Ponder This:

Greetings friends:) I have always been a big fan of Snoopy. Our entire family has, actually. Many a snoopy lived on our beds, in our beds, and sadly I dont know if i have any of them anymore. My parents will likely be showing up with a box at my doorstep this afternoon:)

These words really made me think alot about my goals for life, my goals for triathlon, and of course what really matters. I know i tend to be all deep in my latest posts, sorta where my head is, but read thru this and i think you may think deep for a second or three too! 
Enjoy!

The Charles Schulz Philosophy

(Scroll thru slowly and read carefully to receive and enjoy full effect)

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schulz, the creator of the 'Peanuts' comic strip.

You don't have to actually answer the questions. Just ponder on them.

Just read this straight through, and you'll get the point. 


1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world. 

2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners. 

3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America pageant. 

4 Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize. 

5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress. 

6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. 

These are no second-rate achievers. 

They are the best in their fields. 

But the applause dies... 

Awards tarnish... 

Achievements are forgotten. 

Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.



Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:


1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school. 

2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time. 

3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile. 

4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.

5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with..

Easier?


The lesson: 

The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the
most credentials, the most money...or the most awards. 

They simply are the ones who care the most.

Pass this on to those people who have either made a difference in your life, or whom you keep close in your heart, like I did. 

'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia !'

''Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Taken!"

Now I may be the only one reading this who cant tell you who won The IM World Championships before Chrissie Wellington came on board, and seriously I dont really know the difference btwn Macca and Crowie. Maybe how some of you dont know the difference btwn Roger and Rafa, but my point is i cant even tell you how won the US OPEN in 2011. ( I suspect i supressed it)

So dream big, dont give up but as a wise friend told me the other day, dont lose sight of the what really matter, the journey. I think i appreciate this more and more when i know what a gift it is to be healthy and to be able to just get out of bed to do stuff and train at a high level. Somedays i want coach to push me harder. I dont want to sit at the wall and rest for 60 seconds, that is silly. WORK ME, make me suffer. Then i realize that getting off that wall in 10 seconds or 60 seconds isnt really what has me worked up is it? It's that I feel like i am in a hurry, like I dont want to miss anything. Yet at the same time wouldnt 60 sec allow me to really appreciate what i am doing, doing it with purpose, not just getting it done?

My point to myself  ( and you if i havent lost you) is to not rush the rest, dont rush the "boring times with your family," and as always keep on plugging away at your goals, but dont lose sight of what matters. The Gang:) Your gang maybe family, it may be friends, it may be pets, and it may be random people you see at Nina's coffee shop that know your drink order ( oops, is that a bad thing?) But you have a gang, dont forget about them!

=

Birthday Weekend

It's Rich's birthday tommorrow so we started celebrating friday with his brothers ( 3 of them have birthdays in the same week, good timing mom!) and that carried over to a great ride saturday. We explored a new loop and since i had a taper brick on the schedule it was fun to actually feel like i was TTing again. I havent TTed since mid July, so when i saw some 12 min efforts I got all giddy inside. The 100+ stuff is fun, but i really like to rev up Gretta and see if she can go fast and with a good high cadence as well.
Then i had a harder than usual run afterwards. Yay!
All I can say is that i think i blew a gasket! I was wiped to the max this morning when i woke up and so after some thought and a sturdy " opinion " from my coach we called it a full rest day. Nada. Nothing. I left the house to go get food for tonight, and that was about it. I havent done that in???? not sure. I Wasnt sick I wasnt tired ( hahaha, um really?) so like a small child i fought the nap. I decided that at 7 am the best thing to do was to clean the fridge and then try to sleep.
Wait.
I mean clean it out and eat all that i can out of it. Silly.
I am not up for cleaning the fridge right now.
So Eggs, Bacon, fruit, some greek yogurt with that fruit, a bagel, i lost track after that. Jasmine tea, and slowly the food coma helped me to go upstairs and fall back asleep.
The party continued with more family over tonight, the pool is cooler, two days ago in full sun it was 76 now its 71. Amazing power that lightbulb in the sky has, and to my delight my youngest nephew Will has learned to go into the deep end. He motored around, and would not stop. My brother said the other night he swam at the lake, then got on his bike with no shoes and just his suit, and then got off and ran to the car.
His first multisport effort he claimed.
So tonight he tried my pull buoy and a star was born. Now dont get me wrong, he isnt a young Phelps, but that Pull Buoy kept that littel fanny from dragging down and he was just thrilled. Little does he know i packed it away with my brother so he can have it for HIS birthday in 2 days.
Lots a family time this weekend, which is how it should be! and yes lotsa cake with lotsa frosting. I heard that is the key to a good 1st IM.

