all on a sunday

i'm sitting here, watching live updates of the xterra world championships and am about to pass out from the excitement and anticipation of it all. luna pro shonny vanlandingham had an amazing swim and was in the top 3 women into t1 (ok this turned out to not be true - continue). she will kill it on the bike for sure (this turned out to be very true!) and then what will happen on the run? omg, i am going to be glued to this computer until 3pm for sure. ugh. i am sad to not be at the race this year. this week at work was tough, not only because it was just a tough week, but last year I had spent it in maui getting ready to race. after nationals i was pretty burnt out and happy that i didn't have worlds to deal with, but after my week of doing NOTHING i was really kind of sad about not going. i am excited to see how everyone does, super excited for trish who i've been racing with all season - so exciting for all of them!!!

instead of almost 5hrs of xterra racing in tropical paradise today i did the UW Dawgdash in 50 degrees and torrential dowunpour. i did this race last in 2007 and the last stand alone 10k was in january of 2008 when i PR'ed at the Nookachamps Winter Run. i was also super lean back then, right now, not so much, gawddarn, spare tire and all.
after nationals and my 1 second improvement on my run from last year, I was kind of bummed about my whole running situation. granted i had some bad, run hammpering injuries this year that took me out for prolly 2 months of run training right in the middle of the season when i should have been killing it at the track, but still, i was pretty bummed. so decided that i'd start training for the seattle 1/2 marathon in november. i thought about doing it last year because i was so super fit after worlds, but then i realized, i was really tired and wanted to relax. which i did.
this year i found an online plan and have been trying to follow it. not to the letter, but am logging 25 or 26 miles per week and am having fun. i got some new running knickers and new shoes, too. yahoo!
so i shelled over the $105 to enter the dawg dash and the seattle 1/2 and then i was committed.
last night i had the first tsunami dream i'd had in a long long time. apparently i was stressed out. i knew i was a little nervous
(Xterra update - mile 4 of the bike my boy friend Dan Hugo is neck and neck with Conrad Stoltz for the lead!) but i think all the rain i could hear on the sky light all night must have been more powerful than the totally delicious margarita that eric made for me. 630 and the alarm went off. its been a long long time since i had to get up at 630.
and it was raining. :(
we got in the car and it was pouring cats and dogs. i was shivering, whole body convulsions as we walked to the stadium. best part of the race is the stadium start - warm, indoor bathrooms and plenty of them!!! i did a 5 minute warm up, stripped off some clothes and then headed down to the starting line.
i lined up in the 7-8minute range, got a little weepy during the national anthem and then we were off.
first mile was 7:12, omgosh, that was fast. 2nd mile i started thinking the margarita last night wasn't such a good idea, and wow, did i really drink that whole cup of coffee on the way over? wow look, porta potties all over the course - i could really go for one of those right now.
(xterra update - something happened, where is shonny? she is out of the top 5, unless they messed up)
mile 2 was 7:55 and we started heading back against the crowd, and then UP. it wasn't too long but it was sorta steep, and had a roller or two in it. common mistake for me - over dressing. tossed the gloves to the kids, wished i was in shorts. not terribly overdressed but a little on the warmer side of things.
mile 3 was 7:55, then stupid mile 4 which is all UP HILL or something. its terrible. the course weaves all around the UW campus and also weaves in and out of the 5k course. mile 4 was done in a whopping 8:41. mile 5 was better at 7:33 then not sure what the hell happened in mile 6 because it was 8:18 with the last .2 in 1:36, mile 6 was mostly downhill i thought? maybe its the double chin? i've seen this in my photos before, heel striking and putting on the brakes with my face, not attractive and not fast.
there was a lot of dodging around wet leaves, wet man (people?) hole covers and storm drains, and dont' forget about when the course weaved in and out of the 5k race and then all the dogs. for the most part all of that was ok, although i had to fight hard when we mixed with the 5k-ers to not slow down and go with the flow. overall unofficial time was 49:14 which is a PR, not quite what I had hopped for but, it was a really hard course. :) (wow! they have results up already even, 14 in 30-39 and 41 overall Fs. 49:14 is the official time, too!)
after, the sky opened up and the rain really started dumping.
we headed up past our old house to go to top pot donuts. the kids had THE BEST conversation in the car:
Seamus: hey look, its our old house.
Sirus: when we grow up we can live in that brick house again.
Seamus: yeah
Sirus: we can live there together when we get married.
Me: who are you going to marry?
Seamus: Sirus
Sirus: Seamus
Sirus: and we can get some children to live there with us.
Me: where are you going to get the children?
Seamus: from my belly
Sirus: yeah, because when you are a grown up girl you get babies in your belly.

good grief, as long as your brother doesn't put them in there i guess.

the top pot donuts were awesome!! sirus and eric both had pink rainbows, seamus had a chocolate rainbow and i had the pink feather boa! yum!

yesterday we headed to the pumpkin patch right down the road. i actually ran there and eric and the kids followed in the car.






Yeah!!! Xterra Update!! Shonny is in 2nd, 1:40 back, they must have messed up the last update. Boy friend Dan Hugo has fallen off the lead, but I am ok with that. I just hope he isn't too grumpy about it later. :)

ok, so they did mess up the first post after the swim, Shonny was not 3rd into t1, BUT she is totally KILLING it on the bike, in 2nd and gaining! Go Shonny GO!!!!

sexy

oh what to be for halloween! what to be!!

i think sexy finding NEMO is totally appropriate, family friendly and exactly what i've always wanted to be!!


but then again, i do like history.. and why not, sexy George Washington would be a great tribute. maybe i'll save this one for 4th of july instead.


but really when i think sexy i think tom cruise. ok i just threw up a little bit, but yeah, maverick in top gun was HOT, so yeah, i'll be the sexy girl version!


but really, ya'lls know really i love starwars and princess leia as jabba's slave is so boring and over done. so yeah, why not sexy chewbacca!! nothing says hot like a hair beast! or sexy storm trooper or sexy darth vader. now yer talking!!


but really i want to be this. eric says i can only if it comes with the pompoms. sadly it doesn't.


screw it!! i am going to quit my job and be a sexy construction worker. for real. every day.

the off season

its the off season and i am celebrating by running! i think i am training for the seattle 1/2, but we'll have to wait and see how this first week or so go. so far so good! its been almost 2 weeks since i've swam or been on a bike. not that interested in doing either of those although i don't want to lose my *love* of swimming.

what i do want to lose is these 40 pounds i've gained, sheesh! and i KNOW that the tasty beer in the frosty glass is not helping but whats a girl to do?

the bed time routine is that eric takes one kid, i take the other, we read a story or two to the kid, tuck them in and then change rooms to tuck in the other kid. last night i had sirus. i read to him, sang a little, cuddled a little then tucked him in. then i went into seamus's room. the light was off and she wasn't in her bed. i started looking for her, and sure enough there she was propped up against the wall, balancing on her head - no hands!!

Highlight Video!!

