PIKE BOYS

These two eldest sons went off to overnight camp for the first time last week.

Running in a pack for four days, sleeping in bunks, eating camp food, exploring and hang’n out with each other with no parents around…their world will never be the same.

Hooligan

Fun at the doctors office after 4 days of a high fever.

And the x-ray showed…

PNEUMONIA!

And on to the adults

Seriously, three posts about one weekend.  Trust me, it will be short or not.

I just had to throw out the kudos to my amazing friends who also did the race last weekend.

Jon kicked in a 5th place finish.  Seriously Jon, I am expecting more from you. SHAME!

Nate, who did not really train for the sprint, took the most Swedish Award at 18th.

Jen, who travels with me each and every year to hang out and cheer me on and then get Chipotle afterward, now calls herself #27!  Woot, woot.

Becca, who kicked this bitch Athena style.  Ends up #2.  Way to take it home Becca!

Those are my homies!  Without you guys, it is just not as much fun.  Thanks for making triathlons a social event.

Then, then there are the other people in my life that I train with.  The people that I have shared large chunks of time, blisters, bitching, saddle sores and all the other stuff that comes along with all of a sudden sharing a life with random strangers that happen to become training partners.  These people also…are amazing.

These are the people I work out with MANY times a week.  And all this training, paid off for this collective group of 40 somethings.  Jackie (far right) took 3rd in her age group.  Next in line is Di, who is in my age group and if I didn’t like her so much would HATE her.  She makes me a better racer.  My one bike goal was to stay ahead of her.  She took 2nd in our age group and had the fastest bike split of ALL women, even the pros!  Next, Vicki, this was her first half ironman race and she finished with a smile on her face.  As for my coach in the back, he realized once he was home and analyzing the results that he took 3rd in his age group.

All that said, I am so lucky to have friends, team mates and a supportive family to make this ironman dream come true.

Thank you to all of you.

The hood takes it to Chisago

What do you get when you have a neighborhood of adults that spends part of their free time hanging out and drinking together and the other part of their free time doing road races, bike races, marathons and triathlons?

You get all their kids wanting to do what the adults are doing.  Racing that is…I am guessing the drinking will come later.

So here are the cast of characters who participated this year.

Dunc:  He is 3 and can ride a bike without training wheels.  He stands about 2 feet off the ground, is a touch shy and is FEARLESS.  Yeah, took 4th in his age group.  Yo Yo littlest racer.

Pete:  He’s 6 and runs so fast his legs blur.  He took 3rd in his age group two years ago and is back for more.  He held the bar high for EVERYONE and crossed it, bringing home another 3rd place finish.

KP:  Clearly looking nervous here.  We walked through the transitions so he would know where to go and when it came down to it, he was rock solid.  He took 11th in his age group.

Super Cal:  With his dark eyes and steadfast demeanor took to this race and did not stop.  Coming in 6th in his age group.  At the end, when his twin brother was sad he did not get a metal, Cal gave him his.  I know…seriously!?

PJ:  Coming in strong and looking for perfection, found this year’s race a little more difficult.  Her brother’s bike got caught on hers in the transition area, which caused a little bit of an upset to say the least.  After taking a deep breath, chucking her brother’s bike to the ground and moving past it, she took 12th in her age group.  Way to overcome baby!

Ellie:  One of PJ’s closest friends came to join the fun this year.  Her parents are amazing athletes in their own right but don’t do triathlons.  That said, without even knowing what the hell to do, Ellie kicked in a 4th place finish.  Then she got on her bike and rode another 30 miles to a camp site with her family.

CT:  Wanting nothing more than get a top 3 slot this year.  He and Sam worked hard on trying to swim through the water this year, instead of walking through the water like the majority of the kids.  I think it paid off for both of them.  CT had a good race, he worked hard, tried his best and ended up with a 5th place finish.

Sam:  As one of the veterans of the race, Sam knows the twists and turns well and is extremely skilled at navigating the process.  With a swim stroke as pretty and elegant as a swan, he swooped in to take the 10th place slot.

When it was all said and done this little amazing group of athletes cheered each other on, supported one another and had a wonderful time eating pancakes at the end of the race.

Great job Team So Ty!

This is for you dad!

3rd place in my age group–15th female overall–78th out of all the men and woman who participated.

PR (personal record) by 6 minutes for a time of 5 hours, 1 minute and 19 seconds.

Many stories and photos about the kids tri and about the rest of my friends to follow soon.

And yes, I had many conversations with my dad along the way.

Breeding them competitive

All three kids will be doing the Chisago Lakes Kid’s triathlon tomorrow. There has been no practice or dress rehearsal like there was in the past few years.  They are just heading out to do it.

(photo from last year)

They all want to win so badly, I know there will be some broken hearts in the bunch.  I keep trying to tell them what I tell myself, “race the best race you can, today.”  It took me 4 years of triathlons to get that, to not get so wrapped up in what “place” I was going to get (you never know who will show up that day) and to just do the best I can, race against myself and that will have to be good enough for today.

But they are still young, with many miles to travel before they get that point and that is totally ok.  Hopefully by the time they are 39, they will.

On a side note, I will be racing the 1/2 iron race on Sunday.  It will be the first time my dad won’t be there to kiss me at the finish line, ok he was actually really sick and didn’t come to the finish line last year…but he was still here.

This race will be for him.

I miss you dad and the finish line just won’t be the same without you.

Congratulations!

Olivia & Ryan are getting hitched!

The next Sellke Family Reunion will be in Indiana next August, helping these two kick off their married life right.

Have fun with the wedding planning.  And don’t forget…there is always Vegas!

All our love.

God Bless the Fireman

What could better, in the heat of the summer, than getting doused with water from a fire truck?

Injuries

I’m really not the kind of mom that runs to their kids when they are crying.  IF they are truly hurt, they will have a blood curdling sort of scream-cry.  I’ll come a running for those, but otherwise I kinda linger back and let them shake it off on their own.

At PJ’s last soccer game, she kicked the ball and then the ground.  She was on the ground crying.  The coach ran out there to check on her and looked back at me with eyes that said, “Come on mom, your kid is crying, get out here.”  I leaned to my friend and said, looks like he wants me to go.

I’m sure it hurt.  After the game we iced and we tylenoled.  The next morning, she was still hoping on one leg and oowing and wincing (when I was looking) and running and laughing when I was not.  There was no swelling, no black and blue, nothing.

We were heading to the park program that morning and I asked her if she felt good enough to go.  She said yes and gingerly grabbed at her ankle.

Once we get there, she sits at the table, puts her ace bandaged ankle up for everyone to see and tells me on a pain scale of 0 (fine)-10 (dying), she is a 7.

My response to her was this, “You have two choices.  1.  If you are indeed at a 7 on your pain scale, you should go home immediately and lay in bed with your leg up and wrapped in ice and then I will call the doctor and we will go in.  Or 2.  MAN UP.  What is your choice?”

“Ummm…man up.”

I can’t tell you how funny it was to hear my 8 year old daughter telling me she was going to MAN UP.

And by the way, her ankle is fine, she can jump out of a tree, run around the house and hurdle her brother but…she is still wearing the ace bandage.

Maybe she should start a new Man Up fashion accessory line for little tough girls.

Well stocked

“I have a plan just in case we need to go into battle.”