Kate Parker's Blog

Big News!

2011-05-04T07:17:00.002-04:00

Since my last post ohsolongago in March, I remain happily unmotivated to train like a madwoman. My torn right quad has probably played a part in that, too....3 weeks off from running and now 5 weeks later, it still hurts to walk sometimes....kinda limits you.

(Let me just say, it's been a while since I had an "injury" injury, you know, the ones where you actually get hurt, not just overuse. And wow, did that effer ever hurt. Kicked the ball in a soccer game and just doubled over. Tried to play some more....cried on the field. Left the field, stretched. Cried like a baby. Drove myself to the hospital. Cried. Went home and crawled up the stairs to bed. And probably cried some more. A good night all around. :)

Anyway, on to the big news. (If you're on Facebook, you probably already have seen this, but just in case you're not...). I have started a new business. A photography business!

Been in the works for a while now....building my portfolio, my website, blog, FB fan page, taking classes, learning software, getting incorporated, blah, blah, blah.

I am just loving, loving, loving it. Love the whole process...am so thankful to have found this passion and fingers crossed it will be a success.

Check it out....Kate T. Parker Photography!

http://www.katetparkerphotography.com/

Happily Unmotivated

2011-03-12T22:50:00.002-05:00

When I am not training much or racing even less, I don't have a ton to post about on here. Which explains my (gasp!) almost two month absence.

We've been busy, just not with anything running/triathlon related. And I've been surprisingly really happy about it.

I've come into a time where trail running, biking, and lifting are what I really want to do. DID I JUST SAY THAT??

I can hardly believe it either. I don't want to race. I want to enjoy. And racing/training are just enjoyable right now.

How hedonistic of me. ;)

My new, non racing self, got a new shirt a few months back and promised to blog it. I really, really love my shirt. (I wore it today which reminded me that I needed to get to this blog ASAP!). It is from my friend, Heather. She sells vintage shirts on etsy. My shirt (below) is awesome (the pile of laundry behind me? notsomuch). Soft, a very nice shade of blue and super hip (which I am totally not).

From the Vancouver Marathon '81. So, while I am not racing....I wear shirts about races. That I didn't do.

My new self is a poser, ugh.

Check out Heather's etsy store if you want cool, super hip shirts, too.

Bonk!

2011-01-24T07:22:00.003-05:00

"In endurance sports, particularly cycling and running, hitting the wall or the bonk describes a condition caused by the depletion of glycogen stores in the liver and muscles, which manifests itself by precipitous fatigue and loss of energy."

Thanks, Wiki.

My own personal definition of this includes lying on the floor of my bathroom after my long run, thinking how hard it is to talk. Yes, talking was too hard to do yesterday. Ella was in the shower asking me questions and I was thinking to myself, "Doesn't she know I just ran 12 miles?!?! How am I supposed to talk after 12 whole miles?!?". Talking is so draining. So is throwing up, which is something that I would do. If I had the energy to get up.

I couldn't figure out how I was going to get through the rest of the day on the bathroom floor. I was hoping Mike would find me and carry me to the bed. I was that sick. (This is what my glycogen starved brain was thinking.) That I was sick. Not that I needed food. Not that I didn't eat enough on my run. That I could easily feel better with a little peanut butter or an energy bar. I was banking on the good old bathroom floor cure.

It didn't work.

But, get this? I was magically cured, had all my energy back, ceased to want to puke, forgot how hard talking was after I ate some stinking calories.

Please reference the title of my previous post.

Jill and I on the run. (Runs with friends, we ran with 4 yesterday, make me forget all sense and reason. Apparently.)

I never said I was smart.

2011-01-20T17:15:00.004-05:00

Not now.

And definitely not as a kid.

My burning desire as a child? My ambition? My consistent answer to "what do you want to be when you grow up, Katie?"

Not doctor, not lawyer, not president.

Nope.

Tooth Fairy.

I thought it sounded like an awesome job. Fly around. Collect teeth. Leave money for kids.
Sign me up.

When my mom finally set me straight (waay later than normal) regarding my future career and um, the fact that shhh....she's not real. I lost my sh%$. For days, I am told. Tears and more tears and "why did you tell me's???".

See? Not too smart.

Anyway, zip forward 30some years and guess freaking what?

I AM THE TOOTH FAIRY NOW.

Take that um, mom...er, maybe not, you were just trying to enlighten a little weirdo that believed in flying fairies.

Take that....reality?

Ella's lost 5 teeth already and I'm sort of a pro now.

After her last tooth came out the other night, my sister texted me to point out "see? your childhood dream came true."

I am so pathetic. ;)

E's letter to the tooth fairy....

Regarding my half marathon training. (I am doing Disney Princess Half at the end of Feb.) It is going great. I am really loving running 5-6 days a week...shocking the hell out of me.

Elemental

2010-12-15T15:26:00.002-05:00

The elements.

What wonderful treats they bring the outdoor runner, biker, walker, etc. this time of year.

Frozen toes, fingers, snot.....to name a few.

I know, I know, Atlanta is in the deep South. We're supposed to be warm, and welcoming.

Tell that to my neck gater. Poor thing's exhausted from all the use she's gotten this year. Once upon a time, I'd break her out like the good wine, once in a blue moon.

Now, it is every stinking run.

I am not complaining though...I like the elements.

I like the heat. I like the freezing cold. I like running in the rain. In the snow....

Why? 'Cause it makes me feel tough. And I am not tough.

At heart, at my core? A wuss, A scardey cat wuss who'd prefer sunny and seventy, thankyouverymuch.

The elements make me feel like the badass I am not.

I take my badass where I can get it...even if it means 8 miles in freezing rain.

"Is "poopy" an adjective?"

2010-12-10T11:44:00.002-05:00

...and other google queries.

These are the questions you find yourself asking when playing madlibs with a 5 year old.

I appreciate the lack of judgement, google.

Two things. (1) It was not her suggestion for the adjective. (It was mine. I was going for the easy laugh.)
(2) We had to google it because Mike didn't think it was an adjective. (Wrong!)

We search for a lot of random things on the internets.

Were their children on the Mayflower? (E wanted to know. And yes, there were.)

What is the difference between the KSwiss Kona and the KSwiss Kona-C? (All me there. There's none, just looks, according to someone on a random forum. Momma needs new running shoes and zappos was all out of my faves, the Konas.)

How many calories in a clementine? (Mike. He's apparently counting calories.)

What the hell this says about us, I have no idea, perhaps we are weight conscious, fecal oriented, history buffs who enjoy a run now and then?

Okay, sure.

Tis the season

2010-12-08T07:37:00.002-05:00

It is not my fault if this post makes zero sense and is full of typos.

I am currently under two year old attack. She's trying to lure me into a wrestling match by hitting me with a blanket and head butting me. Okay, she's stopped the attack to show me the "boogie" on her hand, and ugh, now she wiped it on my shirt. Yes, MY shirt, not her shirt.

Anyone want a hug?

If you don't get covered in snot, then can offer you one of the many germs that my children carry?

I am sure my shirt has them in spades. (Being covered in boogers and all.)

Yes, tis the season for being sick. The girls, yes, of course. There has to be a patient Zero. But, I still catch everyfreakingthing that they bring home from school. Sinus infection, stomach flu, fifths disease...check. Check. And check. (And not just me this year, my filthy animals have successfully infected my mom, brother in law, each other, and the contractor working for my mom so far.) Do not talk to us until April. I promise it is a bad idea.

Cobbling together any consistency in my running has been um, challenging so far this winter. (It's not even technically winter yet, is it?)

Oof.

Life Lessons

2010-12-01T09:09:00.003-05:00

#68 -- Teaching yourself to read.

No big deal. Just find a quiet, sunny place and an Elmo book. All set.

#154 -- The Armpit Fart.

What else are daddies for?

The Voice

2010-11-24T20:28:00.005-05:00

I've been hearing a few lately.

The one in my head. More about that later....

And the one coming from the two year old.

It sounds like a combination of a Charlie Brown Adult and a petulant teenager imitating their parents behind their backs. Mike tells me that Alice is imitating me. That my voice sounds like that. (It doesn't.) Mike thinks he funny. (He is.) But, not nearly as funny as Alice is when she does "the voice".

So, Alice is funny and bad (in the best way possible, of course.) She was just reprimanded for spitting on the floor, twice and enjoys gargling and fake burping as loud as she possibly can, in public. My apologies to my fellow Target shoppers.

While Alice is busy being a clown, Ella is rocking kindergarten. Rocking it!

After an adjustment period, filled with lots of tears and only one full-on-the-floor-in-school-tantrum (the horror of that is seared in my brain forever. Her teachers had to literally pull her arms from my legs. Good times.) After a few short months, she is loving school. Loves her friends, loves music class, loves the bus, her teachers, the routine. I am so proud of her. It is like school matured her, in the best possible way, and she's just taking off there. Go Ella.

As far as the voices that I am hearing, or more specifically, the voices I am not hearing anymore.

You know, the voice that tells me that doing Gulf Coast is a great idea. That triathlon is really important. The my workouts are waaay up there on the priority list for the day, week, month, year. That 5am workouts are what needs to be done. The one that repeats swimbikerun, swimbikerun, swimbikerun.

Well, I haven't heard them in a while.

I didn't know why. I missed those voices, then I didn't, then I wondered why I didn't miss them. Then, I just tried to chill. (I am not so good at that.)

Then I started to hear new ones.

Ones that said, "You can't force it". That "maybe the desire will come back, maybe not." One said "take tennis lessons. You love tennis." So I did. Another one said "do the Disney Princess Half Marathon" (That one was definitely Ella's.) So, I signed up. One that said "want to do a 50 miler with me?" (Okay, that wasn't in my head, it was from my friend, Michelle). I said hells no, but hmm...maybe a 50k. THAT actually sounds like fun.

I have to say, it's been pretty nice.

Our Christmas card pic taken by awesome photographer, Andrea Mages....thanks, Andrea!

Historic Roswell 5k Race Report

2010-10-10T17:48:00.004-04:00

So, yeah, been off blogging for almost another month...but a silly, little 5k race report's got me back on the ball. Yay for 5k's!

I love this race. Did it back in 2008. It was my first race post Alice. I think I ran around 22:30 or so, I can't really remember. What I do remember from that race was getting the "pukes" (not actually puking, but feeling like it was coming at any second. Yeah, I made that up.) around mile 1.5, and having to breastfeed A in the middle of a football field during the awards ceremony. I really class a race up. ;)

No pukes this race. (Always makes me think I didn't go hard enough!) Just a fun day with no real expectations. (Okay, I was not going to be happy if I went over 20 minutes.) I didn't think under 20 was possible today. I've been running, a lot, just not really focused running. Just 5 miles here, 8 miles there. Some speedwork, some trails, kind of whatever feels good on the day. (

(This low pressure schedule is working for me now, but I can tell I am getting antsy. Antsy for a goal. FIN-A-FREAKING-LY! I will keep pretending I am a normal person for a while, but I think once the holidays are over I am going to want to get back at it. Woo hoo. I think just running for now though...)

Anyway...the 5k. I ran, I hurt, the scenery was pretty, the course was a course I have run since I was 19 (needless to say, I knew where the hills were), great friends were there to cheer (thanks Bonnie, Meghan, Noah, Madeline and Patrick!), I finished 3rd overall female. And guess where I finished age group? 3rd. Boo hiss for stacked 30-34 year old AG. :) 20:50, eh, not bad, not great.

I guess I actually finished 2nd AG, since 1st went first overall, but I scooted out of there and ran up to watch the parade that follows the race with friends.

Fun day. Fun race. Love the low pressure stuff. For now....:)

Muscle Memory

2010-09-14T19:28:00.002-04:00

Sometimes I wish my muscles would just forget.

Forget how fast the last race, interval, mile, long run, was.
Forget that I used to do a heck of a lot more training.
Forget the word "just" in front of "half marathon training".

'Cause remembering just makes it all really no fun.

Makes me want to not race. (I can't beat my old times. I don't know if I can (more like want to) hurt for that long anymore.)

Makes me wonder if the fire will ever come back. (Where the heck did it go?)

Did pushing, all the time, striving for some goal, some time, some AG finish push the point of all this so far away that I can't see it anymore?

(Point being. THIS IS FUN.)

I love to run (and bikeandswim).

It makes me feel good. Nope, it makes me feel GREAT. Alive. Happy. Relaxed. Makes me feel like me. Like my best me.

A solo, early fall, morning run while both girls were in school had me remembering today.

A good muscle memory. Time to make some more...

Don't mess with Ella

2010-09-09T13:02:00.002-04:00

An admittedly weak update after a long break. Here's the gist.

Kindergarten started. My heart broke. I missed E. She missed me. And cried in the bathroom about it, daily, for a few weeks (her, not me. I didn't attempt to hide my tears). Settling in now...everyone. She likes school, which is great.

Alice is breathing well again after an ER trip last night. Damn croup. She's all 'roided up like a guido from Jersey Shore and breathing much easier now. Longest 8 miles to that hospital, ever.

That's all I've got after 4 hours of sleep. On the floor of A's room. Oof.

Dance Party USA

2010-08-15T13:31:00.004-04:00

Does anyone else remember rushing off the bus in high school, forgetting about homework, repainting their nails (freshman year, I preferred a new color. Every day. Oy.), planting themselves in front of their TV, turning on the USA network and cracking up at this show? Wondering where these people come from?? And how is it possible to have hair that big?

Just me? (And my sister. She was right there with me.)

Maybe it was a New Jersey thing. Dance Party was filmed in Camden, NJ. Proud to say.

I like a dance party. Still do. We have them at our house fairly often. E and Allie can break it down like nobody's business. Ella's future band has a name already. "Shake Your Fanny". R&B, I am guessing.

And Alice? She knows the words to "Single Ladies". Already. And requests it over, and over. She walks up to the ipod docking station and yells at me. "I WANNA DANCE!". Um, okay.

Mike's birthday was Friday and instead of the "new belt" that Ella suggested for him, I decided to give him a garage makeover. We've always wanted to be the super neat and clean and uber organized garage people, but we're just not. UNTIL NOW....

New lights, blinds, paint, flooring and it is immaculate. I love it.

So did Mike, and now instead of one car fitting into our three car garage, we can actually fit two. We broke the "Garage-mahal" as Mike is calling it, in last night with what else? A dance party.

I have to commend Mike on his robot in this shot. He is a serious robot, apparently.

Ella favors running around as fast as she can as a dance style. Me? Jumping. A lot.

It's not my fault...

2010-08-09T19:49:00.005-04:00

...that I have not posted for almost a month.

A month.

Wow. Time flies. (And that is the last thing I want it do this summer. I want it to crawl. Not fly.)

But, anyway, it's not my fault. Someone needs to watch the new seasons of "Jersey Shore", "Mad Men", "Boston Med". And Bravo. All of Bravo. If I don't. Who will? ;)

So, what's been going on?

Since I have failed at freezing time, or making regressing Ella to her 3 year old state, we've been getting ready to embrace the inevitable. Kindergarten. (Did you hear that? My heart just sank. Thump.) She starts in two weeks. She's excited and ready, and I am, too, for her. Just sad for me and Alice and the feeling that I can't shake. That I am losing my baby. :( We are going to miss her. A lot. Especially Alice. E went to camp a few weeks ago and left a screaming, crying sister in her wake, yelling "I want Ella home!". Me, too, Allie, me, too. I know this is normal and I know it is healthy and I know it is good. None of this makes it any easier. Or makes me want to cry less thinking about it.

My other baby turned two. Wow. It is hard for me to believe it has only been two years since we had that nutjob. I honestly have to think very hard about what our life was life before two. (And very, very hard to remember what the hell we ever did before we had E. Oh yeah, nap and sleep in.) Alice continues to grow in her sassiness, self confidence, and Ella-emulation every day. Thankfully she has yet to lose (any) of her baby chub, so the feeling of holding that soft, good smelling body of hers is still available whenever I want it.

And me? Been running a lot. Biking a little and swimming none. The carpal boss pain on my wrist comes and goes and when it comes, it hurts like a mother and is triggered by who knows what? Here one day. Gone the next week. Then back again. Running is the only thing that I can count on to reliably do. Aha, but there's a catch. This old, inflexible body of mine is not so used to running 6 times a week. These legs are used to breaks. Not the daily grind of run, run, run. My piriformus is pissed and acting out. Here's to hoping a little ART and TLC will stop what I like to refer to as "drop leg" on my long runs.

I've signed up for tennis lessons and will be playing in a fall soccer league which I am pumped about. I love that I am not worried about hurting myself for a race with other sports or that I will be tired for xx workout the next day or some other reason. The half marathon training I am now doing is really just for a goal and to keep me in shape, if I can't race a half...I don't really care. I can't wait for some fun on the field and the courts.

Lobsterfest in Indiana at my brother's lake house. The cool (relative) weather was worth the 21 hours in the car with the girls. Sort of.

Oof, this is a lot of work. Note to self, update more often.

Summer thus far...

2010-07-11T20:19:00.007-04:00

A photo-essay. (AKA the lazy mom's blog post).

You would think that all that time I gained by not swimming and biking umpteen (okay, realistically more like ump-ten or eleven, maybe ump-twelve) hours a week, I'd have more time for nobler pursuits, i.e., documenting my children's fleeting youth.

Not so much.

Not today. Or tomorrow.
Not really that kind of mom. Time to accept it now, girls. ;)

Our summer has been spent....

Fishing. (I had taken E before with her pole, but no hook on the end. Seriously? I am going to de-hook a fish? Me? I'd rather have a hook in my mouth than touch a fish, there. Ugh. I don't think so. Thankfully, dad and Pop Pop were there to do the dirty work.)

Hiking.

Yes, hiking is age appropriate for the not-yet-two age set. Exhibit A (and B), Alice and her bud, Hall. All you need are a few sippy cups and cankles and you're all set.

