Nothing out of the ordinary today, but I thought I'd share a little conversation between my husband and I that occurred this evening.
Me: What's up with all these Leprechaun traps I keep hearing about? We never had this when I was a kid and everyone was talking about them today.
Him: Seriously? We even had them in Morocco. There were stories about Leprechauns that would come and steal Muslim kids and convert them to Christianity.
Me: That's awful.
Him: No, what's awful is you believed that.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Permanent Dork Squad Member, Right Here
I didn't mention yesterday that this meet I'm judging is a "themed" invitational...meaning that everyone who attends (athletes, coaches, judges, parents, helpers) are requested to dress up to match the theme.
The theme was pajamas.
I read this on the meet announcement when I was pulling information together about where we were staying and going and the other judge carpooling with me even called to confirm it. We were the only two judges coming from out-of-state.
Ironically, the state we are in is a relatively "relaxed" state. I'm not saying we don't behave professionally, but in terms of uniform (which can be close to $400), they don't require it, and approach the whole coach/judge relationship with a slightly more "educational" and "benefit the athlete" approach as opposed to following the letter of the "no interaction" rule. The state we were visiting...is known for being more strict about these things, so I was told in no uncertain terms that my black pants would NOT work (must be navy blue).
I went out and bought new navy blue pants (still hate shopping, but being able to shop in a normal store and find something that fits a slight improvement).
Then I found out I was supposed to wear pajamas.
Since it was a two-day meet, I packed two sets of "judging clothes." Yesterday I wore my snowflake-print fleece pajama bottoms with a matching solid color fleece top and today I wore some normal capris and a T-shirt, but with a bathrobe and fuzzy slippers.
I must say, I've never been so comfy judging.
Did I mention that I put my hair into buns (Mickey Mouse style) on top of my head?
We (the other judge and I) were feeling a bit silly since we were the ONLY ones dressed up yesterday--we even opted for a Starbucks drive through so we wouldn't have to be "seen" in public as much. This morning--and she was in blue rocketship footie pajamas--we felt even more ridiculous pumping gas and the looks on the coffee drive through didn't help.
On top of feeling like total geeks, there were some hiccups with the meet planning, so we ended up being gone for nearly 48 hours, being at the meet for part of two days, and only actually judging (and getting paid) for about 9 hours. I'm hoping the meet made money, because with two nights of hotels for us, 350 miles of mileage, and per diem on top of our judging fees, we were pretty expensive.
The extra bummer was that we could have judged closer to home and made close to double at a more local meet.
So in trying to help out, the two of us gave up a weekend, gave up half a paycheck, and looked like goobers being the only ones in pajamas.
I think it upset (or annoyed) the other judge more than me. While I missed my family (and was bummed I couldn't do the race today), I did enjoy the alone time and getting to do whatever I wanted without having to worry about a three-year-old tagging along. It was especially nice in stores yesterday not having to remind anyone about the "one finger touch" rule.
The theme was pajamas.
I read this on the meet announcement when I was pulling information together about where we were staying and going and the other judge carpooling with me even called to confirm it. We were the only two judges coming from out-of-state.
Ironically, the state we are in is a relatively "relaxed" state. I'm not saying we don't behave professionally, but in terms of uniform (which can be close to $400), they don't require it, and approach the whole coach/judge relationship with a slightly more "educational" and "benefit the athlete" approach as opposed to following the letter of the "no interaction" rule. The state we were visiting...is known for being more strict about these things, so I was told in no uncertain terms that my black pants would NOT work (must be navy blue).
I went out and bought new navy blue pants (still hate shopping, but being able to shop in a normal store and find something that fits a slight improvement).
Then I found out I was supposed to wear pajamas.
Since it was a two-day meet, I packed two sets of "judging clothes." Yesterday I wore my snowflake-print fleece pajama bottoms with a matching solid color fleece top and today I wore some normal capris and a T-shirt, but with a bathrobe and fuzzy slippers.
I must say, I've never been so comfy judging.
Did I mention that I put my hair into buns (Mickey Mouse style) on top of my head?
We (the other judge and I) were feeling a bit silly since we were the ONLY ones dressed up yesterday--we even opted for a Starbucks drive through so we wouldn't have to be "seen" in public as much. This morning--and she was in blue rocketship footie pajamas--we felt even more ridiculous pumping gas and the looks on the coffee drive through didn't help.
