Next stop, Miami

I'm just hanging out in the Denver Airport. I am really tired but pretty excited! Saying goodbye to Chris this morning sucked. It gets harder the longer we're married, I think. It's crazy that this is the second time this year that we will be apart for more than 10 days. :( Hopefully next year we will do some more traveling together!

There's nothing really exciting to report yet. Although, I must say that traveling for work is really great because of the per diem! I had a ham and cheese sandwich on french toast (with syrup of course) for breakfast with fresh-squeezed OJ. That's the high life. I'm trying to find a good place to get seafood for dinner tonight in Miami.

Last night we went to Coopersmiths with a group of friends. Chris and Matt went to a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity a while back and Chris won 4 pizzas, 6 pitchers of beer, and 2 hours of pool at Coops. :) Yum! It was nice, there were about 12 of us and we just had to pay the tip, plus everyone threw in a little extra to donate to Habitat. I can handle free food and beer for a good cause. :) Also, our friend Jon was in town and it was really good to see him. He and Kristen were a part of our Bible study for a few months and are great, fun people. They lived in Nigeria at Faith Alive AIDS clinic for about 3 months and now are living in St. Paul. I'm sad they couldn't come back to the Fort permanently!

Also, Mollie and I ran more than 7 miles yesterday. I'm not sure how far, but it took us 1:25. It was great, although my stomach was not very happy. I think it was either the ton of sushi I ate Tuesday night or all of the dairy I had on Wednesday. Either way, it was not good.

I hope that I've remembered everything I need. Traveling so far away by myself is a little nerve-wracking. Whenever I get nervous, I just try to think about something else. Because I'm pretty sure I'm prepared, so worrying will just make the trip less fun. Ooops, I never got travelers insurance. haha. Well I guess I could still buy some tonight. Bye!

I admit it, I have fantasies about a bike

I am now back in Colorado and killing time. I've been at work since 9:00 but all I've accomplished is cleaning and organizing my desk. That is about 30 minutes worth of real work. I usually try not to blog at work, but there were about 4 other cars in the parking lot this morning and so I am feeling uninspired to work, since apparently every one else in the department is slacking. It is MLK day and snowing - both good reasons to stay home. Oh well, I am a nerd, big surprise.

I had a good weekend that included lots of sleeping in. I used to not be able to sleep late but recently have had no problem staying in bed past 10 on the weekends. It's pretty amazing, really. :) Yesterday, Chris and the other people he will be going to Nigeria with got a blessing at church. It was nice ... I can't believe he is leaving on Friday! He will be spending 10 days at the Faith Alive AIDS clinic in Jos, Nigeria - it is a free, Christian-based clinic that serves anyone. It is pretty amazing what they do, and I am excited for Chris to experience it first-hand. He will be making a fundraising video for the clinic, I'm sure it will be an emotional and eye-opening time for him. I will be a little sad for him to be gone for 2 weeks, but I'm trying to focus more on the fact that I can get a lot of work done while he's gone (oh, joy).

We went on a bike ride in the afternoon that started out really nice - it was about 36 and sunny and felt really good. But about half-way through, some clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped about 8-10 degrees .... brrr!!!! I generally try not to ride my road bike when it is below 30 and for good reason! I can commute when it's in the teens but I am moving considerably slower then. :)

I am very happy with my decision to do triathlons this year. It is much less stress because I don't need to be riding 200 miles a week. If I have a long ride planned and the weather is crappy, I can just switch things up and do a run or a swim instead. It is wonderful! I have found 4 races that I think I want to do - 1 sprint, 1 XTerra (off-road!), and 2 Olympics. That would be my biggest year of triathlons yet, but I am pretty excited about it. I am thinking of getting a wetsuit, too. In Georgia wearing a wetsuit would suck, but here it makes sense - both for the warmth and the extra buoyancy. I went to Peleton, the bike shop I used to work for, on Saturday to look at theirs and Trent, the owner, said he'd sell me one of the basic ones at cost, which is really cool of him. So I will probably do that because it is a good deal and will last me for several years. And it will make me faster! :) Oh yeah, Peleton also has the sexiest bike I have ever seen - the top of the line Specialized time trial bike. It is amazing - even the brakes are aero!! I want one!! Unfortunately, it is uber-expensive. I didn't even bother asking how much but it is $5500 at cost. Crazy!! Well, in my dreams I can ride it and no one will ever be able to keep up with me! Haha.

OK ... now I am going to work! I need to check out my data from my current model run. This is going to be great! ... yeah, right ... ok time to work for real!

Bye, thanks for reading!