Plano Triathlon Results

I have anxiously been awaiting the triathlon results.  I have been so curious which event was my strongest, next strongest, and then least strongest.  This will allow me to train appropriately by spending time on the events that need the most attention while working on the little details in my better events which to make me faster.

http://www.indoortri.com/page/show/1544201-plano-indoor-tri-results

The scoring works like this:  there were 50 total entries into the race, so the person with the most lengths in the pool will get 50 points and then the next highest amount of laps gets 49 points and so on.  They do this same point system for the bike and the swim and then add up all your points at the end to give you your final score.  They, then, use this score to place you overall and then into male and female categories (they thought I was a male, so I am mixed in with the boys!)  This is the first one I have ever done like this.

Turns out that my swim was my strongest race, then my run, and then my bike.  All the work on my swimming has been due to my hip surgery.  It was one of my physical therapy exercises.  I can remember when I would crutch over to the side of the pool and Heath would slowly lower me down into the water for my exercises.  After I got stronger, I was able to get into and out of the pool on my own.  I then used the buoy between my legs to help them float and actually tied them together so that I wouldn't use my new hip quite yet, they became total dead weight.  I was able to figure out how to  swim strong with my arms and do a flip turn with this thing between my legs.  This went on for a long time until I finally decided one day to start trying to swim for real again a few more laps each day.  At first, I found that my legs actually slowed me down, but once I got back used to it, I then had to work on my timing with the flip turn.  Through time, patience, perseverance, and determination, I was able to swim again!  Last summer, I even got to swim outside at the Splash Area for a few months which was fun!  THEN, when we moved back into the newly renovated Y.M.C.A. pool, I met Stella.  *SteLLa* came into the picture and started training me and perfecting my stroke. 

Running used to be my best event.  Had I not had surgery, I do believe that running would still be my best event and I do not believe I would have excelled like I did in my swimming.  Something good comes out of everything!  My run, in this race however, was my next best event putting my bike at my least strongest.  I better get serious about that biking thing!  Heath and I bought trainers for our bikes to use indoors this winter.  Biking here I come!

Score:  swim ~  43 ~ bike ~ 27 ~ run ~ 33 ~ TOTAL ~ 103

Results:  15th place overall and 4th for women 

(they put me as a male, so I don't show up with the women)

Katie's Birthday!

10 Year Class Reunion last Summer '14

Happy Birthday Dear Friend!  Katie Huffman and I were born 6 days apart and have been friends ever since!  We are 29 this year!  Whitney Kent McGraw and Katie Huffman, let's make it one we will never forget!  Love ya girls!

Desolate?!

Woah, I received this photo today from Heath.  This is where they will be hog hunting for the rest of the week.  After they took me to the airport yesterday, they headed to their hunting destination....and this was it.  Even Heath thought they were in the middle of nowhere, now that is scary!  LOL!

Well, all I can say is that I received this picture
of my father-in-law at work today?!

$24 One-Way Flight

A couple weeks back, Barb was able to get me a deal on my one-way flight home.  She had a special email that allowed her to purchase my ticket for $5 plus taxes and fees for a total of $24!  It was definitely a red-eye, but it couldn't have worked out better.  My father-in-law, Garry, and husband got up early with me in Texas to take me to the Dallas airport.  It was a fun ride.  From the time they dropped me off at the airport until I landed in Denver, it was smooth sailing.  I had really been praying for a great trip and a nice person to sit next to during my flight.  Turns out, I sat next to a pharmacy student who was headed back to Denver for school.  He was nice and then after a few minutes of chatting, we were both able to take a nap.  This was a huge blessing!

My daddy, who has been watching our farm for us, came to pick me up at the Denver airport with our doggies.  They had to get up super early also to make it to Denver.  I think my flight got in around 7 am with the time change.  So, we got to go eat a big and yummy breakfast at the ole' traditional country store, Cracker Barrel.

A cute *LOVE* sign at Cracker Barrel.

We had decent roads until Cheyenne, where we stopped to get gas.  Literally, as soon as we got back into the truck after fueling up and letting the dogs go to the bathroom, it started snowing sideways.  Fortunately, we were only in it for a short time before getting back into the decent weather.

After arriving home safely, we all relaxed from our early morning adventures.

Last Day in Texas

Today, was my last day in Texas with the family.  While we were waiting to head out to do some shopping at Bass Pro, Belle and I went for a walk to the park to play and to look through her new binoculars at the birdies on the pond.

We had fun!  Then, we headed to Bass Pro Show and then JCPenny.  I had some Christmas gifts to exchange from my mama at JCP and thought this would be an excellent place to do it.  It was a great trade in, thank you Mama!

At lunch time, we found a Rainforest Cafe and the kids kept the secret of the rainforest coming alive.  It was alot of fun to spend time with these precious children!

