Okay, don’t panic and nobody call us all worried that the sky is falling. I’ve had enough “Chicken Little” syndrome for all of us over the past couple weeks. A few weeks ago, the same day as Tri for the Cure, actually, I was going to bed and noticed that I was having some bleeding. Now, as most of you probably know, it is a commonly held belief that pregnant women are not supposed to bleed. Fearing the worst, I immediately called and left a message for Karin, our midwife. She called me back about 10 minutes later, from a wedding that she was at, and we talked about what I was experiencing. Since I wasn’t having any cramping, it was Karin’s opinion that I probably over did it a little during the triathlon and just burst a blood vessel in my cervical area. She told me to just take it easy over the next couple days and keep her informed on the situation. Ben and I went to bed, both a little worried. The next day, Ben, my hero, stayed home from work so that I could take it a little easier than I normally can with a two year old. I got some herbs from Carol, our acupuncturist, to help stop the bleeding. The bleeding tapered off but I was still worried. That Friday I had had enough worrying and called Karin. I asked if I could come in to check the baby’s heartbeat to give both Ben and I some peace of mind. She told me to come on over, even though she doesn’t normally see clients on Friday’s, because she was getting ready to go on vacation. The baby had a nice strong heart rate of 152 bpm. Whew, what a relief.

Fast forward to two Sundays ago, exactly 2 weeks after Tri for the Cure. Ben and I were running some errands in Boulder. I was in the car with Tana because she had fallen asleep. I got kicked by the baby! We aren’t talking the little butterfly feeling, we are talking a kick strong enough that when I put my hand on the spot, the baby kicked again and I could feel it from the outside. Pretty cool! That night, I was getting ready to go to bed and noticed that I was having some bleeding. It wasn’t as heavy as the previous time, but this time it just didn’t seem to be stopping. I still wasn’t having any cramping so I decided to hold off on calling Karin. When I was still bleeding on Tuesday, I decided it was time to go check the heart beat, yet again. I had been feeling the baby move on a fairly regular basis, but every little unusual sensation in my abdomen made me fear the worst. This is when I really started feeling like Chicken Little. Karin checked the heart beat and it was 140 bpm. Everything sounded fine. Karin said if I still needed some peace of mind, we could order an ultrasound, but I didn’t think we needed to do that. However, when yesterday rolled around and I was still bleeding, Ben and I decided that maybe it was time to see if we could get a little more information and try to get a better idea of what is going on with my body. I called Karin and told her that we wanted to get an ultrasound. Her first comment was “You’re still bleeding?!?!?” Umm, yea… She got what info she needed from me so that she could fax in an order to the place she uses for ultrasounds. I waited a little while to make sure the order had time to get there and called to schedule the ultrasound. Of course, as soon as I schedule the ultrasound, the bleeding stops.

Our ultrasound was today. What we found out is that I have a hematoma (think bruise) inside my uterus, right by my cervix, hence the bleeding. The hematoma should eventually be reabsorbed by my body, much like how a bruise heals. After the general look and finding of the hematoma, the tech started taking a good look at the baby. Everything looked good with the baby. Arms, legs, hands and feet are all well formed. The spine looks good, as do the kidneys which have good blood flow. Brain looks good, heart rate was 146 bpm, and there is good blood flow through the umbilical cord. The tech gave us a huge pile of pictures, including 2 pictures of the baby’s little feet prints. We were pretty sure that everything is fine. Ben went back to work and Tana and I went home.

Karin called later on in the afternoon, after talking to the MD that analyzed the ultrasound. Karin said that he said that I have a small hematoma in a location that will not affect the placenta or the baby. The “tyke”, as he apparently put it, looks good and healthy and is developing right on track. Now I just need the hematoma to reabsorb. I must admit, as unflattering as ultrasounds can be, I think this is going to be one cute baby. What a huge relief!!! Anyhow, here are a couple of profile pictures of the little little one.

