Vacation!

So just one final obstacle remained before I could conclude that my off season is officially over. And what an obstacle to have: vacation! As is becoming tradition in January I took my annual pilgrimage to a state with much better weather than Iowa that my sister and her famliy resides in. For the third straight year it took me to California, although this year instead of sunny, warm San Diego I got mildly sunny and warm and slightly rainy San Fransisco. Still not a bad deal in my book.

It was my first visit here so I did plenty of touristy stuff upon arrival. We spent an afternoon at Pier 39/Fisherman's wharf. I got to see Alcatraz which was pretty cool considering I will be swimming from there to shore come May. It was a little intimidating, especially when, as we were passing over the Golden Gate Bridge, my brother in law pointed out a small sailboat that was struggling in the current. I get to swim across that? Grrreeeat.

It was great to run outdoors a little bit and my hip handled it okay. We also got in some great hiking through Muir woods amongst the giant redwoods and I got to jog around the Stanford campus where my brother in law is doing his fellowship. Man, what a beautiful campus. The only thing that I was slightly disappointed in with the trip was that I babied the hip while playing with my niece and nephews. Usually there is a lot of running around and roughhousing and whatnot, but I tried to err on the side of caution and tone it down a bit. We still had a good time and I spent enough time with them to get my yearly shot of birth control. No kids in my future ;) (Sorry Mom)

As always the trip was too short and I was welcomed back to Iowa in the midst of an ice storm. The good news is I'll be back in San Fran in just a few short months to take on Escape from Alcatraz. I can't wait!

Meanwhile its back to training here. I am in desperate need of reacquainting myself with my bike. That is the goal this next week before the "Official" training plan starts.

In other news, I wished myself a happy 29th birthday today with a tortuous little workout. I ran for 29 minutes on a treadmill and followed that up with fun 29X100yd @ 1:50 set in the pool. That set was much harder than I anticipated it would be. Good times :)