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.

the super friends

feeling good

so today i am feeling pretty good. could it be the frosty beer? maaaybe. but maybe it has to do with it being friday!

plus this week has been a little different. it had seemed that after races this past year i would be good for a day then get really depressed. i had been told to get out and moving sooner rather then later after a race to combat that but i was generally too tired or stressed to do that. but this time, i headed out to do some open water swimming with xtie on tuesday, did a group ride on wednesday then ran home from work on thursday. today i rested but tomorrow i am running with feather and dave. my knees are feeling better and the weird loosy goosy feeling i was having with my left knee which i blamed wearing flip flops on move day seems to be better. i have also resolved to try and eat better, which i did all week except today. i have been having terrible allergies and yesterday it was the WORST! i was hitting up 3 different tissue boxes and had to have gone through a least an entire box among them all. i was worried that its the new house, then i was thinking it was my sweater. then i was thinking, could it be the yogurt i have had every morning this week? internet - can yogurt cause sneezing, runny nose and severe miserableness? i didn't feel sick but miserable. today - no yogurt and back to the PB&J and what seems to be recovery from the allergies. internet - what is the deal? but then i through a personal pan pizza hut pizza from target on top of that, and now eric is threatening me with carrot cake and ice cream. can i resist and stick to my pretzel rod and beer? only time will tell. sirus is so funny. i told him that if he went poopy on the potty he could have spencer the train, one of thomas's friends. he thinks this is a great idea and is constantly telling me how we can go to target to get the train, because that is what they have at target. xtie came over the other day and brought him a red bucket and shovel. he asked her where it came from and she replied asking him where he thought she got it. he thought long and hard then asked "target?" nooooo, "home depot?" noooo, she said she got it at safeway to which he replied "safeway! i know safeway!". he has been really cute lately and super chatty. he really hadn't said a lot or much in complete sentences but now he is just talking up a storm, mostly about spencer at target but some about seamus and what she is up to and also what he has been up to during the day. as an added bonus, he has been super huggy and kissy. i hope that never ends because i love it.

i am so happy in our new house. its the greatest and i think it and my totally awesome commute is helping with my happiness and my ability to this week to keep going after the race. but, for 4th of july there was a 2nd annual celebration and fireworks show. we weren't sure if we would go but decided to try it out, how could we not, it was two miles away! we headed out of the house at 8ish. seamus walked the entire 2 miled even with two hige hills. sirus walked most of the way but opted for some strollering for the hills. we got to the site, the kids played and then we got ready for the show. seamus and sirus were ready for the show, and then it started and it was an entirely different story. it was loud and bright and right in our faces, so much so that sirus's little hand went up to his eyes and didn't leave them until the show was over. seamus on the other hand thought it was great. and really it was! i am so happy to be in our new neighborhood so close to such fun stuff! we didn't get the kids into bed until midnight!!

this weekend we are going to a parade! and there is a kids parade before, so today we made costumes for the kids and stuff to decorate their bikes! wait patiently for some photos - they will be well worth the wait!

abba is so good, too.

Carrie's Lake Stevens 1/2 Ironman report

Last year when I finished this race, my exact words were "its over!! finally! it has come and gone and now i don't have to worry about it or ever do anything like it again!" That lasted about a day or two then I started planning for 2008.

I had great plans for the race in 2008, but as you know a month or so ago we decided to put our house up for sale and move. While "paint the fence" worked like magic for Daniel in the Karate Kid, it didn't work quite as well for Carrie in real life. Regardless I was totally excited about the race with a goal of just finishing the race.

July 6 - Race Day
The alarm went off at 3:45 AM. Eric and I did a quick packing of the car, made some PB&J and headed out the door. We got to the race site at 5am and found a great parking spot. We grabbed most of our stuff and headed to transition, set up then headed back to the car to change into race gear. The it was off to the potty and over to put on our wetsuits.

The Swim
I spotted eric in the sea of black suits with orange heads, gave him a kiss and wished him luck. It was a little less sureal then last year when it seemed like he was headed off to the meat factory. Then it was off to find the other LUNAs and wish them all luck. There is something incredibly calming about heading to the water for triathlon start. Running races and mountain bike races I am generally a nervous wreck, but at triathlons I am always very calm. Our group headed out onto the dock and into the water. It was warm, my goggles fit well and the horn went off. I was dropped by the pack instantly, which didn't suprise me. Almost as instantly I was caught by the group that started 3 minutes back, then the next group, then the next, etc. I wasn't thrilled with the swim, but with my lack of training, I was happy to finish and not be exhausted and even have enough gas in the tank to run into transition.

