If anyone has ever gone to the arcade’s, there is always some nerdy little guy hanging out on the Dance Dance Revolution machine. I am always baffled by how sweaty they get, and how addicted they seem as they insert quarter after quarter. Well, to my surprise…..Micah got us Dance Dance Revolution, and it is so fun! He has the total set up and it is projected on one of our walls.
So far, Skylar and Calin battle it out, Micah is getting pretty good (even though he does look like Sammy Davis Jr. doing a full tap routine with the big arms and all!) and Tristen and I had three battles the day before I had the baby! I totally think DDR (you can abbreviate when get good) is what started my contractions! Anyway, Tristen and I are going to DDR every night for an hour so I can lose my post baby weight!
For family night last night, we took a little adventure to Paris, France. Micah took the reigns and taught Skylar (his little sidekick) how to make crepes. It was the cutest thing you have ever seen. Micah was there making the crepes in the large pan, and had brought out a mini pan for Skylar. She was SO excited! She helped make the batter (she even took the gigi’s out of the eggs (that is a Ure term for the umbilical cord)), then cooked the crepes and finally got them all fixed up and helped serve them.
Skylar thinks Micah is the greatest thing that ever happened to her! Even the other day, we were at Ciara Lindahl’s baby shower and they announced they were going to start a game, and Skylar’s response was, “Uuugghhh! I need my Micah if we are going to play a game!” They even have code names for eachother. (Calin too) Micah is Me-Lo, Calin is C-Lo, and Skylar is either Ski-Lo or “Skills to pay the Bills.”
When Micah and I were first married, we would have competitions and Calin and I would challenge Micah and Skylar. We had a song creating contest, a Christmas Tree decorating challenge (we both decorated one half of our tree) and a Halloween cake decorating contest. If I remember correctly, we are in the lead with 2 wins, but Micah remembers it that he and Skylar are in the lead with 2 wins. Anyway, I love that both Calin and Skylar adore Micah, but I do sometimes wonder if Micah likes them more than he likes me. And I don’t even question the fact that both girls would take Micah over me ANY day!
Click Here for Beacon Hill Tri #8 Results in Excel
Lindsey finally brought the camera so we have pictures to post.
Actually, lets talk about Lindsey for a bit. Shout out to the pregnant girl. When I first started doing this race I brought Lindsey over to the pool to time the race and help me count my laps. It’s pretty easy to sit poolside and count a lap every 45 seconds. Then she started counting everybody’s laps and keeping all of their split times. That’s a little bit tougher. Now she’s the full-blown clerk of the course. She does the pre-race countdown and keeps track of all the laps and times–while taking pictures, then she picks up everybody’s clothes and miscellaneous stuff from the pool deck and carries it back to the transition area for more pictures and to get splits from the bike leg. Then she rushes down to set up the aid station with water and Gatorade–and she takes more pictures. Then she rushes back up to the finish to get everybody’s final times. OK, she also has help from my mom, but at 8.5 months pregnant, she gets all of the credit. We need more volunteers!
Mom helped in the transitions and had bagels and bananas waiting for us after the race. Thanks Mom.
On a personal note, I finally broke 1 hour 15 minutes. It took me 8 tries, but I came in at 1:14.28. By the end of the season I should be able to go under 14:30 in the swim, 37 minutes on the bike and under 20 minutes on the run. That will get me close to 1:13 if I have good transitions. More on transitions to follow.
Steve Donahoo was having an off day so I was able to stay with him on the bike. It was perfect because it makes me push a bit harder and my bike leg was fast.
Steve kept complaining about his lack of sleep and the carpal tunnel syndrome in his wrists that were making it difficult to shift gears. I heard excuse after excuse, but I think he was just slacking. Every time his wife drove by on the course, Steve would speed way up and jet ahead of me. Lindsey caught Steve in the transition area and it’s obvious what the real issue was. You’re not supposed to lounge in the transition.
Mostly everybody ran personal bests, so the conditions must have been good. That means people are getting into shape so the next couple of races should be pretty fast.
We don’t want to talk too much about how Bryan Thacker made me reschedule the race to this weekend instead of next (my sister had to miss the race because of this change), then he made me change the start time because he had to work on Saturday morning. Then he didn’t even show up. He must’ve been an only child in an earlier life.
Of course, Kirk Lindahl brought up the rear in style. He’s slowly getting faster and faster and I think he’ll be giving up the final spot before the end of summer.
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We got up at 4am last Saturday to head down to the Tritonman Triathlon at Mission Bay in San Diego. The caravan met at the Lindahl’s at 4:30 and we were “off to the races” as they say. Ciara Lindahl’s fiancee, Ted Bell, came into town and the whole Nielson crew came to the race to support Dave.
