More pictures off Phil's cell phone.

Was she really this little once?

notice a pattern?

These are from Phil's cell phone.

memories

These are just some random memories I want to log.. don't feel obligated to read it all as it's kind of a random mix of thoughts.

PRE RACE

Harlie got sick in the middle of the night, Phil and I both were actually okay with this and didn't let it drag us down but she did get sick 4-5 times in a few hours causing us to get little sleep the night before and do a few loads of wash. Around 6:30am we were driving to the race and in the park. It was dark outside because the sun hadn't come up and when we pulled in, the lake water was "steaming", our temperature gauge told us it was 41 degrees outside and the water was so much warmer that it was literally steaming. Walking to the transition area, I was thinking of how glad I was to be there with my best friend and husband, Phil. Getting my transition area ready took longer than I expected but I was happy with my set up and felt that I had prepared well. Phil's brother and his girlfriend showed up about 10 minutes before the race started, this was a reminder of the support network we have and how sometimes these races aren't just us but the people we carry with us and the side conversations we have throughout the year. My mom the photographer showed up and she is just like a news reporter, jumping around getting all kinds of random pictures. Instead of where's Waldo, I felt like it was where's mom? And I'd find her off in some corner taking some pictures. Phil's parents were also there, along with Aunt Mary Lou and Janice.

RACE

Heat 1 to 3 go and I then realize it's my turn.. I had to quickly get my swim cap and goggles on. At the last minute I realized I forgot to stretch (I'm not huge into stretching anyways but I like to do a little) so I did a quick stretch... amazingly I don't remember seeing anyone stretch which seems really odd before a big race like that. The race begins.. me and a bunch of women are swimming in the freezing cold 64 degree water. I didn't realize that being in the middle of the pack would be so frustrating because I couldn't really get around people to pass. I got 6 minutes in and was feeling impatient, I had to check my watch to see how much further I had to go in the water. At this point I would have been about 1/4 of the way done. But still feeling strong, just a little cold. As I was swimming I realized I really needed to pay attention, it was hard to see the buoy so I had to watch for it, as slight panic occurred when I thought I would pass it and not see it to turn around.. thus going the long distance. When I came back and got out of the water, I remember two things - Aunt Mary Lou laughing (her laugh if very distinguishable) and someone commenting on no wet suit.. crazy me without a wet suit. In the transition area I realized just how cold I was as fingers and brain would not work together. I had a very hard time getting my biking gloves on, I probably should have ditched them but wasn't thinking straight at the time. I also had a hard time with my shoes but that was just bad luck. Otherwise I planned well and was off.. slow but steady. During the bike ride, I was surprised how cold my legs were.. and how they didn't want to warm up. But I was happy to see the wind was against me on the way out which meant I would zip back. I did go at a slower pace on the way out (about 13-15 mph) because I knew I would drain myself if I went too hard. Then on the way back I zipped back at an average 17-18 mph. I got to see Phil coming out on the bike ride as I was returning, it was fun to see him and be able to exchange a smile. I was happy to ride back in with a time of about 55 minutes on the bike. I also noticed that at the end of my the bike ride my arms muscles had had about enough, they were fatigued. I transition to the run and at this point my feet are a bit warmer. My legs were feeling strong and not too locked up from the bike ride. I knew that about a mile in I would be feeling normal. However, I did not expect my hands to get really cold on the run as my legs had warmed up. I kept pushing myself knowing if I had a steady but heavy breathing that I was going at a good pace. I also had my own timed watch on and it said that I had plenty of time to complete the three miles. On the way out they had music and dancers so that was a fun distraction. On the last mile, I had plenty of time to make my goal and actually considered slowing down and taking it easy. But knowing this was the big race, I went at full throttle making my best time for 3 miles. At the finish line, Wendell was there to give me a hug and a smile.

POST RACE

Watching Phil finish his race was pretty fun to watch, and it was great to be able to cheer him on. When we were done, Phil and I went over to the post race events. He actually got 3rd place in his division. I got the joy of sitting in the hot tub and warming up. About 30 minutes into it we both decided we were too tuckered and left. Sitting around and listening wasn't exactly the most exciting thing to do.

REWARDS

Phil and I had our own little post race rewards ceremony that started with a small jug of chocolate milk (for me). We got to eat our peanut butter oreos with ice cream. Of course we proudly wore our tri shirts and posted about our race to facebook and my blog. We rested up going to bed at 9:30pm and then on Monday we got professional massages and ate a delicious steak w/ mashed tators for supper.

