The Whirlwind of Life

And so it goes... some of you have noticed that I haven't blogged as of late.  No injuries, no atrocities.  Just simply and utterly busy.  Some of the busy was good.  Some of the busy was trying, but none of the busy was bad.  It was only a moment ago that I realized it has been 2 weeks since I last posted.

So let's see if I can catch up a bit. If I can even remember that far back.  I don't think I ever got to the 4x800 sprints.  I think I did an hour on the trainer, followed by another day of yoga because I overslept, and then I got up early - the crack of dawn... before that actually - and ran the 1.3 miles to the Y, did the 45 minute spin class which was rather hard... doable but hard, more for the jumping from position to position, and resulting in my quads and my abs begging for mercy by 30 minutes in... then 1.3 mile run back home.  And yes, somehow I ran it.  I remember that my run to the Y was rather good for me.  1.3 miles in something around 24 minutes.

My parents visited that weekend and it was a good visit.  We took them and the kids to my Dad's Cousin's 65th birthday party, which was a good time even if Mr. Darcy pointed out that we were one of the youngest people there (aside from our kids) to which I remember responding, "it's a 65th Birthday party, what do you expect?"  It was wonderful to see some of the New Jersey family.  It was not wonderful however to be asked on 2 separate occasions by 2 separate people whether I was pregnant.  That spiralled a little bit of overindulgence on the cake eating... because if I'm working so hard and still look pregnant why bother right?  But then the stomach pains and intestinal issues the next day took care of such behavior after that.  I have to say that honestly I am highly considering a tummy tuck at some point in the next couple of years. The irony was that morning I turned to Mr. Darcy and said that really my arms look good, my legs look good and my back and butt even look good, it's just my stomach.  Which I guess is why I look pregnant. Sigh.

Monday it was back to work and lots of Junior League stuff.  Our 1st meeting - a meet and greet and "here's what we expect of you" chat went really well.  I think people are enthusiastic about our program and getting to work with the kids, so I'm optomistic.  Then it was off to Charlotte for 2 days for work.  4 planes in 2 days.  Always a thrill.  That Friday was the girls' annual check up where they were pronounced healthy, looking great and precocious, although Angelfish was acting a little immature which frustrated us.  Then I went to dinner with friends, had some drinks and saw "Eclipse."

Saturday I woke up at 5 am and came super close to not getting out of bed... which would have been a problem since I had a triathlon at 7 am.  A sprint.  All I wanted to do was sleep.  2 big glasses of white sangria and a cup of coffee that had me wired until about 1 am really weren't the best for the night before race day.  Luckily I had slept relatively well Thursday night.

The Moss Park race was good.  I went to transition and ran into several friendly faces as the Team in Training Nations Tri Team was doing the sprint as well.  Then I wandered off for the bathroom, took a dip in the lake which was rather warm (but then it was about 86 before the sun came up and humidity made it feel like a sauna anyway), listened to the pre-race talk about the swim course, and then waited for my wave - all women were in the 2nd wave. 

I was determined to give it my all.  My goal was to beat 1:30, but I also had the goal of not putting too much pressure on myself and having fun with it because to be quite honest the past 2 weeks had been a whirlwind and not a ton of training was had during the week leading up to the race  I didn't quite meet my A goal of 1:30, but I cannot complain because with a time of 1:39:20, I still PR'd by more than 7 minutes and placed 3rd in the Athena Divison.  Hardware!  The other thing to point out is that my previous PR was done in the lovely weather during March while this one was done in the sweltering Summer.  Not to mention the 4 plane rides, only 4 1/2 hours of sleep, and 2 cocktails (1 had me tipsy) the night before.  It made me wonder what I could do if I hadn't had all of that going on.  Proper rest and nutrition might have been the better idea.

So here's a quick race report.  The swim, I felt pretty proud of... 750m in 15:17 or a 2:02 pace per 100m.  I didn't freak out and even pushed another swimmer off of me when she tried to swim right over me.  I wasn't having it.  I was racing!  (I just checked and compared to the last time I did the swim I was 2:02 faster!)I knew I definitely pushed myself on the swim when I ran to transition and was panting so hard that I had to sit down in order to get my shoes on because bending over made me feel like I was going to pass right out.  Total transition was around 4:30 ... about 2 minutes for a 1/4 mile run from the lake to transition and then sitting on my bum for shoes and socks. 

