Never Say Never ? ? ?

I know they say say that you should never say "NEVER"

Never the Less there are some things that I "NEVER" could do, would do & hope I never do!

1) Betray my husbands trust

2) Smoke

3) Lie to a family member or friend

4) Shoot an animal

5) Take illegal drugs

6) Purposely be mean or hurt someone

7) Get dentures

8) Deny my spiritual faith

9) Sky dive

10) Negatively affect any childs self esteem

11) Run for political office

12) Not be supportive of my children, no matter what

13) Betray my country

1st Race of 2007

March 17, 2007 Whitworth College "Triath-Lite"



This was the first local Triathlon of 2007 - my Triathlon Club, Tri Fusion had 23 members who participated..............our club members won the Top 10 places!



My 1st Race of 2007

Saturday March 17th, was my 1st race of the 2007 Triathlon season. It was a mini sprint at Whitworth College, put on by the students on their campus. The race was:
-400 meter swim (8 laps in their college pool)
-12 mile bike (13 laps around their campus)
-3k run (a random trail that went all over)

To be honest I wasn’t too excited about doing the race! I’m not sure why, maybe because it was the first of the season, maybe because it was a sprint, maybe because the swim was in a pool, maybe because it was suppose to rain? I’m really not sure but I forced my coach to make the decision for me, of choosing between doing a 3 hour bike ride or the sprint triathlon race. Left to my own I would have probably chosen the long ride.

That is a good reason to have a coach! Because he has a plan for my Race Season which involves 3 factors: improving my fitness level, keeping me injury free and getting me to the start line of my scheduled races! Part of his major focus in coaching me is to prepare me have a successful season! His plan is purely optimistic, goal oriented and strategically planned to prepare me to be the best me I can be! He doesn’t factor in any of the fears, negative self talk, doubts, anxieties or insecurities floating around in my head that might cause me to procrastinate getting started or being apathetic about a particular race. Thank God for my coach, he believes in me even when I don’t believe in myself & knows what is best for me in the journey to achieve my goals for the season!

I signed up for the race, did some self talk, telling myself, get into this Kathi, your coach says this will be a good way to get in a swim test because you will never push yourself as hard in a training session as you will in a race. And also this will be a great opportunity to get the cob webs out of the “transitions, T1 & T2) which is the process of hooking all 3 of these sports together that make it a “Triathlon”!

I decided to pack my gear Friday night, went to bed pretty much without any anxiety and had a pretty good night sleep. I did awake around 4am however to pee, and looked outside and saw that we were totally fogged in. When I got up around 6:30am the fog was still thick and the temperature was 32 degrees! I was so dreading being wet and cold.

I loaded my car and drove to the race sight alone, moving slow and feeling this big sense of dread and wondering what the heck was I thinking! As soon as I checked in and received my race number, my adrenaline began to pump. As I saw familiar faces at check in, I began to get excited with the anticipation of what lay ahead.

I spent the next hour getting the course all figured out and getting my transition gear all set up. Saying hello to several of my fellow Triathletes started to get me excited and willing to get pumped up for the race. By the time the race started I was totally excited and ready to see what I could do.

I had a great race, and was able to obtained a new PR in the swim, I did my first sub 7 minute 400 meters!




I enjoyed racing my new bike for the first time, my transitions went really well and I felt great on the run! Sure it was cold, but with the added insulation of adrenaline, I hardly noticed!



Congrats to my friend Jessi who won 1st place in the women's open division...YEA!...... as for me, I ended up winning 3rd place in the women’s open division, which was thrilling to me. The race was a great reward for all the hard winter training I did! Last year I did not train through the winter and lost a significant amount of fitness. I can tell a huge difference in my fitness level this early in the season. I look forward to seeing how my 2007 season goes. I am hoping for a string of new PR’s!


Major Kuddos to my coach (Roger Thompson) who won 1st place in the men's open division. Nice "new" bike Rog, it looks really FAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I appreciate his encouragement in getting me to the starting line, it was a great experience, a good confidence booster and a very encouraging start to my 2007 race season.

