Tri-ing my best

I just received this letter in the mail:

Apparently if you did only ONE triathlon in 2011 yet finished in the top ten of your age group you qualify to compete against the "Best of the Best" in Dallas Triathlon. Had I received such a letter in 2010 when I finished in the top ten 3 times and had 1 podium finish (hey! 3rd place is still podium) I would have thought I stood a chance. But my first thought when I received this letter (well first thought after what the? how on earth? is this addressed to the right person...) was no way...I'll get my butt kicked. I have not been in a pool swimming laps since April 2011 and I've been on my bike exactly once since last year.

Then my voice of reason (hhheemmm) kicked in. I wouldn't have been invited if I couldn't hang. I can't just decline such an interesting invitation to do an extremely competitive athletic event in 100 degree heat. I do still have 4 months to train. All I have to do is finish. No one expects you to rank in the top ten when all the competitors are previous top ten finishers...right? Rrriiiiigghhtt (yes, sarcasm intended). Someone forward me this blog post on June 24 when I'm complaining about this triathlon to remind me WHY I got myself into this.

So I guess I know what I'll be doing for the next few months...swim, bike, run...swim, bike, run...swim, bike, run...

Live from the Red Carpet

"Mommy's being interviewed by Nooey..."

"I want to be interviewed too."

"Tap, tap, tap...Is this thing on?"

"Nooey doesn't know what's she's doing. I'll just interview myself!"

"Look! Daddy's here. I can go do the red carpet again!!!"

"Daddy's turn to be interviewed...HEY! why didn't I make it into this shot?"

"I don't know who Oscar is or why everyone keeps talking about him, but this red carpet thing sure is fun."

Nose for swimming

At swim class tonight the kids were given clown noses for V-day.

Maison certainly has a "nose" for swimming...

Jumping into Valentine's Day

Since Maison started school we have been experiencing a lot of firsts...

Yesterday we made Valentine's for Maison's class. My mom was here when we opened the boxes of Disney Princess cards to get started. When she saw that assembly was required she quickly bolted out the door. We let Maison choose the cards she wanted and I didn't think to read the small print. Punching out, folding, stuffing, and stickering is just too many intricate steps for a 2 year old so I decided to let Mais "sign" them while I assembled them. Most of the cards were completely covered with red crayon by the time they came back to me to write Maison on them and put them in their nicely assembled envelopes. School Valentine Lesson 1: Buy cards with 2 steps: signing and stuffing.

This morning was Maison's Valentine party at school. I had a really packed morning so I pulled into the parking lot when the party was starting. Of course, there was no where to park. Why do my conference calls always run long when I have somewhere to be? I rush into Maison's class so I don't miss any of the cute moments and NO ONE IS THERE! I am the ONLY parent that showed up = embarrassing...but I didn't care. I pulled out my camera and started capturing the memories I would cherish later.

About 15 minutes into the 30 minute party, Logan's mom who is an opthamologist came in long enough to monitor what her son was eating and then left. I can't exactly judge, since I brought Maison an arsenal of sugar free treats and watched closely to make sure she didn't swipe a fully loaded treat off someone else's plate.

Enjoying a sugar-free pink heart cookie:

Impromptu dance party on way to story time rug:

Dance party lead by Tes:

Aside: I have NO idea what this child's name is other than "Tes" which is what Ms. Heather calls him. Maison calls him something that sounds like "Teflon" but I'm pretty sure no one would name their child that.

After snack-time Ms. Heather read 2 Valentine's stories and then selected each child individually to go sit down for craft time. The child is selected based on how well they are behaving and as the child is selected the class sings "Maison, Maison, jump up down, jump up dooownn, jump up and dooowwwn." The child gets to jump and dance their way to the seat of their choice. Is there anything more amazing than each child having a scheduled amount of time to be the star? This was literally worth the embarrassment of being the only parent there. As soon as all the children had a seat the 30 minutes quoted party time was up, so I decided to politely leave. School Valentine Lesson 2: Confirm parents are attending the party not just allowed to attend.

