Tales of Teenage TRI queen

Regional Recap.

2011-02-13T08:09:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I had my regional swim meet. It went really really well! On the way to the meet my mom told me that I should drink some caffeine before I swam. When she said that I just looked at her like she was crazy. Usually my mom doesn’t let me drink caffeine, ever. But I guess she wanted me to do well. Fortunately it worked! I had my best swims of the whole season.

My 500 freestyle time was a 6:09, and I am confident that next year I can get under six minutes! My 200 freestyle time was a 2:14, and I dropped five seconds in one day! I was really proud of my swims, even though I didn’t make it to states! Maybe next year. Also in the 4 by 100 relay, I had my best 100 freestyle time of a 1:05. I think that is great especially after a long day.

Today I am making Cakepops with my mom. They are cute little balls of cake stuck into a popsicles stick. They are the cutest, and best tasting things that I have ever eaten! If you want to find more information Google Bakerella. After that I have my swim banquet, it should be fun because we will have a lot to talk about from the meet yesterday!

Happy early Valentines Day!

No More Club Swimming

2011-02-12T06:18:00.000-08:00

I have officially stopped swimming with my club team. I just couldn't handle all the stress of high school, and swimming combined! I know it sounds lame, but it is so true. But I haven't given swimming up completely. I am still swimming for my high school's team. Well, kind of. The season is about to end, as of today. But, yesterday was the prelims of the regionals meet, and today I have finals. I made it to finals in all the events that I swam in prelims, including the 500 freestyle, the 200 freestyle, and the 4 by 100 freestyle relay.

My time in the 200 freestyle was a 2:19 which isn't a best time, so today in finals I am hoping to drop a second or two. Then in the 500 I went a 6:12 and my 50 splits were 32 seconds, 34 seconds, 36 seconds, and then I held a 38 for the rest of my swim. Today I want to get under a 6:10, which means that I have to be more consistent throughout the whole race.

Because I quit swimming, I want to try crew. I have tried one practice on the machine, and the coach told me that I was a natural. I hope he doesn't change his mind later in the season ;)!

Have a great Valentines weekend!!

Stuff My Coach Says

2010-10-30T12:29:00.001-07:00

My parents try to convince me that the only reason that my coach is yelling at me is because she cares about my stoke or kick. While I believe this is somewhat true, I also have to disagree. When Coach is yelling at me I always think in the back of my head, “I’d like to see YOUR stroke”. I know this might seem a little bit cocky, but this is what she said to me the other day while swimming a 1000 breaststroke kick…

“CHLOE!! Do you see everyone else’s faces? They are bright red! Yours isn’t! This is called sprint kick, not lala kick”.

When I told my dad what she said, he just laughed and said that he was glad that he was not longer the one that had to yell at me. I just laughed.

While doing the 1000 kick, I got the worst chafes under my arms, and I told my coach, and she just told me that it was because I was “resting” on my board. I just smiled at her and said ok.

Seems like this blog is turning into Stuff My Coach Says.

Thanks for reading!!

I have the slowest tempo in the history of swimming

2010-10-21T06:19:00.000-07:00

The other day I made back to swim practice, and I have been going at least four times a week. Practices only are and hour and a half, and we have a thirty-minute dry land before practice starts. These dry lands are getting the best of me, because the only dry land things that I can do are…. the handstand, jump ropes, and jumping jacks. Everything else works on my core, and I literally fall over every time I am doing the exercise.

As most of you know, I am a long distance swimmer. As most of you need to know, I have the slowest tempo in the history of swimming. And my coach lets me, and my teammates know this fact. Every. Single. Day. I am not kidding. Sometimes Coach is nice about it and just says something when most of the other swimmers are already off the wall like,

Good tempo Chloe, but I know that isn’t your fastest.

And other times, when I don’t get so lucky she announces it loud and clear in front of the ENTIRE pre-senior group, like this,

CHLOE!! What do you think you are doing?? This is a sprint set, not a warm down!!

And other times when the whole team is sitting on the wall after a long workout Coach Dana says something like this,

CHLOE!! Do you see everyone else? They are breathing hard! Are you? I don’t think so? When you push hard, you breathe hard.

When she says the last thing I mentioned, I get so mad! I don’t know why, but this one bothers me the best. I think it is because she isn’t focusing on my stroke technique, but just looking at my breathing patterns. But who knows?

School is going well, I just got a 90 on my math test, and I was so happy! I have an 89.45 in the class, and this will bring my grade up to an A, finally. The school I am in now is so much more challenging than my last school, but I have all As and Bs. My lowest grade is in Biology, and I am working so hard to bring it up!

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a good week! Thanks for reading

Back And Ready To Swim

2010-10-10T05:24:00.001-07:00

I have some sad news..

I can no longer walk out my door and enjoy and open water swim. I just moved to Kentucky.

Anyway, I am very excited to be living here, because the swim team here is amazing! Also, my school has a swim team, and my goal for this year is to win the MVP award. I know I am aiming high for a freshman, but I think if i try hard enough I can do it.

I just started back swimming, and the night after my first night back my english teacher told us to write about an embarrassing thing that happened to us. I decided to write about my first day back to swimming up here in Kentucky. Here is the story if you are interested.....

I hopped into the third lane at the St. Xavier pool thinking that I was going to accomplish something amazing on my first day back to swimming in a little less than a year. I was going to show the other swimmers that were in shape how fast us “Florida Girls” really are. I jumped in, and I was ready to swim my first warm up – 300 meters freestyle – as fast as I could, and I was going to keep the pace for the rest of practice. As I finished the warm up I was a little out of breath, but I covered it up by floating with my face in the water so no one could tell that I “actually tried” only after the first set. Next, were seven 100s, odds were freestyle, evens IM. I knew I wasn’t going to make it very far let alone fast with this, but I was determined to not let anyone know. When I got to the third 100 my arms started getting shaky, I had the worst foot cramps, and I knew that my dinner would be floating in front of me in any second. As I looked at the clock to see that I was 30 seconds behind what I should have been, the coach screamed my name, as if I was a dreaded disease and said, “Chloe how out of shape do you feel?”

I responded with out even digesting the question, “Badly”, I said.

My answer didn’t even make since. How embarrassing! As I was still overcoming all the embarrassment that I had already caused myself, the coach told me to move down a lane. Moving down a lane is the biggest insult to any swimmer. It is almost as embarrassing as wetting the bed, when having a sleepover with all of your friends. I knew right then that I didn’t belong in the “fast people lane”. I had caused myself pure embarrassment during the first practice, and I am still debating whether or not I want to go today. I tell my mom that I don’t feel well, and I have homework in every class. I tell her everything that could possibly be wrong with me so I don’t have to cause my self anymore pain, mentally and physically. It shouldn’t be like this, but unfortunately it is. Embarrassment happens to everyone, and we all get over it sooner or later. As for now, I am going to flip a coin to see if I will be attending swim practice this afternoon.

Thanks for reading!!

Interview

2010-06-27T15:21:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! I just recently got an e-mail from Sara Landolt, who is from http://www.ironmakeover.blogspot.com. She writes encouragements from triathletes on her blog, and she is also working on a non-fiction book. Ms. Sara was nice enough to ask me if she could ask me (haha double ask me) a few questions. I of course said yes, and I thought that this would be a cool way to get back into blogging. So here we go. I will try not to be to boring!

Here are some questions just for me..

Question #1

Have most/many of your friends heard of triathlon? What do they think? Would they try it or have they? Even a relay to start? If not, what do you think is holding people back?

I think most of my friends have heard of triathlons, mostly because down here on the panhandle we have a TON of races, from the IronMan Florida to the Crab Trap race. I think most of them think I am crazy for doing these races, but I also think most of them are willing to try one. Off the top of my head I can think of two friends that did a tri. They really enjoyed it, but I think that the swim freaks them out. I also think that the swim holds most people back. Also, I think the thought of training for the different race at one time scares some of my friends away.

Question #2

As a teen triathlete, what's the greatest need you see in triathlon-related youth/teen resources? What would you like to know more about etc? The youth/teen tri market is a huge area of growth right now!

As a teen triathletes the greatest need I see in triathlon-related kids resources would have to be that there is not enough advertising. I mean seriously, have you ever seen a kids’ ad in a triathlon magazine? I think not. I think some kids think that these races are just for adults, which really disappoints me especially with the obesity problem. I think that more races should be made for just teens or for just kids that are more than just one or two laps in the pool, 2-mile bike, and .5 mile run. There really aren’t enough. Last year I did the NYC Tri, and I was in a 24-an under age group. As a 13 year-old. What is the possibility of me placing in something like that? I would like to know more about what I should eat before and during races, besides reading a 200 page book about Triathlons for Idiots.. ;)

Question #3

Do you think you'll keep doing triathlons post High School, College, in the future?

If so, why?

For sure, I definitely don’t think that I will stop doing triathlons. If you love something, then why stop?

Question #4

Do you know any teen celebrities that do triathlons?

Ha if anyone does puh-lease let me know, but I think all those Hollywood people are afraid to break a nail, or break a sweat.

Normal Questions.

Question #5

How has training impacted your life?

Training has helped keep me in shape, as well as in shape for other sports. Like training fro cross-country helped keep me in shape for swimming. It also gets my endorphins going so that I am in a better mood, and more focused.

