Plans - sometimes you just have to chuck 'em!

I had big race plans for this summer, I even had a little sticky note on the front of my planner "2012 Race Schedule" - well, let's just say the fact that it was on a sticky note (and not in a more indelible position in my planner) was telling...

It's been a very busy summer so far.  Kids, work, travel, some horseback riding... notice, I didn't mention racing or training... that just feels weird.

I actually have been part of two Rev3 races this summer...

I've really enjoyed my stint as a "swimmer" for my awesome relay team the "tri-annasourus Rexs". Thanks to these ladies for allowing me to be part of their team :D It has been such a treat to still feel like a racer (maybe even a bit of a triathlete) while I'm sidelined by my injury. 

the ladies of "Tri-anasaurous Rex's" we won 2nd place Relay in the OlyRev in Quassy! (and 1st at HalfRev Knox)

I've also really enjoyed my opportunity to volunteer at Rev3 Knox and Rev3 Quassy. I've been meaning to "give back" for a very long time, but with family, work and racing, it just never seemed appropriate to drop the kids with my hubby for a weekend so that I could volunteer for a race, and let's face it, he's usually working on the weekends in the summer (at races or at the store). 

Probably my favorite part of volunteering with the timing crew was getting folks checked in for the HalfRev in Quassy. We had a blast and I tried to get as many racers as possible to do something "fun" for their jumbotron photo! At one point we had the longest streak of the day with 9 people in the row doing something "fun" (and family friendly!!!) in their photo. 
It was so cool to have a moment to chat with each person, sometimes finding out a little bit about their race plans, or why they were racing, etc. For the most part, people we super friendly and I even had one or two folks thank me for volunteering specifically. (More than that said "thank you" when I gave them their chip and got them checked in.) 
The toughest part of the weekend by far was watching folks finish the HalfRev. It was a reminder of my favorite part of triathlon and what I've been missing so much.  I was at the finish line collecting discarded timing chips when I witnessed an example of "triathlon community".  Two men crossed the finishline, clearly happy to have finished the race.  The hugged each other and it was clear they had a connection.  I overheard one of them telling his wife "that's Terry, we ran together since mile 3.  I wouldn't have finished without him."  
Their camaraderie was noticed by the Rev3 video guys, as they made the Quassy highlight reel at 6:24:


Before we were in CT, we hit the beach with our awesome friends and their kiddos.

watching the kids enjoy the on beach playground in Va Beach

snuggling with my little guy at lunch

good times :D

AJ enjoys the sun

the cool tunnels leaving VA Beach heading to CT

Jason was excited to see the container ships!

I also had the chance to take the boys to visit the zoo in CT

Checking his wingspan

posing with the peacock

they really liked the "wingspan" exhibit

We also had a chance to visit Quassy and take some pictures before things got busy:

This is the finish line/expo field before Rev3 takes it over! So different!!

I've enjoyed spending time with my kiddos and I'll be sad to see them off to school at the begining of August! I can't believe AJ will be in school 5 days a week!!  That might take some getting used too!

Also, around this time (actually, about 2 days before we headed out of town for 13 days) we found out that my oldest is allergic to Eggs, Dairy and Wheat.

He had the test (IGg4 blood test) done as part of the protocol of the Brain Balance Center (a program we are going through to help with his ADHD and reading difficulties).  I had suspected a dairy allergy, but the Egg allergy diagnosis really through us for a loop.  We had no inkling that eggs might show up in the results!

The testing also showed that Jason is not able to use the Vitamins b6 and B12 in his food, so he's now on a 3x a day vitamin regimen that must be timed around his meals and activity.  We also have been told to increase the amount of protein in his diet.

Now I know why my life path took me to Ironman - it was to prepare me for this wrinkle.  All of those lessons in scheduling and flexibility, nutrition and meal planning - I am now using them every day.

We've actually found that going Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free has not been nearly as difficult as we first thought it would be.  It helps that Jason is possibly the best eater in the world. He's always been very willing to try new foods and he's been amazing about this new change to his diet.

The trickiest things have been :

bread (right now we've settled on Van's frozen french toast as our favorite, and we've come up with non-bread options for about 90% of the times you'd normally use bread)  We do a lot of lettuce wraps :D

cheese - how do you tell a kid he can't eat cheese anymore???  that was tricky!! Eventually we found Diaya which is about as good as it gets for dairy free cheese :D

pancakes - gluten free pancake mix, use applesauce instead of eggs and coconut milk instead of milk and voila! yummy pancakes!  luckily no one had said no more maple syrup!

So it's a twist, but we are having fun with it! and also cool Jason seems to be feeling much better already!  He doesn't have the same highs and lows in energy that he once had, so I'm hopeful this is all working and his poor little body is healing.

They best thing about being so busy with family stuff - I've not really had a chance to think about the changes to my summer racing plans...

to be honest I'm GLAD I'm not racing this summer, there is just higher priority stuff going on...

the good news is that I do feel that I'm getting better everyday!  I dont know if I'll race again this season... I haven' run since the Boston Marathon, I haven't ridden my tri bike in over 3 months...  but I can sit and walk without pain, and I even rode a mountain bike when we were in CO last week... so things are moving forward and that's making me happy right now :D

So all of those race plans... yep, sometimes you just have to chuck 'em and find a new path.