Vacation comes to an end...

Well, the vacation time is over...okay, not really till Monday, but I'm not getting charged vacation days now. It's been a nice, but somewhat quick month. Why couldn't time go that quickly when I was deployed? Oh well. I did get a great deal accomplished, maybe not all that I had wanted to do, but the major things did get done. I finally feel like my house is "together." My yard could be greener, but I can weed-eat now. My dining room table and chairs are in their place. My bedroom, guest bathroom, and exercise room are happy colors. My patio is nicely set up with patio furniture. I have flowers that have managed to keep alive for nearly a month! I took the GMAT and did very well on part of it, and discovered what I need to study for next time. I got my driver's license renewed and my dog groomed. I got in some good training sessions, and I slacked on a few--but it was vacation, that's allowed. I raced and completed my first Half-Ironman at Buffalo Springs. I placed 2nd in my age group at the Disco Olympic Tri, and I placed first in my age group in the Freedom Fest 5K. Hopefully I bring home some more hardware on Sunday from my sprint race. I spent some good time with some good friends, to include my parents visiting. I bought race wheels that are super-sweet looking and I'm excited about racing. I rarely had to wake up at 4AM...though I do well at morning workouts. All in all, it was a low-key, but good time off. This month includes some decent volume in training as the Longhorn Half-Ironman is just over two months away and the San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon is 3 1/2 months away. I will start it off with Jack's Generic Triathlon this Sunday. I will also do the Cove House Classic 63 miler in Copperas Cove, and then the next day do my first 2.4 mile open water swim at Mansfield Damn in Austin. I will also begin the process of preparing to take command in September, so change of command inventories are in my future. I also need to finalize my command philosophy and work on some other necessary pre-command preparation. So, it will be a full month. I'll be back in a routine, which won't be bad. In an odd way, I do enjoy my 5AM swims and runs in the dark with my blinky light strobing. Monday brings it all back!

BUT--before then I will go on a group bike ride tomorrow, then head to Austin for packet pick up and to stay with my wonderful Austin friends, and then race in the Jack's Generic Sprint Tri (500m swim, 13.8 mile bike, 3.1 mi run)! Best of wishes to everyone else racing this weekend!