Ironman Muncie 70.3

Well, I did it.

I completed my first half Ironman on July 7th in Muncie.

On a record-setting day of heat.  In fact, it was so hot that the Ironman committee made the call to shorten the course due to the extreme temperatures.  (the shortened distance was 1 mile swim, 30 mile bike, 10K - or 6 miles - run)


Which is the first time in it's 30-year history that the Ironman has had to do this.  Sure, they cancelled races due to inclement whether such as lightening and thunderstorms.  But never have they had to shorten a race due to such extreme heat.  AND, these races are held all over the world....so they know how far they can push it when it comes to heat and humidity.

At first I was disheartened.  Then I became pissed.  I didn't go through all these months of training just to complete a gloried Olympic distance triathlon.  I wanted the chance to endure the pain, the strength, the mental toughness it takes to complete 70.3 miles.

But you know what?  During the run-portion of my race, after running only one mile.  I wasn't so pissed. 

Have you ever swam a mile, biked 30 miles, then run in 105-degree heat, with a heat index of 115 and a humidity level in 90 percentile?!?

Pardon my French, but that shit's hard. 

Do I still want to complete my 70.3 miles?  Heck yeah, I do.  And will I?  No doubt about it!  But am I disappointed that - after all these months, all the blood, sweat, and tears I endured - I wasn't given the chance to do so?

Absolutely not.

Because you know what?

I became an athlete.  I put my body and mind through a test that not many can do.  I dove deep within myself.  When I wanted to give up, when I wanted to sleep in, when I wanted to spend more time at home, when I wanted to watch TV or when I wanted to go out with friends.  I didn't.

I trained. 

And I trained hard.

And I can't wait to do it all over again.

Yes, I know this is gross.
But in a sick and strange way, I've never been more proud of a blister in my life.
You know the saying "Power through the pain?"
Well I did, baby.

Fourth of July

Wow, the 4th of July came and went faster than a firecracker!

Because here I am, on July 31, almost a whole month later, and I've yet to blog about it.

Shameful.

Aaaanywho, the 4th seems to be a fun holiday for me, purely from a decoration/DIY/crafty point-of-view. Because, quite frankly, I'm not a fan of the actual fireworks part. I decorate my house from top to bottom in red, white, and blue decor. I make festive t-shirts for the kids. I even make tasty treats to celebrate our nation's independence. But hearing fireworks go off at all times of the night - continuously - for 2 weeks straight?

Ughh.

Annoying.

What is it, about this holiday, where our nation's finest feel it's perfectly acceptable to light their money on fire? But yet, they can't fathom paying the grocery bill to feed their children's hungry bellies?!?

Whatever. That's a separate issue. This post is about my crazy crafting skillz and to flaunt the adorableness of my kids.

I need to work on my photography skills. Here's a shot of the kid's bathroom.
I LOVE decorating the bathrooms for the holidays!

My crazy, awesome, fun, obnoxious, loud, but always CUTE kids!
With homemade tees by mom, of course.

Thanks to Andy, Emma now makes ridiculous faces whenever I ask her to smile for the camera.
Drewbie's obeying.  Can't you tell that he's saying "Cheeeese."

Painting Emma's flag tee.

Here's the USA "template" I made myself, for Drewbie's tee.

A healthy alternative to a banana split:
strawberry Greek yogurt smeared over a banana, dipped in sprinkles (or chocolate chips) 

Independence Day Punch

My Doo-Doo.
Undoubtedly the cutest little man.
In my world, at least!

Symphony on the Prairie

Seeing as this is our 3rd or 4th year in a row, we seem to have started a tradition of attending Symphony on the Prairie every summer. This year was the music of Queen, and I'll be honest. I wasn't thrilled about going this year. I'm not really a fan of rock music....let along rock music from decades ago. I'm more of your typical Top 20's/Pop type-of-a-gal....with music from the 90's being my favorite. Put on some Salt-N-Pepa sprinkled with a little Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony, topped with Mariah's Dreamlover and I'm all set!

But I digress....

Despite my lack of initial enthusiasm, I sucked it up and headed out to Conner Prairie on a hot and sticky night.

And I'm happy to report that I'm glad I went! The show was really good and the singer was amazing. Even though I'm no expert, the guy who was covering Freddie Mercury (his name is Brody Dolyniuk) was uh-maze-ing. Vocally speaking, he really was a dead-ringer for him! If it wasn't for all the 60-something adults in the audience, you'd think it was him and we were back in 1972!

M.I.B.

Missing. In. Blogging.


Get it?!? GET IT?!?

My blogging take on M.I.A.

God, I'm crack myself up.

Things have been a liiiiiiiiiiittle hectic lately, to put it lightly. Turns out, being a full-time working mom [with a demanding job], training for a 1/2 Ironman, dealing with the death of a close high school friend, planning a fabulous baby shower, going on vacation, all while doing it by myself for 2 out of the last 3 weeks while the hubs is traveling for business....takes a toll on one!

So needless to say, blogging hasn't quite made the priority list.

But I'm back.

And boy, do I have a lot to update you on!

Let's just ease back into this thing niiiiiiiiiiiiice and slow though, whaddayasay? One post at a time.

