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i added Google Analytics to my blog a while back. its great because it lets me see how many people have visted my blog each day, like 0 yesterday but 2 the day before. Its also great cuz it lets me know that i have visitors from Canada, Australia, the UK and China. But probably the best thing is the key words. it lets you know what words people used in order to find your site. for instance, someone found me by typing in "best chocolate cake hawaii". that makes sense as to why that might lead someone to my blog. another one was "wedding dress "wore a betsey johnson" blog". totally appropriate since i talk alot about those things. but the ultimate best was ""maxi pad" +pee squirt". OF COURSE when i think "maxi pad" +pee squirt i instantly think sprklnld. INSTANTLY.
an other notes, i went to a wednesday night mtn bike on wednesday. it was way fun. it was tough but i hung on and did way better then i thought i might. i am even contemplating a real race and another xterra.
may is bike to work month. i am contemplating an extra challenge with my coworkers since they all live within 3 miles of the office. i am contemplating telling them that i will beat their combined mileage but i need to do the math to make sure none of them have a mystery 10 mile commute they aren't telling me about.
but man, the biking. its packing on the pounds. my one time sort of stomach that was the closest its ever been to remotely toned and flat is getting flabby and its making me mad. sad thing my "too much cycling, not enough running" isn't really much of either but it is requiring me to eat bowls and bowls of cereal.
the other weekend when we were coming home from picking the kids up in yakima, we were playing I Spy It was seamus's turn and she said "i spy with my little eye a little guy wearing boots." it was sirus!! but eric and i both loved it and thought it was the greatest thing ever. she also spied someone who was a mommy, which was kind of funny, too.

5 days

while on my trip i found out the answer to that which i was going to find out in 4/15. i did not make it in to the kona ironman. it was a long shot, and really probably not the best idea, so there is a little releif that i didnt get in. that relief was felt even more when allie told me about the triple bricks she did - 20 mile bike, 7 mile run, 20 mile bike, 7 mile run, 20 mile bike, 7 mile run. yeah.
i got back from my great trip sunday night. monday was a nightmare. tuesday wasn't so great. wednesday eric called me at work sayind his parents were in town and they wanted to take the kids back to their house for the weekend. we both wrestled over it. i ran on the treadmill and almost started crying. but we decided it might be good to do. they stopped by my work on their way out of town. once back at my desk i emailed my girlfriends to find out what was going on and could we go out. i met up with feather that night and drank margaritas and eric went out mountain biking. we both stayed out late.
thursday was better at work. eric met me that evening on his bike and we rode home that night. then we went out for sushi. we drank big sapporos. we stayed out late.
for some reason i wsa sleeping very well. i guess because i wasn't always awake listening for the kids. or was it because i stopped drinking the coffee as recomended by alison dunlap.
friday night we played rock band at feather and dave's house. we stayed out late and drank a lot of beers.
saturday we got up and headed out for a bike ride. 22 miles then came home and headed out for a run. then, THEN we headed out to go shopping, have milk shakes and to a movie and then to the cactus for margaritas. we stayed out late but started to realize that if we didn't have kids we would get pretty bored and man, we would spend a lot of money trying to keep ourselves entertained. i did get a sweet pair of kakhi tan leather shoes, yes, made by jessica simpson, but have been looking for shoes like this forEVER so it wsa quite the find.
SUNDAY we got up and headed over to eric's friends house to go for a trail run in the issaquah highlands. everyone showed up and we took two cars - one to park at the top of the trail and one to park at the bottom. we started at the bottom and all ran up. i hadn't been trail running for forever, and my shoes were getting stuck, grabbing my socks and pulling them off. i spent 1/2 the run with my socks 1/2 off. it was snowing and beautiful, and even though my feet were totally soaked i was quite warm. there were three pretty good hills during the run, total elevation gain was supposedly 1000 feet. the middle hill about killed me, at the top of the 3rd i decided to stop and fix my socks. when i caught up with everyone else, i was ready to keep going, but apparently we were done. 45 minutes in and i was just getting started! we all packed into the car, drove to the car at the bottom, split up and headed back for tacos, cookies and pre-recorded paris-roubaix.
we weren't able to watch too much before we headed out to pick up the kids. 3 hrs there, 1 hr for dinner then 3 hrs back, even through a white out. the kids were awake the entire time, even though we didnt get home until 10pm.
today when i came home from work, the kids were fightover who got to sit in the middle of my lap. apparently the edges weren't enough. but i loved every second of it, with every several minutes that passed sirus would turn around, grab my face and give me a big smooch. can't get any better then that.

