Saturday Sept. 22 - We Tried to Tri

Ryan, Stacy, and I have been training all summer for this weekend. This is the Kokopelli Triathlon in St. George, Utah where Ryan and I were going to do our first Olympic distance tri and Stacy was going to do her first open water Sprint. We left work early on Friday in order to get down there in time to check in, eat dinner, and get to bed at the appropriate hour (we stayed at Ryan's condo). We woke up at 5:00 am and prepared our stuff for the day. At about 5:35 we opened the garage only to find that some neighbors had parked behind us in the driveway assuming we were not there. We then had to wake up several households before we found out who it was. They moved their cars and we were on our way - a little late - but on our way nonetheless. We arrived at the lake a little behind schedule, but with plenty of time left to get our transition stations set up and to get ready to race. Due to a bit of a delay waiting for the search and rescue team to get to their positions in the water, the race started a little late. We did not care. It gave us just that much more time to get ready. Ryan and I prepared together in the water waiting for our start. When the announcer said "GO" we were on our own. I had an awful swim. A storm was approaching and the waves got bigger and bigger. I got spooked early in the swim and struggled the rest of the time to get back with it. About half of the way through it all I started to get into a rhythm and began to swim well. At this point I was determined to bike and run as hard as I could in order to make up for lost time. It didn't register to me, though, that this may not be a possibility since it was raining pretty hard on top of me by this time. As I finally got out of the water after the 1.5 km swim, I was told by some race volunteers that the race had been cancelled due to the weather and I was to pack up my gear and go home. This was possibly the worst thing I could have heard at this time. We spent a good amount of money and time on this tri and now we are not going to be able to do it? That sucks! I gathered my stuff and met up with Ryan (who said he had a good swim) and Stacy (who's swim was similar to mine) and we made our way back to the condo. While I did have a good time hanging out and watching movies, the reality is that I could have done that at home! I am a bit bummed out and I am hoping they will give us a credit to do the Pumpkinman Triathlon in three weeks in Las Vegas. I will keep you all posted.

New Name

So, the BBOB thing was cute for a while, but I am over it (no offense, Strong girls). I have come up with my own name for the blog this time so I guess I win the cookies. Let me know what you think.

Saturday Sept. 8 - Stacy Can Tri

Stacy did her first triathlon today. We decided it would be fun for her to do this one on her own so I could be there to cheer her on and take photos, etc. (not to mention the lack of desire I had to spend the money on doing another since we just signed up for the Kokkopelli Tri which was rather expensive). She did great and she had a great time! I am super excited for her and I hope she has the desire to do more of them. This tri was at Alta Canyon Rec Center and it was a pool sprint. Similar to the first one I did, the swim was 400 meters in a pool followed by a 9 mile bike and a 5k run. She was particularly nervous for the swim. Not having timed herself swimming this distance, she lined up around the 10 minute crowd. It took her a little longer than this to swim it, but the lanes were so wide that she was not a burden for others in their quest for glory. She definitely had a different attitude toward the whole thing than I do, since she came out of the water walking at first and then she didn't seem to be in any huge rush at the first transition. Not that she was being lazy, she just was making sure she didn't screw anything up so as to not be able to finish - whereas, I want to take advantage of every second I have. I am sure this really comes down to the fact that I am a super competitive person while she is not. But that is one of the great things about triathlons - all types of people can do them and have a great time! She did really well on the bike and said the run was difficult. Apparently, there was a mega hill in the middle that was actually faster to walk and conserve energy than attempt to run due to its undaunting steepness. She was strong and finished the race with a smile on her face. She finished in 1hr 33min and 43seconds. I am so proud of her and I can't wait until we do the Kokkopelli together. Now we just have two weeks left to train!

Days 58 & 59 - Friday Aug 31 & Saturday Sept 1 - Mission Accomplished

Well, it's done. I did it. I have officially skied in every month for the past year. And I had a great time doing it. CJ, Cody, and I made this goal as the winter was coming to an end so it just felt right that it was the three of us along with my two faithful dogs that made this trip together. We met early Friday afternoon and made our way down to the Aspen Grove trailhead. At this time I must explain that I have not been backpacking for some time so I am not current on all my backpacking gear. I could not find my most recent pack so I ended up using the pack I had in like seventh grade - a Wenzel pack purchased many years ago. I assumed it would be sufficient for the approximately 7 mile hike ahead. I was wrong. It wasn't a mile up the trail before my arms began to lose feeling and pain was setting more and more into my back in several different areas. This upset me because I am in good aerobic shape and should be strong enough to do this hike without any problems, but I had to continually stop to alleviate the incessant pain from my inferior gear. The dogs had no problems whatsoever on the hike. They were always in front and just loved the adventure of the whole thing. After some time I sent the others ahead and I continued to push along at my own pace. I did not fall too far behind, though, and we met back up at the crest of the hike with only about a mile or so remaining before the glacier on Mt. Timpanogos. We passed several large groups of mountain goats on our way and the dogs didn't quite know how to respond. We got to the base of the glacier around seven o'clock and we quickly shed unnecessary weight for the "snow" climb and descent. The dogs were happy to join us on this endeavor. We were surprised to find several other groups of skiers with the same idea of skiing in August and September to achieve full-year status. The glacier was simply a collection of snowfields that were frozen over and covered in dirt and rocks - the best snow on earth, right? We had to hurry because it was soon going to get dark and we needed to ski that night. We did make it up and get in some turns. This was some of the most difficult skiing of my life. I had to try to avoid the big rocks, get an edge in on this ice, and somehow be able to power through the parts that were covered in dirt thus creating a not-so-slippery surface. I may not have looked the best ever, but I did have a good time. We finished as the sky went dark and we set up camp by headlamp. I was exhausted. It didn't take long for Samwise, Bowie, and myself to fall asleep. The problem was that it didn't take long for us to wake up either. Apparently, getting to the peak of Timpanogos before sunrise was a popular thing for BYU students this morning. Our camp was not far from the trail and they did not bother shutting up for five minutes while they passed it. It was difficult to sleep from about four o'clock on because of all the people that kept walking and talking right past our camp. If I had been any less tired I would have sat up and said (in a sarcastic manner) that they should continue to talk as loudly as they pleased - I mean, dawn was only two and a half hours away - we should be awake already, anyway! Due to this little fact, it took us a little longer to get going in the morning than we had planned. We did finally get up and make our way back over to the glacier. We stashed our ski gear toward the top and then kept going in order to see the summit. After a short amount of time at the top we were ready to go, but Bowie was not. He was totally not even acknowledging me and then began scaling the wrong side of the mountain. This made me very nervous mostly because I did not want to have to go after him. He made it down about eight feet and then came back up. What could be so important so as to risk his life, you say? An old, gross sandwich. At this time he still was not ready to go because he now had to eat this old, gross sandwich. Others at the summit found this amusing while I just found it disgusting. We eventually did make it back down to the glacier and got in our twelfth consecutive month of skiing in. Yes, we did it. Again, it was not pretty, but that was not one of the requirements. We then packed up our gear and began the long hike down the mountain. This time the hike was in the sun and it took a much bigger toll on the dogs. They were troopers, though, and they made it from water hole to water hole and eventually to the car. It was a great trip. I had a good time and accomplished a goal. The dogs had the times of their lives (although for the past two days they have not even wanted to move around the house). I am bruised and bloodied all over my back thanks to my gear, but it was all worth it. ONE YEAR, BABY!