TAG - Your It!

Ahhh-ha! I was going to delete my post about the t-shirt design contest, but thanks to Shelly from Running My Life spreading the news, I'm going to exercise a little patience and see what surfaces. Thanks Shelly!

I've been tagged by Running My Life to do a meme. My blogging capabilities are in their "suck phase", but here goes:

1. Two years ago I went to Jackson, WY for 10 days, by myself, slept in my van and hiked every day way way up as high as I could go even when the trail ran out. I saw bear and moose, and had a stand-off with a moose on a hike (a whole other story). Magnanimous is the only word to describe my experience. I hiked between 10-15 miles at a shot and chose some of the lessor populated trails to heighten the challenge. I can give more specific details about the trails, places to eat and lots of pics later as I don't know if there is a 'meme' limit on words? lol The pic at the top of my blog is one I took of the tetons with the famous Cody barn on the right.

2. I love to eat! My biggest weakness right now is ice cream. It is nothing for me to down a carton in less than 24 hours. :} I'm not much on junk food, (wait a minute isn't ice cream junke food???) but have a hard time pushing away "darn" good food like carmelized BBQ ribs, spicy green chile enchiladas and scotcharoos. If I had any ounce of control over my eating habits, I might weight 120 instead of 150. But, life is short, so hence, my next item...

3. I'm obsessed with exercise. I bike, I spin, I run, I swim, and now I do pilates and yoga. I was a high school/college athlete and after my two kiddos were born I carried around 20-30 extra lbs. YUK! With Weight Watchers as my partner, I got back on track and have been fortunate not to escalate the scale again. :) I am currently on a training plan for the Tinman Triathlon June 14 and Pigman Triathlon August 17 and of course plotting what my adventures will be next year. Maybe I'll lead adventure trips to Jackson, WY. (Want to go?)

4. I have two masters in education (C&I and Administration) and I still want to be a cosmotologist. hmmmm School is out in 3 days, I have my third interview tomorrow and I still think about how I can go back to school to cut hair. Crazy me. My dad encouraged me NOT to "cut hair" because I would never make any money. another hmmmmm What to do? So I'm thinking about starting an e-bay business or an exercise/adventure business if this third interview doesn't pan out. Got any ideas? I'd love to hear them.

5. I love being alone. I love alone time, morning, noon and night. I enjoy my friends and family and can be "alone" with them, but they don't always get it. At least my husband doesn't, in the morning anyways. I don't get scared traveling alone, riding my bike down the open highway alone or running in the dark early in the morning or late at night. I am very independent, probably too much so but I know I can survive, no matter what consequences are thrown at me.

Here are the meme rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names, linking to them.
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

Tag! I don't have many blog friends yet, but these blogs inspire me so your it:

• Eric
  
• Riceman
  
• JT
  
• Beth
  
• Rachel
  

Tee-Shirt Design Contest

Check out the details:

• submit an eye-popping cool tee-shirt design (any theme)
  
• you & the public votes
  
• most votes wins - everyone wants to wear your design. this is a good thing.
  
• print tee's - oh yeah!
  
• only 100 tee's will be printed 2b considered limited edition. ur going 2b an original.
  
• boy and girl cut tee's available
  
• $15 each + s/h - and you don't even have to drive to pick it up!

I will post the designs on my blog for all to see and vote on. Deadline midnight May 31, 2008.

All designs welcome. Winning tee designer gets a free tee. Good luck!!!

Spread the news.

Lincoln Marathon Pics

My Fat Boy

Rode my Fat Boy (Harley motorcycle) to work today. This is an early morning pic - don't I look happy? :)

Big Daddy's Birthday

It's my dad's birthday tomorrow - the big 72 - so we had a campfire, cooked hot dogs and roasted very toasty marshmallows for s'mores. yum yum 4 the chocolate part. My dad is leaving tomorrow for Montana, he lives all over the country or wherever the magic finger points. I just realized I don't have a pic of his elaborate home on wheels so I'll have to post one later. Anyways, here is some pics of my family and our good times tonight:


Jake and our black lab Harley

Jake making a s'more

My oldet John - all 's'more sticky'

Mike (my husband), Chuck the birthday boy (my dad), and Chris (my dad's wife)

Our firepit

p.s. 2morrow I'm riding the Fat Boy to work. varooooommmmmmm

I DID IT!

I graduated today from Doane College with a Masters of Education in Leadership. And what does that mean? I can officially and legally be a school administrator or athletic director or curriculum director. Oh yeah! It was a superior feeling of accomplishment and a degree I hope to have the fortunate opportunity of utilizing at some point in my career.

Gotta get to bed - need to get up and ride 25 miles, pack my bag to swim after school and prepare for an interview. Wish me luck! :)

1500 yds r Mowed

Mowed them down, one by one. I was dreading swimming 30 laps today - I get tired of counting. It's like running 12 miles around a track (which I did once). 48 laps = 12 miles, yikes! The success of completion tho is awesome and so worth the counting efforts.

