Take The Lake

Instead of walking, the competitors ran. Run 15, Bike 15, Paddle 14, Swim 4

Oh Lord, where do I begin? If y'all know anything about me and my race days, then you know that I get a terrible case of The Nerves. Well, something you may not know is that I get The Nerves whether it's my race or Cliff's.

Saturday, Cliff had a race at Lake Waccamaw, NC called Take The Lake Extreme. He was slated to swim 4 miles, bike 15 miles, kayak 14 miles and then run 15 miles. And I was his kayak support on the swim. Our day started at 3 a.m., Saturday morning. I knew as soon as my feet hit the floor that The Nerves would be causing some trouble. And sure enough, The Nerves showed up big time. 'Ain't nobody got time for that!' I managed to get dressed just in time to leave. Thirty minutes down the road, I had to stop. It was The Nerves. And then, once more, when we arrived to Lake Waccamaw. Cliff asked if I did this every morning. LOL!! I told him, "No, just when there's a race.....yours or mine, it doesn't matter". I mean, I was so sick, that he was seriously considering backing out of the race. But I assured him that I would be fine and I knew I would be as soon as I started kayaking. It's the way I roll.

As usual, when Cliff has a race...I don't do his race report. That's his story to tell. So, I give you my experiences of the day. I like my version better anyway. HaHa!

So, we started promptly at 6:30 a.m. And I say we because all the swimmers had to have their own kayak support. The race coordinators just didn't have enough people or boats to watch all the participants swimming 4 miles across the lake. Cliff was the first one to start, but was passed by one person. A very fast woman swimmer....that chick could swim. She left him like he was sitting still. Anyway, we watched the sun come up over the lake. I hardly had to paddle at all. The wind was to my back and pushed me along. The most paddling I did was back paddling to keep me along side Cliff. It's a lake so there was no tide, just wind. He did great swimming. He finished in a little over 2 hours and was second to come out of the water. We loaded up my kayak and headed back to the transition area where he would take off on his bike.

Sunrise on Lake Waccamaw

Checking out the competition behind us. No one was close.

Cliff had a good lead, except for the lady ahead of him.

 

  

 

 

This is the dam and the swim finish. At this point, I was on gator watch.

 

Back at transition, Cliff was leaving on the bike portion. I had little to do at this point. I took a few pictures and then met Cliff at the halfway point with some water. The way this worked was that they would have to ride the bike halfway around the lake and go through the state park and exit at the dam. Now, they couldn't ride the bike through the state park portion. They had to get off and walk or run the bike through that portion. Once they got to the dam, they would have to pick up their bikes and walk them across the dam. And then continue on.

Once again, the dam. The bikers would clear the trees at the end of the dam.

And here comes Cliff. He's in the lead, now.

The concrete was slick, so he walked very carefully across.

The little guy to the right had just fallen on the slick concrete. Cliff stopped to make sure he was ok before coming to the end. He has another competitor on his heels.

He had to lift the bike up and over....

...and carry it across this section.

After a quick rinse and adding water to the bike's hydration tank, he was off again on the bike. This was only half way.

So, I left him there at the dam and drove back to transition to get his hydration vest/life jacket ready for his kayak portion. I had the Garmin turned on and opened his shot blocks and left them in a cup in the kayak. All he had to do was put on the life jacket and start paddling. Since the kayak portion was 14 miles, it meant I had a couple of hours with nothing to do.

Leaving on the 14-mile kayak portion.

So, again, I took a couple of pictures and then sat down at the transition area for a little bit. I started calculating what time he would get back in the kayak and what I would need to do next to help him get ready for the run portion.

This cypress tree had some knarly knees. I fully expected a troll to emerge at any time.

 

Dale's Restaurant

 I decided that if I was going to get lunch that now was the time. It just so happened that there was a restaurant right across the street. Dale's Seafood Restaurant. Their food is delicious...so if you are ever in the area, you have to eat there. You just have to! I had lunch and got ready to pay and couldn't find my wallet. Oh dear Lord! That has never happened to me before. I could have panicked so easily, but I controlled myself. I told the lady at the register that I had a problem. I had left my wallet in my car, but that I could leave my bag with her and run go get it. She trusted me and told me that wasn't necessary. So I ran to the car, found my wallet and headed back to pay for my food. I sure hope that never happens again. It was embarrassing to say the least. I could just see myself having to wash dishes before they would let me out or worse....they could have made me gut fish.

Transition and napping area.

I was totally exhausted after that. I went back to transition and tried to read, but I was so sleepy by that time that I couldn't hold my eyes open. I was in the shade and there was a nice breeze blowing. It was ideal napping weather.....so, I did. I snoozed for about an hour. Ha!

Cliff arriving from the kayak portion.

