yakima and beyond

on the way to yakima we toyed with the idea of stopping for a blizzard but wound up not doing it. got there a bit on the later side, and when i was putting the kids to bed we realized we couldn't find Sirus Wirus!! we triple checked our car and grandma and granpa's car but he was no where to be found. so i called the hotel in ephrata and they said they had him sitting up at the front desk! whew!! i may have been closer to tears about losing Sirus Wirus than Sirus was! I told the hotel we would be there to pick him up tomorrow on our way home. i went and told sirus the news and he cried and cried about how worried he was about sirus wirus but we discussed that he was having his own adventure at the hotel.
in the morning the kids got up and checked out their easter baskets. for some reason the easter bunny didn't bring any jelly beans but no one seemed to miss them so that was good. after breakfast we went outside to start the easter egg hunt. seamus was booking it around the yard picking them up so fast but sirus would stop and enjoy each egg that he found, taking it to seamus to show her or lift it high to show us. he would ooh and aah with each one he found, it was quite cute. after the hunt, eric and i geared up and headed out on an almost 10mile run. we ran by some horses who may have never seen anyone run before because they stopped what they were doing and watched us pass. then there were some sheep who stopped and watched us and then turned and ran way, and then there was a mama cow who was laying on the ground with her two calves. we were probably 100yds a way still and she stood up and just watched us. as we got closer the calves go up too and then as we were even closer they all ran away. apparently people in that part of town don't run by the live stock.
AND THEN! it was time for some egg rolling. eric had told me about the egg rolling and i always thot he was a little bit crazy, but gracious, it was fun! while we were out running, grandpa and the kids went out to the field and started digging the track. we gathered up all the eggs in the baskets and took them to the hill and started rolling. the first few runs were a little hit and miss until eric and his parents smoothed out the edges and got things going, but by the end the eggs would roll the whole way down without stopping, jumping each other and bumping and cracking on each other. eventually, the shells would come completely off, the whites would open up and the yolks would pop out and roll the rest of the way down the hill. the yolks were the fastest and could jump the highest! the kids ran up and down that hill what must have been hundreds of times and there was something funny about how cute the eggs looked as they bopped their way down. its the best easter tradition i have ever experienced and feel lucky that eric shared it with us, even if i still think its a little nutty.
then an important part of the tradition is to cook hotdogs over a fire and make smores, too! then another round of egg rolling until all the eggs were just yolks.
we had decided that it would take an extra 3hrs to go get sirus wirus so we asked to have him shipped home, only after convincing sirus that it was a good idea and more of an adventure!
sirus fell almost instantly asleep in the car and slept the entire 2.5hr drive home!