It’s funny, all the pictures we have from Tana’s 20 week ultrasound look like ET. This little one, we have a picture of it that kind of looks like the “Crypt Keeper” from “Tales from the Crypt.” We’ll save that picture for October.

Another good weekend is behind us. Saturday was a good all round day with a trip to the farmer’s market - my usual ride into Boulder to meet Hillary and Tana, but this time Tom and Steph joined us along with their kids, Allora and Amaya. Later that night Meg had a BBQ - good fun, food, and people. Ended up that only parental units and their kids showed up as the single people had other things going on, so added to the normal “interesting” topics,  were the ins and outs of the fun of raising kids.

Sunday was my second soccer game of the season, this time I did my bike workout first so I was well warmed up before the game, and that made quite a difference. On the bike workout - I got to have a bit of fun with a moped going down South Boulder Road from McCaslin. We both turned down the road about the same time and he got out in front as I was accelerating from the stop light; about half way down the hill, I caught up with him. At this point the moped rider got down in a tuck and gunned it - so I followed suit (my workout did say to treat parts of the ride as a race, so why not..) and ended up pacing him all the way down the hill. Once on the flats, I was actually starting to pull away from him (I love being able to pedal at 35+mph!). However, in about a 1/4 mile we came to a hill and the small combustion engine was too powerful for me to take, so I had to admit defeat and let my heart rate come down while he rode off into Boulder.
The soccer game went pretty well - I was actually able to sprint as my left foot is healing nicely after dropping a transmission jack on the big toe and second toe almost two weeks ago.  Somehow I managed to get turf toe in my right big toe though, so this week’s runs are yet again in question… However we did win the soccer game! All in all we played pretty well and are starting to work as a team together - not too bad considering only about half the team returned from the spring season.

As usual - Tana and Hillary were on the sidelines cheering us on and everyone was fawning over how cute Tana is! Hillary got bugged about playing for the team again, but I’d say she has a pretty good excuse right now - kinda hard to play with another person growing inside ya 

Ah - the smell of fall is starting to permeate the air, still a bit thin, but it is there. The air is getting a bit crisp in the morning, the sun is rising a bit later and falling a bit sooner, snow is falling in the mountains with each rain storm, school is back in session for most, I had my first soccer game last weekend (we got creamed), and the first cyclocross race is not even a month away (nervous, but excited ) - guess I better start digging out my cold weather gear for my early morning rides and runs…. wait a second - I still have a bunch of summer things to do! Dang time sure does go fast.

I’m definitely looking forward to the fall with Tana - Halloween will be even better this year as will hitting the pumpkin patch and then later on building a snow man with her. The berry patch should be open anytime now for their raspberry picking - umm umm good! Just wish the time didn’t fly by so fast as we still haven’t got out backpacking yet this year, much less even car camping!! Haven’t done my bike ride along the peak-to-peak highway, etc ,etc - gotta get moving before the snow hits!

Since Ben already kind of spilled the beans in his previous post, I figured it was time to make it official. I AM PREGNANT! Today is the last day of my first trimester and boy am I glad to have the past few months behind me. The fatigue, nausea, and gagging are behind me, mostly, and we are getting into second trimester cruise mode.

The baby is due in early February. Any of you who have seen me recently will know that the pregnancy is getting pretty obvious at this point. The good/bad news is that with the weight I have lost this year, I think I am going to have to look into new (to me) maternity pants because no matter how big my belly gets, my butt isn’t big enough for most of the pants I wore when I was pregnant with Tana. Darn!

Ben and I are really excited and Tana has been talking a lot about babies in blankets. I don’t think she understands what is going on just yet, but then again, I think young children understand far more than we give them credit for.