Check it !

post posting

so its come and gone and now what to do? this week has been probably the loveliest we have had all year as far as weather goes but i have zero inspiration to do ANYTHING. i did take my running gear to work with me every day since wednesday but never actually went running. i think that is ok, i'm hoping its ok. my ass and hips think otherwise, but the rest of me is exhausted and needed the rest.
i'm still trying to figure out how i feel about the race, but i know i want to go back.
both eric and matt qualified for worlds which is super exciting. eric isn't going but haven't spoken to matt, so don't know what his plan is.
i'm headed out on an hr 30 run tomorrow. good lawd i wonder how that will go. i'm exhuasted even thinking about it but i'm looking forward to the activity and hoping it will bring my spirits up a bit. and then!!! we have exciting EXCITING plans for sirus's 5th birthday!!
remember when sirus was born?

and how about when he turned 1?
and when he turned 2?
and when he turned 3?
and when he turned 4?
and now he is turning 5, good gracious! how did THAT ever happen!

Xterra USA Chamionships 2010

aka - i write long race reports. :)

Leading up to the race:
i slept pretty poorly for probably a week or more before the race. Not sure what the deal was with that, but i was really stressed out at work, i was on the tired end of things and just a little overwhelmed by all that i had to get done before heading out of town. i was happy that this was going to be my last race because i wasn't sure if i could put in another month of training. The weather wasn’t helping the situation.
The sore throat was lame. I don't know if it was allergies, totally in my head, or whatever, but earlier in the week i was worried it was turning into something else, but by the time we got to Ogden on Friday it was pretty much ok. The dry air was tough on it though, especially on race day but i don't think it actually factored into anything, i just feels like maybe i've been smoking a few marlboro reds is all.
The travel day was totally relaxed, way more relaxed than last year. i think that had a lot to do with eric being there and him taking care of so much of it all. it was a good trip down, the pre-ride was fun. we met up with trish from Bellingham which was fun. We started at green pond like last year and then tried heading up out of snow basin for like 10 minutes and we all decided yeah, no. the air was getting mighty thin on us so nothing would be gained by us riding that last part, and thank goodness we didn’t.
We went to the dinner which was fun, saw Cori and Mat and his parents. Mat was regional champion again, so that was fun to see.
Eventually we headed back to the hotel. I just chilled out but Eric started to organize his stuff. I finally realized it was pretty late and I should really start organizing my stuff too, but I was still in denial. I was chugging water from the minute we got off the plane until the minute I went to bed but not sure if it was helping me at all.
I had bad dreams all night long then got up at 6am, ½ hr later than last year. I had my normal pre-race PB&J the second I got up to ensure it was about 3hrs before race start and we were off to set up transitions. It was chilly in the morning but the sky was clear so it was pretty obvious it was going to be a beautiful day.
We set up T1 first then drove up to Snow Basin for T2. Mat and his parents gave us a ride back down to T1 so we didn’t have to take the shuttle. When we got back to T1 I found out that Cori and I had racked right next to each other which was a fun surprise! Then I tracked down Shonny, we checked out the bike exit and then went down to the swim start.
The Swim: 1500m, two loops at Pine View Reservoir; about 4800ft above sea level
While I was swimming, I thought the swim was going really well. The start was nutty. I have been trying to be more aggressive in the swim starts, pushing up into the mix so I've gotten more used to all the contact but this was the first time I got hit really hard in the back of the head - pretty sure my brain jiggled loose in there and it was the first time my goggles got kicked off. Luckily only off one eye and thank goodness i didn't totally lose them! I was surprised how aggro people were but then remembered this was the national championships. There was still lots of contact until probably turning after the 2nd buoy. Heading from buoy 2 to the turnaround took FOREVER. I could have been standing still, but more likely I was off course. Once I looked up to site and I saw nothing. No swimmers, no boats, not Xterra arch, no kyakers. Nothing. I was going 100% the wrong way, i was totally confused and disoriented and had no idea where i was! After that i sighted more frequently.
I thought the rest of the swim went pretty well. I didn’t get lapped by any of the pros and only got caught by maybe a handful of the folks in the long course race who started 20 minutes after us and were on their first loop. I was surprised and disappointed to see 35 minutes on my watch when i was coming up out of the water. I swam the whole way and was working pretty well especially on that last lap. I hobbled up onto the pavement, the chip seal really hurt my feet but I got my way to transition even getting called out by the announcer.
T1 was really bad. I couldn't get one of my socks on and had to take it off and mess with it, whatever. Everything else was ok i guess, but i still wear that wrist brace and it’s a pain in my ass. Eric says to ditch it, and i thought about it for this race, but considering i still can't support my weight on it, i didn't want to risk it. In the scheme of things any time savings would have been minimal. but it is one of the things i am going to have checked out more this winter. Total swim and T1 time 39:25; 52 seconds slower than last year.
The Bike: 18.9 miles, 3000ft+ of cumulative elevation gain, climbing up to a max of 7500ft above sea level.
The bike starts off with about 2 miles on the gravel shoulder of the road. I was right on this one girl's wheel and last second she swerved and I almost nailed one of sign poles right off the bat. That would have been a disaster. It got my heart beating a bit and then i was extra cautious as to how close i followed her for the rest of that road section.
Once you cross the spillway, you head up into Wheeler Canyon. I was surprised how chilly it was and only then realized that my feet were pretty much numb from the cold of the water, too. i was working hard, i felt like i was riding well, i was passing lots of people and i don't remember getting passed by anyone, but could have been. that canyon part might just be my favorite part of the race. i was happy to get up to the green pond area and was happy that none of the fast dudes from the next race were up in my business through the descent. i thought i was going pretty fast for me through all that stuff and was happy the leaves along the trail had all been whooshed away by all the faster people since they were kind of freaking me out during our pre-ride.
i had this guy on me for that entire fast fun section and every time we hit a rocky section he was grunting and groaning and i swore he was crashing each time. it made me laugh but at the same time totally worried me.
i tried to stay in my middle ring as much as i could but fell into my little one every once in a while and sometimes for a long time. my right quad was on the verge of cramping and i was having a tough time getting comfortable on my saddle. my left arse was hurting (and still does!) and my left sit bone was getting all wacky, worrying me that my obturator inturnus was on the verge of a freakout again. luckily everything stayed in check. i was happy to get to snow basin and felt like a bad ass when i got to head up the hill while the sport racers turned into transition.
i was riding up up up, and that is when i saw shonny running up the hill. i kept riding because although i was willing to tell her if i walked, i didn't want her to actually see me do it! She was good inspiration at that point because obviously I was able to ride it no problem.
later on though there were two sections i had to walk up. the first about made my calves cramp with every step, then the second was that last final push up a total wall. i was happy to get to the top of that because i thought i was done with the climbing but it turned out we weren’t even close. i started to get a little panicky because we just kept going up and away from snow basin. i was feeling sick, on the verge of puking a few times, and just trying to keep it together. again i almost got off at one point but there was a guy sitting by his truck so i just kept going which was good because there was actually a short downhill once i got passed him.
once i got to the downhill i actually had some fun,. i was happy to get through all of the switch backs and i felt like i was actually getting through them well. i had two people behind me the whole time and they never asked to pass, so i was pretty happy. my right elbow was starting to hurt, which was new but i had to be almost done, really, right? I got to t2 and almost fell over trying to get off my bike - awesome!
i took 2 clif shots on the bike and drank about ½ of a big bottle of electrolyte drink - yeah, only ½. I was not drinking, which is odd for me because i usually drink like crazy. i wasn't thinking about it, and when i did drink i had mixed it too strong and my throat was burning from the air, and i just didn't even want to drink anything the whole time. bad move. my stomach even started to rumble because it felt empty and i just wasn't listening. it was a bad mistake on my part.
T2 was fast and easy and i ran outta there like no one's business. Total Bike and T2 time: 2:29:12, 1:38 faster than last year and on a longer course, too!
The Run: 6.3 miles, starting around 6300ft above sea level, topping out at 7500ft.
The mean thing about the run is that you head away from transition then go STRAIGHT UP HILL, so I ran out then started to walk almost right away. I got passed by some runners and I was passing some too. By the top of the hill i was ready to start drinking again but couldn't believe it when the cup of water I grabbed had only a tiny splash of water in it! Once the course flattened out a bit I was running all the flats and down hills and a few of the smaller up hills. Really i just couldn't breathe. Nothing really hurt, I had a little bit of a side cramp but it went away. I just couldn't get any air. When I got to the 2 mile marker I was convinced that they marked the course wrong. The 2nd aid station seemed like 100 miles away but I took two cups of water there. I was fighting the negative thoughts, trying to enjoy it. I chatted only with one guy for a short time about how I was pretty sure they said the run was only a 9k but he said no it was at least a 10k. so for the rest of it I tried to stay focused on what i was doing. On one terrible uphill i got pretty dizzy and was pretty sure i was going to pass out, and wondered how long i'd lay there before any help would come, but i managed to keep it together. That would have been embarrassing! And THEN my feet cramped up. I haven't ever had my feet cramp while running and it was particularly bad on the downhill. i did manage to run the whole run down the big hil to the finish, fending off the feet cramps the whole time, i couldn't not run that part - sheesh!

