I chose a couple of mantras to focus on during the race. One during the swim was “slow and steady.” I wasn’t trying to push myself too hard on the swim, I wanted to feel good by the time I got out of the water and I wanted to swim the whole thing without stopping. I did both! One of my favorite moments of the race was about halfway through the swim when I recognized that I was in the middle of a lake and wasn’t nervous at all! I’d say that was a huge accomplishment since I started training thinking that I might have to back float the entire swim part. I don’t think swimming will ever be my strong suit, but it was so fun to see the progress made over the past 4 or so months of swimming regularly.

Something Laura and I quickly realized about triathlon training is how much easier on your body it is than running, which was both our of primary form of exercise before this. Our bodies have definitely thanked us for easing up on the pounding. Also, the majority of the top competitors were in their 40s so it seems this is a sport for which the age for peak performance is ahead of us, rather than behind us. I think this will be a great lifetime activity–easier on the body, but fun!

We arrived in Eugene around dinner time and drove around looking for a spot to eat–we quickly found Track Town Pizza, located just across from Hayward Field and the campus of the University of Oregon. The pizza was delicious and the restaurant had a fun atmosphere as the place was packed with high school kids competing in the weekend’s state track & field championships.

Saturday was spent almost entirely on our bikes. We cruised down to the Saturday Market and then spent a leisurely few hours riding along the Willamette River on a 10 mile multi-use trail that goes on either side of the river. It was awesome! We managed to sneak in a nap after the ride and then rolled back down to the river and put John’s inflatable kayak in on a canal that paralleled the river and took us by some lovely homes. By the time we were done with our multi-sport day, we were quite hungry. Per the recommendation of a colleague we found the Glenwood Restaurant and enjoyed a simple and tasty meal, including their “famous” tomato-cheese soup.

Sunday found us back on our bikes riding out into the hills of Eugene on a course recommended by the owner of the guesthouse we were renting. A little more challenging than the slow-paced ride the day before, but quite scenic. We headed home after the ride, having thoroughly enjoyed our short trip to Lane County. There’s much more to explore on bike, river, and hiking trail so we look forward to returning some time!

With a bit of convincing, our husbands, John and Keith, joined us in the event. In addition to doing the whole thing with us, they willingly helped us in our transitions, having the car opened and ready, taking our bikes from us and locking them up, and even enduring the 15 minutes of swimming in a cold lake through which we put ourselves. Just like our last triathlon experience, we learned a lot and were so glad to have given it a go. Swimming in a lake, in a wetsuit is a totally different experience and it was helpful just to understand what that is going to be like. Also practicing the transitions between the swim and bike and bike and run was great as we know better what we need/don’t need to do.

The irony of the day is that we showed up to the lake and there was actually an organized triathlon taking place. We chose to start ours on the opposite side of the lake… we didn’t want to show anyone up (or embarrass ourselves). It was a fun morning (it really was fun!) and we are looking forward to the real deal in just under two weeks.

Laura and I are now six weeks into a 12 week training program which gets a relatively fit someone ready to participate in a sprint triathlon. It has been a really fun challenge and so cool to see yourself improving, especially in the swim category where I had a pretty low level of fitness and confidence. We are really glad to have participated in the Albany race and we learned a ton from the experience. We’ll be competing individually in the Blue Lake Triathlon outside of Portland on June 5 and look forward to meeting this training goal!

Thanks John and Keith for coming and cheering us on and documenting the race! (More pics on Facebook)

"Team Macander" finishing together

Icing the elbow at home

]]> http://www.johnanderinmacy.com/2010/04/team-tri/feed/ 1 http://www.johnanderinmacy.com/2010/04/bellingham/ http://www.johnanderinmacy.com/2010/04/bellingham/#comments Fri, 23 Apr 2010 23:55:01 +0000 erin http://www.johnanderinmacy.com/?p=2552 Two weeks ago we packed up and drove north to Bellingham with John’s cousin, Derin, and his wife, Andra, and Jasper, their chocolate lab, to visit John’s Uncle Daryl and Aunt Stacey. Bellingham has been part of our relationship for almost eight years, starting back when we were first dating. I flew to Seattle from Dallas, TX, he picked me up and we stayed at Daryl and Stacey’s house with Derin and Andra and then met them out in the San Juan Islands the next day. We’ve been up to stay in Bellingham about every other year since then, including an overnight on our honeymoon. It has stuck with us and we really like it!

