Another Tri.. Kinda

Emily was so sad to miss the Pumpkinman Triathlon a couple weeks ago so I told her I had been thinking about doing the Telos tri again up in Orem.

Next thing I know Bethanie and Angela decide to drive down (just for me of course... ignore the fact that Angela was already coming down for a concert in Salt Lake) and my niece and nephew in Provo decide they are going to watch.

OK OK! Twist my arm! I'll do it.

Most of my cheering squad.  It was cold!

Did I mention I've been obsessed with Harry Potter and knitting?  Oh wait, haven't done that post yet.  Well,  lets just say sitting on the couch knitting until the wee hours of the night every night doesn't make for great triathlon preparation.

But no matter, I told myself, its a low key race.  And low key it was.  Low and slow.

About here is where I could finally feel my toes.... coming into transition (they do it backwards with the swim last cuz nobody wants to develop frost bite by running wet with little snow flakes falling around them).

After taking my bike across the wet grass and racking it before the start, I came back later to find ice on the tires.  It was cold!

Apparently someone warming up on the bike had crashed and gone to the hospital so they limited the ride to the parking lot... about .05 miles, give or take .02 miles.

I shouldn't have bothered to put my shoes.  But do you see those two water bottles? This time I had no problems with dehydration on my .01 mile bike ride (gets smaller every time).

FYI, take off ur helmet BEFORE trying to strip down to your swimming suit.  Its a good thing they didn't get a picture of that.. 

All in all it ended up being pretty fun, even though the pool part was pretty annoying... as I knew it would be.  That's what I get for being such a slow runner.  I finally just started swimming over and through people, although I did try to be nice to the dad walking his swimming son down the lane.  I also didn't realize I was at the end and so started another lane b4 turning around. 

Low key, Melanie, Low key.

It WAS nice to be done in less than 45 minutes.  Then we could get Megan and Alec off to their other commitments and the rest of us off to Neaders for a French toast breakfast.  YUM.

The rest of the weekend we helped Emily get her garden ready for winter.

And by help I mean played in the leaves..

He's Escaping!

Watch out for falling leaves :-)

BTW, because of the "modified" bike ride Telos has given me a $10 coupon for their next tri in April to "keep you motivated to workout through the winter months". 

Hasn't worked yet.

It was Halloween 2011

You recall the much time and energy I spent creating pioneer outfits for myself and others in July? Well, you may think this would translate easily into a Halloween costume and truck-or-treat idea.

Man, that was sooo July. October its all about HOGWARTS. Unfortunately that picture and the following,
were the only pictures I got at the trunk-or-treat. Yes, I forgot my camera. Yes, I parked in a poor spot for pictures. In my defense, last year I was all washed out so I was trying to get away from the big lights.

I think the big lights would have helped this year. I thought later I should have brought my oil lamp. Duh.

Other people took my picture (some on the sly) and a few said they would send them to me but I've heard that before (from me).

But never fear! My good friend Pat come over afterwards so she could take pictures of it all set up in my garage. Its what good friends do.When they saw me, most people said "Harry Potter!" To which I replied "Do I look like a boy?"Here's the outfit. I remembered the next day that I was going to do my hair in braids... For some reason the hair always gets forgotten in my costumes (unless I'm wearing a turban).
Can you tell which house I'm in? After "Harry Potter!" it was "Hermione?"
"BLUE TIE! What's my middle name?"
"Are you a teacher?" "I'm Penelope Clearwater from Ravenclaw... " (the four house colors and crest)
"And I'm making polyjuice potion in my NEWT level class."
(It was the only recipe I could find on line. Wanted to do Veritaserum cuz its clear but couldn't find a recipe.... not that it really mattered... )
Of course I had my book bag filled with books and parchment... and a water bottle. Wizards need to stay hydrated as well.
Here Pat is Vanna-ing the sorting hat.
I just took my witches hat and made a brown fabric cover for it. Elizabeth's older children tried it on and when I asked them if they were brave, smart, cute, or sneaky, they both replied "SNEAKY!" Slytherin it was.

