Badmann; just your everyday person?

I received this email about my upcoming race-I thought it was a pretty cool story.

"Hello all, Natascha Badmann is in town, and I got a chance to ride the Buffalo Tri course with her and her coach yesterday. Two words, "Different Planet", one word "Humility". I didn't really think I could stay with them, but wow. At one point I was doing 25MPH on the level, and they went by so fast, I wanted to get off and see if my bike was ok. She is a very fun person to talk to, and her coach Tony is something. He coaches 50 Athletes in Switzerland, and met her 14 years ago. She was overweight, and heard he had lost weight, so she talked to him. Her only exercise at that time was riding horses. He told her to eat Pasta at night, and she might have to exercise a little. It has seemed to have worked pretty well for her--6 out of last 8 Hawaii Ironman Championships."


Kewl Nitrox asked for a pic of Natasha's bike. I'll give it my best shot, but I certainly won't be seeing her on the course-unless I accidentally run her over as I'm heading to T2 and she is striding towards the finish line. Of course I can always useBolder's new machine and then things might work out ok-at least that way I could dispose myself of the idea swapping Natasha's bike for the mountain bike I rode in this race last year. I was such a rookie.

I know, I know, puppy pics. I can't find the charger for my camera's battery-which makes it difficult to upload new shots. This might work to my advantage because what was a fluffy, adorable puppy will now be Chia Puppy. And it wasn't my fault. She was "helping" me seed the back yard Monday and I swear she knew exactly where the seed was going to fall and ran into the spray of seed. So, in spite of days of picking seed from her fur, Chia dog she will no doubt become.

The Tribe is wrapping up school which includes among other things, the testing for the Presidential Physical Fitness program. Hyphen Girl has won the top honor, blue patch for the past 3 years and has qualified for that level in every event except the mile run this year. She missed that day of class when we drove up to get Chia Pup, so we needed to do a make up run at the track. Earlier in the day I had picked up new running shoes for both HG and Soapinator, and a "running shirt" for Soap. Wonder of wonders, the Soap, who has one speed-sprint-and who has only actually completed the mile run in 2 of 5 attempts struck out on the track, intent on running the mile. Off she went, and I casually glanced at my watch. I assumed she would do her normal start/stop/walk/ go play, but she just continued running. She ran on her own, then she ran with HG on her warm up lap. And she ran on while HG stretched in preperation for her run. Next thing I know, she was running up to me, smiling.

"I did it!" "I ran a mile".

I glanced at my watch- a very unofficial 9:20. That is a qualifying time for the blue patch. I wrote her Phy ed teacher. I hope he counts it for her and gives her the patch. It would make her year! HG had the difficult challenge of running an 8:23 mile to qualify for blue, on an 85 degree, windy, humid afternoon. She clicked out the first lap in 1:55, cheer, cheer, keep going, lap 2 3:52, she was holding her pace-keep going! Only 2 laps to go! Lap 3, and frankly I was surprised, she was still holding a sub 8 pace with a 5:55. I could tell she was beginning to fade, so I crossed the infield to meet her at the second turn-kicking off my flip flops in mid stride . I ran the infield while she followed the inside lane of the track. She was starting to hyperventilate, and cry. There's no crying in track. (well actually there is a lot of crying in track) Time for drill sargent mom to kick in.

"You are two turns from finishing-you are not quitting right now! Keep going! Suck it up and keep moving! Just one more turn-less than 200 yards! Oh, you're mad at me now? Good! Now bring it home! 100 yards to go! That's it, go!

The final 300 yards she was crying and staggering every few steps (goodness how melodramatic tweeners can be). I knew she wanted blue, and I knew she could hit blue if she just kept pace and took it to the finish line. She sprinted the final 50 yards and crossed in 8:10. It took about 5 minutes of "I can't breathe" and "cry, cry" and pouring water down her neck for the endorphins to kick in. She earned her blue badge for a 4th straight year. A self congratulatory smile on her face, talking a million miles a minute, we drove home.

That's my girls.

Did my final 13 miles of biking followed by a 40 minute run in preparation for Sunday. Did I mention it is hot here? I'm clearly trained for distance rather than sprinting, but I'm ready.

Good luck to Keryn, racing her first tri this weekend! Stop by and wish her luck

Have a great, safe weekend!