech shirts and reusable shopping bags.

After that, the Icky Boy picked me up and we headed out for my other friend Ann’s birthday BBQ (it was over at 7:00 PM so it’s not like it was a late night)

I was up bright and early on Sunday morning to head down up to Seward Park for the SeaFair triathlon.

I tired to be clever and come up from the South on Rainer Ave South to avoid the crowds, but goofed up and had to come in from the North anyway. Annie and I talked on the phone, but I never found her in transition (there were 2,000 of us)

I parked several blocks up the hill and hauled by bike and gear down to the park.

It took a long time to even get into the transition area.

I was in wave 11 (out of 14) so I had to “hurry up and wait” for an hour. (we were kicked out of the transition are at 6:45 AM) The race started at 7:00 AM, but my swim wave didn’t go until well after 7:40.

We weren’t allowed to do any warm up swimming after 6:45 because the swim start and finish were close together and we could have confused the swimmers coming in to the finish.

Yeah, nothing like standing around getting stiff.

I was deciding that I really don’t like huge triathlons and all the waiting involved in getting that many swim waves off.

I finally got into the water (didn’t get down there in time for an actual warm up swim) to let some water into my wetsuit, drain out the excess and get acclimated to the lake (which was pretty warm)

I finally found Kathy at the start. She started in the wave (or two, I can’t remember) ahead of me. Luckily, I knew which swim cap she was wearing and what kind of wetsuit she has. We got to give each other a hug before we started.

There was more nasty milfoil and I was dutifully squigged out. (again, I did show some self control and did not squeal like a girl when it touched me)

Although I was a bit tired from doing a triathlon the day before, I felt good on the swim. I was less snotty and better able to breathe comfortably. I came in on the half mile swim at 19:25. (which was almost a minute faster than the day before)

My transition from swim to bike was 3:28.

The bike ride was a familiar tour of Lake Washington Boulevard and a ride across the I-90 floating bridge out to Mercer Island and back.

It is confirmed that I’ve been across that bridge on foot running and on my bike more times than I’ve driven it.

I finished the 12 mile bike ride in 46:31 which was a 15:38 mph hour pace, over a full mile per hour slower than the previous week; then again, the course was hillier and it was more difficult to get in and out of the transition area.

My 2nd transition was 2:27 which is pretty slow for me.

I headed out for the run which was a beautiful loop around Seward Park (which is surrounded by water on 3 sides) and realized that although I don’t like the waiting involved with big events, that I did love the spectacular beauty of this course and will do it again.

Then “the hill” came. As we rounded the loop road in the park, we made a sharp turn and headed up a nasty hill. This is where a lot of runners turned into walkers. I was not one of them, but I running darn sloowly.

This was the time that I realized that I was tired from the triathlon the day before and my exhausting week.

I took it easy because I didn’t want to injure myself. This two triathlons in two days thing was for fun, not to hurt myself. It took me 37:59 to crank out that 5K, (12 ½ minute miles, OMG I didn’t think I was that slow)

I came in at 1:50:04 (and shockingly was not last in my age group, but I was definitely in the back of the pack of those women)

I was number 1293 out of 1454 overall. I was faster than 161 other people.

I’ll take it.

I got my shiny thing, hiked back up to my truck and celebrated with some Taco Del Mar nachos and a Negra Modello before coming home and meeting the Icky Boy for an early dinner.

Today, I am resting.

~L

Mood: tired

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Today was my 9th triathlon (6th this year).

It was the Five Mile Lake Womens Triathlon which is just outside of Tacoma (only 14.4 miles from the house), so it didn’t take a lot of driving and time to get there, which is nice.

I opted not to dive out there last night at rush hour to pick up my packet, and instead chose to pre-print my USAT waiver and do it early this morning. It took about 2 minutes which was great.

The first thing we did was take over the men’s bathroom. It was silly to wait in long lines at 7:00 AM when there was a perfectly good restroom available.

One guy (good naturedly) decided to go use the port-a-potty because as I explained it, “You don’t really want to piss off a bunch of athletic women who need to pee do you?”

“Boyz… We iz in yer park takin’ over yer bathroomz”

I had plenty of time to set up my transition area and wander around.

I’ve got packing and setting up for these things down to a science.

Or so I thought…

I couldn’t find one of my socks.

I KNOW that I had two socks stuffed in my bike shoes when I checked my bag last night.

I had just resigned myself to the fact that this would be the first triathlon I would try without socks (some swear by it to save time in transition) when I saw it…

My other sock was stuck to and hanging off of the velcro on the neck of my wetsuit.

I wandered down to the lake to watch them set up the swim course.

One of the locals didn’t look too thrilled that we were going to be swimming in HIS lake.

We had a pretty bad wind storm last night and one of the buoys broke loose and was lost (most likely stolen after getting blown around) so the swim course was changed to a triangle.

I went back to transition and geared up for the swim so that I could make the mandatory 7:45 meeting.

It was supposed to be a half mile course. I was told that it was a ¼ mile (oly 400 meters) course after the switch.

