seamus stinks

seamus is a funny little girl. she is a big talker and talks all the time. she uses good grammar for the most part and knows a ton of words. but instead of saying think she says stink. Its pretty funny. she is totally capable of saying think but just says stink. so she stinks all the time.

she also has a tendency to say stirty instead of thirty. that ones not as funny, but its cute non the less.

sirus has on some pants today that make his legs look long. maybe they are longer these days since he got his new bed and all.

my face hurts like a biatch. i don't know what the problem is, but i went to the massage lady today and she spent an hour massaging my face. i wanted to throw up i was in so much pain. it feels better but its really getting old.

i got some good news today!!

stuff

a few weeks back we ordered a big boy bed for sirus. we didn't really mean to but we found a great deal on, gasp, a bunk bed. i was totally against getting a bunk bed but the lady told us we can swap up all the peices and wind up with two twin sized beds. so we went with it. now our guests can share a twin with no mattress. anyway, the bed will be picked up tomorrow. we picked up the mattress for sirus today. we put on his snazzy new super man sheets and its 5 minutes to bed time. i am a little sad about the whole thing, sirus is y little guy after all.
i went for a 9 mile run today. it was a little under 10 minute pace and it was so fun. i felt great and had so much fun just talking away the whole time. alledgedy this type of run should help me? we'll see in two weeks i guess.
i did a 5k today at work. it was put on by the same guy who did the snoqualmie 5k. this race was a fundraiser for the community's ptsas at the two elementary schools. i wasn't sure what to expect since i have not been feeling fast by any means and i was kind not feeling it for the race. plus i had already gone about 24 miles that week after recently bumping my mileage up to 30 for the past few weeks. i woke up and was feeling skinny which was enough of a good day already for me. especially since the day before i had to change my pants once i got to work since the ones i wore were just too tight. bleck. i did wear my fancy new old lady shoes and got a compliment on them and they were pretty comfortable... so that sort of ofset the issue with the too tight pants.
so we got to the race site and unloaded the kids. we went in and picked up our number and the kids shirts. then off for a little warm up. i was told the coarse would be hilly and to not expect a pr, so in my warm up i ran the coarse backwards to what looked to be the last hill in the race.
then it was time to line up. i loved the start because the timing company guy was like, if you expect to finish in 17 minutes or less, please line up in the front. you could almost hear a pin drop while everyone looked around like, what? it was just too fast. then he said anyone expecting a 7 minute pace to go to the front. i would love a 7 minute pace but i wasn't thinking i would do that. i did wind up a row or two back and managed to get tripped up at the start.
so then we were off. 3:34 into the race i realized it was going to be a looong race. i held onto the front pack for the first mile - 7:05. i was pretty stoked by this since it was pretty hilly and windy and turny. then in mile two i almost cracked. we went through the neighborhoods and up some more hills, around a culdesac and past the water station. then the mile 2 sign - 7:40. Yikes! then i did crack. i rounded a bend and thought it was the hill i had run too in my warm up but it wasn't. and then i did the unthinkable. i walked. and got PASSED. then i started up again but managed to get passed by two young kids - an 11 yr old and a 7 yr old. next thing i knew i was rounding the corner and headed back to the school. i was so excited except it didn't go back the way i had warmed up - you had to run around the parking lot! then to add insult to injury, eric and the kids were standing at the turn around and i got confused and ran around them and the parking divider instead of infront of them and the divider!! i gave up a second or two there and could have broken 24 had i not run the extra few feet but anyway i was happy to be done.
i came in 3rd in my age group. the top 3 overall ladies were all in the 40+ category, and the girl who passed me on the hill was 20-29, so it all kind of worked in my favor. i got a trophy and was able to give it to the kids so that was pretty fun.
then we got pancakes. with chocolate chips. i will come back next year!
but i do have to say that at no time during this race did i feel like i wanted to drop out of the race (even though i stopped to walk) and at no time did i question why i enter these things or why i run at all. eric said i wasn't really racing then, which is possibly true. i did go home and take a nap though, i was worn out.

