Life in the barn

Gary came out to trim hooves

Gus was a ROCKSTAR!!

It certainly pays off to work on picking up hooves

Joey was good too. I kept wondering why he was so perky, it was a Unicorn balloon in front of him

I paid $5 for this halter at a sale, its a really nice one. The other night I ordered halter tags for my horses, RED will be going on the wayside

I took this right after I had to get after Wifi for nibbling on my shirt. Shes never done that before.

She's still pouting

Gary likes her feet, its been 8 weeks and they still look fantastic. One reason is genetics, one is that shes never had shoes on before, one is that I try to keep them on a good schedule for trims. I started her trims when she was a month old, never too young to learn about the farrier

Mack was a turd, pulling back, leaning on Gary, pulling his hoof away. Sigh.

I ordered him a halter name plate also, just going to put it on his halter,, not going to tell Meghan till she comes out to see him.

I ordered Gus a new leather halter and found this at Stateline Tack for less than $12, its REAL NICE and adjust able so fits him well. I'm pretty happy with it and his name tag will look good on it.

TRIATHLON NEWS:

I have signed up for the December 30, 2018 Yukon Do It half marathon so I better get my ass out there and run, at least walk. I'm so fat right now so I'm dieting and walking every day. Have lost a few pounds, mostly food I haven't eaten so I'm not full of poop. We shall see how I'm doing in a week. I plan on getting out to walk every single day and start running soon.

Tomorrow is the VERY LAST  Tri Turtle Tri and since we won't be racing, Lan & I volunteered to help with parking. Neither of us want to be out there all day so I made sure to let her know we need to come home at noon. 

It rained last night so there is a bit lest dust, I hope it doesn't rain on the race. 

And Now, Triathlon

Went to the doctor today for the pain in my foot and the ultrasound showed the tumor is practically gone, which is a very good thing. But he couldn't find any explanation for the pain in the top of my foot.

Now for something weird: There is a tiny spot on the second metatarsal bone of my left foot, the foot that hurts and its an old stress fracture.

See the small gray spot here? This is where it is.

And something different, where the 2 small bones are circled in red on my right foot, I have 3 small bones. Obviously this isn't my right foot.

He said there isn't any arthritis in my feet at all, that the xrays show my feet looking

very good for my age.

So while there is no reason for my foot pain I do have the go-ahead to train for IMCDA 70.3 on June 24th so I've got 144 days to train.

That Was Different

When we decided to not take our bikes to Vegas, it opened up a whole new world for us. 

This trip wasn't about getting up at 4am, loading out backpacks and packing the bikes on the bike rack, it was about sleeping in, sitting around doing nothing, enjoying the sunshine. We went to the hot tub every day & jumped into the lazy river to chill and splash each other.

Went out to Lake Mead on the one day it was 86*, got lost in the desert, enjoyed an absolutely gorgeous sunset at the top of a mountain at the perfect time.

While in town we found other things to do, like meet up with friends from home and have a drink. Erik & Sharon were there for the Rock n Roll half marathon so we went out onto the strip to cheer for him as he ran past. 

We went to the 

I hadn't previously known about this museum so we decided to go and learn a little bit. Instead we learned a lot. We're going to the guided tour at Mercury and testing site next year and going through the museum before hand taught us  some of the things we will be seeing.

I felt kind of weird being there though. These bombs killed so many people.

The weather in Vegas was perfect, mid 70's most days, up to mid 80's. One day we went out to Blue Diamond area and hiked/rock scrambled up into a valley where a lot of rock climbers go. It was 54* at start but in the sunshine & dry 'heat' it felt warmer to me. I didn't take a jacket and within a couple minutes was warmed up perfectly. Once we were climbing the BIG rocks I was thankful I didn't have to carry around a jacket.

When we've previously visited Vegas we've only gone to the strip once, to enjoy the sights, eat at 1 buffet and see a show. This trip we went to the strip more, no shoes but a buffet every other day. Our reasoning was that once we got home, we would be going on a diet.

Now we are home and on that diet. I have lost 6 lbs already and my goal is a LOT more.

