Crossing the Bridge

For the past week or so, I have watched my youngest son flounder a little bit as he tries to find himself some semblance of a life after football. Several days, I came home from work to find him ambling around the house looking for something to do or taking a catnap on the couch. I know it has to be an adjustment for him. For the past 4 years, he has been involved week-in and week-out in one form of structured athletic program or another – football practices and games, off-season lifting programs, other programs to increase speed, explosiveness, and form, and training camps. Every week had a purpose and every day had a specific goal. Someone else planned your life and you lived up to their expectations and did what they asked, you worked the program and proved yourself as a solid reliable performer.

For the last 4 years, we have watched as he has matured in to a solid, muscular athlete, a formidable presence on the field. He has honed his nutrition to maximize his muscle base. He has watched his fluid intake to stave off performance deficits. He has heeded the advice of his coaches in building muscle and strength the right way, through hard work and not synthetic hormones or chemical quick fixes. He has worked hard and followed the program to a T, and now he has reached a crossroads.
Now things have changed dramatically. No one is telling Lucas how, when, or where to exercise. He has lots of tools he can use, but no instruction anymore. This is the first of what will be many opportunities to transition from the “kid world” of taking direction from others into “grown up land” where you take the tools you have been taught along the way and find your own way in the world and trust that you have the tools and training needed to succeed.
I don’t always give my kiddos the room to show off how adult they are becoming, but I am trying to release the reins and let them fly on their own. Some days are harder than others, but you have to have faith in the universe to make itself right.

Last week it started to happen. A few days last week, I came home to hear from Lucas that he had gone running. He ran from our house to Franklin and back (just shy of 2 miles). No one prompted him to di it, he just slid on some shoes and took off. He was pretty proud of himself and posted on his facebook that he was "a workout warrior." Friday, while driving home I passed him as he took off down the hill towards Franklin. I gave him the high sign out my car window and nodded to myself with pride. My boy was running. Cool beans.

Over the weekend we talked a bit about routes, pacing strategies, building endurance. We discussed what I like to call the Pi Route, a 3.14 mile route around the neighborhood. He got lost in the description of street names and turns to take. I suggested I would show him the route sometime, not expecting him to be very interested in that.

Monday, I got home from work to find him at home, kind of antsy. Mike soon followed and Lucas gave me some needling about showing him my route. So we all got ready and off we went. I tried to explain the route to them, saying they were going to be faster than me so here are the directions. Lucas shook his head and denied he would be faster than me, but deep down I knew he would be. Lucas and Mike jogged with me a while, Lucas turning and running backwards, basically chugging it for my benefit.

Before long he and Mike were up ahead. I pushed myself to keep them in sight, able to hold about a half a block behind them for much of the way. I was determined to keep up so I pushed myself as hard as I could and kept moving. As Lucas crested the final big hill leading to home (the last 0.1 mile), I finally lost sight of him, able only to see his head bobbing up over the crest of hill occasionally if I kept speeding up a bit. As I crested the hill myself, I saw that Mike and Lucas were doubling back up that last 0.1 mile to run me in to finish. So there you have it- my boy ran his first 5K. And he smoked me, but was a class act enough to come back and run sweeper for his poky old mom.

Now I have a new goal. My kiddo has the running bug. He broke that first 5K barrier and will only keep getting faster (He did after all go from nothing to a 5K in less than 2 weeks of steady running.....). Lucas is my new pace bunny. I will work to build my own endurance and speed back up to keep him in my sights and never again lose him over the crest of a hill. It's pretty likely too lofty a goal, but just the same I am so proud to have been there for and influenced what is really the birth of a runner. He had the tools all along, he just needed that nudge to pull them out of his toolbox and figure out a way to use them. All by himself an grown-up-like.

It's ON now, pace bunny. Look out for momma.

Maybe you'll even take up cycling and swimming, then we can really play hardball!

