are you kidding me??

So as I prepare for my triathlon this weekend, THIS is what Mother Nature has in store for us:

WTF!!  This is one piss-poor April Fools joke.  Not one person in Maine, New Hampshire or Massachusetts is laughing.  Yes, that actually says "snowfall forecast".  You have read correctly.  My vacation to Las Vegas on 4/13 cannot come soon enough.

bikes, snow and the hahbah!

Well, another weekend has come and gone.  It is just crazy how fast the time goes by.  I have six days until the Nor'easter Tri. I can't believe it's here already.  I'm as ready as I can be.  I have my bike and I managed to figure out the gears this weekend.  Thanks to BD, my tri partner! :)  Here we are getting ready to ride a local bike path.

Notice how stark and cold it looks outside!  It was freezing!!  Windy and only about 32 ish.  It even snowed during our ride.  Good God, it's almost April, when is spring going to get here???  I'm glad the swim is indoors and last.  Can you imagine biking and then running in 32 deg weather with soaking wet hair and clothes?  I guess the planners of this race probably thought of that.......  :)

For those of you who have never been to Boothbay Harbor, or Maine for that matter, here are some pics of my running route that I took that night after biking.  (I TOLD you it snowed!!  I wasn't kidding!)

I really am fortunate to live in such a beautiful area and see this every time I come out of my driveway.  Even if it is snow covered in March.  Late March.  :/  ugh.  All you Florida/Arizona/Texas people can laugh now, but in 2 months when I am running in 70 deg temps with 60% humitidy, I will have the last laugh.  ha ha.  Oh, and if the snow melts enough so that we can uncover our boat, we can soon get back to catching these:

Who is jealous now??

Workout schedule for the week:
Mon:  cardio tennis/spin
Tues:  Spin/run at night
Wed:  Spin/strength
Thurs:  cardio tennis/run at night
Fri:  off
Sat:  off
Sun:  Nor'easter Tri!!!

Have a super Monday!

cupcake 1/2 marathon finisher!

Last night I completed the last part of the Virtual Cupcake Marathon put on by some of my pretend friends in bloggy world.  You could complete a full marathon or a 1/2 marathon over a period of two weeks.  I opted to complete the 1/2 marathon.  Yay for me!  Here is a recap of my running:

3/15--3.16 miles in 27:30

3/17--4.16 miles in 33:11

On 3/20--3.1 miles in 25:46

And last night I ran 4.16 miles in 34:31.  No picture as I left my ipod at home today.  I did run it, I promise!  So that brings my grand total up to 14.52 miles!  Oh yeah!  1.4 more than the distance I signed up for.  I'm such an over-achiever, I know, I just can't help myself.....  It is getting easier to run further, last night I felt like I could've kept running if it wasn't almost dark!  Once it gets lighter and warmer, I think I'm going to try to run a 10K.... :)

Oh, and here I am in the mandatory picture with the 'bib'.  P at my work took the picture and was making some crude joke about holding the cupcake bib over my 'cupcakes' so, hence, the goofy looking face.

Can you say, dork?

So now moving on to the next big race in my life--the Nor'easter Tri.  It is in 10 days.  Yes, you heard correctly, 10 days.  Life was all flowers and butterflies last Friday when I finally found a bike to use in this race.  Today is back to misery and dread as I haven't been able to use said bike AT ALL since I picked it up.  Mother Nature has decided that this race, may indeed, live up to it's name--Nor'easter.  Which is basically, a big ass snow storm.  All it's done since I got this super speedy road bike with tiny, tiny tires, is snow!  And be 35 degrees out.  I have never ridden a race bike and I'm surely not going to do it with snow on the ground!  Not to mention the 100 lbs of sand that is all over the road to keep from slipping on the ice and snow that is still around.  And let's not forget about the 6" frost heaves at every turn.  For those of you fortunate enough to live somewhere normal and are not familiar with frost heaves, it is when the road cracks and heaves upward due to the frozen ground underneath.  So riding on curved roads with frost heaves is equilivent to a Six Flags rollercoaster.  Only cheaper.  And less fun.  Actually more expensive, if you blow a tire or bottom out your car.  And riding same roads on a road bike with skinny tires is a death wish. 

