Things are about to get really crazy.

I will be honest. Things are always crazy here.  As most of you know, I'm Type A, pretty neurotic, slightly OCD and more than slightly ADHD. Lots of labels there. In short, I'm generally an uptight and anxious person.

I'm told this makes me a *bit* hard to live with. :) And I'm super crazy when things get as crazy as they are about to get!

I have just started graduate school in English!

At this point I'm not quite sure how I will squeeze in all that I need/want to do this semester. I am a teaching assistant for an undergraduate course entitled The Monstrous Imagination--Monsters in Literature. I will lead a discussion group on Fridays, and I have quite a few responsibilities (more than I expected) in terms of planning, grading, and even some lecturing. I'm excited. Also a bit ..... well, anxious and uptight. I am also taking a nineteenth century/early twentieth century American Fiction course. I think ultimately I'd like to focus on the works of James or Wharton (in terms of future Master's thesis), so I'm glad I'm starting with this course. I'm also taking a reading/writing novels course which involves a great deal of writing, and some reading of contemporary fiction and memoir.

My real problem is not fitting in the class time, but fitting in the work time necessary to do well in these courses. My kids are at that multiple activities which each meet several times a week age. They all need homework supervision and help--like every day. And I still have my coaching job. And I have those five dogs. Somehow this will all work out...

Anyway! Enough on that.
This weekend I race!
I'm racing the Pumpkinman Half Iron, which is my favorite 70.3 ever.  I did this race a few years ago, and had a great day.  In reading over the post detailing that day, however, I remembered how much I dislike racing elite.
This is mostly because I am not elite.
So after talking with Kurt I decided to drop to the age group ranks. Yay! This means there is no chance of winning some money, but that's okay. I just want to be with my people, and my people are not the elite people.
In order to prep for the race I decided I should return to Masters swimming this week. Yes, I know that doesn't actually prepare me for this race. The hay is in the barn, etc. But oh well. I still wanted to head back to Masters.

Here is what I learned.
I am really out of pool swim shape.

I really believe there are different swim "in-shapes." You can be super speedy in the open water, but suck in the pool. I'm not really super speedy in the open water, but I am definitely more speedy there right now than I am in that pool! Holy Moly did that workout tire me out! Towards the end I could feel myself getting slower and slower and slower. I actually got out before the end of the workout, because I feared I was moving so slowly I would sink to the bottom of the pool.

More after the race!
Happy Back to School Holy Shit Crazy Time of Year to all of you!