Homecoming

Saturday was the Homecoming Dance, my youngest son's first high school dance.

This first pic is of Lucas and his friend Justin before the girls arrived.

This is Lucas and his girlfriend Michaela. She's pretty cute and seems like a nice girl.

This is a pic of the whole group - Justin and his date Janessa, Justin's exchange student from Spain Anna, Lucas's date Michaela, and my boy Lucas.

This is a picture of my new baby we picked up in Taylorville Illinois today, in what proved to be the biggest all day fiasco of my life. We drove several hours to pick it up from a lady who is on vacation and had made arrangements to have her boyfriend meet us at her little gym/health club and pick it up. Despite making arrangements to be there at a certain time, no one was to be found when we arrived and no one answered their cell phones to meet us - for TWO HOURS! When she finally answered her phone she was a total witch, like we were inconveniencing her or something and the boyfriend says when he FINALLY pulls up "Hey I saw you here looking in the window when I drove by before on my way to my buddy's place......" WTF! That was when we first got there..... ON.TIME! So anyhow, here's a pic of my Ironman 112m Spinner Bike (spec sheet), my winter time friend, another very thrifty eBay purchase. She's pretty hot huh?

Lost and Found

Today I did the Sugar River Bike Tour with my sister, which wound back and forth over the Sugar River in the Brodhead (WI) area. I think we had a good time, although my sista may not think so after I twisted her arm to at least do the 30 mile route instead of the 15 she originally signed up to do. She was into it until about mile 20 or so, when she started hoping the SAG cycles had a tow rope. (Sorry Shel!)
It was the best supported rides I have done. Lots of goodies and rest stops (which were manned by Girl Scouts armed with cookies!) and tons of SAG vehicles on the course on motorcycles who pulled by frequently and ASKED if we were OK. Often.
Much of the course took place on some pretty busy roads without little or no shoulder though. Haven't these people ever seen a back road? Sheesh!

Now, about the title....
About September 8th or so, I purchased a lovely little helmet at the IMWI expo, which came equipped with a really cool zip up case with room for storage of all little bits and pieces of bike stuff (gloves, snacks, etc). It was S-WEET. I was leaving this case in the back of my SUV so that I had a place where I could keep my helmet and other miscellaneous bike stuff together when we transport to ride places.
This case is now missing. I. CAN'T. FIND. IT. ANYPLACE. I have turned the garage and the house upside down looking for it with no luck. It's disappearance coincides with a certain person deciding that my car needed to be cleaned because there was too much JUNK in it. Incidentally, this person also saved the cardboard box the helmet came in - THAT we safeguard....... I think that person had better figure out where they put it before I become homicidal....... I hate it when my stuff gets moved around!

Gear Slut for Rent

Sunday was our second running of the Zoo Run Run at Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison. We close the 10K this year and it took us the same route as the Nurses Day 10K we did in May. Nothing too exciting to report as the time was almost exactly the same as when I ran it in the spring. It felt really comfortable and felt like I was really quick but the numbers don't show it.
Overall, it was a fun morning. I love to go to the zoo and watch Mike talk to all the animals like he is Dr. Dolittle. It does also bear mentioning that the run was commemorating our 18th Wedding anniversary. Mike and I have done a lot of growing up together over these years and it really is cool to celebrate yet another year of marriage to my best friend. We met up with Anne Thatcher who I believe took first in her age group, and Captain Morgan who we went to breakfast with after the run. Stopped at Perkins for a little bite and stuffed myself with potato pancakes - yummy.
Made the rounds of our usual Madison area pit stops- first to Fleet Feet to pet their expensive running clothes (they had a Nike thermal jacket that I drooled over for a few minutes) and then on to Endurance House. We asked the salesgirl about wetsuits and I decided I wanted to try one on to see how they fit and get an idea.
What a funny scene it is to put on those wetsuits! It was like putting on a SUPER thick full body pair of pantyhose that were 2 sizes too small. They were hot and hard to get pulled up, the more you tried to tug on them the sweatier you got which made them stick to you even more........ I swear a videotape of the effort would be a hoot on youtube! As I wrestled with that rubber suit I was going through the pros and cons in my head :
+ they were on sale 20% off because it was end of season
+ the NINETEEN suit was really nice for the price (compared with the Zoots, 2XUs, etc for the same grade of suit)
- they were still expensive
- there is really nowhere to wear them until next spring/summer
+ we need them anyhow if we are going to be adding in longer races, so it must have equipment for our next tri season
+ I look like a superhero in my suit once I get it on
- $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
+ did I mention that I look like a Power Ranger? Oh yeah, maybe I already said that
+ they were the last 2 suits in our sizes in that brand
+ Uh, pink wetsuit..... like I could pass on that........ (this was the same wetsuit I drooled over earlier in the summer)