Swim Time: 55:04 (almost 4 minutes slower than last year)

The Bike
I was sort of concerned about the bike. I knew I could cover the distance, I just wasn't sure how quickly I could do it and how painful it would then make the run be after. I have been pleased with my bike portions of races this year as I have finally learned how to push my self.. I didn't go all out on the bike, but I kept a steady pace and I definitly worked. Although hillier, I liked this bike course better then last year. I liked that it gave more opportunity to get lapped. Did I just say that? Yes, because it is so cool to hear the pros coming up behind you with the whoosh whoosh of their disk wheels and seeing what amazing athletes they are and then leave you in their dust! I was so happy to see Renee's little pony tails and smiling face at the end of the first lap. The second lap was somewhat uneventful. I stayed well hydrated through the bike - I went through two bottles of Pink Grapefruit LUNA Sport Electrolyte Splash AND a bottle of water. At the end of the 2nd lap I caught up to Charity. She was looking great although working through a pinch in her shoulder. A few miles from the end I was caught by a 67 year old woman. Wow!! She was amazing!! As I rode into town the cheers of the crowd made me want to keep going, but alas, the bike was done.

Bike Time: 3:37:48 (3 minutes or so faster then last year)

The Run
I was in a pretty good mood on the run. Maybe it was the complete costume change in T2? I was moving better then I thought I would be and I was chatting away with everyone I came across. I walked through every water stop, a plan that worked well last year and took a potty break at mile 1. I walked some on the big hill around but then ran most of the way back down where I saw both Renee and Charity. Heading out onto the first loop of the 2nd lap my knees were pretty achey and I started walking a bit more. On my way back through town I spotted Eric and Charity's husband. I walked up that big hill again but there were some enthusiastic spectators on the hill so I told them I would looks fast for them and run up the hill. At the top and through the turn around I was going what felt to be really fast and I was feeling really good. I saw Sarah from the tri team while going up the hill and I saw Marne on the way back down. But my knees - so I would stop and walk from one cone to the next, then run for a bit, then repeat. This worked really well and I continued to chat with everyone I passed in either direction. Once I got into town though I was running and so happy to be almost done! I crossed the finish line, found Eric and gave him a huge hug! Then I went to the pizza tent. :)

Run Time: 2:10:38 (about a minute and 1/2 faster then last year - with considerably more walking!)

Total Time: 6:49:58 (about 2 minutes faster then last year!)

All in all it was a great race. I was calm and collected. I had great support at the race from my husband, teammates and friends and I even got a tan! I am especially proud of both Charity and Renee. I knew they could do it and I am so happy that they did it!

lots been going on

sheesh its been crazy times.
we moved. to the suburbs. in these bad days of selling houses, we managed to sell ours in 5 days! we put an offer on the new house, they accepted then we had to boogie to get our house ready to sell. we put it up on friday night then on tuesday morning we were accepting an offer - at asking price even! eric is really the super star in all that he did in that week before putting the house up - painted pretty much the ENTIRE interior, painted all the moulding, finished the moulding around 3 doors, installed all the shoes.. and a ton of outside work, too. our friend doug came over and helped, too which was great and i think eric enjoyed the company.

the drama i was bitching about a post or two ago was because the inspection came back kind of bad. and really, for a house that age, it wasn't bad, they just made some kind of rediculous requests, like $300 to prune a tree. whatever. all in all, it worked out well and wecame out well ahead of the game.

the week before we moved was super busy, i think i mentioned previously. here is photographic proof - xtie's law school graduation and seamus's preschool graduation, too. she had her hair up in curlers the night before, hence the curly hairs!

moving day was nutty. seamus and sirus had a ton of fun. they picked flowers and tucked them behind their ears. it took sirus a few tries - he kept sticking them right in his ear. feather and dave, eric's parents and craig all came to help load the truck AND they helped unload at the new house, too. total troopers and i can't thank them enough. good lord, had it been just me and eric, it would have taken forever.


finally we got into the new house and i love it. i think we all do! the kids have been non stop running and playing. they have a play room which sirus will spend all day in if we let him. we even had a visitor or two in the backyard!

