Winter is Coming!

Originally posted May 16, 2016

No joke – winter is a real thing here!  It never gets too cold, but it is definitely a bit raw and windy.  We got our first real taste of the really chilly morning and evening temperatures when we went to Tasmania over ANZAC Day weekend the last weekend in April (similar to Memorial Day). This was also Isla’s 1st birthday weekend.  (She just kept asking for a trip for her 1st birthday, so we gave in.) Thank goodness there are so many sheep in Tasmania whose wool is turned into warm clothing - Isla and I both had to buy locally knitted hats to keep warm at the market in Hobart when it was in the 40s that morning!  It was a wonderful 4 day trip!  We saw the historic sites, ate tons of local seafood, checked out the markets, went to one of the national parks, and went to an island off the main island, called Bruny.  Tasmania has so many little strips of land that are literally feet wide with water on either side which makes for some crazy scenery. They call these narrow little land strips, “isthmuses.”  I tried over and over and still can’t pronounce this word without putting too much emphasis on the “th” sound and drooling a little.  I’ll keep practicing. They are beautiful little areas though!  Tasmania is only an hour flight from Melbourne and on the way home, the flight attendant did her usual announcement about food and complimentary beverages and then added, “plus it’s Anzac Day so we’ll give you complimentary alcoholic drinks too.”  I love Australia.



When we returned from Tassie, we had a week straight of beautifully warm fall weather and then it really got cold, windy, and rainy for a while.  Ugh…winter.  For a week or two I wore sweatpants and slippers a bit more, around the house at first, but then I figured no one at storytime at the library would care if I had sweatpants on, then the grocery store…put simply, I got lazy and cozy.   Lazy and cozy was fun for a little while, but it’s just not me. I decided I needed to do something, something to get me out of a funk and back to normal.  A month earlier, I’d been toying around with signing up for another big race.  This past weekend I revisited the idea but continued to flip flop on it.  Finally, Nate told me to “stop being a sissy and just do it already.”  Clearly, this man knows me better than anyone because that’s all it took.  On Mother’s Day, I had a few celebratory mimosas for some liquid courage and registered for Ironman Western Australia!

Ironman races are particularly interesting because you have to train in order to start training.  The race is Dec 4th.  Pre-training started today; actual training starts July 11th. I swam outside today and caught a glimpse of the lifeguard as I took a breath after a flip turn. He was wearing a down coat and a winter hat.  I thought for the first time the thought that will inevitably go through my mind 200 times between now and December: “WTF am I doing?!”  20 minutes later while chugging along in the pool still, I decided that given the location the race, which is 2 hours south of Perth (aka shark heaven) I should probably also figure out how to work shark-punching lessons into the training plan!
Nate and I always find that doing intense training together, but a bit staggered, works best for us.  He has registered for Ironman Port Macquarie (north of Sydney) which is in May 2017.  We are mental gearing up, physically gearing up (the credit card bills when you’re buying tri gear are painful to look at!), and getting excited for the experience!  Between the ironman training and our 1 year old’s affinity for smoked salmon and blue cheese, the grocery bills are about to get out of hand!