Long run; lost KEY

A heartfelt "thank you" to everyone for sending kind words and thoughts our way. It was the first time Ally had lost a friend (Abbey) in the way that "they would never come back". At seven, I am sure I didn't have the first clue about death. Luckily, Ally has a solid faith and comfort in knowing Abbey is with Jesus, and what on Earth could be as amazing as that?

Long run
I got in my 20.5 miler on Wednesday (sucked, but that is just the way things go sometimes!), but felt good on my Sunday 8-miler with IronNick!

Grrrr
Today I experienced a first ---- first time losing my car key on a run. Arghhh! And of course we are having a blizzard, so even though Bob and I took out our mountain bikes and retraced my steps, the key was buried under snow. So $165 later, and 2 1/2 hours at the dealership, I have new keys to my car. Here's the funny part - I sat in my car for 90 minutes waiting for the tow truck FREEZING - remember we are having a blizzard -- only to find out later that the little black buttom on my keychain is a CAR-STARTER! I couldn't drive it without a key, but I could have had the heater on for the 90 minutes I waited! Grrr.... I've had this car starter on my keychain for two Minnesota winters.

Bring it. I deserve it. Who reads those inch thick manuals in the glove box, anyway??????

Ally and the Flu
So everybody knows that Bobby gets migraines, right? Which means he has great vomiting skills. Well, Ally hasn't thrown up in at least three years. So she wakes up on Saturday, throwing up in my BED! So I get her changed, cleaned up, etc. and put her on the couch in the great room. I soon hear the familar sound of VOMIT, and rush to the powder room, where she is holding the bucket in her hand, standing a foot in front of the toilet, hurling violently onto the floor. It is splattering on all the walls. Poor child - no well-honed puking skills. I cleaned up puke and diarrhea all day. (She also hasn't been sick often enough to discern between a fart and a shart).

But I sure love her.

Rest in peace, sweet Abbey

Ally's little friend from her swim team, Abbey Taylor, was laid to rest this morning. She had much of her intestine sucked out by a pool drain last summer, and although she received a transplanted pancreas, liver and several feet of intestine, she suffered complications and died on March 20th. She was six years old.

Abbey will be greatly missed by Ally, as well as all the other girls in their lane.

Bless you, sweet girl.

Evotri

Two of my favorite people are also Triathlon Bloggers. They both are in the running for Team Evotri. Please check out their blogs, but also, please vote for them both to be on the team They are both extremely worthy!

MAKE IT 2 OUTTA 3 In a coordinated effort with other Tri-Bloggers I am supporting both Commodore and TriBoomer in their combined effort to make the top three vote getters of this month's EvoTri sponsorship. Both of them are equally capable of representing their fellow age groupers and I want them to make it to the final phone call on Saturday where they will each fight for the one position on the team available right now. If you are a reader of this website and have not voted for either one of these men, now vote for both of them and push them to the final round by following these instructions. Send two emails, one for each candidate, to Vote@Evotri.com In one email write in the Subject field: http://www.commonmansyndrome.com In the second email write in the Subject field: http://triboomer.blogspot.com The top three vote gathering candidates will advance to a round of interviews by members of Team EvoTri. Voting ends at 11:59 PM on Friday, March 28, 2008

Thanks,
Jenny

Spring Break!!; small rant; Laura gets engaged

We are traveling around the old ancestors' stomping grounds and having fun in spite of the rain. We toured the quaint little town of Fairmont, WV, the SUPER cool town of Cumberland MD (Gateway to the West!), and have now checked into our hotel in Martinsburg, WV after driving 15 miles of the Historic National Road. It was really neat to just be there knowing so many of our ancestors traveled that very road during the westward movement. It is so beautiful out here I can totally see why the Hatfields and the McCoys fought to the death over this land.

Tomorrow we visit Bunker Hill, and the old cabin of Col. Morgan Morgan, who is documented to be the first white settler west of the Blue Ridge Mountains, back in 1710. I can only imagine what it was like in his little cabin on the west side of the ridge, and having nothing but wilderness between him and the Pacific Ocean. His 2nd son Zach founded Morgantown, WV, and other sons and grandsons for generations had really interesting and historic lives. 

