It is definitely an odd feeling to not be on such a regulated schedule as I was for the last year plus. With the cooler weather and darkness coming early, it's very easy to put off exercise. Throw into the mix that I moved my office this month, and you can probably see where I'm at now. I did get the mountain bike out a couple times in the last week though, and last Sunday I did the Muddy Buddy with a friend from Tucson, Renee Powers. We even had a podium finish in our co-ed division. Luckily they went 5 deep. We were less than 3 minutes out of first place, 27 seconds out of second, and 16 seconds from third place. This is pretty amazing I think since Renee had never been on a mountain bike prior to that day. Did I mention she was an Ironman finisher also.



I decided to run the event in an afro, as it's common for people to race these in costume. Even though it was a cool day, that thing got HOT, especially on my run sections. What a fun day it was though, as I had quite a few friends also racing. Rick and Kim were there, and Brad and Yvonne from Tubac took second place in their division and my friend Ian Deonise and his partner Chris Hernandez also placed second in their division.



    I have been going back to my track workout on Tuesday night. I am planning to do a 25k trail run on Jan 23 at McDowell Mountain Park, so I decided 3 mile runs weren't going to be enough to get ready for that, so last night I ran to track, did the 3 one mile interval runs at 7:19, 7:25, and 7:19 then ran home after. Well, almost all the way, I hitched a ride with Steve to the freeway then ran the rest of the way, getting to 6.3 miles, anyway.

    My back is still bothering me after the IM, it took quite a pounding on the run. I think my body is missing the work of Zogisle and Dr. Joe. Makes me realize even more how beneficial that is. 

    I have 5 more weeks after this one with JR, and I love going down there to lift. I need to have a good routine for lifting before that ends so I don't fade away into laying on the couch eating Cheeto's every day.