No News Is...Good News?

I know I left a cliff-hanger at the end of my last post...promising to update with any news regarding my future house.
Well, I've got absolutely NOTHING to report! My real estate people haven't heard back from the other real estate people, who haven't heard back from the bank that owns the house.
So, another weekend comes and goes and I continue to hang in house-hunting-limbo. I'm keeping myself preoccupied by continuing to train hard for World Champs next weekend and filling in on household chores while my Mom is on an adventure vacation with friends.
The email updates regarding Team USA info for Vancouver next weekend have started pouring in. The staff has my flight info so I know that travel to and from the hotel will not be a problem...I am also looking forward to seeing a couple of people who are on the same flight from Denver to Vancouver on Wednesday afternoon. There are a couple of team dinners scheduled...no complaints there about FREE food! I've got some scheduled times that I am going to be appearing at the ORCA booth to sign autographs...very exciting for me, forget about the other people:)!
Oh yeah, and the race...the Women's Elite World Championships starts at 1:00pm on Sunday, June 8th. That would be 4:00pm here on the East Coast and I'm almost positive that there will be LIVE race coverage at www.triathlon.org. Check it out!

If My Inbox Could Speak

Today is a big day for Sara McLarty. I find out if my offer for the huge Clermont house was accepted! Understandably, I'm very excited and anxious to hear the news...which is why I have checked my email five times today and it isn't even 10:00am yet! If it was a physical button that I was pushing, I think the "Check Mail" logo would have been slightly worn off from my constant button-pushing!
So until the good (or bad) news arrives, I will just continue puttering around my parent's place doing chores and twiddling my thumbs. There is still plenty of paperwork to take care of with my mortgage consultant, regardless of the results from this house. My next offer will be on a much smaller, but equally charming house, on Carroll Street. This one has a ton of potential and plenty of yard space to satisfy my growing desire to garden.
I just finished a great book: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It is about a family in the northeast that eats for a year off what they grow on their farm and what they buy from the local farmer's market. So, they have really inspired me to a least attempt a tomato plant or something! Of course, with my high ambitions, my first reaction was to say that I want a chicken coop in the backyard. I estimated that I could feed one or two chickens from my kitchen scraps and have fresh eggs in return...yeah, then I realized that I travel a LOT and I don't know how well chickens would go over in an average American neighborhood.
When you are born on a farm and help raise fresh beef, collect fresh eggs, eat fresh citrus, pick blueberries out the back door, etc...your common sense must get a little out of proportion with how the average population gardens. So, I have lowered the expectations I set for myself and decided that tackling a vegetable plant or two might be within my abilities. Fortunately, Florida is a pretty easy state for gardening (no June freezes) and my yard will only have space for a few eatable plants.
But more on the whole gardening thing later...I do tend to get ahead of myself sometimes...and back to the HOUSE thing. I will update my blog as soon as I get an answer!

Hopes UP, Hopes DOWN

I have been on a roller coaster of emotions this week. The process of buying a home is pretty complicated (as I'm sure some people are well aware) but when you try to do it all in a rush...that is just absolute madness!
I'm not sure if this is exactly the way I wanted my first home-buying experience to be like. In my mind, there was a long period of steady searching, some time for picking and choosing, and then a nice steady and calm period of time where I sucked up the courage to make an offer and go through the month-long closing process (which in 'real estate' speak means BUYING IT!).
Instead, I have somehow gotten sucked into this amazing opportunity to get a house in less than a month from when I started looking! But, as I mentioned above, it is a slight roller coaster ride.
Originally, today was the day I would find out if my offer was accepted. Well, that got pushed back to Friday. And then I heard that my offer was the first one in line. But instead of meaning that I was almost a shoe-in for acceptance, now I am being told that the bank might be considering other offers behind mine. (They are obviously HIGHER offers than mine...the home is worth twice the asking price!)
And in the meantime of all this nonsense (because to your average 25-year-old, all this home-buying stuff really is nonsense...you are kidding yourself if you think you understand APRs, buy-down-points, multi-offer forms, WDOs, underwriters, blah, blah, blah) I am getting back on track with my day-job...training to be a professional triathlete.
Yes, I know that it might seem like I forget that minor detail every now and then. Sometimes I get caught up in my other job: living my life and having fun!
After my recent illness, I thought I might have gone a step or two backwards in my training and fitness. I am happy to report that Cliff is making sure that does NOT happen! We are right back where we left off early last week...him: evilly grinning as he types out insane workouts into my training schedule (with lightning bolts and thunder in the background to make it look better when we film the movie of my life:); and me: reading those workouts with a look of utter horror (I could do the "Home Alone" face-slapping-scream?!?) but then going out and giving them my best effort, no matter what!

