what am I thinking?!??!

on hiatus

2006-07-25T20:20:00.000-07:00

This blog was started to talk about the journey to Primal Quest. Since that is done, it seems like the blog is done too. At least for now. I'll probably post race reports over the next few months, but I won't blog on a regular basis. The next big thing will probably inspire it again. For now, Graeme and I are about to go on our summer holidays, and I'm really looking forward to spending two weeks with him.

Until later. Bye.

more race outline/report

2006-07-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

Last we left our fearless racers, they were about to embark on Leg 10, the mountain bike. But before then, remember that horrible walk from TA7 to 8 I described? Here is a picture that well captures it:

Can you feel how hot it was?

Leg 10: mountain bike - 60-something miles. We started out on this leg in mid-afternoon after I got my eyes irrigated and numbed. I had no glasses or contacts at this point, so my plan was to just ride behind Pete for the whole leg, even knowing that there would be technical sections. I've ridden with Pete enough to trust his riding. In fact, he's the only person I would trust enough to follow like that. The leg was long. We were fortunate enough to be out on Golden Spike/Porcupine Rim in the dak when it was less hot, but that also made following the trail much more difficult. The leg had a super fun rappell/bike zip at the beginning.

And there was lots of sand. Part way through the leg, we had to pass through Moab. As most teams did, we stopped at Denny's to eat. This was also a continuation of our drama day. Lots of drama on day 5 - that seemed to be true for other teams as well. I guess sleep deprivation starts to get bad at that point. We did have a nap after eating and setting off for Pritchard canyon and the second half of the ride. Long, sandy, hot. Typical, actually.

Leg 11: mountaineering - 40-something miles. We were so excited to get to TA9. Jonathan and Sheryl were there, and it meant some time away from the heat. Kip was also there for an unexpected visit. The leg took us 41 hours, but included two naps totally 7 hours (more than half our total sleep for the race). Serious shale, lots and lots of climbing up peaks. More cursing Don Mann. Gorgeous aspen groves.

Leg 12: bike - ??? miles? Fun descent down road from TA10 (after a good transition). Long ass climb back up to next valley where we got views of where we were eventually going to end up. This was a good leg for us.

Leg 13: trek/ropes - miles?? (i can look up the mileage on the PQ site, and I'll fill these blanks in later) We got wrong information on how long this leg was going to be. Unfortunately, we had it in our heads that it was a short leg and we would be done. I was super cranky on this leg as it stretched on and on and on. We had a quick (20 minute) nap on the endless approach to the ropes. We all woke up once we got to the rock. The rope section was amazing. Truely amazing.

After the climbing, rappelling and zipping, we had to follow the ridge on a 'trail' down to the valley floor and then had a very hot walk to the river where we got in the inflatables for the paddle to the finish.

9 days, 13 hours of sleep, not nearly enough food or water, great teammates. Yep, I'd do it again. But maybe not in Utah in the summer.

a race outline

2006-07-17T19:38:00.000-07:00

I'm finding that I'm getting foggy about parts of the race. OK, I admit that I was getting foggy before the race was even over. By day 5 or 6, I would think of things that happened in the first two days and wonder if it was the same race or a different one. Trust me, sleep deprivation does crazy things to your brain.

So, for my benefit as much as anyone's, a few brief notes on the various legs.

Leg 1 - horse trek, 23 miles or something close to that. Our horse was named Kimmy and she was pretty lazy. And she broke Pete's rib, so that's not very nice. But she was pretty sweet, and after hearing about some other team's horses, it seems we did pretty well in the horse lottery.

Leg 2 - trek, another 20-something miles. Hot Hot Hot. It can be summed up by one word: SHITTY. Heat exhaustion, extra water stop, long way around, navigator getting turned around momentarily, TA that would never come (ok, that was true of most legs), feet that felt like we'd been racing for three days already, not just one.

Leg 3 - bike, 60-something miles. Fun first section on the road with deep sand. Less than stellar scenery and then long pavement section after water stop to get to Green River. Lunch at Blimpie's.

Leg 4 - white water swim, 8 miles. Nice because it was short. With transitions, about three hours. And cool water. And not terribly strenuous.

Leg 5 - paddle, 40-something miles. Nasty mosquito infested portage. Mostly in the dark. Watch out for gravel bars! Pretty uneventful overall.

Leg 6 - canyoneering - ?? miles, whatever it was, it seemed endless. First time to see the food box since the race start. We had to swim across the river from the TA to the start of the trek. We had a hard time finding the road on the map so lost a bit of time finding the first CP of the section, but after that we just moved along steadily. The path after the first TA was over a huge mound of slickrock that was just amazing - the first really stunning part of the course. Also the first ropes section - a rappell down to the river and an ascent out of the first canyon. The trek from the top of the ascent to the water station was unbearably hot. This is where my hallucinations really started, as I imagined the water stop 4 times before we actually reached it. The canyon we hiked out of was unending sand that crushed our toes and sucked our energy. We had a short nap in the only shade we could find. True suffering on this unending leg. But the slot canyon section was amazing - beautiful (except for the wag bag smell. Yikes). Another river swim back to TA and the food/gear boxes.

Leg 7 - paddle, 40-something more miles. Even with a nap before the leg, we sleeppaddled through most of the leg. Definitely made it take longer to be sleeping most of the way. I mastered the art of peeing into a sawed off gatoraid bottle.

Leg 8 - canyoneering, 20-something miles? maybe? The infamous Hell Roaring section. We started out at the hottest time of day and walked up through the boulder field to the base of the rappell, passing 7 or 8 teams along the way who were taking advantage of the shade. Up the ascent, along the marked path to the HAMBURGERS and COLD COKE!!! The route led us through a campground where the hosts were taking advantage of the hungry, parched racers walking by and set up shop selling hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken. And cold pop. Oh My God. It was amazing. On to the rappell, and out hell roaring in the dark. This was our drama night. Conflict, sleep deprivation, and the start of my serious eye problems. A typical leg.

Leg 9 - Damn Don Mann to Hell. We had to carry all of our paddle gear, swim gear and trekking stuff from TA 7 to TA 8. Only a two mile walk. But 2000' of elevation to gain. Did I mention we were carrying everything?!?! Much cursing.

OK, this is turning out a bit longer than I expected it to be. I'll finish in a future installment. Stay tuned.

some random things

2006-07-13T19:46:00.000-07:00

It is really hard to try to write a race report for a race that took nine days. By day five, it seemed like the things that had happened the first day were part of another lifetime. I just don't know how to tell it all. So, more pictures and a few random comments.

Sand sucks. Shoes designed to be lightweight and breathable really suck in the sand. When you get about 1/4 cup of sand in each shoe, your shoe is essentially a full size too small. Nevertheless, with good foot care, you can come out of it with minimal blisters.

Try to avoid scratching your corneas. Try harder to not get those scratches infected and develop an ulcer. Who knew you could have an ulcer in your eye!?!

I didn't take a single painkiller for the entire race. I didn't take any after the race either. It wasn't really a plan, but I did decide that if it wasn't hurting that much, that I would just deal with it. I knew once I took something, I'd have to keep taking it until the race was done. The brain deals with pain in funny ways.

I can ride while sleeping. I can paddle while sleeping. I can walk while sleeping. None of them are terribly efficient while sleeping. I can sleep anywhere.

The view up to a traverse line that is 2000' above the desert floor is a very intimidating thing. Once you're up there though, it's not nearly so bad. And, as I turns out, it's super fun to fly through the air with the greatest of ease.

finally

2006-07-12T19:22:00.000-07:00

It's about time I got around to posting. I have so many excuses though. Like, I was really really tired. Which I was. Only last night did I finally decide that it's time to stop sleeping 10 hours a night. I'm caught up. I kept waking up last night, which I think proves that I'm rested.

Thanks for all the great messages on the team guest book. We were given a print out at TA9, and it was so great to get messages from home. Thanks to everyone who obsessively tracked us. It was motivating to know that if we stopped too long, people at home would be wondering why we hadn't moved.

I have lots of stories, but I'll at least start with some pictures.

Getting cleaned up before the mountaineering leg at TA9:

Pete putting his shoes back on - always painful:

The team after the finish:

it's almost time!

2006-06-24T07:21:00.000-07:00

We're less than 24 hrs til start. We finished our skills testing yesterday after finding our missing teammate. Skills/gear checks went well - we weren't all set and ready to go, but since we weren't in our scheduled stop it didn't really matter. we took breaks to go fetch gear or to have lunch. We got through it all without a hitch other than waiting at a few stations. It's great to have it all done so that today we can finish packing the gear and food bins, and take a nap before they bus us to the start at midnight.

Yep, midnight busing for a dawn start. Why let us start rested? What would be the fun in that?

You have no idea how great it is to know that there are a bunch of people who will be watching our progress through the race. Thanks for all the good wishes!

at race headquarters

2006-06-22T16:25:00.000-07:00

We're here! Ok, we're mostly here. Charlie's flight was delayed for five hours yesterday, so he missed his connecting flight. He called at 7 am from Minneapolis, when he should have been boarding a bus to get from SLC to Moab. Instead, he's taking a shuttle as I type to Moab, where we'll pick him up in a couple of hours. It means that we are missing our skills testing slot, but that's fine. There is enough elasticity in the system that we can do it in the morning.

Instead, Pete, Ernie and I have been doing some organization and just relaxing. We went for a river swim through some fun rapids just outside the lodge. Very fun. We'll head into town pretty soon to pick up Charlie and have dinner.

Tomorrow - skills testing report.

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes on our PQ guest book! They mean a lot.

leaving for moab in the morning

2006-06-20T18:59:00.000-07:00

Pete and I leave for Moab tomorrow. Our skills testing day is on Thursday, and continues for other teams on Friday and Saturday. Race starts on Sunday morning, early.

So, once the race starts, you'll be able to track our progress on the Primal Quest website. Our team name is 24seven. Pictures of us will appear here. That's also the place you can leave us messages, which may be delivered at some point during the race.

To track us, go here.

Wish us well!

the adventure has begun!

2006-06-18T20:44:00.000-07:00

I've made it to Los Alamos. Sheryl, Jonathan and I drove up here today, and 12.5 hours later, we made it safely. All my gear is here, and it's a relief to not think about packing any more. That's not to say I have everything, since I don't.

