Accenture Race recap

I'm back and it was GREAT! My swim could still use a lot of improvement and Accenture is truly like swimming in a washing machine. This year I started in a mixed wave w/ men and women and I just got clobbered. Kicked, hit, climbed over... it wasn't awful, but it did piss me off here and there. I got kicked in the goggles twice and a big clydesdale guy almost drowned me by swimming right over top of me. I was LESS THAN amused. I still managed to get out of the water 7 mins ahead of last years time so I guess I'm happy about that. If I had swam freestyle straight through like I managed to do at Lk Stevens I'm sure it would have been faster. I would like it to be at least 5 mins faster, but that will take time and dedication on my part. Maybe next year. Clearly I improved and that's what matters. I loved the bike again this year... I wasn't sure if I was going to go out and try to kill this race, but I always say that once I get out there I always have to give it my all. :) I ended the bike a minute slower this year, but that's fine. I felt really good - so I'm happy. I did a hamstring issue that persisted on the run, but as long as I kept going it seemed okay. It was walking through the water stops that was tough. It wasn't as hot this year, but there was a bit of wind. Thankfully you got one part w/ the wind to your back and one w/ it to your face so it was even. :) My run was faster by 3 minutes (though it never feels fast after the bike) and I had the same problem I had last year.. I had to pee so bad I thought I was going to vomit. Last year it was early in the run and I stopped at a port-a-potty. This year it came later and by the time I resigned myself to stopping it was too late.. no more port-a-potties. If I could have relaxed enough to pee on myself I totally would have, but I couldn't do it.

MOUNT, LAURA Bib #4944 F F30-34 MADISON , WI 53726
Swim Trans1 Bike MPH Trans2 Run Pace Final
37:12 02:29 01:13:10 20.3 01:58 51:11 08:15 02:46:02

While I don't plan to do Accenture again b/c of the sheer spectacle of it I do plan to do more tris... duh! Accenture is huge and crowded and just a bit much in my opinion.

My friend Marie rocked the race too! She loved it and I'm SO glad she joined me in the journey. We had a lot of fun in Chicago ... it was nice to have a mini-girls weekend. We missed the fam damilies though.

Here's a cute shot of Lily ... she fell and hurt her lip the other day and wanted to put her own band aid on. Works for me. ha

Go Time...

I leave EARLY tomorrow a.m. to head to Chicago for the Accenture Chicago Tri. I'm so ready and feeling so NOT ready at the same time. Mentally I'm ready for it to be over, but I'm feeling like I've done a 2.5 month taper since my botched 70.3 attempt. I'm hoping that I'm only feeling that way b/c my workouts for the 70.3 were so long compared to what I needed to do for the Olympic. I guess we'll find out on Sunday. I'm trying really hard not to think about last years time and just focus on this year and go out and have fun.

Based on my 1200 meter taper swim the other day I have slacked way too much on the swimming. Oh well. It is what it is at this point.

I wish I was more mentally there..... I wish I was just anxious to conquer this thing. Blah. We picked up our new tri suits (shirts and shorts) from the TNT office yesterday and that did put a little pep in my step. Nothing like new gear to get you motivated (right Gena?).

I AM excited VERY excited about heading down to Chicago for my 'girls' weekend w/ Marie. This is Tom's first weekend alone w/ the kids so send him some good juju. :) I'm sure they will be fine.

I miss my workouts! I thought I would feel relieved to not have to do them anymore. I don't miss the coordinating so much as the actual exercising part. My body is feeling it. I"m a bit softer than I was a few months ago. Oh well, a goal for the winter right? I hope to do lots of yoga, swim and weight train w/ some outdoor runs until it's just too damn cold.

I'll report back when I return on Monday.. yep staying an extra day to visit my friend Kelly and meet her new baby girl.

Summer continues...

We are soaking up the last bits of summer and spending every waking minute in our yard. :)

Here are some photos of the last couple of days...

Lily and Jason are a bit small still for their walking bikes, but Lily loves hers none the less... we had to 'ride' (while I held the handle bars) up and down the street.


If you can't tell by this photo Jason and Lily are playing "bus"


Hanging w/ daddy while mommy did her last weekend workout w/ the team. (they all had animals around their waists.)


A trip to the water park w/ Kate and Coco.... I wish I had known about this place earlier in the year.. we'll probably go back again soon. It was GREAT!




We are getting new neighbors today and I offered to watch her dog while they packers unloaded there stuff. Milo has been hanging in the yard w/ us this a.m. ... the kids are enjoying him.. well they were, now they are doing their own thing. I'm enjoying him. Tom's in no rush to get another dog. Maybe after the kids are potty trained. :)

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

With my pending long drive to PA and back I really wanted to get a good book (hoping against hope that I would actually be able to read in the car). As I meandered through Borders I just couldn't find anything that seemed even remotely interesting. I was thinking of the days that I used to be able to walk into Borders and drop a load on tons of new books. It had been so long since I read a book cover to cover... uh, approximately 2 years and 2 months. Then I remembered that my mother in law Lynda had mentioned Three Cups of Tea while I was out in Seattle so I picked it up.