Some stories are of bravery and principle, some are of violence and unimaginable hatred. There are those who fought in the Revolutionary war for our liberty from the British, and there were brothers who fought against each other in the Civil War;  and then there was John Hunt Morgan, who burned homes of rival settlers while the occupant familes were asleep. I cannot imagine being a mom, living such a hard-scrabble frontier life as it is, to awaken to my cabin's roof being on fire, and my door deadbolted, unable to save my children, let alone myself or my husband. *shudder*

On a more positive note, Nathan Morgan many generations later, traveled out west to seek his fortune during the Gold Rush, only to arrive and then learn (via Pony Express) that his sister's husband had died. So he made (and survived)  a return trip in a covered wagon, to pick her and her children up to take them back to Oregon with him. Once he arrived "back home", it turned out it was "her and 60 others, too" waiting to be led in a caravan of wagons, horseback - and even on foot - to Oregon and California.  So many generations later, I and thousands more of Morgan Morgan's kin are living our own American dreams, thanks in large part to the bravery and commitment of his descendants, and my ancestors.

After I load some pictures, I'll post them. 

New Topic - is anybody besides me fed up with the "mortgage crisis"? How did we even get here? I saw a post on CNN's message board that reiterates pretty much how I feel:

Posted By: TakeCharge @ 03/13/2008 11:49:17 AM

Comment: I am so tired of the finger pointing. Consumers need to wake up and take charge of their own finances. It doesn't take a math wizard to look at your paycheck and look at your motgage payment and figure out if you can afford it. It wasn't so long ago that people used credit sparingly (there was a stigma toward borrowing money) and a borrower actually knew how and when they would repay the money. Now, Americans are charging their value meals to Visa with little thought about actually paying for it. High schools should have mandatory classes covering household finances, budgeting, balancing the checkbook and avoiding the use of credit. Our sense of entitlement (which also leads to frivilous lawsuits) and the "everybody's a winner" mentality is going to kill us as a nation. If we as a people need big brother to tell us whether we can pay for something we want to buy, we are a bunch of sheep and vulnerable to being taken over by an enemy. Americans need to wake up and take responsibility for their own actions, be accountable and have some principles. The time to get back on the path that made this nation great is NOW. Pointing the finger at someone else for your troubles is not one of the qualities that made this the most powerful nations in the world. Our presidents are not what made this one of the most powerful nations in the world. It was the ingenuity, work ethic and values of the people.

Next New Topic

Laura and Greg's engagement was a blast and I am so thrilled I was able to be a part of it.

After our 16 mile long run, and church, Laura and Bobby and I went to lunch. Laura had a 1:00 pm hair appointment so the timing was perfect... 50 minutes to kill. We ordered and ate, and just as Laura was finishing up, Bobby went to the bathroom and came back with a pink envelope and said, " This is weird. There was a note for you in the bathroom." 

After reading it, and learning that she then needed to drive to Lake Anne in Chanhassan, (the place where they first met volunteering at the Miracle Kids Triathlon), she said, " I hope I remember how to get there!" And then Bobby reaches into his pocket and said, "well, I happen to have some directions to get there". 

It was perfect! She was off to go meet IronGreg. When she got to Lake Anne, IronGreg wasn't there, but IronTim and IronKaren were with another note, a gift, and directions to the restaurant where she and Greg eat once a week. 

IronGreg wasn't there. But IronNick and Iron Dia were! And they had a little gift and another note for her instructing her to look for IronGreg at the park.

But IronGreg wasn't there either! It was Steve and Jeremy from Bible study walking Zurich. But they had another note and gift and sent her to the restaurant where she and IronGreg had their first official date.

Alas, IronGreg wasn't there, either, but Ally, I and her MOM were! Betty flew in from Fargo to be a part of the surprise. We had another note, a gift, and sent her to find Greg at Plymouth Covenant Church.

It was Pastor Dan who met her there though. He had another note, a gift, and he took some time to pray with her. At long last, he led her to the sanctuary, where  FINALLY, IronGreg waited for her. She later told us that she burst into tears at the sight of him because she'd been driving all over town hoping he'd be at the next place! 

I don't know too many details, but I did hear that he got on one knee and proposed, and she said yes. 

Sweet. She is a prize. He is a prize. I am so happy for them both!! I love you Laura and Greg!!!!!

Happy Birthday Bob and Nick!

Yesterday Bob and Nick both had their birthdays, so our tri group had a little pot-luck at our house. I love you guys!!

Happy Birthday!

IronTim and IronGirlNyhus.

