dude

so i have been having a ton of fun at wendesday night mountain biking. i really like riding out there and I have been getting better with my bike handling by being able to ride harder and faster there. pretty much every wednesday i get all car sick on the way there but by the time racde time starts i am ready to go and ready to have fun. now i know why eric likes to go there every week and has been for so many years.

good gracious, onto saturday. i did the cougar mountain 10 miler. wholy shirt. so its not that i wasn't up for doing the race, because i was. i wasn't nervous, i just wasn't sure what was going to happen and i didn't know what to expect. last weekend when i was doing the 1x1s on the trail i had fun, although i was dying of dehydration, because i had never run so fast on the trail. it was kind of scary but at the same time just plain fun. eric said he likes trail running because its kind of like mountain biking, just without the bike. which is true, but it was funny to hear him say it.

we were lucky this weekend in that eric's mom came to visit with the cousins, so she hung out with the kids and eric came with me to the race. we got there about an hour early and i registered and then we just sort of hung out. i got into the potty line and then it was pretty much time to start.

and we were off. we started out by running around this field that was totally sketchy. i turned my ankles probably 15 times in that first 1/4 mile, if it was even that long. but we got around that and then onto the road. next thing ya know we were turning into the trail, which was quick, but that was good. i hung with a pretty big group for the first few miles. there was some up hill but nothing unbearable. i took my own water bottle filled with my very favorite LUNA Sport Pink Grapfruit Electrolyte Splash and two CLIF shots. I wasn't sure what I would need but after last weekend, I knew I needed something. i passed up the first water stop and then the 2nd. i think it was after the 2nd that we turned and went straight up hill. for ever. and ever. and ever again. it was a death march. i never have a good sense of when things happen during a race but i do remember that we were going up for a really long time. then once we were done going up, we went straight down. for a really long time. and it was long and steep and there were a bunch of switch backs. i thought about how i might like to run up that instead of down it. i did tend to walk down the whole thing and i got passed by prolly 20-30 people going down that hill alone. i just couldn't do it. i need to get some trail shoes and my legs were just killing me. my quads, my shins and my calves and oh yeah, those toe nails that i chose to not get fixed yet. once we got to the bottm though it was so awesome that we just started going up hill again. now i wasn't having very much fun but i was ok. i was going slower than my stretch goal, and even slower than i thought i could do. but i got over it. i knew that all that down hill really hurt me. now, back in 2006, i had done the 13 miler and i was very mis guided and very much ready to cry several times. not once in this race did i feel like i was going to cry and really i felt ok the whole time. i did go through my whole water bottle and both clif shots and even stopped at the last water station for 2 cups of water.
i was pretty stocked when i saw eric on the trail and knew i was almost done. i came towards the finish line and saw that i could come in just under 2:10 so i pushed to the end. i went right over to fill my water bottle and chugged it and then filled it again. i shook hands with a few people who i was running with at the end and then started walking towards the car. i got only part of the way and had to sit down. my legs hurt so much and i just couldn't go any more. eric found me and said he moved the car closer, thank goodness and i asked him if we could please go to the lake so i could stand in it. he took me to lake sammamish and dropped me off close by and then went to park the car. i waded in up to my mid thighs and it felt so good. the only thing that was totally gross was that if i stood there for even just a tiny bit, the little fish would come and chew between my toes. i really didn't like that at all.
but all in all, i would call the day a sucess.

fears

i have a few fears that some may say are irrational but really, i bet if you looked around a little you'd be able to fin examples of each of these that have happened in real life.

- dying and no one finding before the cats have begun to eat me.
- there being an earth quake while i am swimming and whatever body of water i am in cracks open and sucks all the water and myself down into the earth. i have had this thought while swimming mostly in lakes but i have also had my heart rate start to increase when the thought occured to me while in an indoor pool.
- there being a tsnuami in any body of water that i might be near. could be irrational because i am mostly near lakes but i swear it could happen although this one doesn't worry me when i am at the pool.
- filling up the bathtub with water and once i step in, my added weight being too much for the floor to bear and me and the bath tub crashing down into whatever room is below.
- getting in a car wreck while eating fast food and being found by the firemen and paramedics with a big old whopper, blizzard or bean burrito smashed all over me. i get most worried about this when i am a passenger chowing down.

last night even, i was chewing on a particularly messy bean burrito and became overly concerned that we might wind up in a crash.

but duuuude, i am having a FAT week, with an F not a PH. its really bad. gotta get this show on the road. i am a little worried about the 10 mile trail run race this weekend, yikes! i imagine it will be good, i just need to try my best.

