This is for all my blog readers… November 9, 2008

I just sat at my computer for 45 minutes and started typing a nice, long post to catch everyone up on what’s been going on in my life for the past 3 weeks.  I had a nice little post going on when the entire thing deleted.  I’m not sure what happened, but all of a sudden I was staring at a blank screen.  So, since I’m not going to retype everything (and since Barry tells me people don’t like to read long-winded posts), I’ll just recap what we’ve been up to!

• I finished my second triathlon on October 25th.  Still hate the water, but I did well in the bike and run, finishing 6th in my age group! 
• The kids had so much fun trick-or-treating.  Emma was a pop star, Ansley was Cinderella and Jackson was Prince Charming.  Only he wasn’t so charming by the end of the night with lollipop and tootsie roll slobber all over his white shirt and in his hair!

• Emma and Ansley finished up their soccer season yesterday.  We were proud of both of them for doing their best every week.  Emma played on an all boys’ team this year and she held her own!  When we told Ansley that it was her last game yesterday, her response was, “Yea!  I wonder what we’re having for snack?” 
• Barry and I attended the C3 volunteer dinner Friday night and listened to Byron share about the C3 Christmas project.  You can read more about it here. I am so excited to be a part of a movement that is truly Connecting the Community with Christ! 
• As I turned another year older today, I was reminded once again how truly blessed I am.  I have the best husband, family and friends!  Thanks for making my day extra special.
• I really am going to try to be a better blogger.  Vanessa even gave me a blogging award a few weeks ago.  One that I haven’t been able to accept yet because I haven’t fulfilled the requirements.  (Sorry, Vanessa!)  I’ll get on that as soon as I think of some more random stuff about myself that I don’t mind sharing on the world-wide web!
• We’re taking Emma to her first FSU game next weekend.  She’s so excited!  Hopefully the Noles won’t disappoint
• I am completely addicted to facebook right now.  I have reconnected with several people that I knew in high school, plus it’s a quick and easy way to stay in touch with people I don’t get to talk to every day. 

Hope everyone has a good week…I’ll try not to let 3 weeks go by until I blog again.  But if I do, you can find me on facebook!

Why not tri? September 22, 2008

So, it’s Monday.  I’m in full swing for my triathlon training (less than 4 weeks away!) and unfortunately the training program I’m following calls for pretty vigorous workouts on Mondays.  I had a great workout earlier today, but now I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.  I hear a nap calling my name…

Just wanted to throw this out there while I’m in Triathlon Mode.  There are a few of us who are addicted to this triathlon training.  (No, I’m not weird…you’d have to try it to understand.)  So, anyway, in June of next year, we’re looking at a sprint triathlon in Jacksonville.  For any of you who are even slightly interested, you would have plenty of time to train.  We’d love to get as big a group as possible…it will be so much fun!  Let me know if you might be interested, we can all train together.  Come on, everybody’s doing it!

Week in Review August 31, 2008

Lots of things have happened in the last week or so that I just haven’t made the time to blog about.  I decided to show you what we’ve been up to…enjoy the pictures!

Emma lost her first tooth last week.  When she asked me about the tooth fairy, I told her, “All I know is that she is tall and thin and beautiful.”  Her response was, “Is it Staci?”  (I know that made Staci feel great!)  Emma was so proud and couldn’t wait to go to school and put her name on the Lost Tooth chart!

 

Barry completed his first triathlon last Saturday.  He did awesome, placing 5th overall.  Way to go, Babe!  We were all able to make it out to cheer him on.  I sure was glad it wasn’t me who had to run through all of that standing water that Fay left behind.  (YUK!)  He was a trooper!  (And no, not everyone who trains for a triathlon looks this good!)

 

Ansley was the first student in her preK class chosen to bring her class mascot, Delphina the dolpin home for the weekend.  She was so excited to bring her to Melbourne overnight! 

 

Jackson is getting so big…I think this picture shows how grown up he is. 

 

My brother and his wife, Tim and Robin, came down from Tennessee for a visit with their daughter, Kylie this past week.  Kylie will be turning a year old next week, so my parents threw her a little birthday party for the family on Friday night.  We had fun, but I’m not sure she liked the cake so much!  Happy Birthday, Kylie.  We loved spending time with you celebrating your first year.  Now that you live a little closer, we hope to see you more in your second year of life than we did your first!  We love you!

