I'm on the slippery slope to 40 and I'm working my way to being as healthy as possible in mind, body and soul. I have an awesome husband and three fluffy kitties. I love to run, cook and help others, but I'm always looking for more ways to improve my life and the lives around me. I also have a weird sense of humor, so be warned.Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
I just deleted a draft post that’s been sitting there for a week. It was a post about how much I love the Olympics (which I REALLY DO), but I just couldn’t finish it.
Why?
I’ve been embroiled in other things. Things that are taking me away from blogging. Half-marathon training (which is going SLOWLY, might not make it by the end of October 
), managing the bounty of produce from my garden and studying.
Studying?
Yeah, studying. While I’m not at liberty to discuss at this time, I can tell you that it’s big. Big enough to turn things upside down and downside up! 
However, before I can announce anything, I have to finish studying. Which will take some time!
Meanwhile, look at these photos of the various men’s water polo teams from the Olympics. Oh yes.
The Dangers of Gardening
Do you recall the “cucumber” I got in last year’s CSA share? The one I called Deathslayer?
Here’s a refresher:
This year, I have a house with a backyard and I’ve planted my own garden! I had some failures (my peas didn’t do so hot), some successes (my green beans and kohlrabi are delightful) and some downright horrific levels of plenty.
Remember my obsession with kale last year? This year, I planted four rows of kale from seed, thinking that half of it would die in the growing process.
I was wrong.
Remember when I bought the two giant bags of kale at the farmers market and lamented that I could only buy it once a week in this kind of quantity?
I pick that much every three days.
Poor Tim has made the comment “so what kind of kale are we having for dinner tonight?”
*sheepish grin*
What has also grown well beyond all hopes and dreams is my summer squash plant. Rather than go the typical zucchini route, I planted its yellow sister.
I pulled this out of my garden today, after seeing nothing there three days ago:
I think I will call this one Gigantor the Almighty.
In addition to Gigantor, I have 6 more of the yellow bastards I need to do something with. Here’s my short-term plan:
1. Slice and grill some for sandwiches.
2. Shred and make chocolate chip zucchini muffins.
3. Saute and serve with pasta?
4. Run around screaming “OMG WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH ALL THIS SQUASH?!?”
Never mind that I have to pick my kale…again…and I’m sure I’ll fill 3 grocery bags worth.
I fear the great quantities of garden bounty are making me crack.
ERMAHGERD…SQUERSH!
See? Losing it.
North Mankato Triathlon
Who ordered a ticket to the gun show?
Ten Things I Learned From Doing A Triathlon:
1. You can never train enough for the swim.
2. Training for the swim in a pool (when the swim is in a lake/pond) is ineffective. Also, see #1.
3. Don’t shift too fast into your big ring on the front lest you have the chain completely fall off your bike.
4. If the hill you’re biking up is too steep, just get off and walk it up. Nobody’s going to penalize you for it. Plus, your legs will thank you.
5. Hydrate hydrate hydrate.
6. Gu packs are your friend.
7. People are willing to shit themselves and keep going rather than stop and not shit themselves. (from observation, not practice – I’m not THAT hardcore!)
8. Planning your race pace ahead of time is useful in making sure you have enough “gas in the tank” once you get to the run.
9. Swimming sucks. It really, really does.
10. That I’ll never do another one ever again.
________________________
The sprint triathlon (0.25 mi swim/12 mi bike/3.1mi run) I did on Sunday was my first and will be my last. Why? I hate swimming.
As a kid, I loved to swim. But, in the 30-some years since then, I have fallen out of love with it – especially swimming in a lake. I can’t fathom how much fish poop is floating around in that water and when you’re swimming in a race, there’s a high probability that you’re going to get some in your mouth. ICK!
Anyway, back to the story. Since I don’t like swimming, I made sure that I would train to swim twice the distance non-stop (i.e. 0.5mi) in a lap pool. Aside from the turnarounds (where I didn’t hang on the edge or touch the bottom of the pool), I didn’t stop once. I had a good time split and I felt great. I’m a pretty experienced cyclist and I know what my pace times are for running, so I found a tri pace calculator online to plug in what my finish time would be.
Note: I’m slow. Really slow. I know this. But my goal was to finish and not kill myself.
Continue Reading →
Countdown to Tri
Well, I feel I should give an update since my last (panicked) post about not being able to swim.
Well, turns out I CAN swim!
Granted, it wasn’t in open water, but last week I tried swimming as many laps as I could without stopping. I was able to do 11 laps (~1/3 of a mile)! Considering I’m only going to have to do a 1/4 mile, this made me happy. Also, I swam again yesterday and did 1/2 mile without dying from exhaustion! Combine that with a successful (if slow) bike/run brick, running a couple 4+ milers and one final bike/run brick scheduled for tomorrow, I feel like I’m in really good shape to finish the race without too much agony!
This is GREAT NEWS!
Other than my neurotic packing list-making, I’m ready for this! Woot woot!
* * * * *
The rest of the week in pictures:
AMAZING food truck sushi:
Revisiting an old food truck favorite:
Pulled pork. Pickled onions. Cojita cheese. Salsa verde. Perfection!
Also, my garden has been going INSANE! Here’s one (of many) pickings of strawberries from my garden:
And the first few blueberries off my blueberry bush!
(After I ate 2 of them! 
)
I’m beginning to think I was a bit overzealous in planting four rows of kale this year. My first picking (off only two of the rows!) yielded a grocery bag full of kale and it barely looks like I did anything.
I foresee a lot turkey kale bean soup in my future!
Wish me luck!