on tuesday i overslept because my alarm was set for 530pm instead of AM. but i did get up by 6 and drove to the redmond track. after the eastlake hs track was locked last week i figured i wouldn't mess with that and i had heard that redmond is never locked. until tuesday. i didn't know what to do so i drove all the way home and went to the dirt track right across the street. the workout was fine, i had some motivational issues but got it done. then i got in the car and drove the one tenth of a mile home while the landscapers at the school watched me. funny stuff.

and i'm feeling a little sad today. we took sirus to go check out a new preschool. we decided we don't want him to go to the same one that seamus went to. all 4 of us went to the tour and we liked it. what made me sad was that whenever sirus got a little shy or something he went right to eric and hung all over him. and now, sitting at home, both kids are cuddled up with him. i'm feeling a little not loved so much.

wow!

dude, its been a really long time! it is soooo hot here, like waaaay hot. like i went for a trail run yesterday and had to walk during my cool down because i couldn't get my heart rate out of zone 3!! i was soooo dehydrated. and i took two naps! we walked to watch the 4th of july fireworks and poor little sirus fell asleep litteraly 2 minutes before they started and he was OUT. today was a busy day for them, too! they played outside in the heat and then we all hung out inside for a bit then went to the lake where they played at the playground for almost an hr then played at the beach for prolly 1/2 hr or so. we went to dinner and they both passed out in the car on the way home. we managed to get them both into bed at 6pm! we think it will stick for sirus but we'll have to see with seamus.
friday i had a way fun zn 2 road ride with the girls, then saturday the crazy hot trail run. it consisted of 1 minute on / 1 minute off repeated 13 times. it was hard and for my 1 minutes off i had to walk. i would still start out my 1 minutes on high zn3 and sometimes already in zn4. but i hadn't ever run so fast on the trail. it was fun and it was good practice to see what my feet would do.
sunday i met up with kirk and xtie for some swimming in beaver lake. it was soooo nice. i swam pretty hard but i needed to float a bunch, too, and i didn't stop the timer while I was floating... so i guess i kind of cheated. then i got on the mtn bike and headed out for an hr and 15. fun stuff.
not sure what next week entails, but i think its going to be warm and sunny for most of it. i love licing here, with the trails and the lakes and all the fun things for the kids to do.
this afternoon leslie came over and took out my stitches! she did an awesome job. i'm glad she did it because it was totally not how i would have done it and seeing how she did it, i would have royally messed it up. we dropped the stitches into the yard so the birds can pick them up and use them for their nests!

surgeried upon, part deux

saturday i went for a trail run with nikole. way fun. i don't know her very well yet but she races mtn bikes and is super athletic. and she told me she just got a wet suit so i see some open water swimming in our future, but she will kick my arse since she was a competative swimmer and stuff. i am ptetty sure that after that i went home and passed out. i don't remember anything else.
sunday we got up and went to the lake to swim with xtie, marne and kirk. eric and the kids came too so they could hang at the beach. the water was soooooo nice. it was lovely. i was supposed to swim for 45 minutes but wound up being out for 43 and that included some floating which marne said was helping to strengthen our core! we saw a blad eagle hanging in the tree keeping an eye on us.
after eric and the kids ran home. it was a 10 mile run for them and up some major hills. the livestrong challenge was going on and apparently while eric was running up, they were riding down and a few shouted out to him Happy Father's day which is funny. i on the other hand headed out for a hard as i could go 20 minute bike ride follwed by 15 minute cool down. that felt good. i was super stoked and was going hard. then when i got home i passed out. i have been tired! we went to the family pancake house for dinner which was fun but i made the mistake of getting the very berry & nut french toast which wasn't nearly as delish as the tower. sirus couldn't have been more pleased with his chocolate chip pancakes and seamus was pretty happy with her french toast. eric had a scary chili burger.
monday was supposed to be the start of a rest week but i had gotten a note from my coach saying to go to masters swim so i did. and by the way she totally killed it at her race this weekend, winning the overall. she is a total bad ass!!
i contemplated bailing and not going but i hadn't slept well and i was awake and didnt feel as though i'd be able to go back to sleep so i went. it turned out to be pretty fun. i had another woman in my lane which was fun since its been a awhile but it was also weird because we were over run by a slew of young guys, prolly late teens/early 20s. they were all tan and fit so it wasn't so bad that they were there, but it changed the dynamic of the workout. it was weird and no one knows if they will be coming the rest of the summer.
rest week started today. work has been getting back on track although we are very under staffed but its coming along. but i waited all day to go to the drs.
so after a trip ti Kidd Valley for a strawberry shake and garlic fries for lunch and some quick research on Dolph Lungren, eric and the kids came to pick me up to take me to the drs.
i have been a little worried about this whole thing but not really but sort of. i wasn't sure exactly what was wrong and i wasn't sure how much they were actually going to take off. so i got there and the dr and nurse are so nice. the dr told me all about it. so she told me there is a scale for moles, from totally normal up through the melanomas and then there is a ton of grey area in between. my mole was "severely" atypical. i swear she even said it was a severe dysplasia but i thot only hips had dysplasia so i don't know. anyway, that explains why i had to come back this time. then they got to it. but it was kind of nutty because they put on gowns and masks and laid out all kinds of draping and asked me what kind of music i wanted and it was getting all a little freaky for me.
then they went to work. lots of tugging and pulling and patting then they pulled the blow torch off the wall to do some welding and soldering of my arm. she put 3 stitches on the inside (yikes!) and then 4 on the outside. then they bandaged me up and gave me a prescription for percocet. dude. how much is this going to wind up hurting? WTF!!! now the bandage is all bleeding through and i'm not allowed to shower until tomorrow night! and i have garlic fries seeping out of my skin!!!

