I'm just a girl

So Gwen and I happen to turn 40 on the same day.  I was interested in finding out what we have in common, so I did a little research.  Here's a synopsis for y'all:

Gwen

Fashion Designer

Inspired by Japanese Culture

From California

Named after a stewardess

Catholic

Has 2 boys

Worked at Dairy Queen

Had 2 weddings

Known for her "midriff"

Can sing

Natural brunette

Me

Fashion Faux Pas

Took Japanese in College

Not from California

Named after a relative

Not Catholic so much

Has 2 boys

Worked at even more embarrassing fast food job

Just 1 wedding, father would have disowned or had heart attack.

Try to hide "baby hang"

No comment on the singing.

Natural dirty blonde.  Gotcha biatch!

Seriously Gwen, I hope you are surrounded by friends as wonderful as mine on your day.  

The solar system a.k.a. "the flying chicken"

My fourth grader is studying the solar system this year.  It's really fun because he loves learning about it and I love it when he shares what he's learning with me because I find it really interesting.

We were talking about it tonight at bedtime and pondering why the planets are round (as opposed to other geometrical shapes).  Then he realized that squares couldn't rotate like circles.  It was an a-ha moment for him.

He says, "you know, the planets are like poultry in motion."

I say, "you mean poetry in motion?"

He says, "I always thought that meant something was like a flying chicken!"

Purrfect

Pretty much sums up why I'm a dog person.

Dreamweaver

My older son came down for breakfast yesterday and silently started eating his cereal.  I had my somewhat comatose back to him making his sandwich for lunch when he suddenly cried out "OH, THANK GOD!"  After peeling myself off the ceiling, I asked him what in the hay he was shouting about.

He says, "It was just a DREAM."  "I had the worst dream about my homework.  It was really, really hard, but the worst part was they made us write it all on LEAVES."

I decided not to tell him about the naked-in-school-with-all-the-doors-locked-bell-about-to-ring dreams he has in store for him.  That would just be mean.

Ass: Kicked it.

I DID IT!!!  Sorry for keeping you hanging for a day, but I spent most of yesterday eating pork products and watching football.  And cake.  I ate a lot of cake.

My title for this entry is a bit of an exaggeration (shocking, I know).  The results by the numbers: 118 minutes total time, 73rd finisher out of 191 (37 dq's), 7th in age group (out of 20).  It was a really small field of participants.  My swim placement is the funniest: 155 out of 191.  My bike placement the best: 17th out of 191.  I'm very proud of my run pace 9:30.  Anything under a ten minute mile for me is SMOKIN' FAST.  When I ran relays at 26 I think I averaged 11 minute miles.  One of my biggest opportunities for improving my time is my transition.  I could have gotten in a manicure with how long it took me.

The thing I'm most proud of is meeting my personal goals of not stopping to rest/walk and push through.  There were moments in the swim I had to talk myself off the ledge.  I'm very grateful to the trainer I had in Portland who helped me learn to relax more in the water.  

I got a calf cramp immediately when I started the run and thought I was going to have to walk it.  I concentrated on running heel/toe and that really helped.  The woman who was at least 15 years older than me that BLEW BY MY SLOW ASS also really helped.  The bottom line is that anytime I started to freak out, I went back to what I'd learned and practiced in training.  Made all the difference for me.

And I learned so much through this experience.  Here's just a sampling:  Having a great partner is key (I think this holds true for life as well).  Even if you don't train together all the time, having someone else there to hold your toes to the fire (or make you go to bed) helps incredibly.  If you're reading this partner - love you!  Another thing is what we make up about ourselves that we can or cannot do.  Just go back to some of my first posts about how I "can't run" anymore or "can't swim".  Yes, some things are hard.  Some things are really, fucking hard.  But that doesn't mean we can't do them or learn to do them at any age.  I also learned that I am strong.  I've always felt fairly strong physically but now I can add mentally.  It was my mind that got me through that race when I was struggling, not my body.

I'm looking forward to taking a little break this week and doing some yoga, relaxation and boozin'.  But I'm also looking forward to the next challenge, or the next race whenever that may be.

NEVER SURRENDER!

Tri eve

Hey everyone,

It's triathlon eve.  We're in the hotel (actually in bed at this point).  We had a great day, checked in, got our numbers, ate our weight in pasta and got all the gear set for the morning.  I even took a bath.  I do need to keep this short in order to be a good training partner (mine is trying to sleep).

I feel good about tomorrow.  I feel like I can do this.  And I'm so appreciative of the support that so many of you have given me along the way.  Really, really means a lot.

So here goes nothin'!

NEVER SURRENDER!

And here we are

I'm packing my bags for the triathlon folks.  We leave tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. for Long Island (about 1 1/2 hour drive) then the actual event starts at 6:30 a.m. Sunday.  I'm going to bring my computer so I can blog before and after.  Until then, here's a nice little story from this week to tide you over:

I went to the dermatologist to have an annoying mole taken off my left arm.  It was right by my watch band and kind of scratchy.  My son (the picker) would poke at it all the time.  In other words, it bugged the crap out of me.

So my adorably cute, petite and YOUNG dermatologist comes bopping in.  I show her the mole.  She looks at it with her super hero, super power magnifying glasses and says "that's not a mole, that's a wart.  But honey, if it makes you feel better, you can call it whatever you want."  Lovely.

Whatever "it" was, it's GONE BABY GONE.

A little romance

We were in his bed, it was dark.  He wrapped his legs around my back gently and pulled me into him.

"I could stay like this forever" he whispered softly in my ear.  I hugged him tightly, knowing that someday, much sooner than I'm ready, he'll leave me.

"You feel like heaven.  No, you feel better than heaven."  

I swear this boy is going to give Danielle Steele a run for her money.

Off the team

Sometimes I worry about things.  Silly things.  For example, is there something wrong with me because I don't like what other people with vaginas like?  Here are three things I just don't get that make me wonder if I'm going to get a knock on the door one day asking me to surrender my membership in the girls' club:

1.) Little Women.  We read this book for book club a few months ago.  It bugged the shit out of me.  I'm sorry, I know that's awful.  I have nothing against classic literature.  Some of it I love.  But this book was more evidence that it was a really good thing that I had boys because I would have had about 1/millionth of the patience of "Marmee" dealing with all that estrogen.  Dra-ma.

2.)  Sex and the City:  The Movie.  Wow.  This movie is a crap sandwich with a turd pickle on the side.  I loved the show, especially the early episodes.  It had smart writing and capable actors often in surprising situations (usually a good combo).  I guess they decided that all of that stuff was simply superfluous when making this "film".  I was embarrassed to watch it and I was alone.

3.)  Twilight.  Oh stop screaming at the computer.  I just don't get it.  It's a book for teenagers.  I'm not a teenager anymore.  The writing is poor, the characters are shallow and one dimensional and most importantly THERE IS NO SEX.  How can you have a romance novel with no sex?  Ladies, I have one word for you, Outlander.  You'll never look at a kilt the same way.

So please don't kick me out of the club, but I had to get this off my chest.  My chest that has boobs on it.  Really, it does.

And it begins

40BD in 29 days.  

Thinking of getting this perm for the party.