Imposing Adult views on children....

I like to read a fitness blog titled The Great Fitness Experiment. The author discusses lots of aspects of fitness from the latest exercises to body image.

In her most recent post she talks about a Hooters waitress who was asked to lose weight (she is 5'8 and 132lbs) or be fired. Ok...fine. I feel sorry for this girl and maybe she can get a job where her body isn't a reason she gets good tips....

Then she shared the story below which really, really bothers me.....

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Parenting/girl-single-ladies-dance-sparks-controversy-internet/story?id=10644648

After watching the video and reading the article I was in awe. I kept dropping my jaw. Is the world really getting this bad? Did someone actually say we should not impose adult views on children? Don't we do that everyday when we guide our children to eat healthy, rest, exercise, have manners, read good books, go to school, be responsible, etc. So we should just step back and allow 8 and 9 year olds to "bump and grind" to an adult song and think nothing is wrong with it? The parents said their daughters love to dance and compete...and their daughters were phenomenal for sure...but there are other ways to showcase their talent, right?

They also mentioned this was a very popular song in Pop Culture and unless you isolate your children they will know this song. Yeah, my children know this song....but they aren't grinding. There is a lot of pop culture that I will not expose my children to. It just seems like standards are really going down the toilet. Makes me more grateful for the standards of the Church. They definitely are a guide to our lives.

I love the song "All the Single Ladies" but that kind of dancing is for Beyonce' and not children.

I'm just saying....

oh...as I remember the Chipettes were not dancing this way! maybe it is because they have short legs?

I did it!

I have been talking about doing a triathlon for about a year. It just looked like fun and was a challenge! I love a challenge. I love to workout and love to mix up my routine. Last year as I was looking for events most were held on Sunday so I was a little bummed. I don't think i looked hard enough. I would read blogs of friends who were completing 2 and 3 tri's and I was jealous! So this year I was excited to find many tris that were on Saturday and so close to home! I tried to get my running partner to do it with me but she wasn't able to make it work this year. I decided to just do it alone if I had to. I had been talking about this for over a year and I hate to "hee-haw" about something and not do anything about it! Luckily I was able to get a couple of friends from the gym to join me....it didn't take lots of persuading....and we all signed up!

here we are after the race with our medals

Susan and Jody take my 4:30 RPM class on MOndays. They are both runners. Susan has run marathons and Jody has run a 1/2 and will run a full soon( yes you will Jody!). They are strong athletes! So Susan and I signed up for the June 5th tri in Newnan. Jody couldn't make that one but had signed up for one in Peachtree City in May. I saw that one but was really worried about the tempature of the water in May. Would it be cold? I hate cold water. But it was February when I was looking at the events and it was cold outside still. But Jody convinced us to do this one which we were so glad we did. It was a shorter one and was a good trial run for the longer one in June.

this is the lake we were swimming in...see that yellow buoy? We had to go to that point, across to the next one and then back to shore. See the orange one WAY out there? That is where the international SPrinters went!

On the morning of the race we packed up and met at the Mall. I think we all were a little nervous that we would forget something. I packed and checked and rechecked my bucket numerous times. I was ready. When I left my house at 4:45am I was slightly confident I had not forgotten anything. I pull out and get about 3 miles down the road when I realize I had forgotten my bike!! It was in the van and I was in the car! So i turn around, switch cars and make it to the Mall 10 minutes late. Then when I am loading my stuff into Jody's car I realize I forgot my cooler in my car. Oh well....thank goodness for friends...they had extra water and gatorade they shared with me!

This is how we all filed down to the water. They let us go in 2 by 2 and 5 seconds apart. You lined up according to your swim time. This first group was the international distance triathletes. They had green swim caps. We had white.

So we arrive, check in and then set up our transistion areas. We each got a number(which they wrote on our arm and calf) and that is where we racked our bikes.
We also got a time chip that was strapped on our ankles. This recorded our times at each event and how long it took during our transition areas. On our other calf they wrote our age...which was cool to see when I was passing younger athletes...and then interesting when a 54 year old leaves you in her dust!

This triathlon consisted of a 300 yard swim( 6 laps in the pool) followed by a 8 mile bike ride and ending with a 2 mile run. The hardest part was the run. The easiest was the swim. The most fun was the bike. The most relaxing was the swim. The most exhilarating was crossing the finish line! Oh and then seeing that I had placed first in my division...let me explain. When I registered I noticed there was a category for the "Athena" group which is women 150+. So I knew I was around that weight so I thought I would race in that group. Why not? So at check-in they weigh every participant in that group. I took my shoes off (what woman doesn't step on the scale with shoes right?) and I weighed in at 149.0. So I put my shoes back on. 149.8. Then I held my camera. 150.2! Ha. So that is how I finished 1st out of 8.

Here are my stats: (not that many are interested but when I would read other's experiences about their triathlons I loved to see their times to help me see how they did and compare to my experiences)

Completed time : 1:06: 35

This is the overall times. Susan finished 2 seconds in front. Remember how good a runner she is? Her pace on the run was under 10 minutes. She caught up with me on the run and sailed right past! We came in 86th and 87th place out of 194. I would have placed 7th out of 16 in my age group (35-39) if I had competed in that group. There were 8 ladies in the Athena group.

Swim 11:53

T1: 2:27 (this took the longest because we had to dry off and put on shoes, etc...i was 3rd in this part)

Bike: 28:14 (i averaged 17.0 mph and placed 1st in this portion)

T2: 1:23 (to save time at this tranistion I did not wear my bike shoes...just my running shoes. I did not like that! I think i will just take the extra 10 seconds to change shoes so my ride is smoother)

Run 22:41 (my pace was 11:21 a mile....which is pretty good considering...and i was first in this portion as well)

So there you have it. My first experience with a triathlon. I am ready for my next one. I need to get back to training because it is only 2 1/2 weeks away! I want to work on my running the most to get my legs stronger. This one will be 600 meter swim (which we think is like 10-12 laps in the pool) 14 mile bike and a 3.1 run.

I am racing in my age group this time so i do not expect any prizes(didn't expect it the first time either!) but will definately be racing against myself!