I'm counting down the weeks until I don't have this baby inside me any longer. It's going by SO slow, yet...so fast. 11 weeks and counting. I think we're a little in denial that we're having a third one. At least I am anyways. There's no name picked out. There's no crib set up. There's no clothes ready for little babies to wear. There's no 30 meals packed away in the freezer for after she comes. I know I should get going on these things, but I don't seem to have the motivation to do it. The one good thing is that I've been treasuring these last few months (you know, after I stopped puking and all that) more with this baby then with the other two because this very well might be it and I won't have to be pregnant ever again. I can't say I'm going to miss a lot of the things that go along with pregnancy, but there are a few things--the kicking and the moving around--that remind me of what a miracle having a baby is.
J. had oral surgery on Friday. He had a tooth growing in the roof of his mouth, upside down that was putting pressure on his front teeth and causing them to misalign. The surgery only lasted about 20 minutes, but they had to put him out for it. It was really funny to watch him come out of it. He was a really good trooper though and didn't cry at all. Yesterday, when he woke up, his upper lip was really swollen. He looked a little like a Simpson's character. Wade took a picture to show him later on. It was kind of funny, but we tried not to laugh at him. He said he wasn't in any pain, so that's good. Good thing we had it done on Friday because he wouldn't have been able to go to school looking like that. We told him he could eat all the ice cream he wanted and he thought that was the greatest thing ever, but so far he hasn't wanted much.
Saturday, I'm "running" (read: waddling) my last 5k before baby comes. I've done this race every year since it started and I wasn't going to let no baby bump keep me from it this year. I'll be pushing my niece's wheelchair so her parents can run it. Last year, I raced my brother and lost by 15 seconds. I attribute it to the fact that his legs are twice as long as mine (or so it seems) because two months later, I beat him in our next race by over 2 minutes.
A. is such a girly girl, I can only pray that her sister will be less so. Wade took her to Princesses on Ice a few weeks ago. She still talks about it. He's a good dad because I said "uh-huh. No way" when he called about getting tickets. He says he was the only one there by himself with his daughter. She dressed up as Brave because that's her favorite princess (it's the red hair) and she looked adorable. One of these days, I'll upload all these pictures. I can't believe how big she's getting. She's playing video games and talking up a storm. She turns me into a princess at least once a day. Sometimes I'm a mermaid princess and can't use my feet. Luckily, she has a magic necklace that allows me to have my feet back. Who's kid is this?
We finally got our Christmas lights taken down...Thursday. In our defense, it's been a really cold winter and the roof has been covered with snow until about 3 weeks ago...but still. March 14? I finally dragged the ladder out myself and started on them. I had five separate people question whether I should be doing that in my condition, but no one came to offer assistance. I only used the ladder to climb two rungs and then I just tugged them down after that. Wade was in charge of the ones on the pitch lines on the roof.
There hasn't been much else going on. There are some big things happening in the next few months though. Arches, J's baptism, birthdays, babies. It should get pretty good here in a few weeks.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Our Newest Machine
Wade's work has some ridiculous perks. I mean, aside from 50 hour work weeks and meetings that stretch into eternity.
No...actual perks. Like 2 weeks paternity leave (I know! Apparently, this is pretty standard quo in places not named Utah), and 100% covered insurance (again, I know! This is SUCH a blessing after how much we shelled out for our miscarriage in 2011. I realize how ridiculous it is, in today's economy, to have a health plan that will cover everything. 100%. No co-pays. No deductibles. A modest premium deducted from the paycheck.) and lastly, a ridiculous reimbursement on health and exercise.
Sidenote: hey, let's count how many times I can write ridiculous in one post!
Wade's company will reimburse-to a certain dollar amount--the employee for exercise equipment and race entry fees and gym memberships and we were stupid and didn't take advantage of it last year. So this year, we cashed in and got a new treadmill.
I have gone on the record before about my hatred for the treadmill. It's a terrible torture machine. No matter how hard I try, I can never get above 45 minutes on it. I know people who have run double digit mileage on a treadmill. I just can't. I've tried everything to get my head out of the game enough to just run, but it's too hard.
But there are times when a treadmill comes in handy. Like all of winter for Wade, who doesn't run in the cold nor the snow, or when you oversleep and you still want to get in a workout for the day without the hassle of finding babysitters or waiting until nighttime when you're tired and less likely to do it.
The one we've been using for 7 years was okay. We got it off the classifieds and it's fit the bill. But, Wade has an unnaturally long gait and the deck was a little short so he always looked like he was going to fly off. Also, it wasn't the best one made for running, so it's had it's issues.
However, this new one is a feat of engineering. It has a touchscreen that connects to the Wifi and lets you read the news and play around on Facebook and whatever else you want. It can go to a ridiculous incline-15% and also down to a -3%. There's a wireless heart rate monitor. The best part though is that you can map out any route you want on Google Maps and download it to the machine and then it will show you a street view of where it's at (in sunlight with no snow on the ground!) and then the machine will actually change incline to match the route.
People, this is HUGE! I can now download my race courses into the treadmill and run the course beforehand without actually driving there.
This newest machine will join the basement brigade of a punching bag, bike trainer, captain's chair (pull ups and abdominal work) and a full weight bench, making our own little gym. All I need is one of those endless pools and I'd be set.
Oh, and maybe some motivation to actually try out the new treadmill. Seems like I can't seem to talk myself into doing anything other then stare at it in wonderment. Wade used it and he said it was really cool, and I watched for about 5 minutes. That still counts, right?
No...actual perks. Like 2 weeks paternity leave (I know! Apparently, this is pretty standard quo in places not named Utah), and 100% covered insurance (again, I know! This is SUCH a blessing after how much we shelled out for our miscarriage in 2011. I realize how ridiculous it is, in today's economy, to have a health plan that will cover everything. 100%. No co-pays. No deductibles. A modest premium deducted from the paycheck.) and lastly, a ridiculous reimbursement on health and exercise.
Sidenote: hey, let's count how many times I can write ridiculous in one post!
Wade's company will reimburse-to a certain dollar amount--the employee for exercise equipment and race entry fees and gym memberships and we were stupid and didn't take advantage of it last year. So this year, we cashed in and got a new treadmill.
I have gone on the record before about my hatred for the treadmill. It's a terrible torture machine. No matter how hard I try, I can never get above 45 minutes on it. I know people who have run double digit mileage on a treadmill. I just can't. I've tried everything to get my head out of the game enough to just run, but it's too hard.
But there are times when a treadmill comes in handy. Like all of winter for Wade, who doesn't run in the cold nor the snow, or when you oversleep and you still want to get in a workout for the day without the hassle of finding babysitters or waiting until nighttime when you're tired and less likely to do it.
The one we've been using for 7 years was okay. We got it off the classifieds and it's fit the bill. But, Wade has an unnaturally long gait and the deck was a little short so he always looked like he was going to fly off. Also, it wasn't the best one made for running, so it's had it's issues.
However, this new one is a feat of engineering. It has a touchscreen that connects to the Wifi and lets you read the news and play around on Facebook and whatever else you want. It can go to a ridiculous incline-15% and also down to a -3%. There's a wireless heart rate monitor. The best part though is that you can map out any route you want on Google Maps and download it to the machine and then it will show you a street view of where it's at (in sunlight with no snow on the ground!) and then the machine will actually change incline to match the route.
People, this is HUGE! I can now download my race courses into the treadmill and run the course beforehand without actually driving there.
This newest machine will join the basement brigade of a punching bag, bike trainer, captain's chair (pull ups and abdominal work) and a full weight bench, making our own little gym. All I need is one of those endless pools and I'd be set.
Oh, and maybe some motivation to actually try out the new treadmill. Seems like I can't seem to talk myself into doing anything other then stare at it in wonderment. Wade used it and he said it was really cool, and I watched for about 5 minutes. That still counts, right?
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
What's For Dinner Wednesday: Lemon Chicken
Lemon Chicken
Source: foodnetwork.com
1 1/2 pounds chicken cut into chunks
1/4 C all purpose flour
Coarse salt
2 T vegetable oil
1 T white or rice wine vinegar
1/2 C chicken broth or stock
8 ounces (1 C) prepared lemon curd--according to the comment section on the website this made it too sweet, so I cut it down to 1/2 C
1/4 C hot water
1 lemon, zested
2 scallions, thinly sliced or 20 blades fresh chives, finely chopped (omitted)
Lemon Curd
5 egg yolks
1 C sugar
4 lemons zested and juiced
1 stick butter, cut into pats and chille
Add enough water to a medium saucepan to come about 1-inch up the side. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, combine egg yolks and sugar in a medium size metal bowl and whisk until smooth, about 1 minute. Measure citrus juice and if needed, add enough cold water to reach 1/3 cup. Add juice and zest to egg mixture and whisk smooth. Once water reaches a simmer, reduce heat to low and place bowl on top of saucepan. (Bowl should be large enough to fit on top of saucepan without touching the water.) Whisk until thickened, approximately 8 minutes, or until mixture is light yellow and coats the back of a spoon. Remove promptly from heat and stir in butter a piece at a time, allowing each addition to melt before adding the next. Remove to a clean container and cover by laying a layer of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Coat the chicken lightly in flour, seasoned with a little salt. Heat a large skillet over high heat. Stir fry chicken until golden, 3 or 4 minutes. Remove chicken from pan and return pan to heat. Reduce heat to medium.
2. Add a splash of vinegar to the pan and let it evaporate. Add stock or broth to the pan and scrape up and drippings with a whisk. Thin curd by stirring in a little hot water. Add curd to broth and whisk to combine. Add chicken back to the pan and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes to thicken sauce and finish cooking chicken pieces through.
3. Remove the pan from the heat, add the scallions or chives and zest, and toss chicken well to combine zest and scallions or chives evenly throughout the sauce.
This turned out to be really good. I served it on top of rice and it tasted just right. Not too sweet. Overall, the recipe took about an hour to make, so not as super quick as I thought, but a lot of it was the preparation of the lemon curd. Lemon curd can be bought at the store, but I wanted to be all Betty Crocker-like and make it myself. Definitely a keeper.
Source: foodnetwork.com
1 1/2 pounds chicken cut into chunks
1/4 C all purpose flour
Coarse salt
2 T vegetable oil
1 T white or rice wine vinegar
1/2 C chicken broth or stock
8 ounces (1 C) prepared lemon curd--according to the comment section on the website this made it too sweet, so I cut it down to 1/2 C
1/4 C hot water
1 lemon, zested
2 scallions, thinly sliced or 20 blades fresh chives, finely chopped (omitted)
Lemon Curd
5 egg yolks
1 C sugar
4 lemons zested and juiced
1 stick butter, cut into pats and chille
Add enough water to a medium saucepan to come about 1-inch up the side. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, combine egg yolks and sugar in a medium size metal bowl and whisk until smooth, about 1 minute. Measure citrus juice and if needed, add enough cold water to reach 1/3 cup. Add juice and zest to egg mixture and whisk smooth. Once water reaches a simmer, reduce heat to low and place bowl on top of saucepan. (Bowl should be large enough to fit on top of saucepan without touching the water.) Whisk until thickened, approximately 8 minutes, or until mixture is light yellow and coats the back of a spoon. Remove promptly from heat and stir in butter a piece at a time, allowing each addition to melt before adding the next. Remove to a clean container and cover by laying a layer of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Coat the chicken lightly in flour, seasoned with a little salt. Heat a large skillet over high heat. Stir fry chicken until golden, 3 or 4 minutes. Remove chicken from pan and return pan to heat. Reduce heat to medium.
2. Add a splash of vinegar to the pan and let it evaporate. Add stock or broth to the pan and scrape up and drippings with a whisk. Thin curd by stirring in a little hot water. Add curd to broth and whisk to combine. Add chicken back to the pan and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes to thicken sauce and finish cooking chicken pieces through.
3. Remove the pan from the heat, add the scallions or chives and zest, and toss chicken well to combine zest and scallions or chives evenly throughout the sauce.
This turned out to be really good. I served it on top of rice and it tasted just right. Not too sweet. Overall, the recipe took about an hour to make, so not as super quick as I thought, but a lot of it was the preparation of the lemon curd. Lemon curd can be bought at the store, but I wanted to be all Betty Crocker-like and make it myself. Definitely a keeper.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Happy Valentines Day
I am the rare person who loves Valentine's Day. I know lots of people hate it simply because it' a consumer's holiday. I get that. I get that there's really no need for a day in which you show love to someone you should be showing love to all year long.
But I still love it. Aside from an excuse to eat more candy, Valentine's Day has morphed into Wade's Holiday. He LOVES this holiday. Every year he tries to outdo last year's present. And the presents are outrageous. No one gets presents like these for this dinky of a holiday. I'm not sure that I could pinpoint a Valentine's present in the last 5 years that has been something I "needed" but when I opened it, it was something you were going to have to pry from my cold dead hands if you wanted it back.
Which makes me love it more. It's just some arbitrary day in February in which I get a really cool present and he inevitably gets a not so cool present because he got a kick-butt one for Christmas.
And because I'm a lame gift giver.
This year, though, we ran into a snafu. I knew from my stealth observation skills that my Valentine's present was already hidden inside the house, but I also love the look that Wade gets when I open a present that is a complete surprise, so I didn't take advantage of the long days I'm alone in the house to go looking for the present. I was perfectly content in waiting until Valentine's to get it.
In addition to my cunning observation skills, I am also quite talented in procrastination and so it wasn't until yesterday that I started looking for Wade's gift. I found a few shirts and a sweater because we had recently cleaned out our closet and realized that he looks slightly homeless with his current wardrobe and so I picked them up as a good Valentine's present. Also, we were in desperate need of pillows for our bed, so I picked up two of those. It would look funny if we didn't have matching pillows, right?