Break's Over...Time to Take Over

Let me explain my ridiculously long absence: I just couldn't put my fingers to the keyboard.
In my head, I was still thinking about writing blog posts, composing great stories to tell, coming up with ideas to share...but I have had zero motivation to "commit pen to paper" (as they say). Every day for the past two weeks I would try and convince myself that I should write something, anything! But, as you can see, it has taken me a while to regain the desire to post.
So much has happened that after a few days, I knew that it was kinda going to be a chore to catch up on all my exciting life events...which resulted in more postponing, which resulted in even less desire to post. Catch 22.
So here I am with the summary of a lifetime:
I left off on May 15th describing some hard workouts that I was completing. Those actually turned out to be part of the 'downfall' resulting in my absence. On May 19th, a DAY OFF after successfully completing all of Cliff's awesome training sessions, I got sick! 'Seriously' sick. "Lying in bed all day Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday moaning and groaning" sick. It was slightly depressing to be ill and lying in bed instead of out completing another round of training to prepare for World Championships next month...but I have finally learned to listen to my body and give it rest when its begging. Instead of training through the coughing, sneezing, and full-body-ache, I drank tons of liquid, got lots of sleep, and watched my fair share of TV!
I might have been misleading above when I said that I was unable to put fingers to the keyboard for the 10 days since my last post...please don't think that I didn't touch a computer that whole time! I also might have lost the desire to write blog posts because I was spending SO much time in front of the computer that I just couldn't look at the screen anymore. What was I doing on the computer you might be wondering?
HOUSE HUNTING!! Yep, searching through a million homes on the computer and driving around Clermont looking for "For Sale" signs! My Mom and I spent seven hours in the car on May 16th going up and down EVERY little street in Clermont that was within a 5-10 minute drive from the NTC. It was absolutely exhausting...and also might have led to the serious sickness I experienced the next week...but we found a ton of great options. I contacted a real estate agent and we arranged to 'see' a few of my favorite homes the next week.
That was last Friday. I went back to Clermont with my Mom, met the Realtor, and we got to tour the insides of six houses that met all my criteria and were within my price range. Every one of them were really nice and would be worth every penny of the asking price (if you haven't seen the news, asking prices are pretty low these days!). I was excited to go home, consider the pros and cons of each home and hopefully put in an offer on my favorite next week.
Before we left Clermont again, my Realtor, Kim, convinced me to stop by her office and go through an online list of all the homes that met my criteria, just in case we missed a good one. So she "click, click, clicked" through the list and I "yes" or "no'ed" all the listings. We weren't too far down the list when an interesting listing popped up. One that neither of us had seen before (remember, I'd been looking online for a WEEK and had seen most all of the homes for sale in the area). I could tell that something was up by her reaction to the basic information on the screen...listing price, square footage, location, room dimensions, etc. She excitedly told me that we HAD to get back in the car and go see this house...after checking out the information, I agreed.
The home had been on the market for less than a day. It was a foreclosure, bank owned. The asking price was HALF of what it's worth! The square footage is DOUBLE what I was looking for! I toured the house around 3:30pm on May 23rd. I walked through the huge living room with a brick fireplace. I climbed the stairs to the master suite on the second floor. I hopped in the Jacuzzi-tub in the master bath. I looked out on lake Minnehaha from the second-floor balcony. I checked out the two guest bedrooms and guest bathroom. I ran my hands along meter after meter of counter top in the kitchen and looked out on the tiled dinning room. I walked out the sliding glass doors onto the screened-in-porch. I ran circles in the two-car garage. I looked up at the six enormous oak trees that shade the home from the front and back yards.
I made an offer at 5:00pm on May 23rd! I will know on Friday, May 30th if I'm buying this home!
Please excuse my prolonged blogging absence to the fact that my mind has been VERY preoccupied with this HUGE event that is taking place in my life!

