Why is it so hard for me to write here lately?

I'm back from Vermont. I really thought about staying for this whole week, and I probably would have had the weather been nice on Sunday, but when I woke up and everything was grey and cold, I figured it was my cue to be responsible and get back to Cleveland to teach and function like a normal person...

Today, I bought a new journal. That doesn't sound like that big of a deal, I know...but for some reason my journal has to be just right, or I won't write in it...so finding one that fit was tough. It's pretty damn cool though, I must say. It's even be worthy of a picture...

So, back to Vermont...it was totally amazing to be there at this time of year. I forgot my camera, so you'll just have to believe me...I know a lot of times when you say you're going to go away and think, you kind of just spin your wheels and don't really accomplish anything. Amazingly, that wasn't the case this time around. I wrote a lot, read two books, and just was able to think. No huge decisions were made, but I made some steps towards figuring out what I want...from school, from a relationship, and (at the risk of sounding cheesy) from life.

I didn't get any training in (argh!), but I did hike a lot...10 miles on Friday, and 6 miles on Saturday...so, I got some decent cross-training, and I'm back at it hard core now.

Today I did a double brick...I lead two spinning classes on Tuesday's, so I took advantage of the gyms and ran 3 miles after each of them. I increased the speed with each mile, so I ended up with a 10min/m, 9:30min/m, 9min/m...all the way down to a 7:30min/m...not bad, eh? Tomorrow, I get to swim again! It only took me 2 weeks to recover from the silly surgery, which is awesome...then, either a longish bike ride or a 10mile run.

Okay, back to Vermont one last time...I usually am only there in August...I've gone every August for the past 8 years or so, and grew up spending the last half of the summer there...so I'm used to everything looking a certain way. Then, I got there...and it was 60 degrees and sunny on both Friday and Saturday...but it still looked like winter. The grass was still brownish and the trees weren't blooming yet. It was still beautiful, but so different...it's like seeing a friend that you haven't seen in a long time in a new environment...it's the same person, but it just takes a little longer to get back into the swing of things.

So anyway, it was a great weekend. And, I'm glad I'm back here this week...it's gorgeous out, and Cleveland Spring tops almost anything else...everything turns so green after a winter of complete grey-ness...it's worth the horrible winter, I think...

Oh, and congrats to Liz, for an awesome Boston Marathon!