Placid, Broken AC, Heat Wave

All I've been doing these past few days is think about cold water. Cold air. Cold anything. Having a broken AC during the middle of a 100 degree heat wave will do that to you. I spent all Memorial Day weekend up in Lake Placid, seeing the town, biking the course, running the course, and swimming in Mirror Lake. Apparently Lake Placid is the place to be Memorial Day weekend if you are a triathlete - I was rarely alone on the bike course Saturday and I saw scores of people on the run course Sunday. Spandex, compression socks, and wetsuits were a pretty common sight - it almost felt like a race weekend. So, the course - LOVED IT. The bike course (even with the bad pavement in spots) was amazing. Amazing. The perfect amount of hills, downhills, and flats. This is the first time I've pre-ridden a course before an Ironman and it has given me a boost of confidence. The 5 mile descent isn't nearly as scary as I pictured in my mind, and none of the ascents are too heartbreaking. And it was beautiful - rivers and fields. The group of us rode the course on Saturday and unfortunately got caught in a massive thunderstorm at the very end of the second loop. I'm not going to be surprised if it storms like that on race day. Sunday we ran the course - again, hills, downhills and flats. I can't wait to see what it's going to look like on race day with all of the spectators. And Mirror Lake is gorgeous - the water temperature was perfect for our swim on Sunday afternoon. I wore my full-sleeve wetsuit, but probably could've gotten away with my sleeveless. The whole weekend was a blast, made even better by the fact that there was a great group of us sharing a house together and training together. We were walking distance from a bike shop, ice cream shop, the lake, and the main street.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end - and I traded the clear, cool Adirondack mountain air for a heat wave, broken AC and an 89 degree house when I returned to Virginia. The only upside - Bissell has been too hot and lazy to even be bothered to jump up on the counter. Just when I was reaching my breaking point last night, rain and a cool front moved through and I can happily report that my house is a very comfortable 81 degrees at the moment.

I have lots of pictures I've been meaning to upload, from Tucson to Lake Placid... if I could get them off my camera.

Oh, and a quick random/amusing story. As a married girl about to hit 30, I've been getting some questions on when we're going to have kids (short answer: not anytime soon). The most recent came from the AC repairman. As he's dismantling our AC to figure out the issue (massive leaks, need to get the whole thing replaced), he was making small talk - he asked if I was married (yes) and if I had kids (no) and how long I've been married. When I told him 5 years, a look of shock passed over his face. I thought he was going to say, "oh, well you look far too young to have been married for 5 years already." And I was totally going to take that compliment. But instead he says, incredulously, shaking his head, "5 years and no kids?! That is bad, very bad." and goes back to work.

Everyone has their own opinion, I suppose!