Back in April during a Diamondbacks baseball game our friends with us suggested that the group of us should do a Sprint Triathlon. She gave us the date they were considering and the distances that we would take on for this. Namely a 400 meter swim, a 5 km run, and a 20 km bike ride. The idea was tantalizing and really exciting. After thinking about it and practicing in all three events we are officially doing the triathlon in August! We are very excited about it.
My family members over the phone get earfuls regularly of triathlon preparation. I talk to my youngest brother about tips he has from cross country that I could use. And I ask him every time I talk with him if he wants to come to Phoenix
To get ready for the triathlon I had to get off my spacious patooshki and get moving. I had to learn how to swim. Thank heavens for wonderful friends who have amazing skills to get me started on real life swimming; as well as for Jogie to push me to swim farther and faster than I would have thought possible. Swimming is still new and challenging. However, at the pool recently a neighbor asked me if I was a professional because I was swimming so well. Whatever the motivation from his words I would have never thought in my crazy inebriated dreams that I could be considered a professional swimmer. So I’ll take it.
The event that has turned out to be the most fun for me has been the biking.
One of the things on our shopping list for the triathlon was a pair of bikes suitable for the triathlon. The bike I had ridden in high school was back in Boise
My coworkers have been super supportive of my triathlon efforts. They check in with how the previous evening’s workout went as well as inquire as to what that night’s workout would entail. When I rode my bike into work they expressed how proud and amazed they were that I had done that. I was similarly stoked with personal pride for what I did. I left my house at six in the morning so I could bike the fifteen miles to work and be there on time. Having accomplished this was a huge triumph for me, and I got to share that triumph with them.
I have long awaited and looked forward for the birthday where I would turn the same age as the date. I always thought it would feel really neat. I was right. It was an amazing birthday. It could not have been better, nor could I have done anything else. Timing was perfect. It was a Saturday so I did not have work. And it was also a break in school for Jogie so he did not have to do any studying. Bright and early we did a run. When we got back home we ate some birthday cake for breakfast. (Birthday cake for breakfast is starting to become a tradition in our little family and I am not opposed.) We went to the movies at a theater that serves food so we got lunch and a movie. We picked up our new bikes. We test rode them out to Jogie’s school and on the way we got to show them off to a couple friends. We went out to dinner at a Spanish restaurant that was not anything to write home about. When we came home we admired our new bikes. Seriously, we did a photo shoot of our bikes, occasionally with us in the pictures. Jogie was continuously commenting on how I got two bikes for my birthday and that I was so nice to let him ride one of them. The day was a sweet reminder of what a birthday meant when I was little and how that feeling exists still. It was a day full of adventures that was wonderful because I got to share them with the one I love.
