Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there. Even though my Mother's Day did not turn out exactly how I wanted it to, I was able to be with my family and that is what is most important.

My daughter and I went to church this morning while my husband took my son to the soccer game. And as we got out of church, we got the call that they won the game this morning and would be playing in the championship game at 11:30. So after Sunday school (which because of soccer, I had to teach both Junior high and Senior high - yikes!), my daughter and I left for the game. We took my two neices with us, too. We got to the game just as it was starting. The boys played well, but the other team had more experience. The team my son was on ended up losing, but they came in 2nd in the tournament and got a big trophy for that, so my son was happy.

After the game we came home. My dad picked up my neices and I got ready to head to the lake to meet the ladies from my church who are training for the Danskin. I met them and a few other ladies at the lake at 2:30. Today, the water was perfect. It was very hot outside and the water felt great. I swam for about 20 minutes. I have no idea how far I went in that time. That's the only bad thing about open water swims if the distance isn't marked by buoys. Maybe I should suggest that. Anyway, it was a great swim and everyone is feeling more comfortable in the open water. The ladies from church are going to do just fine.

After the swim, I can home and showered so that we could finally go out to eat for my Mother's Day meal. I was in the mood for Mexican food (one of my favorites) and wanted to go to the little place here in town we normally go to. But when we got there they were closed. I was not happy. When I get my mind set on Mexican food, I need my Mexican food. So we went to a place just north of town instead. It wasn't my first choice, but I now have a belly full of Mexican food and am getting ready to go watch my Survivor finale. That will be the perfect end to the day.

What A Day

Today was supposed to be a day with not much in it. I had my scheduled bike ride this morning, my son had a make-up soccer game, and I had a Team in Training information meeting that I needed to attend. That was it. We'd all be done by about 2:00 and have the rest of the afternoon to relax. HA HA HA HA!!!!

Last night, the phone rang and the next thing we know, my son was invited to be a guest player on his friend's team in a soccer tournament this weekend. The first game would be at 8:00 way down south. My son's makeup game with his team would be at 12:30 way up north. And then another tournament game way down south at 3:00. All of this would be my husband's problem, because I had plans! I had my bike ride to do.

We all got up early this morning. My husband left with the kids about 6:30. I loaded up my bike and headed out to the lake (where the ride was starting) around 7:00.

I forgot to start my watch right as the bike ride started, but it took about 44:25 to go 13.66 miles. The course had a few good hills on it and I need to get back out there and do some more rides.



Here is a picture of me in the parking lot at the lake. The lake is in the background although you really can't see it. I'm glad the picture was taken before the ride, because afterward, I went for a run around the lake. And by then it was hot and humid. It took me 29:36 to go 3.1 miles.


After I ran, I came home to get cleaned up before my 1:00 meeting and grabbed a bite to eat. Quite a few people showed up for the information meeting, including a lady I met during the bike ride this morning. She even signed up for the Nike Women's marathon. Yeah!!! I'm really looking forward to this season.


As the meeting was ending, my husband called and we figured out a plan for me to meet him along the highway so that I could go with them to the 3:00 game. I'm glad I did, because my son had a really good game. His friend came home with us after the game to play for a while.


The good news is that the team made the playoffs. The bad news is that they play at 8:00 in the morning way down south again. If they win in the morning, the championship game is sometime around 11:00. My daughter and I will go to church and my son and my husband will do the soccer thing. If they play in the championship game, we'll try to rush down there after church. So much for getting an early start on the lunch crowd for mother's day lunch! Oh well. That's what happens when your kids play soccer.

The Verdict Is In

After coughing horribly most of Wednesday night, I decided that if the cough were still with me Thursday morning, that I would go to the doctor. My doctor is just minutes from my office, so I called Thursday morning and got a lunch time appointment. I told him what was going on and that I was sick of the cough. And you know what he said. Allergies. That's right. Exactly what I thought. Then I got a little afraid - afraid he would say there was nothing he could do. But he didn't. Instead, he told me I should get back on Allegra. I had taken Allegra before, but switched to an over-the-counter allergy medicine so I wouldn't have to go in each year to get my prescription renewed (I hardly ever get sick, so going in once a year is a lot for me). And then he offered something else. A steroid pack. That's right - steroids. Yikes!!! But hey, if it knocks the cough out, I'm willing.