There was also the funny conversation between Mike and the salesgirl. It went like this:

Mike: (looking at the size chart hanging from the ladies wetsuit) What is the difference on the size chart between L and WL?
Salesgirl: (with a perfectly straight face) the WL have these breasts (pointing to them on the wetsuit).

So long story short, we are the proud owners of 2 spanking brand new s'wetsuits. I have some extra money coming in in the next few weeks, so we will just count that as our anniversary present to each other this year, and probably birthdays too.....

I really need some sort of endorsement deal to help defray the costs of our new hobby. How does a slow, fat triathlete go about getting a sponsorship deal anyhow? I'm thinking about sending out some sort of mass email to the major makers of triathlon related items. It might go something like this......

Dear (insert vendor name here),
I would like to offer you my services in marketing your (insert triathlon product name here). I am a tri-gear addict with no hope of recovery and I am easily influenced by the effect of new products or gear as the answer to my triathloning dreams. I am willing to use your (insert item name here) in my training and during triathlons and/or other races with the provision that you provide me your ridiculously high priced (insert item name here) for my own personal use as a sample. In exchange, I will use your item, tell everyone I know how wonderful it is and how they could not possibly live without one of their own, and I will feature your products regularly on my highly trafficked blog.
In addition to providing me with free state of the art equipment and nutrition, I would also expect contributions of large amounts cash to defray my cost of entering future events where I could speak to massive quantities of people about your product and how it is the answer to everything from taming split ends to curing cancer and everything in between.
You may note from reviewing my race results that my performance really couldn't get much farther back in the pack, so any and all future successes - real or imagined - could be shamelessly attributed solely to the use of your (insert product name here). I may not be the fastest racer out there, but I can definitely hold my own in the "let's talk about anything and everything" arena. Imagine the possibilities!

Sincerely,
Jennifer Wimmer
President and Charter member of the Gear Sluts Do the Midwest Club


Do ya think that would work?

Veronica Rides Again

Went with Mike tonight to ride the mountain bike trails at Rockport Park with Regina. We rode for a while together on the single track but I found myself walking my bike along the trail more than I was riding it. Mike was doing awesome riding with Regina so I split from them and rode some of the wider trails by myself and let them tackle to single tracks on their own. I had a good ride and regained some of that confidence back, since I hadn't taken Veronica (my witchy mtn bike that kicks me off her regularly) for a ride since like July. I actually got off the wide grassy paths after a while and tackeld the narrower dirt trails, not quite single track but getting closer. Baby steps.
I'll keep working on it but I can't promise I will ever be good at it. I might learn to bounce well.

Um, yeah....... at least it's proof it happened

So here are my picture from the website for the Dousman Duathlon.

Notice in pic #1 there is no one behind me...... because I was the last person in the the last heat...

The bike pics are OK, but my jacket was filled with air and looks very marshmallowy.

Mike thinks the last one is very funny. I am coming up to the finish line. He says I must have just stepped down hard because everything is headed that way. I notice most that my sports bra was apparently failing me at that moment in time.

So, I think for the next time I will have to stand still and vogue a little to get a good action shot.