Then I picked out a little something for the kids and hightailed it home before A. got back from preschool. I had about 10 seconds before the girl became permanently attached to my side like she does every day (Oiy! I need to write a post about that!) so I threw all the presents in the back of a closet in the basement that we never, ever use, figuring that the chances of Wade opening the closet in the next 16 hours was slim.
Then I went about my day. A friend came over and we were working on a project. I was looking for a cord in one of the storage closets, but never came across it, and we went back to working on the project. No harm done.
Wade came home from work and went downstairs while I finished making dinner. A few minutes went by and he sheepishly came into the kitchen.
"I found my Valentine presents."
"What?" I stood agape. What were the chances he would open the seldom used closet THAT DAY?
"I went to check on your present and saw that you had been in the storage area and I thought maybe you had found it, so I was moving it to a new hiding place, and there were my presents."
So, then, what are the chances that in a 3000 square foot house with 5 bedrooms and a host of closets that you would both hide your Valentine presents in the EXACT SAME SPOT?
We ended up just finishing out Valentines a day early. And he didn't disappoint again. Chalk up another Valentine's Day win for Wade.
And a rehaul of Wade's work wardrobe disguised as a gift for me.
(I mean if you don't count the treadmill we just bought as Wade's gift. Which I totally do. But this testament to the wonders of machines will have it's own blog post as soon as it arrives and we try it out. Because this thing is AWESOME! And may sway my vote from anti-treadmill-except-for-in-the-case-of-nuclear-war to pro-treadmill-because-sometimes-it'd-be-nice-not-to-have-to-run-in-negative-degrees.)
He is getting a baby too. But I'm holding out for his birthday and our anniversary to give him that. I wonder if I can keep that a little more secret than this holiday's presents. :)
(The super-grammar Nazi in me would go and see if it's Valentine's Day or Valentine Day or Valentines Day and change all occurrences in this post, but I'm almost 6 months pregnant, I bowled a 170 today, and my kids are practically sitting on my lap begging for attention, so I think I have all three well represented here and have the bases covered.)
But I still love it. Aside from an excuse to eat more candy, Valentine's Day has morphed into Wade's Holiday. He LOVES this holiday. Every year he tries to outdo last year's present. And the presents are outrageous. No one gets presents like these for this dinky of a holiday. I'm not sure that I could pinpoint a Valentine's present in the last 5 years that has been something I "needed" but when I opened it, it was something you were going to have to pry from my cold dead hands if you wanted it back.
Which makes me love it more. It's just some arbitrary day in February in which I get a really cool present and he inevitably gets a not so cool present because he got a kick-butt one for Christmas.
And because I'm a lame gift giver.
This year, though, we ran into a snafu. I knew from my stealth observation skills that my Valentine's present was already hidden inside the house, but I also love the look that Wade gets when I open a present that is a complete surprise, so I didn't take advantage of the long days I'm alone in the house to go looking for the present. I was perfectly content in waiting until Valentine's to get it.
In addition to my cunning observation skills, I am also quite talented in procrastination and so it wasn't until yesterday that I started looking for Wade's gift. I found a few shirts and a sweater because we had recently cleaned out our closet and realized that he looks slightly homeless with his current wardrobe and so I picked them up as a good Valentine's present. Also, we were in desperate need of pillows for our bed, so I picked up two of those. It would look funny if we didn't have matching pillows, right?
Then I picked out a little something for the kids and hightailed it home before A. got back from preschool. I had about 10 seconds before the girl became permanently attached to my side like she does every day (Oiy! I need to write a post about that!) so I threw all the presents in the back of a closet in the basement that we never, ever use, figuring that the chances of Wade opening the closet in the next 16 hours was slim.
Then I went about my day. A friend came over and we were working on a project. I was looking for a cord in one of the storage closets, but never came across it, and we went back to working on the project. No harm done.
Wade came home from work and went downstairs while I finished making dinner. A few minutes went by and he sheepishly came into the kitchen.
"I found my Valentine presents."
"What?" I stood agape. What were the chances he would open the seldom used closet THAT DAY?
"I went to check on your present and saw that you had been in the storage area and I thought maybe you had found it, so I was moving it to a new hiding place, and there were my presents."
So, then, what are the chances that in a 3000 square foot house with 5 bedrooms and a host of closets that you would both hide your Valentine presents in the EXACT SAME SPOT?
We ended up just finishing out Valentines a day early. And he didn't disappoint again. Chalk up another Valentine's Day win for Wade.
And a rehaul of Wade's work wardrobe disguised as a gift for me.
(I mean if you don't count the treadmill we just bought as Wade's gift. Which I totally do. But this testament to the wonders of machines will have it's own blog post as soon as it arrives and we try it out. Because this thing is AWESOME! And may sway my vote from anti-treadmill-except-for-in-the-case-of-nuclear-war to pro-treadmill-because-sometimes-it'd-be-nice-not-to-have-to-run-in-negative-degrees.)
He is getting a baby too. But I'm holding out for his birthday and our anniversary to give him that. I wonder if I can keep that a little more secret than this holiday's presents. :)
(The super-grammar Nazi in me would go and see if it's Valentine's Day or Valentine Day or Valentines Day and change all occurrences in this post, but I'm almost 6 months pregnant, I bowled a 170 today, and my kids are practically sitting on my lap begging for attention, so I think I have all three well represented here and have the bases covered.)
Sunday, February 3, 2013
New Years Resolution Update
It's now February and so far I've been doing really good on my resolutions. The biggest one this year is getting organized. I bought my organizing book and really set out to conquer this. The first thing the book had me do was actually sit down and try to assess why I'm so disorganized. There were some journal entries that helped me see where I was getting derailed. Then it laid out a plan of attack. With some of my own common sense, I have a good system going.
One of the biggest hindrances in getting organized is that, in my head, it was something that should happen after everything else was done. After the dishes were done and the house was clean. And by the time I got around to doing it, I was too tired to make much of a dent.
This month, I've been concentrating on keeping the surface of the house clean. This means that for 31 days, I didn't go to bed until the house was picked up. It's only surface cleaned--don't open any closets or look too closely at anything--but the clutter is picked up. The dishes are in the dishwasher or waiting to go in in the morning. Laundry is kept up, more or less. Shoes are put away. This has helped in keeping my anxiety at bay. I don't lay in bed and look at the clutter around me and get depressed at how I can't keep on top.
After I felt like I had a good handle on that, I started in on the first room in my book--the kitchen. If you've been in my kitchen in the last, at least, four years, you know that this area was in desperate need of reorganizing. The pantry has been out of control for a few years now. So, I went and bought storage containers and cleaned it out. I can't even begin to tell you what a relief it is to open the doors and see exactly what I have on hand.
Then I had a minor breakdown with the Tupperware cupboard and now there is no more Tupperware cupboard. I threw it all way except for a few of the really, really good pieces. It was such a relief when I took the bag(s) out to the recycling can.
Today, I cleaned out the refrigerator, the freezer and the rest of the cupboards. I got rid of the old pans that are flaking off and some of the appliances that I never, ever use. The hardest part of cleaning out the kitchen was throwing so much away. I just had to let it go though.
The room to organize for February is my bedroom. This shouldn't be so bad since I did do a total makeover in June. But you'd be surprised. I'm really excited to clean out my closet and to finally hang curtains and pictures and complete the makeover.
The biggest thing I've taken from this is HOW MUCH TIME IS SPENT CLEANING! I keep thinking that eventually it will only take just a few minutes a day, but it's not coming to fruition yet. In the past, this would drive me nuts. But, I'm trying to get past that and just doing it because tomorrow, there'd be twice as much. But still!!! I listen to podcasts and they keep me entertained. And, now, when I take a few hours and do something I want to do, I don't feel guilty because the house is a mess or the laundry isn't done.
As for my other resolutions, I have been doing more writing, but only here. I haven't missed a week yet on What's For Dinner Wednesday, so that's a plus. I don't really have any desire to write anything else right now--there's a lot going on that I would rather focus on. I haven't really read anything so great that I want to highlight it here, but maybe that will change here soon.
I've also just been doing my thing and not letting others dictate my time. That's been kind of nice. I've been teaching myself how to build a website from the ground up--even if there are many programs out there that will do it for you. I'm focusing a lot on my swimming in hopes that I can bounce back after childbirth into my annual sprint tri in August. Just doing my thing and being happy about what gets done--and what doesn't.
Hope everyone else is still plodding on with their resolutions.
One of the biggest hindrances in getting organized is that, in my head, it was something that should happen after everything else was done. After the dishes were done and the house was clean. And by the time I got around to doing it, I was too tired to make much of a dent.
This month, I've been concentrating on keeping the surface of the house clean. This means that for 31 days, I didn't go to bed until the house was picked up. It's only surface cleaned--don't open any closets or look too closely at anything--but the clutter is picked up. The dishes are in the dishwasher or waiting to go in in the morning. Laundry is kept up, more or less. Shoes are put away. This has helped in keeping my anxiety at bay. I don't lay in bed and look at the clutter around me and get depressed at how I can't keep on top.
After I felt like I had a good handle on that, I started in on the first room in my book--the kitchen. If you've been in my kitchen in the last, at least, four years, you know that this area was in desperate need of reorganizing. The pantry has been out of control for a few years now. So, I went and bought storage containers and cleaned it out. I can't even begin to tell you what a relief it is to open the doors and see exactly what I have on hand.
Then I had a minor breakdown with the Tupperware cupboard and now there is no more Tupperware cupboard. I threw it all way except for a few of the really, really good pieces. It was such a relief when I took the bag(s) out to the recycling can.
Today, I cleaned out the refrigerator, the freezer and the rest of the cupboards. I got rid of the old pans that are flaking off and some of the appliances that I never, ever use. The hardest part of cleaning out the kitchen was throwing so much away. I just had to let it go though.
The room to organize for February is my bedroom. This shouldn't be so bad since I did do a total makeover in June. But you'd be surprised. I'm really excited to clean out my closet and to finally hang curtains and pictures and complete the makeover.
The biggest thing I've taken from this is HOW MUCH TIME IS SPENT CLEANING! I keep thinking that eventually it will only take just a few minutes a day, but it's not coming to fruition yet. In the past, this would drive me nuts. But, I'm trying to get past that and just doing it because tomorrow, there'd be twice as much. But still!!! I listen to podcasts and they keep me entertained. And, now, when I take a few hours and do something I want to do, I don't feel guilty because the house is a mess or the laundry isn't done.
As for my other resolutions, I have been doing more writing, but only here. I haven't missed a week yet on What's For Dinner Wednesday, so that's a plus. I don't really have any desire to write anything else right now--there's a lot going on that I would rather focus on. I haven't really read anything so great that I want to highlight it here, but maybe that will change here soon.
I've also just been doing my thing and not letting others dictate my time. That's been kind of nice. I've been teaching myself how to build a website from the ground up--even if there are many programs out there that will do it for you. I'm focusing a lot on my swimming in hopes that I can bounce back after childbirth into my annual sprint tri in August. Just doing my thing and being happy about what gets done--and what doesn't.
Hope everyone else is still plodding on with their resolutions.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
What's For Dinner Wednesday: Apple Gouda Melts
Apple Gouda Melts
Source: Taste of Home magazine February/March 2013
Time stated: 15 minutes
Actual: 30ish
6 slices seeded whole grain bread
4 T butter
6 oz mozzarella cheese
1 large apple
6 oz smoked Gouda cheese
1. Spread one side of each slice of bread with butter. Broil until toasted.
2. Turn bread over and spread other side with butter. Layer with mozzarella cheese, thin slices of apple and Gouda cheese. Broil until cheese melts.
Nutrition: 1 serving = 1 slice 332 cal, 22 g Fat, 18 g CHO, 15 g Pro
This was very simple and tasted great. Just some suggestions though: homemade bread would have been AWESOME for this. The bread slices needed to be a little thicker. I'm not sure what apple I used, but I would have gone for a more bitter one than what I had. Also, it was a little mushy, so a firmer apple would have been even better. And instead of putting the whole slice of Gouda cheese on, I would have broken it up and spread it around some instead of just in the middle since it didn't really "run" when it melted. Otherwise, it was a great twist on a melted cheese sandwich.
Source: Taste of Home magazine February/March 2013
Time stated: 15 minutes
Actual: 30ish
6 slices seeded whole grain bread
4 T butter
6 oz mozzarella cheese
1 large apple
6 oz smoked Gouda cheese
1. Spread one side of each slice of bread with butter. Broil until toasted.
2. Turn bread over and spread other side with butter. Layer with mozzarella cheese, thin slices of apple and Gouda cheese. Broil until cheese melts.
Nutrition: 1 serving = 1 slice 332 cal, 22 g Fat, 18 g CHO, 15 g Pro
This was very simple and tasted great. Just some suggestions though: homemade bread would have been AWESOME for this. The bread slices needed to be a little thicker. I'm not sure what apple I used, but I would have gone for a more bitter one than what I had. Also, it was a little mushy, so a firmer apple would have been even better. And instead of putting the whole slice of Gouda cheese on, I would have broken it up and spread it around some instead of just in the middle since it didn't really "run" when it melted. Otherwise, it was a great twist on a melted cheese sandwich.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
What's For Dinner Wednesday: Taco Melts
Taco Melts
Source: allrecipes.com
Time: 30 minutes max
1 lb ground beef
1 packet taco seasoning
1 1/2 C salsa
1 container Grands Biscuits
shredded cheddar cheese
1. Cook the ground beef and add the taco seasoning packet. Put in the salsa and heat up.
2. Press the biscuits into 6 inch circles. Put in 1/3 C meat mixture, a tablespoon of cheddar cheese and fold the biscuit over and seal.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 9 - 14 minutes until golden brown.
