Off to the races. Just not the ones I expected to be doing.

At the beginning of this year, I had two main racing goals:
1. Break 3 hours in an Olympic-distance triathlon.
2. Break 1:50 in a half marathon.

As it turns out, none of the local Olympic tris initially fit into my schedule or budget. By the time I figured out when I could do one, they were sold out.

So, onto goal 2, the half marathon. I found out about a new race in Hershey, PA, with a chocolate aid station. Yes, you read that right. Chocolate at mile 12! I signed up on the spot, reserved a hotel room, and booked spa treatments for the day after the race.

Meanwhile, I wrote and rewrote and revised (and re-revised!) my training plan as I tried to figure out when to do what, whether or not I could fit in any triathlons, and how to work my family vacation into the plan. The heat of the summer -- and some still-unexplained health issues -- absolutely destroyed my long runs. And most of my other runs, as well. The two friends I train with most frequently were both preparing for Half Ironmans this summer, which meant that our training schedules were very rarely in sync. Left to do speedwork by myself in 100 degrees, I opted instead to stay home on the sofa watching bad tv. I tried to keep up with the long runs, at least, but never got into double digits. Not once.

And vacation? Forget it. I worked out most days, but for fun. No specific training; I just did what I wanted to do. Mentally, it was wonderful. As far as race readiness, though, I sabotaged my goals.

So now I'm here, at the end of the summer, with no double digit runs to my name. I've done one sprint triathlon, one duathlon, and my first Splash and Dash. I am finally accepting the fact that the HM is not meant to be this year, at least not on October 3. Because of that, I freed up my schedule to allow for my true love -- triathlons.

And that's how it came to be that I am doing a sprint this Saturday and another sprint next Sunday, a mere 8 days apart. Maybe that's the challenge I was meant to do this year.