Longhorn Ironman 70.6

Okay, for those of you who facebook, this will b repetitive....& for those of you who don't (DADDY!!!!), here you have it!!!

FINISHED!!! 5 Hours, 34 minutes!!!

Transition 1... thousands of bikes! (Someone asked and no, that is not me in the photo!)

Contemplating throwing in the towel.... just by looking at the hefty swim!

The swim waves were in age groups and a different heat went every 5 minutes

SO, I LOVED THE RACE!!! LOVED, LOVED, LOVEEEDDD ALL 70.3 MILES OF IT!!! Even the swim; which I totally suck at! It consisted of a 1.2 mile swim (my time=43 minutes), 56 mile bike ( 2 hours, 51 minutes= average speed of 19.6 mph) & 13.1 mile run at the end (1 hour, 52 minutes =8:33 average minutes per mile.) 22nd place in age group/wave & 96th overall!

Running into the arena for the finish! I love the sign that is being held up in the background... "Enjoy the Moment!!"

The only downfall to all of this is that now, I have my heart set on completing a full Ironman=140.6, in Arizona, as soon as next year. That is also the dilemma. I'm having an inner battle trying to decide what is best for my family. I felt good on Sunday when I finished, GREAT! Had it been the full, I think I could have done it, for sure.!! BUTTTT... I won't lie! I trained my tail off, REALLY! I tried my hardest to have it take away the least amount of time possible away from the fam., but there were just days, especially on the weekends, that I couldn't get around being gone during the day for 4 hours or more.... AND THOSE DAYS SUCKED!!! It's one thing to be gone for an hour or so run (I like to call it "free therapy"), but being gone for HOURS, brings a tremendous amount of guilt and stress on. Again, the feeling of completion is amazing, but it came at a huge expense.... emotionally, financially, physically... and I realize all those things. This isn't a poor mans sport! U know you're f-d in the head when you start selling things to buy race running shoes or those hefty entry fees ($280 for the Longhorn!!!) I know, $280 to RACE, that, in itself, is CRAZY!!!

So, a lot to think about and ponder during this "off season." Now, marathon training will kick in and I'm planning on running the Austin 26.2 in February. I know this will come as a shocker, but I'm going to take a huge (for me) hiatus from Thanksgiving- January 1st off and spend every minute with my family... they deserve it!!! I think Andrew is more relieved that it's over than I. For me, I feel as if I checked that goal off and now what's next???.... obviously the 140 miler!!!

Any takers on buying me a tri-bike???? What, it's only like $4,000!!!!

Catching butterflies!

Okay, I hope you're all in need of a good laugh this am because this, THIS, was comical!!! With a million butterflies swarming all around, you would THINK it would be an easy task to get ONE, just one damn butterfly, in the freakin' net!!! No, hell-to-the NO, we were out there for an hour, and I think we succeeded MAYBE 3 times. Andrew attempted first.... until I got completely frustrated with him because HELLLOOOO they were all around us and he was taking FOREVER to catch one!! So, I took the net (in a pissed off "I'll show you fashion") & went at it myself. Mmmm.... as you can see, it was way more difficult than I initially thought and found myself spinning in circles while the kids/Andrew laughed out load behind me!

Oh, and in attempt to do so, I knocked Salem over, sent her into a crying frenzy, pissed Andrew off for doing so/not having more SA &....... eventually threw in the towel... after I caught my precious butterfly a flippin' butterfly of her very own!!

Next time, I'm buying a bigger damn net!

Ahoy, Matey!

I decided to dress Tavin up in one of his Halloween costumes over the weekend... just to make sure it would fit!!! I even taught him to "growl" (not sure what else to call it that they do), "Rrrrrrrrrrr", like a pirate!