Race Day ReCap

Today I competed in the Women of Steel Triathlon- It was a perfect day! I couldn't believe after all the snowy, rainy, sleety, cold and unpleasant days I have been training in all spring, right up until yesterday afternoon, that it would be so perfect this morning. Blue skies, pleasant temperatures and no wind- PERFECTION!!

My sister Shamae is my training and competition partner. Can I just say what a pleasure it has been preparing for this race with her. I think it is funny that we really didn't get along very well when we were kids. She is 5 years older than me. When she was a senior in high school I was in 7th grade. She got married when I was in 9th grade and had a baby at age 20. We were just so different (we don't look a thing alike!)- until I finally got married and had my first child at 25. Now we had something in common, baby weight that needed to come off!!! When I moved back to Pleasant Grove we joined the same gym and started swimming together twice a week, and over the last four years we have really become close friends. Several years ago I got the crazy idea that we should just start biking together and sign up for a Tri and the rest is history.

Today I am so proud of us both. Last year I was in great shape, I was really prepared for the Salem Tri until I was plagued with a knee injury that took me out of the race and for 5 months afterwards. I was so discouraged and upset about it. But I pulled through and rehabbed that IT Band back to health over the winter and Shamae insisted that I would be ready by May to race again. I am a year older, a little heavier, and just plain feeling slower- but I was going to improve on my time from three years ago!

And so we come to this morning- 8:00am
I dove into the water for the 300 meter sprint and had a great swim- this is my love, I truly enjoy swimming, and by golly I am good at it!!! After passing several people and navigating through a pile up I came out of the water in 6 minutes and 13 seconds- 13th place.

I had a decent transition from the water to the bike - leaps and bounds better than last time so I will take it.

Then I was off on the bike portion- a quick 12 mile sprint a two loop course which includes a steep hill that is my nemesis- but I prevailed and clocked it all in 43 min.

My next transition from bike to run was better than the first so I was happy.

Now I was off on the run- this is by far the hardest part for me, especially the first 1/2 mile of trying to get some legs under me after burning them out on the bike. But as I made my way up that terrible hill one last time I was feeling good and running a steady pace around the bend. Not a personal best but a respectable 27 min. - not too bad, so I will take it!I finished in 1 hour and 23 minutes placing me 32 out of 167 in my age group- top 20% isn't half bad!!! I beat my previous overall time by nearly 5 minutes!

Shamae triumphed a bike chain problem to pass me on the run pulling in her personal best and ended up beating me by 1 minute- I am so proud of her!!!

Huge shout out to my Paul- totally supportive throughout the long training process, my personal cheering squad during the race and fantastic sports photographer to boot!!

I kind of declared at the finish line that I don't think I will do a Triathlon again. My Mom insisted that she KNEW that wasn't true. However, the more I think about it, the more I am liking the idea of doing it as a relay next time. Any takers? I will be calling dibs on the swim portion!!!

Around here...

it isn't officially spring until our tree out front begins to blossom. There are several of this variety on our street- it is stunning- and we are lucky to have a large beautiful one in our front yard. They are the last ones to bloom in the spring- the grand finale of the season- it ushers in the long awaited warmth and sunshine of summer. Abby loves to climb this tree, especially this time of year. She clothes herself in head to toe pink- pulls herself up into its lofty branches surrounded in a cloud of ruffling pink. While enveloped in the beauty, she lays back looks up at the bright blue sky filtering in the soft pink light and dreams the dreams of an 8 year old girl. What is running through her thoughts, I wouldn't know, but I do know that she thinks she is alone, that not a soul can detect her in this perfectly enchanted hiding spot. That is until her mother shows up with her camera!

The Deck Revealed

I have decided that procrastination on my part needs to end. I have come to this conclusion after everyone I am running into is asking me if I still have a gaping hole in my house!! No, we don't, Paul has been hard at work and doing an exceptional job of building the new deck. It is complete! I can now walk you step by step through the process.

Let me remind you all of what we started with. You will remember that I wasn't able to get a good "before" picture because I came home to the surprise of demolition. So, I have scoured the archives and found this one from when we first moved in (look beyond the Wiggles tent, and forget about the shabbiness of the yard, we have made vast improvement over the last 4 years).Then we had the shrubs removed, back door removed and deck removed.That very night, with the help of two stellar neighbors, the new door was in and weather proofed (oh, did I not mention before that the old one had NO weather proofing! That meant we had some water damage that had to be addressed). The new door looks better, slides better, has blinds in the glass that I adore, and it was 3 inches deeper than the previous. So we ended up having to tear out all the inside corners and drywall along with cutting back the kitchen flooring to make room.

