Addicted-

So I have this opportunity to do something really cool- go with my gut kind of thing. Something that makes me feel really excited and happy and yes!!!

And then the proposed day was Saturday.

And my first thoughts.... "but I have a run planned with Gina!" "but I can't miss the Trinity ride!"

I can't miss all of the things that are so fun! And it has really all been fun lately. The more fun it is, the more I do. It reminds me of when I was a little kid and used to show horses. If it would rain on a Saturday and I had to miss riding/showing time, it was the end of the world to me. I was so unhappy and sad. I would cry. I was truly, profoundly sad. How could I miss a single day of something so great?

Because it was more fun than anything else in the whole world. And right now training with my friends is more fun than anything else in the whole world! :))))))

Speaking of training friends- Joy is coming in town to see me this Friday! (okay, to see her family, but I am totally going to monopolize her time while she is here!!!!!!). And, don't forget if you didn't already know- Girls' Ride 9:00 Sun from Miss Cordelias. (No Jarred, you cannot come).

It is Sunday afternoon- complete nap time. Even my coffee is not convincing me to stay awake right now. The weekend has been full and wonderful. If I could just find a way to make my week as fun as my weekend...

A few glimpses-

Friday night girls night: make-up and Merlot

Rebekah, my sister as well as our Mary-Kay make-up fabulous consultant. She made our night fun with some make-up and skin-care lessons. She has always been great with make-up and is enjoying her new work with Mary Kay. I am proud of her. (and of course we are like alter-egos as I hardly ever wear make-up.)

Lavonne and Marissa

Jeanie and Laura

Kathy and me

Okay- so once make-up lessons were over, Dave and Justin came over and crashed the party. It was fun :)

So once again I got maybe 5 hours of sleep on Friday night and then turned around to ride my bike early on Saturday. Following the ride, I planted myself in my bed with IM Hawaii and did not move except to eat dinner. Laura joined in on the lazy day fun.

One computer for tracking, one computer to watch the race, mimosas, jelly beans, one good friend, and a cheetah blanket are all you need to have a fabulous day watching IM. I enjoyed cheering all of my friends, especially Maggi Finley, Mark Newman, Kerrie, and Angela. I am so proud of you guys!!!! The ironman is never easy- you guys are awesome.

Again- just about 6 hours of sleep and then the 10-miler this morning at Shelby Forest. Well, 10.19 miles for me...or an extra 1:15 of running since I cannot run tangents, apparently. I even had a guy come up to me at mile 7 and explain to me that he had been watching me take the long way around the course and he started to point out the tangents to me. Ha! I think I was in la-la land. All I know is I ran 10.19 miles at an even pace- started around 7:45 and avg was 7:40 so some things are going right for me with pacing. I continue to remind myself that I am looking for strength and good form, not speed when I run right now. It is good as I could care less what pace others are running and maybe the speed will come around next year or so. Or maybe not, but let's hope it does! It is really refreshing to not "know my competition" out there. I can't even point out may of the girls in my age group now, so I get to continue to run with the clock and just do my thing. It has taken me almost exactly one year to run 10 miles- I am really excited to be in the double digits (barely!) again.

But now my body is telling me to take a nap- so off of the computer I go. Again, congrats to all the IM racers this weekend- as well as the Chicago marathon runners. :)

Does anyone else have trouble writing a post when too many days have passed? I can never figure out what to say...too many thoughts, events, etc.

I am kind of in no-man's land right now. I don't have any races left for the year- and heck, I am not even doing a marathon or half marathon so I REALLY don't have anything on the calendar. It is hard to plan the week when you don't have a goal in hand.

Last week I still felt great and fired up. I gave myself permission to sleep in or do whatever I wanted. I kept choosing the hard effort workouts. ? By Saturday I was toast, and I was treated to my first introduction into true suffering at Trinity. And I mean true suffering. My legs have never felt that sort of pain on the bike. It was not my intention to suffer the week after racing, but it was fun and well worth it.

The true treat of the week was running for the first time ever on the Yellow Trail with Rooney. Five months ago I could not run on the trail because it hurt my knee too much. I couldn't even make it 1 mile. Now I am able to trail run- and with my favorite buddy. I felt like crying tear of joy while we were running....it was just amazing to be running with my dog through the woods. It was a moment where everything in my life was the way it was supposed to be. I didn't have to prove to anyone that I was running well- no facebook status update, no Garmin link to show my pace- just me and Rooney, having the best day ever...running with big ol' grins on our faces.

So anyways, back to this week. I am starting to chill a little bit. I know that I want to spend the fall on my bike while the weather is still welcoming. I want to spend the winter months focusing on my swim and trying to continue to build my run. I also want to work on strength, motor coordination with my right leg, and flexibility. So, I have some general things going on inside of my head....just putting them together and in a sensible order is the tough part.

Tonight- soccer game. Not sensible, but a whole lot of fun (if you like that feeling of having your body crushed, which I do).
:)