Jumping.

Yes, that is a bounce house. And yes, it is inside. And, yes, I agree. We are nuts.

Cleaning the garage.
In wigs. And helmets, of course.

Spending time with family...
by turning them into my own personal curtain making (and hanging) sweatshop.

I did help. All sweatshops need a foreman.

Earning a little cash...
the dollar in E's (money grubbing) little hand is from selling Mike the beer that is in his hand. A beer from our fridge. Smart kid. She also sold my dad a picture she drew of a "spider chicken". Feel free to contact me directly if you would like to buy one for your own home. No home is complete without a spider chicken picture to warm up any space.

My mom is still toiling away in the background. She knows the foreman doesn't take too kindly to laziness. (Myself EXcluded, of course.)

Imitating.
This is Alice. Next to Ella. Doing exactly what Ella does, says, goes, wears, thinks. All day long. Ella hurts her hand and cries and points to said hand. Two seconds later, the little brown haired Ella clone is doing the same thing. It is so cute, it breaks my heart how much Allie is going to miss E when she's at school in a few months. She literally won't know what to do.

Bad timing...

2010-06-30T20:19:00.002-04:00

...as in, what kind of poor internal clock do I have that decides in mid-June/early July Georgia to become (just a) runner?

The kids are home. All day. Every day. (Which is actually really awesome and fun. Just doesn't leave a lot of free training time for me...part of the reason tris are on the back burner for now. That and the fact that you couldn't pay me enough to get up at 5:00am to flounder in the pool. That alarm gets little to no use in the summer. The Alice alarm is much more reliable. 5-5:30am "MAMA!" "MAMA!")

The treadmill is an option, although not a great one. It's so freaking boring, all I can do is intervals. They make the "so freaking boring" treadmill time go by a little faster since they're fun. I am a little sick that way. I love intervals. My legs? Not so much.

Early mornings are out, Mike leaves for work too early to get in anything before light. Have I mentioned I am scared of the dark?

After dinner is out. Tried that. Had to make an emergency call to Mike, "come get me, NOW. Like, NOW, NOW, NOW" He found me a mile from home, knock kneed walking, sweating (not from the run), complaining that there was nowhere, NOWHERE to go in our neighborhood. Ella inquired from the backseat, "Mommy, do you have to poop? Like, really bad?"

So, afternoons it is. Alice is napping. The trusty tready is ready. The World Cup is on. Ella is fully immersed in "Phineas and Ferb". We're getting it done.

Two days a week, I have a reprieve. The babysitter comes! (Whoo Hoo! Let's go running! Love this!) At 2. (Holy #@$%, I think I am literally cooking from the inside out right now. Why are tracks black? I think I can hide underneath the concession stand in the shade for my rest interval. I wish I had my early 90's eyebrows right now, these plucked, waxed, tweezed little suckers are NOT keeping these buckets of sweat out of my eyes!)

Getting it done. Yet, still whining about the heat.

This is what seven miles at starting at 2:30 looks like...not pretty.

Happy Father's Day.

2010-06-20T09:37:00.002-04:00

A Vacation

2010-06-14T20:52:00.001-04:00

We had our family one last week in Seagrove, Fl. Great time. I love it. Love, love, love it down there. We were lucky enough to not have any oil, at all, on the beaches, in the water, etc. I pray it stays that way....

Every time I got into the emerald green waters I was so happy to be there, but at the same time sad, thinking, "is this the last time?" "Will this be closed tomorrow?" "When is the oil coming?" Stinking, stupid, careless BP.

I spend the following weeks after we get home scouring realtor.com for beach houses. Like we're going to get one, like it is even a remote possibility...still I search. One day, I will call the beach my home. A girl can dream, can't she?

In addition to our beach vacation, it appears (I say this like it just crept up on me. It didn't. Or I have not thought about it, a lot. I have.) I am taking a vacation from triathlon.

I've been on vacation from the bike since last week and the swim and I seem to be enjoying a nice long 3 week break. I've decided not to race Irongirls next weekend.

I need it.

I don't even miss it. Yet. I want to miss it. I just don't. I want to want to race. But, I don't. The fire is out. I hope it comes back. But, I am happy where I am.

Running. A lot.

Racing 5 and 10k's. And throwing in a half when it cools off.

It is fun. I like to run. And it doesn't hurt. Biking and swimming hurt my wrist. A lot. (Running actually does sometimes, too, but much less than the other two.)

Has anyone ever felt this way and come back with a fire for triathlon? I hope I do, but it seems so far away right now...which is fine. Just curious.

Vaca

Fives

2010-05-31T19:41:00.004-04:00

This is a two part post revolving around the big number five.

Referring to E's years and kilometers ran as fast as possible (yet still not fast enough).

So, my baby. My little Ella Ann is five. It is all coming, kindergarten, sleep overs, being embarrassed by her parents, driving, college, marriage, wha....deep breath. Five is really a landmark birthday, at least for E it is.

"Mom, I can do that. I am five now. NOT two, NOT 4." (Duh.) The "duh" is silent, but implied.

She's my heart. Love that crazy, curly haired, enthusiastic, monkey that she is.

And the other five?

The second part of this post should be titled "The elusive 19" or "How to not run even splits (when you are trying to do just that)".

So, I ran a local 5k with some neighborhood friends on Saturday. Save our Skin 5k. I've been trying for years, years to get under 20 minutes in a 5k. (I did once, but the course measured 2.86. Damn you, Garmin. Ignorance is bliss.) I've been close 20:09, but never gotten there. I always try though.

6:26

That's what I need to run. Just hang on to 6:20s.

First mile. 6:16. (Nice, money in the bank. Got a few seconds to spare here.)

Second mile. Wow. This is really almost completely an uphill mile. This is not easy anymore. ow. ow. ow. 6:48

Third mile. Just hang on. Hang on. Use Angela's mantra, she's super fast. Try it. "light and fast, light and fast". ugh. 6:45, not quite Angela's kind of fast.

The finish was two really hard right hand turns after the 3 mile marker. I pass a girl ahead of me at about 2.5 miles and just knew she let me pass her so she could chase me down and pass me right at the end. I had a gut feeling.

But, I didn't want to slow down to her pace and hang back (plus I didn't know what kind of kick I might have.) At 3 miles, I check back and she's closer and hauling to try to catch me. (I knew her face, she does tri's and knew she was in my AG. We were battling for 3rd OA) We make the first hard right...she's closer. I am DIGGING in here, there's no way she's beating me. DIGGING IN. Less than .1 left and we're both in a full out ugly sprint to finish. Right turn two steps ahead....the guy ahead of both of us won't let me by. I step right, I will fall into the curb, I step left I hit him. I hit him. Yelled, "COME ON!!!! MOVE!!!". This little misstep slows me down, I get caught....we finish exactly together.

The girl was really cool, we hugged and slapped hands and introduced ourselves. Really fun to fight that hard, really fun to leave it all out there. No sub-20 today (20:26), but happy with the effort.

Tied for 3rd OA and 1st AG. (I was bummed since the race actually had me as second to her. No chips and she just happened to hand in her tag first.)

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

2010-05-21T00:15:00.005-04:00

Remember these essays assigned on the first day back to school?

When these were actual assignments, I tried my damndest to make sandwich artistry, sub par waitressing, pool lounging, and running around the soccer field sweating sound somewhat ambitious.

They weren't.

And my liberal use of SAT words probably didn't fool any of my teachers either.

Well, the first day of summer starts tomorrow in our house. Both girls are out of school. As a Jersey girl who graduated from high school on June 28th, this southern school calendar will always feel a bit off....ya'll.

What are we going to do with ourselves??

Who knows? I am sure in between exhausting the girls at the pool, the park, camps (for E), with friends, I will figure out if I want to race another tri this year.

I am only signed up for one more race (a sprint in June) and I haven't found myself searching out more.

Why?

I am not quite sure, a little burnt out? Maybe. Tired of my wrist (carpal boss) making 2/3 of triathlon extremely painful when the cortisone shots wear off? Sure. Excited just to race some 5k's and 10k's and break some PR's? Heck yeah. Ready to plan our summer days based on what time the pool/Monkey Joe's/the zoo opens and not how long Mommy has to swim/bike/run?

Definitely.

Gulf Coast Half Ironman Race Report

2010-05-14T07:23:00.006-04:00

So, yeah, this is a little late, but here goes....

My goal for this race was to (a) finish smiling.

Period.

In January and February, that goal was not even on my radar. Smiling was for losers. Winners go super fast, kill 'em all, tear it up, take no prisoners, and a bunch of other equally aggressive metaphors.

Then, March, April and May came along with a move and yet another race where I raced while sick (ING Half Mary) and I was done.

Done with pretending I was Rambo. Done with 9 mile death marches. Done with puking on the side of the road. Done with 6 hours of bikerun on the weekends.

Done with all that, but just getting started on the "I just want to be a normal person" whines.

So, I changed my goals. I just wanted to enjoy Gulf Coast. I really love this race and I didn't want to end up hating it, myself, everyone out there, the sun, the wind, the heat just because I wasn't having a good day.

Goal accomplished. (5:35)

The Race...

Woke up race morning ready to go. Not super pumped to get out there, but not hand shakingly nervous like before IM. Feeling okay. Force down my bagel and bar and head down to the water which doesn't look like it is supposed to. It is supposed to look like glass when I am racing.

Swim --
While I was out there to enjoy myself, I did still work hard and wanted to race as hard as I could...I had some tentative time goals. I was hoping for around 33 for the swim.

41:52

Yes, I was off. More like OFF. This was the roughest swim I have ever done...the Gulf was super choppy. Lots of whitecapping waves. It quickly turned into survival mode, interspersed with lots of breaststroke, and some shaky positive self talk ("strong and steady, strong and steady, you can do this. F@#$!, F@#$*!, F#@!, I can't even see the buoys anymore!!!"). I was just happy to finish. Honestly. I was scared out there.

Bike --
Uneventful bike. It actually went by pretty quickly for me. I was so concentrated on making sure I hit my nutrition that the hours flew by. The bike at Gulf Coast is what you would expect, flat, fast and not much to look at. There was a pretty strong headwind a few times, but other than that, it was not bad. Way cooler than it is normally. I was hoping for under 2:50, but ended up exactly that.

Run --
My goal on the run was to aim for under 1:50. I was going to try to run 8's and see how that felt. Yeah, that felt good for about 4 miles and then it got harder and harder and the walks through the aid stations became slower and slower. Even though I ended up slower than I was hoping, I never felt broken down. I felt fairly strong throughout and these days will take that over the defeated shuffle that I had in my last half marathon. I think I could have pushed harder on the run, but it just wasn't in me today. I already knew that finishing under 5:20 (my hoped for time goal) was long gone in the Gulf. So, I just smiled and ran my 8:30s. Saw Mike, smiled even bigger and finished strong.

Pause, please.

2010-05-05T19:37:00.004-04:00

I need a pause button.

Like, for example, when you're watching something really good, like "Nine By Design" or "The Hills" or "The City" for that matter and someone (ahem, Mike) tries to talk to you about who these people are and what is going on and who is on drugs? and why do you watch this?

Pause.

Excuse me, I am watching this. Can everyone (this means you, Mike) please quiet down (er, shut up) while Stephanie and KC have it out? This is important.

Ella is all about the pause button, too. She asks us to do it in the middle of rousing games of eye spy.

"Mommy, I have to go to the potty. Pause the game!"

or in bed..."Mommy, I have to feed Goldy (her goldfish). Pause the story!"

I need the pause button for Ella.

She's just getting too old. I registered her for kindergarten today.

What?!?

PAUSE!

A bus. Real school. Homework. Gone...all day? All week? Waahhh...

I am so not ready.

At a red light the other day, I saw one of those stickers on the back of the car in front of me with her school on it. A silly magnet set me off. I was immediately the weirdo, crying in her car, alone.

My baby is growing up and while that is all natural and good, I am not zen about it. I am not welcoming this with open arms. Rather with teary eyes and an armful of tissues and mandatory "cuddle time" with the almost 5 year old.

Pre school graduation is looming. Invest in Kleenex stock today. You'll thank me this fall.

Where, seriously, where did the time go?

It is what it is.

2010-04-29T20:11:00.003-04:00

That is my new mantra.

We own two houses. Is the old one going to sell? WHEN is it going to sell?

IT IS WHAT IT IS.
(We actually have a contract this morning. Woot. Woot.)

My half IM is this weekend. Am I ready? What is the weather going to be like? Too hot? Am I going to have a 13 mile death march like I did at ING Half? Will I beat my time from 2007? Is my swim going to be faster? My bike? My run??

Eek.

(Deep breath)

IT IS WHAT IT IS.

Yes, I have worked hard for this race and yes, I really want to do well, BUT, the pressure I was putting on myself to constantly beat my old times and be more serious and hardcore was starting to make all of this really no fun.

And that is really what it is supposed to be.

Fun. A hobby. Time for myself. A way to be competitive again.

I love racing and I love triathlon. But, was starting to want to break up, or at least start seeing other people. The desire to have a "normal" weekend (sans 6 hours of run/bike) was getting strong.

And just mentally taking that pressure off, has me so excited to get down to Panama City and smile and enjoy the sun and enjoy the day and be happy and thankful to be racing. At the beach! Regardless of whether I am out there for 5:21 or 6 hours.

My goal for this race? To finish just like I did in 2007.

smiling my ass off.

IT IS WHAT IT IS.

Moving

2010-04-22T21:24:00.006-04:00

(Exhale)

So, we moved. Last Friday.

Not to complain, (whine is probable more accurate, anyway) but my legs/feet hurt more after the move than a marathon. (Eh, that is probably a lie. Last full marathon was 2007 and I have a bad memory, but seriously, they were really sore.)

Moving is no joke. Even if it is only .6 miles.

Love the new house though. Well worth the effort (Zone 2, at the least. THE VERY LEAST, I tell ya.)

So now, after I search both houses for dental floss, my Garmin heart rate strap, Ella's school bag and one missing Dansko clog, hang 376 pictures against Mike's will ("Can we please NOT clutter this house up?" is falling on deaf ears), I AM TRAINING.

Gulf Coast in t minus 2 weeks. Time to focus less on moving furniture and more on moving my ass.

Let's ****ing GOOOO!

Starting to get excited....

Bye, bye old house.

These two jokers made themselves comfortable already.

Alice likes my new closet. Her new nickname is "Shoes". She's obsessed.

We moved in and E lost her first tooth. (Is she old enough? WHAT? Where's my baby?!?)

The cookie welcome basket from our new neighbors...mmmm. Making that race weight goal farther and farther away.

Still here....

2010-04-16T07:42:00.002-04:00

...without Internet, mid-move and slowly losing (1)most everything in the house, (2)my patience and (3)my mind...therefore, the blog took an (extended) spring break hiatus.

Be back soon, once I wipe this dazed, slightly crazy look from my face. :)

Spring...in pictures

2010-03-31T20:45:00.008-04:00

Since a picture is worth a thousand words and I am too lazy to write even close to that many, this is what this lazy blogger has been up to lately.

Ice skating. This smile is post falling-down-then-throwing-her-hat-on-the-ice, yelling "I QUIT!" x3. Good times.

Alice (with my dad) watched while working on perfecting the exact shade of tomato-red in her cheeks that makes it hard for me to believe that she doesn't have a fever. 98.6 every time.

Soccer! Go Wolverines. We consider soccer a success when (1)there are no tears from #12 (2)there is at least one dog at practice for Alice to squeal about.

Soccer happy dance.

I spend a lot of time making messes in the basement.

Hours on the trainer seems to have pissed off my wrist. A bone spur (aka carpal boss) is the reason for my newest fashion statement.

First outdoor ride of the season on the books for tomorrow. Woo hoo!

Picnic time.

I think that was at least 1543 words.

Doubt

2010-03-25T21:01:00.002-04:00

The nasty little bugger crawled in my ear this weekend.

That was a bad race you had there, lady. (Yes, I call myself lady.) You sure you're ready to hurt for 70.3 miles? That was just 13.1 and you didn't handle it all that well, ya know?

Maybe you should just stick to the short stuff? You know, 5k's and 10k's and sprints and Oly's. Leave the longer stuff to the people that are good at it. Not you.

It's like an infection.

It is spreading now. Making my legs tired and my mind weak.

The only cure I know is more racing. And good racing. Smart racing. Fast racing.

I plan on starting myself slowly on a therapy of "following training peaks to a tee" and "not wussing out during any of my key runs and bikes".

That should kick it. No doubt.

ING Half Marathon Race Report

2010-03-22T20:15:00.003-04:00

This is my third time racing the ING half course.

2007 was just a training run for Ironman. I didn't race it, ran with Mike's family, had fun, enjoyed it. 1:47

2009 it was an "A" race for me. My first big post Alice race back. I struggled. Just not my day. 1:41

2010...third time was NOT the charm. I was hoping for under 1:40 and was going to do my best to hang on to 7:20's for a 1:36.

I was a little off. 1:51

Wowza.

All was good until Mile 9. I was pushing up the hills and recovering on the downhills, per Jen's instructions on "how to run even splits on a hilly course." It was not feeling easy or effortless, but I was hanging in there. Each hill push was accompanied by the all too familiar "I am going to puke" feeling that I get at the end of 5 and 10k's. When I cannot go any harder. And I am sprinting. All out.

I was not going that hard.

I was not sprinting.

Yet, I was puking.

Exited Piedmont Park and hurled all over the sidewalk. And again. And again.

Yes, I was that person on Sunday.

My mile splits were no longer even. Mile 9? A blistering 11:33. Zoom.

And now my shoes had vanilla powergel puke on them. Which, sadly, does provide any additional energy to your feet.

The 4.1 miles to the finish was a long, slow, spectacular KA-BOOM! I was hoping to rally and feel better after the show I put on at mile 9.