I was happy to cross the line. Last year when i crossed the line i was just like, oh, ok. now it’s over. this time, i was like, damn, i am pretty worn out, i want to go lay down somewhere. Total run time: 1:08:28, 1 second faster than last year.
Total race time: 4:17:05, 47 seconds faster than last year.
After sitting in the shade for a little I recovered quickly it seems and was able to get moving and changed my clothes and stuff pretty quickly. I couldn't eat anything for a few hours, and couldn't really drink anything either. Other than that I was in a pretty good mood.

Once indoors i cornered dan hugo and eric took my picture with him. poor guy didn't have his shirt on but that was his fault, not mine. 

so looking at the times and the numbers and stuff. i went into the race saying really that i didn't care if i came in last place, i just wanted a faster time. so, I didn’t come in last place! and i was 47 seconds faster! Hooray! but really I wanted to come in under 4hrs, so i am disappointed in that. i am disappointed in my swim because i don't know why it was so slow and i was disappointed in my run just because it was a disappointing run. on the bike i felt like i worked really hard, i wonder if i could have worked harder, but i am pretty content with how i did there. the last two weeks of training riding with april with her on her single speed 29er and me just trying to hang on on all those hills made me realize that i wasn't working hard enough on my hard mtn bike rides earlier in the season.

Eric on the other hand had a FANTASTIC race coming in 3rd in his age group only 2 minutes behind 1st place! I was so proud of him but knew he would wind up on the podium! He is a amazing!

We headed down the mountain, relaxed, showered, then went out for dinner. I had a frozen strawberry lemonade that with every sip gave me terrible brain freeze.

After we relaxed some more then went out to the Harvest Moon festival where we sat next to a giant great dane who farted non-stop, saw a totally drunk dude who had fallen, was covered in blood and had the Utah police all over him and we watched the highlight video from the race.

After we went to i-Fly Utah for some indoor sky diving then called it a night!

Sunday we chilled out, had some delish banana bread French toast served by the same waiter that served me breakfast last year, packed up then headed over to Matt’s house. Matt was one of my best friends from high school but sadly I hadn’t seen him since December of 1997. His parents and sisters were all in town visiting, too, so I got to catch up with all of them as well which was very fun! It was so great to see Matt again and I hope to see him again soon!

This morning I woke up more refreshed then I have in months. This week is for resting, attending the LUNA Chix end of year auction and planning for Sirus’s 5th birthday on Sunday!

soon, very very soon

yikes! xterra nationals are only a few days away. i'm excited but a little worried too. i don't feel very well. i was sorta on the verge of being sick for a few days but i seemed ok, saturday i was sorta on the verge but then did that hard workout then went to starcrossed and hung out in the rain. eric and i both realized that we are not built for standing around. if we are going to stay in one place, we best be sitting or better yet laying down. standing doesn't work so well for either of us. sunday was the start of the taper - a rest day with an optional 30' swim. i opted out of it to go watch eric race which i was very happy we did because he did awesome. but later that night i wasn't feeling so great. took my temperature and it was 99 then took it again a short while later and it was 101.8 but then quickly decided that the thermometer was wrong and instead used the kids' and it was normal. thats pretty much what i thot but wanted to be sure, just in case. i had napped both saturday and sunday - sunday being one of those where i'm sitting on the couch in full conversation with eric when oh no, i'm going to fall asleep, it doesn't matter that i am in mid sentence, bam, i'm asleep.
monday i slept through masters swimming, ok, i got up and debated as to whether i was sick or just wimpy or just tired still. i didn't go, went back to bed instead with intentions of going after work. which i did not. i went to bed early but woke up at 330 and couldnt go back to sleep. laid there for a few hours, dozed in and out then got up finally. i felt better this morning but not awesome. i really would just like to take a day off and really not do anything. maybe two days - first day clean the house top to bottom, 2nd day just chill out in a clean house. i'd like it to be sunny both of those days too.
went mtn biking after work with a co-worker which was quite, i felt pretty good. still maybe on the verge of sick. found out my water bottle cage is broken. :(
tomorrow is some swimming and some core, thursday is some running then FRIDAY is some traveling to SLC.

plotting

seamus is up to something and i don't know what it is. i caught her climbing up the door jam to the play room earlier today. there she was just going up up up. she didn't have anything in her hands but she was just going up. then she jumped down.

later in the day she was climbing the walls in the hallway. again she was going up up up. i just stopped to watch, not letting her know i was there, i wanted to see what she was up to. next thing ya know, she launched off the wall and spun totally around in mid air, landing facing me. i asked her what she was doing and all she replied with was, wow, that was kind of hard. funny.

and sirus, he is a funny guy. i was wearing an old school star wars shirt today. sirus pointed out that it had princess leia and r2d2 on it and also had that peanut butter guy. huh? so when i had taken them to build a bear workshop a week or so ago, they had a display of the new bears and outfits coming in that were star wars themed. i thought i had heard him talking about the peanut butter guy there, too, but didn't think much of it. so i pulled up some photos of r2d2 and c3po and had him come over and tell me who the characters were and sure enough, there was that peanut butter guy. he claims its because c3po looks like peanut butter. seems to me that c3po must need a good buff and polish if that is the case.

everybody's working for the weekend

wow, i am tired. long week. lots going on, the weather is crappy and last week of tough workouts before tapering for nationals. wasn't sure i was going to make it, and almost didn't!!

