Great news! Paul won an award at work for a project where he ROCKED. Basically they were having duplicate records in their data files and he wrote code for the software to get rid of them. Translation: he saved the company a TON of money. He got major props in front of a global audience by lots of big wigs and a cash award.
My handsome smart, husband demonstrating the tendons in a "wrist" of an Alaskan King Crab.,
Tyler will be a vampire for Halloween and insisted on wearing his costume all day Saturday. Paul thought wearing the cape would help him run faster. Not even Jake buys it.
…BUILDING!! Instead of racing the White Lake Half Iron Triathlon, we are going to tackle a home improvement project we have been talking about for over 6 months! Our house is about 1200 sq ft and with 2 kids, 2 cats, 400 pounds of Labradors, and 2 6-foot adults…needless to say we are crowded. Paul and I have mercilessly pared down, purged and simplified, but we still have lots of stuff. So we are going to build loft-like hanging storage in the garage.
I think it will be a lot of me standing around waiting to hold 4×4 beams in place above my head on a ladder while Paul measures and makes the cuts with the circular saw we got for our wedding shower. So I plan to take pictures to post as we go so stay tuned!
Yup, we dropped out. I have been feeling worse each day and can hear the raspy breathing in my chest just climbing a flight of stairs. Paul had a good ride w Tamara this weekend, but has not run successfully in over 6 weeks and even then his blister issue came back. I just emailed the race production company to give our spots to someone else.
What about the motto you ask? I guess if I am ditching goals, I should ditch mottos too, huh?
As you know from a previous post, Paul was sick at Belews tri. He then proceeded to have 103 degree temp for 4 days. I thought I had dodged the bullet. Until yesterday morning. I think I was fighting it OK, but then training was intensifying and I think my body is worn down. My throat is sore, head ache, stuffy nose. The pollen continues to coat EVERYTHING here. I know it is not the swine flu b/c I do not have a fever. I fly tomorrow to Cincinnati for Elli’s baby shower. I contemplated bringing a face mask from work, but alas, that would be stealing supplies. And I think the hospitals will seriously be needing all the supplies we can use in the upcoming weeks.
So, here we are and according to the main page on our website, Paul and I race the White Lake Half Iron Triathlon in 8 days. 8 days?!?!? When did THAT happen?!?! I am only worried about my asthma now. I anticipate the race taking about 7 hours, which is hard enough w/out suffering from or recovering from respiratory illness. But alas, I have this motto…
Yesterday turned out to be a great Easter day. The kids woke up around 6 excited about the Easter bunny. After they ate way too much candy for breakfast we made a trip to the grocery store then came home and played outside with the kids.
Around 1 we went out for a 64 mile bike ride. The weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky. Our plan for the day was to go exploring new roads which is one of my favorite kind of rides. We found a few new good roads to add to some of our current rides and a few dead end roads (but they were still nice to ride down). When we got home we did a easy 1 mile run which went well.
After the workout we ate grilled salmon, asparagus, and couscous (all at Susan’s request). On a side note, when Susan’s parents bought their new house they no longer needed the grill they had at the Crown Point house so they gave it to us. This is the first time we have had a chance to use it and it was much easier to cook on than our old one which was really nice. We sat outside to eat, relax and enjoyed the weather. That is about as good as a day can get!
I wanted to add some pics to our site. Not much to say really. Paul has been playing his guitar a lot lately, which has made Anna want to play too. It makes Tyler sad he destroyed his drum set.
Paul, dogs and Barton (L corner of the couch)
The cats have really relaxed quite a bit in the last few months so there are some cute pictures of that too.
Lizardhead (Tyler's Webkinz) on Paulhead
I love this pic of Anna
Goal update: I am doing well at “active recovery.” Better than we are doing at completing unfinished projects, that is for sure. Taxes are done, Anna and I had some girl time (pic here too),
veggies suck but I learned that you get a TON of spinach for only a few calories so that is what is helping me get that goal checked off. Journaling is sketchy, but I have the rest of the week to get 1 more entry.
Tyler and Bluesy bonding
Still on a book slump, but I started Purpose Driven Life this week so perhaps it will be a hit. Everyone else in the world seems to love it according to the critics. Paul’s mom suggested that perhaps because I am on a slump I should write my own book (see bucket list to the right).
