Triathlete!!!

Emma cheering on Mommy!

Sara and Maddie, post race!

Sara dismounting after her AWESOME ride!

The wave of swimmers (from a distance) just before our age group wave

Me!!!! Finished the swim in 16minutes 15 seconds ... got kicked in the chin, swallowed a ton of water, had boogers flying out of my nose and was swam over and YES that is pond seaweed hanging from my boob! But it was AWESOME, such an accomplishment to get in that water and swim with all of these women!

On Sunday, July 25th we DID it! We rocked the SheRox Webster Women's Only Triathlon. There were 2100 women competing ... it was really BIG. It was a lot to take in at 5:30 a.m., setting up our transition stations, worrying about how well we were going to do. Watching each age group take off in the water was insanely nerve wracking, I almost vomited thinking about how scary it looked. But overall, we ALL did amazing! We came in well under our practice times (adrenaline is a huge enhancement!). I am proud to report that I finished the triathlon in 1 hour and 36 minutes ~ 16:15 swim; 48:30 bike; 25:30 run! The transitions from swim to bike, bike to run were really crazy, we had to run on pavement and gravel to get back to our transition area ... but we did it and did it well :) The last picture is a picture of our training team ... The Crazy Mermaids (Gretchen, Lori, Mindy, Mary, Sara and Sarah) we wrote our teams mantra on our legs ~ Say No to the Noodle, Ride like the Wind, and Run 'til You're Done! Having these ladies to train with has been amazing, we all have come so far and we are ALL doing it again in Farmington, CT on September 12th ... yes we are a bit addicted but there are far worse obsessions, right?

Thank you to everyone who has been sending encouragement and support, you are all AMAZING!

Crazy Mermaids ...

Yesterday myself and two other crazy mermaids decided we COULD NOT miss a training day ... regardless of the torrential downpour! We rode 14.5 miles in soggy, dripping clothes and sneakers, up some pretty good hills to our running destination where we ran another 3.5 miles of trail, river, and pouring rain fun, jumped into the lake for 1/4 mile swim, then hopped on our bikes back for another 6 miles! It was actually really FUN!!!!! The rain made us cool the entire time and that was my favorite short run EVER! I think I like trail running and have to add that into my training. My sneakers are still water logged today (I had to wear an old green pair for my run this morning!) ... but it was awesome to keep on and share that with the girls. We were missing 3 of our teammates but our final "team training" is this Monday and then the big race is on Sunday, July 25th!

Here is a photo of us crazy ladies midway through the 2.5 hour training session (Lori, me, Gretchen).

Our Thelma and Louise ... Yes ... we sat on the "hog"

A "quick" Tuesday night drink out led to 4 drinks and a late night of laughter between two great friends ...

Thank You!

The Mermaid Sand Sculpture made by Rob, Erol, and Danielle ... such troopers!



We would like to send a special thank you to Danielle and Erol for having us at their beautiful house last week. The beach was fantastic. The girls loved it, and even napped 2 times ON THE BEACH! We found a really beautiful cove that had low tide for hours and we could literally walk to one of the islands ... if we had enough gusto in us! It was easy and wonderful.

It was also so nice to have some real leisure time together, just doing typical day kind of things ... making yummy food and packing up for the beach. We learned so much too just by watching Danielle, she's so conscientious of the environment and has really found good ways to "lessen the carbon footprint". I absolutely realized I was doing alot more wasting than I had considered. So bravo to my friend for all of her great effort to be more mindful and less wasteful.

I hope we didn't scare them too much from having a family, especially since they got to see just how trying it can be to have 2 little ones running around with you... how when you want to head out for the beach it doesn't take 10 minutes, but about 40 minutes because of sunscreen applications, shoe decisions, combing the snarls out of beachy hair, packing up the van, then of course a diaper change just as you are about to put the littlest one into the car seat ... and then bam "I'm hungry, I want a cup of milk" Yup, it's a juggling act ... and somedays it's a great relief to have the built in DVD player to allow the adults a moment of quiet time too! he he he! I think they enjoyed it and the whiny afternoons will be a distant memory because much of the day we were all smiling and enjoying the time as a bigger family! :)

Danielle and I, of course, got out for a night of Thelma & Louise antics ... we kept it fairly tame but we always have a good story to share :) I will try to post a picture to shed light on that adventure.

A very good day at the beach ... Can not believe they are napping in the beach tent!! Victory!! :)