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!