You Call This Fun?

The night before Thanksgiving most people are busy preparing for tomorrow's festivities.
Baking, cleaning, decorating.
Not me.
This is what our family was doing the night before Thanksgiving.



Yup! We hit the gym.



Let me explain....I did a spin class yesterday with some friends while the kids swam in the pool at the gym. After the class the kids noticed that there were little iddy biddy kids size stationary bikes and after asking the instructor about kids coming to the classes she assured me that they were very welcome.
So....all day today it has been...
"Can we go to a spin class with you, Mum? Can we? Huh? Can we? Pleeeease Can we? Huh, Mum, Can we go?"
It's not unlike the Chinese water torture...slowly, bit by bit, wearing me down.
So off we go to the gym.



I was fully expecting the kids to last all of about 5 minutes before they lost interest.
I was waiting for Jack to give me THAT look. You know the "look"...like...
"Is this it?". "Is this ALL you do? Just peddle and peddle and don't go anywhere???" BORING!
But I was pleasantly surprised.
They really stuck at it! I think it had a lot to do with the fact that our friends came with their kids too AND there was a big mirror so they could check themselves out as they cycled.



I'm really proud of all of them. They stuck at it for 30 minutes straight...and it was a pretty tough class. With 15 minutes left, they decided they would take a dip in the pool to cool off, except for Ciara who was determined to hang on till the end.
The outcome...we all had a great time AND we we can enjoy our turkey today totally guilt free!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Kona Ironman 2009

A big shout out to Craig Alexander who yesterday became the 2009 Ironman World Champion. The kids and I watched the race from start to finish ....all 8 hours and 20 minutes....and were so excited to see an Aussie from our home town in Cronulla cross the finish line first. Way to go, Craig! And I thought running 3 miles could be tough!

Triathlon

I'm still unsure exactly HOW it all came about. I think I started it with lots of big talk..(while drinking a margarita...so that might have something to do with it!)
But it seems I have committed to do a triathlon...yes...actually compete in one. Well two really but more on that later.
Michelle has a pretty good blow by blow description on how it all came about on her blog.
Now the bad news is that I HAVE actually signed up for it officially so there is no backing out. But there is good news....quite a bit of it actually.
The first bit of good news is that it's 12 months away. So that allows for 11 months of procrastination and then one full month of panicing. Ahem. What I meant to say was I have allowed myself a good long training window to get into shape.
Secondly, after Michelle and I agreed to sign up together to support each other there have been a number of others sign up. My wonderful hubby, Michelle's hubby and at least one of our neighbors, (although we are crossing our fingers for a few more). So it is going to be fun to be able to train and compete with friends. I do say compete in the loosest way possible. I think for all of us (bar Michelle's husband who actually has marathon and triathlon experience), finishing the race in one piece will be a huge achievement and our only real goal.
Now this race is run in July and is a sprint triathlon. You can read about it here. However this is really just a preliminary to the main event...the olympic triathlon run at Lake Couer D'alene every year. Michelle, Terry ( another friend) and I are going to enter as a team, each doing one leg of the race. I am apparently the swimmer, (unfortunately I am not allowed to wear floaties), Michelle will cycle and Terry will run. I think I have gotten out of the deal pretty lightly. I only have to swim 1.5 km or just under one mile, Michelle will have to ride 40km (25 miles) and Terry will have to run 10km (6.2 miles).
Now I'm not sure how this sounded like fun at all but somehow we convinced our husbands to form a team and join us. So we will all be doing the Olympic Triathlon together. Sounds like fun eh?
{ Now you'll understand the relevance of my photo that accompanies this post!}