New York City Marathon

My weekend in NYC was fantastic. It was so great to see my mom, sister and little brother.

I had the opportunity to swim with the NYU swim team at their pool - for part of 1 practice - but they were really welcoming and it was fun to swim with my younger sister. They then had a meet to attend, so I was left to my own devices to get in the rest of my yardage. I buckled down and managed to pull out some great swims including one 7,200 yard session on my own. A giant thank you to all of them though and especially to their fantastic and amazing coach Lauren Beam.

I attended the marathon expo and spent a bit of time talking to my liaison at the American Cancer Society about some potential ideas for the 2010 season. There is a lot to flush out still, but they are excited about the opportunity to partner with me and I am over the moon to work with them to raise some money and awareness. The pre-race dinner was great and hearing some of the stories of the athletes racing for ACS in the marathon were both inspirational and amazing.

I also sat at the Garmin booth and signed some autographs for them. That is always fun as I love spending time with the Garmin team. The booth is always out of control busy and it is good fun to hear some of the questions that get thrown at them... and at me... when people think I work there. Their sponsorship has been terrific and I look forward to working with them over the next few years in the build up to London.

Marathon day was great. It was a bit chilly for the spectators but perfect run weather for the athletes. It was great to see the elite athletes and of course to see my mother running. We were watching between mile 16 and 17 and at that point she was cruising along and smiling. It was a few miles later that she said she kind of got "over it" and hit the wall a bit. But her final performance - 3:54 - was terrific and as always, incredibly impressive.

The weekend was all too short and since then I have been back in Boulder training and working. I'm nearing the end of my first training block, which has been swim focused while I continue rehab on my leg, and if I'm being honest, the end of the block can't come soon enough. My arms are not used to all of the k's in the pool and I've dug myself into a pretty solid hole of exhaustion. It is really great to be back training, I feel much less "out of shape" after 3 weeks in the pool, but I am itching to get out and start back running!