This was a ridiculously easy meal to put together. The 1/3 C meat mixture was too much for my "6 inch biscuits", so either I didn't measure the biscuits correctly, or 1/3 C is really too much. But, the meal was reminiscent of a meal my mom use to make. I really liked it. Wade says he did too. The kids, not so much. But that's nothing new.
Source: allrecipes.com
Time: 30 minutes max
1 lb ground beef
1 packet taco seasoning
1 1/2 C salsa
1 container Grands Biscuits
shredded cheddar cheese
1. Cook the ground beef and add the taco seasoning packet. Put in the salsa and heat up.
2. Press the biscuits into 6 inch circles. Put in 1/3 C meat mixture, a tablespoon of cheddar cheese and fold the biscuit over and seal.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 9 - 14 minutes until golden brown.
This was a ridiculously easy meal to put together. The 1/3 C meat mixture was too much for my "6 inch biscuits", so either I didn't measure the biscuits correctly, or 1/3 C is really too much. But, the meal was reminiscent of a meal my mom use to make. I really liked it. Wade says he did too. The kids, not so much. But that's nothing new.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Success!
Saturday was our first "club" race down in sunny St. George. The weather here in Northern Utah has been terrible for about the last three weeks. It's been cold and smoggy and all-around blah. St. George was promising at least warmer weather and clear skies. I would take it, if only for a few hours.
Two cousins drove from Boise and met me at my house Friday morning. (I know! That is dedication!) and another cousin drove down from Idaho Falls and met her sister (who lives in my neighborhood) on Thursday. Then we picked up two people and we all stuffed ourselves into my vehicle. It was a tight squeeze, but it was still fun.
We drove to St. George and had a grand time along the way. There was a lot of talking and laughing. Once we got there, we picked up our packets and then checked into our hotel. We had about 20 minutes before we were due to dinner at Olive Garden. I was lucky enough to secure reservations for 30 people at 8:30 pm at the restaurant. At first, I thought it was going to be too late, but it turned out to be the perfect time. We had 22 people running the race, plus some family members who had tagged along.
Dinner was good. Bed was even better. Before long it was time to get up and ready. It's the first race that I can remember that I wasn't really excited to run. I was telling the friend I was sharing a hotel room with that if I hadn't put the whole thing together, I'd suggest we just go shopping instead. I've been feeling pretty tired the last couple of weeks and if the race was even a week later, I probably wouldn't have tried to run the half marathon. But alas, I was committed. The race started at 9, which is pretty late for a race start, but definitely worked to our advantage. There was some big-time stress the morning of the race--too much to really go into right now--but by the time I got to the starting line, I was happy to be there.
The race itself went really smoothly. Of the 17 gals running the half marathon 8 of them were doing their first half marathons. I ran the race with a new friend found through the running club and an old friend, R., who swore she'd never become a runner. We had a lot of fun and met some fun ladies on the course. Mile 10 reared it's ugly head like it does every race, but we just kept plugging along. Overall, I felt really good. My legs were sore and the baby kept kicking me after mile 9, like she was saying "Um...mom...what are you doing???" But the best part was the weather--perfect temperatures and blue skies.
The real moment in the race, though, was when we turned the corner to the finish line and I saw the look on R.'s face as she closed in on the end of the race. It was pure awesome! It felt like the first time I crossed a finish line of a race and I knew exactly how she felt.
We crossed a little after 2:37. Not too shabby considering I am 21 weeks pregnant. The year I did the same race a week after a cruise, I stumbled across at 2:50. So I'm happy with our result.
We hung around the finish line for a little bit and then a few of us went back out on the course in search of our last runner. This runner is a true inspiraton to all. This was her first race--EVER. No 5k. No 10k. Her first race was a half marathon. She was afraid she wouldn't make it before they closed the course at 3:30 hours. She's not fast by any means, but she had desire and heart and that carried her all 13.1 miles. We found her about .75 miles from the finish line. We then ran with her to the finish line and cheered her in. She made it by 14 minutes and you would have thought she won the whole thing. The look on her face was priceless. By far, one of the best race memories I have from any race. I wouldn't trade that moment for a few extra hours of sleep at any cost!
My car load went to grab lunch and then we headed all the way back home. It was a whirlwind trip, but well worth it. Everyone seems really excited about October's race--the Haunted Half Marathon--and I even recruited a new club member down in St. George. Overall, it was deemed a success and I had so much fun!
Two cousins drove from Boise and met me at my house Friday morning. (I know! That is dedication!) and another cousin drove down from Idaho Falls and met her sister (who lives in my neighborhood) on Thursday. Then we picked up two people and we all stuffed ourselves into my vehicle. It was a tight squeeze, but it was still fun.
We drove to St. George and had a grand time along the way. There was a lot of talking and laughing. Once we got there, we picked up our packets and then checked into our hotel. We had about 20 minutes before we were due to dinner at Olive Garden. I was lucky enough to secure reservations for 30 people at 8:30 pm at the restaurant. At first, I thought it was going to be too late, but it turned out to be the perfect time. We had 22 people running the race, plus some family members who had tagged along.
Dinner was good. Bed was even better. Before long it was time to get up and ready. It's the first race that I can remember that I wasn't really excited to run. I was telling the friend I was sharing a hotel room with that if I hadn't put the whole thing together, I'd suggest we just go shopping instead. I've been feeling pretty tired the last couple of weeks and if the race was even a week later, I probably wouldn't have tried to run the half marathon. But alas, I was committed. The race started at 9, which is pretty late for a race start, but definitely worked to our advantage. There was some big-time stress the morning of the race--too much to really go into right now--but by the time I got to the starting line, I was happy to be there.
The race itself went really smoothly. Of the 17 gals running the half marathon 8 of them were doing their first half marathons. I ran the race with a new friend found through the running club and an old friend, R., who swore she'd never become a runner. We had a lot of fun and met some fun ladies on the course. Mile 10 reared it's ugly head like it does every race, but we just kept plugging along. Overall, I felt really good. My legs were sore and the baby kept kicking me after mile 9, like she was saying "Um...mom...what are you doing???" But the best part was the weather--perfect temperatures and blue skies.
The real moment in the race, though, was when we turned the corner to the finish line and I saw the look on R.'s face as she closed in on the end of the race. It was pure awesome! It felt like the first time I crossed a finish line of a race and I knew exactly how she felt.
We crossed a little after 2:37. Not too shabby considering I am 21 weeks pregnant. The year I did the same race a week after a cruise, I stumbled across at 2:50. So I'm happy with our result.
We hung around the finish line for a little bit and then a few of us went back out on the course in search of our last runner. This runner is a true inspiraton to all. This was her first race--EVER. No 5k. No 10k. Her first race was a half marathon. She was afraid she wouldn't make it before they closed the course at 3:30 hours. She's not fast by any means, but she had desire and heart and that carried her all 13.1 miles. We found her about .75 miles from the finish line. We then ran with her to the finish line and cheered her in. She made it by 14 minutes and you would have thought she won the whole thing. The look on her face was priceless. By far, one of the best race memories I have from any race. I wouldn't trade that moment for a few extra hours of sleep at any cost!
My car load went to grab lunch and then we headed all the way back home. It was a whirlwind trip, but well worth it. Everyone seems really excited about October's race--the Haunted Half Marathon--and I even recruited a new club member down in St. George. Overall, it was deemed a success and I had so much fun!
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
What's For Dinner Wednesday: Orange-Simmered Pork Chops with Mango Relish
Orange-Simmered Pork Chops with Mango Relish
Source: Better Homes and Gardens February 2013
Time to prepare: Said 30 minutes, but they must not have kids. Closer to 50 minutes
1 mango, halved, seeded, peeled and chopped
1 C pineapple chunks
1 small orange or tangerine, peeled and segmented
1/4 C orange juice
1/4 C chopped red onion
1 small banana pepper, sliced (optional)
1 tsp finely shredded orange peel
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
4 4 oz frozen bone-in pork chops, about 1/4 inch thick
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 T olive oil
1/2 C orange juice
2 tsp honey
Fresh cilantro
1. For mango relish, in a medium bowl stir together mango, pineapple, orange segments, the 1/4 C orange juice,, red onion, banana pepper, orange peel, and cayenne pepper. Set aside.
2. Sprinkle pork chops with chili powder, salt, and pepper. In a large skillet heat oil over medium-high heat. Add two pork chops; brown 3 minutes on each side. Remove from skillet. Add remaining pork chops to skillet; brown 3 minutes on each side. Add first two pork chops back to skillet.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the 1/2 C orange juice and honey; add to skillet. Add 1/2 C water. Reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, 5 minutes or until pork is done. Spoon mango relish over pork. Cover; simmer 1 minute more. Remover pork and relish and cover to keep warm.
4. Return pan to medium-high heat. Simmer juices, uncovered, 5 minutes or until reduced by half. Drizzle over pork. Sprinkle with cilantro.
To use fresh or thawed chops: Reduce browning time to 1 1/2 minutes each side. Add liquid and chops to skillet. Bring to a simmer; add mango relish. Simmer just 1 minute. Proceed as above.
Nutrition: 360 calories. 16 g fat. 30 g CHO. 24 g Pro
This turned out to be really good, really simple and something you could do with frozen pork chops that you had forgotten to pull out of the freezer to defrost. Wade really liked it. I wasn't feeling very good and had an iffy appetite, so my review is a little lukewarm. I've never actually cut a mango and had some issues with that. I also didn't have a banana pepper. And I forgot about the sauce at the end. Sigh. It was a long day. However, I'm positive it will get good reviews if you make it, so you should try.
Source: Better Homes and Gardens February 2013
Time to prepare: Said 30 minutes, but they must not have kids. Closer to 50 minutes
1 mango, halved, seeded, peeled and chopped
1 C pineapple chunks
1 small orange or tangerine, peeled and segmented
1/4 C orange juice
1/4 C chopped red onion
1 small banana pepper, sliced (optional)
1 tsp finely shredded orange peel
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
4 4 oz frozen bone-in pork chops, about 1/4 inch thick
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 T olive oil
1/2 C orange juice
2 tsp honey
Fresh cilantro
1. For mango relish, in a medium bowl stir together mango, pineapple, orange segments, the 1/4 C orange juice,, red onion, banana pepper, orange peel, and cayenne pepper. Set aside.
2. Sprinkle pork chops with chili powder, salt, and pepper. In a large skillet heat oil over medium-high heat. Add two pork chops; brown 3 minutes on each side. Remove from skillet. Add remaining pork chops to skillet; brown 3 minutes on each side. Add first two pork chops back to skillet.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the 1/2 C orange juice and honey; add to skillet. Add 1/2 C water. Reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, 5 minutes or until pork is done. Spoon mango relish over pork. Cover; simmer 1 minute more. Remover pork and relish and cover to keep warm.
4. Return pan to medium-high heat. Simmer juices, uncovered, 5 minutes or until reduced by half. Drizzle over pork. Sprinkle with cilantro.
To use fresh or thawed chops: Reduce browning time to 1 1/2 minutes each side. Add liquid and chops to skillet. Bring to a simmer; add mango relish. Simmer just 1 minute. Proceed as above.
Nutrition: 360 calories. 16 g fat. 30 g CHO. 24 g Pro
This turned out to be really good, really simple and something you could do with frozen pork chops that you had forgotten to pull out of the freezer to defrost. Wade really liked it. I wasn't feeling very good and had an iffy appetite, so my review is a little lukewarm. I've never actually cut a mango and had some issues with that. I also didn't have a banana pepper. And I forgot about the sauce at the end. Sigh. It was a long day. However, I'm positive it will get good reviews if you make it, so you should try.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Ramblings
- I'm running a half marathon with a bunch of ladies from my area on Saturday. I'm really excited for it because I have no expectations for myself. I'm just in it to finish it and have a good time. Everyone else seems to be pretty excited about it too. I remember my first half marathon and how nervous I was. I know that some of these ladies are feeling that and I love it!
- Friday night I got a text from one of the gals that hasn't been able to do the long runs with us. I wasn't even sure if she was going to make it to the race. She texted me that she ran 11.8 miles. In the dark. In single digit temperatures. By herself. And you could read the excitement in her words. I actually ran into her a little later and she was so proud and happy, it made my weekend. I can remember the first time I ran double digits and how proud I was for myself. I could feel that for her too.
- Speaking of single digit temperatures, this winter has been the worst one I have ever run through. I feel like I owe all these people an apology for saying "oh it's not that bad." when they moan about running in the winter. It's bad. Really bad. The other Saturday--for our 12 miler--it was -3 degrees. Luckily, I woke up with a low grade fever and played the pregnancy card, so I sat it out. Which is probably good, because whatever I was fighting didn't blow up into anything big. This Saturday, it was a balmy 13 degrees. It's only gotten above freezing twice in the last three weeks.
- In contrast, St. George is going to be close to 60 degrees on Saturday. :)
- We find out the flavor of our baby on Thursday. Ultrasounds always make me nervous and I'll just be glad when it's over. But I think it's a girl. A. really wants a baby sister. J. wants a baby brother. One of them is going to be disappointed. A. christened the baby Heart when we first told her we were having a baby. Then last week she changed it to Twilight. I think she thinks we're having a My Little Pony.
- I have successfully kept the house clean for two weeks straight. And the laundry is caught up. Just don't open any closet doors.
- Our book this month for book club is Jane Eyre. I've been reading my 24 pages a day so I can finish in time. It's been really good. I even had to send out a retraction email to the book club for poking fun at the book.
- My natural tendency is to be a hermit. I hardly left my house the two weeks Wade was off for Christmas. If left to my own devices, I would sit and stew in my own juices. But, it isn't what I want for my life. So I've had to transform myself into more of a social person. I think it makes me well rounded. And nothing bad happens from being out of my comfort zone a little bit, right?
- I consume more calories during the hour I sit and watch Biggest Loser than at any other time during the week.
