Victoria. . .

. . . is so much warmer than Spokane. After finally being deemed a passport-bearing non-terrorist, I was allowed to invade the country to the north and come to training camp 2/3 the way through. The good news was that I got off the Swartz bay ferry with just enough time to make it to our Wednesday afternoon sodium/sweat loss test at the brand new Pacific Institute of Sport Excellence. The bad news was that this bike trainer session was 3 hours long.

I have never spent 3 constructive hours on a trainer in my life. I was honestly expecting a 45 minute test and thought that everyone was joking when they told me to settle in for 3 hours. Being a bit tardy, Torbjorn (my bike) and I were excommunicated to the nether regions of the lab with Brent McMahon and Coach Lance. It didn't take Coach Lance very long to decide that Brent and I weren't as interesting (or perhaps we were just a lot less mature?) as the larger group of athletes, so he left Brent and I to rock the B team alone. His loss. I don't know who won the sweat contest, but Brent and I definitely had more fun than anyone else in the lab. A few corny jokes, and 3 hours flew by.

Coach Lance - too cool for the B team

and seriously, he could have been hanging out with this lot. the photo unfortunately does not show Brent's incredibly full and masculine moustache.

That was when my appetite began to take over all waking moments of my life. Even though camp has been busy, I'm certainly not doing IM volume training, yet no amount of food seems to satiate. Luckily, Dewain and Judy have opened their doors to me, my bikes, and my putrid clothing again. With full access to their kitchen, I've been able keep a loose handle on the appetite.

Since the sweat test, there have been a few more trainer sessions, some frustrating swims (I'm not launching into that) and some blissful runs. The trails of Victoria are an amazing resource and remind me of the beautiful runs that were so much a part of my life in Dunedin. The longer runs are exhilarating, and the speedwork is so tactically simple: stay right in my coach's shadow. It works brilliantly - I just wish I could hire him to be my rabbit in the IM marathon.

I had considered two options post-camp. A tour de Canadian nordic centers, starting with Whistler and the Callahan Valley 2010 Olympic venue, or a few extra days in Victoria where I would be able to ride my bike outside! Given that I got to camp so late and that I haven't ridden outside since IM Arizona, I went with the latter option, and it's been well worth it. Coach Dan took Curtis and I on a scenic 2 hour base ride after our run intervals on Saturday, and then Sunday we hit the hills for 3 hours. It was a ride that very much mirrored our hill ride from camp in September except that there was a lot more snow, ice, slush and mud involved this time around. It was awesome and it was a reality check. I remember those hills being deliciously tough and totally manageable in September, but they were just plain tough this time around. I'm completely encouraged though, because I know that come June, I'll relish the hills again. I needed these few months of not riding to be reminded of how much fun it will be to grow strong on the bike again.

Monday was a bit of a treat, as Dewain took me up to Mt. Washington for a skate ski excursion. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of terrain open, but it was sufficient for Dewain to get a good taste of the sport, and it was actually warmer up on the mountain in the snow than it was in town. Not that I can even begin to complain about the weather around here. It's been ~10 degrees and sunny every day. After a few initial mishaps that involved a bruised derriere caused by too-short rental skis, Dewain totally got the hang of skate skiing. If my camera hadn't run out of batteries, I would have photo evidence. Coming home from a long, sunny day of skiing to Judy's home-cooked dinner, I had to wonder how I got so lucky!

Now I just have one more trainer session tonight and a run around Thetis Lake in the morning (my favorite!) before heading back to Spokane. I wouldn't mind staying in this winter training wonderland indefinitely, except that I really miss my Aaron, my friends, co-workers, and pets. Besides, I'm totally out of money, so it's back to the real world for this happy triathlete.

Don't worry Carl, I'll be home tomorrow and I promise to treat you to a bucketful of gut-loaded crickets.

They basically forgot to put it on the truck today

After yesterdays "adverse weather conditions," I spent another entire day (minus a 16 mile am run) waiting around for the package that UPS forgot to put on the truck today. Below is a copy/paste synopsis of the tracking infomation with my personal comments in purple. Why purple? Not sure. Best read from bottom to top. I welcome anyone who might find a thread of logic in the system and is willing to explain it to me.

