Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Weekend Recap

Finally the nice warm weather has arrived in Maine!  We had a really warm and nice weekend and it was just great!  Unfortunately, with the sun comes the black flies.  They were deadly this weekend and our family took a beating. 
Bug bite directly under my eye!
Close up in case you couldn't see!  Please ignore the wrinkles and face without makeup.....

I was not the only victim of the bugs.  My poor middle daughter got one on her eyelid.
Looking good, huh?  Poor girl, she is allergic to the black flies and swells right up with every bite.  Same daughter when she was 1 with a similar bite.

This one was a little worse.  It was swollen shut for a week!  Same eyelid though...that's kinda funny that it happened to the same eyelid.

Yesterday we had the Memorial Day parade and my Girl Scout troop marched in it.  They are so cute!



Well, one more week to go to my Sprint Tri!  I can't believe it is this Sunday!  I was able to swim on Friday and had the lifeguard time me so I could be placed in the correct wave.  I swam 500 yds in 9:56.  Not sure where that puts me, but I'm pretty happy with the time.  Hopefully, I can do that well on Sunday.  I don't think I'm going to get any awards for this race because they only give out an award to the first finisher in each age group.  I'm pretty sure I won't be first.  I could try for third but unlikely to get first.  Oh well.  I'll do my best and we'll see where the chips fall.  Looks like the weather is going to cooperate for the weekend though.  Temperatures are finally climbing a little here in Maine.  Just no rain, please!

I hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend.  Let the summer begin!


Saturday, May 28, 2011

Winners!

So sorry I didn't blog yesterday, I had taken a sanity day off from work.  It was great!  I brought the kids to school and then went for swim at the pool.  I had the lifeguard time me for my 500 yds as they wanted a time so that they could put you in the appropriate wave for my sprint tri next weekend.  I swam the 500 in 9:56!  Yay me!  I was pretty happy with that time.  I thought I was around 11 or 12 so being closer to 10 was really nice.  I did 500 x 3 total and then hit the showers. 

After swimming at this pool for the past few weeks, I have figured out a nice way to avoid the gaggle of hens that are in the locker room after their water therapy.  (They are all lovely women, I just prefer to have quiet and privacy.  Oh, and my shower of choice.  Somehow, one of the is always in my favorite shower....)  Anyway, there are two separate locker rooms, one for women (over 18) and one for girls.  This week I had the brilliant idea of going into the girls locker room as the "girls" should be in school still (it was Friday at 8:00 a.m.).  What a super idea!  It was empty!  And there wasn't smelly carpet on the floor like there is in the women's locker room.  It was tile.  I had my choice of where to change, choice of shower and only one other woman was in there after my swim.  I decided she was smart too.   Unfortunately, my super idea is only going to last for another two weeks until school gets out and then the locker room will be full of summer camp kids.  Oh well, I can look forward to September.

After my swim,  I headed out to Freeport for some retail therapy.  I purchased a few things at the Nike outlet, Banana Republic and Reebok.  Then on to Portland to meet BD for a run around Back Bay.  The sun so kindly made its appearance and it was actually warm out!  We had a great chat and almost did the loop twice, which would have been 7 miles.  I was the party pooper on that though, I was tired from my swim that morning and my legs just didn't have it in me to finish the second loop.  We ended up with a total of about 5 miles.  Still an excellent day! 

Ok, so enough of all that blah blah about my day off.  What we really want to get down to is the winner of my first giveaway!  Well, I was able to get another voucher for the Xperio Polarized lenses so I actually chose two winners.  I didn't have many entries so the chances were pretty good for those that did enter.  S my eldest child chose the winners out of a hat and the first winner was Jenn of milesmusclesmommyhood!  Yay Jenn!  I know you really wanted these lenses so that was great!  (She actually chose your name again, but we picked another since you had already won... ) The second winner was Bobbi (aka Joshua under the entries)!  Yay Bobbi! 

