I should have been posting....

....but I've been too busy climbing Mt. Everest.

Actually the only thing I've climbed recently is a hill in Patapsco State Park and the wall at the gym yesterday (and I gave that up before reaching the top).

But I was determined to stay active this past week, being kid-free during the days, so I made myself do something each day. Monday was a 7 mile bike ride with Claire, Tuesday was the 7 mile hike in the state park followed by a 3 or 4 mile bike ride with Claire, Wednesday was just 40 minutes of light exercise, Thursday was biking the Baltimore - Annapolis trail (33 miles total), and Friday was a 3.7 mile run. On Saturday Claire and I (and Mary!) had our scout overnight at a fitness center, during which time I swam 10 or 11 laps (more on that later), climbed the rock wall, and did 35 minutes on the rowing machine. I had hoped to do an aerobics class, but they were all full by the time I got up there to sign up. I also did a few minutes of jump roping, but the ropes were sized for kids so I gave that up quickly.

And on the seventh day, I rested. I made it through church today, came home, ate a sandwich, then slept for three or four hours. After waking up I did my taxes finally (you know, in spite of the nice return we'll be getting this year, on the whole I'd rather have Brian employed) and ate a bunch of Easter candy (black jelly beans--thanks, Emily!) and am now just kind of staring into space and contemplating putting kids to bed.

So. Swimming. I tried swimming back in January and the SI joint pain (which had otherwise gone away by then) hit immediately and I couldn't even complete a lap. Last night I eased into it more slowly and managed to finish ten or 11 laps (about half the distance of the triathlon) but was in pain afterwards and still am, and I was slooowwwwww. The laps were taking me a good 10 seconds longer each than I was able to do last year, and I had to rest after every two laps. I used to be able to swim the length of the pool in about 24 strokes (which ain't great) but last night it took me 30! That's a lot more effort to go the same distance. I'll have to force myself to get to the pool a couple of times a week, but I hate this so much it's not even funny. It doesn't really bother me that my running is also slower (about a minute slower per mile than I did in the triathlon) because at least it doesn't hurt. I never liked swimming much to begin with, but now that it hurts to do it, I'm even less motivated. I'm going to keep trying, and just get through the triathlon this summer (I hope) but then I'm done. No more swimming for me. My only consolation is knowing that even though I'm worse off than I was at this point last year, I'm at least better than I was when I first got in the water in October 2008. I have four months until the triathlon, so if I stick with it and the pain doesn't get too bad, I should be able to swim the distance of the race.