Summer from HELL!

Thank you for all of your donations so far!  Please donate to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society...my goal is $5,000 and every dollar counts! Just click here!

We had our TNT group ride Saturday morning at Lake Hefner starting at 9am.  It was already very hot at this hour.  In the last post I wrote how I worked out on the hottest day of the summer...well, Mother Nature slapped me in the face with the hottest day in 15 years! WHAT?! We reached 110 degrees on Saturday.  No wonder I went through three water bottles!  I had to stop and refill at the golf course's country club.

BONUS! "Team Jo&Em" had personal bests on Saturday!  Joleen went around 3 times and I went around 4.  I kept up with my fundraising mentor, Alicia for the first lap - averaging 22 mph!  That's a quick clip for me!  Then I spent 2 laps with my buddy from last time, Taylor, before he ventured ahead of me.  He said the quote of the day, "you have a bug in your teeth."

By the fourth lap I was thirsty, hot, slower, and covered in Lake Hefner gnats!  Ew!  But 38 miles is an all time best...so I'll take it!  All I have to do is add on 18 more miles (2 more laps around) and I've got the race distance covered! Woo hoo!

Speed Up, Grandma!

We had our TNT group swim practice on Monday.  Coach Ryan encouraged speed work this time around. I haven't done true speed work since high school swim team so this was fun! It brought me back!  We did a 300 meter warm up, a few drills,  5 - 75's with a short rest in between, 6 - 25's sprint with 20 seconds in between, and finally, a 200 broken up into 25 sprint 25 recover and repeat.  This may sound like a foreign language if you are not a swimmer...but it's easy to catch on once you practice.

Coach Ryan did a great job helping Joleen with her stroke work.  She is looking much better considering she started with little technique.  Coach helped me with my stroke.  I am crossing over slightly and need to widen my arms a bit so that I pull straight down and not across and down.  I also need to push the water all the way back instead of stopping by my hip.  I will work on it!  My teammates love/hated me for bringing homemade chocolate chip cookies to practice!  I know I loved it!

NOW TIME FOR AN EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT! YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED....

So I've never thrown a big fundraiser before but I knew I wanted it to be something fun where people aren't pressured to donate.  It's always been a dream of mine to sing with a band....so I will be living the dream and raising money for a great cause!  It's a win-win!  If you can't make it out you can still make a tax-deductible donation! Just click here!


Thanks friends!  Stay tuned and have a good one!