We have now purchased our tickets to Costa Rica (that's where we fly into and take a bus to Nica) and our flight leaves on August 12th. We are now counting down how many more times we get to do certain things; only 1 more book club before we leave, only 3 more long runs on Saturdays with my girlfriends (we are out of town some weekends), only 4 more Wednesdays of Joey playing D&D at the mall with his friends, etc. It's a little sad but I feel so blessed to have so many wonderful friends here that will miss me. It makes me think that they won't forget about me when I'm gone.
We decided to keep our home telephone number and transfer it to Vonage so anyone who is used to calling us can just pick up the phone and call as easily as they can now. The time difference is 2 hours later during Daylight Savings Time and 1 hour later when it's not. I don't know why but that is a bit of a comfort to me. Sometimes it's the little things...
We had our date night tonight and went to a newish Guatemalan restaurant here in Renton. I didn't really know what to expect and was a little nervous assuming that Guatemalan food is probably not all that different from Nicaraguan food and what if I didn't like it. I am trying to adventurous and optimistic because it's good to model for our kids. So I ordered 3 potato and carrot tacos (meat was an option but I don't eat much of it) which were good and turned out to be more like taquitos. I also ordered something (don't remember the name) that was made with pacaya (and exotic Central American vegetable, see photo). I had to ask what it was and our server couldn't explain better than "a vegetable" so he quickly went into the back and brought out jarred pacaya. It sort of looked like squid, but he assured me it was a vegetable. It was dipped in an egg and cooked and then covered in a delicious sauce and sandwiched between 2 yummy homemade tortillas. Once my dish came I found the pacaya to look like shoelaces. Very different but tasty. My 2 dishes came to $5.50 so I was afraid I might leave hungry but that was not my fate. A small dish of tortilla chips, picante sauce and a cup of soup came before our meal. The soup, while I am quite sure was not made with vegetable stock, was really good. It was a simple broth with small chopped onions and red bell peppers and probably cilantro. Joe ordered Pollo en Crema which was different from the Mexican version and tasted very homemade. The rice was good and white, which I was not expecting. All in all it was a good experience. I would like to bring the kids but part of me is afraid that they might not like it and then go to Nicaragua with the preconceived idea that they won't like Nicaraguan food. We had a disastrous trip to the vegetarian Indian restaurant which makes them shy away from Indian food. Joe's idea is to tell them we went to the Guatemalan restaurant, it was really good and not take them. That may just end up being what we do.
So we have much to do before we go, including find someone to "rent" our car while we are gone. We need to get a storage unit and we still have several items to sell before we go, not the least of which is our ginourmous TV and our ginourmous sectional couch and ottomans. Oh yeah and the computer desk, and the entertainment center.....I guess I better stop blogging and get to something more productive. Perhaps my next post will be our empty house....
So the past 2 1/2 years have been an amazing journey for our family. My husband was in real estate when the market tanked and we didn't have a commission check for almost 8 months. We lived off savings thinking things would bounce back and we would recover, we did not. Things got rough, we reevaluated priorities and found that our God was still #1 (whew!) and homeschooling our kids remained a priority (despite suggestions from well meaning friends that I put them in school and get a job, while everyone else was looking for a job too), and our running and racing remained important. I started doing before and after school childcare for a neighborhood family which allowed me to save for the Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge (at Disney World) I had been planning for a year and a half. Things haven't been pretty but my marriage has only been strengthened along with my faith in my God. So all in all good things from a "bad" situation.
But things can't go on like this without consequence and we began working with our bank in October on a trial loan modification. We completed the conditions of the modification and the bank came back with the "modification". They offered us a loan modification for $200K more than it's currently worth. Now we are relatively smart people and decided that was not a loan we could sign off on, oh and did I mention it was for 40 years???
