Another year older..

..but none the wiser.

For realz.

Today, I turn 27 years old. FML.

Kidding.. I am kidding. At least I am not 30 yet. I have not yet crossed over the threshold into the dreaded "30-34" age group. I actually like that my birthday is in the beginning of the year so that I am always racing as the "correct" age.

I celebrated my birthday by riding my bike for an hour, and then going on an awesome 45 minute endurance run in the snow on my pair of sprained ankles. (I am not being sarcastic about the run being great - it was a perfect day - chilly, snow flying, but no wind). And yes, I have TWO sprained ankles. One is about 2 weeks old - I slipped on some ice, crunched my ankle and fell right on my butt, in public, with people watching. The other one I sprained on Sunday night, running on a bare road, with no known reason why I twisted it. Nothing new about me with a sprained ankle, however 2 at once is a first for me - maybe they cancel each other out?

I got back from my run to two good things: a package from Amazon waiting on my porch and a photo in my email of our new team uniforms. The package was my birthday present from my parents, the photo was from Kim, our team uniform organizer/team manager/team bitch. Haha! The package included the book "17 Hours to Glory" which is a collection of real-life Ironman stories, The Office: Season 6, P.S. I Love You, a Skidless yoga towel, and a Kindle gift card!

I managed to actually obtain my new team uniform which arrived today (shhhhhh.. Kim may have done me a birthday favor). They are much higher quality than last year's uniforms; they are Louis Garneau. I got a tri top, a crop top, tri shorts, and a warm-up hoodie. The only piece I had time to try on before heading into work was the soft-shell hoodie/jacket thing. Pretty sweet, right? (There is also an adorable embroidered Train-This logo on the front of the hood!!!).

I had to rush home and take a shower before work (working 3-11 on my birthday = ewwww), and lo and behold, what was in my mailbox? Another package from Amazon containing The Office: Season 2, also from my parents. I'm not sure how I owned every season of The Office except for this one, but that is now remedied!

I have had quite an eventful night at work, concluded by me dropping an uncapped bottle of magenta dye. It got all over myself (hands, lab coat, sleeve of white sweater), the lab bench, all down the front of the cabinets, the floor mat, and underneath the floor mat. Thank god it was water soluble so I was able to pretty effectively clean up all of the surfaces with water. My hands were not so fortunate. For a good hour I worked in the lab with freakishly pink hands, until the B-shift supervisor brought in a "mystery" solution used by "guys working the machine" (I don't ask...). I was able to get rid of most of the hot pink by scrubbing my hands with the bleach solution and a Dobie pad for 10 mins. Healthy, maybe not, but very, very effective and now I no longer have bubblegum pink hands. Although they are now very dry, they itch and reek of bleach.

So after all that.. I can't wait to go home! I might drink a birthday beer! More likely, I will watch a birthday episode of The Office, try on my new uniform, and then promptly fall asleep at midnight. Cheers!

I am a financial guru

Yesterday I set up my "Ironman Fund" (and yes, I made the guy at the bank title the savings account "Ironman Savings" rather than vacation savings) and changed my direct deposit to send money into the new account every pay period. I also checked on my growing 401k! Look at me go! I am making grown-up decisions (it's about time, I am almost 27 years old). I should be a financial advisor** or something!

**I should definitely NOT be a financial advisor. Money burns a hole in my pocket. My "savings" account is basically just an overflow for my checking account and isn't actually being saved for anything!

Now that I have my hotel booked for Coeur D'Alene, I am starting to get REALLY excited for it, even though it is almost 9 months away. I am 90% sure I will be going by myself. This is fine. I like to do things by myself. I don't require a friend to go shopping with me, or to go to the bathroom with me, or really for anything. It's more fun to have someone to do things with but Idaho is pretty far away and who is going to want to fly themselves out there to hang out with me - super stressed out, freaking out, pre-Ironman Alexa - for 6 days? Oh, and share a queen sized bed with me.  Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE for someone to come with me, that would be really freaking awesome(!!!!), but I will be perfectly OK going by myself.

Luckily, my hotel has wifi this time around so I will be able to maintain contact with the outside world. AND my cell phone will hopefully work, whereas in Lake Placid it would only work if I pressed myself up against the window in my condo.

Anyways.. that's in 9 months.. no need to think about it now!

Ultra Adam's birthday is on Saturday (P.S. he is getting OLD! hehe) so I'm heading over to Syracuse sometime that day to celebrate with him! Some of the potential birthday activities that have been mentioned include: going to a movie, bowling, drinking, ice cream cakes, and strip clubs. Sorry Adam, I don't really need to see you getting a lap dance. All others are fair game though.

That's pretty much it for today. My 2 weeks of complete rest are almost up and I am itching to start running again! (Freak). :)