All in all, I'm glad we did and am excited to see what we come up with for next year. For now, I plan to slow down a bit and relax, maybe just cruise through the winter. I already have one idea for next year... but need to do some thinking and planning.

I am a triathlete.

showing off our tri tats that we had to put on the night before, and then our little spectator
























As of 9:35am, I can proudly say I am a triathlere. What a day! It didn't start off so good with a 2:30am wake up call from Harlie. Bless her heart she was sick as a dog. She pucked about 5 times in a 3 hour time span. So Phil and I were both up from about 2:30-4am and then we both took some turns until it was time to get up at 5:30am. But once we left I think the worst was over so that's good for the babysitter and family that were still here. So we left for our race around 6:15am. Got to the park to get our transition areas ready and my wave started at 7:39am. Long story short, I swam .5 miles in 22:43 minutes, biked 15.8 miles in 58:04, and ran 3 miles in 29:25. My total time was 1:54:23 making my goal of less than 2 hours. I was pretty excited on my last mile back to know I would make my time and could even jog the rest of it but being the trooper I am I ran all out.. but not so hard to be totally totally wiped. I am proud of my time as I made the goal that I wanted. I amazingly survived my last open water swim of the year with the water at 64 degrees. 95% of the participants wore wet suits but not I! I am too cheap... not knowing how many of these I'll actually do I didn't want to spen the money. Phil also did great in his race and completed his in record time as well. He even got 3rd place in the novice group that he entered, which is great, and a fun suprise. Luckily, they had a hot tob at the race tent so afterwards I went over and got in, and that felt wonderful after being cold all morning. Then when we got home we ate soup, peanut butter oreos and icecream. Tomorrow, we have massages, grilled steak and a day off... so I'm looking forward to finishing our 3 day weekend and then I don't go back to work until Thursday night.

open water swims

So I finally remembered to take our camera for the last open water swim this past Monday. I thought some of you might like a visual. I'm not sure if you're able to enlarge the pictures but if you can then I have some comments. Pic. #1 is of me, and I think I'm going to be gutsy and actually wear this shirt for the bike and run portion. I need/want to wear a shirt over my tri tank and I haven't come up with anything. Then on Monday night I put this one on just to wear to the swim and decided I liked it. So we'll see, I feel kind of gutsy wearing it but it might also explain why I'm the slowest person out there : ) Pic #2 and 3 just shows you the water. There are two yellow buoys in the water, I have to swim to the second one and back. If this were race day, Phil would have to do the second one twice, so two laps. Pic #3 and 4 are of Phil. Anyways, hopefully we'll have more pictures on Sunday! or Monday if we're too stiff and sore to move : )

Less than a week.. the count down is on!

Less than a week for the big TRIATHLON!! And now that my dreaded weekend is done I can focus on the next big thing. I will say I am very excited and also getting a little nervous. My goal is 2 hours or less.. and I have a feeling I'll finish in 2hrs and 2 minutes or something silly like that. I finally bought a watch that is waterproof so I'll be able to keep my own time which should help my motivation. I suspect the water will be chilly (it was last Monday and will probably be tonight as well) but at least I know it. Last Monday I got in and it was one of those situations where I couldn't really take a deep breath at first because it was just chilly out. But I decided to just plunge in and get going and then I did fine. Swimming is exercise so it gets your heart rate and body temperature up so as long as I was moving then I didn't feel cold.. if anything the cold water made me swim faster : )

Phil and I are planning our after party and here's our line up so far; on Sunday go to the hot tub at RP (where we swim), eat a whole package of peanut butter oreo's with icecream or chocolate milk, grill steak, and I just scheduled for us to get massages on Monday afternoon (we both took the day/night off).

We'll see what other fun we come up with but for now that's our excitement. Phil and I have been training for this since February so once it's done we'll see what's next. I know we'll keep working out this winter but maybe take it easy until we come up with some brilliant idea for next year.

