Happy New Year!!!!

It's been a long time since I last posted. My competitive season ended in October at the ITU Age Group World Championships in Honolulu. I kept trying to make blog entries, but my body never quite figured out what time it was, and by the evening I didn't have the energy to write. Who in their right mind wants to sit indoors at the computer writing blogs when in Hawaii? The wireless link didn't make it down to the beach. Not to mention the sand would have been brutal on my keyboard. It's bad enough when I get crumbs in there.

The sunsets were fantastic! I took a picture almost every night I was there.











The rainbows were awesome also. During the swim I had a rainbow to view! I felt like God was telling me He was there with me. If a rainbow was good enough for Noah, it's good enough for me.


A race like the World Championships reminds me of the fact that I'm a big fish in a little pond. I win or place high in my age group in the Northeast, but in a race like this I'm swimming with bigger fish in the ocean. Look out for sharks!!! I finished right smack in the middle of my age group. However I held my own on the bike posting the 9th fastest split in the age group. I even biked faster then the gold and bronze medalists. Too bad they can swim and run a lot better then me.

However I had one simple goal down there which I accomplished. I wanted to finish Top 16 amongst USA women in my age group so that I would officially be recognized as Team USA. I finished 14th. A lot of those women passed me on the run. :-)


This has to be one of my favorite race photos. It's great having the skyline showing in the background. It reminds me of what a beautiful venue for a race. Also it's one of the few swim exit photos where I'm not wrestling with a wetsuit, and I'm not making horrible faces. I think I'm actually smiling. I think it was because I had managed to stay off the coral, and I was heading out to do damage on the bike. Despite some annoying headwinds that cropped up for those of us who had the misfortune in being in the late morning waves, I held my own. I could have used a few more hills though. I did a lot of pssing on the hills, but needed a few more to make it good.
It was too bad I had to run after the bike ride. The heat was pretty brutal. Does this look like someone who enjoyed the run? Heatwise this was very similar to to what I had encountered in USTS Baltimore in 1988. The only difference is I've gotten wiser about pre-hydrating, and staying away from a lot of beer and wine. I wasn't one of the poor Kiwis or Aussies that were coming from early spring chill, and had a lot of trouble with the heat. The medical tent was not part of my post-race itinerary.

Sigh I'd like to be in Honolulu right now. Winter sucks!!

But today was good. I got out on my bike and rode 50 miles. It's a new year, and time for me to shed the weight I've gained since October. It's also time to move on and figure out what I want to do with my life. 2006 will be start of a new journey for me. I don't know where I'm headed, but it's going to happen.