2-a-days feel good. I miss the time with my boys in the a.m., but I love how I feel and how I'm progressing towards the Topeka Tinman Tri in June and then on to the Pigman Tri in August.

Weekend was great! We have a large asparagus patch, so I pickled some asparagus on Saturday. I'm hoping it tastes as good as it looks.

I was also throwing together some salsa ingredients and wondered what that would taste like pickled since I had some juice left over. Mix includes onions, green peppers and jalapenos.

Today is the day I have been anxiously awaiting for. My trisuit is going to be delivered. WOOHOO! I love getting packages and it's all I can do not to have them shipped overnight express (husband would take away my credit card over the extra expense - lol), so I work on my non-existent virtue of patience. So what happens? UPS calls and says it needs to be a signed delivery. Holy cow - who stays at home? not I. I have to work to pay for my addicting running, biking, swimming habits. This has now progressed into a summative assessment of my patience and excitement levels. Wonder what my final grade will be....hmmmm...maybe I'll get lucky and they'll leave the package on my doorstep because they don't want to drive out in BFE to attempt delivery again. Later news will come on my review of the receipt of my package. ohhlala

10K on the 10th Race Report

Woke up early, ready to run Nancy's Virtual Race. Took my O2Gold and than a SLAM. Race time was 6am leaving from the Cooper YMCA which gave me plenty of time to get ready for spin class at 7:30. Loaded the car, ready to roll out and drip drip drip....it started raining. aargh! My mental game was on to run an average 8:30/mile pace. I debated. I could run in the rain, I've done it before, but was it worth risk getting sick, since I've been sick twice already this spring. My next option was to run after spin class (brick practice for Topeka Tinman Triathlon in June) on the treadmill if it was still raining or down the trails if it wasn't. So, I stayed home, all energized from my SLAM, and got a lot of housework done. I was on a roll. :)

Rode a great interval workout in spin class so I was partially exhaused, but transitioned over to the bike after a SPARK and pumped out the 6.2 miles. Found my rhythm warming up at a 9:27 pace for the first 1/2 mile and started ramping it up for the consecutive miles. At the fastest I hit 8:27 but I didn't stay there long as I was literally pooped. It was not the best run, but not a bad run. I was now soaked, really smelly and ready to go home, shower and crawl back into my nice warm bed for a power nap. I ended up with an average 9:10/mile pace. :)

Tri Suit Craziness

I have spent numerous hours researching tri-suits and wetsuits for triathletes. Final consensus: no suit I purchase is going to make a difference between win or lose (for me anyways). When I shop, I want to try it on, I want to feel it, sit in it, check it all out. In Lincoln, the land of few triathletes, I have found it difficult to shop to meet my "what do you recommend" questions and "try on" desire. I had no choice but to relinquish to internet shopping.

Hour after hour I scoured websites analyzing trisuits and wetsuits. YIKES! I was overwhelmed with indecision - wanting to avoid the "what if it doesn't fit?" "what if I don't like it when I get it?" "did I get the best one for me?" I had it nailed down to driving my husband crazy. Which he thinks I'm crazy anyways for all this triathlete stuff.

After my second bowl of ice cream (did I tell you I LOVE ice cream?? I do.) I decided no wetsuit and I ordered two trisuits, one which will be returned. Here is what I ordered:



Orca Race Trisuit










DeSoto Forza Trisuit

Lincoln Marathon

Awesome run! Can't say much more than I am soooo pleased with my performance. My initial goal when I was training was to average an 8:30 pace. I got sick during training - twice. I thought my pace was a goner. Going into the race, I had decided I was going to average a 9:00 mile. Well, I did it in 8:48. I'm ok with that. :)

Here is a breakdown of my run.

Overall
1:56:28
8:48 pace

Mile 1 Pace = 9:25
Mile 2 Pace = 9:14
Mile 3 Pace = 9:11
Mile 4 Pace = 9:03
Mile 5 Pace = 8:58
Mile 6 Pace = 8:40
Mile 7 Pace = 8:32
Mile 8 Pace = 8:36
Mile 9 Pace = 8:54
Mile 10 Pace = 8:32
Mile 11 Pace = 8:43
Mile 12 Pace = 8:35
Mile 13 Pace = 8:22
Mile .1 Pace = 7:35

90 min prior to racetime I ate a slice of bread. 60 min to go I took two O2Gold and 45 min prior I drank an Advocare SPARK. I was ready to be a rockstar. I truly think it made a diff in how I felt going into the race. I was more mentally and physically prepared for this race then any other. Hubby and daddy-o were out and about taking pics so I'll post a few later.

I saw sooo many people I knew supporting the runners. Thanks to all of you - your aweome. It was absolutely fabulous!