Nope.

Not today. Not this year. Not on this course.

EffING ING.

Next year you're mine.

(The appearance of a fever yesterday and the reappearance of my breakfast this morning could not have been more welcome. Yay for a stomach virus. Yay for puking. Anything that could reasonably explain the disaster that was my race was much welcomed.)

Icrazy

2010-03-16T19:26:00.005-04:00

My ever present to do list is way too long for my lazy self this week.

I am such a list nerd, I make one daily and one for the week and then happily (geekily?) check stuff off as it gets done. (Admission...sometimes, I even add something to the list that is already done and not on there, just to add it, then check it off. Ah...the satisfaction, then the shame. I mean, who does that?!?)

Does my nerdiness know no bounds?

My penchant for uber organization took a hard hit last week.

My iphone apparently had enough of ifart, syrupy kid fingers, getting dropped 348 times, and playing the soundtrack to "Annie" over and over. It committed isuicide. In a puddle. Just jumped out of my pocket. Ended it all.

I thought I would be fine with a regular phone. I tried.

A no frills Samsung just wouldn't cut it. I couldn't even bring myself to charge the the thing. It would be like claiming ownership. Which I clearly was not ready to do.."YOU ARE NOT MY PHONE. YOU SUCK SO BAD, I BET YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO TEXT." I hissed at the poor little guy.

Less than 24 hours later, I was still lost. I couldn't call anyone to help. (My iphone did all the phone number remembering for me). I didn't know what to do. (That is ical's job to tell me my schedule.) I couldn't even play The Smiths to help deepen my depression. (My iphone IS my ipod. Waah.)

I'd had enough. Apple Store here I come. Watch out you mac geeks....someone had better have my isanity ready for me, momma needs her fix of apps, visual voicemail, internet, email at my fingertips. STAT.

Seriously, until it was gone...I had no idea how much I relied on that thing.

Embarrassingly sad, I'll admit.

Some pics of the girls and spring, neither sad nor embarrassing. (And taken with my super useful new iphone!)

"I picked these flowers (weeds) for my dad."

Babe Ruth?

Zone 0

2010-03-04T20:03:00.004-05:00

*Zones one through five all hurt.

(*Heart rate zones, for those of you who are not triathlon nerds. This means you, mom.)

On some level, they are all uncomfortable. (Okay, maybe not Z1, but honestly, when does a Z1 run ever appear in training peaks?)

Jen's article got me thinking.

Thinking about a few things...

Like, I definitely have the right coach for me. Amazing, considering the little to no research I did before contacting Jen last March for coaching. I liked her blog. That was reason enough for me at the time. I wish all my impulse based decisions worked out that well. Eating half a bowl of brownie batter last weekend, another example of my snap second decision making abilities.

You can't win 'em all.

But, anyway, I was talking about HR Zones, how they hurt and stuff.

Jen's article got me thinking about downtime. How we relax. Decompress. Zone out.

Zone 0

My Z0 consists of lots of things...things I love, things that allow my head and body to rest. An exhausting hobby + motherhood demands some downtime. Therefore, most Z0 activities take place with the computer on my blanket covered lap, butt firmly planted on the couch.

Facebook...I love my FB. Love it. I am so not a phone person, but like to keep in touch, so this works much better for me.

Blog reading.

Blog writing (although, I do feel a bit devoid of inspiration lately. Kind of explains the meager posting as of late.)

Athleta/Title Nine/Lululemon online drooling/shopping.

Design magazine buying/tearing out pages of what I like. Funny, never really interested me before we bought the new house. Now I am borderline obsessed. The "Cottage Styles" and "Traditional Homes" might now outnumber the "US Weeklies" and "Triahtlons". Weird.

Reading -- this is strictly a before bed Z0 activity. Reading makes me sleep. Could use some suggestions as I am re-reading "Midwives" by Chris Bohjalian for the 3rd time right now, just because it was there.

Baking -- cookies, brownies, cakes, muffins, etc. Love it all. Mike really hampers me here since all he ever wants is chocolate chip cookies. Even for his birthday. No cake, just cookies. Weird.

Ahh....Zone 0. I am feeling more relaxed already.

Some pics of the girls.

E and her latest "As Seen on TV" acquisition. The Egg Cracker. (I had no idea that cracking eggs was such a difficult task in the first place...)

And Alice who is severely offended by the chocolate drool on her foot. That came from her mouth.

The Sun Will Come Out

2010-02-25T13:16:00.006-05:00

It is time.

Time to mother%^$#*& work. Work on the bike. Work in the pool. Work on the run. Work in the weight room. (That should probably be "work" in the weight room. 'Cause as much as I try, I still hate that stuff.)

70.3 flat, windy, hot (mother%^&*$% hot) miles to cover in May are a little more than 12 weeks away.

The work doesn't stop there.

The house is now officially for sale. We're moving a mile away in mid April. So until April, this house, to quote Miss Hannigan (my apologies, but E is on a huge "Annie" kick as of late) "better shine like the top of the Chrysler building!"

It's a hard knock life.

Well, not really. The new house is awesome and I can't wait to move, but trying to clean, straighten and put away while two tiny people follow right behind you systematically dismantling everything you just folded, swept and windexed can be trying.

Even more so, when say you just finished hard run or a 3 hour brick and all you want to do is eat, shower and sleep. And you know, none of those is happening anytime soon.

I think I can understand where Miss Hannigan was coming from. Maybe she was trying to sell the orphanage while 70.3 training? And all those dancing and singing orphans just kept making messes?

It's possible....

Hmmm...now E's singing under her breath after I told here we are no longer allowed to jump on the made beds EVER again...."'steada treated, we get tricked. steada kisses, we get kicked!" all makes sense.

TOMORROW. TOMORROW...I LOVE YA.

(Who wouldn't? It's a rest day.)

Earning it

2010-02-17T19:27:00.002-05:00

Triathlon is stuff-intensive. The whole three-sportiness of it all, I guess.

Bike, bike shoes, helmet, sunglasses, running shoes, , tri top, tri shorts, bathing suit, goggles, swim cap, wetsuit, bike trainer,.

And that stuff is just the basics.

You get a little better, a little faster, a little more knowledgeable and now you want...no, you need..

a coach. those sweet zoot racing flats. a polar heart rate monitor (but not the cute girly one that you already got suckered into buying 'cause it was baby blue. no lap buttons on that p.o.s. this new one is big, black and kind of ugly, but actually functional for splits) oh, yeah, gotta have that garmin. Compression socks (that new coach is making your legs really sore.)

Your "triathlon drawer" starts to take over the entire closet. You consider in your imminent move making the extra closet in the master "just for workout stuff" okay, sweetie?

You're gonna need more room for....

Racing wheels. Road bike. Speed suit. Power meter. Aero helmet. Computrainer. Masters swimming. Compression tights.

Just kidding about those last few things....

As much as I would welcome all that stuff (oh yeah, you=me in this post.), I don't really think I've earned it yet. I am not fast enough.
Yet.

I didn't get Copas ($100 cleats at the time) until I made the state soccer team. After playing for 11 years.

But, man, were those some sweet cleats.

Chattahoochee Challenge 10K Race Report

2010-02-06T13:40:00.004-05:00

Ahh....I love being done with races.

Do I love racing them? Sometimes.
Do I love training for them? Most of the time.
Do I love the morning of races? Absolutely not.

This was my first race of 2010. And in my strange quest to constantly beat myself, there was some extra pressure. I was fighting off nerves all week....for a 10k! Sheesh. This morning was full of "my chest hurts, bronchitis for sure", "my stomach hurts, ow."...etc, etc, etc.

Goal? Beat 44:18. My time from last year on this same course.

This race could not be easier for me to get to, or more comfortable. I train on these roads all the time. Flat and fast. Only if they could actually make it 6.2, instead of 6.29 miles (that extra .09 really makes a HUGE difference if say, you might be dry heaving since you kicked too early....not sayin' that I did that, doesn't sound like me at all.) ;)

Warm up with Jill and Andrea. So nice to have friendly faces at races. (Congrats to both of them for PR's and 2 and 3 in their AG!)

And.....(insert nervous girl talk about the increasing hotness of Michael Vartan and waning hotness of Bradley Cooper)...GO!

Miles 1-4, my goal was to stay around 7:00. Just maintain, don't be dumb and go out too hard. I love you, Garmin. I would have totally messed this up without the constant reminder to slow the eff down. I knew I would regret it later if I pushed too early.

Mile 1 - 7:03
Mile 2 - 6:52 (whoops)
Mile 3 - 6:58
Mile 4 - 7:04 (ow)

I was trying to fool myself into thinking that the real race started at mile 5. The first 4 miles were just a warm up. Get to 5. Get to 5. Get to 5 and then GO! Well, getting to 5 and GOING really just meant, getting to 5 and maintaining. Totally fine. I pushed as hard as I could until the dry heaves came. (They always come.) Then done!

Mile 5 - 6:57
Mile 6 - 6:57

43:50/Avg. pace 6:59
10th OA/1st AG

32 year old me was taken down. Slow whippersnapper.

Jill, Andrea and I took home some sweet necklaces.

Halfsies

2010-02-02T19:33:00.004-05:00

1.5
4.5
and 70.3

Respectively pertaining to Alice's age, Ella's age and the amount of miles I hope to cover as fast as possible at Gulf Coast.

We're all going halfsies lately.

Like a lot of my bloggy friends, this blog is my defacto training diary/baby book. Such a strange (yet fitting) combination....kind of like the mommy/triathlete combo, too.
Strange, yet fitting. For me, at least. :)

Baby book time...

Alice at one and a half is a pistol.

That's the best word to describe her short, little, sassy self. Full of it. Funny. Loves to dance. She thinks "no" means "yes" and it cracks us up, a lot. "Alice...do you want a cookie?" "no." "Alice...do you want to play?" "no." Likes to race. As in "ready. set. GO!" and she "runs". She thinks walking around with her eyes closed is a good idea. That or with a blanket on her head. Then BAM! hits the wall and cries and does it again. Again, cracks us up, a lot.

Ella at 4 and a half is awesome. I can't believe how big she is now. Tall and skinny. (Where the heck did she get THAT from?!?) All her pants are always too short, 'cause she is growing out of them so fast (in stark contrast with her sister, who is ALWAYS too short for her pants.) E is the queen of "As Seen on TV". She has the brownie pan, the hands free toothpaste dispenser, the pillow pet and is begging for me to get "Your Baby Can Read" for Alice. (Not that she can read, but she's ready to teach Alice.) "But, Mommy, Alice could read!!!", like I am being a negligent mother by not buying that piece of crap. Alice's hobbies: Walking into walls. Falling down stairs. Yelling for cookies. Reading Tolstoy.

Both are the most perfect, beautiful children. In the world. Ever.

Just my unbiased opinion.

Training log time...
I am so excited for Gulf Coast. Already. I have months of training to go, but I feel so far ahead of where I have been in any February. I just do what Jen tells me (or try to do what she tells me at the very least) and trust it. I love that. I know she's getting me ready to rock. And that rocks.

I am behind.

2010-01-27T19:56:00.010-05:00

Behind on the laundry. (Not that I am ever really ahead on the laundry, but right now, there may be small animals hibernating in the laundry baskets for all I know...or care. I hope at least they're small dogs. Alice really likes dogs.)

Behind on blogging. (Meghan threatened me with physical violence on Facebook if I did not update my blog. Extreme, especially considering I see her every day. She could just ask what is going on with me instead of the punch to my face that she promised would come my way. )

Behind on my workouts. (I missed a few last week. I HATE THAT. This week, all are done. But, then again, it is Wednesday. Big Whoop. Plenty of time left to eff it all up and sleep through my swim or bag the run. Fighting against that scenario though.)

What is taking up all my time, you ask?

Well, besides getting the equivalent of graduate degree in all things "Jersey Shore" (like crack, I must say), my time been has fairly evenly split between Snooki, Pauly D and closet cleaning. Then packing boxes. Then repeat. Ad infintum.

Yep. We're moving.

A whole mile away. Literally, it can't be more than a mile. Same neighborhood. Just a different house.

One that works a little better for us. Open floor plan as opposed to our current one where I can't see any kids from anywhere unless they are literally climbing up my legs to cry and whine and/or screaming bloody murder in some far off corner of the house where after a full on sprint I realize the cause to be Alice is unable to take the child proof caps off the dog's medicine to ingest it as she desires, a nightly scenario.

YAHOO for the new house. YAHOO for open floor plans. YAHOO for an actual laundry room. YAHOO for the second staircase off the master bedroom that the house inspector called the "Jon Benet stairs".

Wait, scratch that last part.

Whatever, this is Atlanta, not Boulder. And I am so excited. Like, dreaming-about-it-at-night-excited. Like, I am-sure-the-current-owner-is-about-to-call-the-cops-on-me- 'cause-he-knows-my-car-and-I-drive-by-about-once-a-day-just-to-see-it excited.

Move is in mid March/early April. From now until then, I will be like Eminem....cleaning out my closet. (That's where the similarity ends though...no misogynistic rapping, Moby feud starting, slapping my mom with a lawsuit outta me. Unless you cross me, Mom.)

It's been too long. Some recent shots....

Alice is happy to help clean the floor for the move. But, apparently, not her mouth.

E's pumped for the new house as well. The new pool table and creek in the yard sealed the deal for her.

Alice's "ankles", if you can call them that. She was standing next to me today and I just had to take a picture of the chub. It will soon be gone and I will forget how exquisite they were.

Mike's really excited about the new house, too. And I think this Wii tennis shot really shows how excited he is that we have a new house and have not yet sold our current house. So exciting for Mike. Yessir. :)

Me. Excited for the house and to be swimming in a suit that does not show everything to everyone in the pool like my suit that I wore all last week only to realize what the chlorine had done to the fabric...too late. Show's over LA Fitness.

The Competition

2010-01-16T22:06:00.002-05:00

90% of my training is solo.

It has to be. I swimbikerun at odd times, my workouts are so specific, I have two little kids, blah, blah. There are REASONS. Good ones. I promise, I have friends. :)

Well, the 90% of the solo training time leaves me a lot of thinking time.

Dangerous.

And right now. In the cold, dreary winter. With my next triathlon 3 months away...

My favorite recurring training thoughts are of the girl I am going to beat next year.

Those thoughts make me smile.

A jerky smirk is more like it.

Those thoughts fuel me. They make my intervals faster, they keep me going when my body would prefer to sit on the couch watching "Jersey Shore" instead of running 12 miles in the rain. In January.

This girl is getting her a$$ handed to her at Gulf Coast. Left in the dust at John Tanner. Dropped like a hot potato at ING Half Mary.

The girl? Yeah, she's me. Last year.

2010 Kate's race plan? Kick 2009 Kate's ass.

2010 Kate is kind of a jerk. She's older AND faster.

Eat it, last year me.

Occupation

2010-01-14T19:50:00.002-05:00

Race applications are digging deeper this year, it seems.

In addition to my name, age, address, estimated swim time, and money, they want to know my triathlon accomplishments (huh?), who is coming to the race to cheer for me (I put "Tiger Woods") and then the kicker, my occupation.

Good question, race director. Good freaking question.

You mean my job, right?

Homemaker? Nah. Sounds too much like I work construction. Plus, I feel it implies an expertise (cleaning, cooking fancy stuff, etc.) and interest (learning to clean and cook fancy stuff, etc.) that I lack.

I settled on "stay at home mom". Sounded accurate. Well, sort of. I am more of a "let's get out of this house before I go stir crazy" mom as opposed to one who stays. Cooking chateaubriand while scouring the baseboards.

Either way, it has been on my mind lately.

Got me thinking and realizing that it has been almost 5 years since the slight cramping in my 8th month of pregnancy with Ella hastened the (dreaded) bed rest and the end of my life in advertising. Just like that....poof!

Unemployed.
But, working.
Just not getting paid.

Strange job.
Awesome benefits.

I thought I would go back. Definitely at a year. Certainly at a year.

Then I became a mom.

And all my "ideas" of what I was going to do and what I should do changed. I thought they might. But, then again, I had no idea. I was too pissed that they gave my desk to someone else at work.

Everyone is different. Every family figures out what works for them. This works for us. Won't forever....when that time comes and I've been out of work for XX years, who knows what I will put down on my race apps???

'Cause you know, that is the most important thing. That and payback for whoever stole my damn desk five years ago.

Cold as *%$@

2010-01-03T19:59:00.004-05:00

Yeah, it is that cold here. (Fake)cursing-in-a-blog-post-title cold.

My trusty iphone, who accompanies me on most every run, told me that it was colder here in Georgia, than it was in Winston-Salem (believable) AND Boston (WHAT?!?!).

Single digits are in the forecast.

(Where are my damn gloves? I knew I had a pair somewhere around here??)

Seems like yesterday that my phone had enough of the heat. The error message, "TOO HOT. OVERHEATING. WILL SHUT OFF. GET OFF THE BLACK TRACK IN THE AFTERNOON, YOU DUMBA$$" flashed right before the thing shut off until I got it back in the air conditioning.

Temperamental apple products.

I know, I know...we are not really cold like say, the midwest is cold. (Jen, Angela...you can just stop reading my whines now.) But, we are cold for the South.

(This carseat does NOT fit with that puffy jacket, Alice. And Ella, where is your hat? You HAVE to wear your hat. NON NEGOTIABLE, kid.)

It is really not that bad when you're used to it, and I used to be used to it. Born in Chicago, grew up in NJ. I've had my fair share of snow and ice. But, I don't expect it here. Don't want it. Don't remember how to dress for it. Don't even really have the right clothes to even do it if I wanted to.