i love EW

for easter weekend we went on the eastern washington tour.
we started at home. then we drove to wenatchee to get my bike fit. we were late. we had a little misscommunication on how long it takes to get to wenatchee and when we actually needed to get there, so we were about 40 minutes late. but luckily, we were still able to get in. after discovering again that i have some flexibility challenges (although i do have good shoulder flexibility these days!) i was hooked up to some stuff and started pedaling. after a bit of chit chat, a bit of pedaling and a lot of fitting, it was time to head out.
we drove to ephrata. i really like ephrata. we stayed at the best western and i saw something i am not sure i have ever seen before - eric was totally flirting with the girl at the front desk! he turned on the charm and got us a discount on our room even! and i was standing RIGHT THERE! the girl was super nice but it was pretty cute to see eric's charming side come out. very funny. once in the room i totally passed out while eric and the kids chilled out until it was time for dinner. after dinner we went swimming! the pool was super warm so it was really really nice to hang out in and play with the kids. so warm. after a while we did get in the hot tub and knowing that sirus can be extra sensitive, we warned him to be careful getting in. he got in only to about mid-thigh, but was funny because he stood there protecting his tiny family jewels! i asked him what he was doing and he said he didn't want them to get too hot in the water. we've never talked about this before so it must just be instinct or something. it was funny.
THEN when we were back at the room we decorated easter eggs! eric claims that the only reason he picked up the Hanna Montana egg dye was because it was the only one left, it was a good thing he did, because those eggs were practically glow in the dark they were so bright!
next morning we woke up, had waffles! and then headed to coulee city. we were meeting grandma and grandpa there for a kids fishing derby. i haven't ever been to one before and now i have been to one. the kids have been to a few. despite there being 1700 fish planted in this 50yd netted off area, the kids didn't catch any fish. they got their lines tangled with almost every other kid out there. some of the kids out there were catching 4 and 5 fish, huge ones even!
after the horn sounded and adults were allowed to start fishing, eric and i headed out on a bike ride. when we were out riding though, grandpa and sirus caught a fish.
but the bike ride was AMAZING. we headed out of Coulee City. it was super sunny out, it wasn't really warm, but it was warm enough. we headed south on pinto ridge road, there were some climbs and one super steep ass climb. then lots of rolling through a canyon. we then headed east on hwy 28 until we hit wilson creek. wilson creek is a tiny little town that is super cute. we road through the town, saw a few people out and about and then headed out of town and bam, road closed! we road up to the sign and saw that the road was dirt, gravel, and bumpy. so we turned around and found an old lady with curlers in her hair out on her driveway talking to some older dude on a motor cycle. while eric talked to them, i played fetch with their super friendly rolly polly dog. they talked roads and road closures and how far the road was torn up and alternate route options. i swear the lady hugged eric, the guy asked him if we had water. eric showed him his water bottle and the dude was like "whoa! you are going to need more water than that for where you are going?" the lady said if we went the one direction we would be out in the middle of nowhere. then she went on to say that well, actually we were really out in the middle of no where. no cell reception, because we were in the middle of NOWHERE! so we headed out on the closed road because it was the only one we KNEW would take us to where we wanted to go. never mind that we saw several cars and trucks (and a motorcycle) on that road and not one wanted to give us a lift. ok we didn't ask. but let me tell you, 5 miles, uphill on a road that was dirt, gravel, rocks, bumps and crap, all on a brand new fancy tri bike wasn't the most fun. the best part was when we were riding and eric was just like "yeah, this road is way worse than any of the roads we were on in the grand fondo." i was just like WTF, how does that help me now? we were going sllllowwww. we discussed how it would be nice if we could swap bikes since eric was on his cross bike with cross tires but no pedal match up. after a while we came up on some dude back hoeing. eric stopped to ask him how much longer, 2 miles. he was dead on. then eric got a flat tire. but he kept riding. then i gave him my pump and then kept going. FINALLY we got to pavement. who cares that once we got to it, it went straight up, but whatever, it was pavement.
we got over the the hump and could see for MILES AND MILES down R ave, or R Rd or whatever. it was all down hill too for miles. we could see the town that was like 10 miles away. but then, even though the final destimation was net downhill, there was actually a lot of uphill, too. but it was fast moving and so amazingly beautiful! i love eastern washington. the old lady said that we would know we were at out turn when we got to the big red barn on the left. so apparently the lady hadn't been that direction in a while becuase the barn didn't have a spec of paint left on it and it looked as though it was going to fall at any second. but yay! we turned onto 36th and we headed downhill all the way into coulee city. we estimated we needed to go from R to J-K. We did the count down in reverse alphabetical order, until we got to J.5 and had a chuckle then chuckled some more until we got to I.8.
and then we were back at the car. 48 miles later. this ride was awesome because there were no stop signs, barely any cars, amazing views and sun! we locked the bikes and then went for a run, topping out at a 6:57 pace. yahoo!
then we got into the car and drove to yakima!!

NEW POST!

so much so much! how can someone who has such a boring life always have so many updates!! time is flying. where does it go? i'll tell you where it goes! it goes into update spreadsheets with data that has nothing to do with how many miles i've ridden my bike or how many yards i have swam. those updates take mere seconds compared to the hours that other spreadsheet updates take!
quick note about my 5k pr - i won! overall lady runner! yahoo! full disclosure, had one of the 10kers been a 5ker, she would have beaten me, but she kept on going, so i won! hooray!
i did my first track workout last week. as always i was a bit stressed about it. i was doing it in the MORNING because i had fancy team photo shoot after werk, but i got up on time, weather was perfect!!! the moon was amazing in the morning sky, positioned just over Great Clips. i got to the HS track and low and behold my key card DID NOT WORK. WTF!! so i got back in the car and drove to the dirt track at the jr high. i did the warm up, did two of the speed intervals and then oh no! disaster was going to strike! i shimmied to the honey bucket only to find that it had a mothra fawking padlock on it!!! so i shimmed to the car and drove home! disaster averted, and then i ran back to the track. was so far behind on time that i got to hear the pledge of allegiance, i got to hear about the two jr high golfers who did great at the tournament, and i skipped one 800 because the PE teachers were out there setting up and they may or may have not been giving me the stink eye. so i ran home. but my times were good, i hit them all, was even under on a few. so excited!
a bunch of other crazy workouts, i posted a contest to see who would like to take me to the school auction. i am pretty sure dan hugo was going to step up and be my date but i am also pretty sure he has a race the next morning.
what else? the other morning i woke up, went to the gym, changed into my swim suit, gathered all my crap, went down to the pool and stood there on the ledge with my cap on and everything. then i put all my crap away and sat in the therapy pool. i could not get into the pool. just a few days earlier i smoked eric's ass in a 25yd sprint. the water was freezing that day. the heater broke a few days earlier and i am pretty sure the pool was wet suit legal, but i couldn't take any chances. i sat in that therapy pool for a long while then got out and went to work. i canceled my evening plans, i didn't do my run, i went home and was passed out in bed before 8pm. it was a good decision!

