Beyond the Babies

I am so loving my life as an aunt. Although I haven't physically laid eyes (or hands) on them yet, Sophie and Lauren are two of my most favorite people in the world. They are beautiful, cute, adorable, precious little mircles from God. Thanks, God!! I'm sure that it won't take long (if it already hasn't happened) for the people around me to get sick of me talking about them all the time and showing off pictures. No one has told me to stop as of yet, so here's another one (from their third day)...

But, beyond the babies, I have still had a lot of work to get done. I've been working on getting ready for the Dam to Dam training group to start again in March. The training calendar is all put together. Now, it's just a matter of making my training schedule work into that somehow. It should work out okay for at least half of the spring. I had intended to do my long rides on Saturday and long runs on Sunday (per the schedule), but the running group meets on Saturdays, so for a while, I'll be doing things a little backwards.

I'll be going to Madison with a group of triathletes from Des Moines in June for "Epic Camp Madison." It will be a weekend of workouts on the actual course starting with a century ride (100 miles) on the bike course, followed by a short (relatively speaking) brick run on Saturday. Then Sunday is either a 6.5 or 13 mile run on the course followed by a swim in Lake Monona. Should give the rookies in the group (me!) a good taste of the course and a great series of workouts with some veterans. That will occur the weekend following Dam to Dam (a 20K), so I'd be smart to schedule a kind of easy week in between.

I've also determined the list of triathlons, races, and rides I'll be participating in this summer in addition to the IM:

June 3, Dam to Dam (or for the non-swearers in the group: Darn to Darn) 20K (12.4 miles)
June 17, Quad Cities Triathlon (sprint distance)
June 24, Pella Dutchman Triathlon (international distance)
July 23, Spirit of Racine Triathlon (half IM)
July 23-29, RAGBRAI

I'm kinda sad to miss the Iowa Games tri this year. It was the first one I'd ever done and I've done it for the past 3 years, but it is the same weekend as my grandmother's birthday party. The only part I won't miss are all hills and heat from last year!

I'd like to draw your attention to the links at the top of this page. If you haven't taken the time to read Roehr's blog yet, please do! She finished her first marathon a week ago and did VERY well! She has been quite an inspiration to me (and many others) over the last year(s). Team Satisfied has also recently updated it's blog. Though not inspiring to really anyone, it can be good for a coule laughs as we learn to tolerate life in the non-RAGBRAI weeks of the year.