Send your mailing address to bouchard at midcoast dot com and I will mail you out your voucher.  You can redeem it through my office or any other independent eye doctors office.  You will need an ophthalmic quality frame to put these lenses into.  (That's eye speak for a good pair of glasses.)  Congratulations and enjoy!

Have a super Memorial Day weekend everyone!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Runner's Survey



Today is a good day.  I know it.  It just started out that way.  First of all, the sun is out.  Kinda.  Well, at least there is some blue sky in between the puffy clouds and it is not raining.  This is pretty much the first time I've seen the sun in about 14 days.  Really.  Secondly, blogger is working today.  Yesterday, I could not get on my blog page or read anyone's blog all day.  It is funny how unbelievably aggrevating that is, it is almost like my addiction to Facebook, in that I was kinda having a panic that I couldn't blog or read blogs.  Very unimportant in the grand scheme of life, I know, but I do like reading blogs.  Anyhoo, all is back to normal now AND the sun is out!  What more could a girl want?

I read this on another blog and liked learning about my bloggy friends so I thought I would share as well.

What is your favorite type of cross training?
I love them all, because they all offer different things for me.  I like spin class because my friends are there and we chat and sweat and laugh and gossip.  I like swimming because it really feels like a whole body workout and makes me tired afterward.  Tennis is just completely different and I love it because of that.  (Also it was my favorite sport in high school and I still wish I could be a professional tennis player.)


What is your favorite song to run to?
Anything that is fast and upbeat.  Right now I like anything by Ke$ha, Tonight tonight by Hot Chelle Rae, Dirty Bit by Black Eyed Peas, and a guilty pleasure is Mean by Taylor Swift.


What brand of shoes do you wear?
I love my Nike Lunar Trainers.  I am on my second pair.  They were on the discount rack at the Nike Outlet and I thought they were the ugliest things ever, but they were sooooo comfortable.  Nothing hurts ever. 


Do you wear a hat when you run?
No freakin' way.  I sweat enough already without a hat.  I can't imagine how hot I would be with a hat on.

What is your favorite temperature for running?

I think between 60-70 degrees is just right.  Although I have perfected the running attire for comfortable running at 20 deg, 30 deg and above.  Just the right amount of layers makes all the difference. 

Do you have any big races coming up?

I am doing a sprint tri June 5 and also the Warrior Dash June 25.  I am also considering a 10K sometime in the summer and another sprint tri in September depending on my daughter's field hockey schedule.  I'll probably add 2-3 other 5K races here and there as they come up.

What is your favorite distance?
I have only raced the 5K distance as I just started running last year and my main goal was to do a sprint triathlon.  However, as I get better at running, I am running longer without any problem.  I now feel like I'm taking it easy if I only run 3 miles.  About 5 miles right now is my favorite distance.

Do you run solo or with a buddy?
I mostly run alone but I would love to have a buddy to do longer runs with.  My daughter (11 yo) comes out with my occasionally and she is great company, but when I'm wanting to train or race, I really prefer to be by myself.

Are you a morning, noon or evening runner?
Evening for sure!  I am never awake enough to run in the morning.  Noon I could do but I'm at work or in the summer it's too hot. 

What's your favorite post run snack?
I'm not sure I have a favorite snack after running.  I usually don't feel like eating until 1-2 hours afterward.  Mostly I just want water with the Propel Zero packet in it.  Oh, and a Mt. Dew if it's after a race in the morning.  Love me my Mt. Dew!

What is your favorite race?
I'm not sure I've raced in enough races to have a favorite.  But so far my favorite was the Nor'easter Sprint Triathlon because it was my first tri and I did well.

Do you wear a Garmin?  If not, how do you track your runs?
I do wear a Garmin, however, every run I do lately gives the milage as 5.15 miles even when I know it was 4 miles.  I think it is on it's way out.....(I bought it on eBay used and think I got a lemon.)  Before that, I used the Nike+ iPod thing in your shoe.  Which wasn't that great either as far as accuracy.  It got better when I figured out that I needed to calibrate it first..... duh.  The lady talks to you when you reach a certain distance--"you have completed 1 km", "you have 2 km to reach your goal".  I think it would be more effective to say things like "pick up the pace, fatty.  I don't have all day here", or "my grandmother could run faster than you".  Again, here I go with getting off topic...

