Tour de Cure

next month Mike and I will be riding in the Tour De Cure ride in honor of our neice Sarah.
Here is the link to the page describing our story. (and Mike's page)

Juvenile Diabetes affects so many young lives. We want to see a cure, not just a means of managing this disease. If you can help us with a pledge, large or small, it would be appreciated. If you aren't able to help, please donate your time, write a letter to support funding, say a prayer, or whetever you can find within you to help JDRF.

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Learning to blog from the Blackberry

We just found that we can upload. Blog posts from the phone. How cool is that?
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It's business time, people!

What can I say? Its been a while since I have felt much like putting more than a few smart-mouthed comments on my Facebook page and really getting down to business.

I am currently in the last couple days of week 3 of Ironman training, which is going pretty uneventfully. I have managed to get in almost every workout, with the exception of a few swims which is directly related to a distinct lack of pool availability rather than a motivational deficiency.

I have missed only 1 run, which I think is nearly miraculous since I can find every excuse in the book not to run. I am not not fast by any means, but my big fat butt is out there pounding the pavement on a regular basis. At 14 miles per hour most of the time, which incidentally is about as fast as most people walk. Gotta start somewhere eh?

After reaching an all time high for my weight after my initial weight loss 4 years ago, I am now trending down again. Mike and I have our own version of the Biggest Loser Challenge going, complete with weekly weigh ins and last chance workouts. I of course relish any opportunity to create Excel spreadsheets with formulas and auto-calculations, so that was yet another way for me to put my mad computer skills to work. So far I am down 18 pounds in 5 weeks (next weigh in is tomorrow) with another 20 or so to go. I have even managed to win 2 of the 5 weeks.

I have spent the last week on vacation. We didn't go anywhere, but I needed to take some time off from work for my mental health, and Mike's mom was here for a visit. I think I am full up on my shopping quota for the moment. We had a great visit!

Today we took a short bike with several of the ladies from the tri club (Alison, Kitty, Brenda, Tawnya, and Mike and I). We did a loop of the old Janesville Triathlon route, which was a good mix of rolling hills and wind. We managed to get back to Kitty's just as it started to rain. We are supposed to go on a ride tomorrow in Brodhead, but who knows- it's supposed to rain all day. If that doesn't pan out, we will go to Edgerton to swim at the high school and maybe get in a run (I have 1800m swimming and a 10 mile run on the plan).

Monday is back to work and back to reality. Fitting in all I need to do for work and all I need to do to get my workouts in, be a mom, manage a house, take care of the pups, and managing everything else life throws at ya. It's time to get down to the business of being Supergirl. It's Business Time, Peeps!!

148 days til Ironman Wisconsin

(but who's counting??)

My mom says I don't blog enough lately...

My jet-setting parents would like me to blog more so they can keep tabs on me from Central America. I am having trouble mustering up much that is blogworthy since I have entered the crackhouse that is Facebook..........

I'm working on it mom. Hopefully I put something together soon but for now I hear that I can now Facebook from my Blackberry....I'll be checking THAT out tomorrow.

2008 Totals

OK, well 2008 started out pretty good, and then kinda fizzled out.

Got in a marathon in early summer which burnt me out on running for quite a while. Then came training for 2 half Irons within a month of each other, as well as a couple of other minor events just for fun.

After that came the IMWI hoopla and excitement. Next thing you know, I am just kinda sailing without a training plan and doing whatever I felt like doing, which ended up being a fat lot of nothing much and piddling around.

by the time December had rolled around and I was feeling a bit more into it, my body quit cooperating. I spent most of the month with a cold, then a cough, then what was some sort of freaky ear issue. The Urgent Care doctor that insisted that the reason I couldn't hear and that my ear was feeling like it was going to explode from pain and pressure was a wax impaction (RANT: um, WRONG! I did not get to be almost 40, an experienced nurse and mother, and a reasonably smart person by not recognizing when I need to flush my ears with peroxide instead of spending $200 have a doctor pressure wash my eardrum with his magic potion of, um....peroxide.....to get some wax out of my ears. The problem was a little bigger than that I think and it ended up resolving on it's own in the following 2 weeks).

So anyway, in a year where I was on track to far exceed the numbers form the year before, I fizzled out into a lackluster finish. **SIGH**

Final numbers:

Swim: 64.51 miles (2008: 32.93) .... 41hrs, 13.53 min

Feeling pretty good about that number. I spent a lot of time in the spring working on swimming when I was having ITB issues to rest it from running.