Yes, for all of you math whizzes out there, I did Tri for the Cure, two Boulder Stroke & Strides races, and the Bolder Boulder all while pregnant, although I didn’t figure out I was pregnant until a few days after the Bolder Boulder. And just to make you think I am crazier than you already thought, I am planning on doing the Skirt Chaser 5k in early September and the Other Half Marathon in Moab in October, but I have no intentions of running the entire half marathon. I may only run the first mile and the last mile, if that. Just have to wait and see how the bouncing belly feels. So, for all of you that keep coming up with lame excuses as to why you can’t join us at the Skirt Chaser, put that in your pipe and smoke it…

Biking for three…

While out on my long ride this weekend, I rode past a church that always has some statement on their billboard. This weekend it read “Anyone who relies on their riches will fail”. As I read it, I flippantly thought - ‘good thing I feel like I’m always broke, must mean I’m destined to succeed’. But as I rode on it kinda stuck in my head and it occurred to me that I am actually rich, rich beyond measure; not in material wealth as I’m sure the sign was alluding to - but rich in life.

I was pedaling up a hill with great scenery all around me - beautiful trees, great mountains, wild life all around (though sometimes you have to look a bit closer to see it), soaking up the smells around me, enjoying having a healthy body that I can exercise with, and generally enjoying the day. I started to think about what brings me joy and I could easily fill up the entire blog with what all I thought of. When I actually think about it, I can think of quite a few things that bring me sadness and anger - but that list is quite finite compared to the list of things that make me happy.

By the end of the ride - I was in amazement as to what riches I do have. First and foremost I have a wonderful family. Tana can light up a room with her laughter and smiles, her sense of humor is growing by the day and is great. She regularly catches Hillary and myself off guard with how witty she can be. I can spend hours looking into her eyes and a good snuggle from her can make the entire world disappear. Its just amazing to think of what all happened to bring Tana into the world; all the chemical reactions, cells working together, etc to a living being that started out so small (comparatively) and is growing into such a great kid.

Then there is Hillary - as sappy as it sounds, our love really is still growing more and more every day. She is such an amazing woman who’s intelligence and humor initially drew me in, but whose entire being captures me. We’ve enjoyed countless hiking and camping trips together and topped it all off with the birth of our child, which she did completely naturally (without any drugs - just to fully clarify). Then as we were getting a little complacent in our exercise routines, she kicked it up an notch for a half marathon and got all of us outside and exercising more again. She not only is able to balance taking care of much of the household, including making very good and healthy meals for us, while raising/chasing a very energetic two year old; but she was able to train up for and complete a half marathon. She then continued training even though pregnant again and completed her second “Tri for the Cure” triathlon and even came in faster than she did last year! I’m continually amazed at what Hillary is capable of mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Both of us have great families that raised us well and continue to support us through adulthood. We are lucky in that we don’t have the “hated in-laws” as both of us truly enjoy our entire extended family. I really feel part of the family with Hillary’s side and enjoy every moment I get to have with them; though our visits are never long or frequent enough. My family fully opened up to Hillary - to the point that I was told she was going to be adopted if I didn’t marry her (and I think it was said only half jokingly…). I could go on and on about both sides of our family and how great they are, but this post is going to be long enough without all that babble from me..

Last, but certainly not least - our friends, many of which we consider family. We have many very good friends; not just the ones that you could use to gain numbers on some social networking site, but real friends that you can count on at any time , no matter what the circumstances are. Real, true friends that we share an unconditional friendship with. I think that most are lucky to come across one or two true friends in their life; and we are blessed with quite a few and have shared many moments of our lives with them from growing up, to college, to child birth, to competition, to just hanging out and enjoying each other’s company.

I thought about all of this while on the bike ride (yes time does seem to stand still sometimes while I quasi meditate as I ride…) and ended the ride even more rejuvenated than when I started - despite what the sign said; I think I have and will succeed and can rely on my riches, as they are not finite nor bound to the earth by material constraints.

It wasn’t the first time I’ve realized this, but it is good to be reminded every now and then…

The tomato plant is doing very well. I picked a whole bunch of tomatoes this evening. Here is the fruit (literally) of my labor.