AMAZING book. I HIGHLY recommend it.

I've never agreed that we should be at war right now, but never really formed a full on opinion about it and never spoke about it when people got on the topic, but having read this book... WOW! I certainly have an opinion now! We (Americans) - I even hesitate to say "we" b/c I certainly don't feel a part of the 'we' that is in Iraq right now, but WE none the less are going about this all wrong.

Education is the answer to the problems over there - not guns and bombs. If we truly want to make a difference and secure safety for ourselves we need to work harder to make friends there not enemies, to empower the people and provide them options in their lives. Options to make a good living to feed their families w/o having to go to the Taliban and Madrassas to provide them security.

Greg Mortenson is doing what so many of us feel we can't do. The least we can do is support his mission and cause. Check out his schools (Central Asia Institute) and read the book!!!! Donate now. We can make a difference... we can be part of a 'we' that we feel aligned with.

I will leave it at that for you to pick up the book and read it for yourselves.

We're back.

We have returned from our trip to PA safe and soundly. We had a great time and the kids were amazingly well behaved. Not sure if it was just the way it was or if they are getting older. :)

Here are some photos from our trip... I didn't take too many b/c I didn't take my computer and had no way to unload the photos from my camera.

4 generations... 92, 62, 32 and 2... :)


reading w/ Great Grandma (Lily called her pinkie grandma most of the time b/c of a pink shirt she wore the second day we were there)


talking to daddy on the phone:




a fashion show of some new clothes we bought.




on the way home:


had to wear glasses like mommy:


our stop over in Indiana:


blowing off some steam after a long day in the car:




We are glad to be home and are looking forward to a visit from Gpa Pat to work on our electrical box and help install the new french doors in the dining room... hopefully the last two projects for the year! ;)

We are NOT looking forward to Gma and Gpas departure back to Texas this weekend. :(

Baseball and astronauts

The kids got some new outfits, Lily had to try hers on and get her photo taken. Jason had to have his photo taken after Lily got hers. :) Even steven. :D


We went to a Mallards Baseball game the other night. I'm not real sure what was going on, but there were tons of dogs there... the police were there w/ their police dogs and there were lots of booths w/ dog related 'stuff' ... I was so busy wrangling toddlers that I didn't take the time to get it all. It was a lot of fun. Jason had a hot dog and french fries, Lily decided to stick w/ just chips, we spent more time playing at the park and Lily had a blast feeding the free dog biscuits to any dog that would take them from her. There was a 'batting cage' for the little ones too. It was a blow up thing w/ a spot that air blew out of to hold a wiffle ball up for kids to hi and Lily was all sorts of jazzed to do it. It was quite cute. They both actually managed to hit the ball more than once. They are gifted, but I might be biased.







Both kids have had recent language/understanding explosions. They are both speaking in complete sentences, and I think you can even understand most of what they say! ;) They are grasping concepts now too not just naming objects. I noticed today that for the last couple of days they have been using -ing phrases as well. It's been great fun listening to them chat all day. Their imaginations are taking off too. This evening they were playing astronauts.



Sorry I haven't been updating a whole lot... lots of stuff going and keeping me VERY busy.

The projects continue...

It seems we have opened pandora's box around here and w/ all my might I can't close it. Our bathroom remodel has spilled into other areas, next the driveway, now a deck, some rewiring, french doors and redesigning the closet in our room... we are hoping it ends there! Now onto the "decorating" stuff. Painting the bathroom and the landing, selling a bunch of stuff on craigslist, organizing the office, organizing Jason and Lily's rooms and I'm sure there are other things I am not remembering.

We separated Jason and Lily,... their rooms look like jail cells. I took pretty much everything out of there b/c they were just wrecking the place. In one day I decided to clear out the guest room b/c I had just had it w/ them not napping. It was a rough day, but it's done! They now have their own separate spaces. It seems to have worked for Jason he is back to napping. Lily is spending some quiet time reading... she napped the first day. We'll see what happens w/ that. Right now all they have in their rooms is a mattress and Jason has a rug. I feel really bad about it for some reason. Mom and I are heading to Ikea on Tuesday for a day off (kids staying w/ my two Toms) and to get things for their rooms and my office/laundry room.





Papa's new scooter


Things are going 'okay' on the training front. I'm having a really tough time getting back in the swing of things, but it felt great to be back on my bike today.. well A bike. A road bike too... it was nice. We did a 2 hour ride and a 50 minute run.. tomorrow I swim... Yoga season begins soon!