i ran to work today. that was fun. better then the last time i ran to work, but i still don't know how to dress, i was too warm. but i didn't have to stop at the conveniently located honey bucket and i felt pretty good. i was a minute slower then last time... but i took it easy to start out with but then cranked it up on and off for the last 20 minutes. i also had my new headlamp which by the time i got around to leaving the house i now longer needed and the new reflective vest, that again i did not need but wore anyway!
eric and the kids picked me up from work and on the way home seamus said she would like her nails to be red like a little girl at preschool. so after dinner and mandatory halloween candy i got to painting seamus's finger nails. then i painted my soon to be not so grody toe nails and then sirus wanted his toenails painted, too, so i did that. then eric was all passed out asleep right next to us so we painted a few of his finger nails too.
i was worried about the pants i had packed to wear today because they are my skinny jeans and i haven't been skinny enough to really wear them since like february i think. but i packed them anway. then last night i was feeling puffy and thick and because even more concerned that i'd run all the way to work and have no pants to wear. turned out the pants were actually fine, it was the shirt i had packed that didnt fit! ok, so that pants didn't really fit either but the shirt i could not manage to deal with. so i put on my coat without a shirt on and wore it all day long. it was a sweet coat i had gotten while shopping in NYC with jen back in september. i think i am going to get some old lady shoes, too.

good night licorice

so sirus is still calling seamus licorice and it is so cute. he pushed her earlier today and i told him he needed to apologize so he went right over, hugged her and said "i'm sorry licorice'. then tonight before he went to bed he went running from her room caling out "good night licorice". i asked him why he called her that. he said its a happy word. i asked him where he learned and he said the leprechauns, those who are responsible for a lot of things in our house.
today i went for a 12 mile run with the girls. it was a lot of fun. it was quite a bit slower then i normally go. i am trying to figure out what speed or effort i should be doing these run. i am contemplating getting a coach for the up coming season since i have quite a few goals. i talked to eric about it who thinks going with a coach would be a good idea. now the hard part - finding one and paying for it. i thought i had an idea and it looks like i was about right if i was looking for just a running coach or just a cycling coach, but ya throw in that whole tri aspect of it and that just ups the $$... plus i haven' found any who mention anything about xterras or mtn biking. so i have some work to do there.
but i have just completed two 30 mile weeks in a row and i feel great. i feel better then when i was just at 15-20. hopefully can keep it up and hopfully it results in some better results. i definitly feel better, so thats a plus!
except i'm not tired and i should realy go to bed...
work has been good but exhausting and kind of stressful.. but yeah, thats the way it goes.

licorice

almost every mornign i ask the kids if they had any dreams. sirus usually says yes adn then says they were about cars. i can't quite beleive him but maybe i should. this morning he said his dreams were about haircuts. then he went on to call seamus licorice for the rest of the morning. I am pretty sure he proclaimed while we were all cuddling this morning "i will call her licorice" and then he did. I can't wait to go home and see if it continues.

the funny things that sirus says

yesterday he said "lets go amigos" and took off running. i am sure he probably learned this from his girlfriend dora the explorer but it was funny to hear him say it.
seamus is showing us her geniusness lately. the other night we were reading a book of mine from when i was little, i think its sammy the seal. she has been saying words a lot lately and sounding them out as she says them. i asked her if she wanted to find some words in the book to sound out and read and she did. she managed to sound out and read Sammy, happy, no (to which she got up and showed me how she had written that already), over, fun, zebra and hippo. then i asked her if she could find the word zoo on the page which she said no to and instead went to her desk and wrote it for me instead. I almost fell down, i had no idea she could do all of this. and now she hasn't done it since. thats ok.
the new james bond movie is coming out soon, i can't wait. we went to see Zach and Miri Make a Porno. while i loved Jay in it because he is one of my favorites, it really wasn't a very good movie. we had seen Burn After Reading a few weeks back and that was good. Or maybe i was just drunk? i did have a few before going to the movie but i think it was funny anyway.
then, there is the election. i really don't know what to say. when they announced on tv that obama had won ohio i cheered out loud and clapped my hands! the whole night was pretty emotional, but it sounds like it was for people all around the world. its really an amazing feeling! when i left for work in the morning i told the kids to remember this day since history was going to happen. they both looked at me like i was crazy so i told them i loved them and headed off to work.

