I made a super-quick, impromptu trip home last weekend. My parents were supposed to come visit us until my dad managed a triple Lutz off of the end of his pick up and broke his foot. For those of you that don't know my dad, he does things all the way and this foot fracture was no exception. They FAXED me a COPY of the x-ray and you could see the giant thing as clear as day (usually you can't even figure out what body part the x-ray is of once it has been copied, much less faxed). So my farmer father was on two crutches with his foot in a boot and not very happy about it. He and my mother were planning on coming to visit us, but it didn't look like a good idea with my dad dragging his broken self around. Jake was already headed to KS for work and I was able to swing a few days off (which probably won't happen again for a while but that is a totally different post) so off I trotted to the Columbia, SC airport at 4:30 a.m last Thursday to board a plane.
Driving to catch a flight is totally stressful. Of course it was worse because I was driving myself as Jake was already in KS. I don't care if you live 8 miles from that airport, there is always something that can happen to make you miss your flight, and at 4:30 in the morning you are pretty sure at least 3 of them will happen. Anyway, I did not get a flat tire, hit a deer, forget my luggage, get lost, get carjacked, hit a homeless guy, forget my ID, get mugged in the parking lot or try to smuggle a bomb on the plane, so I was just pretty happy when I plopped down in my seat on the plane. I promptly took my Dramamine, put on my sleep mask, IPOD, neck pillow and went back to sleep. I am the perfect seat companion on planes because I usually sit in the window seat and I hate to fly so much I try not to be conscious for any of the experience. Unfortunately if you are looking for a chatty seat companion you better lean across the aisle.
My poor dad picked me up at the airport looking pathetic but perky so we went to lunch at a really fun restaurant in Old Towne in Wichita. Some Latin joint that was delicious for sure. My mom and dad got a new car, so I am still recovering from the whiplash that is a result from my father's secret wish to drive all things as fast as they are possibly meant to go.
The rest of the weekend was really low key and relaxing. There were humongous and delicious steaks, some Stuga beers, and a trip to Brookville. Jake's folks came to Lindsborg on his dad's birthday/KSU game and Jake's mom brought 3 types of desserts. We are all still recovering from that. We also got to see all of our grandparents so that was really fantastic. I am also happy to report that with some much needed and brilliant Physical Therapy my dad was up walking with one crutch with a much smaller calf, and was much happier by the time I left. Mission Accomplished. (Probably good that he did well with one crutch as we managed to lose one out of the back of the pickup on Saturday evening...It was Toll-a-riffic.)
Usually when we come home we run around all over the place. I was sad to not see everyone, but really good to actually relax. Don't be sad if we didn't see you this time. We will be through for the Christmas Whirlwind of the world in December!
On the trip back Jake and I were on the same plane to Memphis, where we split up to head to our two different airports in SC, to our two separate cars both located about 1 hour from our house. Lord knows we would hate to do anything the easy way...that is just not how we roll!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Last Triathlon of the Season
This post is two weeks overdue but I figure I should write it anyway as I have written about all of my other races and I would hate for this one to feel left out.
First though I must comment about how much I hate that the sun doesn't come up until almost 7:30. That is just ridiculous. Secondly I must comment that I hate the fact that I can never sleep in when given the opportunity. It is seriously ridiculous.
Okay, back to our regular scheduled programming. This triathlon was a fun one because it was very close to our house and was apparently the SEC college conference championships for the triathlon season. It was fun to see all the college triathletes. This triathlon was a terrible one because everything managed to be uphill both ways on the course for both the bike and run, and it was my first lake swim for a race.
