Friday, October 9, 2009

And We all Fall Down

Well, maybe not us, but the leaves for sure!

Usually, my birthday weekend means the height of the Fall Foliage coloring here in CT - not so much this year. Rain and crazy wind has dimmed the colors on most trees, but you can find a few beauties out there!

Things are returning to normal training-wise after last weekend's 1/2 Iron tri - a massage on Tuesday brought me right round, I'm even napping less this week than I was last week! By napping less, I mean that I nap on purpose...once...not multiple involuntary naps.

Someone asked me this week if I was sad to not be racing Kona this year and all I could say was "Thank goodness I'm not racing Kona this weekend!" I don't think he understood my excitement at NOT racing, but perhaps watching it this weekend online will inspire me to go back again...

Lots happening this week with race prep, Ironman prep and PARTY prep! This weekend marks my 25th year on this earth - woot!

After finishing 'The Lost Symbol' this morning, I decided to do a bit of cleanup for celebrations this weekend. It got me thinking about where I'm going, what I'd like to do, who I'd like to be and where I've been. I decided a long time ago to stop feeling regret, anger or upset about anything in the past. Even something horrific can be looked at in a positive light if given enough distance (and overused cliches).

At (just about) 25, I all of a sudden realized that my new 5 year plan includes some major life changes. It is pretty likely that in these next 5 years, I will finally want to settle down, start a family, buy a house. Gosh, I'm just not ready to be that adult yet! (Of course, the other part of my 5-year plan is to build my business, race and win a 100 mile running race, travel a bit more and climb a mountain - maybe not Everest in 5 years, but sometime!).

Chatting with a friend when out for a run this week, I asked her when she started her retirement fund, a fund for children and so on. I should preface this by saying that she is one of the most "together" people I know - her reply to me? "We didn't start any of that until well into our 30's - relax already, Mandy!"

Oh yea, Relaxing, why didn't I think of that? I remind myself to do that when training, racing, enjoying time with friends... why didn't it occur to me as I had this life-flip-out?! I suppose like a long distance race, we just need to take it one step, one moment, one feeling at a time.

Happy long weekend y'all and GOOD LUCK to everyone racing in Kona, Hartford and Chicago this weekend!

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