What A Day!!

!!!!!

The extra exclamation points are definitely required at the moment.  As I sit here drinking my chocolate almond recovery milk, I feel I can now (tentatively) say...I'M BACK!!  This past weekend was horrible.  But things started taking a turn for the better yesterday evening.  I did absolutely no training yesterday...but I did something to repair my sole(s) a bit.  I now have happy toes, and happy fingers.  And the time spent with a friend did much for my mental health. 

Beyond that, I got to bed on time last night, and slept quite well, apparently.  I woke up this morning, and after being reminded about TV being available on Hulu, I decided to check it out before I went for a spin this morning.  I was uber ecstatic to find Top Gear, only to then realize that it was the substandard American version :/  It was still ok.  But the spin went well.  The only thing I can say is that while traveling about the country, Cedic and I spent far too much time apart, and my sit bones told me (screamed) this morning.  But best of all, I went swimming after work...and WOW...WAHOO...YIPEE!!  It went ok. 

Seriously, I was nervous about swimming.  I don't think I've swam since Luray...so to say the least, my hopes for a decent swim were low.  But yowza, what happened?  I was gliding through the water, swimming with such a relaxed stroke I wasn't really sure it was my stroke.  Ok, so perhaps the muscle that I lost during traveling, which was replaced by fat helped with my buoyancy.  But who cares!  That swim rocked!!  The only thing that stunk was that it only lasted a half hour.  One of my complaints about this gym is that you only get a half an hour in the pool if people are waiting.  But that felt awesome.  And I could breathe, which means that I really have gotten over my cold! :)

So, anyway...who would have thought that the pool would have been able to turn my mood around (normally, it's running that does this), but I'm feeling so positive right now!  I'm training for an Ironman...and for now (please remind me of this later) I'm having fun! 

Points to note:  Bonk Breaker energy bars are amazing.  And I might start eating them for breakfast. Combined with coffee, it's possible I could start flying to work.  Also, for all of the frustrations that I have been having lately, I realize that they are still there, but I'm putting things in place to turn things around, and continue moving forward.  So it's not fixed yet, and there is a lot that needs to be considered in the next few weeks/months...but for the moment, I'm feeling like things might actually work out. 

I also (finally) signed up for Waterman's Half.  And I have some very mixed feelings about this.  And I didn't realize it until directly after I clicked submit.  I have no idea what the next race will be that I sign up for.  Since long before I signed up for Arizona, I have said that I would take a bit of time off, I'll run a marathon in 2012...but other than that, I haven't committed to anything.  In fact, I haven't even committed to the marathon that I'll run.  So, in one respect, I'm excited about giving my bank account a break, because the small fortune I've spent (and will continue to spend) on IMAZ is hurting.  And part of me just wants to get through AZ before I make any decisions.  But there is also a part of me that wants to keep going with this whole Ironman thing.  Like, maybe next time I train for one of these, the whole process will be (slightly) easier.  The longer you do this, the better you get.  I understand that I still have time to decide, because IF I do an Ironman next year, it will be Cedar Point.  Oh Lord, if I decide to do another one next year, there is a VERY real possibility that my mother will kill me.  Or at the very least, not speak to me for a significant amount of time.  So I don't know, I can't tell you what the next year will hold.  And that makes me a little sad...because I just don't know.  It's not like I'm going to stop racing, but not having a clear plan (when so much time has been focused on one race for so long) seems...weird.

So, time to make dinner...because I'm officially back on the wagon...and this girl needs a good dinner!