Vacation

I'm FREE!!!!

9 whole days of uninterrupted, work-free vacation.....right in front of me. I'm PSYCHED!

Hubby and I are headed back to Colorado to visit our families for Thanksgiving. Of course, vacation is a relative term. Since everyone wants a piece of our time, this vacation is more like "satiation" for our loved ones. We must split our time up into carefully planned segments, making sure that everybody gets their fair share of us. In-laws must get X number of nights and days, which must not exceed the number of nights and days allocated to MY parents. Tricky business, to be sure. What will not be taken into account, however, is history. Never mind that hubby, one month ago, spent nearly a week with his parents whilst on his way back from his failed airline training in Texas. (Skipping my last triathlon of the season, I'll have you) Nope, that time wasn't good enough. I now have to spend the first 3 days of my Colorado trip at their house, doing who knows what.

Oh, wait. There's that running track and rec center not more than a 5-minute walk from their house. Guess where I'll be LIVING for the next few days?

OK, so I am bitter. How could I not be? I love DH, and sometimes I love his parents, but I love them from afar. Being in their plain vanilla house and doing the same exact trips with them every time we visit gets a little old. Oftentimes, we just sit in front of the television for hours and hours. This will happen even more now, as they just renovated their basement into a huge TV room with a mammoth flatscreen. Help me!

My parents' house, on the other hand, is exciting. My sisters will be there. My old cats and dog will be there. My old room. My friends will be home visiting their families, and I can visit them. It's still a little bit of "home" for me. I suppose I'll get my share of it, but that's just never enough.

At any rate, sorry about my Thanksgiving tirade. It's just such a bummer to think that I get all these days away from work, but I can't enjoy them because I'm trying to appease everybody else. The price we pay for following our careers and moving far from the nest?

OK, back to my fun stuff. Bike porn. OMG, I had the best time at my bike fitting the other night. Turns out yours truly is totally, completely comfortable at a 79 degree seat angle. YES! How aggressive is this?! (OK, I think that was referring to the seat angle, but I can't be 100% certain--- I'm a newbie, remember?) I was so pleased with the comfort associated with this position. Compared to my torturous Trek 1000SL, with the bike seat that destroys my precious girl parts, the tri position is like divine intervention. So comfortable. Even my legs felt fantastic. Did I mention I have a new favorite LBS? My FIST-certified fitter was phenomenal, patient, and funny, and I'm running back there on January 1st (gotta get the bonus first!) to order my tri bike.

So if hubby isn't employed by then, I'm going to get the heinous red Felt S32. If he is employed, mama's gettin' the S22. I do hate the color red, but I suppose I'll make an exception here. After all, my least favorite color on the planet is orange and I'm currently riding the Cheeto. Which brings me to the whole name thing. What does one name a red bike? Part of me really wants to call it "Orgasmo," but it's entry level so not quite sure it evokes that in anybody. I suppose I'll have to ride it first to find out.

Other late breaking news: I joined a run club. OK, not quite a club, but an after-hours evening running group that goes out of 24-Hour fitness once a week for 45 minutes to an hour. My coach is the sweep for the group and said that it was open to the public, so I decided to get my rear in gear and attend. I'm a group workout fanatic, what can I say? The lead group goes off at an 8-minute mile pace, which I can only sustain for a mile and a half, so I just did my own thing and ended up with a leisurely 10-minute mile pace for the whole 3.5 miles. We lopped off the last half mile because my hip flexors felt like they were going to die a long and horrid death. But what a fantastic idea! If only they met twice a week, I'd be doing much better with my running.

My goal is to just keep working at it over the winter and see if there's any improvement. I just have to keep being impressed with myself. I'm the girl that couldn't even run the mile in high school! I would walk, totally out of breath and hating life, around the track with hatred in my eyes. (I was also the first girl in every 1/4 mile sprint we ever did, but that's a story for another day)

So with that, I think I'm going to go on my "vacation." I just hope it doesn't feel more like work.