I don't own a real winter coat. Fleece doesn't count. I had to make a very necessary scarf detour at the start of my long run yesterday...I thought my face was going to freeze off. (When running in the cold, "your lungs WILL NOT freeze" always goes through my head thanks to my winter track HS coach.) Biking outside is out of the question (and honestly it is until March, at the earliest for me). Hello, trainer.

I am too cold weather dumb to attempt riding when it is below um, 60?

My lungs would definitely freeze then. It's true. Promise.

Unrelated pics of my girls. I have some wintry ones that would make sense, but my computer is too full (damn apple, again) to load them. Instead, here's of my girls making fun of the way I smile. And the 17 month old started this. No kidding.

And here is one of many examples of the girls eating like dogs. Again, this trend can be attributed to Alice. (Although she wouldn't comply for the picture. Go figure.) Woof.

Christmas week...

2009-12-27T14:34:00.007-05:00

....is done.

The tree is shedding needles all over the deck. The living room is vacuumed. The presents are (mostly) put away. The dining room that transformed into a wrapping station is now again a (rarely used) dining room. The blowup outdoor Santa is deflated and back in storage. Twinkle lights are no longer twinkling.

Woo freaking hoo.

Sorry Christmas-lovers, but I am glad to be done. This week, for me, to put it bluntly, sucked. The stomach flu that I was hoping was a 24 hour thing turned into a whole-gd-week thing. I think I finally turned the corner today. The 16 hours of sleep I got yesterday must have helped.

It was great to see my family a bunch though. I am sure they loved being around my germy, pukey, sleeping during Christmas eve dinner self. (Trying not to be a negative jerk here...trying.) The girls had a great time and are loving their gifts.

Still, I haven't worked out since last Sunday. (Unless Wii tennis counts for a workout?? My gift for Mike was really a wonderful gift to myself, too.) But seriously. Last Sunday. I am starting to grow crazier and crazier by the minute. Mike being on the treadmill right now is not making things any more sane in my head either. So jealous.

Just want to wait until tomorrow to see if I actually feel well enough. This virus is a really tricky bastard. One day I feel okay....the next terrible....the next, okay. So strange. And no, I am not pregnant.

Just sick. And mad about it. And glad that tomorrow is a new (non Christmas, non stomach flu) week.

Gotta run, E is faking a sore throat to score an ice pop. "Ouchie. Ouchie. My froat hurts. I think a popsicle make me feel better, mommy."

Maybe I will try one, too.

Some Christmas pics.

My sister and Alice. One of them is drooling chocolate from her mouth.

My favorite present. My mom had this made for Alice, the Hi-Ya Baby, as E calls her.

E resting on an Annabelle pillow.

My dad shaking some sense into the Hi-Ya Baby.

Christmas dinner. Alice was replaced by a bottle of wine. Wine doesn't yell at us. :)

Purging

2009-12-22T16:02:00.001-05:00

Saturday started with this.

All morning long. I commenced the long overdue playroom purge. Getting rid of all the broken, mismatched, no longer played with toys. All to make room for the new ones from Santa that are not yet broken, mismatched and still interesting to play with. At least until the new year.

Alice toddled around, undoing my neat piles. Mike and Ella helped in their own way. If you consider drawing unflattering cartoons of me then cracking up at them, helping. I did not. Jerks. Okay, funny jerks. But honestly, my eyebrows don't look like that, right?? :)

Sunday ended with a different kind of purge. I will spare you pictures, promise. The kind that wakes you up in the middle of the night to sprint to the toilet. Again. And again. And again. Oh my. Stomach flu...again. Awful. Hellish. Painful. Mike amended for his caricatures of me by staying home from work to watch the girls. Just awesome. I was unable to care for myself much less two little girls. Ugh. Slept most of the day away.

Feeling a bit better today. Just tired from being up most of the night with E. Who, you guessed it, was purging herself. Poor kid. Fingers crossed that (1) this crud is gone by Christmas and (2) Mike and Alice remain purge-free.

2010

2009-12-17T14:18:00.003-05:00

Yes, I, like everyone else in in triathlon-blog-land, have figured out my 2010 races and goals. I emailed Jen what they were last week.

And now that there out there...I kind of like it. I am what you call "goal oriented", to say the least.

I feel pretty much lost without one. So, it is nice to have a few for 2010.

My main one for the next few months is to get ready to kick some serious Gulf Coast A$$. I love this race. Love it. Flat, fast and hot. Yes, yes and YES!

I think the early season Half IM is perfect for me. I seem to be more motivated to train hard in the cold months. Go figure. I am not burnt out yet, no nagging injuries, etc. Works for me.

Plus, as cheesy as Panama City is....that beach is so darn beautiful. I will take the Gulf any day over the skanky leech infested lakes we swim the rest of our races here in North Georgia. I did a 5:22 in 2007, let's just say, I am ready to beat that time this year. :)

I have a few more. Under 20 in the 5k (wanted that one so badly this year, but 20:09 just doesn't cut it). Under 43 in the 10k. Under 1:40 at ING Half. Hopefully, a few minutes under 1:40.

I think all of these are totally doable...once the incredible soreness from the butterfly sets in the pool (what these look like to anyone watching? i shudder to think), and the actual doing of the strength training workouts this winter (last year, i took those as a rest day) fades away.

Totally post unrelated but seasonally appropriate pictures of the girls' preschool Holiday program from yesterday.

Things to address

2009-12-09T19:09:00.004-05:00

First on my list....Christmas cards. Duh. But, my hand hurts. (I did a bunch last night.) And chasing down all those missing addresses is so much harder than sitting here on the couch, eating Twizzlers, and watching "100 Greatest Songs of the 90s" on VH-1, while blogging.

Second? Um, yeah, the Twizzlers. It is bad. Really bad. I really should address this. Once the family size, resealable (pointless considering there is not enough down time for them to actually go stale before they are eaten) bag is consumed, I am done. Now that the training is ramping up again, there is no way Twizzlers are going to fuel me. Offseason? Sure. Not so much for the winter/spring...

(Side note--I can't believe I found Nelson (the band) attractive in high school. Or that my cousin actually went to their concert. And I was jealous. Yes, still watching the 90s songs thing on VH-1.)

Third? I've got to really get over my "I am going to throw up. No, really...I will puke" feeling that I have when I look at Annabelle's surgery site. I have to look at it. I have to check it to make sure it is okay. The vet said so. I have to empty the (gasp!) drain from the incision. (WHAT?!?) That's my job. But.....but....MOMMY!!! I want mommy! What? That's me? You sure? Ah...okay....(Belly is doing okay. Thanks for all your concern. I am just glad to have her home, scars and all.)

(So get up get, get get down 911 is a joke in yo town -- still watching...)

Fourth? Training Peaks. Oh my....this new version is killing me. I was never good at entering my workouts in before they made it IMPOSSIBLE to understand. First it crashes safari. Every time I open it. Then when I finally get in through Firefox, it is like reading a foreign language. I must sit down and address this....take the time to figure this damn thing out....after this bag of Twizzlers is finished.

"Show Me Your Belly."

2009-12-04T21:09:00.006-05:00

Last night, post bath/and pre highly choreographed "I not tired/I don't want to go to bed/I'm hungry/thirsty" dance begins... we were hanging out in our bedroom with the clean, silly sisters.

My favorite time of day.

Dad is home. Both are going nuts. Just how I like 'em.

Ella is racing around the room winning an imaginary race. Alice is walking on her head. Then showing us her nose. "Where is your nose, Allie?" Points to her nose, then my nose, then Mike's nose...

Okay. Let's try something new.

"Where's your belly?"

"Show me your belly."

She crawls her chubby little body over to this. Twice. And pounds her on the back.

Her belly. AnnaBELLE. Whom we mostly call "Belly".

Normally, that would rate as an "Awww. That's so cute" reaction from me.

But, last night, the night before Annabelle's second cancer surgery, it broke me.

All day long today, it was like I was watching a loop of "Marley and Me", "Old Yeller" and "My Dog Skip".

My 22nd birthday present is now a 107 lb.,11 year old Golden Retriever with 2 tumors, a "foreign body" in her stomach (No clue as to what she ate this time. My $$ is on a super ball.) and a rescheduled surgery for Monday.

I have always known that she wasn't going to live forever, but the reality of her getting older,slowing down and now getting sick is tough. Tougher than I thought. But, hopefully, not tougher than Allie's Belly.

Bleh.

2009-12-02T21:34:00.003-05:00

I am in the minority on this one.

The definite minority judging from my unscientific sample size of houses in our neighborhood already decorated for Christmas.

THEY ALL ARE....well, except for the dark, sullen, naked (as in UNdecorated naked) loser of a house pouting at the end of the street. The house wishing for orange lights, hale bales and spiders. The house yearning for gaudy, scary, stupid, silly adornment.

I curse thee....ye tasteful Christmas decorating.

White lights all a flickering, Santa Clauses waving merrily, red, green, blah, blah, BLEH....puke.

I don't like Christmas.

Yes, I said it.

Too much damn work.

I used to love it. Back when all I had to do was show up. Eat some fudge (my dad used to get Fanny Mae fudge every year to fuel our tree decorating), toss some decorations on the tree, laugh with my family, get spoiled with presents. WHO doesn't love that kind of holiday?!? Side note -- E is pretty pumped for the big day. Duh.

Now I am a lazy-Grinch-Scrooge. And completely understand why my mom looked so tired in all of our Christmas pictures from when I was little. (4 kids. She and my dad would go to Toys R Us Christmas Eve and get everything. Were you guys nuts??)

The girls' upcoming school Christmas program, my fun cookie exchange party this weekend with girlfriends, and shopping for my family (very unGrinch like of me to enjoy "doing for others" isn't it?) all should chip away at my currently green exterior.

Oh, and Christmas cards. Love 'em. Love sending 'em, getting 'em. Opening 'em and putting them on the fridge.

My icy heart is melting already.

Nice to meet you..

2009-11-25T22:11:00.007-05:00

I read a few blogs (okay, more than a few) pretty regularly. Some people, I know....some I don't. Some are triathletes, some family, some friends...it's a mix.

The people that I know and that are family, it is a great way to keep up...see pictures of them, their kids, whatever they're up to...

The ones that I don't know, it feels like I know them. So, same thing. Nice to keep up.

It's funny. And nice. You like someone (or not) based on how they write, if they're funny, or honest, or you can relate to them in some way. And worry about them, and hope they do well, and hope their kids are okay, etc., etc...I especially like that I have found this whole community of mom/triathletes. Seriously, that is not that common a combination.

I recently got to meet two of my favorite reads...Angela Kidd and Joe Reger.

And I didn't introduce myself to them on mile 2 of the run in a sprint tri, like I did to Dani. Or Mile 6 of a 10K, like I did to Lauren's husband, Matt. My apologies to both of you. I don't know what is wrong with me...NO ONE wants to talk, let alone make introductions when they feel like puking. My bad, guys. (I see someone that I know, or feel like I know, and like verbal diarrhea, it just spills out of me...."hey, are you so and so....I am Kate...I read your blog, blah, blah." They rightfully look at me like what-the-@#$* are you talking about...this is a race, not a cocktail party, weirdo.)

So, I am glad to get my introductions to Joe and Angela out of the way, in a non racing, normal human being introductions kind of way.

And they were both awesome. Just like I knew they would be.

Angela and I met up today at the park for a short run and some playground time with the kids while she's visiting ATL for Thanksgiving. She's funny, down to earth and sarcastic, just like her blog. I am also happy to report that Angela not only looks like she's flying in the pictures of her running while racing, she also does so in person. While pushing a baby jogger. And chatting.

It was in sharp contrast to the gnome next to her hunched over the double jogger with 3 flat tires on the (obviously not recently used) double jogger panting like a golden retriever. No graceful gazelle here, people. :)

Alice and the seriously cute Zach at the park.

Angela and Zach, who is giving Alice's belly a run for its money.

So, Joe.

Joe of joereger.com fame. Joe was the first blog that I ever read. I really didn't know what a blog was...knew nothing about triathlon (even after doing a half IM. I still don't know much) but, Joe talked about triathlon, his family, his job, everything. I was totally hooked.

Anyway, I've been reading his blog since 2006. And Joe recently won the big social media prize from my recent contest. HUGE prize. :) I've never met him before. He graciously offered to let me and my mom pick his brain about social media. So nice, so helpful and really, really cool. And so smart. Super impressive.

So....nice to meet you guys. :)

Franksgiving

2009-11-22T20:08:00.006-05:00

We will be in Boston with Mike's family next week for the real deal. THANKSgiving. So today, we decided to celebrate FRANKSgiving with mine. (My Dad's name? Frank.) Yeah, I made it up. And yeah, I think it's funny. And, yes, I probably have said it way too many times to my family that they're sick of it now. But, you guys are a totally new audience.

Franksgiving is kind of like Thanksgiving....but also, kind of not like it. At all.

On Franksgiving, ART is created. And you must pose "without moving ANYTHING! Okay, you can move your eyes. But only to blink, Aunt Meg."
/>

Wrestling is mandatory.

Champagne toasts kick off the festivities. (I LOVE Franksgiving! Champagne is my most favoritest.)

And sunglasses are required apparel. Unless you have a princess hat on...then, you're exempt.

My "off season" could not end at a better time. I couldn't be happier for some an actual schedule on Training Peaks tomorrow. I think I might actually have something called a "swim" on my schedule. Oh my, this is going to be ugly...

In non Thanksgiving, Franksgiving, triathlon news....Alice is walking! Not much and not often, but she is doing it. Go Alice!

Another week?

2009-11-16T22:29:00.002-05:00

Wow. I am not sure I can handle this.

Training Peaks taunts me every morning with the following emails.

"Your lazy ass has no workouts to do today. You chose this. 'Cause you "needed a break". Say goodbye to all the fitness you had. It probably won't come back. Your pants are only still fitting because of all the muscle you have lost in the past few weeks."

Okay, TP is not that harsh. That's just me.

And me? I can be a bit harsh.

Sure, I am exaggerating a bit. I am really not going that crazy in this offseason. (I must admit that triathlon is almost as big a time suck as Facebook, or Bravo reality shows.)

But, I am working on week 3 of no real swimbikerun, no intervals, no swim....at all, no times to hit....and it is all starting to wear on me.

Exhausting, I tell ya.

Another week. I can make it. I think....

I am just not so good at doing easy runs. (Booo-ring.) Or easy bikes on the trainer (Yawn.) And I will not swim unless I am told to.

Someone please tell me to. :)

Hi-Ya Baby

2009-11-10T19:13:00.004-05:00

If nothing else, my girls crack me up.

Like laughing until I cry kind of funny. Which, lucky for me, is one of my favorite things to do.

Hi-Ya Baby is the latest comedy routine out of the Parker girls.

I have no idea where she got it from, or how she made it up, but Ella now calls Alice (instead of her other nicknames, The Boss, Chicken, and Allie Mallie Chicken Rally) "Hi-Ya Baby".

As in, Hi-Ya, like before you do a karate chop. As in "her not Alice, mommy. Her name is Hi-Ya Baby".

According to E, "Hi-Ya Babies" are "sneaky like tigers", "naked", and "like to hit people's tummies".

Um, okay.

All I know is Hi-Ya Babies like to do this....on purpose.

Not too funny.

And the winner is.....

2009-11-09T15:34:00.002-05:00

...JOE REGER!

I posted last week calling out to everyone for any and all advice on how to help my mom's company take advantage of social media.

Congrats and a huge thank you to Joe for his amazing advice. Like seriously, seriously amazing advice.

Advice that is printed out, ready to followed to a "T". (I was secretly hoping he'd chime in on this one.) See....Joe is a social media expert, super fast Ironman athlete, dad, entrepreneur, ultrarunner, and I am sure about 20 more things I don't even know. Let me know which print you want, and it's yours, Joe. Thanks again!

Also, thanks also to everyone who commented and left some great advice. We're working on getting a functional site on etsy, got our facebook fan page set up (thanks to anyone who became a fan) and are overflowing with promotional ideas.

You guys rock! Thanks again everyone!

Uncle

2009-11-07T20:26:00.005-05:00

This week was supposed to be completely off.

Well, actually, it wasn't supposed to be off. I was supposed to race a half marathon today. A half marathon that was pushed from last week to this week. Why? 'Cause I didn't feel like running a half last week.

And guess what? Didn't feel like running it this week either.

And by "didn't feel like" I really mean, "I would rather get a paper cut IN MY EYE than run this damn race". And it was not because I wasn't ready or undertrained or anything like that. I just had zero motivation to run. Hard. For over 13 miles. Not this week. (or last, apparently.) I was utterly lacking any desire to run.

The subject line of my email to Jen on Wednesday detailing my (very clear) feelings about racing this weekend was one word.

Uncle.

I was just done. Done. Done. And done.

Jen understood and gave me my two weeks off. Nothing this week and just easy runs next week.

Exhale.

I mostly followed my training plan of doing nothing this week. A sinus infection that has long overstayed its welcome, a sick Alice (butt strep has now be re-diagnosed to butt strep AND a staph infection. My poor little girl!) and my inherent off season laziness made it easy.

Well, except for that one run...it was just so gorgeous out...and the company was good...and the girls were both in school...and I do start to get a little cuckoo after a few days of not sweating...

Oh, and today. Again, gorgeous, sunny late fall day. Local 5k. South Forsyth County Special Olympics 5k. A good cause. Two of my girlfriends are running it. Kids Run that Ella is dying to do.....heck, yeah....I'll run. But, not hard, Just take it easy, enjoy myself.

Who am I kidding?

Who do I think I am?

Long story short. I did NOT take it easy. But, I didn't throw up or dry heave (so I didn't go that hard.). I did win overall though. (Yay!) When I got out to the front from the start of the race, there was no way I was "taking it easy" or "enjoying myself" out there. I did slow down when I realized that (1) there was no way I was going under 20 on this hilly course and (2) the girl behind me was not going to catch me before the finish. 20:35 total.

