Another Busy Weekend

Monday was back to school. Lincoln got to bring in snacks to celebrate his birthday since it is during the summer. He has never been able to do this before and they like to keep it simple. Instead of cupcakes, he wanted banana muffins. And since we can only bring store-bought items, I just picked some up at Wal-Mart. I decided to mix it up a bit and got some blueberry muffins too. He was very pleased 😊. I thought we would do it while I was there helping in the morning, but I think they waited until lunch time. He said they all enjoyed the muffins though. Back at home, I eventually got to work out in the garage and by the end of the day I had it all organized and cleaned up just in time to get dinner done before Ellie needed to go to soccer. They canceled Jackson’s ball practice and Lincoln’s soccer, but Ellie’s soccer group went for just an hour.

The sun came out Tuesday which was nice. A chance of rain did pop up so the ride and run I was hoping to do outside, happened inside. It made me a little anxious since I haven’t had many chances to get outside before my next triathlon. And since it was coming up on Sunday, I didn’t work out too much over the week. And even though it ended up not raining, the fields were still so wet that all of our ball practices for the night and we got to enjoy dinner at my parents. Wednesday I got my last swim in and then went grocery shopping. Then it was cleaning and prepping for our last small group of the school year. Jackson had baseball that night and Ellie and Lincoln had soccer. It definitely didn’t feel like May weather though-it was freezing. Thursday was nicer and we had a small group for our last bible study. It still went pretty well though. It was also the National Day of Prayer and Faith Lutheran had an event when I picked up the twins from school. Each class sang a song or prayed. The twins’ class led us in the Lord’s Prayer.

Back home, the twins went through a whole large container of bubbles while I practiced transitions. We had to take my car to the dealership to get the seat belt fixed. I was happy to finally get that done. When Ellie got home, she told me that she was announced over the intercom at school for having read 1 million words and got to go to the office to pick out a can of soda. We didn’t have any practices that night, so Andrew worked a little later and then he took Jackson and Ellie to the batting cages. The twins got to go too and play on the playground. On Friday, Ellie was out the door early since her RAP class was going on a field trip to the Des Moines Science Center. Andrew took her around 6:45, so I took Jackson and Lincoln a little later. Then the twins and I went to Wal-Mart. I was supposed to provide grapes for a teacher appreciation breakfast and kept forgetting to get some cheap flip flops for my triathlon. Before heading into the pool area, there only bathrooms to use are the port-a-potties and they are nasty. Most people go in barefoot, but I just buy $1 flip flops and throw them in the trash once I get to the pool.

Later that afternoon we joined Lincoln for lunch at his school. You can’t bring in fast food, so your only option is to pack your own lunch or you can order one from the school. The twins were so excited to pack their own lunches. I just ate some leftover pizza before we left. The setup at the lunch table is never the best. Each class sits on one side of the table, so with it going Lincoln, Miles, Bennett and then me, I couldn’t really talk to him that much. I talked more to his friend, Miguel, who sat on the other side of me. He was excited to have us there. We only ate for about 15 minutes and then he was ready to head outside with his friends for lunch recess. 

Back home I finished up laundry and then started concentrating on getting everything ready for the weekend…making sure everything was ready for Ellie for Decade Night that night, packing up Ellie and I for our overnight in Columbia, prepping all of my triathlon stuff, packing up the boys for their overnight at my parents and practicing transitions again. The twins stayed busy about every type of tape in our house to tape flashlights and miscellaneous items to their monster trucks. 

I picked up Jackson and Zach from small group later that afternoon. Ellie was supposed to get home from her field trip in about 15 minutes, so I just waited at Ray Miller and lete the boys play on the playground until her bus showed up. Then it was back home to get ready for Decade Night. Ellie went with her friend, Tyne, dressed up for the fifties and had poodle skirts. Thankfully, my mom still had their old poodle skirts and Ellie was able to borrow one. Ellie loved it and after I showed her some video of the kind of dancing they did, she decided she would have liked to live back then.

The time went by quickly before I had to go pick them up. Ellie and I finished getting everything ready to go for the next day before getting ready for. We were out the door around 6:40 the next morning and got her checked in at Columbia College for the State Math Competition. They had a quick orientation and then took the students to the testing rooms and I ran a few quick errands before coming back to pick her up. We met up with Tyler and Danielle for lunch at Shakespeare’s. We went to their new downtown location. They tore the old one down and built a new one in the same place and the main part of it looks a lot like the old one. We enjoyed the food and conversation before heading back for the awards ceremony. Ellie didn’t get anything, nor did anyone from Kirksville, but I think she was happy to just get to state.

