Do these bike pants make my butt look big?? It depends….

November 18, 2009 By

The old saying “Once you learn how to ride a bike you never forget” is true except riding a bike when your 10 years old and then again when you’re in your forties is a whole different  kind of  ball game ride.

This is what I learned after several rides:

  • Some guy(s) had alot of fun one day designing a really uncomfortable bike seat
  • Maybe it was a woman because my husband complained more than I did
  • We found ourselves singing that old Billy Crystal tune from the  movie “City Slickers”   …rolling, rolling , rolling gee my a@#@ is swollen…

Seeking the advice of our local bike shop we invested in bike pants.

The best part of bike pants is the padding.

The worst part of the bike pants is the padding.

Last time I checked no one my age is anxious to add any more girth to their backside.

Comfort won out over vanity.

And in the words of my very funny  friend,  Mary Gediman

“Its good practice for depends”

bike_cartoon

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Filed Under: Fitness, Fun, Tri Stories

Why Tri…or how did this all get started!

November 15, 2009 By

I was sitting at home one day, 6 years ago, when I realized how quickly my life had changed. Suddenly my husband and I were semi empty nesters. Our 16 year old son “lived” at home , at least I saw evidence of him, dirty dishes, dirty laundry, landfill for a bedroom. Our daughter Julie was a sophmore at Virginia Tech and our daughter Sarah had just gotten married in  a wonderfully fun filled large wedding.

Suddenly I had time for me! What a concept. Okay well that lasted about mmmm, not very long. Then I found were going to be grandparents!!

Holy cow!!!

I was thrilled of course but this is a lot to take in. I never even got the chance to nag for grandchildren.

Oh the deprivation.

Well at 46 I didn’t think I looked like a Grandma but it did make me take stock of what I wanted to do/be with the rest of my life. I had the fleeting thought that if I can be a young grandma then maybe I could stick around and be a great grandma.

Holy Cow Again!

Time to get healthy. And I finally had the time(?) , or at least did not have to cater to 4 other schedules, appetites, likes and dislikes. I gave myself a year. My deadline was my 25th wedding anniversary in July…this was now Oct.

Okay that’s not a year, math is not my thing.

I had been avoiding the scale so I’m not sure what my starting weight was.

I WISH this was the way to weigh!

I WISH this was the true!

I lost weight…very slowly and I ‘m not quite sure how much since I am not sure where I started.  I’ m  guessing between 20-30lbs.

I   became a Grandma in May..to Nicholas. Such fun. And to fast forward a bit ..we have been blessed to welcome a grand baby every year since ( except this year 2009) for a total of 5 between our 2 daughters)

Okay onto the condensed version. Rediscovered my sense of adventure and decided to train for a 5k ( 3.2 miles) which is pretty adventuresome for someone who has never run. My husband signed up with me although this was a cake walk for him since he has been running for more than  30 years.

One 5k led to another.

And then  I caught a glimpse of the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon on TV. Much to my  surprise there were other triathlon  distances than the grueling Iron Man. One was called a Sprint Tri and it was a half mile swim, a 12 mile bike ride and you guessed it a 5k run!!

And the next one was over our wedding anniversary!!  In Minnesota!

Can you say ADVENTURE.

Nothing says love like sweating together.

So I signed us up without really even knowing what it involved.

Stay tuned…the tri adventure has just begun!

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Filed Under: Fitness, Fun