First snow on Mr. Baldy

           (on the way down the mountain)

Today was the day after our first big storm here in southern cali.  We decided to head up to mount baldy and use our new snowshoes in the three feet of snow that our first storm brought.

I have never been snowshoeing before and i was ready for the hike up to the saddle.  Going up was super fun with the shoes.  i was amazed how well they worked walking in the powder. someone had cut the trail so there was a nice little path for us to follow, we have been hiking here many times but with all the snow i don't think we would have be able to find the trail on our own.

   (slater & me)

Hiking up we couldn't help but stop every second to snap some cool shots of the beautiful snow... i love the snow!!!!  on the way down i could not stop laughing, i was falling all over the place.  snowshoes are a little tricky when your trying to run downhill :) funny stuff!  i can't wait till there is another snow storm so i can venture out again on my magic snow shoes again...

(slater walking in the winter wonderland)

FEAR Exposed Adventure Race ~ Santa Monica

Irvine Lake Cross Race

never do a cross race with new clip-ins...  i spent most of my time and energy trying to get my right foot clipped into my pedal  :(  oh well... valuable lessons learned... oh and also never do a cross race without gloves...  

fun times... 

Halloween Ride

                                                         (thee wench in Rrrr'vine)

Today was our big costume bike ride from the Irvine train station to downtown san diego. . ..

total miles ~ 91!

It ended up being a beautiful day and the weather was perfect!  we had a total of 26 friends and we had no flats all day which was amazing :)   slater & me were pirates, as you can see i was the bearded wench.. HA!  lots of laughs, horns honking and people taking pic's and we rode by...

i can't wait till next year i have tons of costume ideas!

                                            (the lobster threw her tail away at mile 20)

Happy Halloween

1st Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest

                                             rebecca and dave were the winners of the night!

Sister Slege

52 miles.... cycling

took pch from my house in huntington beach to dana point.... 

north on golden lantern to aliso creek then up alicia pkwy to santa margarita pkwy down el toro

to my sista's house!  it was a beautiful day! super clear, i couldn't have asked for anything more :) (if only every day could be as good as today, and if only slater had warned me of all the hills)

newps ride

today i road from home in HB to warner and met up with the bike path on pch.  the wind was so bad i almost gave up!  but i kept on going and peddled my little legs to balboa pier and back home the way i came.

total miles of ride = 35

it was a beautiful day at the beach  :)

SLO & Montana De Oro

San Luis Obispo..........
we ventured up to slo for a multisport race that slater has been training for, the event finals!!
The race format was a 5.5 mile trail run, 5 mile paddle and a 10 mile mountain bike... he placed 3 overall!  Great Job Slate!





                                                                  "run forest run"

can you see me? (i was the roller upper)

Before heading home we decided to do some mt. bike ridding at montana de oro (mountains of gold)!  

Wednesday ride to Oceanside

Today i logged in 60 miles of cycling... mandy and me rode from dana point to oceanside.  I was super excited to go that distance, even though my lower back was killing me the last five miles or so.  I'm trying to get some miles in before the big Halloween ride of 88 miles from the irvine train station to downtown san deigo!  It was a super fun day with mandy and hopefully we can do it again soon!

Santa Barbara Tri

santa barbara was a fun triathlon...
i was a little worried about the distance because i really wasn't training specifically for it!
the swim:
distance = 1 mile
I felt really good on the swim, i was slow but i was able to swim the whole distance without stopping and having
to breast stoke for a break! very exciting! our wed. night ocean swims are paying off!l
i'm also getting use to swimming in a pile of people..... we were like a school of fish with no rhythm or rhyme just major chaos...
the bike:
distance =35 miles
the bike was fun.... half way through i saw slater riding in the other direction, if only i was as fast as him!
the run:
distance = 10 miles
i felt really good on the start of the run.. just as i was running about one mile out slate was running in for his big finish
i was jealous i was wishing i was done! i still had 9 miles to go.. the las two miles were the hardest for me and i was
ready to be finished! i pushed through the pain and was glad to be finished! my total time was 04:46:06.

