I'm back!!

Well, it has been several months since my last post, but it feels like a lifetime. So much has happened, both good and not so good. Several times I have come to this blog to post an entry, but I truly haven't known where to start. So I will try to provide a "cliff note" version of the rest of 2012.
What I was unable to share in my last post from July, 2012 regarding the Door County Triathlon, was that the weekend just prior to the race my hubby and I found out that Rachel was pregnant. Between my broken toe, this surprising news that we were unable to share with anyone, and Rachel still insisting on racing during this very early stage of her pregnancy, that whole race weekend was very surreal to say the least.
Fast forward a few months. The list of life events is as follows:
1. Rachel and Ted's August marriage.
2. The ongoing challenges of a family member, the details of which I am unable to share so publicly, but that continues to take it's toll emotionally.
3. Celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary with a trip to Napa Valley, followed by travel to Alaska. (A GOOD happening! :-))
3. Training and racing my third marathon of the year and gratefully qualifying for Boston again!! (Another GOOD happening!)
4. The death of my horse Dudley in October. I can't believe how much it still hurts.

So here we are, it's already almost March of 2013! The pace of life certainly has not slowed down. We are focused on the upcoming birth of our grandson. Yes, it's a boy!! He is due to come on March 18th, but as with most babies, they have their own travel plans, so we will see. ;-) Ted got stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky and we are very grateful it's not too far away. Rachel is there nesting in their new apartment which is near the base. She will be back at the end of the week and will stay with us until D-day. Won't be long now!! I want to admit that I am getting used to the whole grandma gig, but I still have a hard time with it. We are trying to come up with different ways to say, "Mother of the Mom". Any and all ideas are welcome! :-)
On to the training and racing for 2013. It is an Ironman year. I decided to register for IMOO 2013 despite all that is going on with the family this year. All of my BFF's on the team are doing it and I was really looking forward to sharing IM #3 with them! I've also registered for my first 50k run coming up on April 20th. Then I plan on doing the Wisconsin Triple Crown series of rides as part of IMOO training. In addition to Rachel moving, the new baby, the formal wedding planned for October, and my hubby's insistence that we travel to Scotland in June to visit some friends, (he really had to twist my arm on that one...;-)), I will be attempting to train for an Ironman. I'll be completely honest...I'm having doubts at the moment about my ability to pull this off.
I am home from work today. I HATE calling in sick to work, I really do. I am not sick today, but injured again. I have been battling back issues since December and I am in the throes of some major spasms. I see my doc this afternoon, and then on to sports med. (I've been just trying to deal with this on my own, but now it's time for a little help. :-() Blake has been working very carefully with me to try to find that right balance between training for the ultra and IMOO, and resting and recovering while working through this pain. So far we've been managing, but I feel like I took a direct hit in the last few days. The scary part is, there was no clear incidence or injury. Possibly a slip on the ice last Thursday? This seems to have come on insidiously. As I told Blake today, "I think my body is trying to tell me something".
Every New Years day for the past 10 years, I take down all of my race bibs from the previous year and put them in a box with all of my medals. I can then start with a clean fridge for the next year. This year I took down 16 race bibs. 16 races in 2012! It isn't rocket science. There is a reason that I am carrying residual fatigue coming into 2013. The question is, will I be able to push through it and still meet all of my goals for the year?
I know I'm going to try! :-)
Enjoy this day!