- I have the funniest, cutest kids. Couldn't ask for better. And the bestest husband. The other weekend, when I was sick with a fever and just feeling blah, he took the kids up to Park City overnight. It was awesome!
- Tomorrow, I'm officially half baked. Now it's a countdown!
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
What's For Dinner Wednesday: Loaded Baked Potato Soup
Loaded Baked Potato Soup
Source: Family Circle February 2013
Prep: 20 min Bake: 50 min at 400 degrees Cook: 22 min Broil: 3 min
2 1/2 lbs baking potatoes
1/2 lb sliced bacon (I cheated and used bacon bits from the salad aisle)
2 T unsalted butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 T all-purpose flour
4 C milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3 C shredded white cheddar cheese
4 scallions, thinly sliced
6 tsp sour cream
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Pierce potatoes with a fork and bake 50 minutes until tender. Allow to cool some. Scoop potato flesh into a bowl and mash.
2. Cook bacon until crisp. Crumble and set aside. Reserve 2 T bacon grease.
3. In a large pot, add butter and reserved bacon grease. Heat over medium heat. Add onion and cook 3 minutes. Sprinkle flour over onion and cook 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk; stir in salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and nutmeg. Add reserved mashed potatoes and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in 2 cups of the cheese, half the reserved bacon and half the scallions.
4. Heat broiler. Divide soup into six oven-proof bowls. Sprinkle the tops of the soups with the remaining cheese. Broil 4 inches from heat source for 3 minutes until cheese melts.
5. Garnish each with 1 tsp sour cream and remaining bacon and scallions
Nutrition: Cal: 577 Fat: 31 g Pro: 29 g CHO 48 g
This was my first attempt at a favorite soup of mine when I'm out and about. I thought it was decent. Could have used some more oomph to it, but otherwise a great starter. It's definitely not for the healthy conscious. Look at the grams of fat in that sucker. But it warmed me up on (yet another) really cold day. I really, really liked the white cheddar cheese. I've never had it before and it's definitely considerably stronger than the orange cheddar cheese--even the sharp flavor. It has a grittiness to it that I also really liked. I found it in the regular aisle with the other cheeses. I've never noticed it there before. Goes to show you that you find new things every day. The hardest thing about the soup was scooping out the potato flesh. That's my kind of meal.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
What's For Dinner Wednesday: Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Cranberry Quinoa
Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Cranberry Quinoa
Source: Taste of Home magazine December/January 2013
Prep time stated: 45 min
Actual: 1 hr
Cook time stated: 30 min
Actual: 35 min
Oven temp: 350
2 C Chicken broth
1 C quinoa, rinsed
1 fresh thyme sprig--I just used the dry stuff
1 T olive oil
8 green onions, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
2/3 C dried cranberries
2/3 C chopped dried apricots
3 T lemon juice
2 1/2 tsp grated lemon peel
1/2 tsp salt
chicken
3/4 C dry sherry
1/4 C water
3 T red wine vinegar
1 T brown sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 t ground ginger
1 large, tart apple, peeled and chopped
1/2 C dried cranberries
1/3 C chopped walnuts (omitted because I don't like walnuts)
1/2 C apricot preserves
2 T butter
6 skinless chicken breast halves
1 T olive oil
1. In a small saucepan, bring broth to a boil. Add quinoa and thyme. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Remove from the heat; fluff with a fork. Discard thyme (if you didn't use the dry stuff)
2. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add green onions and celery; cook and stir until tender. Add cooked quinoa. Stir in the dried fruits, lemon juice, lemon peel and salt.
3. In a large saucepan, mix the first six chicken ingredients until smooth. Bring to a boil, cook and stir until slightly thickened. Add the apple, cranberries and walnuts. Stir in preserves and butter until melted.
4. Cut a pocket horizontally in the thickest part of each chicken breast. Fill each with 2-3 T quinoa mixture; secure with toothpicks. Place remaining quinoa mixture in a greased 1-qt baking dish; cover with foil. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Brown stuffed chicken on both sides. Transfer to a greased 13 x 9 in baking pan; spoon apple mixture over top.
5. Bake chicken and quinoa at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Nutrition: 1 serving (1/2 chicken breast): 606 calories, 11.8 g fat, 93 g CHO, 33 g Pro
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I really liked this dish. It was a little different and the chicken I had was too thick, so you didn't get to taste the stuffed part much, but overall, I really liked the apple sauce that was poured over the chicken and the different tastes of the different fruits involved. It was a little labor intensive for a weeknight meal, but a lot of that is my disorganization in the kitchen. And the kids fighting in the background.
The quinoa needed some work and might be one of those acquired tastes. It wasn't so horrible that I won't eat quinoa again, but I do need to figure out how to cook it right.
A good first meal of the year.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I really liked this dish. It was a little different and the chicken I had was too thick, so you didn't get to taste the stuffed part much, but overall, I really liked the apple sauce that was poured over the chicken and the different tastes of the different fruits involved. It was a little labor intensive for a weeknight meal, but a lot of that is my disorganization in the kitchen. And the kids fighting in the background.
The quinoa needed some work and might be one of those acquired tastes. It wasn't so horrible that I won't eat quinoa again, but I do need to figure out how to cook it right.
A good first meal of the year.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
2013 New Years Resolutions
There is something about the beginning of a new year. It just seems like the perfect time to start over.
Or fine tune yourself. Or better yourself. Or to become something completely different.
Whatever's your tune--January 1st seems to be the perfect time. And I am no different then the rest of the crowd when I profess my desire to change things about myself every year. So without further ado, here are my resolutions for the year:
(1) Write more. This means in the blog. But also other things. I really, really enjoy writing but I don't do nearly enough of it. After many failed attempts at explaining why, I've come to the conclusion that I view writing as an extracurricular activity only to be engaged in when everything else on my plate is done. Which is never. So, this year, I'm giving myself permission to not have everything done before I sit down to write. I'm going to schedule a time to write and then adhere to that schedule.
Speaking of schedules, I plan to resurrect my book reviews and my What's For Dinner Wednesday posts. I'm in a book frenzy right now--I've read 17 books in the last three months--and have read some amazing books whose virtues need to be extolled to the masses. I've even finished the first book of the year (I know! It's 2:30 on New Years Day and I already have it crossed it.) It was amazing, one of the best I've read in a long time and left me sobbing in the bathtub. As for new recipes, it's something I enjoy and now that I have some more energy, I plan on adding some more to my arsenal.
(2) Get organized. This is on my list Every. Single. Year. but this year I'm serious. I even got a book on how to become organized in a year that has everything broken out by the different months so you don't get too overwhelmed. I'm tired of looking for the tools and things I need because they're never all together in the place where they should be. I want to be one of those organized people that has long periods of the day stretched before them in which to do things they want instead of things that they have to do because they're not organized enough to get it done in the morning.
(3) Do my thing. I know we all suffer from the dreaded "what will people think" disease from time to time and I found myself in this trap a lot in 2012. So guess what? I'm freeing myself from it. So, you know what? I'm not listening any more. Life is too short to care what others think, so I'm just going to do my thing.
Note: "Doing my thing" is not the same thing as "never doing anything that I don't want to do". I will still be doing things I don't want to because of inane reasons such as I value a particular friendship more than I value the time lost in doing something I'm not excited about. Or, it's just easier to do something than to put up a big stink. But, I'm not caring what anyone else thinks as to why I'm doing things the way I'm doing them. So there.
These seem a lot less ambitious then years past. Except for the whole organizing thing. That seems unfathomable at the moment. But no physical exertions that will bring me to my very limits. It's the first time in a long while something like that hasn't been on my list. But, it feels good to concentrate on other areas of my well-being.
Happy 2013 my fellow friends and followers.
Or fine tune yourself. Or better yourself. Or to become something completely different.
Whatever's your tune--January 1st seems to be the perfect time. And I am no different then the rest of the crowd when I profess my desire to change things about myself every year. So without further ado, here are my resolutions for the year:
(1) Write more. This means in the blog. But also other things. I really, really enjoy writing but I don't do nearly enough of it. After many failed attempts at explaining why, I've come to the conclusion that I view writing as an extracurricular activity only to be engaged in when everything else on my plate is done. Which is never. So, this year, I'm giving myself permission to not have everything done before I sit down to write. I'm going to schedule a time to write and then adhere to that schedule.
Speaking of schedules, I plan to resurrect my book reviews and my What's For Dinner Wednesday posts. I'm in a book frenzy right now--I've read 17 books in the last three months--and have read some amazing books whose virtues need to be extolled to the masses. I've even finished the first book of the year (I know! It's 2:30 on New Years Day and I already have it crossed it.) It was amazing, one of the best I've read in a long time and left me sobbing in the bathtub. As for new recipes, it's something I enjoy and now that I have some more energy, I plan on adding some more to my arsenal.
(2) Get organized. This is on my list Every. Single. Year. but this year I'm serious. I even got a book on how to become organized in a year that has everything broken out by the different months so you don't get too overwhelmed. I'm tired of looking for the tools and things I need because they're never all together in the place where they should be. I want to be one of those organized people that has long periods of the day stretched before them in which to do things they want instead of things that they have to do because they're not organized enough to get it done in the morning.
(3) Do my thing. I know we all suffer from the dreaded "what will people think" disease from time to time and I found myself in this trap a lot in 2012. So guess what? I'm freeing myself from it. So, you know what? I'm not listening any more. Life is too short to care what others think, so I'm just going to do my thing.
Note: "Doing my thing" is not the same thing as "never doing anything that I don't want to do". I will still be doing things I don't want to because of inane reasons such as I value a particular friendship more than I value the time lost in doing something I'm not excited about. Or, it's just easier to do something than to put up a big stink. But, I'm not caring what anyone else thinks as to why I'm doing things the way I'm doing them. So there.
These seem a lot less ambitious then years past. Except for the whole organizing thing. That seems unfathomable at the moment. But no physical exertions that will bring me to my very limits. It's the first time in a long while something like that hasn't been on my list. But, it feels good to concentrate on other areas of my well-being.
Happy 2013 my fellow friends and followers.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
End of Year Thoughts
It's been an amazing year. I mean, not that I shared a lot of it here because looking over this year's blog entries, I see I have slacked heavily in that area.
But, rest assured, it was an amazing year. And I'm flooded with all these things to talk about as it comes to an end, but I'm going to focus on one thing in particular. It stems from a comment I made during a lesson I taught at church...
Oh, right. That story. One Saturday night, I received a frantic email from the teacher pleading with me to please teach her lesson the next day to all the women of the congregation because she was so sick. Never one to shirk from a challenge I accepted and gave what I thought was a pretty mediocre lesson given my total lack of planning, but one in which one of the most critical (and smartest) women in the congregation congratulated me on my lesson. Boo-ya...
So my comment was directed towards a time in which I felt like I needed to ask forgiveness from the Lord for something. I had opened the discussion to the other women because I didn't want to share anything too personal, but no one spoke up. And so as I was grappling with the silence this experience popped into my head.
I was running a half marathon this past summer and I was having a great time. But, as I was floating down the road I started in on my usual negative self-talk. It's a problem that I have battled in nearly every race I have ever done. I will tell myself how dumb I am for being out there, how I didn't prepare as hard as I could have, how I'll never amount to anything more than just a wannabe runner, yada, yada, yada. It's debilitating to have that coursing through your head as your pushing yourself to the limit.
However, in this particular instance, the very clear thought came into my head "This isn't about you." I was a little stunned by what this meant. Running has always been a pretty solitary sport in my opinion. Sure, I run with people and it's socializing, but in the end, I only reap what I sow and I'm the only one who is going to get myself across the finish line when push comes to shove.
As I allowed myself to ponder this statement, I realized that I was approaching running in the wrong manner. Sure, there are those who will win and bring accolades upon themselves and raise awareness for their different campaigns. I was not one of those people. I will never be one of those people. I had resigned myself to that years and years and years ago. But, that didn't mean I didn't have something to offer.
And it was at that moment that a tiny, tiny speck of what was to come was planted. I came to a very clear understanding that my moment in this sport wouldn't be about what place I came in or what time the clock said but that my talent was in raising awareness for others. To teach others that they can have dreams and no matter how silly or far-fetched they are, they can be achieved with support and hard work. And that God had given me this talent, per se, not to run fast and be the fastest in the group, but to be the person who motivates others to go out and try. And when I reverted to the negative self talk, I was basically throwing this "talent" back in His face.
I can say that once I had a glimpse of what my true purpose for being out on the race course was, my total attitude changed and I didn't suffer from the negative self talk in any of my other races, including the mother of all races, the Half Ironman.
Of course, I would still like to be the fastest...but that's just my humanness emerging.
It was a pretty profound moment and one in which I brushed aside in the exuberance of crossing the finish line nearly 8 minutes faster than any previous race and 48 seconds faster than my goal time. In fact, I didn't think much more about it until I started relaying the story in church a few weeks back.
About 4 months after this race, I met a new friend. I like that I can still meet new people. I was at a volleyball training thing for church and was talking to a few people about the Half Ironman, when this petite blond asked if I was Sandra. I had never met her before, but we ended up talking all the way through the training thing and then did a few long bike rides together. She knew who I was because of a mutual friend and said that she had always wanted to meet me. She also mentioned that she thought it was cool that I had a group of friends that did these races together and how she wished she had a similar thing in her neighborhood.
Which got me to thinking...if this total stranger knew of me, how many other total strangers know of me. And how many others were standing on the outside wishing they could be in on our "fun". It had never occurred to me in the past that perhaps there were a few others who looked at my little posse and thought "how do I get something like that." So I had this idea.