Me with my hubba Bob, and TriStud's wife Helen.

TruStud and Santi talking in air quotes. (Like we "ever" do that in real life.)

I know I say it a lot, but we really do have a fun group of training buddies. We are all chomping at the bit to get outside and ride. All you warm weather types are so lucky!

Fillin' my bucket

Saturday we had a great team spin at the shop (Gear West). It was about an hour long, but what made it fun was that we interrupted Troy Jacobson a few times to do squat-jumps - you know squat down like a frog, touching the ground, then leap up and reach for the sky... sets of 15 or 10, followed by 5 pushups. We already have a rule that, if you don't like the background music on the iPod, you can change it, but if you do, then you have to drop and do 5 pushups for each song you skip over. So the hour went by really fast because we were getting out of our saddles and doing stuff we don't do a lot (not since 6th gym class, anyway).


Yesterday I ran 14.2 miles outside (temps were in the 20's!!! woo-hoo!!) and I took a steady 2:24 to complete it. I felt comfortable the whole way, no soreness the next day, taking the time to keep hydrated at the water stops - my bucket is getting filled back up, no doubt... and thank goodness. Bensen and Pischka ran, too - I love that dog!!! She is so good that she doesn't even have to be on a leash -- she just loves being with us. Then Laura and I went to church afterward, so it was a great day.



I am shopping today for trail shoes - my friend Kami, an experienced ultra marathoner, told me to get two pair - two different brands. I should alternate wearing both during training, and I'll want to change them halfway through the 50 mile race. She says that after 75% of the run, your feet will start to break down, and two different kinds of shoes will have slightly different pressure points on your feet, which will feel great. That makes perfect sense to me, and I agree that my feet do feel great up to a certain point even in a marathon, and then they do start breaking down, and I'll end up getting a blister or losing a toenail. So I will take that advice and change shoes at the 25 mile mark.



Lastly, Saturday night Bob and I and two other couples took all our kids to the Target Center to see the Matthew West, Jeremy Camp, and TobyMac concert. It was long (three bands may be one band too many!), but they loved it. Bobby stayed totally plugged in through the last song. He loves seeing these amazingly talented, "cool" rock star types, up on stage rocking out their music and being so totally filled with God's love... so much so that they want to sing about it, not be ashamed about it. TobyMac is a hip-hop rapper and even has a team of dancers on stage with him, so they really connected with all the high school and college kids in the audience. (But the lyrics are not about bitches, ho's, killing people or gang-love; it's about loving Jesus and being a good person and knowing you are completely loved even when life is hard). Throughout the night, though, these rock stars share their faith, talk about the charities that mean a lot to them, and what role God has played in their lives and it's really beautiful. It is neat to be in a room filled with thousands of other young people who are not afraid to have everyone else know that they love Jesus. The kids got to meet Matthew West afterward, and got an autograph.

The next day Bobby was up practicing his guitar. He'd love to be in a Christian band, and if that inspires him, that's great with me!

Meeting Matthew West:

... and the winner is...

Di! with a "strong" finish by Stronger, only a half hour later!!!
Comm was a good guess, but who besides TriDummy posts dead animals hanging in his garage????
As with all pillows, TriDummy custom ordered his.... I think it's going to be great in his man room.

Guess who gets this one...

Here's a deal - the first person who guesses whom this pillow is for, gets a free one! Meaning I will make it for you without requiring you make a donation to a charity first. Hint: this one goes to a certain blogger who made a recent donation to TriBoomer's site.

The Hole-y bucket

I had a really nice 13 mile run this morning - felt great from mile 1 to mile 13. Finally!

I was sick in the fall, and took too much time off, and when I got back in the swing of training, I was only getting in (maybe) 1 swim, 1 bike, 1 run, and I had given up my personal trainer. (I used to do 2x swim, 2x bike, 2x run, 2x weight training every week).

So when I did get out and run, I was weak, out of breath, and barely spoke to the people I was running with. I thought it was because I'd gained about 10 pounds. But now I think I can blame it on the Hole-y Bucket.

Training is like pouring water into a bucket that has a small hole in it. Once your bucket is filled, you can keep it filled simply by topping it off regularly. But when you take too much time off, the bucket starts to empty and you have to put in a lot of effort to fill it up again. I finally feel like my bucket is [almost] full again.