When I picked up the prescription Thursday night, it was a little scary to listen to the pharmacist telling me EXACTLY how to take the steroids. I have to follow the directions properly so that I get weaned off of them. Scary. It was also scary because my doctor said I could experience drastic mood swings with this. Yes, I know. I follow the web sites of quite a few kids with cancer and read about their "roid rages". What would it do to me? I could get lots of energy, or I could become somewhat depressed. I was hoping for the lots of energy (afterall, I have an 18 mile bike ride Saturday morning).

Since my daughter's soccer party was Thursday night and since I "needed" to watch my recorded version of Survivor when I got home from that, I took the day off. No excercise for me. I'll let my medicine start to work and then get back to it. Only thing was that the pharmacist told me to start the steroids this morning (Friday).

So, when I got to work this morning, I ate my breakfast (I always eat my muffins and/or fruit once I get to work) and took my two pills. And I waited. I had no idea if I would feel any effects right away or not. I went to the gym at lunch to do my weight lifting routine, came back to work, ate lunch, and took another pill. No effects yet.

After work, I picked up my "race" packet for my bike ride tomorrow. I say "race", but I don't really think it's a race. I did get a t-shirt which I wasn't really expecting. I was disappointed to see the map of the route and discover that instead of the advertised 30K (18.6 miles), it's a 13 mile ride. It will still be good to get out on the open road and get to build up speed vs. riding in the neighborhood and having to stop at all the stop signs. Maybe I'll just do the route twice! It should be interesting.

Tonight I need to work on sending out some more letters for my Team in Training fundraising campaign. So far I've got $100 and we haven't even had the official kick off yet. But, I've still got a long way to go. I've got some "craft" ideas I need to work on tonight, too, because I might sell some things to make money as well. We'll see. So today will probably be another "off" day. Unless the steroids kick in and give me that extra energy and I decide to hop on the treadmill for a run. :)

Squeezing It All In

Last night was my son's music program at school. They had a book fair before the program, so we went early for some good books. The program was good. It was a spanish theme and the kids actually sang a song in Spanish. I have no idea what it said, but I did see my son's lips moving. The boys also "danced" a little and then had a sword fight with another boy.

After the program, I put the kids to bed and hit the treadmill. I was hoping to get in more miles than I did, but about 2 miles in, my cough returned with a vengeance. It's hard to run, cough, and stay centered on the treadmill all at the same time. I gave up and set the treadmill at a pace for a fast walk and kept going until I hit 4 miles.

Today after work I went to the gym for my Wednesday swim. I knew I wouldn't get in my normal distance because I needed to leave enough time to pick up the kids, so I only swam 1,500 meters. I was hoping to get in another run on the treadmill tonight, but right now the cough is saying "no". If I'm still coughing tomorrow, I may be going to the doctor to get something to knock it out.

I Saw The Sun Today

This weekend remained pretty overcast. I wasn't sure we were going to get our open water swim in, but the rain stayed away Sunday morning. I was suppose to meet some ladies at the lake at 2:00, but I went an hour early because I wanted to get in a run. There are two reasons for this. First, I wanted to run the loop around the lake which will also be the run course of the Pflugerville tri. I've run it several times before, but the more I run it, the better. The main reason I wanted to run before the swim was to build up a sweat and get hot. I hate cold water. With a passion. The hotter I am when I have to get in, the better. So, I ran the loop which is a 3.1 mile loop. And I got hot. And sweaty. But it didn't really help.

There were five of us total who were going to do the swim. Once we were all there and the husbands with the kayak were in the lake we were ready to jump in. And the water was FREEZING!!!!! I was so wishing I had worn my wetsuit. What's up with that? It's May in Texas. The lake should be somewhat warm by now. So I just started swimming and kept moving to get warm. We had determined a buoy we would swim to before turning around and heading back, so that's what we did. It was great practice and something we all said we should be doing at least once a week. I just hope the water warms up fast.

We did see the sun today. Finally. Monday is usually my swim day, but we had appointments with the eye doctor today and since I swam yesterday, I decided I would bike today. I have to take advantage of the weather while it's nice. As soon as I got home, I took off for a 12 mile bike ride. It felt good. Things are finally started to fall into place.