great weekend

friday couldn't have come soon enough. i had been looking forward for this trip for so long. charity picked me up and we hung at her place on thursday night. i slept pretty well and when the alarm went off at 4am i was ready to go. our flight down was pretty empty so the two of us were able to have a row to ourselves. we landed and got on the bart. allie picked us up at the embarcadero station. zachary was in the car and had a cute new haircut. allie took us first to the title 9 sale which was turned out to be more sucessful then i anticipated. then allie took us to the sports basement which i wish there was one near us in seattle because there is some of everything i need there. after allie took us to have fabulous blts. bacon must have been the ingredient of the resturant because i noticed in several places the option of adding bacon or crumbled bacon to other items. after lunch allie took us to berkely. we hung out there until it was time to go to CLIF bar. it was so sunny out and so great to spend time with allie and zach. allie also helped me try to diagnose the flesh eating bacteria.
once we got to CLIF, OH MY GOSH!! what an amazing place and wow, it sounds like a great place to work!! its an amazing company and it seems like they really care not just about their products but their employees, too. its a great company. we had dinner and they gave some presentations and then the pros got on stage and wow! they are pretty funny. alison dunlap, denelle kabush, shonny vanlandingham, linda gallow and marla streb were all there and they are absolutly amazing! for one they are so tiny. just tiny people. it was great to hear them talk and laugh and poke fun at each other.
after we went back to the hotel. charity and i shared a room and it turned out we shared a bed, too. i was exhausted so i went to bed. i got up early on saturday and had the makings of a migraine. we dealt with some kit exchanges and then off to breakfast. i love fruitloops. after some of those and some other cereal and some coffee and a lot of water started to feel better, but not for another few hours. i think it had to do with having the air conditioning on all night. first session was nutrition which was interesting, the next was sports psychology, then off to injury prevention. i really liked the injurty prevention one. the guy that ran it was super knowledgeable and explained everythign in a wway that made complete sence. one thing too that he touched on was he trama of chilbirth and c-sections and why if they are cutting directly through muscle, why isn't there pt for that?? it was nice to hear him aknowledge it since although i did not have a c-section, i did have so many issued with lower abdominal things after having sirus. he said it never even occured to him until his 2nd child was born and he watched the c-section happen. think lunch time was next, then off to a running clinic. it was fun and interesting and 400 degrees outside. i lead with my hips so i have to work on that a little. then we went on a group run. it was so hot, i was dying. i was only out for 1/2 hour but i was parched. i totally had other signs of dehydration too which was creepy but i got inside, showered and recovered pretty well.

