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First Race Weekend

Sorry for the no blogging - I know my faithful readers are heartbroken it's been so long since I've written - HA. I think my mom and sister are the only people who read this on a regular basis...but my followers are *slowly* growing! Honestly, wish I had more to say though!

I moved in a couple days ago into STUVI2 - a.may.zing. My room is huge, my random roommate, Nicole, is adorable, it has a/c, an incredible view, it's right next to fitrec and the dining hall..it's perfect. It's also next door to Chris' building - oh the convenience. I'm absolutely in love.
From moving out of my old apartment I completely downsized. I gave away SO much old stuff/clothes/junk to goodwill. I'm really working on living simply. So I donated a bunch of old posters and stuff that really just crowd my space. I kept the important stuff, but it's nice having so little to move around. I feel like a boy.

The past couple days have been awesome, though. Filled with catching up with friends (especially ones who have been gone for the past 7 months in Germany!) and getting my butt back into training. I'm really, reallly working hard on it this fall. The first race of the season was...well...nothing short of embarrassing. Getting hit by the car really slowed me down. I completely felt the month that I took off riding and swimming..my run was nothing even remotely impressive either. Over an HOUR to run 6 miles because some INTENSE blistering - I walked two miles, YUCK.

So some things that went wrong this race:
1. Didn't ride a bike for a month prior to it
2. Didn't have a bike computer set up
3. On a brand new bike I rode ONCE before the race
4. Didn't wear a wet suit because I thought it was too hot - Note to self: NEXT TIME 98% OF THE ATHLETES ARE WEARING A WET SUIT, GET THE HINT THEY ARE ONTO SOMETHING.
5. Dove into the water, my goggles fell off and I lost a contact
6. Lost motivation to do well about .5 mile into the swim when I realized the front pack took off and I wasn't in it
7. HUGE blisters on both feet - started crying
8. Had to go to the bathroom more than anything in the world on the run...to the point where I was contemplating knocking on someone's door
9. Did NOT train hard enough for a 6 mile race
7. Camped for 2 days before the race

So that's my sob story. On the up side, I had a blast with Chris camping and exploring Plymouth...we saw the rock. Which is literally...a rock. The most anticlimactic thing in the world. We got really good Mexican food (the day before the race, smart.)

We also camped in the SKETCHIEST campsite in the entire world, it was run by, literally, the Clampets. We got there, no one was in the office, no one answered the phones, and no one was around. We went up to this house where we saw someone in the window, but as we got closer they closed the blinds. Errr?
We ended up yelling to one of the campers who looked as though they were a regular at the site and he, "went to go find the owner." We got there at 9, went straight to bed, woke up at 5:45, packed up, and left.
Chris did amazing in his sprint on saturday, then we explored Plymouth and ate and then drove to a different, MUCH nicer campsite and had an awesome night making s'mores and building a fire.
We both had a TERRIBLE race Sunday, so we ate a ton and then went back to bU and slept.

Over all it was an awesome weekend, it just really made me realize how much work I have to do before the next race. I need to get back up there if I want to be competitive again. I've never had that bad of a race, even nationals felt better because at least I had somewhat of an excuse (shin splints and a sprained ankle) whereas this I felt like it was my fault I got slow. I can't really help blisters but I was having a bad race before that. Hopefully my next olympic in ten days will be better!

love love love,
me

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