Yanti & Salty Mad Manatees PART 3: FULL POD (Page 43)

I'm going to start...wait for it....SWIMMING on a regular-ish basis OMG 

What I am going to do tonight probably won't really resemble swimming. It will be floating in a pool moving my legs. But once I have my mobility back it will be swimming. 

I'm excited.

As others have said, do it!  And then report back about the quality of the transition area and swim and bike and run for me

As far as your lack of training b/c you'll be on a cruise - you do know that you could get up early and hit the treadmills on the ship, right?

I would much rather swim in the ocean then a lake, but I realize for a lot of people that is reversed.  I think if you can get in time in the ocean to get comfortable with being there that you should do the race; if not, I probably wouldn't do it.

SALTY MANATEE!!! (okay, chlorinated, but whatevs)

100% best way to build a hell of an aerobic engine without much wear and tear.

Why do you think so many pro triathletes come from a swimming background?

Yes!  I have gotten 3 ocean swims in in the past month (my race is in a lake, but the group I found to swim with does so in the ocean).  The first was relatively calm, the other two have had some wavage.  Nothing huge mind you, but enough to get rolled over a bit as I am swimming.  I wasn't sure how I was going to do, but it has been great!  I have learned so much in those 3 swims.  Throw the wetsuit on and go for it!

If you can get some practice swims in, go for it!  Maybe your training group will do some practice swims????

That's what I'm hoping...I still have time to give ocean swimming a try before I sign up, I don't think the race will fill up for several more weeks at least.  I was just looking at photos of the beach and in all of them the water looks calm and beautiful (that's NOT how it looked for my duathlon! very deceiving, glad I dind't have to go in that day!)

http://www.nhstateparks.org/explore/state-parks/wallis-sands-state-beach.aspx (photos of the beach)

Random run story, and yet another example of my oft-oblivion to the obvious:

I ran with my sister tonight (super easy) and toward the end we ran into ... well ...

My sister is a local celebrity. My dad is a national one. I grew up around a lot of important people, and I worked for a bunch of Hollywooders when I lived in LA. And bumped into various ones often by the beach or sometimes around town. That's LA for you. So I'm hardly one to be starstruck.

However, there is one celebrity whom I adore, whose work I STUDY (not just watch, read, appreciate) and in fact have TAUGHT (his work, not him). He is a pretty good marathoner and raises a boatload of money for his Third World foundation doing them. In short, in this one case, I am very star struck.

There's an older couple in Bali I'm very close to. In fact, Ann was one of my closest friends when I moved here and helped me through some nearly unspeakably painful times. I know everything about her and her about me; when she wasn't traveling, we'd have a couple meals a week together and chat. I visited their home often.

One night, eating with Ann and another friend, Susan, they were discussing the latest movie starring MY CELEBRITY CRUSH. My gosh, she knew so much about it, and the making of it, and so many behind-the-scenes details and ... I started thinking ... wait a minute ... their son is an actor ... and her husband's name is ...

HOLY SMOKES! Okay, it's not holy smokes, but this celebrity has Jr. appended to his name, which means his dad has the exact same name, Sr.

Oh yeah. Turns out I'd been bumming around Bali with Mr. Celebrity's PARENTS this whole time and I had TOTALLY NOT CAUGHT ON, despite that his dad has THE SAME NAME, that he was their kid.

Me, I am very, verrrrrry smart. Observant, too. Nothing gets by me.

Anyhow, toward the end of my sister's and my run together, we ran into Celebrity Parents. They know who my sister is and she them (of course, duh), but they'd never officially met.

Very very good guess! But alas ... no. It is not Frederick Prinze Sr and Mrs. Frederick Prinze Sr that I slum around with.

Lol, that's good b/c I was going to be a little judgy-wudgy about you having such a crush on 'ol Freddie.  How about Robert Downey Jr? Now that dude can act...

And he's Iron Man!

He is absolutely amazing in everything he does ... any genre, any how, and has been for nearly 30 years!

However, he is an acquaintance of mine, so that rules him out. By the way, he is wonderful in person.

2) It is not a red herring, but she is not his birth mother.

Oooh, this one is for Allen! And Kate!

Robert Downey Jr.'s mom is Elsie and his step mom is Rosemary, FYI. This investigation is fun!

Fun fact, though - Freddie Prinze Jr. ran the LA Marathon in 2006 (5:50:49). Another fun fact - I run marathons faster than him!  (I can't say that too often)

You are a sweetheart, DubSix. {MELON PRESS} Good grief, it's not enough to have to wade through my mammoth race reports?!

I'm adding to it little by little, but it's a little overwhelming being in the midst of working on six books. I'd really like to have the bulk of it done by the time I finish IMWA (December) so that I can be YET ANOTHER gee I'm a pseudo-middle-aged fat woman who finished an Ironman and didn't die. (and found herself and blah blah blah)

Wow. That sounds terrible. It is truly extraordinary as an accomplishment, no matter how many do it ... but in terms of trying to market writing, it is a way overused writing theme.