What race is your favorite race medal from?
I don't have any race medals because I haven't done any 1/2 or full marathons.  But I do love my mug from the Nor'easter Tri when I placed first in my age group!  I think you get a medal for the Warrior Dash so I'm looking forward to that being my first!

Who is your running idol?
I don't think I have a running idol per se, but I do admire a few folks' accomplishments.  A local doctor in our area is running 50 marathons before he turns 50 (or is it in 50 states?  not sure).  Anyway, he has 4 kids that are high school aged to pre-school aged and he finds time to go all over the country to run marathons.  He is also an Ironman.  Kudos to him.  I admire that he is able to do that with such young kids at home.

I think EMZ's running 100 miles in 24 hours during her charity run is pretty awesome too.  I was thinking with my 10-12 mile/week pace, I would have to run 10 weeks to do what she did in 24 hours.  Not to mention she raised a lot of money for the women's shelter. 

I used to think that Lance Armstrong was the most amazing thing ever with all his Tour de France wins and comeback from cancer.  Until we find out he's a cheat.  (Obviously not a running idol, but a biking god.)  I wish he hadn't ruined his greatness with cheating.  Just the comeback from cancer story would have been amazing all alone.  But now it's tainted with his doping.  He's still amazing--I just wish he wasn't a cheat too.

How long have you been a runner?
About a year and a half.

Do you run with your wedding ring on?
Yes, always.  If I'm awake, it's on my finger.

What's your favorite workout? repeats? long runs? tempo? fartleks?
Ok, I'm not even sure what that question means.  lol  Occasionally, I do fart during my run.  But only if I have gas.  I like the run when I get to to outside in the sun, by myself, after a day at work and be alone with my ipod for 40 minutes when no one is asking me to make something for them or tie their shoe or help with homework or 'where are my pants?' or make dinner or look at the dirty house that no one else is cleaning.  That's my favorite run.

Only two, yes TWO! more days until I choose the winner for my giveaway!  You'd better hurry up and enter!  Now that the sun is back, those polarized lenses are going to be useful!!

And thank you to Christi from Pedestrian Runner!  She showed me how to change the color of my words.  (I know, I'm a computer idiot... but I can be taught!)

Monday, May 23, 2011

fiddleheads

So it is spring here in Maine (really?  well, the calandar says so...) and with spring we get that local delicacy called fiddleheads.  I'm not sure you are a true Mainer if you've never had fiddleheads.  A fiddlehead is a baby fern before it has uncoiled.

And it is yummy!  Tastes a bit like asparagus/spinach.  We have a few spots around central and northern Maine that we find fiddleheads to pick every year.  We eat a bunch right away, freeze a whole bunch and last year we tried pickling them.  Any way you have them, they are good. 

This year I wanted to try something different--cream of fiddlehead soup.  I figured it would be kinda like cream of broccoli soup, which I love.  And it was.  I made a batch yesterday and it was wicked good!  (in perfect Maine-speak)  I am not known for my cooking skills, so I was pretty proud of myself that I made something that tasted really good and was not from a box!  yay me!  Fiddleheads are pretty good for you as well and the only thing that was fattening in this recipe was the 1/2 c heavy cream (for which I used half & half) and the 1 c sour cream (for which I used 'light').  Well, the butter to cook the onions and fiddleheads in.   But that doesn't count because you can't eat fiddleheads without butter.  But I digress...

I had a really big bowl for dinner after my 4 mile run and sat down to watch TV, all proud of myself for a making and eating a (somewhat) healthy dinner.  But like many greens, if eaten in larger quantities, you may notice a somewhat unpleasant side effect.  It's affectionately called "the trots".  This soup seemed to have the same effectiveness as a colonoscopy prep. 

