At the beginning of the year, I remembered that I had been posting to this blog as I worked my way through the adventures of my triathlon experiences.  Sadly, as you will see, I never recapped my last triathlon… I may have to go back at some point and re-post some of the memories via the pictures taken that day – it was an awesome day and really the highlight of my triathlon experiences to date.  I finished 2nd in my age group that day, a feat which I thought I would never accomplish, nor was it ever really a goal of mine – so all in all, it was a pleasant surprise and I felt amazing for finishing so strong!

The reason for the halt in my postings was grad school.  I applied and was accepted to a program at the same time I was finishing my training and racing that final triathlon!  Since late August of 2010, I have been working my tail of in Purdue’s MS-MBA program for Food and Agriculture.  It’s been a love hate relationship over the past year with this program – I love the things I have learned, and how much more I know about the domestic and global economy of food.  I hate how much of my free time it has taken up!  Trying to balance a job which requires 50-60 hours a week and then school which is another 30-40 hours a week, and then also trying to find time for friends, family and running… it’s been a HUGE lesson in time management!  And as the title of this blog states, you never know until you tri – you really do not know what you can manage and handle until you do try!

Last year, I really took a rest from running and racing, I only ran the Warrior Run 5K at West Mountain in June, and then the Boilermaker last July (without really training, not sure that was the best idea, nor do I know how I was able to finish with the time that I did), then I ran 2 5K’s this past fall.  Since the start of the 2012, I have gotten back into the swing of things a bit with a 5K and a 4 miler under my belt.  I’ve also been subjecting my body to the Insanity workouts… which I was a bit of a skeptic at first, but those workouts are pretty intense and really do deliver a good workout via DVD right to your house! I have a few more races in my sights for this year as I wrap up grad school – I have signed up for the Boilermaker again – luckily I signed up a few weeks ago since the race sold out in record time and the 15K closed out yesterday!  I also have discovered the RAGNAR relay run series… I am dying to complete one of these races – I just need to find 11 others to sign up with me!  But more on that later.

Anyhow, I need to get back to my latest assignment for school.  We’ll see how well I do with keeping up with this blog as I continue my delicate balance of work, school, family, friends and of course running!