I did it!

So I have been quietly training for my 1/2 marathon and guess what.... I ran 6 miles today - yes I ran the whole way - and it wasn't even that bad! The last mile was the worst but still doable. I'm definately going to be sore but I'm very proud of myself. Next weekend its 7 miles!

Good Morning!!!!

Do you ever have those moments where you think "How did I get here?" I am not saying I don't love my family - I'm grateful for each of them but I am not a fan of mornings as any of my former roommates or family members can verify in case your in doubt. This morning the baby woke up I think before 5 can't really remember exactly so I'm a little cranky about that even before getting out of bed. Does he want to go back to sleep, no! Then we start our get ready for school routine, "What do you want for lunch?, Where is your lunch box? , ...if you have french toast for breakfast there isn't any bread left for lunch so I guess I better start another loaf in the bread maker, Please turn the baby another direction so he doesn't cry every time I come into view, I don't know where your brush is, Did you make your bed? I have to run three miles this morning but the baby is already tired , oops I think I just put a TBSp of salt in the bread mix instead of 1 tsp, yes you can wear those shoes, now how many cups of flour was that - oh well put in another one. Good bye daddy love you!, Finish your breakfast, yes I'm sure your just suppose to return the card with my signature not the whole bus rule book. Come on baby just finish your breakfast before you have a complete melt down! Then here comes the moment-----I reach up and finda glob of sticky, gooey honey or syrup in my hair ( I don't know which it could be either one!) How did that get there? Am I really THAT mom? I have to take her to school in a few minutes, the baby and I are still in our pjs and I have no time to clean the goo out of my hair so I am going to be THAT mom walking up to the school in my running clothes with my hair all gooey! And I drive a minivan! I am so not cool- I have got to get it more together. What does Scarlet O'Hara say "Tomorrow is another day!" or "As God as my witness I will never go to school gooey again!" something like that....

Triathlon Training

Well as you know I'm training for my next triathlon on Sep. 21st. I have a six week training plan I've been doing for about 2 and a half weeks. It's for those of us that don't have a lot of time for extensive training. It's working very well. I swim on Tuesdays and Fridays, run on Wednesdays, bike on Thursdays, brick on Saturdays, and rest on Mondays. I did my first open water swim in Belton Lake the other day with some of my fellow triathletes, we swam 800 meters or half a mile. It doesn't sound like it's very far, but trust me, it is. I did pretty good. I didn't panick. Some people panick because they can't see the bottom or they KNOW they can't stand up, it's either swim or drown. I was taught to swim in lakes and ponds so I don't have this problem. The problem I have with open water swimming, is swimming in a straight line. I'm right handed so I tend to push myself to the left. It's going to take some practice but I'll get it right. The biggest and most important part of my training is my family support. My lovely wife supports me 110%. Sweet Girl likes to ride her bike with me while I run and Little Boy Blue always gives me a big smile when I return.

Oh yeah, Happy Birthday to me, I'm 33 today but.....I still feel 25 most of the time........(inside joke for my family).

first day back...

Today is first day back to school for Sweet Girl! I can't believe she is in second grade already! It seems like I just took her to kindergarten yesterday- at least we didn't cry today! She was back and forth between nervous and excited all morning and she was up before six so she had plenty of time to fluctuate between emotions. The house seems really quiet now and I can't wait to pick her up and see how her day went. I'm going to keep this post short- I'm trying to keep busy and get lots of things done today.

Fruit "roll ups"

