The 4th Kitten!

This afternoon we found the 4th kitten! The woman next door heard something and I coaxed the next one out by meowing- apparently my cat impression is pretty good. Unlike the other 3, this one isn't completely black, she's black and brown striped. After being without food for 48 hours and meeting people for the first time, she was in pretty good spirits.

The new kitten chasing my dad less than 2 hours after being rescued.



Girly-Girl washing the newest returnee.



The 4th kitten playing.



Me trying to hold all 4 kittens. They are a little squirmy.



The whole family.

This Week in Training

This post is a little late because I was busy with the kittens.

Monday:
.75 mile warmup, drills & strides
12x50m 2 min rec (6.3-6.7)
.75 mile cooldown
Weights

Tuesday:
3 mile run
Core

Wednesday:
1.5 hours of tennis

Thursday:
.75 mile warmup, drills & strides
6x100m 2 min rec (14.9-15.3)
.75 mile cooldown
Weights

Friday:
3 mile run
Core

Saturday:
Off

Sunday:
3 mile run
Core

With all the craziness of the kittens, this past week and now this week aren't going quite according to schedule, but good enough so far anyway. As long as I can stay consistent through the rest of the summer, I'll be happy even if it isn't quite what I have planned.

3 Kittens

Girly-Girl and her 3 kittens are safe at my parents' house now. We originally thought that there were just 2, but luckily Janda heard the third one crying and brought it over to my parents' where it was joyfully brought back into the fold with a thorough cleaning and some food. Now all 3 kittens are running, jumping, eating and sleeping in my parents' kitchen and Girly-Girl is watching over them like a good mummy.

Three kitties playing

Girly-Girl's Kittens!

We finally spotted Girly-Girl's kittens! We're waiting to see how many kittens she has (we've seen either 2 or 3) and then we're going to bring them all to my parents' house so that I can take care of them there.

Girly-Girl eating under the porch with her kittens in the background.

Girly-Girl's kittens playing under the porch.

One little guy or girl.

Quick Trip to Boston

My mom and I took a little trip into Boston today for her birthday (which was really a couple of weeks ago) and did some shopping and sightseeing. Neither of us had been to Fanueil Hall in ages, so we started out there, checked out Downtown Crossing and then had lunch back at Fanueil Hall. After lunch we checked out the work that they did during the Big Dig to the roads between Fanueil Hall and the North End. In addition to generally making the area nicer- which they are still continuing by turning some old mills or factories into another area with shops and restaurants, they also added a bunch of green space. The whole area around Fanueil Hall, Quincy Market and the Aquarium looks really great.

My mom and I at Fanueil Hall/Quincy Market.

One of the green spaces added.

A walkway from the Aquarium/North End that heads back towards North Station.

A close up of the gorgeous tiger lilies.

Looking back at the high rises from the end of the walkway.

Rhode Island 70.3

Another weekend, another race, this time close to home in Providence, RI. Finally a long race that takes less than 2 hours to drive to.

We left for Providence at about 9:30 am, after feeding Girly Girl twice and bringing Michelley and Kongy to my parents for the weekend. (Girly Girl was great for Janda's mom at our apartment, apparently Michelley and Kongy were little hellions at my parent's house the whole time we were gone!) It took just under 90 minutes to get there, so we were just in time for the pro meeting, which was practically a who's who list of Ironman and 70.3 winners and podium finishers. There was a 1.5-2 hour line for registration, but thankfully the pros got to check-in in their own line and we were out of there in a half an hour.

Providence, near the finish line

The RI State Capitol building, site of the finish line and T2.

At the meeting we met up with pro Nick Dufresne, who is one of Janda's ahtletes. He actually lives in Providence, so we went to lunch with him on Thayer Street and then drove the run course. It was a really nice course, a sort of out-and-back loop that the racers had to do twice. There was one major hill, steep on one side and gradual on the other. Janda likes hilly, so he was happy. After that we went to get Nick's car and we followed him and his girlfriend on the bike course down to Narragansett. The first few miles that we drove (the end of the course) were a little sketchy- lots of driveways, businesses, churches and potholes. The rest of the course was pretty nice with lots of downhills, which meant lots of uphills the next day. Again, crazy Janda was psyched because he likes hills. A few miles away from the transition, we let Janda and Nick out to do a shake-out spin and then we met them at the transition where they did a quick swim.

