"Reluctantly crouched at the starting line..."

"...Engines pumping and thumping in time.
The green light flashes, the flags goes up,
Churning and burning, they yern for the cup."

I'm taking the hiatus from a home related posts to write about the triathlon I trained for and competed in today. I signed up a mini sprint triathlon in February, called the Tri Goddess Tri. A friend, who has completed Iron Man Competitions (yes plural), was key in encouraging me to sign up. This is a woman's only event where 50% of the woman were doing their first triathlons. So I paid the fee and started training. 

We drove out this morning at 5:15 am. I picked up my number, my chip, baby blue swim cap and stared amazed at the course.  From the beach to the transition area (where the bikes are) was about a 200 - 300 yard dash up hill on pavement. I picked my transition place and set up my bike, laid out my towel, shoes and number. I opted to wear tri pants, my sports bra and a tank top for the event. Some wore wet suits, but they weren't necessary. I went down to the water and waited for my wave to start. All I kept thinking is, buoys to the right and turtle to my left (my swim course) and of course, breathe.  

My wave started and we were off. There was so many arms hitting me, people swimming on their backs not going in a straight line, water getting splashed all up in my face. Needless to say, I wasn't as prepared for the swimming as I could have been. Really the best way to be prepared is to swim with a large crowd of people. With the arms flying left and right I kept my head mostly above water looking around to make sure I wasn't running into anyone. I came out of the water in 14 minutes (my best time for the swimming a quarter mile) and dashed (walked) to my transition area. I threw on my shoes, got on my bike and headed out to bike the 10.7 miles. This part was 'easy.' Biking takes me back to being a kid and riding around the neighborhood. However, when I was a kid I don't remember my ass hurting quite so much. Finally, after the biking came the dreaded run. It was only a mile and half run, but it felt like a lifetime. I also failed to prepare for a trail run (didn't read the directions carefully enough), so I tripped once, but I made it. I ran through the finish line, teared up a bit, hugged Adrienne and it was done. I had completed a triathlon in 1 hour and 40 minutes. Sure, it was a mini sprint, but, I finished and I didn't die. It was quite a rush to finish, and I feel like I accomplished something. I would definitely do this again next year and will recommend it for other first timers. 

Oh yeah - neither Bob nor I remembered to take the camera, so no pics until the official photo's come out.

Linen Closet and New Wall Color

You may remember from an earlier post that we were redoing Taqwa's room.Part of it became our new linen closet. A good friend and co-worker recommended that I have fun with my bedroom colors. And I thought, what could be more fun than orange, right? I'll let you be the judge of this one.

Linen closet, orange linen closet and orange bedroom.

Introducing Sheeba

Sheeba

 

 

We'd like to introduce the newest member of our family, Sheeba. No she wasn't wondering in the middle of the street half dead, she doesn't have a weird disease that costs a few thousand dollars to fix, no heartworm, no parvo, just a healthy 6.5 year old dog. Sheeba came from Friends of Michigan Animals Rescue. She had been there for over five years. She was first adopted as a puppy and returned to FMAR because she was jumping fences and became protective of her food. She was adopted again a second time and quickly returned because she continued to protect her food. Over the years, the volunteers grew close to her and we knew that someone special would have to adopt her, someone that would keep in touch and continue to let us know how she was doing. I started volunteering with FMAR five years ago and immediately fell in love Sheeba. She was loving, calm, playful, a great walker and a wonderful dog that I couldn't believe hadn't been adopted. Bob and I talked about taking her in all the time, but never took action. In May after lots of deliberation we decided to introduce her to the gang. If she didn't get along with our two then there was no reason for us to continue talking about taking her in. So introductions happened, and it worked. Sheeba is a great fit. She's not protective of her food in the house, she hasn't tried to jump the fence, she's just been wonderful.