Vacation... Free at Last!

Lara came with me on my transition run yesterday. She was pretty happy about it! Usually I have two in the stroller, but my older two were at wilderness camp for the morning. They looked at budding leaves and found salamanders and turtles. They loved it, and I got a few hours with just my baby (okay, I know she's not really a baby anymore), which is an unusual occurrence!

Today I swam before the kids got up. 3000 yards. It was a hard workout, but I'm really psyched about how much stronger I am in the water than last year at this point. I did 3 x 400, descending, hard--ending with a 5:44, which is good for me, and faster than my TT time of a few weeks back. Then I did 6 x 200 alternating IM and free. The IM's were hard, because my fly is only sub par and it really tuckers me out.

When I got home from the pool the kids had just gotten up. I fed everyone, endured the wrath of the hub. who had missed his train b/c I swam so long (oops), and then packed up the kid and went to the gym. I put them in the daycare there, which they (fortunately for me) really like, and then went out for a run with my cell phone. It was 82 degrees out! It was really nice to be outside in just shorts and a top. I was only supposed to go a 1/2 hour, but who runs for just a 1/2 hour? So I ran for 50 minutes and went inside to do a few sit-ups.

I love vacation!

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Here are a few jobs I would like to try:

• Animal trainer. I'm particularly interested in training dolphins or maybe working with polar bears.
• Writing. I don't know what I want to write, though, or for whom. And I don't want any due dates.
• Professor of the 19th English novel. Maybe teach a course on the novels of Edith Wharton. Get paid a huge salary, offered tenure, and not required to publish at all.
• Professional triathlete.
• Coach.
• Sports nutritionist.
• Researcher on personality theory, with special focus on Myers Briggs Typology.

Unfortunately, barring I win the lottery and can pursue whatever I want without causing my family total financial disaster, none of these job ideas are actually possible.

More likely I will do one of four things next year:

• Elementary librarian in a school setting. This I'm actually applying for, but I am not certified as a "library media specialist", and so this may prevent me from getting the job. We'll see.
  
• Part time English teacher. I'm not seriously considering this opportunity. I'd have to convince them I really want to teach 8th grade (which I don't) and that I am up for another year of teaching (which I'm not).
• Stay home mom. Here I become a slave to laundry, dishes and housecleaning. I'm actually already a slave to this stuff anyway, though, so who cares?
  
• Tutor. I really don't like tutoring, so I'm not seriously considering this either. It pays well, but the hours don't work. I need to be home when my kids get home from school, not tutoring other people's kids.
  

Stay at home mom appeals to me the most. Unfortunately, I'm not sure it's a true possibility. The hub. can barely contain his panic every time I bring it up.

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I'm getting really psyched about my first tri, which is coming up in 2.5 weeks. It's just a little sprint, but I'm still really focused on it. It marks my one year anniversary of becoming a triathlete. I did well last year given I had only been riding a bike for 6 days prior to the race and I was terrified I wasn't going to be able to unclip when I needed to. But it went well, I placed 6th in my age group and I was hooked! Anyway, I'm so excited to do this race again. I want to see how much better I can do with a year of experience and training under my tri-suit.The only problem is that I have to wear my QT2 uniform, in which I look a little like a sausage.