i read this blog

its called Steve in a Speedo?! Gross! it makes me laugh every time i read it. the dude make me laugh and he takes rediculous photos of himself.
He is having a contest for a new pair of shoes from Onlineshoes.com and I get an entry for mentioning that. and since i know people who used to work there, and its shoes and all, why the heck not.
another good blog is Conrad Stotlz's blog. he might very well be nuts. but he too makes me laugh. i should put that list on the side there that shows which blogs i follow. let me figure that out and get right to it.
and OMG i just found this photo of the GIANT pancakes i had for lunch yesterday. i want to make it clear that the word "Tower" is in the title on the menu. i did pass up the cinamon roll french toast so i could get this tower because i was tring to get some fruit in for the day. i neglected to mention the bacon because i actually only got through one peice of that, the other was under done to my liking, but don't worry someone else at the table made sure it got a good home.

yesterday was a busy busy day

but lets start with tuesday!
i headed to the pool at lunch time to get a quick swim in. it was hard work, the pool water felt thick. but i got through it ok. nothing hurt!
as i was getting ready to go back to work 30 or so little girls came streaming in. they were soo loud all running around getting ready to swim. i made a comment on their loudness to the one adult that was there with him and she let me know they were 4th graders.
after werk i headed to seattle to meet mom and xtie at TANGO for some paella with a side of sausage. it was delish. then we went to see RENT. i had no idea what to expect but i found it to be really good. it was funny because obviously other people knew what was going on to the point when certain characters came onto the stage they all started screaming. and the lady next to me was a super fan because at the end when they were all taking their bows, they waved to the audience as they always do and the lady next to me waved back. i was happy that she enjoyed the show.
i got home late and could'nt fall asleep. i was wide awake. then i tossed and turned and drifted in and out until around 4am. checked again at 430 and then when my alarm went off at 5 i had to get up although i really did want to wuss out on going swimming. but i knew i couldn't fall back asleep so i went. and it was actually pretty fun.
then work. work was fine but i am a little stressed out and trying to get through some things. i had my yearly review which went well. then i got a call from the drs where i had been surgeried upon on firday. i have to go back and get more surgeried on tuesday. i won't even need to take out my current stitches because they are just going to cut a giant gaping hole out of my arm. actually not sure what is going to happen but the nurse did ask me if i was ok with all of it. i wasn't worried until she said that. we'll see what happens.
then off to wednesday night mtn bike racing. sooo fun. i was feeling pretty beat and wasn't sure i wanted to go. the lack of sleep was starting to hit me but eric and the kids picked me up and we headed down. i lined up on the line and off we went. i was prolly 6th into the single track. eventually i let two pass me but then i caught another. the bike was hooking up great and i was feeling great.
and i was ready for bed. i slept so soundly that when my alarm went off at 7am i couldn't beleive it.
for lunch today i ate a GIANT stack of pancakes with strawberris, blue berries, bananas and pecans. GIANT and i ate the entire stack. awesome.

up

if you haven't seen it and don't want to know, don't read.
but we took the kids to see it yesterday. i had heard from people that it would make you laugh and cry and it did. but i held back from bawling too much.
but all in all it was a good movie and there were many clever things in the movie. i wsa totlly sucked in and determined it was totally beleiveable until, yes until the dogs were flying airplanes. that was a bit much. everything else was great i thought.