The Return to Triathlons and all that involves...

I don't make decisions lightly. In fact it usually takes me awhile to make them, but it is dang near impossible to deter me once I have made one. Kind of like moving the furniture around, it never happens in my house.

16 years ago I was sure I mean I was positive that I was done having kids. I had almost died during child birth and the doc said "don't try this again". O.k. I can take a hint, so we called it quits. Fast forward nine years and guess what? We weren't done after all. I was talking to a friend who had four kids and had adopted a little Korean girl. I said "anyone can do that?" For some reason I thought you had to not be able to have kids or something to adopt any. That was the first statement that got my wee brain going. Six years later, man am I glad we did not call it quits.

71/2 years ago I was sure I mean I was positive that I was done doing triathlons. I had just finished an ironman that ended up getting cut off. I was burnt out and mad as heck about all the time spent training with no result. Forward seven and a half years and guess what? I was not done after all. Actually I did say that when I got up there to the big 50 I would do another ironman. Since I turned 48 in Nov. I guess it is time to start training. The thing that got my wee brain working this time? We were at the beach chillin with our student and I saw some really sweet bikes on cars. Yup you guessed you can run but you can't hide. In the next town over was a triathlon on the next day. And the next day? Well of all things it was my birthday. That was a sign to me, it was meant to happen.

The really cool thing this time around is all the online tools available to triathletes these days. I mean you can get work outs and all kinds of great hints as well as shopping tips online. It is kind of funny because I am starting in the same place as I was last time. No bike. A minor detail that will work itself out, always does. In the meantime I will go to spin class a couple of times a week and keep swimming and running. Have Panama City marathon coming up in August so that will be some good training.

Do I have any expectations this time around? Heck no, just have fun!

Schoolin'

We started school yesterday. You know the first day is always the best, and then it quickly declines from there. Yesterday both girls were excited to dive in and learn to read and finish up some books. But alas today the reality of how much work it was going to take sunk in and my girlies wilted. I mean like melt down. Baby has a photographic memory which is great unless you are trying to teach her to read phonetically. So she will look at a word and spend about 15 minutes trying to see if she has had it before, guessing and finally she will sound it out. At that point she is done with that word and I have to get some new ones.

The part that really drives me to distraction is the guessing part. For example the word "live". We discuss the l sound and the short i and the v. Now we try to put them all together. We get like, love, and every other l word in the school room. Then she finally really looks at the word and tries to sound it out. Of course it does not help to have your teenage sister glaring at you across the room, just because you are getting on her nerves!

So now I am wondering how in the heck did I teach 6 other kids to read? I do have to admit some were easier than others, but we did it and I'm sure we can do it one more time. She does have a deadline to learn to read in English before school starts in Feb. I told her if she does not know how to read she can't go to school until she learns how. Don't know if I will last that long.

Then of course is the teenager wanting to just leave and go for a run, eat lunch, anything but stay there and get that darn math book done! O.k. mom just breath and know that they are not going anywhere and there is no hurry for them to learn these thing.

On a fun note I did my first swim today and got in a good 800 before I felt like my arms were going to fall off. It felt great and I think sure enough the time was about the same as when I quit swimming eight years ago, how sad ha?

First Swim Jitters

Part of the reason I have not been swimming is because the downtown pool is freakin freezing. I mean to tell you it is freezing. So I have been fretting and worrying about getting my butt into that freezing pool.

Then I got to thinking about my years of swimming with the masters in Flagstaff. Getting up at five a.m. every morning, scraping the ice off the car windows, in my pj's no less, and dragging to the pool 15 miles away. I pretty much slept through the workout, which was a good thing, but man was I tired all day.

Now I will head down around eightish, on the bus, swim my own workout, and be home in time to home school the girlies. Not sure what I will do once massage classes start, but maybe do the afternoons. The only hard part once again, is the unheated pool.

The good news is that by Friday the pool will be warming up. Yup they fill it on Sunday and by the end of the week it starts warming up, but it is dirty also. I think I prefer dirty and a little warmer. As you can see by the picture though it is beautiful and I am sure thankful to be so close to it.

You know the saddest part is that I will probably be the exact same speed I was eight years ago. When I swam everyday I was the same speed as when I only swam once a week. In other words after six weeks of swimming with the masters I was no faster. It was easier, but no faster. Of course unfortunately the same can be said about running club. I went for about four years and never got any faster. My only goal at running club was to keep up with my friend, the one that was 62 years old!

Ironman Bug

It has taken me 8 years but I think I am ready to dive in again. When I was 40 I did an ironman, or tried. Some poor guy drowned on the swim, so we ended up doing about 80% of an ironman. At any rate after that I decided I was done. Now that I am looking real close to 50 I am ready for round two.

Today I actually found the perfect one. It is Cozumel Mexico. Close and a good time of the year. The only problem is it will be a few days before my 50 birthday so I will be in the younguns age group. Not that it makes any difference. I just want to finish a dang Ironman.

So next week it is off to the pool I go. I only have about one year and 10 months to get ready for this baby!

2010

If this picture is any indication it will surely be an interesting year in 2010! Between poor Bekah being wiped out from working 10 hrs. and big brother tying on a few too many, and hubby trying to fit into the picture, we are just dying of anticipation for the next year.

The firework show was amazing from the deck, and we enjoyed very much the home made pizza. Watching the New Years day parade right now on T.V. I really was loving the parade of lights here and now it is kind of not so great. Oh well it is all relative.