Question #6

How do your friends or family members support you during training and on race day.

My parents actually train with me, so there is no backing down; they also do the races with me. It usually turns out to be a competition. Competitive family, right?

Question #7

Describe as openly as possible a low moment in training or racing and then please describe one of the high/best moments in training or racing.

My lowest moment in racing would definitely have to be the first race that I didn’t finish. It was IronGirl race, and I was so excited to be a part of it. There were actually other girls in my age group which was a big plus. I think I ate something bad the day before the race, and my stomach was a big mess. I had to stop on mile 18 of the bike, and I tried to call my dad (but being him, didn’t answer) a van came to pick me up, and brought me back to the hotel room to recover. I unfortunately had to drop out of the race.

The best moments of racing would have to be when I did the NYC triathlon. I was the youngest person to ever complete the race. The whole time I was thinking I HAD to finish or else any other person under a certain age wouldn’t be allowed to enter the race. So the whole time I kept saying I have to finish I have to finish. So when I did finish I felt so good!

Question #8

Please share your top 3 tips for a triathlete in training.

Please describe something technical (a skill or workout etc) that confused you when you were new to triathlon.

OK, my number one tip is to wake up an hour or so before the race that morning and go to the bathroom (you know what I mean ;) ). There is nothing worse than standing in line for the porta-potties when you are already nervouse, and also need to set up your transition area. If it helps you, then eat an apple at lunch time the day before the race!

I guess I am just doing helpful hints for the race day, I hope that works for the question!

Number two would have to be that you have trained in what you are going to wear on race day. Getting chafed is absolutely the worst thing! Make sure is doesn’t happen to you!

Number three, make sure your brakes are not on before you start biking! One of my mom’s friends just couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t going the speed she normally was going. Later that day she found you that her brakes were pressing down on her tire the whole entire race… she was doing an IronMan too!!

Question #9

Define the word athlete. Are you one? Describe your strengths as an athlete.

Athlete- somebody who loves the sport they are doing, and does it often.

I would have to say that most of the time I am , but I can’t say that I do triathlons often. I usually take a break somewhere in the year..

My strengths as an athlete would have to be that I only do I sport if I love it, if I don’t then I don’t do it.. which helps me to be an athlete.

Question #10

How do you preserve and document your training and race-day experience?

Ex: Good luck cards? Race day signs? Group t-shirts? Do you write a race report, write a blog post, facebook update, or create a scrapbook page? What tips make your post-race report/documentation most useful or meaningful?

I keep evey single one of the trophies that I get, and also the necklaces with the medal on them. I also like to get pictures that mean a lot to me. I also keep all the race shirts that I get, and write a blog post!

Question #11

Training and race photos: Describe your satisfaction with professional race-day photos and family/friend photos from training or race-day events. What’s the photo you wish you had from training or racing? What tips do you have to improve your training/racing photo memories?

I once got a picture of me surrounded by huge buff men coming out of the water, and that is my favorite picture that I have ever gotten! I really don’t like having pictures with just me in them, I think what makes a race is having all the support from the other racers, so I do like to see them in my pictures. When I got out of Lake Ponchentrain (spelling?) in New Orleans, I had green gunk all over my face. My mom and I were doing a realy, and she refused to kiss my good luck because my face was too gross. I wsh I had a picture of her face and my face J.

That’s it for now! Thanks for reading. I hope I didn’t bore you guys to death ;)

Spring Break 20 10

2010-04-04T07:15:00.000-07:00

I say SPRING you say BREAK

SPRING

BREAK

SPRING

BREAK

I think spring break is one of my favorite breaks during the year, because it is finally getting warm outside after a long winter, and we haven’t had a long break since Christmas. This year for the break we had some friends come in town from Atlanta. They are the nicest family, and I am so glad that they are staying in our neighborhood. In fact, they are so close if I whisper they can hear us.

In my last post I mentioned applying for two jobs, and it turns out that I got them. That’s right I got them both. It turns out they are owned by the same woman, and I got the job in the T-shirt store, but I am going to switch off in between the T-shirt store, and the beach and surf store. One of my best friends also got the job with me, so I am very excited. And everyone is just so nice! I got very lucky.

Golf tryouts are not this coming Tuesday, but the next. I found out that only 6 of the 13 girls trying out will make the team. I guess it will be nice for those who make the team, because they will get extra attention, but for those who haven’t been practicing *cough me cough. * I guess I am just going to have to practice over spring break J.

I stil haven’t found a camera, so, once again, if you have ANY suggestions let me know. I was thinking about getting the Canon Rebel XSi, but just randomly (after we visted Best Buy, and looked online for cameras) my mom remembered that she still had some lenses from a Nikon camera, so I think that I am going to have to look at Nikons!

Currently I am reading "Age Is Just A Number" by Dara Torres, and it is an AWESOME book! Definitely try it out if you are looking for some inspiring non-fiction!!

Happy Easter/ Passover ya’ll!

I'm Still Here.

2010-03-16T16:27:00.000-07:00

Hello! I have once again been out of the blogging world for a long, long time! My triathlon life has been put to a pause in my life recently, because my mom put down a “no race rule” for a while. I have also stopped swimming on the swim team for one to two months, so that I can focus on tennis and golf. I have also been saving up for a SLR camera, and if you have any suggestions for one for me please let me know! I am also trying to get a job in one of the stores down the street from me, and I applied for two over the weekend, so I hope the economy doesn’t take a toll on me ;) . As most of you know, I am in the 8^th grade. That means that next year I will be starting high school. There are two high schools that I am thinking about, and one of them has a collegiate program, which I applied for and got in, so I most likely will end up going there.

I am now playing tennis on my school’s team. When I first started the coaches ranked me number one. I was so so so excited that they placed me as number one, because hadn’t had any practice since last year. I am now ranked as number three, because you can challenge the person ahead of you, and if you beat them in a match, then you get to switch places with them. Unfortunately it happened twice to me. Hopefully next time I will come back. Golf season will be starting soon, and I can’t wait! Golf is super fun, because most of my friends play on the team, and also before practice we sit in the club and get a snack. Sitting around eating an after school snack probably doesn’t sound like the highlight of practice, but you have to remember that we are teenagers J.

Lately I have been babysitting, and all the money that I make while babysitting goes toward my camera fund. I love taking pictures of everything. I definitely want a “serious camera” aka an SLR, but I am having the hardest time picking one out!! If you have any suggestions at all please please let me know what you think would be a good one! I love the colors in pictures, but I also want an easy to use camera!

Hopefully a new post won’t be such a rare thing anymore!

Thanks for reading!

What's Going On?

2009-12-21T07:01:00.000-08:00

Once again I haven’t sat down in a long time to wright a blog post.

Like I said in my last post, we got my brother an allergy test. A few days ago in the mail we got a letter that told us what he was allergic to. Unfortunately it is EVERYTHING he loved, eggs, wheat, oats, gluten, and milk. This means no more chocolate, cheeseburgers, or pizza. But hey, we can’t change it.

Also in my last post I was talking about the robotics competition, and how we wanted to go to Texas. We didn’t make it to Texas, but we did come in 6^th place, which is awesome because we were competing against high schoolers.

Next week my family and I are going on a little trip up to Sea Island, Atlanta, and Birmingham for the second half of my winter break. I can’t wait at all!

I don’t have much to talk about this time, but I did want to post. Hope you are having an awesome winter!

Thanksgiving Week

2009-12-06T05:13:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody!

I know it has been forever since Thanksgiving, but this is the first time I have sat down to write a blog post.

Over thanksgiving break, I went up to my grandparents house. We had the best time!! The first day we didn’t do much besides eat dinner, and play with my 2 cousins that are my age. ( I have 7 cousins in all).

The next day we went to the hospital that my grandfather works at to get a blood test for my brother Reis. Let me tell you that he is NOT good with shots. The whole week before we went up there he was making himself crazy thinking about getting a shot. He needed to take a shot because he has been coughing every night, and it is a super super bad cough. We think that he might be allergic to peanut butter, but have no idea. He got the shot after many breakdowns, but he did get the shot. Later that day I went shopping with my two cousins around my age. Who knew that two days before Black Friday the mall would be so crowded. We were hoping that everyone would wait until Friday to go shopping, but I guess everyone was thinking the same thing. It took us half an hour just to get into the parking lot, but once we got in it wasn’t crowded any more.

Thanksgiving day. The morning of Thanksgiving there was a 10k and one mile fun run near my grandparents house. I did the one mile fun run, because I wanted to see if I could get under an 8 minute mile. My mom, dad, aunts, and uncles ran the 10k, and almost all of my cousins did the one mile fun run. Like I said, my goal was to do under 8 minute miles, and my brothers goal was to run faster than me. What a brother! The morning of the race was FREEZING, but I still met my goal by 40 seconds with a time of 7:20!!! That was my best mile time that I have ever done, and I was so happy J . my brother got his goal with a 7:09, and my cousins got… Jake who is 10 years old came in third over all for the turkey run, he ran a 6 something!! Illan got a 7:06 I think, and Kylie who is 7 got a 9:45!! I was so happy for all of my cousins!! Thanksgiving dinner was awesome, and we had the best food, and the best time!

The rest of the week was a blast,, and can’t wait until next year!!

If anyone remembers me talking about the robotics competition in past posts, I just want to say that we made it to regionals, and are going up to Auburn next Friday!! If we come in top 4 then we get to go to Texas!! I really hope we can do it!!

