The End Of An Era...

I just returned from a lovely weekend with Ruby and friends running the Philadelphia Marathon. It was a long, happy weekend full of real laughter and a few tears as we drove, ate pizza, drove, ate pizza, walked, ate pizza, ran a marathon, and more ate pizza. As we ate all the pizza and drove and drove I had a lot of time to reflect on saying good bye to a dog who lived the kind of life most dogs dream about. Quenton experienced fun travels to far away places, meaningful work and play, human food galore, and plenty of dumpster diving in his 13 and a half. There are only a couple of people that I have made as many crazy memories with! From the day I picked him up from his fairy dogmother, my sister Kim, he didn't have a normal life. After college I was looking for the kind unconditional positive regard from a male that I always knew I deserved and the moment I locked eyes with him I knew he was going to give it! His first night with me I made the mistake of giving into his puppy whimpers by letting him out of the crate to snuggle and it was all downhill after that! Within a week of joining me he totalled my car and caused more concern for my poor parents! His blonde locks and beautiful eyes won them over, sort of like a bad but charming and gorgeous boyfriend (the kind that Q would chew belongings of to make them go away). We had a wild first year together in our little house in Gouverneur. Without friends close by, Q was my training partner as I undertook the job of turning myself into a fast triathlete. When my boyfriend backed out of a week long trip to a race in Tennessee my father decided the only way I could go was with the big yellow monster! Off we went in my little green pickup, with a camp stove and a very loose plan. Our first night on the road we locked ourselves into the back of the truck in a Days Inn parking lot in Ohio, the second night we met an REI employee/dog owner who invited us to stay at his place, and then we hit a hillbilly filled campground in the hills-thanks to Q I was not afraid in any of these semi sketch situations! The morning of the race I sort of had a plan to find a nice shady parking spot where he could get in and out of the back of the truck and stay cool. If you had the pleasure of meeting my big spaz attack, you know this was a bad bad bad idea! Fortunately, the Boy Scouts were in charge of parking that day and for no money at all they agreed to dog sit during the race! The 4 times I got to run by him that day he barked wildly and almost dragged the boy right out onto the course with me. We finished the week with a stop to a friend who lived in his parents beautiful home near Philly. The idea for this day was Q could play with my friends dogs in the back yard while we trained. We walked into the immaculately landscaped backyard, complete with coy pond and 3 foot fence and I asked, "do you value those fish and how do your dogs stay contained in that fence?" We tried to keep him in the back yard but huskies have serious separation anxiety and the clean, clear doors lining the back of the house were quickly covered in muddy Q paws. I took him to a park and ran the hell out of him and he had to spend the rest of the day in his kennel (the back of the truck). So much shedding that week and so many botched plans, but one of my favorite trips of my life! Too many memories! More to come...

Happy Saturday!

Dear Amy, Please take a couple of moments and remember how good you feel right now. How good it felt to get up and out the door and onto the treadmill and bike. How good it felt to sneak back into the house, despite the senile barking dog, and make scones out of whole wheat flour. Remember how happy you were to see Ruby when she stumbled into the kitchen all messy haired and groggy. How you did all your work and showered before 10am and you even combed your hair! You got this Saturday morning right Amy, you got up and put your body to work. You killed your brick and sweated-A LOT! You crossed a recipe off your list and your husband didn't even notice the wheat flour. Because you got this morning right you were a better person all day long. Please don't forget because you get another chance to nail it again tomorrow!

This evening at dinner the scary thing that I did was say my goal for next week out loud. We are headed to Las Vegas in 5 days for the 70.3 World Championships and much of the last 3 months have been devoted to this race. I like to keep my goals a secret, but today I did something scary and said the goal out loud. The only reason I could say it was the amazing feeling of complete preparedness I'm feeling right now. When I spoke with Coach Julio about last year's marathon prep vs. this year's half ironman prep he said, "you just weren't ready for it and now you're ready." Like always, he is 100% correct. I was ready to get back into a pattern of working hard and testing my lungs and legs, but it all led me back to triathlon. I have some trouble stomaching taking time and money away from my family, but I'm also hard for them to stomach if I'm not working toward a goal. In May I never would have guessed that I would be "all in" for triathlon this year, but a weekend in Westchester around fun friends and a great coach got the wheels turning! Coach Julio had me jump in the very next day with a long run followed by 800's in Rockefeller Park and that started the 4 week frenzy to qualify for 70.3 Worlds. Within days the bike rack was back on my car, I dug out my swim goggles and 12 year old wetsuit, and I even ordered 2 of the most ridiculous tri suits you've ever seen! Somehow we were able to pull it all together to get a Worlds spot at Providence 70.3(my not so secret goal, my secret goal was to be the top amateur-check). Now it's September and we're on our way to Vegas! I've had a good summer following Julio's plan, as best as I possibly could, and my family has supported the super early 4 and 5 plus hour workouts. Even the dogs almost understand that bike clothes, aren't running clothes and when I wear the bike clothes our run must wait a few hours! Thank you family, Julio, friends and puppies for your patience and understanding-one more week to taper without getting too snappy with my loved once a quick trip to the desert to prance around in my tri suit and we'll be back to praying for snow!