On the bright side, I weigh two pounds less this morning than I did yesterday....  

I'll send the recipe to anyone who wishes to lose weight quickly.  Any unusual food recipes you care to share?

Friday, May 20, 2011

end of the world?

Apparantly tomorrow is the end of the world:

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/05/a_conversation_with_harold_cam.html

Been nice knowing you all, thanks for reading my blog.  What a bummer I won't be able to achieve my goal of doing the sprint triathlon or the Warrior Dash in June. 

Should I bother paying my truck loan today?

Thursday, May 19, 2011

good news/bad news

I should have titled this post bad news/good news cause I'm going to give the bad news first and the good news second.  But I thought good news/bad news sounded better than bad news/good news.  Anyhoo--on with the post.

1.  Bad news--my cat of three years is gone.  It has been over a week and she has not come home.  This is not a good sign.  :(  Anyone that knows me will know that 3 years is a record time for keeping a cat at my house.  We have had around 8 cats over the past 14 years.  We live in a rural area so they either get eaten by wildlife, run over by cars, lost or stolen.  It is right around the time that I have finished spending $200-300 on the cat getting it's shots/fixed/whatever that it goes missing.   In fact, I kinda wonder why the animal shelter keeps letting us adopt them.  Which brings me to me good news....

We have two new kittens! :)  (The odds are against these poor cuties..)  We went to the shelter, *just to look* and voila!  two kittens were headed home with us.  They are super cute.  I will post pictures later.  The girls named them Jake and Lily. 

2.  Bad news--it is STILL raining, foggy, shitty here in Maine.  Good news--we don't have to worry about a drought.

3.  Bad news--grey hairs are beginning to show up again.  Good news--color and cut scheduled for Saturday.

4.  Bad news--the world finds out the Arnold Schwarzenegger is a pig.  Good news--I am not married to him.

5.  Good news--school is out on 6/15.  No more getting kids up early, packing lunches, homework, after school activites, band concerts, book fairs, notes from the principal etc etc.  Bad news--school is getting out so childcare bill rises to at least $350/week and more if there is a sports camp involved.

Hope your day involves more good news than bad news! 

Monday, May 16, 2011

monday, monday

Monday.  My least favorite day of the week.  And.  It's raining.  Again.  With temps in the 40's.  Again.  Good God.  Will it ever get warmer?

Exercise fail yesterday.  It was raining (suprise!) all day yesterday so I had told the kids we would all go to the indoor pool in the next town to swim and burn off their crazy energy have fun.  So we all put on our suits and clothes over them and pack all our stuff and head out.  Only to arrive to an empty parking lot.  Closed for summer hours.  Ok, plan B.  Drive 12 more miles to the next YMCA and swim there.  We arrived there to, guess what?, an empty parking lot.  Really?  Since when does summer actually begin in May in Maine?  Grrrrrr.  Instead we went grocery shopping.  

On the plus side, my husband and I are signing up for the Warrior Dash!  It's the first one to be offered in New England and I am SO FREAKIN' EXCITED!  It looks like a blast and I can't believe B is going to do it with me!  Yay!  We need some great costume ideas cause I don't think we will be close in placing for time.....  You get free beer and a viking helmet--what more could you want in a race?  It should make for some really interesting photos, so stayed tuned.  It's not until the end of July.  Has anyone done a Warrior Dash in your area?  Do tell!  I would love to hear about it.

Middle daughter, C, had her dance recital this weekend.  Talk about cute!  They all did such a great job!  I hope she sticks with dance, I just love going to the recital and seeing her shine on stage! 



Before the recital

Duet with BFF
Tap duet with BFF

So freakin' cute!!!  Not so much in step on tap, but I loved watching them anyway.  :)

On the agenda for this week unless the endless rain interferes:

Mon:  spin/cardio tennis
Tues:  spin
Wed:  spin/strength class/run at night if no rain
Thurs:  spin/cardio tennis
Fri:  swim
Sat:  run
Sun:  run

Have a good Monday!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

WTF Wednesday--the squirrel edition

It is time for another installment of WTF Wednesday!  I know you all have been waiting patiently for this day to arrive!  not!