Look at those cute, epic muscles.

 

Cliff finished the kayak portion in 2nd place and had one more leg of the race to go.....the 15-mile run. Now, he needed me to flank him to keep passing him his drinks and nutrition. So, I drove slowly for a couple of hours.....handing him some tea or Gatorade, gels, watermelon and peaches, water....just a whole passel of stuff to keep him going. And then just like that, it was over.

Cliff wrapping up a 15-mile run.

Taking the opportunity to cheese for me.

And finally, he's hitting the buzzer to indicate his arrival and the end of his race.

Resting for a minute and taking it all in. He has just finished an 11 hour race.

Heading out for a quick dip to cool off.

  

But,  he said that the water was so warm that it was hardly refreshing.

He did great, y'all! He finished in 2nd place. It took 11 hours and 18 minutes. As you can imagine, we were both pretty dog tired. He took a quick dip in the lake to cool off before collecting his award, his kayak and other race stuff and before heading home.

Laurie

Field Trip With Sawyer

A couple of weeks ago, Sawyer's class went on a field trip to the Waccatee Zoo. I was invited along and since it was only 5 or 6 miles from us here at the beach, Sawyer just spent the night with us and we met his class there the next morning. Well, once the children starting getting off the school bus, I saw that they all had on green t-shirts. The teacher wanted them to all have matching identifiable colors.

I didn't get that memo.

And if you know me, then you know that I needed to get that memo! I was nearly like OMG, all the school children match but Sawyer! I felt heat begin to rise....and for a split second I thought, NOT now - NOT the hot flashes, NOT the mood!

 But not to fear, Sawyer's teacher ran back to the bus and came back with Sawyer's identifiable green t-shirt. So now, we just had to disrobe him right there in the parking lot. The shirts must have been one size fits all, because his was so big that it hung down below his jacket. Oh well, at least it gave him another layer of warmth. And at least now he matched the other children.

I had to tell you the back story because heaven forbid you thought I dressed him like that on purpose. I mean, especially after the near OMG incident of him not matching his classmates.

Alright, I've calmed back down.

Sawyer informed me that the entrance of the zoo is through the gift shop. So I said, "OK, that's fine. We can take a peak at the goodies before we go see the animals." Sawyer said, "but LaLa, there are snakes in there. Real ones."  OMG!  My sweet baby grandboy knows how deathly afraid of snakes his LaLa is. And, bless it, he was trying to warn me ahead of time.

But for the sake of a class full of 6-year-olds, I decided it wasn't the time to squeal like a girl and start chanting...I am not going in there, I AM NOT going in there! No....I sucked it up and walked through as fast as I could, pulling Sawyer behind me. Thank God, that part's over.

I just shuttered thinking about it. 

The rest of the day was pretty benign. Thankfully, the exit was at a different place than the entrance or I might've had to crawl the fence. Anyway, the rest of the story......

The Waccatee Zoo is small, but it has a passel of Peacocks.

This one was trying to blend in with the weeds.

Sawyer was enamored with them. 

He tried to get as close as possible.

We saw this one standing on a stump.

So, Sawyer had to stand on a stump, too!

Sawyer discovered that sheep like peanuts.

And so do goats.

The ostrich wasn't interested in the peanuts. Looks like he was ready to disrobe Sawyer right there in the zoo. Probably thought that long green thing hanging from under his jacket was some kind of foliage. Or he may have thought Sawyer was a giant grasshopper. We'll never know.  Moving on....

There was a camel. And he was trying to stick his lips between the fence.

See his pursed lips? Ha! Sawyer wouldn't get any closer because he thought it was a llama and was afraid it would spit on him.  I secretly wished I had a water gun.  ;)

There were monkeys.

And lemurs.

Even this gorgeous tiger.

And this thing? Sawyer thought it was a Jack Rabbit. I have no clue!

We saw a Blue Heron.

And this big boy......Oh, Gator Boys!

But the highlight of my day....this lizard posing and smiling for the camera. He needs a pedicure or manicure....who can tell?

After visiting the animals, the class had a picnic lunch of sandwiches and chips. The field trip was over, but Sawyer and I were not finished with our day. We headed back to our place at the beach. I needed to plant geraniums and Sawyer wanted to ride his bike.

He wants to be a cyclist like his Papi one day.

And I would say that he is well on his way.

In addition to riding on the road, he likes to ride in the dirt and grass because he says it gives him more room to ride. After riding back and forth, round and round and feeling all confident and proud of himself,  he pulled up to me and declared, "LaLa, all I need now is a ramp or a bridge." Ha! So the bridge it was. He was out to conquer something!

What a day full, for a 6-year-old. We finally had to leave the beach and head back home. Bless it! He was tuckered out and fast asleep by the time we reached the first red light.

