Docu-huh? and CONTEST!

Remember that it is taper time, and though this time of year is usually crazy, busy, stressful and requires a ton of energy (it still does, just don't tell Mark), I have been playing it cool, calm, and collected as to fool Mark into thinking that we all rest on taper.

So, while I run around crazy during the day, in the evenings I've been shutting it down to enjoy a little time on the sofa. Mark, who usually is bored out of his pretty little head, has gotten hooked on documentaries this week. We've watched three (2 last night). I'm thrilled because it is keeping him busy without over-doing it.

I am a reality t.v. junkie. I love it. I know it is mildly, well, for lack of a better word, stupid. I have a masters degree and am working on a PhD as I type (well, I am typing as I am procrastinating because hierarchical linear modeling is the last thing I want to do right now), yet, no matter how smart I am or think I am, I love nothing more than Jersey Shore, The Real Housewives of just about anywhere, Biggest Loser, Project Runway, and (shamefully) Teen Mom. I don't know what it is about reality t.v. that has me hooked. Maybe it gives me something mindless to distract me from real life. Maybe it is the fact that I don't even have to really keep up with a plot. Whatever the reason... I LOVE IT (picture me hanging my head in embarrassment).

Mark hates reality t.v. He thinks it's "dumb." He leaves the room when I say, "Oh, guess what's on?!"

Well, Mr. Olympian, documentaries are reality t.v. Maybe they're more thoughtful. Maybe their more insightful. Maybe they're more educational. But, documentaries, my friend, are just reality t.v.

Okay, enough with the argumentative word vomit.

My real purpose of this blog is to make a recommendation: The Spirit of the Marathon. It is amazing, wonderful, inspirational, mind blowing, and get-your-butt-off-of-the-couch motivational. Rent it. Rent it. Rent it. Or in our house, Netflix it.

The Spirit of the Marathon follows 6 runners who range from Olympic medalists to first time marathoners to 70 year old grandfathers; are all training for the Chicago Marathon (all for different reasons). One woman is "changing her life" after a divorce, one man is running to win it for his country of Kenya, and another is doing it to spend time with his daughter (the other three are equally different and equally heart-warming). Now picture me tearing up as I recall this flick.

The Spirit of the Marathon was the perfect taper movie. And, the perfect movie for a woman (me!) who has talked about a marathon for the last 2 years. Ugh... now I might really have to do one. Darn that inspiration.

As we watched it I saw Mark cry (he is a big baby and a crier--don't tell him that I told you). I think it was just what he needed as he heads into his last few days of training before the big trip.

Have you ever watched a movie that has totally inspired you? What was it? Answer this simple question as a comment below or email your answer to us at everydayolympian@gmail.com and win a FREE BOOK!!!!!!!

This is a quick turn around, so no time for dilly dally. We'll pick a winner TOMORROW (Friday 12/10) at 6pm (EST)!

Taper Time... again

Well, it is that time of season again. Taper time, to be exact. Mark, in between other 'gigs' this fall has been training hard to get ready for the Short Course World Championships which will be held in Dubai in about 15 days. For a long time this meet seemed to far into the future. Then, last week, Mark came home and said, "Starting Monday it is time for me to take it easy." Take it easy? For what? "Taper." Huh? Is is already December?!?!

Last year at this time (I think exactly to the day, in fact) we were bringing Annabelle home from the hospital. Then, 2 weeks later, Mark left for the Dual in the Pool in London. This was only to be a short 4 day trip, until D.C. decided to get dumped on by the North Pole and shut down all airports due to weather. Mark got stuck. In London. For 3 extra days. I was home. Alone. With a new born. Ugh. He made it home (on December 23) just in time for Christmas.

This year he'll be flying to the middle east for 10 days to, once again, represent the U.S. He'll be swimming the 100 meter breaststroke and the 50 meter breaststroke.

So that I am not alone this year, I will have visitors while he is away. Phew. Fingers crossed that travel home for Mark is safe and swift as to not put a wrinkle in our fun holiday plans.

With his big meet just 10 days, Mark is in full resting mode. Tonight at dinner (I made his favorite: meatloaf) Mark said, "I'm starting to feel like a good swimmer again." Good. So practice went well? What did you do at practice? Any fun sets? Did you go fast? {Insert about ten more questions here}.

"Yep," he said. And that was that.

On the schedule for this evening? Renting a movie via Netflix--it's taper time, we're pretty much required to lounge on the sofa.