So if you have nothing else better to do on Sunday. We are racing at George Wyth near the boat ramp, starting around 7:30am. We're telling everyone to bring your binoculars, a comfy seat, and a hot drink as we'll be there for awhile.

the dreaded is done

So if you recall a few posts back, I had something coming up that I "don't think about it, talk about it, just do it and get it done". Yeah, well the dreaded is done. What was it? And might I say I was really, really dreading this. I had the beeper for work. I have to do it once a year and last time I did it I got pulled to work a lot of the weekend, with a lot of different people, with a lot of different medications - the worst memory is having to sleep in the living room on a futon 0f in a small apartment of 4 highly functioning men, lets just say I hardly slept that night. Afterwards I let me imagination get the best of me but I think any woman having to sleep in a apartment with 4 men is kind of scary. Everything was fine but it was not something I want to relive.

So what was going to happen this year?

I got the beeper this past Friday and didn't I get called until Saturday morning for a 8am-4pm shift.. no big deal until I get called at 11am and informed that I have to do a 3rd shift awake. Meaning I had to work 10pm-8am and be awake the entire time at a MI group home with our most highly functioning people (smart cookies some of them are!). I honestly didn't think I could do it, I use to work a 3rd shift job and it was a struggle and now mother of two, sleepy Heather, years later... how would I manage? Well, I can only say that God was with me. Me and my ability to nap in the afternoons came in very handy. As I took a one hour nap Saturday afternoon and slept like a log. Then when I went to work Saturday night I took in 4 movies, a work out tape, a book, and a jigsaw puzzle. I was actually busy "working" until midnight so that made that time pass quickly. Then everyone went to bed and we are to encourage them to sleep so I had no one to keep me company. So I sat in the staff area watched TV and put my puzzle together. 500 pieces and about six hours later.. I had completed the puzzle and most of my shift. At 6am I was done with my puzzle and was just standing around.. I tried sitting and reading but almost fell asleep so at that point I was just walking around to stay awake. Funny thing is that I was fairly alert but once I let me guard down then I was totally wiped. Then my loving mom called at 7am and we chatted for awhile and then the people at the group home woke up and I had to finish my work. I got off at 8am, went home and slept until noon. Then I didn't get called again as I dropped the dreaded beeper off this morning. Now I work tonight but at least I can sleep!

If anything, I've learned that God puts us in what seems like impossible situations and then helps us through them.

grumps and naps

Friends and family, I thought I'd post on a couple of ongoing issues in my life and thought maybe you might have some advice.

1. How do you combat grumpiness? We all have those days (usually when we're tired) that we are just not in a good mood which usually turns into one of those days where it feels like everything goes wrong which is even more maddening. So how do you deal with it? Any fun ideas of how to turn that frown upside down? (or at least stop scowling? : )

2. Naps. I think I'm addicted to naps. Every afternoon I sit down to relax - check my email and read - and the next thing I know I'm sleepy and if the kids are actually in their rooms/napping then I often take a nap. This has been going on well over a year, at first I blamed it on pregnancy, then anemia, then from getting up in the middle of the night with a baby or work, and now.. well I don't have an excuse. I've tried coffee but caffeine doesn't really pep me up. I could just NOT relax but this is my precious down time and I want to relax.. I don't want to work. I think part of my addiction is that I feel so much better after the nap so it makes me want it more... some people drink, eat, or exercise to deal with stress ... I think I'm addicted to my afternoon nap. Any advice?

don't think about it, don't worry about it, when it comes - just do it

There are 2 of 3 things done in the past few weeks that I haven't talked about much due to nerves.

#1 to check off my list is that I had to read parts of the Bible at my brothers wedding. I chose to basically ignore this request for the most part and my plan worked. I did not think about it and in the end I read just fine. I will say I read the versus once he sent them to me to make sure they were English to me, then marked them the day before the wedding and lastly tried very hard to not think about it. I did make one blurb but it was minor and I just kept reading and no matter how much I could have practiced, it still could have happened.

For now, my new life motto is "don't think about, don't worry about, when it comes - just do it".

And #2 is that my work life just took a fairly major change. If you remember from a long time ago, one very difficult lady moved out and then last month another moved in. And so far we get along just fine. Then yesterday, those three ladies all moved to another house with 2 other ladies. So now I will oversee five ladies instead of three. And in the process I will also gain a co-worker in the morning hours. So last night I went to work at a new location, with new people and worked with a new staff. Everything was VERY disorganized and chaotic but in the end I think I will get along with the ladies and the staff so I'm excited. I think once I've slept there a few times I will also sleep better.

And at this point I'm not talking about #3 as it has not happened so I "don't think about it, don't worry about, when it comes - just do it". As you can guess, it's not a fun thing so I'm not really looking forward to it.