Here.

This past weekend was characterized by ups and downs.  However, it's here.  Fall racing season...finally.  Except, it still very much feels like summer and this contrast with darker evenings is strange. 

In the past 48 hours, I've done the following:

• Won 3rd place in a sprint triathlon
• Ran an unofficial marathon (meaning, still USATF certified, but I'm not counting it)
• Accomplished a 70 mile week.

This is a lot, although writing a bulleted list that appears in text doesn't really reflect how I'm feeling after it all.  I feel good, tired but appropriate and that I've earned my rest.  I'm happy for my successes, but upset that my marathon wasn't faster, but then again, I had less than 24 hours rest between the two events. 

I think what I'm happiest about is the consistency of my third place finish time for the Triathlon.  The first and second place winners were only two minutes apart, respectively, and I was two minutes from the second place finish time, which leads me to believe that I'm getting better at this because there isn't much of a performance disparity between myself and the better athletes. 

This gives me hope. 

The marathon however, was sub-par, mostly due to a mentally exhausting course and lingering humidity from this summer that just does not seem to want to leave. 

This makes me nervous. 

However, inevitably, it's here.  Here we go again.  Here we go on another wild fall season, chapters unfolding and concluding with medals.  Here we go again, soul-searching-thirsty, ready to make big realizations and learn things that I never knew about myself and my feelings against the backdrop of that 26.2.  In six days, here we go, I'm ready for the catharsis and the unknown and for the story to continue.

Last year it was Number Twelve.  This year, revisited, it will be Number Twenty-One.  

Go.