Trying Triathalon

This past Saturday, I headed up to Redfish Lake and entered my first triathlon. I did the sprint length (500m swim, 20mile bike and 5k run) and let me tell you, a lot of gear is needed to do one of these things...

Wet-suit, goggles, a bike, 2-pair of shoes, a helmet...not to mention all of the water bottles and what-not, piles of stuff everywhere...piles of everyone else's stuff everywhere...it was crazy...and I loved it.

I was in mountain bike shoes on a road bike, I swam in my surf wet-suit, biked in a sport-bra, ran in a bike jersey, forgot my number on the run...I was a mess and smiling like a fool the whole time.

Have you ever tried to run after being on a bike? ...try it - it's funny.

My friend Crist was kind enough to postpone his morning to take the reins on my flip video and document my swim and start of the bike...thanks man!

I finished in 3rd place out of 66 (1st female) with a time of 1:10:46 Full Results and now I am hooked. I have got to give props to my ITA teammate Sarah Groff for doing what she does.

Also shown in the video below - last week's Wednesday night Road & Dirt short-track bike race held in Hailey, ID. I do the 20-minute sport race for now but hope to move up with the big-dogs once I win the little sucker!


audio: Wyclef Jean featuring The Rock & Melky Sedeck - It Doesn't Matter

Home again, Home again...

Back in K-town and Summer has finally showed up. The wild flowers are going OFF, and the dirt is PERFECT on the single-track! This is going to be a great training block.

I have an easy week to get back to routine with 14 hours, 1 set of intervals and a few fun races. Check back for the report on my first triathlon!

Shown below, one of our final workouts in Bend. We woke up early to hit the crust out around Broken Top mountain (9,152'). Visible in one of the pans are Middle and North Sisters, Washington, Jefferson and maybe Mt. Hood...we could see it that day but I am not sure if it made it into the shot.





Also pictured was my first run here in Ketchum since my return. I had envisioned more but my tri-pod broke on the first set-up and the batteries ran out soon after. I guess that is what I get for paying 99 cents on eBay.

Thanks to Vasque for the kicks, I am loving them! Thanks also to Danny and Michelle for letting the team use their car for our entire time in Bend! Gas is expensive - it was nice not to have to take the 15 passenger van all of the time. If you are in Bend, check out their store (my old place of employment), Pine Mountain Sports and say hi for me.

Maverick's

I once believed that skiers were some of the more able-bodied group around. The Sun Valley ODT team watched a gang of kids trying to ride an artificial wave, here in Sun River, OR the other day and were all – “these guys are terrible,” and “this can’t be that hard.” We were fired up for our day off to prove our coordination.

Flip video w/ mini tripod (eBay, 99⊄) in tow, I was anticipating a sweet video.

After 2 hours, a bit of whiplash, some bruises, raspberries and broken egos we headed home with 2 hours worth of footage. The only shots that aren’t bloopers are of the kids that aren’t us…

Here she is, condensed to just over 2 minutes...



“I would be way better if I wasn’t so bad.”
“You just have to find the rhythm that doesn’t make you fall”
“I was psyched that one time you didn’t fall, but then you fell.”
“I felt like I was up for a lot longer…”

Tomorrow will feel great when we do something we are good at...ski!

*audio = forgive me, 4th diciple

Junuary

INTERNATIONAL COACH OF THE YEAR

siblings Kate, Matt & Jake (circa 1985)

My big brother Matt, a coach for the US Ski team, was name the Cross Country International Coach of the Year by the United States Ski Association! Congratulations Matt!

Kate, Jake & Matt, 2000