Now is the time to give a huge huge thanks to the people who have helped me get here. Who said the race is unsupported this year?

Graeme
Dad
Donna
Karen & John
Jannie
Marlene
Rebecca
Sara
Kelly & Jocelyn
Chris
Alex
Debbi & Stephen
Jennifer
Sharon & Nick
Sheryl & Jonathan
Sheila
David & Katherine
Adam
Sameer
Diane
David
Eron
Dave
Mark
Mike
Sergio
Kyle
Bruce
Scott
Debbie
Rudy
John
Ted
Cody & Lynette

relaxing saturday

2006-06-17T06:43:00.000-07:00

Since the packing is done, I thought I would have a relaxing, yet busy day. I have a massage at 1:30, and I was planning to Westley to the dog park and also do the neighbourhood home tour. Instead, it's raining. I'm not complaining about the rain - I don't remember the last time it rained, and it does give the yard a fighting chance of surviving til I get back - but it does put a damper on the dog park and the home tour. The dog hasn't even left the porch. He'll have to pee eventually but right now, he's decided that it's Too Wet.

(yes, his legs are that long)

finally!

2006-06-16T21:04:00.000-07:00

The packing is complete! The bin is quite full, but it's all in. I wonder how we're going to possibly keep any semblance of organization when we're sharing bins. I guess we have a day or so to figure that out, but man, it's crazy how much shit we need. I'm so glad it's done so that I can do other stuff tomorrow and have a whole day to remember what I've forgotten.

What it took to finish packing was remembering that it was all going to be pulled out and reorganized for gear check and the race. Which meant that it just had to get into the bin, but didn't have to be perfect. Much less stressful.

last day of work survived

2006-06-16T17:13:00.000-07:00

I survived the last day at the shop. I had a huge list at the start of the day, and I systematically went though and got it all done. Phew. The shop is un-womanned while I'm gone, so I had to have everything lined up for the next couple of weeks.

Tonight I'm planning to continue the packing. I'm hoping I can get it all done so I can have a relaxing day tomorrow. But I wouldn't put any bets on it.

where is the fun?

2006-06-15T08:14:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday I was talking to Marlene and she made a comment about how she hasn't been playing full out in life. That things that should be fun, hadn't been fun. I realized that this was true for Primal Quest in the last few weeks as well. I've forgotten that it's supposed to be fun - that I'm doing it because it's fun. Instead, the stress of packing and final gear checks has made it work.

Since Tuesday I've put the fun back in. Now I'm looking forward to racing with my amazing teammates, to enjoying the landscape we'll be travelling through, and having a great time doing all the cool parts of the race. (How did I forget the horse back riding, ropes, canyoneering, river swimming... all the super fun stuff??) This is a much better place to be than in Stressville.

food packing is done!

2006-06-14T19:29:00.000-07:00

Finally. I can get my kitchen back. I have ten food bags with around 5000 calories in each. They will be supplemented by drink powders totally another 1500 calories. Yep, a whole bunch of food. And I have a huge amount left.

That's one more thing off the list.

from the PQ site

2006-06-13T21:29:00.000-07:00

Pete hopes his fine ass will compensate for injuries sustained in car accident.

June 13, 2006
Less than two weeks before the start of the most important race of their lives, Team 24Seven learned that teammate and co-navigator Pete Stilwell had been in a serious car accident.

Not only did Pete suffer serious foot injuries and bruising from the seatbelt during the collision, but the massive impact sent the bike rack "flying across the highway" with a brand new Ellsworth Truth still attached to it. Pete was later overheard stating that it was not the kind of "breaking in" that he had intended for the new bike.

Although relieved that their friend and teammate had suffered no permanent injuries, the team was overcome with fear that he would not be able to compete. Teammate Beth Reyburn was reported to have called three times before noon the following day to check on his progress.

Being the optimist that he is, Pete is always looking on the bright side and told reporters, "I would say I am most trained for rock impact on the river swim" and "[at least] my ass still looks good in these shorts!". Team member Charlie Roberts commented that "I've seen Pete's ass. It's not bad, but I don't understand how that is going to help us win this race. I think he's still high on pain killers."

Team 24Seven is asking that everyone send out good vibes to Pete as he resorts to bed rest for the next 10 days and hopes to recover from a swollen foot, limp, and pain throughout the upper body.

you get what you need, when you need it

2006-06-13T13:36:00.000-07:00

There are a few items I'm still trying to get for the race. I have been looking at the money in my account to see if I'll be able to get them - I could make due with other things, but it would have a detrimental effect. Two of the items have been on my REI wishlist for awhile, one of them being something I really didn't expect to get since it's pricey. Today I went over to see if there were any changes on the list, and lo and behold, the pricey item has been bought. I don't know who got it for me, but I'm super excited. And I'm reminded of the generosity of people and how you get what you need when you need it.

And that I have amazingly supportive and generous people in my life. Lots of them. I'm super lucky.

in the midst of packing

2006-06-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

The problem with having more time is that I'll use all of it. I don't have to be packed until Saturday, and so I won't be. Instead, I'll have piles around until then. Maybe it's better to have to ship your stuff a bit earlier so you can stop thinking about packing.

On Sunday I spent a few hours (and a few CSI episodes) packing food into individually labelled ziplocs. Each bag is marked with the number of calories inside. Everyone who snacks should have to do this. It's a very eye opening exercise.

I went through about 120 ziplocs.

my teammates are on house arrest

2006-06-12T12:57:00.000-07:00

No one is allowed to go outside for the next week. If going outside is a must, it is allowed in an open field on a sunny day. Otherwise, housebound.

Pete was in a car accident yesterday. A woman hit him, totalled the car and sent the bikes (attached to the roof rack) flying across the highway. He's bruised (seatbelt bruised his collarbone, sternum and ribs) and his foot is bruised from the engine and other parts being pushed into the space where his legs were sitting. He's feeling much better today than expected, and he'll be fine by the time the race starts in 13 days.

But no one is allowed to leave the building.

sometimes you need a change

2006-06-11T10:47:00.000-07:00

A new look, just for the sake of it.

discipline

2006-06-09T08:31:00.000-07:00

On my way to work, I ride past a Krispy Kreme. The light is always on indicating that the doughnuts are fresh and that a free one can be had just by going in. They also pump the exhaust right out towards the street.

I have been resisting for about nine months. But just talking about it making me hungry. Evil Krispy Kreme.

the weekend approaches

2006-06-09T06:38:00.000-07:00

And that means that it's time to pack. I'll take over all the flat surfaces in the house, I'm expecting. Right now it's contained to the spare room (now referred to as the gear room) but once i unpile it, it will explode to cover any available space. We have to take a remarkable amount of stuff with us. I looked over the gear list last night to do a quick check of what I need to pick up at REI on the way home tonight.

The food situation is also a bit crazy. Last night I sat down and figured out how many calories per day I would get by dividing up all the food I bought at Costco. 11,700. Which is far far more than I need. I need about 6,000 calories/day, and I will get some of that from Spiz. So, I'll share my food purchases with Pete. He hasn't been food shopping yet, so it works out ok. And since he bought all the Spiz, it will work out well there too.

I'll post pictures as the packing takes over the house.

food shopping

2006-06-07T20:45:00.000-07:00

Tonight we made a trip to Costco so that I could buy race food. Notice the size of the boxes - 48 servings, 3 lbs, 60 bars. And I don't think I have enough yet. Craziness.

another race report

2006-06-05T20:42:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was the Too Cool Spread Your Wings Adventure Race. It was held out at Camp Eagle, a few hours west of Austin. The drive out there on a long, lonely road showed that we were in for some fun. It was hilly, with real terrain features (sometimes lacking in Texas races). Pulling into the camp brought back memories of my summers at camp - definitely an amazing way to spend you summers as a teenager.

Two of my teammates were already there and were setting up our TA under a big tree. A lot of teams had already arrived and set up. There were a lot of teams, and everyone was looking forward to trying out the fun stuff we had spotted down on the water front.

The race started at 8 am on Saturday morning. We were told to wear PFDs to the start line. We ran down the hill and into the water where about 100 m downstream there were boats clipped to a rope across the river. Each team was to get a boat, and with everyone touching it, take it around a raft in the middle of the river and then back to the take out. We all jumped onto our boat, and paddled with our hands, which everyone ended up doing, since it was the only way to make any real progress. Even so, it was difficult to have four people on one boat.

After running back up the hill from the water, we set out on Leg 1 - mountain biking. We plotted the few points and set off for CP1 (they had to be found in order). When we arrived there, Tom discovered that he had lost the passport out of his handy-dandy new shorts pocket. Oops. So, back we went to the start to get a new passport, putting us way behind a bunch of teams. That meant we were behind a line of bikes through the singletrack. We managed to get past most of them, and back to TA.

Leg 2 was a trek and the points had to be found in order. At the first CP there was a special test where we had to get all four teammates through a hole in platform about 10' off the ground without touching the platform supports. We did it pretty easily and moved on. We were in second place. We probably passed most of the teams on the bike and the rest in TA between the legs. The second trek leg was up on the highest hill at the camp by the windmill. The point was in the middle of the swimming tank in beside the windmill. Paul climbed in to punch the point. It was a bit of a battle to see who would get to go in. Part was through this leg Lance started to get some leg cramps. Not a good sign so early in the race. The last point of the leg was the ropes course. We chose to go down the long rappel and then ran along the sherpa traverse and back up to the top. There were two teams right behind us when we arrived at the ropes, but we put a gap on them through the ropes and ran back to TA for the next leg.

Leg 3 was water sports!! There were two checkpoints, one on top of the 'texas iceberg' and one of a platform (ladder up, slide down). It was a really fun break and a good chance to get in the water to cool down. We got the next checkpoints for Leg 4, which was a bike leg out a dirt road, about 9 km each way. Lance was still cramping, so we started giving him lots of salt tablets and did some towing up the hills during the bike leg. We were still in second, about 40 minutes behind Backpacker, the leading team.

Leg 5 was a paddle. There is a river flowing past the camp, but it has many dams along it that we had to portage. One of the portages was quite long and was a total bitch. We saw backpacker during the leg, and confirmed the time gap. We knew that unless they made a mistake it would be hard to catch them unless there was another bike leg.