Ah, Maine.  The way life should be. 

please do not......

Three to four times a year I will have a patient ask me a question that just sends me over the edge (in my mind, of course).  Out loud, I'm just as polite as ever, but inside I am just steaming at the rudness and stupidness of the question. 

"Don't you get bored doing the same thing every single day?"

Seriously.  I have been asked this question more than 10 times by different people.  It is usually when I am doing the "which is better, one or two" part of the exam, which I admit, is not the most exciting part of the eye exam.  But seriously,  even if you thought this, why the heck would you ever say it outloud?? 

My response is usually something along the lines of, "oh no, every person is different so it never gets boring to me". 

What I would like to say is, "oh you mean your job (insert whatever that person's occupation is)  is so much more exciting than mine?  You are right, I should pack it up and find something more interesting to do."

First of all, how insulting can you be?  Really.  First of all, isn't everyone's job repetitive to some degree?  Isn't that why we were hired or chose to do a certain job?  Because we are good at it?  Would you really want someone examining your eyes who did different things every day?  Or would you want the doctor who did eye exams every day?   I don't know about you, but I would prefer to see the gynocologist who practices gynocology every day and not the one who dabbles in cardiac surgery just so she doesn't get bored. 

Secondly, my job is NOT boring!  I love my job.  I help people to see well, comfortably and stylishly.  I fit contact lenses, treat lazy eye, treat eye infections, remove metal from corneas and can help to detect diabetes, just to name a few things.  Each day brings me something different. 

So please, please, if you ever thought about asking me or any eye doctor (or anyone else, for that matter) if their job was boring--please do not.  It's just plain rude.


Now back to our regularly scheduled triathalon/fitness blog.  Sorry for the interruption.

excellent series of events

My weekend started off just super!  First of all, I had Friday off.  And just like every other Friday that I take off, I crammed it full of things to do so that each and every minute was accounted for.  Unfortunately, this does not make my Friday off very relaxing.  However, these were all things that needed to get done so it had to happen.  So even though it was looking to be a stressful day, it really turned out awesome! 

First awesome thing--I got my hair done! :)  I can't think of anything else that makes me happier or feel better about myself than getting my hair done.  I just LOVE fresh from the salon hair.  I would never wash again if it wouldn't start stinking.  If I were loaded, I would have someone to do my hair each and every day. 

Second awesome thing--My friend doing the tri with me met me briefly after my hair appointment to give me some clothes she has that are too big for her.  This was awesome because they were size 6 pants and jeans.  Yes, you heard correctly, size 6!!  Which I now fit into!  Perfectly, I might add.  :D  Did I mention they were size 6??  Here's a pic of me in my SIZE 6 pants:

I'm not sure I remember when I was last a size 6.  Mind you, I've never been super heavy, just an 8 or a 10, but man, getting down to a 6 is somethin' special.  Did I mention they were size 6?  And not a Lane Bryant or some other big person's store size 6, they are J Crew and Banana Republic!

Third awesome thing--I found a bike!!  yay!!  My friend and former co-worker has so graciously agreed to lend me her race bike.  She has already been bitten by the tri-bug so she is duly equipped already.  I hate to ask to borrow things from others, but, this bike thing was really getting stressful and renting was going to cost me $200 for two weeks.  ugh.  What a waste of money.  So I bit the bullet and asked her and without a second thought she said yes!  Thank you so much KB!!!

All workouts this weekend went along as planned and I really had a good run last night which I was psyched to add to my Cupcake Marathon list until my Garmin crapped out and I couldn't get a pic of the distance.  I've got a time but no distance.  I'm going to send them in anyway and hope they will take me at my word even without a picture.  I have an honest face, right?

Workouts for the week:
Mon:  cardio tennis/spin
Tues:  spin
Wed:  spin and strength class
Thurs:  cardio tennis at lunch/run at night
Fri:  mile swim/bike
Sat:  nothing because of S's bball tourney
Sun:  run

Have a great Monday!  Did anyone catch that awesome moon?

what is that I see?

