Good day sunshine!

Whew, the old blog has been starving again the last couple of weeks, huh? Quick re-cap...got home from the Georgia/Spring Break "get spoiled by the parents" trip , the Brontosauruses have since accessed high speed internet (of course, after I left), I dog-sat last weekend, went back to school last week (serious cobwebs in my head that had to be sand blasted after 3 weeks off), and dog sat again one night this weekend. This was the cute face I woke up to yesterday morning...Maggie, the Great Dane, so sweet!!

I have a friend, CJ, who has a dog walking business...she has a couple of big dogs herself, so she can't offer overnight dog-sitting...and thus, I am benefitting as she is starting to hire me out for gigs like this past weekend's sleepover with Maggie.

Other than school kicking back up and my hamstring continuing to make me depressed, angry, and kinda insane-- alternately and sometimes simultaneously-- depending on the day-- spring has appeared and so have some of Seujan's family members. Seujan found her birth mother and 2 sisters that she didn't even know she had a few weeks ago...and at the moment, her mom, one of her sisters, Heather, and Heather's fiance, Johnny, are now visiting Seattle. I was fortunate enough to be asked to drive the airport shuttle on Friday night for the (re) union of the family and also got to take SJ's mom to SJ's latest nutcase race, a 50km trail run in North Bend yesterday, and to partake in the post-race party where SJ's mom cooked a seriously great dinner for several of us last night. It's been fun getting to know Seujan's family a bit as she does...good times.

Seujan's family, who are visiting from Georgia, appear to have brought real live spring weather with them...today was GORGEOUS...70ish and sunny. SWEET! I didn't have class today, so I slept in and went to 7 a.m. swim team workout with Tatyana...then later I had a nice walk downtown to the gym and to REI where I opened up my birthday week with a purchase of some new sunglasses (thanks, Mom!)...then spent the afternoon doing 2 practice massages. The Shoebox makes a pretty decent spa environment with the sliding glass door open, birds chirping, and a great view of Mt. Rainier. Nice!

Blogging with the brontosauruses

Yesterday's planned adventures to the Masters' Swim workout and the pro tennis tournament, both experienced some curveballs. I ended up swimming indoors at lap swim alone instead of outdoors with a team (a little disappointing, but I got in a really good swim) and, well...we didn't exactly find the tennis tournament. Long story and let's just say there was a lot of family time in the car and some general crankiness, but we never saw any tennis. However, we did get back to the Island in time for me to get a nice long sunny walk on the beach and I was really psyched about it.

When I returned from my walk, my parents were in their usual happy hour poolside positions with many of the neighbors, one of whom produced a glass of wine for me before my butt even hit a chair. Love the neighbors!! These people know how to do retirement right. They all, also, understand the necessity of cable internet access...well, except for my parents...who are quite computer savvy, but insist on living in the "Land Before Time" and having a dial-up internet connection. For the love of god. I had conversations with several of the neighbors who are also fed up with trying to call the Brontosauruses on the phone only to get a busy signal. I was pleased to hear that the community has various strategies in place for getting them to conform to sane communication practices and I'm really hoping the village can come together and help solve this situation soon...It would be great to visit and actually load Facebook when I click instead of flossing, brushing my teeth, texting and taking out my contacts to pass the time while the damn page loads.

Today I hear it's sunny in Seattle and I'm watching/hearing a big thunderstorm here at the moment. This morning was OK, though, and I improvised something akin to a normal workout. I took out the mountain bike again and went to the Causeway, the highway bridge to the island. It's the only hill for miles and it was a godsend. I did 6 round trips over the bridge, making for 12 hill repeats. Each hill was only about 1:30, but it was great to actually be sweating, riding outdoors in shorts and doing something sort of resembling a real bike workout...and with the flat pedals, no hamstring pain (well, until later after I got off the bike). I was wondering, of course, whether riding without toe clips is creating some kind of bad triathlon-threatening pedal stroke habits and/or further muscle imbalances, but the endorphins trumped the worry about that. Also got in a nice walk on the beach later, too, with the parents before the storm (and accompanying tornado warning nearby) hit.

