Eat, Cheer, Have Fun: The Holley Triathlon.

As most of you know, this past weekend St. Croix was the host to the annual St. Croix IronMan 70.3, which is a qualifying event for the Ironman in Hawaii.  The Fisherman and I have watched it in some sort of fashion every year (well, I watched it from Texas via GoToStCroix.com webcam the year SJ was born ’cause i was totally post-partum and homesick for family…but once again, I digress).

This Year:  The Best Ever!  This year, we knew several people participating in the entire race or a shorter version, deemed The Sprint.  Either way, there is lots of training and discipline to complete a race course of this stature.  Why?  Well, for one, part of the bike portion is deemed The Beast.  Yuck, who wants to do that?  Those guys (and girls).

Knowing that the chances of me ever being in the race will happen when hell freezes over, I felt it was my duty as a friend to support those who have been working so hard the past few weeks.  Who have sat idling with-out an adult beverage in their hands at all of our recent festivities, postponing fishing trips because of rigorous training schedules… knowing the reward of finishing will be great.

With SC doing the Children’s Run and some of her favorite adults being  neurotic triathletes, she understood support and cheering on.  She cheers me on loudly when I am pushing 70+ pounds of stroller weight up those damn hills in Judith’s Fancy! {GO MAMMA GO! GO MAMMA GO! YOU CAN DO IT!}  I told her the race was  a little like that, but much more.

We started by requesting The Fisherman bring home the gi-normous piece of cardboard spotted at the dumpster down the street.  SC screamed with excitement when she saw him coming up the driveway, cardboard flapping in the wind.  Despite the surprise bday party we were to attend in an hour, I dove right into the project of making signs. (What would I do if I didn’t have anything to do?)

Triathlon Eve, we went on a recon-mission to spread even more good luck.  SC is gonna’ have some skills come high school:

Race morning dawned, we roused SC, (our late sleeper), hopped in the loaded truck and headed to our part of the course, just right down the street.

First- creme-brulee french toast. (recipe post in draft mode, you’re gonna want to make this one!)

More Little Princess Supporters started trickling in.  Jams on the stereo included Queen’s I Want To Ride My Bicycle, I Wish I Was Your Bike Seat by Great Ape, Baby Got Back, Eye of the Tiger and We Are The Champions.  I am not sure if the athletes could here, but we sure thought it was funny.

We assumed position with our beautiful handmade signs that my children so dutifully helped me paint (and glitterize in some cases):

First out of the pack for us to see, KELLEN!:

(oh wait, no photo of Kellen.  He was too fast.  Zoomed  right on by and didn’t even stop for a bite of french toast)

Then, an iguana really jacked up the times of these athletes:

HERE COMES  LAURA!!!! Hottie in her navy skivies , calf warmers and no-kickstand-having-pink-a-liscious-bike!

What’s this? A text from JS letting me know she’s passing Pueblo and headed our way?  I wonder if she could pick up some milk?

RAIN??? Just a little sprinkle.  Apparently it made things easier to “go” on the bike. 

{Intermission Music Plays In The Background}

The family headed back to the house for a little R&R before Phase 2: The Finish Line.

Oh, there’s Kellen:

(no photo of the sweetest-sweatiest-hug I ever got! but it happened and I LOVED it!)

Wait- is that the Green-Caped First VI Woman athlete to cross the finish line?  Why, Yes. It. Is.  JULIE SOMMER!

Up Next, The Wind’s Friend, LAURA! Still looking so cute… and cheery!  We watched people collapse at this point!:

And the man himself:  ZIEMER!!! (you have to say it like Oprah would)

What a great way to spend a Sunday.  Supporting our friends who have worked so hard for this moment.  This race is on a lot of people’s must-do- before-I-die lists.  These guys (and about 1,000 more) can now scratch it off their lists.  You can see I clearly took care of the “drink” leg of the race.  I’m a team player!

We are so proud of all of you!  WAY TO GO!

…and in the shower at the end of the day, SC is singing “I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike…” She requested I play this Saturday morning for her at the Kids’ Bike Race.  I have created a monster.

