Running away from home - Part 2

Wednesday morning I woke up and was immediately so excited about snowboarding!! I had breakfast at a great little place in Winter Park called the Mountain Rose (sausage - yum!), and then got to the Mary Jane parking lot around 9:00. It was almost empty! I bought my lift ticket and hopped on the Super Gauge lift ... I was so pumped up I just couldn't stop smiling. It had snowed about 6 inches two days before and there was still lots of fluffy stuff for me to play in. I was a little worried about my first run because it had been about 11 months since I last snowboarded, but it came back very quickly. By my second run I was searching out some moguls to test myself on.

I had a great time on the bumps! They were mostly forgiving because of all the snow. I spent most of the day on blue/blacks and blacks - a big feat for me! It just felt so good to glide through the powder! It was exhausting though, I had to stop 2 or 3 times on each run to catch my breath. But it was okay because a lot of the time I was the only one around. Amazing!!

The only thing missing was Chris. Going by myself was nice because I could do whatever I wanted, but I think snowboarding is more fun with someone else. It's great to get to the bottom of a run and be like "Did you see that fall?" or "wow, that was awesome!" or "motherhuckin!" (just kidding). I really hope we can go up one weekend!! Speaking of Chris, he gets back tonight and I can't wait to see him!

Anyway, I rode until about 3:30, when my legs just couldn't take anymore. I was exhausted but supremely happy. What a wonderful adventure, and what a blessing to be able to enjoy it! Oh, and now I have the bug again ... snowboarding is the best!! :)

Running away from home - Part 1

I think in my last post I mentioned that I need some alone time. Well, I got it! Monday was an annoying day at work because I found out that the computer I need won't be up for at least a week. So I decided to run away from home!!

I reserved a bed at a hostel in Winter Park for Tuesday night and went to REI to get a guide book for hikes in Grand County and a couple other things. Tuesday morning I left my house at 6:15 AM and headed for the mountains, with a car full of snowboarding and snowshoeing gear. Woohoo!! Unfortunately, I hit Denver just in time for rush hour traffic and had to wait at the base of Berthoud Pass for about 20 minutes while they did avalanche blasting, so I didn't get to my destination until about 11.

I decided to do a hike up toward Devil's Thumb, a supposedly prominent mountain/rock formation on the western side of the Continental Divide (I never saw it b/c of clouds). The road to the trailhead was shut down to cars, so I huffed it 2.6 miles before even getting on the trail! But it was beautiful so I didn't mind too much, and it was easy hiking. Once I got to the trail there were some snowmobile tracks that I was following, but then I got to a sign that pointed me in the exact opposite direction of the tracks. So I headed into the fresh snow, but it didn't last long b/c it was about hip deep!! That's when I discovered the beauty of my new book and my GPS.

A little side note on the GPS. My mom gave it to me about 7 years ago because she was worried about me getting lost, and I haven't really used it much. I am kind of anti-technology when I'm in the woods and up until now I've felt like it was a waste of money. But I still bring it when I'm snowshoeing so I can mark the car as a waypoint, just in case. Anyway ... I realized that my book has the latitude and longitude of a handfull of waypoints on each trail. So I plugged those into my GPS and realized that the snowmobile tracks were actually going in the right direction. Yay!!! For some reason, this was really exciting for me. I think maybe because my work has been making me feel frustrated and incapable of doing anything right, it just felt really good to figure something out and have fun doing it. Silly, I know, but it is the small victories in life that keep us sane.

About a mile later I came to a huge clearing, at least a quarter mile long, with 12,000-13,000 foot peaks behind it. It was gorgeous and peaceful and snowy and wonderful!! I kept following the snowmobile tracks up a valley and was climbing pretty good, but eventually ran out of time and had to turn around. I think I got to somewhere around 10,500 feet and was on the trail for at least 2.5 miles - so overall a 10 mile hike! That is a lot in snowshoes!! It was a wonderful day.

The hostel I stayed in (Rocky Mountain Inn and Hostel) was great. I had the female dorm room all to myself. There was a huge kitchen and common area, and lots of neat people to talk to. There were a few families and a wide range of ages. I realized just how lucky I am to live so close to the mountains as I was talking to people who had traveled from Arizona, New York, and France.

Naked Wild Basin Yoga (not in that order)

Yes, you read my title right - I said naked! Now that I have your attention, I'll get to that part at the end of this post. Today I went snowshoeing with Rachel and Matt Bishop from the Wild Basin trailhead, just south of Rocky Mountain NP. We hiked on the Finch Lake trail to a really nice overlook of the mountains - most notably 13,911 ft Mt Meeker. The first mile of trail was along a road and so really easy. Then it went up hill along a ridge to the east, before switching back sharply to the southwest. We eventually made our way to a drainage, which we followed for "only" .9 miles - but it was pretty steep and all fresh snow, so it was pretty challenging! But the view at the top of the trail was well worth it.

