Distractions

" Alright Boys you're in season, time to dump the girl friend, stop playing on your computer late at night and tell your boss to pound sand." - Art Rodriguez

Ah yes the words of my former track coach at our first practice of the season...let the memories from high school flow back.
The reasons I'm quoting him go back to the girl friend part. Normally this was never a problem. Afterall I believed I was the marked one, the guy that no girl in her right mind would date, and I was cool with that, sure it hurt sometimes, but it allowed me the freedom to train when I wanted on demand. In essence I was training free of "distractions", well ok there are always some distractions " will I have enough to pay for my race entry?", "my parents are driving me nuts.", "I hope I finish this ride before the library closes so I can do some research"...etc. But this year I had 3 girls competing for my affections, 1 was just a fling..which was a little awkward....but it was sort of an ego boost but it also has moral and ethical complications, for as much as I claim I'm a forward thinker, there still is a good little Catholic kid stuck inside of me. Girl number 2 we kissed but not really much to build a romantic relationship on , I mean we'd be good friends but I just don't think she's girl friend material. Then there is girl number 3..we went out in Newport, she's kinda into me I'm kinda into her, but I don't know where this is heading...and now I've got Coach Rod's voice echoing in my head about "girlfriends being run killers." I mean that's what happened in Newport, we went out on Saturday night and instead of going for a nice 8 miler along the cliff walk we just chilled on Sunday. The sad thing is I only know how to train one way and that is just planning for school and weather, I never had the girlfriend thing to worry about, and when I was first getting started in this sport, I chose the sport over a girl who couldn't understand why I spent so much on my freaking bike...I just don't want to be the poor sap at Eagleman who worked his tail off for years for a Kona spot and his wife made him return it, granted it's not like she isn't athletic, she's a former gymnast, she still runs a couple times a week with my sister...so she understands the rigors of commitment, but this is uncharted waters for me, I might have to submit this question to Bro. But that's what's been going on in my head for the last couple of days. I'm trying to get my butt into shape for Ironman New Zealand but it's been hard because of all this crap going on I need to focus, so this weekend back to basics, just running, riding and studying, no distractions.

R.D.