halloween and stuff

yesterday was halloween. i was SOOO excited, probably as excited as seamus! the kids could not wait to go trick or treating! they ate dinner and then finally it was dark. off they went. my heart melted as i watched them dressed as wonderwoman (no wig since it made seamus's forehead itch) and as superman, both holding their pumpkins with one hand and eric's hands with their others. i watched them walk out the driveway on their big adventure. the original plan was for them to do our street then go to one other. i stood in the play room and opened the window. i heard them walking back past our house. i could hear sirus yapping away about something in his totally excited high pitched voice. they were walking very fast! i heard them go up to the house accross the street and i heard their little voices yell out Trick or Treat! and then thank you before they left. Then i watched as they went to the next house and then off of our street.
and then i waited. and waited and waited some more. so i went outside and lit the candles in the pumpkins. then i scattered fake spiders around. then i waited. i ate some candy. then finally two girls stopped by.
then eric and the kids came home and started sorting their loot. they lined up their candy in big long lines on the living room floor. sirus picked out all of his tootsie pops out of his line and brought them over to show me. he unwrapped on then quickly went back to put the others "back in line". later he picked up a peice of candy and asked eric what it was. eric told him it was a snickers to which sirus replied, what does snickers do? does it snick?
3 more groups of kids stopped by the house but that was it. we have waaay too much extra candy left but i think i ate way more then my share yesterday (can you say two cupcakes and a rice crispie treat for lunch?) to even find any of it appealing today.
the whole halloween thing wore me out though. sirus got up and went potty all by him self this morning at 6:50. it was so dark out and i was so passed out that i had no idea what time it was. after a while he crawled into bed with us and he just layed there touching my face with his little hand. then seamus came in to cuddle for a bit, too. she kept telling us how much she loves all of us so eventually i had to tell her to be quite because we were still sleeping. i am so mean. eventually eric got up and the 3 of them went downstairs. i on the otherhand slept until 10am!! wholey moley!
today was the first day of the medicine that will allegedly fix my toenails. we'll see in april since they should be done by then.
i got up, had some breakfast and coffee. then i got dressed to go running. i stepped outside and immediately stepped back in to wear LESS clothing! it was warm out today, totally amazing!
i headed out on what i knew would be a beast of a route. i had already done 20 miles this week plus the extreme halloween so i was a little beat but i wanted to get in a long run this weekend. not even 20 minutes in i took off my longsleeve and just ran in my shorts and tank - it was that nice out! then it rained and i was still warm! the first 1/2 hour had considerably more up hill then i had imagined it would. then it was downhill for about a mile. it was that downhill that started to bother my knees and calves. i started thinking about where i might stop and ask eric to pick me up! then i turned onto a nice farm road and passed the pumpkin patch where we got out pumpkins this year. it was quiet and there were a ton of leaves on the road. and i kept going. eventually i made it back to the main road and down another hill, through the scary tunnel and onto the trail. at the one hour mark i was right by the house with the helicopter landing pad in their yard. and i was beat. i stopped and had a gu. then off i went. i figured i had anohter 15 minutes to the bottom of inglewood which turned out to be right on. i stopped and rested there a bit and headed up. i ran almost 1/2 way up but then had to walk. earlier in the week eric and the kids took the bus and met me at work. we all ran home together which was a ton of fun, although eric pushed the kids up the big hill - the whole hill, all the way up! so i ran the whole thing that day too. then that same day we sprinted the last .3 mile getting up to 11mph by the end. that totally killed me.
but today, i walked some of the hill. i did start to run again at the top and ran pretty well until i got to the stop light. the last section to our house is always really long. there is a hill, which is fine but everything after the hill takes forever and is totally painful. i trugged through it and got to the house. finally.
i stretched and went right to the shower. i was pretty sure i was going to pass out in the shower. i didn't but i did have to get out and then sit on the couch for a good 1/2 hour or more still in my bathrobe.
so that was today and a few of the previous days. nothing too thrilling going on.
i am planning for 2009 already, which i am totally stoked about!! it does mean i will have to do some swimming though so i have to figure that whole thing out...

halloween night

sirus: what is this?
Eric: thats a snickers
sirus: what does that do? does it snick?

sirus

such a cutie. not sure if i told the story of how he was out running around with eric and seamus. apparently he had a hard time keeping up and told eric his legs were too short and that he needed new ones.
i went to an auction the other day. i got sirus a kick bike, a tiny little bike that has no pedals. it is much smaller then the bike seamus already has and with sirus's little legs he won't be ready to try her bike for a long time. i lost out the bidding on the blue bike, so he wound up with a pink one. it was a fundraiser for the breast cancer fund and he likes pink anyway...
the next morning after both kids discovered the bike, seamus came up to me while i was getting ready for work. she gave me a hug and said "thank you for getting sirus his own little bike". i thought it was so sweet. then another 10 minutes later sirus came up gave me a big head and said "mommy, thank you so much for my new bike". i wanted to cry. those kids are so sweet. i asked eric if he prompted him to do it and he said no.
it reminded me of when we went to NY the kids stayed at grandma and grandpas. i had taken all of the trains that sirus didn't take with him and lined them up on his night stand. when we got home from picking them up, about 5 days later, he went into his room and was practivally speechless - he said "oooh mommy! thank you so much for my trains!". he is just so adorable. today he is losing his voice. his little voice is so adorable right now.
yesterday at dinner seamus asked me if i lost weight. that made me laugh.
yesterday i ran almost 10 miles with feather. i vented to her the entire time about all the shiat that has been going on. apparently i have been holding alot in because i bitched for the whole 10 miles straight, and the run went by so quick! it was incredible!!
pain in the neck and jaw is still there but a bit intermittent. i have been taking advil and getting massages and such and its been working somewhat. i feel better for the most part.
halloween is this weekend and i can't wait. the kids went to the halloween carnival at seamus's preschool on saturday. seamus was so excited to go she could hardly contain her self. i made sirus some superman pants. he was so excited to wear them but he did not want to wear the superman red shorts over top of them. he got over that. seamus wore her wig and blue eye shadow and some little red gems glued to her face. the carnival involved 7 or so stations and at each was a little game like tossing bean bags or rings onto a target of some sort. after they completed each they got a prize. the kids loved it. they collected all of their prizes and then spent the afternoon and evening practicing trick-or-treating. very funny stuff.