After the paddle we got to go down the zipline. Super fun! There wasn't any way to make it go faster, so we just got to enjoy it without thinking about the race for a few minutes. After that we had our final leg - a trek where we could get the points in any order. The first two went fine. Lance was still feeling poorly, and we continued to try to hydrate him and get electrolytes into his system. Before the third CP, he went down with terrible leg cramps. Paul had been towing him a bit to help, but he was still suffering pretty badly. It didn't help when we had a nav error on the the third CP and spent extra time wandering around a very hot mesa (the wrong one) looking for the point. After that, the CPs came easy, but Lance was doing poorly. We knew the STAR had passed us during our nav mistake so that we were sitting in third. We plodded back to the finish and as we were approaching, we saw another team running in. We couldn't move any faster than we were, so we ended up in 4th - 1 minute behind 3rd and 20-something minutes behind 2nd.

It was a fun race, in a great location. I'll definitely go back next year! Thanks to Art and Robyn for putting on a great race.

another race

2006-06-01T17:03:00.000-07:00

I'm heading to another race this weekend. It's the Too Cool Spread Your Wings 24 hr race. It's being hosted at Camp Eagle, a kid's camp out west of San Antonio. Being at a kid's camp means lots of fun water activities. There will be rapelling and a zipline, and a traverse and singletrack for mountain biking. oooeee. Should be super fun. I'll be racing with Tom, Paul and Lance. I've raced with Paul once, and Tom is my usual Austin racing partner.

Race repot next week.

cake day!!

2006-05-31T20:03:00.000-07:00

Friday is Marlene's birthday, which makes this her birthday week. She said she wanted cake, so tonight we had cake. Jonathan and Sheryl, Marlene and Will and Kathy all came over. We ordered pizza and then had cake (Orange cake with lemon cream cheese icing. yum). Some photos:

guts n' glory race report

2006-05-29T17:38:00.000-07:00

The Guts n' Glory is known as a difficult race. It's a long course, 22 miles of mostly singletrack. The course is two loops, passing through the pits at the half way mark to make a sort of figure eight. The upper (second loop) has more climbing and is a bit more technical. You can choose to stop at the pit every half lap if you're riding solo, or you can just keep trucking for the 22 miles.

I got to the race venue on Saturday night and found the usual suspects. The race is actually an all weekend event, with bands and kegs on both Saturday and Sunday nights. We stayed up and chatted for awhile while keeping our eye on the approaching lightening before going to sleep. It did rain a bit in the night, but I was seriously cozy in the Esper-mobile.

Sunday morning, the race started pretty casually at 8 am. This is a low key event. You sign yourself in and out on the time sheet, and you can start and stop whenever you want. Many people just do a lap or two, and there are a few handful who keep riding around and around.

My first lap felt great. It was cool-ish, and I was just doing my thing. My thing being to pay some attention to my heart rate and try to keep it in the right zone for a long ride. It's always high on the first lap, so I give myself a bit of leeway. The course was slightly damp, so some of the rocks were a bit slick, but I was happy with the lap, knowing that I would clean the few places I walked when it dried out a bit. I came through after my first lap, refilled my bottle and headed back out.

Lap 2 was great. I was riding faster, my heart rate was lower, and it was fun fun fun. Until I flatted on the back half. Oops. After that I slowed down a bit for fear of flatting a second time and being stuck without a tube. The problem with a long lap and not a huge number of riders is that you could be waiting awhile for help. At the same time, you also know that if you need help someone will stop. But I didn't flat again, and finished my second lap feeling good. It was still cloudy and there was a nice breeze.

Lap three was uneventful. As in, I don't remember any of it except thinking that I would have time to do five laps and that sounded alright.

Lap four sucked. The first half seemed to go forever. I didn't see anyone on the trail. It was hot. I was bored. boohoohoo. I came in at the half to fill up on food and drink and to see what was happening in the standings. There was a guy ahead of me finishing his 4th lap, and I was in second overall. Alright, may as well finish the fourth lap and see how I feel. The second half was better, but still getting boring.

I came into the pit after lap 4 and I had plenty of time to do a 5th before it got dark. But they told me that it was totally unnecessary and wouldn't change the standings at all. Well, that's not very motivating, is it? And I could have a hot shower and a hot meal instead. hmmm. So, I hung around for awhile and then packed it in. I ended up doing 4 laps, 88 miles, got 2nd over all (1st place woman) and had a hot shower and some great chicken enchiladas.

Kyle and Dave put on a great event. There was tonnes of swag from sponsors, and it was just a great time. Thanks to everyone who helped make it a great weekend.

the joy of lists

2006-05-26T21:15:00.000-07:00

Lists Lists Lists. They are so lovely. Tonight I made two: Things to do in the next three weeks and Things to do tomorow. You might think that seeing it all laid out could make it more overwhelming, but instead it makes it all seem manageable. I'm planning on a super productive day tomorrow before heading out to Comfort for the 12 hr Guts and Glory race.

Originally, Graeme and I had been planning to go to New Mexico this weekend. I wanted to have another weekend of training at altitude, and the long weekend seemed like a good time to go. But Graeme had meetings today and a conference on Tuesday, so he couldn't quite swing it. I've done the drive by myself three times, and it totally sucks. So, we are both home for the weekend. Since I'm missing the altitude training, I thought I should do something else to take it's place. So, the GnG. 12 hr mountain bike race on somewhat technical trails in 90 degree weather with no shade. Perfect PQ training, in other words. Should be fun. Check Monday for a race report.

freaking out a bit

2006-05-25T17:44:00.000-07:00

One month to go. That's, like, five weeks, right? No, just over four. Well, that's not so bad either. Until I looked at the calendar and saw that I'll actually be leaving my house in 3.5 weeks. Shit. 3.5 weeks. I still have a lot to do. A lot. It's time to make lists. Lots of lists.

No, I won't subject you to them. I might just be freaking out a bit more frequently.

someone give that woman a cup of tea

2006-05-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

The headache is gone, but I just feel cranky and irritable. And a bit foggy. I hope things are better tomorrow, or I might just start drinking tea again. And it's just tea! Really, nothing to be whining about. But, I did mention the crankiness.

quote from ernie

2006-05-24T20:21:00.000-07:00

From an email this morning:

"31 Days to go...Fffffffuuuuuuuuuuccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkk!"

wednesday already?

2006-05-24T08:35:00.000-07:00

How did that happen? Although the week seems to have flown by so far, today is crawling. I am trying to reduce my caffiene intake (I only drink tea, but usually 3 or 4 cups a day) and I have had a headache since 6 pm yesterday. I feel crappy. And I even had a cup of tea this morning (trying to cut down to two). Ug.

The weekend was really great. We did a lot of training. And eating. In fact, the weekend can be laid out like this:
eat
train
eat
eat
train
eat
eat
train
eat

Even so, a weekend isn't enough time to go to all the great eating places in Austin. Pete will just have to come back for another visit.

real time blogging

2006-05-20T18:21:00.000-07:00

Dinner is cooking as I post:

for erika

2006-05-20T17:19:00.000-07:00

day with pete

2006-05-19T20:41:00.000-07:00

We had a good day. (No, I didn't really take pictures. Just a few this morning on the porch. I'll try harder tomorrow. The problem is that we don't have a small little camera, just a big one that I don't want to lug around.) We got Upper Crust cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and then went up to the shop and got breakfast tacos (you'll see a theme soon). After that we went riding slinky on full stomachs, which wasn't that great an idea. It was a hot day (bring it on! it's the PQ texas training advantage) and the full stomachs were killing us. So, we didn't ride for too long, and showered and then went to Shady Grove for more food. The thing we had to get done while Pete was here is to go down to San Marcos to do a paddle cert. We had arranged it to just do it this evening so we have the rest of the weekend to train and hang out and eat some more.

Now we're home, it's late and we're still waiting for pizza to be delivered. More food. It's the theme of the day.

pete's coming to visit!

2006-05-18T14:44:00.000-07:00

Pete is coming to visit this weekend. It's hard to balance a lot of training with also showing him Austin. He was here once years ago for the Ride for the Roses, but not since we moved here. (Please note that we have lived here for nearly two years, and he hasn't come to visit yet. You know, just to note it.) I want to show him all my favourite places and ride my favourite trails, and eat lots of good food.

And I'll take lots of pictures.

ride of silence

2006-05-17T09:28:00.000-07:00

Today is the Ride of Silence to honour cyclists who have been killed or injured on public roadways. If you ever ride a bike on the street, I encourage you to find a ride to join this evening.

This year, Chris's mom was killed by a driver, I was hit by a car (very minor injuries) and Jennifer was hit and ended up with a broken leg and thumb. Additionally, a woman was killed here in Austin a month ago. I encounter hostility from drivers every time I ride to work. If the Ride of Silence makes a difference for one driver and helps them see us and think differently about bikes on the road, then it will be a sucess.

back on the wagon

2006-05-15T09:21:00.000-07:00

Or is that back off the wagon? I've never really understood the wagon analogy, to be honest.

But I digress. This week it's back to the usual training regime after slacking all of last week. That means the usual 3 hour Monday night trek (which I'll ride my bike to and from) and a trail run and ropes practice tomorrow. The usual training regime is pretty tiring, but I'm looking forward to it anyway.

Ask me if that's still true on Thursday.

happy mother's day

2006-05-14T19:50:00.000-07:00

I meant to call my sister today to wish her a happy mother's day. It's too late now to call, so Happy Mother's Day, KK. I hope Emily gave you some nice prezzies.

Mother's Day has always seemed like a Hallmark holiday to me, and I tend not to support those kind of holidays. Since my mum died though, Mother's Day suddenly has more meaning than it used to. So everyone, give your mum a hug for me.

race report - part 4 of 4

2006-05-14T09:24:00.000-07:00

Finally, the last bit of the race story from last weekend. I certainly know how to drag it out, don't I?

We were woken a number of times from our sleep under the shuffle board tables in the lodge at Crooked River Lodge to get weather reports. Still raining, but tornado warning lifted. Still raining apparently meant 4"/hour, so we decided to sleep a little longer. Then came the report that the rain had stopped. We woke up and headed out pretty quickly since our stuff was all ready to go. We left at the same time as Nike, but we got separated pretty quickly in the dark as the landscape looked different now that there was water everywhere. On the second or third CP, we met up with both teams that had spent the night out in the storm. They were both looking pretty rough. We were very glad we had spent the night in a dry place.

