Four weeks to go and a third the way there.

Well, I've got four weeks - four - until my triathlon Sunday Sept 26th.

And, I am very happy to report that I am a THIRD of the way to my fundraising goal of $3500! Today I raised the themometer up to $1,227 raised so far. THANK you to all of you who have donated.

Now, only $500 to go until I'm HALFWAY...help a girl out will ya?!

Some days are just hard.

It's been a bit stressful at work lately, and I usually look to my training and exercise to find some relief. Actually, I rely on my exercise and training for relief. If I didn't do that, I joke sometimes, I would drink a heckava lot more.

But some days - some days the relief just isn't there. Some days the whole thing is a slog. Today was that day. Is it really possible to run uphill both ways?

When I'm experiencing this - the internal groaning, the slogging, I have a few strategies I try. Here they are in order of use - ie, I drop down to the next one as the first fails to improve my spirits.

1. Raise your eyes up off the ground. Look around! Look at that lovely creek. Enjoy the feel and smell of this fall-but-supposed-to-still-be-summer air. Aren't you lucky to be jogging/swimming/biking through this beautiful place, with nothing to do but place one foot in front of the other/swim one arm overhead after the next/turn the crankshaft over? No? Not lucky? Not happy? Okay, then,
2. Focus on your breathing, your in and out, the pumping of your arms. Think about how your body is being infused with oxygen right now, how all your little cells are so grateful that you're exercising so that each little cell can do exactly what it's supposed to do. Get mesmerized by the turnover of your peddles.
   Still not buying? Still?
3. Hey, let's think about some completely random thing about your day, or a funny story, or let's write tonight's blog post. Oh, that won't work, will it, since you had a grumpy day you're trying to escape, and it does not help one bit to rehash it. Okaaaaay, now we're moving into serious territory here...
4. FINE. Be grumpy. Feel the slog. Crank through the jog/swim/bike. Focus on how long it's going to take you to get to the next post, the next swim sighting, the next turn. Feel the hard. Be unhappy. Which unfortunately invariably moves right into.....
5. Oh I live in the house of dooooooom!!! Why did I ever sign up for this folly of a race?! And WHY did I have to do it so publicly? How will I ever complete the 10K if I can't even get through half my measly run? And before the race, how will I EVER, EVER even GET to the run since I haven't swum nearly enough, I haven't biked nearly enough. And how is the Senior Center ever going through this tough economy, and where are we ever going to find the money that we're losing in funding? And oh my gosh, why am I even out here forcing my son to jog with me instead of spending quality time with him and getting dinner on the table!!!! WAAAAHHHHHH.
   

You get the picture. It ain't pretty. It sure wasn't tonight.

But, one of the great things about being out and going somewhere and back, as opposed to say, doing your excercise on a treadmill is, well, it's kinda hard to quit in the middle. You still have to get back to the beginning so you might as well just keep truckin'. Where as with a treadmill, when it all gets to be too much, well, you can just hop off. As I have.

And eventually either one of the prior strategies FINALLY kicks in, or you simply arrive back at home, where you started, simply glad to have it over with, and glad to have done it.

You know what finally turned it around for me tonight? My son kept asking me questions, which I kept refusing to answer because I was huffing and puffing so much. (My son, for those of you who don't know him, is the incessant KING of question-asking). Finally, I said, 'This workout (pant) is really hard. (pant pant). I am working (pant) really hard tonight.' And he, gliding along in his jogging stroller - which I would point out in case you missed it, I was pushing - said decisively, 'Yeah, me too. I'm working really hard too.' It just cracked me up.

What strategies do you use to keep it going when you are ready to quit?

Well, I am happy to report that our 35th anniversary party last night was an unqualified success. The volunteers put on a spectacular, seamless event; Elvis was not only enormously entertaining but genuine; and everybody left with a huge smile on their face. The planning committee decided from very early on that they didn't want to make this another fundraiser. They just wanted everybody come and have fun at a great party. And, they did.

Except the 85 year old I found sitting by himself on the stairs, and when I asked if he was feeling okay, grumbled about how he had never liked 'this guy' being Elvis...'bunch of racket, if you ask me.'

I feel very honored to be in this role at this time in this organization's history. I spoke at the event, a little bit about that. I'll share it here when I have a second to type it up. The place really is amazing.

Today was all about recuperating from the week. A great church service with jazz and blues music that had our staid protestant church up on their feet cheering, and then...

