Mary Bellamy

As part of my continuing efforts to get ready for the triathlon this year, I decided to throw on my Yak Trax on Sunday and go running with Tom on the ski trails and lakes behind our cabin.

Now, there was a period in high school when I went running fairly regularly, but that was a long time ago and often featured a break to go skinny-dipping in a local swimming hole. So I'm not exactly what they would call "in shape." And believe me, I'm feeling it today.

The trails are not ideal to run on, especially where William has not run his team. The snow is not packed down at all on Deuce Lake, and the trail turns very hilly and twisty on the other side. I switched from running to walking pretty frequently, and my hips are still killing me today. I think that's a pretty good sign that today should be a day of rest and yoga for me.

In related training news, I swam 2/3 mile in the UAF pool on Friday. My form is still horrible, probably because I am still unable to, say, put my face in the water. It's a testament to my tenacity, though, that I got in the pool, got crowded with two other swimmers joining me in the lane, but still kept going until I'd done 20 laps. I'm planning on signing up for some swimming lessons, and hopefully will be able to get past this mental block about water and my nasal passages.