I get it now - this is how I have to spend the rest of my life. It's not like reaching any other goal, where, once you reach it, you've reached it, like ringing the bell at a rock-climbing wall, or completing an Ironman. I have achieved those things. No one can ever take that away: it won't slip away through a small hole anywhere. But the health and fitness - the training - can (and does) slip away.

I have to stay on top of my bucket's contents for the rest of my life. Get used to it. My training regimen has to be here to stay. Every week, every month, every year. Like brushing my teeth, conditioning my hair - it's gotta be just something I do.

Thank God I think it's fun.

I am not alone!!

If you have access to Men's Journal (I don't subscribe, silly, Bob does!)... check out the article on pp. 55-60 of the March 2008 edition, and you will learn all about my "heart condition". 

It sounds almost exactly like me - all the way down to the "spot" on the author's heart - only he describes his as the size of a nickel, where mine is the size of a quarter.

The other key difference is that the author only gets PVC's, where I get those, plus VT's, A-Fibs, SVT's, and Brady's --- all day, all night. While it was a relief to know it's not all that unusual, the article ends like this:

Until your heart is in the bucket, that little spot will remain a mystery."

Which isn't really the "this will go away on its own very soon" answer I was hoping for.

Want to meet 5X Ironman champ Heather Gollnick?

... and train with her in Florida?

My friend John Shelp is a pro triathlete and top-notch triathlon coach. He and Heather are hosting a training camp March 6 - 9th in Sarasota Florida.

You can contact John at info@scsmultisport.com, if you have questions, or you can check out his blog and send him a comment. http://www.shelper.blogspot.com/ . He doesn't have a link there, but just comment him and he'll get back to you.

Valentine's 5K

This has been a great weekend. I talked with Greyhound yesterday and whatever problem he was having with his scrotum is all cleared up. I still am laughing that he had a drawing of his balls on his blog. bwahahahaha!! I'm still laughing. I know that the real problem is some remote muscle tear deep in his abdomen, and I do SINCERELY hope it gets better soon, but I can only remember the part about the berries. Someone save me from this bout of the giggles.

Then I started today with a great chat with Di - she always makes me laugh. I can't wait for CDA so we can hang out and crack each other up for three days in a row. I'm so glad that Bigun's irregular heartbeat that alarmed him for a few days has gotten back in normal rhythm. Thank God.

After hanging up with Di, Bobby and I went down to the Valentine's Day 5K at Lake Harriet in Minneapolis. In his last 5K he got a 35:24, so he wanted to see if he could beat that. Below is a group shot with Bobby, me, Terri, Marta, Laura, and Greg. It started out at 16 degrees, but by the time we finished it was 25, and it's 35 right now. (and that's ABOVE ZERO!!!) ;-)

Bobby scored a PR with a net time of 32:01!!!!!

He was so pleased he beat his mom by 4 seconds,  and I was so proud of him. All during the run he kept asking if I thought he was on pace to PR... it was so cute... he had such great focus, and I love that he is a "pace man". That means he could one day be Mr. Teenage Endurance Athlete. He's 9 now... so it could happen... wouldn't that be perfect??? ;-) We have four more 5K's in the Team Ortho series.

Last week IronLaura and IronGreg and Zurich and I went snowshoeing on the trails behind the house - it was so gorgeous. We went over to IronTerri's house (she lives on the other end of my neighborhood). After we got back, IronTriNick, IronRobert, and Ales were at my house for a going-away dinner that Bob made for Ales. Ales is our friend from the Czech Republic - Nick introduced us all last year, and he was back in the states for business for two weeks. It was great seeing you again Ales! I hope you enjoy the rest of your American tour, and then have a safe trip back home.

Bobby and Ally in front, then me, Nick, Robert, Laura, Ales and Greg.

Tonight we are having a sleepover with our friends the Andersons... Randy and Bob both love to cook, so they are making dinner for Bea and me. Their kids are friends with Bobby and Ally from school. I am sure wine will be poured, and rich food will be served, so I have to pace myself so tomorrow's long run doesn't kill me.

Have a great weekend everyone.

What... has it really been almost a month since my last post?

Arghhh - so much has been going on around here since I last posted from the Phoenix marathon/ blogger reunion weekend. I hardly know where to start.

