2nd Annual Wooo Hooo Du

Yesterday way our 2nd annual "du". We had been reading the weather forecast all week and keeping our fingers crossed that the weatherman was going to be wrong in his prediction of overcast and rain. I did the Wooo Hooo Du dance to the "weather gods" all week and luckily they were pleased and shone a sunny face with light winds down our way!


There were eight of us this year, a record number! (missing from the picture is Brenda, our photog). Everyone arrived to my cottage type house with their car's loaded with bikes, running gear, bathing suits and of course the mandatory copious amount of food and BEvERages.

After unloading the vehicles and piling everything into the house and donning our personalised race bibs, have a cocktail or two, we were ready to go on our 2.5K trot. Off we went to much laughter, chatting and catching up with one another. Trust me when I say this in not a competition, we all just go out to have a great time and a lot of laughs. There are rules however and there is a start line and bike mount line (hey, there have to be some parameters).

Once back from the run we were ready to roll. The bike mount area was in front of the porcelain bowl ~ hey, you can't get much classier than that!! (yes, my neighbour is doing renovations to their home and they just dump everything and kick it out to the curb). So, with our own personal port-a-pottie as our marker, off we went, for a 10K spin around the peninsula where I live. It was a great ride with a lot to see, there were a ton of people enjoying the beach, there was a fishing derby going on and another function at our Legion. I tell you, it's a happening spot!

Jen was trying out her new Devinci that she picked up on Saturday, it is a really nice bike and you did a great job Jen.

We had a couple of practices clipping in and out and shifting gears, and then Jen and I headed off to catch up with the others.

We all made it back safe and sound with waves and smiles.

We still had the next run portion to do and then it was officially deemed complete with the ringing of the cowbell.....

After another beverage, most everyone headed down to the river for a refreshing swim and to enjoy the sunshine. Brenda and I stayed back and got the food prepped for their return. When they came back and changed into their civvies, we were going to sit outside in the backyard as I had scrubbed and cleaned my patio furniture, however, there were so many wasps and stinging things out there, the Wooo Hooo's came barreling back indoors (with wasps following them) and that is exactly where we stayed for the remainder of the event. Swag bags were opened and photo's were taken, it was a real hoot.

Never, ever is there an event where we lack food or beverage, I'm just so sorry I didn't get a chance to take a photo of the desert table!

It was getting dark when we started cleaning up and putting things away, the gals loaded up their bikes and headed home...the last of the Wooo Hooo's left around 9:30 p.m.

It was a great day of friendship, fun and laughter and that is what the Wooo Hooo's are all about. We leave our troubles and attitudes at the door and just have a great time appreciating life!

after all;

Life's fun if you don't weaken,

Lily

Sharing

As it is in death, it is more so in life. We share.

Death brings us together to share our memories and grieve, death brings us together to laugh, to cry and to carry on with life.

Comments I heard yesterday while looking at the memory board were, "oh, there he is with his sister when they were kids", "look at that, I remember that Halloween costume", "he was doing what he loved doing", "I just can't believe he is gone", "it was so sudden".

We in blog land share our virtual lives with one another, we share training tips, we share training horror stories...

we share concerns for our children and grandchildren, we share concerns for one another when severe weather strikes us, whether it be Texas or eastern seaboard...

we share different lifestyles from Rome to Oahu, we share cooking tips from Belgium to Brisbane...

we share llama mauling, whitehead popping, speedy racers, to trashtastic topics from the Queen of Albany...

we share competitive cycling stories from Ottawa, Iowa to Queensland.

we share the excitement of someones first Iron Man to someones first try-a-try, to someones first half marathon and someones first marathon, we share!!!

We share our stories, our lives, our insecurities, our challenges and our triumphs...we share ourselves to people we may never meet, with people who we look forward to meeting and with people with whom we've met through this virtual world of ours.

It boils down to the common bond all of us have. It is the commitment to share a little bit of ourselves everyday, to laugh, to cry, to kick ass and tell someone to "bite your ass".

We share.


Thank you for that!!


and


speaking of sharing,


Look what I got yesterday in the mail!!!





Ted's Dean Karnazes 50 / 50 , the mobile book tour arrived in Canada!

Stay tuned for the information as to how you could be NEXT!!

Thanks for making me smile through the tears everyone.

Life's fun if you don't weaken,

Lily

What a difference...

...a week makes!

Last week I could hardly drag my sorry ass around, let alone get out of bed or off the couch.

This week I'm BAAACCKK! Even after struggling with my Sunday run, I feel MUCH better. Maybe it was a "bug", maybe it was just being overly tired, I did waste an awful lot of energy stressing over the Try-a-Tri, a lot of energy! LMAO...

So, this week I'll put some serious thought into next year's agenda. I know there will be a couple of triathlons, a marathon and I'm still toying with the 50K Ultra....we will see.

Yesterday, I hit the gym after work and cycled "hard", also spent thirty minutes on the elliptical and thirty minutes on the rowing machine....I LOVE the rowing machine!

So, there you have it, short and sweet! Tonight is the office barbecue, tomorrow I'm doing dreaded taxes (again)....

Life's fun if you don't weaken,

Lily

Thanks everyone for the much needed support while I slugged my way through last week, and Wes, thanks for the much needed kick in the ass, (No sympathy from Wes, that's why he will ROCK IMFL!!).

What a BLAST!

