Waterblogged

Today I wanted to pass along Tim's words about Heidi. See below. Beautifully said, Tim! *** Heidi Renner has passed, and we miss her. This past Saturday as the final members of our team were leaving the pool after a morning full of lively, refreshing swimming...Heidi took her final breaths. Heidi's time with Menlo Masters was nothing short of remarkable. She embodied a true teammate, embraced the sport she so loved and scattered her genuine joy for life throughout the team for well over a decade. Heidi spent most of her life bypassing sports because she did not feel she was capable nor was she worthy of such pursuits. Her first stroke at the age of 8, set up this way of thinking. Through the loving hard work of her family she fought back to live a healthy, super-productive life, and was encouraged by her sister late in life to try swimming. Swimming ignited Heidi's spirit and it was the place in her life where she felt the most graceful. Her absolute joy with the sport, her...

Noah and I definitely should have been interviewed for this piece .

Just found this list of 50 great open water swims (one in each state) and had to share. Oh, to have the time. Alabama – That Dam Swim in Muscle Shoals Alaska – Pennock Island Challenge in Ketchikan Arizona – Arizona Open Water Series in Pleasant Harbor Marina Arkansas - DeGray Lake Open Water Swim in Bismarck California – Trans Tahoe Relay in Lake Tahoe Colorado– Horsetooth Long Distance Swim in Fort Collins Connecticut – St. Vincent's Swim Across The Sound in Bridgeport Delaware– Lums Pond State Park in Bear Florida – Swim Around Key West in Key West Georgia – SwimForYourLife in Lake Lanier in Atlanta Hawaii – North Shore Swim Series in Honolulu on Oahu Idaho – Lake Coeur d'Alene in Coeur d'Alene Illinois – Big Shoulders in Lake Michigan Indiana – Masters Championships in Morse Reservoir in Noble Iowa – Lake Okoboji in the Iowa Great Lakes Region Kansas – Shawnee Mission Park in Shawnee Kentucky – Cave Run Lake south of Morehead Louisiana– Aqualung Open Water Swim in Bush...

Need some awesome family photos taken by a swimmer? You're in luck. This is our second and final Bay Area deal running today, 1/20. Today only, click here to get this deal : pay $175 and get the deal certificate for a $400 photo shoot (and you get to keep all the photos on CD!!) with this uber hip photographer who also happens to be my BFF and a frequent visitor to our workouts. She rocks and so does this deal!

Guys - there are only a few more hours to get this deal . Click here for 50% off dinner there. It can only be bought today but can be used any day. p.s. buying the deal helps me out too as the deal is through my company. This should help us all feel a little better about practice being cancelled this morning due to lightning.

PHEW! Judy has saved lives by swimming, and now saved me from needing to come up with a blog topic for today. I'm so slammed at my normal job that I can barely get to the pool, let alone write about it. I promise to be better after this week. Until then, here is the great story of Judy and John and Nancy and tons of other MM studs that got out to swim on Saturday! Guest post by Judy: Swim Across America, We made waves in San Francisco Bay to fight cancer! 2009 At 5 am I drove to the Edgewood Road Park and Ride to meet Menlo Master Eva Gottstein. We loaded the gear into her tiny classic car and drove up to San Francisco. Eva and her husband are expecting their first child and were married just about one year ago at Crissy Field, she decided that perhaps the Bay Swim would need to wait a year. Eva has a stuffed animal company called Sigikid, to support Swim Across America she is donating 50% of the proceeds from their Guardian Angel product line. This will continue through December. ...

Nancy and I headed out yesterday to do the 2.4 mile race at Catfish. It was an amazing day, beautiful water, and horrible organization! First we waited in line for a bus that none of the workers knew anything about (when would it come? would it come at all?). When the line got longer and the bus didn't come, we asked if we could simply walk to the reservoir. They had no idea whether we could or in which direction to send us. The first race time approached and no bus. Then a bus came, but couldn't fit everyone on it. Swimmers began to get nervous, but I was impressed with how calm most people stayed. Good thing this was a swim and not a triathlon :). Once we finally got a bus, the lines at the race were equally long to wait through. But, we saw Scott, so that was fun. After we set up our stuff on the ledge overlooking the 1.2 mile race that was beginning, we found Stephanie and Sue as well. The sun came out, the lines were forgotten, we had small fans and Deanna to cheer us on, ...

So it still hurts to breathe, but I got in this morning and did the warm up. After that, I was cringing under the water, so I got out and went to the warm pool to do some kicking. It was a mild workout at best, but boy did it feel good after a week of nothing. And, in the locker room I was re-inspired by Clara, who told me about a car accident she was in a few months before her Ironman race. She, too, bruised her ribs (that seatbelt plus the air bag at high impact is no picnic) and could not do much for a while. But she took a week off, then did some underwater jogging and kicking, and finally got back to running after a few weeks and made it back in time for her Ironman a few months later. My friends think I'm nuts not to just say "I'm injured" and sit out for a bit. That alone doesn't make me nuts. It's hearing Clara's story and thinking "Yah, I'm being such a pussy - I need to push through!" that makes me nuts. I'm not, after all, even...

This is the funniest thing I've seen in a while. It actually made my Mother's Day.

Well, what do you know. I've won "Mother of the Year" and as this video shows , have been congratulated by President Obama, celebrated by Hollywood stars, and praised by a remarkably articulate baby. I knew I was good. Customize this coolio video for all of the moms in your life. MomsRising is the bestest, and I've been supporting them for years. Join on!

