what happened?

First, there was travel: The annual national sales meeting, which meant long days of presentations and workshops, followed by long nights of this:

However, I did get to introduce my co-workers to a real bowl of ramen.

Apparently, the kotteri miso from Kahoo is exactly what you need to cure a hangover.

Then there was Chicago, where I met this guy.

He's very serious.

I also ate a really good Scotch egg from Jam, drank Slovenian wine for the first time, fell headfirst into a heaping plate of buttery black truffle pasta and discovered the Southside (Oxley gin, mint, lemon and egg white -- yum).

Then: The triathlon. That’s right. You heard me. For some completely insane reason, I signed up for the Ukiah tri, which means I have about three weeks left to train. (Thank god, I finally just recently bought a bike. Isn’t she pretty?)

I feel like I spend every spare second swimming, obsessing over biking (note that I am not actually biking, since the bike is so recent that I don't even own a helmet yet, so I haven't actually ridden) or doing Pilates.

In other words, basically doing everything except running. In fact, I can't run right now.

Which brings me to the next issue: Injury. The rec fem thing has morphed into tendonitis, which has resulted in frustration, anger and tearful, mid-Pilates emotional breakdowns.

And I might have to defer New York because at this point, it looks like I'm only going to have 10 weeks left to prepare. And that's assuming I don't re-injure myself.

Putting on my brave face now.