Defying The White

 

I have been trying to defy each new winter day that shows up here.
This is my favorite method.


I walk out my back door,
don my skis,
and slide away as fast as possible...hoping to put winter behind me.


Don't get me wrong.
I love seasons- all of them.
But it does seem as though our winter tops them all.
For length.
And darkness.
And cold.
And that white stuff which is never-ending.

When your "colored pictures look like this:

       And your "black & white" like this:

Well....it's sometimes hard to think that my world isn't just black and white.
(If we were talking about moral issues.....black and white is the way to go.)
But when it's my "walk-out-the-door" world.....sometimes black and white gets old.


And it doesn't seem like I'm alone out there.
A wonderful person, Heather~~~(from Bellarosabikes), who I've met through blog~land, 
is somewhere out there trying to defy these winter months as I. 
And her, if "you can't beat it~~~join in" attitude is one I hold on to.


So for the next, oh.....3 or 4 months.....
(***given Alberta's past record on winter-longevity, 
  **the looks of the piles of snow out my door, 
    *oh- and the 40km winds that are to begin this morning bringing more snow       
      and a cold front through....)
we have this white stuff to defy.


Bring on the ice skating......

  









Good hockey games down at the lake.

{Let's defy another

long winter of white.}

Mile runs down my gravel road, 

watching yet another winter day make its appearance.....

Each day can be a beautiful thing.

{Regardless of never-ending white.....}

(sigh)

final results

We did it!

After all the months of planning and training, our Triathlon has come and gone.

It has been a crazy 2 days of racing, and as each day began at 4 am...we all are pretty tired.

 I did have to show a few pictures...so bare with me on the "photo album" to follow:)

Before the race we had to get Body Markings.

Ben and Corben are still "wearing" theirs.

They told me permanent marker doesn't come off in the shower.

I don't know how hard they tried to wash the numbers off:)

My 3 are in that gong-show somewhere.

Everyone had to find their appropriate Heat for the swim.

There were hundreds of kids, and with 4 to a Heat, it made for quite the show.

Ben is in the yellow swim cap;)

I finally found him sitting in the middle of it all.

He was in Heat 24, so his wait was about a half hour.

I kept wondering what was going through all their minds:)

Ben, running from the pool after his swim to the Transition Area.

Corben- getting ready to bike after his swim.

Molly- going out on her bike after her 500m swim.

She then had 10km to go.....

Her 1st lap...5km left to go!

Ben- coming in to the finish after

100m Swim

5km Bike

1km Run

BEN~ FINISH LINE!

Corben- heading off on his last leg of the race.

Swim- 150m

Bike- 5km

Run- 2km

CORBEN~ FINISH LINE

Molly on her last segment of the race...

Swim 500m

Bike 10km

Run 4km

MOLLY~ FINISH LINE!

All 3 finished and were still smiling at the end.

They're talking of doing it again next year:)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SUNDAY....

was race day for the "older" people.

Adam and I left at 5am and got to the race location, unloaded our bikes, got our body markings (which HAVE come off already:),  and then waited.

I kept thinking it was crazy for Adam to race today. He had spent all of Saturday in Calgary at a Rowing Regatta....had raced a couple times there, had hardly slept and hadn't eaten because it was so hot the day before.

Not only that, a week before the Triathlon, the organizer called me and mentioned he had been put in too young of a group, and would now be bumped up to race with the adults. That meant that the distances he had been training for were all wrong. He had much farther to go in each part of the race.

But nothing seemed to bother him.

Of course. He's 15.

I didn't get to see him race as I was out there too, but everyone told me he was grinning through the whole thing.

He's coming back in from his 20km bike here, after swimming 750m- something he had only done once before.

Then he was on to the 5km run...

....and sprinted through the FINISH LINE!

He was still smiling at the end.

Then there was my Team:

My sister doing the Swim....

and then running to transition to tag me for the Bike.

Me heading out on the bike....

and coming back in.

Our runner:

And our FINISH!:

Mel  ~  Jodie  ~   Me

We placed 2nd in all female teams.

(My sister placed 1st overall in the Swim~ WAY TO GO SIS!)

