Rebellin

This holiday weekend, I…

• Slept in all three days. True luxury.

• Baked strawberry bread and a rhubarb pie
• Made french toast and breakfast burritos
• Got a ton of errands out of the way
• Cleaned the house and did 5 loads of laundry like a true domestic diva
• Shopped for a new house. We’ve found an area that we really love, and are excited to find a home there.
• Went to see a band in Carson, and was hit on by a 48 year old woman. I AM NOT KIDDING!
• Took the Black Dog Club on a hike at Davis Creek near Washoe Valley. It was a beautiful day, and it felt so good to be in the mountains again. Tucker and Shadow provided entertainment for two families while they swam to retrieve a 6 foot long stick and grappled over it in the water.

It was nice to just have a calm weekend at home so that we could catch up on those things we had been putting off. But of course, I still feel exhausted this morning.

Well, last night was my Corporate Challenge swim meet. While we were warming up in the pool, I started hearing whistles.

Now, as a former lifeguard, I know the difference between whistle blows.

A short ‘tweet, tweet’ is what you use when you’re trying to get a kid to stop running or hanging on the lane line.

A long ‘TWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET’ would communicate that there is something more going on.

But if there is a true emergency, all pools I’ve worked at had an air horn, and you’d blast the heck out of that air horn to get people’s attention.

So, back to my story… I’m swimming along, and I keep hearing, ‘tweet, tweet’, and I don’t think a thing of it. After about five short ‘tweets’, I popped my head up to see what was going on. That was when I saw all of the lifeguards gathered around a man that was having a siesure. Evidently, the siesure had started in the water, and they had to pull him out.

They cleared the pool, and called 911. Within minutes, a fire truck pulled up and oxygen was being adminsitered. The man was unconscious for about 5 minutes. Right as they were about to put him on the gurney, he regained consciousness, and he looked fine, if not a bit dazed.

As soon as they started pulling him out of the building, an announcement was made that warm ups could now resume.

So, I hopped back in the water and swam a few laps. After that, I stopped, and noticed there was only one other person in the pool with me. There were a few hundred people around, and no one was swimming… I felt like I was being a bit insensitive, so I hopped out of the water.

Someone later told me that the siesure man’s girlfriend was there, and she said that he has siesures all of the time, and that he’ll usually go to sleep for a few minutes afterwards, but then regain consciousness.

My only question would be – if you know that you are prone to siesures, why the heck would you go swimming?! That seems like you’re just tempting fate.

Anyway, the swim meet actually got started on time, despite that little incident.

As I was walking up to the blocks for my first race, I saw a girl that looked about 18, and she was wearing a 2004 World Championship Swim Meet sweatshirt. She also had the ‘look’ of a competitive swimmer. I was really bummed that I, as a 29 year old in the 18-29 age group, would have to race against her. Luckily, I later found out she was in another division, so even though we swam side-by-side, she wasn’t competing for me in rankings. She did give me a darn good run for my money, though.

So, are you ready for my rankings?

50 breast stroke: 2nd
50 back stroke: 1st
50 freestyle: 1st

Woo! It was fun, though my 50 free time was much slower than it had been in my prime. Results posted here.

I just spent the past three days of my life working the Reno River Festival (yes, I manage that site, too). It is a kayak festival at the Truckee River Whitewater Park in downtown Reno, and is put on by my organization. The event is really cool. Working three 12 hour days through my weekend is really uncool.

This past weekend, I transported boxes and boxes of t-shirts, drove on numerous errands, sold t-shirts and hats, walked many miles a day, was appointed to a street corner to look for a show girl (only in Reno, I tell you), tripped and fell in the middle of the street, hit myself in the head with a dolly (aka hand truck) and served as a roadie for JB’s band, who played today at the festival.

I’m tired, and grumpy, and so glad it’s over. The people that work events like this for a living truly amaze me. The only thing that kept me going this past weekend was the thought of an upcoming and well deserved vacation. It can’t come soon enough.

