Well, after my relaxing day on Friday, we were up and on our way to San Diego on Saturday. It wasn't a great day for weather, but we had fun just the same. We spent some time in La Jolla (pictured above), Old Town, Balboa Park (joined by Jenny and Justin - in the picture below - my friends from House Church that recently moved to CA), the mall, and then had a nice dinner in the Gaslamp district. Every restaurant was over-run with SD Charger fans, and it was, in fact, a great game that went to overtime and caused some raucous fans to be on the streets afterwards.
Sunday was so great. Church at Rock Harbor, Kimberly's old church, which was great. Then on to Balboa Island where we borrowed her friends' beach cruiser bikes and had a GRAND time biking all around Balboa Island, and the peninsula. We ended up biking all the way to Huntington Beach, which is, for the record, a pretty long ride on a beach cruiser. The weather could not have been more perfect, and the scenery was, of course, beautiful. I did enjoy a Balboa bar, a la Christy Miller, before leaving the island after 2+ hours of biking and relaxing. Then, last night, we had sushi for dinner at Mosun in Laguna with Jason. Best. Sushi. Ever. And I don't even love sushi! Wish there was somewhere like that in Orlando! 
Today has been good too. After another beach-side run this morning (Orlando is seriously lacking the scenic running trails), we went on a hike near Dana Point/Laguna Niguel. The scenery was amazing - beach on one side, snow covered mountains on the other. Tonight, we'll enjoy Happy Hour at Fisherman's restaurant out on the San Clemente pier and then, we will head to LAX to make our way back to Orlando. 
It has been a great trip full of friends, laughter, celebrating the New Year, football, parades, good food, Jesus time, reading, exercise, fun activity, relaxing, shopping, etc. I have had time to process over the past year and look forward to the coming year of 2009. I am not quite ready to go home, but alas, we must live normal lives, I guess. Next time I blog, I'll be back in Orlando...home to things, work, family and friends that I love, but not quite the city that wish... can we transplant San Diego or Chicago or NYC or Boston or something right into Orlando, please?
This weekend marked the beginning of my training for a sprint triathlon. Quite a few of my friends and I are all going to do the event in downtown Orlando this September. I want to give myself plenty of time to train and June 1st was my official start date, though I actually started on Saturday when Cara and I went on a 10+ mile bike ride (my first on a road bike) down Cady Way Trail. Running after the biking felt super weird and Cara was feeling lightheaded, so...we decided to walk for 3-4 miles instead of running. Definitely going to have to work on the transitions from biking to running! Last night I went on a longer run than my usual, and pushed my time as well, so that felt good. But, dang, it's hot here - even late at night.
I figure there are a few factors keeping me from coming up with any excuse to back out of this thing:
I am doing it with other people.
I just wrote about it on here and I've been telling people my plans.
I spent money this weekend on new running shoes (which I needed anyways), running tops, socks, goggles and a lap swimming suit.
This is only the beginning...I've got a long way to go until September.