Yes I am a glutton for punishment .... the Dousman Duathlon report

Slept like crap but after waking up at 12:30 and downing a Tylenol, Advil, and naproxen cocktail, I got back to sleep until 0545 when Mike commanded me out of bed. I slipped on my cold weather gear, made up some oatmeal for the road, stuck a banana in my pocket and out the door we went.
After a little over an hour, we got to Dousman and got checked in. We set up transition and waited for our wave. We were originally going to just register on race day, but Friday they sent out an email saying we could register for the early bird price if we did it that day, saving us $70, so I did it, we were committed. It still meant we were in the final wave though. We were in wave 18 and 19 of 20, so we were waiting a while.
They finally called my wave -18 - then they called 19 and 20 to take off all together. Crap. No waves behind me. From the start of the first run I was DFL. Just by a few dozen yards, but last nonetheless. We went down a bike path for a while then veered out onto residential streets. before long I realized there was a scooter following me, the last runner. I think I had had just about enough of this shit for one weekend. It couldn't be called the Hearse like the sweeper van from yesterday, so I decided to call this dipstick the Grim Reaper. I was once again pissy about the escort. I kept waving him back, but he remained 10 feet or so behind me, nipping at my heels, revving up the scooter then letting out the throttle - VROOM putt putt putt VROOM putt putt putt. I got to the first course marshall I saw directing traffic and she was cheering "good job keep going" and I looked at her and growled "Tell this ass to get back and stay back. He needs to back off from me!" I think I shocked her a little but she held him up and told him to back off - thank you nice lady! Finished the first 2 mile run, garmin said 21:14.
Then it was T1 time and out the bike gate. I was the last bike in the racks. The.last.one. ..... Which I could hear the volunteers in the corral talking about. Loudly. "She's the last one in?" "Yep"..... Bummer.
Before long I was out on the bike course. It was windy and hillier than Mike led me to believe but I only swore under my breath at him a couple of times. He was far up ahead anyhow so he didn't hear me. I knew that I was the last bike, so I took kind of a sick pleasure in passing, oh, a couple hundred people or so. That was fun. My new pink IM Kona Elite helmet was sweet. Perhaps it would have been nice if I had remembered that last year when I was cold weather biking I had to wear a handkerchief under my helmet as a wind block. The new helmet has much bigger vent holes for better air movement which will be great on warm days. Since today was only about 45 degrees, with wind, and riding at 17-20 mph, I felt like I had the worlds worst ice cream headache/brain freeze for say 1:17:46, which incidentally is what the Garmin said was my bike time.
transitioned back out for T2. Took a little longer to get going since I knocked over a bike next to me putting on my shoes which i picked up. I was noticing there were still lots of empty bike slots near me, so was feeling pretty good about the bike.
The last run was what it was. Shuffled my way through it as best I could. managed to pass a couple people, not sure how. Saw Mike on the sideline and waved. Came through the chute and to the finish. There, done. Final Garmin Time: 2:01:40 altogether. Official result say 2:04:31.5
(690/797 overall 11/13 Athena )
Last year, the announcer was great. He announced every person through the chute with their name and city, Mike Reilly-style (the voice of Ironman). "Mike Wimmer of Janesville - you are about to cross the finish line of the 2006 Dousman DU-ath-a-lon!" It was cool. This year Mike Reilly sound-alike guy was not there and I missed him. Blah, bland finish. No hoopla. No fanfare.
I had fun. I was glad to be done. And now I am glad to be home lying on the couch, lounging and relaxing.
The ride home was interesting. We were trying to get back to watch my sister in a 5K in Riverside Park. we got off the Interstate at Johnson Creek and as we headed into Jefferson, the main streets were completely blocked off for some German fest parade. We did the re-route from hell and made it back just in time to see Michele finish. She can tell her own story though. Jake and I rang the cowbells and Jake ran his momma in.

