Sigh... Rest Week... Sigh.

I must admit, I was ready for a rest week. I even have a sports massage scheduled for Friday! Granted, my rest week is still going to end up being somewhere between 14 and 17 hours, but it's been pretty awesome.

I've even managed to have some semblance of a social life in the past couple of days- lunch with my friend Melody (the only other tiny super tattooed mohawked adorable girl I've ever met that lifts weights as much as I do), who I hadn't seen in over a year; dinner with Mark that turned into dinner with Mark, Cristian and Matt; and plans for hangouts with a few other people in the near future.

Lately I've been having an identity crisis as well as an identity discovery. The good news is that I'm really starting to try to sort of balance defining myself as an athlete with defining myself as a relatively punk-rock 22 year old. This means instead of wearing gross sweatpants all the time and just buzzing my hair, I have the mohawk, I have earrings in again, I'm paying some attention to how I dress again. I'm making plans to have non-athletic hangouts! Baby steps, but important nonetheless. I feel like when I started seriously training a year or so ago, I lost a lot of what me-ness I had. It was there, but being defined as an athlete was more important. I feel like I'm finding a healthy balance again though. Not to say being an athlete is at all less important! In fact, I feel like this is a turning point in how I feel about being an athlete- I don't have to "act" like one, I simply am one. Which is kinda neat.

Anyway, onto the identity crisis part: I admit, I haven't been enjoying my education class this semester. It's about cultural diversity in the classroom, and much like ed psych, I feel like I'm learning reallty obvious stuff and paying a lot to do so. The problem is that it's the only way that I can get to be a high school teacher, which is what I want to do. I would love to get my English PhD, I miss English classes so much, but it's jut not realistic. So in short, I'm confused. I'm applying for Teach for America because the deadline is tomorrow, and I'm thinking about doing that to get my certification, then working towards my Master's. I'm just not sure about it at all. And of course, I would need to get into the program.

I'm getting psyched- road season starts March 5 with the Rutgers Season Opener, and I can't wait! I'm really nervous about road season, as my handling and pack riding are always a little shaky- I am a triathlete, after all- but it'll be good to start racing again. It sort of crept up on me though, I can't believe that the weekend after next I'll be racing! I need to get to the parent's house next weekend and collect all my race gear, very exciting. I bullied Matt into taking me out for practice and a course preview this weekend, and hopefully we'll get to do a Sunday Century so I can get used to group riding again. I'm looking forward to the season starting though- it's not as fun as 'cross, but it's still a great time! I think Dad's getting excited too...

I broke in new running shoes today- I went with Nike Pegasus, because apparently I needed a shoe with a lot less stability so I won't hurt my foot again. We'll see. I hate breaking in new shoes though, so I'm glad it was during a short run that I christened them. Hopefully they'll hold up now that...

My rest week is drawing to a close, with a total day off tomorrow but then a hour long half marathon goal pace run on Saturday plus course riding, then hopefully a century on Sunday. I'm so glad it was a rest week, I really needed it to get back to being really excited about training! Hopefully the weather will be a bit more cooperative come March, I can't take much more snow.

Hope everyone else is having a lovely productive week!