Trek Triathlon- Pleasant Prairie

JENNIFER WIMMER #1369
JANESVILLE, WI Age: 40 Gender: F

Distance: Short Course
Clock Time 01:42:03
Overall Place 1181 / 2544
Division Place 32 / 74
Swim 00:15:24
Swimrank 389
Trans1 00:04:23
Bike 00:37:40(Mph 19.1)
Bikerank: 204
Trans2 00:03:08
Runrank: 2120
Run 00:41:27 (Pace00:13:22)

Up at 3:30 AM to drive to Kenosha area (OUCH!!). Got parked, walked to the Rec Plex, set up transition and got ready for takeoff. (Special thanks to Jeff for 1-going back to the car for my sunglasses and 2- hailing the Trek rep to get my race wheels pumped up when I could only figure out how to let air OUT of them which was not really helpful.... SUPER SHERPA award goes to him, hands down!)

The 3:30 wakeup call was a problem in the pre-race "routine" ....... could have easily resulted in one of these ----------------->

but managed to overcome the feeling when I looked at the portapotty line that was easily 200 people deep.... LOL.

Swim went well, passed through at least 3 colors of previous waves and managed some trick maneuvers in noodle dodging.

Bike course? Flat and fast, finished up with the 700 number women (I was 1369). Felt like a fricking rocket, smiled the whole time.

Run? Flat course, had zero gas left, lost all ground gained on the bike and probably more. My running sucks, it is what it is....*sigh*.

Great weekend, had fun with my sisters, who did awesome! would love to do something different with them next year!

The Marble Theorem in Action

My friend has a theory about raising boys to be men. According to her hypothesis, all the marbles fall out each boy's head at puberty which is then filled with testosterone and at some time in the late teens/early twenties, at least some of the marbles are returned to that empty head, pushing out some of that testosterone and returning some common sense to their thought processes. In the meantime, a parent can only cross their fingers and pray that no one is hurt in the interim by the absence of brain cells.

Until this afternoon, it seemed as if we might be growing nearer to that moment. And then I came home from work.

As I turned the corner to reach my driveway, I see Nick walking out to the car Lucas drives with a BIG jar of bungee cords. Um, yeah, I can hardly wait to hear this one.

me: what are you doing?
Nick: the car won't start. We are going to push it into the garage to sit and warm up.
me: and the bungees are for.........?
Nick: I was going to rig something up to the steering wheel so no one has to sit in the drivers seat while we push. (Apparently, my son has aspirations to become the next McGyver...)
me: ................. uh, I don't think that's a good plan............
Nick: (shocked look) Really?
me: What was your plan if you needed to correct the steering? Or if you need to stop? Or if it starts to roll backwards as you are pushing it with the door shut and it's going to roll over one of you?
Nick: ......... uh yeah, Didn't think of that.

Plan B is formulated. I will sit in the car and steer/brake, the boys will push.

me: OK where are the keys?
Beefy: We can't use them cuz the car won't start.
me: ....?????...... How did you intend to take the car out of park to push it in the first place??
Beefy: Yeah, I'll go get the keys.

I put the keys in the ignition, the car turns right over and I drive it into the garage. The smell of gasoline is everywhere.

Beefy: How did you start it?? I tried for like a half hour and got nothing!
me: If you touch the accelerator, you flood the engine. If you leave it alone a bit, it fixes itself. The engine was just flooded, it's not magic.

I just have to wonder about what fiasco might have transpired had I not pulled up in time to avert it. I envision a drivers seat wrapped in bungee cords flipped upside down in the ditch across the street lying on top of my children. Or maybe seeking treatment in the ED for musculoskeletal injury from pushing and pushing and pushing a car that is geared firmly in Park. Wow.

19 Things I Like About You

1- You buy me Monsters. By the case.

2- You love to shop as much as I do. Except when we are bra and underpants shopping with your mom, then you get a TEENSY WEENSY bit impatient with the process.

3- You get genuinely excited about helping/watching/teaching your kids.

4- You are brimming with enthusiasm most of the time, almost to the point of driving me crazy sometimes..... (See #1)

5- you make me laugh. There are at least 2 weddings where you had me laughing so hard I couldn't get control of myself, including the one where the pastor looked like Mr Magoo. I think I snorted out loud. Several times.

6- You clean things. At least you clean things more often than I do.

7- You are a good cook, which is good since I am so not.

8- you know how to have fun, and how to get me involved since I sometimes don't.

9- Tech support. It's good to have an IT guy around, even if you give the heavy sigh when I am not doing things fast enough.

10- you dream big. And expensive.

11- You invent cool new phrases like "Git R Dun."

12- You understand my shoe fetish. A girl can never have enough.

