SPAAAAAAAAAAH........NOT!!!!

this is my brain.......


........and this is my brain after 4 days in palm springs, 24 hours in anaheim working the disney half marathon, and another local overnight for an early shoot today


yes ladies and gents, i'm officially fried. the shoot in palm springs was rough, but we got through it, and i'm sure we got good shots. their pools sucked ass as i suspected they would, but then again, people don't check into a place like this to get their sweat on by way of exercising. i got up early saturday morning before we started shooting and got my 8 miler in on the treadmill. all i can say is thank fucking god for the ipod and the gygo podcasts!!! as much as it sucked, there was no way i could get it done outside in the 115 degree heat, so i was pretty proud of myself for knocking it out while the rest of the resort guests were getting their sleep on.

the best part of the trip was getting to visit with my very first running coach. to fully undertsand the magnitude of how significant this reunion was, you must first know that for the last 6 years, i thought this man was dead. long story short, he came looking for me at the la marathon race expo earlier this year only to find out that i wasn't working that day. but he left word with a coworker to be sure to tell me hello. when they finally got around to mentioning it in passing a few weeks ago, it was as though i'd seen a ghost. so when i knew i was going out to palm springs for work, i looked him up and gave him a call. i brought him pictures of a few of us who'd trained with him who now all do triathlons. he kept asking "and what time was your run?" "and what time did he do the run in?" "and what's you pr now?" "are you doing work on the track?" we had such a blast catching up. i told him how i often get thank you letters from my runners when they've completed their marathons and how the other coaches in my program like to make fun of me for "pampering" my runners and "spoiling" them all the time because i do things like waterproofing their shoes. i take it all as a compliment, and i always give credit to the man who was my first coach. everything i know, everything i do as a coach came from having a great one myself. we're gonna go back early next year for the palm springs century ride and we'll stay with vic and get to catch up more. can't wait!!! but dummy so-called-photographer me forgot to get a picture of us!!! DOH!!

i'm back home tonight, however, my brain has been mush ever since. i just hope i can recover in time to get a quality 18 miler in day after tomorrow. in the last 6 days, i've checked in and out of 3 different hotels, and in the next two weeks, i'll be checking into 3 more, but i'm gonna do my best to keep up with a light training schedule. more on where i'm headed next in another post, but let's just say they have a kick-ass pool!!!