I decided that I was tired of starting in the back and getting kicked and/or not being able to pass (I’m not going to get any faster if I can’t move) so I started right near the center 2nd from the front.

Of course, the two women ahead of me were slower than me and were blocking me.

That’s when I decided to grow a pair (ovaries of course) and just swim right through the middle. I used to be afraid of being sandwiched, but by golly I was not backing off. I slid right between them with a minimum of getting hit/kicked and took off.

One person tried to swim over me, but I just cranked it up a notch and all she got was my legs.

I was pretty worn out from last weekend’s bike adventures (65 miles with medical gear and 3,800 feet of elevation gain one day and 31 miles with 2,700 feet of elevation gain the next, followed by a hilly ten mile run on Tuesday and a mile + open water swim on Thursday.

I was not fresh or rested and I was not feeling good.

I got kicked hard enough at the turn around that my goggle flew off. Luckily, I use a kayaker style nose clip (I never want another sinus infection) attached to the goggles by a cord, so they dangled from my nose and I was able to get them back on.

My swim time was 9:28.

If that was 400 meters, it was slower than Issaquah a few weeks ago.

If it was closer to the .59 miles on my Garmin, I rocked the swim (of course a bit of that was running to transition)

I think I need to do a harder warm up swim than I’ve been doing. I don’t feel good or have full control of my breathing until the 2nd half of the swim. I’m not “saving” any energy if I’m sucking wind on the first half of the swim.

I unzipped and stripped the top of my wetsuit off while I was running out of the water and had a pretty good transition time of 2:19, which was a lot faster than the 3:49 I had in Moses Lake two weeks ago.

I ran out of transition with the bike and hit the road.

That’s when my legs started complaining about the ten mile (with nearly 2,000 feet of climbing) run I did on Tuesday. This course was hilly with 926 feet of climbing for two bike loops and a short run loop and my legs were NOT happy.

They were NOT happy at all.

The first loop wasn’t much fun for me (of course, it started out uphill) but I got my 2nd wind on the 2nd loop. I got passed by a few strong riders, but I picked several riders off myself (more than picked me off) so I wasn’t doing too badly, but didn’t want to push too hard.

I did the 14 mile bike in 55:12 which was a 15.21 mph average. It’s not what I would have liked, but I’ll take it.

I had an OK transition from bike to run at 1:07

I felt surprisingly good on the run. I didn’t push too hard, but I did pass at least a dozen women (no one passed me) and I was able to bring the 5K in at 32:01 which was a pace of 10:19. That’s a lot closer to 10 minute miles than 11 minute miles. I felt like I still had a bit left, so it might be time for me to push a bit harder on the run. (I’d feel pretty good about breaking the 10 minute mile barrier after swimming and biking)

I came in at 1:40:25 which was ten seconds slower than Issaquah.

I think the bike was slightly longer and the swim close to the same, so I think I did as well as there or better because my Garmin shows the overall distance here as just a big longer than Issaquah (also including getting in and out of transition areas) I also had better transitions here.

It’s just not easy to compare performance on different courses.

In any event, I felt that I did well and am getting faster.

And of course, I got a shiny thing…

I finally met my friend Lynn’s friend Leslie (the fastest Athena out there)

I got a couple of random prizes as well; a nice reflective strap for biking early/late and a tube of “Sweet Beauty” organic chocolate/beeswax lip balm. It’s yummy stuff!

I have a few more photos here…

I need to eat, drink and rest today. And eat, drink and rest some more…

Tomorrow, I’m riding the LiveStrong Challenge in Seattle as a volunteer medical rider.

But now, I think I want a nap.

~L

Mood: Tired

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Gene’s awesome mom, sent me a link to the pictures that she and his Dad took of He, Kathy and I at the Moses Lake Triathlon.

THIS is my favorite. I almost look like I think I’m doing something “naughty” for trying to strip off my wetuit in front of one of my freind’s parents

Here are the rest of the photos.

In other news, the cohabitation is going well.

I’m actually quite relaxed and the BadKitty is prancing around the place like she owns it. (she previous photo of the Icky Boy on his hands and knees petting the kitty)

~L

Mood: happy

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My first Olympic Distance triathlon was quite the event.

What I didn’t know is that it was the first USAT standings race of the year and a whole slew of Ironmen were clamoring for ranking.

Woah doggie this was a fast fast field of competitors.

This race was close enough to the motel (a little over a mile) that it was easier to just ride my bike over than to try to deal with driving and parking. That was really nice.

Annie, Jill, Kathy Gene and I arrived bright and early to get our transition areas set up and sutff ourselves into our wetsuits like sausages.

Here are Katy, Myself, Annie & Jill

and of course, doing the now obligatory butt shot…

Gene broke his goggles at the last minute, so the woman next to me loaned him a pair of pink goggles. This picture does not do their pinkness justice.

I got to meet my (up until today) online friend Lynn. We started reading each other’s blogs some time after one of the Elma triathlons and finally got to meet face to face.

