Time for a Change

I have decided this year to change the blog up a bit. It will still be what is going on in Bill and my life however I am going to throw in stuff that I feel is important to live everyday the best that I can. I am an avid reader, I am always looking for interesting articles to read. I do not follow the mainstream, I look for unique.

Here are a few things that I believe when it comes to well being.

1. There is a time for holistic medicine and a time for western medicine.
2. Accupuncture works.
3. Massages are a preventive medicine
4. Exercising is a great thing
5. You need to take care of your skin. Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize.
6. Water is God's liquor. Drink alot of it.
7. pop and/or soda is deadly stop drinking it.
8. read food labels
9. naps are good so is laughing.
10. Dont always follow the crowd, you are missing so much by not doing your own thing.

I hope that you enjoy the change.

PEACE

A True Hero

To my way of thinking there are very few true heros left today and last week a very modest true hero passed away at the age of 88. Sir Edmund Hillary. The first man to ever climb Everest. What makes Sir Hillary a hero is not that he was the first man to climb Everest it was what he did after. He tried to help third world countries better themselves. Napal being one of his favorites. Actually there is not a picture of him on top of Everest because he was behind the camera not in front of it. There are not many selfless "heros" left. Sir Edmund Hillary was one of them.

Duffy cartoon

PEACE

Looking Back and Ahead

Happy New Year everyone. It is hard to believe that 2007 is almost finished. It is true what they say that time seems to go faster as you get older, There are many times I want to say "Just Slow Down".

2007 brought some new feline companions to us. We found homes for 4 of them, lets just say that the rest keep us warm at night.

I rode 1/2 of the Brrr ride, it was very cold that day.

March brought the Newton Community Theater production of No No Nannette, in which I played the grumpy maid. No type casting there.

I did my first Triathlon in August, as did my good friend Julie S. We both finished and lived to tell about it. Acually the tri bug has bitten us both. If you want to follow our training for 2008 please go to our blog
www.2julesandabike.blogspot.com, JS and I will be keeping a journal of how our training is going.

This fall I went to a couple of cycle cross races, I really enjoyed watching them and hope to try one this next year.

2008 is going to be a life change for me, I need to take better care of me. I have been letting this part of my life get pushed to the back. Not anymore. I am going to eat better, exercise more, even learn to meditate if that what it takes. I am going to simplify me. It sounds simple however I know it will be a struggle. Not much in life worth doing is not a struggle.

I hope that your 2007 was productive and that your 2008 is all that you wish for.

PEACE.

What is wrong with this picture...?

Oh the joys of having young cats. A few years ago I bought Bill a Palm Christmas Tree, well now you can see why we cannot have a real one. It would not last a day. I was wanting to hang stockings across the door however I hung one up and had to pull Winston off of the screen because he wanted to play with it. So the Palm Christmas Tree is all the decorations we have in the house. I hope that it can last until after Christmas! If you will notice in the pictures there is a wine holder full of wine. Bill's parents gave me a case of different wines for Christmas. Bless their hearts they know what it takes to put up with Bill and all of the cats. :) Peace!

The fix is on

There is a neat web site called www.alliedautowatch.com If you have allied insurance and a vehicle getting fixed. You put in your phone number and you can watch the progress of your vehicles repair. Scooter is suppose to be finished on Monday. I am going to be afraid to drive him, he will looks so nice.

Putting Up Christmas Lights

Bill and I put up Christmas Lights Sunday and we had a little Help. Oliver climbed up the ladder and got stuck on the dormer so Bill had to help him down.

The Deer Lost

Bill had a little run in with a deer. The poor deer lost however the car was a close second. Scooter goes in Wed to get fixed.

Art By Tommy Original

I am the proud owner of an original Art By Tommy. I even got to watch him work for a little bit until his bodyguard showed up and scared me away.

Below is a photo of Tommy hard at work or at least he was until he realized that I was watching.



I just had time to snap the next picture as his friend and bodyguard Winston showed up. I didnt want to make them mad so I left.



Ah the final masterpiece an Art By Tommy Original on a semi tightly rolled paper medium. I heard that the paper is very expensive. I will treasure forever.



PEACE

We Remember......May We Never Forget

What Bill did on Labor Day

shhhh enough said peace :)

What I did on my labor day vacation...

It was a hectic weekend, however the main focus was we celebrated my mom's 70th birthday. She does not turn 70 until January but this was the only weekend we could all get together. So all three of my sisters and there family's were here from Thurs until Monday. There was alot of laughing, eating and drinking. Below are a few pics from the miniture golf outing.



L to R, Sister Lisa, Sister Susan, nephew Alex, niece Andrea(both are Susan's children), Lisa's husband Dave (Holding Flag)



L to R Niece Maja, Nephew Musa (Lori's children) and Nephew Pete(Susan's)



Nephew Pete(Susan), Sister Lori




Mom Sally and Nephew Will(Susan)

Lori and Susan had the purple shirts made up. On the back it says Sally's 70th birthday world tour. My sister took a picture of it I will post it when I get the picture. I will also have a family pic coming. But I thought that you might enjoy these.

until next time

Peace

I finished...

