Saturday, September 18, 2010

remembering to stop and smell the roses

Well, this is ridicuolous!!!  I mean really!  Who takes this long to update their blog?!?!!!  I mean, if you are going to even plunge in and do this, you should not wait an ETERNITY to update it! 

I see my numbers dwindiling, people are fed up with me and I am losing my beloved blog readers.  Well, hopefully you will try to follow more.  I have so much new stuff going on. 

First, not only will this be a blog about pedal girl, but it will also showcase photography, which I have been doing for years, but now my sweet husband has bought me the ultimate camera, and two nikkor lenses, so it is time I do this right.

Anyway, not to make this a super long post, let me start from where I started off from..oh, bu the way, sorry for the spelling mistakes, but I just got back from a brauhaus, and one to many beers may affect the readout...

Soooo...3..or maybe more weeks ago, I had the honor of watching my husband complete an XTERRA.  I think this may be much harder than a century mountain bike race.  Watching the men and women complete a swim in the Neckar river, a mountain bike ride in the mountains outside of Heidelberg and a run in the same mountains, it made me re-think the definition of suffering.
the village where it all took place place
Justin was amazing.  He first started with the swim.  When I saw it start, it looked like..crazy.  It was a whole bunch of swimmers and it seemed like everyone was getting kicked in the face..Then I saw him. 
He even saw me! 
Thats him with his face out of the water!

There was this direct look between us, like "what the f&*k did I sign up for?!", then I saw his head go down and continue on into the great blue yonder.  I was super impressed, but even more unsure of this new task he had taken on.  Then he transitioned into the mtn bike portion.  Me and my kids did a mad dash towards the transition area, but when you are running with a 3 year old, it feels like you are lugging a ton of mollasses, so we eventually found a spot and luckily we were able to see Justin ride by, he looked like a fire was put under his booty, so he was hauling on by, we ran back to the transition area (by this time, the 3 year old was in "turtle mode"), but we barely caught him coming out for the run.
 finishing up the bike portion
Seeing him go by in the run and acknowledging his "crew"--us, was awesome.  He went by and had to go under this overpass, that went directly into the river, but there were ropes and cute fireman to catch him if he fell in, so he seemed ok (he later mentioned to me that he started to cramp as he went down under). 


After that, we ran to the finish and cheered him on to the end. In the end, he finished midpack, to seasoned pro's.  He was not even fully trained for it, so I see some podiums in the future!!
I was really proud of him and excited for the future XTERRA's we will get to particpate in. 
Coming in for the finish!
Recovering..

He has made mad improvements in his run and swim...next year he should dominate!!
and we really like living here by the way : )
the view outside my kitchen window