I think I have found something that had been lost for a long time.  My abs!  They were nowhere to be found over the past 11 years since I had my first child.  In fact, my to my dismay, I even had a little of that diastasis recti after the kids.  That is where the stomach muscles separate as your belly gets larger.  Which by the way, is super gross the first time you discover it.  I just about had a cow.  Called the doctor and everything.  I thought I was coming apart.  These are the things no one shares with a new mother.  But, I digress.

I am no where near a six-pack but if you look carefully, you might notice some lines along the sides.

Look very carefully to the right.  See?  See them? They are still there!  And that great hole near my belly button has filled in nicely.  Guess all that core work on the stupid ball actually works.  Huh. Who knew?  I might actually be able to wear a two-piece suit without sporting a muffin top this year.  :)

I have the day off tomorrow!!  YAY!  First, I'm swimming at 7:30 a.m. to get that workout done for the day.  The pool that I swim at has closed the lap swim at noon (which is when I usually go) so that the grade school kids can come for swimming lessons.  Who do they think they are, anyway?  Then I'm going to destroy all evidence of the grey hairs mentioned in the previous blog with my hair appointment.  Next on the agenda is to go to look at bikes, figure out what size I need and then rent one for my upcoming tri.  I'm not quite ready to buy one and I'd really like to get a used one, but we'll see.  I have to drop off my taxes  :/ tomorrow and I hope to meet up with my friend and tri-buddy BD.   Busy day! 

Have a great weekend everyone!  Here's to finding lost body parts!  (I'll drink a green beer to that!)  *Note to lats and tris--please feel free to come home now.  Abs misses you.

thoughts on getting older.....

I am still reeling from my discovery this weekend.  Somehow, I thought "that won't happen to me".  I thought maybe I didn't inherit that gene, maybe I would be one of the ones that it didn't happen to.  I had a rude awakening at the stop light on Sunday when I saw in the rearview mirror these:

Two grey hairs.  Pulled from my head.  Concrete evidence that I cannot deny since I pulled them out myself.  When exactly did this happen?  They are at least 3 inches long and my hair grows about an inch every three months or so, right?  So they had to have been there at least 6-9 months!!  Seriously, does everything like this just happen at the drop of a hat after 40?  Really?  I have already gotten over the trauma of discovering a man-hair on my chin.  Only to discover 2 more.  So now I have a routine every 2-3 months of searching and plucking them out, lest I look like one of those women with 'little beards' as our Governor LePage had eluded to.  (Inside Maine joke, although it may have made national news.  He is quite the character.... Here's the story if you are interested:  http://www.wcsh6.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=149048&catid=2)
And now I have to also search and destroy grey hairs on my head???  Will the madness never end?  Ugh.

Is this how a mid-life crisis begins?  I guess I am on my way to a full-fledged one then.  I will go kicking and screaming into middle age.  It will not be pretty and I will not go down easily.  Prisoners will be taken and chin hairs will be lost.  Thankfully, I had started my fitness routine awhile ago so I'm in pretty good shape and can outrun some folks that are younger than me and I'm not overweight. 

Now if someone can do something about the dark circles under my eyes, that would be great.  Really.  I'm open to suggestions.  Here's the routine for the week:

Mon: cardio tennis/spin
Tues: hope to try a brick workout today at lunch:  run then spin
Wed: spin and strength class
Thur:  cardio tennis, run at night
Fri:  swim and hair coloring appointment!!!  Also: FIND MY BIKE!  to relieve that stress of not having a bike for my upcoming tri.
Sat:  jiu-jitsu fitness class, maybe easy run that night
Sun:  run

Have a great day everyone and don't let those chin/grey hairs get you down!

Two

--the number of hours I tossed and turned last night

--the number of girls I have

--x's 11, the number of years I have been with my husband

--the number of houses I own (well, have a mortgage on)

--the number of boyfriends I had in high school

--many to count--the number of crushes I had that didn't like me back

--the number of times I got on an actual bicycle and rode on an actual road in 2010

--the number of mothers I have (one birth, one adopted)

--in miles, the length of my first run last year when I started running regularly

--the number of wedding rings I have had.  (the prongs got broken off my first one.)

