Skip to main content

Birthday Blast


Karen and I - Team Pay'n'Take

I am seriously bummed the weekend is already over! 
I was having way too much fun! 

I started celebrating my 32nd birthday on Thursday morning 
with a 3,200 meter swim. 
I know. Big deal. 
I actually got out of the water way earlier than usual. Ha! 
Good thing it's the off-season or I would've had to swim 
32*200 or 3.2 miles or something crazy like that! 
The bad news: 
I didn't really invite any of my lane mates, 
so I was having this party in the pool all by myself. 
The good news: 
I didn't care one bit. Still had a blast! 

Yep. A lovely self-portrait. 

After herding the boys out the door and a quick breakfast, 
it was time to ride 32 miles with my training buddy Karen. 
I coaxed Coach M into putting this ride on her plan 
so Karen wouldn't have any excuse to bail on me. 
M must've forgotten that it's my off-season 
because the plan called for a bunch of 2 mile repeats. 
Oh. Right. 
It's Karen's plan - not mine - we are following these days. 
Coach M: I figured you could hang!
So I tried... 


The view wasn't half bad 
and since I took the camera on the ride with me
I took many useless self-portraits. 
Why not? 
Karen was busy focusing on her intervals, 
so I had plenty of time to play around.

The ride was great! 
Lovely views, great pace, perfect company!
What more could a girl ask for on her birthday?


Thursday night I was stressed out 
because I hadn't packed a thing for our weekend trip. 
I was supposed to go on another 32 mile ride with Jennifer 
early Friday morning, and do a whole bunch of other stuff
until leaving town at noon.

I don't like stress. So I cancelled the ride. 
Instead, I got up at 5 am, headed over to the Y, 
and had another party by myself on the spin bike for 32 miles. 
By the time it got light I was back home 
having a nice birthday morning with the family. 

I figured that there might be a slight chance
that I wasn't going to pull off 32 running miles on Saturday. 
So I decided that 6 miles on Friday + 26 miles on Saturday 
would still count for 32 birthday miles. 
This was my party and I was in charge of the rules. 
I like being in charge... 

So I ran next to my kids on their bikes to school, 
dropped them off, ran some more, 
came back to volunteer at the Mustang Gallop, ran home.
 6 miles. Done. 
Time to pack up and hit the road.

6 painfully slow hours later we made it to our destination.
Colleen welcomed us with a house full of food 
and fun friends! Lucky me!!! 

Yep. That's my coach!

Have I mentioned that Coach HT was there? 
You certainly wouldn't want to miss him! 
Love that guy! 
In case you are wondering: 
He did indeed run the entire marathon in this very outfit!

And because this post is already getting rather long and I have a kids birthday party to plan and execute
in a couple of days, I am going to tell you about the marathon in my next post. 
Best for last, right? 
So stay tuned...








Comments

Karen said…
Hey, if I'd known you were posting pictures I woulda fixed my hair.

That was a great b-day ride!!! How adorable - THIRTY-TWO. Remember that for mine, we're going to be doing everything times *FORTY-SIX*. Shut up.

love ya! K.
October 30, 2012
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I am so lucky

I feel the need to write. My thoughts are all jumbled. Can I make sense of them on paper? Writin g gives me perspective and makes it easier to let go. Last weekend I was very frustrated, mad, self-centered, unhappy , wallowing in self-pity. This weekend I was more balanced, a little more patient, trying to be less selfish, happy . How did it happen? I have had to deal with myself for almost 30 years now and, luckily, have figured out a few things on the way. Like how to feel at peace with myself , my family , my life . It shouldn't be complicated to be happy in my circumstances. I realize that. But sometimes it still is. Sometimes being a mom and wife doesn't come easy to me. Sometimes I think everyone would be better off if I wasn't a mom and wife. Sometimes I wish it was easier to just take off and do nothing but swimbikeruneatsleep for a week or two. It's not helping that my German teammates are doing just that. Right now. On a beautiful island. In the warm...
10 comments
Read more

Camping Trip - Big Sur - CA

Andrew Molera State Park - our paradise for a week After it became clear that we would most likely be in Utah all summer, I got a bit antsy and really wanted to go on a family vacation. We went camping in Moab in March and it was great fun. Since I am not training or racing, we might as well go on a road trip to California and camp by the beach for a while! Easier said than done because, of course, we were way too late to get any decent spot anywhere along the coast. Everything bookable was booked. We did a bunch of research and found a little campground in Andrew Molera State Park  that fit our (very small) budget and was first-come first-served. Perfect! So we mapped out a plan, loaded up the car, and took off for 10 days!  Not exactly traveling lightly. That road bike (mine) was solely for commuting purposes.  Traveling from Provo up to Salt Lake City and then west on I-80, our first stop was Donner Lake up by Lake Tahoe/Truckee. I love Lake Tah...
Post a Comment
Read more

Swimming in Germany - Lakes Galore

Baggersee Weingarten Let's see.... I've been in Germany now for 4 weeks and have had the privilege to swim in 5 different lakes. Let me count how many times I have swum in a lake in Arizona since moving there 2 years ago... That would be 1 time in Lake Mary during the MountainMan. And I am not planning on swimming in it again until this year's MountainMan. As you might have already guessed:  I am in heaven !  Baggersee Weingarten So are the kids. Appropriately dressed in German swim wear.  That's my mom next to me in the picture above. You see where I get it... Growing up we would either go on a hike or bike ride every weekend and take a dip in various lakes along the way. Good memories!  My niece Lynn at Bad Waldsee This lake was especially fun. It was basically at the center of a beautiful old little town. I saw people walk out their front door and go for a little swim. No motorized anything allowed as on most lakes here. Pl...
1 comment
Read more