I was very happy to be out in the mountains today. There was a nice mixture of sublime tree-lined views and dramatic mountain views. Sometimes it is nice to remember why living in Colorado is the best, and to have time to not think about anything except where to step next, how peaceful the sound of the wind through the trees is, and how close God feels when I am in nature. Overall it was about 3.3 miles each way. I've never been to this area before, but it seems to hold a lot of promise for future hikes for any season.

The hike was also the perfect distance. We got an early start and were hiking by 9:20, but we were done around 2:00. So I got home before 4:00 and had time to relax (even though I should be working on the newsletter). I watched a little of the superbowl, but then went to a 'restorative' yoga class at 7:00 - it was wonderful! Have I mentioned yet that I am really enjoying yoga lately? I might be getting hooked!

The class ended with about 10-15 minutes of basically laying in some very comfortable poses. I was completely relaxed by the end. I left the gym and was driving through campus and heard some yelling ... and then saw two guys running by my car completely naked!!! Ahh!!!! Crazy college kids!! Maybe they are Giants fans?? Who knows.

Well, that was my Sunday. I am feeling kind of lazy as the week begins. My motivation is pretty low because it seems no matter how hard I work, something always goes wrong with my research to set me back. I am starting to feel like what is the point of working hard. The latest set-back occurred last Tuesday, when I discovered that I was going to have to re-run my models, and just as I was realizing this the disk with all my code went down. So I couldn't work on the bug last week. Hopefully everything is up and running for tomorrow! See ... it is hard to want to work when things always go wrong!! But, I am sure I will wake up tomorrow morning ready to work hard! (HA)

Also, I am missing Chris!! He has been gone for over a week, and I kind of want this week to be over so I can see him on Friday. I think all of these things are making me want some alone time over the next few days. I know that Chris is going to come back from Nigeria a little changed, and I want to be receptive of whatever new ambitions this trip has spurred in him. Another reason for the alone time is I feel like I should take advantage of having an empty house. In some ways, it is really nice to be able to do whatever I want.

Anywho ... I have now rambled enough. Thanks for reading and have a good night!

Is Christmas over yet?

Well my first two days as a bachelorette have been pretty good, although I definitely miss Chris. Friday night I went to Rachel's for a wine and cheese party and had a lot of delicious stuff. I ended up staying there until after 3 AM talking to Rachel and Laura - that is an epic night for me since I'm usually in bed by 11. It was really nice!

Saturday the weather was unbelievably beautiful - clear, slight breeze, and about 50. So I decided to ride 1 mile for every degree. Well, that was not my intention but I did end up riding 53.5 miles. This was a pretty long ride for me, I haven't done more than about 30 since Sept. It felt nice but I was exhausted the rest of the day!

Today has been nice, as well. I went to church and then Rachel and I made blueberry pancakes - yum! Then I came home and cleaned the kitchen. It was so messy that this took almost 2 hours but I am really happy for it to be clean. I really like sitting at the table in the morning to relax. Oh, one plus of Chris being gone is I can throw things away ... like our dead basil and other flowering plant. Sorry my love! They are now outside, not on the counter shedding dead leaves all over the place.

Anyway, then I went swimming. I was going to do a long run but my legs are tired from the ride. The swim was not easy though, I did 10 100's on an interval that was pretty challenging for me. Now I am even more tired!!

Tonight I had my women's Bible study and it was really nice. We talked about busyness, and the importance of not letting all the clutter of life get in the way of being a good person. Here are a few verses I really like and will try to keep in mind this week - "When God gives anyone wealth and possessions, and enables her to enjoy them, to accept her lot and be happy in her work - this is a gift of God. She seldom reflects on the days of her life, because God keeps her occupied with gladness of heart." (Ecclesiastes 5:20) Nice!

I now have a very exciting task ahead of me, although I should "be happy in my work" and not complain. Time to take down the Christmas tree! Ugh.

Thanks for reading and I hope this week you are occupied with gladness of heart!

Some Like it Hot

Chris is leaving for Nigeria tomorrow!! I can't believe he is going to Africa! Well I am really excited for him. It will be kind of sad for him to be gone. I will try not to mope too much. Instead, I should use the extra time as a gift - get some work done and focus on my base training.

Last night I decided to make him some cookies to take for the journey. They will be traveling for more than a day, and I figured it would be a nice treat for him and the rest of the group. Well, maybe I went a little overboard with the cookies. I baked from about 8:00 until after midnight (including an emergency trip to King Soopers for more flour, sugar, and butter). We probably have more than 150 cookies now. So let me know if you want some. :)

I went to a yoga class this morning with my friend Nick, from the cycling team. I woke up at 5:20 ... yikes!! But the class was really good. It was a 'hot' yoga class, meaning they have the heat on in the room. I sweat like crazy! I have never sweat so much while basically standing still (although I admit I was standing in several awkward positions) - not even in Georgia! I will probably go some more because this place has free 6 AM yoga classes until March something. It is called Core Power Yoga if you live in town and want to check it out.

