Still getting packages :)

I know, I know...by age 23 I really shouldn't be receiving killer packages from my momma, but I have to admit, they're pretty fun! Especially when they're packed full of deliciousness from Trader Joe's...how come we can't have those out here, not fair :(

A POEM ABOUT OUR GIRLFRIENDS

Someone will always be prettier.
Someone will always be smarter.
Some of their houses will be bigger.
Some will drive a better car.
Their children will do better in school.
And their husband will fix more things around the house.
So let it go, and love you and your circumstances.
Think about it!
The prettiest woman in the world can have hell in her heart.
And the most highly favored woman on your job may be
unable to have children.
And the richest woman you know, she's got the car,
the house, the clothes might be lonely.
And the word says, 'If I have not Love, I am nothing.'
So, again, love you. Love who you are.
Look in the mirror in the morning and smile and say,
'I am too Blessed to be Stressed and too Anointed, to be Disappointed!'
'Winners make things happen, Losers let things happen.'
Be 'Blessed' Ladies

This was in an email sent today by my mother and couldn't have been more appropriate...

The last couple weeks have been such a perfect beginning to a successful season. With an improved attitude about life, a new approach to training and a killer group of ladies to train with, I am beyond excited to see what kind of athlete I am capable of becoming over this next year.

As for the poem, I don't think I could describe my feelings towards my girlfriends and training partners any better than through Jax's blog in her post titled 'A peaceful run with great thanks!' We are all so fortunate to have each other as both friends and competitors. Although it's nice to be able to have great people to train day in and day out with, the constant reminders of how amazing we each are along with the everlasting support that is true and genuine is probably the most motivating part about it. Since we are all on different levels in our lives and in the sport, we have no reason to judge or be jealous of each other. Rather, we embrace and learn from each of the aspects we bring to the table...I LOVE IT!

Like the poem says, 'Love who you are'. I promise it will make you a much happier individual :)

Power Sculpting?!?

I haven't really decided how to approach these crazy classes I'm starting to do...with the other girls of course! I feel like the biggest goober ever while I'm doing them, but they sure do work every little muscle in your body! Just after 75min of that crap, I am sooo sore. I guess it doesn't really matter how ridiculous you look while doing it if the results are worth it. I'm kind of banking that will be the case and the FAC Power Sculpting classes will be my ultimate key to success in 2008!!! Well that and the combination of all the yoga I've been doing too :)

DEXA Bone Scan

After a series of broken bones in 2005, I decided to have my bone density checked last year. It wasn't a surprise that it was actually quite low for my age. Although my daily activities should be enough to help build bone mass, they're also helping to contribute to the loss of it as well...hmmmm.

At any rate, after finding out those numbers last year, I have been very conscious about taking in more calcium, adding in more strength training and not getting too lean. After a full year of intense training without any injury, I was certain I had increased my bone density. I had another scan done on Monday and unfortunately I am exactly where I was last year. Grrrr....

It's not the end of the world and it's not at a dangerous level, but I would rather see it climbing rather than descending or remaining the same. Guess it's time to start supplementing again :(

A whole lotta fun :)

A very typical but amusing weekend is never a bad thing, right?! Saturday was a pretty uneventful day of training that ended with a margarita at the Rio (which made me beyond buzzed) and a few pizookies at BJs. Got the roomie to finally get his butt out and join Jen, Shep, Josh, Mark and I. Good times, good times!

Yesterday began with an AMAZING 2hr run on the trails from my house and around Tellar farms with absolutely stellar weather. After getting a little work done and watching some football (I was somewhat forced), I got on the trainer to spin the legs out, met up with Tingle for some yoga then hit the movie theater with the clan. I'm not one to go see 'Chick Flicks' but 27 Dresses is pretty funny. It's definitely a girly movie, but very cute. After the movie, Jax, Tingle and I decided we will be headed to Tuscan the last week of February for a short training trip...more to come, but we're SUPER excited!!!!

Fun trip to the dermatologist?!?

Not if you call getting a mole biopsied and having a saddle sore drained fun...yea, yea, yea, it's probably not what you wanted to hear, but hey, it happens to all of us. At any rate...ouch, that's all I have to say.

So I have successfully done yoga 4 straight days this week! Yeah, pretty freakin' crazy considering I can't stand it. However, I've gotten so much more flexible that I am doing poses I couldn't even pretend to do a month ago....whoooaaaa.

More randomness - not so much into racing in the cold and after being bailed on by the crew for a wild night in Denver, I decided to bag the race down there tomorrow too. Hopefully we can get a good girl's run in place instead and a fun night on the town here in Boulder. Well that's all I've got. Off to go watch movies with the roommie :)

Warm to cold....BRRRR!!!

Well the wonderful and beautiful 40s and 50s are no longer hovering over Boulder. It's been in the single digits the past 2 nights and quite frigid! It was so cold the other day that I had to have my car jumped because the battery was completely dead...hmmmm...sign to get a new battery?!?! I'm thinking so.

Training has been a little on the lighter and crappier side, but I'll get out of it. I'm still a little sore from the PT on my neck and shoulder and have been feeling a little under the weather so I'm trying to relax and take it easy. Maybe next week it will warm up and give me a little more motivation to get out there :) Sorry for the boring post, but I figured I'd write something rather than nothing at all!