Are you doing any online holiday shopping tonight? Looking for the perfect gift for the swimmer in your life? Click here to purchase our book! Mark will even include a personalized message and an autograph.

Beijing arrest? No thank you.

I am trying to figure out exactly what baby 'gear' I should be taking with me to California and to the meet. Should I plan on being allowed to bring the stroller in? Should I ditch the stroller and just plan on using a sling? Baby Bjorn? Moby wrap? Should I attempt to pack our homemade baby food or just bite the bullet and buy baby food there? How should I prepare Annabelle for the time change? I think the hospital forgot to give us the baby manual. Can I borrow yours?

My other minor concern is event tickets for the Pan Pacific Games (Pan Pacs). I just bought my all-session pass for $106 assuming that Annabelle will not need her own ticket. Fair assumption? Fingers crossed. If she does need a ticket, this meet (not including travel expenses) will cost us $212... for a swim meet!

The cost of this trip is slowly but surely creeping up (and up, and up, and up). I thought "Yippee a big international meet right in our own backyard... this is going to be great... and cheap!" Yeah right. Thankfully (kind of), because I never took my trip to France I used my Delta credit to buy my plane ticket to California. Not a bad deal, though I was really hoping to wear a beret this summer. Don't tell me that I could still wear a beret... that's just ridiculous.

I received a question a couple of weeks ago regarding tickets. "Don't athletes' families get free event tickets?" Nope (hence the $106 charge on my credit card). This is not usually an issue; tickets are usually only $10 or $15 a day at most (not cheap, but doesn't totally break the bank) until it comes to the Olympics. USA Swimming reserves 2 tickets per athlete for each day that he or she competes (which we totally appreciate), however, there are a few things about this arrangement that make things difficult. First, the only day athletes are garaunteed to swim are prelims. Then you have to retrieve new tickets for the days of semi-finals and finals. Luckily this has been a problem---in other words, at both Olympic Games Mark has qualified for semi-finals and finals. The second issue occurs when you have so many family members willing to travel around the world to watch you swim (yes, I traveled to China and back--even threw up in the Olympic bushes but that is a whole different story--to watch Mark swim for a total of 3 minutes). In 2008 Mark's mother, father and sister traveled to Beijing as well as my mother and I. One of Mark's dear friends from high school (Go Firestone) and his wife also came to cheer for Mark. Let's do the math... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7... less the 2 free tickets. That leaves us with 5. 5 tickets short. Ugh.

We searched ebay, ticket websites (some scams), ticketmaster and other organizations selling tickets. It was a nightmare. Yes, there was an $800 ticket. Yes, we bought it. Before the Beijing Games there was a big scare that there would be no scalping tickets and anyone seen buying or selling tickets outside of the venues would be arrested. I certainly did not want to get arrested in Beijing. This is what led us to our crazy ticket-searching project.

See, in Athens in 2004 you could pretty much find a ticket 10 minutes before just about any event at any venue. Piece of cake. But almost a full year out from the Beijing Games I let people get to me and I let myself get nervous (imagine that).

The reports of ticket scalper arrests scared the mess out of us and scared us into $800 ebay tickets. Of course, once in Beijing we saw plenty of tickets being bought and sold and no arrests. Ugh. Also, dissappointingly, there were empty seats at every venue we visited. They actually had "seat fillers" to make each venue look more crowded for tv.

Note to self: DO NOT BUY EXPENSIVE EVENT TICKETS BEFORE THE NEXT OLYMPICS.

Anyway, Annabelle and I are hanging in there without Mark. Mark, on the other hand, is really seeming to miss us (oh, who am I kidding... he is really missing Annabelle... I guess he is missing me a little bit, too). He says that training camp has been "pretty good." Whatever that means. He got a massage today and said that he certainly enjoyed his 'recovery' day (easy training days that follow a day or two of difficult trianing days to allow your body to recover) today.

When I asked, "Are you getting excited about the meet?!" He said, "Not yet."

This is equivilant to me asking, "How was practice?"

"Fine."

Huh?

Well, we are getting excited.

Please comment to tell Mark good luck and share your support. You are also welcome to email him at everydayolympian@gmail.com.

Glued to the computer

Right now I have 5 tabs open on my internet browser as I wait for Mark's event (200m breaststroke). I am watching the meet via live streaming on swimnetwork.com, I am (of course) logged into Facebook, I am blogging via Blogger.com, I am checking updated articles on swiminfo.com and I am browsing for cute baby clothes on etsy.com.