E and my mom were at the finish. Which was awesome.

Congrats to Meghan on a PR and Amanda on 1st in her AG!

E's fun run directly followed my "not so fun" run. She was great. So excited to run, ready to beat everyone out there. Super competitive (hmm...where in the world is this coming from?;) She ran, off and on, the whole mile. A pretty impressive feat for a 4 year old. Sprinted to the finish. Atta girl! Proud of you, E.

E and her ribbon. "I win-ed this"

Free Stuff!!!

2009-11-04T15:02:00.010-05:00

Okay, I need some help.

And I am picking your collective brains.

If you don't mind.

And in exchange, I have a bribe, ahem, I mean a prize. A give away for the best idea/advice.

So here it is...

My mom is a super great and talented artist. See?

She does folk art, lots of prints to hang on your walls, on your kid's walls, on your parent's walls, on your dog's walls. Rich dogs have art on their dog house walls. Right? (As a dog owner, parent and grandparent she paints, draws what is closest to her heart. Although I now have her working on some tri stuff. She doesn't think that people would hang tri art on their walls. I beg to differ. I totally would. Nice art. I would.)

Well, the problem is that my mom is a great artist, but not so great at the new media thing. (Twitter, Facebook, blogging, etc.) I keep telling her how she needs to utilize this resource, create a FB page, get a twitter account....just get her name and work out there in the social media world. IT'S FREE! And totally untapped for her. Well, after me telling her for the seventhousandth time, she just told me basically to eff off and do it myself. (Okay, she didn't really say that, but I am sure she was thinking it.;)

So, this is me. Doing it myself. I want any and all ideas you all have to help me help her become the Oprah of the folk art world. :) Social media, website, FB, twitter, contests....etc. Just ideas like how best to use social media to her advantage, what to do, etc.

Her art sells itself...my job is, now, to get it in front of more people to see it, then buy it, then we can all retire to our gold boat and burn hundred dollar bills for warmth.

The best idea gets a free print of hers. Pick from the ones below! I will send it to you. Winner will be announced on Monday.

Everyone put your thinking caps on! Thanks!! Post 'em to comments or just email me directly.

Choice #1 -- You Are My Sunshine. Her best seller ever.

Choice #2 -- I Love You to the Moon and Back --- E has this in her room.

Choice #3 -- Play with Me.

But, strep?

2009-11-02T20:21:00.003-05:00

Sorry.

Make that Butt Strep.

Yes, there is something called "Butt Strep" (or in fancy doctor-talk "rectal strep") and sweet Alice has it.

All over her red, little fanny.

And it looks like it hurts. Like really #$%ing hurts. I can't even imagine.

Strep THROAT makes me want to crawl in a corner and hide under blankets while popping amoxicillin until it goes away. And that's just your throat. How badly must it hurt...down there? Poor kid. Poor fanny.

So, we're quarantined. Until 24 hours on the meds.

It was a butt strep diagnosis, Alice crawling through fresh dog puke (that was this afternoon), kind of day today.

I Lost 10 Miles...

2009-11-01T20:34:00.010-05:00

...and gained a really enjoyable afternoon and evening.

And a real 5k PR.

(My last 5k, while super fast, for me, was too short to call a PR. Damn you and your accuracy, Garmin. I would have loved to live in blissful ignorance that I could actually run a 19:15.) New, real PR is 20:09. So close to under 20. Yet, so stinkin' far.

Alternate post title, "I just didn't feel like running a half marathon this weekend for a lot of reasons, none of them really compelling and most of them bordering on the whiny-baby variety, so I ran a fun 5k instead and wasn't completely trashed for the cul-de-sac Halloween party we co-hosted".

While definitely a far more thorough title, it was a run on sentence. I hate run on sentences more than half marathons on Halloween. (Not true.)

Silver Comet half mary was traded in for the Zooma one next weekend.

No biggie.

And I got to run the (way more fun) Big Pumpkin 5k with my brother in law and sister in law and have legs not too tired to tear up the dance (okay, garage) floor with my sis-in-law after the UPS man and her package went to bed. After chasing her around the neighborhood while she burned 4 year old rubber to be the first one at each house. The first kid gets to ring the bell. Better than candy to her.

Could not have handled that with half marathon legs. 5k legs said "BRING IT".

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Post 5k. We had way cooler costumes for the actual race, but they got drenched.

The UPS man and her package.

The UPS man and Ernie (me).

We could not catch E to get her in here with us.

Baby Steps

2009-10-27T19:18:00.007-04:00

No, Alice is not yet walking.

Without help...

No actual "baby steps" are being taken in our house....yet. My money is on the first week on November. Literally. Mike and I have a little bet going. Sure, she's a little late in the walking thing. Am I concerned? Nah. She'll get there on her own Alice timetable. She's standing, crusing....taking baby steps towards her actual first steps. I don't mind one bit, holding her little body is one of my favorite things. I have a feeling that "the Boss" will not want to be held once she gets the walking thing down.

Miss Ella is taking her own baby steps towards kindergarten. Seriously. I can't take it. KINDERGARTEN?!? I have her kindergarten orientation for next year on Thursday. I might have to tape my mouth shut so as not to scream out in the middle of the damn thing, "NO! My BABY is too little for this! Let's just put this whole thing on hold! Okay!?!?". I guess they break the moms in early by having this thing in October. I have 9 more months to process it and act like a normal person the first day of school. Not a crazy, crying mom holding onto E's foot as she gets on the bus.

My baby at 2. Can't believe this little monster is going to real school soon.

And me? Baby steps towards kicking this sinus infection that settled in my face this week. Ugh. I am thinking I should be fine by Saturday. (Big day. Hallo-freaking-ween and Silver Comet Half Marathon. I'd BETTER be fine). Baby steps towards a PR on this "it could NOT get any flatter" course. I think my pumpkin running costume should definitely help.

Since it is Hallo-week this week. Yeah, I made it up. Some Halloween shots...

Our three dormer windows are from left to right, an Alice witch, an Ella witch, an Annabelle the dog witch, and a a Goldy the goldfish witch. My mom and I did these this year...they look so cool up there.

Pumpkin carving

The masterpiece. (The pumpkin is throwing up, per Ella's request)

Soaking it up.

2009-10-19T20:01:00.009-04:00

More often than not, I feel like I am sucking it up.

Suck it up and run. Suck it up and bike. And really, suck it up and swim.

Now that the off season is here. I am no longer sucking it up, rather soaking it up and walking.

Tonight we marinated in a delicious chill in the air, a closed golf course, a willing golden retriever and two more than willing little girls out for a walk in the neighborhood.

Frenchie with the beret and her chien.

Heading out to run free on the golf course.

Alice chilled in the jogger and watched her crazy sister...

...play catch the beret

The girls are king of the mountain

A happy girl

Throwing pine cones in the lake requires 100% focus.

You know it is time to leave when the 4 year old tears start (inevitably) rolling.

Late Harvest Run 5k Race Report

2009-10-18T19:18:00.007-04:00

Happy Birthday to me...happy birthday to me....

This race most definitely was a belated birthday present (my 33rd was on Friday).

It was just awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.

And that's saying a lot for a 5k, when it hurts from the get go. And maybe get that PR that's eluded me for 7+ years (20:26). Oh, and maybe, just maybe, be the first female. This is something that I've been close a few times, but never 1st female. I've always thought it would be really cool to do that.

I scour active for a flat 5k that's not too far. I want to see if my fitness can get me close to under 20 minutes, but I definitely need a flat course for that. Okay. Hmmm....none of these seem to be flat. Damn. Let's just pick the one that is closest and has the latest start time 'cause it is cold as bleep out lately and I like to sleep. (okay, cold for Georgia).

Late Harvest 5k in Dunwoody is the winner.

Get there and it looks like a smallish race (it was). I warm up, listen to some sweet Miley Cyrus and Black Eyed Peas to get me (and the 6th grade teenybopper inside me and who is in charge of my ipod) pumped up. It works. I am excited to race. Excited that I have my Garmin, so I don't bust out a 6:15 first mile only to fade, fade, fade then BLOW UP.

That's fun.

Wahhh. The air horn blows. Two guys take off, fast. I am in third. Trying not to go out too fast. I quickly catch the first guy...then after about a half mile, the second guy is behind me. I couldn't help but smile a HUGE smile...thinking, I am leading this race. And then, quickly, this can't last that long, can it?

Where's the girl next to me at the start with the supermodel long legs? She's got to be catching me soon. Where's that guy that looked really fast at the start? He'll be here soon, right?

Nope!

No one caught me. I won overall, girls AND guys.

I had the lead from about a half mile into the race until the finish. I have to say, it was really, really fun. I kept checking behind me to see where the second place guy was (mostly because I was in such disbelief that I was leading this thing) and he was 80 yards, then 100, and then I couldn't see him anymore.....WOOP!! WOOP!!

I knew this was an experience that does not happen often (and most likely never again for me). So, I stopped caring about my time and just soaked up the feeling of leading the race. It was just so cool. The spectators were so supportive and excited to see a girl winning. I felt good, strong and getting stronger as the race went on.

With a half mile to go a guy yells to me "Are you in the lead?" I just nodded. "Wow." And it was an honest wow. Like he was really surprised. Hey, me, too, buddy.

The police manning all the intersections were cheering. Telling me I was going over the speed limit. Giving me updates on how far back #2 was. I felt like a rock star.

I turn the last corner and see the finish and GO....my watch says 18:45 and I am thinking NO WAY. I cross at 19:15 in first, totally excited and dumbfounded that I won the damn thing.

Call Mike. Call my mom, my sister, Amanda, text Jen, update my FB status....seriously, the WORLD is gonna hear about this one. ;)

Get my award and head on home excited to tell Ella for the first time that "yes, Mommy won the race today". She always likes to check.

(Only drawback was that the course was short, so I can't count this time and I think I would have PR'd if the course was 3.1. Damn.)

Some birthday shots...

The Ace(s) of Cake

Allie (and Annabelle) waiting for the cake to be frosted

Uh oh is right. Into the bath!

Focus

2009-10-14T18:23:00.003-04:00

I've got a new one.

End of swimbikerun, for now.

And welcome. Just run.

Wow. This has been pretty easy. My hours per week are more than cut in half and I don't feel like I am slacking.

I forgot how easy it is to fit in just RUNNING (especially with new, superfun Garmin 305. I LOVE this thing.) I am training for the Silver Comet Half Mary on Halloween. And a fun 5k this weekend.

Well, as much fun as a 5k can be. Which is really no fun at all. I guess the fun part is that you are done before breakfast, before (if you're lucky) you want to puke, before the rest of the family wakes up, and hopefully before you realize just how much this gd thing hurts.

Bang. Huff. Puff. Curse. Dry heave. And....done.

Speaking of focus...before triathlon I was 100% focused on soccer. For my whole life. I was a soccer player. I loved it. My big brothers both played and all I ever wanted to do was be like them. So, as soon as I could play, I was out on that field....being rough, getting yellow cards, sliding in mud, getting banged up, and generally loving life on the field. It just seemed to fit.

I was lucky enough to get to play in college. At Wake Forest. In the ACC. That (and going anywhere out of the tri-state area) was my goal. I loved every second of it. I loved Wake. Loved my teammates. Still do.

I had my first alumni game (in 9 years) this past weekend. I can't really even express how much fun it was to play with those girls again. Here we are 33 and 34 years old and the most surprising thing....WE CAN STILL PLAY. We were, and still are, unapologetically competitive. I think that is just awesome. "Team MOM" (our name) held our own against the 22 and 23 year olds who are playing in the WUSA. Yeah, we got tired and sure our touch was not what it once was, but still...we HELD OUR OWN. I am so proud of us. I can't wait to do it again next year.

Our team.

Lake Lanier Islands Sprint Tri Race Report

2009-10-06T14:47:00.003-04:00

In short, a good swim, good bike and good run. FINALLY!!

1st AG/5th OA. Yahoo!!!

So, so happy and thankful that all three sports came together for me for this race. (I think it was the first race of the year that it seemed to really gel.) Great timing, huh? My last race of the year. Doh. But, hey, no complaints. I am just pumped that all the hard work paid off on Sunday.

I had read Jen's blog about focus the week before the race. Something really grabbed my attention..how she says she's so focused in her race that it is like she's almost in a trance...and I thought, "I am NOTHING like that.". I am the complete opposite of that. I am really unfocused during my races...thinking about everything else but the race...since the race HURTS. Watching other racers, waving, talking, looking for my family, for anyone's family to be honest.

So, I tried to really focus. On what I was doing, how I was feeling, where I was going next, who was ahead of me...etc. A novel concept.

But, it seemed to work for me. I was 100% focused out there. Not that hard for just over an hour, but it's a start.

SWIM -- 400 yards/7:40
Wore the wetsuit and pushed hard here. Tried to remember that feeling of going anaerobic on the swim for the first 100 goes away and not to panic! It did. And I was fine. Mike said he could tell where I was in the water because I was taking 2 strokes for every 1 of the (amazingly fast and smooth) girl in the lead. Hey, you do what works. 400 is over pretty quickly....2nd out of the water! NICE! And then the HILL. The long, steep, dry-heave inducing hill up to transition. She's a bitch. No joke. Wetsuit was a struggle to get off...I was super dizzy and could not find my balance to to the "dance" to get off the sausage casing as fast as I wanted.

BIKE--13 Miles-37:07/21mph
Rolling hills. Hey, it's North Georgia....we don't have much else. But, no wrong turns (this is the same course as Iron Girls where I added an extra 4 miles to the bike course) and I pushed and worked on staying focused. I didn't want anyone to pass me (that was my goal for the race. DO NOT let anyone pass me!). Goal accomplished (for the bike.) Roll into transition and zip out onto the run.

RUN --3.1 Miles --20:53
I really wanted to have a good run here. I have not yet felt strong on the run all year. And I have run out of chances! Time to GOOO! Run was hillier than I was expecting (or told Jill. I thought it was going to be the same run as Iron Girls, which was pancake flat, this was a different course and it was not quite as flat as I said. Er, sorry, Jill!) But, I felt strong and actually felt stronger as the miles went by. At the turnaround, I saw 2 super fast girls booking it about 50 yards behind me....and I did not want to get caught. I picked up my pace. I tried. But, I heard those footsteps. Those super fast, light on her feet footsteps.

With about 1/2 mile left, the eventual overall winner caught me (damn! she was from the wave behind mine, so had already made up 4 minutes on me) and I tried to stay with her, and did, for a little, then started to dry heave and slowed down to my own pace. Saw Mike. Then headed on to the finish...happy and done.

Results are here.
1 33 724 Kate Parker 33 Roswell GA 2 7:40 2:31 2 37:07 21.0 0:54 1 20:54 6:45 1:09:04

So glad to end the season on a high note. Huge thanks to my mom for coming over to our house before dawn to watch the girls so Mike could come with me. And a big congrats to Jill on a great race, especially after a migraine the night before. Oof.

Me and Jill post race

"Fall is here...

2009-10-01T19:37:00.005-04:00

Hear the yell"
-Jack Johnson from "We Are Going to be Friends".

Can you hear it? It's me. Yelling. (On the inside. Mostly.) I am so happy fall is here.

The weather is just awesome right now. My apologies if I sound like a broken record.

It doesn't really fell like fall until October for me. And today?

OCTOBER! Woot. Woot.

Rock-tober is more like it. 'Cause it rocks. Holla. ;)

Cool air. My birthday. Baseball playoffs. Hallo-freaking-ween.

As if I need another reason to love it...so far, October is Oc-TAPER. (I promise I am done with the fall-love posts and most definitely done with the October puns.) Yep. Tapering for my last tri of the season on Sunday. Lake Lanier Islands Sprint. If I do not bonk, want to quit the race on the run, get sick for two weeks beforehand, or add 4 miles to the bike course, I will consider it a successful race.

Since it is officially 10/1 and officially acceptable to decorate for Halloween...what's been done so far....

Maturity

2009-09-29T13:22:00.004-04:00

33 is right around the corner for me. And I am fine with that.

I like getting older. It doesn't bother me at all.
(Well, it doesn't bother me now. I make no promises about birthdays down the line, though. When my body starts to fall apart. Mike talks about that a lot. I hear a lot of "wait until you're 40's" from him as he's icing his back or his knee or any combination of body parts.)

Either way, getting older is way better than the alternative.

I (and anyone that knows me) would probably not consider me an old 33 year old.

I am fairly immature. And I am fine with that, too.

My sense of humor is pretty close to that of an 11 or 12 year old. On a good day.

(Mike's is, too...which works out well for us.) We laugh at such stupid stuff. Someone getting really angry, poop, terrible imitations of our kids, "The Diarrhea Song", etc. Whatever is getting a laugh in 6th grade is probably cracking us up, too. (I have been laughing at the "Diarrhea Song" since I first learned it a million years ago.)

Seriously, "you're sliding into home and your pants are full of FOAM"?? Come on. How do you not laugh? It's just so stupid.

Despite my juvenile sense of humor, I had an exchange with someone the other day that made me realize that I might be getting older....and probably a little more mature, too. And possibly, just possibly I caught a positive body image as well?

As I was leaving the gym, the lady who works in the KidsKlub (who knows how much I work out. Which, to her....and I guess most people, is a lot) and I were talking on our way to our cars. She asked me what I was doing for my workout tomorrow. After I told her, she stopped. Looked me up and down. Checked out my legs in my jeans. Cocked her head to the side and stated.

"You must eat a lot to maintain your weight with all you workout."

Um, excuse me?

I said, "did you just call me fat?"

She went on about how no, she definitely wasn't calling me fat, just that she liked that I wasn't stick skinny like some of the other moms that workout a ton.

Thanks??? Was that a compliment?

Yes, I am definitely not stick skinny. Especially in the leg area. I am not built that way.

It doesn't really matter what she said. Or what she meant.

