Today was a coaching day for me so I walked 7 miles with the Capital City 1/2 Marathon team. The path is still snow and ice covered so it felt much longer than 7 miles! I redeemed myself on Thursday morning at our first weekday swim practice (5:15 wake up call and in the pool by 6 am!!). I timed myself at another 100 yards and made it without choking and my time was 1 minute, 30 seconds. I also did a timed mile running this week and did that in 10 minutes, 57 seconds. I can now run 2.5 miles without stopping, which is further than I've ever run! Despite all the training successes this past week, I do have a heavy heart. One of our honored patients relapsed in January and is now in a coma. He has been in ICU at Nationwide Children's Hospital where he and his family are fighting for his life. They can use your thoughts and prayers right now. They have a fan page on Facebook called "Praying For Seth Jenkins" and I encourage you to become a fan and post your status as Wake Up, Seth with a link to the page. Seth's parents have also been keeping an online journal to follow Seth's battle. Feel free to visit: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/sethjenkins/journal

Today was the first official training day! We had a swim clinic so the coach can get an idea of where everyone's skill level is. I didn't need water wings but I have a long way to go! We did a timed 100 yard swim (2 laps) and I did it in 2 minutes 13 seconds....but unfortunately I lost my rhythm on my last lap and sucked in some water. I'll definitely need to try to time it again at the next practice...this time without choking half way down the lane. :) I hit $1,045 raised today! Thank you so so much to my amazing supporters!

I coached the marathon teams on Sunday and we did 6 long miles in the snow and ice. It felt like we had walked 10 miles because we had to be careful not to slip and walking in snow is a lot like walking in sand. I think I get to skip the gym again today because we got another 8 inches of snow in the past 24 hours so that means more shoveling. I REALLY can't wait for spring training! Group training officially begins on Saturday with a swim clinic so the triathlon coach can get an idea of where we are currently with our swimming. At least I won't be wearing water wings!

I went to my first spinning class today. It was "fun" in a sick and twisted sort of way but I managed to not fall off the bike and I didn't puke so that is a success in my book. I skipped the gym yesterday because I spent most of Friday night/Saturday morning digging a path to the car and then digging the car out after it got stuck. We had 12 inches of snow and when you have a car that sits 6 inches off the ground....that is a problem. Working a shovel to lift wet, heavy snow is more cross training than I would have gotten at the gym anyways!

The "New Years Resolution" people are still hogging the treadmills at the gym so I had to actually adhere to the 30 minute time limit this morning. I did manage to run more than I walked during those 30 minutes so that was a success!

I have been "unofficially" training since December for the Fat Rabbit triathlon. I had to keep giving myself little pep talks before I even signed up that I could actually do this. I know that I will have some bad trainings over the next few months but I'm also going to have some huge milestones and those are the moments I live for! Ohio weather (18 degrees right now!) makes it a little difficult to ride my bike outside right now so I have it set up on a trainer in the basement. Even while watching TV, 45 minutes is a long time to spin away and not go anywhere...how long until spring??

It was supposed to be another 20 miler over the weekend but strong winds kept us inside. My walking buddy Carrie and I headed to the gym and hit the treadmills (those evil contraptions). I was worn out from the holidays and dehydrated for some reason so after 3.5 hours on the treadmill, I waved the white flag. I'm sure I got in somewhere between 14 and 16 miles...the treadmills at the gym restart every hour and I kept forgetting how far I had gone. The race is only 11 days away and we leave in just over a week for Disney World! I'm so excited. I feel like I'm well trained but I can't help but be a little nervous. I know I can do the distance but I want to get my PR so bad I can taste it! Whatever happens will happen. As long as I have a smart race, everything else is beyond my control at this point. I also hit 300 miles in my training this week!