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!

Tandem Tele Revisited

I had a little time this week so I finally got around to putting this together. Enjoy!

Day 18 - Saturday August 11 - A Broken Phone To Mend a Broken Heart

Stacy and I were in charge of the ward campout this weekend so we spent last night near Marion, Utah. It really was pretty nice, though. I probably would not have gone to that activity if I weren't in charge of it, but I think I will go from now on. We came home around noon and took a nap. I then met CJ and the other Llamaites for a while down at the OR show - which was enjoyable. Crazy met me at my house around 5:30 and we went up to Parley's Canyon for some climbing. We made the hazardous hike down and then began climbing the 5.8 on the eastern side of the Iron Curtain Wall. This is an interesting climb because there isn't much at all to hold on to. You just have to use friction and trust your feet. I did slip at one point while leading, but only fell about four feet before the rope caught me. When I finished I came down and took the oppotunity to check my voicemail since I had heard my phone ringing while I was climbing. I placed my phone in my back pocket since it would not fit in my front pockets while I was wearing my harness. Crazy followed and cleaned the gear at the top. The plan was to then climb out of the super tall climb so we wouldn't have to hike out. This was going to be difficult since there was a group of people toproping this very climb. I sat down to relax and see what our other options were in the guide book. It was a short time later that I desired to know the time. I reached for my phone but realized it was in my back pocket. Oh, no. I just got this phone. I was up on my two year contract with Verizon and I got a sweet new Chocolate phone for free! I pulled it out and sure enough I had broken the screen. There is no way I can fix it. This began to sadden me, and I began to get a bit grumpy. I didn't want to wait any longer for these people to finish. Mike and I decided to just get out of there. With the phone situation, though, I face a bit of a moral dilemma. On the one hand I am bummed out about my phone, but on the other I don't want to be bogged down by things. A wise man once said, "Things you own end up owning you." I have come to grips with my broken phone. I am determined to not be negatively affected by this. I will inquire as to the repair or replacement of this phone, but if I have to revert to my previous phone of the past two years, then so be it.

Day 17 - Monday Aug 6 - Back on the Train

As stated in my previous post, I have just not had time lately to get outdoors. But rest assured. This has all changed now. I was able to get out and climb with Mike Schultz tonight up Little Cottonwood. I do not know what the name of the climb is because Mike did not know. He had climbed it like 12 years ago and thought it might be nice for my first trad lead. That's right. You heard me. My first trad lead. He was pretty sure it was a 5.7. We got to the base of the climb and I had Mike give me a short tutorial then I played around with the gear for a few minutes. We were then on our way. The climb was a four pitch climb, but we just skipped the intermitent pitches and made it a longer two pitch climb. Mike led the first pitch. I followed and tried my best to see how he was setting the gear just as a last minute way of educating myself on the matter. I then led the second pitch. There were some areas where I got a bit frightened, but all together I did alright in that category. The route was a bit confusing and I still don't know if I went the right way - which, I suppose, doesn't really matter in the end, does it? I did make it to the top set of chains and then belayed Mike as he cleaned the gear. As he neared the top I asked him how I had done as far as gear placement goes. He said the majority of the gear was set well. There were, however, a couple that probably would not have held any substancial falls. This was a little disheartening, but I got over it quickly. I had to since it was getting dark fast and we were several hundred feet in the air and then a good hike from the car. Mike had forgotten his rappel device (he had been using a Gri-gri to belay me) so we had to share mine by sending it back and forth to each other on the rope. This was the cause of an even slower exit. It was nearly pitch black by the time we made the final rappel, and then we had to hike out. Now, when I say "hike" out some of you may be thinking that this is like a little trail that we simply follow to the parking lot. You are mistaken, my friend. In total darkness with only the help of a small headlamp, I free-downclimbed a granite crack of probably 15 feet. Now this would not have killed me had I fallen, but try remembering that in that sort of situation. We did make it safely to the car and back home. I had a great trad leading experience and look forward to doing it again. Peace.

Tri 2 - Saturday Aug 4 - Cache Valley Classic

The past couple of months have really been building up to today for me. Yes, I was looking forward to Mexico and stuff, but I was really looking forward to this weekend for two reasons - 1. My last final was yesterday and this summer semester has been like the most time intensive semester ever. 2. I haven't done a tri for some time and I just needed something to really get me going. Unfortunately, due to reason #1 I was not able to train as much as I would have liked (I trained next to nothing) for this tri. But I wasn't going to let that stop me. I was wavering back and forth and then on Sunday I decided that I really wanted to do this and I signed up (they have a no refund policy). Ryan wavered a bit too much and didn't decide to sign up until registration was closed - so he didn't make it. Stacy and I went to bed early last night because we then woke up at 4:15am. Ugh. We had breakfast, loaded up the car, and made our way to Hyrum Reservoir. I really wanted to make sure I was there plenty early this time since last time was so hectic and I wasn't able to do all I wanted before the race. We did. We were among the first people there. This gave me ample time to prepare my transition station, get all the information I needed, use the restroom, etc - which are all things I was lacking last time. The olympic distance race started at 8:00 so I was glad to watch the open water start and see how it was all going to go down (this is my first time swimming in open water - other than just like off a boat or near the beach). I then made my way down into what I thought was going to be freezing water. It wasn't. It was actually really nice. In fact, I probably could have done it in just a swim suit - without the wetsuit - but after I began warming up a little I soon found out that a wetsuit is like the best thing that ever happened to a triathlon. It keeps you so buoyant. It made swimming much easier. From now on, any tri that allows wetsuits - I will be wearing one (please take time to notice in the picture above the muscley arms of the gentleman in the water - yeah, that's me). It was difficult to hear the announcer dude from the water due to all the people and everything going on, so I just started when everyone else around me started. It was actually pretty cool to be running into people and stuff. Thanks to the wetsuit, the swim was remarkably easier than I thought it was going to be. I came out toward the front of the pack and made my way to T1. This took an extra 30 seconds or so in order to remove the wetsuit, but I am telling you - it is worth it. My bike was a little bit slower than last time. I am sure this is due to the lack of training I have had. I felt pretty good, but I definitely could have gone faster. I passed some 12 year old kid while biking who was doing the sprint race as well. After looking later I found that he had a way faster swim time than myself! I figured I was then leaving him in the dust. The bike route was relatively flat with a few hills here and there. Not bad, though. I came off the bike and had a good T2 time (remarkably better than last time since I didn't forget my race number). Now this is where the race began to look grim. The first half of the run was uphill and I was feeling it. It wasn't long before that 12 year old passed me and left me lagging behind. I am not going to lie - a little part of me died inside right then. I found myself slowing down every now and then to try to recoup. After the turn around we just went back the same route so it was all downhill. This didn't prove to be as delightful as I would have liked it to have been. At this point I was just really watching the people passing me and trying my best to not let anyone in my age division do so. One did. Then as I neared the end another tried his best. I wasn't going to allow that sort of behavior. I paced him for a while and as we neared the finish line I really turned it on and beat him by only like a split second (he is the dude in the red in the picture where I am approaching the finish line). The clock in that picture began when the olympic races started. My total time was 1hr 25min. Overall, I feel good about today. I came in 6th out of 15 in my age division, and 57th out of 288 in the sprint distance. There is definitely room for improvement, but I am so glad I did this today. I had a blast, and now I can't wait until the next one. Peace.