Only 19 more days until my birthday!!! J J J

My Super Heros

2009-11-11T13:05:00.000-08:00

Are you somebody’s super hero?

I have a bunch of superheros. And this post is dedicated to them! Each of them have helped me, whether they know it or not, with anything that has to do with triathlons. Swimming, biking, running, nutrition (my mom made me say that) and even blogging!

First I want to say good job to all of my IronMan finisher friends.

Mrs. Karen is a really good friend, and a really good runner…no joke her marathon time is around a 3:30! Her time last weekend was a speedy 12 hours and 51 minutes, and that is 9 minutes better than what she was hoping for. And her daughter, Olivia, kept me motivated during x-country because we were always trying to keep up with each other!

Mr. Brett, who overcame prostate cancer, and was the fastest local male finisher in the IronMan! His time was 11:39! Pretty amazing!

Mr. Jeff’s birthday was on Saturday (the day of the race), so he ran the WHOLE marathon with a birthday hat and also a sash that said “today is my birthday”. He has been racing since the late 80’s. I saw some of his old racing pictures, and I am glad that I started triathlons now that we have trisuits, and not just swim suits… way more comfortable! ☺

Mr. Burk is racing in IronMan Arizona in a few weeks. He helps my mom with, well, everything, but alot with nutrition. As you might remember, I also have a lot to learn about nutrition (see IronGirl Atlanta post if you need specifics).

Ms. Lisa helps me realize how fast someone can be (she’s been to KONA a few times!) and Big Chloe, better known as Running With A Bottle of Wine taught me a lot about blogging.

If you remember how I was telling you how I had dropped so much time in the cross-country season I had a secret! Every Sunday morning I was waking up at 7 a.m. to go run with Mrs. Tracy. We did speed work every time. It was definitely NOT fun while I was actually running, but afterwards I felt awesome. We are still going on with our Sunday practices even though cross-country season has ended! I have no idea what I would have done with out Mrs. Tracy’s Sunday morning runs! THANK YOU!

If you are looking for people to follow, or just want to check out another triathlon blog I have two for you. ONEHOURIRONMAN is always encouraging, thanks so much! FLATOUT JIM is also very good about leaving comments, and he is looking for more people to follow his blog. Please check out these blogs and/or follow them ☺ !

Thanks for reading!

Florida IronMan

2009-11-08T13:05:00.000-08:00

This weekend was the Florida IronMan,

My swim team volunteered,. Our job was to clean up the beach after the start and finish. It was AWSOME! As we were on our way to the race my mom was like, Chloe, do you have the camera, and I was like… no I thought that you grabbed it, so no pictures from the morning, and then we went home after we volunteered, and on the way my mom asked me if I got the camera, and of course I forgot again!

Most of you know that there is a cut off for the swim. I think it is about 2 and a half hours. Enough time for some of us, but I sadly saw three people who didn’t finish. I felt so so so bad for those people. Doing all that work, and not even being allowed to finish the first leg…major bummer!

The bike was pretty cool. My mom, my brother, and I pulled the car over to a waffle house, and parked the car in a lot behind it, and opened the trunk and cheered on the pros!! It was soooo cool, and a couple of them smiled at us! Pretty darn cool to see the pros so close to you! One of our friends was a draft official, and she said that there were a lot of crashes on the bike L ! I hope that everyone is ok!

We went back to the race for the run, and my brother and I were going to dress up and cheer people on, but being Cat and the Hat and a bumble bee just didn’t make much since so we didn’t dress up. But oh well! We were cheering people on and dancing to the music that was playing! So fun!

Today was the kids IronMan, but it is so short that it should be called the Kids Tin Foil Man, because it is a very wimpy race. It was a 200 swim, a 6 mile bike, and a 1 mile run.

The swim was fun! I started out going 3^rd (it was one person at a time into the pool) into the water, and came out 2^nd. The girl that went first was this amazingly fast swimmer, and she is ranked in the country with her 5:47 mile run time!! I could have caught her on the bike, buttttt, I got a flat tire!! We had to do the bike loop 3 times, and I thought that I heard air coming out of the tire, but there was no way I was going to stop in such a short race! So I didn’t know that I had a flat until I felt my tire at the finsh, and I was so mad because I totally could have caught Cece (the amazingly fast girl!), but you can only do what your equipment lets you do : ) . the run was ok, I am not sure of any of my splits, but I think I did okay on my run! It felt good, but I had a BAD cramp in my side, but I ran through it!

Over all I got like 7 out of all the 13-14 girls and boys! Pretty good huh?! For the girls I got second, and I was not happy about getting second, but I was happy…I really wanted first, but that stupid bike J !!

If any of you raced in the IronMan I would love to know how you did, or any funny or good stories that you have!!

Thanks for reading!

The Weekend

2009-11-01T17:06:00.000-08:00

Ughh, I can’t believe how fast this year us going by!!

Cross country season is officially over, and I am so sad! This years team was super fun!! I started out being so excited about getting an 8:47 for two miles, but now I can run it in 16:43.

Yesterday was Halloween, and I dressed up as a bumblebee! It was the warmest costume, and it was awesome because it was a little chilly down here in Florida! After my friends and I went trick or treating, we went to a haunted house, it was so fun! My group of friends had to split up into two groups, and my group went first. After we were done we had to walk through the woods, and we were just waiting to be scared again but we weren’t so we decided to hide behind a tree, and scare the rest of the group! They got scared, and they were mad, but it was totally worth it.

Before we went to the haunted house, all my friends went to the bathroom, and I of course went, but as we were leaving I hear “CHLOE, CHLOE”, in this (not scary) frantic voice. By this time of the night I was on a sugar high, and was just so giddy, that I walked out of the bathroom with toilet paper on my foot!! J! Luckily the town was dead, but I was just cracking up! Of course with my luck I couldn’t get the stupid toilet paper off, so I had to scrape my foot on the ground…ugghh it was very funny though!!

So next weekend is the kid’s Ironman, and it is the day after Ironman Florida!! I am so excited, because this is my first triathlon since New York. The race is super short. It is a 200 swim (short course), a 6 mile bike, and a 1 mile run. Can’t wait to see how I do. The winners bags are the best! Last year I got a pair of goggles, a towel, a IronMan watch, all in an IronMan bag. I guess the kids race gets all the leftovers, which is FINE with me.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

The Past Week

2009-09-19T05:55:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Sorry about not posting in, well, FOREEVER! I have been away from the blogging network for quite awhile, but I am back, and back to stay!

This week has been kind of eventful!

Monday I was supposed to have cross country practice, but it was thundering and lightening a lot, so he sent us home to run on our own! I got in a good three miles, but it started to rain just a little while I was finishing! After my run I went over to my friends house to help her make student council posters and stickers. I couldn’t stay for too long, because I just HAD to go to the New Mexican restraunt across the street. Luckily she and my other friend met me there! It was awesome! Free food, and talking!

Tuesday, in school we were supposed to go clean up the beach, and then have a robotics workday, but it unfortunately got cancelled due to the weather. But, it all worked out anyway, because now the 8^th graders get to have a robotics workday, and the 6^th and 7^th graders have to go clean up the beach! J

Wednesday, I had a cross-country meet. And I had the best 2 mile run in a long time! When I ran the meets in 6^th grade I ran it in a slow 25 minutes, but now I can run it in 18.47!!! I was so excited, but I called my mom before the meet to tell her that I was about to race, and stuff like that, and the one thing that she told me to do was to pick up my feet and don’t trip (it had been raining ALL day long!). of course, I didn’t trip while nobody was looking, but at the finish line, yes the finish line. Ok there is this tape, and it is raised off of the ground, to show you where to run. Somehow one of my legs went on the other side of the tape, and the I was trying to get to the finish line, and I had to rip the tape, and it was so embarrassing!

Thursday, my parents went out of town, and I got the best babysitter!! We have Made sandwiches, brownies, and all yummy stuff!

Friday, was fun! After school I went to a robotics program, and I am on the fundraising committee! We have to make 5,000 to 10,000 dollars! Then I went to swim practice, and getting out of the pool I hit my leg on the side, and now I have this huge bruise! Ughh I am such a klutz.

Saturday, today I am going to go to swim practice, and swim with a level lower than what I am in, because there is no pre-senior practice today! WOO HOO for hour and a half practice, and not 2 hours!!

Stomach Virus

2009-09-07T06:33:00.000-07:00

I feel like every time I post I am talking about something bad that has happened!

This post is no different.

This past week my brother got the stomach flu. It was awful for him, and even worse to be around (if you know what I mean)!

Anyway, my school has this robotics program, and we make a robot, and compete with other schools at a pub, and if we win 1^st,2^nd, or 3^rd than we get to go to regionals, we have made it to regionals every time, and I hope that we make it again! I was supposed to go to spend the night with my friend Leah, and then she was going to take me over to the kick off, but I had to go home in the middle of the night because I didn’t feel so hot. Fortunately nothing happened until later Saturday night!

Ugh, I am not going to go into great detail about what happened, but I think we all know that having the stomach virus. Sunday I was never awake for more than 3 hours at a time, and sleeping for at least an hour every time my head hit a pillow. Luckily my fever was dropping all day long, and today I am much better!

