Sunday, September 30, 2012

Benedict Day School Swim Team Shines at MAIS Swimming Championships!!

The Courthouse Racquet & Fitness Club 
This past Wednesday Judy and I took 25 kids from the  Benedict Day School (BDS) Swim Team to Jackson, MS for the MAIS (Mississippi Association of Independent Schools) Championship Swim Meet.  The meet was held at The Courthouse Racquet & Fitness Club.

Judy Hudson, Head Coach of the BDS Swim Team started the team 3 years ago and it has continued to grow in numbers every year. The first year there were 20, year two was up to 21 swimmers.  This year we have 31 kids on the team!   She asked me to join her and help out as an Assistant Coach and I've been really enjoying working with the kids.  Seeing their continual improvement is very gratifying.  Their form, balance, and body alignment in the water is starting to show through the twice weekly practices.  The other thing to note is just how these kids behave.  Having no children of my own I didn't really know the amount of patience it takes working with kids.  But the kids on this team are well spoken, polite, listen well, and basically act like small adults.  Their parents should be proud of them.  They're obviously doing something very right because they are a joy to coach!

The parents of the team are also very involved.  It's nice seeing them turn out for the meet and help with timing, getting the kids to their events and being overall great cheerleaders for the team.

The Benedict Day School kids came in 8th OVERALL in the state out of 17 schools - last year we placed 12th.  It was greatness!!!  There were over 1000 entries for the afternoon session of Grades 1-6!  Links for Elementary Grade RESULTS and SCORES. OVERALL COMBINED TEAM SCORES for Elementary and Secondary BDS took 13 out of 23 with only the Elementary age kids!!! That is impressive!!

Here are some photos taken by one of the moms.  Gini Mars is a professional photographer.  You can find some of her wonderful photography here:
gini mars photography

Hanging out in the tent!!
The kids wore their team swim caps all day!!
Writing event and heat assignments for the kids.
Warm Ups!  The BDS Caps Judy had made really stood out!!


You can tell that the kids had a great time!
Getting some direction from the coach!


Warm up starts!

Keep Calm and Swim ON!




Game face ON!!

Nice high elbow position!!









































Sunday, September 16, 2012

Coastal "Tri-It-On" Triathlon Race Report

View of Transition from our room!

Beach time... ahhhh.....

Raced the Coastal Tri-It-On Triathlon last weekend in Gulf Shores, Alabama.  Signed up to do the sprint race again since I won it a year ago.  When I say Sprint I mean it with this race.  300 yard swim, 10 mile bike, and a 2 mile run.  It's pretty much "redlining" it the entire race.  Racing for the first time with my new sponsors Timex Factory Team and ICEdot and Wicked Fast Sports Nutrition!!


Duck Dive Time!
Was seeded as number 53,  they seed you according to the swim split that you provide when you register.  This is total baloney!  It might as well read on the entry form "Put down what ever time you want in order to get your place in line for the start."  There is NO WAY that all 53 people in front of me were better swimmers.  I put down the time that I did last year and was slower this year. They moved the timing mat from the entrance to the Transition area to down on the beach so you'd have a more realistic swim time but the swim was long.  My average pace per 100 yards if the course had actually been 300 yards was 1:43 per hundred.  That made the course about 45 seconds long - probably about 50 yards.  Anyway.. I passed so many people - it was nuts.


Long transition time - but a good bike split.  If the course was accurate at 10 miles I averaged 21.58 on the bike and when I got back to transition there were hardly any bikes racked.  Tiny bit of headwind on the way out but nothing of concern.  I was an idiot with my Garmin and not only forgot to turn off the "Virtual Partner" but also forgot to click on the "Include Transitions".  So when I hit the lap button when I got out of the swim it went into Bike mode.  I fumbled with it a bit while riding and then just gave up.  Had a better bike split than last year!  But then I didn't have the near car collision that I had when I big black SUV decided to cross diagonally in front of me on the bike.  Funny though.. I noticed when I was on the way back in on the out and back course that a big black SUV crossed in front of a girl on her way out.  There are cones giving us a full lane but it's not any guarantee of safety.

