Image(s): FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Over the years, I have slipped into and out of formal training plans depending on my running goals.

I trained for two marathons by following Hal Higdon’s plans; I’ve trained for numerous halfs and shorter races by using a variety of plans or making up my own based on my current level and goals.

When it comes to speed, I always need some type of motivational push, because even though I love speed training, it’s not something I will do if I don’t have a set plan in place. I won’t wake up one morning and think, hey, let’s run fartleks today! If I want to try to get faster, I have to make a conscious effort to follow some type of plan for speed. Otherwise I slip back and stay in my 9:30 range.

I’m not in a formal training plan right now. Instead, I’m running four days a week, but with no emphasis on speed or, really, distance. I am not even wearing my Garmin, though I do know the distance around the neighborhood so I know how far I am going when I go. I’m not working toward any goal – to go faster or go farther – so I really don’t pay much attention to how far I go or how fast.

However, I have another friend who is not training for any major race yet who still follows a training plan to stay motivated and in shape. While she may not do all of what the plan entails, if she’s thinking she may want to eventually do a 10K she’ll loosely follow a 10K plan. In the past, she’s followed part of a half marathon training plan just to remain motivated while increasing her mileage. She didn’t do a race, but she wanted an incentive, a push, to get her out the door.

When I’m not formally training, it seems I always drop back into the same pace and run for about the same distance: 9:30 for 4 miles. I don’t go much farther, unless I include a long run for the week (which I haven’t been doing lately to give my body a rest) and I never run faster than that unless I’m really pushing it. So I wondered today as I did my yoga if I should sometimes pick up a formal training plan even if I’m not training for a particular race. Would it make me a better runner? Help me pick up my speed a bit?

When I’m not training, though, I enjoy the easy runs. The shorter runs. The runs when I can kind of lose myself in my head instead of checking my watch on a constant basis.

I know many of you are always training for something, whether it’s a long or short race, a PR for time, or another type of event, like triathlons or cycling.

Which makes me wonder this: Are you always following some type of training plan, or do you reserve plans for specific races and spend the rest of your time, when you aren’t training, doing the daydream running I am in right now?

Image: rakratchada torsap / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I believe one of the best pieces of advice another mother gave to me long ago, which had nothing to do with the usual stuff (breastfeed or don’t, time out or not, co-sleep or no way) was to feed my daughter what my husband and I were eating.

When her son was young, she got into a habit of making him an entirely separate meal. She did this because she felt he wouldn’t eat what they were eating, particularly if it had any type of flavor or spice. (I have to admit, I did skip out on flavoring for a while. We ate food as bland as white walls. Funny thing is, I then read about children in India who grow up on spiced foods and I realized I probably should have fed my kids the same exact meal – as long as it wasn’t fire hot, of course.)

When my friend’s son got a bit older, he refused to eat anything that wasn’t a chicken nugget by-product or buttered noodles. No vegetables, no fresh chicken, no fish. No protein, other than the fake kind. Mac and cheese, but only from a box. That is, until he was 7, when my girlfriend had enough of making two meals and fought hard for months to change his poor eating habits. (Trust me: this fight resulted in many tears, his AND hers!)

I saw the same thing happen with another friend. Unfortunately, the habit has not been broken and her kids continue to eat what they want for dinner, which often results in a load-up of carbs (ie: buttered noodles slathered with cheese) but minus a veggie and protein.

I don’t have perfect kid-eaters, and I don’t claim to have all the answers. We still struggle with certain food habits in our home, and while I’d like to say my kids nosh on fresh fruit and natural foods all the time, we don’t. But early on we established rules about food – in particular, rules about dinner. The following four have been my biggies, and I honestly believe they have been the best way to get my kids to eat healthfully – or at least to try new foods.

First, my kids eat what we eat. I don’t cook a separate meal, though if I’m doing something spicy I may leave the sauce off until the end so the girls can eat their food plain. Otherwise, if I make meatloaf, we all eat it. If I make fish, we all eat it. If I make chicken picata, we all eat it.

Second, they have to eat vegetables with dinner. Period. I’ve heard, “But I don’t liiiiiiiike it,” or, “Can I just eat a bite?” so many times my ears twitch when I see the girls revving up to say it again, but my answer is always the same: You have to eat the veggies I cook. This means my children have been munching on artichokes, a household favorite, and brussel sprouts, my 7 year olds favorite, since they could chew. When I put a veggie down in front of them, it’s not a foreign object (though that doesn’t mean they love them all!). Both girls even like salad, and I love having them eat raw vegetables without complaint.