Ok I am done talking about bad things,

I just finished the book Ultramarathon Man. It is about a man who runs an amazing amount of miles! He has done 200 and 100-mile races (running)! If you have a chance to read this book definitely do! Not only is it an amazing book, but it is also really well written!

Have You Hurt Yourself Without Knowing?

2009-08-29T13:20:00.000-07:00

Have you hurt yourself so badly, but you don’t even know how?

Unfortunately I have.

A couple of days ago I was out waking my dogs, and I was running, trying to make them tired. Then I just stopped, and I rolled my ankle. I didn’t hurt myself at all. Just a little pain right after I did it.

Now I have always been a sleepwalker. I have done some crazy things, like one time I dreamt that my mom and dad got into a fight, and my dad came upstairs and told me to go sleep on the couch because he wanted my bed. I woke up on the couch the next morning! Another time I was on a school trip, and I got out of my bed and went into the bathroom to turn on the water, I have no idea why, but that is what my chaperone told me! When I sleepwalk I don’t remember doing it, but I just wake up in strange places. So anyway the other night I woke up on my floor my door, and I remember being in a ball think that my ankle was KILLING me. So I got up and walked to bed, witch killed my ankle! In the morning it was my turn to walk the dogs, and I could barley walk down the stairs, I came back from my walk absolutely crying my eyes out.

I sort of remember telling someone in my dream about walking the dogs and tripping, so what I think happened was that in my dream I was showing someone how I had hurt my ankle when I was walking the dogs, but this time I really hurt myself! Three days later my ankle is still throbbing. It’s to bad, because cross country season starts on Monday it looks like I will be sitting out the first practice!!

On a lighter note…

Not really though.

Yesterday when my dad and I were picking up my brother from school we were told that we couldn’t drive down the street because there was a Texas burglar with a gun, and the school was in lockdown. So we waited, and then they told us that they were loading the kids on busses escorted by armed police men to the high school ( about 5 or 6 miles away). We finally got my brother and headed home!

The bad thing is that they still haven’t caught the guy yet. I have the doors locked, and we aren’t allowed to go outside.

Has anyone hurt themselves while sleep walking!?

Last Day of Summer :(

2009-08-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

Today was the Sandestin triathlon, and I did a relay with my mom! My dad was supposed to do it, but his back went out this morning at 4:30, so he couldn’t race, isn’t that a total bummer!? But, my mom and i had an awesome time, I did the swim and she did the bike and run.

The swim was pretty tough, because there was a strong current pulling you sometimes I the right direction, and sometimes the wrong (depending which way you turned). The cool thing was that I could see the bottom of the ocean the whole entire time! Sometimes it freaks me out, and I just close my eyes when I am under water, but sometimes I like it, weird huh!? I think I came out 3^rd in the Relay/Clydesdale/Athena group. My time was 15 minutes flat for the half mile swim, it could have been better had I gone to swim practice more during the month of August. I think the two guys who beat me were collage swimmers. They had on their special fast skins, and I was in my super duper cute Splish suit on! I love Splish, because you can design your own bathing suit, or you can choose from their supper cute pre-made ones!

My mom did awesome on the bike and run, I don’t have much else to say, but she did do really well! She went an average of 20m/p/h/ on the bike, and had a super fast run! Her bike time was 57 minutes for a 20 mile ride, and her 4 mile run was 36 minutes pretty dar n fast huh?

We came in 2^nd overall for the women’s relay division! I was super excited! Too bad in the relay division the awards are only for the first place, but we had to leave early anyway so my dad could get to the chiropractors!

When I was waiting for my mom to come in from the bike I was watching other people come in, and also looking out for people that I knew. While I was waiting there i found a friend of my parents, and I was standing with him, he kept saying how he wanted the bike dismount line to be more narrow so that there would be more crashes, and it would be more interesting! How funny! So anyway, we were watching and waiting, and this man rode up on his bike, and then everyone heard this huge POP! If you could chose any time to have your tire blow out on the bike it would totally have to be the dismount line. Everyone sure got a kick out of that!

On a sad not, we had a friend that had an Awful AWFUL AWFUL crash, it was so bad that he doesn’t even know what happened. We all thought that he had a concussion, and he went to the hospital (unwillingly) and fortunately all he has is some MAD road rash! Unfortunately he was going to do Ironman Louisville, but we got an e-mail from him this morning, and he said that he was all drugged up so his road rash doesn’t hurt to badly, and he is still going to do Ironman! What a stud he is!

School starts tomorrow and I can’t wait. I am finally the oldest in my school, an 8^th grader! I am just super excited, AND I finally get a top locker. 6^th grade was the worst, I HATED the bottom lockers... yuck!

I hope that everyone is having a good weekend, and HAD :( a good summer! ”

To Clip or Not to Clip*

2009-08-17T16:43:00.000-07:00

Before New York I told my mom that after I did the race I wanted to try clip ins. I haven’t gotten them yet, but I would really like to try them out, but…

This morning my mom and dad went for a bike ride, and I think my mom changed her mind about letting me try them! She came back into the house this morning, and said “do you want to see why you can’t have clips?” I am just like my mom, and she is, well…very klutzy! So, should I wait for clips?

Anyway, I haven’t been running at all since the big triathlon. I know that it is awful especially since school starts in a week, and cross country season is right after school starts! At least we only have to run 2 miles in the meets, it sure beats 6 miles!

A couple of months ago I found an AWESOME blog! If any one needs some cheering up, or would just like to see some very creative things, this is definitely the blog for you! It is called Color Me Katie. Check it out if you have time! It isn’t really for triathlons or anything, but it ALWAYS puts a smile on my face.

Two days ago I was looking through Color Me Katie’s comments on her blog and she had a link to another cool site http://trailertreasureblog.com, Erin’s blog, and she she had a contest I entered. Guess what? I WON! I'm so excited!! How wonderful to get an e-mail saying that you won some cool things! Especially on a rainy Monday. Thanks Erin!!!!

Have a great last week of summer!

Here is a cute video, hope you enjoy!

JK Wedding Reception

An Olympic Experience

2009-08-08T14:01:00.000-07:00

I DID IT!!!! Nobody (at least in my

family) thought I could, and I

DID!! Oh, “it” is the NYC Triathlon Hip Hip Hooray! Ok, ok, it was on Sunday July 26, and it’s now August 6^th, I think,

but we are taking a very, very long road

trip home. Sorry for the delay, here’s the race report:

It was the longest distance I have done before, and to be honest I was kind of nervous, and so were my mom and dad, but I think my brother could have cared less! It was a little less than a mile swim, a 25 mile bike, and a 6 mile run, or in simpler words, an Olympic distance triathlon.

On Wednesday, July 22, my mom, dad, brother, my dogs and I piled in the car for the nice LONG trip! We dropped off the dogs with their real Mom, had lunch with a good good friend, Magda, and went toBirmingham, where we would spend the night with my mom’s parents, I love them, and there great big sweet German Shepherds. Then on Thursday it was off to Nashville to drop my mom and brother off at the regional swim meet. On to D.C. to spend the night with some friends, and it started lightning and thundering like a disco. To make the story short we got to NY safely, and then spent the night at my grandma’s house.

Now, really, the Race Report…

O n Sunday morning we woke up at 2:55, and I went to the bathroom (I was very happy about that so I wouldn’t have to go in a Porta-Potty—read about Atlanta if you want to see how important this is to me)! Then I ate some banana, and we were off. If you have never been on the street of NYC at 3:30 in the morning, it is VERY easy to get a taxi. 15 minutes later we were at my transition (my dad and I were separate), and the security man told us that transition opened at 4:30 not 4:00 so we would have to wait for a while. While waiting we met an 80 year old man who was doing the whole race, and he looked like he was only 60 and maybe even younger. I was so impressed and I hope that when I am 80 I can do triathlons!!

At the race start, we got body marked, and then we put our finisher bags into the truck. I kept having to go back to the truck, because at first I forgot to put my flip flops into the bag, and then I forgot to tie up the top, but luckily the volunteers did it for me! Then we went, and put on our wet suits, which I HATE doing, one because it hurts, and two because it is hard. We learned from the wetsuit instructions, that if you put a plastic bag on your foot, that the wetsuit just goes right on up your leg, or you can be like Big Chloe, and spray Pam all over yourself. Then in my corral for the swim start I met Regina Chiu (sorry about spelling!!) one of my blogging buddies. This is amazin

g because there are SO many people. NYC Tri is huge – 3700 people. But I was ok because it is so well organized. And that makes a difference so you don’t have to worry about anything.

I think that this race was the hardest swim start even though it was a wave start!! When you get down to the dock to swim in the Hudson, you jump in, and hold on to a rope, so you don’t get carried away by the strong strong current. I totally felt the current when I jumped in, and then this man ( my wave was 24 and under, and also relays) jumped almost on top of me. Then the horn sounded, and I was kicked and swam on top of, yuck, but I know it happens to all of us!

The swim was fine and not as bad as everyone joked it would be. Nothing yucky in the water at all! Then after the swim I had to run a MILE to transition, and I wish that it counted for the 6 mile run later, but unfortunately it didn’t.

My first transition time was SUPER slow, I had a time of like 7 minutes, and I have no idea why it was that slow, but oh well!

