Strapped on for dear life

This weekend I finally grew a pair, slipped on my bike shoes, strapped myself to my bike and hoped for the best. And it wasn't bad! We did 20 miles around the suburbs south of Denver and I'm completely in love with my new bike. Even with a 20 mph headwind, I was leading our pack going up a solid 5-10 mile climb. I never thought I'd like hills! Ok, so I still don't LOVE hills, but they don't fill me with dread anymore.

I had no troubles clipping in and out of my pedals and could really feel the difference. And while I usually rode by myself, riding with a whole pack was much more enjoyable. All of these positive outcomes really had me feeling good about my decision to upgrade my bike. Over the past month, while I've been too nervous to try out the new pedals for the first time, I started second guessing myself and worried that perhaps I had spent way too much money. I haven't. It's totally worth it.

Since my big scary first ride was out of the way, I decided to ride to work today on the new bike instead of the old one. I think I got a little cocky. As I was coming down my back alley, the garbage truck was backing up it, so I pulled off into a little gravel parking area, promptly forgot to unclip and fell over. I've been told by all cyclists that everyone falls over at least once, so hopefully this was my time. My palm is a little raw and my shin for a good raspberry, but all in all, it was mostly just my ego.

As I was sitting on the ground, still locked into my pedals, the garbage truck driver walked past and asked if I was alright. It was at this point that I realized, I can't get my shoe out of the clip. Instead of the typical road bike clips, I have mountain biker clips, for no reason other than the free shoes my boss gave me came with those on them. These clips have two screws that bolt them to the shoe. At some point between Saturday and this morning, one of those screws came out, so as I tried to twist my foot to pop the shoe out, it would instead keep rotating. I'm throwing this into the "thank goodness I found out when I did" category, because if I had tried to unclip at an intersection, I would have found out unexpectedly that I could not and likely would have fallen into traffic.

So the garbage man helped hold my shoe while I put my foot back into it and I proceeded on my way to work, clipping in and out with my left foot instead. When I got to my office, I just took my foot out entirely and walked to the elevator with one stocking foot.

Thankfully, my boss has an extra pair of shoes with her, so I'll use those after work to ride to REI to get my other shoe fixed. So long as we can figure out a way to pop my broken shoe out of the clip!

And so my adventures in riding begin...

Three Things.....Friday

Well I'm a day late, but I don't have the energy to think up Friday Facts.

1.) I'm adding Texas to a list of states I'd never want to live in (it joins Florida in that distinction). El Paso is just plain old ugly. I can't ever get my bearings, because every street looks the same, with questionable establishments, adult stores (we are by a military base, after all), and nondescript strip malls. There have been some pretty fierce dust storms, which completely hide the nearby mountains from view. I can only imagine what these dust storms are doing to my lungs.

However, Fort Bliss, the military installation I am working at, is delightful. With a quaint historic cantonment area, it is the second largest Post in the country (nearby White Sands is the largest). Fort Bliss, along with Fort Benning in Georgia, caught the brunt of the expansion required under the 2005 BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) law, so a lot of the barracks and RCI (resident communities initiative) housing is all brand new. It's my belief that Bliss was picked because the training areas would be the closest thing the U.S. has to the climate of the Middle East.

Fort Bliss, however, also was named so using the same line of thinking used to name Greenland. Trying to make a fairly unappealing location seem nicer by giving it a good name.

2.) All of my good eating, drinking, and exercising habits have really been askew the last two weeks. I need to get my act together; I've been dehydrated, tired, and my stomach is slowly filling out again. No Bueno.

3.) While I was originally going to use my newfound $650 United airlines dollars in a practical way, to get back east for the multiple trips I have to make this year, my less practical-side of my brain now wants to go somewhere fun. But where to go?! Ideas?

Its Hard out here for a Pimp

Anybody watch the Oscars last night? If so, you'll understand the title.

But more importantly, I've started out my week by big pimpin'.