The trek was relatively uneventful. There was a lost checkpoint that caused some delay, but effected all four lead teams. We all ended up in the same meadow searching for a CP. STAR had spent an hour on it earlier in the night, but hadn't found it. Eventually, by just scouring the meadow, it was found laying among some cactus. STAR discussed what to do, and decided to tell everyone about it since it was misplaced. That was the last CP needed for both STAR and Tom's team. They headed back to TA while we and Nike continued the leg. We managed to put at least 1.5 hours on Nike over the rest of the leg by just moving steadily. It was a long leg, but most of the travel was on (sloppy) roads. We were wondering if it would be the last leg, since they certainly couldn't send us out on bikes under those conditions and we'd already been on a long trek. When we came into TA though, we found out there was one more trek to go.

STAR had left TA about 1.5 hours before we arrived, and Tom's team was still in TA after having had a nap. We did a quick transition and left about 15 minutes after Tom's team and less than two hours behind STAR. The checkpoints were relatively spread out, giving us quite a bit of distance to cover, but also allowing us the time to catch at least Tom's team. We had gotten more rest through the race than they had, so we were hoping that we could travel faster than they could.

We didn't help our cause when we had trouble with a point, overshooting an old road that would have taken us up the mesa where the point was. We lost some time to Tom's team, but saw STAR long the way, so we now had them in our sights too. We realized we would have time to get all the checkpoints (it wasn't clear at the start) if we ran between the last few, which were widely (many kilometers) spaced along a gas pipeline and an adjacent fence. I handed off my pack to Charlie (and later Pete) since I'm the slowest runner and we started to run. We ended up running the last 2.5 hours of the course, but although we hoped we'd catch a team on the final run into the Lodge, we didn't see anyone on the course. When we crossed the finish line, we found out that Tom's team had finished about 10 minutes before us, and that STAR had only gotten a few of the CPs on that leg and then packed it in. The lack of sleep and the storm the previous night had caught up with them. We also found out that Nike was at least 3 hours behind us.

We knew we had more time credits than Tom's team since we had been ahead of them at the two spots where we had been officially held (both on the first night of the race). We wouldn't find out the final placing until the awards ceremony. Before that we had time to shower (ahhh, nothing like that shower) and eat a free all-you-can-eat texas bbq dinner. So, in a food coma, the results were announced. We were totally shocked when we found out that we had won by less than 15 minutes.

The Haskell race is super fun - a small field but it was really competitive this year. The course is great, it's got a small family reunion feel to it, and you won't find a harder, but more fun, race around. Some one commented to me the next day that now that we've won it, we don't have to do it any more. But I love that race, and I'll keep doing it as long as they keep putting it on.

race report - part 3

2006-05-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

Goodness, we're only heading to the ride/trek at Circle S. Talk about long winded. And Erika, my sister in law, said that it doesn't sound like it was much fun. That's because the interesting parts aren't terribly fun. It would be even more boring to tell you about walking along just talking or joking or finding CPs one after the other with no nav mistakes, wouldn't it? In fact, even the bad weather was fun. The whole thing was fun. Ok, not true. This next part wasn't much fun.

We arrived on the bikes at Circle S ranch and entered the south parcel. It became obvious pretty quickly that the roads on the map did not match the roads on the ground. We took a bit of time to get oriented and then quickly started finding check points. There was one confusing section due to that problem of mis- or un-marked roads, but we didn't pretty well finding most of the CPs in the northern section of the ranch. The idea was that we could ride as close as we could to the CP and then walk to find it. Bikes could be used on existing roads and trails. We did carry our bikes through some areas to cut down the distances between CPs. Things were going well. We'd passed Nike, so we were in third and making good time. Until. the. flats. 9 (maybe. I lost count) flat tires, 1 torn side wall and a broken chain was the total of our injuries. Unfortunately, we only had 5 spare tubes, and the slime tubes that were leaking don't patch well. We calculated (from when Nike passed us to how much earlier they arrived at the next TA ahead of us) that we lost 2 hours to bike issues.

Finally we got rolling, and by this time the weather was turning bad again (surprise!) and we were out of water. We started the ride out to Crooked River Ranch, which would serve as TA for the rest of the race. We stopped at a house along the way to ask for water. Bad idea. Scary dogs, scary people. No water. They said all their water was bottled and they couldn't give us any. That was the first time any of us had been refused water. So, thirstily, we continued our ride to the ranch.

When we arrived, we found out that STAR and Tom's team were already out on the trek. Nike was in TA and getting ready to leave. We were determined to be right behind them, so quickly got ready to head out. As we were getting close to ready, Jim came by to tell us that there was a tornado warning in effect and that we would have to stay for at least 1/2 hour. Nike put down their packs and sat, while we keep getting ready so that we'd be set to go as soon as we were given the OK.

The OK didn't come for 5 hours. Hail, heavy rain and tornados made us stay in TA. We were well fed by STAR's support crew, got everything ready to roll and then went and slept in the lodge until the weather cleared. It's amazing that we managed to be in TA all three nights when the weather was bad.

(Part 4, the final installment. Last two trekking legs and the dramatic finish!)

rest

2006-05-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

I've been resting since the race ended on Saturday night, and yesterday I started to get antsy. I'm not very good at resting. I was feeling really good, so I rode to work today. Ug. My legs felt heavy, they just had no jump to them. So, maybe I'm not as recovered as I think.

On the other hand, if I don't start moving, I'll be unbearable to be around. I'm hoping my legs will work themselves out.

race report, part 2

2006-05-10T16:18:00.000-07:00

Last we saw our heros, they were waiting out the first night's storms in the cold bathroom...

I had been awake for awhile trying to stay warm because the floor just wasn't that comfortable. The sky was clearing and the rain had stopped. Just as I was waking up my team, Leiza came by to tell us that the race would restart at 6 (it was 5:50). We were all set to go, and were the first team out on the water. There were four checkpoints to get. It was a relatively uneventful leg, except for the beer drinking (see highlight post). We were paddling sit on tops, very slow boats compared to other teams, so we were third off the water.

Next leg was to ride to L&M/Circle S ranches. There were a number of trekking points on the two ranches, and we could choose to ride to the entrance at either ranch. The question was whether it was going to rain again, leaving the dirt roads impassable. We decided to risk the bad roads and we went in at Circle S. I got pretty sleepy on the ride out, so started a rousing game of 20 questions, which worked pretty well except for how long it took us to finish a round. When you're tired, you can drag out a game for a very long time. It was a relatively straightforward trekking leg. We had a few nav errors, but otherwise we were doing well. A few teams passed us, but we were still in 4th (3rd?) when we got back to the lake for the second paddle.

There was yet another storm rolling in as it got dark, which was becoming a theme for the race. Two teams were out on the water already. We were allowed to go out, but were told the storm was about 45 minutes away. We decided to wait it out and have a nap for 1.5 hours. We once again settled in to the bathroom, but this time we learned from homeless people that cardboard makes a huge different in how cold it is sleeping on concrete. It is amazing how much better we slept.

After 1.5 hours of sleep, the storm had totally blown over and we headed out for the last paddle leg. It was pretty uneventful, although definitely more difficult to do the nav in the dark. We had one problem when we paddled right past a point, but led another team right up to it and then spent about an hour looking for it again. Once we got that sorted out, it was back to the TA to head out for a ride to a ride/trek at Circle S. We were in 4th place.

(part 3, coming soon)

race report - part 1

2006-05-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

It's hard to know how much detail to give in a race report. The people who read this who also adventure race, and especially those who have done this race before, probably want lots of details. Other people would probably find that boring. I'll see if I can find a happy balance. Pictures would help, of course, but alas, I don't have any.

The whole race experience started by picking up the NC boys at the airport. It became clear why I'm not a navigator after circumnavigating DFW airport a few times trying to find my way to the gates. Finally I noticed a very little sign that had been eluding me. Then I circumnavigated Terminal E three times looking for Charlie. Once we realized that I was looking on the arrivals level while he was waiting on the departures level, everything went smoothly. Picking up Ernie was uneventful and we were on our way.

Wednesday morning was sunny, with no traces of the lightening storms we'd been driving through the night before. The forecast had a low (40%) chance of rain that evening, with a higher chance on Friday. We were still optimistic that the weather would be better than the previous year.

The race started, as it usually does, with a prologue around town that could be done either on scooters or rollerblades. I'm competely useless on rollerblades (you might think I'm exagerating, but I'm really not. Useless. Dangerous to myself and others.) so I chose the scooting option, as did Charlie. The prologue was longer and more difficult than previous years. It involved solving some puzzles and then heading around to various houses looking for words to resort into a phrase. In the meantime, storm clouds were moving in.

We finished the annoying scavenger hunt and jumped on our bikes for the ride to L&N Ranch. Fortunately, it hadn't rained yet and the roads were totally fine. We thought we were waaaaay behind after the hunt, but we arrived at the ranch and there were only two sets of bikes there. We had to run out and get two check points, about 12 km total running. We ditched a bunch of gear and set out. We managed to catch the one team ahead of us and put some time in on them before the wind suddenly changed directions and the temperature dropped 15 degrees. It happened in an instant and that is never a good sign. The rain started with about 2 km to go, and with about 3/4 to go, it really started. Cold, horizontal rain with some hail mixed in.

We got to the bikes and dug for our rain gear. Through the wind and rain we heard someone calling us. Leiza made us crawl into the truck to wait out the storm warning that was in effect. It was 11:37 when we crawled into the truck. The warning was lifted at midnight. In the meantime, Tom's team had joined us in the truck and soon after that, the 4th place team (Nike) climbed into the second truck (STAR was leading and was already on their bikes somewhere). At midnight, we were told we could go, but we were still eating and hoping it might lessen a bit more. We were also getting sleepy. Nike headed out right away, and we finally got motivated about 10 minutes later to make the ride to the lake (on paved roads).

On arrival at the lake, we were told no one was going out. The two teams ahead of us were here, and we were to just hang out until it was safe. We ended up spending the night in the bathroom at the park. We were soaking wet, the concrete floors were freezing, and it may be one of the most uncomfortable nights I've spent. Obviously, we didn't get much sleep.

