strike the match

Maybe you've been there too?

When your flame goes out... sometimes the wick slowly burns down, other times it's quickly extinguished. Either way, you're left to rebuild the fire. That's where I find myself right now. It has been a long process - 1st trying to find the match, and then creating the spark.

Last year's bike crash, and subsequent surgery changed my life. I'm sure I'll find myself discussing many of these things in posts to come. But, with each good day of training, warming temperatures, alongside fun friends, racing... I can feel it all coming back.

I could probably spend 5 hours on this post. Filling in updates on:
- Running the Art Lobe Trail (North Carolina - Blue Ridge Pky area) on New Years Day.
- The Sunbelt Masters Swim Meet (with Dad in Charlotte).
- The Green Valley 10 Mile Road Race.

- Riding with G and Amy in 70 degree temps on Sunday.
- Myrtle Beach 1/2 marathon this coming weekend.
- Surgery #2 on Monday (just to take out some "bands" that were holding the bone).

Really... I'm going to get back to blogging slowly. I can't overwhelm myself with a marathon post. Pacing, it's all about pacing.

So, with this note - I relight my fire.

A quick story about this morning's track workout:

I planned on meeting my friend, Amy, at the GHS track around 7:30 (we were both running there from separate places, as a warm-up). So, I get to the track and see Amy doing S-T-R-I-D-E-S... girl was striding OUT. We had laughs about her bounding around the lane.

It felt good to be on a track again.... it has been months.

I was scared to even use a stopwatch.

After the Green Valley Road Race this past weekend (10 VERY tough miles - up and down and up and down).. my legs were still not quite recovered. But, I made through a workout.

Training with Amy has proven to make me laugh.... but, this morning was extra special. Because she made the mistake of letting me pick the cool down route. I decided I wanted to go home via the shortest way (2 miles).

This requires running through the GHS parking lot.

NOT the place you want to be 10 min before classes start. So, Amy and I take off into the lot, now known as DEATH ZONE. I was almost hit by 6 cars, count them 6 CARS. Oh yeah, I also almost ran into a car door as it was flung open. Pretty sure another HS student ran a red light and almost took me out... after we had made it through the GHS Speedway.

I honestly didn't know if I was going to make it back to the house in one piece.

Amy sent a text just to make sure.

This life - the choice to train for and race triathlons - is ALWAYS an adventure...

and that's why I'm coming back....

I've found some of the best friends - friends who'll risk their life in a HS parking lot, 10 minutes before the bell, to run by your side.