I am flying to El Paso today. My original flight was scheduled for 10:11 and as I waited to board, using my fancy pants early boarding Premiere status, the airline staff kept asking for a volunteer to give up their seat. I went over and asked when the next flight would be and, hearing that it wouldn't be until 5, I held off and boarded the plane. Once again, while sitting waiting to take off, the flight attendant said they were still looking for a volunteer and added that it was for an active duty military personnel, flying on orders. Already on the fence, I volunteered.

Once I got back to the gate, the wonderfully joyful woman I had talked to earlier greeted me with "Oh honey, it was you!! Thank you!" The United staff members were wonderful, not only setting me up with my $400 voucher, but also tacking on a second set of rewards - I can choose between 10,000 reward miles, $250 voucher, or 20% off a flight purchase. A whooping $650 flight dollars just for hanging out in the airport working, instead of working from El Paso. Oh, and she threw in a $15 meal voucher, too, and I'm getting paid per diem today.

But thats not why I'm big pimpin. Faced with uncomfortable airport chairs, slow internet, and constant airline announcements, I went for broke, bought an online one-time access pass, and am spending the day in the United Club area of DIA.

Boy, I don't know if I can ever go back. Its so nice up here. Comfortable chairs, free snacks (and good ones!), coffee, wine, spirits, and beer. I'm catching up on work emails while watching CNN and I haven't even explored all of what this area has to offer. I'm slowly making my way further into the depths of the Club area, going slowly so no one spots me as an outsider and sends me back down to steerage. I looked up the membership costs ($525/year - ouch!) but boy, if I had a lot of layovers (I normally don't), I can really see why it would be worth the price!

And goodness, I'm really glad I showered this morning and put on real pants!

Three Things Thursday

1.) Last week I had an annual doctor appointment and had blood drawn to make sure all my insides are as healthy as they should be. During the visit I found out that my blood pressure is still nice and low and, just barely, I'm no longer anemic - hooray! I got the results over the phone on the rest, including my cholesterol. I came in at a whopping 199, just skidding in under the 'bad cholesterol' threshold, but for very good reason! My lipids and bad cholesterol are all happily below the right levels and my good cholesterol is off the charts into super duper territory. I'd repeat back the exact numbers but quite frankly she read them very quickly and I just generally understood the thumbs up results. I'll get the full numbers in the mail for my records, but its good to know my insides are happy!

2.) My knee really hurt on Tuesday. I couldn't straighten it all the way in bed and couldn't lift it to be level with my upper leg, so I iced it and took the day off. Yesterday I had a long day, didn't get out of work til 7 and again took a rest day. Today my knee feels better than it has all year, since my graceful fall/slip down the slopes at Keystone. I think I'm going to take off tonight as well, let everything really get back to a happy place, then bang out an awesome 10k race pace run this weekend.

3.) Tomorrow I'm headed to Steamboat! Yay! Another weekend full of skiing, snowshoeing, and running, with a little bit of Euchre in there. I've never played it, but I'm going to a Cold Butt Euchre tournament on Saturday - who wants to be my partner?!

Hooray for Ouray!

On my drive back to Denver after a long weekend away, I was once again struck with an overwhelming sense of gratitude for my life. Even our six hour trek (nearly 7.5 on the way there, at night) was fun, packed into a pick up truck full to the brim with 5 people and gear. We took the 'scenic' route of 285 instead of I-70, although really, any drive in western Colorado is a scenic one.

We were coming back from a weekend birthday celebration in Ouray. Eleven of us trekked to the southwestern corner of the state from Denver, Ft Collins and Steamboat to celebrate the 29th birthday of our friend Jess VanderKwaak. For her birthday, she wanted to go ice climbing, for which Ouray is internationally known. Our pick up truck full of 5 people arrived at 12:30 Friday night and we were up with the sun (some of us begrudgingly) on Saturday am.

Our early rise was somewhat thwarted when the rental shop didn't open til 9, so Jess and Morgan made good use of our extra time by doing an impromptu photo shoot in the street.


