Mammoth write-up

Last weekend we went to Mammoth for an awesome weekend with the Taylor clan. Selfishly, I LOVED the nature time with the boys - being in the mountains and away from the hustle / bustle was amazing.  One of my favorite moments of the entire trip was "painting" a bridge near our condo with sticks and water.  Speaking of the condo, Matt's parents rented an amazing place at the base of the mountains.  The last morning of our trip the boys saw a bear right outside the window.

The boys shared a bed in the condo and were like two peas in pod - or an old married couple.  Whatever the right analogy, they were darn cute.

 The highlight of the trip for all of us was going to see Gabe dance - he participated in Dancing with the Docs to raise money for Rhiannon's Kids (a fund Amanda started).

Bonney triathlon race report

What a weekend!  Last Sunday I decided I needed to "take it up a notch" so I registered for the Bonney Lake sprint triathlon.  That afternoon, I rented a wetsuit and made my way to Green Lake to test it for my first wetsuit swim.  Yuck!  The lake, not the suit. 

I took the wetsuit for a second test drive to make sure I could get it on / off and did a test in the bath.  Lame, I know, but when time is tight and the lake is nasty I take what I can ... 

Fast forward a week and the tri was Saturday morning and was awesome!  Matt and the boys came and it was fun getting ready and seeing the boys getting into the spirit.  I totally got into the spirit, too, chatting with triathletes ranging from 14 years old all the way to 80 years old - what a crowd.  The swim was HARD as I knew it would be - I hate to swim and stink at it.  The bike really wasn't bad except my bike only works on 3 gears which is less than rad. 

The run was OK, but I ran an extra half mile because the course wasn't marked on one hill. 

All in, though, I did OK - I came in 3rd in my age group with the following splits:
* Swim (.32 mi) - I was in 107th place and swam 0:10:43:7
* Bike (12.2mi) - I moved up to 96th place and biked 16.5MPH for a total time of 0:44:49:8
* Run (3.1mi) - I moved up to 45th place with a 7:41/M pace and a time of 0:23:50:3

My total time was 1:20:12:5 landing me in the 66.4%ile and 65th place, but 3rd in my age group (I prefer the last stat :) ). 

I have to say, this race led to one problem ... I want more! 

After the tri we enjoyed a great long weekend - proper roundup to come.