Well, I didn’t get my butt kicked as badly as I expected in Saturday’s track meet. Luckily, my friend Jesse, former track star, decided not to run the 1600 and the 800, and I medaled in both of those events — silver, baby!

I took the 1600 out WAY too fast. I did the first lap in like 1:30, when I usually run a lap in 2:20. Let’s just say the remaining three laps hurt like heck, but I came out of it with second place and a time of 9:14, when my goal was 11:00. (I’m a very slow runner, so that is a really good time for me personally.)

My lungs felt like they were on fire after I ran the mile. I used to have exercise-enduced asthma when I lived in Michigan, but haven’t had to use an inhaler since I moved to Nevada. I was definitely asthmatic after that mile race… Coughing and wheezing, I remembered that my friend Jesse has asthma. I went up to her like a druggie, and asked for a hit off of her inhaler. I seriously don’t think I could have done the remaining three races without the help of her inhaler.

The 100 yard dash was next. I came in dead last. I already told all of you I’m not a sprinter. I’m just glad I didn’t fall in the race like two other people did.

I then ran the 800, which I took out a lot slower, and I don’t know what my time was, but I got second in that race, too.

And no, I won’t tell you if you ask me how many people I was racing against.

Seriously, don’t ask.

Anyway, I got my butt kicked in the 400, but was just glad to be done after that.

I woke up on Sunday sore as all get out. My abs, sholders, back, and legs all hurt. My body seriously is not used to running at sprint paces! Luckily, JB treated me to a massage to ease the aches and pains.

And guess what…. Jesse informed me that the swimming portion of the Corporate Challenge is the day BEFORE I leave on vacation. I called today and signed up. YOU’RE GOING DOWN, WOMAN! She might have kicked my butt in the 100 and 400 yard runs, but baby, I’ll be in my element next Tuesday night. I’m looking forward to competing against her in the swim! Ha!!! The swim events are 50 free, 50 back and 50 breast. I’m not a sprinter swimmer, either, but my years of being a competitive swimmer should at least guarantee me a medal.

On Sunday, I told JB that because I was sore, I wanted to take the dogs on a nice, flat, easy walk.

That was vetoed. He chose a hike for us. The trail went in and back, meaning it didn’t loop. The man likes to loop. Hence, he created a loop, and I got to follow him off trail. The man can’t seem to stay on any trail, be it a ski slope or a hiking trail.

We were off the trail for half of our hike, and it was steep and rocky, and we were stepping over sage bushes, and I was not happy. He was so far ahead of me that he didn’t get to hear me complain much, though.

So there are the highlights from this past weekend. Happy belated Mother’s Day to my favorite Moms, including my Mom (of course), my brand new mother-in-law, Nancy, my sister-in-laws Jane, Audra and Mel, and my best friend, Amber. Maybe one day I can join you ladies in the ranks of motherhood!

I’ve competed in the Reno Corporate Challenge for the past two years. This year is my third year to participate. Basically, the City of Reno sponsors this Olympic-type event to help build relations within and between companies.

I usually compete in the swimming and the 5K, and I’ve medaled in almost all of the events I’ve competed in.

But this year, I’ll be out of town for the two events I’m good at. But, to show team spirit, I signed up for the track meet tomorrow. I’m running the 100m, 200m, 800m and 1600m.

I am totally not a sprinter. My hope was not to make an ass out of myself.

I was just informed that one of my good friends will be competing in all of those events against me — in my age group and in my division. She is a former track star, is 3 years younger, and weighs about 100 pounds less than me. She has been training for a 10K run next weekend.

Now I know I’m going to get my butt kicked.

I asked her to consider letting me beat her in at least one event…. Ugha.

Oh, and by the way, it’s supposed to rain during our track meet — the track meet for which I’ll be dragging my butt out of bed early on a Saturday morning to drive 50 minutes to Reno and get my butt kicked in the rain.

Why did I do this to myself?!!!!