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A lot of my fellow moms are fit, but the level of fitness amongst most of my mom friends can’t be compared to that of the fittest triathletes I have met. When some of them have told me that they had been pregnant, I have almost fallen over. Given a choice between believing that the guy standing in the corner had been pregnant or the woman talking to me, I would pick the guy. The women are just that fit. While I’ve lost a lot of weight this past year, I’m not one of those women. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s fabulous. However, my son’s birthday is today and we just finished our third birthday celebration with cake; the family friends party, the playgroup party, and his real birthday. Seeing as I have a triathlon tomorrow, I tried not to go too crazy, but there’s just no way I’m going to refuse cake at a celebration for one of my sons.

Sometimes I’m able to blend in fairly well with the other triathletes in training. I have my biking clothes, running gear, and lap suit. Other times, not so much so. Tonight was one of those nights. As much as I’ve tried, I can’t manage to drink water from my water bottle when on my bike. I have one of the non-disposable water bottles with the sports top, but it still doesn’t work. I feel incredibly wobbly, and I slow down to an almost non-existent speed so I can try and stuff the bottle back in the cage. The problem with going really slow with clipless pedals (where your shoes are locked into the pedals) is that there is a danger of tipping over. Basically it’s just not worth it. Particularly since I hardly get any water.

Tomorrow’s triathlon has a much bigger bike course than the triathlon I did last month. I can barely drive 13 miles without drinking any water; I certainly can’t bike it. On the recommendation of a couple of friends, I purchased a hydration pack. What do you mean you haven’t heard of one? Truth be told, until a few months ago I would have assumed a hydration pack had something to do with watering your lawn. Basically it’s a small backpack filled with water that has a hose that you bite on so that you can drink while exercising without using your hands. It’s kind of like Bluetooth for water bottles.

I bought one last night. Right away I just had to try it out. My husband had been on the phone in another room. When he came out I was pacing back and forth in the living room biting on the tube. He raised an eyebrow. Today I went for a long walk in our neighborhood wearing the hydration pack to get the feel of it. This time my husband raised two eyebrows. (He’s maxed out on eyebrows now, no matter what I do.) Then he laughed and laughed. I wasn’t even wearing my workout clothes.

So although I am about to run a race, I am sure that if you were confronted with the choice that either the little old lady down the street or me was a triathlete, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t guess it was me.