This is how it all begins. This is always how it all begins.

I'm officially signed up for Oilman Half Ironman in November!  I'm fairly predictable as most of you know.  Days after deciding I would to IMTX again, I figured it was time to start thinking about the races building up to it.  This can be challenging when you don't even have a date for said race.  I told myself I would be patient. I told myself there was no rush.  Wait another month and go from there.  About 15 minutes after that riveting conversation with myself, I signed up for Oilman.  On the off chance IMTX 2017 isn't meant to be, I figured I at least wouldn't feel like this was a wasted race entry.  I needed something to kick me in the ass and get me focused on training again.  Funny how a 70.3 will do that to you!  

November 2012 - My last start (and finish at Oilman)

About 5 minutes after signing up for Oilman, I started wondering what my lead in races for that should be.  And so it begins.  Predictable, huh?  I'm happy to report that I haven't signed up for anything else yet but not from a lack of trying. I'm having trouble deciding if I want to do a couple sprints or a sprint and then oly.  Or maybe just an oly.  I'm going to noodle on it a few more hours.  :)

Still no news about IMTX.  At least nothing I've heard.  I really hope this bike course gets sorted out before I change my mind.  Or before my work schedule changes my mind for me.  It won't but I know I'm going to second guess myself.  A lot.  I'm at the tail end of my busy season right now and still not quite in the right frame of my mind.  As I sit here and type this post right now, I could've sworn it was Thursday versus the sad, pathetic Monday it actually is.  Adulting kind of sucks.

With that, I should probably attempt to sleep.  Good night, y'all!

Don't you love it when you make a decision but then still aren't sure what will happen?

I did not intend for the title of this post to be so long.  In fact, several things I intended haven't come to be.  After talking with my hubby, I had come to the 90% decision that I would be signing up for Ironman Texas 2017.  I knew that 2013 would not be my last IM and as many of you recall, signed up for IMAZ.  But then I got a promotion at work and then engaged and I very quickly realized racing wasn't going to be possible.  Every few months I would think about racing but decided that the occasional 5k and 13.1 were going to be fine for awhile.  Then IMTX 2015 came around and I obsessively watched the live feed.  The itch was back.  Fast forward to now.

Over the past few weeks, thoughts of IM were dancing through my head a lot more.  The day we cleaned the garage I knew I was in trouble.  Seeing all my bike gear and Ironman stuff laying around had me reminiscing.  This past week I was thinking about it daily so Thursday night, I asked Keith what he thought about me signing up in 2017.  He was on board immediately.  I was giddy.  I had decided I wanted to do a "reveal" and post a picture a day until Sunday.  I would try to be clever as to not give it away completely.  And then on Sunday morning, I would drive up to Ironman Village and happily hand over my money at on-site registration.  Keith would take a picture of me and I'd post that as my confirmation along with the pictures I used as hints in one collage.  Well, it's Sunday night and I'm not signed up but am sharing my decision anyway.

Those of you who haven't been following IMTX news don't know the challenges race organizers faced with respect to the bike course.  Basically, 75 days prior to the race, the planned bike course was not approved and a new one needed to be found.  A new course was identified but then the rain hit and part of the course was washed away or deemed not rideable.  So the bike course would be shortened to 94 miles but the race would go on.  I don't know why there was no onsite registration today as that is typically standard with IM races but let's face it, nothing was typical about IMTX this year.  A few folks have speculated that they are not taking our money as they want to make sure the new bike course is finalized and hopefully, will know more in 60 days.  Others have speculated that IM is not going to return to The Woodlands despite the contract that has them here through 2020.  I found my self glued to FaceBook today as I tried to figure out what was going on.  THIS is the part of training for this event I nearly forgot about - the constant trolling on social media to see what is going on.  

All I can tell you now is what I know for sure.  I REALLY want to race IMTX next year but if that's not possible, I will be finding another IM to sign up for.  This might be my last (well, at least my last for a long, long time) so I really want it to be in my own backyard where my family can come out and cheer me on.  I can't believe I'm doing this again!

So now I know I will be back to blogging although not too much until training officially starts.  I'll be looking at the race calendar and start thinking about what races I'll do leading up to my 3rd Ironman. there are other things to decide but I'll not bore you with that now.  I mean, I need to have something else to blog about.

So that's what I know and now you know too.  Back to obsessively looking for IMTX scoop!

Happy training (yayayayayayayayay)!