the interview thing

Moi has interviewed me. She's provided some customized questions just for me to answer. And I took forever to get back to her which means that the point, by now, is somewhere lost in space.

Nonetheless, here it is (thanks Moi!).

1) Was there a particular moment in time when you realized that you were for sure addicted to your sport and, if so, describe that moment.

It might have been after I finished my first triathlon and felt totally high, and then there was this vacuum in my life: Ok, I did a triathlon, now what? And that's when I figured out that I could do another one. It just kept growing from there. We started out real tentative, me and triathlon, but it got good pretty fast.

2) Describe your dream triathlon/race. Where is it? What season? Conditions? And, which three people – living or dead – make the journey with you?

My dream tri is probably doing Ironman Switzerland -- mainly because I loooove Switzerland (but not so much the swiss). I love the alps, I love the chocolate, I love the lakes, it's one of my favourite places in the world next to Colorado (and there's no Ironman in Colorado). I also entertain fantasies of going for a bike ride across italy, one of those 30 to 50 miles a day where the nice people tramp your luggage around for you, and you get to stop in little villas and eat like a pig on pasta. You ride narrow backroads and get passed by Ferraris. You know this fantasy, I'm sure....

Weather and conditions? Warm, no warmer than 70's, no wind, no rain. That's Europe in the spring, baby!

Which 3 people? I feel forced to say spouse and kiddos - but this is no ordinary journey. In this fantasy, they don't get bored waiting for me to do my race. they come with me! Either they go shopping whilst I do an IM, or they bike with me across Italy. In my fantasy there is no whining or complaining, there is only love and cheerfulness.

(that's why it's a fantasy)

In the more realistic version of my fantasy, I take people who actually like to race or ride - like my favourite racing buddies - Margaret, Debi, Dave, Mark. Because in reality, taking my family on a journey like that is more like torture for some of them.

Other dream races include Leadville (because it's Colorado, and because it's crazy hard), and the Venice Marathon. I love Venice - a marathon would just be a cool excuse to go back.

3) If you could wake up tomorrow and be a superhero for a day, who would you be and what would you use your powers to accomplish?

Hm. Superhero is a big word - I'm going to go out on a political limb here- I have to say I've been really disturbed by wars, in general, that are being fought all over the world. Nobody talks much about the collateral damage that happens along with the political non-outcomes: the permanently broken families, the broken men who come home, the maimed and wounded children - and adults. These actions are damaging a generation of people, and anyone who is not involved are generally, accepting of this - perhaps it's a case of it's not happening to me, I don't need to worry. Or maybe I can't do anything about it, so I won't (I tend to fall into that category myself).

Still, I find it disturbing, and too easy to forget how long it will take our country, their countries, all of that to truly heal. Superheros should be super. If I could actually do something about this, I would.

Ergo, my pseudo-superhero is PeaceLady, and she causes world peace. In her very presence, people apologize to each other and get over their stupid selves, drop the anger, drop the resentment, and move on -- with integrity - and want to help everyone be their very best selves. PeaceLady goes and visits the middle east in the morning, thus ending thousands of years of pointless bitching and sniping. She goes to Africa for an afternoon and ends thousands of years of random violence and selfish acts. And she does this by making everyone hold hands and sing Kumbaya.

(I know, Peacelady sounds a whole lot like Oprah)

(Moi is not a fan of Oprah)

4) Describe the last thing your children did that made you cry – with joy.

I think watching my children swim in the pool fills me with that crying joy thing. They love it, and they're so guile-less. Twin A just recently was in her thanksgiving play at school, she was a pilgrim. When she got out there and said her lines I swallowed a tear. She was absurdly adorable in her pilgrim costume, she was entirely a miniature pilgrim. Twin B, however, makes me swallow tears regularly with her ridiculous smartitude. She corrected me with the ages of the Obama Girls without missing a beat, just recently - and she was right.

At six.

My kids are scary smart.

5) You can only buy two things for spring/summer 2009 – an article of clothing and an accessory (jewelry, shoes, or bag). What are they and why?

A really good dress (like this one or this one) and a good pair of shoes -- because I can wear the CRAP out of those, baby! A good dress in a nice cut is chic for like, Evar, and very versatile. I'd also have to find a pair of comfortable heels in a colour that makes me giggle (my current favourite heels are turquoise). I'm really itching for a sassy pair of heels in red, or pink.

Probably pink. But I kinda like these. And these - though the spouse hates the gladiator sandal as a rule (but then, I don't always dress for him).

I love shopping fantasies. Meanwhile, someone please let me know where I can find Herve Leger and Alexander McQueen on sale, K?



If you want, I'll pass on the meme and interview you - leave me a note in the comments and I will send you 5 questions just for you - which you must respond to in your blog.

I know. It sounds like so much fun!