On top of feeling like total geeks, there were some hiccups with the meet planning, so we ended up being gone for nearly 48 hours, being at the meet for part of two days, and only actually judging (and getting paid) for about 9 hours. I'm hoping the meet made money, because with two nights of hotels for us, 350 miles of mileage, and per diem on top of our judging fees, we were pretty expensive.
The extra bummer was that we could have judged closer to home and made close to double at a more local meet.
So in trying to help out, the two of us gave up a weekend, gave up half a paycheck, and looked like goobers being the only ones in pajamas.
I think it upset (or annoyed) the other judge more than me. While I missed my family (and was bummed I couldn't do the race today), I did enjoy the alone time and getting to do whatever I wanted without having to worry about a three-year-old tagging along. It was especially nice in stores yesterday not having to remind anyone about the "one finger touch" rule.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Dedication? That's Totally Me.
Todays title? Falls under the "Delusional" category of this blog.
I haven't been to yoga in nearly a month. I haven't been running, I haven't been swimming, I haven't been walking or biking or weightlifting or even doing much housecleaning in the past couple of weeks.
But I'm finally almost not coughing any more, either.
My next triathlon is three weeks from today. If anything, I might actually be further from my goals than when I last posted. (And the gap in posts is a reflection of computer angst, not laziness, just so you know.)
P. A. N. I. C.
So tomorrow I'm supposed to be running in a race, but instead I'm out of state, at a hotel, by myself, assigned to judge a meet. I'm not complaining; it's income. Plus I love judging. This is not the first time I've been to this hotel and I knew they had a pool, so I packed my swimsuit. I honestly wasn't truly expecting a chance (or motivation) to use it since normally when I stay at a hotel for a meet, there are usually about 200 athletes in the same hotel and ALL of them AND their siblings are busy playing Marco Polo in the swimming pool.
And MARCO! trying POLO! to MARCO! swim POLO! laps MARCO! in POLO! that MARCO! is POLO! about MARCO! as POLO! much MARCO! fun POLO! as MARCO! trying POLO! to MARCO! read POLO! this MARCO! sentence POLO!
Except more annoying.
Weirdly, the pool area was EMPTY when I went to check on it. I ran back upstairs, changed, ran back down (fine, fine, I took the elevator both times), and . . . it was still empty.
I lost count of the number of laps I swam it was so many.
Yes, yes, the pool was probably equivalent to the length of my hotel room, so it was more about practicing my flip turns than anything. But I worked on that, my stroke technique, kicking, maximizing my breath, that kind of thing, for about 25 minutes. And then the hot tub (which oddly I didn't soak in forever.
Oh yeah, and this afternoon I spent about two hours walking.
So I'm a little bit dedicated. Or possibly bored because I'm not used to being able to do anything without my daughter tagging along and it's kind of weird to be off on my own.
More judging tomorrow, while I miss her race, and then back home.
I haven't been to yoga in nearly a month. I haven't been running, I haven't been swimming, I haven't been walking or biking or weightlifting or even doing much housecleaning in the past couple of weeks.
But I'm finally almost not coughing any more, either.
My next triathlon is three weeks from today. If anything, I might actually be further from my goals than when I last posted. (And the gap in posts is a reflection of computer angst, not laziness, just so you know.)
P. A. N. I. C.
So tomorrow I'm supposed to be running in a race, but instead I'm out of state, at a hotel, by myself, assigned to judge a meet. I'm not complaining; it's income. Plus I love judging. This is not the first time I've been to this hotel and I knew they had a pool, so I packed my swimsuit. I honestly wasn't truly expecting a chance (or motivation) to use it since normally when I stay at a hotel for a meet, there are usually about 200 athletes in the same hotel and ALL of them AND their siblings are busy playing Marco Polo in the swimming pool.
And MARCO! trying POLO! to MARCO! swim POLO! laps MARCO! in POLO! that MARCO! is POLO! about MARCO! as POLO! much MARCO! fun POLO! as MARCO! trying POLO! to MARCO! read POLO! this MARCO! sentence POLO!
Except more annoying.
Weirdly, the pool area was EMPTY when I went to check on it. I ran back upstairs, changed, ran back down (fine, fine, I took the elevator both times), and . . . it was still empty.
