Thanksgiving at Kiawah

The past six months have been CRAZY!  A new job and a new home have taken all of my time and energy.  After a fabulous week off, I was inspired to get back to blogging.

For the past 20+ years,  my siblings and I have made an effort to spend Thanksgiving together.  There are 5 of us and 13 nieces and nephews.  We don't all make it every year, but our track record is solid.

This year we met on Kiawah Island, South Carolina.  We rented a house large enough for all of us to share. Sharing a house is the way to go because all of unplanned moments make the best memories. Our holiday included...

BAKING

My sister is the best event organizer!  This year she planned a cookie bar baking contest.  Each team of two finds and executes a recipe of their choice in hopes of winning the title of the best.  This year's winner was a Rocky Road brownie.  The girls used their brains and their cooking skills to win.  (They knew one of the judges loved rocky road). The other entries included: Monster Cookie Bar, Raspberry Oatmeal Bar, Fluffernutter Bar, Peppermint Brownie and a Strawberry Cheesecake Bar.

RUNNING

Each year we also run in the local Turkey Day Run on Thanksgiving morning.  We have done this race for the past three years and it is a family favorite. It was a chilly day with wind and temp in the 30s.

This must also be a favorite of the band KISS
because I saw them last year too!  They complete the race in full stage attire and aren't shy about posing for photos.

The race runs through historic downtown Charleston and is a scenic course.

St. Michael's Church

The Battery

King Street

Start and Finish line at Marion Square

The long sleeved race t is a good one.

EATING

Our trip to Charleston always includes another much loved  spot - Cupcake! on King Street

BEACH

There was a sandcastle contest on the beach at Kiawah and here are some of the creations.

The dragon in the top left was the winner and the castle from Tangled in the top right also placed.

DISC GOLF

BIKING

Caravan of eight

I just love spending time with my family and am already looking forward to next year.

Hope you had a relaxing holiday with some good food.

Weekend Happenings

My daughter Caroline just returned home after spending a year in Americorps.  She spent the past 12 months working in communities all over the Southwest from Joplin, MO to Yuma, AZ.  She had many great stories to share of her adventures.  She will be with us for the next two years as she attends graduate school.  I am so happy to have her home!

Mini Carrot Cake-Take Two

I made her favorite cake for her.  It is a carrot cake with cookie dough frosting.  Its super sweet so I made half a recipe and baked it in a smaller, deeper cake pan.  I was so proud of my great idea until I went to cut it in half to frost it and found out the center was raw!  I had cooked it a little longer and stuck a toothpick in the center to check for doneness, but the toothpick is about the color of the cake and it doesn't go in very deep.  I couldn't believe it!  How was I going to salvage this?

I decided to cut out the uncooked center section and make a doughnut cake. I frosted it with a cream cheese frosting which we usually do (except Caroline only likes cream cheese on a bagel not as frosting).  Needless to say I had to bake another cake for Caroline.  I did learn from my mistake and cooked it much longer and inserted a knife to test for doneness.  It all turned out okay, but I spent much more time baking that day than I had planned.

At the top of the hill.

Sunday mornings are the best time for long bike rides, because the roads are practically empty.  I had a great 19 mile ride and despite the heat it felt great out there. (maybe because I created my own breeze)

I almost didn't go, but as I laid in bed debating a ride, I made a deal with myself.  If I weighed less than I did last time I didn't have to go, if not I needed to go.  I stepped on the scale to find I weighed exactly the same, but that still meant I should go, so I did.  I needed that push to get going, but it was a perfect ride and I felt great!  (If only my running felt this good) There were many other bikers and runners out too, which is very motivating for me.

On my ride I pass through some neighborhoods and by some cow pastures.  The cows were taking an early morning dip in the lake to cool off.  

We had a visitor on our back porch. This guy was perched on top of the door to the garage.  He was about the size of my hand.  He reminded me of Jaba the Hut from Star Wars. Not sure how he plans to get down - that is a long jump.

I have only one more week until I return to work.  I have a huge list of things I would like to get done before then.  We'll see how that goes...

 

Danskin Triathlon Recap

On Mother's Day, exactly one year from my first attempt at a triathlon I was at it again. Right after last year's race they offer all participants a discounted fee to sign up right away for the following year.  That's what I did.  Not knowing at the time, that the race would fall into one of the busiest times for me.


With the financial commitment already made, it was down to the wire as to whether I could make the race or not.  My second daughter was graduating from college the day before the race at the College of Charleston in South Carolina.  I didn't know if I could make it back to Orlando in time or not.  With the help of others, I was able to get my bike racked the day before and all I had to do, was make it home. 


Physically I was kind of ready for the race.  I have been running in preparation for a half marathon in June and my cross training is bicycling.  I even went to the pool once to swim for 30 min so I would be prepared just in case. I was a competitive swimmer up through high school, so that part didn't worry me.  