P.S. blogger formatting sucks a$$. Bite me, Blogger.

five things...and snowshoeing

oh good lord.

i've been tagged again.

this is OK, I suppose, since I seem to be going through brief periods of bloggus interruptus, in which I am miserably uninspired. At least, not inspired enough to write on this blog, at this time.

geekgirl tagged me as follows
RULES: list 5 things you're "addicted" to, then bestow the honor on five of your favorite bloggers.

Five "Addictions" - I caveat this by saying they are in no particular order, and I refuse to talk about my crack addiction in a public venue.

1. Training - I hesitate to stick all my addictive love on just running, or just biking, and I'm definitely not fully in love with the swimming since it's my big limiter. I'll just say I'm really hooked on training, my training plan, going out, doing my thing, accomplishing a plan for a day. Totally hooked. It makes me happy!

2. Coffee - It seems obvious that I would like coffee, so I'll just put it out there and admit that me and coffee? we're like this. We are tight. I heart coffee. Good, strong coffee - not that crap that tastes like ground up stir-sticks. I like mine Americano, sometimes straight into the vein. Real dark coffee smells like ashtray to me. Maybe I smoked for that long that I still have the association long after I kicked the smoking, but a really good coffee still smells like an ashtray, and oddly, I don't find it unpleasant.

3. Mountains - I have a healthy respect for mountainous terrain that stems from a bad detour I once took as a teenager, but nothing makes me feel more peaceful and happy than a trip to the mountains. Running in the mountains is just a special gift.

4. Movies - I'm a self-described movie slut, which means I'll see pretty much anything, anytime, anywhere. I'm not picky. Well, OK. I'm not too picky. I'll see chick movies, violent films, film noir, foreign, domestic, arty, indie, thinking films, and a lot of mindless drivel. I just enjoy checking out for two hours.

5. Music - My mother once worried aloud that as a teenager, I was so addicted to music she worried that I'd, er, wear it out? maybe get tired of it? overload? something. I was really into my music thing, and I spent a lot of time plugged into my walkman, which at the time was an issue of concern. While I don't tune out like that now, I do know that most of the time, the right music will only enhance how I'm feeling. It makes a happy thing happier. And, uh, while I'm not super picky on the music thing either, I have no deep love for country or western. I had a friend once tell me that after bearing children my music taste would change and I would learn to love Country and/or Western. That was not true for me.

...tag, you're it!

I'll come back later to write about the Sandia Snowshoe Race, which I did last Saturday.





OK, it's later.

also, it's my blog and I can write whatever I want.

I dragged Mark and Debi along to my annual pilgrimage to the Sandia Snowshoe Race last Saturday. Just like last year, it was my first time in snowshoes for the season. Just like last year, this is my warm-up training for the Quad. And just like last year, it felt unreasonably difficult to do a 5K in snowshoes. This year, the course was covered in thick, broken up layers of icy snow, which felt a bit like snowshoeing on rock in places.

Oh great. More rocks.

This time, however, I paid attention to the suckiness, and I thought briefly, I need to pay attention to this, since I feel seriously out of shape or something because this is just...hard! I was walking where the inclines were runnable - and even walking at a fast pace felt taxing. In snowshoes.

oh yeah, the snowshoes. huh. Do you think that's adding to the difficulty level of this thing?

Halfway through the race, one of the course directors told me that I was about 6th in the women. Until that point, I could have cared less - but suddenly, knowing I was in the single digits, I got invested in the race and looked around to see if there were other women around me.

There weren't.

I was shocked to find that 6th in the women this year earned me 1st in my age group. Oddly, they divided the age groups in a way I wasn't used to, and I fell squarely in the middle of the 35-44 women. Usually that's a pretty competitive group, though I think for snowshoeing, maybe it's not.

When I got back to the computer and downloaded the Garmin data, it all made sense - my heartrate was sky high for the whole race. Average 160 - which is high, considering I finished in 52:54. Yeah - almost an hour for a 5K race. On snowshoes. Maybe it's just harder than I give it credit for.

I think my time's a touch faster than last year, though the conditions were not apples to apples comparable. Last year was more like packed snow, and sunny. This year was foggy - we were running in the clouds.

Mo got 1st in the women, superstud snowshoe runner that she is. Debi did her first snowshoe race and finished not far behind me, and had a great race. Bones got chicked. I thought he did great, and his agegroup was really well represented - he had an outstanding performance for his first time out in shoes, and a great 2nd snowshoe race, with no wardrobe failures.

Mostly, I had a great time out on the mountain with my friends. It really doesn't get better than that. I'm glad I have friends who are willing to accompany me on my crazy mission to do this thing.

Six Word Meme Blog Excuse

Moi tagged me.