So in December we began talking about alternative options. Now I am not big on change or adventure so God was definitely in this too. In reality, when we moved to this house it was a dream come true. We are in the same neighborhood that my husband grew up in. We have a safe neighborhood with a real sense of community that you just don't find easily. We have the neighborhood pool and swim team which has been such a blessing for the past 6 years. I also felt that the way we got our house was very clearly orchestrated by God, so losing it has been very confusing. When we first started having financial struggles I prayed "Lord, please save my house" but about a year ago I started praying "Lord, please prepare my heart for whatever you have for me." A funny thing happened. When my husband suggested we consider moving out of the country temporarily, I didn't freak out, or cry. I prayed. There was a lot of discussion over the months. Sure we could move out of our home and rent another home, even in the same neighborhood. We decided to look at this as an opportunity. We will not have a house payment for the first time in about 10 years. Joe's business is relatively "location independent". We could live anywhere, provided we had reliable internet access (also one of my stipulations, along with indoor plumbing). We started picking countries. I wanted a Spanish speaking country as I have always wanted to learn Spanish (I did take 3 quarters in college, but I can barely order in a Mexican restaurant) in a Spanish speaking country and take advantage of immersion. I can't imagine how this we would have made this happen without this "crisis". We looked at Argentina but they have a different lifestyle than I am looking for with siestas every afternoon because it's too hot to work or play and dinner is typically served at 11 PM! We looked at Brazil but they don't speak Spanish and Portuguese isn't very widely spoken (so how would we use it when we got back?) and it's really far away! We also looked at Guatamala (hot and expensive) and Costa Rica. We were pretty set on Costa Rica until Joe talked to a friend that he had been training with at the gym. He asked "Why not Nicaragua?" oooohhh Nicaragua sounds so dangerous and unstable. Well it turns out his friend owns a real estate company in Managua, Nicaragua and he loves it there. Joe came home and asked me. We spent a couple of days doing internet research on Nicaragua. I emailed someone who left his email address on a forum. Asked him about some of my concerns with having kids there. He was quick to reply and very helpful. He also gave me an email address of a family that homeschools there. I emailed the wife. It turns out she isn't homeschooling currently but they homeschooled when they first arrived and then put their kids in a Nica school and they are now completely bilingual. She was very helpful and answered so many of my questions, like "why do you live in Granada?" she put me at ease and I could see this a place that we could make a home (temporarily). So we have tried several times to propose a less damaging workout program on our house but God keeps shutting that door. I feel like we have done everything we can to keep our house but it isn't meant to be. Adventure awaits!
So now we are packing up and getting rid of stuff and shopping for stuff that we can't get in Nicaragua (US goods are available but typically 40% over US retail, and you probably know how I feel about paying retail, let alone over retail!!). We haven't purchased our tickets yet as we are planning to return in mid May 2011 and we have to wait until 330 days before we want to return to buy our tickets. We are planning on heading out around August 11 or 12th. We are going to fly into Costa Rica and vacation for a few days before we take a bus to Granada. We are planning to enroll in a Spanish Language school when we arrive and stay with a family (coordinated by the school). Then we will rent a house for the remainder of our stay.
We are hoping to do some volunteer work while we are there and really connect with the locals. Someone whose blog we have followed created this http://bicimaximo.com/ social business in Granada and we are excited to see how God will use us on this adventure.
So even though I haven't really publicized this blog, I am planning to make it a way of updating friends and family on our adventures in Granada, Nicaragua. So stay posted...
I have done a lot of reading on healthy eating, for both our bodies and our planet over the last few years. It upsets me to see what children are fed in school lunchrooms today. As a homeschool mom it doesn't directly affect my children but for some reason I am passionate about this issue.
Here is my food philosophy in a nutshell, gleaned from reading and listening to people more educated than myself: eat food close to it's original state, with few ingredients, minimal sodium, minimal sugar, less meat, less dairy, less packaging.
About 2 1/2 years ago, I read the book Skinny B!tch. It promotes a vegan diet that is void of refined sugar, refined carbohydrates and most alcohol (Organic sulfate free wine OK in moderation). I decided to give it a try. My sister has been vegan for over 10 years so I was not unfamiliar with what this diet might look like. I loved my chicken, had given up red meat for several years of my life but never lived long without chicken or cheese. Undeterred, I decided to give it a try and see if I would feel better and lose weight. I set a goal of 30 days, lost weight and felt great. Three weeks in I committed to a year. Despite underwhelming enthusiasm from the kids, I also decided to stop buying meat for the family. They finished off our frozen meat stores order meat at restaurants or eat it at potlucks. I bought less cheese and milk (couldn't convince the kids that almond milk was as good as cow's). Not only did I lose about 20 lbs (I stopped losing when I reintroduced sugar and refined carbs) but our grocery bill when down. We were spending about $1000 a month on groceries and by changing our diet our spending went down to about $600-700 a month. I wasn't surprised by that but what really shocked me was how little garbage we had. We went from about 1 1/2 cans of garbage a week to about 3/4 of a can (for a family of 5). I was doing something for my body and my planet. I am not eating vegan today but I eat what I consider a low meat, low dairy diet. The kids weren't completely sold on our new diet so we compromised: I agreed to buy bacon crumbles. I do occasionally have meat when we go out. Like after a 20 mile run a couple of weeks ago tacos al carbon sounded really good. But we went to the Pike Place Market yesterday and while the boys all wanted seafood, my daughter and I went and got pizza. She got pepperoni but I got a veggie pizza with fresh arugula on top and it was great. I find that I am choosing vegetarian more lately because that's what my body craves. It's becoming more automatic. We still have a long way to go though.