I understand why these tomatoes are called Sun Gold. They are the pure essence of the summer sun. Tana cracks me up. She asks for tomatoes every day and she must really take after her mother. After I hand her a tomato, she goes over to the basil plants and picks a leaf. She then shoves the basil in her mouth, quickly followed by the tomato. I must admit, tomatoes and basil were a staple for me when I was pregnant with her. Now if I could just figure out how to grow that mozzarella tree with balsamic sap…

This past weekend seemed to be much longer than just two days - a very welcome change!

We started it off by treating ourselves to dinner out, nothing fancy; just some burgers, fries, and a beer on an outdoor patio in Boulder looking at the Flatirons.  It was nice to kick off the weekend and start relaxing on Friday.  After dinner, Tana had a ball running around and Hill and I went to Borders to browse some books and check out some of the newer CDs.
Saturday seemed like multiple days in one.  We got off to a semi lazy start (didn’t get out of bed until after 7am).  Once I got some food in me and was fully awake - I took off on a bike ride into Boulder and really surprised myself at how much I’ve improved performance wise on the bike.  My workout was to be a 1.5hr ride with 3×10min intervals in the 4-5a heart rate with 10min rest between intervals.  I had a route in mind that I have used before with three longish climbs on it that I figured would take me 10min each to go up and allow for some decent warm up and cool down before ending in Boulder.  Boy did I underestimate the distance I could cover in 10minutes!  The first hill only took me 3.5 min to climb, so I ended up racing down the other side and all the way up the next incline before my 10min was up.  This was a hill that two years ago, I used to struggle to maintain 8mph on - this time I was going 17-21mph up the hill! I ended up tacking on an additional 15miles onto my planned ride just so I could get all three intervals in.  I was/am blown away by how much my performance has improved!  I ended my ride along the Boulder creek path where I met up with Hill at the Boulder Farmers market (fresh fruits and veggies are soo good!).  We then ran a few errands while in Boulder and headed home.
That afternoon, we met our very good friend Meggan down at the Denver Aquarium to take her up on a nice offer to watch Tana for a few hours so we could go see a movie.  Tana and Meggan had a ball checking out all the fish and the tiger and then getting a few toys to play with.  Hill and I saw the Dark Night which was quite good, it had been hyped up enough that I was a bit leery, but was pleasantly surprised - worth the $ in my opinion, and definitely nice to be able to spend some time with Hill on a “date”.  Once all of us were done having fun on our own, we headed over to a restaurant that is fast becoming one of our favorites, Sushi Hai.  Its a very good sushi reasturant that is actually kid friendly as well.
Sunday started off semi early with a rambunctious Tana that kept Hill and I busy for a while.  Once things settled down a bit - I took off for my long bike ride; a 2.5hr semi free-form ride either with a group or solo, hilly with a couple hard efforts at or near race pace (a group ride didn’t pan out, so solo for me).  I figured a route taking me over some of my favorite short climbs into Boulder and then up NCAR would be a good route.  The ride in was a good meditational ride - everything just felt right and riding was effortless; more like floating/flying than riding.   I decided to go for a steady pace up NCAR to work on my climbing skills.  As I was most of the way up, I realized I wasn’t too far off of my PR (personal record) pace, so I kicked it in high gear and went for it - ended up beating my PR of 8min 34sec with a new PR of 8:16.  Not too shabby, especially after an hour of hard riding!  I took a route over Shanahan Ridge to the small market at Hwy 93 and Marshall Rd (heading to Eldorado Springs) to get some water and then headed home.  It was a great ride!  Once home - I played with Tana for a bit and then did some much needed maintanence on our Saturn and then started the process of putting the transmission back into the Bronco (may actually be operational again soon!).  While I was playing in the garage, Hillary was tackling the house and getting it better organized.  Once Tana was down for the night, which was early due to no nap, we watched some great coverage of the Olympics while I did some bicycle maintanence, and then finished the day off with some reading.

