Pink Triathlete

So, as some of you might know, this time last year, I was starting to train for a sprint triathlon. My sister had signed up for one in Indy, so I decided to do it with her.  However, I ended up getting my job out here in San Diego and spent the weekend that I would have been doing a triathlon moving instead!

Ever since then, I've been wanting to get more involved in triathlon. Honestly, one of the only reasons I run is because it is a part of triathlon (and it's much cheaper than joining a gym and lets me enjoy San Diego's amazing weather). A week ago, my friend Larkin asked if I wanted to go swim La Jolla Cove...and despite it's horribly cold temperatures (for someone like me who grew up swimming in the Gulf of Mexico), I went.  Again, this was primarily because I knew open water swimming was a fact of life in triathlon.

Yesterday, I did my first aquathon!  It's a run-swim that the San Diego Tri Club puts on to help people train for triathlons.  Larkin again invited me, and it was HARD!! But motivated me to get more into training.  I've started to realize, too, that everything triathlon-related I own is pink.

So there you have it...Riley the Pink Triathlete.  Or, more appropriately, Riley the Pink Hopeful Triathlete.

Burning Up

It's officially summer in Colorado...which means it is officially HOT!!!

Today, it's supposed to be 95 degrees.

My apartment (along with much of the apartments out here) is not air conditioned.  This is fine at night because it still gets decently cold at night.  Until the sun sets behind the mountains, though, it's pretty toasty!

Still, I've had a lot of fun in the heat!

The other night, Margaux and her sister, Isabella (who's in town for a week or so), came over and we danced and just goofed around.  This, of course, included some very random pictures!

Last week, I participated in Ad2 Denver's annual kickball tournament with a bunch of people from Vladimir Jones, the advertising agency where I work.  We unfortunately didn't do so well...but we did well enough that we didn't make it into the losers bracket (but not well enough to get in the winners bracket, either!).  We all had a lot of fun, though.  It seemed to me that the day is more about making connections with other people in advertising (both on the agency and the vendor side) and lots and lots of drinking.  I volunteered to be DD, though, so no boozing it up for me!

Triathlon training has been consuming a little bit more of my life lately, as well.  August 28th isn't too far away and, although I can already swim, run and cycle the distances of the triathlon I will be doing, I don't want to just show up and do it.  I want to really give it my all!  Last night, I had the best swim I've had in years...I swam 1100 yards (a little less than twice the distance I'll be swimming in August), all at a brisk pace.  Sometimes, I have a tendency to get lazy and linger at the ends of the pool since I'm awful at flip turns and don't generally (and by "generally," I mean "ever") do them, but I was actually swimming to the wall and immediately going back out.  I am even getting the hang of this whole breathing to the side thing (although having long bangs does not make this so fun...gotta get a swim cap!).  I'm very thankful for the people who have helped me out with everything so far!

On Friday, Lola and I are heading to Indianapolis for a week to spend the 4th with family!  Not looking forward to the drive through Kansas in 100 degree weather, but it'll be nice to see everyone again!

Run, Riley, run!

Home for a Holiday

Well, hello...long time, no talk.  Really all I've been doing is putting the occasion 30 Day Photo Challenge photo on here (notice how that "30 Day" thing turned into something more along the lines of "30 Months??").

Tomorrow, I'm heading home for Easter.  It's just a short little trip home.  I leave tomorrow morning, arrive in Indiana tomorrow night, then will be coming back to the Springs on Monday night.  It'll be nice to get a break from work, though, and see all of my family who I haven't seen since Christmas!  It's hard to believe it's been that long since I last saw them all!  Dear Family - come visit me in Colorado!!!!

The biggest recent change in my life is that I now have a dog!! I adopted a puggle named Lola from the Humane Society about a week ago.  She was a stray, so they don't really know how old she is, but the vet estimates that she's between 1.5 and 2.5 years old.  She's adorable, but a bit clingy at the moment.  She has a TON of energy, too!  She's already getting much better with the clinginess after a week, though.  I'm adding a photo in here so you all can see her cuteness yourselves.  Don't let that innocent little face fool you, though...she most definitely has an independent/mischievous streak!  She slept in my bed the first few nights I had her, but last night she had to sleep in the kitchen (it's gated off) because she'd been behaving badly all afternoon!

This morning, I took my best friend out here in Colorado (and truly one of the best friends I have ever had in my life) Margaux to the airport at the early hour of 5am.  She just got back from a competition in Italy last night (she is an athlete in modern pentathlon) so I didn't get to see her.  So, it was 5am or go without seeing my bestie for a week!!  So, we got Starbucks, got lost (apparently I cannot find Colorado Springs Airport when it's dark outside) and sat in the drop-off area chatting for a good fifteen minutes until a security guard told us to move along.  When I got back, I was already awake because of the caffeine...so I grabbed Lola and went on a 3.5-mile run!  Lola pooped out after the first mile or so, but I wanted her to be good and tired since I had to work in Denver today, so she got to stick out the whole thing.  Those of you who know me well know I'm not much of a runner...but I'm training for a sprint triathlon so I've been trying to run at least a 5k twice a week.

Denver has been pretty good today...it's been slow work-wise, and we had a vendor lunch at Hapa Sushi that was fantastic!!  I got a shrimp tempura roll (their's is shrimp tempura, avocado, crab and a few other things I didn't notice before inhaling it) and a California roll, in addition to sampling a few of the others' rolls.  I also sample sake for the first time in my life...can't say I'm a huge fan, but hey at least I did it!

Now, it's back to working for the next hour or so, then I'm back to the Springs to take Lola for a walk and pack!!