One of the things that Jamie Oliver mentioned in Food Revolution was that he has been to South African Townships and that these kids eat better than the kids eating the school lunches. I realized something I have seen but didn't really pick up on. I shop at a local independent market that sells produce in a warehouse but also has lots of Russian, Mexican and Asian food. There are lots of languages spoken there. When you see what is in the baskets of those "new to America" it is all "healthy" fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, etc. They do have packaged items that probably contain a lot of sodium, but largely the people who shop here are buying real food. Alternatively when I shop at my chain super market (I won't even talk about Walmart) I see the "Americans" piling in TV dinners and chips and sugary cereal (confession, I let my kids eat sugary cereal for breakfast every morning, we are far from perfect) and pop and juice and cookies and granola bars and then they throw some apples and a salad mix in the cart. The bulk of what I see in carts is processed crap while the real food is the side dish. So here is what I see. I hope I don't offend anyone but I think that when we talk about the kids in schools who eat subsidized lunch we tend to think of the recent immigrants as falling into that category and it is always mentioned when discussing the highly charged topic of school lunch that for "some of these kids this is the only meal they get". Well I am guessing that it is those recent immigrants who have not fully assimilated into the American way of eating, are eating better than those low income Americans and even the middle class Americans. Most likely students who receive free or reduced lunch are also receiving food stamps so they do not have to go hungry.
I grew up eating typical American food. Our family ate fast food and take out more than my friends. I ate home cooked meals more often at my HS boyfriend's house than I did at home. My mom (and I love her to death!!) made tacos (with seasoning packets and hard shells), spaghetti (sauce from a jar), hamburgers, deli sandwiches, pizza (frozen), shake and bake chicken, oh and my arch enemy, canned green beans. As we got older my sisters and I introduced new foods to our diet. I discovered frozen green beans to be a world apart from their canned cousins. We ate salads, discovered pesto, and Indian and Thai food. So my kids eat a much wider variety of foods than I did growing up. Incidentally so does my mom. Although she still detests oatmeal and peas she enjoys most other veggies and I don't think she's made, or eaten, spaghetti with jar sauce anymore. My kids have never had a hard taco shell because we have always made (fried, again not perfect, but soooo yummy) and when we have tacos (which we do for company) we make homemade vegan refried beans and pork. The pork is just plain pork, shredded with no salt or flavoring added. They add homemade pico de gallo (we have to ration it) and homemade guacamole (also rationed), with olives and cheese. The tacos of my youth included ground beef with flavoring packet, cheese, and lettuce. My kids eat and enjoy all those flavors. My kids are all picky in their own way so I don't think they are any different than most kids. My youngest refuses to eat all potatoes, except french fries and all rice, weird. So we charge forward in an attempt to eat better and healthier and tastier and hope the country catches on too.
Joe woke up yesterday realizing we didn't have a daycare kid before or after school and decided to exercise our homeschool privileges. We whipped out the laptop to find something fun and a discount for it. I perused the Entertainment book and Googled online discounts for local attractions. We thought about taking the Underground Seattle Tour, which neither Joe or I have ever gone on in our 30+ years in this area. After reading reviews (not glowing) and not finding a discount I just couldn't bring myself to spend $50+ on an adventure that looked like it would bust. We thought about buying a City Pass (multiple attractions, one price over a week) but we weren't really ready to commit the week to being a tourist in our city. So after about an hour of thinking and researching we decided to take the easy way out and go to the Pike Place Market.
