How you know you are an athlete

This past weekend, I tried as best I could to lay low. I had been in Dallas the week before for work, and with all the travel decided I needed to be home for once. However, that does not mean I sit around and do nothing. When you are training for a ½ marathon (well, still deciding on the marathon and soon to be triathlon) a weekend of rest still involves training. I had some funny instances this past week I thought I would share:

How you know that you are becoming an athlete:

1. You call the hotel you are staying at while traveling for work to find out running paths and how big their pool is – plus you bring goo shots with you on work trips.
2. You have to check your luggage unlike most because all your gear is in there as well.
3. At that hotel gym you stay longer than most because you have to fit swimming and running in that day, and you are the first one there.
4. Your shopping on the weekend consists of going to Sports Authority to buy new clothing and you pass up the mall.
5. You plan get togethers with the girls to run more often than the bar – and your emails are planning all the races you will be running.
6. You know what the terms PR, Fartleks, and stroke length mean.

I am sure there are many more instances to come, but those came up in the last week and I thought some of you in the same situation as me would start to look at your own lives. Think back a year ago and we were just thinking of a marathon! How far we have come!

Other than that – I have been reading. I know that I have not updated the Goodreads website yet, but I plan to. I can read fairly fast, so it is not unusual to get through a book a week and to find me spending my time (and my money) at bookstores. It is my bad impulsive habit to go into Barnes and Noble or Changing Hands and come out with several books (not to mention what I order on Amazon). In the past several weeks I got through three Jon Krakauer books – highly recommended. Into the Wild, Into Thin Air, and Under the Banner of Heaven. I got this crazy idea that I will hike up to Everest Base camp – and I think I really will do it, already did all the research on how to but have to plan ahead since it is a trip that would take several weeks. Currently, I just started a book called Microtrends all about the smaller populations in America and their habits in many areas. I figure it may help me with work, but it is also rather fascinating since data backs up what the author proposes as trends.