Riding outside has never felt so good :)

Boulder has been quite spoiled the past 3 days with absolutely beautiful weather. 40s and sunny is the most perfect riding weather during the winter and that's all we've had!

After a killer run with the ladies on Saturday morning, I set out with another group of girls for a longer and super fun ride to Lyons. We finished off the day with a late lunch at Turleys and then went to see Will Smith's 'I am Legend'. I thought it was ridiculously stupid, but the others thought it was okay. I guess I'm just into funny movies and don't really enjoy that sci-fi crap!

Unfortunately I hadn't eaten enough on Saturday to compensate for all the training and when I woke up Sunday morning I was famished and felt as though I had been hit by a truck! I started eating as much as I could but there was no way I was going to make it out the door for a long ride with the boys at 10:30am so I just relaxed and met up with the ladies at noon. Mel and I decided to just ride the 'Fruit Loops' again since the roads were clear and as we headed home through Hygiene we saw the boys stuffing their faces with cinnamon buns and hot cocoa outside the gas station. Poor Tom who had done the entire ride with us the day before on his mountain bike had bonked pretty badly and had a rough ride home :( Luckily we got back and made some delicious fajitas at Tony's and had a very chill evening!

Almost done - so I'm planning on doing this little duathlon (1.5mi run/4mi bike/2.5mi run/6mi bike) this Saturday down in Denver so I figured I'd try a little run off the bike yesterday. After a 2+hr spin I was able to comfortably hold a decent pace for about 45min off the bike. A lot better than I thought it would be, however, I haven't done any speed work so my short runs will probably be at the same pace as my hour runs...oh well, it's All in Good fun, right?!?!

And I thought my shoulder was just sore!

Well not exactly...

After my lat muscle completely seized up on me during my run Thursday morning, I was pretty sure there was something going on. I decided to take the day off swimming and see if the pain went away, but after riding a few hours in strong cross winds on the bike, I'm pretty sure I irritated it even more. That evening, while watching the Pistons kick the Spurs' butts at Tom's, Jen was working on it and told me how much 'crap' there really was in my shoulder. When I got home, it just felt worse and after heating and icing, I still couldn't really sleep. When I got up yesterday morning, my shoulder was the size of a grapefruit and more painful then ever. That called for a trip to the best Physical Therapist in Boulder (Doug Hanna) at Physical Therapy of Boulder. I was fortunate enough to jump right in and after doing just a few checks on the neck, he was a sure of the problem immediately. I had less than 70% rotation in my C1 and C2 vertebrae in my neck...WHAT? I definitely don't sit at a computer all day, but I guess cyclist are prone this from looking up with their neck while riding all day.

Hmm....well all I knew was that whatever Doug was going to do to fix it wasn't going to be fun. After several manipulations of the spine and neck and some deep tissue massage, I was in a world of hurt...a good hurt. I proceeded to down more vitamin I (or IB Profen) for those of you who are unfamiliar with that term than I have all year. I sat in bed and iced and heated and ate pretty much all day and I surprisingly feel much better this morning!

I'm off to do the longer run with the Chicas at 8am and possibly ride with another group of girls at 10:30am :) I'll bring the bottle of vitamin I and see how it goes :)

The Ladies are BACK!

The last few days have been very fun and exciting! Saturday morning the girls got together for a casual longish run at the rez that turned out to be absolutely ridiculous. The winds were so strong that you could be maxing out and only running 15min miles...no joke! It was still a blast and fun to be out there with such awesome people! Although the Pistons lost to the Celtics that evening, it was a fun time getting a good crowd together at the Lazy Dog for some good food and great laughs. Afterwards, Jen, Jess, Miles, Andy and I headed to enjoy a pizookie (pizza cookie) and a few beers from BJ's Brewery which topped off the night! SOOOO GOOD!

Sunday was a good time as well. A chilly run in the morning with Andy then a relaxing lazy day was exactly what I needed to get ready for a productive week of work and training!

I was finally able to get my booty outside for a longer ride with Shep yesterday and then meet up with the gang at the Lazy Dog again to watch the Wings put the Avs in their place for the second time this year 1-0!!!! Oh yeah, gotta love the Red Wings!

11 in a row BABY!!!

That's right, the Detroit Pistons are on a roll and now hold the longest active winning streak in the NBA. After giving it to the Toronto Raptors last night, they now to put up a good fight back home in order to put the Boston Celtics back in their place :) WHOOOAAAA.

Anyway, it has been a few days since I've updated anything, but I've been pretty busy catching up with work, training, friends, etc. The weather here has warmed up a bit and I was finally able to get out on my bike for a few hours yesterday afternoon. Today I'm hitting the Rez for a run with the ladies then a longer road ride with the boys afterwards. We'll see how that goes since there are already 45mph and it's only 6:50 in the morning!

Have a super fun night planned tonight! Andy is driving up from Winter Park to check out the Boulder scene so it's a must that we show him a good time :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Hope everyone had a safe, fun and exciting New Year's celebration! I sure did. I spent the evening up at Winter Park with some friends from high school and had an absolute blast. Although the skiing this morning didn't go as planned, it was so nice to wake up to the sun shining in bright, blue skies over big, beautiful mountains :) Thanks for a killer time Andy and crew!

IT'S 2008 BABY!!!!!!!!!!