yikes!

and to top it off, i found a grey hair! on MY head!! plucked that sucka right out of there, but sheehs!

need to get things started, again

dude, i am a mess! its sooooo bad, what happened, how did this happen? yuck. double yuck.
so yuck that i went out with a friend last night who was commenting on how she would like to wear jeans to work occasionally, and i looked at my own get up - dirty, baggy (but considerably less baggy lately) jeans that were being worn for the 2nd day in a row, ratty, oversized t-shirt and a grey hooded sweatshirt, unbrushed hair and no makeup. i had worn this to work. and my friend made the comment that i am a boss even.
i had a terrible dream last night that someone asked me why i was wearing my wedding ring on the wrong finger. i was like, what do you mean? i had a weird amnesia where i couldn't see all of my fingers. while finally realizing this, my hands started to cramp and my fingers started bending backwards at the joints. the top most joint bending totally back, then more and more. i fell to the floor and started screaming. i don't remember it being painful, just freaky as hell. i just screamed and screamed. i was in a hospital and they brought in a gurney. then i woke up in bed huffing and puffing, totally exhausted/
that plus the lingering pain in my neck and jaw that isn't going away.

sticky tape

sirus just turned 3. on friday. he is too cute to be 3!



one of the cute things he does, and yet more evidence that he is male is that he thinks tape will fix everything. specifically "sticky tape". the kids were playing in the box that the new kitchen chairs came in. it tore all down the side and the first thing sirus asked for was sticky tape to fix it. so cute.

yes, new kitchen chairs to go with the brand new grown up style kitchen table. we were in NYC from Sept 9-13 and while there we sawl jen l! and she had a fabulous kitchen table. for some reason she didn't want to pack it up and send it to us in seattle, but she did tell us where she got it, so we got it too. we are copy cats but imitation is the best form of flattery.
while in new york eric and i CHOWED down. we spent so much money on eating out it was REDICULOUS. DAMN tasty but expensive. we went to one place and i ordered the open faced lasgana which was so amazing i can't even describe it but i will try. picture giant noodle on a giant plate with all the best sausage and cheesey goodness on top, served super hot! it was soooo good! also in NY we saw LIZ who took us to the DONUT PLANT where i had an awesome strawberry donut, it smelled so good and
strawberry. she also took us to momufuku or something liek that where we had a plate of HAM, a bowl of tomatoes, some pork goodness and a few good beers.
we went on the haror lights cruise, to the top of the empire state building, through the east village, time square (which i made eric walk like 5 miles to get to because i only knew how to get there from 55th & Broadway, when in al actuallity we were less then 3 blocks away when we started out), we attempted to go to the MOMA on free friday but it was pouring and there were 589237470236 people in line, eric went to ground zero and central park. jen took us to see south pacific at lincoln center where we saw MICHAEL KORS who left his tickets to the show on the floor by his seat. i went to starbucks plenty, the Google offices, my offices and what else. i don't know but my shoe broke the 2nd night we were there and i went shopping with carrie to get some flip flops. i was amazed that i was abe to walk 20 miles in those things.

then after we came back from NY i got ready to go to atlanta for lisa's wedding! i was so excited about this trip, it couldn't get here soon enough! i flew out thursday on the red eye and didn't sleep a wink. i did however watch the sex and the city movie which i thoroughly enjoyed. lisa volunteered her fiancee to pick me up at the airport which was fun since i hadn't ever met him and he had never met me. she sent him out the door with a sign that had my name on it and a photo from my wedding almost 7 years ago - a photo that showed my face from the side! anyway, it al worked out a-ok but altanta had no gas! totally unreal!
anyway, we got to the house, and after i was over my speechlessness of its amazingness i was so happy to see lisa and her family. later that evening we go dressed for the rehearsal dinner and wound up hanging out on the porch until past midnight. the wedding was saturday and lisa looked amazing. she looked like she stepped right out of a magazine! the wedding was great and the reception was fun. i drank way to much but ya know. we all hung out sunday as everyone headed off to the airport one by one. i was really happy to see all the girls, it had been so long.

