Has it really been a year....

...since I showed up on Tri-DRS, barely thawed out from 2 hours on the bike in 35-degree weather, and decided to become an active participant in the list? Of course I couldn't make a quiet entry... I just had to go and pick on a girl who griped about being cold on her run.

In some ways it seems like it's been eons... in others it was only yesterday... but who can sum it up better than the Dead... "What a long, strange trip it's been!"

For all of 2008, I still felt like a runner among cyclists, and a cyclist among runners. That continued (at least the latter) into 2009... and it was quite the distraction from half-marathon training. Kinda tough to train for a good halfathon when I was wishing I was in the saddle every time I saw a group of cyclists pass by while I was on a training run. And we still weren't going to talk about swimming.

Then came summer, and a revelation. I was on a long run, and saw some of my TriClub buddies on their bikes... I yelled out to them that I'd rather be in the channel. A few more ugly runs and I told Coach Kristen that I was just a cyclist that kinda swims. (And I still "just kinda swim" thank you very much.)

My racing season is over, but this year held a lot of firsts...


-- first open-water tri
-- first Olympic-distance tri (became one and the same after my May debacle)
-- first century ride
-- first back-to-back century rides (well... 108 + 92)
-- first Iron-distance bike leg

I even PR'd three of the 4 distances I ran... the one exception was an 8k, where I mailed in a windy last 2 miles, knowing I had a halfathon the next day. BTW, that halfathon was a PR. I no longer feel like a runner among cyclists... or really a cyclist among runners. I'm a friggin triathlete now. Which is not to say that I *like* the swim. Still, I now own a wetsuit, and even wiggled my way into it for a swim in 65-degree water the day before B2B... for no good reason other than to get out there with the DC-to-Florida Tri Tribe... ;)

No good ever comes of the sun going down early. And I won't say much about any days living in infamy. I'll just let this be my opportunity to kick off the inevitable barrage of posts that reflect on the past year, before the sunsets start getting later again.

And now, before I have to set goals and look forward to my 2010 racing season, I'll take some time to chill out and look forward to the late afternoons getting a little brighter...among other things. :)