Sam and I are hosting a trivia night fundrasier for Team in Training. There'll be a raffle for a Simple 7 Cruiser, a 50/50 raffle, and lots of awesome silent auction items. I'll post the silent auction items when I have all of them together. Please come! Email me if you'd like to participate.
Ophelia and I went to the park the other day for the first time in a while. It was a beautiful day. Baby Girl LOVED being outside, and played with lots of leaves and sticks and grabbed handfuls of dirt. It was awesome.
And today I gave her a teething biscuit for the first time. I think she's gonna be a sugar addict like her parents. She freaked out and demolished the thing, bits of biscuit shrapnel and schmears all over her clothes, her face, her hands, the table.
Thanks to all of your support, I have exceeded my fundraising goal for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society triathlon. Sam still needs LOTS of support though, so don't be afraid to give to him!
They're ordering our wetsuits today, which is pretty cool. We'll get to use them at the end of the month at a practice swim at Innsbrook.
Training week 5 went like this:
Monday, 3/2: Sam 5 mile run in 42:44, Kate off
Tuesday, 3/3: off
Wednesday, 3/4: Kate 3.4 mile run, Sam 6 mile run
Thursday, 3/5: Kate 1200m swim, Sam 1300m
Friday, 3/6: Kate 2 mile walk in the park with O, Sam 7.5 mile bike
Saturday, 3/7: Kate 16 mile bike on Riverfront Trail, Sam off
Sunday, 3/8: Sam 2300m swim, Kate got her birthday wish -- to sleep
Training is going good. This is a rest week, so the work isn't as tough, and honestly, I had a busy week at work and skipped a few workouts, and Sam was sick, so he missed some as well. But, so far, here's how it's gone:
Sunday, 2/15: swam 900 meters
Monday, 2/16: Sam ran 5 miles, I took the day off
Tuesday, 2/17: swam 1000 meters -- Sam - 25 m in 20 sec, Kate - 25m in 28 sec
Wednesday, 2/18: Sam ran 5 miles, Kate ran 5k
Thursday, 2/19: day off
Friday, 2/20: Kate cycled 30 min indoors, Sam 3 mile bike outside
Saturday, 2/21: Kate cycled 28 miles in 80 minutes inside, Sam biked 7 miles outside
Sunday, 2/22: Kate swam 1700m, Sam swam 1800m
Monday, 2/23: off day
Tuesday, 2/24: Kate swam 1000m, Sam was puking
Wednesday, 2/25: off day
Thursday, 2/26: off day
Friday, 2/27: off day...again...good thing it's a rest week!
Saturday, 2/28: Kate -- ran 42 minutes on the hilly Queeny Park trails
Sunday, 3/1: Both swam 1800m -- the toughest swim so far!!
Now we start a pretty intense build-up week, so I'm looking forward to the challenge. Sort of.
It was great to come home from a tough workout this morning and see that two more people had donated. Thank you ALL for your support!! I've raised almost $2000 (I have some checks at home to send in, so they aren't reflected on the website yet). Sam's still struggling, but we plan on having a trivia night/silent auction in early April, so that should help.
Thanks again, everyone!
O loves looking at stuff upside-down. She prefers to be upside-down, but can only tolerate so much upside-down-ness before her head turns red and she spits up. I captured some topsy turvy time with my laptop camera.
So we've completed one complete week of training each, and here's what we've done so far:
Sam started before me, so he's done (his off day is Thursday):
Wednesday, 2/4: 2 mile run
Saturday, 2/7: 3.5 mile run
Sunday, 2/8: 1.5 hour swim practice
Monday, 2/9: 3.2 mile run
Tuesday, 2/10: 1 mile swim
Wednesday, 2/11: 3.6 mile run
Saturday, 2/14: 3.5 mile run
So far, I've done (my off day is Monday):
Saturday, 2/7: 11 mile cycle
Sunday, 2/8: 1.5 hour swim practice
Tuesday, 2/10: 1 mile swim
Wednesday, 2/11: 2.7 mile run
Thursday and Friday: days off to try to beat my cold. Didn't work.
