Swim, Bike, Run, Nap

Hey all, it's Joni. Paul is in Boston this week and he asked me to blog about the last little while.
Most of my adult life I have had a goal to complete an Olympic triathlon. This might surprise some of you because I didn't dare share it until it was finished for fear of failure/wimping out. I set my sights on the Vernal Dino-tri and trained for a few months. FINALLY I can say I am a real-deal triathlete!!

3 hrs nervous sleep

+

1 mile swim
25 mile bike
6.5 mile run

= Meatloaf, cookies, a NAP, and a deep feeling of satisfaction.

Here are some pics of the journey.

Night before bike set-up at Red Fleet lake. I talked Andrea into doing it too - here we are starting to get really nervous for the first time.



Two smarties who forgot to bring jackets at 5:30am to catch the race shuttle. BRRRrrrrRRRRR... lesson learned.



Red Fleet (behind us) is a gorgeous lake - to look at. Swimming in it's 65 degree water at 7:00am is, well, shocking. There was no "wading in" either. It was a deep water start, meaning we had to jump off the dock and wait for the start while treading water. Sheeesh.



We come from a family of triathletes and here we are with our uncle Don. He is an accomplished Iron Man and is in training to to another soon. These are nice little practice drills for him. Me too. .... right.



Here is our wave headed out for the first of two 1/2 mile laps around the lake.



Catching my breath at the post-swim, pre-bike transition.



Mile 24 of the bike. Is it just me or do I look like a 3rd grader riding to Grandma's house after school?



During the entire swim and bike I just kept thinking "Okay, you've been running for 12 years, just get to the run and you will be alright". Have I ever run after a swim and bike? Definitely not. It was a HARD run, but still fun... Yay for rhymes.

Fast forward to the red-faced finish line.



Only in Vernal would they give out trophies made of rocks. Ha ha, love it!



It felt SO good to cross that one off my list. I'm thinking triathlons might be like having a baby. Here are some similarities.

- A long period of build up and anxiety
- The "what did I get myself into" feeling right before it starts
- The "never again" feeling during
- Total happiness upon completion
- The "well maybe one more" feeling after the pain is gone.

Over all it was a great experience. Not so great? The food poisoning I picked up from a 7-11 taquito on the drive back to Colorado. About 24 hrs after eating it I started feeling sick and next thing I knew I was in the fetal position on my bathroom floor. I had NO idea there were that many liquids in my body, and that they could be expelled with such speed and ferociousness. I really thought I was going to die for a while. Luckily, I had people watching over me (since Paul is in Boston), taking care of Ellie when I was too weak to pick her up. Sounds pretty dramatic, I know. But that's really how it was. I'm feeling 100% better now though. You know you are over it when you can have chili for lunch - and that's what I did today - so don't worry!

Last week we took Ellie to her first baseball game. Rockies vs. Red Sox. I don't have time to upload more pics, but it was a good time! I think Ell made friends with half the people in the stadium!





WOW this blog is loooong. Thanks for sticking it out. Gotta run!

Back from the dead...for just a few minutes

I don't know what bug I caught, but I have not had any desire to write a blog, check blogs, look at Facebook, or even check my email regularly for a long, long time. My phone basically just serves as an alarm clock, and the Wii just decided not to turn on ever again. The washing machine and disposal even stopped working, I'm starting to feel like Jermiah Johnson...minus the beard...come to think of it I don't even know who Jermiah Johnson is so scratch that. Since we first moved here and we didn't have internet for 3 weeks, I just lost the desire.

We only have basic cable, and for the first time in about 9 years I don't even have ESPN. Crazy thing is that I like it. I feel obligated to write a blog because we have a sweet little girl that is growing up way too fast, and it would be down right mean to not provide the occasional update. So that's where I've been, don't hate on me for it.
Ellie has learned how to give us "five", she claps and waves, and she grabs onto everything. She's still got a million dollar smile and stops random people in their tracks all the time. I'm not sure where her charm came from but she is simply adorable.We bought a portable fire pit that we absolutely love. Sitting by the fire, talking, and eating S'mores is one of my favorite things. Plus our yard is the perfect place for it.
We've had dinner a couple of times on the porch. Dilly loves the horses, cows and dogs next door so much that her favorite thing to do now is run away.
Everyone getting geared up for the Bolder Boulder...which includes writing "HI" in Andrea's armpits.We've spent some time in Denver with Joel and Erin, including the sidewalk chalk festival and trying Ethiopian food for the first time. It was actually pretty crowded despite the picture.We love the Colorado skies, always changing. This is the view from our front yard... and our backyard