Catching up.

I have been finished with school for 8 days now. People seem to think I should be relaxing, but this past week has actually been a little nuts. I put off a lot of people and things in order to get through my crazy month of April, and those people/things were all waiting for me in May. So, now I am slowly catching up.

As part of my catching up, here are some updates on the things this blog is usually about:

Running: Shockingly, I am now only 3 week away from the Virginia Wine Country Half-Marathon, which my friend Katie and I are running as part of my 32nd birthday celebration. Katie also just finished the Loyola PC program, and this race has snuck up on both of us. We have both been running semi-regularly the past few months, but we have definitely not been training. So, tomorrow morning, we're going to skip ahead to the 10-mile long run portion of half-marathon training and just see how it goes. Wish us luck.

In other running news, I am slowly adjusting to the idea of doing another marathon this fall. When I first got the news about NYC, I was fairly apprehensive. I just did not feel ready for MCM and I do not want to have that experience again. Over the past couple weeks, though, I have thought a lot about where I am now compared to where I was when I started my MCM training last year. I have worked hard on my running ever since MCM, and losing some weight has really made things easier. When I consider the progress I've made, I realize that I will be starting my NYC training in better shape than when I finished my MCM training. That is very encouraging.

Tri Training: Over the past few weeks, I have realized that training for three sports at once is as much a logistical challenge as a physical one. For awhile, I really focused on my swimming. Now, my swimming is way better, but I realized today that I have not been on my bike in 3 weeks. D'oh! I was always amazed by the physical strength of people who manage to complete Ironman events. Now, I am equally amazed at their organizational abilities. I really do not understand how someone completes an Ironman without becoming unemployed and/or divorced in the process.

Weight Watchers: Once again, I am a plateau. In the past four weeks, I have gained and lost the same 2.5 pounds twice. I blame the craziness of last month and my recent travel. This week, I am trying very hard to re-focus and get things moving again. One thing helping my motivation is that I find myself between sizes right now. Fortunately, I held on to some smaller pants and shorts from the first time I lost weight on WW. At the moment, the pants and shorts I wore for the past few years are all too big, but the smaller ones are still a little tight. So, every day I choose between looking frumpy and struggling to breathe. Lately, I've been wearing the smaller pants and hoping they will remind me to stay focused on my goal.

So, those are my updates. This weekend is my long run with Katie and another tri training class, so I'm sure you'll hear from me again soon!