Saw Bill waiting at the run out and actually was able to smile for the camera!  Out onto the run and I made sure to get my new Timex Ironman watch that I had on my right wrist (Thank you Timex Factory Team!) into chronograph mode and hit start so I'd have some idea of my run pace.  Ended up with a 15:03 for the two miles - 7:31 average.  Happy with that!  I was faster in the run last year but the weather was cooler and perfect.  This year it was warm and typically humid.  Of course on Sunday morning a cool front rolled through and the water was calm and the temperatures were cool.

Found Bill at the finish line and we went to the hotel to clean up.  We had a place right next to the Transition Area!  That was nice!!!  Race morning I walked my bike over to transition and Bill was able to hang out in the room until just before my race started.



Waited for what seemed like forever for awards, Bill and I had a frozen margarita while we waited - I placed 2nd Overall Female!!  The First Place Female was 15!!  Third Place was 12!!  Got a big container of HEED along with my little plaque.  Alabama needs some Mississippi and Louisiana Award lessons!

So the big waves weren't the best thing for the race but for after the race they were GREAT!!  We'd brought along our boogie boards and beach chairs and umbrella and enjoyed some time in the sun.  We played in the surf for about 2 hours and caught a ton of good waves.  We started a trend too.  We met a couple little girls who were trying to catch some waves but didn't really know how.  They saw us having fun and came out so we started helping them and by the end they were getting to be pretty good boogie boarders!!

"Please Come Home!"
The only thing missing on our beach trip were the boys.  They love the ocean and would have had a blast in the surf.  We left them (the first time ever by themselves overnight) and had a good and TRUSTWORTHY friend come over a bunch of times and let them out.  I don't know who had more separation anxiety - us or them!!
Thank you, Geneva!!!!

Oh.. this is kind of funny.. while Bill was waiting for me to come out of the swim a gentleman next to him said "Hey Bill, here comes Ginger now."  "Do I know you?"  "No but I've met your wife and follow her blog."  They are the Howards and their son Brett is an up and coming triathlete from Brookhaven, MS.  We saw them after the race at The Hangout and had a nice visit.  Really nice family!!  "Hi Howards!!!"



Sunday, September 2, 2012

Sponsored By ICEdot!


I've been chosen to represent ICEdot as one of their Sponsored Athletes!!  I am really happy to be associated with this company.  I think what they have to offer is a very smart and reasonable way to keep you and those you love protected in case of an emergency.  You'll find our team blogging weekly about training on the ICEdot Athletes page.

Read on to see just what ICEdot is all about!

What is ICEdot???  ICEdot is an emergency identification and notification system.  In three easy steps you can be make sure you are protected!!
CREATE.  PROTECT.  SHARE.

The Only Identification & Notification Service Endorsed by the American Ambulance Association®
Proud Partner of the NAEMT™





There are two memberships offered by ICEdot.  ICEdot Premium and ICEdot Free.

ICEdot Free. The FREE Yellow Dot Driving Program.

With the Free Yellow Dot Driving Program you will:

Create your Account and Profiles on the ICEdot site. You can create as many (ICE) Profiles as you want!
Print out your In Case Of Emergency profile sheet that identifies you and has all of your Medical Information and Contact Information on it.
Place your printed ICE Profile sheet in your car's Glove Box and place the ICEdot Window Sticker on your car's rear window to alert First Responders.

ICEdot Premium.  Protection wherever you go for just $10 a year.

With ICEdot Premium you will:

Create your Account and Profiles just like with ICEdot Free.
Protect with Identifiers - you'll receive a card and two key fobs to carry with you.  Each is printed with your own individual PIN.  You can also purchase bracelets, stickers, and snaps.
Share your information in an Emergency - a First Responder can text message your individual PIN to
5-10-20 and they will receive a reply text with all of your information via your ICE Profile and ICE Alert Message.



EXACTLY HOW DOES ICEdot WORK??
Click here to watch a Video Overview!!