Mi vida loca

I've started blogging at my new site: www.easysite.com/thehares

Please go there!

My first duathlon is under my belt. At the break of dawn this morning I loaded up my bike and headed out to Hillsboro for the Hawthorn Farm race. It was relatively warm (my car said 53 degrees at 5:45am) and it didn't rain on us. Yay!

I got to the stadium to set up my running transition and there was a guy there who'd done these before so he gave me some pointers on how to rack my bike and how the flow of traffic goes at transition. Then I headed over to the athletic club where the race started. I racked my bike, got my leg marked (#519), went to the bathroom for the fourth time that morning, got on my bike shoes, put my hair up and I was ready to roll.

For the duathlon they have you go two at a time across the timing mats (you have to walk your bike across and then mount at a designated spot) so we all lined up. The triathletes were in the club swimming and they'd come out and hop on their bikes one at a time later. The bike and run course are the same for the triathlon and duathlon.

So - off I go on the bike! There so much excitement and adrenaline that I look down and realize I'm going 20 miles an hour. Whoa. Better slow down a tiny bit. I have a bad habit of going out way too fast and then paying for it at the end. We cruise out into the beautiful country roads and for the first four or five miles I am not a happy camper. I've noticed that it takes me several miles before I find my groove. My legs always feel heavy, I feel tired and just kinda cranky. It's weird. But at mile six we hit the killer hill - I go over it just fine and then I feel great!

The next 7 miles are rolling hills and I'm having fun! I get to the transition area and there's Eric, Andrew and Amelia. It was a nice surprise to see them, but I think chatting with them made my transition time too long. Oh well. No big deal. Total time on the bike is just under 55 minutes. I can handle that.

Get my cap and shoes on and I'm off and running, and holy crap my legs were not thrilled with the transition. My breathing was also off and I just felt all out of whack. After a mile or so I'm doing better. I end up running with a woman who was doing the triathlon (oh yeah, that was great for the ego, to get passed by people who had to swim before they biked and ran). We ran and chatted for the rest of the race. Having someone to pace and talk with was so helpful. I was able to forget that I felt tired - the distraction was great. We ran in and crossed the finish line together and gave each other a high five. She was great. My run time was 35 minutes - so I met my goal of 1.5 hours (minus the transition time). I was happy about that!

Everyone on the course was great - the volunteers, the police, the other racers. So encouraging - strangers high fived me on the run (there was an out and back so we were passing) and almost everyone shouted out "good job" or "almost finished". I love Oregonians. So cool.

It's almost six hours after I finished I feel great. No pain anywhere. But I now realize that I need to do many more brick trainings (back to back riding and running) and that it's going to take a lot of training to be able to complete twice the distance on June 29th. But I have eight weeks and I really believe I can do it.

Andrew did the kids' duathlon today after my race - 1/2 mile ride and then a 1/2 mile run. It was the cutest thing ever! He sprinted the entire run and was so proud of himself at the end when he got his ribbon. I was so proud of him too. He's an athlete in the making, that kid, I tell you.

Photos are up at the picture website. Eric only got video of me at the finish, and I can't seem to find any way to post that, unfortunately.

I have in my hot little hands the signed offer letter for my new job. I submitted my written resignation today and in two weeks I will be leaving the college.

Starting May 17 I will have six weeks off! Hot damn. I am so excited. I am going to spend that time working out and training for my June 29 race and doing projects around the house.

My new job will start July 1. I'll be the Development Director for the Portland Housing Center. It's unusual to have so much time between jobs, but because this is a newly created position for the organization it won't begin until the start of the new budget year. I decided to take advantage of the situation and take some time off between jobs.

On Saturday morning (at 7:00!) I'll compete in my first duathlon. It's a sprint distance race - so it's half the distance of the olympic I'll do the end of June. It's the Hawthorn Farms race out in Hillsboro - 13 mile ride and 3 mile run. I'm nervous, of course, but I think I'll be okay.

My last two runs have been pretty good - I've done 3 miles in 31 minutes and 32 minutes. And I rode the bike course two weeks ago to check out the hills (it's the same course as a half marathon I've walked three times but I wanted to see what it's like on the bike) and it wasn't too bad. The big challenge will be transitioning and riding and running back-to-back.

My dream goal is to complete it in 1.5 hours. . .

Wish me luck!

Yesterday afternoon Andrew and I spent some one-on-one time together. We went to a performance on campus of African drumming and dancing and then ran some errands.

