Hello all, long time no type!

Every year the Fall seems to be a season of change for me and, this Fall has certainly held true to that theme! However, unlike last Fall the changes that have taken place in my life have largely been very positive and left me very very busy in the process!

In short, I have a lot of BIG NEWS to share with you. So much big news, I’m not sure where to start.

I guess I’ll start with the one that took up most of my time in the past 8 weeks – I bought a new house and have sold the house I’ve owned the past 7 years! That’s right, after looking at endless properties in the Saratoga region for the past year, coming near to giving up on the idea of moving back to the Saratoga area, and simply continuing on living in Syracuse – I found the PERFECT house for me in Saratoga that was also not a gagillion dollars. (Yes, gagillion dollars is a real thing.) On top of it all, it came with 5 acres of land for my pups to enjoy. After finding this house in early September, the negotiations began, and just when I thought I had lost the house to a cash offer that had swooped in during mid September, I received a call that my offer was accepted and the craziness set in!

The only hang-up was the fact that I had listed my house in Syracuse and had no offers during this time when I was in process of negotiating in Saratoga. Luckily about a week after finding out that I had my offer accepted, an offer came in on my current house and life was good again. For about a week. Then the real fun started. The day of the home inspection, I had the main water disposal line from the house crack. After receiving an astronomical quote to repair it I thought I was going to have to back out from both deals for financial reasons. Luckily, a second plumber was brought in by my real estate agent and things were fixed for a MUCH more reasonable rate. The closing is scheduled for the end of this week and hopefully all will be good to go. With the rate that things were starting to need upgrading, I’m happy to be moving on.

Now, I know that many were shocked when they saw my announcement that I had moved on FB a couple weeks ago. Between my friends and teammates in the Syracuse area, it was evident that I shocked a lot of people with what seemed to be a sudden move. I guess that’s the danger in keeping things quiet until they’re finalized. Really, only a few people at my work knew of the giant move and life change I was making, so if you didn’t know – no worries, nobody really did… except for the rumor that started at work that was really not a rumor at the end of the day since it was true. 🙂

But Syracuse fiends, have no fear, I am still working in Syracuse and renting a room from some friends so that I can be in the office when needed. This also means I will be in CNY for training and gatherings with friends! I feel like I just won the lottery and I get the best of both worlds – my family, friends and a new house in Saratoga and my friends, my career, and my life in Syracuse.

Whew, ok so that was just the first of my BIG NEWS, so let’s move on to the next: my Physical Therapy update. It turns out that PT is not fun. Not only was it eating up 4-5 hours of my week going to PT, plus time put in at home, it was painful at times and frustrating when my body was not doing the things it should have been able to do. Happily, I was cleared to run starting October 30th (the day prior to my house closing) and I was allowed to start running some short runs. Ya, you know, just as winter was starting to show up! But that really didn’t matter to me, the 8 weeks in PT gave my body some time to heal, strengthen, and get prepped to roll into the start of training for Ironman Lake Placid!

While PT was not fun, it did teach me a lot about my body and things that I need to be really in tune with and focused on during this next training cycle. Mainly, I have a very weak left side (ankle, knee, hip and glutes) and I need to focus some strength sessions on that a couple times each week to make sure I don’t end up injured again. ESPECIALLY as I ramp up the running miles.

I now have a few 2 mile runs under my belt and a couple 3 mile runs, and while my body is a little sore and a little slower as I ease back into the running scene, the pain is gone and we now have forward progress!

Now, if my BIG NEWS of a new house and being cleared from PT wasn’t enough… I received some amazing news last Thursday night. I found out that I have been selected to join Team Betty for 2015!! I was shocked that I was selected to represent such an awesome brand during my 2015 Season. If you’re not familiar with Betty Designs, it’s a company that was founded by Kristin Mayer that strives for the perfect mix of beauty and functionality for triathlon, cycling and surfing. While I won’t be able to take too much advantage of the surfing side of things in Upstate NY, I’m so excited to join the team and show off the amazing gear that Kristin designs for triathlon and cycling! Also, stay tuned because I’ll have some promo codes for gear and other fun along the way.