After that Janda and I headed for our hotel in North Kingston, but we couldn't wait and stopped at the first pizza place that we saw. After that we hit the hotel, chatted with his other athletes April and Amanda and her husband Matt and made plans to get up at 3:30 am and head out at 4 am! This race began at 6am! I don't know if it was because of the beach or the traffic, but it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We all got a minimum amount of sleep and then got to the transition before sunrise.

Janda in transition, Liam and Nick in the background

Janda pulling on his wetsuit as the sun rises

At 6am a cannon went off and Janda took off on the swim. After 28 agonizing minutes, praying against a repeat of Eagleman, Janda hit the beach running, only about 6 minutes after the leader and 4-5 minutes after the main groups. 17th pro out. Whew!

Janda running out of the water

Janda running his bike out

I caught him heading out of transition and then went back to the car to meet him out on the course. I saw him go by Rt 138, but I just barely caught him. Then I headed out to Rt 3, this time I was way ahead of him, so I could figure out his place and the deficit. He had pulled up into 10th! After I yelled that to him and took a blurry picture (he rides too fast!), I headed up to Providence, to the transition area.

A little after mile 30

I met up with Janda's dad and we anxiously awaited the racers at T2. The guys were coming in in twos: Galindez and Ambrose, Cotter and Cunningham, Berkel and Marr. Then out of the blue Janda hit the transition in 7th! We were so pumped that he had moved up further. I ran down to the half mile mark and grabbed another picture. Janda's dad and I grabbed a drink and stationed ourselves and the bottom of the big hill. When Janda came down the hill, he had moved into 6th and was gaining on fifth. He gained another 10 seconds in the next mile, so we were very excited. Janda's dad stayed out on the course and I headed to the finish.

Janda coming down the steep hill

The finish line was really cool. The race had an awesome announcer giving constant commentary and volunteers were handing out lots of noisemakers and pom-poms (they continued this all day actually). When Galindez came through for the win they shot confetti and streamers over his head and interviewed him right away. It was by far the best finish that I have seen a 70.s race put on. They went all out to make the finish area an awesome experience for both the racers and the spectators. I can't say enough about the commentating, the volunteers, the location, the food- everything at the finish area was top notch.

Back to Janda: he made up more ground on the 5th place guy (last money place), but not quite enough. This was a great race though: 6th place, 5th fastest bike split of the day and 2nd fastest run split of the day. Now that Janda will be able to train exactly how he wants, I know that we will see him getting better and better.

After Janda finished, we hung around at the finish and saw almost all of his other athletes finish. Probably due to the steep hill, a few of Janda's athletes had some hamstring/calf cramping issues and definitely due to the hill, another athlete hurt her ankle. Even with these slight injuries, all of Janda's athletes (8 total) were in the top 25 of their age groups/divisions! And two athletes got their slots for Clearwater: Amanda Russell and Craig Lewin! Even though almost everyone had some issue (little or big) during the race, everyone finished well and it was a very exciting day for Janda as a coach to get to see so many of his athletes compete. It is definitely fun for us to go to these semi-local races where we know so many people and get to hang out with so many cool people. It looks like most of the crew is heading to Timberman, the next big semi-local race, so we should have a great time there too!

We hit the road around 2pm and we were home before 4. That was one of the best parts of the race: home early, playing with the kitties and in our own bed early.

After the race

Girly-Girl

On Wednesday morning I noticed a little cat on our back porch looking in our back door. Since I am a total cat-person and it's in my genetics (on my dad's side) to feed every cat that comes to my door, I brought this kitty a bowl of food. Now as you may or may not know, I have an 18 pound miniature horse that eats like a fiend. This tiny 5 pound cat easily out-ate my monster cat. She was so tiny and thin that I figured she must be a stray. She was super friendly though, so I wasn't sure. She came back to eat several times that day.