Today was the Cy-Tri and I can now say that I am a triathlete. I really did not have any idea what to expect but it was exciting to be involved instead of on the outside looking in like I have done so many times.

Bill and I got to the lake around 7:00am, the traffic into the park looked like a funeral procession. Once we were parked we took my stuff to the transition area and found a spot to park the bike and my stuff, after getting that set up we went to the registration tent to get the "chip" and to have my number "11" put on my arms and my age as of Dec 31,2007 "45" put on my leg. I think I had the most fun looking at people ages.

There were 5 "swim" waves so to speak. They send swimmers out in groups so that you do not have 360 people all trying to get the same spot. I was lucky to get in the first wave..the bright you cannot miss orange cap. I elected to start closer to the back of the pack. I had heard horror stories of getting kicked and bumped etc. They are all true. Some guy about lost his foot because he kept kicking me in the boob. needless to say you cannot get into a rythem. Good thing that I knew more than one stroke. I did a little crawl , alittle breast stroke and the little used side stroke. I think that the side stroke worked almost as well as the crawl. I also got a good stomach full of lake water. I do not know for sure what my time was in the swim. The official results are not out yet, but no "Green" caps passed me so I was happy with the.

After getting out of the lake we had to run up this nice little hill, ickky. Bill was yelling encouragements to me over the fence. All I said was I am tired and I had a long way to go.

It took a little bit for my legs to get warmed up on the bike. I did not mind the hills however I could have done without the head wind. So I tried to get as small as possible, kind of hard for a person my size, and then cranked it when the wind was at my back. I finished some where around 50 minutes for a 15.5 mile ride. I was happy with that. What was neat was as I was leaving the transition zone, I heard "There goes Julie" and I recognized the voice as Kristin's. Her, Bruce and the kids had drive up to support me, Julie and the others in the Race.

Next up was the run. I knew that I would have issues with the run. I use to run all of the time however have not been running lately. I was barely training at 3 miles. From the start it was tough. I could not get my heart rate to drop so I would hyper ventilate. So I figured as long as I made it to the finish line I didnt care how I got there. I say that I walked at least 1/2 the run. I was disappoined, In practices I was doing 3 miles in a little over 30 minutes. That was not to be. So I walked trotted, and encouraged others on. I have to say the crowd was great. They were the ones that kept me going. Each little bit of encouragement was very much appreciated.

I finished at around 1 hour 52 minutes. I was both happy and disappointed. I wanted to do it in under 2 hours however I knew I was well below that when I started the run. I need to keep telling myself that I finished. It was my first tri and the goal was to finish. Not to bad for a 44 year old over weight female.

I want to thank Bill he was a great support crew. He went and got stuff for me that I had left in the truck. He yelled encourgement to me constantly. I know that I do not give him enough credit. He even pulled over to the side of the road in time for me to get sick on the way home. Now is that love or what. Love you Bill.

Thank you Julie S. for asking me to do the tri and for training with me when we could find the time.

Thanks to Kyle S., Kyle's parents and Bruce and Kristin, for there support.

To everyone who yelled encouragement to me even though they did not know me. You have no Idea what that ment and how much it helped.

Will I do another one? I would say yes however there will need to be alot of changes in me. Bill took some pic and they do not lie, I have alot of work to do and the first one is weight. I am over weight and it really effects how a person feels. It is going to be a tough battle since I am a stress eater and work is stressful at the moment. However it must be done so it will be done. I need to work on my running which is just going to take time, I have run a marathon, I can get up to 6 miles. I need to get in the lake more to figure out the best way to swim and I just need to keep doing what I am doing on the bike.

Peace, ride safe and if you have any desire to do a tri...GO FOR IT!

It is now time for me to go to bed, I am tired and it has been a long day!

The most beautiful sport

As I sat watching the Final stage of the 2007 Tour de France this morning I got to thinking about what a beautiful sport cycling is. In America we are so use to dealing with the it's all about me attitude of professional athletes. I want the most money, I want the fame I I I I I ....for the past three weeks I have watched young men tear themselves apart to help out their team leaders, they know that they have no chance of winning a stage or winning the tour but they are proud to help try and get their leader a win. Where else do you see athletes who are bruised, broken and stiched together continue on for the sake of their team.

Professional Cyclists are the most drugged tested athletes in the world, if they are caught or though to be using drugs they are suspended or fired. Maybe Americans need to take this attitude, but no we just ignore because once again it all comes back to money.

Cyclists dont ride for the money they ride for the love of the sport, it gets in your blood and in your soul. I am proud to be a cyclist, I know that I will never be great, I know that I will never be fast but that does not mean that when I am flying down a hill or climbing up one that I cannot for a moment pretend that I am riding up one of the epic climbs of the Tour de France, or any of the other great tours. You never know one day I might just get over there and try but until then I am proud to be a member of one of the most beautiful sports in the world..cycling.

PEACE...keep riding and keep safe.

