Taper Crazies, Wedding Bands, Warm Weather and More...

Today it's 70 degrees in Pittsburgh.  In mid November!  This is unheard of but very much appreciated.  I figure one day of heat acclimization is better than none.  Bring on the Arizona desert heat!  :)  Seriously though, I think the warm weather is making Roxy crazy.  She was racing around the house like a wild dog this morning.  Either that or Roxy has the taper crazies.  :)

I, on the other hand, don't have the taper crazies.  Unlike a lot of athletes, I like to taper.  My body starts to feel better, I get lots of sleep, and I have time in my day to get things done.  Take yesterday for example.  I had a bike and a swim but was done by 10 am with the rest of my day free for what may be.  It was awesome!  It's not often that I'm finished with workouts by 10 am on a Saturday.

And in other news, I lost my wedding band.  "Lost" really isn't the correct word because I know where it is.  It's just that I can't get to it.  I dropped it in a hard to reach place in my car (in between the passenger seat and the cupholders).  When I went to grab it, it fell deeper, this time under the track that the car seat runs on to go back and forth.  And when I went at it with a hanger to get underneath the track, it fell even deeper, underneath the entire seat floor into the belly of the car (AKA it's gone for good).  I'm sure if we took it to the shop, they could take the seat/floor of the car out and get it, but that's likely a more expensive prospect than just getting a new wedding band.  This is exactly why I don't wear my engagement ring.  I'm a liability!  But in all honesty, I'm really pretty proud of the fact that this is the first replacement I've needed in almost 11 years of marriage!  :)  I feel surprisingly weird and self-concious without my wedding band on.  I'm sure nobody would even notice but I feel as if I missing a part of myself!  Need to order new one STAT!

So with that, I have a few more workouts to do, one more day of work and then I'm off to Tempe, AZ on Wednesday.  It's hard to believe this is my last race of the season.  It really does feel like just yesterday that I was standing nervously on the Oceanside pier for my first race of the season, wondering how this whole "pro" thing was going to go.  I guess it really is like they say, time flys when you're having fun. 

I go into Arizona with little to no pressure.  It's a stacked field at a race distance that I still am very "green" at.  Most of the other pro women in the field have an IM PR 45-60+ minutes faster than mine.  My goal next Sunday is to decrease that gap, to really run an IM marathon and to prove to myself that this IS a distance I can be competitive at.  Definitely a tall order but one I'm excited to get after.  I feel blessed to have gotten this far into the year feeling healthy both mentally and physically and I plan on putting that fitness to good use.  Here.  We.  GOOOOOOOOOOOO!  :)