~ dirty jeans, workout clothes and wet swim suits

Oh my GOSH I'm tired. And it's such a GOOD tired that I cannot complain one bit, but you'd think I'd have more to show for it. I love summertime. SO. MUCH. Yeah, so the house gets a little trashed from time to time and laundry backs up like crazy... but who the heck cares?? It's gorgeous outside!

And really, as far as having anything to show for it... well, that'll just take time. My own laundry paints a pretty good picture of some work in progress: jeans covered in dirt and horse hair, lots of work-out clothes, and my swimsuit drip drying almost every day.

Jeans-- pretty self-explanatory.

My little mare Kaiyah who foundered in early May (sorry non-horse folks, no time to explain, you'll have to Google it if you're curious, but she was dead lame and it can take MONTHS to recover from), has made a spectacular recovery. I followed my gut instincts, my knowledge of natural hoof care and the skills of a trusted natural trimmer and did NOT confine her to her stall for six weeks as the vet had prescribed. (In the meantime I've learned a LOT, as this was the first case of founder I've ever had to deal with.) She's now galloping around like nothing ever happened. I don't think she's 100%, and it'll take her months to grow out a new hoof, but dietary changes (NO SUGAR, as in, hay that had a high sugar content and rich spring grass) and the corrective trimming is exactly what she needed. Now that she's feeling better, she certainly doesn't hold back... she pretty much rips it up and turns it on, both in her dry-lot track and while I'm riding her. I'm still working on finding the brakes with her... 

At the walk and trot it's much improved, but at the canter she wants to take off at a gallop and run through the reins. The other day I lost a stirrup in my dressage saddle as she was in a full out gallop. As I was trying to decide if I should stop her and then find my stirrup or find my stirrup and then stop her, Kizi became concerned at us whizzing around the arena and asked if I was still trying to teach her to "slow down." Hey, at least she doesn't try to jump over the short little dressage arena railing like she used to. :)  

Kizi has been riding Poco, who is also much improved. He was diagnosed with moonblindness (a progressive, painful eye disease that leads to eventual blindness) and was in a lot of chronic pain I think, even when his eye wasn't flaring up. We keep a fly mask on him every day now (the brightness can make it worse for him), and the Bute-Less solution I'm giving him instead of long-term bute seems to be doing a great job at keeping not only his eyes comfortable but also his joints. He's had some lameness in his SI joint and possibly hocks for the last couple of years, and I've tried chiropractic, Legend and Adequan injections, feed supplements, you name it, with no luck... and this seems to be doing the trick. He's even been cantering without crossfiring (when I really ask him to... but really he'd still rather walk or trot). 

And you'd think the work-out clothes and wet swim suits would be self-explanatory too, but there's more too it than that... I'm training for a mini-triathlon:

(key word: MINI.)

500 yard swim, 12 mile bike ride, and 3 mile run/walk.

That might not sound like a lot, but considering that I've been a total couch potato all winter and spring and have gained 20 pounds in the last two years... AND that I don't swim (have never enjoyed it) and can't hold my breath under water and have never been a runner... this was not something I was excited about at first, to say the least. But our stake Relief Society had felt inspired to organize this "Tri Your Best Triathlon" and thanks to some friends, I finally caught the spirit of it and now I'm really excited about it. 

Yes, you read that right. ME, enthusiastic about a mini-tri. 
I ride horses. I don't DO that stuff. 
So yay for pushing myself out of my comfort zone and yay for the strength of sisterhood among all the women who are encouraging each other to do this, including friends and neighbors not of our church. Jonathan and the kids have been super supportive, and I am really enjoying cross training for this. I have a great "Couch to 5K" program on my iPhone and tomorrow's run will mark the end of week 3 for me. I'm making progress and not in pain or frustrated, so that's a first for me. I'm doing a spinning class at the gym called Group Ride and holy crap it kicks my tush!! I'm also selling my adorable pink cruiser bike to get a sweet hybrid so I can actually street train as well. I even bought clips. I think I've lost my mind. I'm so accident prone on bikes it's not even funny, and the thought of clipping in scares me, but I figure I'll get used to clipping in during Group Ride first and once I'm comfortable getting in and out I'll try it on my new bike. 


That's what helmets are for, right? :)

The toughest part of all this (besides it kicking my butt) is making sure I get all my cross-training in every week: couch to 5K Mon/Wed/Fri, Group Ride or bike Tues/Thurs/Sat, ride my horse three times a week (those days disappear completely and we end up eating dinner at like 8pm!) and swimming or at least watching the kids swim a few times a week. Somehow it seems to suck up every last minute of the day and I don't get anything else done. Thankfully the kids and dogs have been great about being my running buddies, as the kids ride their bikes along the beautiful bike paths at Minto Brown Park as I alternate between my running and walking sets.

They love doing SuperKids (dodgeball, etc.) at the gym for the hour of Group Ride, and of course they ALWAYS beg to go to the barn... it's kid heaven out there: our 4-wheeler, the barn owner Jen's kids, a hay slide, tree house, playing with toys in the house, etc.  And while I'm still trying to figure out a regular time to swim, I'm at least getting some sun while the kids play at the pool at the gym. Usually around 5pm there are few enough kids in the pool that I can get in some laps with minimal obstacles. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention... since I can't hold my breath under water and using a nose plug just made me hold my breath and then hyperventilate, I just decided to use a snorkeling mask. That along with my sweet swim cap is such an uber-sexy look... apparently so much that one of my friends told me that she's seeing that trend catch on! ;) Hey, whatever works... personally there's no way I could do it without the snorkel. And I'm amazed at how much my legs feel like jello after swimming. Added bonus: I love the outdoor pool because it's salt water and not the regular crummy chlorine that my body doesn't tolerate well. 

And so... happy birthday to me on Saturday! It'll be my 
36th birthday, and I can't think of a better present to myself-- training, getting in shape, and-- thanks to my sweet husband-- a new bike. :)  
I'll close this post with a quote that was on the Triathlon info sheet :

“Is it too much of a stretch, too corny, to say that life is a triathlon?  After all, both are about body, mind and spirit.  Neglect one and the others suffer.  In life, as in triathlons, the race isn’t always to the swiftest.  It’s to those who pray for balance, who show up prepared, who want to enjoy themselves, and who accept the grace that awaits us if we seek it.  The race is on, whether we know it or not.  Success is showing up and making a committed run as we move through life’s events and transitions.  At the end of the race comes the reward: a voice saying, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”