Recap

Marty won his 3rd belt buckle at the Battle at Buckhorn Triathlon this past Saturday. Tassie and I cheered him on to victory as he went wire to wire for the win. Tassie got LOTS of love from many people out there, and even went for a little swim in the lake after the race.

The swim clinic went well that afternoon. It's amazing how fast 3.5 hrs can go. I was pretty wiped out after that and hit the bed early. We had another big morning on Sunday.

Our first open water swim went off without a hitch. We had over 100 swimmers and the water was cool enough to wear a wetsuit if you wanted. I was glad for my sleeveless because I could definitely feel myself getting warm towards the end - I'm sure people in the full sleeves were roasting. Many opted not to wear one which was a good choice. I swam pretty good and ended up with a pilsner glass for my efforts.

Don't forget about the Old School Aquathon - our first race is a week from Wednesday! The price went up today (but only by $5) so it's still only $25. Guaranteed to be a good time and great workout with great prizes! You can still sign up for the season pass if you'd like to do all 3 at a discount.

And finally, this story was too funny and I think this golden doodle may be Tassie's cousin. This dog was out in his front yard when a half marathon ran by at mile 5 so he jumped his electric fence (definitely not good advertising for that company) and proceeded to run the last 8 miles! Here's a cute video of him finishing.

Busy Weekend Ahead

Saturday morning: Battle at Buckhorn Triathlon

Marty has won the past two years, which means we have both of these on our mantle:



Can he win the 2011 belt buckle?



Saturday afternoon: Beginner Swim Clinic

Sunday morning: 5280 swim at Beaver Dam

Remember, be nice to those of us at the registration table :) See you in the water!

And in the better late than never category, here are a couple of pictures from the Triangle Orthopedic Sprint triathlon I did several weeks ago:

I can relate to this

Link to original story

Everyone knows each episode of "The Simpsons" takes like five and a half years to make, but luckily for last week's guest-star (and "Bob's Burgers" voice) Kristen Schaal, the show's classic chalkboard gags, which change in the show's opening credits from week to week, can be turned around quickly.

After last week's show credited her as "Kristen Schall," (a fact the comedian and actress mentioned forgivingly on her Twitter only after fans pointed it out ad infinitum), the show corrected the mistake in a most dramatic fashion, above left. Last night Schaal took to Twitter again to express gratitude for the gesture: "Wow! Simpsons, thank you for the chalkboard correction. I can't stop smiling. No one's ever been that nice." Classy, "Simpsons"!

7th Anniversary

Yesterday marked our 7th anniversary. This year we decided to stay in town and just go to a really nice dinner. We played dress up and went to Sullivan's, a swanky steakhouse in Raleigh where you end up spending $100 for 2 people without batting an eye. It was delicious, though, and dessert was on them because it was our anniversary.

Here we are before we left. We just set the timer up on our camera, called Tassie over and she sat in between us. She seems to understand when we're trying to take a family picture. Smart dog.

We started off the day with a beautiful bike ride. I love riding with Marty.

Saturday night was also a lot of fun as we had one of our Master's parties, which we typically have every 3 or 4 months. As we were leaving Heather's Marty commented, wow, we know some really great people. To which I replied, and it's all because of you! This group of people probably wouldn't have all gotten together had it not been for Marty starting the Master's team here in Cary and sticking with it even when we were losing money every month.

Time Flies

This week absolutely flew by me. Work and life in general has been busy. Sometimes it's nice to stop and smell the roses but this week didn't afford that luxury.

Last night we were going to ride but some nasty storms came through. It was gray all day but wasn't looking too bad and then all of the sudden *BAM* crazy rain and lightening. I really don't think the weather forecasters know anything around here.

So, we went out to eat instead. I know, shake your head, tsk tsk, we could've switched off on the trainer. Nope, instead I had a delicious stromboli at Ruckus Pizza. And their garlic knots. OMG is all I have to say 'bout those.

BUT this morning I had a great swim! Must've been the stromboli. Or maybe it's strong-boli. Oh hahahaha, so funny, Bri.

Here is a picture of Tassie.

Weekend Recap

I'm feeling too lazy to post pictures, so if you want to see them you'll just have to friend me on facebook - there's an album up there.

So White Lake! Such a popular weekend (now two if you're up for it) here in NC for triathletes. Beautiful lake and crappy motels make it all the more fun :)

I drove down with Kari on Friday evening (with Marty in the car right behind us). We made it to our -1 star motel (just kidding, it wasn't that bad. just a few spiders that only needed some broom whacks). We were all up early the next morning to cheer everyone on in the half, particularly Marty and Alysia.