13- You made an actual training plan. Not that you follow it mind you but you finally HAVE one.

14- You put up with explaining everything in football to me over and over again. And you always help me keep track of Lucas on the field.

15- Did I mention you buy me Monsters?? Big cans??

16- You put up with my grouchy mornings and crabbiness, without really pointing out what a rag I am being.

17- You are a great dad. and uncle.

18- You have great taste in women.

19- You are good to your mother and your family.

Love you MDot-i-mus. Here's to celebrating next year's anniversary toeing the line at IMMoo!

Happy Sweet 16 L.Dub!!!

16 years ago today Lucas joined our family and life has never been the same. Through the years, he has brought us a lot of joy and laughter. He has bled us dry of money for new clothes and high tops to match every outfit, miles and miles of driving to practice, games, movies, and ...... yeah lets not even get into the groceries thing. I wouldn't trade one single minute!

I hope your day has been great and wish you many, many, many more happy birthdays. Wish Beefcake a happy birthday!

Now I have to go and find my lucky license plate socks for his Drivers test tomorrow......

Keeney Girls Do Danskin 08

Saturday morning we were fresh and ready to take off for our weekend in Kenosha for the Danskin Sprint Tri.
(Michele, Tracy, Jacob, and Jenny).













We arrived at the Expo Center to register and rack our bikes. Michele quickly lost interest in mike snapping her picture every 5 seconds and found ways to entertain herself.













My mom and Isabel patiently waiting for the fun to start.





















Jeff and Mike entertained each other at the expoby taking pictures of Jeff's Prefontaine mustache.














After a quick night in the hotel we were off bright and early to get to transition to set up. Here we are getting ready to pick up the shuttle bus.














This year's Christmas card picture.














Tracy bought a razor Saturday night but we aren't sure what she used it for.














Proof positive I can't ever seem to shut my big mouth, even while trying to stuff my big butt into a wetsuit.




















Screwing around waiting for the start of our waves.















I am one of the yellow caps busting the through the pink wave before us. Which one am I? Couldn't tell you. Probably the one who looks the fastest if I had to choose....














Thumbs up to Mike on the bike, coming in hot on Hubba Bubba.














Tracy going out in the bike.













Jwim smiling because the run is almost over!













Tracy (red hat) about to cross the finish at her first tri! WOOO HOOO!














I really don't have a lot to say about Danskin. My intention there was to get a practice run at transitions, especially with a wetsuit. That went pretty well. Things I needed the reminder for:
- lay out everything on the transition mat. I forgot to lay out my glasses for the bike and spent a ton of time digging through my bag for them, easily 2 minutes off my T1 time.
- unbuckle the bike shoes, untie the run shoes. Duh. I never seem to think about this. I hate standing there untying double knots and fighting with the bike buckles.
-turn on the garmin and set it up before the race starts. trying to switch to "bike" when you remember 2 miles into the bike kinda sucks.
- body glide the neck to prevent the wetsuit hickey. Ow.
-arrange a meeting spot beforehand so everyone can find each other. (Or if someone if standing 10 feet away from you, tap them on the shoulder and make sure they know you are there, since I didn't see anyone and others apparently knew where I was, at least until I took off to find them.... )

Time was OK, but that wasn't really my focus. Got in an open water swim with a group and I held my own. Got some practice with sighting the landmarks, which was harder than I anticipated. I think the swim would have been faster if I could have swam straighter instead of wandering form right to left to middle to left to middle to right. Could use some practice yet.


Both my sisters completed their first tri, which is huge. They did great and I hope they had fun. Big high fives to Michele and Tracy. YOU ARE ROCK STARS!


Mike got some great pictures of Tracy during the race. I wish I had more pictures of Michele from the actual race. It was hard to pick her out of the crowd since it seemed everyone there had the same outfit on as she did. I didn't even get to see her finish even though I was right there specifically waiting for her. Somehow I missed it and I am mad at myself for that.

Weekend Update: Mother's Day Style

So yeah, guess it's been a couple days.

Thursday last week I went swimming and tried to make up all my mileage for the week in one night. If I could quit talking, I could have done it, but I got close anyhow.

Friday night, I did a little bike (I think I posted it).

Saturday, Mike wanted to run. but first he had to work. Then it was cold and windy, so we went to Home Depot and got some stuff to fix up the yard. We mowed. I weeded and removed the debris in all 5 gardens. After a while I just lost the time and motivation to squeeze in the 20 miler. What can I say? No excuse.