But then we got our gear and headed to Box Canyon. We first stopped to put on our helmets and crampons, so we could hike about a mile to our site.

I really hope I don't tear my ski pants!

After a short walk down the canyon, holding onto a guide rope, we were ready to climb!

We couldn't have asked for better weather and soon we were all up on the ice. The first climb was pretty easy, starting out with a 45 degree angle before becoming vertical.


The third climb was a bit more vertical:
And here's Katie, also a birthday girl, on our last climb of the day, a solid 180 foot climb!


Since I didn't want to walk out the way we had walked into the canyon, I topped out on this last climb, with shaking calves and tired arms.

Still full of smiles!

The next day we were back at the rental place, picking up cross country skis.

All the cool kids accidentally own the same socks

After some debate, we headed 25 miles up and over a pass to the town of Silverton. Coincidentally, Silverton was having their annual Skijoring competition. Essentially, skijoring is a sport where skiers are pulled by either dogs or horses, kind of like a winter rodeo. They hold on for dear life and go over jumps and around object, collecting rings along the way. The goal is to have the fastest time and not die in the process.

We watched a few riders and then headed out on our skis.

The trick to mastering cross-country skiing is to not fall down.

After skiing a bit in Silverton, we packed up into our cars again and headed back towards Ouray, stopping in Ironton for a bit more skiing. Ironton is a ghost town that used to be a staging area for Ouray, but has since gone the way of all flesh, save but a few buildings.

Morgan and Susie hanging out in an old Ironton building.

After another night at home, making a group dinner and playing games, we slept in til 8 on Sunday, had a delightful breakfast, and began our six hour drive home. Before heading out of town, we stopped at Moose Tracks, the local chocolate store, and indulged in a few sweet treats. While I didn't buy any, my favorite were the chocolate ice climbers - talk about knowing your audience!!

Three Things Thursday

1.) Its been a slow work week, which never means good things for me. Mostly, it means I have trouble motivating to complete the work I do have - I am much better under deadlines and pressure. Yesterday, although slow, was particularly challenging one that stressed me out and really had me frustrated. In dealing with a difficult situation, though, I am proud of the way I handled it and this morning, as the situation continued to unfold, both my boss and VP of my division supported the decisions I made and my initial reaction was correct. I am also more than happy that they are both now involved in the situation and it is no longer in my hands to deal with.

But, as a direct result of my workday, I decided I needed a mental and physical break. Instead of doing my planned workout, I left work somewhat early, got a bottle of wine and a 'modified' version of my favorite 'what a bad day' meal. Anyone who knows me, knows this means bread and brie!! I haven't had any in ages and, in the spirit of moderation, I got a demi-loaf and a small sliver of brie. I snuggled into my comfy pants and watched the first season of Sex and the City. It was needed and I feel ready to get back at it today.

2.) Last night I also realized, while the wine was nice, I don't really miss it. It was expensive (money that could be better spent elsewhere) and I awoke at 3 am, unable to fall back asleep (with a tiny hangover, to boot). It was nice to take a breather, but it re-solidified all my reasons for not drinking and I'm happy to continue down that path.

3.) I've been tinkering with what I eat before runs, having had some successes and some super bad horrible failures. Today I try another method: eat nothing. I'll nom on a banana at some point this afternoon, but then head out after work on a fairly empty stomach. To supplement my run, I'll snack on some of my "SportBean" jelly beans along the way, a few at a time. Hopefully this gameplan will eliminate any gastronomical pyrotechnics or, as Katie says, the "need to go whoops in my pants." Isn't running glamorous?

Somewhat Wordless Wednesday

This is the motto/tagline of the James O'Rourke Memorial Triathlon, held in North Platte Nebraska towards the end of April. The sprint distance triathlon is held each year in memory of my friend Adam's father, who died in 1991 during the running portion of his first triathlon. I am honored to be racing the tri along with Adam and Morgan this year.