This is a long one, not because I'm going to be my usual wordy, but because I had the PAPARAZZI as my cheerleading squad. I love them.
All year I had planned on participating in the Desert Grande Triathlon again, but was seriously lacking the training department. You'll remember my Pilates tantrum (which is still not over) which resulted in a gym hiatus and then I also had 2 miscarriages between May and October. I actually found out I was pregnant days after I decided to start training in September, so then I backed off again for a while. So really, I only gave myself 2 weeks to train for this triathlon.
(one of these days I'll stop carrying around my 6-year-old)
I still don't know how to swim, but since I remembered the swim being the least of my problems last year, I only practiced the swim once and surprisingly did it in a good time. This was not a good representative of how I would do in the triathlon.
Elliot, Stella, my parents AND all of my siblings, and my cousin Teener came to support me for my triathlon! They are the best! I'm not sure how happy they were about the early morning in Casa Grande, but they all made it and won the award for best cheerleading squad!
I was able to train a little bit with my friend Melinda and then met up with my friend Corissa. They were nervous about the swim, but ended up kicking my trash. There were also several other friends participating in the triathlon this year.
My family had to wait around for me to start the swim (I'm slow, so I had to wait at the back of the line), but it's OK because they had this guy standing in front of me for entertainment. As a side note, he also wore just his speedo and a shirt during the bicycle portion of the event, but I'll withhold the picture on that one. You're welcome.
So I did my stretches and little warm up and then, yes, I plugged my nose and jumped in. I'm telling you, I really don't know how to swim.
I'd like to say I have a nice backstroke that I did the entire time. But my Father finally put a name to whatever it is I do in the pool. It looks a little something like this . . .
. . . and it's called "the lazy man's swim." Thanks for identifying that one for me Dad.
My Squad. I could hear them cheering me (and others) on the entire time. They say I was smiling the entire time, but really it's because my teeth are too big for my mouth and I was laughing that I was going so slow.
Shhh. She doesn't know what it means and I don't think my Mom get's it either.
I cannot tell you how happy I was to finally be done swimming. It took much longer than I remembered it from last year, but it was really just 14 seconds longer. I finished the swim in 15 minutes 9 seconds.
It was very difficult to get out of the pool. My review of the event will include a suggestion for a pool stool. Not stool as in what is on the sign Stella is holding, but more of a step.
My transition time was very long. I should have hurried, but I also didn't want to barf.
My squad followed me right to the road with all of their signs and yelling and energy to send me off to my 10-mile bike ride. I was sure they were going to go out to brunch while I was gone. I'm glad they didn't though because I improved FANTASTICALLY during the bike portion.
I had a better bike, for one thing, but I also knew the course and made little goals for myself to sprint. Plus, I was passing people which also helped my head to be in the right place to work harder. I finished the bike in 55 minutes 41 seconds (really it was like 48 minutes, but my transition time was so slow), which is an 11 minute improvement from last year.
By this time, I realized how incredibly important it is to practice bricks (the transfer from swim to bike or bike to run). There was no way my legs were letting me run.
Good thing the paparrazzi was still around and I also had Teener to run with me for a minute and give me a good luck spank.
I had planned on running the entire 5K, but without that practice of transitions, my legs were just so tired and wouldn't continue running. I ran as often as I could though. According to this sign, they weren't sure I was going to make it either.
My squad was so spread out that I heard cheering for the whole last part of my run to the finish line.
Their cheers made me fun faster!
Stella and Adam even started chasing me in . . . they eventually passed me . . .
. . . but still I MADE IT TO THE FINISH LINE! I improved on the run this year as well, finishing in 38 minutes 30 seconds (3 minute improvement . . . every minute counts). So my total time for the whole triathlon was 1 hour 49 minutes and 20 seconds which was 40 seconds faster than my goal! :)
And I knew if I stopped running before I found Elliot, I'd just sit down on the ground. So I kept running.
I got loves all around from everyone on the BEST CHEERLEADING SQUAD EVER!
After swimming, biking, and running, it's my face that hurts from smiling.
I'm still amazed at how emotional I get after finishing. I remember last year just breaking down and crying because I had accomplished something I never in my life thought I'd ever do. But this year I think it was because of the overwhelming love and support I received from my lunatic family. And I use lunatic in the most loving way possible. I love them so much!
And they love me too.
Anabelle, Claire, Stella, George, Raymond
Lucy-Lu
I couldn't even walk across it without assistance and there she is jumping across. Fearless.
Lovey.
I still fit.
So it was my plan to be a complete glutton on Thanksgiving day, but Elliot had other plans that involved movement. Stella strapped on her helmet and got on her bike and sped ahead of us while we ran down to canal and back before our Thanksgiving feast!
I only wish my teeth were that white. Thanks for editing Marylin.
So I had a good little laugh when Stella came out of her bed late one night saying that she had an itchy butt (I don't know how much longer she'll allow me to tell her stories). She'd already had a shower, but insisted that she needed a bath. She found my shower cap and went to it. I think she just wanted to stay up later. And her hair got wet anyway. That's what happens when you plunge the shower cap in the water and try to put it back on your head.
I dehydrated my 1/2 box of Utah peaches into peach chips that'll cut your mouth.
Then I spent the next 3 days doing batches of peach leather because my dehydrator will only do one rack at a time for 5-8 hours . . . AAAHHH! But I got her done.
