We are busy getting settled in Austin. All of us (including Blue and Luna) are so excited to be here!!!

We finally have internet and electricity…another story for another time:)…and I look forward to sharing some of our stories very soon.

In the meantime, I will leave my very tough Boulder (and Baltimore) friends with this thought: Austinites think that 50 degrees and 10 mph winds is considered cold and blustery. Boulderites would call that a typical May day:)…
I am so loving this TX winter!

More to come later…
Thanks for reading!

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2 days ago it was a bit breezy and 60 degrees. It was pretty nice riding weather. ML and I had a lot going on that day as we are preparing for our trip to A-town. However, we put everything aside and ventured out for a ride. I love it when ML rides and runs with me. It seems like time just slows down and we really just enjoy each being with each other. We sometimes have our best talks during our rides together. Our runs together are a bit different as almost always he is doing intervals with me…there isn’t any talking during those times;).

Anyway, on Friday, we talked about our future together and what we think is in store for us in 2009. ML and I aren’t really big about making New Years resolutions. But, every day, I try to make a resolution on how to better myself. What I mean by bettering myself: It can be anything from being more patient with people, to not missing a workout that day. Every day is different from the next day. Today my goal is to conquer the snow:). We are having quite the snow fall right now and my inner voice is telling me…No, don’t do it!! Yes, I would rather skip my run…haha! But todays resolution is to conquer the snow..so as soon as I am finished drinking my tea, I’ll go for my run.

Only 2…

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After posting about the treadmill on my blog last night, I started to reflect on my treadmill experience. Here are my random thoughts:

Bad things about the treadmill:
**I can’t fart in public. (Well, I could, but I wouldn’t want to offend anyone.) I was squeezing cheeks for at least 40 minutes. That can’t be too healthy!
**I am forced to watch or look at the tv (which was playing infomercials yesterday). (They were selling “colon cleansing products”…nice…just what I need, considering the farts that i was holding).
**The risk of getting sick. (There was a woman coughing on the treadmill yesterday…YUCK.) Seriously, people, if you are sick, stay away from the gym!
**I am dizzy for about 20 minutes after getting off that thing. No JOKE! My world was spinning!
**No matter how fast you run or how far you go, you never go anywhere.
**Luna and Blue can’t run with me:(.
**I’m never “alone”. And my thoughts are random!
**Signing in for the treadmill. I was lucky enough to not have to get off of it after the allotted time slot of 30 minutes. However, if the gym had been crowded, then my workout would have been compromised. However, is that really a bad thing;).

Good things about the treadmill:
**There is a bathroom only steps away.
**I work mutha’ fuckin’ hard on that thing.
**The temperature is always…

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Lately my theme really has become the Muhammad Ali quote on Clam’s refrigerator referring to hating the training, becoming a champion, blah, blah, blah. (See previous post about Tucson). I really, really, really hate the training right now…

Usually I like training…a lot. However, with the recent negative temperatures (yes! It was negative 19 on Sunday when I woke up), my motivation has been slipping). It seems as though when the winter chill really arrives in Boulder, the dogs and I just want to curl up on the couch, drink hot chocolate, or go to Holiday parties (wine drinking!!), or eat nutella with “fluff”, etc. When this attitude of wanting to “hibernate” comes over me, my ability to train outdoors or even indoors (I really hate training indoors. I sort of equate indoor training to the gym rats or the aerobic queens), is no longer there. Inevitability, my ass gets bigger..haha!

Cliff asked me a few months ago how I felt about the treadmill…I think if I put my true response on here, I would offend some people. However, let’s just say that I told him that I didn’t like the idea of running on that thing…at all!

As a former track and x-country runner, I can promise you that REAL runners do not race on treadmills, therefore, we should not have to train on treadmills…haha!

All kidding aside, I STRONGLY believe that the treadmill is sometimes used by athletes…

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My sister and I were on the internet last night laughing hysterically at old photos that we had uploaded on Facebook. I thought I would share a few…

Me and DG Racer on MY pony, Thelwell. I was 4yo and DG was 2yo. The guy holding the pony was Barry Moorland. DG had a crush on him for entire childhood until he broke her heart at the age of 13:)…haha!

This is where it all started….notice my fur lined coat. Yes, my style hasn’t changed. DG and I used to race bikes all over my grandma’s neighborhood…fun times!

My senior picture. The year was 1990. I worked really hard (with the help of a lot of hairspray) to get the “claw” as high as I could.
This is my senior prom picture. As my friend Laurie (pictured with me) reminded me, we were both annoyed with our dates. So we took prom pics with each other…I have to look around to see if I actually have a picture of my boyfriend at the time. I’m sure I have a picture somewhere…
I was so in love that PINK dress. I borrowed it from one of my dad’s lady friends.

I hope you enjoyed them half as much as I did…I hope to have college pictures up in the next day or so. FUN TIMES!

