Where is ?

........Sigh!.....

Where or where did my bling mobile GO?

Originally, I left St. Louis Children's Hospital utterly thrilled.  I have spent more time in the last month caring for family members at the hospital than I probably have sleeping all month and was utterly thrilled to be taking my son finally home.  He was over his pneumonia - YEAH! SLEEP coming my way!!!

But, alas my home (er, I mean my car) in which I devote 2+ hours a day in carting kids, groceries and my tri equipment in daily was GONE!  STOLEN!

*&%###***!!!!

Whew!  At least the bike wasn't in the car.... Then I would have been REALLY PISSED!

I have at least found my heart rate again.... just a little too quickly, as in it has been sky high during my recovery workouts the last 4 days.  Yep, I have just continued and extended my recovery training the last 2.5 weeks.  I think its time to chill out and relax a bit until life calms down.

I am just itching to do my field test on the bike and run but it will have to wait another 2 weeks!!  Sigh...... Totally random video shot from my 40th - sorry for the bad camera handling, but after a cocktail or two I think my friends forgot which is right side up.

Hopefully balance will come back to my life soon!  Just as I perfected it in my 40th birthday video!  (I just didn't know what else to do with the 8th shot bought in my honor by random restaurant patron)

Fabulous 40s

I really had fun last weekend celebrating my 40th birthday with 8 other girlfriends in Naples, FL. It was hard to get away from the triplets and hubby with SO much going on but after the roller coaster year I have experienced I felt it was well deserved.  

Isn't it incredible that 8 other women, all with a minimum of 3 kids - all signed up to join in the weekend getaway fun within 24 hours of my throwing out the idea?  I feel so blessed and lucky to have such incredible friends.  And, yes, this also includes all of you in blogland.  Some of whom I have been lucky enough to meet in person and some not but I am sure I will in the future.

I would love to be able to post pictures right now from our trip but unfortunately I am back in the hospital - yet again - can you believe it?  I have spent so much time here in the last year I am thinking I should start a new career.  Here is a picture of my sweet, sweet boy who was admitted several hours after I returned from my 40th birthday weekend.  He has pneumonia and is recovering nicely but it looks like we will be stuck inside the hospital for a couple more days till he recovers.  Until then, it looks like my post 40 recovery and triathlon training will be on hold for a couple more days.... al I want to do now is just ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz.  I have slept in a chair the last 3 nights next to him here at the hospital.  I spend my days daydreaming about sleeping and eating M&Ms in an effort to keep awake!!

So anyways... a few highlights from the best weekend ever:

*Shedding any and all inhibitions as I donned a roller derby jersey + cowboy hat + glasses + numerous other "over the hill" gear as my friends and I hit the town for happy hour and dinner Friday night.

*Dancing at Tommy Bahamas restaurant bar  - at first alone - and several songs later with half of the entire restaurant.  My friends and I received a standing ovation by the time we left the club.

*Who knew 80 something retirees could kick it up on the dance floor?  I have pictures to prove it... break dancing grannies and great grandmas who can out duel 20ish year old males whose pants are on the ground!

*Triathletes do not suck at balance drills.  Maybe the sport improves our balance?  I debuted this new talent on the dance floor.  Not sure what to do with the 5th shot glass bought in my honor, I chose instead to place it on my head as I continued to kick up my heels at the club!

*My friends and I have helped improve foreign relations with the following countries:  Italy, France and Germany.  Couples vacationing from far away lands found us obnoxious Americans to be as entertaining as we are loud.  These new found friends followed us from place to place, buying us drinks, and commenting that they never have had so much fun.  I just hope the couple from Paris, France made their red eye flight on time!

*The Grammys are a lot more fun to watch with a roomful of your best girlfriends and shared with cheese, crackers and several bottles of white wine!

*I know their is rum in Pina Coladas but somehow the more I drink in one night the less I can taste the alcohol in it.... hmmmm.....

*Dancing is the perfect antidote for a hangover.  I was lucky to not feel sick the next morning, I mean, afternoon when I woke up!