I ran the St. Paul Winter Carnival half marathon last weekend with IronLaura and Erin (some of you met her in Phoenix - she promised she'd start blogging, but I haven't found her blog yet - have you? ;-) and a handful of other Gear West Tri Club runners. We saw Pharmie and Steve and I did take some pictures, but I still have to figure out how to get them from my PC to my Mac. It was lovely - 20's and only mildly windy. Laura and Erin ran ahead of me (would you believe I was talking and taking pictures), so they had to wait for me to finish, but I ran it in 2:14. I was happy enough.

I have my first ski race this weekend, but I have yet to get on my skis this year. Laura and I are hoping to get on them tonight after work. We will surely suck in the race, but at least we'll have cute outfits on and our matching hats, like last year.

I turned 46 on Superbowl Sunday and Bob gave me a Mac laptop for my birthday (which I got to open about a week early). So I've been going to Mac College - one hour a week - college in the mall - how great is that? Some young Mac savvy kid teaches me the little things that PC users need to unlearn. Like holding the "fn" button while deleting, so you can delete forward, not just backwards. And how to get to the end of a line of text in one move rather than holding down the right arrow one character at a time. (That was going to drive me crazy.) And how to enter calendar events in different colors for each family member. So now I must learn how to load pictures onto my blog. I JUST figured out how to get them from my camera to the Mac. 

Anyway, Laura and Greg had us over to watch the Giants beat the Patriots and TriNick,

 

Robert, IronKaren and IronTimmy came, too. Our friend from the Czech republic arrived on Saturday for a couple weeks, so Nick brought him over. The kids played with Zurich (who is seriously the most beautiful yellow lab) and everybody had fun. Thanks for the party Laura and Greg - I love you!

Oh - and here's some must see" 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej9wCko6dR4&feature=related 

Phoenix Rock-n-Roll Marathon

Well, Blogger doesn't seem to want to let me move my pictures or text around the page, so you are getting my race report backwards. (!!??) Has anybody else ever had that happen??? Anway, here is the weekend in reverse.

Here is sunset over Phoenix on Sunday. We climbed up Camelback Mountain after the marathon - it is a really technical climb requiring 4 points of contact a lot of the way, but so much fun to scramble over all those boulders to the top. But we made it and the sunset was awesome. It gets dark really fast, so we were stupidly descending in the dark much of the way. Still awesome, though.

This is me breaking a full sweat climbing up.

This is Erin and Sarah (Laura's sister) after the race. Erin PR'd and ran a 3:56. She and Lana ran together from start to finish! I got a 4:18, which I am happy with. Not my best; not my worst - right in the middle. After the finish I got to meet TriDogmom and IronShane! They have the cutest dogs and I let them have my popcicle. ;-) I can't believe I didn't take their picture seeing that I had my camera in my hand. Told ya I get stupid when I exercise.

This is me around mile 15 showing that I liked this band the best.

This is me getting smoked by TriDummy around mile 1. He started off so fast!!!

Here are Mark (my training buddy from home), Erin, Lana, and Sarah freezing while waiting for the gun to go off. It would turn out to be a beautiful day for running. It was Mark's first marathon and he was strong and cheerful the whole way. I lost him around mile 22 as I started getting a lot of phone calls - thankfully - because I was getting tired and wanted to walk a little. My last 3 or 4 miles were 11:05 pace! Thanks for calling everybody - that was relief.

Me and Lana before the start. No nerves!

Trimama, her friend Laura, TriDummy, Lana, Hugo, me and Sarah.

Erin has success before the start! Phew!!!!!

The blogger dinner at Macaroni Grill.

Trimama and Lana.

Sarah, IronGreg, and IrongirlNyhus at dinner.

Me and Commodore! It's been way too long, buddy. It was great seeing you, Carol and mighty Mo. Comm PR'd the half marathon with something crazy like a 1:46.

And I finally met Momo! Love, love, love her - how can you not? And Frankie is adorable and funny.

Trimama, IrongirlNyhus, me, Commodore and Lana.

It was so great to see so many bloggers out there! Afterward our races, DV joined us as our friend's house where we were staying and we made dinner and played poker. With pumpkin seeds as chips. Which kept getting eaten. DV ran the half and then jumped in his car to drive to the Grand Canyon - check out his pictures - they are great.

IrongirlNyhus, IronGreg, Erin and I had a great trip and had such a blast seeing Comm, Lana, Trimama, and their friends and family.

