For whom the bell tolls

That'd be me.

I got older again this week. I mean, I get older every week, however this particular one marked not only the end of another year of poor decision-making and undue prattling but also the halfway point of my fourth decade of roaming this lovely little planet.

At 35 I find myself in better shape by far than I was at 25, and I know much more about who I am while taking myself much less seriously. While I'm definitely a little more timid about things that could get me badly hurt than I was a decade ago, I still managed to stump up the courage to ride my mountain bike through some of the madness that is our new-last-fall local BMX track for the first time on Monday.

Since there were no photos, you'll just have to accept an artist's conception.

There was no air, but there was no unplanned horizontality either. That counts as a win, especially since I managed it without even a small shriek of terror.

I'm pretty happy with where I am in life, and excited about the possibilities the future holds. The best part is that I have an amazing partner with whom to share it all.

This guy is seriously the awesomest.

What the future most assuredly has in store is the Belwood Triathlon, happening tomorrow morning. Since it's only 2 weeks after Mine Over Matter I'm not really expecting much in the way of performance - really, I'm doing this race because Tanker has told me that the bike course is lovely after doing it as a relay in past years, so I'm going to find out for myself. I've only been on my tri bike a handful of times this year, so I really have no idea of how it's going to go. I've tried to get some rest and taper a bit this week, with mixed results. With it having been my birthday yesterday, there was a bit of a storm of carbo-loading, but I'm not sure that's really going to be terribly helpful.

It was, however, incredibly delicious.
(Crisp rice treat with two cookies and a black candle on top, because Tanker rawks)

So I'll go and race without expecting anything other than having some laughs. It's the last race I have scheduled until mid-September, and my birthday gift to myself is just to go out and have fun.