Ironman Arizona 2017

I'll find a way to get there, even if I have to call in sick.

 

Lan will be racing and I'll be damned if I make him go alone. I'll drive the car down and probably back or he can drive it back and I'll fly...

 

But this next year is going to be dedicated to his race.

 

He asked a local coach to help him but as far as I know Lan hasn't heard back yet. I'll be pissed off if the coach doesn't at least tell him personally why not, if he doesn't want to coach him. Lan has tons of potential to do very well at IMAZ, even in the largest A/G.

 

At Vineman he was 96th out of 217 in his A/G and he admits to being under trained. If he had a coach, someone that would demand accountability, then he could get into the top 25% and that's HUGE. He won't listen to me though so I can't help him at all and he's going to have to speak up when he has a problem, any problem.

Third Race Cancelled

I had SO hoped to become a Half Fanatic but PF has me sidelined and today at PT she told me I CAN'T do this Sundays Race For A Soldier. Theres $65 down the drain. I might do it anyway, walking. With compression socks. And if its too much I can always catch a ride with the sag wagon.

Results

Two days ago I weighed 160.4 in the morning, yesterday 159.8 and this morning 158.6. Wow, those are RESULTS.

And that's perfectly fine for me.

I am wearing a pair of jeans I couldn't get into for a month.

 

And with today excellent morning good news, we went to the fair and I ate not just one, but TWO scones and topped it off with a real ice cream cone, strawberry vanilla twist.

So yummy!

 

This weekend is going to be a long one, next weekend also. Usually I work Saturdays 7:45am-2:45pm but for the next two weekends its being extended to 9:45pm. That's 14 hours. Then 8:30am-2:30pm on Sunday and a quick return at midnight -8am Monday.

 

September 10th is the Black Diamond 70.3 Long Course that I won't be swimming/biking/running at all, I paid $200 for a good team and now I can't even participate or see them run. Terry will swim, Lily will bike and Brayden run. Yay for them!

 

Playing It Smart

I didn't run today in the Iron Horse Half Marathon, feet were much to sore but I did start stretching exercises Lan showed me and they already feel better. I sit with my back up against a wall with my legs straight out in front of me, then I use my shin & foot muscles to pull my toes toward my torso and hold for at least 20 seconds. I can't do it very well, Just having my feet stand at a 90 degree angle is painful but the more I do it the better they will feel and the faster they will let me run on them.

The people who do todays half marathon also do another one at the end of September in Alki Beach and it was suggested to me that I ask if I can switch to that one. We'll see. It is still I n the 90 day time mark for half fanatics.

Getting Ready To Run

I'm getting mentally ready to run the Iron Horse Half Marathon on Sunday. I've had yesterday and today off, I work tomorrow morning & then I have 2 days off.
My feet have been giving me pain and I think its Plantar fasciitis; if so, I'm in for a world of hurt if I'm not really careful. I'll be losing some weight this next month and I sincerely hope this helps.

It Felt Great

I got out of bed at 7am and immediately dressed to run. I had to be at work at 10:45, I had to leave 40 minutes before then to get there on time, allowing time for any freeway work and to drop off our voter thingys.
I wanted to run about 5-5.5 miles so planned to do that, go out to Pine road & Madrona and back home. What I forgot about was the hills on those roads. Lakeway is pretty steep up and Oak, Pine and Spruce would all be almost as steep going down. So I had to walk up Lakeway and go slow down Oak. I didn't make I t to Pine, I was going to slow up the hill to have time to go the extra mile.
But it was a good run. I did 5.1 miles in 1:04 and I'm totally happy with that. I felt good toward the end, not dying, and didn't have to walk too much. I think I'll be able to run at least half the Iron Horse half marathon (all downhill) now and be OK with it.

UPPER LENA LAKE

Denise, Linda, Alisa

July 22, 2016

2016 Vineman 70.3

Lan raced Vineman 70.3 on Sunday in Windsor, California

 

The swim and T1 are 20 miles away, in Guerneville in the heart of the Sonoma Valley wine region.

The 1.2 mile swim is in the Russian River, 4-6 feet deep in most places but only about 12" deep at the turn so athletes had to walk the turn around.

