Is that an elbow or shoulder ache? I don't know. But it IS all one blur of pain.

Man. I am beat.

I swam this morning, but got out after piddling around for 50 minutes while the rest of the team swam like champs. Although, I must take this moment to state that one of our Lane 13 ladies did not keep her promise to show up today and keep our streak alive. For shame. Of course, said party will remain nameless, but J--i, you know you are!

I madly packed, delivered presents, ran errands, and then lifted weights with my mother. This seems cheesy, but let me tell you: my Mom is strong! I just try to keep up with her and not embarrass myself. By the time this half-iron rolls around, I better be beating her in all strength categories. As of right now the score stands at Mother:1; Daughter: 0. This will not do.

So, in addition to recovering from mono, not having lifted for four months (-ish), and having worked out every day this week for the first time in I can't remember how long, I am struggling to keep my eyes open. And my father just informed me he wants me to take him to see a movie. Sherlock Holmes. I was nervous about taking him since I am afraid that I will fall asleep, but then I remembered that Jude Law will be on the screen so I can have some eye candy to stare at and motivate me. All is well with the world.

And tomorrow we leave for the class in South America for two weeks! Now that I have gotten back into an exercising-state-of-mind, it is time to leave the country!

I just had another epiphany: I am terrified about biking 56 miles for this thing. What am I going to do? I have got to hunt down my cycling enthusiast peeps. I just signed up for Steve M.'s MS 150 training series emails. I wrote him this humorous (well, at least in my opinion) email telling him that I enjoyed training with him and the huge group, but am in school, can't financially or logistically afford the training times and fees, but will ride on my own somehow. How will this happen? Who knows. Scary.

3 for 3

The ladies in Lane 13 are ahead of the NYR curve: we have been to every morning practice prior to NYE. And to think: all of us would not have come this morning, but we knew we would catch all kinds of crap from each other tomorrow. It was nasty: cold rain, cold concrete, cold water. Yeesh. Bu the swimming and the company were marvelous. I must say, I wish I was one of the Thoroughbreds: they are so fast. That's a good goal, right? It can happen....just gotta keep going....but then I would have to leave King Al and the Court of Lane 13. Hm.

We are leaving on Friday to go to South America for the MGMT 797 class. Darn. Just as this thing got going.. Oh, well. This will be considered a short hiatus. This will be so much fun; how I am looking forward to it!

A Noble Quest? Sadly, no. Let's title this: Crazy Quest.

Completing a half-ironman is a statement I have flapped my gums about for the past 5 years. Has this been accomplished? No. Admittedly there have been detours: life, work, travel, full-time school, mono, etc etc etc. But as my friend Merry says, "there are always excuses. Just pipe down and run!" It's time to light this fire.

For an early graduation present in addition to everything else to be done during 2010 (graduation, work, place to live, still looking for a husband, blah blah blah), I am making myself compete in a half ironman next Fall. This blog will be dedicated to the half-ironman-training-adventure....come what may. I do not envision that reading and writing about swimming, biking, and running will be all too captivating. Nevertheless, this should be interesting given that I was exhausted from a 3-mile walk on Sunday. What a starting point.

The goal: Haven't signed up yet, but there is one competition in consideration thus far:

Longhorn Half-Ironman in Austin, Texas on Sunday, October 17, 2010.

Yikes.

10 months. So much time. And yet, if 2010 is anything like 2009, it will be no time at all.