but after all of that traveling and such, i have gained a ton of pounds, haven't run in what seems like weeks and i have a terrible sore throat.

sirus is not a girl

seamus is certain of this because when you look in his drawers there are no skirts.

also, potty training is done. this is amazing. there is still a threat of accidents and nightime protection has to happen but still, all day every day. amazing.

pf changs china bistro

it sucks the life out of you, or out of me at least.

but i was impressed that seamus was able to pick up and eat an entire pot sticker with chop sticks. a slippery steamed one at that!

on the trail

eric and the kids picked me up at work and we headed over to marymoor. yes, we drove to the burkegilman. we are who we make fun of. but the hill is just too dangerous and steep while towing the kids.

anyway, we were riding along. i was in the front and eric was following while pulling the kids.

a guy pulled up next to eric and said "yeah, i could follow behind that all day long"

to which eric replied "yeah, it really catches a big draft"

then the guy rode away.

then eric said "hmm, not sure if he was talking about the trailer or your arse." but then we laughed at the prospect of it being my arse and it catching a big draft.

surprise

i am exhausted but can't sleep. its been this way all week but it got really bad last night and then today its bad. ok, granted its only 1030 but still i'd like to go to sleep. work has been stressful but ok, the weather has been uber lame bordering on weird and the most exercise i have done is from scooping the ice cream and stuffing the cookies into the cookie hole.

but i did sort of decide that i might take a breather here for a few days to recharge. but right now, i can't even imagine what running would feel like since it just seems so hard. i took my stuff to work with me all week but never did anything with it.

i am going to ny in two weeks and that might wind up being exhausting but the good thing is that eric is going to come too. he says he plans on spending the days while i am working hanging out in harlem eating philly cheese steak sandwiches watching pick-up basketball games. i dont know that that means. but i am going to get to hang out with jen which will be fun and i am going to make eric go to the american girl place. and maybe i will get to see liz and dug?

when i finally got to come home today i dragged myself into the house. seamus came up to me wearing her halloween costume from the hawaii trip and laughing and funny laugh and eating pizza. she came right up to me and said she has a suprise for me. i asked what it was and she said i had to come see it. she pointed into the family room and this is what it was:

apparently he was just there on the floor playing and next thing ya know he was asleep. eric however was the one who arranged the trains, and seamus placed the hello kitty egg on his arse, but she sure thought it was funny because she just laughed and laughed. it was pretty cute. then her rolled over and this is what happened:

the circle sticker was already on his belly, he had done that one his own, but seamus put the hello kitty back on him and laughed some more.
here is seamus wanting to get her photo taken while pretending to sleep because, yeah, well, why not:

excessive

especially since i only drink decaf....

update

thanks to some info from xtie on how to read resuts, i was actually 3rd in my age group on the bike portion! i had moved from being 21 after the swim up to 6th after the bike, but then lost two spots on the run to finish 8th. wow! i was faster on the bike then I had thought!

soooo far behind and so much to do!

here's a quick photo of sirus after the snoqualmie 1k kids race! he was in awe over thelife sized trains and in the photo is telling us what a train sounds like.