I made it home the night before the race and headed to Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort in the morning. The weather was perfect - mid 60s. 

Arriving pre-dawn to catch a bus to the race area

I knew I wanted to improve my time from last year, but mentally I wasn't there. I was just going to do my best. From my first race, I had in my head that this was the hardest thing I had ever done.  When I shared this with a friend, she was surprised and reminded me that I had run a marathon since.  Her comment made me rethink the entire race.  She was right this wasn't the hardest thing I had done, compared to the marathon this would all be over in less than 2 hours.  This totally changed my mental state.


I started the half-mile swim in the fourth wave (light blue swim caps)  I tried to stay near the front on the inside of the pack.  My goal was to swim a straight line to the first buoy, cut a sharp left hand turn and head for the next one, turn left and then head for the shore. I wanted to make my route as direct as possible.  

I am on the front right in the green shirt.

If I could get out in front, I would be able to find an open space because the wave in front of us had a four minute lead. Sally Edwards got us pumped up before we took off.  Our mantra was "I am a strong, kick ass swimmer (biker, runner)" 

Sally Edwards getting us all warmed up for the start.

I managed to swim a strong leg and it wasn't has hard as I remembered. I found I nice open space for most of the way.  Upon leaving the water I noticed I was one of the first light blue swim caps to make it to shore. That gave me the motivation to keep pushing myself.

I ran to the transition area and dried off as quickly as I could.  I took care to dry my legs well, because last time I ended up with soggy socks on my run and that was no fun.  I also had to put on bike shoes.  This was my first race wearing clip on shoes.  I was a little nervous about that, because sometimes I forget to unclip and that leads to a fall. 

I just wanted to pedal as hard as I could throughout the 12 mile ride. The ride was mostly flat with just a couple of overpasses to tackle.


My transition between the bike and run took a little longer because I had to change shoes, but the idea was I could do better in the cycling with shoes that allowed me to push and pull through each rotation.

Heading for the finish line

I had no idea how I was doing time wise, but I just kept on putting one foot in front of the other.  I had 3.1 miles to run. The running part was not marked with mile markers and this made it tough.  I did not want to start off too fast and burn out, but I also wanted to speed it up for the last mile.  I made my best guess and kicked it up at the end. 

Cate, my cheerleader and me drinking chocolate milk.

Andy and me

 I ended up beating my time last year and made a new PR.  I finished in 1:35:00 - eight  minutes and thirty-four seconds faster than last year.  Here is the breakdown.

Swim           17:10

Transition 1    3:47

Bike              43:49

Transition 2    2:00

Run              28:12

My friend Cheri, after her first tri!

I like this race because it is all female and every one is so encouraging and supportive.  It is a great race for beginner triathletes and is held each year on Mother's Day.  The only bummer is the t-shirt and the medal are lame.  But I would recommend it to anyone considering triathlons.

The medal

How important are the Tshirt and medal to you when choosing a race?

Last Chance Workout

I rejoined WeightWatchers two weeks ago.  I stopped going about a year ago when my husband lost his job, thinking I could keep track myself and it was one way we could cut back expenses.  I'm sure you heard that they've revamped their program, focusing not on calories, but more on the healthy value of food.  Basically it is designed to encourage you to eat more  fruits and vegetables.  One hundred calories of chips does not feed your body the way one hundred calories of strawberries does.  I wanted to learn about the new program and start paying attention to what I was eating.

My weekly mileage has been reduced to about 20 miles a week since the marathon and I need to get an idea of how much I should be eating. I had hoped that I would loose weight while  training for a marathon, but no such luck, it made me quite hungry.  My weigh in day is Saturday morning, but I had a race scheduled this past weekend and needed to move it to Sunday morning instead. Saturday then became my last chance workout before the big weigh in.

I ran the local Lady Track Shack 5K, for ladies only and had a great race!  I set a new PR of 25:35!  I wasn't sure I could beat my old time of 26:10.  I knew I needed to run faster than 8:26 min/miles.  I started out doing well, but tired out about halfway through.  At that point I was hoping to have enough energy to finish strong.  I did slow down throughout the race, and was quite exhausted at the end. Which you can tell by my face after I crossed the finish line.  I made the mistake of not eating enough before the race.  I typically don't eat more than a handful of dried fruit before my morning runs and did the same today but expected a great performance.  Looking back, I think eating a banana that morning, would have been a better idea.  I did not have enough energy and felt a little dizzy during the race. Thank goodness I didn't fall out!  I made up for it after the race with a half banana, strawberries, gatorade and water.  We even stopped for a bagel on the way  home.

Because I am training for a half marathon in April (Iron Girl in Clearwater, FL) I was scheduled to run 8 miles Saturday.  Once I got home, I had to go out and run the last 5 miles.  Andy and I started running together, but he was only running 3 miles, so we parted ways as he headed for home.  The last 2 miles were a killer.  I was wiped and ended up walking some of it.  I was a relief to be done!