* No matter how busy life gets, nothing compares to a weekend of hanging out with your friends.  It is WORTH the hassle, despite the struggles to pull it off with all that life throws at you.  My belly still hurts from laughing so much!

Consistently CONSISTENT!!

Hell Yeah!  D**mit!

OK, I am off the swear words for now, well, at least in this blog... but as I hurled myself at 2010, ready to say goodbye to 2009... the frenetic pace did NOT slow down.

I got a phone call at an unexpected hour, I screamed - loud and agonizing, my husband jumped out of bed.... everything is a blur.

15 minutes later I am racing in my pajamas and Saucony's (at least my running shoes are coming in handy) through the loooonnngg corridors of the hospital, bawling my eyes out and frantically trying to find someone who can tell me where my father is in the Intensive Care Unit.

Dear God, not another ... no, I am not thinking about it... this will NOT happen again. I finally make it to his room, and see 6 members of the hospital staff surrounding my Dad.  He is ALIVE! 

This blog would be too long to describe everything that happened.  Let's just say that all the specialists said its a miracle he is alive.  Colon removed = blood clot = pulmonary embolism of the size they have never witnessed + same time my dad happened to fall out of his hospital bed thereby saving his own life = it helped the clot to pass.

D**mit!  (Oh geez, here I go again cussing and I have not even had a glass of wine yet.)

But I am coming out SWINGING for 2010.  Dam the luck -  but you know? My family is lucky he survived!!!  It's good to be on the other side this time and be a statistical aberration.

So I have had a lot of time and sorry for the delay to line up my bang up 2010 tri season and the lineup of races I am going to do.  But, you know what?  I don't really care.  No, let's correct that - I DO care, I love the structure of training and the sense of accomplishment that comes from improvement.  But, when you throw all that garbage up on a dartboard along with the other things that really matter in life....

What are YOU gonna AIM for?

I mean really!!???  I have 10 darts and I am zeroing in on my family.  I am going to throw my first 7 right at the bullseye.  I am going to consistently make sure that my priorities are in order and family is taken care of.  Also included in this target practice will be the 3 darts which I am at personal goals. 

 1)Don't get sick or injured this year!  This is a biggie for me and so far I am kicking ass!  Since my sinus surgery I feel like I can breathe better AND..... I have not gotten sick in 2.5 months!!!!  This is a RECORD - I am breaking down barriers!!!  Well, maybe my nerves are fried from all the crazy events in my life but I sure as hell can breathe through my nose!!!  This has tremendously helped me to finally have an offseason in which I am seeing progress and not detraining.

2)Make it count - consistently! No more trying to be all things to everyone and cheating myself and my family out of what's most important.  I am saying NO to a lot of things and giving myself enough time to do what's most important very well.  I think we can all relate to this in sport and our personal lives.  Live in the moment, breathe, but pour yourself into the task at hand at the moment, no matter how mundane.  OK, so maybe that looonnnnggg trainer ride in the middle of winter is obnoxious.  But who cares?  If I am consistently consistent in my trainer rides to oblivion it will pay off come race season, or for that matter whenever I do decide to race.

3)Most important = my last personal goal = Stay positive and turn any adversity that comes my way into a source of motivation or an opportunity to realize new and different opportunities.  My family and I will continue to face a lot of personal change this year, some amazingly exciting things which I cannot blog about publicly and some maybe not so great.  BUT, I always view change as positive.  My goal in sport is to embrace the tough workouts or the difficult weeks in which its just plain tough to get all my training in and just go for it. Or as I have heard the redneck expression before:  Get R Done!

If I can achieve these 3 things then it will be an amazing year!  Oh, for sure there will be a few 70.3 races, and maybe a few sprints... but in the end I have no pr goals, no Ironman race, no must be the top X% in my age group.  Nope, if I can just stay focused on my OWN targets, my own dartboard and consistently focus on what's most important to me.... it will be the BEST D*M triathlon season ever!!!  (Oops, there I go cussing again...)