i am now ready to write about the xterra. i was pretty stoked for this race. i had been doing some mtn bike racing and was feeling sort of fit. no swimming of course, but i was excited to get out there. eric and i got to the race start and saw amy, susan and a bunch of other people eric knew. we racked our bikes and got ready to race. the water was steaming since it was warmer then the air. you could vbarely see the buoys or the island. to get into the water you had to climb down a small rock retaining wall. the water was nice, too. it was a mass start. i was pretty excited for the first part of the swim because i was right up there in the action and we were swimming through the lilly pads! you got to the island and climbed up onto it. there was a small luau with tiki torches and music then back into the water. the whole island experience probably took about a minute. the rest of the swi was uneventful except that i had to pee so badly. everytime i would settle into the crawl stroke my stomach would slosh and i would get nauseated. i tried to just pee in the water but i couldn't. there were volunteers at the exit to help you up over the retaining wall. i ran right to the porta potty and peed forever and felt way better. but the only thing more difficult then dealing with a wetsuit is trying to pull up wet tri shorts! off to transition then off onto the mtn bike course.
i had heard it was going to be tough. at the start i asked amy, who had pre-ridden what she was thinking for time and she said 3 hrs. i went into this race thinking 1.5 to 2, so i was not prepared for 3. i crashed. and crashed. and crashed some more. then i had a nice fatty face plant. i just layed there with my face in the dirt trying to access my situation. it took everything i had to not just burst out crying. i got up, stood there and then started to walk. i was so shaken up and my wrist was hurting. eventually i came to come volunteers and asked them how i could drop out of the race. they said the easiest thing would be to just finish the lap although it was still a long way and there was still a lot of tough riding ahead. they said they could call the medics to come get me, but i wasn't that bad, i just didn't wantto race any more. so i started walking. after a while i started riding again. i started to feel better and actually thought, heck, maybe i could finish this race. then i caught my pedal and went down hard on some rocks. i was 100% done. i walked the rest of the way until i came upon some spectators who gave me directions to the road and then back to the race start. the whole ride back was miserable. i was so disappointed and frustrated. i thought i was tougher then that and i was just defeated. i was looking forward to the run and felt that i could still do the run but there was no way i could get through another lap. i got to the start and went to the medics tent. as i was there getting my wounds cleaned i saw eric come into transition to head out for the run. i was about to ask the medic if i could run over there and cheer him on when the medics instead told me that had to run off for a moment and take care of a guy in a blue shirt was bleeding all over. i watched them run over to tanstition and over to eric. next thing i know they are bringing him over to the medics tent. he had crashed a mile from transtiton and had a branch go right through his lip. his race was done. he was suprised to see me there, but all in all it was a good thing i had dropped out when i did. one of eric's friends helped me get his bike and clean up his transition area as well as mine and we headed off to the hospital. he wound up with 6 stitches to fix the hole then another 7 in his lip from where he had bitten it.
i took the next day off from work. i suspect that while i didn't wind up with any stitches that maybe i was more injured then suspected since i slept until 11am then got up for 2 hrs then slept for 3 more. i haven't done that since my drunk single days. meanwhile eric was out with the kids all day doing yard work. it turned out, too, that i had a flat rear tire on my bike.
the next weekend was the mtn bike race in greenwater. we had already planned on taking the kids camping up there. we went and got a massive 6 person tent. we took the air mattress and the thermarests and seamus brought her curious george sleeping bag and i made a Wall-E sleeping bag for sirus. they both wore footie pjs. when we got there i pre-road with sara and her husband and decided that it would be pretty fun but the bike felt squirrelly. eric changed out the rear tire and it made a huge difference. eric made up some spagetti on the camp stove and we had smores over the camp fire although sirus just ate his marshmallows without roasting them at all.
the kids and i got into the tent around 9ish, maybe later and after a bunch of moving around they both passed out by 1030. at some point i had to take seamus out to pee unsucessfully, i couldn't sleep because i was totally dehydrated, and every time i wuld doze off sirus would roll off the air mattress onto me. eventually eric came back but seamus would come and get into my sleeping bag then back out, we would all figtht over the pillows and move all over. eventaully everyone settled down though and i slept pretty well from about 330 to 6. when i got up i really wasn't up for racing but i went through the motions and lined up at the start. next to me was a girl who actually finished the xterra the weekend before. then we were off. the course was fun! i didn't dare try anything i though might be tough to ride, so i ran a bunch of it, but i stayed on top of it all. the girl from the xterra was off the front from the beginning. a bit later i was passed by a girl who was better on the decents. i wound up catching her on the big climb on the 2nd lap but knew she was faster on the downhill. i could have passed her then stayed in front on the downhill since there wasn't much passing, but that wouldn't be cool, so we just kept riding up the hill together then off she went. i finished 3rd and got a 6pack of fat tire. i was relatively pleased. seamus and sirus both raced in the kids race. they had been preriding all the night before and all morning the day of. they had two groups of kids - the kids with more then 2 wheels and then the kids with only two wheels. seamus won the overall for kids with more then two wheels! she was pretty excited. sirus on the otherhand was out for a joy ride which consisited mostly of eric pushing him. he was still pretty excited about his race anyway.
the following weekend was the danskin triathlon. i did this as a relay with my sister and mom. xtie did the swim, her longest one yet! i did the bike and then we all walked the run. i manageds the 26th fastest bike out of over 3700 people competing. i knew i was riding faster then most since i passed a ton of people, but i didn't know it was going to be that fast! where the course goes up onto 90 there is a short steep climb. there are volunteers at the bottom telling people to geer down and some people would stop and walk. others would try to ride and then stop in the middle. this was frustrating for those who could ride it but were blocked and then had to stop. i got off and ran through the bushes. it was silly since its not a competative race (although i did find out its a good one to use to qualify for age group nationals!) but i did want to try to finish as fast as i could. the bike route wound up being only 10.2 miles! we had fun on the run portion and all crossed the finish line together!