More parenting videos on JuiceBoxJungle ...you do what we all do nearly every morning: swim in an outdoor pool in whatever weather, before dawn. You also might be a really fit and somewhat ready-to-take-on-the-day mom, which is what I am after I swim, and NOT what I am after a non-swim morning. Obviously, the swim is critical to my well-being and yes, it's like a mommy-drug. Luckily, though addictive, it's something that helps my kids instead of hurts them. So here, folks, is the episode we've all been waiting for (I know you have...) because we're IN it! Check it out. On another note, here's a funny list I found on Facebook called "You might be a swimmer if..." ...whenever you hear an electronic beep, you instinctively jump. ...you have rings around your eyes unrelated to the amount of sleep you got. ...waking up before dawn to exercise seems normal. ...jamming a piece of Styrofoam between your legs is not a kinky sexual activity. ...bugs die of chlorine...

More parenting videos on JuiceBoxJungle I've been doing a little experiment for, oh, seven years now. The results of my experiment can be defined by the following equations: Me + Morning Swim = 75% chance of not losing temper with children during rest of day Me - Morning Swim = 25% chance of not losing temper with children during rest of day Other factors play in, like coffee and time of year (Winter is not my favorite), but the biggest determining factor of my mood and level of patience with small whiny people during the day is by far my early submersion in chlorine. I guess I flush out all the wound-tightness by freezing in the dark in nothing but a swimsuit while waiting for Tim to arrive, then thrashing my arms through moonlit water before dawn. I like to top that off with a searing hot shower and rich coffee from Borrone, and by 7 AM my day is pretty much off to a gorgeous start. It's up to the kids to bring me down throughout the day, but I'm usually able to stay afl...

No pool for a week. Not the worst thing that can happen to a person, just the worst thing that can happen to a swimmer. Here's the update: No progress has been made. Morning masters workouts are cancelled for Friday 3/13. Noon workout is still on. Morning water temperature is 69 degrees with air temperature of 39. Afternoon water temperature is 71 degrees with air temperature of 63.

Okay I'm getting desperate. Must. Have. Swim. Today I planned to go to a spin class and somehow slept through it, only to have to do a very boring Precor workout in my garage as pennance. Methinks if the pool is not ready by Friday (and I know it won't be), I'm going to bust out my wetsuit and make my kids come watch me suffer. After all, its about time I started teaching them about hard work :).

Hey, help a fellow artist out: Save Sunday afternoon, March 29, for Dana Shields' FIRST art opening. ;-) She’ll be showing paintings done over the last few years in various classes. The paintings will be up for a month. There will be drinks and snacks provided by Café Zoë. Children are welcome. Sunday March 29th . 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm Café Zoë , 1929 Menalto Avenue, Menlo Park, CA 94025 650.322.1926

I said no to a timing chip today, in a race . (Pause for all of you triathletes to take collective sharp breath IN). It's not like me either, believe me, but this race, this time, was just meant to be run slowly. I think my heart was too heavy to move much faster than a shuffle. Becky Gibbs Lavelle, a local (Olympic) triathlete, lost her sister (Jenny) and nephew (Graham) to PPD and a hastily purchased gun about a year and 3 months ago. Now, she's organizing races and events to raise money to spread awareness of PPD and to prevent others from having to go through the pain she felt at losing her twin. I don't know how she does it. I didn't know Jenny at all, and I get chills and a feeling like the world is about to explode every time I think about what she must have felt like as she bought that gun and turned it on herself and her child. The level of pain and disorientation she carried is unfathomable. And so preventable. If we know what to look for. Back to the race......

More parenting videos on JuiceBoxJungle One downside to co-sleeping is sleeping through my alarm when my four-year-old inadvertently muffles my alarm. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I love my cuddle time. but I really really hate to miss a swim. Sometimes it works the opposite way of course. An added bonus occurs when my little dude pops into the room at 3AM and wakes me up 2 hours before I need to be up to swim. In cases like those, he's like a little public service announcement: "Mommy. Wake up. Available work time." I know I'm a freak to actually enjoy these wakings. I think I was trained well and hard by my first-born colicky nightmare of a sleeper to spring up and be completely alert at any point and time. And there is just something about that early pre pre pre dawn set of hours in front of my computer that is lovely and quiet and focused. Only problem is that by the time I'm done swimming at 7AM I'm ready for lunch.

I haven't posted this week, even though I've had two good swims. Today would have been the third but I woke up with some lame kink in my shoulder, apparently just from sleeping. I would like to think it is from the good hard butterfly workout yesterday, but alas I didn't have a problem when I climbed into bed and when I awoke I couldn't breathe without the shoulder/neck pain. You know you're getting old when you're sore from sleeping. Ah, it was pouring outside anyway. :)

Okay the post below is a test post for my new company which is newly up online!!!!! Love to have you check it out!

More parenting videos on JuiceBoxJungle Okay so I know it isn’t “appropriate” for me to say this but…my six-year-old child has mad athletic and intellectual skills. Let's be clear, though. There is plenty not to praise him for. Instead of an annoying diatribe about his exploits, I'd like to take this opportunity to openly acknowledge his faults. As parents, perhaps we don't do this enough. Yah yah yah my kid's the best and the world revolves around him, but there are a few things he does that keep me from praising him morning, noon and night. These things keep me from sounding like a lifecoach on crack; from following him around to say "great eating!" and "awesome inputting of your picks for the football pool!" and "that chapter book you just wrote is the best I've ever read!" Yay! Barf. I guess his faults start with the colic period he enjoyed which nearly forced my husband and I to quit our day jobs and become abortion clinic volunt...