I've been everywhere, man

With my suitcase once again packed up and Johnny Cash on repeat in my brain, I figure that it is high time for a blog update. After leaving Colorado Springs on November 26th, I headed to New Hampshire to spend time with my brother Adam, his wife Tricia and their awesome dog, Grete. Luckily, my parents were able to head over from Cooperstown to join in on the Thanksgiving/ Birthday festivities, as well as Tricia's sister's family. Fun fact: my 27th birthday was on the 27th day of November, celebrated in the same town where I was born, Hanover. Strange coincidence, right?

After a nice stay with Adam and Tricia, I headed to NYC for a couple of days to attend my sister's Marie Claire book event and to pick up my friend Kate to head to Puerto Rico for a week. I normally wouldn't think that travel would be the best way to unwind after a season of travelling and racing, but I found that our trip was exactly what I need. Maybe it was the crispy lechon and tostones...

I am currently typing in my sister's house in Gainesville, Florida, where I've been catching up with her, her husband Clay and baby Beckett, as well as putting in some warm weather training before I head back to the cold. While I find Beckett extraordinarily cute, I haven't quite accepted the sour milk chunks that mysteriously show up on my sleeves when I hold him. That part? Not so cute. I'm off to Cooperstown tomorrow for a week of Christmas festivities (including a Groffian gathering in New Jersey) and fortunately the Florida crew will be coming north as well, giving me more opportunity to bond with the wee one. On the 27th, I'll head back to Colorado Springs, where some of my gear has taken over my coach's basement (the rest of my stuff occupies a storage locker in Boulder).

It is at times like these that I am fully aware of how free I am. Without a mortgage, pets, kids or a 9-5 job, I am fortunate enough to be able to pick up and visit family and friends in my off-season. Twenty years from now, with kids and a mortgage, I will undoubtedly think with fondness upon the time that I schlepped up and down the eastern seaboard, visiting friends and family. While I will concede that there is a certain charm in this lifestyle, I am starting to feel that it is getting harder as I age. Frankly, I am far too old to have never signed a yearly lease. Until I shed myself of my lingering Peter Pan complex, however, "Of travel I've had my share, man/ I've been everywhere" and I don't plan on applying the brakes quite yet.