A great 2.5 hour bike ride, my longest ever, featuring the following:

• the longest coyote sighting I've had - it watched me watching it for a good 3 minutes before trotting off
• gorgeous country roads with towering Mt Si accenting the drama
• my first on-the-road flat ever! Good practice, since in a race its not permitted for others to help you. You hafta fix yur own. I am happy to report that I was successful and kept on truckin! Wish I had snapped some pics for you.
  

I felt so great and proud after. Wow! I did that! Training is great for marking progress. I remember when I pulled off my first ultra-long ride, a 2 hour ditty around our Valley. I came home, collapsed into bed, and slept hard for two hours. Today I feel good. Ready for some dinner for sure, but good.

This evening is all about tackling this poor neglected home. Between work hours, trying to stick with training, actually spending time with each other, the house definitely gets the short end of the stick.

When I'm leaving dishes in the sink and head out to get some exercise, I try to remind myself that investment in my body today pays enormous dividends later, and that the dishes still will be there when I get back. How do you juggle your commitments with the commitment of exercising and good health?

Elvis is Coming! And will be draped in Leis!

I just had to share these pics of my Center all decked out in Hawaiian garb and awaiting 200 people to fill it, celebrating 35 years of serving seniors and their families. I'm so proud of this place. We make a difference in people's lives, every day. Every Day.

Thank you to all you 268 volunteers who make it so.

Seating overlooking the 'stage' and main room.
















Handpainted flip-flops and surfboards, contributed by our Adult Day Program participants, decorate the walls

You put me over a cool G!

I got four more donations in the last 2 days that tipped me over the $1000 mark. I'm now up to $1,026.50. YES! Thank you very much.

I also got out on a training ride this evening after work with my training buddy. About 75 minutes at a pretty good clip. I'm on my way!!

At the Senior Center we're gearing up for a tremendous 35th anniversary party this Saturday night:
Blue Hawaiian. For those not in the know (this included me) Blue Hawaii = Hawaii theme + Elvis.

So, yup, to celebrate the fact that Sno-Valley Seniors was started 35 years ago by volunteers, we're going to nosh on a delish Hawaiian buffet (cooked by volunteers) in a room decorated (by volunteers) to the hilt in Hawaiian-themed decor (4 feet flip-flops, anyone?), enjoying our beautiful old Oddfellows Hall building (cleaned by volunteers), watch not one but TWO community talent shows (uh, yup, volunteers).

And finally, a professional Elvis impersonator (the only non-volunteer of the evening but on all reports totally worth it) will put on a show for us. And the whole thing has been completely planned, organized, and executed by volunteers.

It's a great reminder of the reason I'm doing this race and this fundraiser. The effort of the volunteers is just phenomenal at this place. They truly are the heart and soul of the Center, and work so hard to pull events like this off. Hours have gone into the planning, and it should be a ton of fun.

If you're anywhere in the area, I invite you to join us. Here's the link for more info.

Total creeping up

I'm up to $886.50 so far in donations! THANK YOU.

If you've been thinking of donating, want to help bump over that $900 mark?

I do more than running!

Wow, just glanced at my previous posts and realized that if you didn't read the heading, it would seem I'm training for a marathon and not a triathlon. I have indeed been bicycling...took a great 2 hour jaunt out pulling my son in the trailer and then a relaxed family outing with all three of us on bikes.





My training buddy

Next week I have signed up for a LunaChix swim/bike combined workout (called a 'brick' workout in triathlon-lingo), and THEN I went ahead and signed up for Islander Aquathon, an evening swim/run race. These all help in building my confidence and endurance for 'going long' for my Olympic Distance triathlon.

Swimming has been a bit more challenging to get training in for, since I need to both get someone to watch my son and someone to watch me (or swim with me!) and get access to a lake. Happily, some fellow local triathletes have stepped forward to help, so expect to see some more reports on my swimming training moving forward.

My first 10k!

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On Saturday I ran in my first 10k. That's the distance I'll need to finish with my Olympic Distance triathlon. It was a great confidence-builder, namely, because I finished! And I felt pretty good after I was done too. With my first Spring Triathlon, even though it was a challenge, I knew that at some point I had done each of those things individually, so I 'just' needed to put the three together. With an Olympic Distance, I'd never done ANY of those legs individually! So each leg is its own challenge PLUS putting them all together.