We thought we had taken the kids to the Market before but it turns out none of them remember any of it so if we did, it was a looooong time ago. Well I didn't want the trip to be a bust either so I thought it might be fun to do a scavenger hunt in the market with the camera. I Googled scavenger hunts at the Pike Place Market only to find several companies that I could pay over $1000 to have a corporate team building experience scavenger hunt (made the Underground Tour seem like a pittance). So I decided to come up with my own but used the one sample clue I found online. I think it was a sucess as it kept us moving and experiencing different things around the market. We didn't come anywhere near seeing all that the market has to offer so I can see doing a new one next time. Plus it got the kids involved in taking pictures of our trip.
Here is our list, feel free to do your own in a different location, I think you can see how simple it is. Hafner Family Scavenger Hunt at the Pike Place Market 3/29/10 find coffee (this was and afterthought, although it should have been at the top of the list, I encourage you to put it as #1!) 1. Take a picture in front of the gum wall in Post Alley 2. Eat a freshly made donut @ The Daily Dozen 3. Take a picture in front of the Pike Place Market Clock 4. See the Giant Shoe Museum 5. Get your picture taken sitting on the pig 6. What the pig’s name and function? 7. take a picture of a fruit or vegetable you have never tasted 8. What is the best price for 1 dozen tulips? 9. Take a picture of a “flying fish” 10. Taste something you’ve never tasted before 11. Find the Pike Place Bakery 12. In store filled with odd antiques, what is the gypsy’s first prediction for you? 13. And nearby, how old is the ugly creature that might stalk Little Red Diving Hood? 14. find a Pez Dispenser, take a photo 15. find Elvis 16. find something funny 17. find something magical 18. find a fish tank 19. eat some cheese 20. have fun, and take a picture of it! See if you can match the pictures to the numbers!
My daughter, B, lost a tooth this morning. She's almost 10 so this is pretty "old hat" for her. Especially since she lost her first tooth at 4 1/2 before her 6 year old brother lost his first tooth (although he worked double time to catch up and made a pretty good run at it). The tooth fairy hasn't been the most consistent around here...
My husband and I started dating when he was 19 and I was 21 1/2 (I think the 1/2 still matters at 21). When we met, my husband had never tried alcohol (or smoking or drugs, which remains to this day) but at about 28 he got interested in the romance of wines and started reading about them and was interested in trying wine. Incidentally at 21 1/2 I was no stranger to alcohol (and my experience went beyond those 6 months) but I really liked this guy and I felt no need to drink so I pretty much didn't drink that whole time, with the exception of a wedding toast or two. It wasn't a big deal to me. So my husband started experimenting with wine and I joined him. Well we just so happened to share a bottle of wine one night and went to bed giggly (and very relaxed) when the tooth fairy was supposed to visit our house. My daughter woke up in the morning clutching her forgotten tooth looking very forlorn and trying to figure out why the tooth fairy had forgotten her. I felt like the worst mother in the world! Joe was unfazed. Now I remember when I was little, loosing a tooth and not putting it under my pillow the first night and not telling my parents. I was testing the tooth fairy. I ended up putting it under my pillow about 3 days later and sure enough, the next morning, there was my money. So my mom set the bar pretty high and here I was too "drunk" to remember my role as tooth fairy! I ended up going into her room later and stuffing $1 under her pillow with a note saying that the tooth fairy couldn't find her tooth. She bought it!
Well since then, the tooth fairy has proven to be quite unreliable on numerous occasions (not all involving alcohol though so I try to ease my guilt by being universally unreliable). My oldest has tried to retrieve money directly from us in an attempt to collect what he rightfully earned. I knew it was bad when my youngest came to me a couple of months ago with a "forgotten" tooth and said "Mom, can I just have a $1?".
Today my daughter, who has a wild imagination, came to me after loosing a tooth at breakfast and said "Mom I need to have a talk with you. I am kind of bored with you 'pretending' (she actually used air quotes) to be the tooth fairy and I was kind of thinking I could just sell you my tooth." I laughed, she smiled, and when I was done laughing I had a counter offer. I would pay her for her tooth in exchange for permission to post this on Facebook. She countered back that she would accept the Facebook post but that the agreement must extend to all future teeth. The deal was done.
So I posted on Facebook and immediately got responses. My sister asked if they knew about Santa which reminded me of my failure at being Santa last year...
