How's your fun?

About a year ago I think my son Jack asked me that once when coming back from a bike ride or run or something, and it was such a funny saying that has stuck with us. Well as a matter of fact, my fun has been wonderful. In fact I think I have broken the fun barrier as my dad used to say to us as kids.

AFter deciding to not do Lake Placid, I have felt huge relief and last week and have had a whole bunch of fun. I was on the track, sluggish but it felt good do be pushing the pace. I also did the Thurs night group ride. My goal was to stay with the group the whole way, but wasn't sure what would happen you never know what they'll do and I had no idea what kind fast surge efforts I would have. They were now means riding hard that night, but I stayed on the whole way and didn't just sit in the back but tried to stay up in the front and even took some pulls.......this was fun and I have missed doing this. On a whim, I decided to sign up for Bigfoot Triathlon in Lake Geneva. I had a brick workout scheduled that day so opted to do the Olympic Distance tri instead. I knew I'd be putting myself out there a bit entering a short fast race being Ironman trained, but I had heard this was a fun race and thought it would a great way to shake out the Ironman cobwebs. It was a really neat race. I had a horrible swim, felt like I was going no where and seemed to find some awful current and chop in the lake that no one else had, but I made I finally made it out then started sooo hard on the bike trying to make up time. I faded in the middle, obviously starting too fast. My brain said.....go HARD go, but it didn't last. The run was VERY fun. Not a fast run course, mostly all on grassy trails and some hills. I was having so much fun running on such a different type course. I wasn't fast but felt strong and it was a good effort and making my 180 degree turn in the season.

We booked it home to finish packing and catch a flight to Disneyworld. Talk about fun, oh my. Disney is a World Championship event for kids. It is much like a big triathlon in many ways. The kids had been training for it for months doing chores to earn quarters (ha ha) for Disney and finally it was race week.

In the mornings, we would fuel up, pack up our gear, which included park passes, $$ of course, camera, hats, water, and sun tan lotion and embark the shuttle to the main event. Once leaving the bus we were faced with long lines to enter the park kind of like those long lines for bodymarking or picking up your timing chip...so anxious to get in to the transition area and get rolling, but the lines...slowing us down. Once inside, wow. The kids were soon sizing up their competition. They were checking out the princess costumes, pirate swords, toys and such that all the other kids had, kind of like checking out the cool bikes, race outfits and helmets secretly thinking "I have to have that". The stores are like race expos....all kinds of cool things that are hard to resist right in front of you For me, at expos...my downfall and weakness are swimsuits. I have to just stay away. Here, the kids could hardly resist Cinderella crowns, pirate hats and hooks. Getting to the ride, venue, or show is the event itself. Negotiating the other park goers, as quickly as possible to try to get the most in, get that fast pass and see has much as possible is race. Other park goers should have gotten blocking penalties for slowing us down and not letting us pass and get to where we wanted to be. The designated "stroller" sections are like the Chicago Triathlon transition area with rows and rows of strollers parked, some with treasures, bags and belongings even in place. Is there an underlining courtesy like in a transition area...."don't touch my stuff"! There were even a few moments of bonking, where we needed to get Popsicles, lemonade or water in as quickly as possible so we could keep going. The finish line, for me, was seeing the kids faces when they saw Mickey and Minnie, or the other characters. And, just seeing them have fun and go crazy. The electric light parade was fun and worth staying to the end.

Now I even sense a little post Disney World depression setting in the household. Like post Ironman depression, what now? I think I even heard coming from the couch this morning "what do you think we'll do today?" We'll recover and start training for the next big event!!!