Mr Man turns 6!!

Hello!! I know! its been ages since I've posted but to be honest, I've lost my drive. I just don't have the excitement I did a couple months ago. So until I find it again, let's talk about something fun.

Mr man turned 6!! I can't believe it!! I've been telling him for months that I'm going to make him count backwards but he doesn't like the idea of being 4. Big Man and I had talked about taking Mr and a few friends to Chucky Cheese but after I made our awesome KISS costume (POST to come), we decided to find a cheaper option. I search Pinterest and picked a Camping themed. I found so invite ideas online and made my own on Power Point.

 

I was able to use a lot of thing that I already had to decorate. I borrowed a few things from my Christmas loving mother. (The joke around here is that if my she hadn't married my stepdad, my mom would have married Santa) I used my tent, Christmas trees, lanterns, mini trees, and buckets. I made a camp site sign out of cardboard and a stick. Big Man even made a fake fire out of a fan, tissue paper, and flameless candles.

 

 

 

I sent most of the night before cutting out "camping" shapes with my cricut. As the kids arrived, we decorated their gift bag with cabins, tents, trees, grass, campers, flash lights, etc. It was a nice arriving activity because each kid got to go at their own pace.

 

 

After that I read Mercer Meyer's Camp Out and Curious George's Goes Camping while Big Man cooked the hot dogs on our Panini grill (the original plan was to roast them over a fire but it was snowing so that was a no go).

 







When the dogs we cooked, it was time to eat! We had Hot Dogs, Chips, Carrots with Ranch, and mini cans of Soda. The kids loved it! One kid only at a bun and Cheetos and one only at chips and carrots  but all in all they loved it.

 

After food, we found that bugs had infected our camp and the kids took their complementary flash lights and Big Man took them out on a bug hunt. (Sorry no pictures. I was finishing the thank you bags.) Then we showed off and traded their bugs. We were trying to kill a little bit of time so we sang "We're going on a bear hunt" before we went on an actual bear hunt. This was Big Man's favorite! Mr got an awesome gun from Momacita so we were able to use that to "hunt" the bear that Big Man made.

 

Mr wanted to open presents next so all the kids grabbed their gifts and loaded into the tent. Mr got spoiled and got a lot of super fun gifts that he loves.

 

This was one of the favs. A Spiky Wig.



Even Big Man enjoyed it!

 

Then it was Cake Time!! I was really happy with how the cake turned out. It was a camo cake with chocolate frosting. I crushed graham crackers to make sand, Twix bars for the logs, and melted red and yellow chocolate melts to make the fire. It was so cute!!

 

 

We had a little bit of time at the end so we made Cat's Eyes. Its a simple popsicle stick and yarn craft that the kids enjoyed. While we were making these all of the parent came and picked up the kids. When they left, the kids were given little take home S'more kits with Graham Crackers, Chocolate, and Marshmallow with a note that said "Thank you for making my party S'more fun!" It turned out great! I was so pleased. Happy Birthday Mr Man.! I love you!

 



Murray Youth and Family Triathlon

Here it is! The big day, the big post (be prepared for a HUGE post and LOTS of picture because I took a lot)! After my post yesterday (HERE), I didn't go to bed until 11:30 and even with the help of NiteQuill I still woke up every 2 hours to check the time. Finally at 6:00 AM, my alarm went off and it was GO time. I got up, dressed, ate, paced, braided my hair, then it was time for Big Man and I to go (my mom is amazing and let the boys sleep in and brought them later, closer to race time. THANK YOU Momacita!!)

 



Early morning Selfie. Prehair, post clothes

 



Me and Big Man
(Love Him!!)



We got there about 7 and I was happy to find that the Swim Family had already made it and there was space next to the Bike Parent's transition area so I wedged right in there and got my things set up and ready to go. That took all of 15 minutes and after that and Body Marking, we had at least half an hour to wait. I don't do well with waiting so I went to the bathroom, walked to the van a couple of times, took a bunch of pictures with the Bike Family and still had to wait a bunch.


The 3 of our Transition Area

This is my Transition Area. I felt like I was missing things but I don't need much for a Super Sprint

Bike Mom and I

The Bike Family

Bike Dad, Bike Mom, Bike Sis, Bike Sass

The Girls finally got to do Silly Poses

Our Numbers

I really like the Murray Tri but this year I felt that it was a little unorganized. Poor Jo (the race director) was trying to be in 100 places at once. Maybe next year, she can have a couple permanent volunteers (ones who know what they are doing before race day). The had a Physical Challenged division this year and I thought that I thought was great! They went first, then the 5-6 year olds (they wanted the little kids off the track before the adults and bigger kids hit the road). After a lot of waiting, the 14-16 year olds and the adults hit the pool. Jo let us pick where we thought we should go in the swim (Swim team swimmers in the front, great swimmers, good swimmers, then people just hoping to live) since there were only about 100 people from 11+, I was closer to the front of the line than I would have like but it turned out to be the perfect spot.

Like I said, I hate waiting. Once I'm ready I want to go get started. I get anxious and fidgety as I wait so once I hit the water and the time lady said Go! I was Golden! I had decided earlier that I would take the swim easy. I had been fighting a cold all last week and I haven't swam so I didn't think I could beat last years time of 3:30 so I didn't want to ware myself out.  I just swam my steady pace and passed 1 lady in lane turn 4; then in the final lane I saw how close I was to the next lady, I kicked in my fast pace to catch her. I didn't but I was right on her when we got out of the pool.