holey smokes!!

oh my gosh!!! so much has happened since the last post! SO MUCH
training is nuts. its been fun but long and different. i was so tired last night that i slept for 11 hours! i went to bed at 8 and slept until 7. i slept the whole time!! ahhhh.
other things:
i got a new 5k PR! Hooray!! last time I did that, i was pretty sure i was going to lose control of my bodily functions and i didn't want to repeat that. but this time i felt good the whole time. i was having fun! i went out too fast and then started to fade but was so super excited!
i ran the lake sammamish 1/2 marathon! i ran with janet who had a goal of beating 2hrs. i had so much fun running the race with her! i was nervous about pacing her, i didn't want her to not get her goal because of some mistake that i made, so i printed out detailed split and average pace and elapsed times. the start was funny, back and forth, back and forth a bunch then out onto the trail. i got worried a few times because it looked like they marked the course wrong - turned out they did! but we were passing people the entire time and janet pushed really hard at the end, coming in at under 2hrs! big PR for her, and very exciting! I was super proud of her and super excited! this race was definitely one of my favorites of all time!
and then, OMGOSH!! the masters swim meet. back in feb janet did a swim meet and a bunch of us went to go watch. it was quite exciting and janet did great. after, she started to apply the peer pressure, and i agreed to be on a relay with her and two other girls. i was relatively calm, although when i actually registered for the event, my throat closed up and i couldn't breathe. after a while i felt ok and was only sorta concerned about it. but then i realized i signed up for backstroke and had no idea how to turn. so i went and practiced diving off the blocks and turning from backstroke. so after that, i felt a little better. but then i started doing some math and when i realized i seeded myself for my 50 backstroke at about the same pace i i do 100 free, i started to get really pretty concerned. and i really started to get concerned when they sent out the psych sheet and i was seeded with all the 80 year olds and i decided it would be a good idea to read the US masters swimming rule book and such. what had i gotten myself into?? we got there early, and next thing ya know, the 500 free was starting. it was the first event of the day and my first event. AND i was in the first heat. the rules mentioned all kinds of whistling sequences and i was just like aaak! so when the buzzer finally went, i looked to the side to see if anyone had gone yet, and once i was sure that they had, i dove in, too. lauren was my lap counter and janet was on the other side of the pool doing the 500 at the same time, but she was heat 2 since she is faster. jenny was her counter. 20 laps down and bam, that race was done. from lining up at the blocks to starting to finishing, it was all so quick that there was no time to think about anything or to get nervous or anything. now that the first even was over, i was ready to get going on my next!
50 back was just as fun, a little nutty, this time i was in heat 2! and i was almost 5 seconds faster than my seed time! bam, that even was done. then we hung out and finally got ready for the relay. janet first, then me, lauren and then sarah! so fun! the races were all a ton of fun. it was great to see everyone race and to cheer for everyone and to see them swim! it was also very cool to see the fast swimmers swim and to see how different they look in the water. results came out and i got ribbons for each of my events in m age group:
500 free: 3rd! (and last!)
50 back: 4th! (and last!)
200 free relay: 4th! (and last!)
but really i was super excited regardless because it was something new and exciting to try and it was totally out of my comfort zone. i'd almost like to do another one!
plus i wore one of my fun splish suits and got a ton of compliments on it!
and then i came home, and ran almost 10 miles.
and went to work the next day. but then slept for 11 hours. :)
other exciting things:
i went to SF for the annual Team LUNA Chix Summit. I went a night early and hung out with Allie which was super fun as always. i didn't tell her, but as I was laying there in bed in the morning, i thought that i'd like to just stay there with her the rest of the weekend because she is a ton of fun. i love her perspective on things and i just totally love everything about her! and it was fun to wake up to her little boy so excited to see me!
the rest of the weekend was good, as all LUNA summits are! we got to hang out with all my LUNA teammates, even realizing that both Olga and I were in Morocco for new years 1999 - 2000. we got to hang out with the LUNA pros, too. they are all so friendly and so willing to answer any question we can think of.
what else? time is flying!!!