My Birthday "Try"athlon

This year for my birthday I wanted to do a triathlon. That may seem like a small birthday gift but all of the preparatory items added up. Bike:700$, Biking shorts: 50$, New Swim goggles: $30 Entry fees: $80, finishing my first triathlon: Priceless

I participated in the Blue Lake Triathlon June 5, two days before my birthday. I'm not sure if you know this, but they write your age on your leg. The older I get the less I want people to see my age, but there it was written in a huge black sharpie on my right calf. That afternoon, while I was taking a shower and washing off my number (#143 on my left calf) I started to scrub my age off my right calf, hesitated, and decided that I better leave it, being that I only had one last day to be 35.

The triathlon was better than expected, time wise, but nothing spectacular. I finished in 1:39:45 overall. The 1/2 mile swim took me 20:44 with a 4:05 transition. (That's the time it took to change out of my wetsuit and into biking attire) The 12 mile bike ride took 41:27 with a 2:17 transition and an amazingly slow 3.1 (5K) run at 31:11.

I felt the best on the bike but must have pushed a little too hard because my legs felt like lead when I got off and they wouldn't move no matter what I did. But, I finished and it was a nice surprise to finish faster than expected.

As I was starting the triathlon and saw all the the friends and family members in attendance, waiting to cheer for their favorite athlete, I began to feel a little sad that I had told everyone that they didn't need to come. I wished that I had someone cheer for me, but I was even more grateful that Jon was home watching the kids. After a very slow, air gulping, water choking swim in the water, I exited onto the shore to hear, "Good Job, Michelle" To my surprise, and joy, my Dad (Step dad) was on the side lines cheering for me. I was so overwhelmed that I got a little teary. Thanks Dad, That was the best birthday present of all.

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Triathlon

I have been wanting to do a triathlon for over 6 years now. I almost did one last August but the timing didn't work out. So this is the year. I have the location and date picked and I have officially finished my first week of triathlon training. I have to say it was easier than the previous week when I wasn't training for anything. I'm following a training program for a sprint triathlon. A sprint consists of: Swim ½ mile, Bike 12 miles, Run 3.1 miles. This week I had to run 20 minutes twice...bike for 20 and 40 min and swim for 15 and 30 minutes... easy peasy when I had been doing 3-6 miles and at least 45 minutes of exercise. If I keep the training up for this triathlon I'm going to get fat!!

Blind

I'm sitting about two inches away from my screen so that I can type this. You see, once I take my contacts out, I am virtually blind. I usually trade my contacts out for some glasses that no longer fit correctly on my face because they have been smashed or bent by curious children. But those same curious children managed to "hide" my glasses under the couch a few months ago and when I pulled them out I heard a pop and the lens was missing. The lens must have gotten sucked into a vortex under the couch. We searched but to my chagrin, Ihad to wear the glasses with just one functional lens. This proved to be almost as bad, or possiblyworse than not wearing any glasses and so I threw the glasses in the garbage after weeks of not wearing them. I finally remembered to get some new ones when I was looking through the paper last Sunday and saw a Binyon's ad "Buy one get one free or half off one pair." That sounded like a great deal but before I drove across town with three small children I wanted to be sure I was getting the facts right. I called Binyons and the conversation went something like this:

Binyons: Hello Binyons
Me: Hi I need to get some new glasses and I'm wondering how that works with insurance?
Binyons: What do you want to know about insurance (said in an annoyed tone)
Me: Well, I have such and such insurace
Binyons: We accept that insurance but I can't tell you unless I see your card
Me: I have a coupon. How does that work with insurance?
Binyons: You pay full price if you have insurance.
Me: O.K. Thankyou.

Seriously? I know that insurance changes things. However, the last time I got glasses my insurance didn't cover the full cost of the glasses and that's why I wanted to use the coupon. The bright side is that it got me to go in to my eye doctor and order another pair of glasses. They're suppose to be here on Wednesday. It will be so nice to see again.