August 24^th 2012 was the last Friday of summer vacation, a day the J-girls were slated to do some epic (and, per usual, insanely last-minute) back-to-school shopping. As some of you know, the universe had other plans for us that day, and by 6:52 am there were feet—heavy, male, multiple—clomping up-our-stairs-down-our-hall. EMTs encircled my girl as I shrieked insanely.

A watershed event for sure…and the damned water would keep rising higher and higher for three solid months, apparently hellbent on drowning us.

What a difference a year can make: fast-forward to August 24^th 2013 and the only shrieking I did was to yell GOOOOOO LIIIIIIIIDA!!!!! as that very same daughter competed in her very first duathlon during the Cranberry Tri Fest in Lakeville Massachusetts 🙂

How cool is this kid, I ask?

Just after the start, totally rocking her mother’s Oakleys: Number 729, aka Daughter #2, aka Lida 🙂

Like mother like daughter…here’s a video of #729 rocking bike leg 🙂 Fortunately, USAT rules didn’t apply to the under 14 set so this right-sided pass was totally legal and didn’t earn her a DQ 🙂 Must teach her to yell “on your LEFT!!” though…

As for the run, she and I can work on our finishing kick together during the off-season:

In the event it is not imminently clear, I am insanely proud of this kid–not “just” for having the guts to take part in her mother’s sport, but for the grace with which she handled the truly insane events of the past year. We are all stronger for it.

Love. Her.

That’s all for now. As usual, thanks for stopping by. If you’re going through a watershed event of the insanely tough variety, keep your head up and know that tides subside but it’s okay to shriek loudly until they do. Cranberry organizers, you can sign us both up for next year–we’ll most certainly be back!!! 🙂

PS: Next up: tomorrow is my third year doing Title 9 and I have been assigned bib #3…I am kinda-sorta looking forward to this race!!! 🙂

PPS: A big thanks to Cranberry organizer Sun Multisports; at first, they weren’t giving Kid’s Duathlon participants race shirts—only those registered for the weekend’s Sprint or Oly were getting them. I got that, but since it was kind of a special day for us, I asked if they could bend that rule and give Lida a shirt. At first they said no to both that and my follow-on request to switch my shirt to one that’d fit Daughter #2… the conversation went something like this:
Me: “Are you sure? It’s my kid’s first race ever…”
Her: “Sorry…I can’t…at least not until everyone has picked up their packets…if any are left over….”
Me: “Are you really sure? It is not only her first du but also the one-year anniversary of the grand mal seizure that led to her neurosurgery….”
Her: [insert incredulous stare here.]