A clean pool!!!

As irritating as it is to have the pool be closed for 3 straight days, it's totally worth the wait after getting in right after it's been completely drained and cleaned! It is no longer a mucky mix of baby piss, sunscreen, and whatever the hell people have all over their bodies before they get in...it's clear, cool, and quite pleasant to swim in :)

Yeah, that's all I've got! Sorry.

The students are BACK!!!

I cannot even tell you how much I love the fact that I'm no longer in school anymore. Not that I didn't enjoy going to college (nor do I really even mind paying back those horrible student loans), but I'm just so much happier not being in class all day and studying all night...I really did do that while I was at CU, I promise :)

At any rate, Boulder has become a completely different place over the past week with the students from all over the country driving their big ass vehicles and parading around in their short little skirts and ridiculous over sized sunglasses. I once thought I was 'hot shit' when I was in school too, but geez...I'll stop there for obvious reasons.

Other than chillin', trainin', workin' and lovin' life, not much else is new at this time. Almost 4 weeks until I leave for Cancun and I'm definitely getting excited...even after Simon decides to tell me this morning that it is the hottest race he's ever done and how almost all the pros had to drop out...yea, yea, yeah...After all this mountain biking I've been doing, I'm going to be so strong on the bike that I'll be out there for half the time I usually am...haha, yeah in my dreams. Below are some pics from this past weekend's riding adventures. Shep put the picture of him that I wanted to throw on here on his blog (after 3 weeks of laziness) so check out his latest post for a pretty funny picture taken at Walker prior to riding. Enjoy!

Mountain Biking!

Is it bad that even though I suck beyond belief at it, I've still got an itch to hit the trails on a regular basis these days?!?! There's nothing worse than running into trees, not having control of your bike, flipping over rocks and just feeling scared out of your mind, but for some reason I've suddenly taken a liking to it. Maybe it's because of the challenge. Maybe it's because of the beautiful terrain. Maybe it's because I have some great company while I'm out there. Whatever it is, I like it. I like how hard it is. I like clenching my teeth in order to not have a complete temper tantrum while I'm out there...haha, ask Shep all about that! At any rate, even after the long run this morning, I can't wait to go out and test out the new changes made to my mountain bike! Yipppeeee!!!

I am officially another year older!!!

As of yesterday (August 22nd) I have conquered another year in this crazy thing we call life! It was a highly uneventful day and a not so exciting age, but nonetheless, it was a good day.

Today was a bit more exciting. Woke up early and did the infamous JZ triple brick (bike/run/bike/run/bike/run - all HARD) and found myself hitting wattages much higher than the previous session which is always a plus. Then, had a meeting with a potential client who has a small research business that receives governmental grants and requires a whole different kind of reporting. Lots of research to do on it, but I think it may just end up working out. Then headed to the pool for a leisure recovery swim and to the restaurant and the law firm. Busy day! Not sure what's on tap for this evening, but relaxing is definitely a must :)

Moving in the right direction!

So far the week seems to be treating me quite well, even though it is only Tuesday Morning. However, with a great bike/run on Sunday and a solid recovery bike and swim yesterday, I feel much better about things. About to head out for a hill run at Shanahan Ridge then to work and then try and battle a big hill ride in the heat of the day! Cancun, here is come :)

Mom is feeling good with is a positive sign. She has been completely pampered by the whole neighborhood and the abundance of relatives nearby. Thanks everyone, you are so kind!

Training or playing with Motorcycles?!?!

Hmmm...for some, that question would be easily made, however, it wasn't the case for me. After sleeping through my alarm and missing most of swimming and then almost falling asleep in the pool while swimming (I'm really not kidding - my eyes kept shutting while on my stomach), I decided to bag the remainder of my workouts and just chill out for the day.

So on that note, Shep and I headed down to the BMW Motorcycle dealership in Denver. He needed to get a new battery for his bike and I wanted to see first hand the new lineup of beauties! Let's just say that thanks to our little trip, the picture below is now Shep's permanent computer desktop screen! HAHA...what a gorgeous bike!


In other news, my mother sounds like she's doing absolutely amazing after her surgery. The anesthetic didn't sound so great, but I think she's going to be thrilled with the way her knee will feel once she's all heeled up. I'm so proud of you for getting this done Mom...keep on hanging in there for the next few days!

Life is GOOD :)

The past few days have been filled with some great training, fun times and amazing company. The weather has been cooperating a little better than usual...only high 80s and low 90s with some great afternoon thunderstorms to cool off the later part of the evening!