Location
Date
Local Time
Description
SEATTLE,WA, US

01/13/2009
3:54 P.M.
THE PACKAGE WAS LEFT IN A UPS FACILITY / FORWARDED TO THE FACILITY IN THE DESTINATION CITY

01/13/2009
5:24 A.M.
OUT FOR DELIVERY (PSYCHE! But we'll wait until 4 pm to admit that
SEATTLE,WA, US it never got on the truck)

01/12/2009
10:00 A.M.
ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS (this is total BS. Unless overcast skies in Seattle)
SEATTLE,WA, US represent adversity)


SEATTLE,WA, US (and back again . . . )
01/11/2009
7:59 P.M.
ARRIVAL SCAN

01/11/2009
7:59 P.M.
ARRIVAL SCAN (still trying to figure out why it went from Seattle to
REDMOND,WA, US Redmond?!)

01/10/2009
7:20 A.M.
DEPARTURE SCAN (wait, where are you going!)
SEATTLE,WA, US

01/09/2009
12:01 A.M.
ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS (It arrived in Seattle at 12:01 am on Friday, but
SEATTLE,WA, US has yet to be delivered 5 days later . . . )

01/08/2009
8:32 P.M.

DEPARTURE SCAN
01/08/2009
6:46 P.M.

ORIGIN SCAN
01/08/2009
4:17 P.M.

PICKUP SCAN
US
01/08/2009
7:24 P.M.
BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

Viva FedEx! Boo UPS!

I've been on a wee road trip these past couple of weeks. It's been going smoothly, for the most part, but there have been a few inevitable hiccups that seem to occur each time I try to leave one location for the next.

Just after New Years (which was a fun one involving a night ski with Robin, John, and Manny and then a pajama clad sled-fest with Phaedra and Shelby), I hit the road. My dad was in Mexico, and in the midst of incessantly falling heavy snow, it was my duty to visit his house periodically to shovel crucial areas. My final shoveling job occurred the night before road trip departure. It was raining when we finished shoveling at 12:30 am, and upon waking at 4:45 am, there were another 7 inches or so of fresh, wet snow. Given the time constraints, I ignored it and headed down the driveway to drop Aaron off for his 6 am flight to San Jose. Coming around the slight bend at the end of the driveway, it became immediately apparently to me that stopping was not going to be an option.

Hiccup #1 : stuck in a snowbank at the bottom of the driveway approximately 0.6 miles into a 2300 mile road trip. Luckily, Aaron had insisted that I bring an avalanche shovel and he proved adept at using it.

20 minutes later we were back on the road, which was scary icy after the previous night's rain. I dropped Aaron off at the airport and carried on down I-90 in terrifying conditions. I saw several cars spin off of the road right in front of me and got briefly stuck again after stopping in the median to ask one crash victim if he was okay. I then allowed him to push me back onto the road. I'm sure that he was grateful for my stopping. Once I was a few hundred miles south, the roads cleared, the sun began to shine, and driving on real pavement for the 1st time in weeks proved to be a real treat.

I am the first to admit to being a summer person. I really enjoy Smartwool and skiing, but more than anything I love long, sunny days, lightweight clothing, bright blue skies and big shady green trees. Driving through Southeastern Washington, Eastern Oregon and Northern Nevada and California in January wouldn't light up the "oh this is so beautiful" parts of my brain on an FMRI but the stark landscape was impressive nonetheless.

Blowing snow between Pendelton and LeGrande, OR.

The roads are finally clearing up!

Northern Nevada near Sunset

Some of the straightest roads I've ever driven

Then, 850 miles later, I arrived in Tahoe around 8:30 p.m. The hilarious part is that I actually beat Aaron in getting there, as his plane was late due to extensive de-icing. Aaron, Noah, and Lily arrived about 15 minutes later and we settled into the rental cabin for the Scott family post-Christmas Christmas. It was a great week. Skate skiing, hard-core sledding, and eating Jim's awesome cooking dominated the agenda. Lily was fantastic, bravely taking on cross country skiing, ice skating, and sledding. She also mastered the all-important life skill of blowing up balloons. The good news is that none of the sledding injuries appear to be permanent.

