Off On Another Adventure

Have I ever gone a month without blogging?  I swear this is not like me and I hope to be much more consistent.  It may not matter much since people have probably stopped bothering to even check here!

So, what has happened in the past month?  I'd like to say winter, but the truth is, not really.  I'm not that anxious to leave because the weather has been incredibly mild.  I think I heard on the news that Boston has gotten five FEET less snow than last year by this time.  We only have snow left in those shady spots that almost never see sun.  We've had a couple of little 3-4" squalls but nothing beyond that since the craziness that was the October blizzard.  I was worried when it started so soon, but it seems instead of being a sign of things to come, it was just us getting it all out of the way incredibly early.

So I've been training, and riding the trainer, and running outside but never really in bed weather though at least some of the time it's cold.  Swimming, never having to worry about driving to the pool in the snow.  It's been really, really easy actually.  I don't mean the training, I just mean doing it in winter.  It's like the opposite of last year, so I definitely don't care that I haven't left yet.

But I didn't stick it out the entire time.  Southwest has a very nice policy where without penalty you can change a ticket as long as you use the funds within a year of when you booked it.  About the only good thing that came out of my broken foot was the unused plane ticket, and I was running out of time to use it.  The problem was, I wasn't flying anywhere.  I'm driving!  So I talked to my QT2 teammate and friend Michelle who recently moved from Boston to Newport Beach, CA and I decided to go out and visit to train, and the difference was $18 from my Idaho ticket.  Perfect! 

The weather was nice, though not that warm and it wound up pouring rain on my long ride day.  Pouring rain is not that much fun but it also wasn't that cold, so it wasn't too bad.  Certainly a heck of a lot warmer than the day I rode the Kanc with Jesse and Cait in the rain and we had to stop at the ski shop so they could buy more clothes to survive the ride.  Got to ride on the coast, run on some random trails, occasionally wind up on roads that scared the crap out of me once I realized the bike lane had disappeared and cars were flying right by, all good stuff.  It's just too bad that Michelle had to work a lot, so our training together consisted of two swims in the nice lap pool that is right in her apartment complex.  I also got to go and meet up with one of my best friends from college and her husband and kids.  They live in Santa Ana and yet I've seen them on three occasions in the past year.  Stayed with them last April to train for a week, then they came to stay with me in September for another of our friend's weddings, and then this visit now.  I do get around.

Then I got to train some more and now, somehow, it is the end of my winter training in New Hampshire as in the morning I'm heading down south until after Ironman Texas.  I must be crazy to keep doing this.  But I also sometimes stop and think how ridiculous my life is.  I didn't start packing until this morning, but if you think about it, it's not much more than packing for a race, you just need more clothes.  I was done by like 1:00, which was good because I'm exhausted!

I had gotten up at 4:40 this morning to get to the gym and swim right when they opened.  It was the first time I've ever arrived and there was nobody else there.  No matter how early I've gone in the past - and a couple of times I've been there like 20 minutes before they even open just because I had to drop someone off at the airport, which is right next to the gym, and had to wait for it to open.  And there has always been at least one guy, usually two or three, parked there reading the paper until it opens.  They must've all still been crying over the Super Bowl.  Stupid game.  I'm glad I'm not seriously invested in it.  I should check on my brother though, because he is probably not doing so well. 

Anyway, good to get things done early, and then I plan on getting up at the same time tomorrow and hitting the road.  It's just so strange to look around and think that I won't see this place again until almost Memorial Day.  Like usual I'm sure it will all go by very quickly, especially since first of all, I'll be moving around a bit instead of all in one place, and second of all, I won't be alone the entire time. 

First up is QT2 training camp, which should be a lot of fun.  It's easier to be leaving when I know I'll be spending the weekend hanging out and training with a bunch of my friends.  After that probably meeting up with someone else to train before I head over to Birmingham, where again, I won't have to stay alone thanks to some hookups from friends.  I'm looking forward to it.  All I have to do now is train like crazy and make this whole thing worth the effort.

iPod loaded up and plugged into the car, three months worth of crap piled up in there, so nothing left to do.  Hoping to make it somewhere in South Carolina tomorrow.  As far as I can stand, anyway.  Last year my one-day record was over 1100 miles.  But I got a boost from crossing a time zone, so it was like a drove an extra hour without losing that hour.  Not to mention those more open roads and higher speed limits once you get far enough west.  So we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Okay, 2012, I guess this is really where we get started...