Heritage Park Triathlon (5/17/09)

I’ve wanted to do the Heritage Park triathlon for a few years but haven’t. This is a short sprint tri with a duathlon run simultaneously. It is an early one usually the 3^rd Sunday in May. Many Corporate Challenge companies use this as a tryout to see who can participate in the KCCC tri a few weeks later.

This year I decided to do it since I wouldn’t be competing in KCCC. I've been running 15-18 miles a week, very little biking, and no swimming.

I got up at 5:00am in order to make the 40-mile drive down to Heritage Park for a 7:30am start time. It is near Stillwell, KS on the south side of the metro. Us northlanders often refer to this as “near the Oklahoma boarder.” The sun was just starting to rise when I arrived. There were still lots of good spots in the transition area, thankfully, because I moved my bike 3 times. While waiting in line for chips and marking my buddy, Duke, from work said the lake water was 52 degrees. The spring weather had been cold with very few days above 70 and lots of rain, but this still surprised me. I don’t think I’ve ever swam in water that cold, would I be able to breathe?

The air temperature was in the lower 50’s and it was very foggy. The duathletes were happy as this was perfect racing weather for running and biking. Around 7am I put on my wetsuit and set up my transition area. I left a sweatshirt out just in case I was freezing after the swim.

Usually I get in to swim a bit of a warm-up before the race, but this day I did not. The few (and I mean very few) that did said it wasn’t uncomfortably cold. By habit, I requested the first heat with the fast swimmers, otherwise I’d have to start 30 min later and I’d spend most of leg swimming around people. When I got to the start I felt a little intimidated with all the young hard-body serious triathlete boys. I was one of a handful of women and probably the only 40-something woman and without any muscle definition.

The 500M swim started in water and was a counter-clockwise triangle with 2-turns. I chose to stay on the dock and when the gun sounded I jumped in and moved as fast as I could to generate heat. I fell in behind another swimmer to drag and got into a good rhythm. My head started to spin after a few minutes. It probably had something to do with only training once in the past 8 months, but I was too cold to care. I just wanted out of the water. Shortly after the 2^nd turn I heard the gun start the next heat. This meant 5-minutes had lapsed and I was making good time. I popped my head up to look for the finish and decided to pass my drag and finish strong. When I exited the water my watch said 8:42 but my recorded time was 8:51 since the chip reader was closer to transition. Looking back, I noticed I was mid-pack (22^nd of 42) of the first heat, not bad for an old lady.

T1 went smooth and I got out of my wetsuit with some grace. I put on my bike shoes, ran my bike out of transition, hopped on, clipped in and took off. The course was new to me as I hadn’t even looked at a map. The first mile and a half was a long deceitful hill and I was not feeling good about my only training being the 4-mile jaunts with Buster. Once we turned back into the park the rolling hills were mostly downhill. I soon saw the lake and transition area and realized we were doing loops. In total the bike leg was 3 laps and my average speed was over 16 mph. An acceptable rate for this early in the season.

The run leg was next, my weakest link. I walked out of transition drinking some water and started to jog about 20- yds later. It was a flat and managed a steady pace. Before I knew it I hit the 1-mile marker and my watch said 9:19, a very fast first mile for me. I figured it was wrong because I felt slow and steady. The 2nd mile was hilly and I walked up a few of the hills and my watched registered 11:03 for, a total of 20:22. For the first time ever in my life, my legs were moving on their own and not wanting to stop. Round and round like bicycle wheels, and luckily, my cardio was able to handle it. I wasn't wearing my monitor but it heart rates seemed okay. As we came around the lake on the 3rd and final mile my body was getting tired but I listened to the legs. I finished the run at 30:34, a pace of 10:11 which was my fastest run pace ever for a triathlon. I can really tell that I had been training for the run.

My final time was 1:27.38 which is good enough for me. I took 28th out of 43 women and for swimming I was 32nd out of 198 triathletes. Not too shabby for an old woman. I grabbed a few bagels, a banana, and a yogurt and went and got in the line for free massages!

My next race is 8/1/09, unless I decide that my toe is well enough for one in July!

Toe trauma, no drama

My first visit the emergency room in 30 years happened the night of June 6th. After a busy morning and afternoon, I decided to go to the Italiana Fest at Zona Rosa to see some of my friends from work. We stopped at QuickTrip for a cold drink and then drove around ZR looking for a parking place. Riley said I should just park at Dick’s but I wanted a spot in a shaded garage. I found one in the garage that attaches to the only indoor common area in ZR.