Third, they have to try everything on their plate. Every single time. Their taste buds change over time – sometimes from week to week! What they hated last week, they might like this week; but I -and they – won’t know this until they give it a try. I always ask my kids to take at least one or two bites of each item we’re having for dinner. Sometimes, they even surprise themselves!

Fourth, special treats are just that – Special Treats. We don’t eat sweets after every meal, or on a daily basis. Special treats come once or twice a week in the form of a cookie, a white pretzel (yogurt pretzels, which my kids have had as special treats for as long as they could stand and still think of them as dessert!), or ice cream on movie night. Every other night, if they finish their dinner and get hungry before bed they can eat fruit: bananas, apples, peaches, strawberries, grapes, etc . . .

If Your Child is Still Young . . .

If you are the parent of young children, start now by serving them what you eat. Otherwise, you’ll help in creating a picky eater. Think of it this way: if you lived on pasta and red sauce, you’d miss a variety of nutrients and minerals important for growth and health. Kids are the same. A diet of frozen chicken nuggets and buttered noodles will come to no good. Teach your children about healthful foods as soon as they begin eating solids. Serve fresh chicken (you can always dip them in bread crumbs & saute them in olive oil to make ‘frozen nuggets’), steamed vegetables, fresh fruit, and whole grains from the start. The earlier you start, the better your chances of avoiding a fussy eater.

What if your child is used to eating a separate meal and you are now ready to break that habit? Or you’ve tried to turn your fussy eater into one that is not so, well, fussy?

Randy Wright, author of  “The Wright Choice:  Your Family’s Prescription For Healthy Eating, Modern Fitness and Saving Money,” suggests offering one new vegetable (or food) per week into the current eating plan. So this means if your child is stuck in an “I’ll only eat green bean” phase, offer carrots one night. Ask them to taste the carrots. Serve them again with a leftover meal. Ask them to taste the carrots again. Says Wright, “Slow introduction of new food is much more helpful to getting them to eat their veggies.”

Ask your children to help around the kitchen at mealtime. When I am making foods with which my kids can help prepare, they are much more likely to be excited about the meal when it’s time to eat than they are if they’ve been doing something else while I cooked. We love making lasagna together; the kids layer the veggies and meat on the noodles and cover them with cheese and sauce. They are proud of the creation and more likely to eat it when they assisted.

Let them choose recipes. This is for kids five or so and older, but we have a variety of kid and mom cookbooks (and I have a ton of adult cookbooks). Plus, I subscribe to a few cooking magazines (can you tell I love to cook and eat!?). I have my kids go through and choose meals. Then, we shop for the ingredients and make the meals together. This gives them a sense of pride, and they are more likely to try new foods when they are proud of their work.

Wright also says, “Teach kids about food and they will learn healthy habits early in life.” In our house, we often talk about what different types of foods do: carbs provide short term energy and are good when you are running and playing a lot; proteins provide the ‘filling’ stuff so you aren’t hungry an hour later; fruits and veggies are great for vitamins and minerals.My daughters will try to guess which item on the plate is a carb or protein.

Grow a garden. This has been a big one in our family. We’ve put in a small garden the past three years. We let the girls pick out the seeds and plant them. We check on the garden every few days; and we eat what grows. They’ve tasted and enjoyed new vegetables, like zucchini, that they really didn’t want to eat when I bought it from the store. While it might be too late to put in a summer garden now, you can begin to think about next year.

Getting your child to eat new foods goes beyond putting the new food in front of them and telling them to eat. Will they do it this way? Probably. Will it be a struggle? Most likely. That’s not to say that getting them involved in talking about, preparing, and eating new foods is an easy task or goes without a fight. It’s not easy to change habits. Still, it can be done, and the sooner the better.

How do you get your kids to eat healthy meals?

Sometimes in running, you need to do speed work; and sometimes, you need to rest. The same is true in life.

Sometimes you need to go out there and do a zillion and one things, and then sometimes you need to take a step back, breathe, regroup.

For a runner, a marathoner, a triathlete, or any type of athlete, these often go hand in hand.As you gear up for a race, you go harder and harder and harder; after the race, you might stop, reflect, recuperate. Get a massage. Go for wine with friends. You slow down not only in training, but in life as well. Give your body a chance to get ready for the next high-energy task at hand.