P.S. My apologies to Jeff M. for not inviting you to my 1st race to cheer me on....it was my loss!

WHY I LOVE SCHOOL SPRING BREAKS

The reason I love "Spring Break" is because it is an opportunity for me to spend some "Quality Time" with my kids.

Adam is on Spring Break from Gonzaga and Noah came home last night from UW so for the next 11 days we will have all 3 kids home and I will be in "Mommy Heaven"!

You can't imagine the fullness of my heart tonight at dinner. We had all 5 of us sitting around the table, eating a scrumptious meal prepared by Adam because he cooks every Thursday night. We were talking, catching up, laughing, joking and just being into each other..it was GLORIOUS!

Here are some things that I am looking forward to over the next 11 days:

1) To watching Adam, Noah & Paisley interact as siblings

2) To watching how their different sense of humors are brought out by each other

3) To watching the boys lovingly team up to tease Paisley and how adorable her reactions are

4) Recognizing that the 3 of them NEVER EVER fight

5) Seeing how different the 3 of them are & how much they enjoy and respect each other

6) Observing the fun and flirtatious ways they compete against each other

7) Watching them lovingly challenge each other to be better

8) Seeing them affirm and validate each other for their individual strengths

9) Watching them use the tools they have been given to honor each others differences

10) Seeing them invest in family and hearing of their appreciation for what we share

11) Watching them be supportive of each others dreams and aspirations

12) Having all their friends over to the house and watching them all interact

13) Being inspired by them

These next 11 days will hold some of my favorite moments for 2007. They will fill my cup to over flowing and warm my heart to its boiling point! No matter what the outside weather is the sun will be shinning bright in my little corner of the world.

This is the best kind of high, its a legal high and a lasting high. If I could bottle it and sell it I would be wealthy, I'll put my Frontal Right brain to work on that. For the time being I will be be content to be rich in family!

"When it comes to giving love, the opportunities are endless and we are all gifted"

- Leo Buscaglia

NEW INSPIRATION

This post is the tale of a Romantic Story. After 29+ years of marriage my husband still has it!

Those of you who know me know about the “5 Love Languages” because we have talked about it and spent time discovering each others Love Language and have spent hours communicating love to each other using them.

My primary “Love Language” is “Words of Affirmation”, my Second is “Quality Time” and my least is “Gifts”.

It is the meaning behind the gift, and the thought that goes into the gift that is a “Love Tank Filler” for me.

Well unbeknownst to me, my husband had done some amazing research and secretive work for the past 4 months on acquiring a new Triathlon Racing Bike for me. I had absolutely no idea, which made the gift even sweeter.

Cervelo P3 Carbon: This bike is manufactured in Canada. It has the record by Team CSC's David Zabriskie for the fastest-ever Time Trial in the history of the Tour de France in Stage 1 of the 2005 race. Where he averaged 54.676 kph ( that is 34.17 mph!) for nearly 20 km. The frame is Carbon Fiber and every tube of the P3 Carbon has been sculpted to accomplish two things: Reduce drag and increase stiffness. Air flows over the P3 Carbon and hardly knows the bike is there.

In my mind I thought that if I finished my Ironman Race in June that I would maybe consider getting a new bike. Well Kevin thought different.

He shared with me tonight that he was so proud of all the effort and hours that I had put into training over this past 2 years. He said that he wanted to be supportive of my Ironman Goal, beyond cheering and taking pictures. He decided that his contribution would be to provide me with a bike (here is the romantic part) that would take the least toll on my body during the 112 mile bike ride, so that I would have all that extra energy to put into the 26.2 mile run that followed!

Wow! That is ultimate support and communicated Love to me in a big way!

All along my 3 year journey in the sport of Triathlon I have said that Kevin is my biggest fan. His support and encouragement are huge confidence boosters for me.