 

Lake Claire Memoirs – part four June 27, 2008

The Run

Okay, now my goal is to catch up with Jacklynn. As I’m leaving the transition area, Heather calls out to me that Jacklynn is one minute, 43 seconds ahead of me. Hmmm…is that attainable? I hope she’s running slower than me!

I begin to get some feeling back in my legs but still don’t feel like I can run at my normal pace.  I just hope I can make it 3 miles. (My goal was sub-9 minute miles) Focus, Amanda, focus. “It’s only 3 miles”, I keep telling myself.  My body is telling me to slow down but I WILL NOT walk!  Now WHERE IS JACKLYNN?!?  I get to the first mile marker and look at my watch…8:22. What!?! Okay, now I know I can slow down and still stay under my 9 minute per mile goal. I take the next mile a little slower but focus on passing one person at a time. Even as I’m passing people, they’re still encouraging me. “Keep it up.” “Good job, thirty-two!” (Our age was in permanent black marker on the back of our calves!)

Mile two goes by VERY slowly but I finally get to the 2 mile marker. Okay, only one mile to go. I get this surge of energy…I know I’m going to beat my goal time as long as I don’t start walking.  ONE MORE MILE.  ONE MORE MILE.  I try to focus on something else…anything else besides running, but I find myself thinking only about how much my legs hurt…(and how much I need to use the bathroom)! 

I FINALLY make my last turn and I know that the finish line is only 1/4 mile away!  I begin to see other racers who have already finished standing on the sidelines, cheering us on.   I pass a 19 year old guy (YES!) and I can see the end. I give it my all and cross the finish line…25 minutes, 45 seconds. (That’s an 8 minute, 19 second pace, a personal record!) 

I never did catch up to Jacklynn and she was there at the finish line to congratulate me. She came in about a minute before me. I was so proud of her!

Overall, it was an AWESOME experience, something I definitely would love to do again. Barry is training for his first triathlon in August and we are hoping to do one together in September or October. Hopefully I’ll get over my fear of the lake and be able to improve my time for my next one.  Thank you to each one of you who encouraged me and lifted me up in prayer during my race…I appreciate each and every one of you!

Lake Claire Memoirs – part three June 26, 2008

The bike

I finally regained my normal breathing around mile two of the bike. The course was perfect…not a lot of wind, no hills, not many turns. I’m passing people like crazy. (All credit to the bike, not me!) I’m trying to average 19 – 20 mph. I have a bike computer, so I can pace myself. Around mile 5 I start to pass on the left when the lady on my right looks over, says, “I’m not gonna let you pass me.” (In a challenging, but very friendly way).  We encourage each other the last half of the race and finish right about the same time. (Like I said before, the racing community is very friendly!)

Right at the end of the bike course, I see my cheering section and hear my name being called out. YES! Another burst of energy. (Could it be the caffeine shot of “goo” that Jacklynn made me take earlier?) My goal on the bike was 26 minutes. I finished in 25:05. Great! I’ve almost made up for my swim time.

I go into the transition area to re-rack my bike, take off my helmet, grab my visor and race number and I’m off for the 5K run.  Uh-oh!  I can’t feel my legs!

Lake Claire Memoirs – part two June 25, 2008

The Swim

The horn sounded at almost 8:00.  Time to jump in the water!

I knew that this was going to be my weakest leg of the race. Open water freaks me out and I’m not the biggest fan of lakes. I had gotten several peoples’ advice on the swim and the main thing I heard from everyone was, “Just get through the water.”

I had been practicing in the pool for about 3 months on my form and technique and had improved tremendously. Even though I was by no means fast, I had the endurance and I knew I could easily swim 400 meters. As soon as the horn went off for my group, I threw everything that I had been practicing out the window. The only thought that was going through my mind was, “Just get through the water!”