The morning was chilly, foggy and didn't seem to have much wind. Should be a fast day! But the fog hung around and a little before the 7am start they decided to delay to see if it would lift. By 7:30 it was still thick and you could only see the first buoy. I was thinking, so what, when you get to the first buoy, you'll be able to see the second buoy! But alas, it's a safety thing. The kayakers and lifeguards wouldn't be able to see the swimmers at all. The race management said they would wait until 8am. Since it was cool, I don't think anyone was too worried about starting the race a bit later.

Except at 7:45 they decided to call it. Insert competitive male mayhem. This was actually really funny to watch: all these guys raced into transition to grab their helmets and shoes (if they didn't have them clipped to their bike) and race back out to the timing mat so they could start with them on their head/feet. But wait! You can't do that! So they all raced back into transition to reset everything. Oh! Actually, you can wear your helmet and shoes! Another mad dash into transition. At this point it's 8:05 and the fog is completely gone. Huh...let's have the swim! Cheers go up through the crowd. Just kidding, water safety personnel already left. Back to a duathlon. Bummer.

Obviously this stunk, and especially for someone like Marty who is such a strong swimmer. It's not just the lead he would've gotten, but also the poorer swimmers would then have been much more tired on the bike. It totally changes the entire dynamic of the race.

Anyways, the rest of the day was spent spectating and cheering everyone on. Then a nice nap (spectating is tough!), then dinner out in the booming metropolis of Elizabethtown.

Side note: at dinner I asked the waitress if the potato salad was good, to which she replied (in a VERY southern accent), "Wellllll, I only like my momma's potato salad..."

The next morning was clear and cool, albeit quite humid. I had originally planned on doing this race but just wasn't feeling it so opted to sit out and cheer for everyone else. The sprint was exciting and we knew so many people it was a lot of fun.

Afterwards we made the trek home and I had a nice run at Umstead -- one horsefly followed me for about 5 min. I guess it's almost that time of year.

Triathlon Swims and Cancellations

In recent years it's become not so surprising when race directors will elect to cancel or shorten swims due to wind/waves/dangerous conditions. Just this year it's already happened at two very large races (New Orleans 70.3 & St. Anthony's). Now I wasn't there so cannot speak to the conditions themselves, but what I can say is I don't remember swims EVER being cancelled in the 80's and 90's.

It's sort of like when you remember back to being a kid and all the stupid things you did playing around and can't believe you did them without being hurt or killed. Nowadays kids don't go outside unless they are swaddled up in padding and anti-germ fighting creams and definitely not by themselves.

Okay, I joke.

I realize that we live in a litigating society where liability is everything. And triathlon has grown so much that the abilities of the athletes runs a very wide spectrum -- and of course swimming is going to be the most dangerous and least skillful part of the race for most newbies.

As long as traffic behaves itself.

It just reminds me of my very first ocean swim in a triathlon and how there's no way it would have gone off in this day and age.

I was 11 and competing in one of the Bud Light Sprint triathlons in 1989. This one happened to be in Jupiter, Florida and the distances were (probably) 1/2 mile swim, 15 mile bike, 5K run. I had done a bunch of youth triathlons by this point and a handful of sprint triathlons, but these were in calm, Florida lakes (yeah, probably alligator infested, but they don't really want to bother you).

I was a competent swimmer, but by no means strong. In fact, I hated swim practice and did everything I could to get out of it during my summer swim league days. All I wanted to do was run.

So the race -- Hurricane Hugo was busy churning up the Atlantic and the waves were BIG. Like, really BIG.

I think my dad was second guessing himself as two of his daughters were getting tossed around in the ocean while many adults couldn't make it past the breakers and fight the current.

Apparently, I was out there for a very long time. My sister ran out of the water into transition and my dad yelled/asked her if she had seen me. To which my sister probably replied something along the lines of, "As if. Why would I be looking for her?"

I finally came out of the water and my dad yelled, "Are you okay??!!" And I responded with something along the lines of, "It was so fun!! I got barrel-rolled 3 times!!"

Oh to be 11 and have no fear!

Also, to be 11 and not feel the need to change out of your swimsuit for the remainder of the day and the 3.5hr drive home. When I did finally take it off to shower, I found a little minnow stuck to my stomach!

Here's a picture of me from back in the day before some triathlon. Quite possibly the one I'm talking about, who knows.