Mermaid Complete!

Jennifer and I completed our mermaid triathlon (ended up being a biathlon) on Sunday - it was great! They had to cancel the biking portion due to a lack of CHP officers, but the swim and run were really fun. I had a really slow time compared to the rest: 1:09, but I didn't care - I was really happy with it. It ended up being a 400-meter swim and 5K run. I hadn't been running as often the last month, so I figured I'd speed-walk, but in the end I ran about 1/2 of it. I was disappointed not to bike, but we'll definitely do it again next year. A full list of results can be found here: http://results.active.com/pages/displayNonGru.jsp?orgID=218713&rsID=100287. I'm in the 30-34 age group.

Now I need to find another event to do. Send me ideas!

Green Beans

Olivia ate green beans last night! And she said "yummy, mommy!" She carried on the Taylor family tradition of dipping them in ketchup, and really liked them. It made me so proud - she's starting to eat more and more vegetables when she sees us eating them. Another reason to keep this up! She also ate the rainbow trout my boss Jim caught and brought to us.

I'm still struggling with weight loss, although over the last week I've made a focused effort to think about everything I'm eating, why I'm eating it, and what it's "giving" me. Is it because I'm hungry, or something else? Anything but for hunger isn't smart or healthy but I do it all the time. More on my philosophical musings on this topic to come.

Biking Again

I've not biked so much since my days at Davis, and then it was all flat! Jennifer and I biked along Highway 1 in Marina/Seaside yesterday morning. It was sunny and gorgeous and I felt like my legs were going to fall off on some of those hills! We speed walked afterward, at first running, but my legs were like jello, I couldn't keep them straight! We're getting ready for next Sunday's triathlon, I'm actually getting pretty excited. Here's the website if you're interested in the course: http://www.mermaidtriathlon.com/09/SANTACRUZ/SANTACRUZ09.html.

Swimming in the AM

This morning I swam at our local YMCA, which I joined a couple of weeks ago. It was hard to get up (honestly, I snoozed twice) but the swim felt so good. The pool was 82 degrees and I really worked on my freestyle breathing (I'm not good at alternating which side I turn my head).

I also got my life insurance medical tests back. Overall they were very good, but I am at high risk for diabetes according to my fasting blood sugar levels. I already knew that, but it's hard to see it again, from a different source. More inspiration to do what I'm doing!

Olivia Ate Broccolini!

Last night Olivia ate a piece of broccolini. Granted, she sucked out the middle and gave daddy the "skin" to eat, but she ate it! I'm so proud. :)

I joined the YMCA last week and LOVE it. There's even a play area for kids and I can put Livey in swim lessons. I need to do some "block" training: swim/run, run/bike, bike/swim over the next couple of weeks to prepare for my mermaid triathlon on 9/26.

Jennifer and I went to a clinic to prepare for the ocean swim on Saturday. It's SO SCARY swimming in the ocean. We're swimming around the ship at the pier on Seascape beach (Aptos, CA) which is about 400 meters. It's so cold that every time I put my head in the water I stopped breathing a little, then got scared (you only see green) and then yanked my head up and sat there breathing for a minute until I felt better. It's freaky! I made it around the boat and back, but it took me 40 minutes to do what I'd normally swim in 15 in a lap pool.

Yesterday Jennifer and I went for a bike ride/run along Hwy 1. It was fun and really hard to get up some of the hills. My chain fell off once, which wasn't that hard to reattach (probably thanks to my UCD years) but I had a hard time of running after the hills on that bike for 4 miles and speed walked about another 1.5 mile. Jennifer's such a great inspiration for me to get out there, pushing me to try while understanding when I need to slow down.

More to come on the triathlon...