Our day of activity was just warming up, as we had planned to get in some biking too.
We loaded up the car and headed out with the promise of lunch at a new favorite spot.

We traveled to the West Orange Trail in Clermont, about 40 minutes away.  The trail is great for biking and we hadn't been there in almost a year.  We headed north on the trail, the other way is very hilly and after all that running, I didn't want to kill myself.


The trail intersects with many roads, although very few are highly traveled.  Of course we slow down at each intersection to see if cars are coming and if  not we don't come to a complete stop.  You know, we want to keep the momentum.  We came to one intersection and were approaching it as a car was too.  I adjusted my speed so I would not have to stop, but would be able to cross after the car passed. My plan would have worked out fine, but this woman, obviously had a control issue because instead of  moving through the intersection, she kept hesitating and finally stopped just before the path to tell us we needed to stop.  I couldn't believe it.  I was so unprepared for this, that I had to quickly yank my clipped shoes out and stop.  I did get my foot out of the pedal, but my shoes slipped on the gravel and I ended up falling right there!!   Fortunately I landed on my butt and did not scrape up my arms or legs.  She was such a jerk.  If she had only kept going like she should have... it would have all worked out.

So what is worse than falling?  Having other people see you fall of course!  At the time I didn't know how many people saw me until after it happened when the driver of another car asked me if I was all right as did walkers on the trail. That was no nice of them and it warmed my heart :) after that fiasco. Yay for nice people!

We rode out for about 10 miles and then turned around to head back.  With 7 miles left to go, the clouds broke open and rain poured on us. We were wet and cold when we finally returned to the car almost two hours after starting.  We cranked the heat in the car and headed for lunch at Troy's Cuban Cafe.  We discovered this great place for cuban sandwiches as it is right next to the bike shop we go to.  We were still so cold we ate lunch in the car with the heater on.

Tired and full we headed for home - the workout was over!  It really was a fun day and I can't wait to go bike riding on the trail again.  My weigh in on Sunday yielded a small step in the right direction with a .6 weight loss for a total of 2.4 lbs for the two weeks.

Have you ever fallen in front of other people?

New workout gear

I spent the weekend on the run, but not on my feet running, that is after my early morning 7 mile run Saturday, but rather running around town in my car.  They weren't all housekeeping errands, some were quite fun.  I found out that there is a Lululemon Athletica outlet in Orlando and had to go check it out.  Wow, this place was awesome - more great things than I could buy in one trip.  So I am definitely going back. Their workout gear  is totally cute and unique.  I bought knee length crop running pants and compression socks.

The best part is the prices are about half of what they are in their regular stores and...

 all your purchases come in this adorable reusable tote! 

I also made a trip to the bike shop for a tune up on my bike.  Lucky me, they were having a sale!  I bought new pedals and shoes for my bike.  Up until now I have been riding with regular pedals and sneakers.   While there, I had a chance to try the new pedals and shoes to get the hang of clipping them in and out.  It was tricky at first, but I feel pretty good about it now.  I have been warned that  it is very easy to fall until you get used to them.  I will have to remember to take my foot out BEFORE I stop.   While waiting for the pedals to be installed I found a new bike shirt.  This is my first official bike shirt - pockets and all. It was too cute to pass up (and it was on sale).

  I wanted to take a test ride when I got home, but it has been raining  all afternoon.  I will have to wait until tomorrow.

Although I did not get a lot of down time this weekend, it was a good one.  I hope you had a good weekend too!

Tomorrow starts week 4 of marathon training, I am starting to get used to getting up @ 5 am, if that's possible.  The daily runs are now up to 45 minutes in length.

My New Bike

Ever since I rode my mountain bike (the kind with the comfy seat and fat tires) in a triathlon, I have wanted to upgrade to a bike that would be better suited for speed as well has sturdy enough to cruise the neighborhood and run errands.  Well my wish came true...I found the perfect bike!

A big thank you to the wonderful staff at The Cycling Hub in Clermont.  They asked me questions about what kind of riding I would be doing, measured me for the right size frame and took my body size into account to fit me with the perfect bike, because one size does not fit all when it come to bikes. Going to a bike shop was a smart decision and I highly recommend it.  Buying a bike is an investment and you want to make an informed decision. The bike shop I chose also offers great follow up service and repair.  In fact I need to have them teach me how to fix a flat before I have one!

I am now hitting the road on a blue Trek 7.2 FX!!!  It is awesome.  I live in a great area for biking and have been out many times trying to build my stamina.  I have found a route with a hill that covers about 15 miles. It has been  great to have another option for my cardio workout.  Each time I ride, I like it more - I might be getting hooked.  Some friends have given me "biker" tips to improve my form and performance...I am learning a lot and loving every minute!

If you have any advice for me as I venture into the world of biking, I'd love to hear it.