21st Century Mom

What's messed up? My training. Just look at those YTD stats.
Cycling - 108 miles
Swimming - 13.95 miles
Running - 6.66 miles (coincidence? or SATAN!!??)
You know that when you have swum more than twice as far as you have run in a month something is wrong - very wrong. What's wrong is that I have been a big baby about running.

Today I was determined to fix this problem. I wanted to swim then run but getting up at 5 just wasn't in the cards because I allowed the bed to seduce me into its warm and loving embrace. In fact - I didn't even get out of bed until 7:15. Who in the world who has a job stays in bed until 7:15??!!!

So I finally threw my legs over the side of the bed and just got dressed and got out the door before I knew what hit me. And then I tried to run - tried being the operative word. OMG! My legs seemed to have an inexplicable draw toward the ground and just didn't want to give it up for anything. I looked at the Garmin which said awful things like "12:45" or "14:22" and I yelled at it - YOU STUPID PIECE OF CRAP - I WISH YOU WEREN'T A LIAR! but it didn't help. The numbers just got uglier. Then I had the remarkably optimistic thought that I must have set it for speed instead of pace and I was really running 13.33 MPH - HA! Of course I was! Such a dreamer.

So I got home and plugged the Garmin into it's data sucker and uploaded the data and the results were irrefutable - my splits were:
13:39, 12:42, 11:27. ( I really only ran 2;66 but that made YTD 5.66 which in no way lent itself to a good Dana Carvey joke)

At least my efforts to speed up counted for something - but really. 12:45/mile???? UGH.

I'm thinking it is time to quit sitting on the couch knitting and watching reruns of CSI. Yes - seriously. I have been doing that. I hang my head in shame for the sloth and lack of drive.

The nice thing about this is there's only way to go now - faster.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 06:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

Today I once again entered the ranks of the employed - YES! I am on contract which has some distinct advantages and some disadvantages but no matter how you paint it, it results in money flowing in to my account, instead of just out and that's a good thing.

You know what that means? It means I can finally sign up for an event! I'm not 100% sure which it will be. Either Wildflower Short Course or this revived one called The Golden Bear which is more local but no less challenging. I'm going to give it a few more days before I pick.

It also means I can book a flight to go visit my kids at school and then I can arrange a visit with Humbly Anne.

And there's another thing I realized tonight that I had forgotten about. I have to find something reasonably nice to wear every Monday Monday and all the days thereafter until Saturday when I can go back to swapping in and out of jammies, spandex and jeans. I haven't had to do this for 4 years due to either unemployment or working from home - however will I cope? I guess I'll work that out but for now I have to get to bed because at long last - it's a "school night"!

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 09:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

That's what I am - blogstipated. I just can't seem to squeeze out a post. It isn't that I'm not thinking of you all and it isn't that my life is SO dull - I'm just not feeling like writing. And it isn't like the stuff I write is poop so maybe this isn't the best analogy but this is what you get under the circumstances.

I wanted to write a post about my lovely sleep over party with my friend Cynthia. I wanted to properly introduce her blog No Regrets which is of a very different nature than my blog. Cynthia is a writer of exceptional abilty and thought. She is new to blogging so you can read the entire thing from the bottom up - you won't be sorry. She is also a very talented artist and has website that showcases her art.

Cynthia is currently living just west of the middle of nowhere and it is lovely. Lovely to visit. I think she is about 1,000 feet and it snowed Monday morning - such a thrill! Her porch looked like this:

I spontaneously burst into a round of

My zipper suit is bunny brown
Zip it up, zip it down
and hurry out to play-o
My Daddy brought it home from work
Zip it up, zip it down and hurry out to play-o

Thanks to Google I now know that those are not the correct lyrics. And that's what the snow does to me and that's why I was not tempted in the slightest to go out and run in it. That and the bottle of wine I consumed the night before.

That Cynthia knows how to throw a pj party as well as she knows how to write.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 09:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

There are far too many blogs out there with posts like this:

"It was 22 below zero today when I went out for my run. The only thing showing through technical, thermal, space aged fabric was my eyeballs and they were frozen solid. My lungs froze on the first inhale which kept them propped open. Thank God for that! As long as I kept moving air kept getting in there. I ran 10 miles and you know what? I warmed up! By the time I got home I was only wearing 3 layers and I was carrying 12 pounds of outer garments. It was so beautiful out there! The ice crystals reflecting the sun as it peeked through the clouds once or twice was awesome!"

