The phoenix rises!

I am, finally, well.  I am, finally, back on the road.  I listened to everyone who told me to wait until the doctor said "go!", to go slow, to take it easy.  I did ALL that.  And man, was it hard! Not at the beginning, when I felt so wiped out that taking it slow was fine.  But after a while I was desperate to get out there.  Desperate! 

But while my time off has made me less fit, has added some pounds and made me overall a little softer, a little rounder, I didn't entirely let this time go to waste.  One of my lurking friends emailed me immediately after my last post and suggested I retrain as a personal trainer.  I have been thinking about training as a running or tri coach for a while, had googled personal training courses but nothing had really stuck with me.  I think the personal trainers at my gym (= muppets) really put me off.  They are mostly quite sweet but so young, so annoyingly one-dimensional, so incredibly unable to get anything that does not take place within the gym.  (Marathon training?  Uh - you need to go outside for that?).  Yes I know - a snap judgment.  But this friend referred me straight to a credible course and qualification (YMCA) and pointed out that I could so easily run bootcamps and training camps and all sorts of things out here on the farm where I live.  I have space in my house to convert a room into a gym - I'm all set!  So I have spent the past 3 weeks researching this option, working out a business plan, talking to another personal trainer who lives nearby and who has been incredibly helpful and supportive and generally laying the foundations for this plan.  I am hoping that I can start the program in September - there are still some glitches to work out timing-wise and logistically with my family but things are looking positive..

And in the meantime my chest x-ray came back clear, my bloodwork came back fine except for my old friend anemia, and so with iron pills in my hand I am making my way back.  15 miles last week and I'm hoping to get a good 25 in this week.  Our summer holidays are finally beginning (11 year old is home, 8 year old has another 10 days to go) and life is a flurry of activity for them but I'm used to this - I can get my workouts in.  Only 2 weeks to go till I head out to Portland for the Cascade Lakes Relay so I'm intending to get some twofers in this week (5 in the am, 3 in the pm) and then keep them up next week.  My speed is not great at the moment and I am concentrating on the endurance rather than the speed for this race - with so little time to go I think I just need to ensure I can cover the distances rather than try to cover them fast.  Right Jen? 

So all is good.  I am WEEKS behind on all of your blogs but about to head over there now to see what has been going on.  The future is bright!

Oh - and in an attempt to stop me running (as if) one of my friends managed to convince me to go riding for the first time in my life....  It's fine but I don't think you sweat enough.