Why it is fun to try a tri…

Triathlons bring out all kinds. All shapes and sizes, and all ages. They write your age on your right calf before the race, I’m not exactly sure why, but I believe it is to teach you humility as a 60+ year old goes flying by you halfway through the race.

Somewhere in the middle

Anyhow, I do love the Nike tag inside my hat that says, “If you have a body, you are an athlete.” The oldest person to complete our triathlon was 79 years old. Can you believe that? I hope I am still walking at 79…much less swimming-biking-running!

Emma and I had a little discussion when we were going to pick up my race number on Friday.

E: “Mama? How old do you have to be to run a triathlon race?”
M: “I don’t know, Peanut. I’d guess 14 or so.
(I hear nothing from the backseat and then whispered…)
E: “Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen.”
E: “Oh! Well that means in 8 years I can run a race with you. Because it is almost like I am six already, right?
M: “Yes (smiling) I would LOVE to run a race with you. I’ll be 44 then.”
E: “Oh. When I’m 30, how old will you be?”
M: “61.”
E: “Can you run when you are 61?
M: “Um, I hope so…I guess we’ll have to see.”
E: “When I’m 60, how old will you be?”
M: “I’ll be 91.”
E: “OH! Gosh. When I’m 91?”
M: “I’ll be…uh, 122.”
E: “Um, Mama…you probably won’t be here when you are 122.”

You are probably right kid, I’ll be pretty lucky to make it to 91, I think!

We happened to find the youngest athlete on Saturday, he started next to me…

The youngest

And as for that lesson in humility…he finished only 10 minutes behind me.

Sigh.

I better step up my training. I’ve got four years until Em is out here beating me.

Triathlete in training

Alright, alright, alright….

Fine.

Yes, it is my birthday.

Yes, I purposely did not broadcast it in hopes that it would just pass on by this year. (But thanks Kim and Vic!)

I’m officially closer to 40 than I am to 30. Blech. That stinks.

Normally I would say that you are only as old as you feel…but I think I’m getting sick, and I have a raging headache from bickering girls, so right now I’m feeling a little old.

I did have a great birthday weekend, however. J. has contracted the plague that took over our house last week and still managed to hang in all weekend and we had a really good time.

Saturday night we did dinner at a mexican place near our house and I had my Cinco de Mayo margarita. And…got carded. Niiiice!

Yesterday, we tromped all around this really posh new outdoor mall that just opened really close to our house and had an amazing lunch at Porto’s Cafe & Bakery – one of my favorite places – that we don’t get to go to nearly enough.

And I got a bunch of fun presents from J. and the girls, despite the earlier ban on birthday gifts. The girls picked out a new watch for me and a very cool locket (I can’t find the locket in the store – but on this page it is the red one with the heart over on the left of the Best Sellers page. It is so cool, it folds out and is a butterfly!) AND, most importantly…we have a Roomba again. Sweet, sweet Roomba.

I’m sure you all recall my infatuation with the Roomba – and with having hardwood floors throughout the entire house – it is a serious lifesaver. The one we got last year had to be replaced due to some malfunctioning parts that were not (unfortunately!) covered under the…ahem, warranty that you get when you buy a Roomba remanufactured. (As in…there is NO warranty.) But thankfully J. was able to get it taken care of since he bought it with the good ‘ol AmEx.

So I had put off buying a new one because I was not going down the remanufactured path again…and probably would have continued to just haul out the vacuum everyday (does anyone else need to vacuum daily??) but my saving grace of a husband, who thankfully isn’t very good at listening to me when I tell him NOT to do something, got one for us. It has already cleaned the entire downstairs (it is waaaayyy better than the last one we had, quieter, faster, lasts longer.) Tomorrow I shall let it loose upstairs.

And then, (yes, there is more!) while I was getting the girls ready for bed – my sweet husband cleaned the kitchen and emptied the dishwasher.

*sigh*

My least favorite chore – and the one room I HATE to wake up to dirty, all taken care of. So the girls were in bed by 7:45pm, we had a little down time last night, everyone slept through til 8am this morning. It was heaven!

And sweet little voices singing “Happy Birthday” to me this morning. And lots of fun cards and presents in the mail, phone calls and messages, and an amazing lunch with my friend Michelle! I guess it really was a good birthday.

Maybe I should stop not telling people it is my birthday, and try to sneak in more birthdays throughout the year….

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Edited to Add:

You know that song in the Sound of Music“I must’ve done something right”?

That had to have been written for me, because seriously, I must have been a SAINT in another life to deserve my amazing husband.

He just brought home dinner, an armload of flowers, (really – like roses, and two other mixed flower bouquets – all the rooms have fresh flowers now!) and the most amazing carrot cake I think I have ever seen or tasted. It is a little maybe 5-6″ round cake, but it must weigh 7 pounds.

Oh, and he did baths and getting the girls ready for bed tonight. (Cue the choir of angels – Hallelujah!)

Smitten doesn’t begin to describe what I feel for him. I think I might love him. A lot.