Another three-way - yay!

Hi, Jayne. Thanks for stealing my bumper sticker battle cry. Guess I'll have to come up with another.

Tomorrow we are going to do another sprint triathlon. This time, I'm a little more well-equipped, because one thing I've learned about why a triathlon is so fun, it's because of all the fun accessories! YAY!

Although I couldn't commit to buying a bike, I rented a road race bike in hopes that the bike leg of the race will be easier, faster, and hopefully make my run a little more graceful. My tri-capri pants came in. And, I have some cool new e-z tie laces on my shoes to shave off minutes from my transition time. I even read a cool book about challenging yourself to do a triathlon. The book, The Improbable Athlete, had some good insight on facing your fears, and conquering challenges. It talks about the time and energy it takes and the everyday commitment.

JulzHOLLA! is reading a book called Slow, Fat Triathlete. It got our attention, I'm just sayin. And so, we will read each book and swap.

Although both authors are women our age-ish, the authors of either book are not moms. They were out of shape, a little thick as one suggests from her title. Clearly, I see a book of our own story in the making. This has been such a great Mommy moment on so many levels. Just getting the kids to school everyday, slurping down some kind of breakfast drink in between cups of coffee, and getting to the gym at the same time is a book in itself. Let alone, two moms schedules meshing each day for 1-2 hours to work out. It is the best time of my day, sucking air, and challenging my aching and digressing muscles - and talking about my feelings all while laughing my dimpled ass off.

When I wake up and come up with 10 reasons why not to go to the gym and that I have tons of other things to do that day - I remember who's waiting for me - JulzHOLLA! The one who woke up 3-4 times with her baby the night before, the one who got up, fed her three kids, got Olivia to grade school, turned around and backtracked to get Gwyn to Pre-K, and got to the gym in time to nurse Maggie in the parking lot, and get in and feed her some cereal to top her off before checking her into the nursery so that she can workout with me. At some point, because my days are half that busy, I wondered where my "me time went", and then a little voice in my head said, "It's on the treadmill fatty, there's your me time." Suddenly, the errands can wait.

Don't even get me started on how we configure an outdoor bike ride! Well, here I go anyways...Because apparently attaching the Burley on the back of a brand new road race bike is frowned upon. Whatever. So, we either wait and ride together at night when the menfolk are home to tend to the chillins. Or, we tag team during the day, and she lets me watch Maggie - the nicest best sleeping baby ever, while she rides. I can ride when the kids are in school, no prob. Tack on that Fall is here, wind conditions are blustery at best right now, rain is not even a bother anymore, but it's getting darker earlier, and you have the master of all planning for two of the coolest moms around. I'm just sayin.

Annnnnnd, our men are doing the team tri - Ricardo, Sven, and uh, Ab's man, are going to swim, bike and run, respectively. That's right, my man is a swimmer now! And the logistics of getting kids to and fro, work, meeting up for workouts with online girlfriend or husband, or both, it gets crazy. But we do it. And I think we've all enjoyed the challenge of the actual workouts as well as the challenge of planning and scheduling.

All this and I'm teaching classes with students who couldn't turn their work in because their computer's down or their car ran out of gas. Really? Maybe I'll come up with some mini-speeches/lectures. The titles will be "JUST EFFN DO IT" or "I BIKED IN THE RAIN TODAY GOT LOST, ASKED FOR DIRECTIONS, THE CHAIN CAME OFF, BUT I STILL DID 20 MILES, WHAT DID YOU DO?" or "MY KID HAS PNEUMONIA AND I STILL MANAGED A 1,000 METER SWIM" or "I'M FAT AND SQUEEZED INTO SPANDEX TODAY AND LIVED TO TELL ABOUT IT" One of the biggest things about triathlons, that I think moms relate to is, planning, preparing, and fabulous accessories. Even when it doesn't quite work out like you thought it would, you make it work. Any triathlete will tell you their precise plan of setting out all of their stuff in perfect order for what's to come in each transition.

I think we are both committed to do this for our own reasons, but it makes a bigger difference that I get the chance to do this with her. Tomorrow, we'll do our third Triathlon. We are triathletes. And kick ass moms. I don't know who I'm more excited for, me or her. Either way, we're doing it together! The triathlon is the reward, the measurement of success for all of our hard work and prioritizing. Can't wait til next season!

Tomorrow is supposed to be a high of 48, with winds of 30 mph, and I can't wait. I'm looking forward to it. I'll just layer up and have my hot cocoa and fireplace waiting for me. I'm a changed Mom. For sure.

That's how I roll.