134 days and $1085 to go!

I was trying to introduce myself as America's woman champion, but I said the french word "Champignon," so I introduced myself as a mushroom.
-Nancy Neiman Baranet

What a beautiful day! The sky is clear, the roads are dry, as soon as the temperature reached 40 degrees, I stole a 15 mile ride on my bike. Winters in the "north country" are like that. It's sometimes hard to get out to run or bike. Open water swimming is certainly out of the question. This makes the occasional opportunities like today all the more wonderful. My friends in Florida would say to me that this is the perfect argument for moving to Florida. It's hard to refute them. But I'm afraid I would wilt in the heat the rest of the year. I do enjoy the cold weather - most of the time.

I did spend a good week in Florida, returning home yesterday evening. I was able to get in 3 runs of a little over an hour and 2 runs of a little under an hour. Temperatures in the morning were actually in the 50s and 60s which is a little cold in Florida, even for this time of the year. Had some success avoiding the leg cramps too.

We were in Florida for Mako's Christmas party on Sunday evening. Sunday morning my wife and I drove the 3 and a half hours to Key West, had lunch, and drove back to Ft. Lauderdale.

I found out that one of my new colleagues at Mako is a triathlete! He has been doing triathlons for about 2 years and has heard about "Team In Training". We spent some time sharing "war" stories about our training and racing. He has recently completed his first "Half Ironman". So, I will be looking to him for pointers as the race day nears. :-)

Merry Christmas!