Then bike was cool – they closed down the highway for us. But for me 25 miles is a long way without music or just talking to someone, and I got really bored. And my foot kept falling asleep, and it really hurt! The

hills weren’t so bad (we have none to train on). And, every time I passed or got passed by a man I would hear a couple of bad words, and I don’t know if20it was because of my age or what, but I definitely wasn’t imagining those words). I saw my dad at mile 20, and he asked if I was ok, and I was, so he breezed past me like I wasn’t moving at all. I was super happy that it took him all the way til mile 20 to catch me even though he started like 10 minutes behind me, and I totally think that Heed helped me through the bike, it tastes better than any other sports drink, and I think it works better also!

My second transition was a whole lot better, it only took me like 1:45 to switch.

I was most worried about the run, but it was my favorite part. We went through Central Park and it was awesome. The first 1.5 miles people were cheering, and there were so many people! The whole run I felt like I was just breezing through it! Mile 4 was the hardest, because I knew that I was more that halfway through, but I still had 2 miles to go, and 1mile is ok, but TWO… Then the last mile there were people and people and people just cheering, and that helped so much! I finished with a time of 3:34.

This was the best race ever! I was in NYC, which is great and exciting, I did it all by myself, and I’m proud of my time.

I even got to be on the front page of the local papers’ sports section. here is the article if you are interested…. http://www.newsherald.com/sports/chloe-76396-mile-directed.html

Pretty cool, huh?! So sorry that it took me 2 ½ weeks to post this, but my family and I are on a m

ajor road trip, and we haven’t had Internet connection for the longest time, and I can’t post pictures until I get home ( hopefully will be home soon), so be sure to keep checking back!

Thanks for reading!

P.S. my mom had a Scott bike,and it was malfunctioning, so she got a brand new one for the price of....

NADA!! Crazy huh!? The Scott people just gave my mom the Scott Plasma! The brand new one! The deal is that if I can out bike her on my bike, then I get to get hers! Here is a picture...

Today I...

2009-07-13T09:07:00.000-07:00

Today I ran a marathon…

Well, really I ran 6 miles, but it FELT like 26.2!!! For me, 6 miles is pretty darn far! Daddy and I ran from our house all the way until Daddy’s Garmin said 6 miles, but Mama and Reis were nice enough to ride their bikes with us part of the way and bring us cold water. Then we went to breakfast because I was starving. I tried something new since this was far for me: we ran five minutes, then walked one (then repeated it over and over and over). I would pick out spot where I thought we would start to walk, just to keep my mind busy, and that definitely helped a lot!

So, why did I run so far (for me?) Because, in 2 weeks my Dad and I are traveling to New York, New York for the NYC Tri. It is an Olympic distance, and this will be the longest triathlon I will have ever done, and I am so excited! My mom is very, very worried, but I’m just excited. She and my brother will be at his swim meet in Nashville, so she’s worried because she knows I’ll be out there alone. I’ll be fine, I know I will!!

Saturday I did a one-mile swim. It was at Deer Point Lake in Panama City Beach, and my swim coach, brother, dad, friend from the swim team, and lots of my mom and dad’s training buddies did the swim. My time was 29 minutes, my brother was 31, and my Dad’s was 38. My friend from the swim team (Carlee) came in first over all! She did awesome! Mrs. Karen and Mr. Jim (Mom’s training buddies) also did awesome, and Coach Sarah, of course, did really well! My mom had no interest in swimming with us. I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t she want to swim in a dark, murky lake that is rumored to have lots of alligators?

I usually don’t care about the time or numbers (just finishing and knowing I did my best is good enough for me), but I just did the math, and my one-mile swim was exactly the same pace as my three-mile swim! I did a 29 (like I said before) for the mile, and a 1:45 for my three-mile which is EXACTLY the same. How weird is that!? So my mom thinks that I should have gone faster, but I totally felt like I was sprinting!

Let me know if you are doing the NYC Tri and how your training is going!!

Pictures From 4th Of July

2009-07-07T05:35:00.000-07:00

This time I did actually take the pictures! If you haven't read the post before please do... Thanks!

4th of July Race Report

2009-07-05T17:58:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a fun-filled July 4^th, with

fireworks and tons of watermelon!

I started out my day yesterday by waking up at 3:30 in the morning. What a fun way to start your July 4^th holiday huh!? My brother, Dad, and I all drove over to Mariana to do the Freedom Springs Triathlon. For those of you who haven’t done that race before the swim is FREEZING (it’s a spring) and there are tons of weeds! It is the middle of the summer, and I had to wear a wetsuit top, and there were people who were wearing full wetsuits it was so cold. So at the beginning of the tri we had a pre race meeting, and they told us that the men were going to start frst, and the women would be following 3 minutes after. I was really mad that we were doing a “wave” start (and we never had at this race before), because I really don’t like passing people, especially through the weeds, but oh well. So I think I was the 4^th woman out of the water, and I got to see my dad in the transition area. Oh the bike felt awesome, even though I got passed by all the men that I passed in the swim J Usually by the time I get to the run I get mad at myself for going too hard at the beginning, but this time I felt awesome, and I met this really nice lady who was fast, but I really needed that! My time at the end of a 400 yard siwm 10 mile bike, and a 3 mile run was a 1:18, and I beat my mom’s time from last year, and I droped 12 minuets from my race last year! I have met the nicest people at all these triathlons!

My dad also did the triathlon, and he dropped 10 minuets off his time from last year, wich is HUGE!! My brother did the little kids triathlon, and it was a 100 yard swim 3 mile bike 1 mile run! I think it is a little short, but perfect for kids 10 and under. I think his time was 21 minutes!!

Then we came home, went to Seaside for bar-b-q, came back and watched amazing fireworks at the beach.

What a fun day! I forgot to take pictures though (I know how boring blogs are with out pictures so here are some funny July 4^th pics)!!

Thanks for reading, and let me know if any of you guys are doing the NYC triathlon July 26^th! I would love to meet you!

Ok there aren’t any funny 4^th of July pictures so I have to post plain old boring fireworks, because a blog can’t go without pictures!

Pictures From IronGirl

2009-07-02T15:30:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! Here are some pics from the IronGirl race... Sorry it took so long!

Here is my mom and I! I look pretty bad... don't I!?

This is the woman that I gave my tire and tube to! She was so nice, and I'm glad that I could help her finish her first triathlon!!!

Here is my mom, and she made it through the swim (WHOOO HOOO)!!!

Here I am pretty sick, after the swim. :(

Here is my hungry horse. :0)

Thanks for reading......looking!

I am an IronGirl... Well not yet!

2009-06-30T10:26:00.000-07:00

Hello again! Sunday I had the Iron Girl race, just outside of Atlanta. Unfortunately I had a pretty bad race, but as my dad says “it happens to the best of us”.

The morning of the race I had a cookies and cream Luna bar for breakfast, and it wasn’t the best choice, because all of the sugar makes me kind of shaky L, and I hate being shaky! I know, I know, my parents tried to get me to eat more because this was a long race. But, I didn't.

So, I set up my transition, and then my mom and I went down to the porta-potties. On the way there I stubbed my toe, and boy did it hurt, but not as much as my tummy later (oops ruined the surprise)! My mom said that hopefully that was the worst thing that would happen today. I am so anti porta-potties that I didn’t go into them (and I should have)!!

Then we were on our way to the start. When we got down to the start I was SUPER shaky and my tummy hurt. My mom took me to the restroom (yeah, not a porta-potty) but no success, so went headed down to the start, and did a little warm-up swim which felt great. Then the pros went off to an Aflac quack -- cute, huh, since Aflac sponsors IronGirl -- and they were going pretty darn fast!! My mom went, and then I was standing in my wave. I was with Big Chloe and Lisa W. We started our wave, and I felt good on the swim, I’m pretty sure that my time was around 10 minutes, pretty good for a hurt tummy. My mom had her first swim in 2 years. She had 1 bad swim and hasn't wanted to swim since then, and I like swimming for her. But, she had a great swim - Go Mom!

I saw my mom in transition, then onto the bike… Yuck, was it awful (not the course, although the hills were tough). My stomach was a mess! I had to stop at mile 13, because my stomach was hurting so badly that I had to drop out. The weird thing is that Big Chloe also stopped at mile 13. Not because her tummy hurt, but because she got not one flat tire, but TWO. She also had a DNF, and I thought that was weird because both of the Chloe’s didn’t get to finish. But, some good came out of my 1st DNF: when the super-nice course officials picked me up to meet with my parents, and we saw a lady on the side of the road, and she had a flat tire L. I gave her my tire and tube, so she could finish the race because it was her first one. I hope that she had a fun first triathlon and congrats to her for finishing. This made me realize that eating right really does matter, that I need to use porta-potties, even if they are gross!

My brother and father did a great job of cheering us on. And my mom had a great race (WooHoo Mom).

And, Lake Lanier was a lot of fun, even though the race didn't go so well for me. When we first got to the resort my mom said that we could choose one thing to do, and I chose to go horseback riding. When my mom was younger she was an awesome horseback rider, and I wanted to go with the whole family. We had scheduled it for Sunday, and by later that day I felt somewhat better. I got a horse who loved to eat, and I mean LOVED to eat. I had some trouble at the beginning to get him under control because all he wanted to do was eat! My mom got a horse name Buck, and it would get mad if any other horse tried to pass or got to near to him while we were on the trail. My brother got a horse name Melody, and my dad got a horse name Eeore, and he liked to get really close to trees, and he has a reputation of trying to make people get off, and he LOVES the water. The guide that we were with said that his horse once ran into the water with a person on the back! I thought that was pretty funny!!