My jittery nerves were gone once I saw the lay of the land on Friday when Anne and I went to pickup our race kits. We got to walk through the transition area down to the lake and look around. It was a long distance from the water to T1 (hey, I can talk like a pro now, just kidding), it was about 400 metres, uphill and no, I'm not kidding. There was quite a hike from transition to get on your bike too, but it is all part of it.

The alarm went off at 04:00 and my body clock went off at 03:59, I was ready!! Won't bore you with my morning ablutions Saturday morning, but once ready I packed up the car and racked up Ruby Red Rose (formerly Second Hand Rose), and headed out into the dense fog and drizzle and blackness. Driving in to town under those conditions was a tad nerve wracking, always looking for lurking deer and suicidal frogs that leap in front of your car on early fall mornings, yuck!

First thing I did when I arrived was take the bike and rack it in the transition area. Back to the car for my itty bitty transition bag and the rest of my stuff. Jeez, I packed as if I was leaving home for three months....On my way back for the third trip I found Anne and Dean arriving with her bike. My main concern was to stay out of her way as she was preparing for the Half Iron.

The Iron Man had already started, so we went down to see the first of the swimmers come out of the water...now that was exciting to see. Man they are fast. Anne went off for orientation and I wandered around the grounds, aimlessly until I heard my name called and yes, there they were, the Wooo Hooo's!!! How great is that? Glenda and Jen drove all the way to see us and Nancy, Brenda and her special man Roger biked over to the event....what a great feeling to know that I (we) had tons of support!!

Because of my orientation, I didn't get to see Anne start out for her swim. I must say, the fellow who conducted our orientation was an absolute hoot. He certainly spelled it all out for us newbies, yet made us all very comfortable and included at the same time. What a great sense of humour too, what little was left of my nervousness, he certainly put it to rest. As soon as that was over I had my cap and goggles and headed down to see Anne come out of the water....awesome to see, we were all cheering her on!

Anne giving some one the directions of the swim, hope she was pointing her in the right direction!


Anne on her way out of the water

Next event, the sprint and the try-a-tri, yikes, I'm on deck!





Since I only have shots from my camera (the Wooo Hooo's haven't sent me their pic's yet) you will subjected to what is on my camera!!


obviously a beach shot!



I'd like to think that I was leading the pack out of the water, but, nope it just looks that way!!

The swim had been broken into three parts, the sprints went first, the try-a-tri men were next and then the TT women (see I'm back with the lingo again). People were doing whatever stroke was their strongest, yes, they were doing the dog paddle, back crawl, front crawl and even the breaststroke....the wooo hooo's thought I was doing the breaststroke and even took a picture of the person coming out of the water thinking it was me....she was in my last post!

This is an action shot of the Creature from the Black Lagoon emerging from the depths!

Next, bike transition.

Me, Ms. Fussy about how my running shoes go on, just blasted her way through this change over. Normally I'm very particular about how I put on my socks and shoes, NOPE not this time. In fact I couldn't find one of my socks, it took about 30 seconds to locate it! (In the transition zone, well, let's just say, things get kicked around a lot).

Let me tell you, I jammed my socks and shoes on so fast, I actually chipped my toenail polish!! What a princess! LMAO!!

Again, there was quite a hike to get out to where you could bike mount, then off I went!! Like a thundering herd of turtles...

The Zoom photographer on the bike course was holding up signs saying "Smile for the camera", and when I was approaching he dropped the sign and said "I don't have to tell you that, you haven't had that smile off your face since you got here".

Finally, I get to the element I do know, running!

The run was a riot, I hopped off the bike and took little wee baby steps all the way to the bike rack, which in the "long run" really helped me get my running legs back under me. In the transition area my fuel belt had been shuffled around, so it was quite twisted and hard to get on, I picked it up and tried to get it straighted out, but ended up handing it off to a volunteer, if I had been going on a longer run, I would have been screwed because I didn't have any gels nor liquid with me. Of course on the longer run they have water stations, but, something to work on that's for sure.

The run route was very hilly, some hills were quite steep and I couldn't stop thinking to myself, thank goodness my strength is in the running department. I really did feel sorry for some of the try's, they certainly struggled up those hills.

Finally, to the finish line!

1:11:06

I had a BLAST!

The Wooo Hooo's were there for me snapping pictures and of course yelling "wooo hooo". My friends are amazing! They were there for me AND they were there for Anne, when one of us would come out of transition they were there! THANK YOU WOOO HOOO'S!

Anne was on the bike course when I finished up, so went over to watch her for a couple of loops. Then being the true athlete that I am, I went to the Lone Star for lunch and BEvERAges with the gang while Anne peddled her "assets".

One by one, because of prior commitments, the Wooo Hooo's headed home and I went back to watch Anne finish up her Half Iron. She was awesome! What an amazing lady...we all just love her!

As for me;

This is definitely something that will become part of my life, next year an OLY.....maybe a Half...we will see what the stars hold for me!

I had a GREAT DAY, I love it....

Lessons learned:

• get a transition bag that is sturdier,
• maybe a wetsuit
• maybe bike shoes
• definitely a top with a little more support, I'm a little too old and top heavy to have the Mama Chiquita's bouncing around in public (without getting paid for it!, JK)
• work on transitions,
• give yourself more than two weeks to train! LMAO
  

Put this on you list people, you have to try one before you die!!

Life's fun if you don't weaken,

Lily