1.  It's time for an update on our ongoing battle with the squirrels.  So you may or may not remember from my previous post, our bird feeders are being ravaged by the red squirrels.  My husband, B, bought a new feeder with a wire hanger (so it cannot be chewed) and replaced the old, chewed feeder.  Since then we have been ok with the squirrels.  Occasionally, we will come home to find the cover off the top and on the ground.  The cover is plastic and has been chewed quite a bit, presumably to get the cover off.  Once off, they just eat the food. 

So this is what I find the other day
See that red cap waaaayyyy at the top of the tree?  That is the cap of the bird feeder!  The little bastard has placed the cap up high where we can't reach it vs. dropping it on the ground.  Smart little fellow.  And as I sit there and watch him, this is how he's getting the food:

He is climbing down into the tube-shaped bird feeder and taking the food!  WTF??!!  They are clever little rodents, aren't they?  Here's B grabbing the cover from the tree top--just so you can see how high it is!  He's 6'3".

He's on a ladder as well--the top rung!  I was just waiting for it to tip and for him to fall.  Thankfully, he made it down just fine.

Any thoughts on how to keep the squirrels at bay?  The air pellet thing is getting old and I'm starting to feel bad.  (please don't pull that PETA stuff on me, I live with a hunter and that's just how it is)  I want to out-smart them!

2.  How about Bynum getting ejected from the game the other night for that flagrant foul?  WTF!  What a jackass.  He deserves his 5 game suspension without pay.

3.  His pay that he will forfeit for those 5 games is $677K.  Yes, you read that correctly $677 THOUSAND DOLLARS.  WTF??  Can it be donated to some worthy cause?  Like my never-ending student loans? 

4.  Alicia Silverstone names her son Bear Blu.  Seriously.  WTF?  She should be fined $677K....  She continues to be "clueless".

Schedule for the week (albeit a little late...)
Mon:  spin 30 min/cardio tennis  Done!
Tue:  spin 50 min  Done!
Wed:  supposed to be spin/strength class but it was cancelled so it turned into "pick up perfectly fine bike at bike shop"  Run 4 miles tonight instead?
*sidebar--I dropped it off to have them check the gears, they were clicking and not shifting smoothly.  Turns out it was just operator error.  (my words, not theirs--they were too kind for that, or didn't want to insult me so I would continue to spend money there)
Thurs:  30 min spin/cardio tennis
Fri:  swim 2000 yds (or however far I can swim in 1 hour)
Sat:  run or jiu-jitsu fitness class
Sun:  bike with my perfectly fine bike and/or run

And that concludes this edition of WTF Wednesday!

Oh yah--don't forget to enter my giveaway!!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Mother's Day Weekend Recap

What a busy weekend it was!  Friday started with my first day back in the pool in over a month!  Our local YMCA's pool is closed because they are building a new one and the other rec center I've been swimming at this spring has closed my usual lap time for 8 weeks so that the school kids can have swimming lessons!  ugh.  I was hoping that was finished, but no!  It goes on for another 3 weeks!  The next closest Y is about 25 miles away so I called there hoping they had lap swim at lunch time--and they did!  So Yay!  I just had to drive a little further to get to that pool and I was able to get my mile swim in.  I was relieved to find that I could still do it.  I'll be headed there again this Friday.

Saturday was a busy day as well.  Our local Y was hosting its annual 10K/5K road race that day and my daughter (11 yo) had decided that she wanted to run the 5K.  This would be her first one.  There is also a "bunny run" for kids under 12 (which is a 1 mile race) but she wanted to do the full 5K.  :) My 5 yo son did the bunny run and came in first for his age group for the second year in a row! 

Grabbing the hardware!