My two biggest fans came to support me. Lindsey took all of the pictures so she’s not in any of them (plus she’s become very camera shy during her pregnancy). But Skilly was wide awake and ready for a picture:
The race venue is a nice flat and easy course. Although it is an ocean swim, the bay is completely protected from waves. The water wasn’t too cold for this time of year, about 65 degrees, but that brought in the jellyfish. We swam through hundreds of them. At one point I thought that I got kicked in the face, but when I looked up there was nobody near me. This meant two things: 1. I had been stung by a jellyfish on my cheek. 2. I was way off course. What’s new?
Kirk couldn’t breathe in his new wetsuit and thought that he might be having a heart attack. But he finished the swim and rode hard on the bike.
The bike course was a flat three loops around Fiesta Island. The only thing we had to deal with was a strong headwind on the back side of the loop.
Everybody was happy with their finishing times. Kirk gutted out the run, and we all did our part to help him in. Everybody cheered along the course, Devin and I ran with him for the last half mile, and as he approached the finish line, we heard Lindsey’s voice booming over the PA system, “Here comes Kirk Lindahl, bringing up the rear in style. The only guy to take a potty break during the race. Whooooooo!” Classic Lindsey.
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Calin and Skylar had spring break this last week, so one day we headed down to Main Beach in Laguna Beach. We stopped at Johnny Rockets for shakes, and then set up a blanket and hung out for a couple of hours. The weather was perfect, and the waves were the biggest they have been in years. They were so big, there was not even one person in the water. We had a great time!
The other night, we dyed easter eggs. We ended up having a contest to see who dyed the best one, and the entries were from Me, Micah, Calin, Skylar and Bryan Thacker. (He was over watching a movie with Micah and joined in on the fun.)
I had the winning egg with my “golden delight” glitter covered egg at first. Then everyone stole my method, which bumped me to third place. But in the end, Bryan Thacker took first place with his “Endless Summer” egg. It was pretty awesome, but I will take credit for giving him the idea. He dyed the egg, and it looked pretty cool, but certainly was not worth a spot in the competition. Then I casually walked by and mentioned that the colors looked like the background of the Endless Summer poster. Next thing you know, he free handed a surfer on the front and took first prize. Congrats B. Tacky! But the funniest part was when my mom judged the eggs and Tacky got first place, Micah took his last place egg and free handed a surfer on it. He thought it might get him a bump up in the ranks, but he stayed in dead last. You can’t really see it in the picture, but his is the blue egg on the right side AKA last place!
Last night, there was quite a bit of commotion in the Ure household! We keep our back door open for Woody (the dog) to go out and use the restroom. Well, a little creature got inside, and Micah and Woody were chasing it all over the place. In the meantime, Trilby got up on a three foot ledge to protect herself! After the entire ordeal was over — thanks to Woody — we were all celebrating and clapping. Micah and I were in the other room when we heard…thunk…..”Oh crap!” We started to laugh, because obviously Trilby had taken a little trip.
Well, the real story is, as she was stepping off of the ledge, she didn’t judge it correctly and came up short. When I found her she was sprawled across three slate stairs that are anything but cushioned.
At first I heard a gurgling noise, and thought she was joking. Then when I realized she wasn’t I knew we could be in some serious trouble. I ran and turned her over. She was completely passed out, and her lips were turning blue. Her face was moist with perspiration, and she jerked her body a few times. (Which I thought may have been a seizure.) I told Micah to call 911, and I just kept trying to get her to answer some questions and respond. The only good news was that I felt under her nose, and knew she was breathing. Micah was on the phone with the operator and stayed very calm.
After about 5 straight minutes of nothing, she finally said my name, which I knew was a good sign. She then started to shake because she was freezing and started to complain of her toe, shoulder and finger. The ambulance arrived and took her vitals which were good. In the meantime, Alicia (the housekeeper) came home and thought all of the craziness was me having the baby! (I only wish!) They then packed her up and took her to the hospital. But before she left, she asked if someone was going to also go. I volunteered, but then my mom said she would go and I should stay with the little girls. When Trilby heard this, she said, “Mom can come, but you have to too, Lindsey. Mom isn’t very good in these situations!”
After a long time at the hospital, (until about midnight) the verdict was she had a torn rotator cuff, a broken big toe and her finger was sprained. Pretty good news considering what it could have been! She also mentioned that as she was passed out, she could hear me asking all of my questions, and just wanted me to be quiet! How Rude!
The amazing part to all of this — right now at 9:20 am the next morning — she sits at her desk at work, all ready for a new day.
***The moral of this story is — I told Micah we both need to learn CPR (which I have learned about 100 times), or at least refresh up on it, because craziness is just one trip away!***
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