Sometimes, it's damn hard to be married to a pilot and mechanic. Our conversations about triathlons go something like this:
Me: So, I've got some ideas about what races I want to do this year.
Hubby: Okay, what are the dates?
Me: Well, the first one is in May...
Hubby: Oh, May's pretty bad. I've got the big maintenance coming up on the Falcon 10.
Me (grits teeth): Okay, well the next one is in June
Hubby: Yeah, you know I'll be gone most of June to the maintenance facility in Michigan
Me: (jaw clenching, voice still calm though): Okay, I've got one in July
Him: I'll probably be going back to Michigan sometime around then
Me: (molar surfaces ground to dust): And the half-Ironman I want to do is in September
Him: September is iffy, just in case the airplane comes back late from maintenance...
Me: So, let me get this straight. Most of the summer and the fall are out.
Him: Yep, that's about it. After September looks pretty good though...
Um, yeah. I proposed a plan in which for every summer race I had to miss, I got to go to a race in the Southern Hemisphere, but he didn't exactly jump at it. In reality, I'll probably get to do all my desired races, even if it involved backup childcare plans and lining up relatives just in case he gets called out.
So without further adieu, here is what I'm hoping to do this year:
April: OBRA Time Trial series - flat 15 mile cycling TT, my previous PR (the one and only time I did it!) was 41:30, at about 21.5 mph. I think I can do much better than that this year!
May: Hill Climb series if I'm gutsy enough. A TT straight up a local ugly hill.
Hagg Lake Sprint Tri, USAT Nat'l Age Group Qualifier (the last one of the season, and I didn't do any qualifiers last year).
June: If I manage to qualify (which I have no idea how hard that will be) Age Group Nationals (also at Hagg Lake, OR). Olympic distance. If not, I'll choose another Oly distance race.
July: A new distance, the TriAmerica race at Cottage Grove, OR. 2k Swim (1.2m), 60k bike (37.3m), 15k run (9.3m). This looks really intriguing, a nice stop between Olympic and half-Iron distance.
September: Black Diamond Half Iron, Enumclaw, WA. With a slightly longer bike than most half-Irons, and probably-cool weather, this will be a good race for me.
Anything else I might get to do will be icing on the cake, but I'm hoping to at least hit these races.
7 comments:
Why does he have to be available for YOUR races? Line up some babysitting and GO!!!
My kids aren't aren't partial to being babysat overnight by anyone other than relatives, and unfortunately the relatives aren't available for 3 out of 4 of my races! There's only one race local to me at all in the whole season, so all the rest involve overnight travel. If we still lived in Seattle, I'd have a ton of local races to choose from, but alas that is not the case here...
I have faith that you'll make it work. Drag somebody else to your tris to watch the kids - I know people that do that - the kids hang out, enjoy the tri - somebody half watches them while they play in the park for the day and see mom do her stuff. It's all good. I know it'd be grand if 'he' made it part of his schedule, but if that doesn't work, don't let it stop you. Black Diamond was beautiful last year - I have amazing photos of the fog on the lake before the start. Heck, I'll watch your kids if you do that one.
You have the patience of a saint. I sure hope there are other "fringe" benefits to his job.
LOL, yes in general it's a great job. Flying is his passion and keeps him happy, and we get tons and tons of hours of family time (just not always predictable hours).
Ginger, that's a very nice thing to say. I'm sure I'll make it work however it shakes out. I've never done that Black Diamond race, but nice to hear it's a good one (I usually do my fave Black Hills in Olympia and camp at Millersylvania) I'm really looking forward to it.
Hey - a few of us are talking about Ironman Brazil in 2008 - a great southern hemisphere race!
Hope your race schedule works out - especially the Age Group Nationals!
That sounds like so much fun! I don't think I'll do another IM for a few years (time, expense, all that stuff), but I'm thinking on IM Brazil in 2011, so I'll look forward to hearing all about it if you do it in '08!
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