Sunday was of course Mothers Day. It POURED all morning and into the afternoon. Then it was time for supper at my sister's with my mom and dad. She made lasagna and an AWESOME eclair pie dessert.

In getting ready for mothers day, I found THE.BEST.COOKBOOK.LIKE......EVAH. We have cooked out of it like every night. Yum-O. Check it out - its The Hungry Girl Cookbook. Buy it, it rocks. And for sure get it from amazon by clicking through my banner so I get credit for it (shameless plug).







So..... what did I get for mothers day?



First of all, I got a sweet pair of race tires. Look closely now........ yes those ARE pink sidewalls on those bad boys!

Also there was the DeSoto transition bag, of course in pink. (I am kinda feeling like a rolling Pepto Bismol ad.....but whatever). That will come in right handy at, say, PIGMAN or SORT.

Six Word Meme for today's bike ride

After work tonight I set out on my pretty pink ride out into the country. I have a 25 mile ride on deck for tomorrow with a swim, but I won't have time for both after work tomorrow so I swapped out the ride for tonight.

I thoroughly enjoyed my ride, although it was painfully slow at times and I actually had to walk one GIGANTORIFFIC hill just on the other side of Hanover. You see, I hadn't ridden there since last fall and I knew the turn was coming up and couldn't recall exactly where it hit on the hill, so I was going slow looking for my turn and simply lost momentum. I had some mean hill climbing goat like skills last summer, I need to get those back into shape soon.

I did manage to get in a little blog reading and so I was thinking about Misty and Pirate's posts about the 6 word memoir. Seeing that it took me almost 2 hours to complete my ride, I had plenty of time to work on a few myself. Here is one to describe my experience today:

Riding outdoors, country roads, exquisite bliss.

To see the pretty graphs and stuff from my ride on Bones in Motion, click here.

In other news, we got the call that Nick was accepted to Charter School. He starts tomorrow morning. It is self-paced so hopefully that will be motivation to work on this as quickly as he can and get that diploma in his hand in time to graduate with his class. Yeah! We will get the chance to update his last graduation picture!

My Life in Pictures

(Click To see my Bones in Motion Log for this run with all the data, maps and graphs.)

Today, we took a slow run down to our usual pre-winter running grounds. This used to be a nice run for us that was quite scenic, picking up the bike path that runs alongside the Rock River. In the fall, we could watch the boats go by, watch the Water ski Team practice their pyramids, and watch a whole host of birds and critters go by. Quite a different story these days. The river is flooded and much of the neighborhood that the bike path passes is underwater after the snow melt from massive quantities of snow, followed by the last week or so of torrential rains. Our path is closed from the hospital through Riverside park, our usual turnaround spot to head back towards home. Today, we ran into Riverside Park a different way and this is what we saw.

This first view is from higher ground coming down into the park after going through the Riverside tunnel and turning right. You can see a street branching to the left. Going forward from there you see a house and what used to be a street in front of it. This next shot is a little closer up of the same area.The part underwater? Yeah, that's our run path, there along that tree line.

See that line of posts sticking out of the water? That is the spot where the path becomes a run/bike-only blacktop path. If you look closer, you can see the street sign there behind it. It normally stands about 8 feet high, but most of it is submerged.

See Mike crying? This is the spot where the path goes underwater inside the park. Behind him is normally a winding path that goes behind that stand of pines and around to the right, back to the spot where the street sign looks to be about 2 feet tall. Not running there today buddy!











Here is the sign pointing to the start of that Kiwanis trail from Riverside park. Apparently its a true triathlon trail now. You can run, bike, AND swim on it!



















Here is a shot of the pavilion where I normally would refill my water bottles for the first time on my long runs last summer. See that speck in the middle of the picture? Yeah, that's a park bench. We didn't wade out that 200 yds or so to sit on it though. Not today.

Here is another park bench in the middle of the river. No thank you, I'll just stand on shore.