the kids think its pretty neat to see deer in the yard, and so do i. later seamus and i saw a bunny. when i told sirus about it, he said "no, its a deer" and i said, no, its a bunny, and he said "no, deer."
sunday, the day after the move, i woke up at 430am and went to the airport, got on a plane and headed to SF. allie's hubby called me earlier in the week to let me in on a secret suprise bday party and he asked me to come down, so of course i did! i wouldn't ever miss it! they picked me up at the airport, much to allie's surprise and then headed out for a run. i was exhausted from the run and since i haven't had many workout since making the offer on the house, i was not doing very well. to give me a little credit though, allie and her friend stacy are pretty speedy so i had to keep asking them to slow it down. later we had dim sum in the city then off for some shopping while the party was getting arranged. then back to the house to celebrate! so much fun and it was great to see some of the people i had met 2.5 years ago at zachary's 1st bday but then to also meet so many of allie's peeps that i had heard so much about. it wasn't until 2am that i was able to crawl into my bed, but at least i had taken monday off already! i popped awake at 630 and spent the day unpacking at the new house.

i know there are other things going on now. but i continue to love the house, the commute and am pretty much enjoying things. PLUS its been warm and sunny out! but the lake stevens 1/2 ironman is this weekend which is concerning! the lack of swimming is most concerning i think, but the lack in running is a bit bothersome, too. i had hopped to take about 1/2 hr off my time but now i am just hoping to finish around the same time as last year. i did go for a 71 mile ride this past weekend, that ended in 92 degree heat and hitting the steepest of steep hills up to the house at mile 68. ok, so i had to stop 3 times. really i should have only stopped twice. next time i will try to make it at least to the 1/2way mark if not all the way to the top.
here is a photo of me at the onionman with eric hiding in the bushes:

an zipping up at the issaquah triathlon. i actually wound up stopping to finish the zip.

and seamus in her race. she might do another one this summer!

dude, DUDE

busy busy busy. so things are better. they were never really that bad just that one last day but things are nutty! work is crazy but good. for the first time ever in my professional life has things been absolutly insane but i don't want to quit! i actually want to stay because things are tough but good and only going to get better.

plus, we are moving this weekend! can't even beleive it. not sure how its going to go, but really all i want to do it throw everything in the truck. who needs boxes? who needs any of that stuff? really? we're all starting to pack and the kids are helping too.

i have done the onion man triathlon and kicked arse on the bike and went at a pace 10 seconds faster on the run then the last olympic i did.

i did the issaquah tri and was 8 minutes overall faster then last year.

i did the 5 mile lake tri this past weekend as a relay with sister and brother's gf. i had the 2nd fastest bike split in my age group had i race within my age group.

plus the other week i did a 10 miler on the treadmill.

all of this has caused me to gain like 400 pounds. i have not gone swimming except for the races and i am really not very prepared for lake stevens but i am very excited none the less.

seamus did the triathlon too and was a total trooper! even though she had the option of running on the beach instead of swimming since it was so cold, she wanted to swim the entire 75 yards. she got to the first buoy but then got a boost to the next buoy and then she swam to the finish. the same life guard guy ran with her to transition, with seamus skipping and jumping the whole way. the bike was 3.3k and consisted of three laps. each lap had an offroad section that was pretty tricky for the kids with training wheels. on the 2nd lap seamus tipped over and started to cry. she wouldn't get back on the bike. i felt like the worst mom ever. i felt terrible for having her do the race, she is only 4 and the race is intended for 6 & up. she walked the rest of the way over to transition, took off her helmet and was totally excited to head off on the run. apparently she was just done with the bike. it was too long and i should have thought to cut her off after the 1st lap anyway. but she did complete 2, which is sooo impressive. she was really fast on the run which was suprising to me. she never stopped to walk but just kept running! she did a modified run course since she was the last one on the course, but she ran almost .3 miles and crossed the finish line in a sprint! it was amazing! a few days later i asked her if she might want to do another one some day and she said of course! i wasn't feeling like a terrible mother afterall!

the issaquah was xtie's first tri, too and she was awesome! i knew she'd do well and she did amazing! and then this weekend she graduated from law school! totally impressive!

today was seamus's preschool graduation. they put on a fun gymnastics show and danced and ran and seamus was the cutest litte girl there. sirus participated too which was fun.

we also registered seamus into a new preschool by the new house. i like the one she is in now because she gets so much physical activity and i'm not sure how this new one will be but we'll have to wait till september and find out.

i think that might be it for now.

its always that way

how come when everything seems to be going well and you think that everything is right on track all the bullshit starts. ok, actually the bullshit has been going all along but i have been dealind with it. but tonight the bullshit that broke the camel's back hit the fan. and now i am all pissed off and sad.

