Voting

I was running some errands and listening to the radio the other morning. The group on the radio was talking about what really gets them pumped up, and one of the guys said politics.

He then proceeded to talk about how he isn't going to vote this coming fall because his candidate isn't one of the presidential nominees. He was talking about Mitt Romney, and this guy just happens to be Mormon. He then went on to say, well, he might vote if McCain picks him as his running mate. Now, there is nothing against his religion, but it really drives me mad that people actually think this way.

So are all the people that voted for Hillary in the primary not going to vote because Obama is the democratic nominee? This is just absurd...isn't this what living in the US is all about, exercising your right to vote? Or are you saying that because you have the right, then you can choose not to vote. Even if YOUR candidate isn't the nominee, everyone should vote for the direction you want the country to go.

OK...no more politics.

Sales People...

Sorry Dad...I don't mean get down on your profession but.....

After my swim today, I stopped by at The Rush, a new gym that is opening up here in Burlington. Now, this could be great news because I had heard that they might put a pool in. Since we moved here the pool situation has been slim. Is was great in Raleigh but you know, the options just aren't the same in a small town. To top it off, HPU has a pool that has extremely limited hours and they don't put in lane lines or anything.

Then I thought I could use our community pool this summer...brand new 25meters, but you know what, they don't put lane lines in either, and with a neighborhood of a bunch of kids, you can go do a workout. So once a week or every other week I pay to go use the aquatic center here. It isn't terrible, but like today they had ONE lane line in, ONE! And hardly anyone else in the pool. When I asked if they could put in another lane, the guy (who I know does triathlons) tells me that they can't because swim lessons are coming in. So WTF...what is my $3 getting me??? More swimming without lane lines, I can do that in my pool I pay my HOA dues for.

Turns out as I am getting ready to do my main set, the ONE guy using the ONE lane (yes old guy doing breastroke on his back) tells me he is getting out so I can use it, yeah! So at least I felt I got something out of my $3.

So why is this all about Sales people???? OK, since I am so mad after leaving the aquatic center, I stop by The Rush Gym to see if they are going to have a pool. And yes they will!!! An actually lap pool not for kids! And what is great is that they have a few gyms out by where I work and HPU has some deal with them that you can use any of the gyms you want! So yeah, I think to myself, this could be great. So I tell the guy I just want to know when the gym/pool will open. He beats around the bush to tell me how much I would have to pay for this membership and that. And again, I tell him, I am not going to get a membership today, what do I need it for?? I have a gym where I live that my HOA dues are paying for. And yet again, well I can offer you this rate for this many months....

Again, I tell him I am not going to buy a membership of any kind because YOUR POOL IS NOT OPEN YET. All you have is a small room with some cardio and weight equipment which is what my clubhouse has in my neighborhood. And yet again, well this is what HPU can offer you (because I tell him HPU has some sort of deal with The Rush-and that I would like to look into it a little further). OK, at this point, I am mad. I haven't eaten breakfast and I did a hard swim workout and need to get home to eat and this guy is trying to sell me a membership I DON'T WANT! I just tell him I am leaving. :)

This reminds me of Marty's post on his blog a few weeks ago about the car...

Now I am home, full with food and getting ready to lay on the couch and read...and much happier after venting about this guy at the gym.

A day of triumph and trials

Two of my dearest ladybacks competed yesterday in some amazing events.

Congrats to Mandy, who competed at the Canadian Olympic diving trials yesterday in 3 Meter and placed 3rd. You rock and did amazing. I am sure some of you watched her live on the internet and if you did saw her score some amazing 9's on her last dive!!!


And congrats to Sara who competed in her first Ironman yesterday in Coeur D'Alane (Idaho) and was in 3rd place in her age group after the swim (of course) and rocked the bike in 6:47 and ran a steady marathon in just over 5 hours. Total time: 13:00:42, almost breaking 13 hours!!

You two are both inspirations to all of us and I hope you both enjoy some rest from some hard training up to yesterday!

A Ride from Hell...