As I said - a great weekend.

Sunday was Tri for the Cure. This is the 2nd year that I have done it. All I can say is that it was HOT! Last year, the high temp was around 75, this year the high temp was hovering around 100. When I got up Sunday morning (at 4 am), the weather said it was 72 degrees. Gack! We got the gear, Tana, and ourselves loaded into the car and headed for Cherry Creek State Park.

As I was walking into the transition area to go find a spot, I recognized the voice of my friend Gaye. She was volunteering and doing body marking. I made a mental note of where she was and went to drop my stuff of. After getting my stuff all organized and laid out, I went back to find Gaye and she put my race number on my arm and leg. She wished me luck and I went off to find Ben & Tana.

I hung out with Ben & Tana for a little while and then headed back to transition to get prepared for my swim.

Some where, in amongst all those white swim caps, is me. The swim went well, I felt really comfortable, although I was kind of cursing having to wear a swim cap because it was making too warm. I did my breast stroke the whole swim, got passed by a few people from the waves behind me, but actually managed to pass a few people from the waves ahead of me as well. My legs felt like lead coming out of the water and running through transition. Our friends, Sonja, Troy, and Annie came out to cheer for me and I definitely heard them, as I was coming out of the swim. Our friend, Mike was cheering too. Cara, his girlfriend, was also racing and she started in my wave.

I got suited up in my biking gear, grabbed my bike, and headed out for the bike leg. The bike felt pretty good although it was definitely much hotter than last year. I felt pretty good on the first part of the bike but there is this one hill that just seems to kill me. I made it to the top of the hill, took a drink of water, and missed my water bottle cage as I tried to put the bottle back. We are down a water bottle now, but I had 2 water bottles on my bike so I decided it really wasn’t worth worrying about. Here is me coming in off the bike (all black, green helmet). I got another good round of cheers as I came in off the bike.

Back through transition, with legs of lead, went me and my bicycle. I got ready for the run. I had a clever plan to help keep me cool on the run. I brought an insulated water bottle full of ice and dumped the ice in my shirt. Gaye was at the run start, handing out water, and wished me well again.

After, I got out on the run course, I started shoving ice cubes into my hat to act as built in air conditioning. It worked quite well. Ben and Tana were waiting for me near the run start and Sonja, Troy and Annie were at the first corner, all to cheer me on my wayThe first half of the run is all uphill. It was hot and I was getting tired so I walked quite a bit of the half. The good part of an all uphill first half, is that the second half is all downhill. I was really glad when I hit the turn around point and started heading back down, but with as hot as it was, the down hill still felt like uphill. As I got close to the finish, Sonja, Troy, and Annie all cheered for me again and Sonja asked how I was feeling. I told her I was starving. I could hardly wait to cross that finish line and get some food. Right at the corner to enter the finishing chute, Ben and Tana were waiting for me. I wish I had had the camera so that I could have taken a picture of Tana sitting on the fence, cheering everyone on. It was so nice to have so many people out there cheering for me.

I met up with Ben and Tana and headed straight for the food tent. I never knew pretzels and red vines could taste soooo good. Sonja came over and talked with us for a little while. Apparently, she had the same idea I’d had and brought a small cooler of ice. We got all my gear and headed back to the car.

Cara & Mike invited us to join them for lunch at the Cherry Cricket to celebrate Cara’s birthday, which was also on Sunday. We took them up on the offer and had some yummy food, although, I got harassed for ordering a salad for lunch after just doing a triathlon. After that, we headed home so Tana could enjoy an afternoon of unrestrained running amok.