(long winded part 2, coming soon)

quick highlights

2006-05-08T10:42:00.000-07:00

I'll write a full race report a bit later when the fog in my head clears, but for now, a few race highlights.

- Ernie finding an unopened can of Bud Lite on the beach during the kayak leg. And drinking it.

- Timing TAs perfectly to miss the worst of every storm.

- Sleeping under the shuffle board table at Crooked River Lodge during the tornado warning (see above)

- Bacon. Everything is better with bacon.

- Winning by 11 minutes.

- Having an amazing team and being even more excited about PQ because I get to race with them again.

off i go!

2006-05-02T14:56:00.000-07:00

I'm just about to head out to the race. The jitters have mostly been replaced by excitement. This is a super fun race, and I'm excited to see how the team gets along. The weather is looking pissy, with 60% chance of scattered strong storms just after the start of the race, but let's hope we fall in the 40% instead. The dirt roads up there totally suck in the rain (last year's 1 hr ride turned into a 4 hr bike slog).

I'll be back Sunday and will post a race report soon afterwards. Wish us luck!

to the gills

2006-05-01T20:15:00.000-07:00

It's going to be a tight fit in the jeep from DFW to Haskell tomorrow evening. The back seat isn't split like I thought it was, and my ENORMOUS gear box takes the whole back when the seat is up. That leaves some space between the box and the hatch, and the extra bit of back seat for all of Charlie and Ernie's gear. Oh, and the one scooter that won't fit on the rack with the three bikes. Oh, and the front wheels. Thank god there is a roof rack on the thing. If all else fails, I can strap Charlie up there.

This is where I really need a photo.

pre-race jitters

2006-05-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

I can only imagine the jitters that I'll have before PQ. I'm nervous before every race, but this time I'm nervous because I'm meeting new teammates. I am plagued by self-doubt (ok, plagued might be too strong a word). I'm worried that I won't be fast enough, or that they will think they made the wrong decision by choosing me for the PQ team. It's silly, because I'm definitely ready and I know it will be fine, but there is that one part of me that never thinks I'm good enough. That parts needs to be quiet.

packing, planning and panic

2006-04-30T20:18:00.001-07:00

I've gotten most of my packing done for the race this week. I leave on Tuesday to pick up Ernie and Charlie at the airport in Dallas before heading up to Haskell. There are a few things left to pack, like shoes (better not forget those!) but most things are in. I am trying to figure out what clothes to take. The short crisis has left me in a bit of a spot (a chafed spot, to be exact). I was hoping some other shorts would arrive on Friday, but it looks like I won't get them until tomorrow, not leaving enough time to really try them out. It's risky to race in brand new shorts, but I guess I'll risk it. Don't worry, I'll report back.

It's hard to figure out how to handle the clothes. This is a 72 hr race, as long as the first leg of PQ might take. During a leg at PQ, we don't be changing clothes, but this isn't PQ. hem ha. I'll probably take a few extra pieces of clothing and see how it goes. Boy, this adventure racing thing is complicated.

The panic was when, yesterday, transportation was up in the air. I need to take three bikes, three people, two scooters and gear from Dallas to Haskell. We own a Honda Civic. So, you see the problem. I was hoping to use Howard's Jeep, which has been for sale for 6-8 months and is an extra vehicle for them. Yesterday I found out that there is a potential buyer and the Jeep might not be available. Yikes. But, as it turns out, the panic was not necessary. Although someone is buying the Jeep, they aren't taking possession of it until the Tuesday after the race. Phew.

Here is a picture of Marlene from the third night of last year's Haskell race. It's one of my favourites.

random thoughts

2006-04-27T16:14:00.000-07:00

My day started out poorly. I was greeted at work by a cranky email and it put me in a cranky mood. I am seldom seldom cranky, and I find being cranky, because I'm not used to it, makes me cranky. If that makes sense.

Anyway, I decided to close the shop early after delivering a bike, just to take some time away. A mental health afternoon, so to speak. So, I've gotten a lot less cranky. And we're going out for bbq tonight, so all is well in the world.

I have been resting more this week than I had originally planned. Chris and Corinne are visiting from Seattle, so that forces me to rest. And, as one of my wise teammates said earlier this week 'There aren't many things that will make you faster in the week before a race, but there are a lot of things that will make you slower.' So, I'm trying not to stress about resting, even though I'm stressing around resting.

Our houseguests:

i can see!!

2006-04-26T14:43:00.000-07:00

This morning I went to the eye doctor to figure out how I'm going to see my way through Primal Quest. I've been wearing my last pair of two-week contacts for about 5 months. (As expected, the doctor scolded me and tried to scare me with stories of eye infections. But, if I've been neglectful for the past 15 years of contact use, including not washing my hands before putting them in or taking them out, don't you think I might have some sort of natural immunity? Or at least a very strong constituion there in my eyeballs? I'm going to stick with the not-broken theory.) I'm going to try extended wear contacts for the race. I was in a clinical study for them 10 years ago and I thought they were da bomb. (Yes, I really just said that). For the first time since I was 6, I could see the clock when I woke up in the morning.

I have two pairs to try out, so I'll take them to the three day race next week and see how they do. I've got my hopes up.

happy birthday, sheryl!

2006-04-26T12:40:00.000-07:00

It's Sheryl's birthday today. Yay! It means I'm eating far far too many cupcakes.

short crisis!

2006-04-24T21:06:00.000-07:00

No, that's not a crisis that doesn't last very long, but a crisis regarding shorts. Tonight was the usual Monday night trek. I decided to ride my bike down there rather than drive (it didn't take much longer on the bike), so I was already sweaty when I arrived and it was a pretty warm evening. I was wearing my favourite bike shorts, which I have used in many adventure races for bike/trek sections. I've had no probem in them, even after stream crossings and many hours of wear. But tonight, after only an hour or so of trekking, I noticed some chafing. By the time we were done 2.5 hours of walking, my ass was unhappy. I ended up with two big chafed spots. The three day race is in a week, and suddenly I have to find a new pair of shorts and try them out. A definite crisis.

No, no pictures of this one.

The trek was great though. Especially because with the rain last week, the creek was running and we stopped before the last climb out to go for a swim under the falls. The fire flies were out, the water was awesome. It was perfect. Except for the stinging spots on my ass.

my teammates

2006-04-24T06:30:00.000-07:00

Pete agreed that I need more photos on here. So, I present my teammates, the members of 24seven. What is the point in a blog if you can't post embarrassing photos?

Pete:

Ernie:

Charlie (No embarrassing photos could be found. Yet.):

rope work

2006-04-23T09:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I joined with Dynamic Health Racing to practice rope ascending and rapelling. We set up on both the high and low walls.

Me, ascending:

Gayla, ascending. With a view of the high wall:

Richard, ascending:

Robyn, rapelling on the small wall:

race location

2006-04-22T21:02:00.000-07:00

We finally got newsletter #4. The race will be starting outside of Moab, at Red Cliffs Lodge. I have to admit (although I feel silly for it) that I'm disappointed in the chosen race location. I just feel like Moab has been done. EcoChallenge was there years ago, and Adventure Xstream has had an expedition race there for the past two years, as well as 12 hr races. I wish they could have chosen something new. I'm sure I'll get over it, but right now I'm disappointed.

There were lots of interesting things in the newsletter, including how our gear will have to be organized in our gear boxes that makes my new fancy small-bins-in-bin organization completely useless. We get a bin for mountaineering gear, one for food and one for other gear. That's for all of us. Not sure exactly how that will work, but I guess we'll figure it out. Seems like it will be tight. Oh, and the first leg will be 36-72 hrs long. Ouch.

So, Moab in June/July. Suddenly I'm really excited about the hot weather here in Texas. It will definitely be to our advantage.

lacking

2006-04-21T06:45:00.000-07:00

You know what this blog has been lacking lately? Pictures. So, I took a couple this morning (while deciding how to get to work. The roads are drying, so I could ride, but with paddling rescheduled for tonight, that's always tricky. So, driving is probably best. But I've driven two days this week already, and I hate driving to work. Sigh. I'll end up driving because it will make things less complicated. Sigh again).

My gear box, with new organization (thanks to Sheila for the vision). There is still a bunch of stuff to get in here. It's going to be tight. I may rig something up to attach some stuff to the underside of the lid.

And here is a picture of a paddle blade. It doesn't really show just how pretty it is.

Tomorrow I'll be out with Team Dynamic Health doing ropes practice. I'll take my camera and have lots of photos to post. I'm going to try to post photos more often.

celebration

2006-04-20T19:51:00.000-07:00

Today was a banner day, of sorts. After my tiredness, the thunderstorms and hail that cancelled paddling were welcome. I got to spend the evening with Graeme, celebrating his winning of a new grant. Yay! I'm totally proud of him.

And my new paddle arrived, which is super beautiful. Thanks, dad for getting it for me, and to Rebecca for floating it temporarily.

tired and sore

2006-04-20T10:18:00.000-07:00

My legs are sore today, and I'm tired. The alarm went off at 7 am and I was not done sleeping. If the race weren't in 9.5 weeks, I probably would have kept sleeping. I was also supposed to be meeting Howard to go mountain biking. He called at 7:30 to cancel, so I took Westley trail running instead. I feel like I'm not putting in enough time running (because it's hard to do the thing you like the least, even when it's the thing you need to do the most).

It was beautiful outside, but now I'm sore. I went to the gym yesterday, and with not having a rest day since Friday, it's building up. And I eat All The Time.

Next rest day isn't going to be until... I don't know when. sigh.

yes

2006-04-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

For the past week or so, I've been having some text from an old Nike ad rattling around in my brain. I used to have the text posted in my dorm room in university. I nearly had it memorized from reading it every day. It's been repeating through my thoughts lately, so I went looking for it tonight. I couldn't find the old piece of paper, but through the miracle of google, I found the text. It has nothing to do with who originally wrote it or what they were trying to sell, but everything to do with going to Primal Quest. And everything to do with living.