Front view of the house.

Back view of the house.

I Love Surprises!

OHHHHHHH...I'm sooooo tired! This has been an incredible week of training (okay, four days) and I am just about to keel over!
Monday, in COS, I fit a 2000 meter time-trial and a strength workout in between all of my last-minute packing, shipping, and flights to Orlando. If sitting on a plane all afternoon wasn't enough to wear me out, getting home and into bed after midnight definitely did the trick.
And then I thought that Tuesday morning I could just roll out of bed, unpack, lounge around, and get back on Florida time. Good thing I logged onto my TrainingPeaks early because I had a surprise from Cliff: "90 minute bike ride with 15 x 15 second jumps in the early AM...3-4 hours after ride: 50 minute run, build to 1/2 marathon pace (which, by the way, I have NO clue what my 1/2 marathon pace is:)...and 5K hard swim with team after run."
So I did a quick bit of math in my head (yes, smoke was pouring out my ears:) and realized that if swimming starts at 3:30pm...minus a 30 minute drive to the pool...minus 60 minutes for the run...minus 3 hours of break after the bike...minus a 90 minute bike ride.............
OH CRAP! I've got to be on my bike like right NOW!
DOUBLE OH CRAP!! My bike is still in the bike box in the back of my car!!
That made for one of the speediest bike-builds that I have ever performed! Fortunately, I put it all on in the right places and tightened everything so there were no mishaps down the road as I accelerated to Top Gear:).
So now it's Wednesday morning...and I get more gifts from Cliff waiting in TrainingPeaks. Hard bike followed immediately by a hard run. (Yes, that is called a 'hard brick' but I was just writing it as two separate entities because it makes for a better story.) Oh yeah, and don't forget afternoon swim practice.
And just when I thought that I can't handle ANY more...this morning starts off with a freaking TRACK workout! I had mixed emotions during the plethora of 400s, 800s, and 1600s that I was racing around the track. First, there was happiness because I'm actually RUNNING! And, second, lots of -------. Basically, I didn't have enough energy to think and run at the same time. "Right foot, left foot, right foot..." was taking up 99% of my mental capacity at the time.
Oh yeah, and don't forget about afternoon swim practice!

A Horse Joines The Tour de France

I just watched this YouTube video on Paul's blog and I had to share it! I was just picturing our horse, Buddy, who is in the front pasture, doing that as I head out on my ride tomorrow morning! Hillarious!