2009 Year End Wrap Up

The triplets starring as shepards in our church's annual Christmas play.

Action shot: My kids think they are famous now and are actively seeking out anyone who wants their autograph!

What can I say?  The month of December blew by like a hurricane.  I worked SO HARD to get everything ready for Christmas for the kids and keep it a big surprise.  Why?  Well, at 8-years-old the triplets are probably enjoying their last Christmas in which they believe in Santa, so I made sure to make it a magical experience.

It was really nuts the last 2 weeks before the holiday, however, besides getting all the shopping done, we were having major construction work done in our home which left everything a mess. The workers didn't leave until 2 p.m. on Christmas Eve - I was crazed trying to clean up everything and put stuff back away (NOTE:  shove all crap in closets) before the partying started at 5:30 p.m. at our house.

Also leading up to Xmas my daughter was in 8 Nutcracker ballet shows and had the opportunity to dance onstage with the principal dancer from the Royal England Ballet in London who was guest starring this year.  Even though it killed all of my free time in the lead up to the holidays, I jumped at the chance to volunteer backstage at every show she was performing in.  I realize there are only a finite number of years left in which my kids will want me to be there and involved in their activities!!

By the time Christmas Eve and Christmas Day rolled around I was EXHAUSTED.  I keep saying to myself, next year I will do everything differently.  I will get all my shopping done before Thanksgiving... I will (insert some half-crazed resolution here)... but deep down its very likely I will not.  And, isn't this what's fun about the holidays??

2009 was a very tough year for my family, especially for my parents and I with my brother having passed away.  Having already lost my sister earlier in life, it was an incredibly difficult blow to absorb.  Yet, I can always find the positive moving forward.  My brother's kids were all in town this holiday to celebrate with our family.  I have grown much closer to them over the past year, and inevitably will be much more involved in his children's lives for now on.  It also really helped my parents to have everyone together this holiday season.  People always comment that at this time of year it is especially appropriate to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you.  I can emphatically tell you that this is one of the most important lessons I learned in 2009.... be grateful for everything you have and always focus on the positive things in life not what should have been.

2010 is going to be an exciting year for me!  I turn 40 in less than 1 month!  Woo Hoo!  The girl's trip I am lining up is going to be over the top and probably a bit crazy!  Then, I also have to look forward to my hubby turning 40 1 month later, incredible family vacation in April to Naples FL and Aspen, CO (yep - beach bum the first week and ski bum the next!).  If that were not enough, my late brother's oldest son will be getting married in July, I will then escape with the kids back to Colorado for 2 weeks in the summer and then this October hubby and I will celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary! 

Oh, and yes, I did forget triathlon... having overcome a hip fracture this year and taking 4 months off I have no interest in waiting on the sidelines this 2010 season.  I plan to stay injury free and it appears as if the sinus surgery worked!  Off season biking and running is progressing rapidly, much better than previous years and I attribute this to the fact that my average aerobic heart rate during biking and running is lower now.  It feels as if I can breathe better, much better!  If this trend continues, I might just finally have a typical off season:  not one in which the majority of time is spent on antibiotics fighting sinus infections but one in which I build a base for the tri season!

Triple the Fun

"Santa, I hope you put me on the good list!"

This was the opening line in the letter to Santa written by one of my boys, Cade, this year.  The picture above is from Christmas Eve when they were 2 years old!  I can't believe how much they have grown up!

I am up to my eyeballs right now like everyone else trying to get ready for Christmas.  It's so much fun and worth all the hard work, and shopping, and bills, and wrapping and ???  But, sometimes I feel like I just want to pull my hair out with the craziness of the holidays.

Do I really need to go to another holiday party spiked with egg nog?  Or, can I just get 1 more hour of sleep tonight please!!!

Many people always ask me what it is like being a mother to triplets.  I don't really know how to answer this because its the only thing I know.  I DO know, however, that when it comes to birthdays or Christmas, if I (ahem I mean Santa Claus) forgot to give everyone EXACTLY THE SAME NUMBER OF GIFTS chaos would erupt!

