Big Fish, Little Fish, and Bottom Feeders

You probably noticed that someone stole an hour from most of us over the weekend.  Yes, you lucky folks in Arizona and Hawaii still have your hour.  Wait.  Maybe you've been stealing them all along. 

THIEVES!

Off to the races...

After losing that hour and not being able to sleep all that well anyway, I somehow got out of bed Sunday morning for the St. Patrick's Day Triathlon.

The weather was nice.  There was no wind in the chilly transition area at 6:30 am when I arrived and arranged my stuff but I was glad when they let us inside the natatorium to hang around for the start of the race. 

Swimmers hit the water by 7:40 am and I listened to a dude playing bagpipes for over an hour before it was my turn to swim.  Can I have his lung capacity?

In the pool, I felt pretty good until the next to last leg.  That's when I encountered octopi.  No, these weren't critters recently escaped from the ocean, but they were men flailing about doing every stroke imaginable to stay afloat and to get ahead of the other guys (of course!).  There were hands and legs and bodies everywhere going nowhere. They completely blocked the swim lane so I had to invent a slither stroke to get around them.  SHEESH!

The exit ladder was a welcome sight.

  

After dripping my way through the transition area to my stuff and attempting to towel off,  I hopped on my bike for the next part of the race.

While on my ride, I saw a local elite runner out for her morning practice.  This woman chases cars for practice.  No, not really, but she does sprint half marathons. She reminds me of the Energizer Bunny and the vortex of energy around her is surely very powerful.  Her name is Fiona (what a pretty name) which I've conveniently changed to "Speedy Fi (fee)".  Maybe it's good her parents did not name her Phoebe.  "Speedy Phoebe" is just too hard to say.

I must learn to siphon her energy.  Too bad she was going the opposite direction or I might have asked her to carry me and my bike up the hill.

Finally, I finished the ride, found my stuff, racked my bike, took off my bike helmet (very important) and started the run.

But wait. What's this?  My feet were numb.  What the frozen tundra was that about?  Yes, it was chilly on the bike after being in the water but I didn't think I was that cold.  Apparently, I was.  That, and the fact that my brain said "send blood to quads, glutes, and hamstrings" over and over again for almost an hour.

The finish line was beautiful.  Hubby arrived just as the announcer called my name as I was crossing the line.  Hubby couldn't have planned that if he'd tried.   

I got me some pancakes, and no, they weren't green.

The lady with the green hair...

I wore my costume.  I had the shirt and skirt on for the bike ride and added the green hair and a hat for the run.  I received many comments, mostly from guys on bikes passing me saying "nice skirt".......

I certainly didn't mind.  A few of the ladies indicated that they liked my hair.    There weren't too many costumes so it must have been up to me to entertain folks!

The results are in....

Surprisingly, on the running part, I did quite well, coming in second in my age group.  For swimming, I need to advance from bottom feeder to at least little fishie drafting off big fishies in order to improve my swim time.  I improved my biking time by over 10 minutes.  I noticed something else, though.  My quads are about 1/3 the size of some of these ladies' quads.  That can be said for my butt, too, and that's a good thing!

Update: Although I'm happy with my run results, I placed very low in the swim and bike events so my overall result makes me somewhere between a bottom feeder and a little fish.  LOL.

I hope to have some photos soon.

Let's Get this Season Started

Thanksgiving: PASS

So what's next?

Did you say Christmas?

Well, yeah, but I'll get to that later.

It's time to get my act together for the winter racing season. That's right. See Dick run. See Jane run. See Dick and Jane.....

Uh, ReformingGeek?

Yes?

Behave.

Dang.

What I'm trying to discuss is running. It's time for me to pick up the mileage and get ready for Cowtown 2010 in February. I'm planning on doing another half marathon. Finishing medal #2 of 5 has my name on it.

Well, not really, but it is part of a 5 piece set. I got the first one last year. These people know how to make money. If you miss a year, you can still order a "commemorative" medal for your collection.

Hum......ReformingGeek's brain is making clicking noises...



Anywhatsit, I told Hubby I was going to the park to run 8 miles. I offered him the opportunity of bringing his bike and riding circles around me screaming "Faster, Faster" but he declined. So what did he do instead?

He watched a movie. If you say anything about how he had time to watch a movie while I ran, I will throw something at you.

ReformingGeek sticks out tongue.

Sometimes, my evil twin makes appearances when I'm running.

We've had some nice weather lately and there were lots of folks at the park, including clueless kiddos on bikes. One of them passed me on his bike, giving me about six inches of space and then proceeded to stop right in front of me. AAAAAARRRRRGGGH!!!! Did this child not understand the laws of physics? I put my arm out to brace myself and it landed on his back. The poor thing probably thought I was shoving him. Evil Twin scolded him trying to quickly explain that one cannot do that and expect to survive.

