Running: cautious optimism. Swimming: so excited!

First the swimming - I have an appointment at the Total Immersion swim studio in New Paltz next Thursday. I'm going to take a 2-hour lesson and learn from the source what I'm doing wrong and what to work on! I couldn't be happier. All my local friends give me advice that is 100% contrary to the TI approach (i.e. use a kickboard, kick harder, etc.) and I think I want to go the other way (i.e. swim easier, not harder!)

Now to the running. My last run, you may recall, was AWFUL - trying out new shoes I got about 6 blisters and ended up walking in my socks the last half-mile. I also was about to go to the doctor to figure out what was wrong with the joint under my big toe, which had been aching/hurting for a few weeks. But I stopped running for about 10 days while the blisters healed, and went on high-ish regular doses of ibuprofin. The toe hasn't hurt in a few days now, so I decided to do a short slow run today - it was probably not much more than 2 miles, which I did in about 28 minutes. No pain, no blisters!!! I'd been feeling awful, physically - gained about 5 pounds back (from an injudicious purchase of tortilla chips and general out-of-control binging on everything) but after this, I'm feeling like maybe, just maybe I can get back on track. And with my swim lesson, maybe that August 11 triathlon isn't out of reach! There are still a few others I'm considering too - I just need to be sure I can do the swim before I sign up.