It seems my fundraising for Team in Training has totally stalled out! I NEED YOUR HELF!!! I have over $1000 to raise still... if you haven't donated yet please go to my website and donate TODAY... like RIGHT NOW!
http://pages.teamintraining.org/wi/chitri08/lmount

Hanging w/ daddy in our 'wraps' (fitted sheets)

We're home...

We had a great visit in Seattle - aside from my 70.3 disappointment.

Today was a LOONNNGGG day. Jason pulled out all of his two year oldness for my delight and the delight of others. I don't think he was "that kid", but I had had enough by the time we got home.

Not much 'juice' to write now.. some photos from the 'race':












I didn't do a very good job of taking photos while we were out (big surprise). I didn't have my computer w/ me and my camera fills pretty quickly. Here are a few.

Things I learned at 70.3

#1 Make sure that the tubes that you have FIT your wheels. The tubes I had in my bag were from before I got my American Classic wheels and the stems were too short.

#2 Carry a C02 cartridge or a pump on your ride. It's possible to have the first flat (or the first two) of your life during a race.

So I DNF'd at my race today. I'm rather frustrated, but I can try again at another time. The good news is that I really enjoyed the swim. My time was still slow at 47 minutes, but I didn't hate it and that is progress and what I really hoped for. I can work on speed. I only did the breast stroke for a few strokes twice. I found a groove and for the first time ever felt like I really belonged there in the water with all the athletes.

I was only about 7 miles into the race when my back end was fish tailing a bit and I wasn't sure what was going on... then it occured to me that SHIT I had a flat. I didn't bring my pump on the ride w/ me b/c it's a pin and well, I'm certainly not going to get my first flat on a race, right?! WRONG!!!! So I cussed at myself for being stupid. Pulled over got my back (great) wheel off and got my tube out and started putting the new tube in while I waited for the support guys to drive up and see my sorry ass on the side of the road hoping for some help. Got the tube in and DAMN the stem was too short! CRAP CRAP CRAP. How dumb am I? The support guy rolled up on a bike.. he had nothing w/ him so he called the support van, but the support van couldn't get through a particular baracade until the Pro's went by. So I stood there like a moron for the van. At least 20 minutes later he showed up and put a new tube in.... 8 minutes and 40 seconds later... another flat. I decided that I was done. I wasn't going to sit there for another 20 minutes to have a my flat fixed to keep flatting and then be 40 minutes behind my age group.

I'm pretty bummed, but such is the life. Some things happen. Now I know. I felt I was not cool enough for the C02, but now I know that I am definitely cool enough... at least smart enough. I'm not sure if I'll try to tackle the half again this year or wait... until some other time. During the training phase I was certain I wasn't going to do this again until the kids were in school.... I'm tapered now and I'm not sure what I would do to get ready again quickly and I'm certainly not going to go through the 6 weeks of 3+ hour bike rides again this season. Maybe I'll just focus on Accenture for now and see what happens for next year... Gena and I talked about ocming back... the swim was really nice.

Gena did take some really good pictures of u s getting ready, of my swim and my sweet spectating skills. I know you are dying to see them. :)

This is what happens....

when you don't take a nap for days and days and days....



The kids spent their nap screwing around in their room again today... despite the fact that the only things left in their room are two cribs... I had even removed the pillows, books and blankets. We were/are trying the you have to stay in your beds or we come in and take X. They could care less. The last time I went in this afternoon I told Lily that if I had to come in again I was going to take away her pappies... she immediately said, "here" and handed them too me. :( Guess we have to find another way. I decided after I blew a gasket today that it just didn't matter at this point in the game b/c I will be heading out tomorrow and everything is going to be all messed up anyway.

Both kids are clearly exhausted from playing through naps (even before we moved to big kid beds.. this started, oh, around the time the bobcat appeared in our yard) and staying up late chatting about the excitement of the day. Yesterday around 3pm we were in the car not 10 mins and Jason was OUT! Lily took a bit longer, but fell asleep as well. Today the bobcat was back in action. Jason had had his ride and the neighbor kid was getting a ride. Jason got mad b/c "Leo was riding in JASON'S bobcat" so mom was holding him... RIGHT BY THE BOBCAT (think LOUD) and he fell asleep.... Mom was even able to bring him in and lay him down to sleep on the couch w/o him waking up.

It took him almost 45 mins to wake up after Lily "lovingly" smashed a dinosaur into his head after a more gentle approach didn't cause him to stir.

All is packed and ready to go for the trip to Seattle and hopefully my bike is or will be at Greg's by the end of the day tomorrow. :) I'm as ready as I'm going to be for this race... I will either really enjoy it or suffer through it.

Keep your fingers crossed for a somewhat easy trip to Seattle... I'm HOPING Jason sleeps for me on the plain.. it's either that or he will be a whining mess! I did buy a portable DVD player today so we can watch Shrek on the way out!