Finally, I think I’ll wrap up this post with an update of my upcoming race season. Things are falling into place beautifully – as many of you that have been reading and following right along would know my “A” race for 2015 is Ironman Lake Placid. Shortly after signing up for IMLP, a group of us from T2 signed up for Ironman 70.3 Raleigh (this is my “B” race). I’m so excited to travel to NC in May with 10 of my teammates (mostly women) to complete and play! Finally I have a handful of “C” races on the schedule, starting with the Syracuse Half Marathon in March – I was able to get T2 to sign up for the team competition and ended up with about a dozen teammates locked and ready for race day! Additionally, I’ll be running the Lake Placid half marathon in June to close out our training weekend and I’ll be running Ragnar Trail New England the following weekend! So as you can see, my race calendar is pretty set for 2015. There might be a race or two following IMLP but that will largely depend on how I fair in the IM and how the rest of the season shakes out.

As I finish up this post, I can’t help but feel extremely blessed and lucky. First of all, I’m blessed for the family, friends and teammates that have been in my life to support me and cheer me on during this past year. Your support has been amazing and I want to thank you all as I start out with these new adventures of a new home, new experiences, and a new challenge with taking on IMLP.

Weekly Workouts//

Monday – 2 Mile Run

Tuesday – 2 Hour PT Session

Wednesday – Dinner with the T2 Ladies

Thursday AM – 90 Minute PT Session (Final Session!!)

Thursday PM – 3 Mile Run

Friday – Rest Day/Move the last of my stuff!

Saturday – 1 Hour Trainer Ride

Sunday – 3.1 Mile Run

 

Weekly (er, monthly? whoops…) Photo Recap//

Ice to repair my legs after a PT session. Honestly, the most relaxing part of my days these past 8 weeks.

LEAD NY trip to Ottawa Canada – Part of our Taste of NY Spread for our Canadian friends!

Spending time in Ottawa for LEAD NY – just a few days after the shooting at the war memorial and parliament.  A country in mourning, very powerful, a lot of emotions, so sad and scary to watch how one person can change and impact the lives of so many.

A visit to Parliament – learning how the  Canadian government compares to the government system in the U.S.

Beer, wine or liquor – wouldn’t exist without agriculture! Fun shirts provided by the Canadian AALP program – a great week with some great people!

Food with about half of the crew!

And apparently for 2 dollars, you too can straighten your hair in the bathroom at the bar…  (I opted to skip this offering.)

Walking in Ottawa, a beautiful city – can’t wait to visit again!

The last day of our trip included some farm visits. Love this shot from a fellow classmate of me documenting our trip!

Cafe Kubal Coffee Date with Rochella!

Moving Day Part 1 – Syracuse – Thank you to amazing friends for helping me load up all my stuff!

Moving Day Part 2 – a big thanks to family in helping me unload!

Checking out the new digs before moving in…

Halloween Selfie with the little cousins!

And the newest little cousin! Isn’t he adorable?!

Welcome to my new house! My cousin was too kind and brought me lots of pumpkins to decorate the new digs!

Bronco and I are in agreement – best feature of the new house.

WE have a squatter on the property.  aka…you know you moved to the country when…

Made himself right at home. Different deck, performing the same watch duties (or on alert for the chicken, take your pick).

Sweet. Ragnar Cycling Jersey!

Taking the road less traveled and rewarded with a beautiful sunset as I head home from VT.

A crappy photo but I was trying to be sneaky since the Amish really don’t allow for photos… this cracked me up – seeing a horse and buggy at the gas pump!

Some days at work are sweeter than others. Gifts from customers!

Well, finally couldn’t put this off any longer. It’s going to be a long winter on the trainer working toward the Ironman Lake Placid goal!

If you follow me on instagram or twitter, you already knew this, but worth sharing again!! 🙂

So not the best picture, but one of the horse paddocks on my street.

New T2 Team Shirts for 2015.

Um, Syracuse. I’m not sorry that I’ll be spending less time here this winter if you’re going to start this already!

GIANT knitting! Hoping that this endeavor is fun…the promise is a full blanket in 3-4 hours. We’ll see how this pans out. I feel like I’m Alice in Wonderland and have shrunk when I hold the needle!

Saturday Night Bonfire/Sledfest. Did I mention that I love being back in the country?!