The Manlius Formation

And swims again!

And runs again!

What, pray tell, am I talking about? Well, before the Manlius Formation was a widely read^[1] and critically acclaimed^[2] website, it was the name for the geological structure upon which my town sits.

However, before the website, there was the triathlon relay team composed of yours truly on the swim leg, “Crankin’” Chris Kopf on the bike, and Kathleen “Kath-me-if-you-can” Sokolovic on the run.

TMF roared onto the triathlon scene in the Skinnyman triathlon on Labor Day weekend 2008. Out of 16 relay teams, we finished in a solid 14th place, which the sharp-eyed reader will note is NOT last place. Note that one of the teams we beat was called “The Old Farts” and we were roundly bested by a team called “Just for Fun.”

This year’s challenge to my teammates is to finish in the TOP HALF of the co-ed teams. That’s right. The TOP HALF. Our finish time last year of 1:42:38 would need to have been 10 minutes and 20 seconds faster to meet that goal. If my math is correct, that means we each need to improve by at least 10% (including the transition times) over last year’s times.

Kathleen is already running her target time on a regular basis, which points towards a likely scenario where she blows that time out of the water. I think she can do it.

Chris is a powerhouse who I know can add at least 3/4 of a MPH to his average bike pace.

I’m not drowning when I swim (always a good sign) and I think with a little focus I can shave 10 seconds or so off my 100yd average pace on the swim.

Can we do it? I think so.

1. Average readers per post = 2.8 with a standard deviation of 1.7 [back]
2. Will Kopf raves, “i dont like manlius formation” [back]

In honor of the day, a photo of the Best Mom Ever tending to her charges…

We started the day with a nice hearty breakfast of challah bread french toast, and it’s a good thing, too, because we needed the energy. Today was busier than yesterday.

After breakfast, Kath started the process of applying waterproof sealer to the deck while the boys helped me sow our first seeds in the garden. We put in spinach and beets today. (Tomorrow we’ll put in the carrots and radishes.) I kind of let them explore a bit, so I’m not expecting neat, segregated rows of perfect seedlings. I’m learning to embrace the chaos that travels with my boys like Pigpen’s cloud. It’s easier to give in than to fight it.

After spending the morning doing that and hanging in the backyard, we had BLTs^[1] for lunch and then the boys and I headed to Thomas’ second tee-ball game of the weekend. Thomas played catcher for two of the four innings. No, I don’t know why a catcher is needed.

After tee-ball, we stopped in at the bike shop to make a second attempt at finding a rack to hold panniers on the back of my bike. No luck again.

We arrived home and found Kath breaking in the new lawn tractor. Yee-hah!

I pulled out an old tree-bush-thing while Kath mowed, the boys “washed” my car^[2] and I even got to do a little mowing myself, which I found to be very therapeutic.

We had one of those thrown-together suppers that is surprisingly satisfying, cleaned up, and put the kids in bed - which is where I’m headed in five minutes.

Oh, one more thing. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that as of today we have another shoe-tier (tyer?) in the house. Way to go big D!

1. …almost as good as a nice mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich; when the mutton is nice and lean. [back]
2. which is not much cleaner, but is now nice and streaky [back]

Excellent progress today on the home improvement front. Since the boys woke up at 5:54am today (yes, you read that correctly), I had a new faucet purchased AND installed well before lunch.^[1] Thomas was my helper while Daniel attended his first soccer game of the season with his chauffer/coach/mom.

Here is the new faucet, in all its brushed-metal glory:

Mmmm. New faucet.

After lunch, the kids and I took some time to spread the recently-delivered top soil and compost in the garden. They did an admirable job. Click on the thumbnail to see the full-size images from the gallery.

After that we took a little break and drew up plans for where we want to plant stuff in the garden. I need to pick up some fertilizer, but I think we’re ready to put in spinach, radishes, beets, and carrots this weekend.

1. I have to note that installation was WAY easier than removal. [back]

Let’s start with what I didn’t do tonight after supper. I didn’t clean up, enjoy a lovely dessert, and watch a lovely movie with my lovely wife.

Instead, I did this:

Not so lovely sink demolition

So I was upstairs and I heard Daniel and Thomas come in from outside. They were playing in dirt (of course) and had just begun to wash up in the kitchen sink when I heard Daniel in a panic: “Mommy! I need you here!”

I arrived downstairs to find the kitchen faucet in his hand. This had happened before and was an easy job, but the way it broke this time was a unrecoverable - I needed to remove the entire faucet. Of course, this was not possible without removing the entire sink.

At least I know what I’m doing tomorrow in between t-ball and soccer.