So Tuesday, I went swimming and worked on the Total Immersion techniques.

At first I did the technique, trying to alternate breathing side to side. It takes a lot of effort! I was able to do 21-22 strokes per length of the yard pool.

Then, I went back to my “bad habit” of breathing every 2 or sometime 4 strokes on the same side. Imagine my surprise when I got to the end of the pool in *19* strokes!

The times I did that, I did a little bob and grinned from ear to ear, all pleased with myself. Yes!

I averaged about 55 seconds per 50 yards. Not too bad.

When I finished up and went to get Zander, he informed me that he was going to go down the BIG water slide. And he did! It was awesome.

“It was scary, Mom. But it was good.”

After that we went to soccer practice at the Y.

Halfway through practice, he came over and said he was done and didn’t want to play anymore. He was frustrated and grumpy. I asked why and he said he was bored. When I pressed him for more information, he finally admitted, “the other team just keeps scoring and scoring.”

The coach had set it up so that the 3 boys who are experienced with playing soccer were on one team and the 5 kids who had little or no experience were on the other team. So, consequently, the experienced kids kept scoring while the other team did not. Not the best set up for success.

The coach came over and asked why Zander wasn’t playing. Zander was reluctant to say. I finally told the coach what Zander had told me. So the coach offered for Zander to be on the experienced kids’ team – problem solved, right?

Nope. Zander still wouldn’t go out there. So, we talked some more. I explained that he was getting what he wanted (to be on the “winning” team, so he should feel better and go back out there. Since he wouldn’t, I asked him what the REAL reason he didn’t want to play was. He couldn’t answer me. So, finally, I just said, “The coach is giving you what you asked for. So you should at least try it for a little while and see if you like it better.”

He finally did go back out there. And enjoyed himself. And even scored himself a goal. And did a pretty sweet pass to one of his teammates. Now he is determined to practice soccer every day this week until his game on Saturday morning. Sure enough, today he practiced playing soccer at grandma & grandpa’s house against Zevan and Grandma.

None of my usual climbing partners were available yesterday to climb, so I went to the gym late and bouldered around for about 30-40 minutes. It felt good, even though I was a little tired from swimming and emotionally drained from the discussion with Zander at soccer practice. Afterwards, I met with May at Ruby Tuesday. I still miss seeing her regularly. Now we are lucky if we see each other every other week!

So we hung out and talked and caught up. It was really, really good to see her. Even though it reminded me how much I miss our time together.

This morning, I planned a bike ride before I went to my 9:00 AM PT appt. By the time I got to the park, I was running late, and then just decided I would ride my bike to my PT appt. So, I did. It was a bit cold, but manageable. According to the Garmin, it was 3.5 miles there. I had a great appt with Jessica, and then got back on my bike again. 3.5 miles later (and a nice hill that had me going 30 mph), I was back at the park. The weather was sunny and I decided to turn it into a long ride. At first, I was going to go 12 miles, but by the time I hit the mark, I decided to go even further. In the end, I rode a total of 16.25 mi. And I felt good. Tired, but good.

Zander asked if he could have a sleepover with Emmett Wolfe sometime. “Emmett Wolfe is my 2nd VERY best friend.”

“Who’s your first?” I naturally asked.

He said, matter of factly, “Elijah.”

“Really? We haven’t seen Elijah in a very long time.” (like maybe a year – at least it feels that long)

“I know, but he’s been my best friend ever since I was young. He’s been my friend the longest.”

Aw, that is so cute! Clearly, we need to get those boys together again.

We have never applied to private schools with wait lists or academic requirements.

So this year, when we applied for the CC Summer Program for Gifted Children, with its parental and separate private teacher recommendation (which we did not see), I wondered how competitive it would be, and how hard it would be to get in.

I sent the application in early March, and they said they wouldn’t let us know until April (but they required the full tuition as deposit!).

So yesterday, I grabbed the mail from the mailbox and was jolted when I spotted an envelope from CC. Instantly, I was thrown back to my high school senior year, waiting for my college acceptance letters. Instinctively, I squeezed the envelope and worried that it was too thin for an acceptance letter.

I brought the mail in and sat the pile on my desk while I checked email (and FB) and did some work. Then as I shuffled through my desk, I came across the envelope again. How unlike me not to open it immediately.

Dear Parent:

We are pleased to accept Zander Scott to join our summer program for gifted children. Your child will be enrolled in Mystery Club

…

Whew!

:snicker:

So, you know that Facebook phenomenon where one posts a picture of cartoon characters with different stereotypical traits (clown, jock, princess), and then tags that photo with names of friends who possess those traits?

My last two friends tagged me as the “jock.”

Huh? Me?

For me, the word initially conjures images of brutish boys with low IQs and letterman jackets. But then, I think. Oh – like an athlete. Someone who participates in sports.

After the Ascent, Disney World Marathon and Disneyland Half Marathon, I still never considered myself an “athlete.”

Yet here I am training for my first triathlon. Along with weekly trips to the climbing gym.

So I’ll take the “jock” label for the first time in my life.

And with it came my first strained muscle.

I went for a ride on Monday morning, and the weather was cool, but clear. So I planned to do a 16 mile ride. 2 miles into the ride, it started to snow. I went another mile and it was really coming down. The wind was biting and the snow was accumulating on the chest of my fleece. By mile 4, my toes were numb. I was heading back to my car, and I was miserable.