I finally ran today - at about noon when it finally warmed up. It's the first time I've gone running since December 19. When I started out I thought, "what was I waiting for - this isn't so bad" And by the time I got to mile 2 my legs felt like they weighed 1,000 pounds each. Pitiful - and I deserved every miserable second of it for being such a wimp.

Every day I promised myself I would run. I'd hop out of bed and think "I'll go to the 6:45 masters workout and then I'll come home and put on my running tights and technical t + sweatshirt + sushi hat and hit the road! And then I would get home and start reading email and blogs and cleaning this and that and oops - too late to go running! Tomorrow! I'll ride the trainer for 45 minutes and then I'll run 30 minutes. After the trainer session I was soaked in sweat and it was cold out - no more than 40 degrees and I simply CANNOT run when it's that cold out. I also don't like running in the dark.

Today I got my 30 day free use of 24 Hour Fitness as part of a class action lawsuit settlment (Lawyers $5M each, plaintiffs 30 days of gym time with chronic sales pitches. What a great country!). So now I have no excuse - I can go to 24 Hr fitness and run on the dreadmill until the days get longer and warmer.

Oh wait.....Come to think of it 40 isn't so cold, is it?

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)

It will be a very cold day in hell before I choose to celebrate my middle aged girth and the ravages of aging over doing what I can to stave them off.

Today - bike in trainer for 45 and run 3 miles. Then I can dance and say "Look at meeee..... I'm training for a half iron distance triathlon!!!"

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 08:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)

What a great weekend I had! I feel like I'm crawling up out of the dark hole of winter and moving towards spring and triathlon season - yay!

Saturday I took a trip up to Auburn California, the self proclaimed endurance capital of the world, to speak with the race director of the Western States 100 race. My race club is manning the aid station at mile 85 and yours truly is the captain of that effort. I could not be more thrilled - this is such an honor. This particular aid station is really special because once the runners get here they are more than likely to finish the race. Being there to spur them on to victory and making sure that operations run smoothly at our station will be an exciting, exhausting, thrilling night. I can't wait! If you happen to have ever run this race and know what can really make the difference at ALT please let me know.

Sunday I finally got back on my bike and rode it outdoors! This was the 2nd time since SOMA. I was riding with my friends who I always rode with in my life BF (before FoMo) and we had to take it easy because one of them is recovering from back surgery she had specifically so she could get back on the bike. We rode the entire Iron Horse Trail from Walnut Creek to Dublin which is about 16 miles each way plus I live a few miles from where we met up - total distance 36 miles in a little under 3 hours. Hey people - slow and steady wins the race, right? I decided to get the most out of the situation by putting my bike in the hardest possible gear for the whole ride. I'm feeling it today and it hurts so good!

I also am having those fun, funny heart beats that sent me to a cardiologist for extensive testing. Now I know I'm really back in the saddle.

And as though that isn't enough good news for one post, I've landed a contract to do some work. That means I will be a wage earner again!! And that means I can register for Wildflower short course.

I know it's only January but it seems the time has come to giddyup!

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 05:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

So Marion Jones finally tells all, loses a $25M suit to that scum bag Victor Conte, gets stripped of her records, her medals and her dignity, and is this enough to satisfy someone's need to punish her? Oh no. In addition to all of that she gets a trip to the hoosgow. For 6 months!

Her sentence was for lying under oath - just like Martha Stewart.

Does obstruction of justice land everyone in jail? Well Libby was sentenced to 30 months but had his sentence commuted by W. Bernard Law, a catholic Bishop who actively covered up sexual abuse of children has not gone to jail. Tim Finneran, former speaker of the House in Mass traded a perjury charge for obstruction of justice - and no jail time.

This isn't to say others don't go to jail for obstruction of justice but there is precedent for not sending someone to jail on that charge so you have to wonder why Marion Jones who was ultimatly cooperative and who is the mother of 2 young children including a 7 month old baby she's still nursing is being sent up the river.

According to the Judge:
Karas turned aside her appeal for leniency, saying that, at her plea hearing in October, she failed to fully admit that she used banned substances.