Toes in the sand

So it actually WAS 80+ and sunny today...that's what I'm talkin' about!!

Yesterday I left Seattle and it was about 40 degrees and raining...as if I needed any more convincing to snow bird myself south. My mom called before I went to the airport to supplement NBC's report that there were thunderstorms and tornado warnings in Georgia...When the first plane bounced into Atlanta for my connection, it seriously looked like I hadn't left home...gray, rainy, blech. Atlanta's airport was packed with travellers who'd been delayed by the storms for hours. Pretty easy to figure out that when my flight was delayed (less than 2 hours for me, no big deal) and I went to the bar for a beer (wait, that wasn't the easy to figure out part...or, OK, maybe it was), I met some people who'd invested a large portion of their day and their credit limit in the overcrowded bar while waiting to get to Phillie...whoa, boy, were they lit. I had a single Michelob Light and chatted mostly with a dude named Maurice who had spent at least $100 in that bar. He apparently lives part time in Seattle, has run several marathons (he runs faster than he slurs, I assume), hadn't been "this drunk" since college--or maybe in the military, it was a toss up, and told me about a guy under his command in the army who shot over a hundred goats for target practice one day. Not sure why he thought that would be an impressive story...yikes. The bartender kept putting people's checks on the bar and the guys paid theirs. When it was finally time for us all to get on our flights, there didn't seem to be a tab sitting there for me...although I know I'm probably going to hell for this, I didn't ask the bartender for my check and decided that my weenie little beer was on the house. Although my karma didn't bite me in the ass immediately (i.e. the puddle jumper plane to Brunswick didn't crash, just a bit more bouncy turbulence), I'm hoping that somehow somewhere I'd paid this one forward or that it was simply a gift from the Universe.

En route yesterday I also read the first issue of "Triathlete" magazine that I've read in several months...Due to my hamstring, I've either not felt worthy of my subscription or have not wanted to get more depressed by reading it. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Reading it made me feel a little more connected to the Tri world rather than less...like maybe I'll be back out there again...and today when I finished the magazine on the beach, I came upon a great article advocating regular massage for triathletes...whoo-hoo, marketing material.

Today was a great chillax day...slept in, grocery shopped via my mom's cabrio with the top down, hung out on the beach with the Spring Break crowds (holy crap, when did college students start looking like they are 12? I'm old), and took my stepdad's mountain bike for an easy 10ish mile spin before a great fresh shrimp dinner. One way to bike and not aggravate one's injured hamstring, I learned, is to make it impossible to USE the hamstring. Flat pedals, no toe clips, and an upright position. Bingo...I decided this is biking for "exercise" and tanning, not for a "workout." At least it's biking and in a tank top and 80 degrees; for the time being, that works for me.

Tomorrow's plan is to hit an early masters' swim workout in Brunswick and then go to watch the prelims of the Bausch & Lombe women's pro tennis tournament down near Jacksonville and tan while watching healthy hamstrings in motion.

I heart vacation.

Rain, rain, I'M going away!

Today it was 80 degrees with sunshine and bright blue sky in Seattle...APRIL FOOL! Actually, it was about 37 and snowing this morning after I came home from swimming...seriously not OK. I'm about as tired of being cold as I am of my hamstring hurting...ok, maybe not quite THAT much, but both conditions seem to be persisting long past what should have been their due date...sigh.

Anyway, I'm a week into spring (yeah spring, use the term loosely) break and have had a great relaxing week so far...did a short trip to Portland last week on Amtrak, have been cooking a lot, went to the Bikeworks auction, slept in most of the time, and have had a front row seat view of some major life happenings for Seujan...cool stuff. I'm not quite sure how I burned right through a week of leisure time, but my ability to lounge has been honed quite well lately.

Tomorrow, thankfully, I'm flying to St. Simons Island, GA for about a week to see my parents...while it may not quite be sunny and 80 there, either, it's looking like 70ish is likely and that'll work. I'm hoping it'll be warm enough for the favorite chacos and cargo shorts I've packed...oh please, oh please, oh please...