I have been on a quest to rid our diet of a few bad for you things. I am starting with one at a time and working my way towards being a real finatic. We started with high fructose corn syrup (if you say it with a sneer your kids think it is really disgusting!) We have lost a few choice things like boxed cereal but so far we haven't suffered too much. With school starting I'm trying to find alternatives and snacks that Sweet girl can take in her lunch and I found a recipe for fruit leather which doesn't sound so good until you realize its really fruit "roll ups." It is so easy!
First you start with applesauce which a good basis for any flavor combination.
Then you puree almost any other fresh ripe fruit (or frozen or canned.)
Combine the two until you have about 2 cups of fruit puree, give or take 1/4 of a cup. You want it to be the consistency of molasses or thick applesauce. Then spread the puree on a cookie sheet. Make sure you either oil the cooking sheet or line it with plastic wrap. Here is the tricky part - mine always gets more dried around the edges but not the middle so you have to experiment with different ways of shaking, tapping and spreading the fruit so it is uniformly thin over the whole sheet. The book says 1/8- 1/4 in thick. Leave a border around the edges to make it easier to peel up. (If you have extra puree just freeze it or make two cookie sheets.)
I put it in the oven on 275 degrees for 30-35 minutes then shut the oven off and leave the tray in there for 8- 10 hours. ( I did it last night before bed and got it out this morning.) Then peel it, I rolled mine on wax paper and store it in the fridge or freezer. It will keep in a cool dark place for 2-4 weeks or room temp. about 1-2 weeks. In the fridge 2 months and freezer 3-4 months.
I made some with applesauce, strawberries and a banana. You can cook the fruit if you want or add lemon juice to help the fruit not change colors. I'm sure there our plenty or recipes on line if you go looking but its really very easy. Be prepared for burnt edges and if you have a lot of kids around it will disappear fast! One cookie sheet doesn't make very much.

Olympic fever

We have olympic fever! We haven't posted in days I know but every night were glued to the tv watching all these sports. (For the record this is the only two weeks every two years I enjoy watching sports on tv.) So here are the top 4 things that have been sooo cool so far.
1. Micheal Phelps- I can't swim one length of the pool much less race someone and he is a machine! I can't believe how many races he participated in and won!
2. Did you watch the women's marathon? UNBELIEVABLE! The women who won was running a little over 5 minutes a mile for TWENTY SIX MILES! And she is 38! I heard that those olympic marathoners run like 120 miles a week which is completely ridiculous. I can't believe their bodies can take that kind of pounding.
3. Misty May- Turner and Karri Walsh I love watching beach volleyball and they make it look so easy.
4. Did you see the guys on the steel rings last night? They are incrediblly strong! Who cares if you can lift a huge amounts of weights those guys can lift their bodies and hold them parallel to the floor with their arms spread. They are using muscles I didn't know existed.
I think this is going to have to be an ongoing list....
We don't have cable so tell me what I'm missing on the cable channels!

Breakfast Club

I was reading a magazine called Family Fun and came across a great idea! (BTW, This magazine is great for party ideas and fun things to do with the kids I really like it!) As we inch closer to school I'm trying to get sweet girl back into the routine of going to bed and getting up at school times so the article suggested having a neighborhood breakfast club! You get together with the people on your block (or people you know with school age kids)and rotate providing breakfast for the kids at whatever time you would normally have to be up for school. So in our case I'm going to say 7:30 because that is what time we would have to be at school. The article said they even encouraged everyone to show up in their pajamas but I think we will get dressed and just host it in the yard. Now I will have to find some fun ideas for breakfast food!
They also suggested having an after the first day snack party at the bus stop but we don't ride the bus and I'm already committed to Sonic after the first day of school.

The aftermath...

As you know I had my triathlon yesterday morinig. I did really well. My goal was to do it in under 1 hour, but if I managed to get 1 hour and five minutes I was going to be ok with that. Well.....I did it 1 hour and 26 SECONDS!!! I was merely 27 seconds away from being under one hour!! Out of 255 people I finished 72nd. I past 3 people in the swim, 15-20 on the bike and 8-10 during the run. I was very nervous when I arrived at 6:15 am to set up my transition area. I jumped in the pool to get a few warm up laps in. The race started a few minutes late, I didn't start until almost an hour later. I was in the very back of the line. I wasn't nervous standing in line until the countdown was on for me to jump in and start my first triathlon. I jumped into the pool feet first (diving was not allowed) and of course...got water up my nose. Once I started my swim the nervousness was gone. I did my swim in 8 minutes and 49 seconds. I completed the bike ride (which was actully 9.3 miles) in 31minutes, and completed my run in 19 minutes. I felt like my run was slow, but after swimming and biking and climbing a HUGE hill the last 1/4 mile, I am satisfied with my effort. When I arrived at the hill as well as the entire time up the hill, I was the only one still running, all the other athletes were walking up it!! I was not going to let that hill defeat me!! Afterwards my beautiful family was waiting for me at the finish line as well as my trainers. They all captured lots of pics of me in my agony. Following the race, we went home, I took a shower and we went to church. I could tell I had done a triathlon but I was not exhausted after the race. Thanks to my trainers and my family for your guidance and support. I love you all.