Well whoop dee do.... this makes her a danger to society? He also has put her on 2 years probation and sentenced her to 800 hours of community service. That isn't punishment enough?

She is the first one to be sent to jail as part of this anti-steroid sting.

At today's hearing, the judge said Jones' sentence should serve as a warning to other athletes.

``There's a very strong inference that would make other athletes think twice before lying,'' Karas said. ``Nobody is above the obligation to tell the truth.''

Do you think Barry Bonds will ever go to jail or even be stripped of his record? I'm doubthful and his getting away with it because we have such a deep national love of baseball (and by "we" I mean "the rest of you") will make the bitter taste in my mouth last all that much longer. I just hope I'm wrong.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 05:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Time for the Bloggies, that is!

Today was a gloomy day. A gray and cold and wet day. The kind of day where even going out to get the mail takes energy but I'm a mail junkie so out I went. When I opened the box what, to my great surprise should I find but this:

It was a package from Down Under bearing a very formidable ID RECORDED sticker.

Whoa! I thought. Do I have a drug dealer I didn't know about? But then I remembered that Katy the Greaty had said she was going to send me something and squealing with delight I fairly skipped back into the house to see what wondrous thing was tucked into the unassuming but duly noted package (they've got your number, girl!)

Fingers trembling with anticipation, I tore open the package to discover this:

SUSHI TAPE!!!!!
(click for a bigger view. Go on! It's totally worth it!)

I got very verklempt and had to actively engage in full restraint to keep from wrapping my body in that tape and heading for the nicest restaurant in town with my sushi hat on me 'ead (that's Aussie for 'on my head') and a sushi tape dress on me bod.

That's DPR and me in our sushi hats

Refrain I did, though because I think that sushi tape is destined for better things.

Katy- you are just the bestest! You've made my holiday season complete.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Check out the new Garmin 405. I knew there was a reason I was waiting to upgrade my 201

The beautiful thing about getting to the end of one year and living in a culture that celebrates the beginning of a new year is that it gives us pause to stop and reflect on things past and on what we want for the future for ourselves. Most of our lives are wrapped up in thinking about other things and people - our jobs, our homes, our families, our community. All too often we barely squeeze ourselves in to the mix of what is important and when we make ourselves a priority we suffer guilt and then we suffer guilt when we don't make ourselves a priority and fail to meet our goals. Oh geez - must life be so difficult?

New Year's Day is all about the goodness that is "me". It is about assessing the year gone by for its highs and lows and deciding how this year can be better, richer, more fulfilling, and both more self absorbed and more selfless. It is about finding ways to be more dedicated to what is really important in life which requires us to think about what is most important in life and how we can, i n the words of my all time favorite insect, accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative. .



My goal for 2008 is to do just that - be more positive. Most of you don't know this but I'm a bit of a cranky pants. I'm pretty quick to focus on the negative get all worked up about perceived injustice and then act on that and when I say "act" I mean "lash out". And then I get a grip, stop and cover and apologize and smooth things over. I'd like to improve on that and really focus on seeing that glass half full so I don't go through the cranky pants routine.

Another tendancy I have is toward self-sabotage so I want to start honoring my intentions instead of blowing them off with cheap excuses. I want to toss myself out the door for a swim or a run or a ride knowing that whatever reason I have to avoid it isn't worthy of derailing my plans. I want to spend less time surifing the web and more time indulging my interests. I want to push for a strong finish in whatever I am doing be it a race or creating a report for work and not give up with that cheapest of all cheap excuses "it doesn't really matter, anyhow". In short I want to stay on top of things instead of putting myself in react mode and then pushing the rock up the hill against the added weight of self generated defeat. I want to march forward with a sense of purpose and optimism calling out "Feets don't fail me now!" with no particular reason to think they will.

All of this reminded me of my favorite Tracy Chapman song - Change.

This song asks the question 'how bad does it have to get before you'll change". The beauty of New Year's is that the intention to assess and change isn't motivated by fear or sadness or problems - it is motivated by hope and the promise of new beginnings and New Year that is as bright and shiny and unsullied as a newly minted penny. So here's to everyone's shiny bright New Year. May you realize your goals and may your penny be as bright and shiny at the end of December as it is today.