As for the family, a lot is going on. Dad is leaving for China for a week tomorrow, Jerry is getting ready to leave for school, and today my mom is having knee surgery! Good luck Momma, I love you!

Wow. Busy Girl!

The last few days have been very busy, get lots of fun. Our good friend Chris Dmitrieff from Australia took off to go back home, but he definitely didn't get away without a night of fun and ridiculousness on the town!In other news, my team manager from Timex was also in town the last couple days. It was so great to have him here and show him the beauties of Boulder. He's got a great opportunity waiting for him here and I don't think coming out and seeing the endless amounts of fun things to do deterred him away too much...huh Ben?!?

My Girl's a studette AGAIN!

Today, best bud and coach Joanna Zeiger gave us all a little update of how hard she's been training after kicking some serious butt at the 5430 Half Ironman. If she can stay healthy and injury free, she is definitely on track to stellar race in Kona this year!

In other news, I'm finally done with my mid-season rest week and ready to get back to my usual routine of training and working. Cancun is less than 6 weeks away and after the last race, I'm pretty hungry for that 'perfect' race! With some serious motivation and an amazing support group, I've got all the most important elements covered, now it's just time to put in the work and execute on race day :)

And a few more...

PRE RACE

Playing in the truck the day before

My sad attempt at a 'Race Face'

THE RACE

I really do feel like I'm going to die at this point

Thank Goodness it's over :)

POST RACE

Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Dad & Me

Erin & Benny

Trying not to fall out of the truck and eat a cracker at the same time!

The 'I hate awards and my crotch really hurts' Face

A MUCH better day.

Woke up feeling a little better after a good night's sleep and had a pretty productive day. Still have a million things yet to catch up on, but at least the list is getting a bit smaller :)

Below are some pics from the race this weekend for your entertainment...

Sick and pissy.

So yesterday after 2pm just plain sucked. I got to the airport, the shitty terminal of Detroit, and waited to get on my flight to Chicago. I NEVER schedule a flight with a layover, but I had to use my American Airline vouchers and this was the only way to get back to Denver from Detroit. We get on the plane about 30 minutes late and I'm somewhat nervous about missing my connecting flight which was only 45 minutes after we landed in Chicago. No need to worry about that because as soon as everyone got on the plane and situated, the captain announced that there was a 3 hour delay to Chicago due to bad weather conditions! WONDERFUL...not only could I have flown Frontier like I always do and avoid this whole madness, I end up stuck in Chicago for hours because I obviously missed my connecting flight and had to fly standby on the next one out at 9:30pm. I'll stop there, but let's just say it was a long ass day and not very fun.

Today wasn't much better either. I have been working like a dog since early this morning and haven't had any motivation to do much of anything. I'm still feeling awful - stuffy, congested, nauseous, huge headache, etc. On that note, no more complaining...going to bed and tomorrow is going to be a GREAT day, I can feel it!!!

Yucky

Who doesn't like waking up at 6am in the morning to 75* and 89% humidity?!? I mean come on...it's not all THAT bad!

Okay, big lie. Yes, it is bad. And the thought of running in it just doesn't sound appealing whatsoever, hence the reason I haven't gotten my butt out the door yet. Well that and the fact that my running partner (my little bro) is still sound asleep. Once I'm done getting a little more work done, I'll have to go jump on his bed and wake him up so the poor guy can 'suffer', as Ben would say, for a little run with his big sis!

Had another good day yesterday. Great lunch with Katie and mom, an enjoyable trip to the dentist as always - the clan over at Doolin & Haddad, DDS are truly the coolest people on earth - a fun trip to the mall with my momma, then a good night of Euchre with the fam!

I have to post these pictures just to show you how ridiculously nice college students are living these days. Well that, and because I'm still in shock after seeing these things. Below is the 60 inch television my brother bought on Ebay for their 5 bedroom house at the University of Michigan. Below that is the 'Beer Pong Table' (which isn't finished yet) that he has so carefully designed using his engineering skills made totally out of blue and yellow bottle caps! One word -

UNBELIEVABLE!!!

The trip home has been a great time. I've been super busy, but it's definitely been a good amount of time to be back. Not too short, not too long. I can't remember the last time I had a layover, but in order to use my American Airline voucher I had to make a pit stop in Chicago on my way back to Denver...grrrr. Oh well. I'll leave Detroit at 5pm and get back into Denver around 7:45pm which isn't terrible.