SCOUT ADVENTURE RACE

scout adventure was an adventure in itself the pictures explain it all!










josiah was dehydrated and we had to walk the last three miles of the race with him throwing up and almost passing out on
us, super scary!
Remember friends to always eat and hydrate BEFORE and DURING races... you don't want to end up going to the hospital
like this guy! :)

Partay People...mammoth

this year for the 4th we headed out to mammoth for a weekend of fun and lots of training.... we got there late thursday night and we were pumped for the long weekend ahead... we ended up waking up at 5am friday morning and took off to twin lakes for a little paddle in our kayak before everyone woke up.. the sunrise was amazing, but we were a little cold out on the lake. by the time we got back everyone was slowing waking up, getting ready for a long day of dirt trails... we were all super excited and it was a beautiful day! we did about 15 miles of riding and saved my favorite route down juniper springs as the grand finale...



saturday: we decided to head out for a short 3 mile hike which ended to be an all day 7 hour hike with about 14 miles distance wise.. the hike got better and better with every step and we couldn't turn around so we just kept on going... we were able to connect the trail and do a loop to where we first started! what an awesome day we had!





i think we were on the moon



sunday: we were all having the blues..we didn't want our fun weekend to end... so we went to convict lake and paddled the kayaks before leaving for home...

statements to remember from the trip:
"partay people"
"Happy Birthday Andrew"
"Poo Farts"
see ya all later.... love the "DayMaker"

The Baldy Man

this weekend we ventured out to hike mt. baldy... we needed a good
butt kick'in workout!
we decided on the ice house saddle as our destination and ended up
going further to the whatever it was called peak, i can't remember the name...
it was a fun day and we took along a new friend we met off the internet... we posted the hike and had about five people that were going to join us and ended up with just one... it is fun meeting new people and we all had a blast.

we did a total of 11 miles with about 2,000 ft elevation gain.
hopefully we can make baldy a once a month event!

Rim Nordic

So i haven't been on my bike for about three weeks... since i got a flat and haven't changed it yet... and rim nordic was comming soon.. i didn't think we were going to do the race because we were suppose to be moving that weekend... so i lagged...
well we decided to head up there and check it out because our roomie was doing the single speed division. then it all happened... I was convinced in doing the race....
ok so i will just cruise through it to see the course.

"too legit to quit"
Suffer Fest Begins...
on my first lap i went out fast and pooped out fast...
by the time i got to the first little climb i was dying...and i thought to myself, dang i need to train for races... :)
I was all over the place and i felt like i haven't been riding for years... i even ate it in flat sand on part of the trail... dang why did i race..
(start up line)
the elevation was killing me and it was hard to breath... i had to walk a few of the steep climbs and stop a couple of time to catch my breath..took a gu and was ready to get my first lap over with.
Finally i made it to the downhill and i was ready to be done... i kept telling myself "you don't have to do two laps"... the downhill always makes me forget about all the hard work that was done in order to rep the benefits.. so i pounded through the finish line and started my second lap... i felt ok in the beginning but i was pretty tired... my technical skills were finally caught up and i just kept telling myself to push through it.. this time i walked all the steep hills... i was totally bonking...
and i had no more gu and barely any water left... i just had to make it to the water station to load up on water and hopefully they would have a gu or food of some sort because i was starving...we'll no gu or food for me at the station .. then a thought came to mind... mandy once told me that she had to eat some used gu packets...
hmmmm should I or shouldn't i... i was in survival mode...give me some darn energy..
so i peddled up away from the water guy...so he wouldn't see me scrounge for gu.. and I found GOLD... millions of gu packets... i had so many flavors to choose from.. so i looked around to make sure no one saw me..and i picked one up that looked not that squeezed out kinda look.. meaning: gu left inside!

i was shaking from the heat and i picked up that gu, cleaned the top off and held it above my mouth and dripped the chocolate delight in! soooo good!
I was able now to get back on my bike.... i was pushing slow... i needed another gu... this one was the orange flavor that i always turn away from... but this time i welcomed it and it was delicious... :) so now i was satisfied that i at least had some calories and hopefully i was ready to push to the end... i reached the downhill thinking... this is my training...and finally i cruised through the finish! i was so stoked to be done.. i just pushed through a mental limit and physical demand that i have not experienced... meaning.. TRAIN...TRAIN..TRAIN..
Results..
i ended up with third place in my division... and fifth overall...
(don't tell anyone that there was only five girls total who did the race) ;)
anyways i survived. and remember to leave a little bit of gu left in your packet for someone who is stupid enough not to bring more then one gu!

Job Searching

job searching sucks!
so i have applied for a handfull of positions ant irvine valley college and cal state long beach... they are super hard to obtain and the state's process takes
forever!
hopefully something will come up... or maybe i'll just train!

We Finally Moved!

Yippy.... we are now living in Huntington Beach..
we are super excited.. the move was rough, but we
made it through with help of friends.. a big thanks
to joe W... and everyone else!
Thanks guys...

Hurkey Crack

Hurkey creek is one of my favorite places to mt bike! so i was super excited for this race! Slate and me decided to be a team of two for the eight hour event! I started off the race with the mile run start and the I hopped on my bike for a peddle pushing 10 mile course. Our strategy was that i would do one lap and then slate would do two, with a run in between to practice some bricks... well let me tell you after my first lap there was no way i could continue on my other laps if i ran in between... so I just plopped down with my feet in the air and stuffed my face! way better then running :)
Exciting Events on my laps....
There was a snake on the trail so I had to stop and throw a rock at it to have it move out of my way..
I ate crap a couple of times...
Chain fell off...
i was stoked that nothing too serious happened and we were able to finish the race with success... i did 30 miles and slate did 40!
After we were finished we cheered on the other teams that were riding through the night!