Thanks to everyone who came out to cheer me on. I really appreciate it! Oh yeah, here are my results:

Swim- 25:42

T1- 5:32 (I can’t believe I was that slow but whatever)

Bike- 42:42 with an average speed of 16mph

T2- 4:41

Run- 39:40

Total Time- 1:58:17

Class Rank- 240 out of 339

Overall Rank- 1743 out of 2814

Yup, that’s right folks. Tana is 2 years old today. To celebrate, we decided to spend yesterday afternoon playing in Boulder Creek with friends. We waded, we splashed, we threw rocks, we went tubing, we floated sticks down waterfalls, and we picnicked. Our friends, Sonja, Troy, and Annie and Laura, Wes, and Abi joined us for the fun. Laura made Tana a little backpack with bicycles on it and Sonja made Tana a sundress. (I think it is time for me to quit being a chicken about the sewing machine so I can keep up with these girls.) Here are some pictures of our day:

Tana’s first ride in a tube involved immediately getting dunked as soon as Ben sat down in the tube with her.

Tana and I tubing

Tana got a “balance” bike for her birthday. It has no pedals so it is foot powered and she will be able to learn how to balance on a bike without using training wheel. Unfortunately, she is still a little short for the bike so right now, it is more Mom & Dad powered than Tana powered.

I am afraid that Tana is not having a very good actual birthday so far. She has puked twice this morning, once on me, once on Ben, and she is currently asleep in her bed. I don’t know if she is teething, or sick, or she at too many rocks yesterday (their were two rocks in her poopy diaper this morning), or too much excitement yesterday, or what. I am hoping she will take a nice long nap and feel better when she wakes up. But anywho, Happy Birthday Tana!! We Love You!

Last night was my 2nd, and final, Stroke and Stride at Boulder Res, before I race in the Tri for the Cure next weekend. Last night went much better than 2 weeks ago. My mental state was much more calm this time. When I looked at the first buoy out in the water, I said to myself, “That’s not so far.” I felt much more comfortable, and warmer (swim cap helps) in the water last night. On my way out to the first buoy, I was feeling really tired and thought I might have to get pulled out of the water. Fortunately, I fell into a group of ladies that were swimming about as fast as I was. It was nice to have someone around me this time. As I was rounding the first buoy, I started getting some energy back so I just put all my efforts into bringing that 2nd bouy closer and closer. I made it around that buoy and was on the home stretch. I felt like my swim was going much faster than last time. I finally made it out of the water and Ben told me that the swim was a little longer than I had bargained for- it was 815m instead of 750m.

My legs were still very tired but I managed to run to my transition spot. However, my legs were so tired, I had a difficult time getting my feet in my running shoes. I finally got my shoes on and was off and running. I felt really sluggish on the run. The nice part is that since I have done so much running this year, I can tell myself that it is only 3 miles and it will all be over soon, and it is true. I had quite a few fast runners passing me on the way out this time. The last race I only had a couple pass me. I managed to pass a couple ladies myself (they were walking). Got to the turn around and was very thankful for a nice drink of water. The run course at Boulder Res really is kind of brutal. There is not a drop of shade and I had the pleasure of a headwind the entire way back. Once I got back on pavement, I knew I was on the home stretch and I kicked up the pace a little on the final downhill. As I crossed the finish line, the clock read 1:10:and some change. I thought to myself, “That can’t be right. That’s 4 minutes faster than last time.” I knew it was correct and that my actual time was 1:05:and some change since my wave started 5 minutes after they started the clock. Holy moly! That is a lot of time. So here is how things looked (and I will throw in the previous race for comparison):

Last Night:

Swim: 27:07 (815m) if you correct it to 750m it is a time of 24:57 (all breast stroke)

Transition: 2:53

Run: 35:47

Total Time: 1:05:46

Previous Race:

Swim: 31:15 ( 750m all breast stroke)

Transition: 3:02

Run: 35:35

Total Time: 1:09:51

I took over 4 minutes off my swim and last night’s swim was longer. Assuming I did my math correctly, I actually took over 6 minutes off my 750m swim. That is a HUGE amount of time! Heck even the 4 minutes is a huge amount of time. All in all I would say last night was a success and I am glad that Sonja had me do these races because I am much more comfortable with the distance and that makes a big difference.