When I took this picture, I patted the pocket of my jacket I had taken the camera out of and had a mini-panic attack that my cell phone was not in it. We then back-tracked our steps around the park Family-Circus-style for the next ten minutes. Then I patted the pocket of my tights and realized my phone was in my pants pocket. I forgot to take a picture of Mike's happy face ;-)

Looking back through my camera, I realized we never posted pictures of our bike fittings, so here they are. What a difference it makes to have someone make your bike just the perfect fit for you and the way you ride. It was an awesome experience!

And last but not least is a picture of Nick with Mike after picking him up in Bessemer Michigan to bring him home last Sunday. we had just stopped for lunch about an hour back south into our drive home. Notice how high the snow is around them. Did I mention this was in April? Insane. This same day in Janesville, it was in the 60's sunny, warm and beautiful. Best day for a bike ride all year. It's a good thing we like this kid!

Keep your fingers crossed for Nick tonight. We interviewed yesterday for the Rock River Charter School yesterday and we will find out on Monday if he can get in right away. Best case scenario is he can start right away in the self paced e-learning program and he moves quickly enough through it to complete the coursework in time to walk the stage with his graduating class in June. I've been crossing my fingers, toes, legs, arms, and eyes since yesterday, which might account for why I was running so fricking slow today!

What a weekend

Nick's home. I'm tired. For now, read what Mike said.
More from me later.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Things No One Ever Told Me (but I Wish I'd Known Ahead of Time....)

Many of you know that my oldest son turned 18 last month. There have definitely been some growing pains for everyone with this. Big changes have cropped up at every turn.

We have watched our son go from skating the razor's edge of getting through the remainder of his senior year to careening over the edge of the cliff. There was a time when we hoped for a B average. When that didn't happen, we calculated how many points it would take to get the lowest possible D- so we pass the classes. Nick has always been a good kid, although performance in school was always a worry. He is a very bright kid, he just never saw the value or had the internal drive to do well in school, resulting in acing tests and taking zeros on homework, which generally causes the GPA to take a big hit.

Since his birthday in February, it reached another level. He could start signing himself out of school, and he did it .... alot. Once he moved all his stuff out after signing himself out of school and moved in with his friend for a couple days, until he showed back up at home. He came back, and I thought we had reached an agreement - he would finish up his last semester of school and at least graduate. It was a tenuous situation at best, but we were headed for the finish line. Or so I thought.

Last Friday was the last day of school before spring break, and we found Nick had not come home for lunch from school and we knew something was up. After a little calling around, we finally got a text from Nick saying he had gone on a spring break trip (news to us) with his friends to the UP of Michigan and he would be back the following Saturday. Nothing we could really do - technically he's an adult and can take himself on vacation. Oh yeah - he also quit his job, a job for which he was getting school credit for as a youth apprenticeship class.

Yesterday, we called him to find out when to expect him. He texted us back after ignoring the call to tell us he liked it there so they were going to stay there, in another state, hours away. "I'll let you know more details as they become available." (WTF is that??)

So like it or not, I guess he is done with school and not going to talk to us. Disheartening I know, but hopefully he will come around to at least have a conversation with us soon. We love him and miss him, but we can't live his life for him. He always has liked to learn his lessons the hard way. So for now, I guess we just sit back and wait for the other shoe to drop, and work out our frustration on the track and trainer.

It's so hard to watch someone make decisions you know will affect them for the rest of their life, and knowing they are really only hurting themselves. It's like watching a train wreck happen right in front of you. Being a parent is a much tougher job than I thought I was signing on for......... I feel like maybe I should apologize to my parents for my own boneheaded stunts.

Random Ramblings about Everything I Know Today

Seems like I am reporting the same things over and over again, since we last met I have swam, run, and spun a bunch. A whole bunch.

The whole indoor activity thing is really getting kinda old, hamster-in-a-wheel-ish feeling. I can hardly wait for the cold to break. Anything below zero with wind chill is too cold for me, and I was feeling pretty cowgirl about going out in that. So in January, I have done exactly ZERO anything outdoors. Blech.

Tuesday afternoon, I took Lucas to go and get his temps. He had already taken the test, so it was just a matter of writing a check and snapping his headshot. Immediately upon getting back into the car, he texted EVERYONE that he got his temps and congratulatory texts came rolling back in ..... and I'm thinking "Congrats for what? Way to write that check, mom! Superior penmanship! All right!"