So that's the backwards report - Has anyone else had the problem where you can highlight but not drag that info to another place? Anyway, you get the picture - it was fun.

Sparkpeople

http://www.sparkpeople.com/

What I've learned so far:
1). That I eat most of my calories in the form of snacks - that I'm not a big eater of "meals".
2). That I eat between 2500 and 2900 caolories a day.
3). That a lot of calories come from my kids' crusts, and from "popping" things in my mouth without thinking about it. For example, while making a healthy 1/2 sandwich, I will "pop" one slice of cheese and one slice of turkey in my mouth while making it.
4). That I burn between 500 and 1200 calories per day.
5). That what I consider a "portion" is actually twice the size of the manufacturer's portion size (i.e. cereal!)
6). That the weight I gained in the fall when I was struggling with my heart and therefore not exercising at all, can be attributed to the 1000 calorie excess I was eating and not exercising away. I've kept that weight on with holiday junk (but tasty!) food and alcohol at parties during the holidays.

So, what I need to do to lose those 10 pounds is to cut out the mindless "popping" of food into my mouth, quit drinking (well, maybe except at the after party at the marathon this weekend), and toss out all the leftover holiday candy, including what's left in the box of See's Candies. I can't eat even the "but it's my favorite" junk.

I'll re-post about every week or so on this topic. I need to be 155 lbs to race and not feel like I'm lugging too much of myself along.

Little grammar lesson

Here is the Washington Post's Mensa Invitational which once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.



The winners are:

1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

2. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

10. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

11. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

12. Karmageddon: It's when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, and then the Earth explodes, and it's a serious bummer.

13. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

14. Glibido: All talk and no action.

15. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem sm arter when they come at you rapidly.

16. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

17. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

18. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

I laughed my arse off especially at #2, #3, #8, and #17!!!!

Balmy day here in Minneapolis

It's 46 degrees here and awesome, so Terri and I ran the lakes downtown today. It was so nice to be able to take our gloves off and not have our fingers turn black and fall off from frostbite.
We were slow, though. Terri has the excuse that she hasn't run 10 miles since Zurich Ironman (June), but I have no such excuse. My excuse for being slow is that I have gained weight. Like 10 pounds. As of this morning I am 165 pounds of holiday drinking and eating everything in sight (which actually started before the holidays). I wonder if I can lose that before the Phoenix Rock-n-Roll marathon on Sunday. ;-) My heart rate wasn't really high or anything, there is just more of me to lug along and it's slow-going. Arghhhh. I started a food journal today. I've never been much of a dieter so this in itself is depressing.

The kids go back to school tomorrow, which is kind of sad, too. I loved having them around, and we had a really great vacation in Hawaii, and we have snow forts and snowmen in the front yard, and Bobby even tried cross-country skiing. But tomorrow it's back to the old schedule. The dreadmill of the school year. Arghhhh.

On the bright side, I will at least be able to get the house in shape. There is junk everywhere. All the Christmas stuff is still up, and the kids drop all their toys or books or papers or plates - really everything - just laying around for me to pick up. All that little miscellaneous stuff from the pockets of everybody's luggage and carry-ons is laying around, too. I think that may be why I'm in such a bad mood today. The clutter brings me down. In a couple days (like by tomorrow 3pm) hopefully everything will be picked up and put away and I'll perk up. If I've lost the 10 pounds by tomorrow that should help, too.

;-)

Whales!

After two vacations in Hawaii during whale season, I finally spotted the gentle giants! At the end of the day, as the kids were heading back into the water near sunset for more snorkeling, there it was. The plume of mist shooting up into the air. Then a black body, then tail. There were probably four whales together, and yes, I was quite far away, but they were surfacing and motoring around the island. I've never seen this. And I've even paid big bucks to be taken out on one of those "whale sighting excursions". Yea!!! I've always wanted to see this!

Anyway, first the kids swam in the hotel pool for a while. Here are Bob and Bobby by a little waterfall between pools.

Then we drove over to Waimea Canyon and Ko'kee State Park to hike to the falls. It was about a four hour hike and very beautiful, but also quite different from the Na'Pali hike. The kids loved the jungle. My calves are very tight.

