Crashed and burned!!!!

So, here is the story of my first triathlon. I have got to say that overall the training was a really great experience. I got back in shape, learned how to swim, and bought a new bike. The weather here in Southern California has been in the 90's all week, until race day. We woke up to rain and the temperature outside was a chilly 50 degrees. I couldn't believe the luck. We met our friends DJ and Rachel and planned to have all kinds of fun camping while letting all our kids run crazy. Well the rain destroyed the camping plan, but we were fine with the idea of just getting hotels, especially since Todd's dad was with us. We got to the event just before 7 in the morning. I was the most nervous for the swim mainly because of the cold. It still hadn't warmed up past 55 degrees yet, and the rain was coming down. We brought the girls, who I bet were freezing. Luckily Joe (Todd's dad) stayed in the car with them most of the time. So the race started at 7:50... I attempted the swim, which I must say was pretty sad on my part. All the training in the pool could not prepare me for the panic that was a cold Lake with arms pulling you and legs kicking you down (all the while water splashing in your face, eyes, and mouth). Half the swimming distance in I finally was able to relax and try to swim. I definitely was not near the front of the pack, but the goal was to make up time on the other 2 events. I made it into the transition area and put on my wet shoes, socks, and helmet and off I went for the 12 mile bike ride. I didn't know what to expect because during training I was always pulling an extra 50 lbs behind me in the trailer. Well that over training worked well in my favor because no one passed me on the bike while I was passing people like crazy especially on the hills. I felt as light as a feather without those girls in tow. I was all excited to finish the bike because I thought I made up time from the poor excuse for a swim. With the 55 degree weather my fingers were almost too cold to shift gears, and the rain was not relenting. With only 100 feet of bike trail left, I hit a pothole, lost control of the bike going downhill 15 mph, and slid down the road with the bike on top of me. The only good part was that it was too cold to know that I was even injured. I looked down, didn't see any blood or holes in my clothes, so I hopped back on the bike to finish. In the transition area I started to feel the burn. ROAD RASH! I put the bike up on the rack and saw blood all over where I just held it. There it was, the worst gash I have ever seen on my body. I have really never been injured before. I actually got super queesy and nauseous. I could see tissues ripped open on my wrist, on my own body. That was more than I could handle. I had to sit to stop from passing out. Todd found me and made me freak out even more because he thought I needed stitches too. I went into the medic tent and kissed the remainder of the triathlon goodbye. I even had an asthma attack (I DON"T have asthma). All in all it was a case of serious bad luck. I am sure dissapointed to have not been able to finish the race after all that hard work. If there ever is a next time, I hope to get to the running part.

Before the swim with a smile still on my face

Okay, I still have a smile, but I am in the medic tent.

Not for the feint of heart

Warning, don't look at the next picture if you don't want to be sick. So the above picture only shows the parts of road rash acceptable for publication. The worst was on my cheeks! OUCH

This was the inside of my wrist (pinkie side over the bone).

Happy Birthday Todd

My cute little cowboy

with his dad

15 years ago with his senior picture. He definitlely would have been my highschool crush!

Noah's ark exhibition

This place was down with the Getty museum in LA. 3 huge rooms were made out to look like the inside of Noah's ark. It was a child's heaven. Jane might have still been a little too young, but there were parts she definitely enjoyed....like pretending to clean up the animal droppings.

Sadie is getting big. She is 7 months old and just cut her first tooth. Time to start brushing!!!!! (poor girl)

Finally Jane decided going over to the little baby play mat was just as fun as anything else.

A big old elephant, and if you climb up to through the netting, you can pull on the cord to make the loudest elephant noise ever!

Kissing the racoon. She loved some animals, but was very scared of others.

Todd's Malibu Triathlon

This is the big Olympic distance triathlon that Todd has been training for. He has done quite a few regular distance triathlons, but wanted to do a seriously challenging event. It started off with a 1 mile swim in the ocean.

After the swim the racers go to a transition area to change and get ready for the bike ride.

He rode 25 miles down the Pacific Coast Highway. The scenary was beautiful!

After the bike was a challenging 6.2 mile run. This is the portion of the race where my husband turns from a good athlete to a teen wolf style freakishly fast stud of a runner.

He finished in 2 hrs and 33 minutes. Beating the pants off JLo. Just kidding, but she did do the shorter version of his race that same weekend.

The finish line

Aren't I a lucky woman.

Jane got bored and started eating sand

Shouldn't she be passed the eating sand stage already? I suppose we all revert to something when we need entertainment.

I no longer have genetic dominance

I know I have posted this picture of Jane already, but I was looking through and found this picture of Todd. I have to say I am a little sad because Jane was supposed to look like me. Everyone says that Jane is me and Sadie is all Todd. It has always done something for my heart to know that she has so much of me in her. I have to officially state, that now I give the crown to Todd. He is thouroughly pleased. It does something for him too.

Hair

This is a beautiful picture of Gwyneth Paltrow, I loved her hair, so I took it into my salon. Read ahead and skip if you don't want to hear a long boring explananation about hair......



I actually got the cut right before our trip to NYC. Unfortunately I have way too much hair to do this same cut, and it is a lot thicker. I asked her to keep it all around the same length without a bunch of layers (big mistake). So she did and I went away for the weekend. I hated it. It looked like a big heavy bell shape on top of my head. ( I told you it was a long boring explanation, but there are a very few of my friends who would be interested, so this is for you) I went back in and told her I had to have some layers. She agreed and went to town. I have a partial weave aka highlight job. When she cut in layers the dark was showing through in the back. She suggested cutting some length off in that area. I let her, and boy was that bad. I had short short hair in the back and hair as long as Gwyneth's in the front. I looked like I was straight from Cedar City, Utah (no offense, I happen to love that place!). It was so ugly, that the only way to fix it was cut it to match the back. It would have taken a mistake to ever cut my hair this short, but I decided I kind of like it for a change. It only takes 5 minutes to dry!

Disneyland

THIS is the age to bring a kid to Disneyland. It was so much fun! I bought a season pass, spoiled little girl!

We went yesterday which was Sep 11, we were wondering if the reason was because of the anniversary of the WTC attacks, but there was no one there, we barely had to wait in lines, and that does not happen at Disneyland

Nemo, the submarine ride

Alright, I am so proud of myself! I figured out how to upload video. It wasn't hard this time. In the past I have a been trying with my really nice fancy camcorder, and it is impossible. I got my regular old camera fixed, and was able to upload videos from that pretty easily.
There is a new ride called Nemo, It replaced the old submarine ride if any of you remember that.

Disneyland parade

I don't know what it is with little girls and princesses, but there is definitely something, and Jane is no exception. The premiere event to take a child who loves them is to this parade.