October Highlights:
- Cathy does her first solo plane trip
- I sneak in one more race at Hermosa Beach Triathlon
- Lilah goes to her first homecoming dance and says it was a complete waste of time
- Celebrate my dad’s birthday
- Lilah and Luke go trick or treating with friends in separate neighborhoods
Cathy Goes to Seattle (Well, Kind of )
This month Cathy continued her journey toward becoming an elite fitness instructor by attending a Les Mills class in Redmond, Washington. I thought she was going to get to see Seattle, but no such luck as Redmond is northeast of the big city and Cathy left no room in her schedule to go sightseeing — that’s how committed and focused she is. The training basically allowed her to see what other Les Mills formats (classes) are out there. Participants get a chance to try out the various classes to get ideas, learn from other instructors, and see if they might be interested in teaching other Les Mills classes with cool sounding names like Body Attack, Body Combat, Sh’Bam, and Grit.
Cathy came back from the experience pumped which is always nice to see. It was also cool to watch her prepare for her trip and go through the planning process — choose a flight, pick a hotel, figure out transportation, prepare what you’re gonna bring, etc. — to ensure a successful voyage. Cathy and I have been on many flights together, but this was the first plane trip Cathy embarked upon on her own — and not just since our marriage (it was her first solo plane trip ever). And since “firsts” like these are always cool (as opposed to first time you get your snowboard stolen) I found myself getting caught up in the excitement and wanting to go with her too. But no such luck, the kids were in school and I had to make sure they got home safely and survived the weekend. No worries though, as Cat’s departure gave me the opportunity to play the role of the single parent for a couple of days, which I believe went quite well (just don’t ask the kids).
One More Race
I have a friend who has always raved about the Day at the Beach Triathlon in Hermosa beach. This sprint distance course is usually his his season-ending race. I also typically end my season with a sprint race, but since I opted to enter the Olympic Distance version of the Carpinteria tri this year, I felt like something was amiss so as they say in Yoda-speak, enter one more race I did. Racing one more time also gave me a chance to bring my pops to one more event which is always a good thing. The added bonus this year was that my mom’s nephew Claudio, who is here visiting from Chile, also got a chance to attend and witness his first triathlon too. He’s a track and field athlete who can run a 100 meter dash in about 11 seconds or so (that’s fast), but when it comes to longer distance endurance events I think he prefers to watch.
My goal was to finish the 400 meter swim, 10 mile bike, and 3 mile run in under an hour and I accomplished that with my time of 58:47. I did not get on the podium in this race but the top 8 people in my age group (which included me at number 8) all finished within 5 minutes of each other. It was really close — one of those races where a better transition or faster run from the beach to the transition area could have easily put me in the top three again. So be it though. I had a great race and believe I raced about as hard as I could go. Definitely a good way to end the season.
On a sidenote, I think I will always remember the song “All About that Bass,” by meghan trainor, because that was the song that was playing at the starting line. It also played two more times in the car with my dad, which gave me a chance to tell him the lyrics. That made him laugh so he translated the song in spanish for Claudio, which made us all laugh — good guy-bonding stuff.
Lilah is Not Impressed with Homecoming
I was not there to witness Lilah’s assessment of the homecoming dance, but according to Cat, Lilah said the dance was a complete waste of time — time she could have used to get her homework done, she added. I had to laugh when I heard the review. Lilah is a smart kid and sometimes a little wise beyond her years. She is not into “Rah, Rah, team” stuff, over the top demonstrations of school spirit, and the concept of showing school unity by not wearing the colors of the opposing school. Before the homecoming football game, she sarcastically said, “I guess we’re now supposed to hate Newbury Park” since we’re playing them next. Her disinterest in the game of football was also made quite clear in the following exchange we had:
Dad: So how was the game? What was the score?
Lilah: I don’t know.
Dad: Well, who won?
Lilah: I don’t know.
Lilah reminds me of the lead character in 90s animated series, Daria — serious, sarcastic, and not very easily impressed. Part of me would like her to be a little more engaged in communal events, but I think I like her the way she is. I am old enough to have seen too many things go wrong in the world when people succumb to the passions of the group. Also, if she stays on this track I will not have to worry about boys for a very long time — and what dad wouldn’t love that? Note to self: just keep doing what you’re doing as a dad…it seems to be working ;-).
Both Kids Get into the Halloween Spirit
This year, Cathy had to leave town for a training which left me in charge of the house and the kids for Halloween. Luke celebrated by going out with his middle school friends and then spending the night at his buddy Dane’s house. I picked up Lilah from school and one of the first things she noticed is that our Halloween display was very paltry, unlike in past years. This was on account of Cathy being out, and me not picking up the Halloween decorating slack. Well, Lilah would have none of that. She insisted on putting up more decorations so the two of us added the creepy hedgestone, the skeleton hands and head coming out of the ground, the giant furry black widow spider hanging from the rooftop, and as many items as it took to make her satisfied. We actually had a lot of fun doing it and it made me happy just to see her getting so into it in her mother’s absence, and, dare I say, “showing spirit.”
I thought Lilah was going to stay home with me to hand out candy, but at the last minute she decided that maybe she wasn’t too old to go trick or treating after all. So off she went with her friend Vicki to collect Halloween treats. When she got back she showed me her loot and it was pretty impressive both in terms of weight and the variety of candy she received. At one house, the people were trying to get rid of all their candy so they actually gave Lilah a full family-sized bag of peanut butter M&Ms (what a big score that was).
Then, as if the night wasn’t perfect enough, it began to rain, which led to Lilah donning her yellow rain jacket and walking out of the house to enjoy the deluge. A perfect way to end the month!
More next month!