Still swimming. Still Monday, Wednesday, Friday for about 90 minutes. Depending on the workout, somewhere between 2,500-3,000m. Started running as well, following the Couch to 5K program again, although jumped into week 4 because I was behind. I do have to find some time to do some bike rides in the next month. I started using Home Assistant more. Moved to self contained hardware platform (Home Assistant Green). Have a nice little setup for the washer/dryer for notifications when it's done. Just have to figure out to mount sensors on the doors. Found out I needed glasses when I got a RealID and I couldn't quite make out the vision test. I was good enough though. Turns out I have astigmatism, might have always had it after the LASIK, but not sure if I just managed it. I wonder if the swimming aggravated the dry eyes which brought the astigmatism back or made it worse? In any event, glasses are amazing, went with Zenni because they're so cheap, and I needed sun glasses clip ons, because I was only planning on using them for driving, but I think I want them for all the time, so I ordered another couple pairs, try out some progressives and some readers. They're just so relatively cheap. Even got Zeiss lens inserts for the Apple Vision Pro, and they also seem to make a difference. Did a big network upgrade, made a surprising difference for security camera stability. Added a camera to the hallway too so I can see just how late Lucy goes to bed now. It's late. Also installed a patch panel, so networking looks a lot neater in the data center. Found a new favorite pair of jeans that also got discontinued (Levi's 505 Performance Warm). Tracy upgraded to an iPhone 17 Pro. I switched to using Oh Snap Snap Grips, both on my iPhone 15 Pro and the iPad mini 7. Went to New York City for spring break. I understand it a little better now. Also the name Second City for Chicago makes sense to me. The Ubiquiti Travel Router was pretty handy for that trip. Finally watched the Before trilogy. Wow that was good. Got introduced to a new podcast team because of it, Next Word. Almost caught up with the MCU, including TV Series. Daredevil: Born Again, Ironheart, and Wonder Man were all really good. Found a new backpack/bag line I like, which is also discontinued (Mystery Ranch District). Only available color was Hummus. Started with a District 4 (standard handbag) and an 18, and completed the set with a 2 and an 8. Jackson didn't get into LTAC. He's playing pretty well for Northwind, and is actually practicing and playing with P3 and P4 this spring, so he's getting lots of time on the ball. Had a little drama when he originally got placed on P3 for next year when they switched to level by grade instead of birth year. But all squared away when he then got moved up to P2. Should be a good challenge for next year. We even went as far as a Chicago City tryout, but that would have been a lateral move. Jackson's 6th grade NBL team also won their division. That was pretty cool. Started the 100 pushup challenge, fell off, and trying to start it again. I think that covers the big things in the last 5 months or so.

So I did my first and probably only Sprint Triathlon yesterday at the Grand Rapids Tri. I've been pool swimming for about 1.5 years, decided to try and do one, and Tracy and Lucy suggested this one as a good beginner one. Lucy had signed up for the Olympic distance. Looking back, I probably should have started with a Super Sprint like a normal person would. Anyway, only started some open water swims at Ohio St. beach maybe 3 weeks ago. I was using probably the cheapest wetsuit I could find on Amazon (so definitely not an expensive tri specific or open water specific wetsuit, and it was a full suit, arms and legs). Anyway, never did complete a full 750m open water swim in training, which was bad. I did a couple mock tri trainings, once in the pool, and at least was able to complete it all. But still I was pretty scared of the swim part. And rightly so. We went over on Saturday, did packet pickup, got a bike cable lock (because I forgot to bring one), had dinner. Up early on Sunday, nervous. Kelley and Hudson came and watched, along with Tracy and Jackson. Watched Lucy do her swim. Then it was my turn. And I did horribly at it. Had to take multiple breaks with lifeguard floaties. Could only do 50m or so freestyle before having to stop, kick on my back, mostly made it through by doing breaststroke. Never could seem to catch my breath. I wonder how much of that was poor training vs. bad wetsuit. And water was around 72, so I probably could have tried without a wetsuit, but I have no idea if I could have made it that far or not. Oh, and forgot to start the Multisport workout on my watch until my first rest on the swim, so missed the first part of my swim. Eventually got out. Thought it would be 30 min, but actually somehow managed to do it in 22 min. I did just walk the 750m to transition, and walked the bike out. Biking was definitely easier. Managed that in 47 min. Fairly smooth going there. Then had to finish with the run. I'm guessing that was more like a 50/50 jog/walk for me. Hudson and Jackson ran with me for the last 1km or so. That was 36 min. Survived, so happy I did that. Also never planning on doing that again. So tired. Overall finished in 2:01:41. If I had known how close I was, I would have pushed during the run to get under 2 hours. Overall 342/378, Male 202/218, Age Group (45-49) 18/18. Lucy on the other hand? Finished her Olympic in under 3 hours at 2:55:42, Overall 92/246, Female 17/91, Age Group (19 and under) 1/3. She got a medal. Finished her swim, twice as far as mine, in 24 min. Anyway, now that I've got that under my belt, not sure what I'm going to do. I'll keep up the swimming. Probably keep up the biking. Might as well keep up the running too. At least while the weather's nice. Might even do some open water swimming. I do want to get better at that, but without the wetsuit, and probably only when it's calm out on Lake Michigan. Never actually had doing a triathlon on my bucket list, but hey, at least I can say I survived.