Okay, first I'm going to take a little seque away from training news:

Today I registered Booger for Kindergarten. As I watched her going through her Kindergarten testing I was struck by two things: one, my little girl -- my last, little, sweet baby is growing up. I could not be happier and sadder at the same time. Thank God I have Tri-Girls to help me look forward to all the things in my future instead of woefully looking at how the days of the past are going by too quickly.

The second thing I was struck with was who makes up these Kindergarten tests? My Booger is sweet, caring, shares with others, has a fantastic sense of humor and is genuinely KIND. I could care less if she knows the sound of every letter of the alphabet or if she can count to 100. I mean, really, this lady was pointing to the bottom of her face in some kind of an attempt to get Booger to recognize that she was pointing to her "jaw". She asked Booger if she knew what it was and Booger looked at her like she was nuts. I'm sure she was thinking, "Uh, yeah, crazy lady, that's your face." It was quite comical! She has the rest of her life to learn the "little" things in life -- she already has a fantastic head start on the most important things.

Let me give you an example: today we were driving to registration. Derek was in another car since he had to go to work right after we were done. Being the competitive people we are, we try to beat eachother to any location if we happen to be driving separately. Now, we don't break the speed limit and we would never admit that we're really "racing" eachother, but there is a quiet sense of satisfaction for the one who arrives first. (Yes, we know we're weird -- but it works!) Anyway, as I'm pulling down the main road to the school I see Derek trying to make a fast break in front of me from a side street. I say to my little Booger, "Look at Daddy! He's trying to beat us! But he can't beat us 'cause we're too fast!" She replies, "Yeah! He lost!" Being the super-mature person I am I say, "Yeah, he lost! He's a looooooser!" Um, yes, I fully realized as this was coming out of my mouth that it was a BAD thing to say!!! Booger scolded me and said, "That's not nice Mommy." I admitted my error and said "Yes, you're right. I'm very sorry. That was not nice and Mommy won't have very many friends if she treats people like that." My sweet angel looked at me with a concerned little brow and almost whispers, "I'll be your friend Mommy and I will never ever quit." I was suddenly floored by how lucky I am to share space with this amazing little person! So, anyway, my point is perhaps they need to check kids for kindness, caring and generosity instead of jumping right into "who can beat the benchmark and by how much".

Okay, now back to training. I have a secret. Shhhh. Don't tell anyone but I'm in love with my bike!! Last Saturday I took on my longest ride in the Blue Ridge Mountains! It was AMAZING!!!! 50 miles of wonderful weather, great company and fabulous views! There was a lot of climbing (which I love) but, unfortunately, I was having some shifting issues so I couldn't use my granny gear or the gear closest to that. I ended up having to hard pedal a lot of the hills but I guess I ended up with quite a confidence boost -- I mean, at least I was able to do it and end up with a smile on my face.

On Sunday morning I woke up and went for a run that afternoon. It was hotter than hell and I realized that I need to start acclimating to warm weather training. Sunday evening I went to Som's swim -- which was the first time I'd been in the pool in 3 weeks!!! Since swimming seems to be my most relaxed discipline I tend to slack on that more than anything else. I know that I will have a much better race if I swim more often but it's just so hard to find the time to fit it all in. I guess if something has to give, it should be the area I'm not as worried about, right?

The rest of this week's workouts were difficult for me -- not to complete necessarily but simply to get started on. I don't know about the rest of you but there's one week a month where my energy level plummets and it takes everything I have just to muster the energy to think about working out! This week is that week. Hopefully next week will be better.

This Saturday we have a 28 mile bike and 12 hour run followed by an open water swim on Sunday. I'm very excited to try out my new TriGirl wetsuit!!! Hopefully the water and river will cooperate and the swim won't get cancelled. I'm sure I'll have more to report after a fun-filled TriGirl weekend!!!