It was icy and snowing out, and I offerred to take the boy driving a little bit. He immediately said no thanks - it's icy, I want to get home before the BB game, etc etc....... So I told him no one doesn't drive the day they get their license and he was gonna do it. I pulled us into the PHS parking lot behind my house and we switched places. We talked about taking it easy, accelerating and braking slowly, etc. "I know mom." So all excited to be behind the wheel, he turns the key and floors the Matrix on a patch of ice. I hollered out "Stop - brakes!" and he did. Then we started over. He buckled up his seat belt. I got my right hand firmly on the chicken strap and the left hand on the emergency brake. He took off and I tried hard not to shreik and offer some helpful advice like "try to stay on the right hand side of the lane" and "remember to signal all your turns" and "it's icy - if you dont slow down around that turn next time we are going to land in the neighbors pool...." Always the helpful one, Mike drove up in the Yarus (a/k/a "The Yardstick") and commenced spinning all around us doing donuts all over Jim Rockford-style. Yeah, that really did a lot to diffuse the high anxiety level behind the wheel.

Last night, we did our run at the indoor track at the Y. I was kinda hungry when we started, but figured I would suck on my Gatorade and be fine. I was scheduled for some sub 10:30 pace intervals, which I did, and about an hour later, we headed home. I started feeling crappy on the way home and was fully into a bonk feeling by the time I got home. I was still feeling it this morning even after a couple hours at work. I hate it when I do that to myself. It was a good feeling run though. I know sub 10:30 isn't lightning speed for most people, but its pretty quick for me.

Tonight I am off to marshall for Swim. Friday I will spin after work. Saturday I am scheduled for my long run, 14 miles probably on the indoor track. I am dedicated (now) to getting it in. I have blown off my last *5* long runs, a pattern I am trying to dig myself out of. You know how everything you read says skip anything but don't skip that weekly long run? Well yeah I was listening but not so great at following directions I guess. Will I make it an even half dozen this week? Hope not. If I do, I fully expect y'all will give me some shit about it.

BTW: 115 days until the Madison Marathon.

Fair Warning

Tonight is the first night of Driver's Ed for my youngest.

We'll be sure to call ahead to anyone in the area when we do hit the road, just as fair warning to get out of your car and to the nearest shelter.

We survived the oldest getting his license, I have faith we may survive this too.

Did get some training in the past week, Thursday night I got in the planned 2000 yds of swimming, followed by 1:20 on the spinner Friday night while watching Borat. Borat - by the way - was kind of funny but really horribly inappropriate, but still kept me entertained long enough to get through several 5/5 sets of SLPs, standing, sprints, and miscellaneous other drills while watching it. (Just as an aside - also watched "I know who killed me" with Lindsay Lohan......quite possibly the dumbest movie I ever saw. Had a really hard time with it, particularly that she got a bionic arm and leg minutes after surgery......... puh-lease! And she had a prosthetic leg that needed to be charged up to be able to walk........ I guess they couldn't afford a technical team to advise them about how stupid that was....... 1 of 10 - don't waste your time on it).

The weather has been strange the past week. We went from a couple feet of snow the end of the week, to pea soup fog on Saturday and Sunday, to rain and the disappearance of ALL the snow on Sunday with more fog. Today was foggy, stormy, and finished up with a tornado warning (IN.JANUARY!!!!). Weird, wild stuff.

Sunday Mike and I were planning to take a run outside since it was soooooo warm out (45) however while waiting for the fog to lift a little and for Mike's belly to settle down, it finally got too dark to go outside so I ended up running on the elliptical for 1 1/2 hours.

Today Mike and I will head to the YMCA for the 2 hours Lucas is at Drivers Ed and run the track, maybe lift a couple of weights. I'd love to go outside, but the rain pooped on that plan.

Let's Recap and Look Ahead

Been off the blog train for a few days, enjoying some family time with my family and Mike's.
The Saturday before Christmas, I got up early for a run before we left to pick up Mike's mom and grandparents from the Madison airport. Got in a few miles by myself when I was surprised to find the SWAT team coming up behind me and they twisted my arm to join them for the rest of their run and for breakfast afterwards. Mike and Nick met me at the restaurant and then we took off for the airport after a quick shower. It was foggy out due to the warming temps and all the snow that was quickly melting. When we arrived we were glad to see the planes were still arriving as scheduled. About 10 minutes before they were due to come in from their connecting flight from Detroit as noon, that changed and everything was cancelled and rerouted. The plane was sent back to Detroit. Many phone calls and a long day behind us, they finally arrived at Midway airport in Chicago about 9:30pm only to find their luggage was lost in space and we waited a long while more while they filed their lost luggage claim. Finally arrived at our house after 1:00am.