wednesday i came to terms with my fear of cyclocross and told my coach i'd rather do zn5s on the trainer than go to the cyclocross practice and race after. so she had me do some zn5s on the trainer. 2min at zn 5 follwed by 5 minutes of zn4 followed by 4 minutes recovery repeat 4 times. twice i thought i was on the verge of puking. eric says it was because i was in the garage. maybe it was because i was watching harry potter, or maybe it was the spider crawling dangerously close to the fan. regardless it was hard but i got it done and felt good about it.

yesterdays track workout... oh where do i start. i think i have a mental block on track workouts. or maybe just thursdays are bad days for them, but whatever it is, it seems like every time there is a track workout i find some reason for something to go wrong with it. yesterday was pouring rain, so i consulted with some friends and the responses included: "WWSVD?" "Suck it up buttercup", "Rule #5 - Harden the F up", and "Rule #9 Do a road ride instead since riding in bad weather means you are a bad ass. Period."
i opted for treadmill. since my car was in the shop eric picked me up from work and dropped me at the gym, and in the locker room i discovered i didn't pack a sports bra. its not that im totally boobalicious, but i am boobalicious enought that i cannot run if there is any bounce. called up eric to come get me since he wasn't too far away yet, drove home, changed into my clothes and drove back to the gym and proceeded to have my ass handed to me while watching the Bear Whisperer. i didn't hit any of the times, i was dying the whole time, and next time will opt to do the workout in the pouring rain because that was NO FUN AT ALL. it was scary though going up to 10 on the treadmill and i think that was part of the reason it went so bad, it was just damn scary.
i did sweat a lot which i like to do, it just didn't go very well. good intentions, poor execution.
friday was a good day! i got to pick my car up at the shop and it looks brand new! they totally detailed the car inside and outside, too! it even has new car smell which kind of made me sick, but it was so nice to have all the dents fixed and have it all so clean!!! also i got my wedding ring back. last weekend while at the mall we stopped into the jewelry store to get my rings cleaned and the discovered that one of the prongs had broken off! so i left it there and eric and the kids picked it up for me. it too looks brand new!!! so happy to have it back!
then today i met up with april. omg, she totally kicked my arse again. she was on her single speed 29er again and we did hills. and wow, she dropped me every time. and then we ran. 30 minutes uphill, 15 down. then i had to come home and GO TO SLEEP. eric got me a new pillow and between it and the flannel sheets i was in heaven!!
tomorrow begins the taper!!

HELLCATS

ok, so its not a total secret that I LOVE CHEER LEADING MOVIES. Bring it On is of course the best movie ever, and Fired Up was a pleasant surprise and quite funny considering its about guys who quit football to become cheerleaders, whatever. it was entertaining. so i about fell over last week when after America's Next Top Model, HELLCATS was on. I was like, what is this? the only thing that im not quite comfortable with is that its college cheer leading. the story line is a bit dumb and a little unbeleivable and as eric pointed out they covered too much in the first episode and some of what is going to happen is a bit too obvious but as long as they continue to put all the actual cheer leading in it each episode, and then mix in the drama around, it might wind up ok. oh and yeah she wears old school crocheted cycling gloves when she rides her two big 10-speed around with no helmet.
dude, hard workout today - masters swimming in the morning, zn5 intervals on the trainer tonight. ok, so yeah i said i'd rather do zn5s on the trainer then go to cyclocross practice because yeah, cyclocross is damn scary.
taper starts SUNDAY which is forever away it seems.

NW Trail Runs

So last night i iced my knee for a while, took some aleve, went to sleep.

this morning i woke up and wow, yeah, i really hurt my shoulder! i didn't notice so much while i was sleeping but the sleeping sure didn't help it.

on the schedule was the 5 mile NW trail run race. i had pre-registered so even though i wasn't so sure about my knee and everything i went, figuring i'd take it easy, make sure nothin hurt and then see how things went. i was happy to see janet out on her warm up run before the race and on her way back she sat in my car with me for a bit. then we went to the honey buckets and then sat in her car for a bit. then next thing ya know, the peeps were headed to the start, so we got out and went, too. it was drizzling by now, and we listened to the pre-race meeting, chatted with kristen, looked at mark from afar, and then GO! so my plan of going easy was over in about 4 seconds when i couldn't get through the rocks at the starting line quick enough. so i jumped ahead and then kept going. i felt really good, nothing was hurting and i was having fun. i had a woman in front of me who had a gap on me but i couldn't catch her and i had a dude on my back who i couldn't drop. run run run, i was feeling good, pushing hard. looking back i think there are a few areas where i might have been able to run harder. when i headed out onto the chip path towards the water station i didn't see anyone heading back, but i ran down there, turned around and headed back. that path back is hard. it was better than the last time when it was all mucky and thick mud but its hard, its up hill and sucks the life out of you. i didn't see anyone ahead and no one behind, but i kept going.
finally i got to the 800m mark and was like, yeah, almost done! but man that last 800 took FOREVER!!!! finally i could see the parking lot through the trees and i was done! yahoo!! and as a big surprise i won! 1st place woman, which i don't think i've done before. they don't put any asterixes in the results, and although i am super happy with my race and excited to have won, the super fast people weren't there. that's ok though because you can't win if you don't race. :)
two weeks to nationals!

compare

i am lucky in that i have a friend at work who is into making stuff like this:

he makes all kinds of cool programs with google earth and stuff and does all kinds of crazy stuff with my ride profiles. he is sorta interested in the actual rides themselves, i think, but mainly he is interested in the data and what can be done with it.
these charts are the elevation profiles taken from google earth from the ride at Paradise and the Mt Baker ride from last weekend. they are lined up with the appropriate starting elevations and it gives a good idea on how the two routes compare. i had been freaking out about the Baker ride, so he put this together so i could get an idea of what i was getting myself into. a few miles longer but really it was only about 10 miles of sustained climbing as opposed to the 18 up paradise, but mt baker had more overall elevation gain. regardless, both were fun, both were challenging and i'd like to do both again sometime when its not 2 degrees at the top of either. paradise i would still like to shuttle down, but the baker descent, other than that first few miles down, isn't so bad.
today i went and rode at tiger mtn with april. i hadn't been there since 2004. i don't know why it has been so long, but i know when i thought of going this year i was afraid of the naked guy and the guy with the taser. we didn't see either of those guys but we did see (barely!) two dudes in full head to toe camo with cross bows and stuff. it was a little freaky to see them out there, not sure what they were up to. but man, april kicked my ass. she was on a single speed 29er and just hammered up the hill and she is an awesome downhiller so she dropped me continuosly then, too. it was really quite fun and i should go there more often. a little late now for this season, but next summer for sure. i did have a crash on the downhill. i was doing pretty well, and happy with my ability to get through the wet and sketchy roots and rocks and then bam. down i went. i think i am ok, my left knee has a big old kitten head sticking out the side of it though. we'll see at tomorrow's trail run race if and how that might affect anything. but it was fun to ride with april, i just have to maybe try being a bit more aggressive and try to stick on her wheel a little. when we were almost done with the ride i remembered a bit more about the last time i had gone. it was prolly september or so, and a girl i worked with invited a few of us out. i hadn't been on a mtn bike in forever since i had had seamus and hadn't come out of retirement yet, but i said what the heck! plus another friend was coming, too. i don't remember that uphill being that difficult and the downhill for the most part was ok, too. the one friend however hadn't ever been mtn biking, was on a full rigid and in running shorts and shoes. given that she did an AMAZING job. but then the sun went down. since we had started after work, and since it was taking a bit more time then expected, the sun went waaaaay down. no lights! pitch black!! a few of the other folks went on ahead, got some lights and brought them back, but there weren't enough for everyone, so we wound up hiking the bikes out a good portion of the lower trail. it was nuts. luckily everyone stuck together and we got out ok, but yikes!

