What a beautiful Sunday it was yesterday! Started out a little foggy and chilly, but ended up getting hot by the afternoon! Yesterday began with a nice 2 hour run in the lagoon for me, followed by a trip up to Laguna Niguel to see my family. The afternoon was filled with washing my car, bugging my little 14 year old sister while she was watching a scary movie, and going on a “mountain bike” ride with my mom. My parent’s bikes are seriously a disgrace to even be called a bicycle. I am pretty sure they have never been lubed, or even had the tubes changed for that matter. I got stuck on Sydney’s miniature excuse for a mountain bike that had no front break, and the chain completely rusted. Oh man was this an adventure! I could not get that thing to roll right or go up hills no matter what I did! HaHa. We had a lot of fun though, and went through one of my favorite trails in OC – Woods Canyon. It was really nice to get to spend some time laughing and chatting with my mom.
After the ride, it was time for everybody to come over for our “Lake Powell Reunion”. For all of you who are unfamiliar, Lake Powell is a GIGANTIC lake bordering Utah and Nevada. You could seriously take a houseboat out there for weeks, and go to a different spot every time. Since I was born, we have had a time share in the summer where we take our rented houseboat, “The Captiva” out for a week with about 3 other families. For me, this is absolutely the best vacation of all time – and it only keeps getting better! The beauty of God’s amazing creation is so abundant out on that lake. It has the most gorgeous sights you have ever seen; pristine glass water, canyons that stretch for miles, sunsets that are out of a dream, stars at night, thunder storms that come every summer. It is simply amazing. We do all sorts of things out there on the lake; tube, jet ski, wake-board, hike, play cards, BBQ, lay in the water, take the speed boat around, explore, and dance! This past year was especially fun because we had a new family that came; the Bledsoe’s. Their kids are right around the ages of my brother and I, so we made some really great friends and had a BLAST together all week. So last night all of the Lake Powell participants came over to watch a video that one of the dad’s had put together of memories from the trip. The night was filled with more BBQ, margaritas, and lots of laughs. If you have never been out to Powell, you need to go, it will change your life 
Sunday Family Day
•March 22, 2010 • 2 CommentsSaturday Ride
•March 20, 2010 • 2 CommentsEpic day for a ride today! Started out at 7am (after my toilet overflowed and water almost flooded my room completely), and rode down to fiesta island to do two laps around at tempo. The TCSD club race was out there today, but somehow, they let me on the island and I did my couple of laps (even though I went around the big loop, and all of the racers were doing the small loop … oops!). Then I headed up to UC Cyclery to try out the SDBC A ride for the first time. I’m not going to lie … I had no idea where they were going to be picking up, and totally got dropped on the first hill – haha. Then, as my luck would have it today, they of course hit all the green lights, with me struggling in the back having to stop at the red lights. Thankfully, I worked my butt off and met back up with them at the top of the hot loop and was able to ride the rest of the way out to the coast. At La Costa, I headed right and rode some more tempo out to Carlsbad, and then turned around and headed back to La Jolla up TP. Today was the first day I have hoped on my Blue Triad in a long time. I figured I should start riding my TT bike before Superfrog coming up. Was able to get some really nice temp work in, for a total of 4 hours and 78.5 miles. My hips were totally killing me when I got back – it is such a different positioning than my planet X! But it was all gravy … headed off for a steady 45 minute run, followed by 1:15 minute Sculpt Yoga session at CorePower Yoga – I absolutely LOVE this place! It has done wonders for me already with my stroke reach in the pool
Overall, amazing day in Southern California. Saw some couple taking engagement pictures along the coast and was smiling. Thanks to my good friend Jess who pushed me to come on the ride this morning!
Sunday 15 K
•March 16, 2010 • Leave a CommentThis past Sunday was the Black Mountain XTERRA 15K trail run. These races are part of a series of trail runs throughout California. The morning was very cold, but the day turned out to be absolutely beautiful! I had two of my beloved RAHA teammates racing with me, Tatiana and Tawnee, plus several other training friends The course was advertised to be “the flattest, fastest course of the series”. Boy was that wrong! The first 3 miles of the course was completely downhill, on a single track with lots of unstable footing (which I thought was pretty cool).
The course was then definitely rolling all throughout residential neighborhoods, until we reached 2 monsters of hills smack dab in the middle of the race! I must admit, the second of these hills was too long and steep for me to run up the entire thing. I walked some of it, huffing and puffing, in which I probably moved faster than I would have had I been trying to run.
Miles 5-8 were also very rolling, but so incredibly beautiful, pristine, and quiet. Finally, you come to the 9 mile mark, and you think, “sweet, I am almost done with this thing – only 0.3 more to go.” WRONG! There was a nice little mile hill climb at the very end, putting the total distance closer to 10 miles than a true 15 k Yes, that last hill was very mentally tough, and my quads were pretty dang sore the next day. But, this course was awesome training for things like Wildflower, and Vineman, as well as to prepare your body and mind to push past thoughts such as, “I can’t continue on and longer”.
I must say that trail running is my first love. I began distance running while I was going to school at UCSC for my first 2 years of college. The trails up there were out of this world! I developed a very deep love and respect for trail running in northern California. No matter what is going on in your day, you can always put on a pair of running shoes and loose your thoughts out on the trails. The unexpected turns and hills, being in the wilderness, the wildlife you might encounter, and the true beauty of God’s amazing creation makes me feel alive.
The day was a great day overall, I ended up 2nd female,1st in my age group, and with a pretty sweet training day under my belt.
my first post
•February 27, 2010 • Leave a CommentMy good friend Gordon Yeager so graciously helped me create a blog today! Woo-hoo! This is my first post, so bear with me, i am kind of new to this whole thing. Today was a great day to go out riding. The weather was perfect, a little windy, but temperature was beautiful. Did a nice 60 mile ride out del dios, into Ramona, wild animal park, bandi canyon and back home through highland valley. Got to ride with my good friend Shaun Guest (rider extraordinaire), and Master chief Steven from my bike shop, B and L. It was nice to get a good hilly ride in before tomorrow when it starts raining!!!! I am looking forward to swimming in the rain tomorrow, and doing an easy spin before a very long run on Sunday. Stay dry out there!
Hello world!
•February 26, 2010 • 1 CommentWelcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!