Christmas Eve Day we drove to Merrillville Indiana to meet Uncle Mike who was taking the grandparents (his parents) to Ft Wayne for Christmas. We picked them up again later in the week at the same place.

(Here's a picture from the Christmas festivities of my nephew Jacob encouraging his sister Izzy to climb the stairs, apparently by channeling Satan...... My mom is the spotter)

Christmas was nice. My parents, my sister and family, Mike's mom, and his brother and family were there and we enjoyed good food, fun, and a cut-throat game of television trivia.

We spent endless hours with Mike's mom and grandparents shopping, laughing, ate every single thing in sight, and as usual it was over way too quick. We really cherish the time we get to spend with Mike's family. They all live in North Carolina now, so the togetherness opportunities are few and far between - I wish they were closer.... we really miss them.

We dropped them at the Madison airport New Years Eve day, and then we got ready for a quiet night at home watching movies and tearing down the holiday decorations. I am always so relieved when I can put that stuff away and get back to normal. By New Year's I feel like Christmas threw up in my living room.

Today, my parents left for their winter in Costa Rica, so we won't see them again til spring when the snowbirds return.

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Top 5 Funny Phrases from the Week:

1) "How does it feel to work for a company that sucks balls?" (Overheard being asked by the guy in front of us waiting to make a lost luggage claim at the airport)

2) "If someone put a gun to your head and said Poop or Die could you do it?" (I don't know why this came up......)

3) "I'm calling the police" ..."Well, I'm calling Wapner."

4) Dookie

5) Asked by Mike at Blockbuster: "Does this movie have humping in it? I can't watch a movie with humping with my grandparents..." (The movie was Georgia Rule....... the guy was technically right - no humping - but they say "Boner" and Lindsay Lohan took off her underpants and gave some guy a blow job........... I blame the Blockbuster clerk for that embarrassing moment)

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Status of My Goals for 2007:
*Complete my first Duathlon and my first triathlon, then continue to do as many as physically and financially feasible: DONE!
*Complete a 10K race or more: DONE, Several times! Also did my first half marathon
*Compete in at least 1 bike race: didn't do, not because there were not opportunities but because my focus changed from working on my strength - the bike -to focusing on my weakness - running.
*Learn to Mountain Bike: Done, but not well. Had a really hard time conquering my fear of falling down. Crashing....... not so much fun.
*Graduate from Ball State with a BS in Nursing, thereby making me qualified for the job I have done for the past 10 years...................... : DONE!!!!!! (Finally)
*Continue to gradually lose weight into the 150 range or better, and maintain without significant gain: Didn't do this. I held most of the year in the 170-175 range, and after a low point of 160-ish this summer, I found that I was not able to properly fuel my training as I increased my volume. I gave myself permission to focus more on maintaining my weight and on increasing my fitness and endurance. Still a long range goal, but lower on the priority scale (no pun intended).
*Learn to run with my nutjob dog without injuring either of us ;-) : Well, I found a good tool to run with her manageably (the Gentle Leader Walk Harness). Problem is it abrades her across the chest so we can't run often or it leaves her with a mark. We'll keep working on this at least on short runs this spring.

I also updated my mileage spreadsheet .

Here is the upshot:
Running miles: 594.88

Biking Miles: 1885.7

Swimming yards: 57,950 (or 32.93 miles)

My unofficial goal for the year, never having set an annual mileage goal before was a stab in the dark at 2007 total miles for the year, so I guess GOAL MET and exceeded at 2513.51 miles. Now I have a benchmark for 2008 and can set a more aggressive goal.

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My 2008 Dashboard:

I know some of you all don't believe in New Years Resolutions, but I think it is important to have goals to work towards to focus attention in the right direction. The concept for goal setting we use at work is something that they call Dashboards. I think of these goals like the dashboard of the car, something that is always in front of your vision as you move forward.

So that's what I am putting out there this year - my personal dashboard, my vision for the year 2008.

