Consistency

Consistency.

My coach is a fan of it.  Last year I can say that I was absolutely consistent with my swim training...consistent in that I never actually did any. 
This year I thought I'd apply consistency to a more productive approach.  And that is to actually swim.
This has proven a little more fruitful than my previous approach.

I feel like I've been super lucky too.  My Coach recently changed gyms and now swims at the same place I do.  A number of other members of my tri club have changed over too.  So now I can get some great workouts in with a really fun group of people and get top notch coaching and advice on my stroke and swimming technique.

I have been swimming three times a week and last weekend I went to a great swim clinic that Coach Scott held for members of our tri club.  I feel like I am finally being consistent.  I'm not sure how that will translate to actual racing.  Only time will tell. But I figure even if it doesn't make me faster at least it will give me more confidence.

 Now if I could only apply this concept to riding my bike on the trainer.

Food, Glorious Food

I'm not really a foodie but I do believe that coffee and chocolate satisfy all the nutritional requirements for a healthy diet.

So a trip to Seattle is not complete without:

1 - A coffee stop at the very first Starbucks. (On a side note there really is a Starbucks on every corner in this city), and



2 - A visit to Pike Place Market



Mmmmm.....chocolate



Oh, OK...they did have other food besides coffee and chocolate.

There also was a lot of seafood. Let me ask you....how do you pick the non seafood eating Melville???? Apparently the Crab Pot is NOT his favorite place to eat.

Please use the proper terminology

I'm always marvelling at God's sense of humor. And believe me, He has a really good one.

I like to think that I have tried to teach my children some good manners.

Swearing for example has always been a big no-no, although I am realising as the boys get older that banning something only in fact makes it somehow more alluring. Like the use of the term for a female dog. If its used in context it is quite an acceptable term. Out of context....a definite NO.

So it was on our recent tour of the Underground in Seattle that the tour guide made Max's day. He told us about the inventor of the flushable toilet. The poor man's name was Crapper....and the device he invented was Crappers Valveless Waste Preventer....or "the crapper" for short.



I kid you not.



So...you may be able to see where this is going. When requiring the use of the facilities shortly after Max announced that he needed to use the crapper. I cringed. Before I could respond he let me know that it was in fact the proper terminology used in the appropriate context. For 10 year old boy it was a huge victory. and as he strolled off to use the crapper I thought I might have heard God chuckle.

Seattle...my nemesis

Some of you may recall my "almost" trip to Seattle last November. I was supposed to be running the Seattle Half marathon just after Thanksgiving but thanks to our record breaking snowfall that month the Pass between Spokane and Seattle seemed a little too treacherous for me and I begged off going.

Seattle 1...Donna 0

Fast forward to late February. Ciara has to go across to Seattle with her band for a competition. This is what our yard looked like late last week.....



So we thought it would be a good excuse to escape more Spokane snow and head across to Seattle early. Do some touristy sightseeing before Ciara's competition. Great idea right???

Well it started off well.

The hubster, kids and I hit the great open road. Love road tripping with my fam.



Lots of magnificent scenery made the 5 hour car ride fly by.









We spent the weekend seeing Seattle...

the Underground tour..(more on that later)

the Aquarium,





the Space needle





and the Pacific Science Center.



And then Monday rolled around and we started getting ready for the band competition. Sounds too easy but Seattle wasn't going to let me get the better of her. So she dumped a whole new load of snow on the Pass and closed it. The rest of the band couldn't get across to Seattle. No band = no competition.

Seattle 2....Donna 0

Hmmm....Closed Pass = no going home to Spokane. Yep...you guessed it. We were stuck in Seattle until Wednesday. At least the Sheraton was a good place to get stuck. Huge gym and heated indoor lap pool. Got to make the best of it



The end score:

Seattle 3...Donna 0

But I WILL have my revenge. My friend Amy and I are running the Seattle marathon at the end of this year. I'll be back, Seattle. I have a score to settle.

Living with Purpose

When I got back from Seattle there was a sad message waiting on my answering machine.One of my closest friends had lost her grandmother. My friend and I are as close as sisters.  I have not known life without her. We lived next door to each other from the time we were born and grew up together. So her grandmother was like my grandmother. 
And what a woman she was.
 She was an adventurer, a traveller, an independent woman who was ahead of her time.  She seemed fearless, travelling to every corner of the world...quite often by herself.  Always going somewhere.
She was elderly when she passed.  In her nineties.
I'm sad she has gone.
I'm sad for my friend and for her family.
But when I think of her I think of how she lived....with purpose. With drive and strength. And with an insatiable curiousity for the world.
A purposeful life very well lived.