this

Artists Point

earlier in the week lisa asked me if i'd be interested in riding up to artists point.
we were going to take the same route that the Mt Baker Hill Climb race that is part of the Festival 542.
sure, i said. that looks fun. ok, so i am pretty sure earlier in the year charity asked me if i wanted to do the Mt Baker Hill Climb and i said no way, you're crazy, why would i want to do that. but i am feeling pretty fit right now, and its a 3 day weekend and i was feeling spontaneous so, my mom agreed to watch the kids for the day and eric and i headed up there.
i was supposed to do a hill repeat workout on my mountain bike followed by some hill repeats trail running, so i cleared it with my coach and she said the climb would be fine, i'd just need to do some work rather than just riding up it.
we stayed up waaaay to late, drinking lemon drops and watching the newest star trek movie. next thing ya know the alarm was going off at 5am, we were packing up the kids in the car and were on our way.
with no cell service in Glacier we weren't sure where to meet lisa, so we parked at the ranger station. eventually they came up the road already on their bikes and pulled into the lot to wait for us while we got changed. it was chilly but not necessarily cold. eric agreed to carry up a backpack, so we stuffed it full of warm clothes for the downhill, i mixed up two bottles of LUNA Sport Electrolyte Splash in Pink Grapefruit, even had to crack open the last of 4 cans for this ride. and we were off.
i used the first 25 minutes as a warm up. it was fun and not too hard and just up, but there was some down, and a stop light because they were doing some construction. we got stuck at the light and then after i started my first 30 minute hard effort. quickly i realized 30 minutes was going to be a long long time. the minutes ticked away, and it helped a little that the road levels off for a few miles, but it also made the hard effort harder because i had to shift up and really work hard to keep the effort up there if that makes sense. finally the 30 was up. we re-grouped and we rode together for a while, chatting along the way. it was quite nice to chat and go along, still working of course but social. i was on the fence about doing the next 20 minute effort so i though i'd at least try for 10. i wound up feeling pretty good so i got in the whole 20, but when that was done was when the road turned skyward and went what seemed like straight up. there is this nice little lake with a parking lot, then you turn and there it is - straight up. while it was very daunting, it actually wasn't too bad. at that point.
the switch backs get more frequent, and narrower and scarier. it was getting colder and foggier. i was pretty beat by this time. i had decided that i was too close to the top to just start riding mellow so i kept up a good pace but eventually felt like i wasn't sure i was going to make it. there were plenty of signs point to artists point but NONE of them said how far. eventually eric was headed back down the road and around a corner we went and there it was! the parking lot at artists point. i say it that way because that was all we could see. there was no sun, there was no view. there was a parking lot and cars and clouds - we were in the clouds! we quickly put on ALL of our layers, wishing we had more as the slush began to fall from the sky. we got a quick snack and down we went.
after riding Paradise that first weekend of March i wasn't looking forward to the descent. the first few miles were totally sketchy with the clouds, the slush the no shoulder, the drop offs... heading down in the first part we saw a guy climbing up in just shorts and a short sleeve jersey. HOPING her had someone at the top waiting with some gear for him otherwise, not sure he'd make it down. i was shivering so badly and my hands and feet were frozen solid that it wasn't necessarily the safest trip down. eventually we got below the clouds, there was a tiny bit of sun and i started to thaw out. the first part of the road that allowed for pedaling was painful, my legs were bricks and wow, they were moving slooooow. but it was nice to pedal some. i was starving by the time we got to the construction traffic light but knew we were almost done. the descent overall was way more fun than Paradise. the whole ride was a ton of fun and i'm glad i went.
not sure how i feel about the fact that my descent was only a few minutes faster than Russell Stevenson's winning time UP the same route the year before, but considering when we did the Paradise route his HR never even hit 100, i'm not totally surprised.
at the car, we changed into some running gear, ate a quick 1/2 PB&J and headed out for a 1/2 hr run. this was the best race simulation workout ever - my legs were smoked by the end of the ride and my feet were frozen. the run wasn't pretty and i wasn't able to do the hill repeats i was supposed to do, but i got in a few hills and managed to run, which yeah, well, it was hard to do.



ride profile for the Festival 542 Ride:

photo of the little lake and where the road first heads up into the SKY:

and a view of what we could have seen had the weather been nicer:

and a photo closer to what we actually saw:

Naomi Cambell

i think it was naomi cambell, or maybe linda evangelista who said "i don't get out of bed for less than $10,000" or something of that nature. sitting here watching the tour of spain, after polishing off some ben and jerry's phish food after a visit to red robin that followed a 1:30 recovery ride, i came up with my own motto - i shouldn't do any training that burns less than 1000 calories. ok, well i do. all the time, but if i am going to chow down at red robin and then follow it up with ben and jerry's, i better burn more than i did on that recovery ride. better not slack on the core workout tomorrow, thats for darn sure.

so yesterday i did the 2nd track workout since i got hurt at the end of may. it was almost the same workout as last week, only i was to follow it with 4x200 all out efforts. so last week i had the trots. yeah, maybe too much information, but it was 100 degrees and i was in that honey bucket waaaay too often, and it was not pleasant, so i called it quits after getting in only 7x400 instead of the prescribed 10-12x400s.
this week i didn't want to do it. but all the planets and the stars aligned to make it happen. the weather was perfect, the track was open (although football practice was happening), the stomach was not upset. darnit, i had to get it done. i did the warm up set and that was fun then it was time to get started. wow, i got through all 10 of the 400s. totally amazing. and i hit all the times, too. yahoo! i had to run by those hs football players over and over again. then i did the 4x200s which weren't awesomely fast but faster than the 400 pace, so that was good and then when i was doing my cool down, what i assumed to be the varsity team started to trickle in. gracious, what are they pumping these boys full of?
big weekend planned!!!