 

  Lans swim wave was the 4th to start, 16 minutes after the pros started their swim. First wave after the pros was the 35-40 yr old women, then 3 waves of 45-49 yr old men.

 

 

 

Pros came out of the water in about 25 minutes.

 

Craig Alexander and Andy Potts are just two of the pros in this shot.

 

 

Here is T1

 

Lans swim was 38:01, he was 118th in his age group

 T1 was 4:10

 

The bike was on a rolling hills course through wine country.

The pros finished the 56 mile bike in about 2:10.

 

Here are Craig Alexander and Andy Potts with a couple other pro men heading out on the run and they are after it. These guys were #3, 4 & 5, the other 2 were ahead by 90 seconds.

 

A short time later Lan finished his bike, in 2:47:18,

an average of 20:08mph.

69th in his age group.

 

 

Right about the time he finished his ride the pro men finished their 13.1 mile run;

Andy Potts was the winner with about 3:48.

 

Lan, almost falling as he heads out on his run.

His T2 time was 6:15

 

Here are the pro men chatting after the race, still in the finishers chute.

 

There is Lan in the yellow shirt as he finished his run with a time of 2:17:09,

he was 96th in his age group.

 

Total race time was 5:52:23

There were 217 men in his age group and 1996 total athletes competed.

 

Just happy to be done.

Black Diamond Triathlon

 

Once again I'm in for the Black Diamond Long Course triathlon in Enumclaw, WA.

This year on September 10th.

 

I finished last year in 7:38:50

with times of

Swim~ 50:13

T1~ 4:48

Bike~ 3:39:38

T2~ 3:09

Run~ 3:00:59

 

All I have to do this year is beat each one by 1 second and I'll be good.

 

The next day is Tri Turtle Tri, our local sprint put on by Lisa every year; my fastest time on that was 2:00:26 so all I gotta do is beat 2 hours. This is weird, my fastest TTT was 2011, I also did it in 2013 but took 2 minutes longer and least year I was the bike in a relay team and I was still slower. Geesh.

Fort Ebey Kettles Run 13.1 Half Marathon

Fort Ebey Kettles Run 13.1 Half Marathon was the 2nd HARDEST half marathon I've ever finished, (1st hardest being Tacoma City half marathon, which was my first ever half marathon)

with 2750 feet of elevation gain.

This was all trails at Fort Ebey State Park, Whidbey Island, Washington.

 

Views of the beautiful Puget Sound and trees.

 

 

ALL UPHILL, all the way, barefoot, in the snow, hungry.

 

We rode the ferry over in the morning. This is the Kennewick, it holds 64 cars. 

 

Linda, Steve & Brayden

 

 

Before the race. Lan did the 5k, he was smart but he still had 660 feet of elevation gain.

(UPDATE: Lan finished 8th overall with a time of 37:23.8!!)

 

The weather said rain all day but we were so lucky and didn't get rained on at all. The trails were mostly all just wet and a little muddy, only 1 puddle we couldn't go around and it was at mile 1. I'm sure there are a lot of people with blisters from running in wet shoes for 12.1 miles, or the people who did the full marathon, twice on the same course.

 

Start of the race, big bottleneck because 200 people want to all get onto a single track trail. That's Linda in the pink.

That's Walking Stick Dude in the yellow. He wacked my leg with his stick cuz he was stupid.

 

See, UPHILL. Steep uphill.

 

And here is at the end, after we finished and DIDN'T GET A MEDAL because they didn't give any out. Maybe should have stated that in the registration process?? I mean, come on, I paid $42 just to race, didn't get a tee shirt either.

I'll never do it again and will strongly suggest no one else do it either but that's due to all the hills.

Oh, and no porta potties on the course, except the old shed outhouse near the very end of the course but none at the aid stations.

 

I did have a good time, got to spend 4hrs 28 minutes with my bestie. Who sprinted the last 10 feet to beat me but I still finished. And I had to wait 10 seconds for her to even cross the START line since she was tardy getting to it. so I technically beat her but if it makes her feel better...

and she did have to go slow for my sorry ass the entire second half.