then i walked to starbucks with some teammates when i probably should have been attending recovery and regeneration. they served us pizza for dinner which i thought was funny, then they followed it up with Q&A with the pros. once again, they were so cool and pretty funny and it was just great that they were there and able to talk to us.
some of the other girls went out to celebrate renee's birthday but i was exhausted. they wound up partying with a guy from all my chilren on a $5mm boat.
sunday morning i got up and went to breakfast. i plopped myself down next to alison dunlap but once there, i didn't know what to say to her. i wanted to ask her hundreds of questions but wondered if she was tired of answering questions that she has probably been asked thousands of times. luckily there was another woman at the table who told us about ballroom dancing. later we did talk about insomnia and alison Dunlap did suggest that i try not drinking coffee. i had noticed that she had two apples the night before, one before dinner and one after. i also noticed that while i was scarffing down my two bowls of fruitloops, she had raisin bran, oatmeal and a banana. i think she had a bagel or english muffin, too, but it was definitly NOT fruitloops. then off to getting ready for the day's group run. i was only up for a walk and tried to get charity and renee to join me but they wanted to run. so i ran and it was FUN. we ran out to tamalpias or whatever park and then out to the beach. it was hilly and fun and i loved it. on the way back, one of the girls from salt lake and i even opted for the big hill! it was so nice and i wondered aloud many times why we didn't do that same run the day before. after the run i showered and packed up and checked out. we went to lunch by the pool and hung out. there was a breast cancer fund presentation and then final words. and then one the best part of the weekend happened! shonny vanlandingham walked into the pool area in full gear, grabbed some lunch and sat down to read the paper. diann when right over to her, sat down and started talking to her. they must have talked for a 1/2 hour or more. so then the rest of us went over there because we were going to head out. shonny was super friendly to us! she asked us all kinds of questions, we talked about xterra worlds and swimming and biking and surfing and all kinds of things. she was SO incredibly friendly and just so amazing. she has the cutest texas accent and i just really appreciated that she took the time to talk to us. we even go our picture with her and then she took one of all of us together. pretty funny. she is my new idol and inspiration i decided :)
allie and zachary then picked me up and we went to burlingame for ice cream. it was zachary's very first ice cream cone. to celebrate i had two scoops.
then off to the airport and onto the airplane. the flight was short and in no time we were on the ground. eric and the kids picked me up and they hugged and kissed me and sirus told me over and over that he missed me. i hadn't ever gotten that from him before. the rest of the night he hugged and hugged me. one time i was in the other room and i heard him ask eric "where's mommy?". i took today off and i am happy i did. he hugged me over and over all day long. he is so sweet. i don't want to go to work tomorrow. i napped most of today and might take the tylonol pm tonight to get to bed at a decent hour.
all in all it was great weeekned. its depressing to be back in the cold and rain but i couldn't be happier being back with the kids and eric. i woke up from my nap with a sore throat again.

andy

pretty sure

i am pretty sure that i have a flesh eating bacteria or virus or something on my face. ALL over it. either that, or the introduction of cycling into my fitness regime is doing it. or maybe its the vitamins i have been taking? i asked eric to please stop farting on my pillow because i thought that maybe that is what the problem was. i also think there might be someone casting a spell on me and i don't appreciate that at all. its frustrating because it was going so well but now, man, its bad.
but the sore throat seems to be gone. i used the snoz spray for three days until the throat was about 100 times worse then when i started. when i finally looked back there and saw a giant blister on the back of my throat, not on my tonsil or anywhere near it, i called up the doctor to ask if i was supposed to keep taking it and just power through it but they said, NO - stop taking it. so i did and i got better. eric on the otherhand is all sick. but that makes sense, i finally gave my sickness away!
i am going away for the weekend which i am very excited. also, unrelated to going away, i might find out about the wednesday news sooner then wednesday. but that all depends on a few things that i may or may not be able to do.
someone at work brought their 1 month old baby girl to work the other day. she was wearing blue jeans and boy did it make the ovaries kick back into action. seamus and i looked at photos of when sirus was first born and she told me how she thinks it would be fun to have a baby in the house and that it should be a girl and it should be named spongebob.
maybe its the HOMEMADE cinnamon rolls? maybe its the HOMEMADE pizza made on the big green egg? i thought it was maybe because i switched shampoo but maybe its because of the vitamins. but something has got to change, i am not a teenager!!

winners!!

