A Look Back at 2008...

When I was graduating from college (the first time!) my father used to joke me about being a S.A.G. (Shiftless, Aimless and Goalless...not the vehicle that picks up the stragglers in a race!) and while 2007 found me with razor sharp focus towards IMFL, 2008 found me once again a S.A.G! I guess I was tired of riding my bike for hours on end...running, running and more running and swimming so many laps I lost count (ok...it was a lot, but I'm not too good at counting!)....so I started 2008 without much focus on anything, I had a few races I wanted to do, but mostly I wanted to cheer more and race less...in the end it turned out to be a great year. I was able to enjoy racing when I wanted and cheering for my friends as the conquered their new adventures...I was able to hang out with my family and friends past 8pm...I was able to race in the pouring down rain, with water up to the middle of my shin and love every minute of it on more than one occasion...surely I had some good races and of course I had some not so good races but 2008 was without a doubt a success for me on many levels. For 2009 I have some goals...some that have to do with athletics and some that don't...so since the first thing to do is write the goals down...I hereby present 2009 in a nutshell....

Running races until the first week of April...all the while building back my base on the bike and maintaining the swimming...I hope I remember how to ride my bike...it's been a couple of months! A few triathlons...and hopefully graduate school...right now all that is standing between me and graduate school is a 500-700 word essay about my hopes, dreams and aspirations and why becoming a nurse practitioner will help me achieve those...and the GRE's (again...who knew 10+ year old scores were bunk?!)...it's funny how I can babble endlessly about silly stuff but trying to compose an essay, complete with paragraphs and punctuation is not so easy! I think it's the grammar that's holding me back!!

Anyway, with that I'll leave you a few pics from this year... Nay's first 70.3...the 118 degree in the shade weather was kinda a bummer!

Cuz and Stevie G...road trip/racing friends extraordinaire!

Giving new meaning to Turkey Trot!

Meeting Troy...my heart is still a flutter!! ;)

The fam...The two laziest dogs I know...gotta love 'em!

I hope every one's 2008 was what they wanted it to be...and cheers to 2009...may all your dreams come true!!

So What Was In The Box??!!

YES ladies and Gentlemen...that is a MONKEY on my Christmas Tree!!! And that my friends is what was in the box!! OK, so it's a seemingly random gift...a monkey puppet...but it's got a long story starting in 1984 when my parents traveled to California and brought back two things that would alter my life as I knew it...the first we didn't find out about for a couple months, but I can whole heartedly say that even though I celebrate an anniversary of the day he ruined my life with him on December 5th, he didn't really ruin my life...well maybe just a little!! JK Geeko! Anyway, they also brought back a monkey puppet for me and several years later while we were away on vacation, some bad person broke into our house and basically took many things from my room...gym clothes...babysitting money...swim bag...but most importantly the monkey. Over the years, a family wide search effort has been made to locate another monkey puppet without success until obviously this summer when my favorite sister travelled to California and ironically must have found this puppet. While he is not an exact replica...for the record the original one was a girl...I think his older, wiser, Bret Michaels rock star look if fitting for this point in my life! So there you have it...only thing left is the name him...anyone got a suggestion?!!??!!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah etc etc...I promise to make an effort to take a picture of the flamingos during the day this weekend....once the neighbors leave their house!

Christmas a Little Bit Early!

I arrived home from work today with a box on my door step....

On the front of the box was a card that said..."OPEN CARD FIRST"...
So I opened the card....

Cute I thought....wondering if the sister was trying to send me a subliminal message....but then I read the inside...

"NO WAY" I though....and what, you are all wondering, does this message mean....Well I can tell you this, the picture I took with my camera phone does NOT do the gift justice, but my sister...the older, bossy, most favorite sister I've ever had did indeed hit a home run this Christmas season!! But of course the husband has the camera with him so we will have to wait until tomorrow to post a picture of this spectacular mystery gift....I'm pretty sure though that the parental units (even if they weren't already told of this gift which I'm sure they were) know exactly what it is!! So in the mean time I hope everyone has a MERRY CHRISTMAS!! My wishes for a safe and enjoyable day for all! :)

For Mom and Dad!

Flamingos by Christmas Tree Light...I haven't gotten the courage up to take a picture during the day yet...maybe tomorrow! In the mean time, enjoy! :)

Swim Torture Jimbo's Way!

Tonight at swim torture I learned the real meaning of the "+" sign...or at least what Jimbo means when he writes it into the workout....now mind you it took me two explanations and the first 700 of the set, but I totally understand now....so in case anyone out there attends torture in the near future....when the set reads...
3x700 RI 2:00
Break 300+500
middle 200 hard, remember time
300-:10-200-:10-200
...the "+" means "&"!!
But before I figured this out I tried to figure out how 300+500=700 and how funny it was going to be to nail Jimbo in one of my blog entries for his mathematical skilz...I forgot my 200 time and then while he was yelling and meanly scowling at me he explained (a little exasperated I might add) that the breaks in the 700's were at the 300 and 500....then my light bulb went on, my cap turned back to a lovely shade of orange and I completed the next two 700's without incident AND I remembered my 200 time despite a clock malfunction!! Gotta love the torture...I'll do better next week Jimbo I promise...I'll be in a little better swim shape...and hopefully that will translate into more oxygen to the brain therefore better mental acuity while swimming!

December Running Randomness...

It's coooooold here!! Actually it's not too bad, but I'm a total cold wimp....I probably should have been an animal that hibernates all winter...or maybe I was one in a previous life...so after donning enough layers to give the stay puff marshmallow man a run for his money I went for a quick loop around the neighborhood prior to swim torture. On my run I came to a couple conclusions...first, my house is in the 10% of the neighborhood that is not decorated (yet!)...however, while devoid of decorations, we are not in the 20% of the neighborhood that has enough decorations to share with the neighbors on all sides...we also don't belong to the 5% that keep their decorations up year round...and lastly we are not in the 2% of the 5% that not only keep those decorations up year round, but they light them up!! By far my favorite house in the entire 'hood is the Flamingo House...originally the hubby and I wanted to put Santa in a sleigh being driven by pink flamingos...the only catch...we have a neighbor that LOVES flamingos...he has probably 2 dozen (ok, 23 at my last count) in his front yard...all shades of pink...and they move around the yard every few weeks...you fade to an undesirable pink, you're outta there, replaced by a shiny new flamingo...they are big, small and every size in between. Today as I ran by I had to smile...they are now all surrounding a lighted tree with one on the top...next time I run, I'll bring my camera...it's awesome! Maybe I'll buy a Green light bulb for the front porch light so I'm not the last to decorate! :)

Ikea Commercials...

So it's almost been a week without a post which means that nothing exciting or otherwise blogworthy has happened or occurred to me! The past couple of days I've been searching the internet in vain trying to find the newest Ikea commercial...you know the one with the lady in bed, the alarm rings and there's an older woman sitting on the other side of the bed that says something to the effect of "I know you are really into this exercising thing, but this mattress is perfect for you as a side sleeper, so go ahead, cover yourself back up and hit that snooze alarm, there will be another day..." Awesome and funny...it's exactly how I feel right now!! So, if anyone out there is way more savvy than me...which I know is asking a lot of the 4 people that actually read this blog....can you find me that commercial?!?! :)