Way back in October, a call went out for riders for the USDF/FEI Trainers' Conference, held in Florida in January, at the McPhails' stunning farm right here in White Fences. I sent off videos and was told we'd all hear back in December.

In the meantime, I had to buy my plane tickets for my trips back to Virginia to teach. The only weekend in January that worked was the weekend right before the Monday-Tuesday of the Trainers' Conference. Perfect, I thought to myself as I clicked "Finalize Purchase." If I get picked, I'll fly in Sunday night and be set to ride Monday-Tuesday.

It's a seriously great place to be in your training, when your horses do everything you want them to do, and you're just kinda waiting around for them to get strong enough/quick enough/confirmed enough to move onto the next thing. But oh, is it ever boring.

My favorite teacher from high school, Mr. Bulak, says that there are four kinds of academic papers. The best is short and good, and the second best is long and good. Third best is short and bad, because while it's bad, at least it's over with quickly. And the one you don't want to write is long and bad.

Yesterday was my first day back with a personal trainer, a Christmas gift from my family. After really enjoying running last year, I've decided to try my hand at some sprint-length (that's usually 1/2 mile swim, 15 mile bike, 3 mile run) triathlons. Training for that is going well (I have a nifty app for my iPhone that tells me what to do each day for 12 weeks), but the personal trainer thing will add resistance training, and (I hope) complement the cardio work I'm doing. 

The ponies and I have settled in Florida, where the weather is divine, and that is all I will say on the subject. While the horses remember where they packed their hind ends - the first few days always feel like garbage, as they recover from the long trip - I've had time to putter around. I've been running and biking and swimming; I've made a bajillion trips to Target for all the stuff I forgot. 

And I've also gotten to hang out and watch some riding.