We also got a little batch of apples from the Dibble Farm in Utah and I did apple chips with an assortment of mouth-cutters and some that are more gentle on the pie hole.
I think they all turned out really well for my first year of dehydrating!
Now if I can get Elliot to go out and shoot us a deer, I can make some jerky.
(one of these days I'll stop carrying around my 6-year-old)
Elliot, Stella, my parents AND all of my siblings, and my cousin Teener came to support me for my triathlon! They are the best! I'm not sure how happy they were about the early morning in Casa Grande, but they all made it and won the award for best cheerleading squad!
My family had to wait around for me to start the swim (I'm slow, so I had to wait at the back of the line), but it's OK because they had this guy standing in front of me for entertainment. As a side note, he also wore just his speedo and a shirt during the bicycle portion of the event, but I'll withhold the picture on that one. You're welcome.
So I did my stretches and little warm up and then, yes, I plugged my nose and jumped in. I'm telling you, I really don't know how to swim.
I'd like to say I have a nice backstroke that I did the entire time. But my Father finally put a name to whatever it is I do in the pool. It looks a little something like this . . .
. . . and it's called "the lazy man's swim." Thanks for identifying that one for me Dad.
My Squad. I could hear them cheering me (and others) on the entire time. They say I was smiling the entire time, but really it's because my teeth are too big for my mouth and I was laughing that I was going so slow.
Shhh. She doesn't know what it means and I don't think my Mom get's it either.
I cannot tell you how happy I was to finally be done swimming. It took much longer than I remembered it from last year, but it was really just 14 seconds longer. I finished the swim in 15 minutes 9 seconds.
It was very difficult to get out of the pool. My review of the event will include a suggestion for a pool stool. Not stool as in what is on the sign Stella is holding, but more of a step.
My transition time was very long. I should have hurried, but I also didn't want to barf.
My squad followed me right to the road with all of their signs and yelling and energy to send me off to my 10-mile bike ride. I was sure they were going to go out to brunch while I was gone. I'm glad they didn't though because I improved FANTASTICALLY during the bike portion.
I had a better bike, for one thing, but I also knew the course and made little goals for myself to sprint. Plus, I was passing people which also helped my head to be in the right place to work harder. I finished the bike in 55 minutes 41 seconds (really it was like 48 minutes, but my transition time was so slow), which is an 11 minute improvement from last year.
By this time, I realized how incredibly important it is to practice bricks (the transfer from swim to bike or bike to run). There was no way my legs were letting me run.
Good thing the paparrazzi was still around and I also had Teener to run with me for a minute and give me a good luck spank.
I had planned on running the entire 5K, but without that practice of transitions, my legs were just so tired and wouldn't continue running. I ran as often as I could though. According to this sign, they weren't sure I was going to make it either.
My squad was so spread out that I heard cheering for the whole last part of my run to the finish line.
Their cheers made me fun faster!
Stella and Adam even started chasing me in . . . they eventually passed me . . .
. . . but still I MADE IT TO THE FINISH LINE! I improved on the run this year as well, finishing in 38 minutes 30 seconds (3 minute improvement . . . every minute counts). So my total time for the whole triathlon was 1 hour 49 minutes and 20 seconds which was 40 seconds faster than my goal! :)
And I knew if I stopped running before I found Elliot, I'd just sit down on the ground. So I kept running.
I got loves all around from everyone on the BEST CHEERLEADING SQUAD EVER!
After swimming, biking, and running, it's my face that hurts from smiling.
I'm still amazed at how emotional I get after finishing. I remember last year just breaking down and crying because I had accomplished something I never in my life thought I'd ever do. But this year I think it was because of the overwhelming love and support I received from my lunatic family. And I use lunatic in the most loving way possible. I love them so much! 
And they love me too.
My Aunt Lora planned a pre-triathlon dessert party at her house where some of my awesome cousins and my brothers and sisters made amazing and occasionally inappropriate signage for my triathlon the next morning. I had to leave early to get some sleep, but I can imagine how much more funny they thought they were later at night. I love them!
They were gone for a while. I wonder how long and how many times they practiced their little cheer from 1953. :)
ALL of my brothers and sisters came to Arizona to support me in my triathlon in November. They are amazing and I love them so, so much! Plus, they're kind of funny.
But since I am a big fan of TIME OUT for Mommy AND because my cousins and mother and aunts were going to be there, I bought a ticket to go to Deseret Book's Time Out for Women back in October. The theme was HOPE and I wrote down lots of notes in my journal that I won't bore you with here (mostly because I'm starting to bore myself), but I can say that though it had it's musical testimony EFY moments, I really enjoyed the conference. But lets be real, all I really wanted to do was hang out with my beautiful cousins. Two days was fun, but NOT ENOUGH!
Kristin (cousin), Rachelle (cousin), Erica's Mom, Erica (cousin-in-law), Julie (cousin), Savanna (cousin-in-law), Sandra (aunt), Jeanette (mommy), Whitney (me), Kylee (honorary relative because she's Lindsay's sister-in-law), Christine (cousin), Liz (aunt)
"Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters . . ." I totally have had that song in my head the whole time I've been writing this post. Oh, here I go again!
"Lord help the mister who comes between me and my sister . . . And lord help the sister, who comes between me and my man!"
It wasn't hot in there, I really am just that greasy.