We parked and walked to the doors, where I proceeded by grabbing the big glass door too fast and having it roll over my left foot. My first thought was “@#!$^* that really hurt bad!” We continued inside and I looked down and things didn’t look right. I told Riley we needed to go to the restroom where I could clean up my foot. I only made it a few steps when I heard people gawking about the bloody trail I was leaving, and then someone pointed me to the Guest Services desk where they had first aid. The lady behind the desk handed me some tissues, bandaids, gauze, and ointment and I’m sure my face looked dumbfounded. I was starting to feel light-headed so I grabbed them and sat down at a table about 10 feet away.

I wrapped the tissues around my mangled toe so the passer-byers wouldn’t see it. The guest services lady told me if there wasn’t enough paper towels in the bathroom I could hunt down a cleaning lady and she would have some. I was sweating profusely and was pretty sure that I couldn’t stand up without fainting.

Riley was a trooper and was doing everything she could think of to help me. She suggested that I call a nurse so I called my friend Heidi who I'd been chatting with earlier in the day. She is a (non-practicing) nurse and her husband, Jason, is an ER doctor. I told her that I hurt my toe and I thought the toenail had come completely off but I was too afraid to look. Jason said ER would only dress it and give me pain medication, so if I could do that myself there was no need to go. Since I couldn’t even look at it, let alone touch it, I thought a visit to a medical professional sounded like a good idea.

Next, the “first responder” for ZR showed up to help me thru my ordeal. He glanced at my foot, told me to elevate it, wrote up an accident report, suggested I go to Urgent Care but not drive myself, and was on his way. Thanks dude.

As Riley worked with the guest service lady to find an open urgent care center I called a few friends to see if they could come give me a ride. After 3 calls with no luck and discovering that all urgent care centers close at 6pm or earlier on Saturdays, I decided to drive myself two miles down the road to St. Lukes Hospital.

I mustered my strength, stood up and limped to my car, arguing with Riley most of the way that I could indeed drive okay. We made it to the hospital fine and spent only 5 minutes in the waiting room. It was 6:40pm. I notified my softball team that I wouldn’t be playing the next day because I was in the ER.

I was taken to a private room with a bed and cable TV. I laid down and put a blanket over me and Riley and I both sighed a sigh of relief. As we watched NEMO, the nurse, doctor and billings clerk came and left several times. Unable to let anyone touch my wound, the doctor decided to numbing it would be best. Yes, those two shots almost hurt more than the wound itself, but 10 seconds later I felt I could jump up and go run a 5K.

One of my softball team members texted me back and called me a pansy and said they always play with their ailments, so with the beauty of camera phones she was able to see why she needed to find a sub.

Between the doctor and the nurse they cleaned me up nicely and equipped me with the knowledge and materials to take care of my wound for the next 5 days. Riley and I left the hospital about 2 hours after we arrived and went straight to a 24-hr pharmacy to fill my prescriptions for vicodin, motrin, and cephalexin (pain and anti-infection pills).

It has been 10-days since the trauma and it is no longer an open wound. The first 2 days were painful. Days 3-7 got better and only hurt bad when touched. Now it is just uncomfortable as my nail-bed learns to exist without protection. I've continued my exercise on the stationary bike and elliptical in flip-flops. On day 8 I ran barefoot on my treadmill, my feet were sore after.

My doctor says it will take 1-3 months to see the nail start to grow, and another 6-9 months for it to come in fully. There is a possibilty that the nail matrix was damaged and it could take even longer for it to produce new nail plate cells. My goal is to participate in the Smithville Woman's Triathlon on August 1st.

Pedalers Jamboree

We drove to Columbia last Friday night and while Riley hung with Soula & Mary, I went on my first organized Katy Trail. I tagged along with Jami, a friend from work, and her boyfriend.

We meet at Flat Branch park Saturday morning, checked in our camping gear and hit the trails.

Eight miles into the trip Lori, the former girl scout, bailed Jami out with a spare tube and bike tools when her tire went flat from dry rot. Nathan provided the labor.

Our first scheduled stop was at Katfish Katy's in Huntsdale. An awesome blues band was playing for all the bikers who had stopped for a cold beverage.

From Huntsdale to Rochport the Trail follows the Missouri River along the bluffs. It is especially beautiful in October when the trees are in full fall color. This day, however, was hot and humid. Here's the three of us posing with a cave along the trail. I wonder what all lives in there?!?

In Rocheport we had an over-priced lunch that tasted mediocre. A band was playing outside but most of the time we were inside standing in line. Nathan picked up some more spare tubes in case Jami got another flat.

Just past Rocheport is the old train tunnel. The air was refreshingly cool in there. Look how big our muscles are after riding 20 miles.

