Manatee Monkey Mentors SHUT (Poptart or pet pic bribes considered) (Page 3)

And since I made my renewal desires known with that last post, my bio:

NAME: Melanie
STORY: I am a 41 year old female who enjoys being outside and active despite my body's periodic rebellion against such activities. I got into triathlon after befriending a woman at my new (at the time) job who regularly raced. I became hooked on this multifaceted multisport and have just begun my 5th season of triathlon. I also am an ice hockey goalie, a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and enjoy kayaking/general outdoorsy activities.

As a kid I was always active (a total tomboy playing football/baseball, climbing trees, building forts with the neighbor boys), swimming (for fun, not competitively), playing softball and volleyball in rec leagues which took a small lull in my early 20s until I discovered the joy of inline skating and eventually learned how to ice skate at age 23. From there I played inline hockey with friends and eventually made the move to ice hockey at age 27. Played as a wing in a whopping 1 game before my best friend talked me into being the goalie and I fell in love with the position and the rest is history.

I ran frequently in the mid-late 90s until I developed femoral tendonitis and put the sport aside until my interest in triathlon bloomed. Got back into the love of biking in 2004 when a friend I worked with got me hooked on mountain biking which for me morphed into the desire to add a road bike to my stable which led to participating in fundraising rides and the rest of that is history, too!

FAMILY STATUS: Married for forever and have 2 fun, funny dogs who always make me laugh and smile

CURRENT TRAINING: Swim and bike focused as I have some weird ankle thing going on that I'm in denial of (in other words, haven't sought medical help for yet).

THIS YEAR'S RACES/EVENTS: Just kicked off the season with a sprint tri.  I'm not officially registered for any other tris yet this year but will likely do about 2-3 other sprints and hopefully an Olympic.  I am signed up for a 10K in the fall.

BODY COMPOSITION: definitely want/need to dump some plump - as of today I am 184-ish (didn't weigh myself this week) on a 5'10" frame and would like to get down to 160 or 155, ideally, but would LOVE to see the 170s as an interim goal. I am currently an 'Athena' at this weight and really woudn't mind not being one by getting below 165.  Weight is a constant battle for me. I want/need to regain some overall strength especially in my arms/upper body. I'd also like to get a better handle on my asthma issues which sometimes raises its ugly head to negatively affect my racing.

Kids like to use my grandma's rolling pin on me.

And my twin, separated at birth

Racing Manatees!!!!

May 24-25
Randee - Vermont City Marathon (Half Relay) on Sunday
Tom - Lou Cox 5k on Sunday
Stacey - 12k on Sunday

Disabled list:
Adrienne - recovery from surgery

Name: Erin, Mommy, Goody.

After 12 years of teaching, husband and I decided a family break was in order. So, for the moment, I am a SAHM to two wonderfully crazy kids (Taylor and Makenna). Taylor's last day of first grade is today, and he turns 7 next week. Makenna is every inch a know-it-all 3yo. Attaching pic already because new manatees might as well get used to seeing them

I've always enjoyed playing sports (all the typical ball sports) and being active. By babysitting and picking blackberries, I earned a horse when I was 12. For the next 6 years I spent no less than 2 hours a day cruising through strawberry fields and along the beach. After a bad knee injury in college that lead to several surgeries, riding my horse was something I could count on when other sports were a no way. One activity I was never excited about was swimming. According to my mother I was a fearless swimmer as a youngster, but somewhere along the years I gained a phobia of the water...or rather what lives in the water. I saw an awesome pic the other day of a pool with a Great White photoshopped into it. A few years ago my husband took up triathlons, and I said I would never/could never. Then I was having a conversation with my son and heard myself telling him, "You'll never know unless you try. Maybe you won't like it. Maybe you will. But you have to try." Sigh...so next thing I know, I was training for a local sprint with four week's notice. I actually listen to my own advice sometimes.

As mentioned, I'm married to a fellow tri person. He's actually making his first attempt at an IM this year (SAHM thing will come in handy for keeping up my own training). We have our two little humans. They were preceded by three sweet mutts, and we added a drooling feline most recently. Our family loves to be active. Trips to Zion are a favorite. Hiking, swimming, biking...the kids love all of it. Getting the kayaks out of storage is next. And our first real camping trip is in the works.

At the moment I am training for....I have no idea. DH mentioned an HIM the other day and I kinda choked up, and not in a good way. lol
2014(so far): Mtn bike relay, IMS Arizona marathon, Pat's Run, Esprit de She Sprint

2014(?): first oly, HM, another sprint, Rim to Rim, a few 5ks (with kids we take races as we can get them scheduled)

Got on the scale for the first time in a couple of months. Little(umm...lot?) fluffier than I should be. Some workout tweaks need to happen. 

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Randee - Awesome sauce! A 1/2 relay would be a blast

Tom - You'll nail it... again

Stacey - Stay dry and have fun!