Heading Home, Again

The past week was an amazing training block. I knew that going to altitude was going to hurt, no matter what I was doing (walking up a flight of stairs or doing repeats on Gold Camp), but I was looking forward to the challenge. I was excited to be training with my teammates again, hanging out in Downtown COS, and eating in the cafeteria.
Okay, the last part is a lie. I was in NOT looking forward to eating in the cafeteria again. I have enjoyed every opportunity at home to cook, bake, sauté, broil, and grill my own meals. But, I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the options available. There were some great quinoa dishes that I might have to recreate at home and the Caribbean Black Bean dish was tasty enough that I went back for seconds (and thirds:).
With that said, I was also looking forward to the challenging workouts that Cliff and Sharon were going to throw at me. Having a coach on deck makes me very accountable…no slacking off, skipping workouts, or delaying the session until I ‘feel like it’. They held nothing back all week and treated me like I never left the Training Center. Cycling repeats up Gold Camp, 400s on the track, running hills at Bear Creek, Sunday morning group rides through the Air Force Academy…and my departing gift this morning was a 2000 meter time-trial in the pool!
Oh my poor little arm muscles! I don’t think they are very happy with me right now…I asked for a lot from them this morning. I asked them to hold 1:12 pace at altitude on a Monday. They gave me everything they had and my legs even kicked in with some help too (no pun intended:). I have always been a ‘clock watcher’ during long swims, figuring out my pace as I’m swimming the never-ending laps. My first glance at the clock was at the 500m wall and I flipped at the six minute mark. My second 500m was also 6:00. The third one was also 6:00.
Now the question I started asking myself was, “Can I hold it for one more 500?” I tried as hard as I could…blood was no longer flowing to my feet…my stroke was around 2/3 of its maximum length…I was breathing in and out of the walls. My last 50 meters was hilarious as I attempted to race the clock to the wall…and I touched at 24:01! A 6:01 for the last 500m…bummer! But it was a 100% effort and I’m more than glad to be sitting in an airplane for the rest of the day!

Saying My Good-Byes

"Good-bye;" "See you later;" "Thanks for everything;" "I'll be back to visit."
These were a majority of the words that were coming out of my mouth this morning as I said good-bye to not only my room at the OTC, but my friends, the staff, coaches, and anyone else I passed in the hallways. I am sitting in the airport waiting for my flight to Denver and I can no longer consider myself a COS resident. Just as I did a few years ago, I've got to go through and update my address for all those important things like credit-card bills, catalogues, junk mail, and everything else that goes straight from my mail box into the garbage.
This past weekend I had a few occasions when I realized that there are some things that I'm going to miss about the OTC and COS. I started on this train-of-thought during my mid-day run on Saturday. I was jogging from the Training Center down Boulder Street to the Monument Vally Trail along the river (one of my favorite places to run) when Mark Fretta jogged by me. He had left the OTC a few minutes behind me and was also heading out on his long run. We acknowledged each other and made some fun comments before continuing on at our own pace. Ten minutes later I got to the MV Trail and saw Sarah Haskins running ahead of me. We also shared a smile and 'hellos' when I jogged by. No joke, another ten minutes later and I look up to see Manny Huerta running toward me. We laughed about the weather (two Florida kids bundled up in jackets and gloves) and then I kept on running North to my half-hour turn-around point.
I knew it was a popular location, time, and day for your average COS resident professional triathlete to be out training, but I'd never just happened to see this many people. As soon as that thought had entered my head, I came around a corner under the Uintah Street Bridge and almost ran face-first into Andy Potts. Our interaction was a quick two-finger wave because he was at full-throttle and barely even had time to recognize me before he was around the next corner. By now, I was beginning to chuckle to myself and I'm pretty sure that I was running with a smile on my face. I climbed back up to Boulder Street from the MV Trail and just grinned when I saw Jill Peterson and Justine Whipple descending the other direction. I wished them a pleasant run and made my way back to the OTC.
I haven't seen that many people running for the entire six months that I just spent in DeLand! It's such a different environment in the Springs...fitness is expected, not surprising. But, I am looking forward to making a move to Clermont soon because the triathlon lifestyle is very prevalent there as well. There are group rides that rival the Saturday and Sunday Springs rides, there are pools and gyms that are just as good as the OTC, the weather is good for training (just like the altitude is good here)...I could go on and on...but I have my favorite and least favorite things about both locations. Fortunately, I can come back out to COS and visit any time that I want and I can invite friends to come down and get some hot/humid Florida training with me!

My Kind of Pool

The World's Largest Swimming Pool...1,000 meters long! Click here to read the news article about this pool at a resort in Chile. I think they should host a World Cup triathlon...the only one with a 'pool' swim!

Boxes

I used all sorts of second-hand boxes to ship my belongings home...there's a box that used to hold Kleenex toilet paper, a box that Rudy Project shipped my helmet and glasses in, another from Speedo, and one huge box that has been preceding me all over the country.