I’m in the rest mode right now. Not because I just raced. I mean, it’s been months since I’ve raced. Nearly a year! I’ve trained for a few races, but my body reminds me time and again, when training gets heated, that I’m not really cut out for this right now. For whatever reason, I need to slow down. Take a breather. Take care of myself.

I’m getting better about reading the cues: not sleeping well at night, bad headaches, muscle aches, a tendency to over-think everything. Getting as cranky as a toddler with no nap.

So I’ve taken a step back. I’ve dropped my weekly running miles and cut out the bike for a few weeks. I’ve ramped up the yoga and meditation to get my body back to where it needs to be. I’ve simply, well, stalled.

The problem is, I have always been a full force person. A go out and do it kind of girl. My biggest regret ever would be to wake up one morning and realize I hadn’t done absolutely every single thing I could do, I wanted to do. So I go out and do, do, do. I think that’s part of my love for distance running. I go, go, go until I stop.

When I was younger, I did, did, did until  I collapsed, which was the only way I wound up in rest mode. Same went with running. I’d go so hard I’d overdue, then get injured, then have to take a break. Rest came because it had to, not because it was time.

I’m trying to get better about stopping before the collapse. I’m proud of myself right now for understanding I need to cut back some miles, sleep a little more, chill a little more.

I miss the craziness of training full force, though. I miss my twelve to fifteen mile bike ride on Tuesday. Miss my early morning Saturday long run. Long for the excitement a good anticipated race brings.

Taking it easy is hard. I read about people doing these great rides and runs, and though my body says no, my mind says, TAKE ME! I WANT TO GO, TOO!

Maybe it’s good to know when to slow down, but it is still unwelcome as the uncle who belches the entire ABC song at your fortieth birthday party.

What are your clues that it’s time to take a breather? And when you hear them, do you listen?

Image: Clare Bloomfield / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

As many parents know, obesity in children has hit an epic high. Statistics from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention show 12.5 million children between the ages of 2 and 19 are considered obese. Think of it this way:

1 out of 3 children is considered obese by his or her 5th (FIFTH!) birthday.

One third! Imagine three small children in the same room, and guess what? One is likely at a very unhealthy weight.

Obesity affects children much like it affects adults; but remember, their bodies are much smaller and not yet completely grown, so they are putting stresses on their small bodies that are still trying to grow and form into a healthy adult body.

Obese children are more likely to:

• suffer high blood pressure
• have high cholesterol counts
• fight breathing problems, such as asthma
• become diagnosed with type-2 diabetes
• become obese adults

Sadly, in one particular study, 70% of obese children had one risk factor for cardiovascular disease, such as high blood pressure and cholesterol; 39% had two or more.

The numbers to me are staggering, and yet they continue to grow. Obesity has tripled in children since the ’80s.

What is behind this increase? Why are our children struggling with weight? Fighting problems like type-2 diabetes?

I have my own thoughts on this, which I’ll be exploring in the next few months as we talk about keeping our children healthy; but to start off the discussions, I wanted to share this information I recently received about a study conducted by Poll Position.

Poll Position asked over 1,100 adults this question:

‘Do you think childhood obesity is a disease, or is it caused by poor parenting, poor food choices, or both?’

Thirty four percent responded with this: poor parenting and poor food choices.

I’m not sure what ‘poor parenting’ constitutes. Does it mean parents who allow kids to eat whatever they want whenever they want? Is it parents who make one ‘unhealthy’ meal for kids and another meal for adults? Is it someone who takes a child out to a fast food restaurant for fries and a burger most nights of the week? To me, these are poor parenting choices, but it’s one thing to say poor choices and another altogether to say poor parenting.

I see signs of children not understanding nutrition and healthy food and exercise on a nearly daily basis. At a recent field trip, the leader of the class asked how many of the 2nd graders drank a lot of soda; many of the kids in the class raised their hands, and my heart fell. To me, soda is a junk food that should never be introduced to children. (But I won’t go on THAT rampage right now; I’ll save it for later!) These kids love it, of course; it’s loaded with sugar! (Not to mention caffeine, which a seven year old really doesn’t need.)

Do the kids understand how bad soda is for their bodies? Probably not. Should they understand this? Of course!

Where does this start? At home. 

But I don’t believe it is always poor parenting. I do feel many parents don’t really know much about nutrition, health and fitness in children.

