This is my most favorite picture of Annie recently. She is at Steve and Kristin’s house, in their backyard river.
Annie has been such a rock star recently. We endeavored to start the potty training escapade about a month ago and I was expecting the worst. Several of my friends have had what I would call a more difficult time with this milestone. I tried to prepare myself for poo in the pants and tinkles on the kitchen floor.

Boy was I in for a treat. Annie did a great job learning to do her business on the pot. I followed the direction of a book that my friend Amy emailed to me and we were getting some good traction. Troy watched her one day about 4 days after we started the training and I came home to a pretty much potty trained kid. He kinda threw out what I was doing and went with his own gut. Why does this make me furious and in awe at the same time?

He was able to tap into her natural desire to use the potty. A few days later we had the infamous first “poo” in the pot and she’s been pretty much golden ever since. Two Words. Rock Star.

We have had a little trouble getting her to go on the big potty in public places…they are kinda scary, but today I’m glad to announce she hit up the Costco potty like a champ, and Monday she was chill with the potty at the day care, so I think we are well on our way.

She loves her Winnie the Pooh potty and we kinda have to drag it everywhere. In fact we just take the little purple cup when we are on the go. We have had several embarrassing moments where she pulled out the purple cup from the diaper bag, pulled down her pants, put the cup down and did her business, all unbeknownst to us. Once it was while Troy was cheering at Boulder peak, another time when I was at Costco looking at frozen veggies, and more recently at a Criterion race that Troy and I were at with Steve. I thought Steve was going to DIE from embarrassment. Like DIE for real, I’ve never seen him so red in the face!

Update: I was just searching for a picture of the Winnie the Pooh Potty and I found out that it was recalled. What the heck? Apparently the little picture of Pooh and his friends has that crazy China lead paint. Troy is currently ripping the plaque off as we speak. Fun Times.

Annie and I tubbing down Boulder Creek at Tana’s Birthday Festivities.

Man have I had a rough week. The elbow is healing slowly and is still really tender. All attempts at swimming have been futile, needless to say I’m a little concerned. Then at the end of last week I came down with a UTI that wouldn’t go away despite all the homeopathic remedies that were suggested. After getting fed up with peeing blood I dragged myself into urgent care late this evening to get set up with antibiotics. Woke up this morning with swollen tonsils, luckily they tested at urgent care and it’s not strep. So, since it’s not strep, I’m pretending it’s not happening. That leaves the elbow, and letting the antibiotics kick in.

I have a recommendation on someone to go see about the elbow. He actually looked at it briefly at the gravel pond Saturday and said it looks a lot like “tennis elbow”. T-riffic (with a capital T).

So last week I asked you all to send healing thoughts. Well, I need you to think a little harder, I’m in dire need now.

It’s the middle of the season, one of my biggest races is in 6 days and I’m a mess. It’s disheartening, at best.

Troy is SICK AS A DOG as well. It’s like a flu thing, sore throat, body aches, etc. I finally went and got him some Theraflu and I opted for the PM variety to knock him out for awhile so he can rest.

Many thanks to my mom who was so sweet to have dinner delivered at our house this evening. She sure knows how to cheer a girl up. Thanks mom!

Annie is fine, happy as a jay bird, peeing and pooing on the potty like a rock star, so that’s been a relief!

I’m holding together, but it’s dicy. I want to take care of Troy like a good wife, but I hurt too. I’m frustrated, I’m mad, and I’m ready for whoever is kicking me while I’m down to lay the (insert favorite cuss word) off.

Wow has this been an exciting week of training so far. We attempted our Rollins pass ride on Wednesday and had to turn back due to snow. The pass is still blocked by several steeply sloping snow fields. A fall while crossing would result in an icy dip in an alpine lake. We were in the saddle for about 7 hours and our bikes saw the better part of some pretty gnarly terrain suitable for a mountain bike. On the up side I am now officially in love with riding up Golden Gate Canyon Road. It’s a beautiful climb, just a few steep sections, and right about 18 miles of climbing with a few quick descents.

This morning Tyler and I were out of our minds. We got it in our heads that waking up at 4:15am to make the 5am DU masters swim on the Fourth of July would be a FUN thing to do. Ouch. We did it, and I even got in my 20 min run afterwards, but if we hadn’t been accountable to each other it never would have happened. 4:15 is just too early in the morning… especially on a holiday.