Hiccup #2. Trying to leave Tahoe without any car keys. It's a long story, but instead of leaving on Thursday morning, as planned, I spent that day frantically trying to find a locksmith, walking into town to fax documents to the car dealership in Spokane to get a key code, pulling my dad out of surgery so that he could do the same, etc. In the end, it resulted in one extra day in sunny Tahoe, an amazing sunset ski along the ridge line at Tahoe-Donner, and a lovely swim in the Trukee Community Pool. I did learn that it's harder to swim at 6600 feet than at 2000.

Next destination: Bend. I really like Bend. The views of the volcanoes from town are spectacular, the downtown is charming, and there is no dearth of exciting outdoor activities in the region. They also have an awesome 50m pool in an aquatic facility that is open to the public year round. Spokane should take notes. The purpose of swinging through town was to attempt to avenge my dismal showing on the mountain bike in last year's winter triathlon national championships. In that race, I was unable to stay on my bike for any longer than 3 consecutive seconds, and I vowed to learn to handle my bike on snow. Instead, I thought about trying to ride my bike in the snow, but threw my hands up in surrender when the shed housing my mtn bike got too snowed in.

There were definitely some positive aspects of this year's race compared to last year's:

1. I arrived on time

2. I practiced mtn biking the day before

3. I deflated my tires

4. I tapered the day before the race by skiing for 2 hours, riding my bike, and swimming.

Well, it was all for naught, because I still got my butt kicked. Last year I led out of the run, but this year I came into T1 in 3rd. There was a super-steep hill at the end, and my legs decided that they weren't really into running up it. Even though I got passed by most of the rest of the elite field on the bike, I stayed on my bike for the most part, and conditions were nasty. The day before it had been cold, dry and the snow was packed, but an inversion overnight caused it to start raining and then the sun came out and turned the snow to slop. 2007 nats all over again. The only real bike-related complication arose when I started to hear my rear tire rubbing against the bike frame. I had endo'd a few times so I assumed that I had knocked something out of joint in doing so. After the race I figured out the real culprit - a non-existent rear skewer. Talk about being prepared to race!

My bad. The trip wasn't a total waste though - I discovered the Westward Ho motel. At $29/night including fridge, microwave, and WiFi, it was a screaming deal.

My other option was the Holiday Motel next door, but it cost $5 more.

Hiccup #3: US Homeland Security. Because my coach lives in Victoria, Canada, going to training camp involves crossing national borders, and I forgot to bring my passport to Tahoe. I had Aaron overnight it to my brother's house in Seattle on Thursday night after he flew home, and according to the tracking number is arrived in Seattle that very night. I had planned to catch an early ferry to Victoria this morning (Monday), so assumed that my passport would arrive in plenty of time. Well, it's Monday night and I'm still sitting in Seattle.

Apparently my passport hasn't been able to make it from the UPS warehouse to my brother's house for the past 4 days due to "adverse weather conditions." That's funny because I am in Seattle, and aside from a bit of cloud cover (it is Seattle, after all), the weather is far from adverse. 50 degrees, no wind or precip, a UPS delivery driver's dream I would imagine. So perfect that a UPS truck drove right past the house today. The more amazingly idiotic aspect of the whole situation is that I am not able to pick up my package from the warehouse because no delivery has been attempted yet. So because UPS won't even try to get my package to me, I can't try to get it from them. Moreover, there is no longer any scheduled delivery date, due the continuing "adverse weather" situation. I love that UPS gets to make up an "act of God" to absolve themselves of the ability to deliver packages as contracted.