Then I was off again.  The bike was great.  I felt awesome on the bike.  I was tearing it up.  I got passed only about 4 times and was passing tons of people on the bike.  It was great.  My average pace was 18.4 mph.  And I finished in a little over 40 minutes. Oh yeah!  (Last time I did a sprint, my average pace was 14.5 mph - definite improvement!).  When I got off the bike, Mr. Darcy and the girls were there.  Mr. Darcy cheered and the girls looked at me like they didn't know what the heck to say or do because I was jumping off my bike.  Unfortunately, I also felt like puking.  Other than caffeine and alcohol perhaps trying to get out of my system, I had not other reason for wanting to puke.

Transition here felt slow but it was less then 2 minutes, which for me is one of my better transitions.  Again ironic because I switched shoes sitting down and breathed in and out slowly a few times to keep the puke from rising.

Then it was off to run.  Here was the problem.  I know I can do better.  A 13:11 pace.  Looking back, I should have pushed myself much harder on the run.  But I was cramping.  Amazingly it wasn't necessarily my legs, which is why I think I should have pushed a lot harder.  The cramp would rotate from between my clavicle and my neck, to right under my right rib cage, to my right calf.  So I walked a little more than I should have and ran a bit.  I should have pushed through the pain more.  This is the only thing I was really annoyed with the day after, but at the same time it was sweltering and they ran out of water at mile 2, and well, I wasn't exactly in prime prep'd shape for the race to begin with.  I've been running on my own around 11 minute mile paces (and sometimes less), which if I had run in the race would have probably brought me in under 1:30 and moved me to 1st on the Athena podium.  But, it is what it is.  And I had a bloody great time doing the race and getting 3rd (not to mention having a great time with my friends the night before)!

After the race and getting my plaque, it was home for a shower and to hang out with the girls and then we headed to a bowling party for Mr. Darcy's alumni association gathering.  The girls were great thank goodness because I had a splitting headache and needed a nap.  4 pm rolled around and we headed back to the house where I promptly took a NAP!

And all between this, I have been working on a little something.  A little corporation... where I can do estate planning, probate, corporate and tax law (and maybe some guardianship) on a part-time basis outside of my 9 to 5 job. Independent consulting on the parts of law that I love - the "I feel like I actually helped someone today" sorts of things - for a good friend's firm.  I hadn't thought about having a part-time of counsel position on top of my full time job until Ms. J. started planting hints in my brain over the past few months and sending her law partner to me with questions about estate planning that she was attempting for folks and got those juices flowing again.  Extra money is never a bad thing, and some fun legal work outside of my full time gig isn't a bad thing either.  I'm not much of a risk taker when it comes to every day life stuff (other than triathlon and that stint of skydiving I did pre-children), and even though this really isn't a "risk" it sort of feels like one.  It's good to get out of the box.... even if figuring out details and forming a professional corporation have been eating up a bunch of my free time (ok pretty much any waking moment that I'm not working my full time job or watching the kids).

Because of the little something, I may have to cut back on some training at first which is a bit of a bother but I'm finding that I really don't have time for every single thing.  But not to fear.  I have a plan.  MWF of running to the Y, spin class kicking my butt possibly followed by the abs class, and then running home.  TR with yoga and a total body toning class.  This week was supposed to be the start and then I realized how many conference calls I had - not to mention having a hard time getting out of bed ... I am wondering if my thyroid meds need to be increased...so I am 100% committed to starting it next Monday. On the dot.  I hate to say that my blogging may suffer as well, but I will do my best to blog from time to time and keep in touch with your blogs as well.

Oh, and I've joined the ranks of the evil.  I have purchased a nook... with some gift cards "earned" through my world points credit card over the past year and a half.  I could almost hear books screaming as I made the purchase... telling me I will be sorry and miss turning those nice paper pages of my friends the books.  But then my bookshelves will thank me as they are overfull and have to be thinned out with donations to charity of books that I can part with.  My nook can store 1 million books. And it has a snazzy woodcut of Edgar Allen Poe with a raven when it's off and charging.  plus I can download a book at the beach.  Or when I just plum finish a book and have to find a new one to read.  I am going to have to pace myself.  I'm already anxious for it to finish charging.  Why don't they come pre-charged?  I was all set to read The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest for some evening wind down, but for that charging nonsense.

But then it gave me a moment to take a break from the whirlwind that has been my life as of late, and hit some blog reading... so perhaps it did me a little favor.