The X Comeback

As I ponder over what-to-race next year, the Xterras are starting to spark some interest again. My 2nd week at the pool has the old stroke coming back and feeling pretty darn good. Coach Rick critiqued some bad arm form, and after that was corrected, the swim was feeling long and strong. I even passed the guy next to me! Well...I guess I should say he had the build of Sumu wrestler. teehee. Maybe a 2 year lay-off was what the doctor ordered.

So the schedule? Well, the Savage and Cap City Adventure races are definites -- they are the highlight of the races and are fun, fun fun. I wouldn't miss them and racing with Donna and Chrissy and gang for anything, except maybe some sort of natural disaster or accident. Now they are semi-short, and wouldn't require a ton of long hours. The Xterras are short too; again my longest ride wouldn't have to be more than 3-4 hours and I could easily squeeze in a swim after work (once the swim team gets out of the pool in the spring), coupled with a bike ride home. Runs are easy to do -- maybe I can handle those before I start work to save some evening time. On the other hand, the 50 milers require a BUNCH of saddle time -- maybe more than what i want to commit next year. Ricky needs to kayak and I wanna join him paddling too. Then, there's my want to getting back to my organic eating roots, which means organic gardening, which means more time in the garden and less time in the saddle. It means doing the compost pile again, making sure I get my umbrels planted for good guys to breed and grow and fight off the bad guys. Nothing like a little IPM in the garden. But all that DOES require a lot of time. And I'm not totally ready to give up training and biking. Soo...the ponderance continues. Costs are a factor. Kayaking with Rick is a factor. And organic gardening is a factor. And of course my goal of being as fit as possible by my 50th b-day is a factor too. That was my vow when I turned 40 and was fat and blubbery - be the fittest possible by age 50; and I'm 8.1 years there. I'm not jumping ship now! But if I garden I might...so there I just answered one of my questions; will tehre be a garden. I think I'll continue to support local farmers and Natural Acres. for a couple more years and keep training a bit. Later kids..