Bass Pro Shop

Rainforest Cafe in Dallas

New workout clothes, thank you Mama!

Modeling some of my new clothes
for my hubby.

A Day at the Museum

I took this through the window!

Today, we headed down to the *BIG* city of Dallas.  **Please note all the bridges that cross each other, go under and over each other, with 7-8 lanes of traffic one direction!~

Lexi and Belle got to play weather lady, Pa and Belle created drops of gas with hand-powered
energy, while Heath moved around a robot with a remote control, and Belle stood on a
life-sized frog.

We went to a very large several story museum of life science.  It was really fun and the kids had fun learning.  This day was a part of the kids' homeschooling program. I got to experience such a precious moment when the kids turned to me immediately when they saw the 'Big Bang Theory" exhibit.  They told me not to listen to that one and to be extremely careful about the teaching of evolution in that area of the museum and that God created the world.  Good job creation Bill and Alicia!

Heath with Elijah

~Enjoying our day!~

A New Year!

So, a couple of weeks ago, I got a wild hair when I emailed Bill my question:  "How far is Plano or Allen or North Dallas?"  These are three different locations of an indoor triathlon that popped up when I did a Google search on 'triathlons near Dallas.'  I hadn't even talked to Heath yet about racing again, just wanted to see if it was even close before I presented the idea to my man.  Bill told me that Plano is a short 20 minutes away.  So....I brought the idea before Heath and somehow he already knew about it!  He was all for me starting to race again, but we had to be sure that I was going to be able to get off work to go for sure.  I waited for the final go ahead from my boss to be given those three days off, so I hopped on the internet and signed up.  It was a great feeling!

This was an indoor one so it was quite different than any other outdoor ones I have done.  We had set times allotted for each event and set transition times to get from one station to the next.  Instead of racing the distance for time, we raced the time for distance!

10 minute SWIM * 30 minute BIKE * 20 minute RUN

21 lengths in the POOL * 9.5 miles on a stationary spinning BIKE * 2.25 miles on a TREADMILL

It was a GREAT first race since surgery!  I am so thankful for a great surgeon and a wonderful husband who has supported me through it all!  It has been 2 years this week that I last raced.  It was actually a double race with a 5K on New Year's Eve Day and a 1/2 marathon on New Year's Day in Allen, Texas, 2013.  Heath ran them both with me!

When I finished stretching and cleaning up after the race, we headed back to the house.  Everyone was getting ready for church when we got there.  I ate a quick second breakfast and we were off to church.  It was a HUGE church and it was just one of three and it was considered a "satellite" location to the main branch near Dallas.  I was awestruck by their annual budget of over $37 million dollars, that is a BIG church with lots of different ministries and outreaches!

Praises for a safe and healthy arrival to Texas
and for the completion of my triathlon.

When we were finished worshiping our Lord and Savior, we headed to Babe's, a family style chicken restaurant/country store.  It was way cool!  We each just ordered our type of chicken and then all the sides came to be passed, family style.  IT WAS AWESOME!  Mashed 'taters, green beans, corn, biscuits, with my entree of smoked chicken.  Heath had chicken fried steak.  YUM!

Such a cool place!

Our Babes at Babes!

~Road Trip~

Last night, I got home from work and Barb, Garry, Fuzz, and Heath were at the house and all packed and ready to go.  Luckily, I had my stuff almost ready to go, I just had to add a few more odds n' ends.  A few goodbyes were said to the dogs, to the cat, and to Dad.  It was a bit crazy getting out the door, be then we were off.  We made it 5 hours to York, Nebraska shortening our drive today to 10 hours.

We had a nice healthy hotel breakfast of awesome oats and fruit and I even got a nice *brisk* walk in before we hit the road again.  I got to read a bit in the car while Heath and his dad got to catch up.  It was a smooth trip, no troubles.  The Lord was definitely with us the whole time!

Random LONG roadtrip selfie!

We drove through my summer of 2006 town of Guthrie, Oklahoma and passed the first Braum's ice cream place I ever entered.  When we got closer to Prosper, Gram and Pa called Bill.  When we pulled up to the front of their house, the kids were outside waiting for us.  It was a grand arrival with plenty of hugs to go around.  Lexie, Belle, and Elijah are Bill and Alicia's kids.  Super precious family!

New Year's Day

My Daddy arrived on New Year's Eve to help us farm sit while we are in Texas.  He came a few days so we could have some time to hang out with him.  We got to celebrate Christmas and New Year's with him all on the same day.  Our celebration consisted of Papa Murphy's pizza and going to bed early.  It was a great evening!

Heath and I both had today off, so we were able to hang out with Dad at the house.  I don't really know what we did other than relax.  It was a really nice treat to have a day off in the middle of the week.