I have decided I'm going to do another triathlon on Sep 21st. It's the one I had talked about in an earlier post. If you have any questions, post a comment...

Jeff

Do you think I can?

I am going to run a half marathon! There I said it, the committment is in print so it is a done deal! I will either do the one in November or January I haven't decided yet. It will be depend on how much time I need to train for it. I have never run 6 miles all together much less 13 but I will do it. I have a plan which is the only reason I really feel empowered enough to do it. I have everything I need ( shoes, a jogging stroller and when Chloe goes back to school hopfully the time.) Does it sound like I'm still talking myself into it- well I am!
I know at least half of you think Jeff and I are "health nuts" and that we exercise all the time and eat only healthy food. Just so you know I had an attack last night and I HAD TO HAVE ICE CREAM! We do still indulge ourselves probablly more than you think we do but we do like our vegetables too.
***I'm not posting about Jeff's triathalon yesterday because I'm letting him do that but just so you know the kids and I are very proud of him and enjoyed cheering him on yesterday. ***

The time is near....

Yes ladies and gentlemen, the Temple Triathlon is this Sunday!! After 5 weeks of training, I think I've managed to whip myself into shape again (with the help of my two trainers...Garry and Kristi, thanks!). I'm hoping to complete the race in under 1 hour. I've looked at the average times from the past few years and it seems around 1 hour is average, if not a little on the faster side. I'm running 2-3 miles and biking 10 miles easily now. My swim has improved dramatically thanks to Kristi and Garry. Since I've been training, I've improved my 350 meter swim by 40 seconds to 8 minutes and 50 seconds. It is all about technique and practice. I think I may do another triathlon after this one. It is a 800 meter swim, 18 mile bike ride, and a 3.1 mile run. I'll let ya'll know how and if that goes.

Take care,

Jeff (using Aimee's account)

I got tagged!

I was tagged and am suppose to do this so here goes!
A. Attached or single? Attached going to be five years in November!
B. Best friend? Liz
C. Cake or pie? Pie- especially fruit pies
D. Day of choice? Sunday
E. Essential item? jogging stroller
F. Favorite color? purple
G. Gummy bears or worms? worms
H. Hometown? Belton, Texas I guess
I. Indulgence? strawberry limeades - Sonic
J. January or July? July
K. Kids? two
L. Life isn’t complete without? My family
M. Marriage date? November 22, 2003
N. Number of brothers & sisters? 2 brothers
O. Oranges or apples? apples
P. Phobias? claustrophobic!- hate crowded tight spaces
Q. Quotes? nope
R. Reasons to smile? many many blessings
S. Season of choice? fall is fun
T. Tag your friends! Lisa, Brad (he'll never do this, do boys do these?)
U. Unknown fact about me? everyone knows everything - I'm a blabber mouth.
V. Vegetable? can I say tomato even if it isn't a veggie
W. Worst habits? leaving the cabinet doors open in the kitchen
X X-ray or ultrasound? ultrasounds - they don't have to stand in a special booth to guard themselves against x rays
Y. Your favorite food? still strawberries
Z. Zodiac sign? I don't know - I'm a sagitarrius is that what you mean?

Funny but gross story

If you are easily grossed out then don't read any more!

Our sweet little baby boy had not been acting so sweet over the last few days. He wouldn't sleep for very long wasn't much interested in eating and hadn't pooped in at least two days so I had narrowed down the problem to either constipation or teething. So I bought prunes and made sure we had tylenol. We fed him the prunes for dinner which he willingly ate all of. (Why does he like them?) I sat him in his bouncer in the kitchen and did the dishes. He was happy and suspiciously quiet so I figured the "solution" to our little fussy baby was working its way out if you know what I mean. Jeff left with the trash and I smelled something awful and assumed it was the trash but no... There sat our smiling laughing happy baby above a pile of poo on the floor that he inadvertantly stepped in! It's one of those moments in parenting that you want to run and get someone else to do the dirty job but then you realize, "I'm it, the buck stops here."
Poor little guy he was completely oblivious to the problem. I carefully lifted him out of the bouncy and then stood there thinking , Now what?! Thankfully Jeff was home and the dog was outside. Between the two of us it all got cleaned up in a matter of minutes. Afterwards I thought a picture might have been funny, but then I thought about the scrapbook page I might make and decided maybe just a word picture is enough!