Changes

San Diego living is Glorious.

2009. An entire year.

To quote David Bowie:
"ch-ch-ch-changing.
turn and face the strain.
ch-ch-changes.
Time may change me.
But I can't trace time."

Here is my attempt at tracing my time over the past year through many changes in life: My 2009 year in review, a month late. :)

Family: I got to see my family a bunch this year. My parents came to visit and it just happened to be the same weekend as my first half ironman. A couple trips to Phoenix to visit Meg including our satellite christmas. I went to Minnesota for the Peacock wedding in June, but didn't make it to my home. Finally, as an entire family, after a year and a half, we were all able to get together at the same time for Thanksgiving. Took some great family fotos at the local studio. Ate some amazing mom food. Ran in the cold.

2x Half Ironman: So that'd make me a full Ironman, right? haha, far from. Yet I clicked "Pay Now" for my 2010 Ironman Utah Race Entry. 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run. May 1, 2010 here I come. The two halves went well. I was the 5th overall female at Superfrog, my first half, in March, winning the swim. October brought a lot of challenges, but I managed to PR at SOMA half, and win the swim. I even out swam the pro males. :) I can only hope for such success and effortlessness come May. Finishing St. George with a smile on my face. That's the goal.

Job: I left Wells Fargo in the pursuit of happiness. Joined the crew at Moment Cycle Sport, a local shop just down the road from me, and haven't looked back. Need a new bike? I am working on marketing and sales for the company, however, for a couple months my job title was "race director" as we presented the Inaugural San Diego Triathlon Classic. It was a ton of work, but ended up being a huge success. September 18, 2010 here we come again.

Coach: I am a coach, and I have a coach. I instruct private swimming lessons, I still volunteer coach for the Tri Club San Diego, and I was offered a coaching sponsorship for my Ironman training, and I couldn't be more grateful. 17 hour training weeks...here I come.

Bike: Another new bike. This time a road bike. Parlee Z4. What a dream to ride. I think I finally found a name: Cookie Monster. "C is for Cookie, that's good enough for me. P is for Parlee, a joy he's been to me." Staying with the Sesame Street theme there. And yes I still have Kermit, my custom Guru, and am still in love, 4,000 miles later.
Health: when most people are down, the quote, "well at least I have my health" comes out. Unfortunately that hasn't been so for me. After my first half, I injured my back and was slow getting back. Through many ART sessions with Dr. Matt, was back racing and training again. Only to crash my bike and separate my shoulder. In the middle of the summer. My favorite San Diego months. I was determined to do everything I could to get back. I swam with one arm for 5 weeks in the ocean before I was even able to attempt rotating my right arm again. Surprisingly, cycling was the easiest to get back into. Running was out of the question. Healed. Finished that 2nd Half and got serious about this Ironman training thing. I think I was almost 8 weeks in and doing great, listening to my coach, increasing run volume the right way, and bam. Bad news from the doc leads to surgery to remove some scary cells. Out for a week. Back to training, with another good three week build, until bam. Colonoscopy. Hopefully surgery won't be necessary. Luckily that was during a rest week. Okay, enough bad news, this needs to end.
Swimming: Did a lot of it this year. I was really enjoying the cove and ocean swimming before the bike accident. After only a week off, I got back in the water. I became famous for my one armed long distance swimming. Thanks to all my swimmer friends who waited for me and to all my non-swimmer friends who raced me. I won a couple of swims (Superfrog, Pier to Cove, SDIT, Tuggs, SOMA, club races) and used swimming as therapy, emotional and physical. I also challenged my friends to a 10 mile swim around Point Loma, which unfortunately didn't happen due to the accident, but don't worry. I haven't forgotten. :)
Friends: Met a lot of cool people this year. Great training partners, great cooks and, great people. Weddings, parties, game nights, leg wrestling; you name it, these guys are up for a great time anytime. Oh yeah, and there a really fast group of peeps as well. Please don't de-friend me through this ironman craziness.
Rocks: Did a little bit of climbing with a certain sailor who's back in my life. :) Although that's what he'd say about it. A little. :) His climbing trips turn into my training trips. J-tree adventures usually include some sort of bike and run workouts. But that's why we workout together. Thanks Kyle, for putting up with the other K-man in my life (Kermit).

Alright, so that's it. 2009. 49 blog entries, 4000 Kermit miles, 1500 Cookie Monster miles, Jack the Jeep had a rough Christmas but is pulling through with who knows how many miles, 7000 airline miles all summed up into 1 post.

On my way to effortlessness...sleep. Time may change me, but I can't make time.