We had a good weekend but it went by way too fast. Susan went scrapbooking Friday night and had a good time. For me I sat at home and did NOTHING. It was nice to finally have a night where I didn’t have anything I had to do. OK, so I had plenty that I should have been doing around the house but nothing got done.
Saturday morning Tyler had a basketball game that he was very excited about. He told me before the game that he was going to get every rebound. It turned out that he was about right. There is another boy on his team that likes to get rebounds and the were about to kill each other. They were both in the game together in the 3rd period and the coach took Tyler out so the two of them weren’t playing at the same time because they were “too competitive with each other”. My mom was there and got a good laugh because I was the same way.
After the basketball game Susan and I ran 20 miles. We had a good run and the weather was really nice which made things easier. Our marathon is 19 days away and that was our last long run until the race. Our longest run that we have between now and the race is 7 miles so we are very excited! After our run we showered and went to Lauren and Elliot’s for dinner. I’m not even sure what time we left their house but I am pretty sure it wasn’t very late. We went home and went right to bed.
Sunday morning we got up and went for a ride with our friend Tamara. She called us that morning to see if we were still going because she knew we were running 20 miles the day before. I knew it was cold outside and wanted to say no (and she also wanted me to say no because of the cold) but I said we were still going. We are doing the 63 mile bike ride the day after the marathon so we have to get use to it. It was 30 degrees with a windchill of 24 when we left the house so we had a very uncomfortable ride, but Susan and I were both glad we went. I’m not sure if it was from the ride or the icing affect from being so cold but I was much looser after the ride.
After the ride Susan and I went to Biscuitville to get breakfast. When we got done ordering we had to tell the lady at the register that we really did only need two drinks and that all that food was just for the two of us. After we ate we picked up the kids, played with them, went to the grocery store, ate dinner and then it was time for bed. I need to figure out how to get 4 day weekends because that all went by way too fast.
I have been having some bad knee problems lately on our long runs so I went and saw one of the Physical Therapists that works with Susan today. Susan and I had already talked about me getting some orthotics since I have huge arches and he thought that would be a good idea. I tore cartilage in my knee about 20 years ago and he thinks it is possible that that is what is causing my problem now. He found that I am VERY tight in my hips and hamstrings which was no surprise since I don’t stretch. Susan has always gotten onto me about that and it looks like she is finally going to get her way. He gave me several stretches to do to see if that helps and if not we are going to look at other options. Lets hope the stretching works because I am guessing “other options” will be to clean my knee out surgically (they talked about doing that when I initially hurt it but I didn’t want to).
I was feeling a little guilty today because I skipped my 3 mile run yesterday. I woke up yesterday morning with a headache and didn’t feel great all day, but I still felt like I should have gone from my run. Add in that I didn’t eat the best on our drive to and from Indiana (I had a iced honey bun on the way there and a regular one on the way back for example) and I felt like I was slacking.
To add to it I went for a swim at lunch with the plan of swimming 1000 meters. About 500 meters into the swim I felt like I was slacking in the swim so I decided to pick up the pace and extend the swim to at least 1600 meters. In the end I did 1800 meters before I ran out of time.
We have a 3 mile run tomorrow and a 14 mile run on Sunday so hopefully I am back on track now.
Today at lunch I went swimming and had a good day. The main part of my swim was 750 meters and I felt good. Most of my swims lately have been slow and easy, around 15 minutes for 750 meters. Today I was still going easy so I was surprised when I saw my time of 14:16. Not my fastest swim ever but much faster than I have been going lately. When I was done I knew I still had a 5K run tonight, but I also knew from experience that a good swim doesn’t always translate into a good run.
When I got home I really didn’t feel like going running but when I finally got myself out the door I was going really fast. The 5K route at our house is very hilly and hard so I backed off the pace slightly after just under a mile to be ready for the first long hill. The turn around is on one of the hills and I got there at 13 minutes, which is fast for that run so I knew I was doing pretty good but figured my time would slow a lot on the way back because there is a long hard hill. With all the hills on this run a fast time for me is usually around 28 minutes, so I was surprised when I got home at 25:47.
So Bryan…even though it wasn’t my fastest time, I just beat your fastest time again tonight on a very hard course. If I would have been on the much flatter lunch time run course I would have been very close to that 22 minute time that we are trying to see who can make it to first (I also held back slightly because we have a 12 mile run tomorrow). Time for you to pick it up or this is going to be too easy to win!
Taxes are done, Anna and I had some girl time (pic here too),
