Reindeer Run

Since pulling the plug on my cross season I've been kinda looking for a new goal. I always do better when I can work towards something. So about a week ago we're driving along and Marc says, "there's a 5k next Friday I'm going to do it." I said ok, that's cool. He does them from time to time. So it wasn't that unusual. Then he says, "you're going to do it with me". Yikes, ok. I've never done a 5k, but hey it's for Special Olympics and I've been running some for cross, so what the hell. So I bumped up my running some; running a little longer and a little more frequently so I could see if I could finish a 5k without having to walk. So a few days prior I start asking questions as to when it is, where, all that sort of stuff. He says, "oh I have a race Sunday, so I'm not doing it. But don't worry I signed you up". AHHHHH! Not only have I never done one, but now I'm doing it alone!

Luckily I did not have to do it alone. Besides the other 300 plus people that ran, so did Rob, Liz, Megan and Amy. It was great. It was a chilly night with light drizzle, but we all ran along together with our antlers on our heads jingling away. They all were able to carry on conversations as I just focused on breathing and keeping up. I ended up just over 30min. I was hoping for under, but what the hey, it was my first one and I'm a cyclist, not a runner. It was a lot of fun.

Sunday was the last cross race of the season for those not going to nationals. I didn't race, but went down for support and work pit.

Some people are really getting into the Christmas spirit. Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus, right down Santa Claus lane.

While Megan and I are working pit, Kris and Ethan are working another pit. mmmm

We saw some odd things in the pit this past weekend. I'm not sure who this belonged to, but I would have loved to see him come in for a bike exchange.

That Time of Year

I haven't had a lot of pictures lately. Mostly out of laziness. So here's a whole bunch that pretty much describe what I've been up to.

So after the USGP I pretty much cracked wide open and ended my cross season. It was a series of unfortunate events that lead up to the big crack, which I could go on about, but that would just be whining. So I'll just say I needed a break so I'm taking one. The only bad part is once I'm through my break, cross will be over and 10 months away again. Oh well, I'll be nice and hungry next year.

So in my break I've been filling up my time with just about anything but cycling. I've been doing a lot of climbing. It's been great to finally be getting some calluses back. My hands had gotten so soft that when I climbed a couple weeks ago my fingers turned bright red and swollen. I looked like I had sausage fingers!

I'm also trying to get into the Christmas spirit this year. We kinda missed Christmas last year with cross and going to Nationals. By the time we were home for a weekend it was Christmas, so it just kinda passed by quietly. So this year I've started getting out some of the decorations and strung some lights. Ah, so pretty.

When I was out the other day I saw this guy driving by. He's obviously in the Christmas spirit too.

On not as pleasant a note. We had to take Riley to the vet again. He had a tick, we pulled it off, he messed with it, it turned into a hot spot and then got infected. So now he's sporting the cone head look. He's actually on his 2nd cone now as he smashed his first one to smithereens. Watch out, he uses it as a battering ram!

When we were in the vets there were all kinds of pictures around the room. One was this flea. It looked normal at first until we notices they added people teeth to it. Check out those chompers!

Good luck to all those that are still out there racing! It was a great season. It was great seeing, racing and hanging out with everyone. Thanks for all the cheers and encouragement. It means so much.

A Cube is Not a Box

I was talking to my sister the other day and in the course of the conversation she mentioned the Wii system and commented how it's sold out all over. I said that I had just spoken to a woman that found them online on Friday, so they may still have them. I told her it was called Pandora's Box.

Today: I get a call from Jen double checking the name of the site before informing her co-worker. I again tell her it was definitely Pandora's Box.

Just now: received another call from Jen saying, "what are you trying to do to me!?"

Me: "what?"

Jen: "I gave that site to my co-worker, my 60 year old woman co-worker. Which she pulled up at work and she started freaking out saying, 'oh my, oh my I can't click on any of this.' I figured she must have entered it in wrong so I pulled it up on my work computer only to find out it's some sort of child fetish website!"

Me: "ha ha ha ha ha, oops, sorry. I could have sworn that's what it was called. It was Pandora's something."

Jen: "yeah I found it, Pandora's Cube."

Me: "well that's kinda like a box."

Sorry Jen!

