Dorthy was right. . .

It's true, there is no place like home. I arrived home yesterday after almost a month away. While my travels were amazing, full of unforgettable experiences--racing in the South of France, bachelorette partying in Nantucket and NYC, and topping it off with a good friend's fabulous wedding in CT--it is, nonetheless, great to be back.

No matter where I go in the world, I always look forward to coming back to San Diego. That's when you know you're in the right place, I guess. It doesn't hurt that we are in the midst of the summer sweet spot--the foggy mornings known as "June Gloom" and the Del Mar fair, which brings 2 weeks worth of heavy traffic, are behind us. (That fair comment probably makes me sound like a fun hater, but the rides aren't that good. Unless you like deep fried twinkies and petting farm animals, there really aren't too many reedemable qualities).

Meanwhile, the warmest weather of the year is here, the ocean is calm, the days are long--ideal for training. Plus, race track season is right around the corner.

The nice thing about these track sessions is that I don't have to do any of the work; )

The horse races at the Del Mar race track are sort of synonymous with carefree summer days. They bring an incredibly energy that shakes up the mellow San Diego vibe for 6 weeks every summer. It's a fun afternoon activity to get dressed up (or not), meet up with friends, and place a few bets (mine are usually the $2 kind) on the ponies--only after completely wearing myself out with a long workout of my own, of course.

Opening day is not till next week, which is good because I could use a little down time from all this fun, and I'm more than ready to get back into the training routine. I've had two weeks of unstructured workouts, which fits well with my hard wired "just wing it" tendencies. I know it 's time to get back on a program, though, since yesterday I even found myself missing Training Peaks--the online system which Coach essentially has to guilt me into using on a regular basis to log out my workouts.

Off to rebuild/reacquaint myself with my bike, followed by a little splash at the pool!