Janesville Half Marathon

Janesville had a cold snap yesterday. Thursday - shorts and flipflops, Friday night - winter parka, gloves, sweatshirt, and jeans and still freezing my buns off wrapped in a blanket in the stands at Monterey Stadium watching my kid kick ass and take names.
This morning there was frost on the ground - yikes. It was 44.6 degrees out - Had to wear tights and a jacket and hat. It was a small group taking off from Lions Beach, likely in part due to the weather. We talked a few minutes with the SWATs that were there. Anne Thatcher (who is training for a marathon to qualify for Boston) asked me what my goal was other than to finish. I answered "not to cry." I think she thought I would give her a time goal. I thought answering that I was shooting for sub-3 would probably make her laugh.
From the start I was last. After a while I was quite a ways behind. I became aware that there was a van behind me driving really, really slow. I thought at first it was just trying to drive down the road. I kept motioning for it to pass me for several minutes, but it didn't. A little further down the road, I realized this was the car that was following the last runner and that was me. I spent a while being kind of pissy about it. I couldn't remember what it was called, so I made up names to call it. I finally decided on "The Hearse" since it kind of felt like it was waiting for me to keel over and die since I was so slow. I could see a single guy ahead of me a ways up the road and ahead of them, and 3 guys ahead of him. Beyond that - no one, nowhere, nada.
The Hearse followed me until mile 7, where I managed to pass the geriatric jogger that had been kicking my ass until that point. Then it followed him. I smiled and told him good job as I passed, doing a little cartwheel on the inside. I was no longer last.
The plan I followed was this.... walk the water stations, drink my sugar free Walmart Replenish (like Gatorade without carb), and munch sparingly on Black Cherry Shot Blocks, 1 every 15 minutes so I didn't get sugar gut and threaten to puke. The second half was easier. There were a couple guys ahead of me that were fartleking..... well they were walking but would let me get almost to them and then jog til they were further ahead. I finally got ahead of them about a 1/4 mile form the finish just before we rounded the last corner and I stayed ahead. I couldn't tell if they let me get ahead of them or if I actually kicked it in the last little bit but whatever - I'll take what I can get. Final time according to the Garmin: 2:33:01.... an 11:53 pace. I thought around 2:30, so was pretty well on the money.
It was such a relief to be done and to have kept going without having to take walk breaks that I teared up a little, especially when my nephew Jake met me at the finish and gave me a high five and a hug. That was cool. Got hugs and congrats from the SWAT folks there and my sister and Jeff. Felt kind of stupid accepting them - they all had time to go home, shower, and catch the news before they had to be back to watch me, but I did appreciate it.
I also need to shout out to the Milton High School cross country team. They manned the last 2 water stations and THEY.WERE.AWESOME. They cheered and whooped for you all the way through the station, then as they drove by on there way back they hung out the windows of the cars and hollered and cheered all the way past. As the person who was next to last, those cheers came at a great time when I was tired and kind of down, they really picked me up and kept me going. It was great.
I am feeling it a little tonight. My left butt cheek hurts. And my back hurts a little, like in the T3/T4 area. The legs are good so far, not real sore. So I broke my back and my butt, but not my legs or my spirit.
Tommorow's exercise in stupidity: The Dousman Duathlon. Stay tuned.