Right after the ride, my legs felt stiff and cramped. I got home, warmed up and worked for a good part of the day. The whole time my left calf ached, and I was thinking it was a cramp that I needed to work out. I was walking on my toes because I was unable to put my heel to the ground without a very sharp strong pain shooting up my leg. That evening, as we watched tv, I tried massaging it and it was incredibly tender to the touch.

The next day, I got an appt at Great Moves PT. Jessica wasn’t available so I saw Emily. Her diagnosis was quick – a torn gastrocnemius – strained calf muscle. She was very apologetic about my injury. When I asked how long it would take, she hesitated and said it was hard to say.

The thought of not being able to do the triathlon was deeply disappointing. She worked on my calf with light massage and Biofreeze. She suggested that I see an orthopedic doctor to determine the severity. While I iced my calf, I made an appt. She asked me to stay off of it for another day or two.

I asked if I could swim that day. She looked dubious. So I promised to completely rest it for a couple of days.

Today I saw Dr. Mahony, who is orthopedic doctor/surgeon for the CC Tigers. He was recommended to me by a friend. His offices are filled with sports paraphernalia signed by his patients.

He is a super nice doc, and when he checked me out, he did a couple of squeezes and pokes. He then looked concerned. When he pressed on my inner thigh, I winced in surprise. The other side did not elicit the same response. He called the tech in and asked that I immediately have an ultrasound to determine if I had a blood clot in my leg. All of a sudden, I felt nervous. She called to the lab and they said they would fit me in, but it could take a while..

So I went down, returned some client calls, got registered, and went out to the lobby and got some lunch. Just as I finished, they called me back for my u/s. It was pretty interesting watching her view and listen to the blood flowing through the veins/arteries in my leg.

And it turned out that I don’t have a blood clot. Whew! I went back up to Dr. Mahony.

He said it would take about 6 weeks to heal. I balked. I have a race in 5 weeks. He said that it wouldn’t be dangerous, but it would probably be painful. And if the race was important to me, I could do it. But I would have to suck it up about the pain. He said to keep working on swimming and biking. And I could start stretching my calf again next week and ease back into running with a shorter stride.

So, now I’m trying to figure out what to do.

Zevan’s been having some growing pains lately. He scratched one kid at school and hit another one.

He’s been a little turkey about being disciplined. The whole time he will smile, which frustrates me so much because it seems so smug. And I have to ask him to not smile while we are talking about what he did.

He’s been kind of clingy, thankfully he’s sharing this clinginess with Dad, and not just me.

He’s definitely in a phase where he wants things to be his way or the highway, and isn’t very amenable to compromise. Frankly, he’s very selfish.

He’s 2 weeks away from turning 5, so I’m sure this part of the every 6 month development upheaval.

So, tonight, we’re making pizzas for dinner and we were discussing toppings…

Zevan: Do you have any mushrooms?

Dad: *You* want mushrooms?

Zevan: No, no, no. Not for me. Do you have any mushrooms for Zander’s pizza? He likes mushrooms.

Not so selfish

Gah! This morning I had such great intentions. I was going to go on a real bike ride – outside on the Santa Fe trail, then do a short run. It was nice and sunny and cool.

I got out there, later than I had planned, and was greeted by 2 nearly flat tires on my bike. Did I mention I haven’t ridden my bike since Zevan got stitches?

So I spent a good half hour looking for a pump. I found a pump and spend more time looking for the right tip for my tire. No dice.

I realized then that Doug has a pump attached to his bike. And I know we’ve used it before to pump up the tires on my bike. I grabbed it and sat down to put air in my tires, but i couldn’t get the dang thing to latch on so I could get air in the tire. I tried all sorts of things. I checked Doug’s bike and sure enough, he had the same valves as I do. After a long, frustrating while, I gave up and thought, I’ll put the bike rack on and bring the bike to the bike shop.

Right. Except it’s been so long since I put the bike rack on, I forgot how the straps go on.

This whole time I’m thinking – I HAVE to get work done today or my clients will start firing me, one by one.

So I clear out the van, and shove my bike in the back. And it’s frakking lunchtime and I’ve gotten NOTHING done this morning. Crap.

I thought I would work a while, have some lunch and then bike.

Except now it’s 5:00 PM and the boys are are home and I didn’t. Damn.

…my best friend May got a full time job! My running, climbing, work-out partner and fellow geekspeak coder best friend got a full time job!

It’s been weeks in the making, and the whole time I secretly wished she somehow couldn’t work out the child care situation or something – anything – so that she couldn’t take the job. I had no doubts that she would get it if she wanted it.

And then today she dealt the final blow. We met for lunch at Pikes Perk after her interview and told me, “They want me to start on Thursday.”

I mock-swooned, clutching my chest. It somehow felt like a break-up – a few days earlier than anticipated.

Then we had lunch and went shopping so she could have clothes to wear to work.

I’m happy for her, actually. I know she wanted to do this, and I’m glad she got the job (for me, there was no doubt). I’m bummed for me. It’s so selfish.

She’s been my consistent, reliable, well matched work-out partner for the past four years. Sure, I wish she was a tad bit slower runner (at the same time I wish to be a tad bit faster runner…), but otherwise, we worked well together in motivating each other to go that extra mile, sprint to the next mile marker, dyno to that not so great hold, swim just one more lap…

Sigh.

Of course, I’m in the process of applying for a full time job myself – something I thought I would never even consider – but the position is just too good to not try. So far, I sent a resume this weekend, and haven’t even gotten the obligatory “we received your resume” response. Not that I *need* a job. This is something I actually want to do. We’ll see.