I lost count of the number of laps I swam it was so many.
Yes, yes, the pool was probably equivalent to the length of my hotel room, so it was more about practicing my flip turns than anything. But I worked on that, my stroke technique, kicking, maximizing my breath, that kind of thing, for about 25 minutes. And then the hot tub (which oddly I didn't soak in forever.
Oh yeah, and this afternoon I spent about two hours walking.
So I'm a little bit dedicated. Or possibly bored because I'm not used to being able to do anything without my daughter tagging along and it's kind of weird to be off on my own.
More judging tomorrow, while I miss her race, and then back home.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Backsliding and Panic
Since I still can't exercise without inducing coughing fits and making myself worse, I'm not only frustrated, but not progressing.
I woke up this morning and realized that my next triathlon is less than a month away.
Holy bad words, I've got to get my butt in gear.
I'm not doing this next triathlon with any delusions of winning or placing. Not finishing last would be nice, since I now feel like I'm past the "doing it to see if I could finish it" phase, but from what I gather about this particular event, the people who tend to sign up are SERIOUS, so finishing not last might not be an option for me.
So in just under one month, I need to do the following:
Get my 500 yard swim down to 11 minutes (I'm at 11:28 as of my last timed effort).
Run a full 3.1 miles (I'm at 2 miles, at a 15-minute mile pace).
Recondition my "biker butt" since the saddle on my bike is ridiculously hard and I'm probably not going to get a new saddle before the race.
So I'd better get my unconditioned (in more ways than one) butt off the computer and in gear.
Even if I do end up in a coughing fit.
I had intended to go workout at the gym near my daughter's gymnastics, but we couldn't seem to get moving, and I barely got to her gymnastics lesson on time.
I did actually go and tumble on the tumbletrack (a 40 foot trampoline with a resi-pit at the end) for a little while.
Good news: I was able to jump without much pain. Bad news: If I don't get into better shape, my years at trying to jump back into "playing" on the equipment are extremely limited--and could be months if I'm not careful and injure myself.
I'd been tumbling for only about five minutes and was TOTALLY winded (and high on adrenaline). I glanced at the clock and noticed it was about 20 minutes until the end of my daughter's class. I set a little "goal" for myself of continuing to tumble until the end of her class.
One of the little boys in her class saw me and said, "WOW! I didn't know she could do THAT!"
My daughter immediately piped up, "That's MY mommy!"
Ah, so nice to have her be proud of me. I will have to treasure this because IF I could still do these tricks in 10 years (which would make me hugely proud of myself), I'm sure it will instead highly embarrass her.
I did a few old tricks, including a roundoff back layout. I was really tempted to try a layout full, except that I had visions of recreating the scene from the movie "Stick It" where Jeff Bridges ends up needing 9-1-1 assistance--on that exact skill.
15 minutes into my tumbling (and 10 minutes short of my little mini-goal), I was getting quite tired. In terms of endurance pushing myself, I could have kept going. In terms of safety; this is where I can actually DO moderation and was getting kind of worried trying to figure out how many more passes I could live through uninjured, and what easier skills I would have to start doing to be able to keep going.
Thing is, I was already at a pretty basic level in terms of what I could do on the Tumbletrack.
Then my daughter's class rotated to trampoline.
And probably saved me from hurting myself by kicking me off.
Still, I did the following skills:
Roundoff back tuck
Roundoff back layout
Roundoff back tuck onto 24" elevated surface
Roundoff doubleback timer onto 24" elevated surface
Front tuck
Front handspring front tuck to butt
Front handspring front tuck to feet!
Front tuck to 24" elevated surface
Most of them I did more than once, too.
Before you get too impressed, I also managed to do a front tuck to my feet when I 37 weeks (just over 8 months) pregnant.
In other words, for me, some of these skills I've been able to do for nearly 3 decades, so they are almost as intuitive as riding a bicycle.
Unfortunately, that was my entire workout for today.
I woke up this morning and realized that my next triathlon is less than a month away.
Holy bad words, I've got to get my butt in gear.
I'm not doing this next triathlon with any delusions of winning or placing. Not finishing last would be nice, since I now feel like I'm past the "doing it to see if I could finish it" phase, but from what I gather about this particular event, the people who tend to sign up are SERIOUS, so finishing not last might not be an option for me.
