Yummy salad and getting ready.

First thing's first: what would a blog post be without a picture of some food?!?! Last night I was home by myself and had the wholeeeeee kitchen for any kind of culinary creation. I was going to make some pasta (easy, boring) but decided to make a nice, big, green salad! We had locally grown lettuce and cucumbers from my grandpa's garden hanging out in the fridge, so I wanted to put them to good use.

The end result:

I spent a good 25 minutes thoroughly washing, slicing, peeling, and chopping and the final product was delicious. I added 2 boiled eggs for substance and some pita chips for a salty crunch. It was great. I do a lot of baking, but I almost never cook a meal for myself, and going through the whole process of preparing it from the most raw form was really awesome. Often times, meals taste better prepared by someone else, but this time it felt good to eat something that I'd put a lot of time into.

Today my mom and I embarked on a journey: triathlon packet pick-up! We also sat in for a highly recommended course talk...I feel more nervous AND more confused after that talk, which isn't too promising, but we're hoping to get to the course around 5:45AM to check things out for ourselves. I was successful in getting my packet though! I liked the goodie bag, lots of new kinds of stuff that I don't get for running races (like felt numbers and a pretty blue swim cap for my wave start :) They also added some GU...never used it or wanted to (and won't need it for my short triathlon) but maybe I'll try it out on a long run sometime! Hoping to get one in before moving back to school. I'm loving the race shirt we got; it's technical and I wasn't expecting to get a race shirt at all for this one so it's quite the welcome surprise!

I decided to lay out all of my things for tomorrow just to see what it all looked like in front of me (was it too much??). I referred back to my checklist that I found online and shared a couple weeks ago. 

Since taking the photo I also added some sunscreen and tissues. I'll probably add hand wipes to the pile too, I liked having those following my half-marathons. I included a big water bottle to use to rinse of my feet if they get dirty. We won't have a sand start or exit but I bet I'll pick up some junk on my feet on the run over to T1. Can you spy my new swimming goggles? 

Tonight I still have to freeze some water bottles and stick my numbers on my bike and on my helmet...and adjust the bike seat so it stays put. It couldn't hurt to charge up Garmin, either! I sure hope I'm remember ing everything! Tonight will be early to bed, hopefully I'm not too nervous to sleep!

Favorite Things Friday

Time for another Favorite Things Friday, since it's been a couple weeks since my last! I have a lot favorite things these days. Here are this week's favorites:

1. My new wall hanging! Yesss!

2. Watching old episodes from past Shark Weeks on Netflix. This year, Shark Week will be starting on Sunday (August 4th) and I'm soooo excited! I think it'll be a nice way to chill out after my early day for the triathlon. Lovveeee Shark Week.

3. The tea cookies display at Whole Foods. I don't normally shop at Whole Foods but seriously, their cookies are heavenly. I had a mini canoli last night (ate it too fast to stop to take a picture!) and it was amaymay. 

4. Oovooing with my besties. We had a great convo for a couple hours on Tuesday night, and it seriously made my week. If you guys are reading, I love you all!

5. My new role of wrapping paper (it has sharks and cupcakes, how can you go wrong there?!?! I must really like sharks these days...)

6. The last minute 10 seconds of an erg piece. I love the mixed sense of accomplishment/relief! 

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I'm taking these next couple of days easy in prep for Sunday. I actually took yesterday completely off, and today was just abs, a 5k erg test and light, short run. Tomorrow I might go for a mini-run or a walk or something, but likely will just take it off. Yesterday I took off because I was just exhausted--physically, mentally, and otherwise. My body just felt tired walking up the stairs, and getting out of bed was dreadful. I've been working hard this week both at work and in my workouts. I need to be sure I'm resting enough to perform as best I can in my upcoming events and just in training as well! Sometimes, you've gotta cut yourself a break :) 

Throwback Thursday and Ironman Inspo.

I've been nervous for this weekend's triathlon... but in true Throwback Thursday fashion I was looking through old photos that show that maybe I've been preparing for this my whole life!

I think I was 5 in the above "race" -- the first one I ever ran! I dug up an adorbs picture of my sister with me post-race. I love that they gave us little numbers and everything (I think the race was only a 100 meters or something)!!

As you can see, my dad has always been around during my sporting events throughout life. He missed only ONE regatta all through high school (meaning he'd gone to nearly 30!). He's always my biggest supporter. This weekend he's on a bike ride to DC with a buddy of his, which is awesome! He'll miss my first triathlon though. I know he'll be thinking of me!

Today I read NYC Running Mama's second Ironman recap. Reading her story was sooo inspiring. I'm even more ready now to do this triathlon. Reading her recap made me want to have the experience of an Ironman even more. It sounds like a soul-finding experience--something that's so meaningful. It's such a journey to go through with yourself. Reading NYC Running Mama's experience made me want to do triathlons so much!

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Do you remember that wall hanging from Target that I was in love with? I happened to go to Target this evening, and found that they had restocked! They had ONE LEFT! I ran to it and hugged it, determined to never let it go. It was really fate, the hanging was on sale! Can't wait to decorate my new dorm with it! I'm also looking at wall tapestries... I wonder if they could double as blankets...