ok, now the lots and lots

this past week was a big one, lots of training with lots of intensity.
gots me some track work out, the first since may before i hurt the obturator internus. it went well, except the intestinal distress... was it the heat? was it the detox attempt after all the drinking in atlanta? all the salads were backfiring on me.
wednesday night was the last of the wednesday night world championships of the year. the course was fun, but again with the intestinal distress, it made me late to the starting line so i had a bad position and never really caught my groove. it was fun though and i was riding pretty well, especially with the tricky lighting and the sketchy drop off around the turn. trail run on friday was fun, had to keep pulling back since i was having so much fun but i was supposed to keep my hr rate down. there was swimming all around in there all week and then an open water swim on saturday. i touched the rock. first time ever. it was slimy. might resist the urge next time. and sunday was a rough one of hard hill repeats on the mtn biking then bricking to hard hill repeats running. oh it about killed me. after we went to the movies and in the car i was just riding along chatting with eric and the kids and then bam, i fell asleep. one of those, oh no, ok, i can't keep talking because, yeah, i am asleep now.
saturday evening we went to a wedding. i had been looking forward to it for a long time. at the race on wednesday while i was weaving in and out of trees and stuff, all i could think was, if eric crashes into one of these and gets hurt and makes it so we can't go to the wedding, boy am i going to be mad!! but all came out of the race a-ok and off to the wedding we went. i was excited to wear the new dress i got in atlanta and eric looked good in his suit. the wedding was in tacoma and the reception out by the water. tacoma is crazy, the roads out there are nuts. it was very pretty and very cool, but nuts.
today we were putting the kids to bed and eric just stood by the playroom door. he was just standing there looking in. i asked him what was going on and as i got there, i too just stared. the kids had installed a retina detection device, its a security system for the playroom. it hangs from above the door and is perfectly level with their faces as it hangs down. the reason we were just staring at it was because we had no idea how they hung it. i looked around the room and there were no chairs, no boxes, the train table was there but if they had moved it, its not high enough and they would have had to have moved it back and i can guarantee that that wouldn't have happened. how did it get there??
we asked sirus and he said seamus did it. when we asked how, he said they used tape. so we asked seamus - she just look at us like, duh, i climbed up the door. i asked her how and she put her hands on either side and then explained how she just shimmied on up. she had put the strings in her mouth and when she got to the top just stuck them to the wall. we are in for so many surprises as she gets older and shows off her ninja skills.

lots and lots and lots

so, pawpi went to the vet last week i think it was and she got the a-ok from the vet! she is off the antibiotics and her eyes are clear and shiny (although the one is a tiny bit droopy), but she is good to go! yay pawpi!!

We don't DO fly, we ARE fly.

several months ago lauren from my master's swim group suggested to me and janet that we do the 13th Annual Puget Sound Blood Center's SWIM FOR LIFE across Lake Washington. janet and I both thought it was a great idea and jumped at the opportunity. we invited leslie to join us and lauren knew a kayaker for our team. we were all set and all we had to do was wait for August 18th to roll around.
so the swim is billed at 2.5 miles, which is about a mile further than i have ever swam. i was a little concerned but at the same time, i figured i had the fitness, i should be fine. then i looked at a map of the swim and quickly had an anxiety attack.

then i just tried to not think about it. i did the race on saturday and that was fine and then i can't remember on sunday and monday and went to the swim group i do on tuesday mornings. i told the coach there that i was doing the Swim for Life the next day and he said that swim practice tuesday morning would not affect my swim on wednesday. later he asked how far the swim was and we discussed my previous longest swim to which i replied 3000, meters or yards? yards. yeah, you'll be fine he said. the practice went well and we were doing some fun sets including 4x50 where the first length of each 50 was closed fist drill and the 2nd was sprinting breathing every 6th stroke. it was hard and challenging but fun. then we were to do 8x100s on 1:50. he looked at me and said, no worries, you'll be fine, ok, well, wait, ok, maybe take every 4th one off. whew! thia saved me, i was already beat. i did 2500yds and then got out, wondering how any of this might affect the swim the next morning that i was pretty much in denial of.
i was up kind of late, resisting the call of the tasty beers in the fridge, but fell asleep pretty much instantly and slept well. the alarm went off at 5:30 and i got up right away. it felt chilly, so i got dressed and fixed a PB&J. i had packed up all my stuff the night before so i took it all out to the car. leslie was early which turned out good, and then we were off. the first thing she said was that she was pretty happy it was so windy out! i hadn't even noticed the wind but once she said it, i got a little worried! we got to our meeting spot and lauren and janet picked us up and we headed to the school to park the car, and start the long walk to the beach. we ran into ingrid, colleen and cathy all from masters in the parking lot! it was a reunion!
at the beach we met up with mat, who was swimming, too and his younger brother wound up being our kayaker. he had come to some of the masters swims so we had met him before, and i guess more importantly, he had met us before and still agreed to be our kayaker.
then we stood on the beach and FREAKED OUT about how cold and windy it was and oh no!! look at the waves and the white caps!! and wow, look, 3 TV stations, but OMG, Idaho flash backs from last year! i quickly did some calculations trying figure out how if it took 51 minutes to do 1500m at that race, how long would it take to do 2.5 miles? wow, really long. janet even looked me right in the eye and said something to the effect of "i can't look at your face any more!" we did all discuss just not doing it, it was a safety issue and why weren't they calling the event anyway, who is in charge of this thing?
next thing ya know, the first group was off, the 2nd, the 3rd then ours, the red wave - despite our caps being day-glo orange.
the water was warm!! but the waves! the white caps! yikes! right off the bat janet almost got run over by a weird canoe like boat that we later heard capsized along with a few other kayaks out there. also heard that one team turned around almost instantly and a few had to be pulled out by rescuers and some were just moved along in the course! but once we got a little bit away from shore we started swimming. the first 10 minutes were really long. it wasn't so bad, the waves were manageable, and despite seeing janet get pounded really hard by a few and being super impressed that she just kept going, we just kept swimming. after that first 10, we stopped, re-grouped, decided that clement would need to be to the right of us since all the waves were crashing on our left, we needed to breathe out the right (hooray since i am a right side breather anyway!!) and we could just watch him the whole time instead of having to site on our won.
we took another break at about 20 minutes and another at 30. then we kicked some ass and didn't take another break until 45 minutes in. the breaks were short, mainly for re-grouping and to make sure everyone was still good but after that last one it was like WOW! we made some major progress!! we started swimming again and i started to feel a cramp on the verge in my left calf. i was not going to get pulled due to a cramped calf! i didn't tell anyone because if i didn't mention it, maybe it wouldn't happen. i don't remember stopping again until a little after an hour. we all hung onto the kayak for a little, shared a clif shot - i was hoping it would help keep the cramp at bay. the chop really started to pick up again but we were ALMOST THERE!! we took one last short break then made the final push into shore! i have never been so happy to see milfoil!!! we came over it and right into the beach all in a line with clement right there guiding us the whole way!
as soon as we could stand, we did and then well all hugged each other!
as we got out of the water we saw the rest of our friends from masters, they took some photos, charity came all the way down to madison park before work to see us finish and the photographer from the seattle times took our photo, too!
we hung out for a bit, changed, snacked and then headed to the dock to get picked up by a speed boat for the ride back to medina beach. i can't write about the boat ride right now. but will eventually because it was almost too good to be true.
after coming home, having more snack, i got on the trainer for an hour to ride for a bit. i should do a little run to pretend like i've done my own mini ironman but i won't.
a few things i think:
1) this swim was waaaay fun
2) the swim in idaho and and maui were big contributors as to why i was ok with the waves
3) i was super happy to be on a team with janet, leslie and lauren and have clement as our kayaker!
4) while this was super challenging, i think the run at the portland xterra was actually harder
5) never once while out swimming did i think about quitting
6) i might do it again next year
7) that we actually went about 2.7miles
8) i'm still feeling the wave while sitting here rocking on the couch
9) swimming is fun (OMG did i just say that?)

