Where in the World is Renee???

I'm still out here. This blog isn't dead . . . just in a brief slump. Here's the digest version of what's been going on in the last month:

1. My mother fell and broke her hip and has to be in a nursing home
2. The same day (June 24) that happened I jetted off to Washington DC for my friend's Samantha and Dirk's wedding and was gone for several days
3. I came back and worked my last 3 days as the UW's TDM Program Manager
4. I spent the 4 days around the 4th of July in central Wisconsin visiting my Mom at the nursing home and taking care of things she needed to have done
5. I brought home my Mom's 4 month old cocker spaniel puppy as it needed a temporary home
6. On July 5th I started my new job (which is awesome)
7. On July 8 and 9 I put on the 6th annual Women's Dirt Retreat -- a women's mtn bike camp here in Madison
8. I continued taking care of the puppy who is now been temporarily named Ole (she was supposed to go back to the breeder the first week I had her)
9. I organized Lady's Night at the Blackhawk Time Trials (very last minute shopping for the tiara and other awards)
10. July 15th I went back up to central Wisconsin to visit my Mom and help out with more details of her care
11. That night I drove back from my mom's nursing home at 10pm to avoid the hot weather (our car has no air conditioning)
12. July 16 I spent a very quiet 37th birthday at home playing with the puppy and watching the Tour. When Dave got back from the WORS race he did go to Sukho Thai to get me dinner which was super nice of him since he was tired and it was hot.
13. July 17 I started my 3rd week at my new job and I've made some recommendations to get Wisconsin's Safe Routes to School program started and on track to doing something
14. Today I finally confirmed with the breeder that we can take Ole back tomorrow (July 20) so my day's of puppy care are coming to an end -- and it is a lot of work having a puppy even if it isn't one you're planning to keep -- not to mention that our cats hate her
15. Somewhere in there I found time to confirm with Ben Turner about the cross clinic this fall and got that scheduled for Sept 30 -- the day before the awesome Badger Prairie cross race.

What I haven't been doing in that list of things is riding my bike. I pretty much just took off the whole month of July from riding (let alone actual training). I am commuting about 25 minutes each way to work which hopefully is enough to keep me from losing all fitness. I did try and do the Capitol Velo Club Monday ride and I ended up cutting it short as with the heat it was just too much for me.

When I realized that my life would no longer have time for training I reminded myself that bike racing isn't really that important in the scheme of things. I decided that the time I put into event planning is much more rewarding (for all involved) and since I no longer have time for everything I needed to get done I gave up on the training. I'm hoping that August will be better as Ben told me not to worry that August is the important month for cross training (true or not it was nice of him to say that). I'm still hoping that I'm in a better place that last year even with my month off from riding and I survived last season with less than ideal training so I'm sure I'll be fine.

I'll try to get back to regular posting . . . I also have some great photos from Lady's Night that I want to get online so watch for those!