It feels like a year!

And it's been over half of one!

WOW - how time flies. Well, to sum up Ironman Coeur d'Alene... I finished!!! It took me 15 hours and 41 minutes to do so, but I crossed the finish line and didn't even go to the medical tent afterwards. I had some nutrition issues on the race that kept me from performing my best. I crossed the finish lines with blisters that pretty much covered the balls of my feet. Maybe I'll post some pics for you. haha

And here's the funny part.... I did the race, and I completed both of my goals (to finish and to have fun), so one would think that I'd be happy with myself. Within 10 minutes of crossing the finish line, I thought "I can do better than that." I mean, seriously? What is wrong with me? Can't even enjoy that victory for more than 10 minutes?? No, I did enjoy the victory. And it warmed my heart to receive an email from Evan's mom telling me that they stayed up to watch me cross the finish line online. It warmed my heart to read all the text messages and emails that my friends sent to me during the race. I was proud. I was happy I finished. I guess it's a good thing that I have high expectations for myself.

SO, the result of my thinking "I can do better" is that I signed up for ANOTHER Ironman! I lost my mind... AGAIN. I am registered for Ironman Canada on August 30, 2009. It is the second hardest official Ironman Series Ironman in North America (Lake Placid in NY is considered the 1st.) I know, I know. What am I thinking? I'm thinking that it's supposed to be BEAUTIFUL!! If I'm going to be putting forth all that effort, I might as well have something to look at while I'm doing it!

So, my training has just officially started this first week of February (one month late due to a lengthy bronchitis infection). I'm going to try to do a MUCH better job at blogging the progress of this Ironman. I have about 6 or 7 more weeks of prep training before I start my official base training.

So far this week:

Sunday, Feb. 1 = 31 mile bike ride (complete with a fall and road rash)
Tuesday, Feb. 3 = 3 hours of rollerskating (I KNOW it's not one of the sports, but I need a fun day!)
Wednesday, Feb. 4 = 1200 yd. in the pool (left shoulder is REALLY tight. I have to work on that.)

I'll be back with the rest of this week later on. I'll also try to post the nifty bike route elevation map that my friend and co-triathlete, Felix found.