This is my sister.
This is her climbing a wall in LA. She’s afraid of heights, but when she came to visit, she insisted we go rock climbing, as it is something she wanted to try.
Nikki is having a little Triathlon Blues this week, and who can blame her? Her Tri is less than two weeks away, and she’s sick of getting up early, of only ever working out, and probably sick of writing about it. That’s where I come in.
When my sister and I were younger, we both played soccer. She was better (but I still maintain I was faster.) We played piano: she was better. We both wrote (she was better) and we both took joy out of being mean to each other (she, most definitely, was better.) I had a blog: she wanted one. (Hers is funnier.) Although I am mostly better at bossing people around, and baking, she is better than most things. I’d like to think it’s because she is two years older, so two years wiser, but I suspect it’s because she maintains the attitude of “oh yea? I can’t do whatever I want, just because I am a woman, short, and don’t have much directional sense? Watch me.”
And so, when my sister, who used to share an equal hate with me of running, declared that she loved running and was going to do a triathlon, (the idea of my sister swimming in open water made me laugh and want to call the Coast Guard all at once) I wasn’t that surprised.
She ran, a lot. She had already run 5ks, and a half marathon. With hills. Which had ALREADY surprised me.
She started swimming because the doctor told her she couldn’t run. Tendinitis be damned, this girl was GOING to work out, and you couldn’t stop her. This was nearly a year ago, and she’s now up to swimming a full mile, in OPEN WATER. Do you think I’ll be hoping in the Pacific any time soon to swim a mile? (Nope, not after this year’s special on Great White Sharks, and also, I can’t swim really…)
Then, girl writes on April 1 (so let’s be honest, she could have been joking) that in August she was going to do a Triathlon. SERIOUSLY? Is there nothing my sister won’t do? All I do is yoga, Nikki: you’ve beat me. You can stop now, I swear.
In June, my sister bought a bike.
For those of you who don’t know, my sister and I learned how to ride bikes at the same time. I am pretty sure I was up and off training wheels first. Her coordination is lacking, and although I bike through the streets of LA, I couldn’t foresee my sister EVER wanting to do so in Chicago. But here was the evidence, on her blog, of her, fearless (almost) and biking to the lake.
So let’s go over the timeline, one more time:
October, 2009: My sister gets tendinitis, and is told she can’t run. So she swims.
April 1, 2010: My sister decides that she’s going to do a triathlon.
June 11, 2010: She buys a bike
July 14, 2010: She gets into the open water for her first open water swim.
August 29, 2010: My sister will be doing her first triathlon.
Unfortunately, I won’t be there to cheer her on, and see how awesome she does. But for now, I am basically trying to tell her (and you, so you can tell her, too) that she is going to do fine. Better than fine. Great. Wonderful. She is doing something that I have never even considered. She is doing something that a year ago I would have found crazy. She has trained for almost 5 months for something, devoting most of her free time to it, and Tendinitis, coordination, avid triathletes be damned: she will win, because she will finish. And then, by September, she will be on to a new crazy project: the next one, I hope, will involved yoga, and getting herself to a handstand. Nikki: you will be wonderful. Get get ’em.
Random water tower.
One of Chicago’s many bridges
The adornments for this building? The buildings around it, of course.
This building is an equilateral triangle.
Back in the day, when I was a child, my family and I went to a few runs of the Lilith Fair. We are big fans of Ms. Sarah McLachlan. She is kind of a theme song player in our house. We also love Sheryl Crow, and other ladies who sing their hearts out at festivals (I’m looking at you, Lisa Loeb.) We went two years in a row with a slew of people: the Breens, my cousin Lauren, my cousin Jimmy. etc. The next year we changed the cast of characters, and then that was that. Then we moved to Michigan in April of 1999 and Lilith was just a memory of my past. I remember that one year my best friend Lauren went too, with her Dad and sister. We found each other at breaks, and walked around together (we were sitting on the lawn, they were sitting in seats.) It was one of the first times that I was trusted to go find a friend by myself — I must have been 11 or 12, and I remember finally feeling like I was growing up. I remember my cousin Jimmy told a girl that she had nice wings. She said thanks, danced in a circle, and went on her enchanted way. Mya was at the Lilith Fair one of my two times, and she sang a few of her songs, and then tap danced for like 10 minutes. It stood out in my memory as a moment when I realized some people, even famous people, have talents they don’t always share with the public.
The Breens were on board, because they are generally awesome like that, and plans were made: Lilith Fair, Chicago 2010. Almost-Family Reunion Tour. So tonight I fly to Chicago, to see my sorella and my mom, and my dad, and the Breens, to see Sarah and other woman who know how to rhyme and make me sway. I will be there for less than 48 hours, but it will be worth it. Line up includes:
