my mexican retreat

back...and gone again

unpacking and packing again. 4 flights in 2 weeks, 4 airports, 3 destinations, 2 countries. :) leaving in the morning...

More graduation pictures

So the sunny graduation picture I posted the other day was actually from another SPU graduation (pre-graduation) event that was the day before the actual graduation. It was sunny that day. Saturday, we got the privilege of sitting in Qwest Field for 3 hours as it rained. Actually most of the audience was covered; but the grads had to sit out in the rain the whole time!!! They were soaked through at the end.

My sister likes to take self portraits, but she frequently forgets to zoom out first:

And I wasn't paying attention to my umbrella, I just didn't want to get wet! Oops.

And more tri pics

The professional pics were posted this week, here are a few more from last week's race:

Janell coming out of the water (ok, I'm a little bitter...all the other ladies I raced with got pictures of them coming out of the lake but NOT ME!)
Janell looking very intense...

Wow, a running picture that is not totally nasty! That never happens!

On the home stretch, at the finish.

another silly one of our group :) (is this the same one I posted last week?)

Seattle

Qwest Field, Seattle, after SPU graduation yesterday

my brother the mountain man

graduated from SPU today!

Travis and Mom

welcoming summer!

Mmmm...anchovies (not for eating).

I caught one...look closely!

Race Day

This was so much fun!!! I love triathlons. Call me whatever you want. I think they are such a blast. I actually had the thought "this is so fun!" during the swim this time, as opposed to hating myself for being there in that lake last time. :) I just attacked it this time. :)
Weather was great - it was overcast the whole time and probably in the high 60s. I thought it would be cold but it was perfect. it started to warm up as we hit the run but still felt good. I'm grateful that the sun stayed hidden until almost everyone there finished.
I'm really happy with my times - I cut off significant time from my times from last year in all three: Cut 6 minutes from my swim, 4 min. from the bike, and 2.5 min. from the run! I finished in 1:52:38. We ran in the mixed age group section, so we could all race together. I finished 11th out of 129 ladies in that group! Wahoo! Overall there were about 700 competitors today. Danskin is always really well organized and make it a lot of fun. They even call your name out as you cross the finish line. :)
It was SO FUN having friends to do it with this time. Janell finished her first triathlon today, and some women from church did it too...

We had twin outfits. The Bobsie Twins. Bright and early. It started at 6:45am. I woke up at 5am. 5 AM.
After I finished I was able to run back and grab the camera and capture Janell's finish :)

After... (hmm, this kind of looks like the before picture, just with medals)

Our whole group, afterward. Everyone finished and did great!

(The photographer suggested this ridiculous pose...)

I think I need a nap...

Branded, #767