Speaking of holidays…today is Troy and I’s anniversary. Six years married. It’s really gone by quickly. We sure have learned a lot about each other and about staying happy together in the last 6 years. I’m really proud that Troy is my husband, and I feel very blessed that he choose me to be his wife. I’ve learned over the last 6 years that staying happily married takes work, but that every ounce of work you put into your marriage, pays some hefty dividends. It’s the communication and the “work” that helps you to create that special bond. There is something about jumping hurdles together that just makes life more fun. Troy and I have progressed through graduate school, first jobs, building careers, pregnancy, labor, and delivery of Annie, child rearing, fat times, loosing weight, over spending, budgeting, buying cars, selling cars, buying houses, selling houses, rock climbing, hiking, biking, 11 14ers climbed, cabin trips, road trips, backpacking, star gazing, dog walking, apartment gardening, running the bikes into the garage, transmission blowouts in BFE, and more farmers markets that I can count. I wouldn’t have wanted to share all this with anyone else.

Happy Anniversary Troy, I love you!

Now…I’m gonna head to the store so I can make him some homemade pancakes when he wakes up. Happy 4th, and happy Birthday to the USA.

After an evening of nonstop laughter I was so ready for race morning to come at 4am. Michelle, Steve, Christopher and I traveled to the race site and got a primo parking spot. After racking our bikes and getting THE CLOSEST transition spots we hopped in the car and people-watched for an hour. What a total hoot. Triathletes are just funny. They are so different than runners who usually stretch and act calm. Triathletes like to walk around all nervous like, spend unimaginable amounts of time in the port-a-pottie, and strut around wearing too little clothing for 4:30am. They also like to ride their bikes around with no helmets to warm up, which can get them DQed. Doh!

Swim Start

Pook on the beach

Most of the PC crew did a warm up run together, and I probably shouldn’t have gone with them. I was in the second wave and as I got to the swim beach and pulled on my wetsuit I heard the gun for the first wave. I had 4 minutes to get my two caps and goggles on, get in the water, find the right spot to start, and get ready. Boom, I was off and feeling rushed. It was a typical swim for me with a moderate amount of body bumping, and some settling. I sighed pretty well and seemed to hit each buoy with consistency. As we turned the last buoy the next wave started to pass me. I had fun jumping on 4 different guys feet from this group, catching a 30 second draft and giving myself a reason to push push push.

As we exited the water I looked down and my watch said 26 something. My first thought…the swim is short. Ha! Give yourself some credit Sonja! The two minute run to transition was tough in the wetsuit, but a little fun too. Turns out the swim was a bit short, but the swim plus run to transition seemed to be closer to a normal mile swim time. 28:15 was my official swim time…so my first time seeing the 28’s in a race. There was still lots of room for improvement in my swim execution, but it’s getting stronger.

T1 was great. I enjoyed having the primo spot, and it was oddly reassuring to see Steve and Michelles bikes on either side of mine. I was sandwiched by two of my favorite triathletes. 43 seconds later I was on the bike.

So the bike was a total sight unseen course for me. I had heard rumors about the hills and that it was pretty but had never ridden the course. It took awhile to get going. Steve and I just had a pow-wow last week about my TT form and so I was still “messing around” with where to sit, how to sit, how to pedal, how to feel comfortable, and what gear to be in. It took some time. Troy and Chris were ALL OVER the course and they are seriously the loudest cheerers I have even encountered. They really do it up good. Anthony caught me several miles in, and the Tyler caught me a few miles after that. I know I can bike with Tyler so I put some “giddy” in the “up” and started to go hard. I kept Tyler in sight and used him to keep me focused and accountable. The hills were great and Troy said it was fun to be on the course and to watch me eat up all the ladies ahead of me. I just tried to consistently pass people and put in a hard effort. On the last stretch down Wilson Steve passed me and I really wanted to keep him in sight. It was great to ride behind my coach and to watch him in action.

As we came into T2 Steve was first, then Tyler, then me, but we were all within 30 seconds of each other. When I entered transition and racked my bike Steve was departing (and we were racked next to each other). That was cool. I had trouble getting on my second shoe, but even with that, a 38 second T2.

Taking in Water outside T2

I rolled out of T2 and saw Tyler ahead. I worked my way up to him and told him to jump on my shoulder. He hopped on and we ran to mile 1 together. I looked at my watch and in my running stupor I couldn’t get the correct words out and threw down an F-bomb. Poor Tyler thought that I was upset with the first mile split (which was 6:57) and claims that I “took off”. But…this is not true. The f-bomb came b/c I was trying to get the right words out. I was perfectly happy with 7 minute pace. I did however see SEVERAL ladies in front of me, and the truth is when ya gotta go, ya gotta go. I had to go get those girls. So I took them one at a time and tried not to over think things. Whenever I would come up on a girl I would straighten up my form and put a little surge in. This way I would give of the impression that I was running much harder, and then they would feel like they couldn’t go with me. It worked over and over again. Troy and Chris were near the turn around and again…wild and crazy cheering ensued!

