Today I Swam

And the training has begun.

First, I received a wonderful message from Bret saying that he's registered for the Life Time Fitness Tri this summer. I am so excited to meet him! You never know who's going to inspire you, or for that matter who you might inspire.

Second, my cousin Jay, the person I did last year's triathlon in honor of, is starting chemo on Monday. He's going on four years of having non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and this will be his first round of chemo. I think about him often. It was such an honor to have him at the finish line last summer, such an honor that I don't even want to put it into words. I'd rather keep that feeling in my heart, all to myself, nice and safe.

Today I swam with Marie. This was the first of many swims as she is now my new training partner. I wish Molly were beside me, but she's busy changing lives as a trainer. I'm so proud of her. So without a training partner, I'm leaning heavily on Marie. Only problem is that Marie is training for the IronMan. What does this mean for me? Longer swims, longer rides, longer runs, harder, faster, stronger. I will be one hell of a powerhouse. But I will be doing the Life Time Tri again this summer along with at least one 1/2 marathon and the Iron Girl. The Iron Girl is a duathlon (run 2, bike 22, run 2) not nearly as intimidating as the IronMan. I want to beat some of my own records. And who's going to be with me? Pete of course. He's going to do the Life Time Tri with me, of course he'll beat me by a few miles or so, but he'll be there. Having him by my side through all of this training means so much. He understands when I need a strawberry milkshake with french fries and he understands when I eat my oatmeal at 6am before a long run. I'm psyched that I'll be able to push him and encourage him the way he has for me.

I'll keep you posted. This week's training is pretty light (thank GOD!). Wednesday we'll be swimming again, Thursday I get to jump back into my favorite spin class (woot woot!), 2 mile run Friday with weights and core work, 6 mile run on Saturday and a 2.5 hour ride on Sunday. That Sunday ride will be at the gym of course because we are in Minnesota! But the runs and the swimming are outside. Nah! Just kidding - we swim inside.... for now.

I quit smoking a few years ago. I don't know the exact date, doesn't matter. But I sit here and think about what I'd be doing right now if I still smoked... certainly not keeping a blog like this. I feel good, I'm proud of lil ole me...