Wordless Tuesday

To see more check out Wordless Wednesday.

One perfect mother

Saturday was one of those days when you just want to call a do-over. My children just about drove me over the edge with the whining, complaining and non-stop demands. Gman sent them to room when we sat down to eat because they were bickering again. Boobah spent the next 5 minutes screaming "I am STARVING!" Finally we made it through dinner, I told them all I really wanted for Mother's Day was a day without whining. I am not proud of myself, I yelled and I wasn't very nice.

Sunday morning the girls had cards and presents for me and Gman had the family pictures we had done before the holidays framed for me. Unfortunately the no whining didn't last past 8AM but the day was infinitely better overall. I went for a run, we went to church. The children's choir sang and they were great. Then during the children's moment the minister asked if anyone had a perfect mother. One lone hand shot into the air--it was PDQ. A good laugh rolled through the congregation. Afterwards she told me I was the best mother ever. Lovely to hear but also a bit guilt inducing after the prior day. My friend Lisa told me that she was writing it down and when PDQ was a teenager she would be happy to remind her that Mother's Day 2008 she had declared that I was perfect.

Think Thin Thursday Update

Last week I didn't write a "think thin" entry because I wasn't, I was thinking fat, feeling fat and weighing in fat--up 2.6 pounds. You can imagine my amazement when I gained 3 pounds overnight! Today was much more of a think thin kind of day. I have been getting my work outs in, this is supposed to be a recovery week and my body is feeling like it needs to recover. My lunchtime spin class has moved from 60 to 30 minutes and it is a great way to get in a swim/bike combo in the middle of the day and also practice riding the bike wet--nothing like being squishy! The numbers for today, drum roll please, down 5.6 pounds for a grand total of 14.8 pounds in 4 weeks.

My Ironman+ totals for the month so far:
SWIM: 2400/8000 yards
BIKE: 33.5/120 miles
RUN: 8.1/30 miles

Trolling the Internet in the last month I've stumbled across some incredibly inspiring triathlon and weight loss blogs. Check them out if you get a chance Athena Diaries, Half of Me, Tridolph, Nancy Toby: Run Big, and Waddling.

Rapelli Rocks

My house is one where toys are begged for and then after a few days they get tossed aside for a few old favorites, baby dolls and coloring. When I opened the box for Rapelli from the Discovery Channel Store my kids were ready to immediately dive into the brightly colored box. What *is* it they wanted to know. I told them it was a new game for them. Little did I know it was going to land on the short list of favorite things.

We got out the game and set it up in about 2 minutes flat with only minimal reading of directions on my part. Then Boobah and I read further through the directions to figure out how to play. The directions were easy to read and a piece of cake to explain to my four and seven year olds. After we'd played for a bit our babysitter for the evening showed up and the girls taught her how to play in no time. The next babysitter a few weeks later also learned quickly to play the game.

Its now several weeks later and the game has been played at the kitchen table, on the patio outside and in the basement. The kids have drug it out to play with babysitters, grandparents and friends. I love that they love the game and that it was easy to learn but isn't so childish that adults don't want to play with it. No annoying noises is another HUGE bonus for me. My granola crunchy side is also satisfied with the all natural materials. I like the simple design and bright, colorful pieces. It will definitely end up on my list of go-to birthday gifts!

Go on over to Parent Bloggers to see what others have to say about Rapelli and lots of other cool stuff!

Traffic Hell

Really, my commute to work is only about 8 miles, the first drop off is only 4 miles from the house, really what is the idiots per mile ratio today? I had to slam on my breaks twice in that first stretch because people turned out right in front of me. The second time she saw me at the last minute and managed to pull onto the side of the road instead of right in front of me, otherwise it would have been really, really ugly, no way I could have avoided her expensive sports car. After those near misses there was another car who felt it necessary to speed through the left turn only lane to cut in front of the truck in front of me saving herself at least 2 seconds. I've said it before, driving around here scares the crap out of me but its nothing compared to the fear on the bike!

Trying the Tri

Today was glorious, not too hot, not too cold, a bit breezy, blue skies, a few puffy clouds. One of those days that just BEGS you to go outside. For me, outside was already on the agenda. Today was the last of my 14 weeks of triathlon training class. Nothing like bonding with people over sweat and pain.

This morning we did a mini-tri, 15 minutes in the pool, then drive to the park (which was freaking gorgeous today) ride 17.5 miles and then run 3.4. Piece of cake, oh no, that is what I feel like I earned today, not what it actually was. Remember that little breeze I was talking about? It would occasionally gust so hard as a cross wind that you could feel it moving your bike, a little scary with traffic and hundreds of cyclists on the road. I managed to grind my way through my ride. Very early on my back started bothering me, all I wanted to do was get off the bike, stretch my back and adjust my shorts (gee, I feel like such a GUY!). I let myself get off for just a minute at our turn around in the school parking lot. As soon as I got off the bike-relief! The hardest hill is in the first third of the ride, really by the time I got off the bike I'd done the hardest part, then some. Word of warning, when a street is named Mt. anything, be afraid, VERY afraid. I think I finished last on the bike, there were a couple of people behind me but I never saw them again, I am guessing mechanical issues. The bikers are for the most part really friendly, letting you know they are passing, shouting words of encouragement, saying "hi" as the race by. I even got a glimpse of Es as she headed past me in the other direction.

Made it back to the park and was SO happy to get ready to run (a very foreign feeling for me). I stood around longer than I should have shooting the breeze with one of the coaches and some of the other tri folks. I downed a Double Espresso Clif Shot, it wasn't that bad and it gave me a little caffeine and carb pick me up to get me through the first part of the run. I never, in a millions years, believed I would be doing any sport that required me to EAT while doing it! I didn't do the whole 3.4 miles, I did about 3, not taking the extra out and back hill in the middle of the course--my back was feeling the run by that point and no sense hurting myself.

When I was done I felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. I've done all but a little bit of the run for my big race. I've done ALL of the bike course. The only thing left to do is swim in open water and that can wait until the open water is quite a bit warmer! I am not fast but I did grind it out. Wa hoo! 6 weeks until the first of the real thing.

Ironman in a month

There are some people who are so into triathlons that they do the grand daddy of all tris, the one you see on TV, the IronMan. You know, just a day in the park that happens to include a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and THEN a marathon 26.2 miles. I can't get my mind around the marathon alone, let alone doing it after swimming and biking for ridiculously long distances.

So, some of the ladies over on the Weight Watchers message board are doing an Ironman Challenge for the month where you try each month to complete the iron distance in your training. Its good for me to be accountable to someone else, especially now that my triathlon training class is ending (we had the last butt-crack-of-dawn swim session this morning!).

For April I managed to eek out my miles on the bike, it meant over an hour last night on the trainer in my living room but I finished. That is pretty much what I think I'll feel like at the end of my tris this year--eeking every little bit out but getting it done nonetheless.

SWIM: 9350yd/4200yd
BIKE: 112.7m/112m
RUN: 26.5m/26.2m