We woke up in Lake Placid and knew we had to get started. A lot to do today.
It has felt just like a fun vacation so far… but now all of a sudden reality was setting in.

And then it got REAL!!!
Strapped on our official IRONMAN race wristbands… no turning back now…

After checking-in at Registration… we got our wristbands, bags, tags and all of that other important stuff. Then we went over to IRONMAN Village… the Expo area for all of the athletes and the vendors trying to sell more stuff. Always fun to see all of the goodies that we “want” but really don’t “need”… and a few fun photo-ops along the way! Here’s me & Chris at the official step & repeat photo-op!!!

Lots of people milling about in IRONMAN Village… enjoying the beautiful weather again!

And when in Rome… one of our favorite vendors sells these amazing air inflating, compression recovery pants. Even better, they let you try them for free! Sure, we haven’t done anything yet to have “earned” this… but it was FREE!!! So of course we did it!!!

As the legs inflate and gain air pressure, you can feel the muscles in your legs pulsating and the blood flowing & being pushed back up. Sometimes it gets a little “uncomfortable”… just like a good massage! Yes, please!!!

But then when you take the legs off, you can see where all of the seams & air pockets were pressing against your legs. A few indentations as souvenirs… as now my legs felt AMAZING!!!

And look…
pretty sure this will be placed in the right spot to become the actual Finish Line later!!!

Here’s the area of grass that will be filled with thousands of bikes very soon. This is the Transition Area where we will come back between each section of the triathlon. And since we’re in Lake Placid… home to two Winter Olympics… this grassy area is actually in interior of the ice speed skating rink!!!

And while you’re playing in Lake Placid, it only seemed right that we both got to “light” the Olympic Flame!!! In fact, this is the official cauldron from the 1932 Winter Olympics!!!

While we were there being silly and taking photos, Chris set her purse down on the steps. We got all carried away and continued off into the Expo. It wasn’t until we were headed back to our room that she realized she didn’t have her bag. So we rushed back to the Expo and found it right there sitting on the steps… under the watchful eye of the nice lady that was helping with the photo-op in the expo tent across the walkway. So nice of her to keep an eye on it for us!

Soon enough it was time for more food!!! Gotta gear-up and carbo-load for the big race, right?! Or is that just a wonderful excuse to eat more?!!! So we opted for yummy pizzas… both of them on a cauliflower crust. My first time trying it… and not all that much different, really.

We walked through town doing a little window shopping. And found more than souvenirs… maybe it was time to eat again?! So we did… Chris got this HUGE ice cream cone that she polished off in no time… and I got a slice of cheesecake dipped in chocolate and frozen on a stick. Huge and YUMMY!!!

And we figured since we were supposed to be “relaxing”…
why not take some time off for an afternoon matinee?
And such a cute little, family-owned movie theater!!!

When we got back to our AirB&B room, we ran into some of our new neighbors. A cute couple Jackie & Joe from Long Island… he was racing, she was cheering. Another couple where she was from Brazil and a well-seasoned IRONMAN racer and what we now believe to be her Sugar-Daddy! We also ran into a cute family with two kids… but the strange part was that the Mom of that family was the same nice lady we met earlier that had been keeping an eye on Chris’ lost purse at the Expo!!! Small world, huh?!!!

After the movie, Chris and I hopped back in the car to drive the IRONMAN bike route. We figured it would be a great chance to familiarize ourselves with the course a bit. We knew it was going to be hilly, but we didn’t really know how bad. We had also heard “rumor” of a very steep downhill at the beginning, and then an 11-mile uphill at the end getting us back into Lake Placid!!! YIKES!!! So much easier in a car… and it gave me a chance to take some pictures!!! The scenery was SO AMAZING… that if I didn’t get pictures now, I knew I would never be able to finish the ride in time if I could stop for photos (which you can’t, but you get the point.)

So here we go… pedaling up the first big hill… err, well driving for now, but pedaling later.

Did I mention recently that the weather here in Lake Placid has been SPECTACULAR?!
Well it was…. and the scenery was too!!! Like this…

And here we go… this is the road that will be part of that BIG downhill…
right along side of the river and cliffs!

I mean, c’mon… could this get any prettier???
Truth be told, we stopped the car so I could take pictures of the waterfalls that I had seen on the other side of the road. I hopped out and ran across the road to take pictures. Chris was back by the car yelling at me… and yelling for me to come back… but why?…

Turns out THIS amazing waterfall was right next to the parking lot…
and I had completely run right past it to take pictures across the street. HA!!!

SO BEAUTIFUL!!!
And to think… if we didn’t come out tonight to drive the bike course… we would have only seen this scenic beauty while looking over our handlebars and pushing the pedals. It’s gonna be a race!!! No time for sightseeing. No time for my camera! So glad we got to see some of the beauty of the Adirondack Mountains ahead of time… and with my camera!!!