Next we went to pick up my race packet for the TriZou the next morning. And we were able to check into our hotel a little early which was just down the street. Next up was shopping, which Ellie was looking forward too. I do think she takes after me just a bit in that she ended up not being too crazy about shopping for clothes. She thought she would like it, but it wasn’t as much fun as she had hoped. I did let her buy a shirt, but we went into it knowing that we would mostly just be looking. After dinner at Chick-Fil-A, her choice, we ran by Hy-Vee to pick up some snacks and drinks for the evening and made our way back to the hotel. I got all of my stuff ready to go for the next morning and we just kind of vegged out. Ellie was asleep by nine but I had trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep, which is pretty normal for the night before a race. I was up before my 4:30 alarm clock…I gave up around 3:30 and got on my phone for a little bit. I sent Andrew a text to remind him to bring the camera since. He eventually cold me back around 4:30 as he was heading out of town. Ellie was easy to get up, surprisingly, but hard to get moving, dressed and into the car. 

We made it to the transition area around 5:40 and Ellie waited outside the fenced area while I got marked and went onto the track to set up my bike and everything. She was a trooper waiting there because it was kind of chilly. She had her jacket, but I also gave her mine. Andrew showed up a little after six and Danielle showed up around the same time. Andrew decided to stick around until start time instead of going back to the hotel for a bit. I waited until the last minute to take off my outer layers and I was shivering. Danielle and I headed to the pool and soon it was time to start. The Elites went first and the rest of us started at 7:30. I felt like I had improved my swim time enough to move up a bit. I did have a few issues on the swim. As I was trying to pass a swimmer, another guy was trying to pass me and we hit the wall close to the same time, so I had to wait a bit before I could turn. I had a couple more hold-ups like that that I hadn’t experienced much before. So my swim time ended up being slower than I had hoped, but still a couple seconds faster than last year. It was a little chilly when I came out of the pool, but I didn’t bother putting on a jacket and tried to make my T1 as fast as I could since the transitions slowed me down a bit the previous year. And my transition time was 1 minute faster than last year, which was good. The bike went pretty well. I was a little chilly at first, but it didn’t last long. And there was hardly any wind, which was nice. I was disappointed that I had trouble passing a girl on the downhill of Providence and actually had to brake coming down the hill and lost some momentum before the big climb. The second time around was much better. My bike time was about 30 seconds faster along with my second transition being a little over 30 seconds faster. It was fun to see Ellie and Andrew along the bike course and then cheering me on during my transitions. As I headed out on my run, my left foot was a bit numb. It sometimes happens to me on the bike, but hasn’t happened in a race. So, I was a little slower and wobbly starting out. I was able to pick up my pace as I got feeling back into my foot. And as I was coming across the finish line, I noticed my watch showed my time as being about 2 minutes faster than last year. So, I was pretty pleased. Danielle came in a little after I did and we got our times from the Ultramax tent and then got some food. Most of the food I got was for my cheering section. I was excited they had chocolate milk though and Andrew enjoyed the smoothies. Ellie was excited about them but ended up not being a fan. I went through another time for a little more food for them.

We found out they wouldn’t be posting preliminary results, so we headed to the hotel to shower. Danielle used our shower too and the guys hung out in the lobby. Andrew was excited they still had their breakfast going and had a couple omelets and sausage. So, he was feeling good when we headed back to see if we placed. And thankfully, the awards ceremony started right on time unlike last year when it was over an hour late. Danielle got fourth in her age group and I got second in mine. And then I discovered once I got home, that the girl who got first in my age group was actually one of my sorority sisters. I didn’t know her too well and didn’t recognize her at all while we were up on the stage. According to Facebook, she looks like a pretty hard core athlete.

Ellie and I were both getting hungry and were happy we came upon a Zaxby’s as we were about to get on 63 and it wasn’t busy at all. Neither of us had eaten there, but we both like our food. We were able to get through the drive through in less than 10 minutes and were on our way home. We got back home in decent time and I was sore when I got out of the car, but I kept moving. I had some stuff from Sam’s to unload along with all of my tri stuff, bike and overnight bag. I got the car cleaned out, booster seats back in, started laundry and unpacked before Ellie and I headed to my parents to get the boys. Andrew was sleeping on the couch when we left. The boys had a great time at my parents. Lissy was coming into town, so my parents had dinner for all of us. The twins got in the hot tub for a bit and Buddy decided to join them.

I was thinking about going grocery shopping afterwards, but my lack of sleep was starting to catch up with me and I couldn’t convince myself to do it. My bed was sounding really nice by the end of the day.