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September, after finishing IM Wisconsin, I decided that I needed a goal. I needed to have a race goal…If I don’t have race goals, I become lazy during the winter time and I get out of shape fairly quickly. In fact, since 2005, I haven’t done much training in the winter months. I really hate the winter….It is just so hard to get motivated when it’s cold. I really pay for it January 1st. While it takes me no time at all to get out of shape, it takes me a long time to get back into shape. I don’t seem to mind getting out of shape, however, getting back into shape really sucks. So this year, I decided that I need to start training again in November, which is a full two months earlier than last year. I had a full 7 weeks off from any formal training after Wisconsin. And I really enjoyed being in Hawaii with ML in October, exercising only when I wanted to. However, my drop dead date was November 1st. I’ve been doing pretty well with the help of Super Cliff. Don’t get me wrong, some days it’s shitty out there and I don’t feel like doing anything. However, I seem to be a slave to the schedule. I love having a schedule. And I just do the workouts, even though I sometimes hate it.
**Sam has a famous Muhammad Ali quote…

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ML and I made it!
Early this morning we were driving to the airport, sliding on icy roads…YIKES!
Now we are soaking in a 70 degree sunny Tucson day! YES!!!!
Pictures and video to come soon!

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I have been going to the FAC since 2003. It is by far my favorite gym/club in Boulder. I love the owners, Keith and Jens. And I really like most of the people that belong there.

I have had a few things stolen, including my swim parka, and my swim paddles that were inscribed with the loving message: “stay the fuck off”. (I do think that the reason my paddles were stolen were to spite me). In any case, occasionally my shit gets stolen there. I usually attribute it to myself. After all, I did leave my parka and swim bag there over night…I knew it was my fault.
However, today was a totally different story….

While I didn’t have my 100 dollar parka or my 30 dollar paddles stolen (that now say: “FUCK OFF, PADDLE STEALER” ), I did have my organic, gluten free, $2, chocolate bumble bar (only from whole foods) stolen out of my locker. And of course, while I was discovering that my bar was missing, some lady was standing next to me politely chatting about her workout. (She was naked by the way.) I was absolutely starving, and I was not really able to focus (in my head all I heard was womp, womp, womp…like Charlie Brown’s teacher). While she was standing there with her naked bits staring at me, all I could think about was my fucking bumble bar that someone STOLE out…

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I have been struggling. My running has been slow to come around. I have been suffering through workouts unable to hit my paces, times, speeds. I have just SUCKED. I’ve been doing all of my workouts all by myself (double suck). I haven’t had much fun. When I try to run fast, I feel winded, fat, and out of shape…(triple suck!)

However, this week, the VATO (husband extraordinaire) has started running with me!!! Suddenly, I have enjoyed running again. Maybe this joy of running has returned partly because my legs feel fresher from not riding as much this week… However, I really attribute it to the husband extraordinaire. The husband extraordinaire hasn’t done much training these past 7 weeks since KONA. In fact, I don’t think he trained at all while in AZ. This is great news for me as I now have a running partner…haha! ML’s drop dead date to start training again is December 1st. But somehow, after running together yesterday (engagement anniversary)I convinced him to do my track workout with me today…YAHOO!!! Maybe he was feeling a little sentimental after yesterdays run;)…

It’s amazing how a training partner can make all the difference in the world. There were times today that I struggled to stay on his back; but I fought it and I won! I never wanted to give up. I was challenging myself and ML the entire workout. It was awesome!

Isn’t it amazing…

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Some of my favorites…

We had a gorgeous day in Boulder yesterday. The sun was shining; the temperature was mild; and I couldn’t stop thinking about how much I love to run.

So I did my favorite run ever.

I’ve been farfing around on training peaks trying to figure out how to download data on facebook…I finally figured it out! YAHOO! Just in case you aren’t on Facebook, I thought I would share it with my blog readers. Hopefully this link works. I’m sure I will hear about it if it doesn’t:).

Link here:

http://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/68304F7A5A736A3761772B76684B484B79784C776D773D3D

Right now I am really enjoying peanut butter, honey, and banana sandwiches…Yes! I can’t stop eating them. I usually go through phases with food. And right now, I am in a major peanut butter phase. I am mixing almond butter with everything: bananas, chocolate chips, nutella…YUM. I better stop soon, however, or else my ass won’t fit into my Joe’s Jeans anymore..YIKES!

I love Thanksgiving. It’s usually a time for all of my closest friends and family to get together, eat a bunch of food, and then all complain about feeling fat…haha! Well, not really, but sort of… We do plan on having some of our favorites peeps over including Sunny, Kerrie, GG, the girls, as well as some other folks not known to the blogging world. I do miss my Baltimore girls though. We were supposed to go to B-More this Thanksgiving, however, with…

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