Twenty Days?

Looks like it's been twenty days since my last post - ugh!
It's not like nothing exciting has happened - it has! - life has been going at its usual warped and chaotic speed.

I'm still training for the Twin Cities marathon in October, but that will be the last thing on my calendar. Yes, that means I am not doing Ironman Florida. Here are my top two reasons:

1). Money. I know I already spent the $500-ish on the registration fee. But I still can't see spending an additional $2000 on airport parking, bike fare, airfare, condo, rental car, etc. Bob's in real estate and if you haven't picked up a newpaper in the last year... :-(

Fortunately there are still a number of people that want million dollar (+/-) custom homes, but business is down about 50%. Seeing that I prioritize private school, staying at home, NOT tapping into our retirement money or the kids' college funds... you get the picture. I just think it would be silly to NOT tighten the budget belt.
2). I have done IM Florida twice already. And I love it! And I would like to do it again soon, but just not this year.

I know there are several people that I will miss terribly by not going, but it just is what it is, and I can't swing it.

On another note, Bob's sister Joan passed away rather unexpectedly on the 15th. She had had a liver transplant several years ago. It is quite common for the anti-rejection drugs that organ recipients take, to can cause cancer. That is what happened to Joan, and she kept it to herself for a long time. Bob's and Joan's nephew Adam is heading back to Iraq for a second tour and she didn't want everyone at his going-away party to know how sick she was. She fooled everyone, and it wasn't more than a month between her Oscar-worthy "I feel great" performance at Adam's party and her passing. She had cancer in her brain, spine, throat, liver, and pancreas. Her kidneys shut down and within a week we said goodbye to her. She will be missed very much. At her funeral, she had several friends that she's been friends with since they were all 17 and 18 and were rooming together. It says a lot about a person to have such longevity (45 years!) in friendships. Her family loved her; and no one ever heard her say an unkind word about anyone - ever. She was a good person and a kind soul who loved to laugh, and had a special affinity for children. Most importantly, she knew her savior.

Anyway, that's the important stuff. I will hopefully blog again soon, and I am so sorry that I will miss those of you who are doing IM Florida!

I love/hate when this happens...

I love when this happens:

Twenty miles in the humidity and my splits were still spot on!

Yesterday I ran with Angie (a girl from the MN Tri Club, whom I'd not met before)... but it turned out she and I were exactly the same speed. It's so awesome when you are just running along chatting, not thinking, "boy I hope I'm not holding her back" or "boy I sure want to run faster". Love when that happens! So I'll put her number in with Holly, Terri and Susan, etc because it's so hard to find a running partner like that!

Our goal was to average 9:45, we averaged 9:50 instead, and here are our splits:

1 - 9:48

2- 9:36

3- 9:56

4- 9:40

5- 9:44

6- 9:48

7- 9:44

8- 9:50

9- 9:48

10- 10:22 (potty stop)

11- 9:47

12- 9:49

13- 10:00 (refill water bottles)

14- 9:36

15- 9:49

16- 10:07 (refill water)

17- 9:32

18- 9:37

19- 9:38

20- 10:11 (arrive at cars)

Total time 3:16:30 We totally would have met our goal of 9:45 if we hadn't had the potty stop. water re-filling, so I am counting it as pretty nearly spot-on.

I hate when this happens:

Leaving the phone on the bumper and then going through the car wash, not even noticing it was there until after we drove to the grocery store, shopped, and returned to the car to load them up. Arghhhhh. Not again!!!

So I ordered my new, sleeker, smaller, faster version of the iPhone which will hopefully be here in 10 days.