US West Team - May "President's Cup" challenge (Page 26)

Thanks for making the charts, Jim! Have a great weekend!!!

Happy weekend to all!  Hopefully a lot of you are racing to add to your totals and kick this team into its proper first place!  I went way over my 110% on both biking and running by doing lots of bricks and a couple of unplanned races.  My swimming..well, I need a little extra but overall I hit 104% so hopefully that is good enough....cross your fingers, but work hard and get it done!

If you are interested, I am featured in a friend's blog for the local newspaper online--it's triathlon related.....

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/rundivarun/archives/139978.asp

Very cool article! Your Dad must be so proud of you and I am sure he love's hearing of your stories.  Wowy calves...  I am also a weight watcher and love to get the extra points for training so I can have my ice cream at the end of the day!

Oh my goodness. I'm NEVER eating again!

How exciting.  My husband bought the EXACT same bike as me. HAHAHAHAHHA.  Oh dear.  Mine is faster though. LOL

We checked out our SMart car and got placed on the "Orphan list". If one comes in that no one else wants, it's ours.  Wish us luck. We are just so impressed with everything about this car. Sure it's small but that's the only drawback! 

I didn't bike home nor swim but there is still tomorrow. I will be doing a brick in the am and another in the pm. Voila! done.  

Leslie...that is so sad about your dad! I had no idea! and dang girlfriend...them there are some legs!! woop woop woop!

Good luck with the Smart Car...and two bricks in one day....DANG...I'm impressed!

skarl - 2008-05-30 11:21 PM Hey Julie!  I think we're the only ones on BT right now that live in the northern hemisphere.  Go to bed already

Dang...I missed you. I am heading to bed...too! nite girl...

LETS GO WEST COASTERS! we still have a good chance of winning this if we all do Brick work outs and get those extra points...THIS THING AINT OVER TIL THE FAT LADY SINGS...and I AINT SINGING! RUN, BIKE AND SWIM.... or RUN AND BIKE, BIKE AND SWIM, SWIM AND RUN...well you get it! right!?

Okay team...as of this moment (5/31 - 7:29AM), we are in 2nd place only 1.5% behind the dreaded Midwest team. Of course we are only a smig (<1%) in front of the east coasters who I know are pushing hard. Everyone needs to make a final push today...it doesnt matter if you are not going to cross your goal line, don't give up....every little bit is going to help...and just think, we win this thing and the losers are going to have to post a west coast image as their avatar. Hey, actually that is probably a reward for them being that they dont live here.

Anyway, I had a scheduled rest day today but am planning a short run with the dog to push me to 110% in all categories. Let's all contribute here on the last day of May!

I didn't quite make 110% all the way across, but got pretty dang close! 

go westies! 

Didn't make my swim, made the bike and missed my goal on the run but I did set a new personal high for time and distance running by 1.5 hours and 11 miles.  So, overall, successful.

Great Job everyone for all your efforts!!! It's been a fun challenge and I really enjoyed being on the west coast team with you all!!

I just finished up my training and found a couple bricks I had forgot to count and am finishing up with 107.67%. So get those last training sessions in and make sure to check your logs! Go Westies!!!

Hi everyone,

I am so sorry that I didn't meet my goals.  I know they were small, especially compared to a lot of the others.  But, I am a beginner and this was my first challenge.  Unfortunately, life kind of fell apart around me this month.  

A very close friend of mine had emergency surgery because her heart stopped 5 times in one day.  They put in a temporary pace maker then a permanent one 3-4 days later.  She's home from he hospital and will be O.K. but this has taken some of my time.

Next, my sister, who moved 5.5 hours away at the beginning of April, came back for a visit and so her ex-boyfriend could see their 9 month old baby.  The day after she got here, he filed court papers to get partial custody and to keep her from leaving the county.  We spent a couple days in court trying to work things out.  She got stuck here for 12 days but was able to go back home on Thursday.  She will have to return in a couple weeks for mediation and custody hearings.  I had to work late (until 10:00 p.m.) several days to get my work done due to the time I missed being at court. 

Next crisis, my 96 year old mother-in-law lives in an Assisted Living facility but has a personal caregiver because she can't be left alone due to a history of falls.  Well, last Friday the caregiver had a confrontation with the assisted living staff and walked off the job (on a Friday afternoon of a holiday weekend).  AAAHHHHH!!!  The company sent a new caregiver and that person didn't show up for the 7:00 a.m. shift on Tuesday until 11:30 a.m. claiming to have car trouble.  So, we are now shopping for a new caregiver company.  

As if all this wasn't enough, a new bully cat in the neighborhood has attacked two of my cats over the past 3 weeks.  The first one incurred a $138 vet bill and the second got an infection and fever from bites and his vet bill was $198.  He is still on antibiotics and needs a warm compress applied several times a day.  I'm assuming you've all heard of the TV show "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?"  Well, I get to play "Are you smarter than a cat who doesn't want to take his medicine?"  I almost lost today but I finally found him hiding in a cabinet under the wet bar after a 20 search of the entire house.  Exhausting!!!

So, I missed a lot of my planned workouts, which is why I wasn't able to meet my measly goals.  I feel really bad about letting everyone down and I felt like I needed to explain.  I hope all the exceptional people who went over their goal are able to pull us through.  I'm not going to try any more challenges for a while where other people are counting on me.   

With apologies,

Lisa

Lisa:

I'm sorry about your month.  It wasn't what you expected. 

From an athletic perspective this is one of the first steps of a longer journey. We don't hit all of our goals every time. If not making this challenge is the only is the worst thing that happens to you this year then you've had a good year!  The exercise portion of your life should help offset the stress that the rest of your life creates--not create new stress.

It is all good.

Geoff

Lisa...I am worn out for you! Like Geoff said, no worries~~ this is a motivational challenge - and sure we would have liked to win, but if not, it is not the end of the world! Take care and good luck with all that is going on around you. Good luck with your friend, granny and cat doctoring.