ML told me about this group (of mostly roadies) that ride pretty fast on Wednesday nights. Two weeks ago, EZ and I joined the group and it was a bit chaotic. It really wasn't that fast except for the last 8 or so miles (of a 30 mile ride). There was lots of attacking too which I just don't care for all that much.

We didn't go last week because of the race, thinking I didn't want to tire my legs out too much (even though it wasn't that hard of a ride). But we went again last night.

Now, my legs are not at all feeling good as a result from: (1) The race on Saturday, (2) plyometrics on Monday including lots of lunges and (3) running 3 days in a row (with the third day being yesterday, the day of the ride).

Last nights ride was well...fast and long and miserable. Everyone started hammering after 4 miles of warmup and we went 37...with a couple miles cool down...so I would say 30+ miles of hard, fast cycling on a day where my legs/body had nothing. I was only dropped a few times which I consider pretty good for myself. Probably the fastest I have ever ridden since starting triathlons, cycling anywhere between 20-35 mph depending on hills, most of the time around 25 mph. And yes, I averaged 20.4 mph in the race on Saturday, which was only 17 miles, which I know had I had my bike computer on, I would have gone faster.

If this is how it will be, EZ and I will go back. It is good to get out there and really push yourself hard past what you thought wasn't possible...I didn't know I could push 25 mph pulling in the front...which means I can do it in a race! (with much more training of course) :)

A Weekend of Sports

How can you not be happy when Dale Jr wins his first race in forever and the US Open is so great that they add one more day!!

If you are interested in how my triathlon went, you can read my race report at our tri team site here.

By the way...Happy Fathers Day!!! Hope you had a safe trip back to MI, and you will even get to watch the "final round" of the US Open!

New Look

I don't know why (maybe because I was just feeling like a change)...but I decided to try and change the look of the blog and add some stuff. It might go through some changes over the next few weeks of me messing around with it. Hope it isn't too painful for you.

We are off to Charlotte tomorrow for my first tri since the half last May. I am not at all in fast shape nor do I feel fit at all. Should be fun. I haven't even taken a day off since we got back from Peru. And I am tired.

The book list on the side is almost all the books that I have recently checked out or am in the middle of reading. I have never before tried to read multiple books, but am currently in the middle of At First Sight (for fun), Millenials Go to College (not for fun but for work) and am starting The Other Boleyn Girl (for book club).

The Infamous Ironman

Some of you may know or may not that I have thought about doing an ironman for a while. It is one of those things that to me is a goal that puts me out of my comfort zone and seems like a challenge. Just like the marathon or the half ironman I did last year. They were things I wanted to do to say I have done one.

The ironman is a little different. I think because when I tell people I do triathlons, all anyone knows is the ironman so they always bring that up and I have to tell them "No, I haven't done one" as if that makes me something less of a triathlete. So over the past year or so I have brought it up again and again to Eric. Could I do one? Would I be able to put in all the training and not want to kill myself? Now, I know I could finish, but I would want to be respectable, so I would need to train, and train a lot. Every time I bring it up with EZ, I also bring up how much I would hate the training. So is this something I really should do?

I was out riding with ML the other weekend and was talking to her about it and she told me, I don't have to commit to it now. How many more years ahead of me do I have? Then again, once there are little Zack's running around, will I really want to spend a Saturday riding for 7 hours instead of being a mom? Anyway, I digress...

I actually had kind of convinced myself that maybe I will do the new one in Wilmington next November, and I have until Jan 1 to decide since that is when sign up is. Then my friend and team mate Bri posted this on her blog:

"My longest bike ever in my life is 75 miles. I just don’t like sitting on that thing for that long. I think that it’s easy to get caught up in the 70.3/ironman following. Hawaii is like the holy grail of triathlon, but it doesn’t have to be and I’m not sure it ever will be for me. I read a lot of blogs and get excited for the long stuff and then of course how can you not get excited when you watch the broadcast? I truly think that if I had a lot of time and really trained very meticulously I could do well – but for the most part I am happiest doing sprints and Olympics. And right now I would be happy just to be out there competing for the entire time!"