XTERRA Portland 2010

Friday morning we packed up the kids, dropped them off at grandma's (sirus told everyone how they were going to stay 2 nights! he even told grandma in case she didn't know already) and then headed down to the portland area.

the drive didn't take too long and we went to the race site first thing. it was hot. i was cooking and we had only just gotten there. we talked to the race promoter some and to jason jablonski some, too. i complained about the heat and then we headed out on the preride. now i love me some hotter than hot weather, but it was a tad bit worrisome.

the course is a smaller start loop and a bigger big loop, so we did the big loop. the pre-ride took a long time, and i tried to take it as easy as i could but the longer we were out there the more worried i got about being out there so long. about 3/4s of the way eric got a flat so we stopped and fixed it, which was good since it was in the shade. he was running tubeless and i guess it sorta fixed itself but then later we had to stop again at some point to fix it some more, again in the shade!

i was supposed to do an easy 20 minute jog but after that hot, hells no is all i could say!

we packed it up and headed to the hotel. i was totally bummed that we couldn't get a room at the best western in forest grove where we stayed last year, where i threw my iphone in the trash only minutes after just getting it, and the fresh baked cookies they offered. alas, we had to stay in hillsboro at the comfort inn. the hotel was fine and i was super excited to find out that Pizza Schmizza WORLD headquarters were only a mile or so away. We went to one of their pizza joints in the opposite directions and gracious it was hotter inside that place than outside. then we just went back to the hotel, tried to hydrate and just relax.

the alarm went off in the morning and we were just like blah. we packed everything up pretty quickly and were off to the race site. i wasn't nervous but i was a little bit excited. we got to see mat and jason and i chatted with trish from black diamond and farragut. it was so freaking hot that we were all struggling to put our wetsuits on. it was nearly impossible since they were sticking to us like you wouldn't believe. once we nearly had them on and were about to check out the water the race director called everyone to the top of the beach, were we proceeded to cook during the pre-race briefing. imagine sweat just dripping off of your hands and feet and face because everything else was plugged up in a rubber suit. some might call that a fetish, i call it stewing in my own juices. next thing ya know, they call out, beach start in 30 seconds. we were all like what?? and we struggled to get caps and goggles on and then boom, the race started!

the swim:
it was good! and refreshing after stewing on the beach for so long! although hagg lake is a creepy aqua color and the beach feels all slimy, i really like swimming there. most lakes near by are black and scary, while hagg lake is a light colored and cheery. plus the water seems more boyant or something. since i was fiddling trying to get my goggles on right, i did not do an awesome running beach start dive in for the start. i ran down and then kept running until i was sorta deep and confident my goggles were where they needed to be. there wasn't a ton of contact in the swim but i couldn't see the buoy for the life of me. it was really really far away, and just no where in site. i continued to try to site but just hoped that at least some of the people around me were going in the right direction. once at that first buoy, the 2nd was even further away. a million miles pretty much, and it took a long time before it came into view. i did stop to de-fog my goggles eventually and once i had the buoy in site, i was surprised i was swimming pretty straight but got pelted by some waves which i think had to have been caused by boat traffic or something. round that 2nd buoy and along the shore and in. i totally saw some guy cut the course! he didn't swim all the way out to the 2nd buoy and instead just cut over and back. prolly 1:30-2 minute cut. grr, that is so lame. i felt good on the swim, my time wasn't stellar but i was happy with it and the distance seemed longer than last year, too.

t1:
holy smokes, the run to t1 is the worst! out of the water, up the beach, up a 2 ft dirt step up, through the prickly grass, onto the pavement... and 4 hrs later finally at my bike. haven't had the ab cramping issue these past few races but still slow because of the gloves and the wrist brace. out i went.

the bike:
this year there were some pretty strict no passing zones, with threats of DQs for crossing the white line. note DQ is DisQualified and not Dairy Queen. Had it been Dairy Queen I think most racers would have crossed that white line. the no passing zones turned out to be short and really not an issue, so it wasn't a big deal. the start loop went quick and then off to the big loop. the course was the same route as last year, just better. everything was super hard packed, although there were a few loose gravel sections and some super rutted places from where the mud puddles had hardened. the hills were mostly rideable for me, but i did have to hop off a few at the beginning behind a few other walkers, only to be yelled at to "MOOOOVE" by some guy coming up behind us. nice. i was having fun and working hard. and then... and THEN i noticed my rear wheel feeling funny. yes, i had a flat. grrr. i have only had one other flat and i didn't even fix that one, so this was going to be interesting. i knew i had at least another hr on the bike course so i had to fix it otherwise it was going to be a long long walk back. while changing the flat i thought it was funny that i had lead the flat changing clinic at the womens triathlon series race expo earlier in july and that LUNA had also just published this video of Alison Dunlap explaining how to fix a flat. how appropriately timed.
i got the tube out and changed, tire back on and then bam - how the hell do you use this CO2 thing? i read the instructions on the cannister but knew if i messed it up i would be screwed so i did my best and totally froze off my fingers, who needed them anyway! i checked the tire pressure and then added some more air. i probably spent more time trying to fold up the old tube than the rest of everything else took, but whatever. many many people passed me and i was surprised how many of them offered to help! what nice racers!! luckily i was good to go, and got back on my bike and headed off again. i passed a few of them back, but was happy once the end of the bike came. one thing i really like about the bike course is that you are riding riding riding really hard and then you go around a corner and BAM! there is transition! i went through a small and big bottle of electrolyte drink and 3 clif shots, the last one right before heading into transition.

t2:
hmm, it was tricky getting my bike onto the rack because it was kind of low and the other bikes were all over the place and i had to tip it over and blah blah whatever. got my shoes on, grabbed my hat and number and out i went.

the run, aka, the anti-run:
i started walking probably 100 yards from transition. i had nothing left in me. i had worked hard on the bike, that flat tired did a number on me and then to get back riding hard trying to make up time just did it to me. plus my running in general since i hurt my knee has been just bleck. plus it was really freaking hot out. so basically, i walked the ups, the downs, and anything in the sun. sadly there really wasn't any shade so sadly there wasn't really any running. it was a pitiful run. i made a friend though and we chatted for a good portion of it. she made my day by asking me if i was pro since she had seen my sweet yellow mavic mtn bike shoes while i was parked on the side of the trail fixing the flat. i am so far from pro, but it made me happy anyway. the mowed hay fields were terrible - ankle twisters and heat coming up from the ground it felt like. finally it was over. i crossed the line and went straight to the shaded picnic area and sat down. eric got me some drinks to chug and jason got me a wet shirt to wrap up in. it took a long long time to cool back down.

all in all the race was hot. it was fun though too. i was happy with my effort on the swim and the bike, happy i fixed my flat. not happy with my run. eric had ridden out on his bike to check on me and i told him after the race that although i was walking i was actually going all out. sad but true. my ears had plugged up, and my hr was super high, i was huffing and puffing walking out there.

eric was 3rd in his age group, jason won the overall, and mat won his age group, too.

i'd recommend this race to anyone wanting to try an xterra. its definitly a fun course. the bike isn't as technical as black diamond, but its definitly challenging with much more climbing.

next race is nationals! scary!

