Wildman Updates, My Amazing Team, Mom Stuff

Hello Everyone! What an amazing week! I hope all of you are doing well. This past weekend, several of my team as well as my daughters crossed over to the "dark side" and became triathletes! WOW! Impressed is all I can say.

On Saturday March 14th, instead of practice, my team competed in the 4th Annual Wildman Triathlon Series. We had competitors in the WildChild race, the MyFirstTri race and the Sprint race. And believe it or not, several of them placed in their age divisions! Amazing isn't it?

If you look at the picture above, you can see some nervousness on their faces. This I can understand as the Wildman race was my first ever race as well. There is a major difference between attending Tri practice and participating in a race, even when the race is just a practice. Everybody showed up early just as I and the race director Z Buttar had requested. This way they had time to get everything setup and then check and double check as my training partner Missey would say. Good news this time, most everyone showed up with everything I had requested on my list so they were prepared. I did my best to check everyone's transition area and make sure it was ok. This was also going to be Kelsie and Hannah's first full tri as well. They have done several duathlons, an aqua-run and practice triathlons in the pool. This would be the first open water swim for them as well as most of my team. And always prepared Coach Beth became the "bad" mom when we realized I forgot the kids goggles.

Now having mentioned the water, I feel like I should tell you that the lake a Moss Park is a bit hard to see in. To be completely honest, the water is the color of Diet Coke or Tea so for the most part you cannot see didley when you are swimming in the water. This is certainly a change from swimming in the pool where you have lane lines and markers. I warned the team but until you are actually in the water, it is hard to truly understand what someone is telling you. Everyone did their run warm-up and stretched before the race. The swim was done in waves so the team was all spread out through the different waves.

David and Gabe started in the first wave the Men's Sprint. Missey, Geni, Kate and Brandi were in the second wave the Women's Sprint. Once all of the Sprint competitors had passed the second bouy, the life guards moved the bouys in and the MyFirstTri started. Doug, Ryan and Kim were in the men's wave followed by Toni and Hope in the women's wave. I forgot to mention that our great friends from Advanced Pro Cycles had set up a tent to help with race day bike issues and Jose, the owner, along with his son Jose, were also competing in the MyFirstTri as well. Finally after all of the MyFirstTri competitors passed the second bouy, the lifeguards again moved the bouys and it was time for the WildChild race. There were about 20 kids out there. Kelsie was not too nervous but Hannah was terrified. Hannah had a bit of a panic attack but after some help from the lifeguards, she exited the water and was able to continue on. Kelsie was fine and she moved forward with the race.

All and all everyone had an amazing day!

Michael VInecki Passed Today

Everyone,

It is with great sadness that I pass on the news that Michael Vinecki lost his battle to prostate cancer this morning. For those of you who read my blog, you know that the Vinecki Family touched my family in a very deep way.

Kelsie, Hannah and I met Winter and her family at the Athletes For a Cure Triathlon last September. At the time Winter was 9 years old and had raised over $30,000 for Prostate Cancer research. By January she had raised over $100,000. She is an amazing inspiration to both myself and my daughters.

Kelsie and Hannah joined Team Winter and have so far done two races in honor of Team Winter. They will be doing a Triathlon this weekend as well.

People - if this is not a wake-up call to those of you not already involved in the fight against cancer, NOW IS THE TIME. Cancer touches everyone. It has touched me personally and most people I know. Any help; whether it be with The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the LIVESTRONG Foundation, the American Cancer Society, or the the Race for A Cure, will help to move research forward and find a cure for this dreaded disease.

As a mom I truly realize how precious each day is. Today was the last day that Winter and her brothers were able to spend with their dad. I know that they would have given anything to change that. Please don't let today be the last day that someone you know spends with their family.

If you want to know how you can help, please email me directly and I can give you the links to all of the foundations that help in the battle against these dreaded diseases.

For now, My thoughts and prayers are with the Vinecki's.

Elizabeth

Cold Again

Well it has been a couple of weeks since I blogged. Things have been a bit crazy trying to get organized. This is the first year that I have coached a spring season. Of course I work Mon-Fri 8:30 -17:30. Then on Mon-Tues after work and on Sat morning I am coaching my tri team practices. Mondays are the easiest nights since Coach Bill is the swim coach and I usually can get into the pool and workout. Of course Kelsie and Hannah come to alot of practices but they are training now as well so most nights they workout. They completed a Duathlon On Valentine's Day and are going to compete in a Triathlon on March 14th which is 2 days before Kelsie's 11th birthday. My time flies.

On Thursday nights, Hannah has her doctor's appointments. These will be weekly for a while as we see how things go. Thanks everyone for the support and prayers. It really means alot. It is really hard as a mother to know your child is hurting inside and not be able to fix what is wrong. For those of you that don't know, Hannah is having some issues expressing her emotions since she returned from her Dad's house over the holidays. What this means is that she is angry more than she ever has been but is not sure how to talk about it. Of course being her mom, I am the recipient of most of her outbursts. Because of this I am taking her to a counselor who is trying to help her work through this. Hopefully and God willing we can make it through this as a family.

On top of all this, I am still working towards my goal of becoming an Ironman, this means I have to work my training into my crazy schedule as well. I am doing ok in this regard but I really need to step it up a level. I would love to be working a bit harder but it will come in time. Thanks Coach Bill and Team Hendryx for all of the help. I have one more week of my prep phase and then the workouts will start getting increasing harder. Coach Bill is doing a great job of accomodating my schedule. I have a feeling my trainer and I will become really good friends again. I am sure I will also be doing alot of running on the treadmill after the girls are asleep at night. St. Anthony's Trathlon is 8 weeks away and I certainly feel like I am not ready. But I know with Coach Bill's help I will get there. Also my training partner in crime for IMFL, Missey, is home again so I know we will start doing some workouts together soon!

In addition, I am really working on moving forward with my Advocare business. I just returned from Success School. WOW it was amazing. I met so many awesome people with exceptional stories. I know that where I want to be moving forward is growing my Advocare business and spending more time coaching. Success school really shows you that you can dream, plan and achieve your goals. By the last day, I was so emotionally overwhelmed that I cried during the last speaker. I will write a seperate blog about Success School later.

But I do want to mention that Advocare has a new product called Slim. I am so excited about it! The product helps with weightloss, appetite control and energy levels. I have joined Advocare's SlimPact Challenge and will keep you posted on my progress with weightloss. If you want to read more about Slim and the SlimPact Challenge please go visit my microsite https://www.advocare.com/0807148/.

Well I guess that is all for today. Hope everyone is doing great! Talk to you again soon.

XOXOX,
Elizabeth