Should they? Of course! We need to get it out there. (Which is the reason for this series!)

For instance, I had a conversation with someone I consider a good mom. She takes care of her children, she’s loving, she’s responsible. She told me she believed one type of food was healthy because it was baked; what she didn’t realize was the food, which is purchased in the freezer section, is first fried at the factory and then frozen. The only baking that gets done is the heating up before it heads to the table. When I told her this, she was shocked. To me, it was basic food knowledge.

Was that an example of poor parenting? Not in my opinion. That’s an example of not understanding the basic concepts of food: what is healthy, what is not. The need for protein, the need for breakfast.

Another example: I know several kids who don’t eat breakfast in the morning. Breakfast! Study after study shows the benefits of eating breakfast, and how important that meal is (the most important of the day!) You haven’t eaten for eight, ten hours . . . you need to eat! Yet these kids go to school and then don’t eat until lunch. What’s that, twelve, fourteen hours later?

In the next few months I’ll be discussing a variety of topics as they pertain to children, food, nutrition, fitness and obesity and health in kids. I hope you will join the discussions and give your feedback, starting today:

Do you think obesity in children is a disease? Is it caused by poor parenting, poor food choices, or a combination of the two? Or is it caused by something entirely different?

And if we say that the obesity epidemic in children IS caused by poor parenting, what do we mean by this?

I drove to the gym and had a great run on the dreadmill while watching HGTV, followed by a great stretching session on the mats (something I normally don’t take time to do) and a cool shower in the gym’s bathroom. I was stoked, because, for once, I’d remembered my conditioner.

All was looking great. I grabbed the girls from childcare to start our girl’s day of fun. On the agenda:

1. Public library
2. Lunch
3. Mall and smelly good stuff at The Body Shop
4. Movie night with pizza for dinner
5. Ice Cream
6. Sleepover

Problem is, we didn’t make it past number one.

By the time we were walking out of the gym, I was feeling ‘off.’ I wasn’t sure what it was, but guessed it was low blood sugar. If I don’t eat every few hours, I get shaky. And freakish. And just plain bitchalicious.

So I grabbed a few handfuls of almonds and an apple from our lunchbox and ate.

Next clue something just wasn’t right: the food felt like it was stuck in my throat, like it had gone in as a solid lump and couldn’t go down.

By the time we got to the library, I felt even worse off, but still not sure what was happening. I sat down and stood up and sat down, moving from place to place. I got a wet paper towel from the bathroom and mopped my head, which felt too light. I stood and got dizzy, so I sat back down again, this time, much to the horror of a nearby patron, next to a trash can, over which I hung my head.

I told the girls to find books FAST! because we had to get home.

But we didn’t make it past the checkout stand.

I raced to the public bathroom in the library, which, I have to say, I typically try to avoid, and vomited back up the almonds and apple in the same state I had swallowed them. (Meaning chunky. And thick.)

I drove home slowly, crawled into bed, and remained there for two days.

I felt tired and a bit, well, squishy, until today.

I headed to the store (albeit in my jammies) for the fixings to make some Tom Ka Gai.

I ate the soup a few days prior during a business lunch, and I fell instantly and madly in love. The base is coconut milk and chicken stock – need I say more?! I headed to the WD (that’s southern talk for Winn Dixie) where I couldn’t find several key ingredients, including lemon grass. But I got some chicken and mushrooms and improvised with grated lemon peel and squirts of lemon juice instead.

I ate two bowls for lunch today, which goes to say something, since I hadn’t eaten more than a few small bowl of noodles and white rice with butter since Saturday’s vomit fest.

Yum, yum. (The soup, not the vomit.)

Here’s the recipe I used. This is Just. Plain. Yummy. I went sans veggies but strong on coconut milk.

Best thing? Kids loved it, too, which is great since it’s healthy and easy to make (about twenty minutes top).

Training this week: Nil to none. Obviously no running today, and I don’t think I’ll go out again until Thursday.  I’m feeling better, but I also want to stay this way.

So much for ‘training.’

At least I have yummy Thai soup to eat!

Bon appetite!

Some days I go to the beach and cruise close enough to the ocean to taste the salt on my tongue.

Other days I head to the country. I love taking the back roads. There is something about being away from people and in the middle of the country that makes me fall in love with cycling over and over again.

I never dread exercise, but I think that’s because my mindset isn’t that I have to go the fastest or the farthest; it’s that I can get out there and be a part of something bigger than me. To me, that is living life. To me, that is when you really experience all there is out there.