We hung the stockings the day after Thanksgiving and both B and G left "notes" for Santa in their stockings. They were in sealed envelopes so I couldn't open them early (as they would likely check them before Christmas) and B told me I couldn't look in there. So then it's Christmas Eve, a month later, and I am frantically stuffing stockings and arranging presents so that I can get some sleep. Totally forgot about the "notes" from the month before (OK there was probably some wine involved in this one, as it was Christmas Eve).
So the kids woke up on Christmas morning and tore into their stockings. Then B reminded G about the "notes", and dread filled me. They opened the envelopes, still hopeful (they were not discouraged by the still sealed envelopes, which only made it worse) only to discover that the questions they had asked Santa had not been answered. B's questions included "Do you know Mother Nature?" (she's been wanting some snow and is trying to get in good with Mother Nature, but still hasn't found an "in") "Do you believe in God?" She was disappointed not to have her pressing questions answered but was distracted by the gifts so it didn't get her down. Then sweet G opens his unanswered letter only to find that his single question was not answered either. His query was "Have I been a good boy? check yes or no". His lip started to quiver and his eyes got watery. I tried to salvage Christmas morning for him. "Obviously Santa thinks you have been a good boy or he wouldn't have come and brought you this awesome Lego set!" That logic seemed to hold water for him so he perked up a bit. I would like to think it was my little pep talk that made him feel better (since it was my oversight that caused him pain) but really it was probably the awesome Lego set and his own MP3 player that really pulled him through. Oh well, I guess I won't be getting any mother of the year awards but I am trying to give it a positive spin. I am setting the bar so low that my children will have no choice but to give their children a better experience! I do throw an awesome birthday party though....
I was just reading an article in Runners' World (trying to finish the last issue since the new issue came yesterday) called "Hell Week; What happens when a runner-mother doesn't get to exercise her demons?" It is about a runner mom who takes a fall (involving gravel in her hair) and has to take a week off. "I sat on my son's playroom floor with my foot elevated. Instead of wondering how I'd manage my mom-duties on one foot, I fretted over how I'd find the will to fulfill them because I couldn't run with a sprained ankle. With a look of fear on his face, my husband quipped to our 4 year old, 'What will happen to us now that Mommy can't run?' That little bit really resonated with me. It brought back memories of my early training days...
I began training to run my first half marathon in July 2004. My kids were 6, 4 and 2. I ran 3 mornings a week from home (4 miles) and then a long run on Saturdays. My husband was home with the kids while I ran and he would do the breakfast routine with them on the days I ran. After running 2 half marathons and not losing any weight I decided to try walking (as some heart rate studies touted research that you need to keep your heart rate down to lose weight) and trained for a full marathon walk, I had to step up the distance too.
I went out for a walk one morning during my training and had only made it to my next door neighbor's driveway when I rolled my ankle. I limped back to my front door but I didn't open it. I thought about opening that door. If I did that I would be back on the clock with the kids. I would have to do the breakfast routine. I stood there on the porch contemplating. Then I hobbled down the stairs and started walking easily. I found that as I walked it felt better. I ended up walking my full 4 miles that morning. I also learned how important this training thing is to me and my sanity. I love my children so much but in order to be the best mommy for them, I really need to have a little time away to appreciate them.
It's been several years since that morning and I am back to running (turns out walking didn't make any difference in my weight either, probably because I was really hungry training for a marathon!). My kids aren't nearly as demanding at 11, 9 and 7 but I still find my way out the door at least 5 mornings a week. I am tracking my calories (in an ongoing effort to get the "baby weight" off) now and each workout means an additional meal which can be quite motivating! I am currently training for my 4th marathon run and after that I will go right into Half Ironman training (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run) for a race in August.
I love this hobby I have. I hope that my kids see it as a healthy part of my life. Every Saturday morning my kids are at home (usually with Grandpa) watching cartoons and being kids while mommy and daddy are laying down the miles. I am a homeschooling, stay at home mom so we have plenty of time together and running is my sanity. It keeps balance and perspective in my life. I look forward to my Saturday morning long runs with my girlfriends. We talk about everything. There is something about the passing of miles that really brings things into perspective. As a busy mom I can't imagine how I would find time once a week to spend 3 hours chatting with my girlfriends but a 15 mile run does just that. I am sure there are some people who think that my life is crazy. "She homeschools, she runs marathons, she does triathlons!" but I love my life and I wouldn't trade it for anyone's! Now I am on a quest to convince all my friends they can do it too. There really is something special about running....