ReformingGeek scolded me
and threw my bicycle in the creek.

No I didn't. Really. That's not even the same kid. He's too young to be on a bike. Sheesh!

Let's move on to Christmas, and yes, I'm OK with calling it Christmas. My friend and I went to see Santa. I know it's early but we were hoping to avoid the long lines. We sat in his lap and asked for stylish clothing and adult-sized bodies with boobies:


I can't wait to open gifts at Christmas this year...

Photo credits: sad child, theFrazers on flicker.com, Creative Commons license (see sidebar), Santa's lap: Facebook application sponsored by RadioShack, Running Reffie, White Rock 15K July 2009

Tri Baby, Tri!

My very first triathlon is complete. Status: PASS

I'm already planning improvements for next year. Grab some caffeine and let me tell you all about it:

We gathered in the transition area at O'Dark-Thirty before Dawn had even thought about showing her butt crack. This is where were marked for target practice......er....I mean labeled with permanent markers. Yes. I still have the remnants of my race number on both arms and my age on my leg. No, I didn't get any pictures of my arms and legs.

That's my blue bike and the pirate wig is
at the bottom of the pile.

After setting up my bike and organizing my stuff for the race, standing in line to get my timing chip, and a quick pit stop, it was time to start the race.

The first event was swimming which is by far my weakest event. We had to swim 300 meters in an indoor pool. The lanes were 50 meters long and the course was like a snake. That is, you swim down the lane, cross under the rope and swim up the next lane, etc., until you either drown or finish the course.

OK. OK. There were some cutie lifeguards that looked about 10. They probably wouldn't have let me drown.

The "snake" course allows all swimmers to be going the same direction. The announcer said that if you encounter someone going the wrong way, you were welcome to "de-pants" them. Hum.....I'm not sure I would have had the energy to do that.

Because I estimated my swim time to be "forever and a year", I got a high race number. This meant that I was towards the end of the line to start the swim. It was almost an hour before I was in the pool. I was very happy that the water had warmed up because this pool is usually incredibly cold but I did get tired of waiting.

The most challenging part of the swim besides huffing and puffing and not being able to blow anything down, was all the other swimmers in the pool. It seemed likes someone was always trying to pass or I was needing to pass someone. I was doing all I could to make it from one end to the other. The shallowest water was 6'2" so it's not like I could stop and walk. I'll admit I took breaks at the end of the lanes.

Finally, it was done.

Biking: I jogged to the transition area, barefooted and wet, patted my hair a few times and sucked up some extra water from my swim wear. I put on my biking shirt, socks and shoes, sunglasses, helmet, grabbed my bike, and started the cycling segment. I was still dripping!
The bike route was up and down some long hills but I swear there was more up than down. Going up the last hill, I saw a poodle walking a lady and I really wanted to draft off that poodle.

As I was finishing the bike course, I saw several runners at the turnaround point. They were moving incredibly slow and some were walking. I'm thinking to myself, "Hum....why are they moving so slow? I won't have that problem...". Then I finished the biking event.

BAWAHAHAHAHAHA! I had to eat humble pie! By the time I got off my bike, my legs were barely moving and it was surprisingly hard to breathe! I have actually practiced this transition and noticed the noodle legs but my practice ride was not as long or hilly. I was very happy to get off that bike!

Back in the transition area, I took off my helmet and put on my pirate costume, including the wig, and started running. I had already pinned my racing number to my costume. The run: I provided entertainment for the other runners and volunteers. They seem to enjoy the red-headed pirate that looked like she was running through cheesecake. The run was uneventful otherwise.

I finished and really, really wanted to puke. No really. But I didn't. Then I realized that somehow I had missed the pancakes. Holy Pathetic Pancake for a Pirate! What's up with that?

Yea! My medal:

Mr. Pumpkin wears my medal.
It says Monster Triathlon Finisher. No really.

Ms. Pumpkin has been pumping some iron.
Look at those shoulders!

When I returned home, I found that our house had been given a "Halloween Chain Letter". The instructions indicate to post the sign that indicates that you have been given the treats and to secretly provide treats for two other neighbors. Hum.....I think I will accidentally forget to post my sign and hope that other neighbors give me more treats.

Um...ReformingGeek?

Yes?

That sounds like something I would do. Good for you. You're learning.

Photos: Race photos NOT taken by still sleeping ReformingGeek Hubby. Medal photos staged and photographed by ReformingGeek pretending to be a fashion designer.