Turn 2 (I'm in the blue cap). There's Swim Mom getting ready to start!

Swimming

More Swimming

 

After the swim, I ran to the Transition area and got ready. My feet were a lot more wet than I had practiced so it took me a little longer to put on my shoes but the Tri Suit really helped taking time off, just shoes, helmet and number belt and I was out of transition. (I had taped my sunglasses to the bike to put on once I was going)

 



Nice Butt shot in Transition.

Out of T1

 

Running to the Mount Line



The bike course is a 3 mile loop course with 3 hills that you do twice.When I got on the bike I was feeling good! I had trained for hills and these were babies compared to the hill I've been doing. Plus, I had trained on a heavy, wide tire mountain bike and I had borrowed my good friend Tink's light, thin tire road bike for the race (Thank you Tink!!). I was going to fly up those hills!! When I got on the bike, I feel good! Ready to attack these hills. As I was shifting gears I heard a pop, I just thought the gears had just slipped (my mountain bike does it all the time). I didn't think anything of it and kept on going. It did it again a couple times and but the time I was coming up the 5th hill, I was struggling. I was trying to catch a little boy in front of me but wasn't making any headway. The last hill was a killer and some lady came up from no where and passed me (right at the end! So Sad!). There is a turn not 20 feet from the dismount line, I tried to coast from the corner to the line but had to pedal to make it. When I dismounted, I was feeling it!! I jogged through transition and racked my bike but I was beat! My legs worked so hard up those hills! My lungs were screaming from the exertion but I had practiced bricks! I could do this! I had run for 10 minutes straight and knew I could run this portion of the race no problem!

 



Little Man cheering Momma On

Mr. Man "GO MOM"

Swim Mom Mounting her bike!

 

You see I was very focused!

And I look like I'm going SO FAST (haha!)

T2 Transition

The run was a .6 mile out and back that you did twice (.3 out .3 back). I really did do my best to run the whole thing but I was hurting! My legs were jelly and my lungs were protesting, "We already worked double time! We aren't working this hard any more! (Imagine my lungs with little picket signs chanting "What do we want? A nap! When do we want it? NOW!") After a few hundred feet I had to walk! I told myself before the race it was ok to walk 1 time but after I had done a lap but I didn't even make it a tenth of a mile. I walked another .10 and then ran again. Then walked. By the first lap my legs were fine but the lungs were still picketing. I ran as much as I could but still had to walk. When I was about .25 miles away I decided not to walk any more. I had scoped out the other 2 girls in my age group. I knew 1 had already finished and the other was behind me on the run and I wasn't about to let her beat me! Pain or no Pain I was going to finish strong. I could breath when I was over! I heard my sister yell push it and with about a tenth of a mile to go, I ran! I sprint in my training so I can RUN. And I did! I crossed the finish line and signed with relief! OH! I'm going to puke!...Nope! False alarm!

The Picture shows the Pain! Little strides, small steps, I'm Hurting

Time to RUN

FINISHED

 

 I was so happy to be done! I got my finisher's medal and my unofficial time card. 43:42.4 Not the time I was hoping for but I took 4 minutes off my 2012 time so I couldn't be too upset. After hugging all my family, I wanted to watch Bike Mom cross but Big Man told me she had already finished and was pretty close behind me! I gave her a big hug when I found her and checked her times and she beat me by 43 sec. Almost a whole minute! I was so proud of her! Great job!!

Finisher's Picture

Taking up the Race

Me, Little Man, My Little Sister (Pebbles), and Momacita

 After the race we waited around for everyone to finish and for Jo to get organized. There was a small raffle (I won this pink shirt!) then it was ribbon time!! I knew no matter what I would get 3rd but when they called my name, I WAS 2ND!!! I was so happy!! I could go home with a smile!

2nd place in Women 20-29

 

Bike Sass took 1st, I took 2nd, and Bike Sis took 3rd! It was a GOOD Day!
(Not Pictured-Bike Dad took 1st)

2012- 27th overall, 5 out of 9 in age, 47:55.6
Swim- 3:30.4 T1- 1:20.4 Bike- 25:31.6 T2- 1:04.5 Run-16:29.2

2014- 21st overall, 2 out of 3 in age, 43:42.4

Swim- 3:03.3 T1- 0:57.8 Bike- 25:56.0 T2- 0:35.8 Run-13:09.5

 

It was a GREAT day! I'm bummed about the bike but I did my best and that's all that I can expect! Thank you for the Swim Family for getting me into this crazy sport! Thank you Swim Mom for training with me! Thank you to Tink for letting me borrow your bike! Thank you Momacita, Pebbles, my brother in law Bam Bam, and my nephew Dino for cheering me on! Thank you Big Man for all his support! He is so great to me and lets me vent my frustration through workouts! I love him!! And thank you to my boys for cheering me on and hanging all over me when I was done! They love me ALMOST as much as I love them!

 

Don't Worry Tink! Its getting fixed as we speak!

 

While I was waiting for the ribbons, Big Man loaded my tri bucket and bike into the van and found that one of the spokes had popped on the back tire of  bike. It makes the wheel horribly unbalanced and it rubs on the brakes. If you spin it, it stops before it makes it around. No wonder I was having such a hard time and couldn't coast! I call a redo! Just Kidding! I'm too tired!