IMMoo Musings from Aluminum girl

Well the IMWI this past weekend was certainly an eye opener. What a phenomenal experience! First of all, I bought the prettiest pink helmet at the IM sports shop - I cannot wait to wear it. (That makes the third helmet I've bought in about a year, I think I will be selling the others on ebay.....)
We began our day at 3AM Sunday when the alarm rang. We showered, dressed and drove to Madtown, got parked right near the Terrace, and headed to our spot just outside of transition to begin the body marking frenzy. What a weird job it is to have someone come up to you strip off their shirt and pull down their pants to have you write on them - just kind of an odd thing to do. There were folks there from ALL OVER. I had a heck of a time trying to communicate with a few of them. One fella was Italian I think and I had to take a couple different runs at trying to get him to tell me his age so I could mark his leg. I finally asked him in French - the first and only time I have been able to put those 5 years of Jr/Sr HS and 16 college French credits to practical use! (Sorry Mom, sad but true....... my mom was a French teacher for those who didn't know that). It was there that I think I really started to get a sense of just how many people there were competing in this - kind of overwhelming!
Before we knew it, we were looking for a good spot to watch the swim start. I have never seen an open water swim event, so I was really curious. It was just amazing to see all the people in the water together, especially when the cannon went off and all 2200 people began to move along the shore together, just a mass of arms and legs and swimcaps. I think I had a little panic attack just watching.
Lesson #1: I need to find a place to practice open water group swimming on a smaller scale. Maybe we need to do some of the Aquathons next summer. For sure we need to spend time in a lake.
We watched as all if these many hundreds of people finished the swim or hitched a ride back to shore in the rescue boats. They were guided out of the water and helped out of their wetsuits, then ran through the chute and up the helix for their swim to bike transition. I broke out the cowbells for them and rang them for everyone I saw. We shouted and jumped around for those we knew- Darin, Kitty, Jay, Bolder, Roman, and the others. As it neared the end, we headed to the car for a quick change to warm weather clothes and to get in line for the shuttle bus to Verona to watch the bikes go by.
Lesson #2: Go to the bathroom before you get in line for the bus. It's a REALLY long line. And don't drink a bottle of water and a diet Coke while you are waiting (refer to the previous sentence).
The bike portion was long but it was really cool. We arrived about 0930 and again the cowbell came out. We watched as everyone sped past us and I rang that bell through the first loop for everyone and then again on the second loop. There was a pregnant lady who sat down near us on the first loop and bitched loudly about how the bells were bothering her. Her bitching was bothering ME, so I figured we were even and kept the bells going. I firmly believe that every single person needs to have encouragement and motivation. I know that there likely people there who had not brought their fan club and needed someone to cheer them along. And probably those folks that are straggling in at the end need it even more than the pros riding like lightning off the front. So we rang and rang and rang until it was time to get back on the last shuttle bus at 4. We had been waiting to see Kitty come by on her second pass , but we hadn't seen her and the buy told us if we wanted a ride back to Madison, we had better get on the bus or walk.
Lesson #3: Ringing the cowbells for 8 solid hours creates a lot of cuts and scrapes on your fingers. By the time we got on the bus, my knuckles were all raw, sore and bleeding. OUCH! And also, your wrists hurt - like a little carpal tunnel going on.
Once back at the Terrace, we headed up to a place where we could look down upon the "BIKE IN" finish and watched the last hour before the bike cutoff. This was one of the most emotional parts of the day for me. We saw people struggle to the finish line. Some could barely get off their bike. Some had to actually have the catchers unclip their shoes from the bike. One guy was leaning so far to the left I thought he was going to crash his bike into the wall, then he actually had to be held up for several minutes by the volunteers once they got him on his feet to keep from falling over. We saw one girl start down the chute and she was SOBBING as she realized she had made the cut by just a few minutes. It seemed especially cruel that after biking 112 miles everyone had to bike UP the helix (3 story corkscrew ramp) to get to the finish.
We waited and waited for Kitty and still we didn't see her. At about 5:20 we saw Tawnya and some of the other SWATs. They had been driving by her on the motorcycle all day and knew that she was going to get pulled from the course and wouldn't make it back. That was just a heartbreaking moment. I can't imagine getting that far and being pulled. I am not sure I would be able to manage that with any grace at all - might just wrestle someone instead of giving up my chip if I had the strength.......
We then headed up to the Capital Square to watch the run. There were people lined everywhere cheering people on. The bells had to stay put away - my hands couldn't take it anymore - but we clapped and cheered for everyone we saw. It was kind of nice that everyone's first name was on their bib number so you could shout something personal. Some of the folks were looking a little dazed, so it may have just served to confuse them for strangers to call out their name though. We hung out, ate supper and spectated for many more hours and finally headed up towards the finish line to watch our friends finish. One by one they went by, then the group dispersed to do their own thing. After standing around so long, mike and I decided to walk along the course backwards and watch for those we may have missed. Before long we saw Jay heading towards us. We shouted and waved, then took off running across the capital lawn to get back to the finish to see him cross. We found him after the finish to congratulate him, then headed home shortly afterwards. Erin crossed the line too about that same time. Shortly after that, we headed home, exhausted. It was the quickest 20 hours of my life.

Other lessons/thoughts on the day:
- After watching all day and blogging with many of these people, I feel like my family grew Sunday by about 2200 people. I was genuinely happy for everyone, worried about them finishing, getting hurt, or not making the cutoffs. I feel like I took every step, every pedal stroke, every meter of swimming right along with these folks.
Man, Christmas is going to be REALLY expensive this year......

-Spectating made me more sore than any brick or race EVER. I never get muscle aches and pains, just an occasional ache in the night after a big run that goes away with NSAIDs. For really the first time in a long, long time I spent Monday and then Tuesday with thighs and hamstrings so sore and tight i could hardly walk. My feet hurt, I had several blisters, I was sunburned beyond belief. Who would have thought standing around WATCHING stuff would be so exhausting? (I know no one is really feeling all that sorry for me, it's not like I did an Ironman for pet's sake!)

-if Frank can do it so can I: We watched this guy Frank Farrar all day. He is 78 and did his 50th IM. He made it in 3 minutes before the cutoff for the run, totally hobbled up and stumbling. If he can do it, I can do it.