Look at those beautiful lashes. Isn't he just the cutest thing you ever saw? I love him! and I wouldn't have missed the field trip with Sawyer, for anything in the world.

~LaLa~



True Confessions

This is my Gerber Daisy from last summer. It was a potted plant that surprised the heck out of me. It bloomed it's little head off. As it happens every summer.....the heat gets the best of me and I tend to neglect my outdoor plants. (True confessions). I let this little beauty die a slow death.....I thought. But Lo and Behold, she has come back to life. She survived living on the porch at the beach, in a pot, under an overhang, with little to no water all winter. And now, she is putting out green leaves. The surprises continue.

But alas, this post is not about my Gerber Daisy! I just thought she was pretty and wanted to share her with you. (True Confessions). No, this post is about "what the heck am I doing?". Do you ever just sit back and wonder, sometimes?

I am a new blogger. I started blogging to capture the memories of my family from day to day or week to week, to tell the story that I live daily and to preserve the memories for my grandchildren and future generations. I never dreamed that blogging would open up my world, literally. I stumbled across a post one day that was an invitation to join a blog party. I thought, "what the heck, why not?" So, I did and was absolutely astonished at the rate my blog grew, overnight. Now, just five months since the blog party and I have readers all over the world. I will be forever grateful to Vicki. You can read more of the original story here.

True Confessions

I wouldn't doubt it, if everyone is totally confused as to what kind of blogger I am. Well, it's not a specific type for sure. Like I said, I do this to capture memories for me and my family.

So it's no surprise that you will find a conglomeration of topics here. Be patient. If you don't like today's post, you may like one next week.

I find myself now blogging with you in mind, even though this blog was and still is meant to capture life memories for my future generations. Why? Well, I've given that a lot of thought. A few reasons are:

1) I have meet so many new friends through out this process. I cherish each one of you!
2) For whatever reason, my new friends are interested in what I write. Holler!
3) Because travel for some may not be an option, why not share where we live and breathe with those who will never see this place. Ahhhhh!
4) If you get a chuckle once in a while from my posts, then I've done my job. Laughing is internal jogging. Good for you....it does a body good! Pass it on!
5) And I hope to be an inspiration to you on the matter of your health. It's an ongoing process. It's hard in the throes of menopause to lose weight. But, BUT, If I find the fountain of youth or just a little tip that can help you.....I'm all up for sharing.

These are only a few of the reasons I blog. I hope I haven't confused you even further.

Disclaimer: By the way, I read your blogs. I just don't comment on all because I would be here all day. Sorry, but Cliff would nearly die, if I spent any more time reading and writing than I do now. (True Confessions). I am a read-aholic. Reading is like crack for me. I could spend all day doing it. In order to have a life, I have to draw the line somewhere. Also, I used to try to reply to all your comments and that has become time consuming as well. I am so sorry. I feel guilty not replying. But, we have to have boundaries, right? I love you all, I read your blogs and I am crazy excited to get comments and I most certainly read them all. I will from time to time reply. And, I'm sure I will continue to evolve. Please be patient with me. It's a virtue.....Mama said so!

Question: Do any of you have the same problem as in my disclaimer? It is true confession time. Confess it, sisters and brothers. Confessions are cathartic.  I will not judge! Can I get a witness?

OK, that's it. Confession time is over. Get off the computer, go outside and do something physical. You can tell me all about it tomorrow.

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In closing, in case you were wondering:

Total miles run in April: 29.4 (That's a little disappointing, oh..but wait, I started biking. Duh!)
Total miles on the bike in April: 41.58
Since the Divas 5K post, I've run: 13.36 miles (Includes my 7-mile run Sunday...started training for the half marathon a little early. Don't worry, I'll be careful.)
Since the Divas post, I've biked: 24.49 miles (Heading out in just a few, for more.)

Please come back from time to time. I love your comments. And I will definitely be following you!

Happy Tuesday!

Laurie

Wouldn't You Like To Be A Fly On The Wall?

I certainly can't take credit for this gorgeous picture. But it does give a clear indication of the beautiful spring we are having. The photographer who snapped this gorgeousness is David Thebeau.

David, I hope that when you read this that you might leave a comment and a link so that the folks who read my blog can enjoy the wonderful pictures you take. Thanks again, for letting me use it!

Just a side note: If Frank Eaton reads this and cares to leave a link, he takes gorgeous pictures too.

Week in Review:

Sunday 4/14/13 - Today, the training group I'm a part of ran the "Magic Mile". Yeah.....I know, I had never heard of it before, either. To run the magic mile, you must run at a faster pace than normal. You may not be able to hold a conversation, just mutter words like....I'm OK or OMG or My LUNGS! But, it's not a sprint, either. The point was to run it so that the coaches can give us feed back as to how fast we may run the Divas 5K next Sunday. I ran the magic mile in 10:22 minutes. This is definite progress for me. And as I posted earlier in the week on facebook....my legs were happy, but my lungs were ticked off!

