Duathlons and Trick-or-Treating

These things having nothing in common except for they sound like they should be assuredly awesome but yet somehow fall appallingly short.

The duathlon sounds like a dream to me - no swimming? running twice?  On paper, it's a race specifically designed for my strengths!  But in reality, they suck (as evidenced here and here and here).

I decided to try one more time.  This race was a short race:  1.5 mile run / 10.5 mile bike / 3 mile run.  I didn't train for it since those are such comfortable distances.  The race did not go badly - I finished under an hour and won.  And when I say "won", I mean that quite literally as I finished before all the men, too.  But, before you start a slow clap, let me just add that there were only 24 other people in the race.  The 211 other people did the triathlon - which involved a 400-meter swim in a lap pool.
However, it took me 9 minutes to run 1.5 miles, and it took most of them between 6-9 minutes to do the swim, and I still was the second overall-person finisher.

Being the "best" at a particular event, however, is not the same as doing your best.  And, I had difficulty deciphering if I was pleased with my performance.  Both runs were slower than I expected, however they were unexpectedly on trails.  My bike was also slower, however there was wind.  Trails and winds inevitably slow you down and it always begs the question, Am I making an excuse?  Could I have gone faster?

But all that aside - I found the race challenging.  Maybe the trails and the wind played a role in that, but I think in the end, it is the simple fact that duathlons are hard.

Look, I don't like swimming per say, but the progression of the triathlon makes sense.  The swim is a good warm up for the bike and the bike is a good warm up for the run.  As much as I love to run, I don't love the way my legs feel after I already ran once.  I want to love it so I am sure I will eventually try to love it again.

Jumping to the completely unrelated subject of trick-or-treating, this sounds like a dream for my kids - up past bedtime?  dressed in a cool costume?  FREE CANDY?  Theoretically, it should be one of the best days in their life.  Realistically, it was filled with tantrums and tears.

First, Brenna refused to wear her costume.  She had numerous costumes to choose from that she enjoyed wearing during the pre-Halloween festivities...like her dinosaur costume, fairy costume and princess costume:

After begging her to get to dressed,

threatening her to get dressed,

not allowing her outside until she got dressed,

we finally gave in and allowed her trick-or-treat sans costume.  Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do to make the screaming stop.

Hayden wanted to put on his costume but did not want to trick-or-treat.  After only two houses, he requested to go home.  I convinced him to go around the block, which he did....very very slowly.  Not only did he walk at a snails pace, he kept tripping and spilling his candy.

After 30 minutes, Dad carried him home.

  

 I am not sure the kids totally understood the concept of trick-or-treating.  Even though we only covered a single block, every house was generous and we accumulated a decent stash of chocolates, fruity candies and Twizzlers.  Yet, my kids have not ASKED FOR A SINGLE PIECE.

Part of me gives them the side-eye as I question, Are these really my spawn?

And part of me wants to hug them and kiss them because now this big bag of candy is undoubtedly mine and I don't even have to steal it.