All your life you are told the things you cannot do.
All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough.
They'll say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve that.
THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no until all the no's become meaningless.
All your life they will tell you no.
Quite firmly and very quickly.
They will tell you no.
And YOU WILL TELL THEM YES.

senseless

2006-04-17T12:15:00.000-07:00

The news just reported that a woman was killed on her bike on a popular bike route here in Austin. It's a busy street, but bikes use it all the time, and on Sunday mornings there are usually more bikes than cars (if only that were always true). She was clipped by one car, and a second car hit and killed her. The first driver stopped. The second did not.

I feel ill. My thought are with her friends and family. Be careful out there if you're riding on the road. And be very careful if you're driving.

slacker

2006-04-17T08:46:00.000-07:00

I felt like I was posting pretty frequently here, and this morning I wandered over to see if I had any comments (no. :( ) and found I haven't posted since Wednesday. Really? Wednesday? What happened to the week? For that matter, what happened to February?

I had a good weekend on my bikes. I went for a fun 3-hour Greenbelt ride on Saturday and a 70 mile road ride on Sunday. I rode with Tom, who was riding his old road bike complete with downtube shifters, rear rack and 6 speeds on the back. Of course, he did fine. That's when you are reminded that it has nothing to do with the bike.

I also owe thanks here to Marlene. She got me a present for PQ last week, and I didn't post thanks. I realized I hadn't done that because I thanked her in person. But, not wanting her to feel left out - thanks, Marlene. You're a dork.

more thanks

2006-04-12T20:56:00.000-07:00

I have more thanks to send out. This week I got more boxes on my door step. Thanks to David and Katherine, and my peeps in Seattle. I totally appreciate it.

This experience of asking for help has been really interesting. I think we (I'm not totally clear who I mean by that 'we') were raised to be independent and that asking for help should be avoided. But I think that's wrong. Asking for help allows other people who support you in what you're doing, in whatever way works. Asking for help shows strengthens communities. I am remembering the support network I have from all the places I've lived. It's really cool. I'll be at PQ knowing that you're all tracking our progress through the website, and that will motivate me through the hard parts.

Thanks.

10 weeks

2006-04-11T14:38:00.000-07:00

I was just talking to Rebecca about the race and I took a look at the calendar. 10 weeks. That sounds waaaay scarier than 2.5 months. Shit. 10 weeks.

perfect day to ride to work

2006-04-11T10:35:00.000-07:00

It was a perfect morning to ride to work. Slightly overcast, 60 degrees, slight tailwind. Perfect. The wind has been picking up since, so I'll probably have a fiercesome headwind on the way home, but it doesn't change that it was a perfect morning.

weekend recap

2006-04-10T14:51:00.000-07:00

Driving. Way Too Much Driving. This weekend totally violated the rule that:

total drive time < total ride and/or trek and/or paddle time

Instead, I drove for 22 hours for a 12 hr race. But, I don't regret it at all, because I had a great time, got to see friends and rode my bike on a fun course.

The race course was excellent. All singletrack (12.5 mile loop) including some technical features that would NEVER make it in a usual endurace race. Tight switchbacks with real exposure (and serious consequences if you don't make the turn). They had a rule in place to make sure everyone was off the course by dark, since those switchbacks would have been dangerous after dark. The event was well run and great fun.

Oh, and I came in second.

Pete and I rode together the whole time and finished 7 laps. Adam did 5 laps on his singlespeed (yay, Adam!). I also got to see Marcie and the kids in Albuquerque before heading to the race course. So, even though the rule was broken, it was a great weekend.

shout out to italy!

2006-04-06T17:43:00.000-07:00

Thanks go out to Scott, in Italy (!!!) for the REI package that just arrived on my door stop. Santa strikes again!

Scott and I went to school together for undergrad. Soon afterwards (although not before suffering in West Texas) he took a job with Ferrari in Italy. He packed up and moved across the ocean, not knowing a WORD of italian, and has made a life there. Graeme and I visited him a few years ago on our whirlwind pass through Italy. I was so super impressed with Scott. He was speaking italian, travelling around europe and just living there. Scott, I'm totally proud of you. It takes more guts than most people have to do what you've done.

racing this weekend

2006-04-06T09:35:00.000-07:00

I'm off to New Mexico tomorrow for a 12 hr mountain bike race . I'm super excited, since Pete and Adam will be there too, and it's an all-singletrack course, which is nearly unheard of. The plan is to leave super early tomorrow and drive to Albuquerque, meet Pete and Adam and head out to Gallup. After the race, Pete and I (and Adam?) will trek through the night. If we don't do that, the whole thing will violate my rule that a race/ride/training has to be longer than the total drive time.

I rode my mountain bike this morning since I thought it would be a good idea to make sure it's working before riding it for 12 hrs. I love my new bike. Love Love Love.

reality check

2006-04-05T08:59:00.000-07:00

This is stolen from the PQ website. In case I wasn't scared already.

"Primal Quest is not only the last of the great expedition-length adventure races, it is generally considered to be the most difficult endurance event in the world. Beginning on June 25th and lasting up to ten days, ninety co-ed teams of endurance athletes will battle raw, dramatic landscapes unlike anywhere else in the world - from high-altitude passes to rugged terrain stripped bare by the powerful forces of nature.

Foregoing sleep, they will navigate through 500 miles of desolate landscapes via trekking, mountaineering, horseback riding, canyoneering, mountain biking, whitewater swimming, paddling and day and night navigation. Daytime temperatures of over 100 degrees will test the athletes, as will the nearly six miles of climbing and descending fixed ropes on vertiginous cliffs. Primal Quest is - simply - a monument to fitness, teamwork and backcountry skills, and currently represents the outer limits of human endurance."

go, tom, go

2006-04-04T12:53:00.000-07:00

If you look in the dictionary next to the word 'unstoppable', you might find a picture of Tom Lane. Tom is my favourite Austin racing partner, and was part of our original team that tried to get a PQ slot. Since we disbanded to try to find spots on other PQ teams, Tom has been training as if he was going to PQ, while talking to teams who were looking to fill their rosters. Tom got all his certs, and was talking about showing up to PQ even if he didn't have a team, in the hopes of replacing someone at the last minute. I would not be able to keep up the motivation to train if I didn't have a team set up for the race.

Today, Tom found out that he'll be racing PQ with Team Ultimate Adventure. Go, Tom, Go! I'm really excited that he's going (although it was never actually in question).

tonight's trek

2006-04-03T21:08:00.000-07:00

Mondays mean a three hour trek after work with the other people in Austin who are training for PQ (there are six of us). We alternate between a trail trek and walking on the roads each week. Tonight was a road walk. The time change means that we had light for half of it, and it was a beautiful evening.

I was trying out some new socks that I got at REI this weekend. I splashed around in some puddles so I could do the real, wet feet test. I'm not sure I like them. I got a hot spot under one foot, which is odd for me. I'm not sure though if it was the socks or the old shoes I was wearing. I'll try them on a trail hike and see how they are. I'm sure you'll wait with bated breath to find out the results of the sock test.

Will the excitement ever end??

the weekend in review

2006-04-02T20:34:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy weekend here. Marcie arrived on Thursday night late late late. I had to go to work for awhile on Friday, but left early to hang out with her. We went to the tattoo place, since she wanted one, and there is one I've been thinking about getting for about 6 years. I signed the forms, was all set to go, but then I read the waiver. "No swimming for however-many days". Oops. My swim certs were scheduled for Saturday, so I had to defer until later. Marcie got hers though. After she got her tattoo done, we met up with Graeme and went out for dinner and margaritas. Yum.

On Saturday, I got up and went for a walk with the dog to pick up some cinnamon buns from Upper Crust Bakery. After breakfast, we did some errands before my swimming cert. I did the swimming down at Barton Springs Pool, which is the jewel of Austin. We had to do a 1 mile swim, and then 10 minutes of treading water. I was dreading it a bit, since I haven't swam a mile in 10 years, probably. But it actually wasn't too bad.

After the swim cert, we had been planning to go back to the tattoo place, but we were running very short on time. There was a surprise party planned for Jonathan that we had to get to. (it was a total surprise. brilliantly executed). We did try to do the tattoo thing after the party, but got to the place 20 minutes before closing. Strike two.

Today, the plan was gospel brunch at Maria's Taco Express, and then attempt three at the tattoo, followed by frisbee golf and then dinner at the Salt Lick. I would call that a perfect Austin day.

Three time's a charm for the tattoo. Here it is. I love it.

(oh ya. I didn't train at all. oh well)

The lurking blogger

2006-03-30T20:52:00.000-08:00

(this post is brought to you by a guest blogger, Marlene...)

So, I'm one of those people who loves to read Beth's blog, and has even posted a couple of comments here and there, and in fact I've even been mentioned a few times. I'm sitting here recovering from hand surgery and I'm dictating this entry (to Beth, of course). Beth just had a breakthrough in asking people for stuff. She realized that she needed to expand her REI gift registry. I explained to her how frustrating it is to go to a wedding registry and be limited to the $3.99 vegetable peeler and the $250 down duvet. Where you just sort of cave and end up buying a gift card (not that that's not an option at REI!). And so I kept asking her and expanding her thinking - "What else do you need? What else can you use?" Imagine that - we came up with a bunch of new stuff. And then there are the lurker shoppers, who buy something off the list and don't let Beth know, so it comes as a complete surprise when it shows up at her door. It's so cool. The best surprises are the ones you don't know are coming.

I'm in amazement about this whole undertaking. I've done big things - I've ridden my bike across the country, but having done a 3 day Adventure Race last May, I am left speechless by having to do that for ten full days. I'm very amazed at what it's taking and what Beth is going through, and yet, somehow she still maintains a social life! (oh so important for a social animal like Beth!) And she isn't in any way overtraining and becoming irritable to the people around her (editors note: that depends who you ask!) I'm even amazed at Sheryl and Jonathan who are donated two weeks of their vacation time to volunteer at PQ. It doesn't seem like too much of a vacation to me. Of course, I'm about to ride my bicycle across the country again, and many people would question that as a vacation, so who am I to say?