That's it from Taperville.

Continued...2011 intentions

As i said I wanted to continue "my lobster tail lands in Ruby's mouth happy new year" post and write a bit about my intentions for 2011. I sorta felt like I should organize this post so i didnt just fumble and spew, as i often do. But since the only way I continue to blog is to fly by the seat of my pants( hats off to you all that write down all your hard earned mileages, but that isnt me) I think i need to keep that trend going. I hope this doesnt sound like resolutions, and if it does, well then i am all full of it and like the rest of the world. Come february i will be all "why did i say i needed to cut back on caffeine?"

Family/Personal:

I intend to try to not be a royal pain the backside to my husband as I head into a very exciting but scarey summer training for my first Ironman. He is super busy in the summer with work and we barely have enough time to do anything outside our outdoor seeking bike rides ( add on run and swim) or we are tired and dont want to. He is so good at suggesting we go here ( cabin) or go east to visit relatives and i am so often saying " racing that weekend..." or " Gotta ride my bike x hours that weekend, can we go later?" The catch is that our lovely cabin is 4 hours away. We cant just zip up there for a day. Well we can. and Rich will, but that is not worth it to me.

So intention is to Plan ahead for some cabin time and try to not say NO to plans before i even hear what they are! And to Plan for downtime. That doesnt involve a lake a bike or my run shoes or my new Garmin that i havent even figured out how to use.

At the same time...I plan to say NO to somethings I may not want to say NO to.

Social things. Work things. Family things.

**note we do have a family reunion at Luther College in August 2011, and will be missing our favorite FIREHOUSE 50 TT:( I had my undies in a bundle about it. Rich was like "no biggie..." He is a better Man than I am. ( hahaha, of course he is!)

In addition my nephews are so fun to be with and are playing lots of tennis. I want to see them play more now that they can see over the net, and its really fun to see especially Joe, the oldest, so in love with a sport similar to how much i loved it. Yep, Slept with my racket folks.

Friends/Teammates:

I intend to train with people ( not just Rich) 1x week at least. Its hard. I have great roads to get on right from home, and i really dont want to drive to train. But alas my new team and Gear West isnt near my house. So i want to try to get out there for the ladies ride or at least make an effort to meet up with these great ladies ( and others that arent on the team!) to ride run or swim. Or at least have coffee....

Coffee..speaking of coffee...

Nutrition:

and speaking of all things nutritional. Someone in the pool today said to me..."Yep its january. time to lose 10lbs." I knew he didnt mean me. ( I hoped) Then he said as we were kicking " you. not me." Point is i dont think i have a huge GOAL around weight or nutrition, other than to be consistent, be smart, and eat for fuel 90% of the time, pleasure 10% of the time.

Maybe pleasure isnt the right word, but what i mean is that I do intend to eat and drink in a healthy way. But that can get out of hand if you analyze every thing that goes into your mouth.

Rich has requested that i make banana bread and other homemade items WITH GLUTEN:)

I was experimenting with GF things, and tho its fun to have some of that I am lucky i dont think i eat alot of white flour processed stuff anyways so I dont need to obsess on GF. Some of you may disagree.

