Maybe in Oz

We went to Shepparton, a small town about 2 hours North of Melbourne, last weekend for a half ironman triathlon.  Phil did this race last year, and as easy as it is to get to decided to give it another go. Having been to Shepparton once we knew that there wasn't a whole lot to do, so we drove over on Saturday morning.  After checking in, racking his bike, eating lunch, and setting up the tent, we looked at each other with the 'now what' look.  So I gave trip advisor a browse to see what the local attractions were.  A place called Lower Goulburn River National Park caught my eye and we drove to check it out.  Turns out it's a big muddy river surrounded by gum trees.  Not quite the spectacular national park we were hoping for.  But we did find an interesting swamp along the way -  We also drove through Mooroopna, which is apparently the Fruit Salad City.  There was seriously a sign that said this.  There's even a Fruit Salad D...

The madness of triathlons from another perspective -  *from Samantha McGlone, http://triathlon.competitor.com/2012/11/features/ask-a-pro-race-sherpa-for-a-day_65675 Q: My girlfriend is doing her first Ironman in a few weeks and I want to support her at the race. What can I do to be helpful? I’m assuming that most people reading this article are likely triathletes themselves so this is one you might want to pass along to your friends and family (to be known henceforth as “the support staff” and/or “race Sherpa”). As a first-time race Sherpa, you can play a key role in helping your athlete have the best experience possible at her race. An Ironman is a monumental goal, and when the day comes it can be a bit overwhelming attending to all the travel, equipment and logistics surrounding the event. Your job as support staff is exactly that: to support. Let her take the lead, but be available to lend a hand whenever necessary. Athletes get tense around race day; all the ...

Mae Lee and Trooper Last Sunday our good friends hosted the third annual Brumby Run.  Unlike most running events, it's free, everyone wins, and we all get to eat brunch together after.  They invite the people in our running group and it's basically a run in the hills around their house  with several distance options - 5k, 8k, 10k, or half marathon.  Since I am still not running I walked the 5k track and Phil ran the half marathon track.  It was a good morning for a run, cool but sunny and in a beautiful and quiet area of Pakenhem. It's called the Brumby Run in honour of Trooper, Mae Lee's Brumby horse.  She rescued him a couple years ago and he is like her child.  She is a big animal rights supporter and just recently published a great book about Brumbies .  Brumbies are a wild horse similar to the Mustang. After everyone finished the run we gathered for a brunch buffet.  The running group is a motley crew of people from all different...

I went to a friend's father's funeral today.  He was 66 and passed away very unexpectedly here in Australia while the friend is living in the states.  A year younger than my parents and the same 15 hour flight apart.  It's got to be tough going through something like that so far away. The impression I got from the funeral was that he lived every day to its fullest and made the most of life.  He had said on several occasions that if he died that day he would die a happy man.  I have never had the pleasure of meeting him but that certainly hit home with me.  That is exactly how I try to live life, making sure that I have no regrets because you really never know what's coming next. And so I think it's time that I say thank you to my parents while I have the chance.  Thank you for giving me life, for changing my diapers, teaching me to eat my peas, squash, and chicken even though they eat worms, for showing me how to ride a bike, change a tire...

I've been battling a pain in my right knee for several weeks now, and finally decided to go see a physio about it.  For those in the US who have no idea what a physio is, and for this program that keeps trying to get me to type psychic instead of physio, it's basically a physical therapist/masseuse/personal trainer/accupuncturist in one.   The physio determined that it was iliotibial (IT) band syndrome, a common knee injury generally associated with running. He started looking at the difference in my range of motion between the right and left side and noticed that movement on the right side was greatly impaired compared to my left.  That was when I remembered the blood clot I had 5.5 years ago.  It was in my right calf and basically felt like the muscle along the length of my calf was permanently cramping.   I had flown on a red eye flight from San Diego to New York for my grandmother's funeral.  The following day my butt was really sore but I didn'...

This month is Maybe's 5th birthday, and seeing as she has a blog and an etsy store named after her I figured it was time for a dog blog.  Please forgive me for the copious amount of adorable pictures but as you can see we are quite obsessed with our Maybe Jezabel. Maybe at 7 weeks. Her first walk in Utah where we got her. Just after her ears came up.  Only one came up at first and I was worried she had a defective ear.  Phil still laughs at me about that one. Puppy bath time! Maybe's first swim.  It was not exactly planned - she was frolicking with my parents' dog Sheba, fell down the small waterfall, and got stuck in a whirlpool at the bottom.  Fortunately Phil was there to pull her out. Digging at the property in the mountains After her first waterfall adventure we made sure she learned how to swim.  At first she didn't like it but with Phil swimming beside her soon she learned to love it.  She...