Enjoying story time:

Sitting nicely so I'm selected next:

My turn! Maison, Maison jump up and down...

If you have a prop why not use it?

Unfortunately, they did not do the Valentine's cards while I was there so I had to wait until we got home to sit with Maison and go through her box. Apparently, buying cards that come with a gift (Maison's came with princess magnets) is not acceptable. Maison's box looked like trick or treating time. Considering she still can't digest sugar, I had to collect all the candy and treats off the cards before giving them to her. I literally have an entire bag of sweetarts, smarties, gummy hearts, rice krispie treats etc. This doesn't include all the stuff she was allowed to keep, Sponge Bob stickers, Abby Caddaby bubbles, temporary tattoos, etc. School Valentine Lesson 3: Even if your child can't have sugar, you are still expected to put together elaborate gift bags with toys and candy.

First School Valentine's Party was so much fun and we learned so much for next year!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Good Morning, Valentine!

Waiting on our Valentine to wake up:

Why are Pooh and friends sitting at the breakfast table?

Snoopy card, my favorite!

Open that!

I love the Princess and the Frog!

Should have scratched

All signs the last few days have been pointing to not doing the Hot Chocolate 15k today. Of course it started last week when I had a minor accident that rendered my knees useless, followed by not having time to do any sort of short run to see if my knees would hold up for 9+ miles. Then yesterday Adam came home at 2:00 so that we could go to Fair Park to pick up my race packet and avoid rush hour traffic. We BOTH had crisis at work and ended up not leaving until 4:30. Traffic was so bad the usual 45 min drive took 1 1/2 hours. It literally took less than 5 minutes to pick up my packet so we were heading back north in the thick of Friday rush hour traffic. We got back to Plano at 7pm. Wow, we could have been almost to Austin in the amount of time we drove 30 miles downtown and back.

I'm committed to a fault, so I was not even deterred when we got an email late Friday night from the race coordinator saying the weather was going to be so bad that if you could not keep a 12 min pace you would have to switch from the 15k to the 5k due to risk of hypothermia. Yes, this race in DALLAS had a risk of hypothermia because the starting temperature was 28 degrees with a 15 degree windchill. 17mph winds in 28 degrees is just an awesome race forecast.

I still got up at 5:45am and put on a bazillion layers and started to make the trek back to Fair Park...I honestly felt like I had just left. It was smooth sailing until I hit the ramps that you must choose I-30 or I-45. I-30 is the only way I know to go to Fair Park so I sat and sat and sat in the horrid traffic. Surely, there weren't this many idiots that were out in the "feels like" 15 degree temperature to run. Then I saw the stalled car that was causing a gawkin backup and had high hopes I'd be in the fair grounds in no time. Nope, barely moved. Then there was a 4 car pile up about 3 cars in front of me = AWESOME! It's approaching 6:50 and we were to be in our corrals by 7:20. I was panicking to say the least. Then here comes the 3 fire trucks, 2 ambulances, and 2 police cars. Wow, that was fast...they are coming to help all these poor runners standing out in the "feels like" 15 degrees in the 4 car pile up in front of me. Unfortunately no, they were going to help the apparent massive wreck ON the I-30 exit bridge.

Uh, screw this. I bailed onto I-45 at the last possible second. No idea where the hell it goes other than to Houston which didn't sound quite so bad at the moment. So I called Adam and said, "I'm about to exit Martin Luther Kind Blvd. which I know is not a good idea in any city so can you please help me figure out how to get to Fair Park from 45?" I wasn't about to pull over in the worst part of Dallas and try to figure out the navigation system in Adam's new car or on the iphone. Besides I can't read a map while driving and I wasn't about to do it in this area. And then there it was, a car with a marathon "26.2" sticker on the car in front of me. OMG! No marathon runner would be in this area of Dallas before 7am on a Saturday unless they were headed to the fair grounds to run. Thank you hallelujah!