Pre- race So the week before my race my husband was out of town Monday – Thursday. All my workouts occur in the morning so I had to cancel all of them. I had planned a 1 hour run on Monday while Joey was at Boy Scouts from 7-8 but I turned it into a 3 mile run because it was getting dark and there were no sidewalks. I had planned to go to spin class (and take it easy) on Wednesday evening but on Tuesday Gus got sick and then Wednesday Bridget got sick and had one of the worst bloody noses I have ever seen, then 3 hours later, she topped it with the new worst bloody nose I had ever seen. I have had bloody noses, I am not the mom who overreacts, I am more of the “suck it up” Mom. But it was bad enough (the second one bled for 45 minutes) that I took her to the doctor. Then my husband got home on Thursday and headed out to a meeting. Then Thursday I started sneezing and blowing my nose and by Thursday night I had a tickle (such a nice word for not a very nice feeling) in my throat. I took some Airbourne (not a big fan of taking “meds” but I really wanted to fight this) but Friday morning I was congested coughing and blowing my nose, and checking in my bike for the race!
We dropped my bike off and left, no time to waste. The boys were at the Puyallup Fair with Papa all day, so it was just Joe and Bridget and I.
We came home and printed out some triathlon check lists and calculated how much food I would be eating on the bike at 30 minute intervals and went over proper Garmin (GPS) multisport set up, several times and ate my favorite prerace meal of Spicy Cauliflower Pasta (it sounds wrong but it is oh so right!). We headed to bed around 10:30 and I didn’t need to wake up till 5:30 since the race didn’t start till 9:00. But I didn’t get the greatest night’s sleep. I kept waking up thinking about the race (no big surprise).
We left the house at 6:40 with the kids home alone and my aunt expected to arrive by 8:00. Usually I worry about them until I know childcare has arrived but I wasn’t thinking about them at all this morning before the race. We got to the park, I set up my transition area so that I could not fail. I had my bananas and gels and bars all labeled for when they were to be eaten.
Swim Got my wetsuit on and body glide and I was ready to head to the water. The air temperature felt pretty cold and I was wearing my Crocs and my feet were freezing. I was dreading the water as someone mentioned that this was a glacier fed lake (great!) but when I put my feet in the water it was warmer than the air. When I put my face in the water, it felt cold, but not the worst ever. The boys (green caps) went at 9:00 and the girls (pink caps) and relays (blue caps) went at 9:05. I didn’t really position myself on the swim as well as I normally do. I was in the front row but in the middle, not the far left where they really got a head start, oh well it is just a warm up for the big day.
I have become accustomed to physical contact in the swim and I am not afraid to swim over someone, although I have learned not to swim over legs with my stomach as a good kick at the wrong moment can really slow you down. This was my first ever mass start (although technically it was 2 waves) and this was probably the most people I have ever started with. I just reminded myself it was a warm up and not to get winded. I did OK but I kept running into people. I couldn’t get any clear space, we were all really packed in. For the first time ever in a race I had someone pull my goggles down. That was different, and somewhat disturbing for someone who wears contacts and was really going to need them for the rest of the day. But I managed to put them on again and keep going. It turns out 1.2 miles of swimming is kind of far. It took me longer than expected. I swam a 2.4 mile swim only race in August in 1:15 so I figured I could do the half iron swim in 37 minutes or less. I had a rough race in August and both calves were on the verge of cramping about ½ mile into it and I got a really bad wetsuit hickey on my neck so I figured 37 minutes would be no problem to beat with better conditions, but my swim time was fine and it including “running” up a hill to get to the timing mat so I am not going to sweat it. I placed 124/226 (I think I can do better, I might as well push it on the swim and start in the right place)
Bike - I got to T1 and had a heck of a time balancing on one leg to get my socks on. I managed to get all my stuff together even though I felt like it was taking a really long time. My T1 time was 5 minutes exactly (weird) so faster than Joe’s transitions (I will take victories where I can). I was off on my bike. My Garmin was set up to beep every 30 minutes to tell me to consume 100 calories (1/2 bar, 1 gel, or banana). I HATE bananas but during the Goofy Marathon I discovered they feel so good on my stomach when I race. I had my banana in my Bento Box but when my first timer when off it was gone, banana down! I hope someone found my T1/bike labeled banana, as I missed it. The bike course is weird, even when we practiced it 2 weeks ago I found myself getting tired and slow on portions that weren’t uphill or