What I loved is that I just didn't care. I didn't care if she really did think I was fat. I didn't care if she thought I ate all day and night long to keep me from being "stick skinny". What matters is what I think. And I think my legs are fast. I think they might not be if they were sticks. They're strong and I like them. Just as they are.

If I was 25, I would not be feeling this way. I know that for sure. I would be upset. A bold face upset, for sure.

I love being mature. :)

I'd better run now since I just slid into first and felt something burst.

My drug of choice.

2009-09-24T21:57:00.002-04:00

It's been 14 months since we had any. Any at all it seemed like.

The nights were the worst. I really, really wanted it then. But, then again, the late afternoon is when the cravings got strong again.

We missed it. We got cranky. We really wanted more...we NEEDED more.

Then I got a taste.

And then another. And then a few more.

And now I can't stop.

I am strung out on sleep.

Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.

I missed you, old friend. Remember back in high school, when we could hang out together until 11 or 12 on the weekends? Yeah, that was fun. And college? Wow. We'd spend A LOT of time together then...2 pm some days.

It's my new drug.

Ahh...pure, wonderful, blissful, smiling-when-I-shut-off-the-light-at-night sleep. The smile is because Alice is FINALLY sleeping through the night. And not the "5 hours at a stretch is sleeping through the night" BS that you read in the baby books, she's going from 7:15pm to sometimes (gasp!) 7:30am.

(Insert hallelujah chorus sound efx)

It appears that the tubes in the ears/weaning combination was the magic pill we searched for these past 14 months.

The sad, strange thing is that with all the extra shut eye I am getting, I covet it even more. Like, there is no way I am setting my alarm for 5am to swim tomorrow, when I really should. I will get my swim done, but not at 5 when it is easy to knock it out. I will do it at 10, when it's kind of a pain in the ass.

I can't help it.

I missed you, so, Sleep. Welcome back. Please don't leave us again.

It's biblical.

2009-09-21T19:53:00.010-04:00

This rain.

Seriously, they should be rounding up two of everything soon and loading them up onto an arc.

Cats and dogs since last week. Woof. And Meow.

I posted as a joke on facebook that I was giving up my gym membership since I could now swim laps in my backyard, before seeing that Joe actually did. And took pictures. He's now sick...not sure if there is a relationship between the two, but I'd venture to say that swimming in that stuff doesn't make you healthier. (Feel better soon, Joe.)

Atlanta does not get this kind of rain.

It is all people can talk about. (Me included. Apparently. And I am not normally a weather-talker kind of person). But, when the main highway in the city closes down, people's homes are getting swept away, schools are closed, a state of emergency is being declared, I guess it is okay to be a weather-talker kind of person then. If not, you're just kind of irresponsible, right?

I took this picture off our deck at 2 pm. Not AM. It is that dark out. And the raindrops are that big.

Must have footwear in the ATL this week.

Mike got drenched just walking in the house from work. Where he was promptly attacked by some water monsters.

The insanely brave roofer caulking a leak in our roof. I took the picture then had to walk inside. I couldn't handle watching him up there that high.

The parking lot of the girls' school. And that was this morning...and it rained ALL DAY.

E enjoying the "end of days". :)

Ugh. My long brick that I was actually looking forward to tomorrow (both girls in school...right on the route where I ride) now means trainer to treadmill long brick while Alice naps and E (hopefully) watches a movie. Both of which, almost never happen, simultaneously.

Now it's getting personal, rain.

We escaped the rain this weekend to make the trek to wonderfully dry Winston-Salem to watch the Deacs beat up on Elon. Always fun to see my college buddies. Even with Alice yelling in the car for roughly 90% of the 10 hour roundtrip drive. This has to be a phase. It HAS TO be.

This is something we never got to do in college. Tailgate. Soccer season and football season being the same darn season and all.

I Heart Fall.

2009-09-16T20:18:00.003-04:00

And while it's not actually fall according to the calendar, and definitely not according to the sweat dripping off my face while playing outside in the afternoons with the girls....I know it's close.

I can smell it.

It smells like hay rides, fall festivals, mums, those cinnamon brooms they sell in the grocery stores (the smell so strong, they make your food taste funny if you make the mistake and put them in the kitchen. I know from experience), candy corn, piles of leaves big enough to jump in.

I can't wait for the smell of someone else's fireplace burning while I'm running, the smell of arm warmers, leg warmers, FLEECE!, jeans, any non-flip flop kind of shoe, all the wonderful fall clothes. Welcome back long sleeves.

I am sniffing the end of the triathlon season coming (final race on 10/4) and the beginning of the off season (Silver Comet Half Mary 10/31). (What's a good costume that's comfortable to run in? Taking suggestions.)

The smells of pumpkins, spiders, costumes and decorations are keeping me awake at night.

I can't wait for my favorite part of fall...Halloween.

I love Halloween with a strange and unbridled passion. I don't really know why....I just do. After discussing with Mike, multiple times, my uber-involved ideas for Halloween decorations, party invitations, costumes for me, him and the girls....he finally gave me this look. A "you're a little off, aren't you, about this holiday" look. Followed by a firm, "We're setting a budget this year."

Okay, boss man. 20 Grand should cover it...

Some of last year's best smells...

Tugaloo Oly Race Report

2009-09-13T14:45:00.003-04:00

aka "The Day I Quit Triathlon Forever".

I think Chris Cornell says it the best "I fell on black days".

Although, I am pretty sure he's not talking about triathlon.

Yeah...so not a great race for me. And by not great, I mean awful, horrible, no good kind of race. It was such a bad day for me, I don't really even want to remember it again to write this. But, I should....so I can (hopefully) learn from it.

It was basically as follows, a swim I was proud of, a bike that wasn't embarrassing, and a run that was.

And it is not necessarily my times that I am embarrassed by, it is how I dealt with them that I am not proud of. I just fell apart out there. Wanted to be home with my girls and husband not suffering out on this hillier than hell run course. The only thing that kept me from quitting was the fact that I didn't know how to get back to transition. Honestly. That is the ONLY reason for me not DNFing.

Oh my, was I in a dark place on that run course.

Throwing up a few times didn't seem to brighten my mood any either. ;)

I quit triathlon.

More than once.

I quit training for anything.

Multiple times.

I questioned what is wrong with me that I insist on doing painful things to my body, like this.

On every damn hill.

I walked on the run.

I never walk on the run.

I talked it over with Jen afterward...I needed some perspective. I was bummed. (Very helpful...thanks, Coach.)

I have worked hard this season. And it just didn't come together for me out there today. It took a little bit of time to realize that it was a "bad race" and I am not a "bad racer" or ill prepared.

I was ready to race...and excited. But, apparently my body was not. I've been sick the past two weeks with first a stomach flu, then a cold. I think my body was just not ready to go hard for over two and a half hours. My body gave up starting on the bike, then my mind, on the run.

That is what I am so disappointed about. That I was so ready to quit.

Oh well, something to work on. I am not quite ready to quit racing. Nope. Not just yet. That was just the pain talking. :) One more tri this season in a few weeks and I am already psyched to go, go, go.

That is what is so frustrating, difficult, annoying and ultimately rewarding about triathlon. That you always, always have something to improve upon and the days that it all comes together for you are so rare and the result of so much hard work.

Much to my dismay, you cannot PR every race.

My splits....I ended up 3rd in my age group, which funnily enough is my best AG finish at Tugaloo.

Kate Parker 33 Roswell GA 4 25:26 2.2 1:56 3 1:20:46 19.4 0:54 5 50:48 8:12 2:39:48

Deacon Blues

2009-09-07T21:36:00.005-04:00

That's what I've got today. (Demon) Deacon blues, that is.

I am not talking about that Steely Dan song, which apparently has nothing to do with Wake Forest, or the Demon Deacons, or me not playing soccer as a Deacon any longer. Like most Steely Dan songs, I have no clue what it is about.

I am just not that smart. Or that high.

But the blues, yes, they're not really about missing soccer so much. (That's what triathlon is for, silly.) Mostly missing my teammates, joking around with them, traveling with them, having 20 sisters that you spend almost 24 hours a day with in-season. Team sports rock. Especially for girls. Man, I really hope my girls play sports. It is like a free pass to avoid the typical teenage girl hysteria re. boys, weight, cliques, etc. Well, not a free pass, but it certainly helps tone that crazy girl s*** down a bit. :)

I digress...what had me thinking about this today were a few things...(1) Our Wake Forest alumni soccer weekend coming up -- so excited for that and (2) this awesome gift that Mike masterminded for me.

That's my uniform. And it's framed. With pictures underneath. On my basement wall. Super-cool.

This ultra flattering picture embarrassed the crap out of me my sophomore year. And it was on the schedule cards. Doubly embarrassing for a 19 year old. (As an almost 33 year old, I think it's awesome. I am working hard and it shows. What's to be embarrassed about??)

What I really should have been embarrassed about was this picture.

I am about 2 feet away from touching my toes. Even with Amanda (who now lives 2 miles away from me!) pushing me down.

That's embarrassing.

My new job

2009-09-01T20:33:00.012-04:00

My blog is mad at me. I've neglected him....her?

T'is true. My apologies.....um, blog.

I've been busy, what can I say. I got a new job....

With one tough a$$ boss. I call her "the boss" (I am too busy for clever names, people). She yells and screams at me all day long. Not even taking the time to clarify my job responsibilities. Just one ear splitting scream after another and another, followed by a haphazard finger point to whatever passing whim she wants me to bring her, get for her, do for her, feed her, make for her.

My "superior" expects a lot. I am supposed to divine from grunts and crude hand signals very nuanced and complicated things like "yes, I want the grapes in front of me. And yes, I want to eat them. You, lady, are going to feed them to me. NOW. If you take that bowl of grapes away from me and give them to my sister, even if you keep a few grapes here for me to eat, I will scream in your ear until you return the bowl to its rightful place. The bowl is mine. Got it?"

Annie Sullivan, I am not.

I am finally on a break now. The boss is sleeping.

In addition to my new "job", we've been busy cramming a ton into the rest of the summer before school starts next week for E (and the Boss, too. She's signed up to go with E 2 days a week.)

End of summer fun includes....

Slippin' and slidin'

S'mores makin'

Jumpin'

Cupcake makin' (That's Ming Ming from Wonderpets. E HOUNDED me for months to make these things. How-to was on Noggin about every ten minutes.)

Cupcake eatin'

Playroom loungin'

Beggin' (That's the boss in action. Screaming for some oatmeal off her big sis.)

Hikin'

And mastering the art of runnin' while talkin'

Love it.

2009-08-25T19:27:00.002-04:00

The mailbox was stuffed full of awesome goodies today.

The awesome stuff was on top of the dirt that Ella threw in there three weeks ago. That I have not yet cleaned out. Our bills are a little grittier these days.

The box o'fun made me remember that I have not done a post about things I am loving lately. Warning, these have no discernible coherent pattern. Well, besides what was in the mail. And then what was in my head.

The mailbox had a few...

1. 2 Netflix movies. I love me some Netflix. Mainly because E is like a crack addict with her movies. More. Now. I NEED IT. (We lost the afternoon nap at 3 years and replaced it with a handy movie addiction.) The sheer volume of titles on Netflix should satisfy her movie jones until school is back in. I hope. Plus, Mike and I are really liking a lot of the documentaries that they have....Bigger, Faster, Stronger, Grey Gardens, The Business of Being Born, Man on Wire, American Teen. We are so much smarter now. Thank you, Netflix.

2. This necklace came in the mail today, too.

All the way from Hawaii. I don't think I have ever gotten anything from Hawaii. (The envelope disappointingly did not smell like the ocean or pineapples.) But, it was signed "Aloha". (If you can't see it. It is 3 silver disks with 2.4, 112 and 26.2 -- the IM run, bike and swim distances) Anyway, I found out about these necklaces on this blog that I like to read and you can buy them here, if you like. They have marathon necklaces, running ones, all kinds of athletic-y bling. If you're into that. I kind of am. :)

3. Shoes. In my mailbox. Genius! Okay, the UPS guy delivered the shoes. Minor Detail. Anyway, I love Zappos. Love, love, love it. Even today when they send me only one low top pink converse shoe for Ella for school. I click a few buttons. Sleep. Wake up and they are there the next afternoon. Magic.

4. Race photos. Well, okay, generally, I hate 'em. Seriously, does anyone look good in these? Let me rephrase that. Does anyone with a body fat % over 5 look good in these?

However, once in a great while, you get caught looking rough, tough and ripped (I am still waiting...) and you want to actually buy the picture. And then frame it. And maybe put your race number in there. And possibly your medal. But you don't want to mortgage your house to do it. Even if you do look that good. Check out Finish Line Framing, they do an awesome job of a really quality, sweet looking frame with all the bells and whistles, for a reasonable price. Plus, Angela, the owner, is super nice. I have one down in the basement and while the race photo is less than stellar (spandex is seriously un-for-giving), the frame? Flawless. Their website is here.

5. My two summer jams. Playing on repeat in the ipod all summah long. They are probably artists you've never heard of...super cool, super indy, new acts that only really hip people have heard of.

"Boom Boom Pow" by the Black Eyed Peas
and wait....
"The Climb" by Miley Cyrus

Yeah, I am so cool that I can't stop listening to the girl from Kids Incorporated and Hannah Montana.

Feel free to disregard the rest of the list now.

What 30 seconds of silence looks like...

2009-08-24T09:21:00.000-04:00

Nats? NUTS!!

2009-08-20T19:45:00.002-04:00

So, yeah, I am not racing this weekend at USAT Nats.

And yeah, I am kind of bummed about it.

Why the quitter, you ask? (And oh my, do I ever feel like a quitter.)

Well, the stomach ache that I attributed to nerves last Saturday may not really have been from anticipation. Something I didn't realize until I puked into the sink on Tuesday night. Then spent most of Wednesday in sweats with chills and body aches. Felt more human today and decided to let my workout decide if I was keeping the hotel room in Tuscaloosa for tomorrow night. I was spinning like a top all week between "I am racing. Damn the stomach virus!" and "Seriously....you're sick. Don't be dumb."

Swim felt good....YAHOO! I am ready to race, finally felt excited for this race, my "A" race, the one I was so pumped to qualify for, trained super hard for, I was ready to go (These are my thoughts mid-swim.) Get out. Shower. OW. OW. OW. Stomach. Is. a. Knot. OW. Can't stand up. Grrrr....

Okay. Fine. I get the picture. I am not ready to race. I am barely ready to race with these girls 100% healthy....and sick? Yeah, not so much. What am I going to get out of it besides (1) a handy ass kicking? and (2) another week's worth of sick from pushing too hard while I was already sick? (3) the awesome experience of racing with the best in the country? (see, I am still back and forth on my decision!)

Excuses, excuses. I know. I hate 'em, too.

But, as a wise friend told me, I am not quitting, I am choosing to fight another day. (Thanks, Jill.)

Tugaloo is in 3 weeks. Can't. Freaking. Wait.

My Stomach Hurts

2009-08-17T19:28:00.009-04:00

Well, not right now. It hurt Saturday night.

It does that when I get nervous or excited.

Or both.

Saturday night (well, to be honest, all week) I was both.

I had a surprise party planned for Mike's 41st on Saturday night.

I had tried once before to surprise him with a party. No dice. His buddy, Peck, called the Saturday before the party was supposed to happen asking where the heck we were, he was here for his surprise party, where were we??? From then on, to me, he was no longer Peck. His new name? Wreck.

The pressure was on. I had promised something fun. Something great. Especially after his 40th was essentially ignored. A three week old Alice is a good excuse as any though.

He knew something was up. (I kept erasing the history on the computer so he wouldn't see "Mike's Surprise 40th birthday party (a year late)" pop up under my evite account. I think that might have clued him in.)

In order to get him to the Fickle Pickle (a restaurant in downtown Roswell) for the surprise, I had to weave a web of intricate, fantastic lies. (i.e. a private wine tasting, a night at the Ritz, decoy packed suitcases, pretend babysitters) Oh, it was involved.

And I am a terrible liar and I have NO poker face.

But, it worked! His mom, dad, and brother all came in from NY. My family, the girls, 25 or so friends were all there to celebrate his birthday. And it was great.

We walked into our "private wine tasting" to the curly haired 4 year old screaming surprise and running to hug her daddy. Who was shocked. And touched. And then ready to party.

Definitely worth a little bit of a tummy ache.

Thanks to everyone for coming, for keeping it a secret, to my mom and dad who decorated for me, Mike's family for making it so special, Drago for taking pictures, the Riepes for being big fat liars with me, the Roberts (Keith and Amy) for getting him out of the house on Saturday. You all rock.

Some shots of the night.

Heading out to the "wine tasting". Ella picked my flower for me.

My mom and dad, the girls, Mike and his mom

My mom, sister and the boss.

Joe and Mike's brother checking out one of the many mustachioed, shirtless pictures of Mike that were used as table centerpieces. (I am such a jerk. But, hey, you grow a mustache in '86, you pay the price in 2009, dude.)

Jill, Michelle and I. The first picture of us, together, that we are not sweating in. We clean up nicely, huh? ;)

Andrew doing one of the many imitations of previously mentioned mustachioed/shirtless pictures of a 20 year old Mike.

Questions

2009-08-07T19:58:00.003-04:00

Life with a four year old, well at least with my four year old, is rife with questions.

Why? Why? Why? Why?

All day long.

Don't get me wrong. I love the inquisitiveness. I applaud it, Ella. But, man, sometimes I just don't know the answer. Or I do, but you shouldn't.

A few recent examples...

When are you going to die, Mommy? (OMG. How DO you answer this??? I fumbled my way through a "very, very long time from now when everyone is really, really old" kind of answer.)

Do babies come out of your fanny? (Hmmm....where do YOU think they come from, E? Close...)