Fun with the Fam!!!

Besides having a terrible cold (lots of coughing and faucet-like running nose), my trip home has been absolutely awesome thus far. Yesterday I went for a nice relaxing swim at Lifetime which is always nice, played a round of golf with my little bro and dad - hilarious, then headed down to Detroit to have dinner at Chris Chelios's Chili Bar and then watch the Tigers play Tampa Bay at Comerica Park with my cousin and her boyfriend. We had an awesome time, especially since the Tigers won, and it was so great to see Jess so happy and doing so incredibly well!!! I love ya girl!

Just got back from the gym - a little shakeout run and swim. Now my mom and I are going to meet the coolest neighbor in the world for a nice lunch. Yes Katie, YOU are the coolest! To the dentist afterwards followed by a little shopping...oh boy, oh boy :)

FYI

Really bad chaffing + baby diaper rash cream = NO MORE OUCHIES

Steelhead 70.3 Race Report

1^st 20-24 AG, 9^th Overall Female

4:52.13– 33:47 Swim, 2:34 Bike, 1:39 Run

Where to begin! Besides almost missing the 4am bus out of Boulder to the airport, the travels to Chicago where fairly smooth. Once I arrived, my grandparents picked me up and we headed to the race site to get Ben (yes, our crazy manager) on our way back to the house so he didn’t have to spend the nights in the ‘Black Falcon’. We couldn’t have been more spoiled – endless amounts of delicious food, company and great laughs. We played a little ‘Euchre’ (a great mid-west card game that gets a little too competitive sometimes) and my grandma and I totally kicked Ben and my mom’s butt, it was AWESOME!

The day before race day was also a great day. Early morning shake out run on the farm roads, fun times selling watches, building bike and hanging out at the Timex truck, and a little bike and swim to loosen up the muscles for next day.

Race Day – Since we were staying about an hour away from the site at my grandparent’s place, I had to get up at 4am and make sure to be on the road by 4:45am in order to get there about an hour and 15 minutes before the race start. I know that’s cutting it pretty close, but the bikes were already racked and I don’t usually need much time setting up in transition. Unfortunately when we arrived at the site, the 2600 other participants were all trying to get there around the same time and traffic was completely backed up to the parking lot which wasn’t even on site. Luckily, my mom had decided to come early with Ben and I and dropped us off on the side of the road so we could walk over to the site so I wasn’t late. If we had left a minute later, I would have for sure missed my swim start because we actually had a walk the 1.2miles down the beach in order to get to the swim start. We ended up running and I made it with about 45 seconds to spare! Talk about luck!

Swim – The waters in Lake Michigan were unusually high (75*) so I decided to try out the new Blue Seventy Pointzero3 skinsuit. Stellar choice as I would have completely overheated in a full wetsuit and this thing is super comfortable and fast as all can be, however, I didn’t have that great of a day in the water. I had a cold explode that morning and battled a little panic attack about half way through that was super frustrating.

Bike – Solid day on the roads and the Trek Equinox treated me quite well – especially after Ben gave it a good bath the day prior! The only complaint was the ridiculous amount of drafting going on in front of me that got me a little riled up and irritated and probably wasted a lot of unnecessary energy.

Run – Hang on baby, just hang on! Those were the words running through my head the entire 13.1 miles. After not eating or drinking hardly anything all day because my stomach was churning like crazy, I was literally running on fumes for the final leg of the race. I sucked it up and stomached two gels and that along with Ben biking along side of me gave me the strength and motivation to make it to the finish. Not the time I was aiming for, but definitely a good effort for what I had left to give.

Overall – It definitely was not the perfect race, however, I was pretty pleased and very happy with many of the aspects of it. It was awesome to have the family there to cheer me on as well as the support from Ben and Timex. It would never have been as much fun as it was had Ben not locked his keys inside the truck having to saw off the lock and watching all the happy fans as we ran down the finish shoot tossing free hats out to the crowd! A weekend to remember!

What was I thinking?!?

A 6am flight?!? That means catching a 3:30am shuttle to the airport. It sounds so good to land at 10am and have the whole day to get things done, but I didn't think about all the prep it takes to actually get to the airport, get on the plane, land, yada yada yada. Oh well, life goes on.

Well off to finish packing and get everything ready to go to Chicago and have the grandparents pick me up and get Ben from the race site. Can't wait to see everyone!!!