You might think this seems crazy and who really cares?  Life isn't fair.  Yes, I know, but if you have shared every waking moment with 2 other human beings your entire life and shared everything, I mean everything including thumbs, food, drinks - hell, even gum (gross I know, but that is how close they are).. Than you dam well expect that if Santa Claus can spread Xmas Cheer across the world in one night he sure as hell can equalize the gifts under the tree Xmas morning!

So I digress but I can't resist!  I have been meaning to blog more frequently and catch up on everyone else's lives but I am currently holed up in a theater again for 6 straight days as my daughter performs in the Nutcracker Ballet.  

Triathlon training always takes the backseat in terms of priorities in my life at this time of year.  And, isn't that exactly how it should be?  Even though I will be exhausted by the time these ballet shows are over, it will be just in time for the celebration to start.

The triplets were asked by our church to play the role of shepards in its annual Christmas Eve play.  I happily agreed.  I figure I owe the church something for the turn of events recently... For some reason, no matter how hard I try to teach my kids valuable lessons about life it seems to fall on deaf ears.  "Yeah, Mom... sure, I got you..."  kind of thing is pretty typical.  

Somehow, their Sunday school teacher convinced my kids that complaining to your parents is a sin!  And, in the last month my kids who usually exchange the words "NOT FAIR!"  as often as Hello have become convinced that they are going to h**l if they vent their frustrations to me about doing their homework or cleaning up their rooms.

Yipee!  1 month of peace so far... will it last?  Believe me when I tell you that I have added the Sunday school teacher to my gift-giving list for Xmas this year!  Who knows?  Perhaps I can convince her to add a few more valuable lessons about life into her lesson plan?!!

CARB Queen

"Fantastically FUN Brownies!"

This is what was shouting at me last week, during one of the final days of my allergy food testing, and I thought I was going to die.  I have just come to the realization in life that I LOVE CARBS!

So sorry I have not posted in a while.  Just so you don't make the same mistake I did, do not, I repeat, do not attempt to do food allergy testing 2 weeks after you are still recovering from endoscopic sinus surgery!!

So, back to the brownies.  I had basically lost like 6 pounds the 2 weeks after sinus surgery (mainly muscle mass due to NO training) and then was on a restricted diet of NO: milk, egg, corn, gluten (wheat), sugar, soybean, caffeine and yeast for 2 weeks... losing another couple of pounds.  Many of you were kind enough to throw out ideas of food options, unfortunately, most still included one of these 7 forbidden ingredients!  Think about it... almost everything you can eat includes one of these ingredients...

These fantastically fun brownies shouted out to me during the canned food drive my kids and I were helping out with at our church.  It was during the final 72 hours of my restricted diet.  And, for once, I almost just snarfed a couple when I noticed everyone's eyes were diverted.  Despite eating over 1 pound of protein a day, and multiple bowls of rice... I felt weak and low on blood sugar.  Hence why I have not posted in a while!  It's taken me some time to recuperate and get my energy back.

Thankfully I am not allergic to any of these 7 most commonly allergic ingredients.  It was such a pain to go through the testing process and eat only fish and rice plus veggies for 2 weeks but I am glad I did it.  At least I ruled out that food is not the source of my recurring sinus infections. And, given how good I feel now that I have returned to my normal diet and my sinuses have been thoroughly roto rootered by the doctor, I am hopeful that I will be more healthy in 2010!!!

But enough of that, the best part was that I was able to return to my normal diet on Thanksgiving Day!!!  Woo hoo!!  No leftovers at this house!!  By 7 p.m. I had formally resigned myself to beached whale status on the floor of my parent's family room.

1 week later:  I feel great!  Back to training and normal life after 4 weeks of off-season hell.  Tomorrow I get to go on "tour" with the St Louis Ballet and help chaperone my daughter and 25 other children cast members as we travel to our state's capital to perform 2 shows of the Nutcracker.  We leave at 6 a.m. (I hopefully with a coffee in hand) and will not return until 11 p.m. tomorrow night.

