Hello...

I'm new to this. I've never written a blog in my life, and can't imagine why anyone would want to read what I write. However, I thought it might be fun to write down some of the different experiences I face daily as I (try to) train for races, while dealing with a busy home life. The problem is, I forget so much stuff. Days go by in a blur of busyness, and I think 'oh I'll remember about this' and I don't. You see, I have 6 small kids, aged between 2 and 8. So that always keeps things interesting. Especially when I have this passion called running that I never have enough time for.
Today was a pretty typical day really - housework, kids, laundry, homework. It's a blustery spring day, constantly promising rain but never delivering. Joe, my husband, is working late and I should be making dinner for the kids but seem to be getting myself nicely sidetracked. I have a sort of a sense of general unease right now because I'm competing in a race on Saturday that I'm ridiculously unprepared for. It's a duathlon, and I'm not a biker....I was sitting with my friend/cousin-by-marriage, Melissa, in January having lunch and thinking about the race season sooooo far away. Melissa is an avid biker and runner, and is an inspirational person to me because she's not afraid to try new stuff. It seemed like such a good idea to do a duathlon at Footstock (race weekend in Canmore, every June). On paper it looked not so bad - 5.5k run, 37.7k bike, 9.7k run. The fact that a)last time I was on a bike I was about 10; b) don't own a bike; c)know nothing about biking seemed like insignificant trifles. Biking can't be that hard right? Wrong. It's not that I can't bike, it's that I'm terrible at it. And the fact that I know I look silly doing it, and have a irrational fear that the front wheel is going to fly off really doesn't help anything. I see pro bikers and they look so good! Slick outfits, legs whirling, confident...I'm the person who falls off her bike on her driveway cause she forgets that her feet are in bike pedals when she stops. Oops.
Anyway, I'm doing this race which I didn't know how to train for because I ran out of time and it was suddenly 4 weeks away. I looked up a few biking websites for training ideas and quickly exited them because it was all too confusing. But it's fun in a way because I know I'm bad, and have no expectations, and finishing will be a bonus. Just as long as I don't fall. Please, please don't let me fall......