Behold the Triathlete!

Bear with me because this is going to be long. I'm writing like I'm making a journal entry. Ok, so now I am going to boast a bit. I conquered my fear and did the triathlon! It was this last weekend, so we headed up to Portland for the whole weekend. It was originally going to be my friend and I coming up and my sister staying the night with me so I could get plenty of rest, but that fell through so my family ended up coming up. I was stressing big time that I wouldn't get the rest I needed, but Adam and the kids stepped up to the plate so I could rest and relax. It was amazing how good the kids were. After checking in, we went to the park that the race was to be at to just check it out. It was a Blue Lake Park in Fairview and was a really big, cool park. Tons of play areas for the kids and areas for bbqs. After that we headed to a Italian joint so that I could carboload. Got to bed at a decent time but didn't sleep so well and then I was up at 5:45am to get ready. We got the kids up early and headed over to the park and got there around 7am. My race started at 8. I got set up, and tried to prepare myself. My friend Abby did it too, so we got ready and walked over to the swim area. The first wave of swimmers went, and we were in the second wave 5 min after the first. We got in and i thought "There's no going back now!" And we were off. The swim was the most difficult for me. It was a half mile swim, but the farther I went, the more energy I got. After getting out, I went to the transition area and got ready for my bike ride. It was a 12 mile ride and my wonderful brother Chris let me borrow his racing bike, so that helped a ton. The bike was the best part. I had a perma smile thinking "this is so much fun!" the whole time I was riding. Got done with that, and got ready for the run. The run was a 5K, so 3.1 miles. My legs felt like jello at first, so I went pretty slow at first, but then after the 2nd mile, I dug out some more energy and was able to run the whole time. I really didn't think I would be able to.
I finished 7th in my division which was ladies 150 lbs and heavier and under 39. There were 18 of us. I did my swim in 22 min 30 sec, the bike in 43 min 55 sec, and the run in 31 min and 46 sec. My total time was 1:45:01, including my transition times. I was pretty dang proud of myself because I did way better than I thought I was going to and I'm pumped to do another one next year, maybe a harder one. It was hard but very fulfilling.
I was exhausted after we left and tried to take a nap back at the hotel, but of course your mind isn't as tired as your body, so that was a bust. After naps, we headed to the Troutdale outlet malls and shopped a little, and then met my friends Scott and Joanne for dinner. After Scott almost took out Emma(I forgive you Scott) and after dinner, they came back to our hotel, and we hung out so the girls could swim, then went back to our room and Scott and Adam got distracted by boxing, and I was like " I really love hanging out with you guys, but I gotta go to bed! So basically you need to leave now!" I was so freakin exhausted! Yeah me and thanks to my fans who came to support me. Thanks sista and my family. Love you guys. It helped to have the support.
The whale being beached. Oh wait, that is just me after my swim!
Coming in from the bike portion.
The gated transition area where we got changed and got ready for each event.
Heading out on my run. Don't look too tired just yet.
My friend Abby and I with our biggest fans after the race.

Zoo fun!

We finally went to the Portland Zoo this last weekend while we were up there. I lived up there for a year and never have been. I find that funny. Oh well.
It was pretty fun. The day started out cold and cloudy, and eventually burned off in the afternoon and warmed up. We saw lions, and tigers, and bears, Oh my! Actually, we didn't see any lions, but we saw a ton of cool animals from all over the world. The kid's favorite thing was an elephant that was painting. The handler would shoot paint into it's trunk, and then the elephant would spray it out on a canvas. The handler would then give it a brush and it would paint on the canvas. That was pretty neat. The zoo was featuring dinosaurs, so we bought the extra package to go on the Dinosaur path, a ride on a dinosaur thrill ride, and the train ride around the park. The thrill ride was a simulated 3D adventure, which was pretty jerky and the picture was blurry. I went on with Emma and she got freaked out with our seats jerking around, so we waved our hands and the operator turned off our seats. So that was pretty lame just sitting there still and watching a terrible 3D movie. Adam went on with Natalie and she started freaking out when T-Rex came on, but he made her experience it all. She seemed to handle it better than Emma. It was a lot of walking, with cranky, whiny kids but we do it for them, right?


The train ride around the park.
Us and T-Rex. He was moving and roaring so loud. Just as we went under him, there was a thunderous roar.
Garrett catching a thrilling ride on the snail? I don't really know what it was.
The petting zoo. You could only pet goats so that was lame. And they just stayed on these barrels for kids to pet them. That was a riot.
The girls loving the Dinos!