Kona, here I come!

Well, it's official.  I'm going to Kona, Hawaii this Oct. for 2 weeks for the 2008 Ford Ironman World Championships!  And I get to go to the following races as well, so here are the travel dates:

Aug. 31- Louisville, KY Ironman (leave on the 25th, return on the 1st)

Sept. 7- Seattle, WA Iron Girl 10k/5k (leave on the 5th, return on the 8th)

Sept. 21- Bloomington, MN Iron Girl Duathlon (leave on the 19th, return on the 21st)

Oct. 11- Kona, Hawaii Ironman World Championship (leave on the 2nd, return on the 14th)

Nov. 8- Clearwater, FL 2008 Foster Grant 70.3 World Championship

I'm most likely put up a post-trip recap when I return from each trip.

So, I'm psyched about all of the traveling I'll be doing here soon.  Aside from work I've been really training hard, as I have my first race in over 3 months.  I'm suffering from withdrawal.  I'll be doing a sprint triathlon in Tarpon Springs on Aug. 9th and then hitting it hard for the Longleaf Olympic Triathlon in New Port Richey on Oct. 19th, where I'll try to redeem myself from Collegiate Nationals.

So, those are the updates.  Everything is going great, and I'm still enjoying every minute of it.

One month down...

Wow, I can't believe I've been here for a month already!  Work is still going well, staying busy with the multiple projects.  Training is going well, even though I don't have any races set in stone.  I actually got a bike fit, something I should've done way too long ago, and found a much more comfortable, efficient set up.  

I found a church that I'm pretty satisfied with that's only about 15 minutes away.  I'm still looking for a good mid-week worship/Bible study with people my age.  The one in Tampa was good, but too far away.  So the search continues...

No other updates really.  I'm flying out of Tampa on Friday morning into Lexington to be a bridesmaid in my friends' Tim and Leah's wedding.  It'll be nice to see a handful of some of my closest college friends.  That weekend will be exhausting, but fun.

That's it for now.  I know, I'm boring.  

I could get used to this...

Well, everything is still looking up for me.  I still thoroughly enjoy work and am glad to have been given my second task list to get started on.  It's awesome how they give us a little direction then let us take the ball and run with it.  

Aside from work life is good in general as well.  My training has been more consistent than it has in a long time and I'm enjoying it more because there's such beautiful places to swim, bike, and run down here.  There's something about the sound of waves crashing and the fresh smell of salt in the air that takes the hate out of the love/hate relationship that I have with running.  I'm also slowly getting more and more comfortable with my bike and getting in the aero position.  There's actually a renowned trail that I'm going to check out this weekend.  It's the Suncoast Trail...a 41-mile (one way) no traffic paved trail.  So that should be fun.

I still have to get used to swimming in any outdoor pool or water source here given that it feels like bath water and tempts me to go without a swim cap.  There definitely won't be any need for my nice Blue Seventy wetsuit any time soon.

Aside from work and triathlon in general, I went down to south Tampa with Stephen yesterday to check out this praise and worship service for post-college singles.  The music was great and the speaker was even better.  The only drawback is that the church is a 50-minute drive away from where we live.  I'm trying out yet another church in Clearwater this weekend so we'll see how my church search ends up.

That's pretty much the scoop for now.  Nothing drastically new or different.  Well, until next time...