finally.....tucson!

today was by far the most exciting day of driving.
we woke up very early (4) in order to get there in time to aquire my apartment.
new mexico started out being kinda flat and dull, but i new at some point, we were going to hit some scenic areas.
well, about 3 hours into NM, we started to see some hills. which grew into bigger hills.
they were gorgeous (i'm sure pictures will do them no good) .
for some reason, garmin decided to take us off the beaten path and onto a twisty turny road right throught the heart of the mountains! there were deer, elk and cows on the road!
the name of the national park was Gila Mountain park, and i would love to hike through some day.

once we crossed over into arizona, the weather became nasty.... black clouds, sand storms and SNOW! they had a blizzard! i can't escape it.... it was also very beautiful, but kinda' scary.

reaching tucson was a relief.... the area is gorgeous and i already love it here.

day two.

in total, we drove 16 hours today.... numb bum.

we had to in order to make it to my apartment complex by 5 tomorrow.

as you'll see by the pics, we drove through kansas oklahoma, and texas. so much driving for only a few states.

pretty boring terrain for the most part, however today i landed in the bowels of a real life tradgedy: Greensburg, Kansas.

this part of the trip was shocking and saddening.... this little town was completely distroyed by a 1.6 mile wide twister in may of last year.

nothing was left standing, and they were just now starting to rebuild it.

you hear about these, but seeing it is a whole other story. check it out...http://www.cbsnews.com/elements/2007/05/06/national/photoessay2765263.shtml

my heart goes out to them...

day uno

well, last night the very beast i was so happy to be leaving was trying it's hardest to keep me in london. i was worried that we wouldn't to leave as planned and the whole itenerary was going to fall to pieces.
but when the alarm went off at 6, i saw that the good ole' city of london had been out all night clearing the roads.
off we went.
the drive to the border was a little sketchy, and i was worried that we were going to hit some nasty weather, but by the time we hit sarnia, the sun was out and the roads were dry and clear!
the border crossing was totally uneventful. i was soooo worried they would search everything and it would take hours... i made lists, and schematics to demonstrate where everything was and he didn't even want to see it. in total, 3 minutes at the border..... my dad couldn't resist the obvious joke, "start the car..... start the car!"
in total, 13 hours in the car, 1100km down (can only go 100km/hour with the trailer). made it to a town called "Hannibal"......waking up at 5 to get an early start.

--- still not any warmer than london.

it's all about experiences!

it's been decided.... i'm moving to sunny tucson, arizona. this is my new hospital!

it all happened so fast! hard to believe it, but i'm headed south in less than one week.

i'm going crazy trying to tie loose ends, pack my life so that it fits in a 5 x 8 trailer, and still get in my training for an IM only 10 weeks away!

while i know this should be an exciting time, i can't help but feel extremely overwhelmed at points.

my dad had to remind me that it's all about the journey -- and to try and enjoy even the most stressful points.

this is a link to my new apartment complex: www.pinnacleheightsapts.com


what an experience it has been trying to locate and decide on an apartment from 3000 miles away!
only time will tell if it is a good decision....

i have decided that this will be a good way to keep friends/family posted so i will try and update it regularily with pics and stuff.. warning: it may get a little emotional at times...

nothing beats a break-through workout!

nothing quite compares to the feeling you get after a 'break-through' workout. it's soooo motivating to hit that target and go beyond it...
sometimes, it's a target that you never thought you'd be close to, which is extra satisfying.

i have been fortunate enough to have two of these such experiences in the last two weeks...
last week, i had a break through w/o at the track. at first, i was thinking about cutting the w/o short or slacking off the times a bit. i even had a thought of skipping it all together (injury prone as i am). but late afternoon, i pulled it together, HTFU so to speak and did my double.

i competed the 'big, scary workout' and it went better than i could have expected -- kinda' surprised myself a little.
hoping that i can follow that up with another breakthrough tonight at the track. but the tired, sluggish feeling in my legs may mean something a little less glorious.

the second 'break-through' was yesterday in the pool. i have definately been feeling slow and uncoordinated in most of my swims lately so this was a shocker!
in a nut shell, the workout consisted of a bunch of 50's with fast 400's sandwiched between them. this was the first time i had to do 3, 400's fast (i've had to do one before, but it was followed by a 300m and then a 200m). my fastest to date was around 5:45ish...
i was feeling pretty beat up from a tough weekend, and was just hoping to 'get through it', so when my first 400 was in 5:47, i wasn't too bummed but didn't think i could go any faster.
ended up shocking myself when i went 5:40 for the second one, especially since i was feeling more exhausted by the minute.

the breakthrough came with the last one... i was so tired, legs feeling like bricks and arms barely breaking the surface (or at least that's what it felt like!), i did the last one in 5:34!!!

it's hard, if not impossible to have breakthroughs like that very often, so i try to enjoy them when i do... usually celebrating with ice cream and cookies... maybe a glass of wine.

here's hoping to many more breakthrough workouts...

great start to the year

well, a select few of us completed the 100 x 100.. 10 whole km's of swimming. now i'm good for the rest of the week.
actually, it wasn't that bad... we ended up coming in on our 100's (scm) faster than 1:30's everytime.
shoulders are a little tired today - will be taking the day off.

finished the day off last night with a 2 hour trainer ride... great way to ring in 2008!