I had the AMAZING blessing of riding my new bike outside today for the first time and all I can say is WOW!

I have never been into technology or equipment. I am so highly relational that I tend to be very uninspired by technology. I am a person who sometimes doesn’t even notice when Kevin takes the snow studs off my car.

Today was different
Today I noticed
My 1st ride was incredible
My new bike feels so much FASTER
It felt so smooth
I noticed there was so much less vibration
It felt sooooo light
It shifted so much easier
It pedaled so much easier
The crank seemed to go around so much smoother
It seemed so quiet
And it is so gorgeous looking

When I returned from my ride today Kevin said, "honey I watched you ride all the way down the street, that is a HOT bike and it looks really fast"! What a gift to my ears!

This is definately a gift that will keep on giving, the best kind of gift!

I am so affected by Kevin’s confidence in me, it gives me great strength and self esteem.

So much that today I say with confidence “Ironman Coeur d’ Alene 2007”
Bring it on………………

Consider marking your calendars for Sunday June 24th @ 7:00 a.m.

I hope to see you at the swim start.............

I will be the one in the wetsuit with the swim cap and goggles :o) ………

The one crying because the fruits of my 3 years of labor will be about to be reaped!

Sweet Rewards

Rewards for making the “Right Choice”!

This is about the time of the year that I tend to get a bit frustrated and impatient with my training. I have had enough winter that the elements no longer entertain me but rather tend to be an annoyance. There have been a couple glimpses of Spring that hint it is on the horizon, yet winter still prevails. It is the time of pre-Tri season where training hours are increasing and I begin to crave nicer weather and more hours of daylight. Sometimes this time of the year for me, can become a bit harder to find the motivation to make the right choice. I have spent the past 5 months, digging deep and I am ready for some fun training in the sun and some warm weather to warm my body and to fill me with inspiration.

I am grateful that the past few weeks of training have blessed me with some nice rewards for making the hard choice, which was the right choice for me!

1) Right Choice: getting out of my warm bed, after a sleepless night in the dark of the early morning, in freezing temps to go to the gym to do my swim

Reward…getting to share a lane with a friend in the pool that I didn’t know would be there

2) Right Choice: not having Red Wine with my Spaghetti dinner because I had a hard run I needed to do early in the morning

Reward…I had a great run & met all my Heart Rate goals

3) Right Choice: deciding to squeeze in a long run between clients, and dreading heading out the door in the thick gloomy fog again

Reward…having the fog lift and the sun come out ½ way through my run

4) Right Choice: going to do my swim workout knowing that is was during “family swim” time at the gym

Reward…finding out “family swim” had been canceled that night and Ihad my own lane for an entire workout
5) Right Choice: choosing to improve the quality of the food I fuel my body with

Reward…being able to eat almost twice as much food and still losing 3 pounds

6) Right Choice: doing a 3 hour trainer ride by myself

Reward…having a great 1 ½ hour speaker phone conversation with my dad

7) Right Choice: doing a 1 hour 30 minute run in the early a.m. when it was 17 degrees because that was the only time possible to get it in

Reward…saw a beautiful sunrise, heard the birds sing, I smelled spring, all my favorite songs seemed to play on my radio, saw blue sky
8) Right Choice: sacrificed a training session because I sensed my daughter needed some quality one on one time

Reward…a very long, meaningful, honest and heartwarming conversation that deepened our love and respect for each other

9) Right Choice: I gave my 1 ½ hour massage appointment to my husband who I felt needed it much more than I did at the time

Reward…seeing him be blessed and his cup be filled by the act of service and being the recipient of his gratefulness

The “Right Choice” is different for each of us. The demands of our lives are as different as we are. One thing we have in common however is the fact that it sometimes takes more energy and sacrifice to make the “Right Choice”. Wisdom and experience tells me that, when we do spend that extra energy or choose to make that sacrifice in our life to make the “Right Choice” for us…………it will always deliver its “REWARD”