I had an interesting breakthrough that might make a difference to people who might take on huge things like this. In regards to my hand surgery, I've already had my hand in a cast for six weeks because of a broken wrist (motorcycle accident). And the bone shifted just enough that it severed a tendon (but only after 5 weeks, of course. Just when I was getting excited about having my hand back). Now I have to have my hand in a cast for another six weeks (although I am training through the whole thing) for quite some time, it was occurring for me as going back to prison, since I had just gotten use back of my right hand (and of course, I'm right handed) and now I'm losing it again. But I got some coaching from a good friend who showed me that, yes, it's painful, and yes, it's inconvenient, and he wasn't minimizing that. But there is a difference between those things and suffering about it, and I had collapsed those two things together. Once I could separate those two things, this whole situation could be a pain in the ass but I didn't have to suffer over if I didn't choose to. Which goes back to the whole training and racing thing. A lot of endurance people train to see how much we can suffer. And that maybe it's possible to have a different context. I think the big difference is that it's physical suffering, versus mental suffering. But sometimes in the other areas of our life we collapse those two together, don't we?!

I will look forward to posting again - this was fun!

it's like christmas

2006-03-30T20:47:00.000-08:00

When I got home from work today, there was a box outside our door (yay for porches). My sister got me something off my REI wishlist! And she didn't say a word! Thanks, KK. I totally appreciate it!

Today and yesterday have been much better days in terms of my mood and training (hmmm, could they be related??). Yesterday I went to the gym in the morning when it became clear that it would be another soggy ride to work. But then I did ride to book club (I love my book club. They are amazing women and I really enjoy spending time with them.) And I rode to work today. Nothing is good for my soul like riding a bike is. I get cranky and critical when I don't spend enough time on my bike. That's how I was feeling earlier this week.

I guess I need to remember to just go ride my bike when I'm feeling so self-critical. I'll add that to the list of things I'm learning along the way.

a soggy tuesday. not just the weather

2006-03-28T19:50:00.000-08:00

I didn't do any training today. Another rest day. But it was unplanned. I had planned to ride to work, but there were serious thunderstorms this morning so I drove to work. I thought I would take my running stuff so I could go for a trail run on the way home if the weather cleared up. Which it did, but I forgot my shoes. So, no training for me. Which isn't the end of the world, but I hate to miss a day when there is only three months left. Three months. It's scaring me. But apparently, not enough to not miss a day.

I'm very hard on myself. I'm not sure how to turn that into the motivation not to miss a day though. Sigh.

a three hour tour

2006-03-28T07:01:00.000-08:00

the weather started getting rough
the tiny ship was tossed
if not for the courage of the fearless crew
the kayak would be lost
the kayak would be lost

Ok, maybe it wasn't that bad. On Saturday night, Sheila and I went out to the Too Cool race to help out. We spent the night waiting for teams to coming into the Transition Area (TA) to give them the next leg, and to check their gear before they headed out again. The teams finished with a 10 mile paddle leg on Lake Sommerville. We set out at 8 am, when all the teams were back to pick up the checkpoints.

The lake was very calm as we set out with our map. But no compass. Yep, two experienced adventure racers, but not, however, navigators, set out to find CPs without a compass. No problem, we thought. We'll use landscape features.

The lake was a bit foggy, but cleared up really quickly. As we left the beach, we noticed a line on the water. It was the wind. Which just got stronger and stronger and stronger. By 10, it was sustained at around 30 mph. Not ideal paddling weather.

A compass would have been useful. We didn't really know the scale of the map as it related to the features around us. And, it turns out, we are much faster paddlers than we thought. What that means, is that we nearly paddled off the map on our way to the first checkpoint. Once we determined where we were, we set out for a different CP, and found it very quickly. So, into the wind we headed to get the one we missed. But we made another mistake and our bearing was totally off (that compass would have been really handy) and we crossed all the way over the lake, taking on water from the big waves, and completely exhausting ourselves.

It took a little while to figure out where we were when we didn't find the CP on the island we expected it to be one. Instead, we stumbled on the third CP. From there, we were back on track. The last four CPs were navigated to perfectly, in spite of the crazy water and waves.

As usual, we learned something from our six hour tour around the lake. 1. Take a compass if you plan to navigate. 2. Understand the scale of the map. 3. Wear waterproof sunscreen when paddling. 4. Nothing is better after paddling for 6 hours than Texas BBQ.

a much needed rest day

2006-03-24T19:12:00.000-08:00

It's not that I trained more than normal this week, but for some reason I was super tired yesterday. So, today is a total rest day. Yes, Marlene, really. Total rest. (I sometimes try to pass of days when I just ride to work as rest days. Riding too work isn't that big a deal. But I guess I can't count riding to work a rest day and then the next day count is as a workout. hmmm. I may have to rethink this.)

my stellar sister-in-law

2006-03-23T19:03:00.000-08:00

Erika found out last week that she got a placement for her residency. She has had a really tough year-and-a-bit after not getting a residency placement in Canada when she finished medical school. She stuck to what she wanted to do and went to Michigan to work while studying for and writing the US medical exams. The placement she got was her last choice, and she was feeling pretty bummed about it when she found out. But I'm proud of her for sticking to it, going after what she wanted, and not listening to the voices in her head. There were a bunch of times when it would be have been easier to give up, or change to general surgery rather than going for the specialization she wanted.

Erika, you're going to be a great surgeon, regardless of where you do your residency. I'm totally proud of you.

thanks, alex!

2006-03-23T05:44:00.000-08:00

My gear box has arrived and it's HUGE. PQ specified a locking 48 gallon box. That sort of narrows down the options. So, here it is. Obviously, I am smaller than 48 gallons.

Alex bought me my gear box, so huge thanks go out to him! The gear box is pretty unglamourous, as far as gear goes, but it holds all the other gear, so it's sort of like... like... ok, I've been trying to come up with a witty analogy all day, and I got nothing. nothing. So, I guess it's like a gear box, full of cool gear. Anyway, thanks, Alex!

the smellin' hellion

2006-03-22T14:13:00.000-08:00

My sweet, smelly dog. Be glad you can't get smell over the internet.
(photo by Kelly and Jocelyn)

not a good start to the day

2006-03-22T09:25:00.000-08:00

Tom and I had plans to paddle this morning at 6 am. I set the alarm last night and tried to go to bed early. When it was still dark out, I heard my cell phone ringing from the living room. I jumped out of bed, and saw on the kitchen clock that it was 5:49. Shit! It was Tom calling to say he was on his way. Thank god he called. I made it to the boat warehouse just after him, but in my rush I didn't check the weather. I was woefully underdressed and was a shivering mess by the time we were done paddling. 20 minutes in a hot shower did little to warm me up.

After the scalding shower, I took Westley for our usual morning walk. On the way back, he rolled in the nastiest smelling pile of something's shit I have ever smelled. This seems to be a distressing new habit. He did it last week in an although less horrible, still stinky pile. I kept him outside when we got home until I had the bath ready. In he went. Now he smells good again.

I can think of better ways to start the day than freezing my ass off and then washing shit off my dog.

the little voice in my head needs to shut up

2006-03-21T10:11:00.000-08:00

We all have little voices in our head that tell us things. Things like 'He's cute, but he would never like me', 'I'm too old to do that', 'But I don't know how', 'I really shouldn't eat this cookie', 'Educated people don't use those kind of words' or 'When I have more money...'. The voice in my head commonly says 'I'm not good enough', or some variation of that. The voice usually sounds like it's speaking the truth. But have you ever thought about what other people would think if they heard your little voice? They would probably think it was ridiculous.

My little voice often says, in a variation, 'I'm not fit enough'. When I told Sheryl and Marlene about this voice's comments, they looked at me like I had two heads. Yep, it's competely ridiculous. Fit enough for what? If I'm not fit enough, is anyone fit enough?

This came up again on Sunday, when I realized that I am critical of myself because I somehow think that I don't look like someone who does PQ. That I don't have the right body type. I told Marlene this, and again the voice of reason rang out. 'What does someone who does PQ look like then? What should you look like?'

'Taller?'

remarkably, it's not all about me

2006-03-21T09:03:00.000-08:00

Marlene went to the doctor this morning, and she has to have surgery on her wrist. This totally sucks. She broke it 6 weeks ago, and although the bone has healed well, there is tendon damage that needs to be repaired. 6 weeks in a non-removable splint. I would be sooooo cranky if I had to deal with that. To make it all about me, this means another 6 weeks without my road riding partner.

loving my new bike

2006-03-16T07:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon I closed the shop an hour early to go riding with some of the guys that I haven't ridden with in ages, and to ride a trail I haven't ridden in ages. On Sunday, I finally felt like my new bike was clicking - I knew how it would react, and didn't hesitate to ride the technical stuff. That feeling continued yesterday. I can't say I've got it totally figured out yet, but I'm getting there.

Our friends Kelly and Jocelyn from Seattle are coming into Austin today for a few days visit. We're really looking forward to seeing them. Hopefully Kelly and I will get to ride a few times while they are here. So much for doing more running this week.

unmotivated

2006-03-14T09:40:00.000-08:00

No, not to train, to work. The shop is crazy busy and I have a huge amount of work to do, but I'm having trouble getting started. I know everyone has those days. I just don't have time to have one.

enough?

2006-03-13T06:49:00.000-08:00

I've been waffling about whether to ride or drive to work today. I don't like driving to work, but lately have been doing it more because other things come up that require it. I have to drive tomorrow because I need to pick up Graeme from the airport in the morning. I had planned to ride today. But I paddled at 6 am this morning, and I have a three hour trek tonight. Riding to work would make it very hectic tonight to get home and eat before going to the trek.

And shouldn't an hour of paddling and three hours of trekking be enough for one day??

This is where the thing about being compassionate with myself is supposed to happen.

the list

2006-03-12T17:38:00.000-08:00

I know I have a shitload of stuff to do in the next three months (apart from training. I'm well aware of that part) and I'm having trouble keeping it all in my head. So, I thought I should make a list. Which I have. And it's scary. There is still a lot to do and a lot of gear to get. yikes.

So, here it is. The LIST.

To do:
first aid cert
horse cert
swimming cert
eye exam/contact lenses

To get:
crampons
ice axe
gear box
kong skarab helmet
new shoes
gear box
new headlamp
extra space blankets
rapelling gloves
lightweight/small packing sleeping bag
knife with sheath
mesh bag for paddling gear
swim fins with tether
swim board/boogie board
neoprene gloves
rain gear/shell
shorts
bike shoes - regular and larger size

I'm sure that's not complete, but at least I have it written down so I can see it. Even though it makes it scary, it also makes it manageable.

