Friday, September 28, 2012

A life on the go




Life as an on-the-go working triathlete mom requires creative scheduling, but I sometimes find I have pushed my luck, and tried (and failed) to put ten pounds of flour into a five pound sack.

Case in point: Earlier this week I had an open-water swim on the schedule. As the workday unfolded, I found a narrow window of time that would allow me to dash out the door, get in my swim, and still get to school in time to drive through the car rider line to retrieve my son. Or so I thought. As I approached the school, a little late, my heart sunk as I realized the teachers had already ushered the unclaimed kids inside. Grant would be waiting for me in the office....which meant I had to get out of the car and walk into the school.

Not a big deal, save for the fact that I had no clothes other than the swimsuit and shoes I was wearing. In I went. Fortunately, it's a very small neighborhood school, I know all of the teachers, and they know I'm a bit odd. What was priceless was that my own child, at that tender age of 10, didn't flinch or react or seem to find it strange that his mom was standing in his school in a swim suit. He seems to take the good with the bad of me. I figure I am contributing to his character development! LOL!

I didn't get THIS look that says "stop embarrassing me"
There are plenty of other instances of my workout timing going awry. It wasn't too many weeks ago, I tried a similar swim-school schedule but discovered I was nearly out of gas (literally and probably figuratively). That left me pumping gas in my swimsuit. You would think I would have learned from that and thrown some extra clothes in the car (I still haven't...but as I type this, I am making a note to do so.)

There have also been countless episodes of finishing a bike ride with a sprint finish into the garage followed by a lightning-fast transition to the car to pick up a kid. Yesterday I retrieved Spencer from an after-school activity this way, complete with bike helmet hair and colorful cycling clothes.

Another notable -- A few years ago, I had a Saturday morning haircut AND a marathon prep long run scheduled. I had the bright idea to put the haircut stop ON the run loop, so I'd get in most of the miles before and just a few miles after as a delayed cool-down. Again, I didn't have that timing issue worked out exactly right, so I found myself having to run faster and faster so I wasn't too ridiculously late. (Thanks, Dawn Hale, for still putting up with me after all these years!!)

There are also the instances of riding the bike trainer at soccer practice and alongside the pool so I could watch the kids but still get my workout in. I've finished up runs doing laps around the soccer field. There have been unscheduled narcoleptic in-van naps at various practices too.



My guess is that moms have some of the best transition times at races. Now you know why.

Perhaps my unorthodox mom ways have contributed in some small measure to having confident kids who are not afraid to be their own person and to do things like this. Or perhaps they will require therapy long into adulthood. Time will tell.