I started out really slowly for the first half, then once I saw I had run a full five K, and still felt great, began to pick up the pace. Now I want to do one again and see if I can improve my speed! Aaah, this is the logic that drives you once you start racing. There's just always something to improve. It's definitely motivating.

The race was the Railroad Days at Snoqualmie. I saw the clock showed 1:05 as I ran past it, which I'm perfectly satisfied with. My fast 5k in my first triathlon was about 25 minutes, my slow one at Chelan took about 32 minutes. So I'd say double the distance that time is perfectly reasonable.

Racing to the finish line pleased as punch!
At this point I'm thinking it'll take me approximately an hour to complete the swim, 2 hours to complete the bike portion, then 1 hour to run. Gulp. That's four hours. Gulp.

Trail Running

"When 'trail run' becomes 'trail walk'."

On my vacation I got in two great hour-long trail runs, and last night got another one in with Luna Chix (more about them in another post).

Trail running is a fairly new thing to me. Okay, it's completely new: the concept of RUNNING on trails where I used to think myself athletic for hiking them is still kind of insane to me, at least when I come at it intellectually. However, when I find myself on the trail, feet padding quietly on leaf duff beneath me, sunlight coming through trees, hopping carefully over tree roots and boulders, it feels like bliss and I wonder why it took me so long to do it! "Pretty dang excited about my new shoes...trail running shoes."

On my trail runs so far (okay, all 4 of them) I seem to be able to run endlessly and end still feeling refreshed. Not sure whether the scenery occupies my mind and senses, the trail is easier on the body, or the amount of oxygen is higher running amongst trees! But I'm trying to capture a little of that feeling of expansiveness that I feel on trail runs over to regular flat runs.
"Yup, I ran from down there to up here."

There are in fact triathlons that are completely off-road. They are called 'XTerra' triathlons and involve trail running and mountain biking rather than road running and bicycling. Intrigued? Me too. But a little intimidated by the mountain-biking part of it. I've never done anything like that...but then again, before this summer I had never done anything like a triathlon!

Missing Blogger

Hi folks - sorry for the dearth of posts this week. I am enjoying a terrific vacation with my extended family, from my 93 year old grandfather to my cousin's youngest 15 month old. It's been great, and I've wedged in some trail runs and lake swims as well. There's not a whole lot of computer access here but I promise to be more diligent about posting on my return. Hope you come visit again if this is your first visit here!

It's never too early to start tri-ing

Thought you all would get a kick out of seeing my son's pictures of his first triathlon. Enjoy!

HOLY MACAROLY!

I am just overwhelmed at the generosity, interest, and support that you all have shown over the past few days. The donations have been popping up in my inbox and my mailbox and each time I see one I give a squeal of glee!

My total as of right now is ....$715!!! I'm feeling like a rock star already and I haven't even started the race yet!!

I will be away from much computer access for the next while, so won't be blogging as much...and if you send me a contribution my apologies in advance, but you'll likely not hear a thank you right away - not due to lack of gratitude only lack of web access. However, I will hopefully get some good training in and some good posts when I return to the online world.

thanks again everybody.

Banner Day!!

Well, HUH-llo, today kicked off my fundraising efforts with a BANG!
You folks donated $325 today toward this effort!! I found out about it while I was out on my run, and lemme tell you, it made me kick my heels up with glee (and pick up my pace too)! That brings my total so far to $410. Already!!

AND today I got new running shoes!! (don't worry, no funds donated were harmed in this purchase). This may not seeeeem like all that big of a deal. But. Take a look at them there treads.
Yeah, I know - there are no treads. These puppies are OOOOLD.

Shoot, I was going to upload pics of the new shoes - but apparently 2 is all this post can handle. I'll show 'em off later.

Thanks again for the donations!!

Let the fundraising begin!

I got my first donation!! Anne, who's a regular bridge player at my senior center, gave me a check today. Thanks Anne! I'll try to get a thermometer up on this site so you can see how I'm doing on my goal, which is a lofty $3500.

$3500 seems like a great number as a goal, since this year the Senior Center is celebrating 35 years of serving seniors and their families in this community AND I'm celebrating 35 years of being alive.

I realize it's an ambitious goal but the reality is that
a) the senior center needs some serious funds this year due to major budget cuts and
b) this challenge is incredibly hard and I want to make it worth it!

The online donation site is also live now, so if you've been waiting to make the donation, now would be a great time! Thanks.