Desert tri

My first Olympic Distance Race.....Desert Tri in Palm Desert
When we arrived in Palm Desert and it was super windy and we were not looking forward to racing in such crazy wind...
The next morning the wind had died down and everyone was stoked and ready to race before the wind picked up again.

The Swim: was super fun! i was able to get out to the far right with one person next to me... i was sighting her instead of looking for the buoy which she did for me every couple of strokes, it was perfect.... I only had to look up a couple of times and before I knew it i was rounding the first buoy..I did have to backstroke a couple of times to catch my breath but other than that i was proud of conquering that swim distance.

The Bike: well, i have not been on my road bike since January 1st and the seat was sooo uncomfortable, but i made it around the first lap and was getting tired toward the end of my second lap..... i really need to start hammering on the road bike more...

The Run: was HOT! and i had a running buddy the last three miles so we kept eachother going on the run... i felt like a coach with this little boy running next to me.... heheheh later i found out he was 17, man i thought he was 12... either kids are looking younger or i'm getting old!!

Bonelli Renegade tri

renegade off road tri:

The Swim: was awesome, even though we had to wait over 30 min's past our scheduled race time... i had clear water the whole swim and I was never close to anyone...so i was able to really focus on my stoke and sighting.



The Bike: was two laps of 7.5 miles...my first lap i was feeling pretty good and enjoying the course..... it was beautiful with the mustard flowers growing everywhere i felt like i was in a different country. my last lap i was flying down on one of the downhills and i slipped out on a fast turn and ate crap... it took me a second to realize I was laying on the ground... i grabbed my bike and started petaling...towards the last few miles my arm was burning and i saw slater coming around the corner with the camera ready for pic's... bike done...





The run:
the run was a killer... super steep hills that i had to walk... all i was thinking was walk the hills and run everything else... :)


The results: first place in age group

Folsom Fun

Today was the "BIG" day... my first Xterra Triathlon, up in folsom!
Oh how I love folsom, i would love to live there: Auburn, Tahoe, San Fran, Reno (my cousins place) all a hop skip and a jump away! maybe someday :) Anyways the race was super fun.. fast and furious... lots of mud/dirt/sand i was loving it! any excuse to get dirty.. i was perposley hitting all the mud puddles!

The Swim:
Was Super cold, the day before i went out and bought a neoprene cap! saved my life.
My swim was very uneventful... swam some.. then it was shallow again.. ran some..very akward and super funny seeing a bunch of people running in waist deep water trying to get ahead of everyone... i was laughing... swam again... and finally made it to the shore! "SCORE" first leg down! :)



The Bike:
My Fingers were Frozen! I felt crippled, i was starting to freak myself out because i was not able to move my right thumb to change gears.... i ended up letting go of my handle bars and pushing my gear with the palm of my hand...i was thinking what if i getting hypothermia, i looked down and my legs were super red... and i couldn't feel my feet... after about 10 minutes my hand was defrosted. The bike was a blast and i was stoked to make it through without any bike trouble (my front brake was not working the day before.. i had to pump it to get it to work)but no problems at all during the race.. super stoked... oh ya and on my second lap a huge deer crossed the trail in front of me only about 10 feet away... very exciting..!



The Run:
The run was easier then i had expected it to be.. i couldn't feel my feet but my legs felt great! i was able to hold a steady pace the whole way and was enjoying the beautiful landscapes. did i mention i love folsom!!! I finished the race and was super stoked to have accomplished an off road tri~!! i don't think i can go back to racing road again.... :)

we had a great day and slate finished 4th in his age group and i finished 3rd... we both receive tropheys and we were ready to head home!

oootah

Utah... one of my favorite places to be!  a weekend getaway was much needed.... in "SNOW" my favorite... yippy!  Utah was beautiful, there was lots of snow and I was ready for some snowplay...

we met up with Keith and Leslie and the boys for a relaxing weekend.   

