Week in Review 3/7/10 - 3/13/10

Monday:  4 mile run, 30 minutes yoga
Tuesday:  6 mile run
Thursday:  6 mile run
Friday:  6 mile run

Total Miles:  22

Spring has sprung!  Spring, sprang, sprung!  I don't even know if those are correct words but it is so nice to have some new weather vocabulary instead of winter, snow, grey, and gloom.  I had to modify my schedule and could only run 4 days but I didn't mind.  I had some nice trips to the bike path with Abby and Gina and even resumed walking Mia around the block.  I wasn't crazy about the free yoga class on YogaToday last week so I opted out.  As soon as I heard her say "Arm Balancing" I knew I was in trouble.  I have a hard enough time balancing on my legs so I just didn't even go there.

So Saturday and Sunday were the Lake Erie USA swimming Gold champs at Cleveland State.  There are about 120 swimming events from Friday - Sunday for kids ages 10 to whatever.  In the open age category I saw entries from people in their 30s, 40s and 50s.  Gina swam on Saturday and Sunday.  She swam in 4 relays and 3 individual events.

Here is how it went down.  Up at 5:30 am, left the house at 6:30am.  Arrived at Cleveland State around 7:05.  Pre-meet and warm-ups lasted until 8:50am.  During this time there is nothing for a parent to do but sit, talk, read.  The pool area is super bright, super loud with 100s of kids swimming warm-ups, music is blasting, the announcer is announcing meetings and information, coaches are yelling and blowing whistles.  I am usually mentally exhausted by the time the meet starts!  Once things get going it is fun to watch all the kids we have known swim their events - but it still seems to take forever!  Gina swam 2 relays and her 50 Free on Saturday.  We left at 2 pm and got home at 2:30.  She wore the new FastSkin suit and did alright.  She was disappointed.  Sunday was basically a repeat but it was SO dark when we left the house.  We listened to Juanes (her favorite Spanish singer) in the car.  I almost fell asleep at a red light!  She swam 2 relays and 2 individuals.  Did not get the time she hoped for but we talked it out and all is well.  I had to be a timer on Sunday afternoon which squeezed the last bit of activity from my nervous system.  I don't really like being that close to the pool, surrounded by excited kids screaming in my ear; starting and stopping the stopwatch and the timing mat plunger, writing down the time before they start the next heat.  It was nutty (for lack of a better word!) I ache from sitting on those concrete bleachers and standing on the pool deck for so many hours on end. When we got home at 3:30 on Sunday we both became giant lumps on the furniture covered by blankets.

For Gina one of the highlights was making a new friend who is on her team but practices at another pool.  She is blind and relies on our head coach, Charlie, to call to her in the water or tap her on the head with a big long pole thing when she approaches the wall.  Every time she swam the entire place erupted in applause.  How cool is that. 

Abby is not sure if track starts today or Friday so we sent her with running clothes and fingers crossed.  She really needs some good running with friends to offset some of the crud that goes on in middle school.  Friday we met 3 of her friends at the bike path so they could run together.  We are hoping to do lots of that this summer.

God Bless Jerry for getting in his long run on Friday night and then holding down the house while I was at the swim meet all weekend.  You cannot live this kind of a lifestyle without lots of teamwork.

I think we did some pretty nice eating this week!  On Sunday we made burgers - I did actually buy real beef burgers and then made soy burgers as well.  I'll be darned if no one wanted the beef burger.  Poor Jerry had to take them for his lunch several days in a row.  I know now that I can stop offering that option.  After that it was tofu stir-fry with lots of veggies and noodles; pasta bake with zucchini and eggplant; pierogies and broccoli salad; pasta salad and one night of leftovers.  I like throwing in a "leftover night" every now and then just to make people appreciate a good, warm fresh meal.  It works every time!