busy busy. this morning we got up and headed over to gasworks. we met up with feather and dave and took off on a 10 mile run. it was long but it was fun to run with them and eric and the kids, too. after we packed up the kids and went to south seatac for the mountain bike race. eric had originally planned on going but with this new strain of illness that hit the family in these past few days he felt a 10 miler would be easier on him then a mtn bike race. we got there, unloaded the kids and their bikes and lined them up for the kids race. the course was not marked but instead wick ran around the parking area and the kids followed. some of the kids, our included needed assistance, but seamus did race most of it on her own, which is no small feat considering it was off road and muddy. she even lapped sirus, who did only one lap while she did two. after the race all the kids were invited onto the podium. everyone wanted to be on the top, including seamus, but since she did win her division and all, i am glad she pushed her way front and center. sirus was happy being on the step with the 3 on it. each of the kids got a water bottle with kids clif bars, which were a big hit. that was some good practice for seamus for her triathlon coming up on may 31.

only 9 days left.

breakdancing

seamus is working on her breakdancing skilz. i don't know if this is necesarrily safe but she is determined to do it.

she is also very determined to lift up from a head stand into a hand stand. she wants to learn to walk on her hands like stella at preschool.

and the kids were just tuckered out after some riding on the burke gilman in the cold!

seamus is very supportive of mommy's endeavors.

i jsut found outq

i went to the chiropractor for my follow up visit to discuss the treatment plan, and what did they tell me? so i've had some whiplash in the past. ok, i could have guessed that, but they aso told me my neck curves the wrong way. like instead of it looking like ( it looks like ). real weird. now that combined with the drs visit yesterday, i am doing good. let me tell you what. not sure i am going to go back and get my neck straightened out.

44 days and going strong

i still have the sore throat, but at least i now know i am not crazy. i went to the ear nose and throat doctor today. he was the same one that took the fish bone out when i was 8 week pregnant with sirus. since i had a history with him i ficured it might be nice to go see him since the normal doctor i had already seen twice suggested i go see a specialist. well, the ear nose throat doctor seemed bored with my case, but he gave me nasal spray, said it looked like some chronic tonsilitus and if its not better in 10 days give him a call back. he did though say the glands are still enlarged, there is still residue in my throat and i am having some ustacian malfunction or something of that sort. i went on to tell him about my right ear hearing issue and he suggested i go to a hearing doctor, cuz ya know, sometimes apparently when you lose hearing in one ear and not the other it can be caused by a tumor in there, but really its not big deal and i should only go if it really bothers me. what is that?? yeah, and if i have to go back in 10 days he'll talk to me about taking out the tonsils. sweet. not sure how i feel about all of this. lets hope it goes away after i squirt steriods up my scnoz for 10 days.
i didn't get into the sf women's marathon that allows men to enter and race. that bums me out a little, but yeah, since everyone else was doing the1/2 anyway, i guess it might be for the best. maybe i will do the ghetto version and run the 13.1 on that day at home and still get my tiffany's necklace mailed to me.
i entered seamus in her first triathlon. its may 31 after my 2nd triathlon of the season. yikes! i asked sirus if he would like to do a triathlon to which he replied "nnnnope" but then i asked him if he would like to come watch he said "yyyyyup".
i had every intention of riding my bike home from work yesterday. so much so that i got onto the bike and 2 miles into the ride when i got hit by a total hail storm. so i turned around, packed it up and drove home. i felt a little wimpy. so today i ran on the treadmill for 7 miles. there has been weird drama in the gym at work, and my 7 miles was more of me being stubborn then actually wanting to run for an hour looking at the parking lot. the best part of it though was when the construction guys came driving by in their truck, slowed way down and all turned and watched as they drove past. the guy in the back seat was even craning his neck backwards after they had passed. did they not realize that i could see them? eric says they don't care. but i was wearing my new short shorts which i am thinking i like. they felt like they had become possibly obscene duringt he jaunt but in fact they did not and they were in perfect place, so i was pretty happy about that.
work is exhausting and it won't likely get better until september.
but i get to go to berkely next week for LUNA chix so that is exciting. and then on the 15th something exciting might happen! stay tuned for an update!