Who knows when I'll get to training camp at this rate. I keep looking at the training schedule with a mix of sadness and trepidation. I'm getting there so late at this point that I'm going to be the slow, soft one who forgot (or never learned?) how to swim. And I know that ultimately this is my fault for forgetting my passport (though I'm going to blame homeland security a bit because I don't know that a passport is going to stop a terrorist coming from Victoria), but I heretofore vow to never use UPS again. I know 2 lovely people who work for FedEx, we use FedEx at work, and they've always been great problem solvers when we have issues, and they can't possibly do a worse job than UPS.

A rant. It's been a long day of waiting for the brown truck that never came.

Phillip

This house is called Phillip. Tim and Rebecca named the house Phillip, and it's a very special house. It's where Aaron lived when we first met. I suppose it was actually where he lived when we second met, because we first met in a bike shop and I buggered back off to New Zealand and blew him off for a year. After Aaron and I second met, Aaron wooed me on Phillip's front porch with his apple tart. At that point, I was too polite to tell him that I don't like pastries. He really won me over when he took my superfluous zucchini and cauliflower from the garden and made delicious concoctions from it while I studied microbiology. That porch was the first place that Aaron and I ever kissed, and I've been known to drag him over there for a smooch on special occasions. Aaron moved all the way across the street, so Phillip's porch is always at our disposal.

For the past few years, Aaron and I have had a tradition of celebrating the solstices. I (the triathlete) am in charge of the summer solstice celebration, since long days and minimal clothing make me happiest. Aaron (the biathlete) is in charge of the winter solstice celebrations, as he is thrilled by long underwear, copious amounts of snow, and cozy fires on frigid nights. I wasn't surprised when I came home from work last night (the winter solstice) to a fairly untraditional but delicious 5 course meal. I wasn't surprised when we went for a walk after dinner in the snow. We walked around Cannon Park and checked out the christmas lights until I began to freeze and whine. I was distracted for a while when we assisted a family recently transplanted from Maui (yikes!) that was stuck in the snow. In the end, there were so many people helping that we all just ended up pushing the stuck car the 2 blocks to their house.

When Aaron told me to join him on Phillip's porch after the walk, I thought he was being sweet and romantic. I didn't know that he was going to ask me to marry him. I was surprised, but it was sweet and I said yes. Actually, I think I said "sure." The stuff of princess dreams, eh?

I suppose I should have been more onto it. I did receive several queries over the past few months: "Are you sure you don't want an engagement ring? You're not just saying that?" My (truthful) answer was no - I don't have any desire to wear a ring, and I think buying one would be a waste of money and resources. Aaron wasn't completely satisfied with that answer, so he superglued (the man loves epoxy) a pebble from the foundation of the now-burned-down bike shop to a simple band. So ladies, if you ever want to check out my "rock," I've really got one. The difficulty that ensued when I tried to replace my mittens post proposal reaffirmed my desire to remain ring-free.

I know that this is a tri blog and not a relationship blog, but I think it's worth mentioning that Aaron actually wanted to do this 6 months ago on the summer solstice, but it was the day before IM Cd'A. Then, he postponed his plans until the equinox, but I was traveling back from training camp in Victoria, so he had to wait another 3 months. Kona would have been a romantic spot for a proposal, but hours of sustained vomiting left me rather cranky. He is one patient triathlete partner. And I sure do love him.

9 posts

There are officially 9 blog posts between this one and the last one in which I complained about snow. I was actually about to complain about lack of snow last week. It was the day before National Club XC Championships, and a doozy was forcasted. 4-8 inches of snow and bitterly cold temps and winds. What a perfect day for running, ay? Well, the sub-zero temps and 25 mph winds transpired, but not a whole lot on the snow front. Perhaps a couple of inches on the South hill and a mere skiff in the Valley where the race was to take place. And despite my whinging of 9 posts past, I was disappointed in the lack of snow. Mid-December, not enough snow on the mountain to groom for skating, and winter tri nationals less than a month away!

Nonetheless, with the high temp reaching 4 degrees on the mountain (a great improvement over the previous day's -2) Aaron and I took the classic skis out and followed some of the tracks cut by others around the Mt Spokane nordic center. Cutting classic tracks isn't nearly as fun as it is to skate really fast, but it satisfied my need to see snow and sun and participate in a sport that doesn't involve swimming, biking, or running. Plus, I experienced the unique pleasure of having my eyelashes encrusted in ice.