So in just under one month, I need to do the following:
Get my 500 yard swim down to 11 minutes (I'm at 11:28 as of my last timed effort).
Run a full 3.1 miles (I'm at 2 miles, at a 15-minute mile pace).
Recondition my "biker butt" since the saddle on my bike is ridiculously hard and I'm probably not going to get a new saddle before the race.
So I'd better get my unconditioned (in more ways than one) butt off the computer and in gear.
Even if I do end up in a coughing fit.
I had intended to go workout at the gym near my daughter's gymnastics, but we couldn't seem to get moving, and I barely got to her gymnastics lesson on time.
I did actually go and tumble on the tumbletrack (a 40 foot trampoline with a resi-pit at the end) for a little while.
Good news: I was able to jump without much pain. Bad news: If I don't get into better shape, my years at trying to jump back into "playing" on the equipment are extremely limited--and could be months if I'm not careful and injure myself.
I'd been tumbling for only about five minutes and was TOTALLY winded (and high on adrenaline). I glanced at the clock and noticed it was about 20 minutes until the end of my daughter's class. I set a little "goal" for myself of continuing to tumble until the end of her class.
One of the little boys in her class saw me and said, "WOW! I didn't know she could do THAT!"
My daughter immediately piped up, "That's MY mommy!"
Ah, so nice to have her be proud of me. I will have to treasure this because IF I could still do these tricks in 10 years (which would make me hugely proud of myself), I'm sure it will instead highly embarrass her.
I did a few old tricks, including a roundoff back layout. I was really tempted to try a layout full, except that I had visions of recreating the scene from the movie "Stick It" where Jeff Bridges ends up needing 9-1-1 assistance--on that exact skill.
15 minutes into my tumbling (and 10 minutes short of my little mini-goal), I was getting quite tired. In terms of endurance pushing myself, I could have kept going. In terms of safety; this is where I can actually DO moderation and was getting kind of worried trying to figure out how many more passes I could live through uninjured, and what easier skills I would have to start doing to be able to keep going.
Thing is, I was already at a pretty basic level in terms of what I could do on the Tumbletrack.
Then my daughter's class rotated to trampoline.
And probably saved me from hurting myself by kicking me off.
Still, I did the following skills:
Roundoff back tuck
Roundoff back layout
Roundoff back tuck onto 24" elevated surface
Roundoff doubleback timer onto 24" elevated surface
Front tuck
Front handspring front tuck to butt
Front handspring front tuck to feet!
Front tuck to 24" elevated surface
Most of them I did more than once, too.
Before you get too impressed, I also managed to do a front tuck to my feet when I 37 weeks (just over 8 months) pregnant.
In other words, for me, some of these skills I've been able to do for nearly 3 decades, so they are almost as intuitive as riding a bicycle.
Unfortunately, that was my entire workout for today.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Oops. Scheduling Problems.
I've been trying to do more running (although not enough yet to be considered serious) so that I could run the entire course of a 5K race coming up.
Today, I looked at my calendar to figure out what my availability was for something else. I happened to glance at the note in my calendar that I'm judging a 2-day meet out of state.
And the second day of the meet is the same day as my race.
When i informed my husband, he was not happy as he had (finally) registered us.
Argh. Since it's St. Patrick's day themed, I even had green gloves with bows for my daughter and I and cheap little green crowns.
And NOt going means I'm going to have to cram in another race somewhere if I'm going to hit this 10 event goal I set for myself (I was thinking one a month, but this means I'm now skipping February AND March and will need to find something else soon).
And I should probably train a little more than I've been able to, although this morning I couldn't speak without a coughing fit, so apparently I'm still not quite well enough to do anything anyway.
Today, I looked at my calendar to figure out what my availability was for something else. I happened to glance at the note in my calendar that I'm judging a 2-day meet out of state.
And the second day of the meet is the same day as my race.
When i informed my husband, he was not happy as he had (finally) registered us.
Argh. Since it's St. Patrick's day themed, I even had green gloves with bows for my daughter and I and cheap little green crowns.
And NOt going means I'm going to have to cram in another race somewhere if I'm going to hit this 10 event goal I set for myself (I was thinking one a month, but this means I'm now skipping February AND March and will need to find something else soon).
