Long Lost Friend Found

When I was in junior high and high school, I was incredibly shy (my husband doesn't believe it, but it is true). I had very few friends, but the ones I had were gold.

One of them, Michelle, was one of my two best friends and we did everything together. I remember riding in the back of her dad's Ford Crown Victoria. I remember getting caramel sundaes at McDonald's while staying at her parent's vacation trailer in East Harbor. I remember making milkshakes with vanilla ice cream and her parents' tropical schnapps (as far as I know, they never realized we did that). I remember joining the gymnastics team with her even though I was a terrible gymnast (who does a free roll/forward roll as an acrobatic pass on the balance beam?!). I remember her standing up with me as one of my bridesmaids in my first wedding. So, how did it happen that we lost contact with each other? I honestly don't know. It didn't help that we went to different colleges or that I got married so young or that she moved to Minnesota after she got married. I'm such a dork that I didn't know her new last name.

One of the reasons I joined Facebook was to find her. Unfortunately, she wasn't on there. Then, just a few weeks ago, I got a friend request from one of our mutual friends, Noel. She told me that she and Michelle had been looking for me for a long time. Noel updated me on what was going on with her life and also told me that Michelle was still in Minnesota and was an Ironman triathlete. What?! Wow, I wish they'd found me earlier. How cool is that?!

Michelle and I finally connected via phone soon after that. She filled me in on her triathlete adventures, including doing Ironman Wisconsin this past September in quite a respectable time. She trains under a coach with a team. Like me, her best event is the bike, but she holds her own on the other two events as well. She called me the other night and suggested a couple races we could pick from to do together in Illinois. Sounded like a good idea to me, so I looked them up. They're both half-Ironmans.

Typically, this wouldn't be a cause for concern for me, but as I mentioned in a previous post, I am trying to get pregnant. Being in the kind of shape I'd need to be to do a half-Ironman is not recommended by the fertility doctor. So, I had to be lame and tell her that I'd be up for meeting for the one that has a sprint distance attached to it. She could do the half, while I do the sprint and cheer her on afterwards.

I have to admit to being a little frustrated right now. I've put on 10 pounds since Ironman (5 of those in the last year). My clothes don't fit right and I'm not nearly in what I would call good shape. I know that it is necessary to have a little fat on the frame to get pregnant. I really miss training hard though. I know I shouldn't complain and I know this is only temporary. It helps to write it here though.

My swimming is coming along quite nicely though. I'm way faster than I was last year. And, today, in a Clearwater, FL swimming pool, I did my fastest 100 IM ever at 2:02.37 (my previous best was 2:14). Focus on the small things, right?