Miss Me?

Well, in the two months since my last post I have:

1. Raced in (and finished) the Nation's Triathlon
2. Came home and raced in the Tropical Triathlon (and did it 13 minutes faster than my last sprint tri)
3. Raced in three local 5K races  (and had my best finish time ever!)
4. Welcomed a new nephew and another cousin into the world!

It's been a good couple of months!
You may have noticed that I kept the title of my blog, but I did change the banner heading.  I realized in the last few months that even though I am no longer training for a triathlon, I still have a lot to say.  I thought maybe there's one or two of you out there who might want to hear it as well.  I could be wrong. Only time will tell.

Team in Training is never far from my thoughts, and I keep in touch with a quite a few folks that I met during my training.  I am now out there recruiting for upcoming races, but have not yet committed to another myself.  Frankly I still find the fundraising a bit daunting.  There is no question in my mind that this is a good cause and an incredible organization, I just wish I was better at raising money.  Every time I buy a lottery ticket, one of the first things I promise to do when I win is sign up for another race with the Team, and write them a big, fat check - enough to cover the minimums for me and all of my Teammates!
Until then, I'll sit on the sidelines and help my friends with their fundraisers.

Unless... anyone out there wants to write the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society a big fat check in my name?

Wait... before you do that, could you buy me a new bike first?

Now that my coached rides are over, I have been riding either by myself or with one or two friends on the weekends.  I am no longer isolated by my group of Teammates and I have found myself out there with... them.
Yes, the huge marauding packs of testosterone-charged men on very expensive bikes going approximately 30 mph (maybe faster, it's hard to tell when I am cowering on the far right of the bike path trying to stay upright as 50 bikes whiz past me).  Occasionally I'll catch a random comment from them regarding my bike.  I have heard the terms, dinosaur, antique, old school... I choose to take them as compliments!
So yes, a new bike (or even one made in the past 5 years) would make me happy.
But, I think I can manage just fine on the old one, thank you very much.
I'd rather have the money go to the Team.

In other news, I'm glad things seem to have settled down after election day.  I was so happy when the phone calls and negative commercials stopped.  I just wish the American voters weren't so fickle.  They seem to forget that politicians are just regular people like you or I.  No one has all the answers.  If one party isn't working, let's all vote for the other guy!  Oh, wait, that's not working either; let's vote for all the other guys again!  I remain hopeful, as always.  Of course, the Europeans all think we're insanely impatient (duh).  But our government has only been around for a couple of hundred years - we'll mature in another hundred or so (maybe).

During the Nation's Triathlon, we ran past the Washington Monument.  As I was approaching the base of the monument, I heard loud music and cheering, drums, more cheering.  Of course I assumed it was all for the runners (hahahahaha!).  As I got a little closer, I noticed the fife and drum corps, the people in Revolutionary War-type outfits, and the signs. 
It was the TEA party rally.  I had to laugh.  I'm sure if I had stopped to read any of the signs, I probably would have cried.
I just thought... "What a country!" Where else in the world is anyone guaranteed the freedom to have a huge political rally (one which totally opposes the current administration, by the way), and have it occur a few feet from a huge endurance event with 7000 participants?  No one got in each other's way, and as far as I could tell, everyone's event went on as planned. 
Mine did, anyway.  I finished strong and happy.  Here's some photos taken by my good friend Veronica Webber.  She lives in MD, and drove down for the day to cheer me on and take some really good photos:

What an amazing feeling it was to finish this race!  I could NOT stop smiling.  And, of course, now as I am looking though the photos and reading my old blogs, I am thinking about signing up for my next event.  There's been some talk about the group signing up for a century ride (that's a 100-mile ride) next November in Tuscon.  Might be fun, but I'm not so sure I would want to spend 6 hours on my bike.

I guess I have some time to think about it (and time to upgrade the wheels).  For now, I think I'll stick to the local foot races (not a whole lot of swimming going on even in a South Florida winter) and try to improve my times.