Here is the history on the tag - it's very interesting, and appropriately Moi literary:

The Six-Words Meme was originally started by Smith Magazine. Legend has it that Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in only six words. His response? “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Last year, SMITH Magazine re-ignited the recountre by asking our readers for their own six-word memoirs. They sent in short life stories in droves, from the bittersweet (“Cursed with cancer, blessed with friends”) and poignant (“I still make coffee for two”) to the inspirational (“Business school? Bah! Pop music? Hurrah”) and hilarious (“I like big butts, can’t lie”).

It's almost as fun as Haiku posting!

Thank Gawd Moi tagged me, as I have not blobbed in forEvah, between work weirdness and heavy training, and shoehorning family time in, my brain is empty at the end of the day - and I still get up at crazy o'clock to train. I have much to blob about...if only I could wake my tired butt up.

Pirate training doesn't allow enough sleep.

I know - rest is like, the 4th discipline. Or should be. But I've been a little stressed and busy lately - so it's been tough. Last week was a strength and power building sort of week, so I did 2 of everything. I rode with SW Tri Gal and Mo last Saturday, my objective was to do a flat fast 40. A Lady Outlaw ride. No big deal, right? Except I've been loading up with the Spin Class of Satan - which means, evidently, I have some power where I didn't used to. I gave chase to a group of boys - and passed them! And then they passed me. And then I passed them again! That Saturday ride inspires all kinds of six-word stories:

That did not happen last year.
My ovaries were matching the testicles.
There may have been a tailwind.
Oh my Gawd, it felt awesome!

See? this six word meme thing is fun!

This past Saturday was another epic ride followed by a big run - with some lady outlaws and some not-so-lady outlaws. I have Iron Horse dead ahead scaring the crap out of me - so I took Irene out for her first ride outside on her new wheels (the ones I built). I was very worried about taking an aluminum frame road bike out on such a long journey- she's heavy, and she doesn't put me in the optimal tri position - so she's just more work.

She's high maintenance, is my Irene.

But if I'm taking her to Iron Horse (she has the triple), I better get comfy. Plus, I figured if nothing else, riding her would be like weight training on the bike - 700 c wheels with the exact same gearing as Suzy the Tri Bike (who has 650c wheels) means she's harder to push around - AND she's 5lb heavier.

Weight training on a pink bike.

We did 63 (of the planned 60) miles including some hill repeats at Jemez Dam. Yes. Hill repeats.

One ride up will never suffice.

I am shocked to say she's a happy, firm, stable ride, and I was able to run my 6 miles afterward.

It wasn't pretty, but it's done.

Yay me!

I'm watching and listening and checking in with all my peeps who are going for Iron today.

Success is mixed for my friends
I'm so proud of you guys!
You're already Iron, no matter what.

Sound really hot out there -- I'm thinking of you guys and hoping you're OK.

Meanwhile, I have to put out the lights and go to bed to get up and do it all over again at oh-my-God-30 tomorrow morning.

I tag 21st Century Mom, Geekgirl, Momo, Carrie, and Cindy. And SW Tri Gal. And skoshi - she can write!

* edit*
And Mo!

Here are the rules:
1) Write your own six word memoir.
2) Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.
3) Link to the person that tagged you in your post, and to the original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere.
4) Tag at least five more blogs with links.
5) Don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.
6) Have fun.

My Meme's done, it's your turn!

tagged-ed!

Misty got me... I like this one, it's literary.

The rules are:

1. Find the nearest book.
2. Name the book & the author.
3. Turn to page 123.
4. Go to the fifth sentence on the page. Copy out the next three sentences and post to your blog.
5. Tag three more folks.

Since I have a bookshelf near my computer and all books there are equally close-ish, I picked the only book I can see that isn't

a) a cookbook or
b) an IT Geek Manual (do you really want to hear something from the latest tome on Java? How about Python? Yeah, me neither...)

The book I have selected is: The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste: A Celebration of American Pop Culture at its most Joyfully Outrageous, by Jane Stern and Michael Stern (this is one of my most favourite books...).

Page 123, the 5th through 7th sentences are from an entry on the Fontainebleau Hotel:

It was a building that did more than make guests comfortable. It entertained them in nearly the same manner as Disneyland, which opened the following year, by creating exotic tableaux and farfetched illusions wherever you looked. People who lunched on the patio had underwater views of swimmers in the pool; for dessert they ate a dish called " La Rosee Poetiques Gourmandises Le Plaisir d'Empire" (based Alaska), carried through the room by white-gloved waiters in a flambe parade.

This concludes today's lecture on Historically Bad Taste in Hotels (and neo-Baroque architecture. Please join us next week when we discuss Cheese in a Can and Presley (Elvis).

I tag Bon, Trigreyhound, and Mishele.

And Chris because he's a kitsch specialist and understands tableaux.