it has indeed been a while

And owing to that fact and the hiccup that means that I still can't comment on the damn blog despite being a contributor (ah, the lasting joys of the google login switchover!) I am sitting down to update everyone on what's been going on with me...

Summer was an awfully busy time for us. I moved into Alden's townhouse and continued full-time at the university, finishing up a paper with my adivsor at the end of the summer. My year-long leave-of-absence from the doctoral program began on September 15th. Alden and I both lost our paternal grandmothers at the end of the summer which was difficult, but reinforced the importance of family to me and the incredible journey Alden and I were starting together.

Fall was an amazing time with the wedding and all the festivities. Pictures are here. Cory made the trek out and was uberhelpful with the preparations. She even crashed the ceremony itself owing to a liberal interpretation of "immediate" which I will let her 'fess up to... One of my favorite pics of the weekend is of the "wedding crashers" on the early ferry over to the farm.

Alden and I had a lovely honeymoon drive down the coast and ended up in Lake Tahoe for a 3-day tri associated with the Lake Tahoe Marathon. It was crazy disorganized, but mellow and fun once we settled in. Alden had a fabulous race and cycled around the entire lake in 3:17:58.63- w00t! For my part, I won my division of the 3-day tri. It was a great destination and time.

Once back at home, I settled into contract work at Highline|West Seattle Mental Health (where I'd be consulting for almost a year). That quickly turned into full-time employment and I've been enjoying the community side of work. We've submitted some really exciting grant applications and the work is stimulating, rewarding and lots of fun. Good stuff!

Alden literally broke his Cyclocross bike back in November and had to make a quick turn-around purchase of a new one which took us over to a great bike shop in Redmond called Sammamish Valley Cycle. Whilst he was scoping out his options online, he stumbled across an XS Scott carbon frame tri bike way on sale since it was an 06. I hadn't thought about buying a new bike so soon, but knew I wanted to upgrade and had a good idea about what I wanted. The shop was fabulous in terms of talking me through the process and making sure it worked for me. Hence, my first major purchase after receiving my first paycheck in over 2 years was an awesome Scott tri bike. It's only been out once due to the o-so-cruddy Seattle winter weather, but I am looking forward to really breaking it in once spring arrives. I'll be out on my bike quite a bit in the next six months since...

I signed up for an Ironman next summer! After a failed attempt to get into IMMOO with some friends, Cory helped me to find a summer Iron I could do- Vineman down in Northern California. Recently, I learned that she and John will make it out to race as well (John in the full and Cory in the half on the same day). Should be a great time!

I officially started my Ironman training on February 1st and have started a blog to communicate with my coach and anyone else interested in keeping up with what's going on for me. Thanks to the 35 and dryers for the inspiration to get 'er done! Please check it out and comment often.

In preparation for Vineman, I have my racing schedule pretty well set for 08. Not nearly as adventurous as Ms. Churches, but ambitious nonetheless! Here it is:

• National Half with Cory and Meagan (and Molly flying in from Chicago- woo hoo!) on March 29th.
• Vancouver Half with my run club crew on May 4th.
• Victoria Half Iron on June 22nd.
• And the big one- Vineman on August 2nd.
• I'll also probably do some centuries as well-supported training rides and for the confidence they'll instill.
• The end of the summer will be spent with the Family Kroll on our next adventure (a la Croatia) which will be piloting our own boat around canals in Germany. Hey, it's not racing, but it is adventurous!
  

My winter has been full of consolidation- catching up from the frenetic pace of the past couple of years. I feel like I'm finally getting to a place where I can breathe and sit again which is an amazing gift. I'm looking forward to using my renewed energy to grow and train and give back in these next few months both personally and professionally. Hoping you all are finding space for reflection in the midst of all that you do.

Peace out-
Iron McKroll