Colchuck Lake

way back last summer a co-worker of mine showed me photos of his hiking adventure out to Colchuck Lake and the Enchantments. I said, hey, that looks pretty amazing. I wondering if we could do that too! So I asked xtie what she thought and if she would be interested in joining in on a little family hike and camping trip into the wilderness and she was all in for it. so, way back in february i applied for a camping permit for one weekend during the summer and that weekend happened to be July 24 & 25. it seemed like i found out pretty quickly that our dates were accepted and permits granted and from that moment on my anxiety about the trip began to sky rocket. i tried not to think about how we would be out in the wilderness, away from everyone and everything and oh no, it would be desolate and barren and no way of getting help if something happened to us and the kids. i kept telling myself, that if there was a natural disaster up there in the mountains, we'd be ok. it was only a 4 mile hike and eric is very fit and could run out to get help if we needed it. i tried not to think about what if something happened to eric! as the weekend grew closer i got new fears, like have you seen the abyss? and how like that one guy got the depth sickness where he started to lose it? what if one of us got some sort of mystery wilderness sickness and started to lose it right there up in those mountains right by the lake? good grief. i wasn't so concerned about getting eaten by bears or mountain lions but still the whole thing was very concerning.
xtie helped us get prepared by making a packing list and then lending us all kinds of gear and equipment. she lent us some tents, some sleeping bags, back packs, coats, pants, therma rest mattresses, she got us each our very own sporks and then fancy mugs and foldable plates that turn into bowls for the kids. she brought her stove and camping food and since she is has a lot of wilderness experience having climbed many mountains including kilimanjaro, yes THAT kilimanjaro, i figured we'd be pretty set. between her and eric, as long as neither of them succummed to the wilderness sickness and lost it, we would be a-ok.
we all had a busy week or two leading up to the adventure, but xtie came over friday night and we got everything organized. i had been prepping the kids that we would be hiking, and although it was only 4 miles, i myself mentally prepared for 7 hrs of hiking. we woke up early, got everyone in the car, and drove out to Leavenworth to ye old ranger station to pick up our permit, then off onto icicle road to ye old trail head to get going.
i had read that the first two miles were pretty flat and mellow and then it would become more challenging. yeah, well, for someone not used to hauling an extra 35+ pounds on one's back, those first two miles seemed a bit more uphill than expected. what didn't help was that i didn't know that the funny structural support thing at the top of the back pack was going the wrong way and it really should not have been banging into my neck, forcing me to look down like that. i thot it odd that the back pack would not allow me to look up, but what did i know?
there were a few crazy, really scary river crossings that really were very scary. i held onto which ever kid i was in charge of at that moment so tight that i remember one of them telling me i was hurting their wrist. pretty sure i had the death grip on them for fear of falling off of those bridges. totally scary. beautiful, but a reminder that this is some pretty serious business.
xtie lent us her treking poles which proved to be the BEST THINGS EVER and once i got the hang of them, i was doing ok. the kids did an amazing job getting up that first few miles and then we stopped for a lunch break. i was very amazed that they were doing so well. i know they like to be outside and all but i just wasn't sure what they would think.
when we started heading uphill for real, it got pretty tough. again, i was amazed at the kids and how they were able to climb up all the rocks and get themselves along. sirus did get upset a few times, but we would try to stop and take a short snack break and we would be off again. i lead the pace, which was slow, partially because i wanted to make sure the kids didn't wear out too quickly and mostly because i was just slow. eric took care of the middle and xtie made sure we were all together and not losing anything from the back.
we saw some amazing views and went up some pretty technical rocky sections and the kids did great. xtie started to get concerned about us getting a nice camping spot so she took off ahead, while the rest of us just trucked along. at the first toilet sign we came across a mountain goat and the kids thought both were fantastic! it took us 3 hrs to get to this spot.
by now we had gotten a few glimpses of the lake and the mountains and it was unreal. even now thinking back, its hard to believe someplace so beautiful exists.
we met up with xtie and she found us a sweet camping spot! we set up the tents and then we ALL TOOK A NAP. i was exhuasted and apparently everyone else was a little bit too.
at some point eric took the kids to see the toilets which they renamed the box potties. the kids thot they were awesome and even appreciated the swarm of flies that came out when they opened. sirus amazingly even used one!
we had talked with the kids about seeing the snow, so we took them around over towards the mountains to see if we could get to the snow. the trail quickly turned SCARY with huge monster boulders and complete trail chaos so we decided that it was too dangerous to even try to go further. sirus lost it, total melt down right there on the side of the mountain. i had to have a quick talk with him about how i knew he was disappointed but he needed to stop crying and pay attention to what he was doing because where we were hiking was really dangerous and he could get really hurt very easily. he went on to cry to everyone we passed how he wasn't going to get to the snow but eventually came to terms with it and decided that when he was 10 we would come back because he will be bigger and stronger and then maybe he could make it all the way to the snow.
once back at the camp site xtie started up dinner, we chowed down and then we just hung out. the bug were bad and the mosquitoes were the worst. unfortunatly we spent a lot of time in the tents because of this. i did pull out the iphone so the kids could watch some stuff, and i did watch xtie's brain cells pop as she was forced to listen to Dora the Explorer. luckily she has a lot of brain cells and i don't think it did too much damage to her.
we called it an early night and we all slept through the night, all the way past 7am even!
seamus was excited to get out of the tent in the morning, dressed in all her layers and new rain coat but sirus on the other hand did not want to wear a coat and let the entire wilderness know it.
we enjoyed the view, watched a duck swim right by our camp site, and also fly circles over head. we saw some sort of raptor like bird and the water was so clear we could see the fish.
we had some amazing oatmeal and other tasty breakfast items and then started to pack stuff up for the trip back. it was amazing as the sun came up over the mountain that it went from cold to very hot in a matter of just a minute! we got everything loaded, sirus even found a tiny toy pig that someone had left behind and we headed back down the mountain.
the trip down was just as hard as the trip up. the kids did great though, not needing as many breaks, and for a while, seamus was leading the group with xtie right behind her. they were trucking, dropping me and sirus in their dust. the trekking poles were awesome again, and since xtie showed me how to fix my pack so that support bar was not banging into my neck i was way more comfortable. i was surprised at how steep and rocky some of the sections were, even though we had gone up them only a short time earlier. while going down them, the thought of going up them was almost too much to bear! we got to the scary bridges again and then to another fallen log bridge that seamus ran across while i passed out while watching her.
all day the day before and this day she asked to carry my pack. non stop she was asking. so we decided that close to the bottom she could carry it. she strapped it on and carried it for a ways even though it was 3/4s her body weight. she did a great job but once we got to the parking lot she did say it was too heavy and she needed some help. I on the other hand really enjoyed those last few minutes of the hike and think a day trip next summer will be the way to go.
by the time we got to the bottom it was like 400 degrees out or so. we quickly washed up as best we could and headed into leavenworth for some ye old bratwursts that were so good i can hardly beleive it.
on the way home i passed out in the back seat between the two kids who both passed out as well, until we hit the milk shake place.
i was worn out. this trip was amazing. the views were incredible, the kids were unbeleivable, it was great to hang out with xtie and it was a good workout. i did do some soul searching though and realize that while although i liked the physicalness of the hike i might be too much of a princess for the camping part of it. i caught myself thinking while at our campsite, wondering if tom cruise decided to camp at colchuck lake if he would have some luxury items helicoptered in, or if he would rough it.
regardless, another trip will be made at some point and i highly recommend it to anyone looking for an amazing trip!