This week may be a little off. My son's music program is tomorrow night and my daughter's soccer party is Thursday night. Hopefully I'll find the time to squeeze in some kind of workout.

I added two more races to my agenda today. I'll be doing an 18 mile bike ride this Saturday and a 5k race next Sunday.

A Good Day For A Ride

After taking off Thursday, I decided to see what Friday would hold. I had taken off work so that I could attend field day at the kids' school. This was only the second time I've been at field day, so they were excited. I woke up Friday morning and didn't feel much better than I had Thursday night, but I was determined to go. So I did. And I got to stand on my feet all day in the lovely misting morning and humid afternoon. But the kids had a blast and I had fun watching them get completely soaked and covered in mud (what kid doesn't have a blast doing that). I got lots of good pictures, so it was well worth it.

When we got home from field day, I decided that I still didn't feel well enough to exercise, so I watched the shows I had recorded Thursday night and went to bed at 9:00 pm.

This morning we had to be up pretty early because my son had a 9:00 am soccer game. He has to be at the field an hour early, so we had to leave the house at 7:45. I wasn't as congested and I wasn't sneezing, so this was a good thing. The cough, however, was still with me. It was another overcast, humid day with light mist. It was all made better when his team won 4-2.

This afternoon, I went to a Team in Training information meeting to help in my role as mentor and to answer questions people may have before signing up. It turned out to be a good meeting with several signing up. There are already 24 participants signed up to raise money and participate in the Nike Women's Marathon. One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post about this marathon is that when this marathon started, it started specifically as a fundraiser to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. So not only are there many TNT people raising money, but the entry fee from ALL participants helps the society.

My son had gone to play at a friend's house and when I called home after the meeting, I found out my daughter had done the same, so I went to lunch with a friend. I don't get to do that often, so I enjoyed it. My intention when I got home from lunch was to maybe get in a short run. That just goes to show why I should never have "intentions". No one was home when I got there and I was feeling pretty good, so I thought I'd give the bike a try and see how far I could go without my cough bothering me. I figured that would be better than running. Well, it turns out it was a great choice. When I hit six miles, I checked to see how long it had taken and I had done if fairly quick, so I thought I'd just keep going. And I did. Until I hit 20 miles. That's right. Twenty miles!!! And I felt so good when I got home from the bike ride that I changed clothes and went back out and ran 3.1 miles.

The funny thing is that the whole time I was exercising, I did not cough or sneeze once. As soon as I stopped, the cough returned. It is getting better, so hopefully it will be gone soon.

It is suppose to rain tomorrow, so we'll see what happens. I have been asked to meet some ladies at our local lake to do an open water swim with them. The ladies all go to my church and are doing the Danskin triathlon for the first time. They've never swam as a group in a lake before and want to practice before the event. Hopefully we'll be able to get our swim in. I'll let you know what happens.

Allergies and Thunderstorms

If there are two things that will hinder my training, it's allergies and thunderstorms. And right now, they are both hitting full force. That cough that I developed Monday after swimming turned into a runny, itchy nose with lots of sneezing. I'm about worn out from sneezing.

I was going to update last night, but we had more severe weather hit the area and were under a tornado watch. I don't like being on anything electrical during severe weather. Today and tomorrow we have sun, but the rain is suppose to return next week. When I look at the 7 day forecast, it looks pretty bleak for getting an outside bike ride.

Despite the allergies, I went to my yoga class on Tuesday night. A friend of mine is a personal trainer and offers a yoga class at our church on Tuesday nights. I've been going ever since she started it several years ago and RARELY ever miss. I love my yoga. I need my yoga. Just ask my family. So, despite the allergies I went. I always feel so much better after going.

And despite the allergies, I ran 5 miles last night (on the treadmill due to the impending storm). I prefer to run outside, but am so glad I have the treadmill as a backup. As usual, during my five miles, my nose stopped running, I could breathe just fine, and I didn't sneeze once. But once I stopped, it all came back. I don't know why that happens with me, but it does.

Today has been a day full of sneezing and a runny nose. We have a church function to attend anyway, so I'm making this a day off. Tomorrow I'll go to field day at my kids' school and if I feel like running or riding my bike in the evening I will. We'll just see what the allergies decide to do.

As far as I'm concerned, they can both go away!