Saturday, 2/14: 4 mile run
Here's a photo of the team, on the first cycling day. Sam was at work.
We joined the St. Louis Triathlon Club. We're planning on doing the New Town Triathlon in July as well, as long as we continue liking what we're doing. We're both stoked to be doing this. Not only does it hold us accountable for the amount and type of exercise we're doing, but we're meeting people we never would have met before, venturing into areas we never would (like West County!) and we actually get to spend time together, which we never had before. Or at least our time spent together was on the couch. Not to mention, we never lose sight of the cause. This is all to contribute to the fight against cancer. If our entire team reaches our respective fundraising goals, we will contribute $85,000 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
So please be sure to contribute to the cause! And cheer us on!!
I babysat Raleigh the other day. Raleigh is probably Ophelia's only small friend. He's 10 months older, but they've been hanging out since she was born. Well, at least their moms have.
I snapped these with my camera phone because it was just too cute watching them. O just kept smiling at Raleigh, trying to grab him, and cooing at him. Poor Raleigh had just woken up, and he kept giving the "done" sign to Ophelia! After a few minutes though, he was showing her how to play with the octopus, and giving her books and stuff to chew on. It was so sweet. BFFs indeed.
My friends Jamie and Stephanie had their baby on Thursday morning. She weighed in at a whopping 8lbs, 15oz and measured 22 inches long. She's beautiful!! Congratulations, ladies!!
Just returned from Carefree, Arizona, where I was presenting a poster at the American Association for Cancer Research's Science of Health Disparities conference. Yes, that's a mouthful.
We stayed in Carefree, about 30 miles outside of Phoenix. Ophelia came along, as well as Sam's mom, and we got to visit lots with my sis-in-law Erin who lives in Tempe.
I totally sucked at picture taking this trip. I forgot my camera often, but took a few photos with my phone, which I just figured out how to email to myself. We'll see how much that cost me...
Ophelia was great to travel with. We are so lucky to have such a ridiculously happy baby. But what was even better was her reaction when we got home. She was screaming with excitement when she saw the dogs, and we walked around the house as she cooed and talked to everything she had missed, including the shower curtain and her clothes. What can I say? She's easily amused, just like her mother. When Sam got home from work she was squealing and squeaking for an hour. Totally cool.
This was someone's sweet car at the place we ate breakfast.
Uh, this was O's sweet breakfast -- a menu. She's really into paper right now.
Aunt Erin and O -- so kindly letting me eat while I drooled over Erin's chocolate chip pancakes. Stupid gluten.
Grandma Cathy and O outside Erin's house.
"Yes, I'm stuck on the corner of Bloody Basin Road and Tranquil Trail. Which way would you suggest I go?" OR "My address? Sure, it's 134 Bloody Basin Road...yes..bloody...B-L-O-O..."
For some reason Erin's neighbor collects these Mark VIIIs, or whatever they are. No, not old Lincoln Mark Vs, which would be pretty cool and pimpin', but 90s Lincolns. This is ridiculous. This is a picture of four of the six that were sitting there.
Sam and I are competing in a triathlon with Team in Training to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We're doing this to get fit, to meet the challenge of completing a triathlon (1000 meter swim -- almost a mile, 28 mile bike, 6 mile run), and to raise money for a good cause.
Some of you know that my Uncle Hap is fighting chronic lymphocytic leukemia right now, my brother H.R. defeated Hodgkin's lymphoma about 15 years ago, and my Dad's (and Uncle Hap's) mother passed away from blood cancer. We've had leukemia and lymphoma affect three generations of our family. Let's stop it from attacking a fourth.
You can donate online at my personal Team in Training site.
Sam's site will be online tomorrow, and I'll put a link up. I'll also be sending out an email as well as snail mail, so you'll be reminded in many ways! Know that every dollar counts, so please donate anything that you can. We'll also take offers of babysitting, as we have to train 6 days a week. More details to come.
