Voting

I was running some errands and listening to the radio the other morning. The group on the radio was talking about what really gets them pumped up, and one of the guys said politics.

He then proceeded to talk about how he isn't going to vote this coming fall because his candidate isn't one of the presidential nominees. He was talking about Mitt Romney, and this guy just happens to be Mormon. He then went on to say, well, he might vote if McCain picks him as his running mate. Now, there is nothing against his religion, but it really drives me mad that people actually think this way.

So are all the people that voted for Hillary in the primary not going to vote because Obama is the democratic nominee? This is just absurd...isn't this what living in the US is all about, exercising your right to vote? Or are you saying that because you have the right, then you can choose not to vote. Even if YOUR candidate isn't the nominee, everyone should vote for the direction you want the country to go.

OK...no more politics.

Sales People...

Sorry Dad...I don't mean get down on your profession but.....

After my swim today, I stopped by at The Rush, a new gym that is opening up here in Burlington. Now, this could be great news because I had heard that they might put a pool in. Since we moved here the pool situation has been slim. Is was great in Raleigh but you know, the options just aren't the same in a small town. To top it off, HPU has a pool that has extremely limited hours and they don't put in lane lines or anything.

Then I thought I could use our community pool this summer...brand new 25meters, but you know what, they don't put lane lines in either, and with a neighborhood of a bunch of kids, you can go do a workout. So once a week or every other week I pay to go use the aquatic center here. It isn't terrible, but like today they had ONE lane line in, ONE! And hardly anyone else in the pool. When I asked if they could put in another lane, the guy (who I know does triathlons) tells me that they can't because swim lessons are coming in. So WTF...what is my $3 getting me??? More swimming without lane lines, I can do that in my pool I pay my HOA dues for.

Turns out as I am getting ready to do my main set, the ONE guy using the ONE lane (yes old guy doing breastroke on his back) tells me he is getting out so I can use it, yeah! So at least I felt I got something out of my $3.

So why is this all about Sales people???? OK, since I am so mad after leaving the aquatic center, I stop by The Rush Gym to see if they are going to have a pool. And yes they will!!! An actually lap pool not for kids! And what is great is that they have a few gyms out by where I work and HPU has some deal with them that you can use any of the gyms you want! So yeah, I think to myself, this could be great. So I tell the guy I just want to know when the gym/pool will open. He beats around the bush to tell me how much I would have to pay for this membership and that. And again, I tell him, I am not going to get a membership today, what do I need it for?? I have a gym where I live that my HOA dues are paying for. And yet again, well I can offer you this rate for this many months....

Again, I tell him I am not going to buy a membership of any kind because YOUR POOL IS NOT OPEN YET. All you have is a small room with some cardio and weight equipment which is what my clubhouse has in my neighborhood. And yet again, well this is what HPU can offer you (because I tell him HPU has some sort of deal with The Rush-and that I would like to look into it a little further). OK, at this point, I am mad. I haven't eaten breakfast and I did a hard swim workout and need to get home to eat and this guy is trying to sell me a membership I DON'T WANT! I just tell him I am leaving. :)

This reminds me of Marty's post on his blog a few weeks ago about the car...

Now I am home, full with food and getting ready to lay on the couch and read...and much happier after venting about this guy at the gym.

A day of triumph and trials

Two of my dearest ladybacks competed yesterday in some amazing events.

Congrats to Mandy, who competed at the Canadian Olympic diving trials yesterday in 3 Meter and placed 3rd. You rock and did amazing. I am sure some of you watched her live on the internet and if you did saw her score some amazing 9's on her last dive!!!


And congrats to Sara who competed in her first Ironman yesterday in Coeur D'Alane (Idaho) and was in 3rd place in her age group after the swim (of course) and rocked the bike in 6:47 and ran a steady marathon in just over 5 hours. Total time: 13:00:42, almost breaking 13 hours!!

You two are both inspirations to all of us and I hope you both enjoy some rest from some hard training up to yesterday!

A Ride from Hell...

ML told me about this group (of mostly roadies) that ride pretty fast on Wednesday nights. Two weeks ago, EZ and I joined the group and it was a bit chaotic. It really wasn't that fast except for the last 8 or so miles (of a 30 mile ride). There was lots of attacking too which I just don't care for all that much.

We didn't go last week because of the race, thinking I didn't want to tire my legs out too much (even though it wasn't that hard of a ride). But we went again last night.

Now, my legs are not at all feeling good as a result from: (1) The race on Saturday, (2) plyometrics on Monday including lots of lunges and (3) running 3 days in a row (with the third day being yesterday, the day of the ride).

Last nights ride was well...fast and long and miserable. Everyone started hammering after 4 miles of warmup and we went 37...with a couple miles cool down...so I would say 30+ miles of hard, fast cycling on a day where my legs/body had nothing. I was only dropped a few times which I consider pretty good for myself. Probably the fastest I have ever ridden since starting triathlons, cycling anywhere between 20-35 mph depending on hills, most of the time around 25 mph. And yes, I averaged 20.4 mph in the race on Saturday, which was only 17 miles, which I know had I had my bike computer on, I would have gone faster.