 Then it was time for the 5K/10K.  All the runners start at the same time so we lined up.  My daughter, S, was ok with running alone in case I went ahead of her but then a bunch of her friends decided to run too and a dad, so she ended up having plenty of people to run with.  I went all out from the get-go.  I wanted to break the 25 mark by the end of the summer so that was my goal.  I finished 4th overall woman, 3 girls (aged 11, 13 and 14) beat me, so actually I was the first woman!  ;)  PR of 24:30!  Woot!  S came it at 27:30!  Super awesome job for her first race!!!  I was so proud of her!


There we are in the background.  S has the purple shirt, I'm just in front of her with the Texas colored shorts.

Here is S arriving at the finish line!  Her first 5K!

Mother's Day was quite nice this year.  I slept in until 8:00 a.m.  (yes, that is considered sleeping in for all you non-moms.... ).  When I woke up these are the things I woke up to:
and this:

Do you think I like to snack, or what?

And finally a card that almost brought me to tears (and I am not a crier AT ALL).  My middle daughter made this book for me:


I love you more than drawing.

I could not get this to be turned the right way, even though it was correct in my files.....
I love you more than grampy loves golfing.  (wow!  that is a lot!)

I love you more than cookie dough ice cream.
still turned--reason unknown


I love you more than anything.

Is that not the sweetest thing?  :)  And finally, I got to pick out a tri-outfit.  Something to wear in the pool, on the bike and on the run.  This is what I got:

You will certainly be able to find me in a crowd!  I like it though.  It fits nicely and I don't have to change. 
Can it be Mother's Day every day?

Friday, May 6, 2011

Friday's Flashback

Since I have nothing of any real interest to write about today, I thought I'd do a flashback and post some crazy old pictures.  If you remember the 80's, then you should know that these should be pretty funny.

Let's start with a more recent old picture.
This is 1995ish?  We are at Billy Bob's in Texas.  I'm the dork on the far right with the red boots.  As I recall, we 'borrowed' the stuff for the picture.  I did buy boots on that trip but not bright red ones.  Optometry students from Boston on the loose in Billy Bobs.  We stuck out like a sore thumb. 

Flashback a little further to senior year of high school.


Ok.  Here we are beginning to see the 80's influence a little bit.  Lovin' me some big hair!  I think we managed to keep the black flies at bay from all the aqua net.  Between the four of us, I'm sure there was at least a full can on our heads.  Seniors on the soccer team, I'm #25.  I'm wishing my legs looked like that still.  Not so much the hair.

Flashback to freshman year:
What stands out to most in this picture is I look about 12.  Oh wait.  I was about 12.  Maybe 13.  Either way, really young.  And my waist is non-existant.  Almost concentration camp-ish.  And that was normal then.  I wasn't really skinny, I was just regular.  I did eat.  Really.

Let's finish off flashback Friday with one more embarrassing photo.  Of course, I must share that embarrassment.   Here's by tri-buddy BD and I at our Winter Carnival (prom-like dance):


I really don't have much to say about that other than we were smokin' back in 1988!  Well, she more than I but she was the Queen and I just a mere attendant. :)  And here we are now:


And she still looks better than me! 

Please feel free to share any flashback photos you may have!  We all need a good laugh!  Have a great weekend!  Oh--and don't forget to enter my giveaway!  Just scroll down until you arrive at the Wicked Good Giveaway post.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

WTF Wednesday

I saw this on another blog and I thought it was pretty funny so I'm stealing it.  WTF Wednesday.  Seems pretty appropriate for today so here goes.

