cool way to track where you've been

All moved in, no offers on the house but not yet concerned; average time on the market for houses in my price range is about 3-4 months.

Is it only June??

So although the date at the top of the post says June 6, I actually didn't post this 'till June 12...sorry for the lag time.


It seems like forever since I've sat down to do a posting to the blog. The lowdown in brief is this:

April -- Completed the Big Sur marathon...had a fantastic time and it was an experience of a lifetime.

May -- Put the house on the market and had an open house the same weekend as Columbia triathlon, where I took about 12 min off my time from last year by improving my run time [thanks to marathon training].

June -- Living in the "stepford" house while on the market, making plans to make the big move to 1024 G Street, and oh yea, completing Eagleman for the 2nd time. Took about 11 min off my time from the previous year due in part to a better swim [better conditions] and run.

So, here I am early Tuesday morning, June 12, taking stock of what's past and what's to come. I'm still slightly brain dead from Sunday which was a grueling [but not as bad as 2 yrs ago] day. The house looks amazing, and I booked movers yesterday so the drop dead date for wrapping things up and embarking on co-habitation is June 22, 9 a.m. Plenty to do between now and then. Had to make sure that the moving company could hoist things out a window since that's how the majority of my furniture made it up stairs in the first place. I've also been interviewing people who will keep the new house clean ... as allergen free as possible and keep the dog hair to a minimum.

Brief race report from Eagleman:[edit; I discovered today that while I placed 4th in the Athena category with my finish time, they gave awards down the the top 5...so I got an award and wasn't there to revel in the glory!!! Oh well, I now will have confirmation that I am indeed a goddess].

Was hoping for a decent day with low wind, no jellyfish, and overcast conditions. Well, I got most of my wish; no jellyfish, lower wind, and half overcast, half sun. Conditions were great, the swim was fast because the current was in our favor on the way back, not too many waves and fairly easy to sight; the pros came out of the water in about 21 min. I personally took a bit longer; 44 min.

Transition was a little different than in the past; the entrance was on the side, closer to the swim start. So the run from the swim exit to transition was longer and it took me longer to get the wet suit off, and get into gear for the bike. Forgot to reapply sunscreen but I had it on from prior to the swim....some protection is better than none, right? Head out on to the bike. I haven't been biking as much as I have in the past and therefore my butt and back weren't as accustomed to the 3 hr ride in the wind and flat conditions. The first half was fairly easy, keeping to about a 20 mph average which I could have pushed if I really wanted to explode on the back half of the course. Really really wanted to keep my average from last year and just had a tough time staying focused or mentally engaged; last year it seemed easier since I knew there were several folks out there I could catch up to...this year, not so much. Coming back along Egypt Road was hard [stiff headwind] and I got distracted on Rt 334 looking at the runners along the course, looking for John on the run. Got back to the park, racked my bike, did as quick of a transition as I could muster [still slow] and took off running; total bike time: 3:06:51

Run was decent, but while I was faster this year on average, last year I was more comfortable. Which is better? Comfort or speed?? Still not sure about that one. Nevertheless, I got to see John on his way back from his stellar run [he finished overall in less than 5:30] and he told me that "the first 15 miles are fun" which is what I said about the marathon. The woman running with me at the time wondered what race he was doing...she was only going to run 13.1 miles. I had an idea that I'd pick up the pace between water stops thereby allowing me to walk a portion of the stops without loosing too much time. That worked until about mile 8 when I just felt deflated and tired. I walked from mile marker 9 to the end of the water stop [probably at least .2 miles]. After that, I vowed to slowly regain my pace and at mile 10 pick it up steadily and then at mile 12, go all out maxing out my heart rate 'till the end. This worked; hit mile 11 feeling pretty good, visualized mile 12 and once I hit that, I turned on the gas and kept my HR above 175, maxed out at 188 and ran my fastest mile of the day [sub 10 min mile] and finished at 6:20:20.

So there, my recent actions for the past few months, house is still in "show" condition [yea, can't believe it either...where does the clutter go?] and am now going to focus on a more base training mode [is that backwards? Run a marathon and 1/2 Ironman and THEN focus on base building?]. I'm starting a beginner running group on Tuesday nights to force myself to do some sprint workouts on a regular basis and will keep up with the swimming and longer runs; also making an effort to bring biking back into the fold as I think this year I slacked thinking that as my strongest leg, I didn't need to be so focused on it. Wrong!! Also thinking of not signing up for any big races next year and just lay low...feeling some of the effects of burnout overall.

Hope to see you all soon!!!

Cory