A split second....

that's all it takes. I wish I was talking about a race this time. Races are sometimes won by split seconds. No, this is far more important than any race I'll ever enter.

I'm talking about life. Actually, death.

Sick sick sick sick....that's how I feel.

My friend's son was killed last night. Just like that. Gone. Forever.

Back in the 90s, his wife was diagnosed with Breast cancer. She fought long and hard. During her fight, they had one son. Their pride and joy. It wasn't for her to conceive or carry this baby during her battle.

For years and years her cancel surfaced and hid. It never really went away of course. In March 2005 she lost. She was 44. Her son was 12.

My heart has ached for Steve and his son ever since. They stuck together. They were best friends. He was the light in Steve's life. They were partners in this new life of theirs.

Last night, it all ended. How can it be?

They had moved from Maine to Florida because of work after Janet died. Last year, they returned home to Maine. Last week, they went on vacation to Florida and had a wonderful time. They were in a limo riding home from Boston last night when an SUV came at them. The woman in the SUV was driving south in the northbound lane of the highway. She broke her ankle. But in the process, she killed two people and ruined my friend's life.

I'm having trouble finding my faith at this moment. I truly can't understand how this can happen. How is Steve going to go on? How? I don't know that I could.

The only shred of goodness I can find in this horrific tragedy is that now Cooper is with his Mommy again. She will take care of him. But who will take care of Steve?

Hug your family. Savor life. Enjoy and appreciate every second you have with your loved ones. I was standing in the airport waiting for a plane when I heard this news. I haven't really been able to focus on anything ever since. I was lucky enough to land safely on the ground and hours later, hug my children. Nothing has ever felt so good and I will never ever take that for granted.

It only takes a second.

Can I just say.....

MASSAGES ROCK!!! Oh I lived in luxury this morning. I woke up late, crawled next door for some coffee, and at 9:45 hopped on this table for an amazing hour of bliss.
She pushed and rubbed and heated and torqued me but it was glorious. I was being pampered!! It was a very wonderful rare treat. My neck is no longer in knots. Ahhhh.......
I have to do this again next year. Maybe sooner? Honey? Please? It's a treat.. I don't take this for granted.
I strolled back to our room in a daze and know what I did next? You guessed it. I went out for a run. I felt awesome. Finally. My legs were in a dead zone last week but now I'm feeling fresh again. Washington D.C. is a beautiful place but I gotta say, not so much this morning. It's pouring first of all. Second of all, there's a rally here right now of truckers. They are protesting high fuel costs. Can't really blame them for that. However, they're driving circles around the Mall blaring their horns. It's a frickin' racket!!!!!! Awful really. I am all for lowering fuel costs of course and I know these guys have it really bad right now. But I must say, I'm not sure this is going to accomplish anything. We'll see....

time to go wander through some museums.
And then, maybe a nap??
Ahh, I am being spoiled this week.

And now I rest

I'm heading off tomorrow on a little trip with my husband. It's not a big fancy vacation. Just a business trip to D.C. We do stay in a nice place and we'll have some nice dinners but what I am looking forward to is SLEEP!!!
I am so in need of sleep.
It's been a hard week of training.
It's been a fantastic week of fun with the boys. I have enjoyed them so much. For some strange reason I feel like I've discovered this new pocket of patience deep inside me. Who knows. The little things stopped bothering me so much. It was refreshing. I am really goign to miss those littel guys. They are my sunshine. Just like I sing to them.
I will take this trip and savor my alone time. My time to sit silently. I won't talk to anyone all day long! (My husband will be in meetings while I wander.)
I look forward to returning next Tuesday with a new burst of energy.
I'm boring tonight. I'll write more next week when I am rested and full of stories.
Happy weekend everyone.

15-15-10-10 Ouch!

I've had some really tough workouts this week and my legs are feeling pretty used up. It's a great feeling. I know that if I can keep them well fed and then give them a little rest soon, I'll be so much stronger next week. At least I think that's how this all works.

Last week I finished up my time trials with my coach with good results. Overall, my speed increased a bit with similar or slightly lower. This is good. Coach likes what he sees so we move forward from here. I moved right into a long run, long bike, some swimming of course and then a brick on Sunday. I love bricks. I always feel a little apprehensive when I start out but in the end, the run always feels so fast and easy and my confidence soars.