As we were in the car at one point The Police's "Roxanne" came on the radio, and Andrew asked me "did she go through a red light?" I laughed so hard! Of course I couldn't explain to him what Sting was really saying and what it meant so I just said something vague like "the song is about a woman named Roxanne that the singer likes."

Got to be careful around that child - he's paying attention to everything . . .

So the new job thing isn't final yet. Hopefully Monday I'll get an offer and it can be finalized. I can't submit my letter of resignation until then and I really want to do that and be on my way out. . . sigh . . . a few more days. I'll still have a long time until I actually leave, but somehow having it in writing will make me feel so relieved.

I don't know what I'm going to do at my current job for the next five or six weeks. The fiscal year ends May 31 and so we're in the home stretch and this is usually the time when we start planning for next year but that will need to wait until there's a new director on board. It will make for a very long and boring "short-timers" period, I fear.

The weather this weekend is supposed to be sucky - AGAIN. Ugh. I need to ride the course for the duathlon I'm doing in two weeks (it's half the distance of the one I'm doing in June) but they're saying hail and possible snow for this weekend. What the hell? It's the middle of April.

Amelia's been sick this week and hasn't been sleeping well so I haven't made it to my 6:00am classes this week. Her grandparents came and watched her yesterday and I'm working at home today. Amelia seems to get fevers a lot more than I remember her brother getting them.

I was supposed to fly to Minneapolis this afternoon for work and return on Tuesday night. But it didn't come together so I canceled the trip. The bad news is I won't get to see my brother and pregnant sister-in-law who live there, the good news is I get to be in town for the first beautiful weekend of the year!

When Eric gets back from his bike ride in an hour I'll go for a nice run and then we're off to a party at the home of one of his coworkers.

Tomorrow I'll work in the yard in the morning (our yard is a disaster!) and then we're finally going to get to do the bike ride that Eric and I have been trying to do for weeks but the weather hasn't allowed. We'll take the kids to papa and nana's house and ride for an hour and a half or so. Then we'll have dinner with the folks.

Tomorrow also marks the second anniversary of Amelia's birth. Two years old! She moved into her toddler bed this week and has been sleeping great there. She's talking more and more and growing so tall.

My friend Laura's birthday is also tomorrow. Happy birthday Laura! (I find it amusing that both of my children share birthdays with friends of mine.)

We'll have a little get together next Saturday with Eric's parents and my sister and niece to celebrate Amelia's birthday.

Speaking of my sister - I forgot to mention that she got married! She and her partner of 2.5 years were married at the courthouse last week. Eric and I were the witnesses. I took the day off from work and took Jen to get a pedicure and a massage. We had a very nice afternoon together. I'm very happy for her and Arthur and Annabelle. They have lots of changes going on - they're moving to Seattle in the next two weeks too. Arthur accepted a software engineering job with Microsoft.

My new job situation is coming together. It looks like I'll be leaving my current job May 30 and enjoying a month-long vacation! I'll start the new job July 1. A whole month off sounds really extravagant. I'm so excited. I'm going to do all of the house projects that have been put off and train for my race. Woot!

I ran the Race for the Roses 5k this morning. It didn't rain on me so that's good. But the best part was that I shaved 2.5 minutes off of my time since the Shamrock! That means I averaged 10.45 minute miles. At the 2 mile point I was at 10 minute miles - but the last 1.1 miles had a 1/4 mile steep climb up on to the steel bridge so that slowed me down.

I'm pretty happy about the progress I'm making with my running, but I feel a little panicky knowing I have to run twice that distance after riding my bike for two hours in less than three months' time. I just remind myself that it's all a process and I still have time to get there . . .

In the more disappointing news department I can't seem to lose any more weight. I'm going to try and be more diligently strict this week (like no wine) and see if that helps. Ugh. I just want to lose 15 more pounds and then I swear I'll be happy and stopping whining. :)

So I was telling Eric about the "free pass list" concept tonight - which was new to him. You know the idea that if you had a chance to get busy with someone famous it would be a "free pass" and your spouse wouldn't be able to be upset about it and it technically wouldn't be cheating?

So we came up with our own top five lists for fun. Here they are (in no particular order):

Eric's list:
Scarlett Johannson
Salma Hayek
Kate Beckinsale
Jessica Biel
Kristen Bell

Tamar's list:
Christian Bale
Gerard Butler
David Beckham
Clive Owen
Colin Firth
(Funny they are all from the UK . . .)

