The Rain, A Fitting, and A Plot

It's Day 3 of Rain and we have been promised yet another day of it tomorrow. The 1st day was nice. There is something peaceful about a rainy day. The 2nd day was OK. It resulted in my running alone in our neighborhood yesterday evening - the 1st 4.5 miles in a light and intermittent drizzle; the last mile in steady, heavier rain. I decided I like running in the rain, as long as I'm wearing moisture wicking clothing (which I was). Today, I am over the rain. While I realize we are in a drought, we need not make up for it in one fell swoop.

I blame the rain for making me unable to get up out of bed this morning to go to Lucky's Lake for a swim. I made it to the gym pool however, and did a lovely 2,000 m (1.25 miles) swim . It was rather invigorating. I did the first 500 m, took a 30 second break and then decided to swim the next 1500 all at once. Amazing how strong you can feel after doing a nice long swim like that!

I am hoping that the rain will move along because tomorrow I have a 25 mile bike to do. I will not be nearly as happy doing 25 miles on the trainer as I would be on the open road. But, at least Ruby (my road bike) and I will have a few more training rides together before the new triathlon bike arrives. Today, I went for a fitting for the new Orbea Ora I won. The 49 fit just fine. The 51 will be a bit too big, so the 49 it is. Now they just have to finalize the financials with the person who was in charge of the bike raffle and then they will order my bike. I find it amusing (and expensive) that higher end bikes like these do not come with pedals. So I had to buy pedals for them to install when my new bike arrives. I'll also have to have them move over my bike computer, and I'm hoping to have a bottle holder that fits between the aero bars too so I don't have to even move to drink while riding. My new bike's name may have just come to me - she is red and coming to me from the heart of the Pyrenees (well, Orbea is headquartered there anyway. I can dream, can't I?), so perhaps her name should be Rosa (which, yes I know is Rose, but there are red roses, she is a thing of beauty, and roses are the queen of the flowers, not to mention people get roses often when they WIN!). Only that first ride will tell. I can't wait. I just hope Ruby won't be too jealous.

In news of other obsessions...the past few days my passport has been staring at me, sitting there in my office, luring me with its navy blue cover and gold seal on the front. It wants me to use it. And yes, technically we are going on a cruise to the Bahamas in July. And yes, the Bahamas is a "foreign country." But it's not quite foreign enough. The passport wants more.
So I am plotting. I am angling for a trip to London to visit our friends Kelli & Iain. Early October works for them, Kelli tells me. How cool would it be to go from finishing my first 70.3 IronMan to a trip to England for several days following?

Mr. Darcy is resisting. I think he worries about having to buy tickets for the girls and primarily how they will do on a long plane ride. They have survived 4 hour and 5 hour car rides just fine. Plus we have WorldPoints that, if we want to use them on airfare, we need to use them before June 1st to purchase said air travel. That's 2 of the 4 tickets for "free." The other thought is to let Mr. Darcy be sensible like he wants to be with his points and get new pots and pans and an iPod thing for the house, and I can use my points for travel to a foreign destination... London, Dublin, Quebec for a few days. Not sure which he'd rather endure - the long plane ride with the girls or his being with the girls on his own for a few days. The plot thickens, but the plot twists must be ironed out before June 1st. I'm on a mission!