The Children Run. And Run.

If you haven’t noticed all the immaculate physiques that have taken over our island this past week like a pack of athletic pirates, you must be living under a rock.  Tomorrow is the annual St. Croix IronMan Triathlon, one of the qualifying races for the Ironman in Hawaii.  A pretty cool event to watch (if you have no interest in being a crazy person and pushing your body to impossible limits) or participate in (if you are a crazy person and have EVERY interest in pushing your body to impossible limits).

The week has been filled with fun events for the athletes and residents, like practice runs, swims & bikes, Jump Up, Carb Fest and The Children Run, which took place last night.  The Children Run takes place every year right before the Tri-Jump Up and is organized by VI Pace Runners.

SC kicked butt.  This was her first race EVER and she was so excited, but you’ll see later that she really had no idea what to expect.  She’s 4.

She started by eating a great breakfast, went to school and upon being picked up, informed me she ate all her lunch and  took a super long nap to get ready for the race; and did I remember to bring her sneakers and headband? (yes, and DAMMIT!  no, I forgot her lucky headband)

Race started at Times Square in Christiansted, so if anyone needed a last-minute dime bag of crack or $5 hooker, we were in the right place.  600 meters to the Fort, straight shoot.  A couple of pro-athletes, Mirinda Carfrae and Catriona Morrison,  got the kids stretching before the start:

The Fisherman took SJ down the road to get a different perspective:

naturally, some of the parents had to “encourage” the younger ones (thanks Em!):

SC fizzled out about three-quarters of the way through:

Then her buddy Lightening McCole passed her up (can you blame him? his mom is one of the crazys, but mark my word- she’ll place):

 and it lit a fire under her you know what:

She crossed the finish line in just over 3 minutes (really?  it seemed a lot longer!)

And in true spirit of competing and doing your best, every participant was honored with a medal and certificate:

She was soooooooooo proud  and so were we.

We stopped by our fav Roach Coach (Nichole’s) to get our traditional Jump Up meal of pates, johnny cakes, conch in butter, mac-n-cheese, rice-n-beans, skipped the Jump Up craziness to head home for dinner & showers.

We discussed the race again at the dinner table; she learned what the word PACE means, and we re-iterated again how proud we were of her on her first race.

While snuggling in bed after our bedtime stories, SC informed me that she wished the fort was closer so she didn’t have to run so far.  She then place her prize-medal under her pillow where she keeps everything in the world that is true to her heart.

And that’s what it’s all about.

*crappy iphone photos because our camera did not have its memory card in it to which The Fisherman was thankful I was the one to discover this, not him, because he would have kept shooting and I would of B%$ched him out for not having any photos of our daughter’s first race.

**check back for more Crazy Athletes as we will attend a practice swim in the harbor this morning to heckle some athletes, I mean cheer them on.

***Rumor has it there are 20+ caped MGWs runnin’ like mutha’s for the annual Women’s Race in June.  I am most positive you won’t want to miss this spectacle.

Everything Has Its Place.

And a place for everything.  For me, the cuter, prettier, the better.  It’s been awhile since I have done anything crafty.  My sewing machine gives me hives right now.  This was easy and the PERFECT project to do on a day when we were stuck at the house.  (triathlon…roads closed)

For a while, I have been searching for a decent 2-drawer metal filing cabinet to paint.  Who was the person who said to make them puke-putty color?  They should be shot.  But, thankfully, spray paint is my friend.

Thanks to the Hanley’s Magnificient field sale (not in a garage or a yard, but an open field), I scored this decent 2-drawer baby for $10.  Not bad.

Primer, $4.99, 2 cans light blue spray paint, $7.  Driving around stx before my kids fell asleep in the car looking for decent spray paint, priceless.

This replaces the open rollie-cart that my files lived in under the desk.  My files were just growing and SJ likes to play under the desk and get into them.  Can’t have that.

Love it.  Not sure why the top drawer looks funky in the picture, but it looks good in person.  And it sits under a burlap-skirted desk where no-one can really see it.  Why?