Merry Christmas

Ugh.... what a week. Christmas always drives me crazy. Not a bad week training-wise, fortunately, though not great either.

I got a wetsuit for Christmas, which you can see modelled to the left (Most eligible bachelor in the BTC!). The link at the bottom leads to a video of me testing it out on Christmas Day, to the great enjoyment of my family and friends. It was COLD... well at least it was cold for my feet, the wetsuit actually kept the rest of me pretty warm. Fortunately I had the sense to wear my swim cap as well.
I managed to cut up the tops of my feet a little bit when I was breaking through the ice (yes Ice) on the surface of the water.

My First Ironman - Update!

Well, there have been a few developments since my last installment of My First Ironman.

First, I've taken on a coach, Mark Van Akkeren (this has been covered elsewhere) and through discussions with him, I've decided NOT to do an Ironman in 2008. I want to give my first race everything I've got and I want to take this year to build up my pace and base towards that end.

Shortly thereafter, of course, IM Arizona made the official switch to November. IMAZ in November had been my front runner for a race next year and I was sorely tempted to take it on. Still, I resisted. But having IMAZ in November in the future should be a good thing.

Finally, it seems as though there is going to be an Iron distance race held in my hometown of Plymouth next year. Details are sketchy but here's what I know...
New England Triathlon Festival at Plymouth Rock
August 31, 2008
Iron distance and International (Olympic) distance
A permit for the race has been issued
Press conference expected on January 4th
The Iron distance is out of the question, unfortunately, for this year. However, the Olympic is something I'll have to do.

Back in Boston

Well, THAT was a fun travel experience!
The Snow seems to be following me. When i left Cincinnati, it was snowing and icing and creating travel problems, though it worked out better for me after all was said and done.
When got to Boulder, it snowed for most of my visit.
When I came to Boston, I first flew from Denver to Charlotte, NC. once in Charlotte, my flight to Boston was canceled since Boston was expecting a foot of snow. The odds of getting into Boston last night looked slim, but I booked the 6:15 flight on the chance that the snow would have let it by the time we went to land.
To give you an idea of how bad it was in Boston, it took my aunt 5 hours to get home from work. People were abandoning their cars on the roads and in tunnels because they were running out of gas due to gridlock.
I tried taking some pictures, but they just don't do it justice.
Anyhow, the 6:15 flight did eventually take off, though with about a 40 minute delay. Then there was also a 20 minute delay in landing while we waited for a runway to clear up
, but we did eventually land safely, but the amount of snow on the ground and runways really made me wonder whether that was a good idea!
but I arrived safe and sound and my good friend Nicole was kind enough to pick me up at the airport.

Unfortunately, since I spent all of yesterday in airports I didn't get to work out at all. Well, i started off this morning with some cross training.
The Scots do cabre tossing at their highland games. I got to do Christmas tree tossing. my grandfather does Christmas tree sales every year to raise money for the Jimmy Fund and it's done on his front lawn. With all the snow, we had to clear the lawn so i came down and helped moved the snow covered trees (they're much heavier covered in snow) and haul them all over the yard, clearing the snow, then putting all the trees back. There are only about 30 left at this point, but that still means hauling around 30 Christmas trees!

Now I'm tired and sore and going to relax. I'll hit the roads for a run later tonight, but for now, I'm just going to rest.

Another day in paradise

Another lovely day in Boulder, CO. People drool over The OC... give me The CO any day.
I got a tour of another architeture firm here in Boulder, I wasn't terribly impressed. Then I went to visit my old firm, Boulder Associates. It was SO good to be back there! Everyone seemed so happy to see me, it was really great. It sounds like I can count on having a job there when I get out of grad school (provided they're hiring, which they expect to be) which is fantastic. I really enjoyed working there.

Sign of the Apocalypse... my parents are talking about putting a wind turbine on their roof. Yes, you read that right. Now many of my readers (all two of them) may not have much of a sense of my parents so you'll just have to take my word for it that this is... surprising. In other ways it's not since my mother likes pie in the sky ideas, but this just seems a little more unusual than most.
Still, I intend to encourage it and help them out with it however possible.

Met with Mark today and talked about sustainability, working out, Boulder, travel and, of course, training. Because of my odd schedule this month, rather than give me a fixed schedule, he's going to give me specific blocks of workouts to do each week and I'll fit them in my schedule as I can.
Then once December is over he'll have something set up that will fit into my school schedule.

Then, this evening, I went for a run up Boulder Creek. The sound of the Creek keeping me company as I ventured up into the beginning of the canyon... the snow... the absolute peace and majesty of it...

Let it snow...

It started snowing around midnight on Thursday night, maybe a little further into Friday morning, I'm not entirely sure.
The snow came down constantly all day Friday, but it wasn't sticking to the sidewalks or streets... it was just drifting down and collecting in the trees and on the grass and cars and looking pretty.
By the end of the day on Friday, there couldn't have been an inch of snow on the ground.
It continued to snow all through the night, not really collecting or amounting to much. Like the day before I went for a run in the snow and exalted in it's presence, the way it caught on my eyelashes, when it would occasionally drift a few flakes in my mouth as I ran along...
Around noon on Saturday, it changed. The snow started to pile up. what had to have been close to 36 hours of snow amounted to well under two inches of accumulation, but then it started collecting faster... and faster. Soon it was 3 inches, then 6. I can't say how deep it finally got for sure since I never checked a weather report or even took the trouble to actually measure it, but it seemed to be around 10-12 inches by 8pm when we all went out for dinner.
Did I care? Yes and no. Yes, because I love the snow... No, because I don't have to go anywhere or do anything. The snow was no inconvenience to me at all.
It's stopped snowing now... more's the pity...

Outstanding New Member!

I was working in Studio last Sunday, which you can see I have festively decorated for the holidays, when I got a text message from my friend Meg back in Boulder, one of the BTC members.
Meg was at the Annual BTC Awards Night Banquet, something I had been hoping I could have made it to but my final presentation for Thesis was a few days later so it wasn't going to happen.
Anyhow, the message was that I had just received the award for Outstanding New Member of the BTC! Admitttedly, I had been hoping for Most Eligible Bachelor, but Most Outstanding New Member is pretty cool too!
As much as I love the weather, the mountains and the feel of the city of Boulder... it really is the AMAZING people that I've met here that really makes it so fantastic and a place I can't wait to return to on a permanent basis.
Below is the full list of awards for the BTC banquet.

Bren Dillon - Outstanding New Member

Iona Mackenzie & Lara Cooper – Tough Chick Award

Mark Gavach – Volunteer of the Year

Mark Van Akkeren – Outstanding Performance of the Year

Dieter Bruhn - Member of the Year

I am Osito

Guess who's back in Boulder... go on, guess...
If you guessed me, then you have a gift for guessing the obvious (rather like I do).
I'm here on Cloud 9 for a week taking a vacation. Yes, a vacation. Ok, so I will probably work on my thesis a little, but only if I want to.
yes, I'll be running in the cold and the snow (Did I mention it's snowing?) but only because I want to.
I'm here to see friends, have fun and relax. This means copious amounts of time chilling in coffee houses with a book (finishing the last Harry Potter again right now), good food, fun times and generally enjoying life.
My old roommate, Hershey (aka Harshana) is about to graduate and move back to South Africa, so that's the big impetus for me to come out here, to see here and wish her well.
I'm also going to be meeting with Mark to talk about coaching.

Otherwise, pure fun and relaxation. The last two weeks of school were insanely busy and I definitely need a break.