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. 

Ripping & Tilling

The arena was ripped 4-6 inches deep today

The footing is all clay so it came up in big hard chunks

After a few hours of circles, it looked like this

Then the helper came & the rototiller was attached

It took a few runs each direction to get it good

Looking better already

But its just going to compact again so Builders Sand will be added and mixed in. After its compacted, more sand will be added on top and I HOPE to add 1 inch rubber crumble to the sandy top for better footing.

This morning we turned the big horses on the front pasture 24/7 while the back pasture is sprayed for weeds. All of them napped together.

First Wifi stood guard.

Then she laid down beside Joey for a while

And Mack had a good snooze

I signed up for the FINAL SEASON of Tribabes and last Saturday was the first BRick; 5 miles bike/1 mile run. I took my mountain bike because my shoulders/back/neck were very sore with a big lump in my muscles. 

I guess I'm going to need to spend time each day running or riding. I'm not thrilled about the swimming, my wetsuit fits someone that's 20 lbs lighter than I am now.

Ironman World Championship

Our friend, Heidi, is racing in Kona today, you can follow her here

https://track.rtrt.me/e/IRM-WORLDCHAMPIONSHIP-2017#/tracker/RKBGDTZP

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.

Nationals

I woke up this morning wanting to do something nice for someone, someone who means a lot to me. I offered to pay Windys registration fee for her to go to Nationals since she qualified too (1:21:45, 8th in her A/G) and she is going. But she totally shot me down.

Made me feel like a heel for trying. Hurt my feelings and pissed me off.
She just doesn't get it, that I can't go but if I could pay her fee then I will feel a lot fucking better about NOT GOING. I'd feel like I was there, just a little bit.

Irongirl DONE

 

And I got top ten, which was my goal.

 

1:06 faster than last year; not as fast as I had hoped

but had a swimming problem that followed me through the race.

Got over it.

First BRick

Today was the first brick of the tribabes and I noticed there were less people there than in previous years but it was still a good turn out and fun. It was a 5 mile bike / 1 mile run.


I took Abbey with me, who said she would like to give them a  go. She has already signed up for Irongirl so I told her she might as well do TriBabes too. That way she will have people to train with all summer. Tuesday will be out first lake swim and I should be able to make it even though I won't be with the tribabes, I'll go for a swim, maybe to the buckets and back. That's about a mile.

Today after the brick Linda and I ran 5 miles in the woods where it was nice and cool. We still sweated but it wasn't as bad as running on a road, dodging cars and being chased by dogs. I'm really liking the Garmin GPS watch Lan found on the highway.

Somewhere we have a sync chip that would connect it to the computer but good luck finding it. I'd like to download the info off the watch so I can anylize it later.

Yesterday was 57 miles of hell on the bike. I wore shorts that aren't meant for long rides and my hoo haw was hurtin. I will never do that again.

Horse News:
I bought new lead roaps for each horse, Joey gets black, Sunshower gets red and Wifi gets royal blue. I'll need to purchase new brushes sometime soon but I don't like big ones, I have small hands, so will gather them over the next few years. I still have a brush box in the new barn and I'm NOT taking it over there to be stolen.

Tri Turtle Tri 2014

Today was my last scheduled race event of the summer, the Tri Turtle Tri. I've done this race 4 times in the last 6 seasons and its a lot of fun. Today I was the bike leg of a relay team, first time I've been in a relay.

 

This is Dave, then me, Daves wife Terry and Sherri.

 

I think I'm looking pretty good in my tri suit right now.

 

Denise Brooks, Terry Harter, Sherri LaHaie

Team Name: Victorious Secret

Bib:49
Swim( .5 mile): 0:25:59.3 Rank 23  Terry
T1: 0:00:38.7
Bike (15.6 miles): 0:58:38.1 Rank 11   Me
T2: 0:00:41.2
Run (3.4 miles): 0:34:52.8 Rank 20   Sherri

FINISH TIME: 2:00:50.1
18th out of 31 relay teams
131 finish out of 339 total finishers

 

It was a beautiful sunny day spent with great friends.

 

This is the end of my 2014 tri season, tomorrow I start my diet, a new weights workout plan and prepare for our trip to Arizona and then the holidays.

IronGirl Seattle

This was a very good year

953 Finishers
100 in my Age Group

 

Shit just got real

Don't FUCK with my bike.
Some bitch MOVED it.

Correcting the arm race number

HI!

Im right above the green cap, she stayed near me the whole race & kicked the whole time.
Swim 1/3 mile 13:20
237/23

 

Getting that wetsuit OFF
T1 5:53
74/11
 

Off the bike
11 miles
40:21
119/15

T2 was :58
11/2

Run 3 miles
32:10
402/32

Total time:  1:29:42

14 in Age Group
161 Overall finisher

Best of all, I beat Linda. By less than 1 second.

2014 Kitsap TriBabes
I wasn't in this photo

last minute decision

I made a last minute decision to race the Wild Hare triathlon, put on by our tri club. I had to pay way more than the initial sign up fee but it was so much fun that it was worth it.

There were about 68 people signed up, I had bib #163.

 

Swim warm up

There's me, in the orange cap.

 

Swim start.

