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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Yesterday was a beautiful day for the Chicago Triathlon. Well, beautiful except for the crazy waves in Lake Michigan. So crazy that they called off the entire swim portion, and changed it to a Duathlon – run, bike, run. Always a fun day “racing” downtown with one of the best bike courses EVER!!! Up & down Lake Shore Drive, through Lower Wacker Drive and down along the Bus Lane… all 100% closed to traffic! Always a fun day playing downtown with my Tri-pal Tracy!

And this is what happens sometimes when you ask a total strange if she can take a few pictures for you. Still not quite sure what happened… some errant filter somewhere maybe? At least she tried…

At the Finish Line… thousands of medals are waiting for the Finishers! The Chicago Triathlon is the city’s only downtown Triathlon… and one of the world’s largest with over ten thousand athletes competing over the weekend!

Also after the Finish Line, there are an assortment of vendors, team tents, recovery stations and medics. My favorite of course is the Rapid Reboot tent. We’ve tried them many times at both Chicago Triathlon & a few IRONMAN Expos… and so much better when you get to use these AMAZING compression pants after the race when your legs could really use the boost! #rapidreboot

A rare Selfie... with a bit of a post-race afterglow much attributed to the compression pants massaging my legs at this very moment. Thanks to Clark and the fun folks at Rapid Reboot!!!

After the race, we decided to “walk it off” with a nice stroll through Millennium Park since the day was so gorgeous!

After having the SWIM portion of our race cancelled…
the day just didn’t feel complete without getting a little WET!!!
So we decided to play in the Crown Fountain in Millennium Park.

Scroll through the next few photos quickly, and you’ll see my friend Tracy doing her best Snow Angel Stroke in the fountain… to “complete” the third leg of our Triathlon!

And notice my still sealed, never-been-opened Swim Cap and extremely dry goggles!

We still lined up to start our race at the Swim Start arch… even though the lettering had been removed already. I guess to avoid confusion?! As we would basically be RUNNING the swim course instead of swimming it!

All in all, another great day downtown for the Chicago Triathlon… even if it was changed to a Duathlon! Always fun to get another medal to add to the collection… even if it is the THICKEST & heaviest medal yet!!! Rumor has it that if you were to complete all of the Lifetime Triathlons in the series, your medals would stack up to look like a replica of a sports water bottle!

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Raining this morning… but luckily it was a gorgeous morning yesterday as we all started early down at Monroe Harbor for the start of the Chicago Triathlon. The sky was amazing… but the waves were crazy! So bad, that they cancelled the swim all together… and instead turned it into a Duathlon… run-bike-run! Better safe than sorry… at least we got a wonderful sunrise show as the Chicago Fire Department was there to show off super-neato water-spraying boat!!!

And an IRONIC “no swimming” sign on a Triathlon morning with NO SWIMMING!!!

And an early morning “attempt” at a sunrise selfie for me & Tracy!

Also last week, while I probably should have been “training or packing”… I spent the day with my own little Great America Gang. So much fun playing with my niece, sister & cousin on all of the roller coasters, eating snacks and focusing on the FUN!!!

Oh wait, but first… Taylor had to braid Kim’s hair. Sure, we came all this way…
and THEN we braid hair???

And then finally… we got onto some rides!!!

Great fun flying out of our seats” on The Viper!!!
I love that feeling of “weightlessness” when flying over the wooden hills.

Spinning Teacups!!!

Ready for one of the originals… The American Eagle!!!

A beautiful sunset over The Raging Bull… my favorite roller coaster here at Great America!

X-Flight… so smooth!

Spinnin’ & flyin’ high on The Revolution… so much better when the lights come on!!!

And the end of another fantastic day at Six Flags Great America!

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After a fun morning of Summer Camp yesterday, I zipped over to Six Flags Great America for a fun outing with my sister Jen, niece Taylor and cousin Kim… the “Fun-Foursome” with our Season Passes!!! It started out a little cloudy, but that soon passed and it became a beautiful evening playing in the park, zooming on the coasters & eating some great “park food”!!!

After spending the night in Minneapolis at a friend’s house, I got up and headed over to the Minneapolis Convention Center for a full day of NCECA fun. Okay, let me just say from the get-go… for the record… I’m NOT a huge fan of NCECA. I just want to make pots. I just want to see pots. I just want to have fun, buy pots, buy tools,  and see a LOT of pottery friends!!! Not so much into the “educational-lecture” part of the show, which I totally get as it IS an educator’s conference! So I knew going up that one day of NCECA would be enough for me! Well, that plus a full day of touring NCECA Gallery Shows on Friday.

So the first thing I ran into after registering for the day was the Artstream Gallery… LOVE IT!!! I’ve seen it before, but you can never see it enough! Basically they took an old Airstream Trailer and converted it into a mobile pottery gallery! What a wonderful idea!!!

There were several galleries that had made little Pop-Up Shops with their ceramic wares.
Many of them focusing on a few featured artists… like one of the galleries was featuring
this oversized sculpture by George Rodriguez

So many mugs… so little time. Loved this contemporary twist on mug display & shelving… one mug per shelf.

Also fun to see so many potters that I’ve been introduced to through social media. Like this slip-cast, layered-colors and carved tumbler by Valeri Alexsandrov. Beautiful to watch on Instagram, but even better to touch, fondle, caress and admire in person!

So many things to see… so many pots everywhere… I WAS IN POTTERY HEAVEN!
And the first “souvenir” to come home with me was this Ted Neal mug. Loved the rustic, almost rusty quality of it… as well as the industrial-somewhat agricultural aspects to it.

And one of my favorite things at the Pop-Up Gallery areas were these pre-packaged shot glasses. What a wonderful idea – a comic satire on commerce & mass-production… with a handmade ceramic piece inside the retro-inspired retail packaging. So, so funny!!!

And then it was off to the Trade Show Expo area. Always fun to see all of the latest in pottery tools & supplies. Many of which I’m not in the market for… like kilns, commercial glazes or more pottery wheels. But even though I might not be looking to buy any of these… still fun to see everything.

Including these little mini-wheels… a tiny little wooden box that is actually a miniature potter’s wheel… perfect for making miniature pots!

And then I finally got down to the back corner to find my favorite… DiamondCore Tools!!! Great to finally meet Robert and his crew, as well as see all of their amazing products all in one place! And all ready to be played with on some clay. Carving. Scraping. Sgraffito-ing. Whatever. So much fun getting a chance to play with all of their tools… as well as seeing some great demos by some pretty great artists!

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Just got home from a wonderful weekend in Minneapolis for NCECA 2019…. the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts. A lot of pottery, inspirations, shopping and meeting up with a lot of other pottery friends!! More photos & stories to come!!!

As an added bonus… it was a BEAUTIFUL weather weekend in Minneapolis! So I made sure to get outside to see some of the sights outside of the Convention Center too!

Last night was another successful EMPTY BOWLS fundraiser at Lillstreet…
raising lots of money for First Slice to help feed the hungry.
And while lots of people picked their bowls… others picked their…

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Huge kudos to my pal Sandy who tackled yesterday’s POLAR PLUNGE into a frozen Lake Michigan like a ROCKSTAR!… quite literally!Her and her team of Elvises… or is that Elvii?… raised big money for Special Olympics with their annual plunge! And look… she even made the news!!!