Mad Manatees 2015.4 CLOSED (or Poptart/pet pic ticket) (Page 58)

Merry Christmas everyone from a non-active manatee!  (Though not entirely inactive).

Hope things are good with everyone!

Happy Birthday NyNy!!!

Ha. You think you have it rough? Try sharing your birthday with Jesus ...

Well, it's official.  My last day of work is Wednesday.  I'm feeling all kinds of emotions: sadness, anger, grief, relief, hope, anticipation.  I've been able to connect with some eHouse team members for runs and had a great time with TJ on Christmas.  It was a good way to get ready for the family drama I was expecting. Fortunately, the drama didn't happen and it was relatively calm.  We just focused all our attention on my 20 month-old niece and had a good time.  Or at least Alex and I did.  Not sure about everybody else but I'm just not going to worry about them!!!!

Stacey, my athletic goals for this year are to do my first HM in March, a sprint tri in June, an Oly in July or August, and possibly a HIM relay in September.  I don't know about the tris.  That depends on whether I can get back in the pool in time to get the training in.  If not, I'll probably do some duathlons instead.  I'd really like to focus on improving my bike strength.  I know I have a lot of potential to improve there and should be able to do it.  I'd like to work on my swimming too, but that just depends on how soon I'm able to swim without feeling like I'm going to throw up.

As for personal goals, I want to get back into social work.  I have a bunch of contacts I want to develop and plan to study for and take the licensure exam while I'm not able to work.  Hopefully I'll be able to get enough accomplished by the time I have to go back to work that I'll be able to get a job in that field.  I got my master's degree in social work in 2009 and haven't really used it since 2012.  It's time to get back to my passion and this is my opportunity to do it.

ETA: Our weather here is quite the opposite of yours.  It's generally been hovering in the teens and low 20's and dipping into the single digits at night.  A day in the 30's or 40's feels balmy, especially if the sun is shining.  It isn't supposed to get above freezing for the rest of the year.  I'm getting lots of practice dressing for running in the cold.  All those layers sure make for lots of laundry!!

Pretty constant today at ~30F, 25-35 mph wind, gusting to 50, and loads of sleet. Think I'd still take this though.

Good morning Manatees. I have been off the radar for a bit. Mostly because of the lingering cold and now some dental woes. Anyway, I am at work today in a very quiet office. my hubby is home with our daughter while the daycare is closed for a couple of days between the holidays. 

so, belated happy holidays to everyone! 

As mentioned before my husband brought our treadmill in from the garage!! So, i haven't used it yet but tonight may be it! We have that crazy storm rolling through - we have a layer of wet snow with rain coming down on top of it. bleh. 

Hoping to be more active that the last couple of days. 

Janyne! Happy Birthday!!! Hope you had a wonderful time! 

So, we have tried a couple of models - one similar to the one you posted but had two bars for holding the bikes. the only issue with that style is the bikes do move around a bit. We noticed that even the pedals can hit the trunk and we've had it scratch. Not a problem but it's weird to see the front wheels turning on the bikes while you're driving. But it's easy to use. And other than the above we've driving something like 2000km with our bikes like that.

My DH is a buyer for a big retailer here and recently got a platform model to try out (and keep) and it's much more stable (the one in the link is not the same but the similar idea). the only issues with it are:

1. it blocks our licence plate (we haven't been stopped yet - it's the Euro Model so it actually has a spot to mount a European plate)

2. it fits only two bikes. 

But it's much more stable and really locks down the bikes. We went about 1800km each way to Nova Scotia this summer with our bikes on it. 

Though the last couple years I've just been putting the bike in the back seat. 

Mary - I hope the job decision works out for you, I'm sure that with time, work and patience, you'll be in a much better place soon. Good call on focusing on the little one at Christmas time!
Karen - I'm not sure which I would find worse, 38* and rainy or 90+ and muggy. Kudos for you on getting out in either or both of those!
TJ - I'm glad you got to meet up with Mary. I hope the rest of your trip was good!
Ann-Marie - I like the new pic, especially the adult beverages!
Jen - I hope you are back to 100%.
Stacey - I only have a HM on the calendar in early February. It is time to start making some plans for the upcoming season. And I have no input on a rack, but I do know that you can help keep the bike and car safe on the hanger type with some foam on a few bike parts. Although, since I sold the Jeep, I'm throwing the bike in the back of the van, so I have very little recent experience.
Darren - I have a code to watch Inspired To Ride, but I haven't has a chance to do so yet. I'm glad to hear it was enjoyable.

I hope everyone is doing well and having a good week between Christmas and New Years. Enjoy the long weekend if you get one!

We have the Thule platform rack and prefer it, rather than have the bikes dangling. Ours holds two but we have an extension for two more bikes that gets used occasionally.

Twin, you are proving our twin-ness yet again!   I, too, have a Thule platform rack and love it.  It's great because it can quickly and easily carry any shape/size bike because nothing goes through the frame.  I used to have a hanging-type rack and hated it for many reasons, but mainly because it was a royal pain when we tried to load up the MTBs (odd frame shapes).  I also have the option of borrowing bike trays for the roof rack (which usually only hauls kayaks) and can carry 2 or maybe even 3 more bikes up there.  But if you only plan on carrying 'normal' shaped bikes, hanging is fine.

Originally posted by StaceyK Thanks for the rack advice guys. Normally I just put Andre in the back of my SUV, he fits easily. At the end of January all things going to plan I will need to fit myself, Yanti and Kingsley and our bikes and all our gear in my car (trust me if you have sherpaed for them you would know they have a lot of ) . But I think that my friend K has a 4 bike rack we can borrow for the weekend so problem solved. Without spending the $$$. Gotta love that.

Did you just say Yanti comes with a lot of baggage? 

Ha! that is awesome! Glad to hear you have a free option, Stacey! 

So, we're almost to 2016 ... can you believe it??  We had our first snow yesterday - and it's incredible how it happens every year but i forget about all the extra work to drive in the winter. Warming up the car, getting the snow/ice off the windshield and mirrors, etc. And, to complain a bit - we have this crazy driveway that goes in between our house and the neighbour's house with parking in the backyard and it is only a couple of inches clearance on either side of the car and with a layer of snow makes it a little more nail biting than it already is ... sigh. What can i do - it's where I live. 

I didn't get on the treadmill last night - thinking about swimming tonight. Need to call the community pool and see if they have lane swimming tonight. The website is terrible! 

We ended up with several inches of that ice pellet stuff the other day. Looks like snow, but it's now frozen into a solid sheet. It's strong enough that I can walk the neighborhood and stay entirely on top of it.

I went for a run on my normal trails yesterday. I didn't wear the spikes thinking that the snow on the trails would be gone. NOTSOMUCH. So between the powdery snow and the mud where the snow was no longer my legs got quite a workout.