rather odd week...

my poor mom has been getting hammered with snow...and my dad had been in arizona (getting his fair share of atypical AZ weather too)...and schools and everything else in the North had been canceled...so i did a lot of chatting with mom this week just to make sure she was able to get out of the house and that she still had power...thank goodness she could and did...

j flew from a conference in savannah to seattle for a meeting then back to austin mid-week...he hopped on a flight a day before the rest of his co-workers...and i bet he was glad (i know i was)about that...because everyone else got stuck in seattle until late friday...

i got a cold...and took one open water swim out of the workout schedule this week...and we were on a recovery week so hours were a bit less...that worked out really well...suffered through the sniffles but nothing too bad...great long ride and run this week...

got an internship on friday with Whole Foods...i will be working in there Quality Services department and in their Healthy Eating department doing a wide variety of nutrition related research and whatnot...i'm very excited about this opportunity...

so now i have two internships, school full time, ironman training, family, husband and two cats...oh yeah...and i have some friends out there somewhere too...i was just saying to j yesterday...i feel sometimes when i am not busy i don't do the things i need to do very well...like if i don't have too much to do i do everything lazily...weird...

ran the austin half marathon yesterday...and had a really great run....felt strong and solid the whole way...i started with the 3.50 marathon group (8.46 pace) just so i would not go out too fast...and so i could see how i was feeling....head cold is still hanging around but i am on the up and up...but you never know how this is going to hurt/help the run...toughed it out through the first 5k trying to get around the people who start way too far front for the pace they are going (read three groups of 2-3 walkers starting near the 3.40 pace group)

hit the turn down south first back into down town and started to open it up...i felt really good...and just hit a comfortable pace and stuck with it...it will be interesting to see my 5k splits...i never got bored on the course and kept thinking about how i felt running 3m a few weeks ago...i was struggling...and yesterday i was just having a blast...i really was running this as a training run...rather than trying to race it...so i guess having no expectations was good...

hit the turn for the half/full split and was still feeling strong...but this is where the hills really hit...one was just tough! my car needs to be in 2nd gear going up this hill...funny to run it :D...finished the race with a huge smile on my face....i just had so much fun...ended up running a 1.51 (3m a few weeks ago was 1.48)...with an 8.33 pace that never felt hard...i guess it helps that the day was just perfect...cool (33) ok cold to start....then sun and much warmer at the finish...

walked through got my shirt, medal and some chips and water...grabbed my dry clothes...put them on...hopped on my bike and was home by 9.15am...good way to start the day..

this week will mark some changes...mostly schedule stuff...we will see how it all goes down...