Running Commentary: Grab Bag

I've started many different posts that I haven't finished for one reason or another. So many things are going on I'm having trouble keeping up with my life so there's not much hope for keeping up with my blog!

This will be a random thoughts post--popcorn style with no rhyme or reason to the order and certainly no flow. ...sort of like a grab bag, you never know what you're going to get!

Long Course Tri camp is this weekend! I'm excited and VERY nervous. I've had to stop looking at the schedule because it was making my stomach hurt. I'm going to have to take my own food because of my allergies. I have no idea how that's going to work out. However, as nervous as I am, I'm SO EXCITED I can't stand it! There are going to be some amazing athletes there, all ready and willing to share their experience. I'm going to cover 140.6, not in 17 hours or less as in a real Iron Man, but over the course of a whole weekend.

I'm getting faster. I can feel it. Even in the heat I feel stronger on my runs. In the pool I can feel the catch and pull and the tension in my shoulders (that used to not be there)....and my times are getting faster. I swam 30 100s the other day and didn't realize I was swimming meters instead of yards (10% more distance!). When I saw the splits I just about cried because they were so slow compared to what I had been swimming. I haven't looked closely enough to compare my long course times with short course (since there is a distance difference I can't just compare 50y to 50m), but I was incredibly happy to have finished the whole workout. Now if only my bike times would improve.

Someone said the other day it took them 3 years to get better on the bike. I think his word was "good" or maybe "fast". I've only been riding for about 7 months now so I guess I shouldn't be too hard on myself.

God has been so unbelievably good to me. He has given me so much more than I could have ever even asked for...more blessings than I can name.

According to my doctor my metabolism is not slow just because my thyroid is not working since I take Synthroid. He also says I am at my ideal body weight for my height. However, he did say it was plus or minus 10% which means I could still lose a little weight and still be within ideal. It's not really that I want to lose weight per se, but there's some fat I would like to get rid of.

I'm going to join the Marathon training group through Fleet Feet. My only real concern is that I am planning on also doing a half iron this fall so I'll have to keep up my biking and swimming. I'm not exactly sure how I'll fit it all in. Ideally I'd like to have a tri coach, but I can't justify the expense right now.

My baby will be a senior this year. My oldest child will most likely be a Marine before this time next year. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. When I was pregnant for the first time people told me becoming a parent would be unlike any experience I had ever had. I remember thinking, "I've had a dog, how different can it be to have a child??" Then I had my son. A few years ago a friend told me having a senior was unlike anything she's ever known...and I remember thinking I was glad I wasn't going to get that mushy about it. Uh....it was bad enough last year but knowing my BABY is about to graduate high school??? WOW. And to think my grandparents are 90....I can't even fathom all they have experienced.

I really do miss my grandparents. I wish I lived closer so I could go see them more often. I think I need to just hop in the car one day and take off to Dallas to see them. It doesn't seem real that they are getting close to being a century old. They don't seem 90. They seem like they are maybe 60. People ask me all the time if they live by themselves. Heck, they cared for my aunt when she got hurt recently. They are the most amazing people I know. My grandmother has had her hip and both knees replaced and is going stronger than the energizer bunny! Naturally they have aches and pains, but they are in better shape than a lot of people half their age. My grandpa still mows his own lawn and has a garden and does all his own home maintenance, and probably all his own vehicle maintenance too!

Hood to Coast is in one year. Well...MY Hood to Coast is in one year. My teammates ROCK. I still can't believe we have raised the required amount to guarantee our entry into the race (I don't think I've announced that here yet...in fact I haven't announced it on the team blog yet either...but we have!!!) We are going to start raising funds for our travel expenses next month. And, we'll start to figure out all the logistics involved in running the race too.

I'm not quite "talked" out of random thoughts, but my bed is calling me.