All Is Well

I'm just really busy.

Things are slowly settling down. I still really enjoy work, and am finding that I enjoy certain aspects of the practice group more than others (I really like one area of law and the other is not really my cup of tea). My training is going mostly well; my volume is higher than it's been but is well-balanced, and my coach is thoroughly kicking my ass but I can feel myself getting stronger already. I raced in the Baltimore half-marathon a few weeks ago and demolished my old PR by 20 minutes. And I think I can go even faster in the Philadelphia half-marathon next month.

Being in school and basically setting my own schedule was such a luxury. I could work out, or go food shopping, or do whatever, in the middle of the day and do my work at night. That meant I could work out when it was light out, or go to the store when it wasn't super-crowded. Now that I've joined the working world I'm running when it's dark out and going to the supermarket (and standing in the check-out lines) with everyone else. Ah, well - not much I can do about it besides get used to it.

I'm really fortunate that Speedy and I share this triathlon habit. Instead of one of us running off to get a workout in after work, we can go together, and it's so much better than going from work to workout and having even less time together. Because we can work out together, we can spend more time together. Corny? Maybe. But it seems to work for us :)

I'm Looking for Inspiration . . .

. . . but really, it has to come from within. Because I've got plenty of external motivation, like all those people about to rock out at Kona this weekend. They're about to race at freaking Kona, and I'm bitching about a 3000-yard swim workout in a nice heated pool. Sigh.

Anyway, I've been having lots of trouble getting my ass in gear, especially when it comes to swimming. Even with workouts that mix things up, I can't get the motivation to go get in the pool, especially when I get home from work.

And I blew out the back tire on my bike last week, and still haven't replaced it. Or gotten the wheel trued.

But running is going well; I'm feeling good and have the Baltimore half-marathon coming up this weekend, which should be a lot of fun. It'll be me and 5,500 of my closest friends. And we're staying in a hotel right near the starting and finish lines, so we don't even have to leave too early to get to the start in time, nor will we have to travel far back to our room. Which is good, because that means I can save my legs for the walking around the Inner Harbor we're going to do Saturday afternoon :)

It'll come. Maybe I need to start planning my races for next year; that might get me going.

But, work is awesome. I was assigned to my first choice of practice groups, and the people seem wicked smart but also a ton of fun. Not only that, but they're not laughing at my stupid questions, but are giving me the time and direction I need to figure things out. Today, I had a (very basic) question about a (very basic) part of our practice, and instead of pointing out a book I could use to find the answer, one of the senior associates sat in my office and explained it to me. And then he pointed out a book I could use to get more info, but that he took the time to sit down and talk to me was great. But I'm freaking exhausted every day when I come home, which I'm sure isn't helping my workout motivation at all.

It'll come, though. Things will calm down, I'll learn the ropes at work, and things will come together again. It's just going to take some time.

Excuse me . . .

That's Cheaper Than Therapy, Esquire, thankyouverymuch.

Which means . . .

I PASSED!!!!

Of Blown Tires, Broken Bones, and New Jobs

My weekend started out fine.

I hadn't been on the bike in 3 weeks or so, and on Saturday morning Speedy and I went for an easy ride near our house, and it was great. My legs felt great, but my aero endurance was gone and my, um, nether regions had a rather rough reintroduction to the saddle. But it was a good ride. Until about 10 minutes left, and I went over something small and metal and had a blow-out flat in the rear tire, with a shredded tire and tube and a slightly scratched (but not severely damaged) rim. Oops. Fortunately, we were close to a shortcut home, and only had to walk ~0.5 mile back to the house. In our socks, wheeling the bikes.

From there, we were planning to go to Speedy's parents' house for the day, but as we were getting ready my phone rings. It's my mom, saying, "First, she's okay, but [Youngest Sister] is in the hospital; we think she broke her leg." She was playing rugby, and fell while her foot was planted. So I headed over to my parents', brought them dinner since they were in the ER all day, and ended up staying the night to help out because my sister was in a full-leg brace (not to mention a lot of pain). They went to see an ortho surgeon today, and it turns out that she broke her leg in 3 places, tore a stabilizing ligament, and dislocated her ankle. She's having surgery next week.

It definitely deserves mention that my sister is one of the toughest people I know. She walked off the field after getting hurt. With these terrible injuries to her leg. And wanted to stay and watch the game for a little while before heading to the ER (at that point, they didn't know how badly she was injured). Are you kidding? I'd have been curled up in the fetal position and crying like a baby if that had happened to me. She's unbelievable.

And today was my first day of my new job. I've only been working towards this for the last three years. Unfortunately, this is just orientation and is pretty slow, but I'm sure I'll be pretty freaking busy very soon.

Oh! I have a new coach. I'm quite sure she'll kick my ass from here to next Tuesday. I think I should be worried :)

Whew. What a weekend.