Two friends and I have been doing a race in St. George nearly every year for the last four or so years. It's a half marathon in January--which is a terrible time to do a race--but it motivates you to stick to your exercise routine through the holidays. And the snow. And the cold. This year, we had invited a few others to join us and had outgrown our current lodging arrangements. In a moment of pure divinity, I had this grand idea that I should see who else around might be interested. As long as we were getting hotel rooms...why not, right? So I sent out an email to those close by who I knew ran. Or wanted to start running. Or at one time ran, but had fallen by the wayside. I think there were 12 people in that original email. I thought maybe two or three would join up with the seven of us already committed.
Ten said yes.
Which floored me. So I went to my Facebook friends and tagged everyone who lived nearby and asked them. I got a bunch more from there. In the end, there were 34 women who expressed interest. Women from every background, of every shape and size, of every ability imaginable. Women who had been running far longer than me to women who had just a tiny, tiny inkling of a dream when they received my email.
I think women, in particular, are really funny. A lot of them fall into a trap where they can't see themselves doing something for themselves. It's a novel idea that you could have a desire to run a half marathon, look up a plan on the internet and then go do it. I have found that a lot of women have these secret desires, but just need the extra push to do it. Someone to do it with. And so I strove to create that atmosphere. I have tried to make this as seamless as possible. I plot the running route for the week, email the group, set up mileage signs because they give you a little bit of an oomph when you're out there, even if you have a gps watch, put out water stops, and have a hot chocolate table at the finish line where you can catch your breath before heading home to your family and responsibilities. Everyone follows their own pace and naturally fall into place with those who run the same pace, forging new friendships and alliances. There's no pressure to be the fastest and no shame in being the slowest. We're all other there with one goal--to do the best we can.
If you'll remember, I was pretty much pregnant the minute I crossed the Half Ironman finish line and so this endeavor hasn't been without it's difficulties. I have to wake up extra early to put the water for the hot chocolate on the stove to heat up. Then I have to drive all the signs and arrows and water stops around. I've been up for nearly an hour and a half before I even start running. Later on, I have to go retrieve all the signs and arrows and water stops. Yesterday, I spent two hours with signs and arrows and another two hours running. One Saturday, I spent the entire time putting up signs while also throwing up out the car door. I ended up sending everyone else on their way and going back home to bed.
But I know I'm being blessed for this. I'm 18 weeks along and still have it in me to complete 10 mile runs. I have met some amazing women. We had an absolutely beautiful run in the falling snow a few weeks ago. It took me 45 minutes to brush out the snarls in my hair from the ice and snow. Word is spreading about the club and I'm so excited to see what lays ahead.
There was some backlash when I originally set this up, but I felt compelled to do it anyways, and it's worked itself out. I'm disappointed that not everyone I know who runs was as excited about this project as I was, but I've come to terms with that too. It's not for everyone. But it's for some. And that's good enough for me.
So what's the moral of all this: There are a couple of lessons I take away from this. First, sometimes what we want to achieve is not what we need to achieve. Not everyone is going to be the best at what they do, but that doesn't mean that you have nothing of value to add. Figure out your purpose and then go with it. Secondly, life is short. While you might not think that you haven't lived long enough to do something profound, others are passing you up. And before long, you'll be looking back and thinking "where did all that time go?" If you're feeling like you need to do something, it could be that you need to do it. If I could impart one nugget of wisdom it would be to get off your butts and make something of yourselves.
There. Now go have a good New Years. And since I'm all cheesy and stuff, I will reveal my New Years Resolutions on January 1st. So at least you know there's one post coming. Hint: one resolution will be to actually post more because I enjoy writing and haven't done a lot of it this year.
But, rest assured, it was an amazing year. And I'm flooded with all these things to talk about as it comes to an end, but I'm going to focus on one thing in particular. It stems from a comment I made during a lesson I taught at church...
Oh, right. That story. One Saturday night, I received a frantic email from the teacher pleading with me to please teach her lesson the next day to all the women of the congregation because she was so sick. Never one to shirk from a challenge I accepted and gave what I thought was a pretty mediocre lesson given my total lack of planning, but one in which one of the most critical (and smartest) women in the congregation congratulated me on my lesson. Boo-ya...
So my comment was directed towards a time in which I felt like I needed to ask forgiveness from the Lord for something. I had opened the discussion to the other women because I didn't want to share anything too personal, but no one spoke up. And so as I was grappling with the silence this experience popped into my head.
I was running a half marathon this past summer and I was having a great time. But, as I was floating down the road I started in on my usual negative self-talk. It's a problem that I have battled in nearly every race I have ever done. I will tell myself how dumb I am for being out there, how I didn't prepare as hard as I could have, how I'll never amount to anything more than just a wannabe runner, yada, yada, yada. It's debilitating to have that coursing through your head as your pushing yourself to the limit.
However, in this particular instance, the very clear thought came into my head "This isn't about you." I was a little stunned by what this meant. Running has always been a pretty solitary sport in my opinion. Sure, I run with people and it's socializing, but in the end, I only reap what I sow and I'm the only one who is going to get myself across the finish line when push comes to shove.
As I allowed myself to ponder this statement, I realized that I was approaching running in the wrong manner. Sure, there are those who will win and bring accolades upon themselves and raise awareness for their different campaigns. I was not one of those people. I will never be one of those people. I had resigned myself to that years and years and years ago. But, that didn't mean I didn't have something to offer.
And it was at that moment that a tiny, tiny speck of what was to come was planted. I came to a very clear understanding that my moment in this sport wouldn't be about what place I came in or what time the clock said but that my talent was in raising awareness for others. To teach others that they can have dreams and no matter how silly or far-fetched they are, they can be achieved with support and hard work. And that God had given me this talent, per se, not to run fast and be the fastest in the group, but to be the person who motivates others to go out and try. And when I reverted to the negative self talk, I was basically throwing this "talent" back in His face.
I can say that once I had a glimpse of what my true purpose for being out on the race course was, my total attitude changed and I didn't suffer from the negative self talk in any of my other races, including the mother of all races, the Half Ironman.
Of course, I would still like to be the fastest...but that's just my humanness emerging.
It was a pretty profound moment and one in which I brushed aside in the exuberance of crossing the finish line nearly 8 minutes faster than any previous race and 48 seconds faster than my goal time. In fact, I didn't think much more about it until I started relaying the story in church a few weeks back.
About 4 months after this race, I met a new friend. I like that I can still meet new people. I was at a volleyball training thing for church and was talking to a few people about the Half Ironman, when this petite blond asked if I was Sandra. I had never met her before, but we ended up talking all the way through the training thing and then did a few long bike rides together. She knew who I was because of a mutual friend and said that she had always wanted to meet me. She also mentioned that she thought it was cool that I had a group of friends that did these races together and how she wished she had a similar thing in her neighborhood.
Which got me to thinking...if this total stranger knew of me, how many other total strangers know of me. And how many others were standing on the outside wishing they could be in on our "fun". It had never occurred to me in the past that perhaps there were a few others who looked at my little posse and thought "how do I get something like that." So I had this idea.
Two friends and I have been doing a race in St. George nearly every year for the last four or so years. It's a half marathon in January--which is a terrible time to do a race--but it motivates you to stick to your exercise routine through the holidays. And the snow. And the cold. This year, we had invited a few others to join us and had outgrown our current lodging arrangements. In a moment of pure divinity, I had this grand idea that I should see who else around might be interested. As long as we were getting hotel rooms...why not, right? So I sent out an email to those close by who I knew ran. Or wanted to start running. Or at one time ran, but had fallen by the wayside. I think there were 12 people in that original email. I thought maybe two or three would join up with the seven of us already committed.
Ten said yes.
Which floored me. So I went to my Facebook friends and tagged everyone who lived nearby and asked them. I got a bunch more from there. In the end, there were 34 women who expressed interest. Women from every background, of every shape and size, of every ability imaginable. Women who had been running far longer than me to women who had just a tiny, tiny inkling of a dream when they received my email.
I think women, in particular, are really funny. A lot of them fall into a trap where they can't see themselves doing something for themselves. It's a novel idea that you could have a desire to run a half marathon, look up a plan on the internet and then go do it. I have found that a lot of women have these secret desires, but just need the extra push to do it. Someone to do it with. And so I strove to create that atmosphere. I have tried to make this as seamless as possible. I plot the running route for the week, email the group, set up mileage signs because they give you a little bit of an oomph when you're out there, even if you have a gps watch, put out water stops, and have a hot chocolate table at the finish line where you can catch your breath before heading home to your family and responsibilities. Everyone follows their own pace and naturally fall into place with those who run the same pace, forging new friendships and alliances. There's no pressure to be the fastest and no shame in being the slowest. We're all other there with one goal--to do the best we can.
If you'll remember, I was pretty much pregnant the minute I crossed the Half Ironman finish line and so this endeavor hasn't been without it's difficulties. I have to wake up extra early to put the water for the hot chocolate on the stove to heat up. Then I have to drive all the signs and arrows and water stops around. I've been up for nearly an hour and a half before I even start running. Later on, I have to go retrieve all the signs and arrows and water stops. Yesterday, I spent two hours with signs and arrows and another two hours running. One Saturday, I spent the entire time putting up signs while also throwing up out the car door. I ended up sending everyone else on their way and going back home to bed.
But I know I'm being blessed for this. I'm 18 weeks along and still have it in me to complete 10 mile runs. I have met some amazing women. We had an absolutely beautiful run in the falling snow a few weeks ago. It took me 45 minutes to brush out the snarls in my hair from the ice and snow. Word is spreading about the club and I'm so excited to see what lays ahead.
There was some backlash when I originally set this up, but I felt compelled to do it anyways, and it's worked itself out. I'm disappointed that not everyone I know who runs was as excited about this project as I was, but I've come to terms with that too. It's not for everyone. But it's for some. And that's good enough for me.
So what's the moral of all this: There are a couple of lessons I take away from this. First, sometimes what we want to achieve is not what we need to achieve. Not everyone is going to be the best at what they do, but that doesn't mean that you have nothing of value to add. Figure out your purpose and then go with it. Secondly, life is short. While you might not think that you haven't lived long enough to do something profound, others are passing you up. And before long, you'll be looking back and thinking "where did all that time go?" If you're feeling like you need to do something, it could be that you need to do it. If I could impart one nugget of wisdom it would be to get off your butts and make something of yourselves.
There. Now go have a good New Years. And since I'm all cheesy and stuff, I will reveal my New Years Resolutions on January 1st. So at least you know there's one post coming. Hint: one resolution will be to actually post more because I enjoy writing and haven't done a lot of it this year.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Um...Hi?
Hello?
Hey...it's me again.
Remember me?
Yeah, it's been a while.
So what's been going on, you ask? Not much. That's the problem. Not a whole heck of a lot has been going on. Let's see...
14 weeks ago, I did a Half Ironman. How do I know the exact weeks? Well, as it turns out, I'm also 14 weeks pregnant. Well, not exactly 14 weeks pregnant, because I was pretty tired after the Half Ironman. But darn close to 14 weeks. And I guess, that's what has consumed me day after day after miserable day.
I mean, I can't complain much--though I will--because I've only thrown up twice as opposed to the twice daily I did with J. But, man oh man, have I been nauseous. And tired. So, so, so very tired. More tired than I ever remember. And I keep thinking maybe it will lighten up some, but so far, not much. Though I can now do simple tasks like showering without needing a nap afterwards.
Baby looks good. We've had two ultrasounds. One at 9 weeks to confirm the pregnancy and another one this last appointment when the doctor said "hm...seems like we can't hear a heartbeat." Cue stomach drop. But everything looked good. Baby was just sitting on my vein so they could only hear my heartbeat, which was, admittedly, very loud considering the doctor was so nonchalant about not being able to find a heartbeat.
I thought I was having another girl, but it might be a boy. I really don't care. As long as it's healthy, I'm happy with either.
In other news, I put together a running club out here in the Boondocks. Turns out there are A LOT of women who run. And I had this brilliant idea to invite as many as I could to join us for a race down in St. George in January. I thought maybe 10 people, but I'm up to 25 people going and another 10 people who couldn't fit it in for January but are interested in doing one in the future. It's been quite the undertaking, but I've enjoyed doing it. We meet together Saturday mornings and do our long runs. I made mileage signs and put them out every week. Then we have hot chocolate afterwards. So far I've been able to keep up--by which I mean to say that I run very, very slow and am the last person in, but I do it. Did 8 miles yesterday and felt really good. I'm not sure if I'll be able to do the half marathon in January as I'll be 20ish weeks along, but I know I can finish the 5k.
I guess I'll keep the running club going as long as people are still interested in it. It's fun to see people who swore they'd never run out there week after week.
And...what else? That's it. That's why the long absence in posts. Everyone seems to be doing well. Since I could hardly lift myself off the couch for three months, nothing funny has happened. The holidays are here and I'm recommitting to posting more.
Here's to a happy month for everyone and more posts from me.
Hey...it's me again.
Remember me?
Yeah, it's been a while.
So what's been going on, you ask? Not much. That's the problem. Not a whole heck of a lot has been going on. Let's see...
14 weeks ago, I did a Half Ironman. How do I know the exact weeks? Well, as it turns out, I'm also 14 weeks pregnant. Well, not exactly 14 weeks pregnant, because I was pretty tired after the Half Ironman. But darn close to 14 weeks. And I guess, that's what has consumed me day after day after miserable day.
I mean, I can't complain much--though I will--because I've only thrown up twice as opposed to the twice daily I did with J. But, man oh man, have I been nauseous. And tired. So, so, so very tired. More tired than I ever remember. And I keep thinking maybe it will lighten up some, but so far, not much. Though I can now do simple tasks like showering without needing a nap afterwards.
Baby looks good. We've had two ultrasounds. One at 9 weeks to confirm the pregnancy and another one this last appointment when the doctor said "hm...seems like we can't hear a heartbeat." Cue stomach drop. But everything looked good. Baby was just sitting on my vein so they could only hear my heartbeat, which was, admittedly, very loud considering the doctor was so nonchalant about not being able to find a heartbeat.