Gene’s awesome parents came out to cheer us all one and take pictures

The swim was rough. I knew that I could swim a mile, but I still had plenty of anxiety over doing it in a group, then hopping on a bike for 22 miles and then running a 10K.

The wind picked up during the 2nd lap of the mens race which was when our wave started. (the sprint swimmers did one 750 meter lap and we did two) The Olympic Distance woman started 15 minutes after the men (we were told to be nice when picking off the slow ones)

There was a lot of chop in the water and some pretty big waves. When I came around the 2nd buoy (there were only two it was kind of an oblong course) I rolled my head to the left to breathe and inhaled a wave.

Luckily, I didn’t panic. I stopped long enough to get my head out of the water, facing away from the waves and cough all the water out. Then I went right back to swimming.

But DARN IT, if I didn’t have the exact same thing happen in the exact same place on the 2nd lap.

I thought I was swimming well, but noticed that I was not in the middle of the pack like I usually am, but rather in the back of the pack.

I swam a mile and got in to the transition area in 32:28 which exceeded my best case scenario of 33 minutes based of my other triathlons this year (40 minutes was my worst case scenario based on the tri I swam last year with the sinus infection)

As it turns out, I swam a faster pace for a full mile than I did for 400 meters; and I swam a faster pace for 400 meters than I do for 250 meters.

Molly’s right, the shorter races seem harder because I’m not warmed up yet.

My transition was quite mediocre. It took 03:49 to get out of the wetsuit and into my bike gear. Of course the fact that I forgot to take my Garmin off the strap of my swim cap and put it on my wrist didn’t help. (it’s only rated water resistant for 30 minutes, so I wear it on my strap to keep it out of the water but hadn’t done it in a race yet) I know I shouldn’t have, but I ran back across the transition area to go get it which cost me some time.

The bike did not go well at all.

First, one of the pads on my aerobars flew off at about mile two of the ride. I had to lean my forearms on bare metal and bolt heads. My forearm is swollen and it feels like the bone is bruised. I expect to be able to see the imprint of the bolts by tomorrow. Since there was no shock absorption on that side, my shoulder and neck really started to hurt.

It was a fairly steady hill going out with some rollers. There didn’t seem to be as much downhill on the way back as I expected.

And it was windy; very very windy.

At one point on the bike ride when I was out there all by myself, I wanted to cry.

It was my worst triathlon ride ever, I was behind everyone (seriously, I was the last rider in the last wave and got the motorcycle escort in) and felt like I didn’t belong out there. I finished 22 hilly windy miles in 1:28:39 averaging only 14.89 mph.

How in the heck was I going to run a 10K after getting my butt kicked in that choppy water and doing so poorly on the bike ride?

After a 1:44 transition, I waddled out onto the trail for the run.

I had eaten well the day before, the morning of and I kept eating Cliff shot blocks and drinking Heed the whole time I was on the ill fated bike ride.

I ran slowly, it was only about finishing. I knew I was not going to do well.

Instead of the heat that was forecast, a gentle rain began to fall.

It was delicious, glorious wonderful coolness from the sky.

There is nothing quite as sweet and magical as desert rain.

When I got to the turn around for the 10K mark, I finally got brave enough to look at my watch.

“OMG! I could actually finish this in under 3 ½ hours. My best case scenario finish time was 3:30 and my not quite worst case (just being slow at everything) was 3:47.

I came in at 3:25:22 which may be slow, but it was faster than I was expecting to pull this off.

And heck, it was my first Olympic Distance Tri, any finish time was a PR.

There were 4 DNFs, three after the swim and one after the bike.

Only after I felt like such a slow loser, did I learn that this was a big race for Ironmen looking for rankings for the year and that it was an insanely fast field.

One woman who I swam with (and got passed on the bike by) was no other than Sister Madonna. This woman, a Catholic nun, is 78 years old (born the same year as my mother who refuses to even go walk more or less exercise or take care of herself) and has completed FORTY Ironmans and set age group records.

Here are Gene, Myself, Sister Madonna. and Annie

You really should click on the link, Sister Madonna-Iron Nun. to read her story; this woman is an amazing inspiration.

I had no idea that the lady I was standing around in the water joking around with at the start line was a legend until Kathy told me.

Since there weren’t a lot of Athenas, I got 2nd place (and a bit of extra hardware)

The Icky Boy was kind enough to carry my bag back as I walked my bike next to him.

As we were crossing the bridge these GIANT fish (carp I think) were leaping out of the lake. I swear, these things were big enough to take off my arm. And to think that I was swimming with them. [shudder]

After the race, we sat on the balcony of the hotel watching a thunderstorm enjoying a beer. Then we met up with Gene & Joanne and Gene’s parents for Pizza. If you’re in Moses Lake and want Pizza, Chicos is the place (but get there early)

I have some more photos here, Lisa’s Moses Lake Olypmic Distance Triathlon Photos

and yes… I’m already planning on coming back to do it again next year.

~L

Mood: Tired

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