Steps and Steps

Guess who took his first steps tonight?!

Bear's First Bike

Baby Bear's grandma surprised us with this adorable trike. He's not quite tall enough to reach the pedals, but he loves to walk behind and push it around the yard.

I can't wait until he's big enough to go riding with me.

One More for the Collection

Becoming a triathlete has necessitated an addition to my storage shelves of a big honkin tote labeled Medical Braces. It's getting to the point where I rarely need to go shopping when one of my health care providers tells me to wrap, brace or otherwise support an angry body part. : )

As I was putting athletic tape on the shopping list, it occurred to me there might be an easier way to help the plantar fasciitis. While I generally follow the advice of my doctor/PT/orthopedist, I'm a barefoot country girl at heart and can't bring myself to wear running shoes with orthotics 24/7, which is what was recommended.

Even when I do wear them, as I learned Sunday at Ironman, just a few hours of light walking makes it flare up and I limp for a week.

So I did a quick Google search and found this...

It does exactly what the PT was doing to my foot with tape, without the hassle of tape. For 20 bucks I figured it was worth a shot. I started wearing it last night. Here's hoping it will do the job that a summer of rest couldn't.

Ironman Wisconsin Spectator Report (Photo Essay)

Today the weather was glorious, the dog finally stopped bleeding (long story, she'll be fine, just need$ a $simple $urgery to remove an angry infected growth) and the baby was in a good mood so we rolled the dice and took a little road trip to Madison so I could get me an Ironman fix.

The baby miraculously slept in the car the entire way and was as good as can be expected under the circumstances. (He alternated between being excited at all the cool stuff to see and terrified of the loud cheering.)

The timing of our drive with Baby Bear's nap got us there about 20 minutes before the pros starting coming in off the bike.

We caught a little of Mike Reilly killing time announcing at the bike dismount waiting for the first cyclists to come in.

I managed to catch a great shot of race winner Chris McDonald coming in first off the bike.

Then we happened to catch women's winner Hillary Biscay zooming through T2 as we finished shopping at the expo.

Baby Bear was done with being in the stroller, so we found a quiet spot so he could burn off a little steam.

Had killer pizza (avocado, feta, black bean and tomato! sublime!) at Ian's on State Street while the Bear got to ring his first cowbell. He's a natural. : )

Managed to catch a cool shot of winner Chris McDonald nearing the end of the first run loop.

Then we had to hightail it back to the van so we could feed, change and strap in a tired, cranky Bear for the ride home. But I couldn't resist stopping for a quick look at the Holy Grail finish line.

This is the IM loot Wonderful Husband treated me too...
I heart my pink pull buoy, and I can't wait until the Bear fits into his cute little IM shirt : D

Jonesin

I'm jonesin hard. I need a tri fix.

I miss the early morning gleam of carbon fiber bling. The mingled scents of sunscreen and sweat and body glide. The weary smiles of mutual respect between athletes and volunteers. The sight of pain and determination and sheer joy on back of the packers' faces as they push themselves to accomplish feats previously thought impossible. The sound of cowbells and Mike Reilly's amplified voice in the distance.

I needs me a triathlon. As luck would have it, there's this little thing called Ironman Wisconsin happening a hop, skip and a 2 hour drive from here on Sunday.

I'm currently on hour 12 of the worst migraine I've had in a while. That, obviously, is throwing a wrench into my carefully scheduled life. But I've been sandbagging my to-do list for a few weeks now, and I might still be able to pull it off.

If I can beat this migraine in under 17 hours - and Madison's weather forecast for Sunday isn't prohibitive for spending the day outdoors with an infant - I'll take it as a sign and be there with (cow)bells on.