The large rectangular box originated in DeLand when I packed it full of extra clothes and training gear and shipped it to Chula Vista in early 2005. After the Chula camp was over, I packed it up again and shipped it on to COS where it was waiting for me when I moved in. Three years later, after a long time being stored flat underneath my bed, it's back on the road...heading back where it came from!

My shock at the low cost of shipping boxes is still fresh in my mind and after some detailed thoughts, I have decided to box up a few more items and send them via DHL (rather than risk being charged an arm and a leg at the airport on Monday afternoon). Originally, I was going to travel home on Monday with three very full pieces of luggage and hope that the United Check-In desk would be cheaper/easier than mailing. Now, I realize that is NOT going to be the case...especially now that United is charging $100 for a bike box and adds extra for every pound your bag weighs over 50lbs.

90%; 186lbs; $88; 16x400m

I have expertly estimated that I have removed about 90% of my personal belongings in the past week. No kidding...we are talking about a serious case of the "Don't-need-it-then-throw-it-out!-syndrome. I am finally down to a few necessary items that will get me thought my last few days in COS. I spent the better part of mid-day carting my over-stuffed, over-weight, bulging-at-the-seams boxes down to the shipping department and sending them on their way to sunny Florida.
I happen to be a very bad guesser, especially when it comes to weights and costs of things. I was guessing that my five boxes were topping the scales at 350 pounds and that I was going to have to shell out somewhere between $400-500 to get them home. I can't say nice enough things about the staff in the shipping offices here at the OTC...Mike made me speechless when he totaled the DHL costs and announced that I owed a whopping $88 for my entire 186lbs of Stuff (remember, we are down to just ONE capital letter for Stuff).
I actually walked out of the shipping department wondering why I got rid of so many things when I could have just shipped another big box for a few extra dollars. But then I had a second thought and realized that if I decided I could part with it two days ago, I can still live without it today (even after knowing how cheap it is to ship:). I even got my desktop computer heading south, smashed between towels, blankets, and 50 race t-shirts that I couldn't part with. Why pay to ship Styrofoam and packing material when you can use what is on hand?
Even though the shipping escapades are my big story of the day, I actually started the morning with a great running workout down at the track. I did a total of 16x400 meters on 2:15...this was after a nice long warm up on the trails and I finished the session off with a long cool-down on the trail. I was very pleased with the times I was holding on the 400s...nothing to write home about, but it was a confidence booster (considering that I haven't been at this elevation in six months) and the day was perfect for a hard run.
My previous mentioned shipping escapades did get in the way of my afternoon training...an easy swim between 2 and 3pm...because those are some of the few hours that you can mail personal packages. I hopped in the pool at the end of the session for an easy 1200 meter swim and then hung out with friends and caught up on some computer work for the remainder of the afternoon.
I am currently sitting on my bed with my laptop perched on my very happy and full belly because I just got back from dinner at the Loop, a Mexican restaurant in Manitou, with Katie, Debbie and Scott. I should be heading to sleep in preparation of my favorite workout session in the morning: swim/bike bricks on the pool deck!! At 8am I will be setting up my bike on a wind-trainer and getting ready for whatever the coaches have up their sleeves (actually, if I just went on Training Peaks, I could probably read the workout, but that would spoil the surprise)!