1.  Rain.  Clouds.  Misery.  50's.  ugh  WTF

2.  Sketcher Shape-Ups.  Those ridiculous looking sneakers that "improve your fitness".  Yah, right.  Strange that I only see large people wearing them.   WTF

3.  Spin class cancelled on the shitty weather day but not on the beautiful weather day.  WTF

4.  Girl babies in India left malnourished because they are girls.  Double WTF

5.  EMZ is running a 24 hour marathon for charity.  Amazing.  Inspiritional.  But still WTF.

6.  Only three people have signed up for my super-duper Xperio Polarized Lens giveaway.  This is prescription or non-prescription people!  At least a $200 value!  WTF 

Monday, May 2, 2011

Fisherman's Festival

What an exciting, busy, SUNNY weekend we had here in Maine!  I worked a half day on Friday so my weekend started a little early.  It was beautiful out so the dog and I took a walk on some local trails.  He is getting old and slow but he needed the exercise.  When I got back, I changed and went for a 4 mile run.  In shorts!  And a thin, long-sleeved dri-fit shirt!  Outdoors!  Yay!  Spring is really here in Maine.  Finally!

Fisherman's Festival was this weekend as well so that was a lot of fun.  It is an event held mostly for the locals.  However, as it gains more news coverage, it is becoming an event that draws some tourists to the area a little earlier in the season than usual.  Saturday is when all the crazy events are held.  First thing in the morning is the cod fish relay.  Here is a little look of what that entails:
Yup.  You have to dress in full fisherman's gear and race down the road carrying a cod fish.  Nice huh?  Another popular event is the crate races.  Lobstermen fill the lobster crates with seaweed, tie them together, float them on the water and contestants try to run across them without falling in.  Obviously, the lighter and quicker you are, the more likely you are to make it across.  My 5 year old would be great at this but we missed the sign up deadline because we were on our vacation.  Here's another kid doing it on Saturday.
Yours truly participated in the tug-of-war.  Our women's team has won for 3 or 4 years in a row now.  And, of course, we won again! :)  So, if you can get 10 women together and want to try to beat us, plan on visiting Boothbay Harbor next year late April.  I'm the second from the front in the sharp looking grundens and green Tough Chik shirt. (I look tough, don't I?)



After my stellar performance at the tug-of-war, I had to head out of town 2 hours north to pick up my new bike!!  I was so excited to get this thing.  I had to wait until I got back from vacation and then also for the weekend where it was such a drive to get it.  I was heading back to my old college town, Orono so after picking up the bike, I took a detour to do a drive through of my alma mata.  University of Maine.  It has changed quite a bit since I was there twenty a few years ago.  It made me a little nostalgic.  I also visited my grandfather who just turned 92!  He still lives alone and drives and has all his wits about him.  It was great to see him and I think he was glad for my visit too. 

My bike is now at home with me and I can't wait to try it out.  The seller also gave me bike shoes and clips so I don't have to buy them.  I do need to practice with the clips a bit first so I don't kill myself while trying to dismount.  I'm going to practice on the spin bike first and I may switch out the pedals for the regular ones until I feel comfortable that I'm not going to break my leg because I can't unclip fast enough.  My next tri is June 5 so that is coming up pretty quickly.  I'll need to decide about the clips before then. 

I'm dropping the bike off tonight at the local bike shop just for a quick check.  I need the seat a little higher and I can't switch the gears on the front.  It won't go down to the lower gear.  The back one works fine.  Not sure if it's operator error (most likely) or equipment failure.  I also want them to put a computer on for me.  I need to know how fast and far I'm going!  Other than that, I think the bike is good to go.  I hope to be able to ride it Friday or Saturday. 

So now that we are back on schedule and trying to prepare for a race, I'd better get back to a regular routine and the best way to do that is to post that here and hold myself accountable.  Plans for the week:

Mon:  spin/cardio tennis/run at night (since it's going to rain every other night this week)
Tues:  spin
Wed:  spin/strength class
Thur:  spin/cardio tennis
Fri:  swim (I haven't done that in a month! Hopefully, those kids are done with their swimming lessons so I can have my lap time back!)
Sat:  run/swim?
Sun:  run/swim

No rest for the weary.  Most likely I'll loose either Sat or Sun because my daughter needs to have a birthday party.  We'll see. 

Make sure you check out my giveaway!  It is for prescription or non-prescription polarized Xperio lenses!  It's a really great prize.  It runs through the end of May so get your entries in!