We were headed towards the bridge into Booneville on the clearly marked Katy Trail when some guy said we were going the wrong way. Jami followed the lost soul while Nathan and I confidently rode ahead. In this picture, Nathan is waiting for Jami because she took the long route by trusting a stranger instead of her boyfriend.

We had to ride around Booneville for a while before finding Kemper Park. Our camping gear was waiting for us so we picked out our spots, set up tents, and headed for the YMCA to shower.
Nathan, Jami & I then went searching for a dinner that was better than our lunch. We found an Italian place called Napolis and it was good, but the margaritas were better. We washed it down with some hand dipped ice cream and headed back to the campground just in time to see the main stage headliner, Big Smith. They are a hillbilly band from Springfield and very talented playing a wide variety of instruments. At one point they harmonized and it sounded like a full orchestra.

The band quit at 10:30pm and I headed to my tent exhausted from the heat and 35 miles on a low-end Schwinn hybrid. Just as I was about to fall asleep, Tim from the next door tent, came over to see if I'd join him for a drink at Glenn's bar. I graciously declined, then listened to an owl hooting in the wood, then listened to several tired inebriated bikers imitating owls, and then fell asleep.

I woke at 7am and took the Schwinn in search for caffeine. I bought a donut and coffee with a double shot of espresso at the local Conoco and chilled by the tent while others tore down their campsites.

We were almost the last to leave at 9am. Tim decided to ride back with us and a few miles out we caught up with Josh, another guy traveling alone who had also pitched his tent near us. It was nice to hit the unshaded part of the trail (between New Franklin and Rocheport) before the clouds broke and it became steamy hot. We passed The Roadhouse too early for the first band and when we came upon Les Bourgeois Winery we found we were 2 hours early for their first band also. It would have been nice to enjoy the A-Frame for a bit but instead we were entertained by a dog tormenting a long black snake.

This pic is taken from the cliff at Bourgeois with the I-70 bridge over the Mighty Mo in the background.

We hit the trail again at 11:00 and decided slow down so we wouldn't be ahead of all the bands start times. Josh decided to stay behind and hang out at Bourgeois. We slowed our pace to under 10 mph and still missed all the bands. We rolled into McBaine around noon and had lunch at Lucy's dive. A burger & fries and diet rootbeer never tasted so good in my life!

This picture shows Jami & Nathan picking out a Pink Floyd song on the jukebox.

After lunch we left jumped back on the Trail and rode the Boone County maintained MKT trail back into Columbia. I broke from the group at Forum Blvd and rode directly to the family restaruant, Angelo's, to get my truck. Then I went back to Flat Branch to pick up my camping gear. Jami, Nathan, & Tim were just leaving so we went and had ice cream at Sparky's to officially end the trip.

Back at Soula's the gang was taking an afternoon swim. Riley & I packed our belongings, had dinner at Angelo's then headed back to KC for the real world.

It was a great trip and I hope to do it again next year. Word of caution if you are planning on participating next year ... there is no support on the trail. Water is provided at the start and finishing points only, and no bike support during the ride. The entry fee pays for the bands and transporting your camping gear.

Tin Pan Ali and volleyball

Riley loves and excels at two activities: theater and volleyball. The weekend of April 23-26 was the culmination of both season for her.

Back in February she tried out for the school musical and received a minor part in Tin Pan Ali. The cast and crew rehearsed countless hours and finally opening night arrived. After seeing the fall play, my expectations were not very high. Lets face it, these are 11-13 yr olds, and singing and dancing in-step with others isn't the easiest thing to do especially for someone going thru puberty.

Wow, I was pleasantly surprised! It was very impressive 2-hr production with great choreography and vocals. The story line was entertaining being similar to Aladdin but set in the roaring 20's with gangsters. In the end, Ali Baba gets the girl. Riley's part was a cop with 6 lines and part of the ensemble for most of Act II. She played her part well.

The kids showed dedication practicing 3-4 hours a day for the last few weeks. The only pictures I got were at the cast party. Here they are having pizza watching the show on video. If you look closely, you can see Riley sitting with her friends in the back.

This very same weekend was the Silver Regional volleyball tournament. Riley's team placed 2nd of the 17 teams that came to prove they were the best silver team in the region. Of the 110 silver teams in the USA Volleyball region representing Kansas and Western Missouri, they finished ranked 7th overall. Not bad. The team that beat them at regionals, Wichita Power, was a strong team that challenged them. Seldom did they play teams of this caliber during the season. I'm glad they registered silver, but I do wish they could have played more Gold tournaments. I'm confident they were better players and more skilled than a handful of the 17 teams in the Gold Division.

