‘First Day of School’ Outfit, ‘Old Man Socks,’ and a HUGE August

First Day of School Outfit:

When I was 18 and we were on our summer family vacation, my Mom said something like, “OK, I’ll buy you some clothes for college, but they HAVE to be on sale. And this is the LAST year I do this!”

Well, I’m 29, and we STILL do this every summer! And not only does Mom do this for my sister and I, but also for my sister’s hubby and my Pharmie! She bought me this vest and this shirt - the shirt is light purple:

Traditional “off to school” photo leaving the house.

The first reaction I got at one of the colleges where I teach was from the “maintenance guy” who pointed, laughed, and said “what the heck is that?” Fail. Apparently I usually dress like shit. ;) But then one of the admissions ladies said that I looked sharp. Win.


Old Man Socks:

I have a pair of high crew socks I sometimes wear under jeans. Super un-sexy, but you can’t see them under my pants. Well, I was wearing them Sunday, and I forgot to take them off when I was getting ready for a ride with Pharmie. Let’s just say she was “less than thrilled” to be seen riding with me looking like this:

Huge Numbers for August:

Coach Jen is cranking up my distances as much as she can without making me injured. She officially started coaching me on the 9th of August. The month started with a sprint tri on the 1st, a bit of a recovery week, and then Jen took over.

My biggest "run month" in the past was just before injuring myself 2 years ago training for a marathon. It was 102 miles. I’ve only been over 88 miles / month a few times in the last 4 years.

My biggest "swim months" in the past have been over 20,000 yards. That’s not really a lot, I know. The 3 months leading up to my Ironman 3 years ago (June, July, and August of 2007) were all over 20,000 yards, the biggest being just over 24,000 yards.

Well, Jen made me beat BOTH of those in August:

- Run: 108.34 miles
- Swim: 25,817 yards

I know, I know... NEITHER of those are huge numbers. But I can’t run TOO much - I get injured at the drop of a hat. And remember that I’m training for NOTHING with a swim! I have NO triathlons in the near future, so Jen is using some nice, long swims as aerobic workouts and active run recovery.

I have a sinking feeling in my gut that Jen might just make me break my “fresh” run record AGAIN this month. Afterall, it’s under 4 weeks away to the big race!!

[gulp]