If you don't ask...



She was aiming for subtle but didn't feel she'd quite got it right.....



I popped into Endurance Monster, Skaneateles' new triathlon gear shop on Friday to have a butchers at their Fall running gear. Having selected a very attractive pair of fleece lined tights and a super warm dayglo-green long sleeved top (with hobo cuffs, a fashion must-have this season) I was ready to face the music at the cash register. I handed over my card and, bold as brass, I reassured the chap that it would be OK to give me a discount as it was my birthday (it actually was so no lying involved). When he stopped laughing, he handed me the slip to sign, and lo and behold, had knocked 10% off the total. It just goes to show, doesn't it? People, they're great.


To add to the Monster's utter greatness, these fab folks ran a series of mini-tris over the summer to help us poor deluded people train for the big event, and are now holding a series of runs and bike rides to keep us dellusionists in fine fettle over the winter. I am planning on running in the Monster Mash, a four mile race at the end of this month, and Finn may even try out the Monster Mash Dash, a short race for the kiddies. The money raised from these events will be donated to charity every year, going this year to the PARCS Playground Building Fund in memory of little Cameron Kenan who lost his life in the lake in July.

Good work, Monsters.

Mummy and Daddy by Finn

Falling........





It's that time of year again. The beautiful one. Or the beautifuller one, depending on your point of view. The leaves are changing, there are pumpkins everywhere and the thermostat is dipping and rising fit to give any Mother a headache trying to decide what the little ones should be wearing.

 

Finn is playing Soccer this Fall. (Not to be confused with football, please.) He has taken to it like a kid who has never so much as caught a glimpse of the game before, and is clambering up yet another impossibly steep learning curve with aplomb. Bless him. He hasn't as yet complained about being cold at practice, despite his Mother turning him out in shorts every week, rain or not, and has been given his first proper talking to by the coach for pushing another player. She wasn't on the ball but she was on the other team (and yes, she was a she!).

He is back at pre-school for five afternoons a week this year and, after being disappointed that many of his friends have moved up to kinder garden, is busy making new ones. He is having a go at learning to read. I'll let you know who tires of that game first!

 

Meg is walking and (having a go at) talking. She is starting to replace some of her signs with words and noises but still finds that smiling at people is generally enough. She's very cute and still quite tiny, so smiling in her special girly way works wonders with most. Failing that, shouting or pinching her brother gets the message across.

 

 As lovely as these things are, they are a reflection of the passage of time, which can mean only one thing.

Winter is coming. Be very afraid.

Too long, already!

As Finn and his sister were engaging in a pyjamed romp post-bath last night, I overheard him say these exact words:

"Get your butt out of my face! Hey Meg, enough with the butt already!"

Anybody else think we've been here too long, already?

Some details for the interested......

A Sprint distance Triathlon is the shortest of the recognised events.

It involves the three disciplines of swimming, biking and running in that order.

The time taken to change kit in between disciplines is included in your total time taken.

These are called Transitions, abbreviated to T1 and T2.

My race was made up of: 800 metre (1/2 mile) open water swim  22.5 kms (14 miles) bike, and a 5 km (3.1 mile) run.

My timings in minutes and seconds were:

Swim: 15:32
T1: 01:54

Bike: 47:56
T2: 01:05

Run: 25:35

Total: 1:32:02

TRI-tastic, baby!

 

I am a Tri-athlete.


I can say that now. I completed a sprint distance triathlon on September 3rd 2011. And to my surprise, very little had changed with the world when I got up on Sunday morning. The very fact that the world was still turning was surprise enough for me. I had been so focused on the race that I hadn't imagined any time after. So it was quite a relief really, the sun coming up and all.


And now I can't wait until next year!


BRING IT ON!


Needless to point out, I loved it! Every minute of it. Even those minutes when my legs hurt so much in the run that I could hardly breathe. It was awesome. And having my support crew on hand to cheer me through each transition and over the finish line made it even more awesome. Perfect, in fact.

Before the race was a different story. For a couple of weeks I had been having serious trouble NOT thinking about the TRI. Anxiety dreams abounded and I was convinced a flat tyre was going to ruin my chances of finishing. Just thinking about swimming in the lake made me breathless with fear and my speedwork got worse and worse. I tweaked my Achilles tendon so had to stop running completely for a crucial week.

