One Step Forward....Two Steps Backwards

This is Maddie putting on her OWN pedals to her new Fuji Mountain bike! Don't mind the messy garage...yikes!

I've been going into my school all week to get my classroom ready for my second graders. OMG there is so much work to do! This was not the first that I've been in the school mind you! I had gone in 3 days before. I seemed to take one step forward and two backwards all week! The
following ordeals slowed me down:

1. Jammed the copier and stuck pencils, scissors and protractors inside of it to solve the jam for 45 minutes...didn't work!
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2. Trying to laminate some posters, etc. when my letter "O" went into the piping hot laminator twisted...it knocked into some medal bar and the medal bar got sucked into the hot melting plastic! I quickly pushed stop and reverse only to double the plastic wrapping around my "O" and the medal bar.....oh no! I got help from the librarian but we had to cut and run! Cut out the objects, leave a sign "Broken" and run! Oh jeeze.

3. I hung my word wall to the closet doors (5 posters hand-made taking hours to make and hang) for them ALL to slowly peel off and fall to the ground AS my new principal was in my room talking with me. She was very friendly and brought me to a senior teacher's room to show me another way to do the "word wall." I chucked my old ones!

4. I had to call ALL of my students on the phone b/c I sent them each a postcard telling them how much I looked forward to our new year together and that I looked forward to seeing them on the 4th......one day later than the ACTUAL first day of school. YUP, wrong day!

OK, there's more, but I do feel that I'm boring you now.

Bill and I have been running 5 days a week. It's awesome b/c Maddie rides her kick-butt Fuji mountain bike around this HILLY (short 12% grade hill on it) 1.2 mile path w/ us running after her. She is getting the hang of using gears and hand brakes. She's a stud. She actually ran one lap today and rode 3 laps on her bike. It's fun to get the exercise together.

Still Digging Deep...Just Moving On!

The blog probably won't last much longer. I'm officially completely done w/ professional cycling. I'll be teaching full-time this fall. I will be doing some cross and I've been running 3x a week to see if the reconstructed knee will hold up for a triathlon! We'll see. I'll tell you this, running 6 miles 3x a week destroys my cycling legs. I was pedaling squares the other day on an "easy" group ride. 50 miles never felt so miserable!!! What's that about? Any tri people want to give me tips? It's only natural for me to try. I swam in college and ran in high school....add that to my cycling and well, it's worth a try right????? The bum knee is my only fear. Maybe I'll have to speed-walk my way to the finish line..ha!

Pedal Power.....Priceless

Vermont Part II

This is the backyard of Kevin and Ellen's beautiful Vermont house! Sweet jet skis!

Maddie had a lot of fun w/ Jessie (Kevin Kean's son).

Maddie and Jessie at dinner...Thanks Stew and Blake for a great birthday dinner!!!!

This one is for my friend George! Passing Breadloaf College...where George spent many summers getting smarter!

VERMONT!!

On an 80 mile gap climbing ride! Had to be my favorite ride ever. One, because Kevin Haley kept me laughing and two, Bill was there!!

OUCH! The Brandon Gap was an awesome climb. Gradual (kind of) and long!

What a treat the cool water was after a day in the saddle. We went Kayaking (thanks to Stew and Blake) and splashed around. I have more photos that I checked off but for some reason they are not uploading to the blog. I'll add another blog entry w/ photos only. We stayed in a "ski house" w/19 people! The entire trip was organized by Skylands Cycling Club (With most of the leg work done by Buz)! Bill, Maddie and I packed our butts into Blakes SUV w/ her husband Stew, adorable son Sean and wonderful friend Catherine. Yup, 5 adults, 2 children, 4 bikes, a kayak, food, sheets, blankets, you get the picture. Actually it was quite nice. Lots of gutt laughing and slap happy giggling. Thanks Blake!

3 Generations of Advil-ChapStick

The well-deserved ice-coffee stop! Check out the 3 generations of kits! Gotta go with the sleeveless! No horrible tan lines.

Today I met up with 3 generations of Advil-ChapStick for a nice long ride. The ride was hosted by Mara and her husband Randy. Three years ago we started this team and Emma, Mara, Reem and myself were all there pitching our idea to the CEO of Wyeth and an entire board room! We started this team. Emma left after the first season to begin a family with her husband. They now have a 10 month old beautiful boy, Sebastian. Mara raced one more season and left to help support her CRAZY...ultra distance runner husband, Randy! They are quite the team. Reem and I are hanging in there...the final two from the VERY beginning.

It was a great day to be on the bike with great friends and teammates!

Philly

Photo is after Liberty Classic 2007

Anna told me to update my blog! So nothing new here, just another chest infection! Like I said, nothing new here. I pulled out of Philly and will go and support the team in any way that I can (other than actually riding my bike).

I asked the doctor if there was a reason why I'm always getting sick. He looked at me and asked if I was serious. Ya, I'm dead serious. Other cyclists are busting a gutt and destroying their immune systems...but don't seem to get sick so much!

I guess the combo of teaching 2nd grade full-time, my awesome daughter bringing home her first grade germs and trying to race/train just aren't great for the immune system. Go figure. Oh yeah, he said one has to average more than 6 hrs of sleep a night to have a healthy immune system. Guess I'm SOL!