I’ll be back online, because I have a race on Saturday in Marianna. I'm going to try eating like my parents tell me to, and I'll let you know how it goes. I may even use a porta-potty ;-))

Please let me know if you are doing the Freedom Springs race! I would love to meet you!

Thanks for reading.

Birmingham Blast!

2009-06-20T17:57:00.001-07:00

Isn't this funny? This is from one of my favorite restaurants in B'ham, where I spent this past week. It's an old restaurant in a not wonderful part of town, but boy is it good. Anyway, this sign made me really laugh!!! Rollers? You've got to be kidding, right?!

So, about Birmingham, this past week I spent in B'ham with my mom’s entire side of the family. It's a yearly thing that I love. The younger boys went my uncle’s soccer camp at Birmingham-Southern, and the girls hung out, went swimming, and learned how to cook family recipes from my Aunt Marie. My nieces and cousins were so much fun. Ellie, Gabi, Macy and Kylie are the best! I drove my parents crazy talking about them all week. We had such an awesome time, and had some delicious food thanks to Aunt Marie and Mimi! One night when we went to dinner, I took a picture of the sign in the window. This restaurant is amazing (seafood and fresh veggies) but it must be old since this sign is crazy!

I also got to ride on my grandfather’s 3-wheel Harley (he collects motorcycles) and it was really fun! My mom even got to drive it. Maybe I will too one day.

My mom says I did great keeping in training while we were on vacation. I ran almost every day with her – hills and all. Too bad she slowed me down (just kidding Mama!). I hated getting up each day, but was SO happy to be finished before it was too hot. When I say hot, I mean hot too since it’s over 95 degrees now. And it’s also humid. Yuck. I don’t like to run too much, in case you can’t tell. But I really want to be able to do the New York City Triathlon

Today I did My First Tri at Eglin Air Force Base. It was awesome! We woke up at 5:00 this morning, so we wouldn’t be late. Of course we got lost! My mom said to go straight, and my dad turned. It was kind of funny, and we still had enough time to set up the transition area!

The race was a 200 yard swim, 8 mile bike, and a 2.3 mile run. When you do this race you don’t have to be a first timer, but it is an awesome race to start out on. The swim felt good, besides all the 45-50 year old men that were going crazy (the waves were set up really weird! It was 10-24 year old women with 45-50 year old men)! Then for the bike I thought that the wind was pretty hard going up the hills, but I got up to 25 miles per hour, which is pretty darn fast!! The run was ok, but that is my weakest part! I didn’t really like the run, but it is what it is.

I got first in my age group over all! Reis (my brother) got second in his age group. Olivia (my fried, and a first time triathlete) came in third in her age group. Can you believe that for her first tri ever? I hope she keeps doing them because I’d love to train with her. Big Chloe came in 3rd for the overall women, and Mrs. Karen came in second over all for the women! And today is Lisa W’s birthday! I hope she had a good birthday. Pretty awesome that we all got awards! And “Coach” Jim raced and is really, really fast (he’s our speedcoach even though we are out of town each week), but he is in a pretty darn tough age group!

Here are all the pictures of the week! (Pics of all the girl cousins will be posted soon -- once I get the photos from Aunt Talia!)

Have a great week, and check back for IronGirl Atlanta updates!

Chloe

Me and Reis at the start of My First Tri

"Big" Chloe and me (and no, we did NOT plan our outfits!)

Soccer Boys! (Reis, Ilan, and Jake)

Me & Papa on his trike. Cool, huh?

Girls Rule... well, almost

2009-06-16T10:21:00.000-07:00

I’m back for my race report! The annual Buster Britton Tri in B'ham is our chance for a family challenge.

This weekend my family (boys vs girls) raced, and the girls were so so so SO sure that we were going to win by a ton!! We didn’t win and to make it more infuriating, we lost by only 38 seconds. I’m thinking of all the things that take only 38 seconds (typing a sentence, blowing a bubble, tying a shoe, LOSING – uggghhhh! Man were we mad, but we all got over it pretty quickly because there’s always next year!

At the beginning of the race we were super pumped because it was really pretty outside, and there were blue skies. Then about 1 hour later these mean clouds started rolling in, but we thought it was nothing, and then we saw it… a strike of lightning. And we all know what that means: a delay. Then it started clearing up a little, so my brother and I raced, and I beat him by 45 seconds!!

Then next was the bike and I don’t have much to say about the bike, because my mom and my dad did the bike portion, but they both did awesome! My mom was nervous (it was POURING) and her computer didn’t work. She tried to fix it, but it was raining so hard and she was heading down a windy, wet, hilly road. So she gave up and just pedaled!

Now on to the run…

On my team we had Aly, and she is an AMAZING runner. She’s in school at Birmingham Southern and runs track, the 400 is her favorite, and pole-vaults. She completed the 5k in 20 minutes, and the boys had an amazing time of 23 minutes run by my mom’s brother, Jon. He’s older than her and lots faster ;-))
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I’ve been running this week, even though we are on vacation with my mom’s family. It’s real hilly here, but I ran 3 miles on a track 2 days ago. It was so boring, but I ran fast on the long sides and slowed down around the curves to make it more interesting (and get faster, hopefully). Today, I ran +/-2 miles with my mom. It was nice and cool, so it wasn’t bad, although the hills were endless! Can’t wait for the flat beach again.

And today is the most fun day yet – my Aunt Marie (AuntMariesCookies.blogspot.com) is teaching some of my grandmother’s recipes and some of hers.  She’s an amazing cook and I love to bake!  Especially with all 4 girl cousins -  FUN!

 Here are the real official results…

    1    60 Reis’ Team

  Jeff Gordon      Reis Gordon      Jon Goldfarb

 Swim 5:14 transition 1:27   bike 40:51 transition 0:46    run 23:24 over all 1:11:40

  2    59 Chocoholics

Chloe Gordon     Kim Gordon       Aly Goldfarb

Swim 4:39   transition 1:42    bike 44:07      transition 0:46

Run 20:50   over all 1:12:02

SUMMER (WOOT WOOT)

2009-06-10T11:02:00.000-07:00

Finally summer is here! Friday was my last day of school, but I skipped so I could hang out with my friend Michaela, because she was moving (a couple of days ago L). I had so much fun! I hope she has fun in South Africa, but I am going to miss her like crazy!!

Over the past Christmas my family went on a ski trip, and we met this family on a van from the airport up to the hotel, and we have become really good friends with them! They have two kids named Alex, who is 11, and Michael, who is 6. Yesterday was THE BEST day of summer yet!! I babysat them yesterday and we had a blast!! Crabbing, skimboarding, bodyboarding... and the gulf was perfect!

Two days ago wasn't the best day of summer… I went to swim practice from 7 until 9, and then I went to breakfast with my brother and dad. That was probably the most interesting part of the day! J !!!! After I got home I watched a little T.V. and ate a little, and then I started to get bored. I thought maybe the first real day of summer would be SUPER exciting and fun, but right now school doesn’t seem so bad! Anyway, I {accidentally} told my mom that I was bored, and that made her pretty mad. “Walk the dogs” she said, “ Fold the towels, make a summer menu, and work on your blog” she said/yelled.

Next week I am going to be going up to Birmingham to see all of my mom’s side of the family! I can’t wait to see all of my cousins (ALL 7 OF THEM), uncles and Aunts, and my grandparent! AND my mom, my mom's cousin, and me vs. my dad, my brother, and my uncle in the Buster Britton Tri this weekend! It is going to be AWESOME!! And the girls will rule!

Today I went to swim practice, and it was so so so much fun! It was recovery day, even though I didn't have much to recover from. Anyway, we had 11 people in my lane (long course), and everybody except one person chose a set that equaled 400 meters! Man, it was awesome! My set was 50 meters of freestyle drill, 25 meters of tiger tumble (3 strokes of freestyle then a flip turn in the middle of the pool), and then sprint freestyle 25 meters (4 times through). It was really fun! Then after swim practice I went for a run, and I was all pumped because I just got new inserts for my shoes. I wanted to go really fast for 2 miles, but I got some mean blisters instead...ooooh do they hurt!!

Here are some of my pictures of the week…

My bro and I.

Reis and Alex
Alex
And last but not least the photographer Mr. Michael!! (only 6 and taking GREAT pictures)
All the fish we caught yesterday!

Thanks for reading!

Me and My Week

2009-05-23T13:02:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! I have had exams ( the year end stuff) all week! And you know what that means… NO COMPUTER. All I heard was study this study that, I hope all that had work pays off!

So lets see…

Well, today is definitely the most boring day of the week! It is rainy and gross, and no going outside. I had my last school dance last night, and I was really tired this morning. I was crossing my fingers that I wouldn’t have swim practice today, and I guess I crossed them a little too much (heehee). I think we will be stuck inside all day!!!!!

On Thursday I had a Yolo Board race! It was so so, so much fun. I got a little drunk!! on vitamin water of course!!! My mom said that I was asking CRAZY, and I was talking non-stop! She may be right since I had 2 of the big bottles, and 1 cute little baby bottle! I love vitamin water so much! I think the orange-orange one and the strawberry kiwi ones are the best! If you haven’t tried them before, GO FOR IT!!

