I hadn’t realized it has been so long since I last updated. Basically, the week after my DNF race was very difficult for me. I did some soul-searching and thinking about my 2008 season and my future in triathlon. It was good and I’m glad that I am still positive about my upcoming 7th season as a triathlete. I love this sport like mad. The only thought that continues to come back into my head is that this was my last race before Ironman next June. I will have to overcome that thought in the upcoming 9 months.

I discovered that my time out of the water at my last race was 26:11 and I was 66th out of 157 participants. This was definitely a personal best for me. It gives me hope for increasing my time for all of the three sports. My ability in the bike portion of this sport definitely has a lot of potential and I plan to work my butt off (literally) this winter to make it happen. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll even become a faster runner at some point. Injuries be-gone!

 Lately, I’ve been thinking about getting a tri bike, but don’t think that I can afford it right now. I think that this will be a purchase to make later in life when I have a bit more financial security and I didn’t just buy a house. Being a young person in this sport definitely has its challenges, especially in the gear department. I have so many things that I want to do: travel, have kids, own a house, and have adventures. This is hard to do when you pump all of your disposable income into a sport. So I am going to try to live with my current bike and see if I can get it to fit me a bit better, and maybe get lighter wheels. Over the next few weeks, I want to re-pack my hubs, which should make everything spin better and therefore make me faster. I’m lucky to have such a great bike shop.

So I am officially in my time of not training and just chilling out. It feels so good to go for the odd run, bike ride for fun, and swim without timing myself or counting laps. I have about 4 more weeks of that and in that time I want to re-vamp this website and work on some writing for it. Hopefully I will have some help from a friend of mine. Since I have more time on my hands, I have been doing a little more socializing with my non-triathlon friends and spending some quality time with my puppy and myself. My new house still has some work to do on it and I’m going away for the next two weekends on non-triathlon-related trips! One is to a concert in Calgary and the other is on a solo vacation to do some soul-searching.

I have also been treating myself to wonderfully delicious and terrible foods like french fries and soy ice cream. This weekend I discovered So Good soy ice cream drumsticks! Oh my gosh, I feel like I am a human again. I didn’t even know that I missed them until I had one!

All-in-all, my off-season is going wonderfully. And despite my loving all of my extra time and the beer I get to drink, I am excited to get back to regular training. However, I also look forward to easing back into it. September 29th is when it begins. I can’t wait!

This morning I slept in through my run and decided that I would go for a run this afternoon. To ensure this happens, I’m going to reward myself with an awesome vegan peanut buster parfait. Good ol’ soy ice cream, peanuts, and a vegan chocolate sauce all in layers will be perfect to top off a nice 1-hour run. Tonight I’m mountain biking with the gals, which I’m excited about.

I move in merely two days and I’m excited and sad about it. I’ve lived in my current house for almost three years and I know lots of my neighbours. I’m sad to leave my beloved neighbourhood and neighbours. However, my new neighbourhood and house is awesome. The house will be the first home that I own and my new neighbourhood is very vibrant and full of kids. A new chapter of my life will be opened, but really, I just want to get it over with and get back to training!