If this is how it will be, EZ and I will go back. It is good to get out there and really push yourself hard past what you thought wasn't possible...I didn't know I could push 25 mph pulling in the front...which means I can do it in a race! (with much more training of course) :)

A Weekend of Sports

How can you not be happy when Dale Jr wins his first race in forever and the US Open is so great that they add one more day!!

If you are interested in how my triathlon went, you can read my race report at our tri team site here.

By the way...Happy Fathers Day!!! Hope you had a safe trip back to MI, and you will even get to watch the "final round" of the US Open!

New Look

I don't know why (maybe because I was just feeling like a change)...but I decided to try and change the look of the blog and add some stuff. It might go through some changes over the next few weeks of me messing around with it. Hope it isn't too painful for you.

We are off to Charlotte tomorrow for my first tri since the half last May. I am not at all in fast shape nor do I feel fit at all. Should be fun. I haven't even taken a day off since we got back from Peru. And I am tired.

The book list on the side is almost all the books that I have recently checked out or am in the middle of reading. I have never before tried to read multiple books, but am currently in the middle of At First Sight (for fun), Millenials Go to College (not for fun but for work) and am starting The Other Boleyn Girl (for book club).

The Infamous Ironman

Some of you may know or may not that I have thought about doing an ironman for a while. It is one of those things that to me is a goal that puts me out of my comfort zone and seems like a challenge. Just like the marathon or the half ironman I did last year. They were things I wanted to do to say I have done one.

The ironman is a little different. I think because when I tell people I do triathlons, all anyone knows is the ironman so they always bring that up and I have to tell them "No, I haven't done one" as if that makes me something less of a triathlete. So over the past year or so I have brought it up again and again to Eric. Could I do one? Would I be able to put in all the training and not want to kill myself? Now, I know I could finish, but I would want to be respectable, so I would need to train, and train a lot. Every time I bring it up with EZ, I also bring up how much I would hate the training. So is this something I really should do?

I was out riding with ML the other weekend and was talking to her about it and she told me, I don't have to commit to it now. How many more years ahead of me do I have? Then again, once there are little Zack's running around, will I really want to spend a Saturday riding for 7 hours instead of being a mom? Anyway, I digress...

I actually had kind of convinced myself that maybe I will do the new one in Wilmington next November, and I have until Jan 1 to decide since that is when sign up is. Then my friend and team mate Bri posted this on her blog:

"My longest bike ever in my life is 75 miles. I just don’t like sitting on that thing for that long. I think that it’s easy to get caught up in the 70.3/ironman following. Hawaii is like the holy grail of triathlon, but it doesn’t have to be and I’m not sure it ever will be for me. I read a lot of blogs and get excited for the long stuff and then of course how can you not get excited when you watch the broadcast? I truly think that if I had a lot of time and really trained very meticulously I could do well – but for the most part I am happiest doing sprints and Olympics. And right now I would be happy just to be out there competing for the entire time!"

Maybe I don't need to do one. Just be happy with where I am and what I enjoy doing. The sprints. :)

The Heat

I know it can't be as bad as the people in the midwest with the rain/flooding/tornados, but the weather here is unreal. It started getting really hot last Wednesday with temperatures about 95 and just went up from there with added humidity, the heat index has been around 110 for the past couple days.

Saturday morning Eric and I went out for a bike ride at 9am and the heat had killed me by 11. We then had a canoe and dinner planned for the afternoon. So we paddled down a river in the heat. Yesterday, since we had spent almost all of Saturday outside, we hung out at Barnes and Noble reading up on some different stuff including maybe going not to Costa Rica, but maybe China or Japan (so Monica, we will have to chat).

The heat is suppose to stay here for another couple days and then we will be back into the 80's-a little more manageable especially since I have my first triathlon in over a year this coming weekend.

The worse thing about the heat...no rain. Already being in a drought, not having rain (only 1 inch in the last 30 days) along with the hot sun make for dying bushes and grass.

The Couch Part 2

This morning our new bedroom furniture was delivered and the guys that were setting it up noticed the couch sitting in the hall and asked what it was doing there. So I explained that we could get it through the door to the bonus room. He looked at me and looked at the door and said "We can do it." So after they put the bedroom together they took the door off the bonus room and in about 10 seconds got the couch through the door. :) I called Eric at work and told him and he says "Well I feel stupid now".

Guess we won't be selling the couch and chair (too bad!). :)

The Couch

Our couch finally arrived yesterday and when Eric got home we worked on moving our old couch upstairs into the bonus room. Hmmmmmmm.... even with the door off, it won't fit into the room. :) Right now it is sitting in our hall upstairs. Guess that will be going up on craigs list or ebay sooner than we thought.