Back to the race, when we got there it looked liked it was about to rain, but it held off until I started my leg in the relay J. So I warmed up, and I was doing fine, but had a little bit of trouble turning. I was there because Big Chloe is out of town. Miss you, but thanks!!! Our relay team consisted of Lisa Purell, an amazing adventure racer, triathlete, runner, and person! Kelly, who I have heard is an amazing trainer (mommy wants me to learn how to run better with her). And last but not least Tracy, who is an awesome Yolo boarder, and has the 2 cutest kids ever!! While Mrs. Lisa was coming in from her amazing part in the race, the youngest girl who is five said “go Lisa, the games are over, it is time to race”. I thought that was really funny coming from a five year old! So after Mrs. Lisa came back, Mrs. Kelly was off, she was really, really fast! Up next – me. I helped catch us up to fourth place WOOT WOOT! At the turn, I did a sharp turn, and that is where I caught up. Then it started raining, and that was cool! Mrs. Tracy went after me, and we got FITH over all! Pretty darn good huh! I also want to congratulate my friend Alex for doing awesome in the race! Ok that’s all for now!

I have to work on my History project (it is on Guam, and if you know anything about it please help! J ) and study for math!!

Have a good weekend.

3 Mile Bridge Swim

2009-05-17T09:00:00.001-07:00

Hi guys! I survived the 3-mile bridge swim. It was in Pensacola, and it was awesome! I woke up at 3 in the morning, which was WAY WAY too early, but I suffered through it. My dad drove me there, and we had to take a pit stop to… Whataburger. My dad got an unsweet tea and some fries, but I held my self back so I wouldn’t puke in the water.

When we got to Pensacola we found the bridge ok, but since there are 2 sides of the bridge we didn’t know what side the start was on so we went to the nearest side, and no one was there except this guy sleeping in his car (I was really jealous!!). We decided that it was the wrong side so we crossed the road to the other side of the near side of the bridge (if that makes any sense at all). We saw other people in bathing suits, and we asked them which side of the bridge that start was, and they said the other side. So we got back into the car and drove to the other side of the bridge. Then we got the kayak off the top of the car. After we did that we went to the check in thing, and we got my packet and shirt. Then we went to body marking and the guy said right thigh, and because it was 4:30 in the morning I turned around and gave him my left ankleJ. Embarrassing huh!?!

So on to the race. I got into the line with some of my swim team friends, and we were at the end of it, and then we saw Coach Karen at the front of the line so we went to “talk” to her. As they were checking our numbers we were told by a lifeguard that there were rocks and to be careful, and me being the klutz of the group got cut on the bottom of my foot. It doesn’t look bad, but boy does it feel awful! Anyway, we got into the water and we were floating around then out of the blue I here “take your mark… BEEEP”. So we are off. I felt good at the beginning and then at about the mile mark I just got bored! I turned around to see if there was a green and yellow kayak (my dad was in that one) and there was! So I started talking to my dad a little bit, but he just wanted me to swim, so finally I found someone to pace myself off of. I made to 2.8 and couldn’t see the finish, and I was mad! I kept asking my dad where the finish line was, and I don’t think he knew because all he said was follow the person in front of you. And that was that. I finally saw the finish, and I swam fast and kicked hard, and my time was….1 hour and 45 minutes for a 3 mile swim! WOOT WOOT! I think that is pretty good, but I have never done that swim before, so we shall see what I do next year!

Well I am going to go yolo boarding in a lake today, and then after that I am going to go shopping with a friend, which will be very fun, and I can’t wait, but the master of the house (mommy) said that I have to clean my room…YUCK! Ok, so that’s it for now… oh wait here are some pictures!

thanks for reading

What Happeneds When You Do Triathlons

2009-05-15T14:32:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Most of you know that I have recently started doing triathlons. And since I got my parents to do triathlons, they have also just started. But, the coolest thing about this is that my Dad has changed from an old fat dude who loved to eat A LOT to a lean, mean triathlon machine, AKA, the biggest loser (HAHA I just called my daddy a loser)! This is what happens when you do triathlons:

BEFORE

AFTER

Anyway, I have a three mile swim tomorrow, so be sure to check back soon for my race report.

3 People, 3 Races, 2 Days

2009-05-10T13:56:00.000-07:00

These are some of the people on my swim team that did the race.

My friend Kristin and Me

Me on the podium! I won first place (woot woot)

Reis (my brother) on the podium...he won second.

3 people, 3 races, 2 days!

First of all, as most of you know The Gulf Coast Triathlon in Panama City was this weekend. My Dad did the WHOLE thing by himself! He did awesome on the swim! He beat his New Orleans swim time, and his bike time! On his run he didn’t do as well, but it was like 90 degrees outside! We were even hot just watching, but had fun volunteering at the swim and in transition. Daddy had a tough run because his legs started to cramp, and he just… fell over when he tried to take a rock out of his shoe! (He never got the rock out.) When he was finishing his face was really really white, so my mom was kinda worried, and he got an IV, and was a hundred times better.

A bunch of friends also did the race and they all did awesome. Congrats to you all!!

Also this weekend my brother and I did a race! I did a 200 yard swim a 6 mile bike, and a 1-mile run. My brother did half that distance. Think I did pretty well on the swim, I felt awesome on the bike, and I definitely need to work on my run, but I still did awesome! I know you are wondering what place I got…. I got FIRST in the 13-14 girls! My friend Kristin came in third over all for the 13-14 girls, and it was only her first one. I am super proud of her. My brother came in 2^nd in the 9-10 boys division.

Besides the main things that happened this weekend, there were also some other exciting things!

First, when we were waiting for my dad to finish the swim, we were cheering everybody on. We met this man standing next to us, Mr. Priest, and we started chatting. He was saying that he was waiting for his wife, and she has one AMAZING story!!! First of all she used to be 321 pounds…321!! Now, she is only 150 something. My mom asked Mr. Priest how she got so heavy, and then how she got so skinny. He said that she just sat on the couch and ate chips and cookies and too much food, and that he’s a really good cook. Then he said that one day she just decided to start biking, so he bought her a Wal-mart bike… and now she’s a healthy weight and averages 23 miles per hour on a new bike!!!! That story is just so inspirational to me!! Then as I was leaving the race, I saw some of my friends and I was cheering them on, and Mr. Priest came up to me and said that his wife had beaten 6 of the pros!!!!!!! I am so so so impressed!! If you are interested her name is Deborah Priest from Atlanta, Georgia, and this summer she is doing a bike across the country in 10 days. I think biking across the country sounds awesome, but I think I would like to take my time. Mr. Priest also had a bunch of fun triathlon quotes, but the one I like the best was “when a person puts on a wet suit they turn into superman”. I really liked that one. He also said that everyone has a story why they are doing triathlons, from losing weight, to to trying to become pro.

OK so that’s it for now. I have to go study for math, and/or watch TV! Happy Mothers Day!!

Nose News

2009-05-02T14:24:00.000-07:00

The Team!

Me, in my first 800

Little Bro in his favorite stroke

Hi! Sorry I haven’t written in a long…long time! School, sports, and I have come down with a bad case of…no, not swine flu…a common cold. (Cough cough sniff sniff). It is downright awful! I am so tired, and I am blowing constantly, yuck! At least when you read this you can’t hear my voice, well almost no one can hear my voice, but you know what I mean!

Last weekend I had my first long course swim meet of the season. Thanks goodness I wasn’t sick then! One time I was sick during a swim meet, like my face was green and everything, but surprisingly I got all best times! Weird, huh?! Anyway, I am not the fastest swimmer, I might have an amazing time sometimes, but I found out at this meet that my brother is REALLY fast! He had nine swims, and in all of them he got nine SES (Southeastern sections) cuts! SES is a big swim meet, where people from all over the south try to make a special time to compete against other fast people! It is kind of like a smaller version of the Olympics, with finals and all! I personally have never gotten an SES cut, so I’ll stick with my open water swims.

I have a triathlon coming up this weekend! I am very excited, and I hope I feel better so I can compete! Last year I won first in the 11-12 division, and I was actually competing against people! This year I will be in the 13-14 group, but last year I came in 2^nd for the girls overall so we will have to see how that goes! The distances are really really super short, the swim is a 200 yards swim, snaking the pool, then you do a 6-mile bike twice, and then a surprisingly short run of only a mile!! I like doing this distance and competing with people my age, but I also like the longer ones and competing with adults. I surehope I feel better!!!

My dad is doing the Gulf Coast 1/2 Ironman that same weekend, and I hope he does well! I signed up to do the swim, but they told me I was too young. That stinks, don’t you think? But I do understand (last year we saw a man die, so I really, really understand – but still!) So, I’m looking forward to volunteering with my swim team. The nicest thing about this race is that we don’t have to travel anywhere, we just have to drive about 20 minutes!

Ok well I am going to blow my nose… again!

Thanks for reading!

Back from Break

2009-04-25T14:24:00.000-07:00

I have now officially gotten back into the groove of school… and swimming! But as you can tell from my pictures... I’m still thinking about spring break from last week.

Me on a YOLO - fun!!

littlebro on a YOLO! I'm way better than him.

me and littlebro in the air. yes, this is really us!

At least this week at school was full of fun school excitement. I got a bad grade on my test, I had a golf practice, a tennis practice, swim practice, and this weekend a swim meet!

