Fat and Happy

Exhaustion. Flat out exhaustion has overcome my body. I cancelled my mid-morning plans in order to get my workout in, yet here I sit in my sports bra and shorts at Montecito Inn, my feet elevated, laptop on my quads. I look like a lazy bum. But you know what? I may look like a bum, but I feel like a queen inside. You know, one of those fat and lazy Amazonian queens who lays back and allows people to dote on her: Fat and happy.

Life is so good. Part of me is wishing this week would slow down so I could savor Santa Barbara a little bit longer, but I do feel good about my week thus far. And I feel really great about the direction I'm heading in the future.

My Wildflower race plan is in place. I should be able to finish in under 3 hours and beat my time from 2012. I have five goals, but since my bike is currently in the shop getting worked on and my foot has been acting up, I set a Plan B goal just in case: HAVE FUN.

I may not crush the competition. I may not even place within the top 10 female in my age group (which is one of my five goals), but I can say with confidence that I will have a grand old time. Emily and ZackZack will be there. My mom and Todd are coming to cheer me on. I'll be camping and surrounded by gorgeous landscape. This is going to be epic.

Wildflower Prep

This morning I woke up to the sound of birds singing by the fountain outside my window and the smell of the ocean breeze wafting into my room. I had spent the night with my friend Kate and we woke up at 5AM to go to Adrienne's yoga class at Power of Your Om in Santa Barbara. Afterward, we grabbed coffee at Handlebar Coffee Roasters (my favorite coffee spot) then I had breakfast at Cajun Kitchen with Cosy. It feels just like old times, just like my old life.

Part of me misses this wealthy beach community, but a larger part of me is so grateful I am not a part of this culture anymore. It is so easy to revert back to that yoga-girl-living-in-the-city lifestyle: Drinking coffee with the girls, watching the sunset on the beach, worrying about the fact that the girl next to me in yoga class looks better in her luluLemon pants than I do... It's not the life I want.

If I was offered the choice between living in Santa Barbara or Bend again, I would choose Bend every single time.

But it is so nice to be in my second home, to see my amazing friends and to catch up with my favorite shop owners. Santa Barbara was a huge part of my life and it will always hold a special spot in my heart.

Training has not been so great. I spent the past three weeks doing the wrong workout. Whoopsidaisy. I definitely would have benefited by staying in Oregon these past two weeks and training at elevation, but I made my choice and I have appreciated my vacation greatly. I am figuring out what I want in life and what I want to accomplish. It sounds life a selfish time in my life, but oddly enough, I think I am becoming less self-focused in the process.

Wildflower is less than a week away and I am ready to go have some fun on Lynch Hill. I do not expect to do well during this race. Honestly, my foot has been bothering me a great amount this trip. But I want to go out and finish and see what I am capable of in this stage of life. I feel confident that I will finish in under three hours and I am excited that my mom is coming to cheer me on.

Thanks for all the positive thoughts, y'all! Stoked for my abilities and for a great group of supporters!