CJ's first day of school... and my distraction.

I will admit this post is a bit late. We are already into Fall and I am just now posting her pictures from the first day. Assuredly, the day was met with much fanfare and excitement, but I was very distracted.

Here is CJ in all her first day of school glory.




She was up early, dressed quickly (which is a feat in and of itself) and ready for Mrs. Wiley's class. I really believe that her first memory of school has always been dropping Alexander off at Mrs. Wiley's class when she was 2 years old. She would run into the class and immediately start playing with the toys. After settling Alexander in, she would pitch a fit when I told her that we would have to leave. So now.... FINALLY.... she gets to stay and have school in that classroom with that same teacher. She feels like such a big girl and loves it.

Now to address my distraction.

Six months ago I had a friend call me to talk me into doing a triathlon with her. HA! I laughed out loud at the mere mention of this. Not me. No way. I am a hearty woman of german-stock and we don't do those crazy athletic things. I am not sure that anyone in my family has ever played on an organized sporting team. In high school the closest I came to organized sport participation was recording statistics for the baseball team. But honestly, I mostly did that to hang out with the cute guys on the team. Then after college, I played softball and soccer on some coed teams with Zack, but that was mostly because we would drink beer during and after the games.

She assured me that she was serious and that we would have months to train and get ready. Come on, she said. It will be fun, she assured me. Okay, what else do I have going on? So I registered for the race. Locked and loaded, I had six months to figure out how to swim half a mile, bike 7 miles and then run 3.5 miles.

The race was this past weekend and I can't believe that it has already come and gone. This was a huge personal accomplishment and I will admit that I am just tickled pink that I did it. Zack (and the kids) was so supportive and motivating during my training --- literally pushing me out of the house on the weekends to go bike or run.

My family was in shock to think that anyone from the Diephaus-clan would actually do something as crazy as a triathlon race. I heard from my sister that my dad made the comment that clearly I had not received any genes from his side. Perhaps the story about mom and the milk man were true. Then on the night before the race, Zack got a call from mom asking for him to confirm that I was not about to do the swim IN THE OCEAN for pete's sake. Needless to say, he did not lie to her and I had to call and assure her that there were life guards on boats watching everyone for safety.

As for the race, it went better than expected. The swim in the ocean was really hard. Harder then I had even anticipated. Lots of swells and lots of saltwater in your mouth. Definitely a far cry from training at the pool at the YMCA. The bike was fine and the run was better than I thought. Having people to cheer you on really does help make the time go by faster. Crossing the finish line was something that I had envisioned, but certainly didn't really know how I was going to feel. As I crossed the line to the cheers of the spectators, I was so excited/relieved/emotional I was on the verge of tears. That was the one moment I wished that Zack and the kids would have been there. I was so full of joy and emotion and had no one to share it with. But that was kind of the point. I did this for me. It was a huge personal accomplishment. Something that I had to do for myself. And I did. Go me. :-)

Here I am ready to head to the swim. Transition area all set!


This is a self-portrait after coming out of the water and getting ready to head out on the bike.

As an added plus, the times were announced and low and behold, I won 3rd prize in my class. HA! Since I was hoping to not be in the last third of the race, this was amazing. In the overall standings I came in #429 out of 1100 racers. Wow. Who knew??

Now I am back home, into the daily school grind and feeling a little bit at a loss. Haven't worked out since Saturday and have eaten ice cream every chance I can. Perhaps I need to sign up for another race just to keep me focused. Or I could just stop buying ice cream. Hmmmm. Tough decision.