Monday started with 15x100 in the pool. I wanted to play with some speed. I have this sprint tri next week and I have to remember how to go fast in the water rather than just long long strong swims. They felt pretty good. I do wish I had some teammates to swim with so they could help push me along but I was able to get the pace going a bit. I held some 1:15s for a while and was pleased with this.

After getting home, giving the kids breakfast and doing some other jobs around the house, it was time for a bike. The kids are on vacation this week so our schedule is a little more relaxed. I set up the trainer (no time to get outside alone today with the 3 boys in tow) and let them watch Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Woah! Tough bike set.
15x3 minutes POE. That's parcelled out effort. Each 3" interval is harder than the next. Ideally you go faster too. Sometimes it turns out to be more effort and less speed. Coach wouldn't like that but hey, sometimes you're just tired! :)
My legs were Burning!!!!! Killer quad set. I just pushed and pushed. I was told to take 2-5" recovery between. Well, to save time and end this workout when the kids ended their movie, I had to stay at about 2 minutes. Plus, I figured this would make me tougher. It was Tough that's for sure. I enjoyed a yummy protein powder/yogurt/milk/frozen fruit smoothie after that one!

Tuesday I headed back to the pool. I love when I can swim back to back days. My stroke comes together and I just feel more powerful. Back in the old days when I was a young college swimmer, I swam 2x/day 6 days/week. I long for that feeling in the water again.
Ok, this time it was 10x200. POE again. I still wanted to work on speed but with a bit more distance. This felt good too. I brought the time down to 2:30. I was ok with this. I want more. But hey, I'm waaay ahead of last year at this point! April 2007 I wasn't even in the water yet! My shoulder was still so so weak. I am lucky to be doing this. I still have to remember that.

Last night was a hard run. My legs were really dead. I could feel it while walking up stairs, following my kids for 2 miles while they road bikes (ouch) , and just bending down. You know that dead leg feeling....I have it. I do need a rest. But, not yet.
I started out really slow and a bit worried about my ability to do this workout right. I took about 25" to warm up and then I started. 3x10min POE. Miraculously, my legs had loosened up and I felt good! I was able to work through the fatigue and push out some really good 10" efforts. I picture my competition about 15 steps ahead of me and I go for it. I imagine coming towards the finish line and "sneaking" up on them. It really drives me to work hard. I hope I can chase some fast girls down next week. Such fun.... :-)

And this morning I started my day at 4:55 with a wonderful 12 mile run. I am not sure how I did it. I started out so easy but by mid-run I was feeling just fine. I cruised along at a decent pace and loved every minute of it. My weekly run mileage is pretty low lately so I am so thrilled that I can easily run 12 miles every now and then. It really says something for all this cross-training.
My husband is aghast. He is just looks at me and says, "Are you ok?" Don't' you need a day off? Heck no!!!! This is what it's all about!! Keep on going. Stay consistent. Work through the fatigue. I will have a few more tough days and then I'm off on a 4 day trip with my husband to D.C. It's business but mostly pleasure for me. I will be alone for most of the time. Solitude. Peace. Quiet. Sleep. I can't wait. And, I'm already excited to get back home to my 3 little monkeys.

_____________
On another note...I am so excited! I got a new training long and it is actually a Multisport book! There's a spot for two workouts/day, all 3 sports, nutrition, and lots more. Until now, I have just written in my running logs. Maybe I'm way behind everyone on this but I am so excited. I like to write my workouts down in a book and not on the computer so this is awesome for me. Yeah!

Confidence-doubt-confidence-doubt-no Confidence!!!

That is how I feel lately. Back and forth between a strong internal toughness and total lack of faith.
My first race is approaching fast. No, it's far from my A race. It's just a race. Just a beginning of the season sprint.
But, you see, I put massive amounts of pressure upon myself. I always have. Once I have shown success in something I feel there is no going back. I don't want to let myself down. I want to live up to other's expectations. You know what though, they probably really don't care.
I hammer through some workouts and feel so fast and strong. It is during those times that I feel ready to rock. I think about my competition and convince myself that I have just as much fight as they do.
Other days I hammer through workouts and think just the opposite. Strangely, I dont' have be having a bad training day to have my moments of doubt. Sometimes this big fog comes over me and I start to think, "who are you kidding?! You can't begin to compete with them." I completely doubt myself.
It really doesn't matter. It's just a race. And I do all this for fun. But for me, a big part of the fun is the competition. I hope I can put up a good fight next week.
Interestingly, I think a big part of the race will be determined in the water. Two of the top women are FAST!!! It's a short race so there won't be much room to play with. Besides that, they're good bikers and runners too. See, the doubt is back. The confidence is gone.
I have to get back in the water and find some more of my "fight."

