End of August update

I realize it has been a fairly long time since I wrote on here. I guess after all the papers I had to write, along with the writing I do for my internship, I just wanted to take some time off from writing!
I also happened to take time off from training during my summer class. It was just too much to handle, and training was the one thing I actually had the ability to temporarily give up. But now that summer class has come and gone, I am back on the swing of things.
I've been training as much as I could during the past few weeks, although it wasn't nearly as much as I would have liked. I really did not sleep at all last week, with two papers due on the 20th, and my parents came into town that night. I worked Friday and by the time I got around to go to my practice on Saturday, I was sick from exhaustion. I drove half way to the training, and turned around, came back home, and slept until noon. That afternoon my parents and I went shopping - we went into the bike store, only intending to get a CO2 cartridge for my gear pack. My dad takes one look at the bike, realizes it's probably not fit to ride (which I've been arguing for months), and next thing you know I'm getting fitted for a new bike! It's a bare bones road bike, but it's new, I don't have to worry about it falling apart on me, and it's not a big clunker like my hybrid bike is. Of course they didn't have the right bike size for me - the womens medium was still too small. They didn't have any women's larges left in their inventory, not even through the manufacturer, so we're trying instead to go with a mens medium, which they also did not have in the store. So that was ordered on Saturday and will get to the store sometime this week. But it's amazing that I have a new bike!
Tomorrow is our practice triathlon. It's all short distances, basically to give us a feel of what it will be like, with transitions and everything. I am looking forward to it, but I may have to cut it even shorter - I have to catch a plane at 3:30!
I am heading off to LA for the next week and a half. Not necessarily the fun and the sun that one might think, especially with all the fires going on right now. But I'll get some running and hopefully some swimming in while I'm gone. The only worry I have about swimming is that I will be going straight from my practice tri, running home, showering, and heading to the airport. Because of this, I'm not sure if I will be able to bring my wetsuit. I don't know if it will be dry and/or if I will be able to fit it in my suitcase. I guess we'll just play it by ear...