Eileen Swanson's Tales

It’s that time of Year where all those goodies are all around us. Wherever you go you either see or hear about these goodies. I am referring to the cakes, cookies, candy, chocolates, and even salty snacks. They are everywhere, even at our health clubs! This year has been the first year in forever that I am seriously having FUN indulging in them, all of them! I realized that I was always craving all of these desserts or yummies, only to finally cave in during the tri season. Bad timing! So this year I will probably be sick of all these sweets by the end of the Holiday season. Fingers crossed

I am realizing that what my body has really been craving all these past years doing tri’s is strength and core training!! Yes, I know this may sound crazy, like why haven’t I been doing it all along? Well, my coach(s) didn’t believe in it, at least they felt like my time was better suited to swim, bike and run since I was working tons and had limited time. But now that I have been doing so much core and even though I am eating goodies, my body is feeling better than it ever has. I grew up doing core/strength training and had built alot of muscle that way, so I guess it is only natural that my body is LOVING it once again YAY!!

I hope you all don’t go out there and start eating tons of goodies….well, why not? It’s the time to do it!! Have fun and do NOT feel guilty! ENJOY!!

For those of you that have pets, check out this link. I was surprised to see this email ad today. http://www.patternandpaw.com/archives/november08/

Pattern and Paw collars and accessories are the BEST!

Once again Belle is featured, too cute! I wish she could start doing some work for us. Hmm, maybe she can start dog modeling. I need to look into this HA!

Hope everyone is having a great Holiday Season! It’s been great here, we are all happy, healthy, and loving this time of year. Not many gifts and exchanges this year, but that’s not what it’s all about! Spread the cheer, keep smiling and enjoying life!!

Belle giving us a kiss post race!!

Who ever said that you can do a 5K for fun? YEA RIGHT! No such thing. Whether you are in shape or not, a 5K HURTS! Like really, really bad Being the super competitive family that we are with each other, we decided we would join lots of great friends and have “fun” at a local 5K!

One of my really good friends, Kristin, decided to drive up from Santa Cruz to join us for some painful “fun.” We had a good time warming up together and chattin’ away as usual. Although with the temps in the high 30s, it was hard to talk and warm-up without freezing our butts off! After a good warm-up we chatted with more friends and had a blast getting ready to start. This was Kristin, Reid, and my 7th day back at training after a nice several weeks off. So, we really just wanted to have a good time out there. BUT, we all kind of forgot that a 5K is TOUGH to have fun at, it’s over pretty darn quick and you have to hurt to have somewhat of a chance to not get passed by some xcountry high schoolers HAHA!

We all went out pretty close together, all 5 of us who are good friends. I felt great, really great! We went through mile 1 in 6.29, except for Reid who decided he would pick up the pace already. He went through a bit ahead of us. I was having such a great time, smiling, thinking how easy this felt. But soon enough I felt the lactic acid build up so quick in my quads. UH OH! Reid was getting away, so was Kristin, so were 2 of my other friends. Oops, did I go out too quick? Hmm, YES is the answer!! Mile 2 was not so good, to put it mildly. But the last mile felt good again, so I gave it all I had on my rusty legs, and pullled off a decent 6 min/mile. Not too bad, but remember this was for ‘fun!’

Good place to start from, but a bit annoyed that Reid beat me HAHAHAHAHA, a first in a 5K in a long time. Good job to him for sure, and to Kristin and all of our friends that raced!! SUPER DUPER FUN!!