Of course, that could also be my excuse for never pushing myself to the extreme. Could I get down to an 8 minute mile while running? Possibly. A 20 mph speed on my bike? I guess it’s probable. Are those my goals? Not really. I find when I push myself too hard, I forget to stop and enjoy the ride (or run!) and find myself dreading the journey.

Someone once said Life isn’t about the destination, it’s about the journey, and for me that goes for exercise, too. Crossing a finish line is extraordinary, don’t get me wrong; but if I don’t enjoy the miles that comes before that yellow tape, I’m not likely to do it again.

So while I can’t package the scents of jasmine and fresh air and the sea, I can take along my camera and snap photographs along the way. (And yes, this does slow me down, I know! But, it’s so much fun.)

Here, a pictorial of my last long cycle through the south in the springtime. (Click on the photos for a larger, clearer view!)

This bridge begins my ride. Some days, blue herons sit on the bank.

I always stop here for a minute and watch the horses. Yes, not good when watching my pace, but who the heck cares?! They are beautiful!

LOVE this two lane back country southern road! Especially the little auto shop, which is really a shack, with a junk yard in the back, and the trailer, which seems to be plopped down in the middle of a field where someone has decided to live. I always wonder about those people.

Only in the south can you get guns AND shrimp at the same time!

View coming in. Some days the water is high, and some days it’s not there at all. When it’s gone, the racoons play in the mud.

Final ride, about 12 1/2 miles of quiet country streets.

What motivates YOU?

A second grader told me it was real easy, and he gave me step by step instructions that included things like

• get a screwdriver
• take off the tire
• put on the new tube
• pump it up

Super easy, he said with a shrug. He does it all the time.

I considered hiring him for the job, but I thought:

1. That would be strange, and
2. I really need to learn to do this on my own

So I gathered together my requisite ‘tire changing items’

And my laptop, tuned to this video from Schwinn

I got everything set out in my driveway and turned on the video.

I watched it about fifteen times, attempting but failing to find the rear wheel release lever to get the back tire off.

I asked my Twitter friends for help, of course

Then I You Tubed another video, and, again, spent a few minutes attempting to figure out where the rear wheel release lever might be.

I was confused

Then my husband came home, and he looked.

He told me the bad news: My bike doesn’t have a rear wheel release lever. Then he got out this

And showed me how to get off the wheel.

Yay for hubby!

We deflated the tube, put on the new inner tube and got the tire back on the bike before realizing I’d purchased a tire with a presta valve. And, of course, we didn’t have an adapter.

Luckily, my neighbor did.

Today I took the bike for a spin and the tire held up, so apparently I did it right.

My suggestion to those of you learning to change a bike tire? First . . .

1. Check first to see if your bike has a rear wheel release lever, which makes the process much easier. Plus, you don’t have to carry tools on your long rides, which is what I’m going to need to do now in case of a flat while I’m twelve miles out. And
2. If you get a tube with a presta valve, purchase the $1 adapter so you can use your regular bike pump

Then, check out this video from Schwinn that shows how to change bike tires.

1. Kids on vacation
2. Swimming
3. Smoothies

The Magic Bullet has been working overtime in our house for the past month, since the temps crept up past 70. In the winter I have a tendency to drink too much coffee throughout the day (I think to warm up the bones!), but in the summer I replace a midday coffee jolt with something blended.

Yesterday I tested out a new recipe: Kale Banana. Now, before you comment, it was totally magically yummy and sweet and smooth! My youngest took one look at the green concoction and threatened to move to Australia if I made her drink it. But after I sipped and said Yum multiple times, she broke down and asked for a sip; and then she smiled and said, “Wow, this isn’t horrible!” Then she proceeded to drink most of it.

Once thing I’ve noticed with my kids: If I put something in the blender and mix it with a little honey, they’ll drink it.

Smoothies are a great way to get fresh, uncooked, raw veggies and fruits into our kids’ (and our!) bodies. While I tend to drink my smoothies after a long run or cycle, you don’t need to be in training for a triathlon to benefit from what these foods can do for you.

And if you make them sound as though they are a special treat, your kids are going to want to drink them, too. Rather than have a bowl of ice cream in the middle of a hot day, my kids and I will blend up smoothies and put fresh fruit slices on the side.