I didn't get any pictures of the regional tournament, but you can see their official awards picture on the HOA website. Scroll down to "12 Silver Runner Ups"

May

Is it really May already? After today there are only 9 days of school left for Liberty. I guess since the weather has been so cold and rainy, I really wasn't thinking that the pool will be opening in 12 days. My first outdoor triathlon is in less than 6 days! Talk about some cold lake water!
Okay, I've really neglected my blog. I update my status on Facebook a few times a week so maybe I just assume people know whats going on in my life. But I must remind myself that I'd like this to be a documentary of my life. What happens to me is not as important as how I react to it ... so lets backtrack to the weekend of March 28th.
Unless you count Riley's "camping" trip to Tan-Tar-A with girl scouts when she was 7, this was her first weekend away from home with a group of other kids. The Tan-Tar-A thing doesn't really count because she was only gone for 24-hours and she was with one of her good friend's parents.
Our brave youth pastor at church took the kids down to Silver Dollar City for Christian Youth Weekend for a weekend of rockin fun and fellowship. At first Riley didn't want to go without me, but she changed her mind. Altogether 14 youth and 5 adult chaperons made the trek to southern Missouri. The convoy left Friday evening and returned Sunday evening and I don't really know what happened in between. All I know is that they stayed at a church near Branson with only one shower, it drizzled cold rain for most of the time they were there, and Riley came home with new independence and deeper faith in God. Watched the video they made.

In KC we got almost 5" of snow that weekend. At least they only had rain to deal with in Branson. I'm told most of the rides at SDC shut down because of the temperature so everyone received a voucher for free admission in 2009.

So what did mom do with her free weekend? Something I don't do often ... have relaxing dinner with friends and no kids. Saturday morning, I had my own form of fellowship and met some girlfriends (the mom's club) at Paneras for some coffee. I watched Mizzou barely miss getting in the Final Four of the NCAA tournament, and I did a five-mile run on my treadmill, my longest ever. (Had to cancel that bike ride up at Smithville lake because of the SNOW!)

Updates

1) We finished the room and it looks great! I still need to pick up the nightstand next weekend, and I'm going to ask my friend to build her a bookshelf that matches. I must say, it is very nice!


2) I finished reading Grisham's "The Associate." I kept waiting for something, anything, to happen in the plot, but it never really did. Could there be a squeal planned? there were lots of loose ends untied when I finished. I'm now about half-way thru "The Shack" and its really quite interesting.

3) Its doubtful that Buster will ever go on a bike ride with me again. As spring arrives he becomes less and less focused on his runs. I've run over him twice now because he for some reason he thinks he can run in front of the bike, but luckily he was not hurt badly. Last Thursday he decided to stop at a fence without my knowledge and caused a major crash. Now my legs have scraps and bruises all over them, not to mention my pride. Two of Riley's classmates were right there and came to my aid. My face smashed into the grass only an inch from concrete. It it had been an inch to the right, the dog would have been gone by sundown.

A new room

Spring Break! Our exciting adventures this year takes us to Riley's room.

• On Monday we went shopping for a new bedroom set and was successful after only 5 hours.
• Tuesday was cleaning day, she boxed up all her stuff and removed it from her room -- all the way to the hall bathroom!
  
• Wednesday was the real working day. We used the electric sander and removed and/or smoothed out the rainbow paint and primed the wall and around the ceiling and floors. Most of the old furniture is removed. After a trip to Home Depot we have 2 gallons of "Egyptian Nile" paint and various painting supplies.
• Tomorrow (Thursday) the walls will be painted and then the carpets will be steam cleaned.
  
• Friday the new furniture arrives and the (a fraction of) her stuff will return to the room.

A little history of the rainbow ... Riley's favorite part of our house when we moved in was her bright pick room with the wide teddy bear border ... she was 4 yrs old. After only one year she decided pink was not her style (and definitely not mine) and wanted a blue room with giant rainbow. I was all too eager to get rid of the pink room so I spent 3 days removing the ugly border and painting the walls sky blue. My good friend's wife, Tami, spent 8 hrs helping me one Saturday evening painting the rainbow. We used rust-oleum paint that was very thick created a texture on the wall. I dreaded the day she outgrew the rainbow because I knew the texture would need to be smoothed. I spent about 6 hours sanding it down, peeling it off, and applying mud to repair holes I created in the drywall! Riley has been a trooper and a huge help! She wanted to get it painted tonight but my back needed some rest.

I'll post a picture in a few days to show the friuts of our labor.