- I really could care less about seeing the pros race. I want to see Joe Everyguy struggle and get to the finish in the last few hours. I want to see the folks that just barely make the cutoffs, the folks that entered knowing they would be in the back of the pack or maybe not at all. Let's face it - they are me. And they work hard and deserve as much or more recognition than the pros and elites as far as I'm concerned.

- The experience the first to the finish line have is far different than the experience of the last to the finish. The faster folks race through crowds of spectators, streets and sidelines packed with spectators calling out and cheering rock star style. The last 1/3 to 1/4 of the iron candidates go through sparse (if any) spectators clumped around the finish. I felt a little bad that more people didn't stay to cheer everyone on or that more finishers didn't come out and cheer on those behind them. Everyone deserves the Rock Star Treatment. Next year, I am taking Monday afterwards off so I can cheer to the very end. (Plus, I will need to be off Monday so I can Register for 2009!!!)

- The whole day was an emotional roller coaster. Excitement, anticipation, nervousness, disappointment, fear, anxiety, pride. I felt them all and then some. I jumped up and down. I cried a little along with the athletes and families. The moods of the day were palpable everywhere we went.

- It was amazing to see those that were racing after overcoming adversity - absolutely inspirational. There was a woman we saw on the news that had overcome stage 4 Ovarian cancer and was doing her first Ironman. There was an amputee. We saw many with there stories written on the back of their jerseys, including a man who had completed his last chemo treatment just one month ago. I can't put into words how moving that was - I am tearing up just writing about it now. I hope that if I am ever in a situation where I am put to the test like that, that I would embrace life that way instead of wallowing in a pity party.

Most of all, I learned I still have a long way to go. Mike and I have had a lot of "what if" conversations and watching everyone throughout the day helped to put in to perspective what it is we need to work towards and work on. The conversations pre and post IMWI are very, very different.



At the end of the weekend, I think I have more questions than answers-

* could I do it in the rain, heat, or weather issues? Had the race been on Monday instead of Sunday it would have been cold and rainy, not sunny and gorgeous. Could I do it like that? Doubtful.

* Could I really do that swim? the swim is long, and brutal. I would really need to toughen up and quit being a marshmallow.

* The bike scares me - could I do it well? Bitch Hill - Nuff said.

* What if I can't make the run cut?

Because we live the same darn life.... and the Family Circus Run

I'm tired. Because Mike and I have had EXACTLY the same weekend, please refer to his post about the weekend events so far. Immersing ourselves in the Ironman culture has been incredible so far. How very cool it is.
When we got back today, Mike and I decided to get our last long run over before next weekends half marathon. I got to mile 3.2 and my stomach hurt so bad I felt like hurling. This is getting to be a pattern that is really pissing me off frankly. I sat on a raised manhole cover hoping it would either pass or get the barfing over with and I made Mike keep going and promised to call Nick to pick me up (yeah right, like I would). I sat there a while longer and felt marginally better so I decided I would walk towards home for at least 1 mile and decide what came next from there. I had a little pity party for a while then decided that I need to buck up and quit being a wuss. I decided I would run however slow I needed to to get as many miles in as I could stand - I need the miles and the confidence that I can finish. I ran painfully slow towards home. As I got closer, I started making big loops around blocks in my route so that I added on mileage without getting to far away from home in case I tanked again. I entertained myself by thinking about all the IM things we saw and have read, about the folks in IMMoo tomorrow and those that we followed at IMKY. I envisioned that my route must look a little like a big loopy Family Circus cartoon map, which made me giggle. When I finally made it up to Parkers parking lot, I thought a little bit about running around the school parking lots and around that area again and decided that although I felt like I could do it, I was out of water and I did make it 8.5 miles, not bad for starting out thinking about barfing and throwing in the towel.
I will definitely need to watch what I eat before running a little better. Also I was planning to try to use Powerade instead of using Sports Beans since I thought that might be easier to digest and easier on the gut. not so - took one swig today at mile 2 and immediately got an icky belly - too sweet. So, I quit drinking hoping to empty and refill with plain water in Riverside Park (a little farther from where I made my barf stop) so I suspect it was partly a little dehydration today kicking in . I also have been taking naproxen almost every night for the twinges of extra running, which I was thinking about today. i took a lot of it last summer too when I tore my trapezius and had some belly pain issues then too. I am stopping that and I am pretty confident it will help.
If the pain continues, I will see if Dr Darin has some time to offer some advice. I think he is a little busy this weekend though doing a little race in Madison. Maybe next week.