Spring is in the Air

Spring flowers. Spring babies. Spring rain showers. Spring cleaning. Colorado Springs loves to show off it's seasons and I have to admit, Spring is my favorite!
First of all, every single tree at the OTC is covered in beautiful flowers that smell spring-y. What a difference the view is outside my window from my last visit here: Sometimes you forget that nature goes through some amazing changes...it's pretty subtle in Florida...but out here, especially when you leave and come back, the changes are breath-taking.
I was out for a run in the middle of the day, jogging along and chatting with a good friend, when I noticed some little fuzzy green things floating on the pond next to us. Sure enough, I took a better look and it was 13 geese babies following their mothers around and 8 duck babies following their mothers around. It was one of those times you just HAVE to stop, point, enjoy the moment, take a good mental photo, and then continue on the path.
That mid-day run was perfectly timed between morning and afternoon rain showers that blew in off the mountains. I wanted to make sure that I didn't get caught in the rain 30 minutes away from the OTC because the rain was COLD and I am very acclimated to warm weather. Fortunately, the clouds opened up at noon and let in some warm sunshine...and then closed back up in the afternoon and rained again (but I was inside and dry at that point)!
As I mentioned before, I'm moving out of the OTC...and I have got a LOT of STUFF in my room. Three and a half years is a lot of time for collecting things and I seem to be really bad and getting rid of those things. So it is very fitting that it's Spring and I'm doing a massive Cleaning. So far, I have managed to sell one thing, a filing cabinet, and give away a TON of things! (Strange, giving is easier than selling...who would have thought:)
For three years, my bathroom has been kept clean and my trash cans have been emptied by a hard working group of ladies hired by the OTC. I happened to see them digging through my overly full garbage cans today because I had put stuff in them that I didn't think was worthy of the Goodwill pile. As soon as I saw what they were doing, I realized that I could skip my trip to the local Goodwill location and just give my three industrial-size garbage bags full of STUFF to these hard working women! They were ecstatic...I had tossed all sorts of clothes, bags, games, toys, books, etc. into the bags so it was a mish-mash of new and semi-used items. They made sure to ask me for a written note they could show to security if they got questioned...it would have been a bit suspicious if someone had noticed what they were loading into their cars!
So, that got rid of a big percentage of my STUFF problem...maybe even enough to stop capitalizing the whole word 'stuff' when I write about it. Maybe now it's time to go to just 'Stuff'. The remainder of my Stuff is either going to be, left in my room for the next resident, given away to friends, shipped home in some very large boxes that I am filling up, checked through with me on the plane on Monday (perks of being a frequent flier...three bags travel free!), or stored at Sharon's house until I come back out this winter for a ski trip!
All in all, it was a lot easier than I thought. Once you get in the "throw it out" mode, it's really easy to purge and reduce. The hardest parts are when I get to things with lots of sentimental value (t-shirts from World Championships, souvenirs from trips to other countries) so I'm saving those things until the end and just keeping what fits in the boxes. I realize that a lot of things I have are things I can purchase again...or, maybe, I might realize they are things I can live without.

It's A Beautiful Day

I just got back from the Sunday morning group ride that goes from downtown COS to the Air Force Academy. It was a beautiful, crisp morning and I had a great time being back on my bike in Colorado...that is, until we started going hard and climbing hills...then I realized that I hated the fact that I was back on my bike in COS and wishing for an oxygen tank!
The warnings I got on Thursday and Friday about snow in Colorado turned out to be no big deal. There was not a spot on the ground by the time I landed at noon on Saturday and by Sunday morning it was already in the mid-60s. I think I actually timed this trip perfectly, that was probably the LAST snow of the season.
Not that it matters, because I'm actually moving out of the OTC! Yep, I've got boxes and bags and piles of stuff scattered all over my room and I'm just trying to decide what to do with everything. Here are the options that I have come up with so far: 1) purge everything that isn't critical and mail the rest home in a dozen heavy/big boxes; 2) have a 'yard sale' here at the OTC to partly make up for everything that I'm getting rid of (I have to make sure that is allowed on campus); 3) just GIVE everything away to friends and other residents here at the OTC; 4) box up most of my belongings and rent a storage space until I come up with a better plan; 5) call all the moving companies in the area and find a truck/van going to Florida that has some space for my things; 6) rent the storage space until this winter when I have 'down time' to fly out here, rent a U-Haul, and drive myself home.
The list goes on and on and I'm no closer to a final decision. I've got until Monday the 12th when I am heading home to solve this latest life crisis. Right now, I'm just working on the packing and purging part of the problem...and my large shoe collection seems to be the hardest undertaking!
Fortunately, I've got friends and family to help me come up with the best decision...and I've got other things, like TRAINING and having fun, to focus on for part of my COS visit!