When we swim in pools they release us two at a time to control the chaos. When we swim in the lake, they release 50 people at one time to try and swim along the same line (aka: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome in a lake) and it gets ugly. Of course none of the ugliness is intentional as we are all just competitive people, and I didn't hesitate to go all Mel Gibson on a guy and punch him in the leg during his sideways backstroking stupidity as he was swimming the WRONG DIRECTION and cutting everyone off. (I stand by my judgement that if someone wants to backstroke during the swim it is fine, but they should have to go last. It takes up too much room and they have no idea where they are going. It's just common sense.) I was wearing goggles but you sure can't see anything under water, which leads to most run-ins with folks. There was a lot of seaweed (lake weed?) and mud when we were getting in and out at the bank so that was really disgusting. There was also a really lovely 400 yard run up a 45-60 degree incline to our bikes that was not awesome in any way. I did it in 14 minutes and 3 seconds. (53rd place)
The bike portion was only 10 miles long and I had already ridden it with Jake once so it was not very exciting. I still pass a lot of people on really expensive and lightweight bicycles with my really cheap and heavy one so I get a lot of bizarre joy out of that. Unfortunately all of those people I pass on the the bike pass me back on the run....I wonder if they get the same joy? Dangit. The last part of the bike course is the most (or second most) brutal hill I have ever ridden on a bicycle on purpose. Yuck. I did it in 36 minutes and 42 seconds. (38th place)
I am really terrible at running. I just really hate it. I think I am slowly getting better at it, but I especially hate it after I have already swum 500 meters and ridden a bike 10 miles. I have still never run my 3.1 miles in under 30 minutes in a race...and it didn't change this time either. It was hilly and terrible and I had to walk twice to avoid my heart exploding and I got passed by people fatter than me and in worse shape than me. It was just a pretty depressing 31 minutes and 15 seconds. I have a triathlon pal that I race against. We just have a little competitive thing between the two of us. She beat me out of the water on the swim by 5 seconds, I kicked her rear end at the bike by 3 minutes, and then she ran a ridiculously fast 28 minutes and 37 seconds on the 3.1 miles to beat my 31 minutes and 15 seconds. So I ended up losing (me: 1 hour, 25 minutes, and 47 seconds) by 26 seconds to my friend. It was frustrating. Oh well.
I ended up being 49th place out of 103 racers in the Sprint Division, but won second place in my division and have a nifty shoulder pack thing (much better than the fanny pack) for my efforts. I would say that all in all this triathlon experience has been one of the more fun physically competitive things I have ever done in my life. I am not a very successful athlete usually so it is definitely neat to find something you are kind of good at... I should only get better too hopefully. I am hoping to get a good bike over the winter and speed up my slow, pathetic running. I will say that my running improved almost each race (34 minutes, 30.59, 31.58, 31.15 last race). Watch out world, I will be superfast next year!
First though I must comment about how much I hate that the sun doesn't come up until almost 7:30. That is just ridiculous. Secondly I must comment that I hate the fact that I can never sleep in when given the opportunity. It is seriously ridiculous.
Okay, back to our regular scheduled programming. This triathlon was a fun one because it was very close to our house and was apparently the SEC college conference championships for the triathlon season. It was fun to see all the college triathletes. This triathlon was a terrible one because everything managed to be uphill both ways on the course for both the bike and run, and it was my first lake swim for a race.
When we swim in pools they release us two at a time to control the chaos. When we swim in the lake, they release 50 people at one time to try and swim along the same line (aka: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome in a lake) and it gets ugly. Of course none of the ugliness is intentional as we are all just competitive people, and I didn't hesitate to go all Mel Gibson on a guy and punch him in the leg during his sideways backstroking stupidity as he was swimming the WRONG DIRECTION and cutting everyone off. (I stand by my judgement that if someone wants to backstroke during the swim it is fine, but they should have to go last. It takes up too much room and they have no idea where they are going. It's just common sense.) I was wearing goggles but you sure can't see anything under water, which leads to most run-ins with folks. There was a lot of seaweed (lake weed?) and mud when we were getting in and out at the bank so that was really disgusting. There was also a really lovely 400 yard run up a 45-60 degree incline to our bikes that was not awesome in any way. I did it in 14 minutes and 3 seconds. (53rd place)
The bike portion was only 10 miles long and I had already ridden it with Jake once so it was not very exciting. I still pass a lot of people on really expensive and lightweight bicycles with my really cheap and heavy one so I get a lot of bizarre joy out of that. Unfortunately all of those people I pass on the the bike pass me back on the run....I wonder if they get the same joy? Dangit. The last part of the bike course is the most (or second most) brutal hill I have ever ridden on a bicycle on purpose. Yuck. I did it in 36 minutes and 42 seconds. (38th place)
I am really terrible at running. I just really hate it. I think I am slowly getting better at it, but I especially hate it after I have already swum 500 meters and ridden a bike 10 miles. I have still never run my 3.1 miles in under 30 minutes in a race...and it didn't change this time either. It was hilly and terrible and I had to walk twice to avoid my heart exploding and I got passed by people fatter than me and in worse shape than me. It was just a pretty depressing 31 minutes and 15 seconds. I have a triathlon pal that I race against. We just have a little competitive thing between the two of us. She beat me out of the water on the swim by 5 seconds, I kicked her rear end at the bike by 3 minutes, and then she ran a ridiculously fast 28 minutes and 37 seconds on the 3.1 miles to beat my 31 minutes and 15 seconds. So I ended up losing (me: 1 hour, 25 minutes, and 47 seconds) by 26 seconds to my friend. It was frustrating. Oh well.