Who would be on your free past list?

I went for a run today and five minutes into it the rain started pouring down. That was bad enough - I was wet and cold - but then it started hailing. And it really hailed hard too. But I kept running.

I did cut my run short though. I was planning on doing a 3.3 mile loop but instead did the 2.4 mile route. But I was faster than usual - 10.94/minute miles. Score!

Twice a week bootcamp starts up for the spring session Monday morning and I've added a Friday morning lower body workout class too. So I'll be up by 5:15 three mornings a week now. Ugh.

Eric and I are hoping to get in a bike ride together tomorrow (dropping the kids off with Papa and Nana), provided the weather cooperates. It's been cold, snowing, raining and hailing this week. Freaky.

In other news - I'm in talks to hopefully change the work situation. I'll post once something is definitive. I'm cautiously optimistic.

Okay, not that far away, I only ran 3.11 miles this morning.

The Shamrock Run was a lot of fun! I felt great, I met my time goal, I had fun. It was pretty cold this morning, but at least it didn't rain on us. I walked a little bit between miles 1.5 and 2 but other than that I ran. The course was different from the one they had online - so we went all the way up Broadway almost to I-405 at PSU which meant there was a steady incline between miles 1.5 and 2.

A lot of people dress up for this run and there were terrific costumes out there. My favorite was the group that called themselves the "sham rockers" (instead of glam rockers) they had mullet wigs on and ripped up t-shirts. But the best was the man in their group who ran the 8k with a huge 1980s boombox attached to a strap slung over his shoulder blaring metal music. No way I'd run like that!

I also saw two guys running the 8k in full wool tweed suits (vests and all) and bowler hats. They were wearing running shoes at least, but man they were gonna get warm fast!

I went to the Starbucks at Morrison and Broadway to watch some of the 8k runners go by and was hoping to see Bonnie so I could cheer for her - and I did see her and Siani and gave them a shout-out before I hopped on the max to head home.

Got home and into the shower by 10:00 - all in all not a bad way to spend a Sunday morning!

I only got in three trainings this week - two shy of my goal. Work has been really stressful lately (and not in a good way) so that's made it harder. Drinking wine at night after the kids go to bed sounds so much better than getting up at 5:00 to exercise. :)

For today's bike ride I rode on the trainer (it holds your back tire off the ground so you can ride it like a stationary bike) for 45 minutes. Oh my lord was that boring! Even with my ipod it was so monotonous and seemed so long. I am definitely an outside person when it comes to running and riding.

Tomorrow I'm running the 5k at the Shamrock run - should be fun. I'm hoping to average 11 minute miles.

Tonight Jenn and I are going to see "Twelve Angry Men" - hopefully that will be good and we won't be out too late since I have to be downtown by 7:45 tomorrow morning.

My legs have finally healed from the nasty burn - well enough that I was able to get a much-needed pedicure yesterday.

I have also been able to start my duathlon training program in earnest now. This past week I've exercised five times, which is my goal for each week between now and the end of June.

I've started using a training site for triathletes (I'm just not logging any swimming, obviously). The link is on the right if you're interested in seeing what I'm up to. I have also registered for several races between now and June.

I was so surprised this week at how quickly my cardio strength started to return. My run yesterday and my bike ride today both felt wonderful. I was really pleased!

Eric and I had an amazing time in Puerto Vallarta. It was so great to have adult-only time for three days and four nights.

We spent the first day relaxing at the pool all day (mostly in the shade) - eating bad food from the snack bar (cheeseburgers and fries dipped in cheese, anyone?) and drinking (lots of drinking). It was 80 degrees and bright blue skies the whole time we were there. I read an entire book (Water for Elephants - very good) and that was a first in a long time - to read an entire book in one sitting. That night we went to the dance performance that the resort puts on every night (different theme each night of the week) and it was better than I thought it'd be.

The next day we had our mountain biking excursion in the morning - so we took a taxi down into old town (left the bubble of the resort, as Eric put it). We met up with our guide and hopped on the bikes and off we went. The roads in old town and as you got out of town were old cobblestones, so it was bumpy, bumpy!

We rode uphill for about four miles and I started to not feel so well. I'd had a bad cold/flu the week before our trip and still didn't feel 100%. So I had Eric and our guide go up the last bit without me and I waited for them by the river - BIG MISTAKE. I should have risked passing out rather than wait the 30 minutes it took for them to go up and back. I was eaten alive by mosquitos or flies - I didn't feel them biting me so who knows. I later counted almost 30 bites on my arms and legs and they itch something fierce (still!).