I thought I was having another girl, but it might be a boy. I really don't care. As long as it's healthy, I'm happy with either.
In other news, I put together a running club out here in the Boondocks. Turns out there are A LOT of women who run. And I had this brilliant idea to invite as many as I could to join us for a race down in St. George in January. I thought maybe 10 people, but I'm up to 25 people going and another 10 people who couldn't fit it in for January but are interested in doing one in the future. It's been quite the undertaking, but I've enjoyed doing it. We meet together Saturday mornings and do our long runs. I made mileage signs and put them out every week. Then we have hot chocolate afterwards. So far I've been able to keep up--by which I mean to say that I run very, very slow and am the last person in, but I do it. Did 8 miles yesterday and felt really good. I'm not sure if I'll be able to do the half marathon in January as I'll be 20ish weeks along, but I know I can finish the 5k.
I guess I'll keep the running club going as long as people are still interested in it. It's fun to see people who swore they'd never run out there week after week.
And...what else? That's it. That's why the long absence in posts. Everyone seems to be doing well. Since I could hardly lift myself off the couch for three months, nothing funny has happened. The holidays are here and I'm recommitting to posting more.
Here's to a happy month for everyone and more posts from me.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Busy, Busy
It never seems to slow down, does it? All summer I've been looking forward to the end of August because that was when my big race was over and then I'd have all this time. And guess what? I've gone and filled it up. So what's going on out here in the boondocks?
- A. started preschool a few weeks ago. She loves it! This is such a relief because J was not as enthusiastic about school. More than once I had to drag him in kicking and screaming. But A. is having a great time.
- With A being in preschool and J in school, that leaves me a few hours a few times a week to myself. The first day, I went to breakfast with a friend. Then I got my hair trimmed and highlighted the next week. Today, I went swimming and took a bath. I find that it's all a little strange to have so much time on my hands where I'm not constantly wondering about another little being.
- I've been trying to tie up old projects before the weather turns. Last year, I started refinishing a dresser for A. I never got it done and then I was so busy with the training for the Half and the weather was so hot, and now I am finally getting back to it. It's SO close to being done.
- Before I started on the dresser, I refinished a desk that was part of the same bedroom set as the dresser and the bed I did for A. last year. Originally, it was going to be hers, but then I got to thinking that it would be pretty cool in my room as a vanity. Our master bathroom is really tiny and Wade is always getting after me about my hair stuff and make up, so I finished this "vanity" and I have to say I'm pretty impressed with the end result. It's probably the best project I've done thus far. Once I unearth the before pictures, I'll post a picture. Grandma (who originally bought the bedroom set for my aunt 65 years ago) would be duly impressed as well.
- In addition to the dresser, I'm also refinishing a cedar chest. This one is near and dear to my heart because it belonged to my grandma, who's been gone nearly 10 years. When I was sanding it the other day, I swear I could smell her. Funny how some things bring back memories.
- I'm also making curtains for my bedroom. Haven't sewed a thing in my life, so by all means, start with curtains. Google, youtube, and pinterest are awesome, though I'm sad to admit that pinterest is really hard for me to follow. I'm a dork.
- There's two bookcases out in the garage I need to do something with. I have a few ideas.
- I won the evaluator contest at Toastmasters a few weeks back. A target speech is given and then you have five minutes to come up with a 2-3 minute speech evaluating that speech. It can sometimes be reallly difficult, depending on the target speech. Luckily, the target speech was good and I had an easy time evaluating it. Ideally, you have to point out things to work on in addition to what they did well. I went on to the next level and was the only one to show up, so I won again. Now on to the next level at the end of the month.
- I'm back to exercising after taking a much needed break after the Half. It's been harder than I anticipated to make myself go out without some kind of goal in mind.
- I'm decorating my house for Halloween and maybe even Thanksgiving. I'm going to become one of those people. Maybe not to the extent of some, but I want a cool house too. I'll post pictures when that gets done this week.
- A. also started ballet classes this month. She's a doll and really enjoys them. I never thought I'd be a dance mom and I have a lot to learn. She's picking up on the moves a lot quicker than I thought she would.
- Taught myself how to do the flip turn while swimming laps. This has been on my wishlist for a long, long time and had I known it would only take 15 minutes, I would have crossed it off years ago. I'll post about it tomorrow because it's kinda interesting and funny how I came about learning this trick.
I guess that's about it. Seems like the same old stuff. Loving the weather right now. Wish it was it was like this all the time. I hope it will stay nice for a few weeks so I can get the yard fixed up before winter too. This time, I promise I won't be two weeks again.
Monday, August 27, 2012
#76 Do an (Half) Ironman
I did it!
It's still surreal. Months and months of training and in one fell swoop, it's done. It seemed kind of anti-climatic as I was closing in on the finish line. Except for at mile 11.8. But to that later.
I signed up for this endeavor nearly nine months ago. I was at a pretty low point in life for the moment and it seemed like a little silver lining.
(Cupcakes may be silver linings in most worlds, but in mine, large endurance races are.)
August seemed so far away. And, strangely, 70.3 miles seemed so...easy...at the time. It seemed perfectly attainable. Easy peasy.
I told a couple of training buddies about it and all but one balked at the idea. She's a true inspiration and will actually have a full name in my recounting of this tale: Hillary.
Hillary gave birth less than a year ago to her fifth kid. When I told her of my crazy idea, she laughed. And then, within a few hours, she had called me back and said she wanted in. I worked on coming up with a training plan that would take in account her crazy schedule and some key races we wanted to complete. What resulted was a hodgepodge of a schedule that actually worked really well.
As the day neared, my nerves were on edge. It's hard to comprehend what a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 run looks like when put together unless you've actually done one yourself. And neither one of us had. We talked to a few that had done this distance, but even then, it's still too hard to comprehend. The fear of the unknown held me captive all last week.
There are a lot more details I'm going to omit for the sake of getting on to the important things, but I drove to Burley, Idaho for the race with another good friend, Mary, who was doing the duathlon, her cousin, Becky, who was doing the Olympic distance tri, and a good friend of Mary and mine, Allyson, who hung around for moral support. We met my cousin from Boise, Katrina, up in Burley. She was also doing the half iron distance.
Interjection: Wade wanted to come. Really wanted to come. But I have not had good luck with the kids being at the finish lines of my races. They haven't captured the spirit of what it's like to run your body into the ground for hours on end and thus, as soon as I'm within sight, they will tackle me and then pour out their sorrows in the form of pitiful whines that make me want to scream. Then, when they realize that mom isn't sympathetic to their boredom and pleas to leave at that precise moment, they turn on each other and fight. Mind you, this will be at the finish line. As I'm catching my breath. And I knew that I couldn't do it for this race. I wanted my family there to see me meet this huge goal of mine, but I don't jump from Super Athlete to Mommy really well and so I (politely) asked him to stay home.
I know. It's amazing we're still even married, right? He really is the nicest man on the planet. And I take full responsibility for him not being there.
I slept okay the night before. Nothing great. But it was still rest. The morning of, I was a little nervous, but not like I thought I'd be. I methodically got everything ready and we headed to the transition area.
I was a lot more organized for this race than I've been for the last few I've done. I packed a completely separate bag with all my gear and it just sat unopened until I was ready to lay it out. Usually, when I travel to a race, I'm pulling it all together at the hotel the morning of and praying I don't leave anything behind.
We got all our stuff laid out and then headed in a truck to the swim start. The swim was down the Snake River and it was a gorgeous morning. A little cold--49 degrees--but no wind, which was a relief considering the wind that was roaring the day before.
The swim start was in someone's backyard and that was a little strange. We doned our wetsuits and waited for the official start. My feet were freezing, but there wasn't much I could do about it. I was too nervous to think about anything other than that this was finally happening. Hillary's dad was at the swim start and he kept snapping these pictures of us. It was nice to have someone to talk to that wasn't on edge like the rest of us.
The men got in the river and they started the race. Then the women all trudged in. There were 17 of us. Before I knew it, the race was off.
I felt pretty good in the swim. It's not my strongest discipline and I know that everything would go smoother if I didn't have to expend so much energy on the swim, but for what it was, I felt fine. I kept veering off course and probably swam so much more than I needed to. I need to work on my sighting. But overall, a good effort. I wasn't the slowest swimmer--I did come across two guys who were walking, so that was encouraging--but I wasn't anywhere close to the front. One day...
I got out of the river and headed to the bike transition area. It was a loooooong way from the river, which was weird. I didn't know what to do with the two people who were offering to take off my wetsuit so I bypassed them. I got caught up in my wetsuit as I was taking it off and that took some time. And then, I was having a hard time getting the rest of my stuff on and Hillary's dad kept asking me questions from outside the transition area. It was all a little strange, but since I was just looking to complete the race, I thought it was funny and engaging. I asked Hillary's dad how Hillary looked and he said "she wasn't smiling as big as you." to which I responded "that's why she's ahead." I burned a lot of time in the transition area.
Once I was on the bike, I settled into a good rhythm. I had to remind myself not to chase down everyone that passed me. At times, it seemed like I was standing still. Where did these bikers come from?!? I had a lot of time to think about what to do differently with the training and I know that I need to do specific bike workouts instead of just riding around.
The bike went pretty uneventful. It was four times around a 15ish mile course. Even by the fourth lap, I kept thinking, "Um...I don't remember seeing this before. Did I miss a turn?" No flats. No crashes. Just around and around. I passed my cousin in the third lap. I knew she'd catch me again in the run, so I kept going to gain as much of a head start as possible.
By the time I hit the end of the fourth lap I was ready to be done with the bike. My butt and back were killing me. I don't have aerobars and I'll definitely be changing that for the next one. I needed to stretch out on the bike big time.
At the transition area, I ran into Hillary's family again. I asked how she looked and they said she looked great. I was feeling really good too.
I made it in and out of the transition pretty fast considering. I started out on the run and passed by Mary, Becky, and Allyson, who cheered me on. It was fun to see their familiar faces. My legs felt great and I felt like I had a lot of energy.
I stopped at the first aid station, about a mile into the run and peed and got some water. Then I got to the second aid station. They were handing out ice cubes and that sounded good. So I walked and chomped on ice. I decided to walk for four minutes and then start back up. I saw Hillary coming down the other side and we gave each other high fives. She looked to still be in good spirits.
This part of the run was hideous. It was by the airport, off in the weeds, and the smell was atrocious. There wasn't an ounce of shade to be found and it was getting to be pretty hot. About 2 miles into the run, my cousin caught back up with me and we ran to the next aid station. We stopped to walk for a little bit and then continued on. It wasn't fast, but it was something. I stopped to walk to eat some gel and Katrina kept going. That short walk turned into a longer walk than I anticipated, but I still felt pretty good. I headed back towards the finish line--which I would be passing by on my way to the other half of the run--and passed a few people along the way. They were all struggling, but it felt nice to know we were in this together.
I ran to the park, where Allyson was sitting and waiting. She started jumping up and down, excited that I had finished. I had to inform her that I was only half way. She felt really bad about her early congratulations. I ran past the finish line and looked at it longingly. It seemed so close, yet so far away.
My spirits were still pretty high and I was offering "Good jobs" to everyone that was passing me on the other side on their way to the finish line. I shuffled my way through miles seven and eight. I was starting to get really, really tired. My legs were hurting and I felt like the finish line was a long ways off. But, I was still joking around with the aid station volunteers and didn't feel like this was the dumbest idea I had ever had. A plus in my book.
I saw Hillary at about 8.5 miles and she was at about 11 miles. She looked really good and I knew we were both going to cross the finish line. That was a relief. I finally made it to the turnaround spot and headed back towards the finish line. Mile 10 passed and then I sort of zoned out. When I finally came back to, I looked at my GPS watch and saw that it said 11.8 miles. I started bawling because I remembered the last little bit to the finish line was longer than a mile and so my watch must have gone on the blink somewhere. I was probably only at about 10.2 miles and I still had almost three miles to go. I was so tired and my legs were so sore, I didn't think I had enough in me to finish. Off to the side of the road was a mileage marker and as I came upon it, it said 12 miles. It was the greatest gift I had ever been given.
The last mile passed slowly but I got there. There was a guy in front of me who was really struggling and I wanted to pass him. I couldn't seem to close the distance though. As we came up to the finish line, I saw everyone standing there, cheering me in and I started to sprint to the end. But I felt bad for this guy who was so obviously struggling that I ended up slowing down a bit so I didn't edge him out in the last 20 feet of the race.
For whatever reason, I did a superman pose across the finish line, and then that was it. The race was over. All those months of training, done. I felt really good though. Much better than I thought I would. I was still smiling and laughing.
This was such an amazing experience, start to finish. People ask me how can you do something of this magnitude and I say I did it because I told myself I could. Baby steps to the finish line. It wasn't fast--I was 50 out of 55 people--but I finished and that's all that matters.
I realized that I had miss some key workouts in the training--life with little kids is unpredictable--and I think I could have finished faster if I would have hit those workouts. But to finish feeling like I did is a testament to how well the rest of the program went.
At mile 10 I was ready to sign up for another one. I even had the fleeting thought that I needed to get a few more of these under my belt before I attempt a full iron distance.
Eek. Where did that thought come from?
Hillary and I got together last night and hashed over our race experiences. Hers was similar except for that she ran every step of the run except for through the water stops. That's AMAZING! She contends that at times, it wasn't fast, but she was still doing it. We decided we're going to do the same race again in two years with the goal of being at least age group contenders. In the meanwhile, we both have some ideas of things to work on.