mudder

ths past weekend the whole family went out and raced the whidbey island mudder. it was the 2nd time i had been on a mtn bike since the xterra in july 2006. that was a long time ago. i had gone out to a wednesday night a few weeks back and had so much fun ithot maybe it would be fun to try a race. i hadn't ever been to whidbey island, and we got to ride the ferry which was fun for everyone. anyway, to make a long story short, i won which was exciting and suprising. the kids both raced later and eric, too. this video eric took is mainly great because of the audio. make sure to have the sound on.

friday we put the house up for sale. the house that eric has worked so hard on and we have put so much money into. its quite sad. i love this little house and i love our yard and our view and our neighborhood. but i have told many people, the things we don't like are the things we can' change, and it seems like now is a good time to move. we put the house up on friday night and got zero calls on saturday. there was an open house on sunday and over 40 people came through, some more then once. monday there was another open house for agents, but there were showings all day as well and by that night there were rumblings of some offers. tuesday we accepted one. so now the clock is really ticking. if all works out we will be in the new house june 20. nutty.
now we just have to get through the onionman olympic distance tri this weekend, yikes!

what a day

first, last night we went to a wedding preception. the couple had a big party before getting married. good fun, and the beers were flowing nicely.
this morning eric got up early and headed out to meet some of his friends to go trail running. feather and dave were going to pick me and the kids up at 8 to head out to that same trail so that eric and i could do a kiddo hand off.

we got to the trail head to see eric and his friends standing around and eric on the phone. he wasn't talking to me, so who could he have been on the phone with? the police of course! someone had broken into the car and stolen his wallet. disturbingly they did it by somehow pulling down the front passenger window. its not broken though. they took only his wallet and decided to not take his $250 oakley sunglasses. the last time a car of ours was broken into and a wallet stolen, they took my totally awesome 1998 oakley irridium lens razor blades. this time, they weren't interested in optics. as soon as eric was off the phone we called and cancelled the credit card and his debit card. they had already tried to use the card at the gas station.

eric and the kids hung out and the feather and dave and gumball and i went on the run. it was tough. gumball loved the mud, the 8inch mud. she would jump in and just hang out. then there was the super soupy mess she totally immersed herself in. it took us 49 minutes to get to the top which included the regroupings and the walking through the bogs. it took 10 minutes less to get to the bottom, but boy the return trip felt much longer then the trip out.

when we got back, eric told us all about how when the people broke into the car it somehow activated the tail lights. he called the dealer and some local shops and no one knew how to fix it so he just pulled the spark plugs. during all this messing around the battery managed to go dead. so he had to call AAA who came out pretty quickly and gave him a jump.

what a morning.

we headed to my work where we took showers and had some lunch.

then we went and did something that could turn into something that will change our lives forever. we put an offer on a house. in the suburbs. like the most suburb of all suburbs. on the east side. like, about as east as you can go with still be considered western washington. ok ok, so not that far east, but its pretty darn east - east of two major lakes, and its pretty darn suburban. but we are very excited!

new and more

so much has been going on but then again not a lot all at the same time.
i turned old the other day. well, quite a few days ago. i had a great bday though. it was a nice day out so i met up with renee after werk and we headed towards home. we met up with eric and the kids in bothell. sirus was passed out in the stroller and stayed that way the entire time seamus played at the park. renee turned back at the log boom and the rest of us headed home. as soon as e walked in the door the kids started talking about cake. cake, cake, mommy lets go have cake. so that is what we did, and oh my godness, presents, too, all wrapped in bacon wrapping paper. they got me some of the greatest presents, too. like season 1 of Nip/Tuck and a sno-cone ice shaver machine. allie also got me another fold up bag that i used that day since my other one was left at work and a great new camera case! the best of all those was the kids and how excited they were about the whole thing.
the weeks and weekends have been full of biking home from work and some running. we did a 10 miler this past weekend and the weekend before and tomorrow i have to decide if i am going to do a 1/2 marathon this weekend in tacoma. i was planning the kirkland 5k but i might just change it. but its expensive.
tomorrow is the very first luna ride which will be fun i think. i am curious to see if anyone comes out for it. most of the teammates are coming, so it should be fun regardless. i do hope it doesn't rain.
other big news is on the horizon which is going to make us extra busy and stressed out for the next few weeks.
good lord can any one person eat as much as i did today? i think probably not. no one can compare.
the other day i went to the vending machine with $0.50. I put my money in, pushed F1 to get some doritos and the doritos got stuck. i went back up stairs to my office and grabbed a dollar and went back to the vending machine. i put the dollar in, pushed F1, the remaining $0.50 dropped to the bottom, but my doritos did not. i put in the last of the $0.50 and pushed F1 and the 3rd bag of doritos got triple stuck. someone is going to be very lucky in the doritos department.

Google Analytics

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.