Paul took the next week off of work so that he could have some therapeutic building time! However, he picked the worst week of weather to do so! The next two days it was raining and snowing non stop- so we finished up all the drywall, trim and paint work in the kitchen. We decided to finish off the door opening in wood instead of drywalled corners. Then we had to re-due the base boards and that ballooned into re-trimming the garage door as well. Lots of unexpected work but I am very pleased with the final product.

Next, Paul continued to brave the elements outside and started digging the 3 foot holes for the concrete footers. This is always backbreaking work, especially when you have all the roots from the bushes and rocks in the way. He labored like a champ and they turned out perfectly for supporting the post of the decks framework, as well as going up under the cement pad. I didn't get a photo of just the footings, but you can see the posts bolted to them in these photos. I hope that you notice his pride and joy- how he notched out the 4X4 posts to except and support the framework. Beautiful design executed to perfection. It is also lag bolted to the house and all the cross beams are bracketed in place. He framework is so great- it feels so solid with zero movement- leaps and bounds better than the old one that was so wobbly and pulling away from the house.He then cut and created the stair risers. I would equate this to cutting crown molding! It just messes with your brain- but as always Paul figured it out and cut them without making a single mistake, each tread and rise perfectly spaced- I was so proud!

We decided to go with Trex decking. LOVE it!! It looks great and it will never give little bare feet slivers and will never need maintenance. It was more expensive but I really feel it is worth every penny.After all that, Paul's week off work was up and he had to go back. While progress was put on hold for a week the girls LOVED that new deck. They decided it was a perfect stage for doing dance performances and plays,oh, and jumping on it is fun too!Last Saturday it was finally time to create the railing system. Again, I love his design and execution. This time we went with Redwood (the post are as well) and I like the color with the decking. Then we just capped off the post and we were done!This project looks simple, but it was A LOT of work! So many cuts, so many screws, so much math and brain power!!! Paul once again did a fabulous job! See, I told you I never have to worry when he decides to rip things apart- just like always it is 100 times better than before.

We are so in love with our new deck that we decided to make it the back drop for the Mother's Day photo this year.

I am so happy with the wide steps and size of the landing- exactly what I wanted! I think Paul would sleep on it, if only it would stop raining!!!

Last weekend downs and ups

A week ago, on Friday evening Abby was out riding her bike. She does this A LOT. She has taken to pedaling as fast as she can in order to get the most rush and feeling of flying as she possibly can. Well, that night she lost some of the control she had previously taken for granted. You see Abby has NEVER fallen off her bike. I mean NEVER, not even when she was "learning" to ride. She just climbed onto her bike and started peddling and that was that, off she went. So, as she was flying down the street in front of our house and her wheel began to wiggle and then her handle bars jarred suddenly to the left, she didn't know what to do. And while she was flying- arms outstretch in front of her up over the handle bars- supermaning through the air- she didn't know what to do! Her chin and hip bone took the fall and she skidded down her collar bones and arms, rolling three times to a stop. She was in total and complete shock- what- just- happened! I ran to her side only to discover the damage and her chin ripped open- poor girl, she just didn't know about the tuck and roll maneuver to save her face!!! Paul scooped her up and drove her to our Brother in Law to see if he needed to stitch her up. It was decided that they would just glue her chin shut and steri strip it tight. For the rest of her body- bandages- and lots of them!!
Crazy me, in all the panic, didn't take a single picture, but the next day at the Easter egg hunt she looked like this:
I have to share this story, not because it is unique or really out of the ordinary- everyone does this on their bike, but because the very next morning we had our initial running race ushering in the race season for the two of us! I was kind of sad, I didn't think she would want to compete in the race, all beat up and sore with bandages everywhere. I told her it was up to her, she could make the decision. I would most likely have bowed out and rested instead. She, without hesitation, declared that she was going to run that race! How could I even have thought for a minute that she wouldn't!!

So bright and early Saturday morning we made our way to my sister's school (she is in charge of this school fund raising event each year) for me to run my first 5k of the season and Abby was going to run the 1 mile, a step up for her- the previous races had been 1/2 mile runs.

It was FREEZING cold, but she lined up at the starting line with Grandpa right beside her to pace her around the loop. She was off to a quick start and wouldn't you know it- she came in at 4th place overall and 1st place overall girl!!!! We were all so excited!!! Such determination- that girl is fast!!!

I on the other hand I had a good run, it felt great, it wasn't my personal best, but I did come in at 6th place, so that feels good!!

This is a classic shot- my Dad trying to beat my 13 year old nephew into the finish line- Kobe beat him by a couple of seconds!! Both took first place in their division.

The champions- and the mom!!

Bring on the next race in three weeks!!!