But, I tried to remind myself on Saturday morning, I had been working towards the race for a long time. Yup, I started swimming, biking and running in January. And I had been amazed at how disastrously unfit I was. I could barely swim a length of the pool (all 25 metres of it) and biking 14 miles was well beyond reach. So I worked hard for what seemed like a very long time. When I got lost as to how to proceed I bought a book with a training plan and followed it religiously, training 6 mornings a week, plus a session with my personal trainer. All my training was done before the children got up until I reached a point when I realised that my being ready for bed by 11.00am every day was compromising our lives a little too much. Thank goodness for Nana and Pops, and Grandma and Grandpa, our house guests over the summer who were able to watch the children for me while I trained so I could give up some early morning starts. And a huge thank you to my Dad who traipsed down to the lake with me at 6.30am a couple of mornings a week to watch me swim up and down and finally get used to swimming in the lake, in a wetsuit, in some serious chop. I learned how to ride my new bike more effectively (still some work to do there though...) and started to remember what it feels like to run, struggle free.

So, on race day, I had no reason to panic. I told myself that I had to make this count, that this was the very last time I would HAVE to do any of the three triathlon disciplines. If that was what I wanted. If I didn't get bitten by the bug at least I would be able to say I finished a race and tried my hardest.

I went out full of trepidation but managed to come back with a smile. I'd had no idea how I was doing until I crossed the finish line and saw the clock: 1 hour 38 minutes 02 seconds. Wow, I thought, amazing, I finished quicker than I could ever have imagined. Well done!

But........

The swim started out in waves, 3 minutes apart and I was in wave 3 so that means.......an adjusted finish time of 1 hour 32 minutes 02 seconds. The 5th fastest finisher in my age group. Oh my.

So, kids, apologies in advance, but come January, Mummy might just start heading for the pool in the wee small hours all over again......

Very impressed with Adam.....

Picture the scene: it's Friday afternoon, you're in Walmart with the children, (trying to look like you've never been there before), one of which is firmly strapped into the kindly provided sharping card (see previous post), the other is following close behind, hanging on your every word and generally behaving like an angel....



OR SO YOU IMAGINE....

I'm going down the next aisle, you inform him as he pauses to check out an eye-level  Toy Story 3 toybox display. Next second, you do your bi-minutely casual glance to check the position of all offspring only to find that the one that isn't strapped in has disappeared.  After fruitlessly calling his name a few times, then swallowing your pride and yelling it, you start to panic. Passing shoppers cast pitiying glances in your direction but NOBODY stops to offer help.


Time to take action.

Do you work here? You (unintentionally) rudely ask a lady with a badge on. I've lost my son. What should I do?

And despite your rudeness, an amazing chain of events unfurls, the likes of which you have never seen before (or hope to again, to be honest).

You are whisked off to the changing rooms, where the lady at the desk has a phone. She writes down a detailed description of the missing child and rings the store manager. He arrives on the scene at a run and, while you are being removed to the Customer Service area, he issues a PA announcement, giving the child's description. The young gentleman tasked with escorting the Mother, who is undecided as to whether she should be swearing or weeping, explains in detail what is happening. A Code Adam is put into place, which means that every person who is working in that store at that time is now tasked with finding the lost child. The doors are closed and EVERY SINGLE STAFF MEMBER is now looking for Finn.

Oh, the responsibility.

Please bear in mind that this is a Walmart, the size of several football pitches, and every person in that shop has just heard a description of Finn - his hair and eye color, his glasses, the colour of his clothes....

So, when five minutes later the PA announces that the Code Adam has been stood down and the Mother has almost decided on tears being the appropriate action, a small boy, escorted by two members of staff is marched round the corner.

Is he hysterical? Is he weeping with fear? No.

He was cross at having been disturbed from his shopping. "But Mummy, he said, I just found the Cars toys...."

Thank you so much Walmart for all your help and the absolute professionalism of a well rehearsed procedure for finding lost kids - even if they don't want to be found - the lady who found him said, "Come on, we'll help you find your Mommy" and he replied. "I don't need any help". God love him. And bless all the people in the store who had a good long look and a smug grin to themselves when they recognised Finn from his broadcast description, and felt pleased that they hadn't carelessly lost their children that day....

I pointed out to him that he was very lucky that the people in the store were protecting him from danger (but also mentioned that when we got home there would be no-one there to protect him from me.......)