Because I like lists and I'm feeling lazy

I know the list-as-blog-post is kinda lame, but I'm not feeling very creative today and don't have the gumption to try to tie this all into one neat and tidy post. However, there are a few things that have happened over the past week that I wanted to highlight and I figured a list post was better than no post at all!

1. Huge congrats to My Friend M who was selected to be an alternate for the Nuun HTC relay team. I am so proud of her! She rocks!

2. Major kudos to my friend Becky who completed her first half marathon, the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon, on Saturday! Woot! She pounded it out in 2:24, which is amazing in my book, especially considering the (what I would call) unseasonably cool, wet weather. She's a superstar!

3. Our Ironman Kansas aid station took First Place in the contest for best station at the event. Holla! We earned an additional $750 for two local charities.

4. And speaking of the Ironman Kansas, the perks just keep on comin'. In addition to the sweet-ass KS IM shirt, sweet-ass KS IM bag, box of free food and amazingly unforgettable experience, I also made a new friend that day, K. She is ALSO training for her first sprint tri, so we had lots in common and plenty to talk about that day, and we decided to get together for a few training sessions. Yay for training buddies! And she has a training blog too, but I won't link it here until I have her permission. ;)

5. K and I met up last weekend for our first OWS. We hit a smallish lake, one with little to no boat traffic, so we could hopefully have a much calmer OWS experience the first time out. We took turns at first so we could keep an eye on each other, and while we both had our freak-out moments we survived! I was less freaked out by fish/lake monster thoughts as I was about the extreme temp changes in the water. For some reason, my brain could not handle the rapid switch from hot to cold to warm to cool to cold to hot and it gave me the major willies. But I lived and made it back to the dock safe and sound. We did swim a bit more after that and I think we were both happy with how the experience played out. And again, how nice to have a buddy to do it with!

6. I'm headed to Iowa this weekend to see family, so probably not much training to be had. But that's okay because I'll be in Iowa! I lived there for the first 16 years of my life and it still feels like home to me. I'm excited to see my aunts and uncles, too. I'm taking my shoes and hope to squeeze in a run Saturday morning, but I make no promises.

7. I had my longest swim ever the other day--1000yds. It was AMAZING. The schedule called for 900, but I figured tacking on an additional 100yds wouldn't kill me. Not to mention that 1000yds just sounds cooler. But even as I was wrapping up that longest swim ever (for me), I thought, "I could do this ALL. DAY. LONG." Because, you know, I love the swimming!

Alright. That's it for this lame post. If you're training this weekend, have fun and be safe!