Who sets off fireworks at 2pm, anyways?

Holy cow, July 8th?! My goodness time is flying.

Training is coming along. There has been a break from group training due to the thunder and lightening at the open water swim and the holiday weekend. I am excited for tomorrow, as it is a track workout instead of swimming. =) I’m not exactly sure of what it will consist of, but I’m sure it will be fun. Who doesn’t like to run?!

On the 4th I ran outside because any gym I could track down was closed due to the holiday. I never did understand that—people need to be fit on holidays, too! Regardless, I guess it was a good push to get me off the treadmill and onto the terrain I will be actually racing on. When considering my route I thought it’d be the perfect day to run on the lake front trail, as everyone would be at their celebratory barbecues leaving the beach front empty and peaceful. Sometimes I’m incredibly embarrassed at my own idiocy. The barbecues are AT the lakefront. It was the farthest thing from empty and peaceful EVER. Despite the 2:00pm hour, fireworks were going off left and right, polluting the air with green smoke the whole time. It was nuts-o! With every step and labored breath I couldn’t help but think ‘this is what you get for being so dense!’ I guess I’ve never been big on the tradition of a 4th of July bbq at the beach… I had NO idea! Despite the unexpected festivities, I got in a semi-decent run and ended up going six and a half miles. Thanks to www.mapmyrun.com I can map out my run and see the exact mileage—what a helpful training tool! (They also have www.mapmyride.com for biking!). Given, my pace was not my treadmill pace, but it was faster than my last outdoor running adventure and longer than my treadmill runs, so I will be content with that.

Fundraising is holding steady at $755. I am hoping that something.. big will happen. My dad is absolutely awesome and is enthusiastically pursuing his company’s matching donation program (or something like it). Even though he is all the way in Oregon, a person from the Oregon/SW chapter of LLS is looking into making a presentation at the company’s annual meeting! I have been so encouraged to see this slowly unfold, and I am crossing my fingers that it all goes well and that in the end LLS will benefit from a donation! My dad deserves even more props because his efforts at spreading the word do not stop with his company! He also is sending out emails telling people about this great opportunity to donate to LLS, referring them to this blog! This is an excellent and FREE way to help support LLS!!! Let us all learn from his example! =)

I’m so grateful for all the donations that have been made already, and for the beyond encouraging emails and messages I have received regarding this endeavor. Support of any kind is invaluable to me and keeps me going when I get discouraged or wonder what the heck I’m trying to pull. While I know I have been focused primarily on financial support of this endeavor, the bottom line is that support is support and I am grateful for all the prayers, good vibes, and well wishes I have received in addition to monetary support. They’re absolutely wonderful!

In other news, I think I get to go home on Thursday! That will be so so so wonderful as I am more homesick than I have ever been (I’m still confused as to why… you would think that after four years of living far away, I’d be over it..) I think that since I don’t really know the next time I will be able to go home after I start working for real as a nurse (July 22nd!!!), I am a little panicked. But thanks to some extreme generosity and buddy passes, I think it’ll workout to head home for a short bit before the 22nd. I am so lucky. I’m excited to train in Oregon! Finally-- long stretches of road without stoplights every twelve feet or crazy people flinging doors open in front of me! Also no humidity!! Woohoo… although that will be an indulgent treat that will probably be harmful in the long run, as during the triathlon (at the end of August) humidity will be at an all time high. Hmm.. well, a risk I am willing to take. So hopefully, next time I write it will be from the west (best) coast. =)

Donate, friends. It’s such a worthy organization.