Booze/Wine/Beer: Well, I have never heard anyone say " I am really worried about Julia. She isnt drinking now." Wheras I have heard ( in my head) " I seem to be having a few more g of wine than i thinki need to, and with increased training you may need to lower that or omit it." Point is I dont think it does me any good. I enjoy it. I am lying if i didnt say I like a glass of Cab Sauvingnon in the winter with a good steak. And i like a cold beer in the summer after a hot day. But It's not a food group... Again I am not judging anyone who does drink daily. I just cant do it and dont want to do it.

And back to Coffee. I am still going strong on half decaf capps. But i am thinking my higher than high morning heart rates may be eased if i just went to decaf. Again. Winter. In the summer i dont crave that hot foam. Yuk, actually. Green tea is marvelous but there is nothing creamy about it. So again, no rules, just caffeine isnt always my friend ( cold hands, sore boobs, sorry TMI) Oh and there is a term for that. Fibrocystic Breasts, and yes, google it. Caffeine is no good for that.

The rest of the diet is great. Lots of kale, beets, turkey, fish, steel cut oats, nut butters,greek yogurts, some meats, salads, and fruit. We are in the dead of fruit season. Blah. I am buying organic frozen berries and living on pinneapple ( which is remarkably good right now, thanks Hawaii) and oranges and grapefruit. The blueberries and strawberries we had lately have been so bad and mushy and conventional that they tasted like nothing.

Oh and who knows this : other than tasting sorta good why is Coconut milk and coconut milk kefir etc...the rage now? It doesnt have as much protein as cow milk or yogurt and i know it has good fat but is it just a good alternative if you are lactose intolerant?

Training/Racing:

Sorta covered this but my intention is to complete "IN ONE PIECE" my first IM on 9/11/11.

I have to say I have had my doubts about this. November was rough on me. I did start back to training ( runs and harder bikes) in December. But i feel behind.

Now If i step back and say "Julia, why do you feel behind? Your goal race is in sept. That is 9 mos away!!!" silly. I would say:" Yes that is true. But the reason i feel behind is that LAST year at this time i was running x pace, x distance and doing hills and speed and..."

Despite being nearly 45 yo, last season was really the only season i raced a full season like i did. And I have nothing to compare it to. Winter 2008 was likely alot like winter 2010...nothing magnificent about it. Just getting the miles in, and staying up right in the snow and cold. So when i DONT COMPARE to where i was last year, all is well with the world. And the good thing is that the trend is I am getting stronger. I am consistent and I am putting in the work. It's hard to trust that being consistent is really that important. I mean, being consistent in your training is ...well. Boring. Sorta like doing the dishes, brushing your teeth, making dinners for the week, its not exciting day in and day out. But then, when you look at the Training Peaks and see all those colored boxes and you see you did all that, well then maybe it starts to make some sense.

So my intention is to not get caught up in the day to day " Oh i swam 10k today." bc really, in January i dont need to be anything more than boring.

As for "What is your goal for Madison?" I have to say "FINISH"

Yesterday a guy i really respect in tri said "oh you will be buying a ticket to Kona." And that made me feel good. He believed in me. But at the same time I cant really think like that. It's my first. It's one day. Break it up and see what happens at the finish line.

I have a few 70.3's on there, and maybe a few local du's in May. But no Texas 70.3 this year which is too bad, but its earlier and its a week after Tucson, too close and too much since I am not where I was last year ( hahaha, slam slamslam, kidding, really) As long as my body allows I am headed in the right direction. Still seeing some people for bodywork on that stubborn Lateral Hamstring. I know I called it my butt, but it was my lateral hammy. And it still is wanting to overwork, so we are just trying to get it to chill. I get to run on the Alter-G treadmill this week, I will post about that. Pretty cool machine, I am quite lucky!