Today will be a busy day. I rode my bike to work and it wasn't too bad even though it was only about 12 degrees. I am about to get started on work. At 11:00 some of my friends/fellow caffeine addicts are coming by my office for a coffee break (of course we will be eating cookies!). Then at 2:00 Mollie and I are going for a run. Then I need to work some more, and then hang out with Chris one last night. Don't go Chris!! Just kidding ... I'm sure the cats will keep me company and then I can truly be a crazy cat lady.

Thanks for reading and have a great day! :)

PS I just thought of two other things ...
1. I love it when random people stop by to read this - thanks for your comments Jon and good luck with the Half-Ironman!!
2. I just saw the date and remembered my Dad's birthday is today. He passed away 4 years ago (I can't believe it's been that long!), and I still miss him, but today is a good day to celebrate his life. So - happy birthday Dad!

I admit it, I have fantasies about a bike

I am now back in Colorado and killing time. I've been at work since 9:00 but all I've accomplished is cleaning and organizing my desk. That is about 30 minutes worth of real work. I usually try not to blog at work, but there were about 4 other cars in the parking lot this morning and so I am feeling uninspired to work, since apparently every one else in the department is slacking. It is MLK day and snowing - both good reasons to stay home. Oh well, I am a nerd, big surprise.

I had a good weekend that included lots of sleeping in. I used to not be able to sleep late but recently have had no problem staying in bed past 10 on the weekends. It's pretty amazing, really. :) Yesterday, Chris and the other people he will be going to Nigeria with got a blessing at church. It was nice ... I can't believe he is leaving on Friday! He will be spending 10 days at the Faith Alive AIDS clinic in Jos, Nigeria - it is a free, Christian-based clinic that serves anyone. It is pretty amazing what they do, and I am excited for Chris to experience it first-hand. He will be making a fundraising video for the clinic, I'm sure it will be an emotional and eye-opening time for him. I will be a little sad for him to be gone for 2 weeks, but I'm trying to focus more on the fact that I can get a lot of work done while he's gone (oh, joy).

We went on a bike ride in the afternoon that started out really nice - it was about 36 and sunny and felt really good. But about half-way through, some clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped about 8-10 degrees .... brrr!!!! I generally try not to ride my road bike when it is below 30 and for good reason! I can commute when it's in the teens but I am moving considerably slower then. :)

I am very happy with my decision to do triathlons this year. It is much less stress because I don't need to be riding 200 miles a week. If I have a long ride planned and the weather is crappy, I can just switch things up and do a run or a swim instead. It is wonderful! I have found 4 races that I think I want to do - 1 sprint, 1 XTerra (off-road!), and 2 Olympics. That would be my biggest year of triathlons yet, but I am pretty excited about it. I am thinking of getting a wetsuit, too. In Georgia wearing a wetsuit would suck, but here it makes sense - both for the warmth and the extra buoyancy. I went to Peleton, the bike shop I used to work for, on Saturday to look at theirs and Trent, the owner, said he'd sell me one of the basic ones at cost, which is really cool of him. So I will probably do that because it is a good deal and will last me for several years. And it will make me faster! :) Oh yeah, Peleton also has the sexiest bike I have ever seen - the top of the line Specialized time trial bike. It is amazing - even the brakes are aero!! I want one!! Unfortunately, it is uber-expensive. I didn't even bother asking how much but it is $5500 at cost. Crazy!! Well, in my dreams I can ride it and no one will ever be able to keep up with me! Haha.

OK ... now I am going to work! I need to check out my data from my current model run. This is going to be great! ... yeah, right ... ok time to work for real!

Bye, thanks for reading!

Thoughts from L.A.

You know you're a blog freak when ... you have more than one blog. Yes, I just started a new blog. This one you are reading now is my personal blog, but I decided to start one that is related to environmental stewardship and helping people, I guess you could say. I won't say much about it but here is the website: http://outwardthought.blogspot.com. That is a temporary site, I might change the url at some point.

I am in Los Angeles right now for a conference with CMMAP. It has been really nice, especially since it is in the 70's (vs. about 10 in Colorado). I am ready for summer! Well, the biggest thing about the conference is that I gave a talk along with Rachel and Tak (a PhD student). It was called, "What the heck are low cloud feedbacks?" and went pretty well. I was very nervous about it.

Well this posting sucks because I think I am going to go to sleep. I am really tired, it just hit me. It is after midnight and I have been up since before 7:00 - second day in a row of that. But you can read my first post on the other blog if you are needing something to read! Tomorrow is the last day of the conference. Then I get to go back home to Chris, which is good because he leaves next week for a 2-week trip to Nigeria.

Goodnight, thanks for reading! :)