How a baby get in your tummy, Mommy? (Seriously, seriously...YOU'RE 4!! I thought I had way more time to come up with something for this one.)

Why does Alice throw her food on the floor? (Me: you know, E. I don't know why!) Ella - When her two, and can talk, I gonna ask her.

Who going to carry me to heaven when I die? God, Jesus or Mary? I want Mary 'cause I not shy of her 'cause her a mommy. (I couldn't really even touch this one. Just agreed with her that Mary does seem really nice.)

Wow. She's going to wear me out. Then make me cry.

"C'mere! I want to ask you about life, death, religion and birth! Okay???"

Aside from E's endless barrage of questions. I have a ton about my next race floating around in my head lately. USAT Nats is in 2 weeks. Has me wondering...

Am I going to finish dead last in this race? (I am more than a little intimidated by this "you had to qualify to even register for the race" race.) Jen assured me that I won't be last. Phew.

Is all this hard (seriously HARD!) work that Jen's been throwing on Training Peaks for me going to make me faster? Faster than my last Oly in Chattanooga? Faster than at least one girl in the 30-34 AG? Faster than a speeding bullet?

Am I going to be fine with going away for the night while I race solo and Mike and the girls stay home? I just keep repeating to myself "it's less than 24 hours, less than 24 hours..."

Tuesday's View from the Trainer

2009-08-04T14:52:00.004-04:00

My mom and dad (and their hot pink sign)

And me! (I like to pause this shot and watch it. Over and over and over. Haha.)

IronGirls Sprint was on TV on Sunday. I dvr'd it downstairs and watched it (again) today on the trainer. Nothing like seeing yourself go off the bike course and throw a fit on the bike in HD. (They didn't actually show that, it didn't seem to be the kind of human interest, feel good, angle that they were looking for. This year.:) At least my mom and dad are official celebrities now.

Coming clean.

2009-07-29T20:39:00.005-04:00

Confession time.

I don't always do all my workouts that Jen gives me.

I can hear your horrified gasps.

I try to. But, sometimes the swims (and lifts) get pushed aside in my mom-world of sick kids, didn't-get-any-sleep-last-night-so-there's-no-way-in-heck-I-am-getting-up-at-5am-to-stinking-SWIM nights, the I'd-like-to-see-Mike-at-night-instead-of-doing-a-core-workout days.

And sometimes, I cut the workouts that I do short. Yes, you heard me. Short.

Now that is mostly just pure laziness.

Granted, this is not often and not a habit. But it does happen.

It has to. Triathlon is not my job.

Someone has to be Chief Laundry Officer of Parker Incorporated.

Oh, yeah and something else.

My diet.

Not so good. I thought it wasn't too bad. But, then I read Jen's post about Bird Food and realized that is all I ate. Pria bars were the base of my food pyramid. Then I wrote down everything I ate for a few days and emailed that to Jen. She seemed to think that I had um, let's say, a little work to do cleaning up my diet. (I eat way, way too many processed things, not enough protein, or vegetables.)

Feels much better now that is off my chest. :)

So why am I spilling the beans? Accountability for one.

I really want to race well at USAT Nats in less than a month and plan on working my butt off until then. By (1) doing all my workouts AS PRESCRIBED. No cheating. No cutting it short, etc. (2) cleaning up my diet. Eating more healthfully. And smarter. I am such a creature of habit that I just eat what I have always eaten for most meals without thinking about what is in it. Regardless of whether or not it was good for me. Or if it fueled my body for the hard workouts that I was doing. Then 10 minutes later I would be starving again.

Time for a change. Yahoo!

This is completely unrelated, but we just got back from visiting my brother at his lake house in Michigan for a party he hosts every year called, Lobsterfest. It is awesome, a ton of fun, people and yeah, lobsters. Duh.

Long, long drive. But the highlight was passing by Big Bone Lick State Park in Kentucky. And cracking up like 8 year olds. Twice.

One.

2009-07-23T20:11:00.003-04:00

Happy, happy birthday, Allie.

One year old today. Wow. Did that ever fly by.

You are a special, funny, little...person now. No longer an infant, not really a toddler yet, just an awesome, little person. One that I can never ever resist picking up (who could when those chunky arms are raised in the air just begging for kisses?). Something just doesn't feel right if you are not chilling on my right hip.

You are changing every single day...especially these last few weeks. Eating everything we put in front of you now. Finally! Getting into everything. Everything. (I am so not used to this, we didn't really have to babyproof at all with Ella.) Dancing, pulling up, saying "Ella" and "yep". You are an amazing little lady. I love that I am your mom and have the privilege of watching you grow and change into who you are supposed to become. Happy Birthday, Alice!

You definitely have the head nod down.

A few things....

2009-07-22T21:42:00.002-04:00

That last post was a bit of a lie. It was yesterday's view from the trainer, but I lost the remote posting email address until today.

Today's view was the black line of the bottom of the pool followed by me making an ass of myself skipping up the hill of our cul-de-sac then running back down. 8 times. I don't make the workouts, I just follow them, people. As if the neighbors don't think I am a weirdo already. Then a treadmill for the cool down. And some sweet soap opera watching. (I love the silent reactions the actors make before they cut away. It goes on way too long when they really should be saying something, but they don't. They just sneer or furrow their brow or something equally act-y. It is my favorite part. Some are really good at it. You gotta respect that. I normally would be watching "16 and Pregnant" or something else awesome like that, but we don't have all the cable channels in the exercise room. A pity for sure. Damn you digital conversion.)

Oh, Ella invented a new game. She calls it "baby jumping". As in, "Mommy, watch my new game! Baby jumping! Look!". Then, you guessed it. Jumped over a crawling Alice. First and last time she played that. Well, last time I witnessed her play it.

Alice turns one tomorrow. Oy. That was fast. We celebrated early yesterday with my mom and dad and some giant cupcakes. Alice's first ever. Like a duck to water...

Today's View from the Trainer

2009-07-22T21:32:00.001-04:00

Yes, the trainer and I got some hot (literally. It's black and 2:30
in the afternoon here) track action...with a side of high school
marching band. Go Knights.

A typical progression

2009-07-19T08:05:00.005-04:00

Ahh...what a beautiful day. It is so unusual for Georgia in July. We are not soaking through our clothes with sweat. Let's go outside and just relax on a blanket. Aww...the girls look so cute. Let me get a shot.

Okay. E....you're getting too close. Please don't hurt your sister. I know you love her, but be careful...

Here we go. Again.

Another view from the trainer.

2009-07-15T21:22:00.002-04:00

1 Randy Moss wig-wearing 4 year old. 1 DVR'ed episode of the "lost" footage from the Real Housewives of NJ. Good stuff all around.

Racing the clock

2009-07-13T14:02:00.012-04:00

That's was this weekend was all about. Racing.

Racing around to fit all the things we needed, then wanted, then just had to do in Chattanooga. (swimming, registering, sightseeing, eating, baseball game spectating, expo-ing, not sleeping, crying, whining, oh, and racing, too.)

Then, literally, racing the clock. When I got my wait listed race number Saturday (yahoo! Thanks, Team Magic!), I was placed in the 40-44 year old group. (Chatt is a time trial start by AG, then estimated swim time) So, I was nowhere near anyone in my AG (30-34).

Night before the race, we made mistake #1 (to be honest that was mistake #2, mistake #1 was even thinking traveling with the girls to a race was a smart idea)...bringing the girls to a 7:30 pm start time minor league baseball game. I love minor league baseball, but Mike really loves it. And it was walking distance from our hotel. This will be fun!

Fun turned into a 10:00 pm bedtime for Alice. We were back by 8:30, but had missed that "magic moment" where she will go to sleep and were now into a crying, screaming overtired "hell hour" before she finally gave in.

After that comedy hour, I had to organize my race stuff. Not so easy in a hotel room with 2 (barely) sleeping girls.

5am iphone alarm came way too early (Alice woke us up once or twice during the night, too). Shake the cobwebs off and am ready to go. This was the easy part. The race. Getting here? Not so much. Tiptoe around the room. Chow on my pre-race peanut butter bagel. Get dressed. Wake Alice to feed her. Try not to wake E. No luck. Wave goodbye to my sweet family.

E's race day attire.

Swim (1.5K --24:02)
I had done this race in 2006 and was not looking forward to the swim. I don't like point to point races. I don't like gross river water. So, the Chattanooga swim is not really my thing. I really loved it this year though. I felt great and strong and was passing people the whole time. Highly unusual. I think the spread out nature of the swim worked to my advantage. I don't swim too well in a lot of traffic. I don't like swimming on top of people. Or getting kicked in the face in the water. Call me crazy. I counted the bridges (3) to deal with my anxiety of not knowing how much farther I had to go. It worked. Saw Mike and the girls at the swim exit. Dad of the year right here....

(Thanks for the pictures, Lee! I totally stole it off flickr. Hope that's okay. :)

Bike (42K --1:18:06)
Hills. Lots of 'em. Just trying to hang on and maintain 20mph. For some reason, I had in my head that if I averaged 20 mph, I would be happy with that. Got to the 10 mile marker at exactly 30 minutes and then played a game of trying to make the 20 mile marker before an hour. Whatever works, right? As long as I did not go off course and pushed hard, I was happy. Head to transition. Avg. mph 20.0 YAY!

Run (10K -- 48:43)
I struggled on this run. Felt good the first 2 miles and then pow! I had nothing. No zip, no power. No legs. I kept thinking about Jen telling me to suffer. It was about going hard and suffering. I was suffering. Just not going very fast. I was prolonging the suffering by running slowly! Not very smart. I tried Angela's trick of telling myself I was "one tough chick" and to pick it up. No luck. My mile splits were still slowing. Then I started to look at the faces of people running towards me (it was an out and back run) and they were all suffering, too. Fast, slow...all in pain. All wanting (at least some small part) to stop. To slow down and they weren't. (Well, some were, but I was trying to be positive) I felt better knowing I was not alone in suffer-town. See the finish line. See Mike and the girls. Ahh....done. Sweet mercy.

Total time -- 2:34:02/4th AG

I am really happy with this! It feels good to finish well (for me) in such a competitive race. Nice to not make any huge race day mistakes...again. And my T2 was the 2nd fastest overall, even the pros. I am the T2 Champion of the world. Bow down. Kiss the hand.

We are home now and both completely exhausted. Thanks for the day off, Coach. I need it. I forgot how sore I would be after two and a half hours of anaerobic suffering. Wow. Those sprints I've been doing all year are a heck of a lot easier than this Oly bologna. :) It's the same amount of suffer, just more than twice as long. Glad I've delayed my next half IM until next year. Not ready for over 5 hours of it...yet.

Things never to do with kids.

2009-07-09T16:34:00.004-04:00

Oh are there plenty.

(Be hungover is my #1. I have endured one and only one since having Ella over 4 years ago and the hellish nightmare that was the next day following "Mommy's night of fun" was so scarred into my brain that ever since after 1 or 2 at the most drinks, I am done. Just not worth the fun anymore, for me.)

Today, I had the perfect storm of things not to do with kids.

The bike store. Two kids. A leotard and a potty break.

I would not recommend any combination of the above. Ever.

Trust me.

So, I picked E up from gymnastics camp (hence the leotard). Headed to the bike store to have my bike computer moved so I can fit in my aerobottle for my race this weekend. (I am acting as if I am racing. As if there are no other alternatives. Power of positive thinking, right?)

Just getting all 3 of us and my bike in the store is enough to make me run screaming back to the safety of the car. Finally get in. They get to work on my bike. E tries to ride one of the kids bikes in the showroom. Falls. Cries. Alice is crawling. Everywhere. Past the yellow line that is off limits to customers as I deal with Ella's tears and convince her that yes, I am in charge and she is not to mount any more bikes, even if they are all for kids, mommy. E has to go to the bathroom. But, wants her "privacy". Fine. I head in just to help take off the leotard. I then get escorted out by the 4 year old in charge. Fine again. As I am checking on my bike, a naked 4 year old comes running out of the bathroom screaming "MOMMY, I WENT POO POO!! WANT TO SEE???"

I shook my head. Laughed. Went to see (of course). Then got ourselves the heck outta there.

And I wish I could say I learned my lesson and will never do that again. But, I know I will have to and I know it will be as much of a gong show as it was today.

Bam. Bam. Bam.

2009-07-08T14:30:00.003-04:00

Did you hear that?

Yes, that was me banging my head on the wall in frustration.

With myself.

My level of annoyance with me was already hovering near the mid-way point for messing up my race last weekend by riding the wrong way on the bike course. And adding 4 miles. Therefore, subtracting myself from any chance of an AG placing. (Sure, the volunteer pointed me in that direction, but, heck, I should have checked the course layout beforehand.)

I was over it pretty quickly though. Ready to move on to my race this weekend. Chattanooga Waterfront Tri. Did this race in 2006. Mike did it last year (I swear spectating with Ella sent me into labor with Alice. I had her 10 days later and spent a few of those days in the hospital trying to keep her cooking until 37 weeks!). It is a great race. Really competitive. Not too far from home. All good.

Our hotel is booked. And paid for. I am starting to taper (well, what Jen considers a taper. 100% different from my normal "don't do sh%# race week" taper. Taper? More like suffer.) I go on the race site to check to see what time to be there to register. Funny, I have not gotten any emails and I know I signed up for this race in December when I signed up for all my races this year.

Hmm...let's see who is racing in my AG.

Hmm....where's MY name?

Um, it is not there. Oh crap. Oh CRAP. OH CRAP!!!

I totally messed this one up. I have no idea what happened. Guess I just didn't actually pay the money for the race....or thought I had or who the heck knows?

BAM. BAM. BAM.

Level of frustration with myself just hit record levels.

I am currently wait listed. The Race Director (who was so nice) assured me that they have "never not let anyone in off the waitlist". But, I may not actually get a # until race morning. Argh. More stress.

Like racing. Away from home. With a 4 year old and an 11 month old wasn't doing it for me already.

BAM. BAM. BAM.

DO NOT follow this person on a bike course, nor trust them to register you for anything! Consider yourself warned.

Mile-stones

2009-07-05T20:11:00.002-04:00

This may take me a long time to write. I am a loud typer (ist?) when I type fast and I don't want to ruffle any baby feathers.

I am sitting on the stairs outside Alice's room hoping she finally falls asleep.

It seems that my limited knowledge of the lyrics to the Carpenter's classic "Close to You" and my patented warble/sway combo is not doing the trick tonight. Every time I go in there, she's sitting up with the saddest look on her face peering through the crib slats at me. Looking like a baby in jail. And crying.

She's quiet now....CLACK. CLICKETY. CLACK. I AM TYPING LOUD AND FAST!

Alright, I am done celebrating the fact that we have two sleeping girls. But, man, that is always a nice place to be in the day.

Due to my inherent laziness and aversion to becoming (gasp!) a "scrapbooker", (I just can't go there. I can't. I've resisted your recruitment too long to give in now, Amanda:) Alice's baby book is essentially a book with important papers (i.e height, weight, stuff from the hospital, cards, etc.) shoved in the front and stuffed in a drawer. (Thank you...thank you...yes, I know. I am a wonderful mother.)

So no baby book. Yet. So, here is what I am going to include when I finally get it done...probably right around her wedding.

Alice at 11 months....

Crawled for the first time yesterday. Kind of late, but you never have trouble getting what you want. You frequent the army crawl, the roll and the scoot. Seeing you roll across the playroom floor to get a toy you want is hilarious.

You have 3 (almost 4) teeth now. 2 top and 2 bottom. The top ones are um, pretty large. Daddy has taken to calling you "man-tooth" now. Or Wes, for short.

I don't think I will ever wean you. I would if it were my choice. (Apparently, it is not.) I don't think you're going to allow such craziness to happen though. Not on your watch. You love it. Sheesh. I was going to try at a year....but I can see that is not going to happen. 13 months, kid. That's all you get.

"Dada" and "Mama" are your words. Good choices. I like your style.

You don't really like to sleep. At all. Ever. Okay, maybe that is overstating things. You do nap well. But, I think that we have 10, maybe 11 full nights of sleep since you've been born. Good thing you're cute.

You love to dance, giggle, rough house with your sister, pull on Annabelle's tail, throw (all of your) food to the floor, YELL, be held, be tickled, get baths, go swimming, have your feet eaten, pull Ella's hair (out!), and generally be the cutest baby in the world, 100% unbiased opinion here.

So those are Alice's 11 month milestones. To be included in a book. At a (much) later date.

My MILEstones? Ran, biked and swam a few over the weekend. I feel back on track after a sluggish week and ready to kick some a$$ (or at the very least ride the bike course correctly) at my first Oly race of the year in Chattanooga this weekend.

Weak Week

2009-07-02T22:16:00.005-04:00

It is only Thursday, but I am ready to call it a week already.

My "race" on Sunday (and I use that term loosely) really took it out of me.

Must have been that extra 4 on the bike that really put me over the edge. :)

Well, either that or Alice's double ear infection (yes, again. We are working on ear infections 11 and 12, I believe) that made the poor girl sound the "wah wah" alarm 4-6 times a night.

Or it could my perma-sinus infection that came back this week. 3 weeks without one is my limit....apparently.

I am calling it. 10:28pm on Thursday. Week. Over. Done.

We ended it with a bang though...literally. Neighborhood fireworks tonight. Always fun. Mike came prepared to pass the time in our driveway waiting for the start.

Yes, that is a bottle opener on the bottom of his flip flop.

We got bored. Started having cartwheel contests. I won. Obviously.

My hero.

Mike's off tomorrow and we have a babysitter. Things are looking up already.

Just pretending...

2009-06-28T19:22:00.003-04:00

I am only pretending to have a good attitude about the race today.

That counts, right?

'Cause when I think about it. I am still mad. So, I am trying not to think about it anymore. Okay, tomorrow I will not think about it anymore. I will allow myself the rest of the day to wallow and stew.