Fitness Assessment week

I'm in the middle of time trial week. Every so often my coach wants to re-assess my fitness. I do this with 3 basic time trials. The problem? I'm alone. I feel pretty nervous as I head out to see just how fast I can go at this point in my training......alone. I expect a lot of myself you see. When I race, I have all kinds of forces working in my favor. I get the flow of adrenalin, the nerves, my intensely competitive drive, my ego I suppose and the sheer joy of racing. All of those things work together to help me push myself to the limit and find my inner speed.
Instead, this week I have had to try to find that speed all by my lonesome in a lane, on the dimly lit morning roads and in an hour from now, out on rte 26.
That said, it's going well.
I did a 3 mile run yesterday morning. I actually warmed up with a short bike ride and then another few miles of running. I was able to run 14 seconds faster than the 3 mi TT last month and my HR was the same. I ran it in 19:38 with an ave HR of 178.
My swim this a.m. was about 16 seconds faster than last time. I did the 1000 yards in 13:02. That gave me great satisfaction. I have been feeling stagnant in the water lately and wondering why. I know my weekly yardage is less than ideal but I still feel like I should see some gains. Today I did and it was satisfying.
Let's see what I can do on the bike. 12 mi TT. My other assessments have been Much different because they were on the trainer b/c of weather issues here in Maine. I will have hills, wind and all those other factors we deal with outside. I will try to be objective about that and not beat myself up if I'm not happy with my time.
I am really getting revved up about starting the season on 5/3. I really can't believe how soon that will be here. Between now and then I have school vacation with the kids and a trip to Washington,D.C. with my husband. I hope I can stay rested and fresh while there (of course, I'll be swimming and running too) and get ready to rock when I get home.

Fun on bikes and other cool toys

These are my boys. They've been riding their bikes in circles All Day Long.....they are so excited the snow is off the driveway. Little Nick just turned 4 and got his "cool orange racing bike" for his birthday. Tommy just discovered the fun of pogo sticking. It suits him very well. He gets to bounce and bounce and bounce. I wonder why we never called him Tommy the Tigger. Cameron is in the back. Note his Race #! He did his first Kid's Triathlon last July and still refuses to take the race tag off his bike.

One of the reasons I do this....

I had so much fun training yesterday. I started my Saturday morning bright and early with a swim. I left much earlier than necessary because I'm still used to winter travel times. The drive to the pool was a much nicer 30 minutes (instead of 45) so I was there early. I was so excited when the guard let us in the pool 20 minutes EARLY!!! Bonus. Finding time to swim is a challenge for me so this was great. I got to swim for about 75 min. rather than the measly 30.
The workout:
1000 warm up as 700 easy swim 3x100 a bit faster to get the body ready to work
300-400-300 w/ 15 sec. rest. I would repeat this set later and my goal was drop the times for each swim.
5x100 IM This felt great. I can finally rip out some butterfly without major pain in my shoulder. It's fun to mix the strokes up to work the whole body. I held these on 1:25
300-400-300 again--- I dropped my 300 time from 4:05 to 3:55 and the 400 from 5:28 to 5:18--cool
10x100 first 5 on 1:30 last 5 on 1:25 I was able to descend these down to 1:12 Sometimes I realize that I'm not kicking too hard. I think I have it in my head that I have to save my legs for the rest of the race but I'm not sure this is the way to go.
Fun Swim. I was excited to get in over 4600 yards.
I went home and started running around the house like a crazy person. My husband and kids are kind of used to this but they seemed a bit stunned that I started the second I walked in the door from my swim.
You see, we were having a party at 2:30. My oldest son, Cameron, received his Confirmation and First Communion last night. We were having my family and my in-laws over in the afternoon first. I had to clean the house and get all of us ready for this big event.
Finally I was done with that and was able to get out for my run.
It was sunny and about 50 degrees. Another bonus since the forecast was for a cold rainy day. It rained all night instead and the sun came out for the day.
I ran a 6 mile route that I love to do. Christian Ridge Road. It's beautiful and it's pretty hilly. I run it all the time so therefore, I Always compare my times and know how good I'm feeling that day based on that run. My husband and I also like to check our times against each other. The boys get such a kick out of Mommy being faster sometimes. So do I. :)
So, my run. I just felt so smooth. It was a nice feeling to have fresh legs and be able to hit cruise control and have some speed just come out. I ran the route several minutes faster than I have all year and only 1 minute slower than my "PR" on that run. It's nice to have those good training moments from time to time to keep the confidence high.