Somehow it is always gorgeous when we’re there and this weekend was no different. With blue skies and temperatures in the mid-60s we took full advantage of the weather spending the majority of the time outside playing games, sitting by either one of the two outdoor fireplaces, going for walks and bike rides on the trail system, exploring the fantastic farmers’ market, reading, talking and catching up, and eating. It was a great weekend!

We also had the privilege of hearing Paul Young, author of “The Shack” at the Cornwall Church on Saturday night. We have both read the book, but had never heard Mr. Young speak before. He gave a very authentic and transparent talk that you can listen to HERE, if you’re interested. Regardless of your view of the book, it was an impactful talk.

A relaxing time with great company made this three day weekend feel like a mini-vacation!

Derin, Stacey, John and Erin try out the hula station at the farmers' market

As we do when we get behind, here is a quick overview in words and pictures…

• Spent an hour one Saturday morning with friends who just got baby chicks! Their boys were enamored with the chicks, although they are still learning that all-so-important word, gentle. More photos on Facebook if you search for “PhotoMacy” you can find the album called “Morgans and Chicks.”

• Cheered on a friend finishing her first marathon! Way to go, Tami!

• Got more serious about training for the Blue Lake Triathlon (Erin) which takes place June 5th.

• Prepared for our second maternity photo session by doing our own photo shoot around the neighborhood.

• John has been taking classes at the Apple Store with Mac Genius and friend, Bret Vogel, specifically spending time learning a recording software, Logic Pro. This means he tries to play and write music at least semi-regularly. He has gotten good use out of the piano Erin’s parents are storing at our house while they travel the country.

• Eating free of gluten, eggs, dairy, almonds, and soy! John needs to take these items out of his diet for six weeks to see if his head congestion which he’s been dragging around for about 8-9 months improves. We’re almost half-way through the six weeks. It hasn’t been bad! Our cupboards are full of things we don’t typically stock like tapioca flour and brown rice tortillas and are absent of the loaves of bread and baked goods we consumed weekly. I actually think we are both feeling pretty good! If you have any favorite “free” recipes, please pass them along!

• Spent last weekend in Bellingham with family. We will share more about that soon!

GFU Basketball Season. We are partial to the women’s team who made it to the Elite 8 this year (ahem… and won the National Championship last year) and always puts out 100% effort.  We made it to most of the home games this year which was a blast since they were undefeated in regular season play. An added bonus of going to the games is hanging out with John’s grandma who attends every home game and watches intently. My favorite: hearing Grandma Edna say “miss it, miss it” under her breath when the other team is shooting free throws. Last weekend we watched the season end prematurely on a big screen set up in the gym–not quite like being there, but nerve wracking nonetheless.

Food Meet. The first of two 2010 “food meets” took place in January. What’s a food meet, you ask? A chance to meet your food, of course. We joined the community to watch clips of the movie Food, Inc., hear from local farmers and community advocates, and sample local food. I am proud to be part of a university that values sustainability and buying local. I hear the second food meet will be in April 2010, if you’re interested in meeting your food!

Dr. John Perkins. We had the privilege of hearing Dr. John Perkins speak in an evening lecture in February. A dynamic speaker and extremely  humble man, I felt honored to have him sign a book and shake my hand at the end of the evening. This man has been a mover and shaker in his 70+ years and instrumental in advancing the cause of racial reconciliation. I’m really looking forward to reading the two books I picked up–“Follow Me To Freedom” and “Linking Arms, Linking Lives.”

Shane Claiborne. Another voice in the work of reconciliation, Shane was at George Fox in early March sharing his experiences from a recent trip to the Middle East, as well as challenging listeners to break through the walls we put up around us to keep ourselves “safe” from the world. He was much more animated and excited than I expected–an engaging speaker, he’s become kind of a regular at George Fox and it’ll be cool to hear him again in the future.