I've written about my best sista/cousin before. We have crazy fun adventures together. I love that girl! Well, she received some bad news recently. She has been diagnosed with lymphocitic leukemia. It is slow growing and it appears to be in the early stages.We have all been in shock. I tell you this because we believe in the power of prayer and I am asking you all to please keep her in yours.  In the meantime, my youngest daughter sent me information about a documentary she became aware of called "The Gerson Miracle". I have believed for sometime now that we can heal ourselves with food. This documentary just further validates what I believe. If this piece of information can help but one person, then I've considered it to be a success. If you or someone you love has cancer, please, please watch this documentary (found here on Netflix). It could be the one thing to truly make a difference.

And if I've peaked your curiosity about our adventures, you can read more here (Sista Adventures).

Monday 4/15/13 - I ran an easy 2 miles today. After my run, I came back to watch some of the Boston Marathon. It was, of course, later in the day that I heard of the tragic and senseless evil that took place near the finish line. My thoughts and prayers go out to all that were harmed and to the families of and to those who lost their life that day. I grieve with them. I am relieved that the bomber was caught and I pray justice will prevail. It is certainly sad and heartbreaking that not only did innocent people get killed or hurt, but also sad and heartbreaking that such a young man was easily influenced by evil. His uncle said that he hopes his nephew will ask for forgiveness. I do too. He will get what is coming to him, here on earth. He will pay! But, what kind of Christian would I be if I did not also hope that he would seek for and receive forgiveness?

Tuesday 4/16/13 - Today, I decided to add something else to my list of goals. I want to ride my bike with a group called " WomanTours ". This organization hosts bike rides all over the United States and around the world. It is a "women only" bike tour. The tour I want to do, first, is called the "Northern Michigan" tour. It is a 7-day inn tour that traverses along the shores of great Lake Michigan. You bike nearly 40 miles/day. Your lodging, most meals, park fees, van support, and trained guides are included in the price of the tour. Lofty? Oh yeah! But I have all summer to train. In order to do the tour, they recommend you be able to ride 20 miles at one time. Well, I'm half way there. Northern Michigan, here I come!!!

Wednesday 4/17/13 - Rest day!

Thursday 4/18/13 - I did yard work today. Cleaned out my front flower bed. That is major exercise, y'all! My hamstrings are so sore. I called a landscaper about raising the flower bed and adding stone to the facade. Supposed to touch base with him again this week as he was way busy last week. We have a little vacation place at the beach and because we spend so much time there during the summers, I had decided not to plant a garden this year. I just can't keep up with it, if I'm not there. My gosh, I do love a garden and fresh garden vegetables, though. So, as I was milling about the yard today, I began to rethink the decision not to have one. The dirt is calling my name. I may break.

It's a pretty Spring at our house.

Friday 4/19/13 - Began organizing my office/scrapbook/sewing room. Headed back to the beach. Met Cliff for lunch in a little cafe in Pawleys Island. I love fried green tomatoes, so when I saw that on the menu...I perked up. I ordered the fried green tomato with pimento cheese sandwich. Yuck! I was never so disappointed. Anyway, we mozied on. After arriving at the beach, I took off on a 2.6 mile run, then a 3.43 mile bike ride.  I'm in the zone, y'all. Watch out, cause Northern Michigan.....here I come!

Saturday 4/20/13 - Rode the bike 8.67 miles while Cliff ran. He encountered a crazy man walking towards him. He said the man approached him asking directions to sand dunes. Cliff told him he didn't know where he was talking about. The man asked Cliff how he could not know about sand dunes. Cliff asked where he came from and where he was trying to go. The man didn't know. So Cliff offered to call 911 for him. The man left with his hands raised above his head, shaking them. Just a few minutes later, I saw the same man still waving his hands above his head and walking into the woods. That was scary. I'm glad Cliff was there or I might have had to run over him with my bike. Ha! Maybe not. I've already wrecked one time and broke up my arm. I don't think I would risk letting "crazy man" take me out, again.

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And this my friends.....is just some pure randomness....but it's what goes on in my "wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall?" life.

You remember, Kitter, right? Whitney, my daughter in Denver, posted this to facebook. She called it, "The Face of Insanity". Ha!

You can read more about Kitter (here).

And this is Cliff's way of telling me we are out of Crystal Light. Ha! He's obviously feeling better. You just never know with that man.

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Hope you all had a great week. I'm excited about the warmer weather and the prospect of laying out on the beach soon! Woo Hoo! Gotta go now, I'm off to run with my training group.

Later,

Laurie