(If anyone wants to buy me a piece of gear, however small, I have a gift registry at REI. You can just search for my name and find it. I'm learning how to ask for help and accept graciously. Marlene says it's good practice. Marlene is always telling me that hard things are good practice. It's reminicent of my parents telling me that things I didn't like would build character. At some point, I think I had enough character.)

too tired to sleep

2006-03-11T21:22:00.000-08:00

Do you ever get so tired that you can't even get off the couch to go to bed? That's how I feel. We did the kayaking certs today, and it was a LOOOOONG day. I got home about 14 hrs after I left (although that did include breakfast before heading down to San Marcos). I ended up having to call Sheryl to check on the dog since I was out so much longer than I had expected.

The day went really well. The biggest thing I got out of it was paddling technique. I have always just paddled. Today we were filmed paddling at different speeds, and our technique was critiqued. I do things that I had no idea about. My technique is pretty good at a sprint, but gets worse as I slow down. I worked on it through the day and noticed distinct improvements in speed and efficiency. I'm excited to work on it later this week.

I was supposed to be helping out with some trail building tomorrow, but I just want to sleep until I'm done and then take Westley to the dog park, and then practice some ropes work before going riding later in the afternoon. I just need a mellow morning. Especially with the new schedule of paddling with Tom at 6 am on Mondays. yikes.

On that note, I'm going to bed.

the week in review, and the weekend preview

2006-03-10T08:10:00.000-08:00

It's been a pretty mellow week around here. I decided it should be a bit of a rest week after the weekend altitude workout. So, I totally rested Monday and Tuesday, went mountain biking on Wednesday morning, rode to work Thursday and went to the gym this morning. And I'll paddle tonight. It's unbelievable that I consider that a rest week.

Tomorrow is boating certification day. A bunch of us will traipse down to San Marcos to play on the river. I'm looking forward to it - it will be perfect weather and a day of whitewater playing is always fun.

Graeme is away this weekend, so I'll spend most of my time frolicking in the woods. Sunday will be trailbuilding and riding day. And maybe I'll squeeze a trek in on Saturday evening.

Wow, my life is so exciting.

Salt Lake City!!!

2006-03-07T16:41:00.000-08:00

We got the third competitor's newsletter today which announced that the host airport for PQ is SLC. So, we'll be racing somewhere within 2-3 hrs of there. Looking at Google Earth, it looks like the only spots around there that are above 12,000' are the La Sal mountains and the Wasatch Crest. I'm hoping for the Wasatch, since I've spent a bunch of time aroudn Moab already, and there have been a bunch of races there already.

Either way, I'm really excited.

back from new mexico

2006-03-07T16:28:00.000-08:00

We had a great time. The extended weekend included sleeping, eating great food, watching movies, hiking, riding, horseback riding, soaking in the hot tub, eating pizzas, drinking wine and good friends.

We arrived pretty late on Wednesday, and settled into the house. On Thursday, I rode my bike into town to collect some maps of the hiking and biking trails in town. After lunch, Jonathan and I went and did part of a trail outside of town. We hiked up to about 9300' before turning around. We took some time exploring an old mine from the 1900s and Jonathan faced his fear of hillside trails.

On Friday, everyone else was planning to head to Carlsbad to see the caves. Graeme and I had been there a few years before, and Pete was on his way down for our training session. He arrived just as they were heading out. Pete and I got packed, went grocery shopping, and headed out on our bikes.

We rode the trails around town, including a super fun downhill run with beautifully made jumps that I just couldn't resist. There was also included the steepest hike-a-bike I've ever pushed a bike up. Post town trails, we made a quick stop for pizza in town before heading up the long climb to the ski area. It was a long, painful, ugly climb. We got to the top right around dusk after 8 hours on the bikes, rode up the trail a bit and ditched the bikes for our trekking shoes.

The wind. Oh, the wind. It blew all night. 40 mph. It nearly knocked me off the mountain. And it was cold. And we lost the trail. In other words, it was perfect adventure race training. In the end, we trekked for 12 hrs, rode for 10 and were totally exhausted at the end. More than half of the 22 hrs were spent above 10,000', and probably 6 hrs were spent over 11,000'. I felt really good about how I handled the elevation, with only a bit of a headache. Of course, I got out of breathe quickly, but I also recovered really well. That was encouraging.

Once we got back to the house, we ate and slept and ate and slept and ate and slept. Then Pete went home.

On Sunday, we went horseback riding.
We have to ride horses in PQ, so it was really good to spend some times on one. I hadnt been riding in at least 15 years. I still have to get certified for the horses, but at least I feel totally comfortable on one now.

So, it was a great weekend. Time spent with friends, time spent training, time spent with Pete. Perfect.

off to new mexico

2006-02-28T22:04:00.000-08:00

I'm off to new mexico in the morning. I'm going with Marlene, Will, Sheryl and Jonathan. Graeme, unfortunately, can't come with us. That sort of puts a damper on the whole vacation thing, but it will still be fun. Pete is coming down from Los Alamos so that we can do a 24-30 hr training session at some altitude. There is no snow, so the original plan of snowboarding has been blown out of the water. We'll still have a good time though.

The question of the hour is whether or not I'll go to the gym in the morning. That would involve getting up at 5:30 (also known as oh-my-god-early) which would mean 5.5 hours of sleep. I know, I can sleep in the car. Or in my nice comfy bed next to Graeme. It's still a toss up if I'll set the alarm.

is this what a tapeworm is like?

2006-02-28T09:42:00.000-08:00

I'm hungry all the time. ALL THE TIME. I run out of ideas of what to eat. I eat 5 or 6 times a day. I guess I need some new snack ideas. Meanwhile, Marlene's tummy isn't digesting well at all, so she's really not eating at all. Can I say I'm eating for two?

incredible shrinking

2006-02-27T08:16:00.000-08:00

My boobs are shrinking. I put on my one decent bra this weekend, and I don't fill it. Now, the thing is, I'm actually gaining weight, in the form of lean muscle. But apparently, I'm losing fat. And we all know that boobs are fat. By the time PQ roles around, my boobs may disappear completely. That wouldn't be all bad, since I'd rather wear a base layer over a restrictive sports bra. But still. What would be ideal is to have boobs just when I want them. Someone should work on that.

the weekend recap

2006-02-27T07:58:00.000-08:00

Our ropes certification was scheduled for Saturday morning. However, after our four months of drought, the wet week was supposed to continue into Saturday with rain all day. The plan (or so I thought) was that the cert would happen Saturday unless you heard otherwise. Even though it was raining, and it seemed like pretty shitty weather for climbing up and down ropes, I didn't hear anything. I definitely didn't want to miss it, so off I went in the rain (and late) to the greenbelt. Of course, I was the only one there. And it was raining. Hard. But I was already wet and awake, so I tromped around the greenbelt for two hours before going home for a hot bath.

(insert car fixing, wedding, sleeping here)

On Sunday the weather was much better and we (myself, Tom and the Dynamic Health team) converged on the Urban Assault wall for some climbing up and down and up and down the ropes. There was a lot of waiting involved, since some tasks were a bit time consuming (mental note - must practice rappelling past an anchor) and there were only two ropes and six people. But, no one got cranky, and the weather was good, and it was really enjoyable. I thank everyone who was there for making it a fun morning.

Apres rope certs, I had been planning to go for a mountain bike ride. But I hadn't seen Graeme much all weekend, so instead we went and played frisbee golf together. Unfortunately, frisbee golf isn't a PQ event. So what. It was fun.

My sister's has a blog

2006-02-25T10:34:00.000-08:00

My sister has a blog now too. It's here.

i'm a slacker

2006-02-25T10:29:00.000-08:00

At least when it come to updating my blog, I guess I'm a slacker. It's been a crazy busy week. Let me explain my laziness. Last weekend, we had to go to Canada because my dad was getting married. We were gone from Friday-Sunday, which means that we lost the weekend time usually used to get all the minutia of life done, like cleaning the house, buying groceries, etc. Since we got home very late on Sunday night, and I had to work on Monday, I felt like I was way behind on life. And I had something planned every night this week. And we had a house guest arriving on Thursday. So, between working all week, training and getting the house in order, updating the blog fell to the bottom of the list. No, it fell off the list.

But it's back on. Except now I'm leaving again on Wednesday, so it again won't be updated for a few days. Until then though, I'm sure I'll churn out all sort of excitement. mmhmm.

hit by a car

2006-02-16T20:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was hit by a car on my commute to work. It was one of those situations that you see happening, but can do nothing to prevent. The girl driving was late for school, and she turned into me right in front of the school. I was going pretty quickly, so I couldn't stop, or make the turn beside her. She hit me with the front panel of the SUV, pushed me for awhile, and then swerved away. That's when I hit the pavement. Fortunately, I'd slowed down quite a bit by then.

I'm fine, and my bike is fine. I have some road rash on my elbow and lots of bruises. I'm pretty achy, but in a few days I'll be totally over it.

And no, I didn't get her insurance information. And yes, I know I should have.

new toy

2006-02-14T13:15:00.000-08:00

I rode my new bike this morning. soooooo much fun. It will take a little while to get used to it, since it handles and behaves differently than my old bike. It's pretty sweet though.

in memory of

2006-02-13T07:50:00.000-08:00

On Sunday I was chatting online with Chris, a good friend who lives in Seattle. I was telling him about my gift registry, which he thought was a cool idea. I told him that the pack I wanted wasn't available through REI, and I sent him a link to the GoLite site. At the end of the conversation, he told me the pack was on it's way. (thanks, chris!!) I said I would write his name on it for the TV cameras to see. He suggested that I write his mom's name instead.

Gail Alef died a few months ago after being hit by a car while riding her bike on a Sunday morning. Most parents think Primal Quest sounds insane, and worry about the risks. Gail would have said it was really cool, and probably would have been a little jealous. So, Gail, I'll be wearing the pack for you.

want to help?

2006-02-12T08:51:00.000-08:00

People have been asking me how they can help me with this crazy primal quest thing. The race is unsupported this year, so no one can come help me during the race. But you can help me get there. There are five pages of required gear, much of which I don't have. I have set up a gift registry at REI.

Any gear gifts are totally appreciated. Items can be sent to the Austin store to save on shipping. Thanks to everyone! I truely couldn't do this without friend's and family's support (and I'm not just talking about gear)