Life after Ironman

While taking forever to complete my race report, life returned to normal in many ways, but changed in a few, too.

The week after Ironman was full of little celebrations, including a wonderful lunch for TRIgirl LD and me thrown by our coworkers, massage gift certificates from my brother and sister-in-law (whoo hoo!), creative scrapbooking items from my cousins, roses from the hubby and autumn flowers from my aunt and uncle. After about three days, I felt ready to resume training, so having get togethers planned with friends was probably a good thing that prevented me from foolishly attempting workouts that my body wasn't ready to handle.

With a week of complete rest, I started back up with a few short runs and swims. They went well and I've been gradually increasing distances and intensity. Though TRIgirls SL and CH - along with Coaches G and S - put my measly workouts to shame by completing the Richmond marathon a week after doing IMFL. And oh, by the way, TRIgirl SL and Coach S ended up qualifying for Boston!

We all had one piece of unfinished business left - tattoos as promised by Coach S. We ended up going in three groups - with 7 out of the 9 TRIgirls getting inked. TRIgirl DL and I headed off together. We both wanted to personalize our MDOTs a bit.



TRIgirl DL placed her pink MDOT on her right outside ankle and added a wave to represent her love for scuba diving.


I put mine on my left inside ankle. And choose an orange M for Florida, added a flower dot for all the TRIgirls and girlied it up some more. (Photos are from my cellphone - not the best quality.)

I freaked out for about a half hour afterwards, wondering what I'd done, but have had no regrets since.

Thanksgiving week was spent in NY. Lots of great times visiting with friends and family - and sharing my brother and sister-in-law's first Thanksgiving in their lovely new home. Many people were gushing congratulations and wanted to hear all the IMFL details - it was almost embarrassing! I started to think to myself - gosh, it wasn't all THAT. My parents even gave me a beautiful and thoughtful crystal necklace - circles - for the "complete" athlete. I totally love it!

Reminders everywhere of all the incredible support I know I am so fortunate to have.