Well, about the bad grade…I am in 8^th grade math, and I am in 7^th grade. Anyway, I was out of town for the 70.3 NOLA Half Iron Man, and in math it is hard when you get behind in math, and of course I did! So I am not going to tell you what I got on my test, but I will tell you that we had to make a poster or a PowerPoint , and I chose a poster, and my little project was on forest fires in the Amazon Rainforest (this was in math for Earth Day), and I made a 100 on it… WOO HOOO!!

On to golf practice!

Everyone knows that when you play golf you have to be quiet right!? Well, I won’t mention names, but there are a few people who are on the golf team who like to talk…loudly! Even though I like to talk I don’t get in trouble during golf! So one of the girls was there early, and she was doing her homework outside, and she sat down, and being In Florida there are lots of frogs, sat on a frog! She screamed soooooooo loud, and on the golf course too!!!!

Ok about tennis, I am #1 girl on the team, and we have two coaches. So for the last practice the coaches picked teams, and we had a little competition. I had to play against the best guy on the team, let me tell you, that kid is so so so good it is scary! Well we played a pro match. Meaning you go to 8 games instead of 6! I was very proud of my self, because I only lost 6-8!

And the swim meet! I am in the middle of it so I will post more tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by!

2009-04-19T13:04:00.000-07:00

This weekend I had a little shock. As you al know I have recently taken up golf! It is awesome, and I have been to the closest course 3 times during this spring break.

So, the story: when I am in our car, I usually look out the window! Well, we were driving down the road to play golf, and on hole 3 there is a lake, and I thought it was man made. Well. ( I didn’t see tiger or the shark… but pretty close!) I saw a huge alligator. So I said, “Mama I think there is an alligator!” but the course was about to close so we had to go straight to the driving range. She didn't believe me, anyway. So on the way back I was looking out my window again, and saw it again! So I told my mom to pull over, so she did, and it WAS an alligator. We turned the car around, and went back to the driving range. So my little brother and I went inside, and told the pros about the gator. We asked them if they knew about it (they did). All they asked was if it was on the green (it wasn’t), so they went back to watching the masters! Only in Florida would it not matter if there was an alligator on the golf course! If that happened in New York, there would be a huge commotion over it, the radio, the news, magazines, and so much more!

Well I went to play golf with a friend yesterday, and we were a’ driving, and I was looking out my window again, and then I saw TWO of the yep, you read that right TWO!! They were huge! One of them was at least 10 feet long! It was pretty awesome -- but only because they were on the OTHER side of the lake ;-))

Ok now for triathlon updates… yesterday I went to morning swim practice, and it was awesome! Then after swim practice we changed the lane lines to short course, so the water polo people could play, and, no, they didn’t help! It makes me so mad that we have to change the lane lines for the water polo-ers, and they don’t even help! Ok enough ranting and raving! So after that littlebro and I went for a little bike ride around the place that we swim. There is a little loop so I went around that 3 times (it sounds far, but it is only like 1.45 miles J). Then after that "big" Chloe and I ran about 1.5 miles! Kind of like a mini triathlon…set up perfectly for me! 5,000 yard swim, 1.45-mile bike, and a 1.5 mile run…ahhh perfect!

Today, I ran 30 minutes, with a lot of stops with Mama and littlebro. Not as much fun! Thank goodness it's back to school tomorrow. Sitting all day long. Joy

parasailing..

2009-04-17T05:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was AWESOME!! We finally went parasailing!! We got to the same tiki hut as we did 2 days ago, and this time we waited to leave AFTER we parasailed!

So we got there, and we stood by a tiki hut for about 2 minutes. Then this guy came up, and he was really really tan, and when I say really really tan I mean, REALLY REALLY tan!! We paid for our deluxe package (meaning three dips into the ocean), and then we walked over to this thing called a banana boat! We got our life jackets, and then got onto the boat! Reis ( my brother) sat facing the ocean, and I sat I was riding a bull… I think the banana boat ride was scarier than the actual parasailing!

Ok so the banana boat took us out like 500 yards, and then we hopped on a little boat (a real one) and these two (rude) men gave us harasses, and Reis and I put them on. Then one of the men said come over here so we did as we were told, and then he said sit down, so we did, and then PHOOOSH we were up in the air, and the only instructions he gave us were to not touch the silver thing!

Ok, if you ever get the chance to parasail… DO IT!! I thought it would be scary, but it was actually very peaceful! The only scary part was when we were getting dipped, because we were afraid of the cold!! Reis tried to spit on the jet-skiers underneath us! Of course a boy would do that… but I am guilty of tring it… once only though!

Ok I have to go volunteer now!

My question that no-one in my family knows… if you know let me know!

Q- Why is the letter “W” called double-u if if looks more like VV than UU?!

A- Unknown!!!

2009-04-15T05:21:00.000-07:00

Ahh..Spring Break! I love this break, you don’t have to wake up early to go to school, and you have no homework!! I just love that sentence. NO HOMEWORK!! But unfortunately my math teacher doesn’t like that sentence too much! Hahaha sorry Mrs. Martin you aren’t that bad!!

Anyway yesterday my parents had a surprise yesterday planned for my brother and me! And the best part was when we were got to the secret destination it was STILL a surprise!! So we were in a parking lot in front of the beach, an my mom said what are you waiting for! So my brother and I hopped out of the car hoping for something good! So we got down to the beach, and we didn’t see anything. Then my mom said stay right here I don’t want to blow the surprise. So of course the first thing that my brother does is run over to the little tiki hut to find out what he CAN find out! No one was in the tiki hut so we left, with out a surprise except that we don’t get our surprise today L! The ocean was really rough! It as we were driving down the beach the only flags that we saw were the double red flags L! Too rough for what ever we were doing, so we hopped back int o the car, and my brother was dying to know what we were going to do so my mom asked my if I wanted to know, ad I said no! so then like 5 minutes later my brother asked again, and I still didn’t want to know, but my mom being the un-secret keeper that she is, of course had to tell us! I am kind of glad that she told us though.. are you ready to know…. PARASAILING!! I am sooooo excited!!

If you don’t know what parasailing is it is that little (big) thing where there is a boat in front of you, and you are attached to a harness, and it lifts you up into the sky like you are flying, and then it pulls you down like waist deep into the water, then I pulls you back up again!! Totally awesome!

that isn't me!?! :)

After the surprise thing we went to go get lunch! MMMMM is was so so so yummy, I got Chicken Parmesan!! So yummy!

Then after that we went to the shopping place, and we went to this place called Lazer Craze. It is like the part in Get Smart when they had to dodge all of the lasers! I won out of my family with an amazing score of 165. Something!! Awesome time!! After that we went into Target to return some things, and then we went to pay taxes, but I fell asleep, boring ride, boring destination!!

Then I went to swim practice! It was pretty hard, because there was a storm Monday, so we had to skip practice, so coach added like 1,000 yards to the practice! We ended up doing this set where you do 500 yards at 85%, then a 50 yard rest, the another 500 yards at 90% then a 100 rest, and last but not least 500 yards at 95% then a 200 rest. That was towards the end of practice so we did stuff before it too, and then after that we did 24 25 yards SPRINT!! Oh well I felt good after practice, and that’s all that matters… right J!!!I kind of ran into the lane line a couple of time, but that’s fine it happens to everyone…. I think!!

Favorite New Orleans Photos

2009-04-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

My 1st 70.3 swim exit: 1.2 miles of murky slime. Yum!

Our training group (part of them!) at the finish

Lisa, Chloe (thx for the photos), Kent, Mommy, Daddy, Missy and me in front

Team Mommy and Me! The first of many finishes

The Funnies of Today

2009-04-13T05:03:00.000-07:00

I needed this yesterday.

here is another cute one!

this is a really cute sign!

2009-04-13T04:31:00.000-07:00

Ok, I’m back again. This is so much fun, you know, blogging and all! I go to sleep thinking about blogging, wake up thinking about what to put on my blog, and blog thinking about what I am writing.

Maybe I am a little obsessed, but that is how everyone feels when they try something new…right?

Anyway, a couple of days ago, I started trying out for the golf team at my school. I had to buy the golf clubs by myself, because my mom said that I am trying to many sports. And I quote “ It’s fine though, you just have to buy them yourself so that you say to yourself that you need to go play”. I just hope I make the team.

If you are wondering (cause I would be) what sports I play here tbey are…

Cross Country (beginning of the school year)
Swim Team (all year)
I Tried Softball (it didn’t work out)
Tennis Team (now)
Golf (end of the year)
TRIATHLONS!!!

So I guess it doesn’t seem like to many things, but it does when you are playing 2 sports at a time!!

2009-04-12T17:32:00.000-07:00

Hi there, I'm 13 and do lots of triathlons. I go to a school ON the beach. Yep, I live on the beach, play on the beach and goto school on the beach. How lucky am I?!

About my triathlons: I did a relay at New Orleans 70.3. I swam, my mom biked and ran. I was the 5th girl out of the water in my division. My mom's slow, so we came in 19th overall for the women's relay. Not too bad for our first time though.

Yesterday, I ran a 5K and got my fastest time of 28 minutes. Not sure if I placed, but I was very happy! I'm not the best runner, but my parents tell me if I run more I'll get faster. Maybe ;-))

Gotta go walk the dogs, Bye!