Mark's event is swimming now but there are a ga-zillion heats and he will be towards the end, so I have time to catch up with old friends via Facebook, shop and catch up on a little swimming news. What can I say? I am a product of my generation. The only thing that would complete this picture would be Jersey Shore playing on the tv in front of me (I plan on watching the season premier that I missed last week later today).

Annabelle is taking a nap in her red, white and blue dress, "cheering" for Daddy.

Evidently the meet has been interesting since I left. DQ's, upsets and rising stars. I wish I could have stayed longer.

Today we will be cheering for our dear friend Eric (and Mark, of course). Eric and Mark trained together at Auburn, roomed together in Beijing and have always been great buds. Swimming is so wierd. There probably isn't anyone that Mark wants to beat more than Eric, but Eric is one of his best friends in the world. Both are fierce in the water, but as soon as they touch the wall they are making plans for dinner together. What makes this relationship even more perfect is that Eric's girlfriend is one of my best friends from Auburn, too!

The other night (Mark was on taper so we were obviously restricted to the house... the sofa) we were watching So You Think You Can Dance (against Mark's will). I get a text message from Jeri. She says that she is watching Toddlers and Tiaras and jokes that she will make all of Annabelle's pageant dresses (Mark would die before Annabelle will be allowed to enter a pageant). Within minutes Mark gets a text from Eric that says, "I can't believe that I am watching Toddlers and Tiaras." Mark returns the message consoling Eric and telling him that he is having to watch SYTYCD. He then follows up with "At least you don't have to watch the 'My Baby Can Talk' baby sign language DVDs."

It was as if all four of us were sitting on the sofa together--the boys rolling their eyes and Jeri and I making them watch girlie reality tv. Yeah right... I think they secretly like it.

To support Eric in his other endevors check out the great things he is doing with Livestrong. Click here to help Eric fight against cancer.

The traveling swim wife... assuming I make my flight

So, it is that time again. I leave for the USA Swimming Nationals in one week.

While Mark is tapering, I am coordinating my trip to California (where the Nationals will be held). Nationals is my time to shine as a nervous swim wife. I will sit in the stands, talk with the other swimming wives, parents, brothers and sisters, chit chat with sponsors and agents (all of this sounds much more glamourous than it actually is), and pretend like I am cool, calm and collected.

I have booked flights, hired a babysitter (really it is just my mother, Turtle) to stay home with the babe, and I am in the process of planning when, where and how I'll get to meet up with old friends living in the area.

I never really knew if Mark cared that I was at his meets until last summer. Last summer was probably the most nervous either of us (Mark or I) had ever been. There were a lot of things going on (i.e. a new coach, new training arrangement, I had just quit my job in anticipation of going back to school and we were pregnant... talk about pressure!). Last summer was also the summer of the suits.

Last July, as usual, I traveled to Indy to watch Mark race. Mark's races were great (more than great as he set the American record in the 100m breaststroke and 50m breaststroke). Typically I can hope that fast swims are a result of my positive energy and loud cheering, but last summer I feel directly responsible for Mark's swims. Okay, not really. But I do feel ownership in the fact that Mark was able to wear a dry suit during the meet.

My job last summer was to serve as the Official Suit Dryer for the Gangloff family and other Auburn folks that might have needed a dry suit, too. In between prelims and finals I sat in a chair for an hour+ with a tech suit in one hand and a hair dryer in the other. Those things take FOREVER to dry on their own and we just didn't have that kind of time. So, I not only dried Mark's suit, but I also dried a suit for one of his teammates.

This summer, I do not envision myself drying any suits (not that there would be that much to dry anymore), so I expect to take my normal position in the stands.

Since I didn't get to go to France this summer as planned and read a just-for-fun fiction novel (thanks for all of the recommendations!), I will take my book with me on the plane to Cali. I am also contemplating learning to knit. Can you tell that I use my nervous energy on projects?

Here is the round up:

Plane ticket... roughly $300

Event tickets... $45

Box of Austin Peanut Butter Crackers... $2.99

Book from the library... free

Getting to sit in the bleechers while your dear husband races for a spot on the Short Course World Championship team, the Long Course World Championship Team and the Pan Pacific Games team... PRICELESS.

If you are wondering about Mark's week-before-the-big-race routine it goes something like this...

Eat, Sleep, Swim, Massage, Rest, watch an entire season of Mad Men and repeat.

If you'd like to send him a good luck note or a few words of wisdom for this traveling swim wife as we head into this year's big meet, feel free to leave a comment or email us at everydayolympian@gmail.com.

