Well, it's January 6th and I still don't have a training plan. I have an idea of what I should be doing but haven't put anything on paper yet. Too busy! Marshall is using Gale Bernhardt's olympic-distance plan right now and then will switch to her 13 week Ironman training plan sometime this summer or fall so I suppose that is what I should do.

In the meantime, I'll keep doing what feels right for the day....

Today I took the kids to school and drove to my mom's house (near school) and ran from there. I did two loops, each about 2 - 3 miles each. The loop goes from her house near WOW to 20th street by the ballfields, around by University and Frontier schools, Fun Plex and up "fluffy bunny" hill to 59th Avenue. Nice loop with a good long hill. I ran it twice today and pushed the pace on the 2nd loop.

Got the run in but missed my swim on Monday....well, um, I kinda overslept. Yep. Slept right through Master's swim. Woke up at 6:20 (it starts at 6:15). Nice! And I'm going to do an Ironman???

So, today my mind is wandering while I'm running thinking of all kinds of crazy stuff. Started thinking about why we do this...why do people like me like to run, bike, and swim? Or just run. Why do we center our lives around training like we do??? Most people think we're crazy but all of my running friends get it. When we will run or ride is often the first thing we think about when we wake up each day. Why is that???

I'd like to think it's the lofty goal of staying healthy. But the real truth is probably a little more narcissistic. I came up with three very likely reasons during my run today:

1. We want to look good naked. That's right. Plain and simple. Remember Kevin Spacey in the movie American Beauty....he goes for a run (for the first time) and he starts talking to some guys running by him. They talk about how running is good for your health and say something like "isn't that why you are running" to which Spacey replies "No, I just want to look good naked." Ha! You can't tell me it's not at least part of the reason why you run or do triathlons!

2. We want to beat the SOB. One thing that we runners like is a little competition and because most of us do the same races every year, we see the same people at each race every year and we secretly compare race times (sometimes not so secretly) and we do everything we can to beat anyone in our age group. The nice thing about triathlons is that they write your age on the back of your right calf so that when people pass you, you know whether they are in your age group or not. This can come in handy! You know whether to relax and let them go or dig in and kill yourself to pass the SOB at the finish line. And it feels oh so good when you pass someone who is younger than you are! It's all about the ego.

3. We eat like a pig. One thing I've heard over and over again throughout my years of running, cycling, and doing triathlons is this: "I run because I like to eat". We all know that exercise burns calories and running, biking, and swimming just so happen to burn A LOT of calories. So it makes perfect sense to those of us who hate dieting but who want to look good naked, to get our butts out the door and pound the pavement for an hour or so. That way, we can come home and pound the pizza and cheesecake too. Works for me!