November Sabbatical

For the past two weeks I've been on training vacation and not just a little respite but a total and complete vacation from all things related to training. Rather than getting up early and getting on the bike or heading out for a run I sleep in (something like 10 or 11 hours a night), make breakfast and drink as much coffee as I want while listening to Morning Edition and browsing the inter webs (you can never see too many pictures of cute corgis).  While I'm enjoying my time off and catching up on my sleep deficit, I'm also getting a little bit edgy.  I had a solid race at Ironman Florida and I'm really looking forward to starting my training for Texas.  Lo and behold, just as I was starting to get antsy, Doug sent me my histogram for first half of next year arrived.  For the uninitiated as histogram is  is a graphical representation showing a visual impression of the distribution of data.  In my particular case the historgram shows my distribution of training between now and Ironman Texas in May. 

While I love the numbers (Shaun is not so in love with my numbers and is looking for someone to adopt him during the last two weeks of April), the best part of the histogram is finding out when I get to race in 2012.   Here are the dates:

December 18th - Jingle Bell 5K - Sommerville, MA

January 14th - Snowstorm Classic 5K - Springfield, MA

February 11th - Rock & Roll Half Marathon - St. Petersburg, FL

March 10th - 5150 Miami - Miami, FL

April 7th - Great Bay Half Marathon - New Market, NH

April 29th - St. Anthony's - St. Petersburg, FL

May 19th - Ironman Texas - Woodlands, TX

I know, three trips to Florida is a lot, but I want to race in some heat before Texas and if I don't travel I won't be able to race any triathlons before Ironman Texas.  Shaun has agreed to come to Tampa/St. Petersburg for the half marathon and for St. Anthony's but he claims he's not going to Miami with me.  Miami may be a no go, or I may get my mom to come with me.  She knows the "Kelly is racing" drill and is good at keeping me from doing dumb things pre-race (which I have a tendency to do when I'm all by myself).  With or without Miami, I have a pretty full six months ahead.