tri for four

I'm actually so organized right now, I have a bit of free time over my lunch break that I can tell ya'll how the last tri of the season went.

But first, a short recap of the weekend.

I went to St. Louis over Labor Day just because. We got to see my one and only nephew and see my brother's new house and run into my distant and uninterested dad.

Plus Oliver, my dog, got to visit with "big mama," his affectionate name for my my mom. He's felt a lot of pressure lately to up the cuteness around her. For the longest time, he and my sister's dogs held the position of granddogs, unchallenged by real grandkids. Big mama treated them just like they were real grandkids. She had a toy basket just for them. Freely handed out treats. And doted them with attention that my sister and I don't have time for. But with my brother's son Will turning one, Oliver feels the competition for the love and affection of big mama. So he's always excited to get a chance to schmooze with her every chance he gets. As we say, put his "stank" on her.

I asked my mom if she would want to come and see my last race this weekend. I didn't get a response that minute, so I called the middle of the week to find out if she was coming.

It's a feat for mom to make any long distance trip nowadays. Besides the hip replacement replacement still healing, she's now dealing with a torn rotator cuff in her right arm. (the left rotator cuff was torn and repaired a few years ago.) Not to mention her arthritis which constantly strains her joints.

I wasn't surprised when she said she didn't feel up to it.

But some weird vibe inside me told me that we would be having company this weekend. So, instinctively, I began to clean house. I started by shampooing the carpets. (Oliver had some volatile diarrhea a couple weeks ago.) Then vacuuming, straightening up the guest rooms, finishing up the laundry, and organizing what I could.

See, when mom comes, we have to 'mom-clean' the house. Not because she's judgmental about our house, but because if we don't, she will. And there's nothing warm and fuzzy about seeing your gimpy mom clean your house.

Low and behold, we get a call Friday night from mom announcing her late afternoon arrival on Friday.

I was happy, but it threw a wrench in my weekend plans.

This was one of the rare weekends around here that cool stuff was actually going on. I had planned on going to the Farmer's Market with Beth on Saturday morning. Making brunch with her. Then I would head to Lawrence to see the only parade worth seeing: KU's Band Day parade... because it's just bands. No stupid floats getting in the way of the pageantry of marching bands we all secretly love.

Then that evening I would head to Lake Shawnee to see the Huff-n-Puff hot air balloon glow and then a late dinner before bedtime.

Well, I did get to go to the Farmer's Market. Then Beth and I had a lovely brunch on her lovely patio. But then I had to head home to do some seriously overdue yard work.

Though mother nature is clinging to summer, the leaves are not clinging to their trees. The hot and dry weather has depressed the trees to the point of giving up and shedding their leaves in August. And I just wasn't ready to rake leaves in 90 degree weather.

Mom was coming, though. And it had to be done.

I mowed.

Mom showed up at 6.

We had a overfilling-where's-my-eattin'-dress meal at Paisano's. Good food. Shitty service.

I give them a reprieve of too early a wake up call (say, 4:00 a.m.) and we get up at 5:00 a.m. and head to KCK (kansas city kansas).

The race was fine. Lots of people. Warm water. Cool weather.

But I tried to run a triathlon on residual fitness.

Good in theory. Bad in practice.

The last two weeks I've not done one workout. Not even one.

And you could tell.

While I felt strong coming out of the water and hopping on the bike, You could tell by the end of the run that something wasn't right.

One word: HILLS.  Lots of fucking hills. But as always, it's all smiles when it's done.