I love that I've worked so hard for this and I finally have it completed. I love that I've finally gotten to a point where I don't feel like I'm disappointing myself if my times are not as stellar as I want them to be. This was one of the funnest races I've done. I made new friends. I smiled a lot. I thanked each volunteer that sat outside with water and ice for over 7 hours. They smiled and laughed back at me. It was such an incredible experience that I know this write-up doesn't even do it justice. The human body is truly amazing. God cares about your dreams. The mind is more powerful than we'll ever comprehend. Friends are truly the family you get to choose. Love means staying home and being okay about it. So many more lessons learned as well.
So what's next? For starters, I'm going to be a regular contributor to my blog again. That's good news to the four or five of you diehards still hanging around. As far as endurance events, I really want to do the Grand Slam--four marathons in a single summer--qualify for Boston, and do a full Ironman. Obviously, those things aren't going to happen any time soon, but I'm still thinking about them. On the home front, I have a bazillion projects to do, so I'm keeping myself busy.
I gave myself a gift for this monumental occasion: a necklace that has a charm for every "big" race I've done--13.1 (half marathon), 26.2 (marathon), 100 (bike century), and now 70.3 (half iron distance). It also has a charm on it that says "miles to go before I sleep" from Robert Frost's famous poem. It's a visible reminder of what I've accomplished in just the last five years--and what I have left to do. Definitely miles to go before I sleep.
It's still surreal. Months and months of training and in one fell swoop, it's done. It seemed kind of anti-climatic as I was closing in on the finish line. Except for at mile 11.8. But to that later.
I signed up for this endeavor nearly nine months ago. I was at a pretty low point in life for the moment and it seemed like a little silver lining.
(Cupcakes may be silver linings in most worlds, but in mine, large endurance races are.)
August seemed so far away. And, strangely, 70.3 miles seemed so...easy...at the time. It seemed perfectly attainable. Easy peasy.
I told a couple of training buddies about it and all but one balked at the idea. She's a true inspiration and will actually have a full name in my recounting of this tale: Hillary.
Hillary gave birth less than a year ago to her fifth kid. When I told her of my crazy idea, she laughed. And then, within a few hours, she had called me back and said she wanted in. I worked on coming up with a training plan that would take in account her crazy schedule and some key races we wanted to complete. What resulted was a hodgepodge of a schedule that actually worked really well.
As the day neared, my nerves were on edge. It's hard to comprehend what a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 run looks like when put together unless you've actually done one yourself. And neither one of us had. We talked to a few that had done this distance, but even then, it's still too hard to comprehend. The fear of the unknown held me captive all last week.
There are a lot more details I'm going to omit for the sake of getting on to the important things, but I drove to Burley, Idaho for the race with another good friend, Mary, who was doing the duathlon, her cousin, Becky, who was doing the Olympic distance tri, and a good friend of Mary and mine, Allyson, who hung around for moral support. We met my cousin from Boise, Katrina, up in Burley. She was also doing the half iron distance.
Interjection: Wade wanted to come. Really wanted to come. But I have not had good luck with the kids being at the finish lines of my races. They haven't captured the spirit of what it's like to run your body into the ground for hours on end and thus, as soon as I'm within sight, they will tackle me and then pour out their sorrows in the form of pitiful whines that make me want to scream. Then, when they realize that mom isn't sympathetic to their boredom and pleas to leave at that precise moment, they turn on each other and fight. Mind you, this will be at the finish line. As I'm catching my breath. And I knew that I couldn't do it for this race. I wanted my family there to see me meet this huge goal of mine, but I don't jump from Super Athlete to Mommy really well and so I (politely) asked him to stay home.
I know. It's amazing we're still even married, right? He really is the nicest man on the planet. And I take full responsibility for him not being there.
I slept okay the night before. Nothing great. But it was still rest. The morning of, I was a little nervous, but not like I thought I'd be. I methodically got everything ready and we headed to the transition area.
I was a lot more organized for this race than I've been for the last few I've done. I packed a completely separate bag with all my gear and it just sat unopened until I was ready to lay it out. Usually, when I travel to a race, I'm pulling it all together at the hotel the morning of and praying I don't leave anything behind.
We got all our stuff laid out and then headed in a truck to the swim start. The swim was down the Snake River and it was a gorgeous morning. A little cold--49 degrees--but no wind, which was a relief considering the wind that was roaring the day before.
The swim start was in someone's backyard and that was a little strange. We doned our wetsuits and waited for the official start. My feet were freezing, but there wasn't much I could do about it. I was too nervous to think about anything other than that this was finally happening. Hillary's dad was at the swim start and he kept snapping these pictures of us. It was nice to have someone to talk to that wasn't on edge like the rest of us.
The men got in the river and they started the race. Then the women all trudged in. There were 17 of us. Before I knew it, the race was off.
I felt pretty good in the swim. It's not my strongest discipline and I know that everything would go smoother if I didn't have to expend so much energy on the swim, but for what it was, I felt fine. I kept veering off course and probably swam so much more than I needed to. I need to work on my sighting. But overall, a good effort. I wasn't the slowest swimmer--I did come across two guys who were walking, so that was encouraging--but I wasn't anywhere close to the front. One day...
I got out of the river and headed to the bike transition area. It was a loooooong way from the river, which was weird. I didn't know what to do with the two people who were offering to take off my wetsuit so I bypassed them. I got caught up in my wetsuit as I was taking it off and that took some time. And then, I was having a hard time getting the rest of my stuff on and Hillary's dad kept asking me questions from outside the transition area. It was all a little strange, but since I was just looking to complete the race, I thought it was funny and engaging. I asked Hillary's dad how Hillary looked and he said "she wasn't smiling as big as you." to which I responded "that's why she's ahead." I burned a lot of time in the transition area.
Once I was on the bike, I settled into a good rhythm. I had to remind myself not to chase down everyone that passed me. At times, it seemed like I was standing still. Where did these bikers come from?!? I had a lot of time to think about what to do differently with the training and I know that I need to do specific bike workouts instead of just riding around.
The bike went pretty uneventful. It was four times around a 15ish mile course. Even by the fourth lap, I kept thinking, "Um...I don't remember seeing this before. Did I miss a turn?" No flats. No crashes. Just around and around. I passed my cousin in the third lap. I knew she'd catch me again in the run, so I kept going to gain as much of a head start as possible.
By the time I hit the end of the fourth lap I was ready to be done with the bike. My butt and back were killing me. I don't have aerobars and I'll definitely be changing that for the next one. I needed to stretch out on the bike big time.
At the transition area, I ran into Hillary's family again. I asked how she looked and they said she looked great. I was feeling really good too.
I made it in and out of the transition pretty fast considering. I started out on the run and passed by Mary, Becky, and Allyson, who cheered me on. It was fun to see their familiar faces. My legs felt great and I felt like I had a lot of energy.
I stopped at the first aid station, about a mile into the run and peed and got some water. Then I got to the second aid station. They were handing out ice cubes and that sounded good. So I walked and chomped on ice. I decided to walk for four minutes and then start back up. I saw Hillary coming down the other side and we gave each other high fives. She looked to still be in good spirits.
This part of the run was hideous. It was by the airport, off in the weeds, and the smell was atrocious. There wasn't an ounce of shade to be found and it was getting to be pretty hot. About 2 miles into the run, my cousin caught back up with me and we ran to the next aid station. We stopped to walk for a little bit and then continued on. It wasn't fast, but it was something. I stopped to walk to eat some gel and Katrina kept going. That short walk turned into a longer walk than I anticipated, but I still felt pretty good. I headed back towards the finish line--which I would be passing by on my way to the other half of the run--and passed a few people along the way. They were all struggling, but it felt nice to know we were in this together.
I ran to the park, where Allyson was sitting and waiting. She started jumping up and down, excited that I had finished. I had to inform her that I was only half way. She felt really bad about her early congratulations. I ran past the finish line and looked at it longingly. It seemed so close, yet so far away.
My spirits were still pretty high and I was offering "Good jobs" to everyone that was passing me on the other side on their way to the finish line. I shuffled my way through miles seven and eight. I was starting to get really, really tired. My legs were hurting and I felt like the finish line was a long ways off. But, I was still joking around with the aid station volunteers and didn't feel like this was the dumbest idea I had ever had. A plus in my book.
I saw Hillary at about 8.5 miles and she was at about 11 miles. She looked really good and I knew we were both going to cross the finish line. That was a relief. I finally made it to the turnaround spot and headed back towards the finish line. Mile 10 passed and then I sort of zoned out. When I finally came back to, I looked at my GPS watch and saw that it said 11.8 miles. I started bawling because I remembered the last little bit to the finish line was longer than a mile and so my watch must have gone on the blink somewhere. I was probably only at about 10.2 miles and I still had almost three miles to go. I was so tired and my legs were so sore, I didn't think I had enough in me to finish. Off to the side of the road was a mileage marker and as I came upon it, it said 12 miles. It was the greatest gift I had ever been given.
The last mile passed slowly but I got there. There was a guy in front of me who was really struggling and I wanted to pass him. I couldn't seem to close the distance though. As we came up to the finish line, I saw everyone standing there, cheering me in and I started to sprint to the end. But I felt bad for this guy who was so obviously struggling that I ended up slowing down a bit so I didn't edge him out in the last 20 feet of the race.
For whatever reason, I did a superman pose across the finish line, and then that was it. The race was over. All those months of training, done. I felt really good though. Much better than I thought I would. I was still smiling and laughing.
This was such an amazing experience, start to finish. People ask me how can you do something of this magnitude and I say I did it because I told myself I could. Baby steps to the finish line. It wasn't fast--I was 50 out of 55 people--but I finished and that's all that matters.
I realized that I had miss some key workouts in the training--life with little kids is unpredictable--and I think I could have finished faster if I would have hit those workouts. But to finish feeling like I did is a testament to how well the rest of the program went.
At mile 10 I was ready to sign up for another one. I even had the fleeting thought that I needed to get a few more of these under my belt before I attempt a full iron distance.
Eek. Where did that thought come from?
Hillary and I got together last night and hashed over our race experiences. Hers was similar except for that she ran every step of the run except for through the water stops. That's AMAZING! She contends that at times, it wasn't fast, but she was still doing it. We decided we're going to do the same race again in two years with the goal of being at least age group contenders. In the meanwhile, we both have some ideas of things to work on.
I love that I've worked so hard for this and I finally have it completed. I love that I've finally gotten to a point where I don't feel like I'm disappointing myself if my times are not as stellar as I want them to be. This was one of the funnest races I've done. I made new friends. I smiled a lot. I thanked each volunteer that sat outside with water and ice for over 7 hours. They smiled and laughed back at me. It was such an incredible experience that I know this write-up doesn't even do it justice. The human body is truly amazing. God cares about your dreams. The mind is more powerful than we'll ever comprehend. Friends are truly the family you get to choose. Love means staying home and being okay about it. So many more lessons learned as well.
So what's next? For starters, I'm going to be a regular contributor to my blog again. That's good news to the four or five of you diehards still hanging around. As far as endurance events, I really want to do the Grand Slam--four marathons in a single summer--qualify for Boston, and do a full Ironman. Obviously, those things aren't going to happen any time soon, but I'm still thinking about them. On the home front, I have a bazillion projects to do, so I'm keeping myself busy.
I gave myself a gift for this monumental occasion: a necklace that has a charm for every "big" race I've done--13.1 (half marathon), 26.2 (marathon), 100 (bike century), and now 70.3 (half iron distance). It also has a charm on it that says "miles to go before I sleep" from Robert Frost's famous poem. It's a visible reminder of what I've accomplished in just the last five years--and what I have left to do. Definitely miles to go before I sleep.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Where My True Identity as a Cat is Revealed
A few weeks ago, I suited up to do yet another long ride on my bike. Wade was going to be gone, so my parents graciously agreed to watch the kids and I decided to bike out by them on the infamous Jordan River Parkway.
Following is a pictorial account of my ride. Note: The pictures were drawn on my netbook using the Paint program. They are a little...rudimentary. Also note: the grass is not that green nor the water that blue, but as to not confuse the reader with the murky brown water and the even browner grass, I opted to keep it elementary.
I start off at 7800 S and decide to ride south. It was pleasant.
The road ends--abruptly--at the water. I come dangerously close to falling into the Jordan River and being swept out to the Great Salt Lake. I squeal my brakes and turn around.
Then I go left.
This road ends-abruptly-into a patch of dirt road.
I turn around and go straight.
Finally, I feel like I'm going somewhere.
But it's all a ruse. Each time I get to a fork in the pathway, I ultimately choose the wrong pathway and I'm lead to dirt paths or into neighborhoods. Left, right, straight. Doesn't matter. I'm beyond frustrated.
Finally, I get to a part that is relatively easy to maneuver in. But, then...
I have no idea where I'm at.
I leave the security of the park and head to the nearest street to get my bearings.
I have to stop at every light and the sun is SO hot. I'm melting into the asphalt.
At some point I make it to Redwood Road and stupidly turn down it to head to 7800 S.
There are lots of cars and buses and I belatedly realize that I'm out of my element. The weekend before, I went on a 50 mile bike ride in which I only happened upon 5 stoplights (3 in one direction then 2 turning around) and only had to stop at one. 50 miles!
But, stupidly again, I continue on my way to meet my Maker. My first obstacle is the freeway entrances to I-215.
(Those blobs are cars). Somehow I am headed in the line that will take me onto the freeway. I don't want that.
So I change lanes. On my bike. During Saturday afternoon traffic.
And then somehow...
I am three lanes over and the freeway exit lane is spitting cars out like softballs at the batting cages and I'm going to get run over. And some guy flips me off. And I know that I totally deserve it because I'm riding in the middle of the road, but I can't get over to the side.
There.are.so.many.cars.I'm.going.to.die.
I might have yelled some expletives because I really thought I was going to get clobbered, but miraculously I make it to the shoulder.
I decide that I will just get to my parents on 6200 S.
And plead with my father to take me back to my car where I've left my shoes and my regular clothes and--apparently--my brain.
