Break

I am a teacher, which is why that it is especially interesting that my mother asked the question that she asked me today. She didn't ask me what I was going to do this summer (I think she knew the answer, to be fair, which is to journey long and far to the exotic lands of Wisconsin and Iowa), but what I was going to do with my time after Ironman. Since it's a rest week and I already have more time than I know what to do with ("only an hour workout and only a few papers to grade? What am I going to do with the rest of my evening?"), I've been pondering what she asked.
This is an interesting question for a couple of reasons. First of all, I know that a lot of people in my training group are already thinking of doing another Ironman next year (I got an e-mail from a friend today that said " I'm so confused as to what to do when Ironman madness is over!"). I'm not going to lie, the thought has flit through the transom of my mind, but I don't think that I can justify spending all the money again (I know I'm supposed to be saving for something), nor do I think that I can justify dropping out of life for another year.
The second reason I find this to be interesting is that, as school winds down and I go into rest week mode, I've started to wonder what other people do with their free time. Without something to train for (or a job where you bring home up to five hours of work a night), it seems like one would have a ton of free time- what are people doing with all this free time (I would ask people at work this question, but I already know the answer- grading, planning, calling parents- teachers don't really have all that much free time)? I like to think that everyone is learning how to knit a sweater or cooking their way through Julia Child's cookbook, but somehow I doubt this.
So, to get back to my answer to my mother's question: I'm not entirely sure. I'd like to do another Ironman, but I don't think that that's a healthy option for me right now for a lot of reasons. I'm thinking that I'll probably concentrate on marathoning. I might hire a coach and see how fast I can go (and if I can widen the gap between my PR and Brian's) if I actually really work at it. I might do a half-iron after I'm through with that. I'll probably do another marathon next year just for fun. Who knows? Maybe I'll cook my way through Julia Child's cookbook for a year and blog about it.
Been done?
Hmmmm....maybe I'll try ultras...