Pick your Poison..

So would you rather be dealing with this?:

Hurricane Dean

Or this?:

Earthquake

during travel on vacation? Seems that is what we may

be facing if we go. Now I am a neurotic traveler as mentioned before..but never had

to face the possibility of aftershocks of an earthquake before. Not to mention we

are planning on flying through Houston, which may be on the path of Dean

say oh about Friday (day we are planning to leave next week.).The

earthquake hit about 100 miles away from the epicenter from where we are going,

Cuzco. Apparently there is no damage there and business as usual hiking the Inca

Trail. I am still a bit nervous about the aftershocks they keep getting. The poor

people of Peru, which is third world anyway..I have mixed emotions about this trip.

Part of me feels guilty going and hiking near a place that has such suffering near

by-maybe we should be HELPING instead of vacationing. Then I read on one board that

the best we can do is support tourism because that is much of the country's income.

Then there is the hurricane.Last time I flew out from Houston, I experienced the

worst turbulence ever during storm over Texas. Storms+Texas=BAD! I have been stuck

in Dallas before-weather related. Anyways, i could go on and on. i need to choose

either to look at this positively and GO or decide to bail. Hartley and I were on

the side of bailing last night but today the news seems brighter.....If

it were up to my mother in law or daughter we would NOT go! The others in our group

seem un-concerned..Guess we will wait and see. In the meantime there is still all

this unpacked stuff on my floor, feeding my anxiety..

OK, it must be true..

The lighter you are, the faster. I am on the scales this AM and I couldn't believe my eyes. I have lost 4 out of the 7 lbs I want to lose in 4 weeks. I lost a total of 1 and 1/2 inch around my waist-you know-those "love handles" (some overweight person made that up I am sure).. I haven't weighed my fighting weight for 3 years..

SO-I have to give the credit to my new coach, Josh Hillis for the weight loss.I bought his book, the "Stubborn Seven Pounds" and the weight lifting, changing diet thing is working. Who knew that 3 egg whites in my oatmeal and eating all the beef i wanted would make for losing weight? Anyway, I am also taking "Purity Perfect Multivitamins" which is the first multivitamin I can stomach (literally).

So enough about me: I am packing for this hiking trip to Peru, surrounded by clothes, hiking stuff-it is all over my room. I have a secret phobia (amongst my many neurosis)-packing for a trip. Every time I think of packing it up, I feel anxiety. I feel completely overwhelmed..Not sure why. I think i am deeply afraid of forgetting some important object like a bar of soap, or drugs for diarrhea or the perfect hiking clothing. I believe H and I fixed that by going to Sportz Outdoors and spending $400 on their "sale" this week. Geez-do NOT go into that store. The "I have to have that" Debi creeped in again. I have been trying to keep her in check for awhile now. Oh well-i have some really cute hiking attire..i am sure the Peruvians will be impressed!

Training notes: H & I did a marathon workout yesterday-track workout, swim workout, Josh workout in the gym. My legs are tired-we will do a nice ride on the Bosque this morning then I get a massage from Juan, the torture man this afternoon. My how i have missed being prodded and poked to death!
On to my day..

Addendum to race report..

Total time: 1:21:38

Swim 5:24
T1- 0 :50 secs
bike 42.42
T2 - 0 :24 secs (better than i thought)
Run 32:20 (this is where I need the work!)