Life as a semi-unemployed triathlete is as busy as ever 
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My “free” time (which, I admit, basically all my time is free, I just choose to spend a lot of it exercising), anyway my “free” time has been dominated by my giant thank-you card project. In which I realized that, whoa, it’s halfway through January already, and, whoa, just because my vacation is lasting a few months it doesn’t mean that the holidays aren’t over for everyone else, so, whoa, I better get cracking on my thank-you letters. And as usual, rather than just buying cards, I went out and dropped $50 at a nearby craft supply store and have been spending hours hand-cutting and gluing my own cards. The products are nice enough, but I do feel like putting little notes on each of them stating “this took me for FOREVER! it’s not a charity purchase from the local elementary school! i made it! myself!”
In other news, Ben was supposed to leave on Tuesday to go to Brazil to race the Fast Triathlon, but the plans fell through. Oh darn, he is still here . I am selfishly happy about this turn of events because it means we are still spending lots of time together, rather than embarking on a solid two months apart. I’m trying to convince him to stay here in Hawaii with me until I leave on March 2nd.
My training hours are north of the 20 hour mark for the first time since, oh my god, MAY of last year! I just checked. I absolutely love the training here. Yesterday Ben and I swam in the ocean, it was so clear and I spent the whole time looking at everything around me. It’s been really breezy lately and my brother tells me that clears out the water and makes everything really visible. Today I went to UH rec swim and for the first time in over 3 weeks, I swam with lane lines! It was amazing. And the 78 degree water felt so warm. Masters practice resumes on Monday morning (at 5:30 a.m….), I’ve logged a lot of yards on my own since Christmas but I’m looking forward to structured practices.
OK well thanks for reading. I’m off to cheer for my friend Nathan, currently running in second place at the HURT 100 Trail Race. “Great Job Nathan! I’ma go take a nap and shower but keep it up, see you in a few hours!” Hee hee hee. I’ll be nicer than that.