~~

Phew! If you made it through that album- YOU deserve a medal!

It was a great, tiring, nerve-wracking, fun-filled weekend.

And yes- we will all do it again.

The End...

(until next time.)

Not Quite as Planned

Well, we took part in our Duathlon and Triathlon...sort of.

The day started right on time....4:30am we awoke, loaded bikes, and arrived at the race center promptly at 6am.

It was cold, rainy, windy, and very gray....but we courageously unloaded bikes, set them up in the transition area...and waited.

And waited some more. And as we waited snow began. And eventually we were told no volunteers were showing up.

I don't blame them. If I hadn't paid an entrance fee, I don't know if I would have shown either!

By 7am we could hardly see a block down the road because of the snow.

We stood in the sleet/snow/slush for almost an hour...and finally were ushered into the aquatic center.

After another 45minute wait, we were told that the officials had driven the course and found the roads to be too unsafe visibility-wise and too slippery to do the bike part of the race.

Our Duathlon we had trained for was shrunk down to a 5km run.

A part of me was a wee bit relieved. The other 90% was extremely disappointed.

And those doing the triathlon were now to do an "aquathon"....a swim and run only.

Flashes of my training popped up in my head. All the early mornings.

All the Saturday morning bike rides when I could have slept in.

But run we did.

And the younger 2 boys did their Aqua-thon:

Our Medals:

My First Medals ever:

It didn't go quite as planned...but our motto for the day was "It's all about the experience"....whatever that may end up being.

And of course...it's about the faces....er...memories,

like these:

We have one month to go now until the "real huge" Triathlon.
And I am pretty sure(?) we won't have snow the end of June.

Although, it seems things never go quite as planned....

Tri -Update #3

Our Team

(Do I need to point out who the "class clown" might be...?)

Well...it's almost here.

Back HERE (TRY-athlon) was the start of our training.

And now this weekend, 2 of them will be in their first ever triathlon.

(The "BIG" one is end of June, but this weekend still holds pretty huge for me.)

I will get to cheer my team on, and see if their "training plan" was sufficient to keep them moving and actually finishing this event.

Our totals of training thus far are as follows:

116 miles of running

67 miles of biking

48 km swimming

(warm up before swim training)

For me, this weekend is already causing butterflies. And not the good kind.

I will be in my first ever Duathlon.

It's a 3km run followed by a 26.7km bike ride, ending with another 3km run.

I thought it sounded a bit easier than a full triathlon as there is no swimming involved. (And honestly, I've never liked running around in public with wet hair:))

My only consolation is that my 15 year old son agreed to the race along with me. I like the idea I won't be "alone" out there.

I don't care so much as to where I place.

 My goal: I would only like to finish intact and still being able to move.

Throughout high school I wasn't what you would call "athletic". Sure I tried out for volleyball, the cross-country running team, and even badminton.

But the "B" Team in Volleyball was the closest I could ever get to the "A" Team.

During the 2 entire cross-country runs I managed to complete, one ended in hyper-ventilating and a brown paper bag stuck on my face, and the other I came in 2nd last of about 87 kids.

Badminton...Well...let's just say I am know as the "partner to never partner up with" during a badminton tournament.

My specialty was the Javelin Throw....2nd in the entire county during Track and Field Day.

That sport has not taken me all that far in life:)

I guess as I got older I decided I need to find "my sport"...or something I LOVED to do and didn't feel I had to do it. As with anything in high school or those years of "growing up".....I think I felt I needed to prove what I could do. To others.

Now...I just want to prove I can do it for myself.

And to be an example of "not quitting" to my kids...even if I do come in 2nd last during a run:)

A huge inspiration to me has been a friend out there who took up running, and encouraged me to try 5 and 10km races. HER next run is a full marathon....ah, maybe her inspiration will stop here:)

(Good luck N on your upcoming marathon by the way:)

I think I had better get out there and run a bit.

I am making myself a bit more nervous and I only have 3 days left.

Happy day to you all, and may you finish whatever you have started!

Even if you finish holding a paper bag on your face!

:)