On this past Saturday, July 18th, Greg and I did our 2nd Ft. Lewis triathlon of the year. Greg PR'd and ended up getting first in his age group...which is a tough thing to do because its a competitive age group. I did fine and PR'd by over a minute on my overall time. I didn't know how it would go once I finished the swim because I felt SO tired coming out of the water. I felt so wiped out and wasn't able to give it my all on the bike until a few precious minutes into it. Overall it was a decent race...but no medals for me this time. However, I did win a $100 gift certificate to South Sound Running during the raffle drawing! I was thinking about winning it throughout the race....and then my thoughts became reality! Yay, new shoes!

Getting ready for the water

Feeling squashed...time to get in the water so I can breathe!

Greg coming out of the water...a fast swim!

Trying to get my legs back...boy, I'm tired just starting out.

Finished!

Go 722

Greg's first 1st! By the way, Greg beat me by a measley 21 seconds on the run part of the race. He just keeps slipping by me by seconds....game on!

Grayson snuggled up with his bears ready to watch Oswald

Miss Lily on a hot day....oh, life is tough!

Chemo is over!

Ok...Heath has been done with chemo for about a week and a half now...but I'm just getting to this update. We are so glad that its finally over (even though it kind of seems like it went pretty quickly...for me anyway). He had a pretty rough time this last cycle and got the sickest he's been. He never did vomit, but he came pretty close. He quite irritable following treatment also! Yikes! Anyway, he had a Neulasta injection last week to boost his white count...had bloodwork last Friday and will see the doctor next week. He is showing some anemia (which is to be expected), but we aren't sure what they will do about that. He is looking forward to getting back into a normal routine....eating normally and exercising.

During the week of treatment, Heath's step-mom Tammy came to help us. It was really great having her here! Her and Grayson spent a lot of time together...which was really helpful for mom! Last Tuesday, Heath's mom Sue and her husband Aaron came again to help us as well. Once again, Aaron worked like crazy and did all sorts of projects around the yard...including my favorite...a fence around my raspberries! Sue helped a lot with Grayson and did a lot of cleaning around here. My house hasn't been this clean since.............hmmm.......a long time!! We really appreciate all of their help and can't even begin to thank them enough! Heath has some great family!

July 4th fun run: 'Four on the Fourth'

"Four on the Fourth" race in Steilacoom. Grayson did the kids 1 mile race...his longest one. He ran with daddy (ran, walked, ran, walked)....but then wanted to keep running with the kids afterwards. This was Amy's first 4 mile race and her 2nd race she has ever done (last one was about 5 years ago). She did really well and is now planning more to do! I tried to beat Greg on this one...but he decided to catch up to me at mile 2.5 and then go ahead of me at mile 3. I tried to maintain the same distance in between us, but the last part of the race is uphill...I just couldn't sprint hard enough up it. So...he beat me by 20 seconds! My time was 31:33 and Greg's was 31:13. The competition is on!

Sunriver 2009

Well, I was finally able to upload our pictures from Sunriver (June 25th-30th). We all had a great time...and had a little more relaxation time as well. We extended our normal stay by a day and it was well worth it! I never want to leave this place. Since we took so many pictures, I've created several collages instead of individuals (just click to enlarge).

Saturday, June 27th: Lee and Jim ran the 1/2 marathon again this year....making pretty good time as well! Marilyn (Erin Edwards' mom) found us down here...she has a vacation house in Sunriver...so we spent a little time visiting with her. Ruthy is way too relaxed in the village. Grayson and Pop play in the sprinklers. We had the best house this year...and had our first lawn too. Hopefully we can get this house all the time!

Sunday, June 28th 8:15am: Grayson runs his first 1/2 mile race with daddy. (Remember, last year didn't count because mom carried a crying boy the whole time.) He was very proud of his medal and wanted to keep "running fast"! I think it was those fast running shoes that he had this year. Virinda ran the 5k race and did her best time ever....under 30 minutes. Which meant that she won a bet with her dad....and he had to buy her a shirt!

Sunday, June 28th late morning: I did my first Olympic distance triathlon...and finished...and didn't crash or die! The Olympic distance consists of 1.5k swim, 28 mile bike and 10k run. Overall it was a decent race for me...getting me 3:19:35 total time (39:35 swim time, 1:33 bike time, 58:52 run time). I placed 24th out of 57 in my age group. I was hoping for a little better of a time, especially in the swim...but considering this was my first Olympic tri and we were at a decent elevation...I feel pretty good about it. I did get terrible stomach cramps starting toward the end of the swim. It lingered throughout the whole rest of the race, but I just had to suck it up and deal with it. It wasn't so bad all the time...just right after the race was when I didn't think I'd make it. Once I got some food on my stomach, I was good to go. I think it was because I had breakfast so early (around 6am) and the race didn't get started till 9:30...so I had a fairly empty stomach. With all the energy chews, bars, drinks etc my stomach was just not going for it.

Greg did really well this year and took over 20 minutes off his time from last year. (By the way, I beat his time from last year too.) I was really hoping to beat his run time...and I probably would have if I wouldn't have stopped at every water station during the run. He only beat me by 40 seconds in the run! He placed 22nd out of 57 guys in his age group. (Overall time was 2:57:17).

Ruthy, dad and Jim (Team Jerryatrics) did the relay again. Ruthy had a personal best in her swim and knocked off about 4 minutes from her normal swim time! It was funny because her wave actually started 5 minutes after mine...but we ended up going through the swim finish line together. Towards the end of the swim I ended up right next to this gal who swam awfully close to how Ruthy swims. I kept my eye on her and didn't let her pass me. Sure enough, it was Ruthy. Out of over 550 people in the whole race...we meet up! Ruthy's time was 35:35.

I did end up passing dad on the bike early on, but he made up quite a bit of time and wasn't too far behind me. He had a really good race as well....his time was 1:47:57. Jim...well, what can ya say about Jim. He's just darn fast! That bugger passed me too! Jeez, the guy just ran a 1/2 marathon the day before too. He's an animal! His time was 46:33.

Monday, June 29th and Tuesday, June 30th: On Monday we all decided to go for a sort of leisure bike ride around Sunriver...all along the wonderful trail system that they have. It was really nice! We had lunch in the village and then biked back to the house. After Grayson's nap, we played a little tennis and then swam in the pool. Tuesday was time to say goodbye, but not until after we got our "racer photos" taken!

What a great trip! Can't wait till next year!

grrrr...

I'm having a tough time loading my photos on here....I just wanted you all to know that I'm still here though! I've tried it 2 different days on several occassions. I'll try again tomorrow.

On another note....Heath is on his 4th and final (hopefully) round of chemo this week. He has only 2 days to go! It is definitely hitting him a lot harder and faster this time around and he is scared about how the next couple of days will go. I told him that its only 2 days and that he has conquered 18 days of it already....'this too shall pass'. Next week he will get a long-lasting Neulasta injection to boost his white count (which is very painful)....then will have bloodwork done. I'm not sure when they will check his tumor markers, but could possibly be next week as well. Thank you again to all the well wishes, prayers, positive thoughts, and help!