Run: 431.49 miles (2008: 594.88) .... 106 hrs, 15.27 min

I really lost my motivation to run this year. First injury, then I just couldn't seem to gain the ground back that I wanted to and I struggled. Alot.

Bike: 1750.23 miles (2008: 1885.7).......84hrs, 32.22 min

It got colder earlier this year so I got fewer rides outside and haven't spent nearly as much time as I needed to in the trainer as I should have I guess. I am surprised at this number actually.

Also of note here is the time I spent doing alternative cardio (videos etc), stretching, yoga, and pilates in the early Spring. The time spent there was significant as I tried to heal my IT Band, and then moving forward through the year.

Overall, I suspect the time spent (over 232 hours in 2008, and I can't get the report to run for 2007) is probably about the same from 08 to 09 as a much larger volume of time was spent in the pool, but I am still disappointed overall. Rather than kick myself, it's just time to get moving forward int he new year.

What's next:

*Take off the 35 pounds that crept back on this year (WTF!!!! Where did that come from? )

*Train for IMWI in September. I think this will also show an increase in my total mileage for 2009 as the volumes needed to be successful almost require it.

*Find a few races to do in the meantime that are fun and will keep my motivation going.

*Finsh my training plan and work the plan without finding excuses not to follow it.

Oh Yeah, in case I forgot to mention it today......

253 Days to Ironman Wisconsin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Craig's List Mysteries

What is it about Craig's List that sucks me in?

I check it a couple times a day just to see what kind of treasures I might want to buy, or for things I see for sale that might spark a memory and cause me to sell something of my own.

Frankly there is some weird stuff out there and some even stranger people selling/buying things.

*Last night, I read a posting last night. For sale was a collection of 15 headless Barbies for $10, including a picture. Um, WTF is that about? Maybe little Jimmy who hates his sister will buy it and wrap it up as a creepy little Christmas present??

*Then there was the ad for the guy who had a snowblower to give away. I can't find the ad right now but went something like this. "Snowblower to give away, tonight only. It is a giant hunk of crap and I went to blow out my driveway tonight and it doesn't work. You can pick it up from my garage at (dude's address). Knock loud since I'll be in the basement drinking. Or better yet, pick up a 6 pack and join me." That one made me laugh.

*Then there are the posts pleading for help that sound like totally fake. "I need a car but can't afford one. Can I buy yours on a payment plan?" Or the ad pleading for help for a needy family..." know a guy who lost his job and he can't provide his family with a Christmas. send me gift cards or cash and I will be sure to get them to his family." You know, I am a big proponent for charity, but come on people, do I have SUCKER written on my forehead? I donate to REPUTABLE charities, not some kind of bogus scam secret charity, thank you.

*Why do 90% of the people who post ads have ZERO ability to spell? On any given night I can see ads for "Shrits," "sirts", or my personal favorite "shits." Yes thanks, I would love to buy your used shits, thanks for asking! Some of the typos are pretty comical.

*the people who answer ads are pretty interesting too. We just a sold a bunch of stuff from our basement in the past month and some of the folks were pretty strange. There were those that acted all hot to take your item, would make arrangements to come get it then never show. Then there were the really scary folks who showed up and you had to wonder about their mental stability..... can I get them out of the house fast enough??

Well anyway I have to go. I'm sure there are some new ads posted I have to check out.....

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.

IMAZ Bloggy Peeps

Good luck to all out bloggieland friends doing IMAZ Sunday.

Keep an eye out for our tri-team friend Jen Brady. She will be out there kicking some serious bike ass wearing #2278. If ya see her give her a WOOHOO from the Wimmers!

39 Cents of Fun

Today Mike and I got a little bit of Christmas shopping underway.

As we walked past the Halloween Clearance rack at Shopko, Mike decided that he absolutely MUST purchase the stick-on beard and mustache that was hanging from the display, marked down from $4 to 39 cents.... because, you know, he "could totally find a bunch of ways to use it." I was not sold on the idea because, um, really, how many opportunities can there possibly BE to wear a fake porn star mustache?? Halloween is over and I don't know of any upcoming Ron Jeremy look-alike contests, so I am out of opportunities...... but whatever, it was $0.39.
At the checkout, Mike places his treasure on the conveyor belt with actual items we intended to purchase and pushes the cart over by the door to rack it.
While he's gone, the 17-ish girl who checked us out whispers to me "Is he really going to wear that, like everywhere??" I whispered back, "He's done worse." She shook her head and muttered, "Man I feel sorry for you."
And I nearly peed a little laughing.



So now you know a little bit more about my life with Mikey and why my basement looks like Walmart.