Today I have a long bike ride. I was really hoping to get outside but it's freezing. It's 41 degrees. I am a wimp about that. I'm not a wimp about much but I am about riding my bike in the cold.
Looks like yet another trainer day.

Countdown is on....3 weeks 'til Kick-off to Racing season!

Ahhhhh, Much better!!

I had to get back on the saddle. I couldn't hook my bike back up to the trainer for another week while I fretted about my painful ride the other day. I snuck out as soon as my husband got home from work. I never train in the evening (yet) so it threw my boys for a loop. I swear my oldest was hugging me as if I was going away on a trip. It was a bit strange really. Sweet, but strange. I promised I'd be right back and we'd all sit down to dinner and have a normal night.

The first improvement was my attire. I wasn't dressed for a day in the arctic this time. :) I shed the hat, neck warmer, wool socks and gloves. I gotta tell something else funny about the other day. I had my running gloves on. They have this cool magnet on the wrists so I won't lose them in the drawer. Well, when your wrists are centimeters apart when in aero position....whack. They were stuck together! This didn't really hurt anything but it gave me the feeling that I was trapped. Locked down in aero forever! I'm cracking up now at all the gear I wore that day. Today was so beautiful. Sunny and in the 60s. That's a big step for us here. I was so much more comfy when I started for that reason alone.

Second improvement...the saddle position. My husband raised the front of it up every so slightly this morning. It made a huge difference. I no longer felt like I was sliding forward into the bars.

Third and final adjustment....my attitude. I just realized that this bike means business. I am no longer out for a scenic ride in the foothills of Western Maine. I can no longer check out the neighbor's yards, the ducks in the ponds I ride by or you know, what's up ahead on the road!!! Gulp.

I can ride along and see the road ahead of me. I decided it's a little like sighting while swimming in the open water. You keep your head in the high but normal position and every so often you raise your eyes and neck oh so slightly to see the big picture and what's up ahead.

I felt much more stable. I felt stronger. I started this little ride on some false flats with a serious headwind. It wasn't easy but I felt fairly strong and a lot better than on my old bike. But when I turned around, LOOK OUT HERE I COME!!! I was absolutely Flying! I had a slight downhill, a tailwind and a hot new ride. It was good for the ego even if it wasn't all "my" speed. I didn't care. It was damn fun.

Now I have had a dose of the fresh air and I realize once again, why I dread the trainer. I was used to that machine in the playroom, but now I'm ready to toss it aside for a while. I'm afraid I'll have to wait. A big cold rainstorm is headed our way and while I gained some stability, comfort and confidence on ride #2 today, I'm not ready for that yet.

Tri season officially kicks off in just over 3 weeks. My first race of the year. It's the PolarBear sprint. I'm so so fired up. I checked the entrant list yesterday. It's going to be tough. There are a few unexpected fast girls entered this year. I just hope I can keep them in my sights for the swim and hold on in the bike this year. If I'm with them at the run I'll feel great. We shall see. I can't wait to get this party started!!

Do I HAVE to look up??

Today was the day. It was going to be great. The sun was shining, the roads were dry albeit full of canyons and covered with sand, and the temperature was a whopping 53 degrees! My husband said he could run home for 30 minutes so I could take my hard core new TT bike out for it's first spin on the *gasp* road!
I admit to feeling quite nervous. I also didn't want to freeze. It always feels colder the bike, as you know, and I was ill-prepared way too many times last year. So today I had winter socks and bike shoe covers, long cozy bike pants, 2 thick under armour shirts, a jacket over that, a neck warmer, a think under armour hat under the helmet and gloves!!! A little overkill. I paid for this preparation on the way back up the hill.
I have been spending hours and hours pedalling away on the bike this winter. I have done long rides, short rides, easy rides and very hard rides. I have worked very hard I must say.
But this was like a new sport!! I headed down the hill and immediately noticed how wobbly I was with this new "beauty bike." (that's a favorite family quote from my nephew. He's 12 now but when he was 4 he got a new bike and someone told him, "it's a real beauty." He called it his beauty bike. Very cute.) So, my beauty bike was tipsy. I had my hands on the brakes out of the aero position but to shift, I had to get down of course. I felt like I was flying across the road with no control. Help. I definitely can't crash again. No way.
I finally turned onto a road that wasn't one long down hill and was excited to really get the feel of the bike. I had to swallow hard and pray when several 18-wheelers whizzed by me with no care in the world. This road is super busy but the only one without Serious potholes.
Here in lies the problem I had today. My NECK!!!! OUCH!! My neck and shoulders were so so sore! My bike fit is so aggressive that it kills my neck to look up at the road! Not good. I have been practicing this on the trainer of course, but it's not the same. I guess I didn't realize just how far ahead I would feel I needed to see while outside. I'm not sure what to do. My bike specialist recently lowered the bars a hair because I was so comfortable he thought I could do it. It's been fine inside but today was not good. I am not sure if I'll adjust to it or if I should just go back to the old fit.
In addition to that, the wind was fierce and the hills were unforgiving. I was not happy with the way it felt. I am sure after more rides in the open air it'll feel better. But today I was fed a piece of humble pie.

