Seattle

I wrote a race report for Hy-Vee, but then I was sucked into a whirlwind of fun during my visit home to Seattle – and now I can’t find it. The short version is this: I swam really well, missed a $5k bonus out of the water by 5s, rode with 50 or 60 other men on the narrow bike course, had bad positioning into T2, and ran from the back of the pack up to 25th place by the end. I’m happy with it.

After the race I flew home to Seattle for a week “off”, where I was under coaches orders to “play hard”. This is not a task that I’ve ever had trouble with. I went sailing with friends for two days, I saw friends I haven’t seen all year, baked banana bread with my family (gluten free!), ran trails through muddy forests, and went rowing in a double with Mom.

The rowing was the scariest of those adventures. For a swimmer, who is perfectly willing to jump in the lake and swim, I was unjustifiably petrified of flipping the rowing shell. My mom didn’t seem nervous at all, though I think she expected me to have a little more natural talent.

Seattle’s summer starts in the end of June, and it’s fun to see all the pasty Seattleites crowding every inch of open space (all those green trees can make it hard to avoid the shade) for the full 20 hours of sunshine we had on father’s day. Or maybe summer started the day after father’s day. I can’t remember. I decided to stay in Seattle an extra week and begin my training block here. My reasoning is pretty simple: I love Seattle, and it’s nice to be around my family and friends. It’s been a really good trip, and I will be going back to Colorado refreshed and excited to be there again.

Oh yeah, how can I forget about the newest member of my family?! Carter Lamb, my sister’s first child celebrated his 7th month of life last week! I have to say, the little guy is growing on me quickly, even if seeing my sister’s eyes on a little kid brings waves of terror into my subconscious. Hopefully he doesn’t learn to torture me like she did. 🙂