I ended up being 49th place out of 103 racers in the Sprint Division, but won second place in my division and have a nifty shoulder pack thing (much better than the fanny pack) for my efforts. I would say that all in all this triathlon experience has been one of the more fun physically competitive things I have ever done in my life. I am not a very successful athlete usually so it is definitely neat to find something you are kind of good at... I should only get better too hopefully. I am hoping to get a good bike over the winter and speed up my slow, pathetic running. I will say that my running improved almost each race (34 minutes, 30.59, 31.58, 31.15 last race). Watch out world, I will be superfast next year!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Homage to Grammy Jane
I have a lot of blog catching up to do. I need to write about my last triathlon and my quick trip to KS to see my parents. I don't have time to get into it all tonight, but my latest activities today made me giggle and think of my Grandma. She was 90 pounds soaking wet after a box of Russell Stovers and a six pack of Coke but moved her furniture all over her homes like she was 2 burly young men.
I Grammy Jane'd the heck out of the apartment tonight. I seriously don't like living here. No secret. I seriously haven't been trying very hard to not hate it. I seriously never re-arrange or try to make it better just out of spite for the apartment. Until this evening. Jake made the mistake of leaving me alone in the apartment after I spent the weekend with my mother...Furniture Queen Mover Jr. I got right to it tonight. Magazine-under-the-corner-of-the-buffet-shoving-it-across-the-room kinda get to it.
I think the feng shui is definitely better. High five Grammy Jane! Thanks for all you taught me!
I Grammy Jane'd the heck out of the apartment tonight. I seriously don't like living here. No secret. I seriously haven't been trying very hard to not hate it. I seriously never re-arrange or try to make it better just out of spite for the apartment. Until this evening. Jake made the mistake of leaving me alone in the apartment after I spent the weekend with my mother...Furniture Queen Mover Jr. I got right to it tonight. Magazine-under-the-corner-of-the-buffet-shoving-it-across-the-room kinda get to it.
I think the feng shui is definitely better. High five Grammy Jane! Thanks for all you taught me!
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Freaking Internet
I would imagine everyone can appreciate that I don't take a bunch of picture of myself in my triathlon get up to work so everyone can see me in all my glory. It is not a sight I am particularly proud of (sorry to end with a preposition but I am tired). However, one of my co-workers dug up a bunch of pics of me at the Lauren's YMCA triathlon on the Internet and printed them off...and then wrote fun little captions and posted them at work. It was really bad. Spandex is not good on anyone, but especially not good when you don't know that someone is taking pictures of you and you have no chance to try and minimize the effects.. I imagine that the images are burned into the backs of their minds for good! I don't think there is anything else of me on the internet, but if there is I am sure they will find it.
Why Did I Do That On Purpose?
Titles for the blog entries are hard to come up with sometimes. I also am not sure if I should capitalize every word, only have the beginning capitalized like a real sentence, or maybe I should just write the whole thing in lower case to make it seem less urgent. I also think it is funny when people think you are yelling at them why you write in all caps (either handwriting or on the computer)...I am just sloppy at writing in cursive in real life so often choose to use upper case so folks can read it. I digress from the original point of this blog.
So I rode my bike 28 miles today with Jake. It was brutal and sucktastic. The course was really hilly and long and there was a lot of traffic. The route was Jake's bike course for his first Olympic distance triathlon he is doing this weekend so it will give him a good edge on his competition...mentally at least. Seriously it was really far. There was a terrible hill up to the car at the end. If there hadn't been so many people on the golf course I seriously would have walked my bike to the end.
I have my last sprint triathlon this weekend and it should be fun. It is my first swim that is not in a pool and did I mention the bike and run course will be seriously hilly? Yuck. Nothing like getting up at 5 a.m to go kick your own butt for no reason except for a bizarre sense of accomplishment...and getting to go eat at IHOP afterwards because you have finally burned enough calories in your life to eat the chicken fried steak skillet.
I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A REALLY NICE WEEK...not yelling at all.
So I rode my bike 28 miles today with Jake. It was brutal and sucktastic. The course was really hilly and long and there was a lot of traffic. The route was Jake's bike course for his first Olympic distance triathlon he is doing this weekend so it will give him a good edge on his competition...mentally at least. Seriously it was really far. There was a terrible hill up to the car at the end. If there hadn't been so many people on the golf course I seriously would have walked my bike to the end.
I have my last sprint triathlon this weekend and it should be fun. It is my first swim that is not in a pool and did I mention the bike and run course will be seriously hilly? Yuck. Nothing like getting up at 5 a.m to go kick your own butt for no reason except for a bizarre sense of accomplishment...and getting to go eat at IHOP afterwards because you have finally burned enough calories in your life to eat the chicken fried steak skillet.
I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A REALLY NICE WEEK...not yelling at all.
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