Recreational Companionship

On Saturday, March 13, Tony & I participated in our first duathlon in Taiwan (my first ever)... and let me tell you, though it was not super long (33.5km total) - it was a test of endurance! Since that 10k run in December, I had wanted to try something else... Tony convinced me to try adding a cycling component. Alright - I'll give it a shot! So I trained on the stationary bike downstairs - then thankfully we were able to use a friend's bike for the race (which I rode twice the week before - the first time in the rain, the second uphill). Thankfully when we signed up for the event I had no idea what the course would be like - otherwise I would have chickened out from the beginning... but by the time we discovered the bike portion included 12 kilometers UPHILL - it was too late! I was committed! I was determined! I was strangely out of my mind with adrenelin!!!!

Uncle Richard & Auntie Marlin slept over at our place so they could wake up to spend the day with the kids... and it was the 'whole day' starting at 6am with Hunter up and raring to go!! Thankfully all went well and Tony & I enjoyed a day of recreational companionship.

When we arrived, there was a bit of a mix-up with the numbers/registrations and a bunch of people on the team ended up with wrong numbers... which led to wrong placings/rankings, etc... oh well, good thing there were no real medals involved (though we all got medals for participating... and there I thought those guys coming down the hill were the top placers and I was totally late)!!!

It was a 9k run... with nice form, Tony finished it in good time - 0:45:43

and me... well, I wasn't the last of the bunch at 1:00:43 - a bit slower than the 10k pace, but heck... I felt good.

Despite leg cramps and that ridiculously steep hill climb, Tony did pretty well on the bike and actually came in 14th (out of 83) in his age division - but that was unofficial because the number mix-up gave his time to our buddy WuKong... oh well, he felt okay about it!

The bike ride was about 11km on a flat section... then those blasted 12km UPHILL... my goodness, from the first 10 minutes of the hill climb I was ready to give up... but I told myself I would not walk my bike... so I didn't... oh wow!!! So many times I just wanted to give up... it was one of the hardest things I've done in a long time (at least I had drugs in labor), BUT... when it was finally over... I felt so good and so relieved and so crazy hungry!!! I'll tell you this much, cycling is good for my prayer life!

Tone Tone is one of the crew who Tony goes riding with on Saturdays... she's a steady one!!!

Of course these pictures come on the flat so it looks like the ride was a piece of cake... I wish they had a shot of us from behind going up, up, up, up, up....

FLASH

So the race ended at the top of a hill... actually a temple at the top of a 90 degree driveway (only slight exaggeration)... where we got to rest, eat, rest, eat... our car and gear were down the hill... so most of us rested for longer while a few went back. While we were chilling out I noticed something very interesting in the giant life-sized poster backboard of the stage... Do you see who I see???? Oh yeah... it's LIVI!!! I felt so strangely proud to see my dear friend in 'real' life again!!!

So as exhausted as I was... we're now seriously looking at buying a bike for me... this will be a familiar sight in our bedroom for the next few months.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

Happy Year of the Tiger!!! One of my favorite parts of the Chinese New Year is the Lantern Festival that starts on the 15th day of the lunar new year. For the past three years the city's main festival has been held around the corner at the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, so we've been able to get over to see the displays - multiple times!!! I took the kids on opening night while Tony was still in Japan... perhaps it was the wrong decision! The kids are now totally afraid of fireworks, pyrotechnics of any kind and loud sounds and of course the official 'lighting' of the main lantern brings with it much fanfare and all the aforementioned things!!! There I was in a sea of local people with my daughter clutching my neck screaming in my ear and my son standing on his stroller seat squeezing my leg while tears streamed down his face... ZAO GAO!?!? As soon as it was over, I high-tailed it out of there to take them to see some mellower displays in front of City Hall... and as it was getting late, I thought we'd seen enough for one night and we headed home. Just as we got to the otherside of City Hall, there was a major fireworks display out the top of the building - it was loud and directly over our heads!!! The kids started screaming and trying to escape from their seats so I ran as fast as my weary legs could carry me to the Eslite building and got right into the elevator to the basement so they couldn't hear or see any of it!!! My goodness - I did not realize how freaked out they would be!!! We eventually made it home and they eventually went to sleep!!! I don't know how they'll go for the 4th of July!?!?

I knew if there were no fireworks the kids would be keen to see the lanterns, so one night when Tony returned we rode the kids on the bikes over to have a look. They still held on pretty tightly when the big tiger started rotating... but we kept them distracted with the other lanterns...

Hunter of course is still watching out for the big lantern and the fireworks in the distance...

They eventually got over their fears and enjoyed playing with their dinosaur lanterns that Tony assembled for them.

The Flora Expo is the main theme for this year so the animated flowers were out and about - a little strange, but the kids liked them.

Then on Saturday, we rode bikes to see the Lanterns again in the daylight... I think this helped!

And... it was Hunter's first ride outside our neighborhood, along big streets with cars, and he did it!!! He was great - and he was just so proud of himself he was beaming!!! I couldn't help but feel a bit of mixed emotion though as I watched my little boy riding his big boy bike by himself - I was also so proud of him, but realized he is not a baby or a toddler anymore... they really do grow up fast!!!