Dana Burland

Ouch! Wow. Ok. That felt hard. I felt 35, for sure. Hah! Going into today I was a little less fit than I was at January’s race , but I had the knowledge from January of how the race was run and how 15 minutes in each discipline felt, which was valuable to draw from. I wanted to do a little better than my January times, of course, but given how I felt coming in I thought performing close would be more realistic. Swim Honestly, my arms were sore immediately, likely from other recent activities I’ve been up to. Halfway through I was feeling it, but settled into a strong endurance stroke I was able to keep up. I finished just the same as January–42 laps/10,052 meters. Bike This was just plain hard today! I biked 4.7 miles at 18.8mph pace last race, and was struggling to hold that today. I hovered near but below it almost the entire time, pushing a few times. I really pushed it at the end to finish at 4.5 miles/18mph. Run This indoor race was at the downtown YMCA, not the Mary Fre...

It's after dinner On a cold winter storm February night And we're on the couch in our jammies A, C and me Three bodies in a row One looks ahead--Winnie the Pooh is on The second looks ahead--Winnie the Pooh, after all, is on And me I look at them Two little profiles All bubbly curves The round forehead into the sweet bunny hill ski slope nose Dropping down to the little open lips The tiny chin Hardly separate from the lower chin/under chin/neck/tummy Lovely tiny profiles Of the lovely little people We made While watching Winnie the Pooh they're snacking Because when aren't they snacking?! It's a special snack I always want it to be a special snack I always want it to be special I always want it to be Out of the movie watching silence a sweet little sound "Here go, Coco" The "you" is gone, because it's hushed, it's rushed, Here, take this quick, I don't want to disrupt you or me from this movie 3-yr-old A...

Ahh. We’re rested, recuperated, slightly tanned and back from an A+ family winter trip to sunny Phoenix—just in time for a Michigan school snow day! This was the first escape-the-winter-blues trip we…. maybe I?... have ever taken. The original plan was to visit family who spend the winters in Phoenix, but who unfortunately had to last minute cancel their trip. We wrestled with what we should do with our flights and time off, and although our vacation looked different than initially planned, I’m so glad we flexed to make it work. Our longest family trip pre-Phoenix was a 6-hr drive to Hocking Hills . This was the first time flying for both boys, and even peppered with several weather-related airport delays, they did so well. As the parents who came before me with this type of travel suggested: you can never have too many snacks. This trip lead to a new vacation realization for me & B: the place matters. Our AirBnB was SO nice. We had more space than needed, a swanky master ...