--the number of children who would not get up this morning

--the number of times I have filled up my oil tank this year :/

--the number of times I've had my nails done

--the number of emails in my inbox that I actually read this morning

--the number of degrees I have

--the number of tennis teams I have played for

--the number of matches I have won for the last tennis team (not so much.... lol)

--lastly, devastatingly, sadly, and depressingly the number of grey hairs I found on my head yesterday

ABC's

Ok, I suppose I'll join the rest of the blogging world by doing the ABC's of me.  Since I don't really have any other interesting news to share today, ABC's will have to suffice.

A--40 and holding
B--Bedsize  King!  You have to have a king when you sleep with a 6'2" 240lb man.....
C--Chore I hate--washing floors.  It takes forever!
D--Dogs one Lab named Cole.  (he's black, duh.  cole... coal... get it?)
E--Essential start to my day--Mt Dew!!
F--Favorite Color--to look at is red, to wear is black.
G--gold or silver--silver
H--Height 5'6"
I--Instruments I play--used to play flute and took piano when I was young
J--Job Title--optometrist
K--Kids 3
L--Live--Boothbay Harbor, ME
M--Mom's name--Sheila
N--Nickname--none
O--Overnight hospital stays-- 3x's for each kid (c-sections), pneumonia when preggo with child #2
P--Pet Peeve--clutter and hoarders
Q--Movie Quote--I don't watch or quote movies so I'm going to do something different....
Q--Queer habit--I bite my cuticles.  always have. always will.  Even that gross tasting stuff my mother put on to make me stop didn't work.
R--Right or Left handed--right
S--Siblings--weird family that I have--I have one brother, one half brother, many step-siblings.  But my brother and I are both adopted from different families, so really we aren't blood related at all....
T--Time I wake up--between 6:15 and 6:30 a.m.
U--Underwear--um yes.  t-back kind.
V--Vegetable I dislike--love most everything but squash is yuk!
W--What makes me run late--my kids and husband!  We are always late.
X--X-ray I have had--pinky, foot, teeth, colonoscopy
Y--Yummy food I make--peanut butter kiss cookies
Z--Zoo, favorite animal--does Sea World count as a zoo?  I love, love, love watching the dolphins.  (not the Miami kind...... ;)  If not, then penguin.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

tax time :/

Well, it's that time again.  Time to begin preparing my taxes.  ugh.  There is not much in this world that I hate more than tax time.  It makes me ugly, grumpy, pissed, not to mention poor!  Every year it seems I pay more and more tax even though it seems like I make the same income.  Strange phenomenon indeed.  I can see how a person could be tempted to cheat on their taxes.  Not that I do, but I can see how it happens.  Just saying. 

So here I go trying to find as many things as possible to deduct.  We  bought a new truck this year with snowplow for B which can be deducted as a business expense.  That should help some.  The kids don't help at all, they cost more than I get for a deduction.  But, I love them, so I guess we'll keep them.  :)  With Maine being one of the least friendly states to do business in, it doubly sucks to be a self-employed business owner during tax time.  So if I look pissy during the month of April, you'll know why.

Somehow, I always manage to plan my vacation during tax time so that is good and bad.  Good--because I get away and forget about how I have no money in my account, but bad--because I have no money in my account.  This year we are going to Grand Canyon/Zion/Las Vegas.  I'm so excited!  I've never been to GC and we are doing a week's worth of driving around the Canyon and Zion to end up in LV for a conference.  I also have found a 5K to run in while we are in LV!  http://www.rynorunning.com/las-vegas-5k.php  Come join me if you are there!  Nothing says vacation like a road race, right? :)

Crustacean Nation

What a crazy weekend we had!  So busy busy busy.  As I blogged about before, we had classes and cookies on Saturday and Sunday brought us to the semi-pro basketball league in Portland to watch our elementary school's dribbling club perform before the game.  The girls did a great job and what a fun way to end the season! 

Here's a look at the girls doing their routine.  My daughter, S, is at the top of the key on the right.  Our team is the Red Claws.  Awesome huh?  Where else can you go and see semi-pro ball where the mascot is a lobster??

Crusher!  Anyway, the Red Claws do a great job promoting family fun at their games and we all had a great time.  Thank you Red Claws!

I am still very sore from my jiu-jitsu fitness class on Saturday.  I'm not sure which exercises made me so sore, but 2 days later and I still can't walk right!  Is it this 'over 40' thing kicking in?  ugh.  I don't think I'll be able to do my double class today like usual, but I will try.  Exercise goals for the week include:
Mon:  spin 1/2 hr (maybe....), cardio tennis
Tues:  spin
Wed:  Spin/strength training
Thurs: cardio tennis/ run 4 miles
Friday:  swim 1 mile
Sat:  highly dependent on S's basketball tourney, but run 4 miles
Sun: rest or run 4 miles

I have signed up for the Cupcake Virtual 1/2 Marathon so I need to bump up my running to reach that goal.  Here is the link if you are interested:
http://sillygirlrunning.blogspot.com/2011/02/jason-and-i-present-virtual-cupcake.html

They were so kind as to allow multiple runs to reach the 1/2 or full marathon goal, so this is one I can participate in.  I'm just not up to running 13 miles straight at this time.  Not sure I'll ever get there!  So it requires me running a few times a week to get to that number 13.1 over a two week period.  Which is fine because the noreaster tri is coming up in just a few short weeks! 

I'm trying not to think about it because I'm beginning to get nervous.  Even though it's my first one, I'm really wanting to do well.  I don't want to just finish.  I want to get a decent time and not embarass myself.  My parents are going to come and bring my kids so I'll have a small cheering section, which will be nice.  But I still want to do well.  Please don't let me be last, please don't let me be last.

Here's to another week closer to hopefully, not coming in last.  Have a great day!

cookie time!

I'm not sure I could have packed more into this day than I did.  This morning I was up bright and early (on my day off, mind you) to pick up this:

This is about 1/3 of the Girl Scout cookies my troop sold this year.  And now we get to sort and deliver them.  Oh, and probably eat a few along the way.  Then it was off to Jiu-Jitsu with my son for his class.  He is really doing a great job with it and is loving it.  He really likes and respects Professor and listens and does his best to focus during class.  (Hard stuff for a 5 year old boy!)  Blake Academy has a fitness class after the kids class and both my son (5), daughter (7) and I stayed for the class.  It is a combination of some cardio, plyometrics, strength, pilates, yoga and stretching.  It was a pretty hard class and both of my kids and one other child did an awesome job and finished it with the adults!  My legs are just about jello now.  It was a nice change for my muscles, different from the exercises I usually do. 

Then it was basketball, basketball, basketball all afternoon.  I still have a house to clean, laundry to do and groceries to buy.  There is just not enough time in the day. 

I'm going to enjoy a few thin mints now and then off to bed.  That's my favorite GS cookie, what's yours?

yes you can!

I wasn't going to post a blog today because I didn't have anything I wanted to talk about--no funny story to tell or problem in my life to share, until I got on my Facebook account this morning.  A friend had posted a video that I remember seeing a year or two ago and it brought tears to my eyes then, and then again today.  Watch this video and see if you aren't moved to tears as well.

This man freakin' ROCKS!  He is nothing short of amazing.  His love for his son and his dedication to make his son's dreams come true, despite unbelievable obstacles, is an inspiration.  It makes me humble to see how this man did it for his son, all while pulling him in a boat, biking with him in front, and pushing him in a chair.  Most people will never even finish an Ironman, even without the extra weight to pull.  Most people think they can't finish an Ironman.  Most won't even try.  Team Hoyt as completed 6.

When I am out running, biking or swimming to do my personal best, I am going to think of this man and know that YES I CAN!

It's on!

OK.  Bring it.  The battle lines have been drawn.  My family is in a full-fledged war with.....

the squirrels.

The kids received a multi-perch bird feeder at Christmas to put outside and be able to watch all the birds that live in our woods as they feed from it.  One month ago, this is what the feeder looked like:

Happy, cute birds enjoying the food at almost every perch available.  They would empty that feeder of sunflower seeds about every other day.  We wondered how such little birds could go through the food so quickly.  Until we came home the other day to find our feeder on the ground.   This is what our feeder looks like today:

And this:

Son's of bitches!  Chewed the hanger off, and chewed every last perch off!  No wonder the feed was going so quickly!  I can only imagine what was going on while we were at work everyday. 

Well, now it's on.  The squirrels are not going to know what hit them.  My husband is on the war path and it involves wire and a battery.  Stay tuned.