Maddy the Smiling Dog

This is a pretty good picture of my youngest dog Maddy. When she greets you she pulls back her upper lip and smiles at you. Sometimes she will do it on command. When she's really excited to see you, she does the extreme version - a very intense smile, with a little simultaneous piddle.

just thought I would share - it totally cracks me up. Except when she also piddles, then not so much.

I. Am the happiest mom. On the face of the Earth...

This is my oldest son Nick about one month ago, after taking his senior pictures.



















Hell has officially frozen over. Pigs are flying. The cow is jumping over the moon. (I think I stole that from TriDummy, but Shhh, what he doesn't know won't hurt him)

This is Nick today.
He got sick of waking up with hair in his mouth. Or so he says.









Side view. Pinch me I think I'm dreaming!













In other news Mike and I took what was intended to be a long run tonight. It was just over 8 miles, but felt like 800. I was not great running bud tonight. I had some er... shall I say... gastrointestinal issues that forced me to walk or slow down A LOT to prevent embarrasing moments. I only share this little overshare with the masses because I'm sure Mike will post his little Garmin picture and highlight the slowness, so I will just spill my guts preemptively.
He promises to punish me with another insanely long run tomorrow night as a chance to redeem myself.
I am beginning to wonder if I have any business attempting a half Mary in a week and a half. Fact or Prerace jitters? I don't know.

Cow Chip Classic 10K (only in Wisconsin...)

Wednesday, Mike and I took a run together shooting for 5 miles or so. Then on Thursday, we went to Edgerton to do speedwork at the track with the Hagens. We did a quick warmup and cooldown run of 1.5miles each way, then did 5 minute intervals of 400's x 6. I am really slow compared to everyone else there, so I guess I must need the speedwork the most, but I sure do hate it. I'll keep it up becuase it seems it is helping me a little and it's good for me, kind of like eating my veggies.
Ran the Cow Chip Classic today. Mike, Jeff, and I did the 10K, Michele did the 5K. This was a fun race and the first consecutive year event I have done. Last year I did the 5K, but I really want to be doing 10s from here on out. The run itself was fun. Michele and I ran together for a while until the courses split about a mile out. Immediately after the split, I headed up "Heartbreak Hill" which really was not as bad as I anticipated. I remember looking up it last year thankful the the 5K routed us away from it, so I knew it was coming and I was busily psyching myself out of it. I managed to pass my rabbit twice on the hill. Near the top of the hill she passed me and stayed slightly ahead of me until I passed her just after the 5 mile mile marker. Not sure what my deal is but when I look at my pace vs elevation, I often am speeding up as I go uphill instead of down - my theory is it is anticipatory pacing, but who knows. Today was my first negative split race, if that counts in something as small as a 10K.
Somehow while trying to run and reset my garmin settings from speedwork night, the garmin gave me credit for an extra mile, a 7.2 mile 10K....... ?? ...... whatever - it still registered my time correctly and I AM capable of doing the math. Garmin says..... 1:10:23.
my official result was 173/177 overall, 20/20 age group, 1:11:31 (11:31/mi pace). 10Ks are not really very good for my ego, I have moved WAY back in the pack despite a faster pace than I ran in the 5s, which sucks big eggs.
I wish I had had my camera today, there were some really interesting things we saw. First was the little Saab that was covered in brown foam with fake bugs and random stuff stuck to it so the whole car looked like a giant bug covered turd. We walked by it as we went to the start of the race, and a girl said to her dad "what is the brown stuff?" and he replied very seriously "it's poop honey." I thought I was going to die laughing - they were SO serious about it.
On the way to our car after the race, there was a lady on the corner selling homemade hats of the same brown foam material (maybe made of brown Great Stuff??) complete with fake flies attached. She even had gift boxes for them. She was charging $15, so I didn't buy one, they were cute but not THAT funny.
I will try to find a few pictures I can post here to give you a feel for the State Championship of the Cow Chip Throwing (at my house known as the Poop Toss). Check back for them later.