By some miracle I manage to make it across the three lanes of traffic relatively unscathed.
But the 30 blocks I have to travel on 6200 S have no shoulder and I am almost killed multiple times there too.
I can feel the cars rushing by me. Sometimes, I swear, I can even feel the slightest touch of their side view mirrors.
By the time I reach my parents house I have to pry my fingers off the handlebars. When I relay the story to my dad, he wonders out loud why I didn't just ride on the sidewalk.
I'm pretty sure that I burned at least 3 of my lives in just that intersection alone and probably another two on the jaunt to my parents house. In fact, I'm probably living on borrowed time as it is.
And even just yesterday, my mom and I were driving along 6200 S and she said that she and my father still marvel at how I made it to their house without getting run over. Secretly, I still marvel too.
My dad, ever so helpful, sent me a link today in an email that has the whole Jordan River Parkway mapped out. He even included a little smiley face emoticon like so: (:
I didn't even know he knew how to make those. I'm duly impressed and can see that obviously I didn't get his brains.
Following is a pictorial account of my ride. Note: The pictures were drawn on my netbook using the Paint program. They are a little...rudimentary. Also note: the grass is not that green nor the water that blue, but as to not confuse the reader with the murky brown water and the even browner grass, I opted to keep it elementary.
I start off at 7800 S and decide to ride south. It was pleasant.
I get about a mile and a half away and I run into a gate.
This opens into an industrial part of Sandy and I roam the street for a while before deciding that the parkway does not connect like I thought I read online before heading out.
So I turn around and head north
I pass the car and continue north. Everything is going well. Until I get to an intersection in the pathway. I opt, at breakneck speed, to go right.
Then I go left.
This road ends-abruptly-into a patch of dirt road.
I turn around and go straight.
Finally, I feel like I'm going somewhere.
But it's all a ruse. Each time I get to a fork in the pathway, I ultimately choose the wrong pathway and I'm lead to dirt paths or into neighborhoods. Left, right, straight. Doesn't matter. I'm beyond frustrated.
Finally, I get to a part that is relatively easy to maneuver in. But, then...
And I realize I'm not in Kansas anymore. I feel very apprehensive to continue my ride considering what kind of weirdos might be hanging out on the pathway or in the grass and the apartment buildings that butt up right next to the path.
I'm led into a park and realize quickly that I am lost.
I leave the security of the park and head to the nearest street to get my bearings.
Then I stupidly decide that I will ride the 47 blocks back to my car on surface streets. For some reason I think I'm safer on the surface streets than on the pathway with the man in a cape and the guy in the weeds.
However...
At some point I make it to Redwood Road and stupidly turn down it to head to 7800 S.
There are lots of cars and buses and I belatedly realize that I'm out of my element. The weekend before, I went on a 50 mile bike ride in which I only happened upon 5 stoplights (3 in one direction then 2 turning around) and only had to stop at one. 50 miles!
But, stupidly again, I continue on my way to meet my Maker. My first obstacle is the freeway entrances to I-215.
(Those blobs are cars). Somehow I am headed in the line that will take me onto the freeway. I don't want that.
So I change lanes. On my bike. During Saturday afternoon traffic.
And then somehow...
I am three lanes over and the freeway exit lane is spitting cars out like softballs at the batting cages and I'm going to get run over. And some guy flips me off. And I know that I totally deserve it because I'm riding in the middle of the road, but I can't get over to the side.
There.are.so.many.cars.I'm.going.to.die.
I might have yelled some expletives because I really thought I was going to get clobbered, but miraculously I make it to the shoulder.
I decide that I will just get to my parents on 6200 S.
By some miracle I manage to make it across the three lanes of traffic relatively unscathed.
But the 30 blocks I have to travel on 6200 S have no shoulder and I am almost killed multiple times there too.
I can feel the cars rushing by me. Sometimes, I swear, I can even feel the slightest touch of their side view mirrors.
By the time I reach my parents house I have to pry my fingers off the handlebars. When I relay the story to my dad, he wonders out loud why I didn't just ride on the sidewalk.
And sadly, the thought never crossed my mind.
And even just yesterday, my mom and I were driving along 6200 S and she said that she and my father still marvel at how I made it to their house without getting run over. Secretly, I still marvel too.
My dad, ever so helpful, sent me a link today in an email that has the whole Jordan River Parkway mapped out. He even included a little smiley face emoticon like so: (:
I didn't even know he knew how to make those. I'm duly impressed and can see that obviously I didn't get his brains.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Chasing Last Place
I'll save you the suspense. I wasn't last.
Backing up, this will be a write up of my first Olympic Triathlon. Since you know the outcome, you don't have to read further. Unless, you know, you want to. Because I was, at one point, last. And then I wasn't.
When I signed up in January for my half ironman (date: August 25th. It's coming up really, really, really fast) I belatedly realized that I actually have never done a triathlon longer than a sprint distance (400 meter swim, 12 mile bike, 3.1 mile run).
So I looked around for an Olympic Distance triathlon (1 mile swim, 30 mile bike, 6.2 mile swim) to do. This one stood out because (a) it was somewhere new (b) there weren't a lot of competitors and (c) it was on a week that both my running buddy and I could do it.
After we started training I realized that (a) 6 am is a terrible time to start a race (b) July is a terrible month to do a race in the desert and (c) not a lot of competitors = a very bad placing.
I conceded that I would probably be very close to the back. I want to make it clear that I was not creating some self-fulfilling prophesy or being modest--the women who have signed up for this particular triathlon in years past have consistently had much better swim, bike, and run times than me. Judging by the course maps and the times, it's a result of being better triathletes. They probably race a lot during the year and have done these distances multiple times over the course of many years. One day, I'll get there.
But I wasn't going to get there this year and I was okay with it. I wanted to just go out, do the best I could, and clock an Olympic Distance Tri before my big Half Ironman (HIM).
So race day came much quicker than I anticipated. I was nervous for about a week preceding it. My wetsuit came last week and I took it out for the first time three days before the race. I realized that I probably should have bought the wetsuit two months ago because it takes some time to get use to it. Oh well. Chalk that up to a lesson learned.
At 4:50 am on Saturday, H. and I left our slumbering families at the cabin we were staying in and drove the 45 minutes to the race. We definitely didn't leave enough time to get our stuff ready at the transition area and I was really stressed about that. I also had to run to the car--parked about a quarter of a mile away--3 times. That's definitely something we'll be changing for the HIM.
I didn't sleep well the night before and I was really nervous about the swim leg of the race particularly. Swimming is not my strongest discipline and I didn't get a lot (read: none) of open water training. Another thing we'll be working on for the HIM.
At 6:30, it was time for the race to start. The men jumped into the water and they shot the gun off. Then the women got in the water and waited. They gave the men a five minute head start and then we were off. The buoys looked so far away and I knew we were going to have to do the course twice. But, I felt really good. I fell into a good rhythm and just kept swimming. I knew I wasn't going fast but it was what it was and I was able to swim the whole thing freestyle instead of reverting to a different stroke to conserve energy, so that was encouraging.
I exited the water at 45 minutes, which is on par for my usual mile swimming time. There was some weaving and stuff when you realized that you had overshot the buoy. But overall, I did what I expected for the swim portion.
I jumped on my bike and headed out for the bike course. When I was setting up our training, I had us do this nasty portion of road that I thought mimiced what the course would be like for the race. We rode this road over and over again. Unfortunately, it wasn't really what the bike course was like. But, we don't have anything nearby that would have been better, so it's good that at least we did what we did. The bike portion of the race was really, really hard. And then you got just enough of a break by riding down to convince yourself it wasn't that bad, and so you did it again. It was 7.5 miles uphill, then 7.5 miles downhill and then up and down again. The second time uphill, the wind started to pick up and I was fighting this stupid headwind. Coming down, it was still blowing right in my face and I didn't pick up as much time as I wanted.
I knew that I was the last female on the bike because there weren't any other females behind me. But, I just kept pedaling along. I counted two males that I was ahead of. I figured they were going to pass me in the run, but I could gain as much time as possible by pushing myself on the bike.
After I dropped off my bike, I started out on my run. I was really tired at this point and running was the last thing I wanted to do, but I wasn't going to give up. Immediately, it just felt like everything was off. I had rocks in my shoes. My shoelaces were whipping me in the legs. I was tired and hungry and hot. The run was two times around the lake and the entire way I could hear the finish line announcer calling out all the finishers as they crossed. It was really demoralizing. Especially when I came around the first time and everyone was cheering for me only to realize that I still had another lap to do. The two guys passed me on the first loop. I wondered if anyone would know that I didn't do all two laps. But I would know, and so I kept plugging along. I made up little games to play in my head. The second lap was a little better than the first. I saw someone in the horizon and made her my goal to catch. I caught her about a mile before the finish line. We walked for a little bit and she said this was the hardest Olympic Tri she's ever done and she had done a lot of them. With a half mile left I said I was going to finish strong and took off.
I crossed the finish line a little before four hours. It wasn't what I wanted, but I had finished and I know what to work on for the HIM. I know the competition won't be as fierce there too. I woke up this morning and thought, "hey, maybe I'll sign up for the Olympic Distance one out here in two weeks," so I must've had some fun, right?
Backing up, this will be a write up of my first Olympic Triathlon. Since you know the outcome, you don't have to read further. Unless, you know, you want to. Because I was, at one point, last. And then I wasn't.
When I signed up in January for my half ironman (date: August 25th. It's coming up really, really, really fast) I belatedly realized that I actually have never done a triathlon longer than a sprint distance (400 meter swim, 12 mile bike, 3.1 mile run).
So I looked around for an Olympic Distance triathlon (1 mile swim, 30 mile bike, 6.2 mile swim) to do. This one stood out because (a) it was somewhere new (b) there weren't a lot of competitors and (c) it was on a week that both my running buddy and I could do it.
After we started training I realized that (a) 6 am is a terrible time to start a race (b) July is a terrible month to do a race in the desert and (c) not a lot of competitors = a very bad placing.
I conceded that I would probably be very close to the back. I want to make it clear that I was not creating some self-fulfilling prophesy or being modest--the women who have signed up for this particular triathlon in years past have consistently had much better swim, bike, and run times than me. Judging by the course maps and the times, it's a result of being better triathletes. They probably race a lot during the year and have done these distances multiple times over the course of many years. One day, I'll get there.
But I wasn't going to get there this year and I was okay with it. I wanted to just go out, do the best I could, and clock an Olympic Distance Tri before my big Half Ironman (HIM).
So race day came much quicker than I anticipated. I was nervous for about a week preceding it. My wetsuit came last week and I took it out for the first time three days before the race. I realized that I probably should have bought the wetsuit two months ago because it takes some time to get use to it. Oh well. Chalk that up to a lesson learned.
At 4:50 am on Saturday, H. and I left our slumbering families at the cabin we were staying in and drove the 45 minutes to the race. We definitely didn't leave enough time to get our stuff ready at the transition area and I was really stressed about that. I also had to run to the car--parked about a quarter of a mile away--3 times. That's definitely something we'll be changing for the HIM.
I didn't sleep well the night before and I was really nervous about the swim leg of the race particularly. Swimming is not my strongest discipline and I didn't get a lot (read: none) of open water training. Another thing we'll be working on for the HIM.
At 6:30, it was time for the race to start. The men jumped into the water and they shot the gun off. Then the women got in the water and waited. They gave the men a five minute head start and then we were off. The buoys looked so far away and I knew we were going to have to do the course twice. But, I felt really good. I fell into a good rhythm and just kept swimming. I knew I wasn't going fast but it was what it was and I was able to swim the whole thing freestyle instead of reverting to a different stroke to conserve energy, so that was encouraging.
I exited the water at 45 minutes, which is on par for my usual mile swimming time. There was some weaving and stuff when you realized that you had overshot the buoy. But overall, I did what I expected for the swim portion.
I jumped on my bike and headed out for the bike course. When I was setting up our training, I had us do this nasty portion of road that I thought mimiced what the course would be like for the race. We rode this road over and over again. Unfortunately, it wasn't really what the bike course was like. But, we don't have anything nearby that would have been better, so it's good that at least we did what we did. The bike portion of the race was really, really hard. And then you got just enough of a break by riding down to convince yourself it wasn't that bad, and so you did it again. It was 7.5 miles uphill, then 7.5 miles downhill and then up and down again. The second time uphill, the wind started to pick up and I was fighting this stupid headwind. Coming down, it was still blowing right in my face and I didn't pick up as much time as I wanted.
I knew that I was the last female on the bike because there weren't any other females behind me. But, I just kept pedaling along. I counted two males that I was ahead of. I figured they were going to pass me in the run, but I could gain as much time as possible by pushing myself on the bike.
After I dropped off my bike, I started out on my run. I was really tired at this point and running was the last thing I wanted to do, but I wasn't going to give up. Immediately, it just felt like everything was off. I had rocks in my shoes. My shoelaces were whipping me in the legs. I was tired and hungry and hot. The run was two times around the lake and the entire way I could hear the finish line announcer calling out all the finishers as they crossed. It was really demoralizing. Especially when I came around the first time and everyone was cheering for me only to realize that I still had another lap to do. The two guys passed me on the first loop. I wondered if anyone would know that I didn't do all two laps. But I would know, and so I kept plugging along. I made up little games to play in my head. The second lap was a little better than the first. I saw someone in the horizon and made her my goal to catch. I caught her about a mile before the finish line. We walked for a little bit and she said this was the hardest Olympic Tri she's ever done and she had done a lot of them. With a half mile left I said I was going to finish strong and took off.
I crossed the finish line a little before four hours. It wasn't what I wanted, but I had finished and I know what to work on for the HIM. I know the competition won't be as fierce there too. I woke up this morning and thought, "hey, maybe I'll sign up for the Olympic Distance one out here in two weeks," so I must've had some fun, right?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
