Race Report: Maryland Women’s Sprint Duathlon

This right here is EVERY. SINGLE. THING!

The race report – WHATEVER! The fact that Princess Cara wanted to race too and worked at it to earn her bling brought me sheer joy.

Watching all the kids pour their hearts out on that course was the highlight of the day. To see these kids hustling out there without fancy bikes (how bout that ToysRUs Barbie Bike with the basket on front or the SpiderMan “mountain bike” that looked like it just got its training wheels taken off), running shoes or heart rate monitors was AMAZING. Just getting some fitness in and having a blast doing it. Happy Happy Joy Joy!

This was my second year doing the Maryland Women’s Sprint Duathlon and it was the Inaugural RipItEvents Youth Sprint Duathlon. The Women’s Sprint went off first at 7:00am and Princess Cara insisted in coming with me at O Dark 30 to hang with mom and cheer me on until her race started at 10:15am.
 
Cara and I racked our bikes, got marked and hung out with a bunch of ladies from LiveNowTriNow and SoleTriSisters. Finally, it was time for us to line up and get the party started.
This was the first race since the dramatic (and depressing) performance 3 weeks before and 2 weeks into workouts with my new coaches – Suzy & Dany Serpico. Those two weeks of pretty damn intense workouts and focus had me feeling I was getting my mojo back.

The JOY WAS BACK. Three weeks previous and even before that, I stopped having fun at what I loved and it was sucking the life from me. JOY WAS BACK. I was having fun again.

RUN                           BIKE                               RUN

….and collect the BLING!!

Sooooo, how I’d do?

Despite the foot issue, I knocked off 5:39 min off of last years time.

GO ME!!!!

Where did I get the time. TRANSITION and a few min on the bike mostly. TRANSITIONS DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE and I am a big time piddler in transition. Which Suzy gave me the side eye on during our 1st meeting. “No more piddling around, Lisa. Get moving, keep moving.” Yes, ma’am.

                   2012 Results                                                2013 Results
Run             23:53:91  (11:57 pace)                                 25:54:51  (12:57 pace)
TI                  3:36:23                                                     2:14
Bike             1:08:57   (11.3 mph)                                    1:03:42   (12.3 mph)
T2                 3:31:95                                                      3:11
Run              30:46:51   (15:24 pace)                                30:02   (15:01 pace)
Total           2:10:45                                                      2:05:06

I was thrilled. I felt pretty good during the entire race and I realized that maybe, just maybe I’m not going backwards with all this work. I AM moving forward and improving. Am I getting faster as quickly as I’d like – no – but I am getting better and I’m still having fun.

As for Princess Cara…she RIPPED IT!!!!
               
She came in 10th overall out of 52 in her age group and the 5th girl. I’m so proud of her! She wants to get into a youth running group to work on her running and she is looking for the next race. I’m glad she finds JOY in the fitness too…but who doesn’t like to collect the bling.

Make a digital slideshow

Princess Cara RUNS!

My Princess is turning into a regular athlete – and a bling seeking one at that. Wonder where she got that notion from?

 

I’m so proud of my little athlete.  Princess Cara always wanted to go with Mommie on her workouts/training sessions and so I got her some gear and took her with me when I could or put her on the treadmill…and now, since I gave her my old bike, I have her on the trainer as she learns to shift and break on a road bike. (Going from a Barbie bike from To.ysRU.s to a road bike is a BIG.DAMN.DEAL in my book)

 

And I’ve created a monster. What kid do you know that gets a ‘tude cause I wouldn’t let her get her workout in on the treadmill at 9:30pm on a school night? Only my kid would ask you about her next race and, when you present her some options, want to see what the bling looks like before even considering it. Only my kid NEEDS to go shopping for a coordinated outfit before the race AND wants her own sparkle gloss for her lips “like mommie.”

 

Careful what you say and do around your kids. They are sponges and mimics. I can’t help but laugh…if swim, bike, run for bling with coordinated outfits and gloss is what she got from me…I’ll take it.

 

 

These pics are from the Tridelphia Ridge Elementary School Retriever 5K Run – the PTA’s largest fund raiser for the year and first 5k. It was well put together for a first time event and Princess Cara was excited to run it with her BFF Sam (in the Gap sweatshirt).

 

Imma tell ya what…I see track star or distance runner Olympic hopeful in her future. Well, that’s the Ambitious Mother with dreams of scholarships and going to the Olympics talking. She might just only want to do it for grins, giggles and bling like her Mom. We will see. What I do know is the Princess is FAST. Gazelle fast. And makes it look effortless. (*secretly hates her guts* – HUMPH). Almost every picture I took of her, shows her feet not even touching the ground. She moves as if she is gliding along on the air. Speedy.

 

So, when I see her coming round the corner almost at mile 1, leading the adults and dusting the kids, I’m thinking she is gonna TAKE ‘DIS RACE. Like 1st in her age group and I’m jumping up and down like a RunMom wishing I had more cowbell and a horn.

 

…and just like that, her BFF said she just couldn’t go that fast any more. So, the Princess stops and says “Don’t worry, I will wait for you. I won’t leave you. We can do intervals.” As my hopes were dashed of a 1st place win, my heart soared that I had trained and raised her up to be a good BFF and running partner. I know she got that interval business from me (cause she is WAAAAY faster than I am and she needs to stay with momz when we run).

