Heading over to Decker

This is a picture of Doray and I after completing Danskin '02. That was my first triathlon. Like many other women in Austin I started out at Danskin and have grown a lot since then. I've done 40 triathlons in 5 years. I wonder what my response to that would've been when I started doing this.
----
Tomorrow I'm heading back to Decker for the Couple's Triathlon. Couple's is one of my favorites b/c Michael and I get to team up together and start in the prestigious first wave of the day; the married wave. We Garels are definitely not in peak triathlon condition so I'm just hoping we make it to the finish line smiling, those hills are going to be painful ;)
----
This week has been interesting, ie. very busy. I started teaching the Biomechanics class on Monday. It meets every morning from 9-10:30 and I'm still trying to determine the best ways to cover the material in that time. I'm using Dr Dingwell's slides but I've heard a rumor that some student's were griping, "that's all she's doing is reading off the slides." This experience has made me take a step back and think about how critical I was of some professors. Unfortunately for the instructors, preparing for a class takes a lot longer than the class meeting time. Being on the other side allows me to realize this. I've grown to appreciate people's efforts a lot more.
----
I've also had the experience of being on the other side while working at J&A this summer. I've had a great chance to learn a lot of the way people interact with each other and the way we treat others. Packet pickup weekends condence years of learning/experience into one afternoon. There are many people who are kind and light hearted when they come in the store or call on the phone. I've grown to truly appreciate this characteristic and I now take a much different approach when visiting others at their jobs. It makes a huge difference when the people around you are pleasant.
----
In a perfect world we'd all be required to spend a bit of time in the service industry from time to time. But since this is not the case... I'll just try my best to be as pleasant as possible to those around me and hope it might catch on. Sometimes that's easier said than done but trying is a good start. Have a great day!