So good to see the route ahead of time. To have some idea of where the ride would take us… and where the hills were going to be. The route is the same loop twice! To see the steep downhill… and to see how bad that 11-mile uphill climb was going to be towards the end… TWICE!!!

After our drive, Chris and I went over to see some of her training friends at the house they were renting. Chris trains with “ET : Experience Triathlon”… and her coach Chilly was going to be racing Lake Placid with us! So we stopped by to see her and a few other teammates. And were so pleasantly surprised to see that some of Chris’s training team mates had sent us some treats!!! And you know how I LOVE treats… and apparently THEY do to! I mean, they’ve all “experienced” my form of training… riding hard & ending with pie!!!

Some of the largest and best cookies ever!!!

And oh, but wait there’s more… not just cookies… but PIE too!!!
We have some of the BEST FRIENDS EVER!!!… definitely the “sweetest”!!!

And then it was time to sleep… another day closer to the big day!!!
Just one more day of “rest” before we tackle our next IRONMAN race!!!

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As we were standing on the rooftop deck out side of our Lake Placid room, we could look out over Mirror Lake and see where the IRONMAN swim course was already set-up. As Chris and I were looking at the water, we were suddenly impressed by a full rainbow that stretched over the lake.

It wasn’t until later that evening that I called my sister Jen to check-in for any updates on my Mom’s situation. I was aware that this was going to be a tough day for my Dad & family… as they were having a “final” discussion with the medical doctors, and deciding to move onto the hospice phase of her care. It was a tough decision for all of us. Yet we were all sadly aware that there was no more hope for recovery or any sort of “quality of life” left for my Mom. We were responsible for seeing to her final wishes.

As I was talking to my sister on the phone, she told me all about the meeting, the doctors, the choices, and the decision agreed on by all to move forward with hospice care. She then asked me about my trip to see how it was going, and to make sure we made it there okay. I told her about our “accidental trip” into Canada, and then told her about our hotel room and the rainbow over Mirror Lake.

She stopped me right there. The mention of the rainbow stopped the story.
She told me that during the meeting with the doctors, they offered up three different hospice care companies. My sister & brother researched each of them, checked locations & services, and finally chose the one that best fit our needs & wishes.

The name of the company?…    RAINBOW HOSPICE.

Yep, chills went through me too!
Like this isn’t a “sign” from my Mom???… saying that she’s okay with the choice???…
and that she is wishing me well in my upcoming swim?! I mean seriously?!

Could she make it any more obvious?!!!
Slapped right upside the head. “Hey look at me… and my rainbow!!!”

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So we woke up early in Niagara Falls… ready to get started on Day Two of our adventure!
We knew we had a long ways to go… and yet we had to walk down to see the falls in daylight first!!! So cool to see it in natural light… to fully see the power & force of the water. But where does it all come from? Where does it all go?… and more importantly… Why doesn’t it ever stop???

We stopped to get gas before we head out…
and I loved seeing how they had even “Canada-ized” the McDonald’s logo!!!

And then the moment of truth… going through Customs in the opposite direction!
The Customs Agent going into Canada told us that Canada pretty much lets anyone into their country… but it’s getting back into the USA that is a bit tougher. And here we are without any passports!… “PASSPORTS PLEASE!!!”

So here go again… but this time we know what’s going on… and we’re hoping for the best. Needless to say, the US Customs Agent was not nearly as chatty & cute. He was a bit more gruff & obstinate. He found no humor in our situation. But eventually he let us through.. and BACK INTO THE USA!!!

And so we were off… back on the road. I finally got a chance to drive…
and found out that Chris is a brilliant conversationalist!!!

Needless to say, upstate New York is beautiful! So many trees and hills…
and they only increased as we headed towards Lake Placid and into the Adirondack Mountains! As the mountains & trees increased, so did my anticipation, excitement & anxiety about the race!

And then with Chris back at the wheel… the rain clouds moved in!
Okay, maybe full-on STORM CLOUDS!!! It was crazy. Tough to see the road at times! Good thing was that the locals all turn their flashing hazard lights on when the rain comes. Brilliant idea!

The rain stopped as we carried on… but there were more clouds to come.

The sky eventually cleared up as we entered Adirondacks State Park.

As we continued on, the trees & mountains increased. So pretty… and yet somewhere back in the deep recesses of my head I started worrying about the IRONMAN race ahead of us. This are not little hills for bike riding… they’re downright MOUNTAINS!!!

At the High Peaks North rest area, we read some signs about how HUGE the Adirondacks State Park is… it’s the largest contiguous state park in the country, over six million acres… approximately the same size as Vermont… and three times the size of Yellowstone!

