Head Injury, IM Lake Placid, Puppy Love...

The past two weeks have been like a roller coaster for me. It all started two Mondays ago when I missed my connecting red-eye flight from Las Vegas to Toronto. Although I made it home safe and sound by Tuesday night, it messed up the start of my training block before Kelowna. Although a day or two might not sound like a big deal, it can rattle the nerves a bit of a Type A personality like me. Then on Wednesday afternoon, I was SO happy to be reacquainted with the U of T swimming pool (most pools in the states are not open to the public, so I only swam twice while in San Fran) only to experience a very strange fainting incident immediately post-swim, causing me to fall backwards with my head taking the full blunt force of the fall. This was very scary for me, since I've never fainted like that before. Apparently, I just fainted mid-sentence while talking to another patron about the weather in Sacramento, then it was BANG! I fell straight backwards off of the raised bulk head (where the diving blocks are), smacking my noodle onto the cement pool deck. Nothing else even got a scrape or bruise! After regaining consciousness and passing the concussion exam by the lifeguards, it was decided that it was best if I pay a visit to the ER just to get checked out. I ended up getting a series of tests, including a CT scan, and upon further follow up yesterday, I get to look forward to another series of neurological and cardiac tests. Hopefully, this was just a freak accident that was completely incidental...Anyway, because I was on concussion watch for the next 48hrs, my training was minimal and I did nothing intense.

Friday afternoon, I got to take my mind off of my fainting episode because I headed down to Lake Placid, NY to cheer my friends Shauna and Andre (and Suzanne) on in their first ever Ironmans! I was so excited to watch them race, and the atmosphere in Lake Placid was full of enthusiasm and energy. I have to admit that being there and watching the race KINDA made me want to do one in the future, perhaps when I'm in my early 40s and finished with short course racing of course;) I really just want to do one when I'm in my 40s, so that I can have all my kids dress up in personalized T-shirts that say things like "Team Lee", or "Swim mommy, swim!" and "Bike mommy, bike!" and so forth. Shauna's dad even made personalized t-shirts for us to wear, as well as a personalized banner that we all got to sign for Shauna and Andre. So this past weekend, I was swept up in the excitement of "Team Kingston Docs", and saw Andre break 12hrs, and Shauna come SOOOO close to breaking 13hrs! Pretty amazing, if you ask me, since Shauna trained for Ironman while studying for her licensing exams, and while Andre is just a couple of years in to his ER residency. Way to go guys!

On the way home from Lake Placid, Ming and I got to pick up our new Bernese puppy! We were surprised that the breeder said that she was ready to go home already, but pleasantly surprised nonetheless. We've decided to name her Kahlua, since she has less white than Bailey, and just because it works so well with the name Bailey. She is very clever and tons of fun, although I'm feeling a bit sleep deprived at the moment:)

The other good news is that this is the first morning that I have woken up without a headache since I fainted last Wednesday, which I am very happy about. So it's onwards and upwards with training for Kelowna, and I think I'm still doing the Tecumseh Triathlon next weekend so I'll be posting again soon.

Kahlua

Sooo soft and fluffy.

Bailey and Kahlua together.

Cheers.