This weekend, I tried open water swimming for the first time in a year.  Open swimming for those not familiar with the term is a short way of referring to swimming for distance in a larger body of water that isn't a pool.  Typical conversations about open water swimming go like this:

"I'm going open water swimming in the [insert name of local body of water] this weekend."

"Holy shit, I hope your tetanus shot is up to date." or "I hope you don't grow another arm." or "Isn't that where they found one of the bodies from that local serial killer?" or "Didn't a guy commit suicide jumping the bridge there last week?"

At least that's what they say about the Ohio River.  Instead, we swam at Deem Lake which as a teenager, I accidentally set it on fire with a bunch of other drunk ass band geeks representing middle brass. 

Oh, anyway, I swam and didn't get nauseated like I did last year!  I'm very pleased that my sighting went well.  Sighting is where you peek forwards to get a clue of what direction you're swimming towards since the water is stupid nastily murky instead of breathing from the side which is what you do traditionally with a freestyle stroke.  I tried to have some fun and scare some geese but those geese left a lot of geese droppings all over the beach and I wasn't going to play bird poop land mine surprise with them.  Well done, geese.  Well done.

When I got back to Louisville, I headed to the gym to do the spin bike for half an hour and run a couple of miles then ran around to pick up a karaoke machine and some beer for the welcome back party of one of my friends who just finished basic training and job training with the Guard.  I drank a few beers and played some Xbox and then tried to run 10 miles this morning.  It was painful.  Ugh.  And the bottom of my feet hurt like there are blisters under my toes.  I think it's a goose poop injury.  Damned birds.

One of my co-workers asked if he could read my blog and . . . no.  Didn't send out the link.  IT probably knows about it and I wonder what they'd say about some of the deals that would put them through even more hell.  Nah.  I'll just stay not-quite anonymous.  I know some co-workers tried to find me on facebook and twitter.  Xanga is this little cove and it's fine for what I do. 

Heyyyyy . . . just wanted to give y'all a heads up that one of our own, Buyit, is going to have a giveaway soon for a . . .

wait for it . . . .

a pick of a Rock n' Roll Half or Full Marathon!!  You can read about the different races at their official site.  http://runrocknroll.competitor.com/

Keep your eyes open for the giveaway at the link below.

soice soice sourcy soice

Lots of running around and I figured out what to get my sister for her birthday.  I got her a little iPod Shuffle and I'm loading it with 2gb of music I know she's not heard, her own personal workout playlist via me.  I'm ridiculously loaded with music and she . . . she's up to her eyeballs in Dora the Explorer, Bob the Builder and Cars on constant repeat.  At least in my mothering TV days, George Carlin and Ringo Star were reading Thomas the Tank Engine.  No matter what I tell her, she's not even going to try Yo Gabba Gabba! which was started by a member of one of the bands I introduced her to, The Aquabats.  C'mon, like I can teach my niece to beat box.  It's because I don't practice like Biz Markie says in the show. 

Speaking of kids' shows, this is kind of for older kids and adults . . . the show Christoph works in collaboration with the studio in London and the other in Stuttgart:

This is just one of the funniest Triumph videos, just . . . wow.  He's tagging along with Jack McBrayer for just . . . wow.  I wish I could yell like this at work every day!!  I bet I'd be so stress free but I have no talent for throwing shade. 

This is in Chicago, The Weiners Circle.  Here's what wikipedia says about it:  The Wieners Circle is a hot dog stand in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. It is famous for four things: its signature Chicago-style hot dogs, hamburgers and cheese fries, and the mutual verbal abuse between the employees and the customers during the late-weekend hours.

And here is the other side of the coin, presented by This American Life.

In other boring training news, my friend Bryan paid me back for one of the tri relays we're doing with . . . another triathlon.  I'll be doing Tri Indy in August which totally fits into my schedule of marathon training and quarter end close.  Ack!  But I'm only doing a sprint which means I have to figure out how to get these funky cleat shoes working in about 6 weeks.

Ran 4 yesterday and didn't get to swim because I didn't get off work until close to 10pm.  BLEH.

Sometimes I get this feeling about the future, that I'll screw things and end up in personal and professional shambles.  Kind of like this:

Source:  http://www.gocomics.com/9chickweedlane

Job for now . . . never lets up.  I'm tired.  No surprise. 

I have a creative project brewing so I hope I can find time for it soon. 

