A quick note...

It's been awhile since I've posted. What have I been doing? It can be summed up as: work, sleep, eat, train - repeat. This year has been crazy busy. My new position at work has me traveling a lot. I miss being home and it makes it hard to get in long bike rides during the week. I have done a 15.5 mile treadmill run on a hotel treadmill. Pure torture. Swimming is another challenge. I've found a few good pools but many times the swim gets sacrificed until I'm home. Not only is travel interfering, but the weather has been TERRIBLE this year! It's been cold and rainy since February. I have not done a single open water swim yet this year which is going to make for an interesting first race on Sunday.

Ironman is just around the corner. Training has been hard. I wish I had more time but at the same time I feel like I'm going to be ready...or as ready as I'm going to be!

On Saturday I ran the Indianapolis Mini Marathon. I finished in 2:05:19. That is a 7-second race PR over last year. I really wanted to finish in under two-hours but it wasn't meant to be. I hit the wall at mile 9 and unfortunately my mind would not get past the discomfort and allow me to push through the last 4 miles. I will beat my PR this year and break 2:00:00. It may not be until the fall, but it will happen. Luckily, I my buddy Andrea showed up in my corral on race morning. She kept my spirits up and we ran most of the race together. It was a good reminder of how much I enjoy running with friends and that I need to make time to train with people.

Jarrett has been a wonderful husband and training partner this year. Not only has he dealt with my craze work and training schedule, he's also come along with me on my long rides. This weekend we rode out to Heritage Lake, about a 60 mile round-trip ride and then I took a little ride around the airport to make my ride 72 miles. The Heritage Lake ride is great. It has hills and two opportunities to make pit stops with clean bathrooms :)

This weekend is Rev3 Knoxville Half-Iron distance race (70.3 miles of fun). Do I feel prepared? Sure. Am I still nervous? Absolutely! It is kind of surreal making my FIRST tri of the year a HIM. Hopefully I remember how to set-up a transition area ;)

Since Jarrett will be traveling with me to the race, we had to find a suitable option for pet care. I feel bad inconveniencing our parents with puppy sitting so we located a local service that came highly recommended by our vet. We are crossing our fingers that all goes well. Maddie is now on Prozac to help deal with her anxiety. So far, it seems to be helping but this will be her first time with a complete stranger. We are hoping that since she gets to stay in her house she will deal with it a little better.

Frosty is awesome this year! We did our first horse show Easter weekend. It was a giant muddy mess but he did pretty well. He was a bit naughty for our first dressage test and we didn't score that well but our second test was the best dressage score we have ever had. It was good enough to put us in 3rd place! Unfortunately he ended up refusing the LAST fence jumping and we didn't place. Overall, I'm happy with how the day went. We did much better then at our last show and he and I are both improving. His jumping has gotten significantly better too. The bad part about all of my travel for work is now I get to see him even less. I hope that things calm down a bit and I can spend more time at the barn this summer and fall after CdA is over.

I will post a race report after Knoxville! Wish me luck :)