2 weeks to go...

My workouts have been good, but not great. I haven't been in the pool enough. I got a big ride done last weekend and a long brick checked of my list this weekend. My interval run workouts have come together. I could use more time on the bike. I am not one to panic, but I am starting to get a little wound up about the Longhorn Ironman 70.3 that I have in two weeks. I have been sick with gunk coming out of my nose and up from my throat for the last two weeks and my antibiotics have run out and the cough and junk in my throat is not getting any better. My bruises have healed but I still have issues with muscle weakness and pain in my right leg. I have another appointment with my sports doc in the morning before work and then I have to see if I can get in to see the GP to have them check that my lungs are clear and that the stuff in my throat is not moving south. The wheezing at night has not been fun.

I have not been sleeping well and I think that is part of my problem. I just have not been getting enough sleep. I go to bed at a reasonable hour, but I have to be up between 4:20 and 5:20 every morning for work or to get the kid to cross country practice. I wake up feeling like I need more sleep and I hit the snooze a few times. Then I had this stranger in my bed the past two nights who likes to sleep in the middle of the bed, gives off heat like a furnace, and kicks. I have gotten used to sleeping by myself most of the time that when El Esposo is home I usually get an elbow to the ribs or jolted awake by a knee to the back. That will wake a person up. I want a sick day from work, but I am not really sick. I just need to HTFU and get on with life. Just two more weeks until race day....

And seven more weeks until BEACH THERAPY!!! I spent time today re-booking our cruise that got canceled due to fog and we are headed to the Western Caribbean the week of Thanksgiving. I hate that I will miss Thanksgiving with the family for a second year, but I need this break and I need a beach and some major bikini time. I am going to be living in a bikini for 6 days and if there is anyone in my sailing party who has a problem with it, they can go shove it. Yes, I may just embarrass my husband and twelve year-old son strolling into lunch in my Roxy bikini and Body Glove board shorts but I am sure they will get over it. It's not like I will be looking like Snookie or J-WOW.

This week is shaping up to be a good one so far. On Friday we went to REEF for dinner for my birthday. I shared an appetizer of Kinilaw ceviche with blue crab that was incredible tasting. It had thinly sliced radishes, jimica, and orange mixed in a Coco-lime broth. For my main entree I had grilled Amberjack on a bed of long beans and plantain saute with a pomegranate jus. For dessert I shared a Vietnamese coffee tart with Condensed Milk ice cream and a peppermint syrup. OMG!!! To. Die. For. REEF is one of Chef Bryan Caswell's restaurants and he is on the new season of Iron Chef that started tonight. I also got a early birthday surprise! I got a Kitchen Aid stand mixer!!! I have been wanting one for years but I could not justify spending that kind of money on a mixer when I had one that still worked. OK, so my Sunbeam Mixmaster is almost as old as me, the large mixing bowl that broke has been replaced with a plastic bowl, I sometimes have to push the bowl around with my hands, and it is avocado green from the early 70's. But, it still works. So now I have to make myself a birthday cake! I will be making a red velvet and white checkerboard cake with white chocolate frosting and peppermint starlight mints crushed and sprinkled on top. It is a strange sounding cake, but it is what my mom used to make for me and it would not be my birthday without it. I have had to make it on my own for the last few years, but I think that I have mastered the white chocolate frosting. The weather has been so nice here in Texas I am wondering if the humidity will come back in time for the cake to completely collapse once I cut into it. That is usually what happens to my cake and I LOVE eating all the crumbs and bits that fall apart. It will be just me and the kid eating this cake so please feel free to come over on Thursday and have a piece of birthday cake. I won't be able to eat it all myself.

Oh, and feel free to give me a bikini for my birthday...

Later Gators!

Liz