Has anyone done Door County half? or what about Muncie? Muncie is NOT easy for me to get to, but i am thinking about it. Sounds like the Pigman of Indiana, from what i hear. Not much going down there, other than heat and corn eh?

Ok I think i have rambled enough with my intentions. But biggest of all I intend to keep believing in myself. The other day I had a friend tell me to have faith in myself. He said " We have faith in you, you work harder than anyone i know." That hit home. If other people believe in me, why should i not believe in myself?

Good stuff.

Merry Christmas!

It always makes me sad that we say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and then POOF! It's all over. I try to not let it just come and go like that. For example, lets leave the tree up for another month. Seriously. I love the lights, Why not?

And of course still wishing your loved ones, family, friends and co-workers a happy new year and good health...does that have to end on Jan 2? I hope not.

Anyways....lotsa fun pics....Pre holiday swims: And I forgot my phone so you dont get to see this suit on me, but i love it. It has gingerbread on the butt ( um, and spritz and sugar cookies and m and m's and...oh wait... you know what i mean) and Peace and Happy Holidays on the back side too. I may even wear it this week again.

This is why we arent grilling outside. Or swimming, for that matter.

Where's Waldo? Scroll down to find Waldo ...

Yes under that white fluff is Waldo. Our pool. Sweet, just named the pool. I am all about naming things, makes them more personal. Notice the diving board and the grill. No, we arent currently grilling much.

We had family pizza on the 23rd and hung out with Ruby. She had fun..or we did. Dressing her up in my scarf, and laughing way more than was warrented. A year ago she wouldnt have gone for this, and we are happy to say we think that Ruby has forgotten her depression days as a RAGOM pup when she was in a kennel with two other dogs and never had anyone to love on her.

Finally she gave me the "Where is my mom?" look. Her mom ( my mom) was out to dinner and i think Ruby was crying "uncle." And really we werent abusing her, she just loves it when we get down on the floor and hang with her, so I did:)

Christmas eve was fantastic and full of extended family at my parent's house. Lots of good humor, fun, giggles and memories of our family members that we miss so dearly. We try to keep those traditions alive:

Orange Jello ( with cool whip)

Christmas tree socks

Chocolate chip cookies for dessert ( in addition to the sugar cookies of course)

Beef Tenderloin...wait...not this year! Honey baked ham won out!

Red wine...wait...Julia made Cosmo's too...Just call me the " Enabler" and my cousin Ann who introduced me to the phrase " I want a tiny --TINI" cute! Ok, got it Ann!

Me: Ann: Heide ( my oldest sister)

Ruby got a flashing necklace....

Sisters!

Chippy's au apair, Janis, is from Bogota, Columbia and has never seen snow like this before. She ice skated, went sledding, and gave Ruby her fair share of love. Janis is fantastic, Chippy and Heide are so lucky to have her.

Kitchen Aftermath:

So....xmas eve was a success...we woke up and did it all over again.

Crack me up: the boys cant contain their excitement for the gifts Heide brought from her international travel, Eyeflaps, ear plugs and likely some booties for comfortable travel. Chippy put his headlamp on to better get a view of the loot:

Joe has found a new way to make it thru the school day:

His mom is the cupcake chef. I sent this pic to her and said we had her son hostage and she had tobring us cupcakes or we wouldnt let him go. Hmm. We havent heard from her yet. Anyone else feel that way about their 6 and 8 yo son's?

Willie in the background thinks the idea of his older brother being kidnapped is JUST FANTASTIC!!!

Brunch back at my folks...lots of fun stockings and presents and then back to our place for Xmas dinner with Weisbeckers and Mairs. What a great day! I hope you all had a restful weekend and Santa was generous to you and your's.

Is it December Yet?

Thanksgiving felt alot like Christmas. Part of it was this: SNOW.