Sunday a.m. I am scheduled to race - YES, race!!!  Ummm.... not sure I am quite mentally ready to do this, but at least I am signed up to participate in a bike time trial.  For the last 2 years our main highway has been shut down due to construction, and it sucked.  Anywhere I need to go in our city is via this highway, so my life has been slowed down quite a bit.  But, come Sunday, us geeky endurance athletes - runners, bikers, walkers, pogo stickers, roller bladers - you name it get to do our favorite pastimes ON the highway SANS automobiles!!!

Just not so sure I will have the energy to get up and participate, but for now it is on the calendar.  Somehow after this event, I will make my way back home and load up the kids, take the boys to basketball practice and then  go back to the theater and see my niece perform in a musical theater show!  Whew!! And, you bet your a** I will be cramming "glycogen" starchy carbs to keep my energy up during the busy weekend!

Off Season Entertainment

Do you remember the song we used to sing growing up?

"Which one of these are not like the other!"

Ed Sullivan Elvis

Jailhouse Rock Elvis

Peanut Butter Banana - GO Vegas Elvis!

A couple of nights ago I celebrated that the splints and surgical packing in my nose were being removed!!!  They were inserted after my sinus surgery to help with recovery. Do you want to know what your nose might look like after inserting something 3 inches in length and 3/4 of an inch in width?? Ummm... look at the pictures above! Sick - yes, painful - yes!!  I had to get over my bad self and the obvious embarrassment of displaying my snout (I mean big swollen nose) on these photos above sans no makeup.  The recovery has been very painful so even touching my nose and/or washing my face or putting makeup on is out of the question.  So, instead I headed out for the night AU NATURALE + one nasty swollen nose!  

But, what the hell?  It's not like everyday you get invited to see 3 nationally headlining Elvis impersonators in one night + my being absolutely sick of laying on the sofa with painkillers.  I laughed so hard watching the show that I cried, partially due to the pain and partially due to the entertainment of watching totally obscene old ladies throw themselves at Elvis x 3.  And you thought the teeny boppers at the Jonas Brothers concerts were bad?  Ha!

More fun continues with the offseason, I am in the process of being tested for food allergies.  I have already started allergy shots for mold and cannot wait to see if it has an impact on my 2010 tri season!  The food allergy testing has been a HUGE challenge.  In addition to doing the intradermal test, I am also being required to do a food elimination diet in which I am absolutely not allowed to eat any of the following food items for the next 2 weeks:  milk, egg, wheat, corn, sugar, soybean, yeast and caffeine.

Did I also mention I added one other to do to this list?  I took myself off of Ambien, which has helped me go to sleep and stay asleep the last several years of my life.  Why did I start taking it?  Mother of triplets?  Enough said!

Am I just absolutely CRAZY?!  Yes, and I am so low on all the fun yummy stuff that normally powered me through the day so I have been feeling very FLAT to say the least lately.  

Ummm... GULP!  What's left to EAT?  Well, boring food like any kind of rice, oatmeal, fruits and veggies (except corn - this appears to be my problem) and chicken, turkey and salmon.  I am ttrrryyyiiinnnggg  to be creative with spices but am coming up a bit short.  Any suggestions?  I can use honey, since its not processed and natural.  I love all spices except dill but, of course, cannot use any of the yummy marinades in my kitchen because literally all have one of the 7 evil substances above that I am banned from eating!  In 1 week, we will gradually reintroduce each of these items one day at a time to see how my body reacts.

2 weeks of imposed clean and the most healthy eating I will probably ever do in my life.  Maybe it will be good for me?  It surely beats the mediocre diet of popsicles and Recess Peanut Butter cups the 2 weeks prior when I was trying to eat but found it very difficult while recovering from surgery!  Even better, the day I get to resume my normal diet = THANKSGIVING!!!  You better believe I will be feeling thankful as I shovel turkey basted in butter, stuffing and several slices of pecan pie down my throat.  Yippee!!!