I followed the marathoner and pulled into the parking lot at 7am. Made a last minute decision to ditch a top layer and not do a 'drop bag' because at this point I didn't have time to deal with anything more than a bathroom stop and finding my corral. They let the 5k-ers start before us. If it "feels like" 15 degrees why should people running 3 miles get to start before those running 9 especially when the race coordinator themselves had warned us of the risk of hypothermia yet they are the ones keeping us outside from 7:20 until 7:55 waiting to start. After all this, I'm still not thinking "I shouldn't have come." It didn't hit me until the first mile...

Right before I left home, I made a snap decision to wear two pair of socks. The ones I ALWAYS wear for long races with a pair of Columbia liner socks for warmth. This was the "I shouldn't have come." mistake. The first mile I stopped not one, not two, but THREE times because one of the Columbia socks was a quitter. Really a quitter sock is going to do me in after all of this?? A "quitter" is a sock that won't stay up and it bunches up in the arch of your foot. It is literally the worst under normal circumstances but MUST be addressed when you are about to run 9.3 miles on it. So each time I stopped I tried to pull it up so it would stop slouching down and nothing worked until the third stop when I sat down, pulled off my shoe and two socks and literally started over. I pulled that Columbia sock up to the point it hurt my toes and some how folded it over the top sock so it wouldn't slouch back down. This mistake cost me a precious amount of time.

My first two mile pace was 10:30 putting my 5k split at 9:54 pace. I tried my best to make up the lost time and improved to 9:31 pace for my 10k split and then 9:13 pace for my 15k split. I finished at 1:28 which was only 1 min slower than my last 15k so I'll take it. As I crossed the finish line, they handed me some water and Ghiradelli chocolate and I walked straight to my car. I did not go to the post-race party. I didn't want the hot chocolate or the chocolate fondue. All I wanted to do was puke followed closely by burning a pair of Columbia socks. I called Adam and my Mom to tell them I survived, sat on the heated seat until my butt thawed out, and then started to make my way back to I-30. The only thought I had as I pulled on the highway was "I should have scratched." no amount of chocolate is worth this!

Editor's Note: "Scratched" is a term that is used in track and field, horse racing, dog racing, etc when at the last minute you do not compete in the race.

Supe Supe that's what you are

Guilana: Welcome to E! News where we are live from Red Carpet in Indianapolis. Up next we have Maison Maslow who at such a young age is already making a name for herself. Not only is she making her mark on the fashion industry she is also the celebrity honoree who was chosen to participate in the betting square number selection.

Ryan: The number selection honoree is one of the most sought after positions on Super Sunday aside from the players, of course, so it is quite the honor for this young starlet.

Guilana: Her stylist is amazing at putting looks together that are fresh yet age appropriate. Tonight she really steals the show in a faux fur leopard print vest.

Ryan: Yes Guilana, thank you for point out that it is faux. We don't need PETA after her!

Guilana: This moment reminds me of a childhood cheer, "S-U-P-E-R, Supe, Supe that's what you are!"

Ryan: Super she is indeed!

Maison strutting her stuff:

Helping Nooey pick the numbers:

Even having someone on the 'inside' pick the numbers didn't help. Adam and I were the only 2 who did not win anything!!! Here's to hoping we have better luck at the Oscar's...

More than a flesh wound

I had high hopes that my minor mishap on Thursday would turn out to be just a flesh wound...but it's now Saturday and my knee is still swollen about 5 times it's normal size and I can't bend it without excruciating pain...

and I still have a palm full of rocks and debris

You would think leading an accident prone life I would not be surprised by these setbacks, but I think God is trying to tell me something when they keep happening right before races I have already signed up for. Hot Chocolate 15k is NEXT SUNDAY. Yes, I have ONE week to not only be able to bend my knee but to run 9.3 miles on it. If I have to miss the race, I can at least take my gimpy butt down to Fair Park and eat my registration fee in chocolate!

Minor Miss Step

This is what you look like after running at dusk and missing an uneven sidewalk that sends you flying into the air, shortly followed by sliding on cement on your stomach.

At least I was a good 1 1/2 miles from home and had no cell phone to call for help. When Maison saw me she said, "Mommy needs a bandaid." Yes, yes I do.