I forgot to put a few things out for the photo shoot outside so I set it back up inside again.
I had already done a trial run the Saturday before. With all the ideas I had running around in my head (a chess set, random things in bottles, rolls of parchment and books) I'm glad I did. I had plenty to fill up my table and didn't need anything more.
Labels such as salamander blood, doxie eggs, eye of newt, and powdered bicorn.
And my pot, bubbling with dry ice.
A set of brass scales (which Emily told me looked like drug paraphernalia)
My escaping frog (I'm an older student so frogs were still in vogue).
I put some threads in this jar (essence of murtlap) so it would look nasty but you couldn't tell in the dark of the parking lot.
My father made this beautiful wand for me... which I didn't have time to paint but I think it has its own character. Ash, 9 3/4", Unicorn Hair.
All in all, I think it was a success. I might or might not still have it all set up in my living room.
I think I managed to keep up the standard I set last year. BTW, anybody need a nice white men's shirt (medium) and/or charcoal sweater?

PS. Here are some close ups on my color bands in the sweater. It took a long time to sew on so you need to appreciate it. The scarf I spent 3 weeks knitting wrong will get it's own post.I wore my costume to work on Halloween (minus the cloak) and it wasn't until 2pm that one of the engineers stopped on his way past my cubicle and said "Wait... its that kids movie! I've been trying to figure it out since this morning when I heard you say you were in costume".

This is why I've never done halloween for work before (witches hat and my "Italian Goddess" t-shirt doesn't count). Perhaps if I had been wearing the cloak and brandishing the wand..

Pumpkin Man Tri 2011

I know you guys have just been DYING to hear my race report. But right now, I'm just a little obsessed with Halloween. I've spent almost every waking hr (and some not so awake) unproductively working and spending money on something that comes once of year.

Yes, I'm that kind of lady.

So in order to get this up before the big Halloween ____ (I'm reserving judgement on how it's going to turn out), I'll put up some pictures and try and keep my comments brief.

Luckly, my wonderful parents (the best ones I've EVER had) came up to take pictures and be my chase team. Emily was very sad not to be able to come. Mom and Dad cheering together almost made up for her :-)

Of we go. Look at that tiny wave of competetors. Melissa's wave went 5 minutes before me (remember, I compete with the old and fat ladies) and her's was at least twice as big as mine.

Which means I had a hard time finding a rabbit to follow. Either they headed out way too fast or I'd find someone but would soon have to pass her. Plus I was still a little stuffy from my cold (although a swim does clean you out... just sayin').

Look at me coming in with those pink cap ladies! The pink caps were Melissa's wave. Made me feel fast... but really they were just slow.
Here I'm telling mom my throat hurt.
And off I go. I've never worried about transition times cuz I'm usually just glad I got to the next milestone but this one was pretty slow.
I had pushed it on the swim cuz that's the part I usually enjoy and then I was determined to push it on the bike. So here still feeling pretty good.
Here... not so much.
I don't know what I was thinking when prepping for this race. I only put one water bottle on my bike and so ran out coming up the last big hill. I had thought about putting a bottle here at T2 but thought... one hr bike ride, one water bottle. (K, guess I do know what I was thinking.)

Just forgot to factor in my water needs after the swim and before the run which would have been taken care of by another water bottle. I had to wait until the 1st mile on the run at the water station for a cup of water which made me feel so much better... for about 1 minute. Talk about a miserable run. Emily asked why I didn't just stay and tank up at the water station either coming or going but apparently I can't make good decisions when I'm dehydrated.

I'm not putting in any pictures of me "running" in. I look terrible. One lady who caught up to me with half a mile left asked me if I was OK or if I needed a gu. It wouldn't have helped with such a short time left so I declined. I must have looked pretty awful.

So lets just take show the end results. YA!! I finished! And I got 2 dumb little water bottles that I can down in all of 2 seconds!
But my wonderful cheering section was there and with a lot of water, food and rest, all was right in the world.
Wait.. was that my name they called during the awards ceremony? Yup... 3rd place in the fat ladies division.
The lady that placed second in the fat ladies devision passed me with only a mile to go on the run...

Sigh. Still, for having been ill the two weeks before and not preparing like I should have... I'm OK with my showing.

For a mildly driven athlete... I'd say it was alright.

PS. A big thank you to Melissa who fed my parents and let me come soak in her hot tub, Melissa's parents who praised the canned peaches I brought for desert, and Dan for making awesome breadsticks. And thanks again to Mom and Dad for driving 20hrs round trip just to spend 2 days with me! I love my family/friends.