Auckland Half Iron Man

On the weekend I participated in the short course of the Auckland Half Iron man. Our team was called the Spider Pigs and I did the 30km cycle.  My friend Crystal did the 7km run and Anthony did our 1km swim.

Here is me almost dying on the ride:

The good news is we came first out of the teams. ....What I want to leave out but should tell you is there were only four teams in total. I still think we rocked it!

Reserve, restore and refill

The past week has been a downpour of stressful situations. As amazing as girls camp was, there were many late nights leading up to it that really took a toll on my body. Those things never go 100% as planned and that can, and did add to my stress levels.

Immediately after camp our car decided to pack up and die leaving us stranded. I have no idea how I will get to work each day or how we are going to purchase a new car.

That afternoon we witnessed a 6 year old girl get hit by a car on our street. I called the ambulance and had to console the babysitter who was in a serious state of shock. I was also responsible for phoning the mother to tell her that little Ava was being taken by an Ambulance to Starship hospital- that was probably the most difficult conversation I have ever had. Tuks jumped straight out onto the street to begin directing the traffic. I love him and the way he reacts to stressful situations.

Sleep time finally came, but I woke up at 3am with terrible nausea, a fever and aching muscles. While feeling sick and spending the morning organizing a tow truck for our car I still had to go into school because there was no reliever available.

My landlord called  and told us she was raising the rent and that I couldn't leave my bike inside anymore....there was nothing to eat for dinner.... my eyebrows have grown an inch thick.... and  finally when I was at Mutual I realized my energy was completely depleted.

I have done a lot of reading about energy in the past so know that we only have a certain amount. This energy needs to be conserved and restored and in times of stress I need to keep giving back to myself to refill my tank.

So I took today off to do absolutely nothing. I went for a small walk and sat the rest of the day in my PJ's allowing myself time to BE with myself. It has been wonderful and I realize that when I don't take time to do this I become stressed, irritable and not the type of person I want to be in the world.

I spent some part of today reflecting on the interactions I have had with others in the last few days and I truly believe we are all connected to each others energy fields. Whenever I walk into my classroom, my office, spend time at Young Women's, on the phone with the mechanic or strangers on the road my energy is either restored or taken away from me. I realize there are people that I associate with regularly who sap me of my energy and I need to find a way to put up a barrier to keep their negative vibes away.

I also have a couple of energy idols- people whose energy amazes me President Orgill ( President of the PCC) is one. I have no idea what I would do if I had to wake up at 4am like him. And there is nobody like my good friend Erin. How does she do that? And with four kids!

Energy is the essence of life and I need to decide everyday how I am going to use it. Situations can be as stressful or carefree as I choose. And that, for me is the key- it is MY choice. 

Girls camp

I just returned from my ward's girls camp. Our theme  was " Arise and Shine forth" which is also the LDS Youth mutual theme for the year.

The purpose of the camp was two fold. First, to get our YW to become more confident in themselves and in their interactions with others and second to solidify what " Arise and Shine forth" means to them this year.

I will expand on the second purpose in another post- but as for the confidence building, we took them to the beautiful Woodhill forest where an adventure wonderland awaited for us. We climbed 10-14 meters above the ground and completed very challenging activities as we wound our way through the treetops.

The girls blew me away, they were fearless and showed a real go get em attitude that we don't often see on Sunday or at mutual.  Later that night we talked about the need to apply that same attitude to everything else they do this year and challenged them to really push outside of their comfort zones. The girls have huge potential, but don't often see it so it was a great object lesson.

Here is a picture of us before we took to the trees:

26 going on 16

Remember that time the All Blacks stood me up? I was hurt and confused and angry that I had worn my heels all day for nothing.
Well, today they totally made up for it.

I know I am a married woman, but I have no shame in admitting I go weak at the knees every time I see Sonny Bill Williams on television. He is my ultimate celebrity crush, and if my husband didn't give me the crazy eye every time I mentioned his name I would probably own a lot more of his fan swag.


While we are being totally honest here I have to admit that in order to get a photo with SBW I had to run onto the field during his rugby game and ask for one. Some may call that crazy, I call it dedication. This morning hubby and I watched the news coverage of this event and he joked that he couldn't see me chasing Sonny down the field. Ha ... ha..... ha.

Imagine our surprise when we came across this photo.

Who's doing the chasing now! he he It's good to know I still got it ;)

Does my bum look big in these?

In two months I have clocked over 400 kilometers on my bike. It's true. My odometer says so. During this time I have increased my endurance and strength without the harsh impact on my joints that can often come with running. But have I increased in other areas too?

The majority of those kilometers are made up of my rides to and from work.It was after riding to work one morning that a colleague said she would never take up riding because it gives you "a fat butt and huge throbbing man quads". Now, even though I have not always had a road bike I have for years taken spin/rpm classes. If it gave me a big butt or big vein covered legs like some steroid soaked body builder or Tour de France rider then I would have stopped.  What's funny is that my pants HAVE been a little tighter lately, however, I can almost guarantee that comes down to the tub of ice cream and family sized portion of ginger slice I ate last week, not because I have been cycling more.

During one of our training rides Mr Triathlete stopped for a photo op. I now give you permission to look at my butt. I don't think cycling has given me quads that belong on the world's strongest man competition, but I want you to be the judge- is my butt looking big?