Then, just when I was going to sit down and write a blog about Spokane's tragically snowless state, I noticed that there was a slight chance of snow in the forecast mid-week. A few inches were possible, they said. As predicted, snow was falling steadily when I left for work on Wednesday (my usual 15 minute commute took 50) and with noone coming through the doors all day, my co-workers and I entertained ourselves by watching the snow pile up on our cars. There was at least a foot by the time I left work and the roads were a disaster. This is Spokane - people are supposed to know how to drive in inclement weather, but there are only so many plows in this world and the snow was falling incessantly. I went for a swim after work and watching the snow fall past the window every time I breathed was very cool. The next morning was stunningly beautiful. The snow continued to fall, and we had about 2 feet on the ground already.

The best thing about a city-stopping snowstorm (yes, even the malls were closed, and it's prime holiday shopping season), is the extent to which it brings everyone outside. Even in single digit temperatures, the whole neighborhood was out shoveling. And shoveling and shoveling. It turned out to be a recored-setting storm, with 25 inches in 24 hours at our house. That's my dad (an industrious sort) plowing his driveway (it's a long one) for the umpteenth time.

The worst part of a city-stopping snowstorm? Trying to train. I like to think that I'm pretty hard-core when it comes to running, but it is simply impossible to do so in knee-deep snow. So I tricked myself out in my teal Sorrells left over from my middle school days and Aaron's Carharts. I tucked my sweatshirt into the Carharts to make them fit (and to make myself look extra cool) and trucked into town to go to the gym. I love that pedetrians completely take over the streets when cars can't pass. There were people out snowshoeing and xc skiing, and I even saw a couple of snowboarders carving down Monroe street. Regretably, the storm took its toll on the gym, and with a single person staffing the place, the pool was closed :( I did manage to get in a decent treadmill workout (yawn) and trudged back up the South Hill to make dinner.

The following day was another snow day, so Aaron and I headed back up to Mt. Spokane where some preliminary grooming had taken place. It wasn't quite set up enough for skating, and my classic skis were slow (think I need to lose weight or shorten my wax pocket a bit), but it was absolutely gorgeous. I love that mountain in all seasons, but winter is particularly special. We didn't finish skiing until after dark. A fine day indeed.

Now I'm at my dad's house in a desperate attempt to facilitate a run outside on traffic-free country roads that are still decently packed tomorrow morning, but it looks like we're in for more snow tonight. In fact the only pictures on the 10-day weather forecast are snowflakes. I'd like it to be known that I'm not complaining about snow in this post. Lots of cold, feathery, light snow is perfect for holiday cheer (and for skiing). If it's still doing this in April, I'll be writing something reminiscint of 9 blogs ago, but now it's time for celebration. Even though my ability to run outdoors is presently compromised, yay for snow! I can't wait for my brother and sister to come home so we can do some ultimate sledding (full-contact sled racing down my dad's driveway). Aaron and Bri have joined in the action in years past, and I fully expect optimal conditions this year.

The videos

Very funny grand canyon videos. 1st up . . . "Alice cookin' beans she's got the hot dogs on."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flAYSNIRILI

Dee's modified version

http://www.thepenalcolony.com/familyvids/shelbycooper.mp4

I pray that no potential sponsors will read the following photo essay of my IM AZ week. It seems that I am presently incapable of taking any photo opportunity seriously. With a bit of time to kill in the Phoenix airport, I'm trying to think of a cohesive way to recap the previous weeks events. I suppose it started in this very place last Wednesday, when fellow athlete Miranda Aldritt was kind enough to pick me up en route from Borrego Springs and share her homestay with me. With over 90 professional athletes registered for the race, the homestay situation was supersaturated, but I was really lucky that the Norquists had extra space for me and that Miranda so generously shared that space. Miranda did the race in April, so she was incredibly helpful in the days leading to the race in terms of negotiating annoying race logistics.