eric and the kids had come to watch, so we then went home, i took a shower then they took me to the airport to go to boulder for work. it was a short flight, but then i had an hour drive. but the hotel was nice and the conference was fun. monday i got a massage courtsey of one of the sponsors and then later saw a guy i used to work with at my old company. he was based in LA, but has since left that company, moved to NY but now is leaving there to go back to LA. he is 25 and is a VP at his most recent company. tuesday morning i went for a run up into the boulder canyon. at 5500ft i was dying. that afternoon i went mtn biking as an offsite activity from the conference. thank goodness the tour people had sunblock for us to borrow because i missed a spot on my back and it was the weirdest color i have ever seen. the riding was fun,there was a lot of up hill but it was mainly road and gravel road with a tiny bit of sort of technical downhill. all in all it was fun and i am happy i went.
and the conference continued and then i got a manicure courtesy of one of the sponsors. wednesday evening i went to dinner with a few folks, had a couple of margaritas then had some $18 shots of tequila.
i woke up thursday feeling a little yucky, but it was my last day. i woke up without the alarm and went for a run into the canyon. after checking out of the hotel i went to a local bike shop owned by a guy that eric used to race with waay back before the kids were born. after saying who i was he recognized me and we chatted for a bit. he is living the dream which is really cool.
then i went into denver which wasn't that fun although the demacratic national convention was going on and then off to the airport. the kids and eric were waiting for me at the airport when i finally got back to seattle. boy was i happy to see them!
next was the lake sammamish triathlon yesterday. i wasn't feeling up for it since i was really tired. but i got up and headed to the race site. xtie was there and some of her friends were there doing their first triathlons. marne was there, too! the swim start was good. i felt like i was keeping up and going strong. then about 1/2 way it all caught up with me and i had to do some breast stroke and then i was slow for the rest of the swim. i got out and ran to transition, passing 4 people on the way to that first timing mat! biggest accomplishment of the swim was not being caught by anyone in the wave behind me, at least that i noticed!
my transition felt like it took forever. it seemed like i couldn't get my socks on to save my life and everything just seemed to not be working. i ran out and got to where you get on the bike but i couldn't get clipped in. i kept stumbling but eventually got it together. then i was off! i was pretty fired up and feeling pretty good so i just pushed it. i passed a ton of people and was only passed by two people from the wave that started behind me. my bike computer wasn't working so i had no idea how fast i was going or how far i had gone. but eventually i got back to transition. i changed my shoes and put on my hat and went off for the run. i was really not in the mood for the run. i just kind of went on my way. i saw eric and the kids and slapped hands with seamus and sirus. then it was off onto the trails. i was passed by two girls from my age group, one guy and one woman from the age group that started behind us. i passed a few people alond the way as well. i was working hard but not killing my self. now i wish i would have tried a little harder, but the two girls that passed me wound up quite a bit ahead of me so i don't know if i would have been able to hold onto them at all anyway. i wound up 8th place compared to 14th last year. the swim i think was shorter this year but my bike was about 4.5 minutes faster (6th in the age group!) and the run was 45 seconds faster. its a 3.4 mile run and strangely, if that is true my pace was 3 seconds faster then the snoqualmie 5k at the beginning of august. all in all i was pleased with the race. i was hoping to break into the top 10 so thats good! i think this is my last race of the season. i feel slow as slow can be but i guess i'm not too slow. now i want to concentrate on the seattle 1/2 in november.
now, let me tell you about seamus!! after she won her mtn bike race she was looking to ditch the training wheels. the day after her race eric took the training wheels and the pedals off her bike so she could scoot around and work on her balance. in the afternoon he put the pedals back on but after a bit of frustration with eric trying to help her, she put the bike down and played in the yard. a little later eric heard "daddy daddy! i'm doing it!" and sure enough she was riding her bike with no training wheels! she only crashed into the baskeball hoop a few times, into the garage a few times and into sirus a bunch of time, but she practiced every day so she would be ready for her triathlon! seamus was very excited to race again. she put on her swim suit, her purple swim cap, and he floaties and went out into the water. she swam and swam waiting for her race to start. she kept going deeper and deeper and was all the way up to her chest but she was just paddling around! then she got out and was frozen solid. eric warmed her up and kept her on the beach until the race was ready to start. and then the kids were off! she swam 75 yards, but she will tell you that she hopped most of it. when she got out of the water sirus and i were there ready to slap hands but she turned to me and said that she wanted to go get on her bike instead. so off she went she put on her tri skirt, her luna top, her hello kitty sandals and her helmet. then off she went on the bike. she got so many cheers as she went out. we're not sure if it was because she was so little, her bike was so little, the fact that she didn't have any training wheels or that she still had her bike decorated from the parade a few weeks back. eric ran next to her and had a tough time keeping up! she rode the entire time, not once putting a foot down! finally, back to transition, she parked her bike. she got upset when eric tried to get her to drink some water since she thought he was trying to get her to stop racing. but she took off her helmet and started running. and she was running FAST! i went with her and several times i was stunned at how fast she was! i asked her if she was having fun and she said yes! she said she had fun on the swim and on the bike and now was having fun on the run but she thought we should have brought some water. she asked if there would be snacks at the finish! she asked to hold my hand so we did that a bit but every once in a while she would see another kid infront of her and she would drop my hand and speed up! the little kids were only supposed to do a .5 mile run but no one told the volunteer so we were steered along the .75 mile run and seamus ran the entire thing. about 1/2 way she caught up to a group of 4 seven year olds. she ran right among them and even passed infront of them at one point. she would just speed up and keep going!! she went into the finish shoot on her own, helped the volunteers take off her timing chip and got her medal. she is absolutly amazing! when we got home she wanted to ride her bike some more!!