Salty - Heal up... I saw your pix on twitter, glad you're doing "something"

I am racing Ryan Hall and Shalane Flannagan at BolderBoulder on Monday!!!!!!!!!!! My thanks and respect to all of our military heroes past, present and future. Erin, please pass my thanks to Jason for his service.

GO RANDEETEE!!!
GO FOXAY!!!
GO WET YOUNG STACE FACE!!!

Heal up well, Salty!

GO RACERS!!!! 

Heal up salty!

TJ, I'm putting my money on you

Goooo Racers!

And, everyone else, do something lovely this Memorial Day weekend   Mak and I are wearing our "Buddy" Poppies this morning. She donated to the VFW lady in front of the store.

I will certainly pass along to Jason   (re: other thread) Team RWB is pretty strong around here, and they are very family oriented. "Members" are vets, active, family, and supporters.  Jason would like to do more with them, but we're an hour from most of their activities which makes it difficult during the week. We really like the local organizer, Bill Egan.

Have fun, Manatees!!! (Looking forward to meeting you, TJ )

To all of you here in the States, enjoy your 3-day weekends!! (Sorry Yanti, Stacey, and Jonathan - hope you get long weekends soon)

Salty, hope the healing is going well.

And to all of you who are serving or have served in the U.S. military: many, many thank yous.

GOOOO RACERS!!

HEAL, SALTY!!

Thank you active and retired military!!!  Everyone have a safe weekend!

Happy long weekend US'ers and thank you to those who serve.  We had a long weekend this past weekend, so we are not left out.

I just had my second OWS of the year...as usually, first part sucks, but smooths out.  My training partner and I are hoping to get out once/week...now we just have to get over the fact that we have to do twice what we are doing now...

Bit of a crazy day, started with dropping T off for his last day of first grade and now ending with bags packed for a last minute drive to Kansas in the morning...to sell one car and buy another.  In between I did the typical SAHM stuff, cleaned house, researched bday party venues, and took the kids to the shelter to get a look at prospective foster pups.

Though I did nothing remotely like working out today, we have the sitter coming at 6am so we can get in a ride before driving for two days...in a little car...with two kids.  The upside is that T gets to celebrate his birthday with his KS family and I get my long-searched-for vehicle. Can't wait to see it in person!

oh yeah, just that   Very cool that you're getting out to OWS!

Welcome Debi!   Sounds like you'll fit right in...as soon as you post furry buddy pics. And bike pics. But furry buddy pics first

Hi.  Here's my bio.

NAME: Mary; feel free to call me Mare

STORY: 45 yrs. old.  I was a pretty active kid, running, riding my bike, playing at the pool but nothing formal until I ran track in jr. high and high school.  As I got older, music became more of a focus and I left the athletics behind.  Finally took formal swimming lessons in 2002 and totally love it!!  I saw my partner do a few tris, then in 2007 and 2009, I did a couple short adventure races and decided I really wanted to do a tri myself.  Finally had time in 2011 to train, then hurt my back 10 days after I started.  Since then, I've had 2 hip surgeries and in December 2013 was told I needed a spinal fusion.  I was literally ready to throw in the towel on life when I found a chiropractor who got me back on track, both physically and psychologically.  Doing this has helped me rise from the ashes and accomplishing this goal at age 45 is going to be a huge triumph for me.  I'm already planning to do an oly next year and eventually a HIM.

FAMILY STATUS: Wonderful partner Alex.  We've been together since 1998 and married since 2007.  We have 2 border collies (Shanti and Pippin) and a little black cat (Cricket) who all provide constant entertainment.  Shanti is the Order Collie, Pippin is the Wheedle-Nosed Ply-er, and Cricket supervises and commentates.

CURRENT TRAINING: Training for a sprint tri in August.  Going to do a couple OWS/runs between now and then.  Running, biking or swimming 2x each/week, up to ~3 miles running, 10-11 miles biking, and regularly swimming 1000-1200 yds.  Working on endurance, distance, swim form.  Also taking the stairs every day at work.  I work on the 14th floor and am currently up to 7 flights every day.  Goal is to make it to the 14th floor.  L hip is still weaker than the right so I'm doing some strength work for that, although not as consistently as I should be.

THIS YEAR'S RACES/EVENTS: Two 5ks so far.  OWS/runs in June and July will be 750 yds swim/5k run.  Sprint tri is August 17.

BODY COMPOSITION: Main achievement so far is to be doing this at all, considering that in January, I was only swimming ~800 yds. 1x/week, always using a pull buoy because kicking hurt my hip and back.  5'7", currently weigh 140.  If I drop weight that's great but that's not my goal.  Primary goal is to continue to get my life back so I can garden, hike, and be as active as I want to be instead of always having to think, "Can I do this or is it going to hurt too much?"

As a newbie to tris and pretty much to organized sports in general, I bring enthusiasm, encouragement, empathy, and humor to my fellow Manatees, as well as a deep understanding of how intertwined psychological and physical well-being are.  This is my 2nd season here and I'm in for the long haul!!

I'll post pics of the fur kids when I have time to figure out how to do it...