Eileen Swanson's Tales

>>July 21st, 2010

Sorry that it has been so long since I last posted. Life has been extremely busy, but amazingly fun!! And a few major highlights along the way made the last few months SUPER! In June I landed a new job with PowerBar as a Nutrition Tech Rep. Talk about an amazing opportunity and right up my alley. There are only 10 of us across the nation and everyone is an awesome athlete, from Olympians to Pro Triathletes to Kona AG winners. We all get along so great and love that we represent PowerBar! NTR’s are your nutrition specialists. We know the insides and outs of all PB products. After extensive training in Boise the 2nd week in June, we ended the 7 days of classroom style lectures with all of us participating in the Boise 70.3 race. I did a relay with another NTR, Lon from Austin, we had a great day of teamwork and won the relay competition. There was alot of good, fun smack talk before the event and we all had a blast. Nothing like 10 super competitive athletes (plus our boss who is the IM NZ record holder) in one room together for 7 full days, GREAT MEMORIES for sure

After I got back from Boise, I was stoked about PB, my run fitness, as we all ran once or twice a day while in Boise, and racing!! I was all excited to lay out my new race calendar and even do an IM in the early fall. I was calling all my friends and asking what races they would be doing so we could travel and room together. My sponsor Cervelo was shipping me a new bike, Cobb was ready to get me fitted, everything was working out so smoothly. But, day three back home I was starting to get suspicious of why my body was feeling different. My boobs were hurting, my heart rate was high, and I was lethargic. I swear even Belle could sense I was acting a little different. I packed my swim stuff and was planning to head to master’s swim practice but Belle was all riled up and waiting by the garage door. She only does this when she knows we are going somewhere. So, I thought I should listen to my body and Belle and within 5 mins we were in the car and on our way to the grocery store instead of swim practice. I picked up a pregnancy test and drove back home. I have to admit I was freaking out. Reid and I had decided last summer that we were ready to have kids in the next year or two. But this past April, we decided we would wait until next year and race one more season. When we got home, I handed Belle the box (she usually carries something into the house for a treat) and strangely enough she ran straight upstairs instead of over to the kitchen to get a treat. I knew for sure this was going to be the day. All signs were pointing towards something amazing about to happen. Sure enough the first preg stick was positive immediately. I jumped on the phone to call my best friend Ali, who told me to calm down and take another test. The 2nd test was positive too. OMG!!!!! I was sooooo shocked, excited, not sure what to feel…..I called my other good friend Kristin, and she was all shocked too because we had just promised each other that we were going to get in awesome shape to race ITU Pan American Cup in July. Meanwhile, Reid was on the Wed Bakery ride and I knew he would be home any minute. I couldn’t wait another second so I kept calling him. I wanted to share the news, the excitement, the nervousness, anxiety, joy, everything that was going through my body……..When he got home, I showed him the 2 sticks and was like “ummm, what do we do?” I know this sounds crazy, but you have a million emotions going on and sometimes don’t know what to say. Reid was all excited and calm….just as he always is. It was PERFECT, I needed that calm, the reassurance it was all good!! And of course I started balling……It makes me cry again thinking about that day, as I am now in my 10th week and amazingly HAPPY!!

Of course, great opportunities arise when we are not always in the best shape, HA! I got a call from a great friend Larry Rosa in my 8th week of pregnancy. He asked me to meet him in 2 days and do a photo shoot for Triathlete Magazine. I said no problem AND immediately started doing a bunch of crunches, lame Reid saw me and told me to stop. He is always attempting to stop me from my craziness!! The photo shoot turned out awesome. Reid and Belle came to watch and they became part of the shoot. SUPER FUN TIMES!! This is about the time that I started telling more people that I was prego. I had to tell Larry, I wanted him to know that I was not slacking off on training, just mellowing out

The following week I attempted another photo shoot that wasn’t so awesome! It was a bikini shoot, HA! Larry asked if I could suck my stomach in more, hahahahaha….Nope! Well, I guess I can’t do string bikini photo shoots until next year. Well, you never know we may try one in a few months for another story Reid saved the day with his hotness and a great shoot!!

A couple more cool things I want to tell you all about…..Coaching 50 former contestants, winners and finalists of the hit TV show the Biggest Loser’s to compete in the SF Triathlon at Treasure Island last week. Very fun and cool times! Everyone finished the race and became triathletes, soooo cool!! NBC brought a huge camera crew out and filmed a ton of the events leading up to the race and the race itself. Reid and I signed off on releases so they could use us on the show. Not sure exact air date, but will post when I find out.

I also hosted TriCal TV at the SF Tri at TI. It was cool, our team worked awesome together and videos were up on the site same day www.tricaltv.com and youtube.com And I am happy to say alot of the videos already have 1000s of hits. Busy, busy times…..but just living life to its fuillest!!

Oh one more highlight….Reid and I raced in our first ever Stand Up Paddle race. It was awesome!! I got 2nd to a pro from Hawaii. Live it up!!

E