Happy St. Patrick's Day and Other Stuff

I'm not a St. Patrick's Day celebrator, but to those who are (Mom? Are you there?), I hope you have a good one! My son, I am sure will have plenty to celebrate come his college years. It worries me his birthday is the day before the BIGGEST DRINKING DAY EVER!!!! I was induced 4 years ago on March 15th. Any Shakespeare fans out there? When my OB told me she wanted to induce on that day I said, "Et tu, Brute?" (I'm not sure she got the joke) The kid can't catch a break, sandwiched between those two days. I promise I'll move on to training stuff in a sec, but first a couple of birthday highlights. I made him a cake. I didn't plan to since I did it last year in the shape of a dump truck and swore I would never do it again (how quickly we forget, much like labor, otherwise why would we have more than one child? I am not having more than one, 'nuf said). This year the design was waaaaaaaay easier, except for coming off being sick.

So much easier than last years (and better looking, which is why I am not posting a pic of last year's, although it's probably on last year's post. No, I am not helping by providing a link to it!)

The kid made out like a bandit too in the gift department. This was pretty cool though when we put it together this morning. It's only one of many configurations. I just wonder for how long this will hold his attention until the next big thing comes along.

The king of marble runs, Quadrilla (more like 'Godzilla')

Ok, on to training. As most of you may know, we had the mother of all Nor'easters this past weekend. My first bike with the new club was cancelled and I also had my first two hour run this weekend. When I woke up on Saturday and saw the conditions outside, forget it. I logged on to iTunes and downloaded an audible book (which I never buy) and headed to the gym....to do the treadmill....for two hours......Having the book was a good distraction, but it really tested my patience. I thought I would go insane by the end. I got it done and headed back out into the elements. We had six people die in our area due to falling trees, downded power lines, flooding, etc. By the time it was over there was a real mess left behind.

Saturday night I started to feel a bit unwell; achy joints and muscles, headache, slight fever. By Sunday morning I was a wreck. I ended up staying in bed and sleeping the entire day. Monday was only slightly better. I haven't really been myself lately. It's strange. I actually fainted last week, have had this excessive thirst and severely chapped lips for a few weeks, a migraine that only today has finally subsided and then last night a rash on my thighs. Weird. Aunt Flo has also been a particularly bothersome house guest this month too; usually I don't even know she's here. I have lost some weight recently, but I have been eating better (and training a little more), so no surprise there. My mom is urging me to have blood work done. I see my doc in a couple of weeks. If I'm still feeling out of it, I'll ask her opinion. Otherwise, it's probably just a 'thing' that will pass.

On the bike front, I received the results of my time trial and placement for my training group. The groups are broken up into A, B, C (A=faster, C=slower) and then further divided. For example, A-19, B-16, C-14. The number is MPH. I signed up for the B's and my time trial results landed me in B-18!! top of the B's. I'm pretty stoked about that. It's the A's for me next year, you can count on that! I did my first ride with with one of the leaders yesterday morning. It was really nice. We did a bunch a hill repeats (seated hard gear, seated spin, standing sprint, etc). It was so nice to ride with someone else and man, the time flew! I felt really strong, which surprised me, coming off felling ill and having felt a bit out of it lately. I'm meeting up again on Thursday morning before the sun comes up. Amazing how many people are out in Central Park running and biking before dawn.

Amendment:
I have to send a big THANK YOU to Tri Diesel for my Pukie Award! I'm sorry, I begged for it and then neglected to mention it. I am honored to have received it for my Al Gordon 4 Miler on February 28th!!

From my puke-a-thon.

Two hours later and the marble run is still seeing some action....

Thank you to those who have donated to TNT already!!

Amendment 2:

Just got this from TNT get 30% off for four days, March 18-21 at any Gap, Banana or Old Navy and a percentage will benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. What are you waiting for, get shopping!!