 

Princess Cara never left Sam and walked/ran with her until they got near the finish line – where she brought it in like a champ. It was way slower than I know she could have finished it, but she finished with her friend (who, I found out, had never ran before that day).

 

Princess Cara RUNS!!

The Adventures of Molly Chicklet–Elf On The Shelf

2012 was our first year participating in this fun Christmas adventure with our Elf On The Shelf Scout. It turned into a very serious look into the psychological warfare that can be done on an 8 year old that BELIEVES there is a Santa and NOTHING you can tell her will sway her for that belief.

Princess Cara is all bout Santa Clause. She knows we get her presents too, but Santa always brings her stuff too. This year, we introduced Elf on the Shelf and from the moment we read the book and named our scout (which gives her her magic to get back & forth from the North Pole to your house), Princess Cara was all about it and (obviously) I had BETTER be about my job too.

 

Our Scout Elf was named Molly Chicklet  and from that moment, just looking at that face and mischievous side eye, I knew I had best be a tad creative. Not “bad elf” creative – that is not how I wanted PC to see Molly Chicklet – just good ole fashioned fun. All was well until I had to go out of town for a training class and The EOTS Daddy-gate debacle, where Molly Chicklet appeared to get violated by one of our cats and was found laid out on the kitchen floor. HYSTERIA!!! Molly had lost her magic - SOB; Santa wasn’t going to come – WAIL; CALL MOMMIE – she’ll get Santa to understand. 911 call from the FireMarshall and I had to, on my feet, come up with a restoration of Molly Chicklets Magic plan. I had to make a “call” to Santa to get instructions and then Skype back with the plan of action…all before the school bus came.

 

Jesus be a fence.

 

I was able to convince PC that the plan (put Molly back in her box, sprinkle cinnamon & sugar over the box while saying her name 3x, put her back in the first place we set her – mantle place and all would be set right) would work and she got on the school bus satisfied that all was right in the world again.

 

WHEW CHILE! However, the FireMarshall was a BIG FAT FAIL and I had to supervise from New Orleans EVERY.SINGLE.DAY till my return. SIGH.

 

Christmas Eve was Molly’s last day with us. She fly’s back to the North Pole on Christmas Eve until next Christmas time. Princess Cara woke up to find a note from Molly Chicklet and Santa (who ate all the pizza we left out – Santa is sick of all those damn cookies and want some real food) and the absolute joy and excitement on her face was PRICELESS!

 

So, here are some of the Adventures of Molly Chicklet…

                 

                     

 

                

Did y’all know about this Elf on the Shelf business? Did you get an Elf Scout for your family this year? I hope you had as much fun as we did.

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Strive2Tri Splash & Dash

Today, Princess Cara participated in her first race – the Strive2Tri Inaugural Youth Splash & Dash…and she did an AWESOME JOB! All the kids were just fabulous.

 

KEEEEEEUUUUUTTTTEEE AND FABULOUS!!!

 

It was so wonderful to see all of the young people, even the little bits (6 & under – who did the fun run), getting their fitness on…especially in the water. It was a sight to behold.

 

This…watching Cara enjoy herself at fitness/triathlon…keeps me motivated to keep going.

 

I’m so proud of Princess Cara and all the athletes that competed today. They are all champions!

 

Enjoy the video from today.

Princess Cara’s Garden: First Harvest

We returned from our family vacation, unpacked and I checked Princess Cara’s Garden. Lookie. Lookie. We have a huge Zucchini, a cucumber and some banana peppers. WOO  HOO.

 

Once again Princess Cara’s Garden is coming along quite nicely and we were met with a wonderful surprise…watermelon’s are growing. Now, we didn’t plant any this year, but they must have been still there, dormant, under the soil, because all of a sudden…I had to weed around and train on a trellis the watermelon vines. Those suckers will cling to anything it can get ahold of, chocking out anything in its way. GardenDiva & Princess Cara Rock.

  

Now I have to do some research on when to harvest my Kale before it gets totally ate up by rabbits and bugs. Also, how do I know when to harvest my carrots? Lastly, are my cauliflowers a done deal? The leaves look healthy enough, but I don’t even see a bud of a “cauliflower” yet. What ta do? What ta do?

 

                          Kale                                                      Carrots

                 

                                          

How’s everyone’s garden coming along? Did you plant one this year…even a small one? And NO Terri…I AM NOT getting chickens or a goat…yet.

Princess Cara’s Garden 2012

…and so it begins.

American Girl Birthday 2012

If you didn’t already know, Princess Cara is a HUGE fan of The American Girl. Last year, instead of a party, we went to NYC and did “A Day at The American Girl Store” package. I got broke down then…and this year…I got broke down, bamboozled & suckered by an 8 year old – and LOVED it.

 

This time we just went to spend the weekend with my girlfriend, Val, and celebrated all our birthday’s (Lisa 21st, Cara 22nd Val 26th) by shopping, dining and hanging out.

   

 

   

                  

…And the most fabulous Daddy in the whole wide world, carries all the bags home for his Princess.