My swim time for the half mile: 21 minutes

 

T1 time: 3 minutes

 

Bike time, 15.8 miles: 1:02

 

Here is Lan, who took 3rd overall.

 

T2 time: 1

 

Run 3.4 miles time: 42:45

 

Finish time: 2:09:45

 

I placed 38 out of 53 competitors, there were several relay teams.

 

There is one time clock and our times were hand written by volunteers. I'm sure my T2 was much closer to 2 minutes and felt like 5.

 

And here I am after the race, freshly sponge bathed off and ready to go to work.

 

It was a hot day, I had on sunscreen but I still got burnt, my ankles have a very definite sock line.

Kind Of

I'm kind of training for the Iron Girl sprint tri that takes place in 3 weeks. I have been riding my bike the approximate distance once or twice a week but I haven't swam in 2 weeks and I haven't run in even longer.

My previous years bike times on the IronGirl course are:
2009 Danskin 44:42
2009 Trek       44.02
2010 Danskin 39.40
2011 Danskin 38.32

My fastest overall race time is 1:36:27.  My plan every time I race is to do it faster than the time before and I really hope I do this year because they have shortened the course this year. The first year the swim was 1/2 mile, now its only going to be 1/3, the bike is 1/2 shorter and the run is .1 shorter. Iron Girl might not care but they are ripping us off. Just because we're girls doesn't mean we can't go the distance.

This is my favorite course and I just found out that Seafair used this last week so next year I'm going to sign up for that one instead of IronGirl. It will have males and females and a stiffer competition, since IronGirl is geared toward couch to 5k couch potatoes.

Linda and I have a place to stay that's right near the race venue at Genessee Park; Julee Warner had told us her other friends, Julias parents, offered their house to her friends for the race since they will be gone. I jokingly said I wanted to do it & then 2 weeks ago got the word that we were in. AWESOME!

Linda and I will carpool in her van to IronGirl and Lan & Steve will carpool to Lake Stevens for their race. Poor Lan, he has to have Brayden with them but at least Lindas not bringing him with us to a houseful of women. Actually he should just stay home or go to a friends house, he should be hanging out with kids his own age instead of only adults.

I've requested race day off work and they better fucking give it to me. Then yesterday I realized I really should ask for the Saturday off too or else they will fucking give me a 2-midnight shift. I don't want to do that, it would fuck up EVERYTHING. I've offered to bring dinner for us ladies and I can't do that at midnight. I'll talk to my boss and let him know that a morning shift would be OK if need be, but I don't want to work later than like 5. Fuckers better listen to me, this is my big weekend of the WHOLE ENTIRE FUCKING SUMMER.  If they don't let me have it off then I'll be damned if I offer to do anything for them again for a really long time.

Fucking Gail decided to have her hip replacement surgery today so shes out of work and she knew, SHE KNEW, that it was important for me to have that day off. If I don't get it because they have problems covering her shift or someone else gets sick, I'll put a curse on her. I've done it with other people before and I can certainly do it to her too.

I'm being a BITCH here today.

I would have put more time, effort and energy into training if I had known I was going to get the time off for sure. I've already invested hundreds of dollars into signing up, training and equipment but not knowing if I'm going to get the day off for the race gives me nothing to work toward. When I sign up for Ironman Arizona 2015 I will KNOW that I'm going to get the time off and I will HAVE to do the workouts. Right now I can procrastinate and since its only a sprint I know I can fumble my way through it and be fine.

So much going on

Last Saturday Wifi had her second dressage show, at Peteton Farm in Olympia. Once we picked up Audi from Delicias farm, Wifi was a happy camper and she then proceeded to act like a seasoned pro.

In the warm up arena she was nice and calm, doing everything she was asked to do.

At one point another horse bolted and threw its rider. Wifi stood perfectly still and respected & trusted Delicia, even when another hors reared up right beside her. She did tuck her tail but still stood still.

 

 

 Wifi's first class was Intro A and she was the first horse of the day to use the outside full court dressage arena.

Here is her start.

 

First tracks

 

Excellent trainer in action, coaching Caryn on Audi.

 

We were all surprised to see these results and

WOW,

check out her score!

70.938

 

I'm so impressed with my mare.

 

She wasn't too happy to wear this ribbon though.

 

At 10:17 she entered the ring for her Intro B class.

Halfway through I saw it happen, she said 'I'm done' and faltered, right in front of the judges

(of course), in the middle of the arena going across. But Delicia told her she will finish so Wifi did.

 

 

 

And they WON that class too.

68.125

 

She also won 2 bags of carrots and two $10 gift certificates to a tack store.

She's earning her keep!

Here she is just chillin', waiting for the results. 

 

In other news:

Triathlon

The Kitsap Tribabes had their first BRick on Saturday, which I obviously missed, so I completed a 6/1 brick on my own today. I needed air inmy tires and couldn't find a pump so had to ride down to Lans work because I knew there was one in the car there so not only did I ride 6 miles but I had to come back up Mullenix too. Good job me.

 

I have a date at 7am tomorrow with Windy to swim at Wildcat Lake then ride bikes either  on the trainers or on the road for an hour. It feels g so good to be getting out.

 

I have another date Friday with Amanda to ride mountain bikes at Banner Forest.

Good times.