Are you kidding me? A triathlon and I have never belonged in the same sentence. It must have been time for something new! (The "BEFORE" race shot, with goggles and swim cap in hand.) What an unforgettable week this was! I actually DID enter my first triathlon, with the goal of simply finishing it. Take note of the emphasis on the word FIRST, because I loved it so much, that you can guarantee that there will be more. It was a blast. Seriously. My friends Lorraine and Robin had trained and signed up to do the event, which was two days ago, on Saturday. Three days beforehand, I heard about it and basically had a spontaneous urge to join them, so I registered. The only partial preparation ahead of time that I had been doing was cycling in the neighborhood here and there on my mountain bike with some other friends. And doing some micro-laps in our backyard pool. Our friend, Dave, was also there. The three of us women appreciated Dave's encouragement and support, as he's ...
Leaving to begin a whole new adventure, here's Lindsey getting one last hug from her "little" brother until December.
Dad hugs his daughter and wishes her the best for college.
Lindsey and I flew back to the States on Eva Air, the same airline that we arrived in Taiwan on. It's a fairly new company and our flight was fine, other than a lot of turbulence. I have a really hard time with my feet getting extremely swollen on these long flights, and couldn't wait until it was over.
The first photo above, you'll see an interesting map of the island of Taiwan as a wall sculpture. The leaf-shaped country is only about 245 miles long and about 89 miles wide, roughly the size of Maryland and Delaware combined. 
Regardless of my heavily swollen feet, I was relieved to step off the airplane and arrive back home in the United States, even though I was only at the Los Angeles airport at this point. The cool breeze of the California air felt wonderful on my skin after feeling hot and muggy every day in Taiwan the past few weeks.
We still had to fly to Austin, and I never took any more pictures that night, but it was good to get back to Texas. I made sure to stop by Krispy Kreme donuts the following day and indulge. I should have gotten all chocolate because we only ate one of the glazed ones. The donuts were quite tasty and I made sure to stop at some of my favorite places to eat while I was in town, including Rudy's, per Lindsey's request, to watch the tail end of the University of Texas football game and enjoy some barbecued sliced brisket sandwiches.
I'll end with one of my favorite lines, "There's no place like home."
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