Day 18 of Craziness? Check.

You know how I know I'm tired? When I'm at the pool coaching and I don't feel like swimming afterwards. That has only happened about three or four times in my life. Normally you can't get me out of a pool. That and the fact that I lay down on the couch for "just a few minutes" yesterday afternoon and my son woke me up two hours later. Good thing he did too, or I wouldn't have slept at all last night. I had no idea how exhausted I was. A friend on Facebook called that "gettin' some granny sleep". Granny? Granny? Hell, I might feel worn out, but that word is a little much if you ask me.

The State FTC robotics tournament this weekend was awesome but oh-so-overwhelming. Picture 24 teams of 6 - 10 kids each in a school cafeteria with tile walls and sound bouncing all around. For 10 hours or so. Some folks might handle that well, but my poor son and I are both noise-sensitive and I'm sure we looked like turtles who just wanted a shell to pull our heads into. Still, it went great. Our team ended up in 5th place overall, which sent us into the final elimination rounds where we were soundly trounced by the #1 team. Still, we definitely belonged there at the championships, and I think the team realized that. I'm so proud of the guys and all their work on their robot and programming. The competitions are so exciting! But this caps several weeks of non-stop competitions and work on the robot. My brain feels fried like a well-cooked rubbery egg.

And now we head into pure craziness. Tomorrow morning, we videotape our black belt test to send to our head Sensei. Am I nervous? You bet. This is another place where all those years of triathlon pay off. I know how to channel my nerves into positive visualizations of a great test where all goes well. I know that even if I don't sleep well tonight, I can still perform in my zone tomorrow. And I know that when it all comes down to it, my body comes through for me. So I think all will be well tomorrow.

To cap that all off, as I was heading home from Portland late Sunday night, hubby was about to get up at 2:30 a.m. to drive to Portland to fly out to Reno to start his new job. He'll be traveling frequently, and so just as my week of craziness is winding down, I don't get to see my sweetie. Wah!

Coming up in the next month: black belt test, karate tournament in Washington with Mackenzie, Asa's dance team competitions in Portland, Master's Association meet (state swim championships). Wow, that's all? I think I may need a few more naps.