We trained a bit (including one beautiful evening ride through paradise valley) ate a lot, attended all the requisite meetings, and just when it was time to do nothing else except get nervous, my all-star support team of Phaedra and Shelby showed up. My pre-race mindset was so remarkably different than it has been before any other ironman this season. I knew that I could be strong over the distance, but didn't know how much speed I would have after a lackluster 5 weeks of training since Kona. So I didn't worry about it, and instead I got in a hard-core ab workout laughing hysterically with S&P for hours on end. In addition to the laughing there was a bit of dancing.

I have no idea what to call the following move, though it probably deserves a patent . . .

After a short and restless night's sleep, race morning dawned and it still seemed a bit surreal that I was about to do an Ironman. It really didn't seem like a big deal. The real question was whether Phaedra and Shelby were prepared for the long day of iron-fan duties that awaited them. It was a reasonably chilly, dark morning, but after the heat-related disaster that was Kona, I relished the cooler weather. The water was about 63 degrees and calm. Perfect. Everything went smoothly in transition and then it was time to jump in the water. I got in a decent warm-up, given that we were only allowed in the water 10 minutes before the start and I lined myself up amongst the enormous pro field. It was awesome treading water in the dark below the Mill St Bridge with the Killers playing over the sound system. Linsey had her sea turtle in Kona and I had the Killers in AZ. I finally had the swim that I've been believing myself capable of for the past year. Granted, the conditions were calm and I actually had people to swim with, but I was still psyched when I exited the water in 1:02. A 4 minute swim PR. I'll take it.

Tyler Stewart exited T1 right in front of me, and I figured that if anyone knew how to pace well and ride oneself back into a race, it would be the female world record holder over the distance. I positioned myself about 20 meters back (there was NO WAY I was about to risk a drafting penalty in this race) and followed her lead. It seemed a bit slow at the start, but it always does, and I usually pay the price later in the day. About a quarter of the way through the 1st lap, Tyler had a water bottle cage fly off, so my little pacing plan was derailed while she got some mechanical help.

At that point I figured I'd better hold my pace for the rest of the bike, lest everyone following online shake their heads in disappointment (Manny). That wasn't my real motivation, but it did cross my mind a few times. The bike just got easier throughout the day as the winds that were challenging during the first lap actually died down and changed directions. Also absent were the hoards of age-group men that swarmed around me in Kona. We only had a 10 minute head start, but given that my swim wasn't completely atrocious, I was able to stay ahead of most of the age-groupers and keep a safe distance from all other racers. I almost expected the marshals to motor by and give me a gold star (or a 4 minute advantage?) for playing so gosh darn fairly. It was the same smugness that comes when I cruise by a cop car going under the speed limit. "Aren't I so good officer?" I knew that I had worked my way up the field, but had no idea where I actually was in the standings. At one point I tried to estimate how far behind Joanna Zeiger I was as she biked by in the opposite direction, but the only landmark by which to judge her position was a lone saguaro cactus. Needless to say, I didn't locate the very same cactus on my return. 5:09 bike split - my best ever. Yes, this course is way faster than Coeur d'Alene, but I'm celebrating it nonetheless.

My proudest moment of the race? T2. 55 seconds. I wasn't particularly trying to win that split, but I'm pretty sure it was one of the race's fastest. I credit my new silver Zoot shoes. Without the need to wear socks or tie laces, why dilly dally in the change tent? Ultimately, T2 was the difference between 6th and 7th place, so I won't underestimate the value of Ironman transitions ever again.

The run was scary. I saw S & P just out of transition and they informed me that I was in 8th. As much as it stunk, the Hawaii run was almost easy because I was already doing so terribly that going slowly wasn't going to change a whole lot. The effective difference between a 4:10 and 4:30 run split isn't as great as the difference between a 3:10 and a 3:30. Standing in 8th place (in the money) meant that I couldn't screw up. I was passed in the 1st 4 miles by 2 very quickly moving women, but I decided to stay conservative and hope to pick off a few women in return. Around mile 3, my calves started cramping - not a good sign. I'm not usually a cramper, but the cramps may have been due to some nutritional dealings that I won't go into. Also, the Arizona run course was predominantly on concrete with a few short trail sections, and I've been running almost exclusively on trails for the past 6 weeks. I figured that if I was STILL training for an IM after Kona, then I would do it on my terms, but if I do this race again, I'll certainly do more running on pavement and concrete.

