Her name is synonymous with winning — Quad games, triathalons, duathlons and more. In Pittsburgh, Erie’s Pamela McCormick finished second among women and 28th overall in the International Distance Triathlon Sunday. It included a600-meter swim in the Allegheny River, a 20K bike race through Pittsburgh and a 5K run along the Allegheny River.

McCormick, 39, continues her dominance of sporting events. The mom of seven finished the International Distance Triathlon in 2 hours, 13 minutes, 44 seconds. McCormick has qualified to represent Pennsylvania in the Best of the U.S. 2012 Championship.

She was also the fastest female finisher at the A Tri in the Buff triathlon with a time of 2 hours, 26 minutes, 6 seconds on July 7 in Buffalo. It was the first time she had competed in the event.

For all us moms, she’s an inspiration. And Pamela is the daughter of Denise Illig Robison and the late Robbie Robison. Denise is an athlete in her own right. I have played tennis with her for years.

Pam Parker, an avid tennis player with bad knees, ran for years, but never raced — except with her kids. Pam’s daughter is a former McDowell High School track star with numerous state championship medals and the title of cross country runner of the year. Pam is the editor of Lake Erie LifeStyle, Her Times and House to Home at the Erie Times-News in Erie, Pa.

If you’re looking for ways to get back to nature, we have a lot of them in this month’s issue of Lake Erie LifeStyle. If you don’t have a home-delivered copy of the Sunday TImes-News, you can catch up on nature’s way right here. Meteorologist Rob Wilson installed solar panels and so did a host of other people.

We have stories on where to find farm-fresh, local eggs, milk and much more. Our writers introduce you to some amazing people and businesses who have gotten back to nature in a big way. I am going to change my shopping habits and a lot of other things after reading this issue. It’s only natural.

After a banner outing with all the women involved in the Her Times 5K yesterday (click here for results), we followed up with our October issue of Her Times in today’s newspaper. It’s full of terrific articles and thanks to everyone for your emails and support!
Make sure to give Debbie DeAngelo’s story a read on how we really can work to avoid the chemicals that invade our lives. It hit home for me when I was out of town at a wedding last night.
I realized that we didn’t see much in the way of plastics last night or this morning. Even in our hotel room at The Wyndham, we had glasses — not plastic cups in the bathroom. Our little Cuisinart pumped coffee into two paper cups (not plastic), but I stirred whitener or (whatever that fake creamer is) into the coffee with plastic stirrers. Still, it’s a step up from plastic cups! We can make a difference. Thanks for making me think, Debbie!

I dodged the bullet on allergies most of this year, but I am paying for it these past few days. Sneezing and itchy-red eyes are my enemy today. I just took a dose of Allegra, which doesn’t always work. So now I am scanning the list of meds at webmd.com One of the few things that works for me is Singulair, which I pretty much take year round. My prescription ran out, so as soon the Her Times 5K is over — it’s off to the pharmacy.
I know how hard this season is on kids, too. None of the kids had the same results. My son did well on Zyrtec for years, but knocked my daughter out. Same with Benadryl.
Although I do hate the feel and taste of nasal sprays, they work. That’s next in my arsenal today. If you can get kids to try it, they often find that it works so well, it is worth the temporary discomfort. I can guarantee it.
See all you ladies at the 5K — I’m the one with the red eyes!

The Her Times race is Saturday at the Rotary Pavilion on Presque Isle, and the Her Times staff will be there to root on the more than 800 — that’s right 800 women who will be running for fun, for good health and for private reasons that often inspire me.
Congratulations and a huge thanks to Heather Cass. Without her, there would be no Her Times 5K. Make sure you give her a huge thank-you when you see her!
Last year, an acquaintance of mine told me she ran because her friend, who had passed away, ran it every year. It was a connection to her friend.
This year, we received a call from a woman whose Bible study group is running together. This is one of dozens of group efforts that are all part of the Her Times experience.
Whatever your reason for running, go for it. And walking is just fine, too in this 5K. The 3.2 miles (that’s what a 5K is) isn’t all that far when you do it with friends and enjoy it. It’s going to be a beautiful day — perfect for running. I hear a possibility of showers with temps in the 40s. I’m working the race, so we’ll see you there.
For more info, check out Heather’s blog