Day 199 - 3 miles before going to the asthma doc who confirmed Pollengeddon was at its worst the last month but he thinks it's going down in a couple of weeks.  I hope that's true.  He's on the verge of upping my breathing meds but wants to try getting the allergies under control first.  Cool.  But whatever fries my liver less, that's what I want.

I don't mind it when it's 84 degrees outside.  But when it's 84 degrees with 93% humidity, running is miserable.  Still, it's a toss up for me of whether I want blazing sunshine with no shade or feeling like I'm running while wearing a wet, heavy sweater I can't take off.  I cramped up pretty badly on Saturday's race and finished in 1:14 with lots of walking.  Way off my goal time but I was glad just to be done.  Not like finishing 5-10 minutes faster would make a difference!  Most of the finishers were under 50 minutes so I'd have to get in the 8 minute range just to break the top half.  Very, very far away from getting close to that range!

So there I was after the race cramping and I decided to go swimming where I . . . wait for it . . . cramped up.  Yes.  I thought it would get better to put my body through more nutrient and energy depleting activity with the expectation of a good workout.  I was so eager to swim, I didn't eat after the race.  Idiot me. 

Next day I ran my 1 mile and cycled 23-24 miles after much struggle with my new bike rack.  I'm so short and because I have a women's specific bike, I had a hard time fitting my bike on the standard frame.  Argh!  I think I figured out a way to transport it without risking bending the frame.

Today, it was a wet blanket 3 mile run then a really good 2550 yards including a 1750 yd swim in 36 minutes which is good for me.  My personal best is 32 minutes but I was climbing more and had a swim buddy to BS with over coffee after the workouts.  She graduates from her KY state guard training soon and I can't wait until she's back! 

2013, I'm doing this:  http://www.parismarathon.com/index_us.html

And I'm going to stay at a hotel overlooking the Arc de Triomphe!!  I'm very happy to be going with a great couple of friends.

I'm not one to advocate having a teen pregnancy but other than the job from hell and some pitfalls of my own doing, the timing is right for me to start exploring the world more while I'm still youngish and making money.  The sacrifices from way back when, holding down 3 jobs with the kid plastered to my side in college, all that hard work and lack of sleep so I could get out of that spiral of poverty.  I hate my job but I'm going to enjoy the travel it affords me.

Yeah.  I'm very lucky.

In about 7 hours I have to be up and about for a 10k race and hopefully I'll win some money money money in the drawings!  Then off to Mary T's for their 50 meter pool and another 3,000 meter workout.  Maybe 3200, make it to 2 miles this time.  Last night, I didn't have the will to finish 3500 yards.  I stopped at 3000 and declared it close enough.  Just another month to triathlon hell which falls on my birthday weekend!

I've run 185 days in a row in sickness and health.  Unfortunately, my overtime streak is longer.  Ugh.

At last night's run, I was stopped about a mile in from a bite.  I thought it was a bee sting.  It was "bugging" me all night.  I woke up to a large welt on my upper thigh near my hip and when I got to work, I painted it with clear nail polish which helped with the itching.  Still, I could feel heat emanating from the lump.  It's grown even larger throughout the day so now I'm dosing it with benadryl cream.  GAH!

All those cracks are from the nail polish.  I managed to get in about 3.3 miles today and it didn't "bug" me until I stopped running and I could think about scratching it again.  I have about 18 bug bites from the last couple of days.  I may not survive the summer at this rate!!

I am currently obsessed with Hodor on Game of Thrones/ASOIAF as much as the performer, Kristian Nairn.  His drag personality is Revvlon and holy cow, a freakin' 8 foot tall drag queen?!  Club DJ?  And gamer?  How fun is that?!  Hodor.  Hodor.  Blackwater was an excellent episode, better than a lot of movies I've paid to see.  I can't believe it's finale time already. 

Here is the Cap'n taking a breather, resting on a soft cooler and my backpack in my surprisingly comfortable kayak.  About 15 minutes later, he jumped out.

Cap'n Pocky, protecting the snack and water thermos.  The snacks were a few pieces of peanut mochi and OMG YUM.  That's all we needed.

Although my own life jacket looks uncomfortable, I only had to shift it around once. Having such a short torso, jackets in the past would bunch up too much around my neck and I'd have to maneuver it in a weird way.  But here's my no-neck look, as awesome as my double chin shots from running.  Ah, well.  It was a beautiful morning to paddle about and wasn't very hot until the end. 

I guess next week I'll have to swim so I can get the back of my body somewhat the same color as the front of my body.