Concrete is very hard. By 13 miles my legs were completely shattered, but I had a constant internal dialogue going on. It was really exciting. It went something like this: "left foot right food left foot right foot . . . " Yep. My energy levels were fantastic, but my legs were like rubber. There were plenty of times that I wanted to slow down, but I reminded myself of all of the kick-ass training sessions I had back in August. That training didn't make itself evident in Kona as I had intended it to, but I had still done it. Those rides and runs happened so long ago that it was easy forget that I had in fact worked hard for this race (because I certainly didn't do so during the 6 week Kona - AZ interlude). With a few miles to go, people were telling me that I was only 1 minute behind the girl in front and that I was gaining. Oh great. So I had to speed up a bit and ended up catching her at the very place where she had passed me in the 1st loop. It turns out that it was the 24 year-old's 1st ever IM, so I imagine she'll be a real force when she figures out how to pace a little better.

The finish happened rather abruptly and that was that. Not a culmination of a season specifically focused on this race nor a life-changing event, but a solidly executed IM, a paycheck, and certain evidence of progress in the sport. As much as I know that bad races happen, Kona shattered me a little, and Arizona was the necessary antidote. I'm excited about having a productive off-season now, whereas before I just wanted an off-season. I have some real ideas about what I need to do to get better results next year, but before this race I thought maybe I'd need to start all over again in square one with a brutally honest self-assessment. I could go on, but in the end it was a worthwhile experience that I shared with two of my most wonderful friends and a vast support network following online. I never expected so many people to care about my progress, but I'm touched by everyone who does.

Now for the fun part - a 3 day post-IM road trip with Shelby through Northern Arizona and to the Grand Canyon. 1st stop, Sedona.

Not bad . . .

Pretty awesome actually. Unfortunately, Sedona was a little out of our price range, so we headed farther afield to Flagstaff. Flagstaff is a decidedly cool town, and at 8000 ft, I found myself gasping for air when I tried to hold a conversation and walk at the same time. Strenuous stuff, I know. To bring myself further back to reality, I tried to jog across a busy street in Flagstaff to avoid oncoming cars. I was completely incapable of even one running step and a brilliant idea occurred to me. A true test of IM fitness would involve stopping every racer with one mile left in the marathon and force them to run the last mile 24 hours later. I'm quite sure that I would have finished well behind where I did.

I have never, ever, ever been so sore. It made for some interesting Grand Canyon adventures. Instead of an epic decent deep into the canyon, Shelby and I had to content ourselves with a gentle rim walk. Even thought the rim walk paralleled the road, it wasn't without some seriously technical sections. The following picture shows a particularly gnarly section and the deftness with which I descended it by going backwards. Sign me up for Everest please.

It turns out that Shelby and I both hate posing for pictures solo so we resorted to taking cryptic shots of one another. Shelby enjoying a beer at the canyon's edgeShelby snagging an uber-flattering shot of me laughing at something (probably a fart joke)....

Finally, we decided to set up a self timer shot, but getting me from camera to scenic spot in 12 seconds proved to be a challenge and Shelby was too short to set up the camera in the tree. Does it look like she's trying to save me from going over the edge or trying to throw me over here?

If you want to read an eloquent and genuine recap of visiting the Grand Canyon, see Liz Fedofsky's blog ( http://elizabethfedofsky.blogspot.com/2008/11/canyon-grand.html ). If you want to see why Shelby and I kept yelling "Bobby . . . Cindy" over the canyon edge, watch the following Youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flAYSNIRILI and then Shelby's brother's special edit here.

Actually, I can't seem to load the video in mind. . . Keep watching this space and I'll work on it. It's really funny, I promise.

p.s. Shelby was actually carrying around an empty RedBull can, not a beer. A beer would have been funnier though.