On Thursday morning she was back. We continued to feed her and keep her company. We were worried that she was a lost cat, so Janda checked the ads in the paper and he found one that might fit her. It was for a black and white cat who might be pregnant and who might be found in Gloucester or Rockport. We live pretty close to Rockport, but not that close, so we weren't too hopeful, but Janda left a message anyway. Before we went to the parade last night we fed her again and I christened her Girly-Girl.

This morning she was back. She is just a total sweetheart of a cat and she would eat an army's worth of food and then hang around with me or Janda for a while. Late this morning Janda got a phone call from the people who had placed the ad, Feline Rescue of Cape Ann. Apparently a very pregnant cat had escaped from its foster home on our very street! There was only one problem, this cat was now very thin. So we spent a couple of hours hunting for the kittens. We knew that Girly-Girl had found a dry place to hang out because after every rain storm she would saunter over to our porch completely dry, so that was a good hint. Janda found a broken window that lead into a teeny-tiny crawl space at our neighbor's house and Girly-Girl was very protective of that area, so we are almost sure that her kittens are somewhere in that crawl space, but we can't verify it because it is so small. Girly-Girl might also have an infection of some sort, so now we are feeding her, giving her medicine and hopefully creating some sort of shelter on our back porch that will make her want to bring the kittens to it when they are a little older.

The situation isn't exactly under control, but at least we know what's going on with Girly-Girl. We still can't be sure about her health or the health of any kittens, so please send Girly-Girl and her kittens your best wishes!

Last weekend

This past weekend was crazy busy for me and Janda. In Gloucester our annual Fiesta took place this past weekend, so there was more than usual to do here in town.

It all started on Thursday with a cookout at our friends place. We walked over, had some good food and conversation and walked back.

Then on Friday our friends had another cookout and then did a little dancing downtown. We walked home in time for the US Olympic Trials for track and field and we got to see local favorite Shalane Flanagan (who ran in my conference in high school) win a very exciting women's 10K.

On Saturday we celebrated my mom's birthday. My mom loves crepes, so I made them for dessert. They were so good- I tried a new recipe and they came out better than ever. After my mom's party Janda and I headed down to Hingham. One of Janda's clients was going to be in the same race as Janda on Sunday, so he invited us to stay with his sister in Hingham the night before the race. That was extremely nice of Alex and his sister and it worked out great for us. Alex, his sister and her husband kept us in stitches until it was time for bed.

Sunday was race day so we got up nice and early before 5am and we were all on the road around 6. Alex and Janda rode their bikes down to transition and I hoofed the 2 miles there. Cohassett was obviously very beautiful, but we could barely see it it was so foggy! Practically everyone that Janda and I know who do triathlons was there, so it was a pretty fun race. Janda and all his athletes did really well,so it was a good day all around.

Janda finishing.

Janda on the podium with Olympian Jarrod Shoemaker.

After the race we went back to Alex's sister's house and had a nice BBQ. His sister's house is built practically in the woods and we saw deer, turkeys and rabbits. It was pretty neat until we saw a coyote stalking Alex's dog! Luckily once Alex saw the coyote we all jumped up and scared him off.

After the BBQ we headed for home and then headed out to Fiesta. We watched the Seine boat races and the Greasy Pole. Then we got some carnival food and walked around the Fiesta a little bit before heading home. Later that evening we watched more track until about 1am!

All in all it was one busy weekend and I slept about 12 hours over the course of Monday!

This Week in Training

Again, I can't remember what day I did which workouts, but here's what I remember from last week.

1 17 mile bike ride
1 40 mile bike ride
1 easy sprint workout (50's)
1 4 mile run
1 3 mile run

Over the course of July my pre-season training will be becoming more and more structured. This week I'm throwing in body weight exercises and this week or next I'll probably start hitting the weightroom again.