OBX Vacation 2012

Well, another Swickheimer Family OBX Vacation has come and gone.  And like the previous two, this week went by all too fast!  Aside from getting a rough start - along with the usual family drama - it was a fun, relaxing, and much-needed vacation.  The kids had a wonderful time, which is the most important thing, and I got a glorious tan (2nd most important thing)!

So what was the rough start, you ask?  Well, some jacka$$ rear-ended us while sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the bridge to Corrolla. Aaaand, my bike was on the back of our Pilot.  My beautiful, worth-more-than-most-cars bike.  (Aside from my family) I haven't been attached to something so strongly since my blankie, back in 1982.  This bike means the WORLD to me.  Not only does it represent all the hard work I've put forth for my race happening in 2 weeks, but most importantly it represents a friendship that I've created with my dear friend Kelly.  To most, it sounds silly.  But that bike represents a love and passion that I discoved within myself - something I never imagined possible - and Kelly introduced me to it all.  So the fact that somebody so carelessly could have potentially crushed all that passion, blood, sweat, tears, emotion......well.  I wasn't going to let them get by without hearing (and seeing) a piece of my mind!

Miraciously, though - by the grace of God, indeed - no damage was done at all. To my bike or the car.  But that didn't stop me from becoming a crazy-lunatic for about 5 minutes.  I whipped open my car door, through a handful of profanities at the IDIOT driver who rear-ended us, examinded by bike inside-and-out, then threw some more profantities at him just to ensure he understood what I was trying to communicate to him.

Jacka$$.

I still get heated thinking about him.

Aaaaaaaanyway.  I digress.

It was a wonderful vacation, and we had perfect weather to compliment it all.  Can't wait for our next vacation!

In honor of vacation, I did a "beach nails" design on Emma!

Letting the waves crash into us on the first night we arrived.

My babies. Love 'em.

Soul surfing

Check out the crab we found. He lost a leg, which fortunately for us, was the only way I was able to take this picture. Normally, those little guys are faster than Usain Bolt.

Drewbert.
How can you NOT love him?!?

Family pic, Day 1

Beach Belly Surfing.
It's amazing the things that kids find, to make their own fun.

The annual "Emma buried in sand" picture

Dubie livin' it up in the sand!

Precious moment with my two men

Uncle Matt made Drew-Drew a hole to get "buried" in

If there's a truck or car or boat around, Dubie's playing with it!



Picture moment atop the sand dunds at Jockey Ridge State Park



That's the "kid crew" up there.
L to R: Brian's friend Olarec, Brennan, Emma, Brian

Changing out her earrings for the first time. She couldn't WAIT to get some "vacation earrings."

And there they are. Some flip flops, which was doubley appropriate.
Our house was called "Flip Floppin"

The Swickheimers never disapppoint when it comes to meal time.
As seen here, with the oh-so-delicious Cheesy Pototoes.
That we devoured.
The recipe said that it serves 9, with 2 days of left-overs.
We ate all of it in 9 minutes, 2 seconds.

Family pic, Day 7

Goodbye, Kid's Kastle

Emma ended her preschool "career" earlier this month. It was bittersweet, for sure. More sweet for me, though, knowing what's in store for her (and Drew) this summer.

Because of Andy's new position, he no longer has the summers off. But it was still important for us to have our kids do "summer stuff," so we hired a nanny! As a first-year teacher, Kelly is super-eager to do all sorts of summer activities with Emma and Drew. She has plans to take them to different activities in the park, visits to the zoo, to the library, and of course, to the pool!

But before those adventures began, Emma had to say goodbye to her friends, teachers, and aides at Kids Kastle. And thanks to Pinterest, I found some fo the cutest gifts to thank them for their love, guidance, and education.

Left: Letter 'N' made out of crayons, for Miss Nancy.
Right: Cup filled with lemonade packets for Emma's favorite "aide," Miss Lauren.

Memorial Day Weekend 2012

Well it was disgustingly HOT this past weekend, almost breaking some records on the heat index. Glad I wasn't at the track!........while Andy and his friends brave that feat every year, I have no desire to ever sit on a hot-as-hell bleacher, in direct sunlight, watching a bunch of Indiana's finest act like buffoons, with the sound of race cars whizzing by.

No Thank you.

Instead, the kids and I headed up to my dad's river cottage for the day/night. I always forget how far "out there" it is. And by "out there" I mean OUT THERE. No paved roads, no cell service, no Starbucks, no running water, no electricity.

Juuuuuuuuuuuuust kidding.

We enjoyed ourselves, kayaking twice down the river. Drew was even able to come along on the first trip. And overall, I'd say he enjoyed it. He just didn't like the "taking off" part. Emma, Drew, and I were in a 2-person kayak (with the kids being smaller, this fit them perfectly) and my dad was in another single-man kayak. Drew wasn't a fan of seeing Papa in another boat.........he either didn't like Papa being that far away from him, or he thought that Papa was leaving him. Either way, he didn't like it when we first started taking off, seeing Papa in a different boat from us. But he quickly calmed down and was fine for the rest of the ride. (I can't say that Missy Lucille didn't ask "Are we there yet." a few times during our excursion, though.......)

So this is a little small, ya think?!?
There wasn't a life jacket small enough for Drew, so I squeezed his tiny, little-man body into this one-piece floaty from last year.

He looks like a little wrestler, doesn't he?

Such a helper she was!
After her 2nd trip down the river, she fell asleep at the paddle.