Somewhere along the road… I had forgotten how big Adirondacks State Park was… I knew it was huge, but I was wrong when I kept referring to it as “six hundred million acres!!!” By erroneously adding the “hundred” into the equation, I made the park a LOT bigger in my head… and my stories!!!

Soon enough we started seeing signs… exciting & somewhat terrifying… LAKE PLACID!!! Reality started setting in about the endurance race before us! Chris may have been training for real… legit training with a professional trainer!!! Me?… not so much. I was a bit concerned about my lack of training. And quite honestly, a bit unfocused knowing that my Mom was still in the hospital and not getting better… and knowing that some tough decisions were being made while I was gone. In fact TODAY was the day that my Dad, brother & sister were having a very serious meeting with my Mom’s doctors to determine if there was truly any hope of her improving. I wish I could have been there… as it was in my mind a lot of the day… but we all knew that my Mom would have wanted me to go through with this trip to compete in my THIRD full IRONMAN race!

The scenery was AMAZING!!!
So beautiful… we had to stop a couple times along the way to take in the sights & smells….
and dip our toes in the water!!!

We finally made it to the small town of Lake Placid. A quaint little town known for hosting TWO Winter Olympics!!!… as well as hosting the Lake Placid IRONMAN!!! So much so that they have a large placard on a boulder in front of Mirror Lake. See the buoys?… already set out in the lake for the race. A little concerning as I am NOT a strong swimmer! And can you see where the buoys go?… ALL THE WAY down to the other end of the lake!!! I was a little freaked seeing the distance… and knowing that we had to swim all the way down & back… hop out of the water… get back in… and do it all again for a second loop!!! YIKES!!!

A full 2.4 miles of YIKES!!!

And here you can see the buoys a bit better… ALL THE WAY DOWN!!!
For this race, the buoys would always be on our right… swimming the yellow side first, then returning back on the orange side!

After a bit of an internal meltdown… I calmed down a bit as we walked around town and finally had dinner at a sweet little restaurant overlooking Mirror Lake… and the ever-present Swim course! Just as a constant reminder! A reminder that I don’t know how to swim well… and might NOT be prepared enough to do this!!! 2.4 miles is a LONG way to swim!!!

Loved the low-flying fog & clouds moving in & floating through the hills opposite the lake!

A healthy dinner after all of the junk & coffee cake pizza I had eaten all day in the car. A little clean protein and something green actually tasted great! And another great ending to Day Two of our adventure!… and Welcome to Lake Placid!!!

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Well, the big day was finally here. After much soul-searching, and rationalizing the trip, Chris and I finally packed up the car… bikes, gear, luggage, and road trip snacks!!! With all of the things that were going on with my Mom in the hospital after her latest stroke, it had been hard to focus. Hard to keep on task… and hard to rationalize going on “vacation” while she was laying in a hospital bed. But I taught my Tuesday night pottery class, got home late and finished packing, and over-packing, and got a couple hours of sleep. But as of this morning … we’re on VACATION!!!

After packing Chris’s car with all of our stuff…
we set the GPS course for Lake Placid and headed off!!!

Lucky for us, we have some of the greatest friends ever!!!
Including our friend Nancy who knew we would need some road trip snacks… and had stopped by earlier in the morning at Chris’s house to drop off this huge coffee cake “pizza” with lots of fruit & icing! Nancy knows it’s one of my favorites from my favorite bakery in Elk Grove Village… Jarosch Bakery! She knew this because two years ago when Nancy & I went up to Madison to cheer on Chris in her first full IRONMAN, we stopped and got one of these for our road trip together… and polished it off with ease!!!

Needless to say, we hadn’t even made it to the Skyway Tollway Bridge before we cut into it… basically still in Chicago!!!

So there we are blindly following the GPS… talking… chatting… singing.. and eating.
Basically all of the fun of a road trip as we finally crossed into Indiana across the Skyway Toll Bridge!

And then soon enough… hello Michigan!!!

Soon enough there were “signs” along the road that we must be nearing Detroit.
Kind of exciting… as I have never been to Detroit. Still just following the GPS in the car.
Still having a fun time chatting & sightseeing along the way!

And then we started seeing highway signs that caused a bit of concern…
we didn’t want to go to either Lansing or Canada??? Uh oh… Which way to go?!

We knew we wanted to keep going EAST towards Lake Placid. So we continued on…

But then all of a sudden…

All of a sudden we came upon this really cool looking bridge. The Ambassador Bridge. I was so busy admiring the bridge & taking pictures… I wasn’t really paying too much attention to where we were headed. I guess in hindsight I should have known better?…

The bridge was cool. The bridge was long… with no options to exit. Before we knew it, we were stopped at this weird Toll Booth looking area that was moving very slowly. It was only then that the reality of the situation began to sink in. Why was it taking so long? Why weren’t the cars moving through faster with their iPass? Something must be going on?!!!

