Where have I been???

Holy cow! It's been over a month, and no posts by me!

See, the wonderful thing about having an early season "A" race (yes, I define late June as "early season") is that you still have time to really enjoy your summer (off your bike and out of your running shoes) if you so choose. I learned this when I did IMMOO, which is in September, and I felt like I trained ALL summer because, well, ... I TRAINED ALL SUMMER. Leaving little-to-no time to do the "fun" summer stuff.

Last year, after Comrades (early June) Ross got in a LOT of golf and biking... which he couldn't when we were training. And this year, well, this year was all abouts the family after IMCDA.

Among the highlights were
Camping with the Harwoods!
I miss camping and our kids are at an age where we can just start getting back into it. It was great to getaway and enjoy a lake (YES! A lake in Colorado! Not a reservoir AND one that wasn't too cold to swim in.) with our friends.

 

Heading back to Wisconsin for my sister's wedding reception.
While there, my cousin even asked me about why I did IMCDA over another IM and I said "so I can sit here and drink wine with you and not worry about having to do a workout tomorrow". While that seems like a silly "reason" to some - that was an important factor for me in choosing IMCDA.

Yes, they all belong to me!

Side Trip to Iowa!
On the way to WI, we stopped off at Abby's Iowa farm for a tractor-riding, corn-picking, cow-feeding, silo-climbing good time!

A little lesson in corn farming.

Lincoln's favorite was feeding the cows!

Hunter LOVED riding/steering the tractor with Abby's dad!

 Zurawiks invade COLORADO!
Summa-summa-summatime means no school and fun vacations and staycations. The boys (and us) got to play with some of their old bffs for A WHOLE WEEK!

On top of the world with great friends - hard to beat this!

Not to mention, all of this was  done without the stress of "how am I going to fit in a (2 - 8 hour) workout tomorrow" or "Hmm.... I better not open that bottle of wine, I have a long ride in the morning" thoughts.

So when the fun was done, it was time for some more serious train/racing... by the kids! Between swim team and random events, the kids' training and race schedule was more packed than ours!!!! Seriously. Truth be told, my children - hour for hour -  did more lap swimming than I did this summer (including IM training). No kidding.

Anyways, we had the joy of taking the kids to their swim meets,

Looks simple, but we worked all summer on perfecting our dive.
And by "we", I mean Lincoln and his coach.

Is that a (modified) butterfly stroke I see? Go HUNTER!

A 4th of July 5k (on scooter)

A triathlon (Lincoln's first!)

End result = happy boys and a "when can I do it again!?!?!?!"

And finishing off the season with their long-awaited introduction into the world of 5ks -- the Color Run!!! An awesome run, we enjoyed with the Ingersolls. (Here's Jan's breakdown of the fun.)

The "before" picture

On the run!

We LOVE color!

Looking back, I don't regret a thing. I know a lot of people race out the end of their summer once they are fit as a fiddle for IM, but that was not me. I enjoyed the training for IMCDA, I enjoyed racing IMCDA and I enjoyed every moment of my summer after it with my family and friends. Balance is something that is important in my life and while IM training can take over a big part of your life, I try to balance it out after with loads of family time and attention afterwards -- and it works for us!

So, in short, that's where I've "been" this last month+.