Mommy's butt may get jiggly on taper

So, at this point you've heard me blab about taper. Well, it is now in full swing and yesterday I was asked not to set my alarm clock too early between now and nationals because, supposedly, I make too much noise, open the curtains and let the sun in and, in general, awaken anyone trying to sleep. This doesn't really sound like punishment until you understand that between 5 and 6:30 is MY time.

I typically get up early and work out. Yes, this may sound hard core, but this is not the reason I do it. Really, I get up so stinkin' early because I am a horrible runner and if I am up while the two babes (Mark and Annabelle) are still sleeping then I can beat the heat and not have to take the jogging stroller. The jogging stroller is a wonderful thing (except when you are trying to get back into shape and it takes every muscle in your body just to move that same body forward. I run with my finger tips down to my toes) and I am grateful for it, but getting up early means that I can leave the stroller and babe at home.

So, taper now means that I have to find someone to mow the lawn and that there is a good chance that my butt will get a bit jigglier from lack of exercise. If this is the case, I ask that you refrain from judging me at Nationals. Ah, the life of the wife of an average, everyday, Olympian.

I have also been wondering about Mark, the baby and taper. Will he avoid picking her up now? She is a whopping 20+ lbs at only 7 months old and I would assume that this may be exerting too much energy for our Olympic Daddy. I'll keep you posted.

I'm sure you've also been wondering about the lawn. Well, after 2 weeks of letting it grow it finally got a trim by a dear friend (my old coach's son... see, I told you we were like family around here!).

What is taper?

When I asked friends and family their interpretation of what taper is, this is what they said.

I remember in college Jeremy and I used to always race up the steps at his apartment building except he would always scream "not while I'm on taper!!!"....those weeks he would climb three steps and stop to rest his legs and take a deep breath. weirdo! ;)

- Heather Knowles (wife of Jeremy Knowles, 3x Olympian; Bahamas)-

We would get blended yogurt instead of fruit on the bottom yogurt during taper so we didn't waste energy stirring. Ha! (Seriously we did cuz we thought it was funny).

-Cathy Sursi Durden (AU swimming alum and wife of Dave Durden, Head Coach; Cal)-

Taper....it is a beautiful thing to do nothing....and then rest afterwards

-Dean Hutchinson (AU swimming alum and Coach)-

I was told by my dear friends Ashley Gangloff and Heather Knowles that taper is when you are not allowed to pick a fight with your boyfriend. He is always right. One more reason I hate taper.

-KK Hagler (soon to be wife of Doug Van Wie; AU swimming alum)-

taper=the reason why I still swim.

-Alana Dillett (AU swimming alum and Olympian; Bahamas)

Though helpful, I am still looking for someone to really write about it. What is taper? What does it feel like? What is the purpose? What is the best part about it? If you have a good explanation, please let me know and we'll feature you on the blog!

Taper time=time to find someone to mow the lawn

We rent a home in Auburn. We are in charge of the lawn maitenance. This is not a problem most of the year. Mark typically mows the lawn.

However, taper time means that it is time to find someone else to do the job. I know, I know... I could be this someone else, but I'm not. I did mow the lawn a few times when we lived in Charlote. Let me rephrase. I did mow the lawn a few times when I lived in Charlotte and Mark was already living back in Auburn. I called Mark to just chit chat and he asked what I was doing. I said, "mowing the lawn." I could feel him rolling his eyes on the other end of the phone. It wasn't until later that I told him that while I was chatting and mowing the lawn that I was wearing the outfit that I had worn to work that day including the high heels. Evidently a work outfit, high heels, a cell phone chat and mowing the lawn don't go together. Who knew?

Now, don't take me for a diva. I don't mind getting my hands dirty, but mowing the lawn (okay, and laundry, too) are things that I don't typically volunteer for. So, taper time means that it is time to find someone else to do the job.

Other things Mark does not do on taper include:

• Standing up to cook dinner (this includes standing to chop, dice, or use the stove)
• Taking the dog for a walk
• Lifting, moving or rearranging furniture (sometimes we just like to change it up)
• Walking through the mall (this might just be a good excuse)
• Playing basketball, throwing a frisbee or playing vollyball
• Sitting outside in the heat

What is left?

Taper is typically when we rent entire seasons of television shows and watch all 4 DVDs in two days, go to the movies and just hang out.

But, first thing's first... I've got to find someone to mow the lawn.