Maybe I don't need to do one. Just be happy with where I am and what I enjoy doing. The sprints. :)

The Heat

I know it can't be as bad as the people in the midwest with the rain/flooding/tornados, but the weather here is unreal. It started getting really hot last Wednesday with temperatures about 95 and just went up from there with added humidity, the heat index has been around 110 for the past couple days.

Saturday morning Eric and I went out for a bike ride at 9am and the heat had killed me by 11. We then had a canoe and dinner planned for the afternoon. So we paddled down a river in the heat. Yesterday, since we had spent almost all of Saturday outside, we hung out at Barnes and Noble reading up on some different stuff including maybe going not to Costa Rica, but maybe China or Japan (so Monica, we will have to chat).

The heat is suppose to stay here for another couple days and then we will be back into the 80's-a little more manageable especially since I have my first triathlon in over a year this coming weekend.

The worse thing about the heat...no rain. Already being in a drought, not having rain (only 1 inch in the last 30 days) along with the hot sun make for dying bushes and grass.

The Couch Part 2

This morning our new bedroom furniture was delivered and the guys that were setting it up noticed the couch sitting in the hall and asked what it was doing there. So I explained that we could get it through the door to the bonus room. He looked at me and looked at the door and said "We can do it." So after they put the bedroom together they took the door off the bonus room and in about 10 seconds got the couch through the door. :) I called Eric at work and told him and he says "Well I feel stupid now".

Guess we won't be selling the couch and chair (too bad!). :)

The Couch

Our couch finally arrived yesterday and when Eric got home we worked on moving our old couch upstairs into the bonus room. Hmmmmmmm.... even with the door off, it won't fit into the room. :) Right now it is sitting in our hall upstairs. Guess that will be going up on craigs list or ebay sooner than we thought.

Recession...what Recession?

We got a call that our couch we ordered finally arrived!!! On top of that, our new mattress was delivered this week. Well, we put it in our existing bed frame (the one I had growing up) and now that we got the pillowtop it is way too big for the frame. You can hardly see the headboard anymore! :) So we decided we best go out and look for a new bedroom set...

Saturday we were at one furniture store we have been to many times, and everything on the floor you could buy for 50% off. Well, the dining room table and chairs we looked at previously were still there, so we ended up finally buying a table and chairs for our empty room! Sunday we headed out again looking for more deals and low and behold found a new bedroom set and bought that plus an armoire!

So the table and chairs will be delivered this week, the bedroom set and couch to be delivered next week! Our house is finally coming together...not too much more to buy now thank goodness! We surely are keeping people in business right now!

By the way, we celebrated 6 years of marriage by buying said furniture above, along with a bike ride (in which I received another flat tire...time to get a new tire, not just a tube), a game and a half of bocchi ball (in which I won both), plus smores, nascar and hockey. What more could you ask for! :)

Congrats Moomers!

For winning best ice cream in America (on Good Morning America)!!! If you ever visit Traverse City, Michigan be sure to stop in and get a scoop (or multiple scoops if you are me) of the best ice cream there is!!!

Pictures

Ok, so obviously I can't post all the pictures, we took between 300-400 pictures. Here is a sample of some of my favorites, or just of the area:


The Cathedral in Lima, Peru


Traditional Peru meal: (large kernel) corn with cheese


Cliffs/Beach in Lima (like the soccer court on the beach)


View of Cusco, Peru from our hostel


Eric with the llama and girl who told him "No, Uno Sole" after he gave her only 50 cents.