Here are a few of our favorite recipes:

Kale Banana
Handful of kale (about a cup per serving)
Half a banana
Milk to cover about half of your ice
Plain nonfat yogurt to cover the rest of the ice
Several squeezes of honey

Orange Dreamsicle
Freshly squeezed OJ or, if you’re on the run most of the time like me, about a cup of Orange Juice
Plain yogurt
A tablespoon of vanilla
honey

Pina Coloda
About a cup of pineapple chunks
About 1/2 cup of coconut milk or coconut water
Plain yogurt to cover ice
honey

Wild Berry
Mix of favorite berries
1/2 cup lowfat milk
1/2 cup plain yogurt
honey

We also experiment a lot with smoothies. I’ll put out a variety of fresh fruits, like blueberries, strawberries, bananas and blackberries, and let the girls make their own. Since they have different tastes, I use my Magic Bullet and make one smoothie at a time.

What are your favorites?

Italy. Wow. What can I say? Beautiful accents, incredible sites and several nights of more than ten hours of sleep.

You see, once you have kids you don’t sleep more than a few hours at a time. Ever.

By the third day, my husband was afraid I was sick. I told him No, I just needed to catch up for not really sleeping much these past almost eight years.

While I didn’t run in Rome, I did snap pictures of a runner heading down the Tiber. So I was associated with working out even if I wasn’t technically working out. That counts, right? Look at what a beautiful run we I he had:

We did a lot of walking, so I counted that as my form of cardio for the five days.

But mostly I ate. Salami and cheese and tomatoes. A lot of tomatoes. Pasta. Pizza. Gelato.

Did I say I loved Italy? Just look at this smile on my face:

We saw all the traditional spots – Vatican, Forum, Colosseum – along with some great cafes and ristorantes and book stores off the beaten path. We drank a little vino (Italian, of course) and learned a few new Italian words.

I got into the culture so much I told my husband this summer when I’m home with the kids we’ll be learning Italian.

I threw a coin in Trevi Fountain, so we have to return. Knowing the language will come in handy.

The trip was great, and restorative, and it left me with a new perspective on life, because that’s what travel does: it shows you how big it all is, and how little it all is at the same time. And how much is still out there ready for me to explore. My creative juices began to flow. I thought of a new movie script to write, a new business idea, a few new article topics.

I thought about training, and where I want to go from here.

Which leads me toTri Time!

Once home, I got back on the workout wagon. I’ve done several runs and tomorrow I cycle. I have about six weeks until my first tri of the year and I think I’m ready. I could probably do the Olympic but I’m not making any decisions until I’m only a few weeks out. I’ve learned since having children and dealing with work and trying to accommodate, well, life and all that goes with it, that it’s best if I go with the flow and make plans not too far out in advance.

I have to start speed work, too. You know, later. First I’m going to eat some jelly beans. And think of Italy:

Colosseum

Trevi Fountain

What are your fitness goals for the next month?

He’s a cute dog.

A crazy dog.

A dog with so much energy, I can’t run with him.

He wants to tear around the neighborhood at top speed. To run him, I have to leash him, get on my bike and let him drag me. And he will do this for over a mile, running as fast as his furry legs will carry him.

When I run, he sits in the dirt spot he’s made in the front yard, waiting. And waiting. And waiting. He sits for forty minutes on my 4 mile loop; 60 for my hour.

Some days I do shorter loops, and everytime I round the corner I spot him seated just where I left him. Waiting for me to come home.

If I’m continuing my run, he barks as I go past. I figure he’s cheering me on, shouting in dog language, “Go mommy! Run!”

Although it’s likely he’s saying, “Milk bone! Milk bone!”

When I finish up, he sprints around the yard at his top speed, around and around the track he’s created: through the bushes, around the garden and back again. Once, twice, three times, depending on how excited he is (which generally correlates to how long I’ve been gone).

He is my biggest cheerleader.

Although sometimes I wonder if he’s internally thinking, “I could smoke my mommy! See! Look how fast I can run!”

Maybe one day he can be my pacer.

But he has to drop back in speed a bit before I’ll take that one on.

Just look at my boy go!

In racing new I’ve decided to do my first tri of the season in May. I am planning to do a sprint size at the Jekyll Island Turtle Crawl. I have to get back in the pool, though the last time I experienced Raynauds and am hesitant to do it before the air temp moves up a bit. May try to get in a swim today; watching the thermometer, though.

What are you racing this season? And who’s your biggest cheerleader?