That afternoon we got simultaneous massages in this amazing massage cabana on a bluff over the ocean, so you could hear the waves crashing the whole hour - blissful.

The next day was Sunday, our final day. We had to check out at 12:00 but didn't need to leave for the airport until 5:00. We had them hold our luggage and we went down to the pool to relax until it was time to go. I was wearing a skirt and a tank top. We were in the shade, but had to keep moving our chairs as the sun changed position. I swear to God I was only in the sun for 15 minutes one time. That was enough.

I burned the front of my legs and shoulders horribly. That night as we were flying to LA I had chills and was in so much pain. Then on Monday night I noticed my legs were swollen, badly. I did some research and apparently it's known as "sunburn edema" and it's not uncommon when you burn your legs. There are also some blisters on the shin of my left leg. The last two nights I've slept with my legs elevated and that helps to reduce the swelling. I'm feeling a little better today - I think I'm on the road to recovery. Luckily it happened right before we left so it didn't ruin any of our trip.

To recap - I'm covered in itchy bug bites and have swollen, burned legs. But you know what? It was still amazing and I had a great time!

Photos are up at our picture site.

Eric and I leave tomorrow morning for our long weekend in Puerto Vallarta. Yay! I took today as a vacation day so I could clean and pack - so I'm already in a vacation mindset.

I'm really looking forward to our trip (it's supposed to be 80 degrees and sunny the whole time!) but I'm a teensy bit nervous about being so far away from the kids. Eric and I have never left town together - EVER (well, since the kids were born anyway). So I'm having a few paranoid mommy thoughts - the "what if something happens to us?" or "what if something terrible happens to one of the kids and we're so far away?" I'm sure these thoughts won't last - especially since Andrew and Amelia will be with Eric's parents and I trust them 100%.

We'll be back on Monday and I'll let you know how it goes.

I heard back from the organization - I didn't get the job. Apparently nobody did. They've decided to change the title and scope of the job and start over again with the hiring process. (The change isn't in my area of expertise.) Geez - thanks a lot for making me go through all that for nothing.

So for now I'm going to stay put at the College and see if things improve. You never know - I'm an optimist - it could happen.

I've interviewed for another job and now I'm just waiting to hear. I'm hoping that I'll hear by the end of the week - but it may not be until Monday. Oh the torture of having to wait over the weekend.

Eric and I leave for Mexico next Thursday. Woot! We are both looking forward to getting away for a few days sans children. My in-laws don't know what they're in for. Guess we'd better enjoy it because this may be our last trip alone in awhile after they spend four nights with the kids!

Today I am thirty five years old. How about that? There are days when I could swear I was eighteen and just starting college. Sigh. . .

For the most part I am fine with this milestone birthday. My children are healthy and happy, my marriage is strong, Eric and I both have good jobs in fields we've chosen, we have a nice little house, we have plenty to eat, friends and family who love us - all in all I am very blessed. I feel pretty fulfilled.

Today's first session of bootcamp was canceled because of the snow and ice we got overnight. So I have to wait until Wednesday to begin the new cruelty. Considering that Amelia woke up every 30-60 minutes last night because of congestion I was fine with sleeping an extra hour!

I'm noticing a pattern with my weight loss. I lose 10 pounds and then my body freaks out and holds onto that weight for as long as it can, requiring herculean efforts on my part to get it to let go. Sigh.

Luckily I start bootcamp again Monday morning, so hopefully that will help kick it back into gear!

Things are a little stalled in the exercise and eating category lately. I haven't gained but I'm not losing either. And I'm having a hard time getting motivated to get into a good routine of training for my race.

I think part of it is because I've had other things on my mind. There's a lot of stuff happening at work that I feel very uneasy about and that's consuming a lot of my mental and emotional energy. I won't go into details - but the entire 14 months I've worked at the college there has been some doubting on my part about the fit and such. And now that I'm on my third VP in that time and facing more adjustment and more uncertainty and less vision and less direction those doubts have intensified.

I thought I'd have a peaceful day alone today (I get the day off in honor of MLK) but I found out on Friday that Amelia's daycare is closed today - and if Amelia's going to be home Andrew wants to be home too. So now I'm at home with both kids. Lucky me.

Speaking of Andrew - he's pestering me to let him use the computer to play a game. Sigh.