Every once in a while, folks pass in and out of your life and make an impact so profound that it surprises you. Tom Doyle is one of those people.
I knew Tom many years ago and lost touch, but he called me in the spring and told me that he had followed my writing career and wanted to nominate me for Woman of the Year. I thought he was kidding at first. But he wasn’t. Tom went on to say that I had set an example for other women by surviving single parenthood and building a career along the way. While I don’t consider anything I have done exemplary, I do consider Tom exemplary. He founded the Aquatic Hall of Fame in Erie and has been a dedicated fan of swimmers and athletes for most of his life. That’s just a sampling. He took time to make people like me feel grateful and recognized for things that seemed ordinary.
Pat Cuneo told me that Tom isn’t well right now, so if you get a chance to give Tom and his family a shout, do it now.
Thank you, Tom from the bottom of my heart.

The first event of the Highmark QUAD Kids’ events — the swim — was held on Sunday. (I wrote about QUAD Kids in a previous post)

I was nervous about how my daughters were going to handle the competition.

Lauren — the one with all the energy — hates any type of formal exercise and wasn’t all that jazzed about the swim in general.

Kelly — the classic oldest child — is competitive and, much to my chagrin, not a very good sport when she doesn’t win.

So…I wasn’t sure how things were going to go on Sunday, but they went swimmingly (sorry, couldn’t resist).

Thanks are due to Curt and Julie Cardman who organized the kid’s Quad event. Curt calmed all the kids down before the event — explaining everything that was going to happen, how it was going to go, what to do, where to stand. He joked around with them and helped put them all at ease.  Curt and Julie are the kind of parents who should have 15 kids because they are really, really good with kids.

Kelly is in lane 5, Lauren in lane 4

I signed the girls up to do the 50 yard swim — 2 lengths of the pool — because they’re both pretty solid swimmers and, much to my surprise, Lauren edged out her sister and Kelly was the last one to finish in her “heat” (the six who were swimming at the same time as she was).

Lauren edging out Kelly (foreground)

I never told Kelly either of those things though and she, apparently, didn’t notice because she smiled through the whole swim.

I can’t say I enjoyed the adult QUAD swim quite as much. We had to do 100 yeards — four lengths of the pool — which is not difficult, but..regardless of how short it is, I can’t swim fast, so…I just enjoyed the 2-minute swim (OK, OK…2 minutes and 15 seconds!).

Is it just me, or do I resemble an SNL conehead?

Check out this action shot…I almost look cool… touching the pad and all….

When we left McComb Fieldhouse after the swim, Lauren hugged me and said, “I love you, Mom! That was fun!” Kelly chimed in and said, “Yeah…thanks for bringing us here!”

They wanted to wear their QUAD shirts home (I love the shirts this year).

Bottom line: While it’s not my strongest QUAD event, the swim is certainly the quickest and least painful and it was worth every stroke and every mile of the drive to Edinboro University to do the event with the girls.

Next up is the Bike Race in July — which means I’ll have to actually get that race bike down out of the rafters this year.

Photo courtesy of MARK BOWEN STUDIO

Check out today’s post over at my Runner’s Notes blog for information on a really fun family fitness event — the Highmark QUAD – that your entire family can participate in because they now offer kid’s divisions.

And…for the record…yes, there are competitive, uber-fit, ultra-sleek triathletes at these events, but…there are also lots and lots and lots of “normal” participants who are there to just to participate and have fun.

This has always been a very family-friendly and fitness-friendly series of events.I kid you not when I say there are people doing the bike race on an old 10-speed bike next to some guy doing it on a titanium-frame bike with a $4,000-wheel — you will NOT feel out of place because there are all kinds of folks there.

Why not challenge yourself this year? Sign up to be a “fitness participant” and, then, you don’t even have to “compete” with those who take the games seriously (and you can do a 2.5 mile snowshoe instead of a 5-mile ski in January!).

Read all about it here.