difficult, but I found the same thing during the race. There were a couple of downhill portions that I got to go 30+ MPH and it was awesome! As I started my second loop I was heading uphill and I shifted and dropped my chain. I panicked a little but I managed to clip out and not fall over and I was actually able to get my chain back on pretty quickly. I was also in a low enough gear that I was able to get going on the hill and only one person passed me while I was down. I got passed by an Athena at about mile 30 on the bike and I could not catch her. The last 10 miles of the bike all I could think about was how much I wanted to start running! Joe and Patty S. and Kathy M. were all cheering for me on the bike. By this time, I was a little concerned about the kids and I just wanted to make sure that my aunt had arrived (not that there was ever doubt), I just needed to know. So as they were all cheering for me I was yelling at Joe to call and check on the kids. Kathy M. questioned my focus. Before the race, I was focused on the race, during the race, with so much ground left to cover, I really needed to be thinking about something other than the race. So the next time I rode by Joe told me the kids were fine. As I was taking the final turn into the park on the bike a 4 year old decided it would be a good time to cross in front of me. I braked as I was turning and yelled and he stopped but that got my heart to pounding.
Run - Joe met me at transition and ran out with me. He told me there were 2 women who just left transition and I could totally take them. He told me to run them down. I passed them heading out but then took a walk break to eat my banana and they passed me, then I passed them while they did some stretching, then they passed me and that was the end of it. We cheered for each other on the out and backs but I couldn’t get them. Realistically it was my husband who told me to run my own race and not worry about being last so his mid-race advice was contrary to the plan (he’s so competitive). On each out and back I would count the number of people behind me. On the run a had a few people pass me but I held them off for quite a while, I think 3 people passed me between mile 9-11. But my goal was 7:45 and it was looking like I could come in under 7:30 without killing myself. At mile 11 I was still ahead of 2 men (keep in mind that the men started 5 minutes ahead of me). As I ran into the park I still had 1.5 miles to go. Joe ran with me for about a quarter mile and he told me there was a guy behind me and not to let him catch me. Again with the competition!! The last 1.5 miles is in the park and when you enter you can hear the announcer and see the finish line but you have to run all the way around the lake through the woods and as you do so the announcer gets fainter and fainter (discouraging). Then you hit mile 12 and still have 1.1 miles to go. The guy behind me ended up catching me but pointed out that I was still going to beat him because I started 5 minutes behind him. I just wanted to be done and I was racing the clock. The finish is a little deceptive because you go and go and go in the woods then you are about 50 yards to the finish but up until then you are just running through the woods not really sure when it will end. About 200 yards to the finish there was someone on the trail and right as I passed she started getting excited because she could see Valerie, oh crap!! I am not going to get taken this close to the end. So I picked it up a little and I felt both calves flutter like they were both about to cramp. So I decided making it over the finish line upright was more important that not getting caught by “Valerie”. Then I came out of the woods to cheering fans, the loudest of which was my husband. He starts yelling, “Go Lindy! Push it! You can do it!!” but at this point my calves have already notified me that they are doing the best they can. I did run it in and I picked up the pace and didn’t let Valerie catch me but I am sure it didn’t look like a victorious sprint over the finish line. I loved the announcer “Lindy Effer from RentonWashington!”
In conclusion - I had a sinus headache for most of the run and I kept blowing my nose on my shirt (careful if you hugged me after the race) and even though I was sick, I don’t know that I would have been much faster had I felt better. I would have felt better if I wasn’t sick but I really feel like I did the best I could. I also suspect that if it wasn’t my headache causing me pain, something else would have surfaced because you don’t do a Half Ironman without pain. I know I really need to work on the bike. I was 124/226 on the swim, 246/226 (figure that one out) and 231/226 on the run . I think those must include the relays and perhaps several people quit? I don’t know, I did see one person on a stretcher on the bike course. Anyway, all that to say, I challenged myself to do something that most people won’t ever do. I beat 2 men and 4 women and I got second place in the Athena under 40 category and I just love having medals! I don’t feel any more sore than after a marathon and now I can focus on kicking this stupid cold!