* Complete 2 Half Iron Distance (70.3 mile) Triathlons. We are officially registered for the Spirit of Racine and Iowa Pigman. If all goes well with them, we will get registered for IMWI for 2009.

* Complete my first marathon. The plan is for the Madison Marathon in May. Maybe there will be more than one, but let's just say one for now.

* Do the Danskin Sprint Tri with my sisters. (No pressure girls - it's just for fun!)

* Maintain my weight in the 160-170 range (after taking off the Christmas 10 of course). Maybe even dip into the sub-Athena arena as long as I can manage my endurance nutrition at the same time.
* Run a sub-30 5K. (borrowed that one from Misty, good goal)

* Get my spring cleaning done before December for a change. (Thought I should throw in a person non-exercise goal)

Mileage goals:

Run: 1,000 miles

Bike: 2,008 miles

Swim: 100,000 yards

Holiday Greetings from the Wimmer Boys

Guess how thrilled the Wimmer boys are about having our family picture taken for our Christmas Card?

As they say, a picture speaks a thousand words.

Quote of the day: "Why do we have to wear these GAY matching shirts?"

"Hands at sides. If they are in front it looks like I'm trying to touch your butt."

Good times. yeah. Good times.....

The Fastest Thanksgiving Day Parade.... a/k/a The Berbee Derby

The past few days I have been feeling gunky, crappy, feverish, and generally like poo. I have snuck in a few rounds of yoga, but that's about all the strenuous activity I've felt like doing. So the past few days I have been wrestling with what to do about our Thanksgiving Day race. We had planned to do the 10K at the Berbee Derby, but after honestly assessing my current status, we opted for the 5K instead. On the positive side, I have a camparison to last year but I also really wanted to do 10's as much as possible from here on out.

Got up early and spent a half hour hacking and blowing the gunk out of my nose and lungs - (where does all that crap come from overnight???? I just don't get it!). It was a balmy 26 degrees outside, so we loaded up on the cold gear to get ready. It snowed a little yesterday, just a dusting really and overnight the slushies had frozen so there was a sheet of ice under the snow to boot.

My mom and dad pulled up to come along and spectate. My mom got out of the car and asked "are you sure you guys want to do this??" - funny. My sister pulled up a minute or so later, and off we went to Madison.

Here we are in the "staging area." I think we all have about 4 layers on and it was still nippy out.

This is our little group before the run started. R->L: my sisters friend Audrey, Mike, Michele, and me.

After a while we got started and it was a nice course, kind of hilly which I recalled from last year. I was moving along pretty good, but had to stop a couple times to walk a little, just the effects of the past week catching up with me.

I looked around at the finish line area for my mom and dad but really there were so many people I just couldn't see them. My dad was on picture duty along the finish. My mom got recruited to strip chips at the finish. Had I known, I would have found her to strip mine!

It was cool that they came to watch - it's always good to have a fan club. Next time we need to get them some bells! I realized standing at the end of the chute waiting for Michele and Audrey that my pants felt weird. I had on 2 pair of lycra pants - blue tights with some looser Adidas pants over the top. While I was running I thought I felt the pants slipping down so I kept yanking them up while I ran. While I was standing there, I looked down to notice I was blue tights from the knees down and I had yanked the overpants up to my knees, all bunched up at the crotch, thereby discovering why I was getting a few funny looks.

Final time by my Garmin: 35:36

Official Time: 35:42 (5K: 1376/1639 overall, age group-87/113 )

Not to shabby for Mrs. Cough-y.

Then we quickly drove home to finish the Turkey Day spread. Mike and I did all the prep Wed night so all we had to do was have the kids pop the buzzard in the oven while we were gone, then we had to stick the dishes in the oven or turn on the crock pots when we got home, quick shower up and voila - dinner was served! Went pretty slick to do all the prep ahead - I think I will do that again for sure.

Here is a pic of Mike and I, my mom and my nephew Jacob draining the drippings from the bird to make gravy. Mike poked a hole in the side of the aluminum roaster and made a stream into a sauce pan. Kinda messy but it worked.

It wouldn't be a Keeney meal without the obligatory picture of the food. The meal was really good and we were thankful to be able to share it with family.

This is my niece Izzy, who will be one in a couple weeks. She is so fun!

After dinner, we played some Scene It and other TV trivia games. Here are Lucas and Michele gloating over their win.. I think they cheated.