From the Chicago Airport

We got home early enough last night that I was able to put up some photos from Dustin’s graduation. Obviously, at 11:30pm, I wasn’t going to go into too much details about the day so I will briefly summarize now…in a plane somewhere between Chicago and COS.
It was a good trip up to G-ville…we actually got out of the house around the time we planned (1ish). That was after I had biked with my Dad, ran with my Mom, packed my bike box, showered, ate lunch, and prepared for my flight today. After picking up Dustin at his house, our first stop was the UF campus for some photo opportunities with his teammate and classmate, Lucas. (See the photos posted yesterday). A couple of snapshots later and it was time for a meal. We had no guarantees about eating at Stonewood, but I was willing to take the chance by showing up to the restaurant at 4:30 and assuming that there was not going to be a huge crowd.
Fortunately, my assumption proved to be correct and we were immediately seated in a quiet corner booth for a delicious two hour family dinner. We spent the time between mouthfuls of good food laughing and reminiscing about our family’s eight years at the University of Florida. I also got a chance to verify that Dustin wants an iPhone…this is going to be my five-part gift to him. I’ve decided that this one present is going to cover the following ‘gift-worthy’ occasions that occur in the next few months: Graduation on May 2, Birthday on June 9, Olympic Trials on June 30, Lifesaving World Champs in July, and Enrollment in Grad School in August. (Side note to Dustin…don’t even expect a card…well, maybe an e-card, those are free!:)
Continuing on with the day’s events, we drove back to campus and parked near the O’Dome where the ceremony was to start at 7:30pm. Before we even got into the center court at 7:15, they were already parading the Engineering students out to their seats! Dustin and Lucas were a bit late but managed to walk out on the tail end of their Aerospace group. The guest speaker was pretty bad and the order of events was a bit confusing (like they had the kids move their tassels before walking across the stage) but it was great to see Dustin’s hard work pay off. He had a big smile on his face and tossed his hat in the air afterwards.
The ceremony concluded with two student speeches (see what I mean about confusing order of events) that were both very well written and funny…and then we booked it out of there. It was already approaching 9:30pm and we still had a two-hour drive in front of us. Dustin actually came home with us for the weekend…he’s got his News Journal photo shoot today for the swimming Olympic Trials article…so we had a car full of McLartys.
After uploading some photos, packing my toothbrush, and saying Goodnight, I got a whopping four hours of sleep last night before heading to the airport this morning at 4:30am. BIG THANKS to my Dad for driving my car home so that I don’t have to pay the ridiculous airport parking fees. Now that I’m on my way from Chicago to COS, I can add the three hours of flying time from O-Town to Chicago onto my sleep total:).

Dustin: UF Graduate!!

Packing??

I fly to COS on Saturday morning...but since most of the day tomorrow will be occupied by Dustin's graduation festivities...I realized that I need to get ready today.
And then I looked around and remembered that half of my personal belongings are still out in COS so I don't really need to pack anything. I've got some undies, a new pair of cycling shorts, some running shoes, and my toothbrush. in a bag..oh, and my whole bike in the box, but that was a given.
So, other than unplugging my computer and putting together some traveling snacks, I'm all ready to go!
I must admit that I'm not very excited to go because I got a call this morning from friends in COS and they thought it would be funny to tell me that it's SNOWING! No joke...it's freaking snowing!
It must be time to finally announce that I'm starting to look for my own place to live...in Clermont, Florida. After discussing and listening to some advice from my parents (strange to realize that they actually know stuff:) I realized that I can go train in COS at any time because the OTC is there (as long as I am a National Team member, I can apply for a day, week, month, etc. of time at the Center...same goes to the one in Chula Vista, CA). So why not put some roots down in a winter-ing place that is great for training?!? As soon as I get back from this trip to the SNOW, my Mom and I are going condo-hunting!