i'm headed to nyc in september for work i think, so that will be exhausting but probably there will be some fun mixed in there, too.

1 month wrapped into 1 post.

lets start with racing!
after lake stevens i did some riding, not a lot and some running, not a lot. i managed to run home from work once or twice a week and then ride my bike to work once or twice a week and some on the weekends. i also did a few wednesday night mtn bike races. work was a but stressful with lots going on that i can't talk about here, but if you give me a call, i'll tell ya all about it!
Wednesday july 30 eric and his buddy mark and the kids picked me up at work to go racing. i got car sick in the heat and the traffic. i wasn't doing so well, but as soon as we got to the race i jumped on my bike and headed out. i was in the lead and having fun when the bike was getting all squirrley. i kept up right until i was on the pavement and trying to make a sharp left and down i went. ah - flat tired. explains is all. i still felt like i was going to puke, but i walked back to the start, changed and then the kids and i hiked all over while eric raced. the wednesday nights have been pretty fun.
saturday the 2nd was the snoqualmie railroad days run. a guy i work with was putting on the race, so of course i was wanting to run it! xtie and feather and dave all signed up for the 10k and i did the 5k. we got there with plenty of time to spare and i did a 20 minute warm up then off to the start. i had the "i better get this time or something is wrong" time, the "i would really like to get this time" time and then the "super stretch wow it would really kick ass if i could get this time" time. i really wasn't sure where i would be since i have been doing fewer miles each week but the miles have been longer runs. i started out feeling ok but not great. i still felt like i hadn't gotten over the car sickness ofwednesday. at the 1 mile mark i checked my watch to see 00:00. sweet. the 2nd mile was brutal and i was thinking maybe i will just walk, why do i do these races, oh poor me, then i hit mile 3 and just kind of kept going. eric says he expected me to sprint, and i thought i was but apparently not very impressively. finish time 23:42, good enough for 5th in my age group and 19th woman. apparently as the minutes were ticking by eric, ever so supportive that he is, was hoping i would come in under 24 otherwise he wasn't sure how he would manage to lie to my face about how good a job i had done. at least he was honest. xtie did really great in her race! feather and dave started after the sweeper truck and apparently after the timing mats had been shut off, so they didn't get a time, but they think they did well!
the kids were super excited about the kids race! well, that and the fact that the race start /finish area was lined by real live working trains! i totally confused sirus by telling him that the previous weekend the big, REAL thomas the train was in that very spot. he just looked at me then turned away. seamus reacted similarly when i told he i had just gotten off the phone with people in australia who were getting ready to have lunch tomorrow, but that at least turned into a geography lesson.
the kids race was a 1k. they started at the start going the wrong way towards and past the finish line to a turn around and then back to the finish to cross where the grownups finished. seamus was so excited, sirus not so much. seamus lined up with the other kids then eric and sirus lined up behind them. and then they were off! seamus ran about about 3/4 of the way and then called out to me that her legs were hurting. i told her she could walk if she wanted to but she just kept running. she got around the turn around and said in a pittiful little voice "i need help!" but she kept running. i held her hand but then said i was going to run ahead to take a photo of her crossing the finish line. and she started running faster! i had a tough time getting far enough infront of her to get photos! she is fast and had a strong finish! sirus and eric kept going and eventually crossed the finish line, too! it was pretty fun and we will be back next year.
the next day was the black diamond xterra. i don't think i am ready to write about that one yet. this post is so long already and that one is going to take forever. stay tuned.