800

Well I have hit the 800 mile mark since April. I am happy with that and I think that I can achieve my goal of 2000. I think that I am finally getting my cycling legs back now if I could just get my running legs back. Oh well one thing at a time.

PEACE

Where have they gone...

Where have all of the cool bad boys on motorcycles gone? All I see are NOT cool fat boys on Motorcycles.....

My babies are growing up

Thomas and Winston are 10 weeks old today. They are a joy to have around and would love to keep them, however I am still looking for a loving home to take both of them. I will not split them up now they take such good care of each other.

Training

Well I would like to report that the training is going great and wonderful, however that would not be true. The swimming and the biking are going very well. The running is not going so well. I went out for a run on Tuesday and did only 1/2 of what I should have done. Ok it was 100 degrees in the shade but it was discouraging. Tonight I went out for my run and again was not able to complete what my training sheet told me that I needed to do. As I walked home I kept thinking why am I doing this. A big part of being able to do multi sport events or endurance events is you have to be tough mentally. I am having trouble mentally, I am very tired mentally. I use to be able to just clear my mind when I ran and hopefully I will be able to get back there, but for now I am struggling.

PEACE

HOT!!!!

I stated in Feb that I was crazy by trying to do the Brrr ride in 10 degrees below zero, well I am still crazy I rode Sunday in 95+ degree weather in the Ride for Sight. From Ankeny to Colfax went great. Not to hot and the wind behind us but once we left Colfax things went down hill real fast. It was like the temp had gone up 20 degrees in 10 minutes. It got miserable and hilly. One of my regular riding routes is to Ira and the trail so I knew what we were in for. So once we got to Ira we hopped on the trail to Mingo. Well that is where I made a big mistake. I chose for Julie and I to take the rode instead of the trail. I had been on the trail many time but never been on the road now I know why it was hilly, hot and windy. Julie did a great job getting up the hills however the heat was to much. She decided to quit at mile 49. Another gentleman also stopped so I called the sag wagon and decided to troop on. There were a few more hills then I turned South and it was like a furnace hitting me in the face. I can usually handle the wind and heat if I take it slow however the combination on Sunday was deadly. I couldnt take enough water in the even begin to cool me off. I kept riding until the sag wagon caught up with me and then I gave it up. I rode 60 miles I would have loved to do the whole thing however I knew that I was near my limit when my heartrate wouldnt drop on the flats.

After I got home I took a nice shower and tried to take a nap however that was not to be after about a 1/2 hour the muscle spasms started. This spasm started in the arch of my foot, went up the inside of my leg into my groin. You know how with a charlie horse your muscle freezes up. That is what this was doing all the way up my leg. I didnt know whether to scream, puke or passout. I finally got down on the floor drank some water then bent my knee. This seemed to take the cramp out. Of course Bill was not home to be my hero. All of the action was done by the time he walked in the door.

I took today off and just rested. Tomorrow it is back to training. I just need to be more careful in the heat. Heat exhaustion in not something you want to mess around with.

I ride by myself so much that I can sometimes forget if there is someone with me. I need to be aware of how Julie is doing. I am lucky I have the chance to get out and ride during the week where Julie is busy with other responsibilities. She did great riding 49 miles, I am proud of her she rode with guts up the hills and in that miserable hot/windy weather. Sunday was not a day to be doing alot of physical exercise and she was out there determained to get as many miles in as she could. I will be more aware next time, getting the miles is not worth hurting a friend.

Peace...stay cool..keep riding carefully

Training Update

I feel that the training is going well. I am not to concerned about the biking and swimming. The running has me a bit nervous. The legs are going NO we don't want to run. So we are having a battle of the wills so to speak. I am more of a distance runner so I am trying to do some "sprints"(I use the word sprint very lightly) to get the legs to move alittle faster. So it is 3 minute sprint one minute trot etc. It is a slow process but I will get there or die trying.

Swimming I have been doing 50 sprints with 15 second rest then doing 100 sprints with a slow 50 rest. Then I have been doing some distance swimming. Biking I will try to maintain a mph between houses or stop signs. I will also try to power up hills.

It is so much easier to get out and do something when you have a goal that you want to reach.

Sunday Julie S. and I are going to do the Ride for Sight. It is suppose to be hot so we are both starting to hydrate now. We will need all of the fluids that we can get. It will be a great training ride.

Well until next time..PEACE and stay cool.

Kitten Update

It has been awhile since I have updated on the kittens. They will be 8 weeks old tomorrow. That is hard to believe. I am having a harder time finding good homes for these two and if we keep them much longer they will not be going anywhere. We are quite attached to them. Betty Boop the mother of the first set of kittens went to visit the vet this week and got fixed so no more babies for her. Spaz will be going for a visit in a couple of weeks. We spend so much money and time there I hope they name an exam room after us. :).

This is a picture of Thomas taking a nap in the kitty sling.



Thomas and Master Winston Greybeard(I let Bill name one and look what the poor thing has to put up with...)



Bill and Thomas napping. Bill is proud of this pic, most of the time the cats are laying with me.