Today was a frighteningly productive day.  Went through 3 boxes of junk from the move (most of which will be out at the curb tonight, of course I could not do that BEFORE moving), relocated a dresser, setup a new bookshelf, laundry, some more laundry, repeatedly dried off the dog since he seems to enjoy sitting out on the deck in the rain (despite the fact that the door is open and he can come in whenever he wants) got the remnants of last evening's soup fest cleaned up & put away, and finally started getting classes picked out now that summer is actually over.

The week off is doing me good. Besides the good downtime & bad behaviour, I'm actually getting things done around the house. I don't know why this week I'm being so productive, cause it's not like training took that much time out of my day, but it's a good thing anyway.

The hazard of dating a chef: "If you really want to drop money on kitchen stuff, Sur la Table is the place to go." (I've been there. It's dangerous and it's good that there isn't one nearby.)

As much as I love summer, it is nice when the cooler temps hit and I can actually start cooking again.  (Somehow firing up the stove when it's 90+ out doesn't appeal.)  Despite being a fair to middlin' cook, when I am doing real cooking, it is an event.  Crank up the tunes, newest kitchen gadget in right hand, glass of red wine in left hand, and dancing and singing through the kitchen. :)

Tonight, potato corn chowder, based on the recipe for Baked Potato Soup from Tony Roma's.  Came out pretty well - the pepper/basil/thyme seems to be coming through stronger than I remember, but it could be my imagination.  Still, YUM. 

It's grey, cool, and definitely not summer anymore. It's time to make soup!!!! :-D Today also confirmed something I should have learned by now, but haven't. I cannot walk into a Williams Sonoma store and leave empty handed.

Good morning all!! Man, two days off and now I'm finding myself plotting out how I should handle the off-season and what I should be going for next year. :)

I love this sport. I feel SO lucky that I can do this to begin with, and even though I am spectacularly slow, I can still turn around and help someone else along. How cool is that?

MCM # 25061 - gold wave, 8:40 AM start.

I'm thinking this is going to be a big ol' behaving badly slacker week. Tri season ended at *just* the right time for me.

This season has been fantastic. I have learned SO much, not just about tris, but about what I am capable of - this time last year, I was a month into all this, and if someone had told me I would have finished an Olympic distance by now, I probably would have laughed so hard that beer came out my nose. I've also made some absolutely spectacular friends here who share so wonderfully in my victories, and that's pretty special.

Given that my swimming kinda sucks (let's face it, it's more of an exercise in "find the most entertaining way of not drowning" ) one of my goals in the back of my head was "some day I want to be a swim angel for someone" - despite my overall spazziness, I am kinda good at being a calming influence (kinda weird, but there you go) - being able to help someone else on a swim would be awesome. Well, little did I know it would happen this season. Remember Lizzie that I mentioned in my race report? Well, she submitted her report to the Reston tri club, and this section near made me cry:

Felt I could maybe do this as the help and support was fantastic. Saw my husband and daughter (who were volunteering) in the canoe and felt much cheered and Cindy helped me feel really relaxed as did the other swimmer who was there.

Season 1. Mission Accomplished.

MudRun Report and pictures!

Still basking in the afterglow. (Of the RACE - get your minds out of the gutters!) I still can't quite believe I did it.

The date didn't end up exactly being a date, but we salvaged the evening quite nicely. He got a call just before leaving work that a family member was in the hospital, so things went on hold while that got sorted out and we ended up having a nice late evening on the couch, watching SportsCenter and killing a bottle of wine and decompressing and it was just right. He wanted to hear everything about the race :) and I lost count of how many times he reminded me of what I'd accomplished yesterday. He passed the dog & cat tests, thinks my bike is awesome and once the hospital situation is all settled down, we're going to do a real date. (I also lost count of how many times he apologized for everything going screwy.)

Rest & massage today. I kinda think I've earned that reward.

Doing some last minute mad dash housecleaning (this will help me from being totally stiff tomorrow, right?  RIGHT?)  and very proudly wearing my Reston Tri hat. :-D

Race report is done.

Did it. Course time limits be damned. Short version - times from my watch & results:

-- DID NOT DIE!!!!! (Extra important as Death by Tri would seriously screw up my date tonight.)
-- Swim: Had to ditch goggles. Should have ditched wetsuit. Phillip, #66, is an angel.
-- Bike: Felt a little faster, but who knows. Still not nearly as hard as IG was to me.
-- Run: Spent a lot of time looking at the writing on my arm.
-- Possibly the most intense and amazing emotional effort on my part, probably in my life.

Overall, it was awesome. (Though I will admit - I am SO glad this caps off my season! I don't think I could do this again anytime soon.)

Calls you don't want to get. "Can you run for someone tomorrow? He died in Iraq..." I've got "Do it for Mike" written on the inside of my arm today.

I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with how quickly I can get my transition bag together these days, as opposed to it taking what seemed like *hours* before Virginia Run. :) 

So, the MudRun ended up getting scheduled for the 9th instead of the 16th like they originally thought. Spent a TON of time debating if I should do it or not, and decided to do it, for a couple reasons:

1. I certainly wouldn't be "racing" it.
2. I convinced my little brother to do it with me, and who knows when THAT will happen again.
3. I really, really wanted to do it.

SO MUCH FUN!! Race report to come eventually, gotta go get everything set for tomorrow.

Goals for tomorrow:
-- Don't die
-- Have fun
-- Finish in <4 hours
-- Out of water by 8:15
-- Off bike by 10:00 (9:45 would kick ass)
-- Finish run by 11:18
-- Keep total transition time <10 minutes

Not dead, just on a little road trip, back this afternoon sometime.

Good morning.  Not heading out til this afternoon, just impressed with myself that I got up early enough to actually sit down and have my morning coffee and relax before dashing out the door.   

Not dead, just on a little road trip, back tomorrow afternoon.