Au revoir

I'm leaving on a jet plane .... I fly to France tomorrow. It's 10:00pm, and I'm just about all packed. I am very excited as this is my first trip to Europe and my first real vacation in a looong time. I wish the dollar was stronger, but other than that, things are looking good. We'll be spending a few days in Paris, then we'll take a train to Nice and spend 5 days in the town of Jausiers. I will try to get a bike ride in while I'm there. Then, it's back to Paris to run the marathon on April 6th. They have me listed as Ray Trish and my bib number is 45053 if you want to look me up. My goal for this race is to have FUN!! I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Update(s)

It's been a long time! I will try to get you caught up.

1) Health -- I'm no longer coughing up a lung, but Lord, I've got so much snot! At first I thought it was swimming that was producing it, but now I think I just may be allergic to Ironman training! After every swim, I'm so stuffed up and have trouble sleeping. The bike seems to loosen everything up -- I've perfected the farmer blow on the bike, and can even shoot left now. Maybe I should ride right after swimming every time. Honestly, it's shocking how much snot has been coming out of my body. Overall though, I've been feeling good.

2) Work -- I've been super busy at work, often working ten hours a day. This weekend was Wildflower Training Weekend, but I wasn't able to go with the Team. I HAD to work on Friday. I'm a big fan of using sick days for things like this, but I had meetings with our Open Court consultant all day. It's a 5 hour drive up to Wildflower, and it didn't seem worth it to drive up late on Friday. Plus, I have a ton to do before my trip to Paris. I got my taxes done this weekend!

3) Training -- being sick last month set me back some, but I think I'll be okay. I did a 56 mile hilly ride yesterday and felt pretty good. Today I ran 20 miles. And I found two things to add to the list of things I love -- running in the soft sound and headwinds. Because of the strong winds, about a half mile of the path was completely covered in sand. It was like there was no path, only beach. On the way out I got to run through the sand with a headwind. Yippee!!

4) Racing -- I signed up for Wildflower Long course today. I've had it on my schedule for a while now, but it's for real now. And I'll be raising money for the Challenged Athletes Foundation and supporting my Team in Training teammates at the same time -- it's the best of both worlds :) I leave for Paris in 9 days! I'm super excited. In addition to running, I've been trying to learn some French.

I'm sure I've left out something, but it's a start, and I'll try not to let so much time lapse before I post again.