There were 4 buoys and I was counting down as I passed each one.  I got kicked in the face, brushed up against, slapped on the legs…but no alligators!  Finally, I could see the shore. I ran out of the water and checked my watch…10 minutes, 55 seconds…worse than I thought. Oh well, I’ll just make up for it in the bike and run. (I later found out that the swim was measured wrong, it was really closer to 450 or 500 meters…but that’s unofficial.) I hear my name being cheered on and I have an extra surge to keep going.  Yea!  It was great to have loved ones there to cheer me on.

I got to the transition area, quickly threw on socks and shoes, sunglasses, helmet and grabbed my bike. I’m thankful that the worst part is now over.  But when will I get my breat back and begin to breathing normally?  No time to recover…gotta start biking…

I Did It! June 22, 2008

I finished my first triathlon.  400 meter swim, 8 mile bike, 5K run.  One hour, four minutes, thirty-four seconds. 

Waking up at 4:30 am

plus swimming

plus biking

plus running

plus big lunch

plus no nap

equals one tired girl!

I’m super excited and proud of my times.  It was one of the most exhilirating things I’ve ever experienced.  I will write more about it tomorrow and post pictures.  Good night for now!

Swim. Bike. Run. June 20, 2008

These are the things I’m thinking about today.  Who am I kidding?  These are the things I’ve been thinking about for the last 7 weeks.  That’s when I was bullied into signing signed up for my first triathlon.  I have to say, I have really enjoyed the training and the challenge of swimming.  I am by no means a fast swimmer but I really feel like the endurance training has helped in my running and I’ve enjoyed mixing up my workouts with swims, bikes, and runs.

Here are some things I’ve learned during my last 7 weeks of training:

• Swimming is HARD!
• No matter what kind of saddle I have on my bike or how much cushion I have in my shorts, it still hurts!
• I am WAY more afraid of lake swimming than I thought I was.
• I am a very crooked swimmer.
• It’s always more fun to train with someone than alone.  (Thanks for pushing me, Jacklynn!)
• Swimming makes me REALLY hungry, more so than running.
• My best workouts are when I have 1/2 of a cinnamon raisin bagel and 1/2 cup of coffee for breakfast.  ( Don’t know why, but because I’m a little bit superstitious I’ll do this on race day!)
• Don’t roller skate 4 days before your race around a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds…your toes WILL get run over at least a dozen times.
• When your husband is into triathlon training as much as you are, it makes it funner.  ( I know, that’s not really a word.)
• When you order a tri-suit off of ebay and have to use your pay-pal account, make sure your address is current with Pay-Pal or your tri-suit might get delivered to your old address that you lived at 7 years ago and the people that receive it might throw it away.  (Long story…I’m not bitter.)
• Two days before and the day before the race, you get to really carb it up, and not feel guilty about it.  Oh, yeah!  Give me a second helping of pasta!

My race is on Sunday!  It’s at UCF.  Pray that I don’t get freaked out in the lake and that I can finish!

I’m Pooped! May 28, 2008

I had a great day…long, but filled with lots of activities.

I helped with the end of the year “celebration” in Emma’s Kindergarten class.  Emma informed me that they’re not allowed to call it a party.  (She also told me last week that wearing a spaghetti-strapped shirt to school on field day is not “school appropriate”.)  I enjoyed getting to be around all the kids she has spent her first year of school with. 

While I was helping at Emma’s school, Kayleigh watched Ansley and Jackson (Yea for Kayleigh being a high school graduate!).  Apparently Ansley was full of stories for Kayleigh.  She told her that she did not have a name her entire first year of life.  Yep.  Barry and I didn’t think of “Ansley” until she was a whole year old.  Wow.

I was able to get most of the house clean while Jackson slept this afternoon then I went to a GREAT spin class at the Avalon Y.  Jacklynn and I are training for a triathlon that is about 3 1/2 weeks away, so I’m trying to spin more.  It’s REALLY hard for me, but a great workout.  After that we went for a short run.  Not too sure how I’m going to swim then bike THEN run on race day. 

Came home, had dinner while we watched “So You Think You Can Dance”, and now I’m ready to fall asleep. (Yes, it’s only 9:30.)

Yea for kindergarten celebrations, funny Ansley stories, clean houses, and workouts that kick my hiney!