It was a good day...

I was riding today and I am 99% sure a bee hit me in the face. The good news is that he hit my tooth of all things and bounced off! He hit my tooth because I was smiling. I was in a great mood (read on to find out why) and riding the best I have since Steelhead.

I got wrapped up in the ride and the distance, and realized I was potentially doing too much and going to be late for my lunch meeting. So I started hauling ass and doing math, ya know one of those: "If it's 12:10 and I have ~8 miles to ride until I'm home going 20+ mph, and I still have to shower and drive another ~5 miles to the restaurant, can I make it by 1pm?

I was there by 1:03.

Great mood elevated!

It felt nice to be having such a great day & mood because, I'm not gonna lie, I've hit a bit of a rough patch with work recently that's been hard on me in more than one way. My gym -- my second home -- is closing on Sept. 30. It's not what the owners wanted or ever dreamed of being the case, but sometimes the real world is harsh. The *hope* is that we relocate and it's a relatively smooth transition, but even if that's the case things would still be changing big time. It's a shame and gets me choked up -- the gym as I know it now has such a special spot in my heart for making me who I am today, as a trainer/coach/athlete. I've been there for almost 4 years.

Knowing I have some "job risk" with the gym right now, it's funny how things have a way of working themselves out. Lately I've been doing a little bit more on the journalism side of things, as well as modeling a bit more. So if my gym work suffers a bit in the next couple months, it's nice to be able to have other skills to pay the bills ;)

Of course, the Endurance Planet podcast is a big part of my life too... and it's about to become an even bigger part of me. I put out the idea to Ben of doing Kona coverage this year, and long story short, it's going to happen! Ironman World Championships round 3 for me. If you recall, I missed going to Kona last year because I was in my best friend from high school's wedding (the right decision that I'm so happy with and don't regret for ONE second - always choose a friend in those cases). I had been in Kona in '09 and '10 working for EverymanTri and Competitor/Triathlete Mag, respectively. This year, it will be a fun and new experience going with my own media organization that I've been part of for almost two years. I will be doing daily podcasts and videos for EP, and it's bound to be a blast!

As of today, I officially locked down all the essentials (reason for great mood): flight, room and media credential. Interestingly, I will be staying with a well-renown sports med doc you may have heard of, John Post. I'm also in the process of filling up my schedule with race week events to cover, interviews with pros and amateurs, figuring out when I'll get in some of my own training, planning social time with friends who'll be there.... I'm dang excited. If there's anyone or anything you think I should include in my EP coverage, let me know!

That's it for now... time to go cook. That reminds me, more food/recipe posts to come soon.

I'll leave you with four pics from past Kona trips that are random but get the point across of how awesome Kona/Ironman week is:

2009 Underpants run with Ian, Charisa, Kevin and Kristen!

2009 Press conference, I was in heaven listening to/seeing this!

2010 Reporting for Triathlete Magazine at Dig Me Beach.

2010 Post-race cliff jumping fun with Eleanor (GU) and Caroline!