We knew we didn't have enough time to do our full workout, but thought we might be able to get in AT LEAST an hour at Hains Point (a 3.1 mile loop downtown) so we packed up and drove on down. This was a great idea in theory, but we forgot to calculate the tourist factor from the cherry blossom festival. INSANE amounts of traffic piled with no parking (ALL THE WAY AROUND HAINES POINT!!!) made biking an incredibly difficult task. We finally found a spot and of course it started to rain as soon as we out the car in park. REALLY?! Come on!!! It wasn't pouring, but neither of us were truly prepared for even an hour in the rain so we turned around and went home (I know, we are wimps....).
We did do something incredibly productive on Saturday though--we painted our cabinets white!! As ridiculous as this sounds, I feel like making improvements to our house will actually help my ironman training in the long run. We have SO many projects we want to do with the house that I have a hard time focusing on ironman training. All I can think about is how ugly our kitchen looks or how our stairs look totally weird or that we have two incredibly small bathroom right next to eachother so why can't we tear down a wall... exhausting. So every little thing that gets checked off my mental checklist helps me feel like I have more energy to focus on swimming, biking, and running.
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| Gorgeous right?! Well, you would've had to see the before pics, but it looks amazing! |
Anyway, Sunday, I already knew I was going to GW Public Health Preview Day. I woke up early and did an hour on the bike trainer (it was still sprinkling in the morning), and left to go to the school. I have really been freaking out about whether or not I should really go because I hadn't heard anything about a graduate assistantship, and I didn't know if it was worth going to school if I was going to have to take out student loans. Turns out going to Preview Day was incredibly helpful.
1--I met a few of my future classmates. It did make me feel a bit old (most are just out of undergrad), but they aren't meatheads and they have similar goals to mine. Not to mention, I think I'm smarter than everyone, but that was almost a given ;) haha
2--I got to see the complete breakdown of tuition and fees on a spreadsheet. The figure I found online was near $45000, but this was inaccurate because it included Room & Board, transportation, and "other" expenses. The real cost of tuition is $24000. Still scary, but much less now.
3--I met the departmental chair, Dr. Loretta DiPietro. She is super nice and down to earth. From what she said to the group, I feel like above the educational piece, I will be getting HUGE networking opportunities which are worth going to school for two years. Everything that she said made me more and more confindent about my decision to go to grad school even if I do have to take out loans to get there.
4--Maybe most exciting--I ran into my friend from as long as I can remember, Kelley Vargo!!!! She is actually a second year student in the program so she came to talk to us about her experience at GW. I knew she was in the city--we had bumped into each other before, but didn't think I'd see her at the Preview Day. There can't be a better person to tell you about your future school that your second grade little league softball teammate!!! :)
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| Here we are again!! We really don't look that different!! |
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| I'm in the front on the right, and Kelley is in the back left... I was in second grade and still smallest on the team! |
Kelley, Loretta (I feel weird calling a future prof by their first name, but that's how I talked to her later), and I all headed out to a local bar after Preview Day to catch a little bit of Women's Basketball. I just felt at home. Kelley talked to me a little more about her life at GW and beyond, and Loretta told me a little bit about herself (we found out we both know Brian's old gymnastics coach! small world!!). All in all, Preview Day sealed the deal. I'm going to GW next year. YAY!! I'm still worried we might have to move out of our house and into a cardboard box (its hard to pay a mortgage when you're broke), but at least I get the feeling I'll be happy in my cardboard box.
I may not have gotten in a lot of training this weekend, but I do have a much better piece of mind now. Maybe now when I'm riding or swimming, I can focus more on the task at hand and less on renovations and options for next year.
Totals
Swim 12,300 meters
Bike 125 miles
Run 39 miles
PS--big race is coming up May 20th so I am not allowing myself to totally duck out of anymore weekend training!!!!!!!!
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