Stepan and I had a meeting with our caterer during lunch today. When Step came to pick me up at my office, he brought me flowers and beautiful, red bead necklace to celebrate our Negative One Month Anniversary. Yep, he's my sweetie:-)
In other news, YIKES!!!! - only 30 days to complete the planning for the wedding!!!!
Did you know there is a Bike Helmet Safety Institute?
Everybody thinks that they wouldn't ever fall off their bikes. I'm sure, my Aunt Kathleen thought that as well before she toppled over last weekend during her 20-mile training ride. She cracked her helmet in two places....thank God it was her helmet and not her skull! ... D.McL....Dr. L...everbody else who reads this - wear your helmets! ... Kathleen, I hope you've recovered from your spill, bought a new helmet, and are enjoying your training. Good luck at Cinco Ranch.
I decided to do this one the week before - training makes a HUGE difference!!!!! I didn't train nearly as much as I did for any of the other three triathlons I did this year. I pretty much forgot how my lap timer works on my watch, took way too long to complete the events, lost my water bottle 5 miles into the 18 mile bike ride, and spent nearly the entire run in zone 5! Despite all that I had a blast. In large part that was do to a number of my family members also participating: Mom (who did the swim leg in the Danskin on a relay team completed her 2nd full triathlon), Aunt Kathleen, Aunt Margaret, Aunt Felicia, Cousin Courtney, and Uncle John (all first time tri-ers), and my Uncle Timothy (did the swim leg on a relay team), as well as Meredith O'Reilly. And we were all enthusiastically supported by my wonderful Stepan, our dog (Homer), my Uncle Gerry, and my cousin Elizabeth. Kudos to all the triathletes in my family - I like to think I helped to inspire you to reach for this goal though I know most of you signed up at Elizabeth's urging.
This triathlon was amazingly organized. It started at 7:30am on the dot and the waves were spaced 5 minutes apart - so unless you were Aunt Margaret, it was highly unlikely that you would be overtaken by subsequent waves of swimmers. The bike racks were numbered and each competitor had an assigned space for their bike and transition gear - so there was no mad scramble to cram your bike and gear into an advantageous position. The volunteers guarding the intersections on the bike route were usually cheering and seemed to be having a good time. The after race party was lots of fun as well except they didn't allow dogs into the beach club, so we had to hang out outside the fence. All in all a good race and one I'm looking forward to participating in next year.
Last night Stepan and I babysat for Henry whose parents are going through birthing classes in anticipation of his sister who should arrive in late October (I think). He's a great little boy - he wants to do everything and he wants to do it all at the same time. It seemed like he would laugh at anything...me asking if his dog had black hair....Stepan and I whistling along to the tune he was marching to....knocking down block towers...playing with the toys we have. Apparently he has such a good time when he gets watched at somebody else's house, he never wants to go home at the end of the evening. When his dad showed up at 9:30pm, he showed impressive persistence in loudly proclaiming "I DON'T WANT TO GO" and "I WANT TO WATCH MORE MOVIES AND MORE AND MORE AND MORE MOVIES". He was sad and angry and very adorable. I hope he gets to come visit again sometime.