Invisible Children. Yet another voice speaking out for justice and reconciliation, this time with a focus in Northern Uganda, Invisible Children aims to bring awareness to the longest running war in Africa which endured more than 24 years in Uganda and is now moving to other parts of Central Africa, as well as help to the child victims of the war. Thousands of child soldiers have been abducted from their homes since the mid-80s and forced to fight in this senseless war. The current campaign of the organization is to begin a legacy of educating those affected by the war in Northern Uganda. There are 800 students being supported by the program–it takes $35 a month to put a child through high school and university. Seriously… $35. And 100% of that goes to the education of that child. With our travel, this time last year in Africa, we feel so much more connected with these stories and feel burdened, heavy hearts for the people of many African countries.

Intramural Basketball. John participated in a 5-on-5 intramural basketball team with the brother of a long-time friend, Jon Rickey (the brother is also a friend =)). When the brother, Dave, called to tell John his first game was at 11pm, the only thing we could do was laugh. After short and sweet three weeks and like eight games of reliving his glory days, the season came to an end. It was fun, but I also think John was relieved not to have 11pm games. I managed to get to two games–both of which started at more reasonable hours of the night (9 and 10pm).

The Oregon Symphony. Each year Ken and Joan Austin generously pay to have the Oregon Symphony to come out to little ole Newberg and play an evening of music. George Fox employees can get two free tickets and for the first time, we took advantage! It was a great performance and so cool to hear conductor, Carlos Kalmar, remark that George Fox University has the best hall in the state, as far as he was concerned. The Symphony regularly records here and with their annual performance, the group is no stranger to our town. Looking forward to next year!

I just love where we live and am so glad we’ve had the time this year to be part of the community! What’s next? Empty Bowls for Haiti takes place in April, a class about CSAs at the library in a few weeks, the summer concert series starting in June or July, and a lot of other fun, I’m sure! Check the GFU website for stuff going on at campus–there’s always something going on (unless it’s spring break, which is next week =)).

Ignite Portland is an evening of unusual public speaking. Over the course of two hours we heard 20 individuals speak for five minutes each on a topic of their choosing, in front of a backdrop of 15 slides. The topics/speakers ranged from a woman sharing about traveling with her cats to a guy who is a volunteer editor for Wikipedia to a young man highlighting how to effectively be unemployed. Some of the talks were more serious than others, but they all were comical in their own way. This event takes place about every six months at the Baghdad Theater in SE Portland. An interesting and fun evening (and FREE) worth checking out!

The following evening we headed out of town again for the Half the Sky movie. A bit more solemn than Ignite Portland, this presentation purposed to continue building awareness and activism in the area of international women’s rights and it lined up with the celebration of International Women’s Day. If you haven’t seen or heard of or read the book Half the Sky I hope you seek it out. The title of the book is based on a Chinese proverb stating “Women hold up half the sky” and the book makes an argument that the world’s most under-used resource is women. Cultures accepting and sometimes even promoting and condoning oppression and violence against women around the world stifle the advancement of the world as a whole socially, politically, and economically.

The book quickly became one of my favorites when I was hardly halfway through the text. I came back from our travels overwhelmed with thankfulness that I am a woman of a Western country. As a result, my heart developed a new compassion for women who has no basic rights or opportunity for self advancement. And I love that the statistics of this effort show an impact not only how women feel about themselves and the opportunity they have for economic growth, but even more serious things like the conviction of sex traffickers, the lowered rates of extremism and acts of war, the healthy delivery of new babies and the subsequent care of those children, the decreased spread of HIV/AIDS, and so much more.

Our weekend continues with George Fox University women’s basketball games, a birthday party, cheese-making, and who knows what else. Thanks to the “F”s who make the “FT” fun!

John also has an additional interest in the Olympics as his group at Nike does most of the outfitting for the athletes and teams who wear Nike gear. Most times you see a Swoosh on a speed skating suit or warm-up pants or hat or down jacket, that has come from someone he works with in GPS. Some of the garments are custom fit for the individual and some are your run-of-the-mill S/M/L type of pieces. Needless to say, the GPS group has reason to celebrate all the work they have done when their work for an event like the Olympics is accomplished. This time around, John helped organize a 2010 Winter Olympics party complete with indoor biathlon and Nintendo Wii skiing. John also took on the task of rallying the “athletes” in an opening ceremony of sorts. (See photos below for explanation.)