More traditional food: Guinea Pig (doesn't it look good)


Main square in Cusco


The Andes on our way to Ollyambtambo


Arriving in Aqua Calientes (base of mountain where Machu Picchu is)


Obviously, you know where we are now...we are going to hike up the mountain in the backgroud


This is the view once we hiked up the mountain

Here are a few pics around Machu Picchu:










Here is Eric riding a horse for the first time on our trip around more ruins outside the city of Cusco (and then some of the ruins:




Here I am drinking the most popular soda in Peru-Inca Cola-after a long train ride and bus ride back to Cusco after Machu Picchu (it tastes like bubblegum):


Alright, I think I am done posting pictures :)

Back from Peru

Well...a little update about our trip. We were suppose to head out on our 4 day hike Monday morning, but Sunday night about 2am, I came down with a serious stomach bug. It was not altitude sickness, it was a stomach bug that took its course in a matter of only a couple hours to empty out my entire insides. Needless to say there was no way I could hike, so we ended up not being able to go.

We were extremely disappointed since this is what we planned our entire trip around but oh well, what can you do. I spend all of Monday in bed while Eric ran around the town getting everything situated to get to Machu Picchu.

Tuesday we just walked around the city a little and took a short tour on a trolley. I still wasn't feeling great. Wednesday we went out for an American breakfast and had pancakes with bananas and carmel sauce before taking our taxi out to Ollyamtambo where we would catch our train to Machu Picchu. We took a more expensive train that had windows on the ceiling to we could see as much as possible and it was an awesome train ride. Only 6 people were on the train and so we were able to move around to both sides taking pictures.

We got to Aquas Calientes (20 min bus ride to Machu Picchu) and walked around the town. It is really small, bascially geared just for tourists, so just shops and restaurants. There are some hot springs there, but they didn't look very appealing-lots of dirty people trying to get clean in what they turned into little pools. We ate an awesome dinner at a little french/peruvian restaurant before heading to bed.

We woke up at 4:30am to a wake up call we didn't order but thought that maybe the treking place had made it. We ate a little breakfast and took the first bus up to Machu Picchu at 5:30. We were suppose to meet our treking group at the entrence (they had our tickets) but they didn't arrive until almost 8:00am. So we just sat around for 2 hours. But once we headed in, our whole trip turned around. Machu Picchu really was amazing. Much larger than I imagined. It was pretty amazing. We took a two hour tour of the ruins and then went over to hike up Wanyu Picchu, the mountain that is commonly seen in the backdrop of the ruins.

They only allow 400 people to hike up it, we of course didn't know how it all worked. Turns out they let 200 people in at 8:00 and 200 more in at 10:00. We got over there around 10:30 and there was a little line, turns out that we were 390 and 391 into the mountain. It was about an hour or so up the mountain that included some steep parts and really narrow stairs, but it was way worth it. The ruins were neat up there as well, hiked in part of a cave and it is just amazing how they built these ruins on the side of a mountain.

We came back and ate a little lunch before going back out on part of the Inca trail hike up to whats called the sun gate, where if we had done the hike we would have seen the ruins for the first time. It wasn't up like the other mountain, but it was a nice hike. Then came back and walked around the ruins some more before heading back down the mountain at 5pm.

The next day, I had wanted to climb another mountain that is across from the ruins, so we headed out around 9am. This hike was about an hour up, maybe 1000 feet of climbing, and parts of the hike are just ladders made of logs and nailed into the rocks. There were 250 ladder steps on the hike, and going up wasn't that bad, but come down was scary for me, just going down and seeing all the way down the mountain. It was a nice hike, hardly anyone on the train, and we spend about 45 min at the top by ourselves just enjoying the scenery. I enjoyed this part the most, just more secluded and peaceful than the chaos at Machu Picchu.

We took a train and bus back to Cusco and go back around 10pm Friday night. We had wanted to go white water rafting, but the river was low and so it wasn't recommended. Instead, Saturday we got horses and toured some ruins just outside the city with a small group of nice people and a great guide. And Sunday we took a day long tour of what is known as the Sacred Valley. We got back around 7pm and had reservations at the "best restaurant" in Cusco (which only costs like $15-20 a plate) and packed up.