Cool day for Mom

I had such a fun 20 minutes this afternoon. That's all it took to make my day. You see, I took 2 of my kids out for run. One at a time. They loved it and so did I.

We planned it ahead of time. Mommy would finish her training and then Cameron (he's 8) and Tommy (he's 6) would each get a turn "going for a run with Mommy."

I rode for 90 minutes. It was a tough one. It was 10 min spin, 10 min as 10 sec. sprint 50 seconds Aerobic pace, and then a 10 minute ride at TS (test speed) with a lower cadence. I repeated this 3 times. From there I headed out for a pretty short transition run. I did 3 miles. It felt Awesome!! My legs just felt loose and fresh and ready to rock. My first mile was at decent pace but mile 2 was smokin'. ( for me) I came home after 3 miles (coach's orders) but wished I could do more.

Tommy was waiting in the driveway. He was psyched. He is such a happy enthusiastic boy. I just love his spirit and hope we can encourage him to always hold on to that. He's one of those people who was born smiling. I had to really instruct him not to Sprint from the get-go. He just smiled. I had to really let him understand that I was serious. We live on a hill. The plan was to run up the hill (1/2 mile to the top) and then around the block. That's one more mile. Ooops. I got ahead of myself on that one. About 2 minutes up the hill and Tommy was dragging. We made it to the top, still all smiles, and decided to turn around and do more next time. He had a blast.

Cameron was next. He was a little more controlled when we started but it didnt' take him much longer to tire. He was determined to go longer than his little brother and he did. He went all the way to his Grandparent's house and then we turned around. They both loved running down the hill. Cam was super impressed when I told him that I ran up that hill 10 times as fast as I could the other day.

I hope the kids all learn to love fitness like I do. I don't care if they run or swim or bike or golf. As long as they love to move and have fun doing it. Even though our runs were super short, they were fun little adventures for me to do alone with each boy. (Nick's not far behind.) I hope we can do that kind of thing more in the future.

Balance

When I decided to start racing triathlons instead of an occasional road race, I was warned by some to make sure I balanced everything. Of course. That seemed obvious. I gave it a lot of thought however. My brother and another good friend must have said that to me 10 times each the first year. I wondered if they thought I was lopsided.

I came to this conclusion. This new endeavor of mine actually created my balance. When my oldest son was 2, I quit my job. I had been working hard as a Speech Pathologist for about 6 years since obtaining my Master's degree. I enjoyed my work. It was rewarding at times. However, I longed to be with my child every day and I lost focus at work. And then, my 2nd son was expected. It was time for me to stay home and I was lucky enough to be able to do that. I Love being a stay-home Mom. I really do. I have an Aunt that asks me EVERY SINGLE time she see's me if I'm still happy. "Aren't you bored?" she'll say. Bored? No, I'm busy. My 3rd son was born in 2004. Yes, I'm still happy to be home with the kids. I truly feel blessed that this is a choice that I can make.

That said, there was something missing. Something for me. I am happy to devote my entire day to the boys. However, now that they are all walking and talking and doing more and more without me, I realized I needed a little piece of time that was devoted to me. To nuturing my own soul. I had to make myself happy and complete in order to give myself back to them. This is a very hard thing for Mothers to do I believe. I have slowly learned to accept that my time away from them is not time I'm wasting. I am not giving up my time with my boys. I am taking care of my self (not just physically I must add) so that I can walk in the door ready to share my heart with them. I think this sport is what gave me Balance in my life. It gave me that small piece that was missing.