While we were at the Waimea official "Lookout", a rainbow appeared inside the canyon:

Family pic:

But we were here to hike it, so we found the trailhead and began. Here is me with the kids probably getting a little too close to the edge:

We hiked about two hours to get here. On the way up, we met an Ottwa/Ojibwe Indian named Two Dogs, whom we hiked with for a while - super interesting guy. Anyway, he brought a drum with him and sang songs at the top of the canyon, and told us about them and what they meant. He also told us that Minnesota actually means "The Creator playing tricks with you". Makes sense considering that with all the lakes, you constantly have to drive around them whenever you are trying to get someplace.

He also said that a couple of elders in his tribe has passed away in the last year and he was singing for them. How cool was this.

Tomorrow our flight is at 11:30 p.m., so we have one more full day...

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year to all my blogging friends... you guys were such a beautiful source of inspiration, humor, friendship and comaraderie in 2007. Thank you. I've enjoyed meeting all of you, and look forward to the trips I have planned in 2008 with many of you. Bring on CDA, Vineman, Orca's Island, Ice Age Ultra, Phoenix R-n-R, Florida IM...et al. Blogging has really made the triathlon world smaller, and you are all such special people to me.

Here's a recap of yesterday on beautiful Kaua'i.

I went running just before dawn for about 8 miles. It was cloudy and cool-ish, and it rained a few times on the way inland. But after I turned around and headed back to the beach, the sun came out and there was a huge double rainbow behind me. I was starting to wonder why so many cars were stopping to take pictures until I realized the rainbow was their subject, not me. (tee-hee)

I showered, and we all headed out to the northwest shore. Here are Bobby and Ally at the trailhead for the hike. Notice how nice and clean and white their clothes are.

We hiked 4 1/2 hours through thick and very slippery clay-mud. The kids never complained, I was so impressed! It rained on and off all day. We all made it to "the beach", and then up another trail to the pointy cliff, then turned around. Too bad my Garmin battery is shot - it would have been fun to see how far and how high we climbed.

It was a trip that had its dangers. First, Bobby was totally in his adventurous element and took off. I mean, he was so far ahead of us we had no idea where he was. So the first hour was spent with Bob, Ally and me pressing on as fast as we could trying to find him and be assured he hadn't fallen off - it was extremely slippery and he was obviously traveling quite fast. We finally caught him, and he was muddy but fine and was actually really sorry when he saw how worried we were. After we re-grouped and set off again, Bob slipped in mud and Bobby yelled, "Dad fell!". I turned around and saw his feet pointed upward, his head out of sight, but obviously he was hanging upside down, on his back, off the cliff, and he was clutching brush. Thank God for the brush. Those of you who have hiked this trail know what I mean!

We had to cross the "stream" (which rushes across lava rocks just before it dumps into the ocean) to get to the beach. On the way over, it was about thigh high on me, so I put Ally on my back and made my way across. Bobby and Bob crossed holding hands. After hiking to the pointy cliff and back, the water from all the rain had risen to about waist-high on me. I was holding onto Ally for dear life (hers) and was losing her. A couple of big guys on the shore rushed in and grabbed her from me and I made my way over. The look on Bobby's eyes were something I won't soon forget.

All ended well, but I kept playing it all over and over in my head and had a hard time falling asleep last night. The kids had a blast, and Bob and I did, too, so I'll just focus on that and the fact that everybody is still here! Check out the mud - the kids painted warrior stripes on their faces.

After the hike, we swam in the beach at the trailhead to rinse off. There were more tropical fish to watch, so I was of course the bad guy when I dragged them out of the water. We are staying on the south side of the island (Poipu), so we had about an hours drive in wet clothes. We were soaked and starving, but the absolute splendor of that hike is so worth it.
There were fireworks at the Marriott to ring in the new year, but we were all asleep at 8:00. At least we saw New York ring in the new year... ;-)

Kaua'i update

Hello from Kaua'i. Here's a pic of the giant koi that live in the pond in the hotel's courtyard. One of them is 226 years old. Later today we will send out our Happy New Year! from the Na'Pali Coast.

The kids are getting up to get ready for the most beautiful hike in the world. Bob and I hiked the centuries-old trail when we were last here in '96. It's whale season, so hopefully we will see one while we are up there.

Below is Bob with Ally - After a couple hours at the beach watching tropical fish swim beneath them, we got then into dry clothes and went to watch the spouting horn "geisers" for a while. I had forgotten how noisy they were.

Have a great day everybody. Thanks for being a part of my 2007. You all enrich my life and I am grateful you are all a part of it!

xoxoxo

Jenny