And I should probably train a little more than I've been able to, although this morning I couldn't speak without a coughing fit, so apparently I'm still not quite well enough to do anything anyway.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Ah, Memory Lane
Spent most of today getting a present ready for a birthday party for one of my daughter's friends. The party was at a local gymnastics club. While there, I was talking to the mom of the birthday girl and we were reminiscing about old gymnastics compulsory routines. She was prancing around doing the dance from one of them and another mom said, "Wow! Riverdance!"
We were totally laughing--the choreography from those old routines was, well, interesting. We were talking about a different routine and then spontaneously started doing it together, which struck me as hilarious, and then we ended up talking about equipment changes, new compulsory routines and what the kids are doing now.
Having been so in depth with gymnastics for the past 13+ years, and familiar with the progressions, I "get" why things are in place, so it was really interesting to hear the outside observations, which I could see why it looks like the system makes no sense (and in some ways, it doesn't).
We got home just in time to say goodbye to my husband who was off to work at the food cart, so another day of no progress on my goals.
The only "out" I have on that is I still feel rotten with this cold. Last year my husband was sick for nearly five months straight (turned out there were several deep underlying causes, including mercury poisoning), and I'm having a whole lot more sympathy for the ongoing "ugh" feeling he had.
We were totally laughing--the choreography from those old routines was, well, interesting. We were talking about a different routine and then spontaneously started doing it together, which struck me as hilarious, and then we ended up talking about equipment changes, new compulsory routines and what the kids are doing now.
Having been so in depth with gymnastics for the past 13+ years, and familiar with the progressions, I "get" why things are in place, so it was really interesting to hear the outside observations, which I could see why it looks like the system makes no sense (and in some ways, it doesn't).
We got home just in time to say goodbye to my husband who was off to work at the food cart, so another day of no progress on my goals.
The only "out" I have on that is I still feel rotten with this cold. Last year my husband was sick for nearly five months straight (turned out there were several deep underlying causes, including mercury poisoning), and I'm having a whole lot more sympathy for the ongoing "ugh" feeling he had.
Friday, February 25, 2011
I Am Officially Nothing
Just so you know, that title is NOT some sort of low-self esteem remark, but I will get to the explanation shortly.
After doing nothing yesterday, I had another great day of . . . nothing in terms of physical activity. My cold is still kicking my butt and although I'm feeling better, I'm still not recovered.
I had signed up to volunteer as a meet official at another college gymnastics meet. I was assigned to floor timer and line judge. Basically, I sit on the edge of the floor, all by myself, for a couple of hours, and get a close up of college gymnastics. Way fun and I don't have to do anything for it except 1) hitch a ride there since I refuse to pay for that much gas to volunteer and 2) run a stopwatch and, if needed, hold up a yellow flag.
I only had to hold up the yellow flag once.
I am going to remember, for my next time, to take earplugs. One of the major differences in college gymnastics is the EXTREME amount of yelling (cheering) for teammates that goes on. One of the teams stood RIGHT next to me and it was literally a couple of hours before hearing returned to my right ear.
That same team (who were great, by the way) at one point was giving out high 10s (clapping both hands overhead when a girl finished her floor routine. At one point, they clapped right over me as if I wasn't there.
Officially nothing.
Okay, so I'm probably the only one amused by that horrible pun, but I enjoyed it.
After doing nothing yesterday, I had another great day of . . . nothing in terms of physical activity. My cold is still kicking my butt and although I'm feeling better, I'm still not recovered.
I had signed up to volunteer as a meet official at another college gymnastics meet. I was assigned to floor timer and line judge. Basically, I sit on the edge of the floor, all by myself, for a couple of hours, and get a close up of college gymnastics. Way fun and I don't have to do anything for it except 1) hitch a ride there since I refuse to pay for that much gas to volunteer and 2) run a stopwatch and, if needed, hold up a yellow flag.
I only had to hold up the yellow flag once.
I am going to remember, for my next time, to take earplugs. One of the major differences in college gymnastics is the EXTREME amount of yelling (cheering) for teammates that goes on. One of the teams stood RIGHT next to me and it was literally a couple of hours before hearing returned to my right ear.
That same team (who were great, by the way) at one point was giving out high 10s (clapping both hands overhead when a girl finished her floor routine. At one point, they clapped right over me as if I wasn't there.
Officially nothing.
Okay, so I'm probably the only one amused by that horrible pun, but I enjoyed it.
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