It is not easy to make these long training weeks work. Even as a Stay home Mom. I have to wake up in the 4a.m. hour and fight the fatigue. I have to put the trainer in the living room and squeeze in a fast 60 min ride while my son watches the 2 shows he's allowed each day. I run around town in my workout gear with sweat all over me. I smell like chlorine for half the day. I interrupt treadmill sessions 5-6 times to: get dry mittens, stop bickering kids from whacking each other, help the 4 year old take snowpants off to go pee and then alas, get new undies. All this in a recent 30 minute workout. We all do this. It's not easy.

As I head into the spring and hopefully nicer weather, my time out of the house training will increase. I will one day be able to take my new bike outside and therefore I'll be gone for a whole 3-4 hours some days instead of in the playroom watching them run around. I have to find a way to justify this some days. I have full support from my husband. I hope I can continue to make my schedule so that I keep that from him.

I hope that it is ok. I hope that I am teaching my children valuable lessons. I hope that watching their Mother work hard to achieve goals will teach them to do the same in their lives. I hope. I really really hope I am doing this the right way. It means a lot to me. Racing triathlon that is. But, my children and my husband mean more. I will continue to work to balance this new lifestyle.

I think about this almost every day. Will the answer ever be there?

Stretch!

I need to stretch. I am really really bad about stretching. I do a quick leg lift forward leg lift back before I hop on the bike or head out for a run. I stretch for a good 20 seconds before I jump in the water. Why am I so bad about this? I just don't' want to take extra time I guess. There's really no good reason. My body is tight though. I am feeling pretty strong but also pretty restricted. It's hard to explain. I've had a few kinks and pulls here and there and I know stretching would do wonders. This is one of my goals for next week. It'll be a recovery week so I'll have some extra minutes to devote to stretching and hopefully form a habit.

I've enjoyed some good hard workouts this week. I have had to dig deep inside and fight the burning fatigue in my legs. Two days ago I battled the 10 x 2 minutes uphill again. I did alright. I ran a little further than the day I did it after a long bike but by #8 I was really suffering. Yesterday I had a good swim and then a tough bike. The main set on the bike was 10x 3" of POE-that is parcelled out effort. My coach has me do this a lot. I have to make each 3 minute interval harder/faster than the one before. It's a trick not to start too hard or fast! This is a trick for me in nearly every race I've ever been in so it's a great drill for me. I was able to really push through this set and do it the way it was meant to be done. My HR rose quite high and I fought every single urge to slow down. I felt great about finishing that workout. I didn't leave anything behind on that one. Today, I did a 10 mile run. It is a beautiful sunny and rather warm day here in Maine. I was super lucky because my father in-law watched my son so I could run mid-day. What a treat! My route for 10 miles is beautiful because it overlooks the mountains but it is super hilly. I had to dig deep for this one too. I also had to work hard to keep my HR in check on those hills. The next few days are hard too. I have a long ride, a big swim of 6x500, a long brick and another interval bike ride. Yikes. I look forward to Monday and the beginning of a recovery week. I need to catch up on a little sleep I think.

Last night I went down to Portland (an hour drive for me) to try yet another bike saddle and to hang out for our Team's social night. It was a nice little Mommy's night out. There's one man that has been helping me through my bike purchase and now with this issue. Can I just say that I do not find discussing bike saddle discomfort terribly easy. Especially with men. I'm just not that open about that sort of thing. But, I overcame that and had my little conversation about "why" the last one wasn't going to work. I was finally all set up with the new one and now it was time to ride for a few minutes and get the fit readjusted. At first, I was riding along with just my friend helping me. Then, a hot shot coach/triathlete in these parts mozied over to watch and talk. Before I knew it, seven, yes seven, men were standing there discussing my fit. Uh, hello! I felt so uncomfortable!! I was already feeling gross in my bike shorts with winter white legs in front of this big giant mirror but with all those guys standing there I just felt totally awkward. I could hardly stand it. Thankfully, there wasn't any more detailed discussion about the saddle. I was so happy when that moment passed.

Something exciting happened at our home today! Some snow melted under out Forsythia bush and there is a batch of daffodils starting to pop out of the ground!!! We are all ecstatic. My boys are now shovelling snow off the lawn onto the driveway to hasten the melting process and hopefully allow more flowers to bloom.