I raced IronGirl today. And I was really excited for this race. It was one of my "A" races. I wanted that necklace. Really did. My mom and dad were there, Mike and the girls came out. They had signs and everything...it was so great to see them all there. Triathlon is a pain in the a$$ to come and watch, especially with little ones. I really appreciated you guys today. Thanks.

Swim was great. Jen told me I needed to get tough and deal with the scary front of the pack swimmers if I wanted to place in my AG. (I normally like to hang back and be a scardey cat.) It was really fine. No contact and I felt like a bada$$ standing right up front and sprinting into the water. Was 6th out of the water, which is good for me.

The bike is where I lost my temper a bit. With myself, with the course, with the "Woo Hoos" of the people whizzing by me while I replaced my dropped chain, with the lady with the flag that told me to left when I should have gone right.

I can explain.

Miles 1-8, I was fine. Right on track. Feeling good. Trying to reel in people ahead of me. Checking my mph and time. I see an intersection ahead and there are no cyclists in sight. Which way do I go?? Flag lady has the flag to the left. Okay. I go left. I start passing a ton of people. (Before it was really spread out. There was no one in front of me before to see.) Now, there's age groupers from the waves behind me. WTF??

Argh. I knew something was wrong. Asked a few people who had no idea if we were supposed to do this loop twice. I knew immediately my race was done. Sprints come down to seconds. An extra 4 miles on the bike (my bike computer had me at 22 miles for what was supposed to be an 18 mile race) does not really help you place in your age group. I wouldn't recommend it.

Enter negative thoughts. Quitting. Cursing. Eye rolling. Thankfully, I was alone on the bike...a very nice place to be to take out aggression. I biked as hard as I could. Shifted like an angry dumbo. Dropped my chain. Replaced my chain. Cursed some more.

Thought about quitting after the bike. Just leave. Take my bike and go home. Thought about it some more and realized I would feel worse if I did that. Felt a bit better. Decided to run hard...good practice for my first Oly distance race in 2 weeks. Even if I wasn't going to have a good race today, I wanted to at least have a good run. (20:53) I am very happy with that. Especially since I took some time during the run to tell Mike my saga of the bike leg and almost break down in tears in front of way too many people. (Today was not my best day.)

So, good swim and run and the rest I am letting go. (This is SO not like me.) :) Let's see if it works. Trying to be an adult here. Or pretend like it.

I have some pics I will post tomorrow. Camera is currently MIA and I am way too tired to go searching.

Found the missing camera. Phew.

E and I heading up to the race expo on Saturday.

I was dying to get a picture of E with these studs, but she was too shy....

So, we got autographs instead.

With the girls before the swim.

Swim exit.

Job Well Done....

2009-06-25T07:49:00.008-04:00

...IronGirls PR person. You got me.

Congratulations. I am officially excited for your race this weekend.

After flooding my email box with first weekly emails to get me training, then bi-weekly emails to let me know how cool and fun your event is going to be and now daily ones to give me logistics about race weekend, I get the picture....

IRONGIRLS sprint (1/3 mile swim/18 mile bike/3 mile run) IS ON SUNDAY. AND I'D BETTER BE READY. :)

I have gotten more emails about this sprint than any other race. Combined. Even Ironman.

Actually, the sheer volume of information in all the emails is confusing me. I just want to know where to go and what time to be there. That's it. More than that and I tune out. I am more than likely missing some huge piece of important information, like it is mandatory to race in high heels and pearls. This being an all girls event and all.

Two things that did catch my attention were (1) AG winners get these necklaces as awards.

Do I ever want one of those. Seriously. That's my goal. Get me a necklace. (well, try to get me one. Hard to make goals based on AG finish, but I have a time goal in my head that I will be completely happy with if achieved.) I want to look like a triathlon Mr(s). T. Layer up my Ironman necklace with this one and pity fools all over Atlanta.)

And the other thing was this.
Today, Iron Girl, the premiere all-women's event-based brand, announces that the third annual Aflac Iron Girl Atlanta Triathlon will be televised nationally on NBC Sports. The broadcast will air on Saturday, Aug. 23, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET. The telecast will showcase a highly competitive professional field as well as a diverse group of athletes varying in age and fitness level.

As Ella would say, "dats pool".

I am so excited to see the pros race. In person. ON THE SAME COURSE AS ME. Just so excited about that. Yes, I've raced with pros before, but never in a sprint and never with pros like this. I can't wait to see how stinking fast they are.

Michellie Jones
Kate Major
Samantha McGlone
Mirinda Carfrae
Pip Taylor

Yes, some definitely bold face names in that crowd.

The lemonade shill-er and I are heading up on Saturday for the expo and (hopefully) meet some of those fasties.

Then Sunday, as Jen says, I am ready to SUFFER. I can feel the butterflies already. (Nice, lady friendly, pink ones, of course.) WOOO HOOO. Bring it!

Happy Father's Day.

2009-06-21T19:29:00.007-04:00

Hope everyone has a great one. Especially all the great dads in our lives, Mike (duh), my dad, his dad, and my brother...hope you all did exactly what you wanted today.

Not sure if Mike wanted to wake up 4 times with Alice in the early, painfully early morning today (will those teeth NEVER come in?!?!) or strip Ella's bed at 5 am due to an "accident". (I heard the whole thing go down since I was in Alice's room feeding her, but couldn't really help E and couldn't really help myself from cracking up either. What else can you do? Exhaustion makes me giggly.) I am also pretty sure that you didn't want to get woken up by Ella, on the one morning that you could sleep in, who insisted you had to open your presents by 7:30. She just could not stand the sight of unopened gifts.

Well, we loved spending the day with you. Fingers crossed we don't all get to spend the entire night together again. Awake.

I love messing around on imovie. This is my third year doing this Father's Day montage as one of Mike's gifts (2007 and 2008). Hope you liked it. We love you. :)

I hope this works...

2009-06-18T20:02:00.010-04:00

The dog days of summer are upon us in Georgia.

Woof.

Well, technically, it is not yet summer. But, calendars be damned.

I define summer by asking myself a few questions.

1. Does my first shower after a workout not "take"?

2. Have we taken out a second mortgage for camps to exhaust my seemingly inexhaustible 4 year old ball of energy?
(Gymnastics camp -- check, American Girl camp -- check, Craft camp --check, some other camp -- check...something about dancing and crafting and um, I am not sure, maybe...jousting?? As far as I can recall. Guess I'd better remember what exactly that last camp is about before she gets knighted.)

3. Could we protect all of Roswell from a painful sunburn with the excess of sunscreen that I buy?

Yes. Yes. and Yes.

So, for me? Summer is here.

When the real feel temp is over 100 and I am sweating merely putting the girls in the car, I really wish for October. But, whatever. We're here, let's deal with this the best way we can, right?

I can't change the oppressive Southern heat and humidity (and am fine trading it for our awesome springs, falls and winters).

BUT, I can do something about that pesky "school is out, so I can't knock out a workout out while Ella is in school" dilemma I've been handed.

I've hired a babysitter! Woo hoo. (Really nothing earth shattering here, but I have never done this before. Babysitter, yes. But a regularly scheduled one? Nope.)

Yes, as the title of this post states, "I hope this works..." The plan is for two times a week in the afternoons, I can swimrunbike to my crazy, little heart's content. Hopefully, getting some of the long-ish stuff that I save for the weekends done.

Hope being that Mike and I won't be spending most of those precious Saturdays and Sundays dealing with the logistical nightmare combination of getting 5-7 hours of our cumulative workouts done along with 10 month old nursing, 2 naps a day-er and a 4 year old please-take-me-to-the-pool-for-5-hours-er.

Sometimes that leaves so little time for me and Mike to crack jokes on each other while drinking margaritas, eating enough Mexican food and chocolate chip cookies to make us sick, and watching the Red Sox.

A pity. But, we usually...somehow find time for that. :)

Some recent "summer" shots.

Her sprint next door after hearing that they had a slip n'slide out.

Slipping and sliding away.

E is a non-tradionalist. Rockin' the Rudolph shirt in June.

Yes, I am cute. If cute means not sleeping through the night at 10 months old. Then yes, I am cute. Adorable, in fact.:)

Dora crocs are the must have accessory this summer.

Wow!

2009-06-18T18:30:00.001-04:00

Check it out. Here. Super cool. Thanks, Training Peaks!

Oh, that is never a good sign...

2009-06-16T16:40:00.002-04:00

That was the thought in my head yesterday after bringing E in to the pediatrician for what I thought was a simple sore throat. (Let me just state up front, that she is 100% fine and her crazy water lovin' self as usual. In fact, playing in the sink (one of her favorite games) as I write this.)

Easy. Kid wakes up with a sore throat. Food doesn't "taste right". Won't eat her cheerios. I check. Yeah, sure...it looks a little on the medium rare side.

Okay. No big deal.
Let's cancel gymnastics camp and head on over to our good friend, the pediatrician's. They haven't seen us in over two weeks...they're probably getting worried. :)

No strep. That's good. But when checking her lymph nodes, the doc lingers. And lingers. And checks again. And then checks some others.

Um, that's not good.

Then calls in another, more senior, doctor.

Never a good sign.

(I am aware what is going on at this point and am hanging on by a very thin thread. Just ready to scream....PLEASE TELL ME IT IS NOTHING. ALL I WANT TO HEAR OUT OF YOUR MOUTH IS THAT THIS IS NOTHING. THAT IS IT! IF YOU CAN'T SAY THAT...THEN DON'T SPEAK.)

I manage to squeak out a small, "Um, what do you think is going on?" on the verge of tears.

The more senior doc says that he would get an X-ray and CAT scan...today and this week, respectively. He doesn't know what it is but is throwing some strange terms at me that I was ill equipped to understand much less retain in my panic-stricken-pleaseletmykidbeokay-frame of mind.

They set up the x-ray for RIGHT THEN.

Again, never a good sign.

Drive over to the radiologist's, stopping off for a minute in "LET'S NOT PANIC-VILLE" after a call to Mike, who lives there.

Me? Not a resident.

My mom (ever my savior) just happens to be close by and is happy to come and hang out with Alice while E gets her x-ray. (Thank you.)

X-ray looks good. Nothing bad. (I couldn't and can't even say the word of what I am assuming they were looking for.)

THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU.....

Radiologist confirms. CAT scan this morning confirms it as well.

Nothing bad. The hard mass where her lymph nodes are was nothing. Just a few extra ribs. Two to be exact. Nothing to worry about. Seriously, the kid has what we (yes, I am now an expert.:) like to call "bilateral cervical ribs". I am sure that there is some sort of funny joke here that if I wasn't so thankful that Ella is healthy that I might be able to figure out or make.

Phew....

They come in threes...

2009-06-11T17:14:00.008-04:00

Bad things.

My list for the week.

Number one bad thing. Sugar Free jelly beans. OMG. NEVER, ever eat these. Ever. Unless you like feeling like you have an intestinal parasite or really, really need to get a lot of reading done. If so, then feel free.

This information would have been useful to me before I ate most of the bag. And thought I was going to die. 8 beans? Try 35. Bad move.

Number two. Pool is closed. (Normally a great excuse for me to not flail around in the water like a sinking log trying to get my workout in) Sadly, it was the neighborhood pool. Ella's favorite summer pasttime. If you haven't heard why, you obviously have not been within 3 miles of Ella. "Mommy/Daddy/Mimi/Anyone who will listen...SOMEBODY pooped in the pool!!!" Big news in the 4 year old world.

Actually, I am assuming it was poop in the pool. Or hoping. The lifeguard told me that the pool was closing due to "fetal matter" in the pool. Please let her be wrong. Please let that be poop. She meant poop, I know.

Number three is done. Trainer at the track. That is never a good thing. But, now is (thankfully) done. Thanks for keeping me company, Lou#3. (Good run out of you, too!).

Snap back...

2009-06-08T19:40:00.003-04:00

....to reality.

Or more like a slap. To the face.

Yep. The 5 am iphone alarm "strumming" me awake this morning for my swim with Michelle was in stark contrast to vacation mode where I had all. day. long. to get my workout in. Poolside. Or beachside. My choice.

Follow that up with a glance at Training Peaks where Jen's comments for the week include the following.

"Well, this week's training will snap you back to reality fast! HAHHA" (sadist)

oof.

Now the A/C is broken. And I am about to melt. Hot as heck in here, I tell ya.

Just the temperature I prefer for folding and putting away mounds upon mounds of laundry.

G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S....We flying first class, up in the sky....In the fast lane.

Home at least

2009-06-06T21:05:00.013-04:00

According to my family's lore, that was my quote after car trip to Disney World from NJ (and back) in a station wagon with 4 kids. (My parents must have been nuts.)

We're back from our first family vacation and that is how I feel....we're home. At least. Seagrove, FL -- Parkers are OUT. :(

Sad to be back to our daily life. Sad to be away from the beach....I LOVE the beach. Just feel at home there. Sad that Mike has to go back to work on Monday. I (and the girls) loved having him around, all day, for an entire week.

I know, I know, boo hoo for me, right? :)

Our trip was great. So much fun. The routine that we fell into after the first day was the stuff of dreams....

7:00 am -- E and A would wake up. Mike or I would sleep in a bit (trade off days). Make a quick breakfast. Take the girls (or just E solo) to the beach before it gets hot and crowded. Anger the fisherman with E's joy filled screams down at the water. Make some sand cookies and/or a pool for E's (plastic) friends. Alice would sample the morning sand for taste and texture.
Pool construction in progress.

Tasty sand.

9:30am-- Walk the 3 minute walk home from the beach. Alice naps. I would do my workout for the day (only 1 a days. Rest week for me -- Thanks, Jen! It was nice to have only one to get in a day...although the heat killed me. SO not used to that.) Runs would be either on the beach or on 30A (20 miles of FLAT bike/walking path) through gorgeous beach towns with tons of people watching and houses to drool over. Can't ask for better than that! Or bike would be on the trainer while E would play in the pool (and I would literally melt. OMG, the heat!) I think I had a dehydration headache most days I was there.

I would run by this post office in downtown Seaside. So tiny!

Mike would P90x his face of in the mornings before beerthirty would hit the clock every day. No one wants to be working out when beerthirty hits.

LUNCH

1:30pm -- Beach and/or pool.

2:30pm -- Alice nap again. Ella would finally crash after being in the water literally all day long at this point and watch a movie. I would take advantage of a few quiet minutes to devour more pages of the Twilight books (on New Moon right now). These are way addictive. Wow.

3:30pm -- pool again. And beerthirty, I believe. (I am not the expert...you'd have to ask Mike when it was. I get all confused being that we were on central time and all....)

Beerthirty...for sure.

Ella does not idly lounge around in the pool. Ever.

DINNER

Margarita O'clock was at dinnertime.

6:45ish -- beach walk with the girls and treasure hunt for shells for E.

BED for the girls.

9:30ish BED and more Twilight speed reading for me (I am so anxious to see what is going to happen, I totally am skipping unnecessary dialogue and description)

And repeat x7.

I could get used to that.....

Thankful for such a great trip.

Loud (and precious) cargo

2009-06-03T16:18:00.000-04:00

We've been tooling around on this thing all week. (I follow behind on
my tri bike making sure no one falls out!)

It's awesome. Way more fun than the Honda Pilot.

Popsicle time

2009-06-02T15:35:00.000-04:00

My view from the trainer...

2009-05-31T10:52:00.000-04:00

This is the life!

Pools near Seagrove, FL?

2009-05-29T21:28:00.002-04:00

Was hoping for some help out there.....

Does anyone know the area? I can't seem to find a pool to workout in (yes, I know the ocean is RIGHT THERE but I just don't feel comfortable swimming solo for long periods of time in the ocean where all the stuff that lives in there wants to eat me.)

I've checked on the internet, but googling "pools near Seagrove, FL" takes me to vacation rentals with pools. Which we already have, thanks.

So...if anyone knows of any lap pools in the area, please let me know.

Thanks!

Slow week

2009-05-29T09:05:00.006-04:00

I don't mean slow is in "not busy" kind of slow.

I mean slow as in me. I am the turtle this week.

Slow in the pool. Slow on the bike. Slow on the run. Slow to get out of bed. Slow to clean the house, slow to fold the laundry (not that I am ever what you would call "quick" there anyway).....slow, slow, slow.

I've been dragging since last week. Dragging around sinuses loaded up with infection. Dragging around a 21 lb. (adorably) heavy weight on my right hip that cries as soon as removed from said hip (she and E both have some sort of virus, too). Dragging around guilt for missing workouts and bagging a 10K that I was planning on doing this weekend.

Ready to fast forward to next week. A fresh slate.

A new week of workouts. A few days on antibiotics that I know will kick this sinus infection to the curb. And mostly because we're going on VACATION!!

I am so excited. Our first real family vacation. Seagrove, Fl -- here we come. A week of no work for Mike, a pool all her own for E, white Gulf sand for Alice to eat 200 yards away....I CAN'T WAIT.

E is ready to clear out the Gulf with her new goggles.

Tammy Faye Parker

2009-05-27T22:13:00.000-04:00

Her "makeover". Looks good, no?

Four.

2009-05-27T08:18:00.010-04:00

Happy Birthday, Ella!

Can't believe you're 4 today. That flew by. No kidding. They say with kids that the days are long and the years are fast. So true.

I try, but can't find any vestiges of baby in you anymore. Not in your face, your hands, your actions...

This fact makes me want to cry and also so proud. Proud of you for the amazing little girl you are. Fearless, confident, funny, loving, sweet, crazy you.

May 27th, 2005

You at 1 year old.

Getting bigger...

And you now...

We love you, E.

Water Baby x2

2009-05-25T11:35:00.005-04:00

Alice's first time in the water and she loved it. Nice. Cried when I took her out.

I now officially have two water babies.