And This: COLD. This is my cold weather look. The look you have when you wear a down jacket OVER your running gear and pack a change of clothing so your under armour sweat soaked top can quickly be removed when you transition from that 10 min of roasty toasty heat to the " GIANT CHILL" that sets in after 10 min and 30 seconds after you stop moving.

We ran the turkey trot at the Mn Boat Club. Happy to say that my sister Elizabeth took top honors and i ran with hubby Rich who pulled out his first sub 9 min mile 5k. Way to go honey, on top of it we ran on a trail covered in fresh snow with a temp of 8 and a windchill below zero.

On terra firma i think he could have pulled out an even faster time! But he didnt want to talk the last mile so i just chatted away to entertain ( bother) him:)

I dont really know the exact number, i kinda think when anything gets below zero its all the same to me really. It's just cold.

And where can you run a 5k and win a pie? Blueberry and Key Lime.

Now we are talking....

It also felt alot like Christmas bc my sister came home from Texas, with my nephew Chippy.

Chippy Long legs, here in the orange, is getting taller by the minute. They arent usually home at Thanksgiving so it felt like Christmas to have them here. I was ready to open presents when i realized i still had month to rally on gift purchases.

We did some family tennis, and that was a ton of fun. Of course my left forearm is sore, not the arm i use to play, but the arm i use to control my backhand so i feel a bit old and creaky lately.

Speaking of old and creaky, the running news is this. I am able to start running, as I have been a good soldier and followed my return to run protocol to a T. If anything i keep telling myself I dont need a winning run time in January. But it has been tough, not only the feeling that I am old and creaky but the fear. I know that as i run a bit more, even tho its slow, I will regain the trust and JOY i have for running, but it has been rough. I feel quite thankful for the good work I am having done on my body and back, and for the fact that I was wise enough to STOP before I made things really bad. I have had REALLY bad before regarding Hamstring Tendonopathy, and so I did NOT want to go there again. This week starts week 4, meaning i am up to a 20 min jog at 1 min/mile slower than training pace. I did not say Race Pace, I said TP. So that is all fine and dandy since the cold and snow likely help take care of that all by themselves. Weeks 4-8 are a gradual increase in time and mileage, which puts me right on schedule for my Xmas present to myself. 6 miles, rolling, pain free. Pace not observed!

Sorry if you couldnt read the article in the last post. I cant tell you why i can double click on it and expand it, and you cant, sorry:(

Holiday! ( Madonna plays in the background)

This post may be all over the place but here goes...I am sick right now, I have lost track of what day was what but just know that I regret not taking more pictures on Xmas day where we had a super brunch at mom and dad's then took the party to Honey's house ( our house ) where i was virtually worthless other than to get in honey's way:( I am not good at sitting idle, and despite feeling like doggie doo I was determined to be useful. Or sadly, annoyingly pesky asking for a job!
Oh well.
Yummy Rice K bars.
Mom cat really is the best cook ever. And she isnt related to TomKat. thank goodness.
These Caramel Rolls rock. They are so easy to make and so yummy. We just use Rhodes Whole wheat bread dough and brown sugar, nuts, raisins and of course some butter. These are just before they are going to cook, after having risen in a warm oven.
Here is more of that Granola that Jen H was talking about. MomCat makes it even better than i do. She ( mistakenly!) put the dark chips in before it was cool so they melted into the oats. So yummy, it turned into Chocolate Oats instead of Oats with chocolate chips.

This is Iona. Ray knows Iona. She is 13 yo. And there have been a few times we thought she was going to the happy hunting ground. Her happy place is outside chasing things, squirrels birds, etc..when she was a kid she caught a bird out of the air. And she swam about 800 yards out into Lake Superior chasing loons till she had some sort of frontal lobe wake up call and she realized she had better turn around.

Even if she cant hear too well..( at all ) and she has arthritis in her feet and if you didnt notice it, look again, she has full atrophy of her Right Temporalis muscle..she loves the Holidays as much as anyone. She puts up with our jokes about serving soup in the bowl on the right side of her head and happily still goes to get as many squeeky toys as she can fit in her mouth to let us know she is so happy we are here.

