Mental Conditioning Part 2 and back to MI

Blog number 2 in the mental conditioning series.

On another note...Rachel and I have decided it's time to head back to Michigan. We both have recently been offered jobs in northern MI and everything is pointing us back there. We have enjoyed our time in VA Beach, but it's just not the place we'd ultimately like to be. For our careers I think we are jumping into better opportunities. It's certainly going to be better for raising a family, which we aren't necessarily starting any time soon, but down the road for sure. For triathlon, things will be a bit different, but really it's just going to be a different approach with the winters being longer. My season will start a bit later, but there are a ton of great triathletes from the northeast, midwest, and Colorado...all places with a lot of snow. The training environment up there is as good as anywhere I've seen with endless miles of cycling without having to deal with traffic or stoplights. There are tons of hills for both cycling and running. Running trails are everywhere. I'll have access to two good pools and probably a hundred different fresh water lakes in the summer. Training partners will be a little hard to come by, but I've always done the majority of my stuff solo anyways. I'll be picking back up the winter sports scene with both downhill and xc skiing...talk about good exercise. Coaching wise this won't change anything since everything we do is online and over the phone. There's a good chance I'll be getting into some coaching at the varsity high school level as well.

All in all, we are very excited about getting back. So few good jobs become available up there and for both of us to get a job in the same area is too hard to pass up. We know that's where we wanted to end up...we just didn't know when exactly it would happen. I'll tell ya though...the good Lord has had a big hand in this and has opened one door after another for us. One example is how I got my job. I was going to be up in Michigan for 4 days last weekend for my brother's bachelor party and to enjoy our hometown festival and hang out with friends and family. I got called early last week about scheduling an interview and it just happened to be I was going to be coming there and we did the interview on Friday. The interview was in the morning and they called me back before the day was over to let me know the job was mine if I wanted. There was a real sense of peace about it all.

So that's about it...we'll be moving in less than 2 weeks. It's a little bittersweet, but we're excited to get back closer to family and a more quiet life. If anyone is looking for a good place to do a summer training camp...come on up...you'll love it up there.