Going Nuts Over Nuts

Last night we went to the grocery store. It was a Thursday night so we figured it'd be slow, we'd get in, get what we need and get out. Painless right? Yeah, not so much. First we get there and everything is moved around. They changed their entire floor plan, so I couldn't find anything. Normally I can skip the aisles I don't need and go directly to what I do. But with everything moved I had to go up and down each aisle, making sure we weren't missing anything.
Then Amy texted me. Normally I go to the store by myself, so I'll text her back while shopping. No big deal. But Marc was already impatient with me wandering around, so he gave me a hard time and told me to do it later. So I put my phone away and kept shopping.
Finally we were at check out. There were a few open, so I picked the one with the least amount of people and got in line. I began unloading the cart and about half way through I realized the belt hadn't moved. I looked up and saw the cashier moving in slow motion inspecting each item as she scanned it. I was like great, this is gonna take forever. At this Marc gives me a hard time and says to suck it up. If I can text while shopping, I can't complain that the cashier is slow. I agreed, but still wasn't happy.
Eventually it was our turn. She's talking to herself saying, "oh no look at all this, who is going to bag all this", with this real spacey expression. Marc heads down to the end and says he'll bag, she just needs to ring us up. She says ok. totally relieved. Again, she begins to move in slow motion inspecting each item as she scans. That is until she comes to the bulk nuts. I had 2 bags of nuts, in separate bags. She picks up the first bag and says, "what kind of nuts are these"? I tell her they are hazelnuts. She replies, "well I know they're acorns, but do you know how much they cost?". I told her no and again said they were hazelnuts. She turns to the girl at the next register, holding up the bag, and asks, "hey I don't know where to find these, I know they're acorns, but I can't find them listed". I said again, "that's because they are hazelnuts". The other cashier is just looking at her pissed off and says just look under nuts. She slowly turns to her screen and begins hitting buttons looking at the screen with wide eyes and gaping mouth. She then calls to another girl to come help her find the acorns. She comes over and tries to find them but can't. (Because they are not acorns!) Then the manager comes over and he takes the bag and says he'll be back he'll go check the price. She says ok, turns back to the register and shakes it off (she actually shakes) and then continues on. She picks up the next item and goes, "oh no, another bag of nuts. At least I know these are walnuts". At this I almost jump over the belt. I as calmly as I could reply, "no they are almonds". She just stares at me with a deer in the headlights looks. The other girl comes back over and says, hey, we'll just give you the shelled almonds price since we can't find the right one, and rings it up to $9.11 for almonds. Like she's doing me a favor. I again, trying to keep my composure say, "no, there's no way you're charging me for shelled almonds, they cost more. I'm not paying $9.00 for almonds". She says ok and takes it off. Luckily just then the guy comes back with the correct price and everything is rung up correctly.
It was an incredibly painful shopping experience.

Hot Topic

I've never had much luck with Hot Balm in the past. It's never really worked for me regardless of how much Ive applied. And if it did work, it started working too late; like once I was home after a hot shower. So this year I got 'hot' instead of using Marc's 'mild'.
Saturday was a cold overcast day threatening rain, so I decided it'd be a great day to try out my new 'hot' Hot Balm. Thinking I'd have the same reaction as previously I slathered on an absorbent amount from upper thigh down to my ankle. Then I put on 2 layers of knee warmers to really work up a sweat.
As I went for my pre-ride and my I could feel the slight burn, but it was nice and not too hot. I abandoned one set of knee warmers for the race, and again, it felt good, not overwhelming. Then after the race I jumped in Tom's Sprinter to clean up my leg (which I bashed into the concrete coming off the beach, leaving behind some skin). I wasn't in there for more than a couple minutes before my legs started to burn, then burn quickly turned to a fiery pain. I cleaned up my leg quickly and disembarked. As soon as I hit the cool air, the pain eased. Problem was I had to sit in the car the whole way home. My upper body was freezing as we couldn't turn the heat on since my legs were on fire.
We stopped on the way home to pick up rubbing alcohol and witch hazel. Both which I've heard removes Hot Balm. So I rubbed and rubbed trying to remove as much as possible so I could take a hot shower. Once I figured all was good I got in the shower and slowly eased the water warmer and warmer. It felt good, not burning. Then I decided to shave. HA! What a mistake. The fire came back 10 fold and nothing made it subside for about an hour.
Sunday I used very little Hot Balm. It was much better.

Weekend results:
Saturday was Beacon. It was a cold and blustery day and I was still not feeling well. But what the hell, I raced anyway. Well, I was in a race. I'm not sure you can call what I did 'racing'. I basically bundled myself up, slathered on a ton of Hot Balm and had a nice ride in the park. Sunday went a little better. I was feeling a little more like my old self and had a little spunk back. Was able to fight it out a little and managed a respectable finish.

Long Live the Rut!

Ok, I feel like I need to say more after my last post. Marc has been giving me a hard time all week. I didn't mean 'rut' in the way that I hate cross. I love cross. It's just a bit all consuming, that's all. I've had a huge break from it this week as I've been sick all week. As it turns out I miss my rut. I've been longing to get back out on the bike all week. I even tried one night, only to find that I had an endless supply of snot and mucus and my head was on fire. But hey, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger right. I sure hope so anyway as I was just checking out the weather for tomorrow's race, 40 and raining! Just keep moving forward.

Cross Rut


I've been kinda in a funk lately. I wait all year for cross season and now that it's here and we're pretty much in the middle of it, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. I feel like all I do is work, ride, eat and sleep. I know that's the way it goes and once it's over I'll be missing it all over again. But as for right now I'm feeling a little like I'm in a rut.
Last weekend, like many weekends lately I went to a cross race. Last Saturday was the Wayne Scott Memorial race at Fair Hill. It was a blustery, cold, overcast day. However, the course was pure beauty. I absolutely loved the course. It was fairly flat with false flats, some natural barriers, a short run up and a really long sand pit. Oh and did I mention about 50 billion turns. It was great. I wasn't feeling the sand pit at first. It was a lot of running and incredibly long, but it seemed to work to my advantage. Who knew I could run. It was great to have a course that was actually my style. I couldn't complain at all. I gave it my all and had a great race. Minus a few errors (like not paying attention and running off course) everything went well.
So today I'm back in my rut. Figuring out what I need to do each day, even though basically everyday is the same. Today is the one day I usually get out of my rut and go climbing. I love climbing but it has definitely taken a back seat to cross. Today I'm not going though as I feel a little under the weather. So I'm going to stay home and rest. Rut, rut, rut...