Mother's Day

My coach has been telling me that all this swimming is keeping me fit for cycling and running. A rather transparent attempt trick me into the pool for such a smart man, don't you think? For my first! ride! back! Katherine and I crashed the Boca training clinic to swim through chop so messy that I was fortunate to finish on the correct island, and then we hopped on the bike for two hours. Katherine is my doppleganger. I could totally be her stunt double. More importantly, we do everything at the same pace - swim, bike, run.. we even had our kids at the same age. We quickly found the usual characters from the Boca Sunday ride. I was under strict orders not to push and to stay away from the boys. I behaved, mostly, by keeping the cadence high, staying at Z1/Z2, and not climbing.  But we hung on to the boys anyway. First day back, and I was the same old me, at the same HR and speed I was holding before the month off.  Perhaps the Coach wasn't trying to trick me after all.

The swim race is done and I have photos to prove it. Sort of - the only finish pic was fugly and I not going to post that on my own blog. I was 4.5 minutes faster than last year and finished in 36:39 (~ 1.75 mi), seventh overall, first AG, and first mom, a special division given the date. I got lost looking for a turn buoy we needed to hit before turning along the coast, but that's part of the game. I cut it close around the island and swam in foot deep water over the reef as the waves rolled over for a while - and I didn't even stand up and run like a cheater (unlike last year.) I did body surf some though. 

Here are Maggs (race director & swimmer), Sky  & I post-race - Maggs would like me to add the disclaimer that she only slept two hours last night so she's not her sun safety barbie self. She is also not 6'4" - she must be uphill!

And here's the fam, pre-race, hiding from the rain in the back of the wagon:

It was a nice mother's day, with many of those super-useful school project presents from the kids. After the swim there was a Monopoly game in which a new rule was introduced: Due to extreme thieving, no child can be left alone at the table, even during food and pee breaks. We're calling it the Wyatt Rule.