Troy and Pook

At the turn around I saw five ladies very close ahead and vowed to get them all. A mile later I had them, but I knew my good friend Amy was on my heels. By mile 5 she had eaten me up, much like I tried to eat up all the other ladies I passed. Ha! What goes around comes around! She had a terrific pace going so I just tried to lock into her effort and drive harder with her.

As we came around the last turns my FIL was there taking pics and Annie and my MIL were playing at the palyground.

Here I am running my guts out and it was crazy to see Annie playing away! As we come around the last turns I see this lady ahead and she looks my age. She is clearly running slower, but I am running out of real estate. I watch Amy kick and eat her up, and even though I am kicking, the finish line is coming too quickly. We cross 6 seconds apart and I see she is in my age group. Doh. That was a tough one.

Can yo see me?

Coming down the home stretch

The point where I knew I wasn’t going to catch her

After a 5 minute section of feeling very near puking (I’ve never had that at the end of a race, but I think it was from the sprinting) Steve and I headed out for a cool down and to chear on others.

Post race Pow-Wow

Post race pook Hug

Practical Coaching had a GREAT day. Steve won his age group, Michelle was 2nd in hers, Beth 3rd, Barry 3rd, Anthony 4th, and I was also 3rd in mine. A great day, and a testament to what a great coach Steve is!

Pook and I on the podium

Michelle and Beth on podium

Results are here
Swim: 28:15
T1: 0:43
Bike: 1:27:17
T2: 0:38
Run: 43:10
Overall: 2:40:04
14th woman
3rd in F25-29

Following in her grandmothers footsteps, using the “Oh-So-Popular” self-canvas. I thought she was with Troy, he thought she was with me. Little did we know, the artist was hard at work.

The good news is that after playing in the Chattfield Gravel Pond today with her Papa for 3 hours while I swam and ran, most of it has washed off. The good thing was that she didn’t color on a single wall or piece of furniture. Knock on wood!

I’m off for an all day ride in the mountains with my team, but here is a little photo love before I go. Hillary, Laura and I went to Berry Patch Farms yesterday to scope it out. Annie really liked the turkeys.

My honey.

Here are some photos of Pook. I know you miss us, but we will be home soon. We went to the Japanese Tea Garden yesterday and had a blast, but we missed you. Last time I was there you were with me (Todd was there too).

Many thanks to you Troy for not only allowing me to, but pushing me to fulfill my crazy triathlon dreams. I really love racing and I wish you could travel to every one with me. You are the MOST supportive husband out there. Thanks for the stable words when I am flipping out, and for pulling me back down to earth when I get ahead of myself.

xoxo

Isn’t it strange how you fall out of touch with your cousins? When I was little I played a ton with my cousins. I am an only child, so cousins are like the closest thing I had to siblings, and boy did I LOVE my cousins. My moms younger brother has 5 children and the oldest three girls were each a year apart and I was a year older than the oldest. We played! We played A LOT! Most the time we had slumber parties at my grandparents house and I have these memories of running around their house with my cousins, playing games, exploring different rooms in the house, and being generally crazy.

Yesterday afternoon mom, Annie and I headed to Fresno, a three hour drive, to meet up with family there. My moms brother now lives in my grandparents house so it was pretty surreal to be there again. My grandparents have since moved to Salt Lake City and I haven’t been to the Fresno house since early High School. It got crazier when family started showing up. The most wild was my cousin Kristy and her three munchkins. Annie latched right onto her oldest two girls and they played and played and played. It was JUST LIKE when we were little kids at grandparents house. They were running around, entertaining each other, eating WAY too much candy and cookies, and being generally WILD! It was a major trip down memory lane. I took some photos, but not enough. I should have taken a few with everyone there, because I know it will be longer than I think before we see each other again.

Here are a few shots of the girls PLAYING:

And here is Hayden, he’s so cute and he just followed the girls around the whole time like a little puppy dog.

We still have such a blast together. We had a blast playing Guitar Hero last night. My uncle has the one where you can sing a long too, and I was loving it.

Here is a 4 generation shot. My grandmother is on the left, me and Annie in the middle, and my mom on the right. It’s a gaggle of girls!

And here is a picture with my grandparents that we shot while I was changing Annie into her jammies.

It was a pretty neat time, I sure enjoyed catching up and seeing how everyone has grown and changed. It’s great to see my cousins finding success in their lives, and so nice to meet the men they have married, and to see that they have found love.

You know your a triathlete-mommy when you wake up to:

So totally cute, just going about her day in my swimsuit:

Poser!

Only a mother could love this face. I didn’t even take a picture of the lower half of her body which is about 2 times as bad.