Saturday we went shopping downtown at Park City with the crew.  It snowed all night Saturday and we woke up to another foot or more of snow.... slate and I were going to venture out and rent snow shoes but we were snowed in for a couple of hours.... so we decide to get our snowboard gear on and head to the lifts... by now the roads were at least clear by some means...we hopped in our jeep with our crap and took off..... there was so much snow we  "wait, i think we just went past the on ramp"  it was total whiteout... turning around we saw two flags and drove in between them "yes!"  we found the freeway... kinda scary .........  but exciting... hehehe

at the lifts we ended up getting a good deal... the canyons had this deal, 20 bucks for the both of us, all we had to do was listen to some timeshare crap, eat hot dogs and cruise around this new complex for about an hour... not bad, and a great deal.. 

can't wait for our next trip out, i would love to go in the summer and ride all the mountain bike trails... we should definitely plan a trip with m&m..

trail to train

this past weekend we ventured off with marius and mandy again, this time for a ride from dana point to encinitas. we woke up at 4:30 on sunday ready for a looooooooong ride. we now know what to expect when when we ride with the pro M and the mule M... lots of miles and lots of laughs. so looking at a map the distance is all downhill :-) and flat... not bad hehehe it was warm already when we left marius' house around 5am... heading down towards doheny state beach we were enjoying the beautiful sun rise, about 5 miles later we stopped for some coffee and hot chocolate....

after another 5 miles we took a potty break, took off some layers and applied the sunscreen! Its hard to watch all the surfers get ready at san onofre while were with our bikes instead of boards... i just wanted to be riding the waves in the warm sun! we were off again..

next stop in about 5 was the entry to camp pendleton, we were all thinking that if we go on stopping every 5 miles we will never get to san diego! so it was time to put in the miles.... camp pendleton was my favorite part of our ride.... no cars, just slow tanks, and green rolling hills, with a view of the ocean... after the base it was all ocean the rest of the way down...

it was a beautiful 75degree day... everyone and their momma was out and about... just trying to keep up with M&M was my main struggle towards the end of the ride... about mile 40 my legs were getting tired and my lower back was killing me, i guess its not smart to try a new seat on such a long ride....when we got to encinitas we stopped and ate lunch... i got a big fat cheeseburger.. yummy after we filled our bellies we were off to the train station to catch the next train back home...the amtrak ride was nice, i was able to catch some shut eye after a long ride totaling 53 miles....

can't wait for our next ride with M&M ;-)

Swimming in 40 more like 30 d-grees

swimming in the winter is cold!!!!!!!!!!!  i've been trying to get lots of strokes in for my big race in June... the Boise half ironman... call me crazy, well i am... hopefully i'll be ready for that 1.2 mile swim.... my weakest link....  my goal is too join a masters swim club this month, but I just can't get myself to wake up for the 5:30 swim session.... oh well, sat. I will be swimming long course at our aquatic center... i can't wait, the more i swim the more addicted i get even if i'm freezing through my whole swim workout... i'm ready for the warm weather....

Ready to Rumble in the Jungle...

This past weekend I survived the 10k run followed by a 16 mile mountain bike race at the rio bravo rumble. Talk about tough... that was a mental challenge that I still can't believe I completed... my run was my basic 10 min/mile trying to keep my heart rate at 184 or lower...

up the huge mountain i had to walk, trying to stop my shoulder and side from cramping and hopefully saving some energy for my bike leg.

I finished the run and was now ready to stop pounding my body and pumping my legs.. i started off fast! I WAS RACING... :) about after a small fast down hill the climb started and i was ready to quit.. "damn i cant move my legs anymore"... just trying to keep my pistons moving my right calf (not that huge cow to the right of me that I thought was going to jump at me) was cramping.. bad.. i had to stop at every hill to stretch.. sucks... i had to just focus on keeping my legs moving and the intake of my gel and electro's... in the back of my mind I was thinking slates probably done by now!

(Below is a Picture of Mandy..... she started an hour and 1/2 after me, caught up to me and

flew past me like i was standing still!)

Finally I hit the must needed downhill and flew past three people.... i was so stoked that i actually past someone..." now I'm REALLY RACING" hehehe One more loop and I was finished... yippy ...

Slate ended up winning the race, just like last year.. i knew he would do it :) I ended up winning 1st also in my age group (shhh don't tell anyone i was the only one in my age group).. anyways i was stoked i won some cash to our local bike shop....

sufferfest it was!!

Train or not to Train

"Thought of the day"???

well i'm debating on whether to swim with a master's group in the morning before work

and pack all my load of crap to get ready, or find one that I can join after work... i need to start logging in some miles if i'm going to be ready for my upcomming races this season... hmmm

round the mountain on New Year's day!

Today we joined the local bike groups for a New Years ride on round mountain.  There was a total of 150 people!  We woke up late and threw all our crap in the car and took off for our ride... I was thinking a nice casual ride just a couple of miles... well about 2 and 1/2 hours later we've already done 34 miles.. damn... i wasn't ready for this :)  i had the luxury of riding behind the limo (tandem bike) the last half of the ride, which i don't think i've could have done the ride without them with our steady fast cadence of 22!  anyways i survived and i'm ready for our mtb group ride tomorrow night... hopefully i don't get lost in the dark again :)~