Monday, August 29, 2005

Triathlon, Knitting, Golf and Dirty Laundry

That's the past weekend in a nutshell. I was busy and well, now I'm kind of tired. My company sponsors annual site games, like a mini Olympics. Each company site has its own set of games and athletes. The events are spread out over several days. This past Saturday they had the triathlon, 5K and 10K activities. Karl was signed up by another friend of ours and he frantically started training about 2 weeks ago. There were two triathlon groups, A and B. The "A's" were the competitive ones, those that have done their fair share of triathlons and were expecting to finish in about 1.5 hours or less. The swim was 500 yards in the lake, the bike ride was 14 miles on a hilly paved trail and the run was a 5K. The B group started about 10 minutes after the A group swimmers were all out of the water. After the B group had transitioned to the bike ride, the 10K runners lined up and were on their way. They had to run the course twice because the route was only marked for the 5K. That was kind of a bummer.
Friends and coworkers came to cheer on all the athletes but the cutest and by far the most endearing was a family of 3 kids who came with signs saying, "Go Dad!"
There weren't many women at all in either triathlon group, at least not individual competitors. There were some women who participated in the relay portions. Regardless, I was really impressed with how fit these ladies were and I vowed afterwards that I would get in better shape. Cindy, pictured as she began her transition from the bike ride to the run, had tried to persuade me to sign up. She's in her early 40's and is fantastically fit. She did her first triathlon last summer.
In other weekend activities, I finished the front of the tank top and man is it revealing. Not only is it cropped but the V-neck is something to behold. I will have to pick up stitches around the neck anyway but I had originally planned to just do single crochet. Now it looks like I'll be doing about an inch of seed stitch.

On Sunday morning, I got up early and, because I had vowed to get into better shape, ran 9 miles for my long run. I felt good for most of it. The worst was in the first 4 minutes where my knee hurt so bad I wanted to cry. Then the pain went away. I will admit that I'm in denial about this and am refusing to see my doctor.

When I got home, Karl was in a grumpy mood because he had to clean up from an aborted wash attempt - our washing machine finally died. We had to make an emergency visit to Lowe's and bought a brand new Whirlpool set. I insisted on a top loader...I must be able to felt!

Then later in the afternoon we played 9 holes at Indian Creek Golf Course, where I eagled the first hole! Woohoo! I beat the guys again, handily this time with an eagle, a birdie and a par to score 32. I tried not to be too smug.

There's still a couple of days left this month to seam up the tank top and redo the neckline. I...must...finish....

5 comments:

Agnes said...

It seems we both had an exhausting weekend! LOL! I am thinking about the same thing ... hoping to get an FO before September arrives. But it seems the chance is slim for me ... still struggling with the sleeves!

Anonymous said...

What a crazy weekend! And I say forget knitting and photography, you should be concentrating on golf! Damn! An Eagle! That's so excellent. You deserve to gloat a little. And, Yay for new appliances!

Being in my early 40's myself, Cyndi's abs make me want to cry. Tell me she's been an athlete all her life, please?

Birdsong said...

Being fit is a lifelong challenge... I am better sometimes than others. This summer has fallen in the middle, with the daily input weighing in ok, but work cutting into the opportunities for outside adventures. I do love the colors of your tank and look forward to how you make it work for you.

Anonymous said...

Lyn,thanks for pics of the tri's!! always enjoy looking at a good triathlete...:-)
Now you go from no run to 9?? or have I missed something and you've been running?? sorry hope I dont sound preachy, do you have the right shoes?? maybe you need some stability?? ok, enough preaching..hope you stretched!!!!

Unknown said...

I feel tired out just reading about all your activities. Sounds like a fun way to get fit