It was only when we finally made it to the Toll Booth window that it hit us.
As the guard in the booth asked us for our PASSPORTS… “Passports please!”
Of course we didn’t have them. Who knew you would go through Canada to get to Lake Placid? The GPS route never said anything about needing a passport? So we sheepishly offered up our Driver’s Licenses… and again “Passports please!” The Customs Agent was surprisingly nice as we bumbled our way through the “interrogation”… Where are you going? Why are you coming to Canada? How long are you staying? Where were you born? All we had was Lake Placid… IRONMAN… triathlon… here are our bikes… here’s our gear… just following GPS… we had no idea… we’re idiots from Chicago!

We asked her if we had any other option… to maybe turn around and stay in the USA. She said we could, but then we would need to backtrack all the way and go back around UNDER the lake… thus adding about 3-1/2 to 4 hours onto our trip. We said NOPE… we’ll try our chances in Canada! So after she scanned our Driver’s Licenses and chatted it up with us… she finally let us through.

And then, and only then… as we were now driving through the Canadian countryside, Chris decides to tell me she printed out a traditional map from Mapquest. Showing the route we “thought” we would be taking. Apparently Chris didn’t realize that there might be different GPS routes… she assumed the printed out online map would be the same as the GPS directions in the car. Apparently she was wrong… and apparently it was too late to use this printed map!!! Oh well, scenic route here we come!!! Hello Canada!!!

Luckily… we were now headed towards Niagara Falls for the evening! It had been a long time since I had been there… and we both knew that it is much prettier from the Canadian side. And since we were in Canada already… all good, right?!!!

We found a hotel room just a few blocks from the falls. We settled in quickly and then walked to find dinner. After dinner, we walked down to see the waterfalls. Another wonderful surprise was that the falls were all lit-up in wonderful colors!!!

And if that weren’t enough, they also decided to show off and welcome us with an amazing fireworks display over the falls. AMAZING!!! And such wonderful timing for us… and our surprise “adventure” into Canada!!!

After the fireworks, it went back to just the beautiful light-painted waterfalls.

And then it was back to the hotel for a well-deserved night’s sleep. Chris had done most of the driving, while I did most of the photo-taking… and eating. It was only Day One.. and we’ve already had a wonderful adventure. So much more fun to come!!! And THIS is how Chris and I travel… one adventure after another!!!

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Well, just a smidge over a month ago… my third full IRONMAN race!

IRONMAN LAKE PLACID 2019

It was a long time coming, and I would love to say a lot training… but I can’t.
With everything that was going on in my “real life” with work, pottery, summer camp and my Mom’s dire health issues, something had to give. Unfortunately I was heading into IRONMAN weekend without a lot of confidence… but a ton of determination! I know my Mom would have wanted me to carry-on and conquer yet another IRONMAN… and I did. For her.

I have finally sifted, sorted & edited down all of my photos. I am in the process of posting everything here on my blog, and I’ll post links on my Facebook page as well. There’s a LOT of photos and a LOT of stories! Be prepared to settle in for awhile… and read about our latest IRONMAN adventure!

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My buddies Chris & Nancy were SO EXCITED
to come out to see me at ART IN THE BARN today!!!

Apparently too excited to look at a calendar first… as ART IN THE BARN is still almost a month away!!! We’re just going to call this a test run… and we’ll see them both out there again for “real” on September 28th & 29th in Barrington, Illinois! Too funny!!!

And here I thought yesterday’s sunrise was pretty gorgeous…
but TODAY’s just kept getting better & better!!! With one large cloud-mass covering a lot of the sky… all ready to be swept with some of the most vibrant colors yet!!! Sure, it was cool, sure it was windy… but I got to see THIS!!!

And some amazing waves “caught” in the beam of light from the headlight on my helmet…
which I had kind of forgotten was even on?!

As we slide right into Labor Day Weekend… it already feels like Fall is upon us. The sunrise is getting later, the weather is getting cooler… and I’ve pulled out the long sleeve jersey! Odd thing though… the water that appeared to have receded yesterday to reveal the shoreline along Ohio Street Beach seemed to be back today?! Strange, right?! It didn’t rain or anything… and I’m pretty sure we didn’t get some crazy one-time tide going out yesterday morning?!

Textured porcelain buttons up-close & personal…
can’t wait to see what Jill does with them and her beautiful Hooey Batiks!!!
Some glazed, some soda-fired, lots of colors & textures!
ART IN THE GARDEN coming soon!!!

Just a pile of porcelain buttons headed down to Jill Miller of Hooey Batiks
so she can finish up her part of our collaboration for ART IN THE GARDEN.
Come to our grassroots art fair next weekend in Glenview, Illinois…
Saturday, September 7th & Sunday, September 8th!!!