Happy Birthday Mom!

His dog is pretty cute...

I've decided to be a more positive and helpful member of the online dating community. I am sure there are many wonderful people out there who just need to tweak their profiles a bit and they would come off a lot better. To protect the innocent, and those whose feelings are easily hurt, I'm editing photos...just like they do in Glamour Magazine with the Fashion Police. I'm like the Online Dating Police.

His profile says:

Interests...
Hiking in the woods/mountains on a beautiful day; sailing;enjoying dinner/drinks @ a small cafe in the middle of a large city

How I feel about the Church...
A partner in marriage who'd like to have children with me;
a soulmate; a fellow Seeker

What I do for fun...
I enjoy having and raising kids & would like to have a(another) family...(My son is now 18.)

I say:

Lose the photo of you and your dog. Seriously? You are 59 years old and you are having professional photos done together. Weird. Also, what's with the turtleneck under a blazer? If you are going to be emailing younger women, maybe update the look a little, which brings me to my next point...

Stop hitting on 30-ish-year old girls. Yes, I see that you want to find someone to have children with you, however, don't you think 60 might be a little old to be starting a new family? If you love raising kids, maybe you could look into adoption.

Question...Seeker of what, exactly? And, what does wanting to find a soulmate have anything to do with your feelings about the Church? I'm confused...but then again, that might clear up my next point.

If you are on an LDS dating site, drinks at a small cafe isn't usually a Bishop-approved activity. Unless it's slurpees or something. Just saying...it's kind of a mixed message there.

So, I hope these are helpful. I'm not an expert, so take my advice with a grain of salt... and if any of you would like to help me with my profile, let me know and I'll send you my username and password, as long as you promise not to abuse it, like some people. Ahem...Stacy.

Ode to My Bicycle (after riding 170 miles this weekend)

Bike of mine, I love you so.

You ride just where I want to go.

You carry me across the miles,

Bringing joy and endless smiles.

There just one thing I don't admire...

The way you set my seat afire.

Saddle sores came between us two,

And now I can't stand to sit on you.

I know you think that I'm to blame...

That I caused my own burning shame.

It's true I rode both far and near,

But that's no consolation to my rear.

So please if someone out there knows,

A way to salve my bottom woes,

I'd be grateful to sit in peace again,

And spend more time with my two-wheeled friend.

If this doesn't inspire you to run a marathon...I don't know what will...

Um...hello...CUTEST. POSTRACE. OUTFIT. EVER. It doesn't even have to be pink, and I still love it. Although, there is one version in pink. In case you can't read the fine print, it says, "She conquered the concrete jungle...all 26.2 miles of it." Check out Karma Boutique to see the super cute marathon gifts you should buy me...or you...whatever.

Valentine's Day

I know you are all excited to hear about my Valentine's Day plans...I will be spending it with these people down in St. George for Ironman training camp. We will be wearing spandex and eating chocolate, so, probably pretty similar to a lot of you.

Are You Ready for Some Football?

Turns out, you really don't need to be that ready for it. Apparently, it really isn't that action-packed. A blog on Runners' World pointed out this interesting information...and I thought it was interesting enough to pass it along.

"According to a Wall Street Journal study of four recent broadcasts, and similar estimates by researchers, the average amount of time the ball is in play on the field during an NFL game is about 11 minutes. In other words, if you tally up everything that happens between the time the ball is snapped and the play is whistled dead by the officials, there's barely enough time to prepare a hard-boiled egg. In fact, the average telecast devotes 56% more time to showing replays.

So what do the networks do with the other 174 minutes in a typical broadcast? Not surprisingly, commercials take up about an hour. As many as 75 minutes, or about 60% of the total air time, excluding commercials, is spent on shots of players huddling, standing at the line of scrimmage or just generally milling about between snaps. While the network announcers showed up on screen for just 30 seconds, shots of the head coaches and referees took up about 7% of the average show."

Huh. There apparently is not that much going on at a football game. Troy, what are you working out so hard for...if you divide the action by 2 (offense/defense), you're only playing 5 1/2 minutes, max! You should take it easy! Apparently this inactivity is inherent to the game, not just the NFL. According to the article, a game played in 1912 clocked 13 minutes, 30 seconds of action.

Geez, during a marathon, I don't take time to huddle with the other runners or mill about on the side of the race course, I don't stop to get a drink...and I go for a lot longer than 11 minutes. Could it be that watching a marathon or a triathlon is more action-packed than watching football?

So, get out your stopwatches to time the Superbowl. I will spend 11 minutes timing actual football, and 4 hours milling around...preferably near the buffet.

Tri or Die...

Three months until my Ironman. I'm a little freaked out when I let myself think about it. So, I decided to design a little logo for friends and family to wear on t-shirts/hats/pins on May 1 to support me while I tri, or hopefully not, die...notice the pink and gray to match my bike. I can't help myself.