Xmas EVE at Mom and Dad's house: MY CHRISTMAS GIFT IS HONEY. ( oh and a new laptop! Sweet!)

I saw a movie last night, as i sat on the couch, wishing i was feeling better.
The FAMILY MAN. I love that movie. I know some of you have seen it. What stuck with me even though i was kinda in and out of sleep is when Tea Leoni said to Nick Cage: "If i hadnt married you, i wouldnt have any of the things I am CERTAIN about....you, the kids, Us."
I think we often think that alot of things in our lives are certain. I do. And that is up to each of you and anyone who is kind enough to still be reading, to determine. What is CERTAIN to you?

For me I know the Holiday's reminds me that what is CERTAIN to me is Honey and my family.
Like any family we have our ups and downs but i have never doubted for one minute that my family, my sisters and brother ( I have 2 older sisters/1 younger brother ( gobiggreen 91), my parents and my extended family as well ( too many to count!) all love me. And sometimes they can only love you the best they can at that time.

I like to think that my health is a certain, but when i was blessed to be diagnosed early ( 2 years ago) with Malignant Melanoma, I realized that playing tennis outside, teaching tennis outside and looking tan and healthy doesnt always = health. Daily i try to remind myself to stay focused and to let go of the need for too much external praise/reinforcement. I try my best to train and get in my workouts. I am realizing more that this isnt something i am doing bc I want to win and be the best. Training / working out /yoga / tennis...is something I am certain about. I can do what i can do. Somedays i swim super fast and I want more. Somedays i look at the Watt-ometer and think "OMG are you really spinning at ONLY 100 watts ?" But if that is what it is for today, that is what it is. Let it go. ( Yes I kidnapped that from ELF a few posts ago, but i am still thinking about it so it meant something to me )

Fabulous cousin ANN! She just got married to Hank. Ann is an aerobics instructor, and has produced DVD's called Jump Force. You may know it from the SweatShop or some other Y's in the msp area.


Uncle Angus, Cousin Sara and Cousin Todd.


I am not sure what my brother told the boys to do but whatever it was it is hilarious.
In the words of my youngest nephew "Will" on the far left, Xmas was AWESOME.
Here we have my two nephews ( in green ) and my cousin's ( Sara) kids.
Will, Will, Joe, Sam

And the oldest and wisest here, Chippy. Chippy is from Texas and is in the Children;s theatre production of the Christmas Carol. Here he is in ...my dad's top hat...my sister's ( his mom's) new coat from Lands End...and his Harry Potter Glasses. LOVE THIS PICTURE!

Notice the remote. Harry Potter surfing the TV channels!
They had to leave after 48 hours for his last 3 plays. My sister laughed, saying "sometimes we have to leave bc i have to go back to work...this time my 10 yo son has to go back to work!"

Chippy and Heide, we miss you, come back soon!
Mom and Dad: for being 81 years and 79 years young you continue to Amaze me. Thanks for being you and letting us have the best memories of Xmas eve and Xmas day. The real Xmas trees, me throwing up Xmas eve ( why do i always recall that?), dad: thanks for cooking the beef so that it wasnt still "quivering," Lee: thanks for doing dishes and telling me to hibernate for 2 days till i feel better, Heide : thanks for talking to me when i was napping on the couch on Xmas day, even if i felt crappy I wanted to talk to you
Aimee: thanks for the caribou card and thanks for loving my brother and being a good mom to Will and Joe And Rob: thanks for always being you, and GOBIGGREEN!
and HONEY: Thanks for putting up with me. I get a bit highstrung during the holidays and i end up in tears...and sick. I love you and am so excited to be in OUR HOUSE for Xmas 2009!
(OR can we go to mexico for Xmas 2009??!!! Feliz Navidad!)