It was a fun trip besides getting sick and it is disappointing not to have hiked the trail. We talked about whether we would want to go back and do the hike, but part of it was going to be seeing Machu Picchu for the first time from the trail and so we kind of ruined the ending. So we ultimately said we need to go somewhere else. We met some great people and had a great time, especially the last 4-5 days where packed and amazing. No pictures today, Eric took the camera to work, but I will post some of them tomorrow.

Here is the few of the places we are thinking about going next year: Costa Rica, Italy, Greece, Galapagos Islands

Taxis and Altitude

Ok, so we found an internet cafe that seemed nice enough to use and really cheap. We leave tomorrow for our hike and won´t be back in a town until Friday, but here is a little update.

The flights here were fine. The overnight flight was ok, didn´t sleep all that well but alright. We got in and got through customs fine. And made our first of several scary taxi rides to our hotel which was like 30 minutes. Lima is extremely large city and not really all that nice. I was glad we didn´t stay there but 1 1/2 days. Seriously, some roads don´t have lines, some do, but if they do and say there are 3 lanes, that really means they make 4 or 5 on the road and it is just complete nonsense. That was my biggest fear any time we got in a cab was getting in an accident. There is basically no rules on the road.

Our hotel was nice and we were a close enough walk to the beach, but the beach isn´t really nice, lots of rocks. The city sits up on the cliffs and then you can look over the ocean. That was probably the nicest part. We tried a few local foods...the classic corn with cheese and a pisca sour (cocktail drink that is pure liquor). We tried going to the museum that was recommended but when we got there (after a lovely taxi ride) it was closed until June. :)

Yesterday afternoon we flew up to Cusco, now at something like 13000-14000ft. Our taxi driver was better but we hit a car trying to squeeze two lanes into one. I wouldn´t say hi, but basically rubbed sides. Quite nice. Our hotel here sits way up above the city and the first thing we were offered is the local Coca Tea which is made from coca leaves (leaves that make cocain). Basically the tea is a bunch of the leaves with hot water and is suppose to help with altitude sickness. We got settled in and walked down to the main square and walked around and made our way to dinner.

Eric after a sip of his drink felt sick and said he was going to go outside. I didn´t know that when he went out there he fainted and hit the ground. I stayed inside the restaurant for a while never knowing this till he came back in. The altitude really hit him hard and he still isn´t feeling great. I feel fine though, so I guess that is good. We were able to try a few more local things'some Andean soup and Alpaca (which we thought was llama but are unsure right now). The Alpaca was actually really good.

We took another taxi to a town 20 miles away called Pisca today where they have a lcoal market on Sundays. I bought the standard beanie hat with llamas on it and a cool handwoven belt. And we got some salt and pepper shakers. It was really neat to see the locals and see some of the women weaving their stuff. We are going to take it easy for the rest of the day since we leave at 5:30am tomorrow morning to head out for the hike.

So far we are getting by ok with the limited spanish we know. Most people speak a little english too so that helps, but at the market today most people spoke spanish or quachan (which is the native indian language, and it has no resemblence of spanish).

Hope all is well in the US.

The Trip is coming!

Well now, it is only a short day away before we are off in a foreign land where hopefully all of Eric's listening to the spanish station here has helped. I just stopped trying to learn, and will just rely on him. :)

I am done with school and now just using the few days of doing nothing to get some odds and ends errands accomplished. Still have more things to tie up and get done before we go. We have been on a crazy shopping spree lately...finished doing the front/side landscaping and got rockers for the porch, finished painting our bathroom and got towels to go with the room and just bought a new mattress that we will have delivered after our trip. Next up is the bedroom furniture and our couch will maybe be in sometime when we get back.

I will leave you with a couple pictures of our new bathroom color and towels and the front yard. Although, you can't really tell the color of the bathroom, and I tried to take a pic of the toilet area since we painted it a deeper purple.









Last but not least, here is one of Killer in one of his new sleeping spots (our closet).

The dreaded Flat tire

So yesterday I head out for a ride, and was planning on just 25 miles with a 3x 1 mile workout in the middle after a 10 mile warmup. I was at mile 8 and I hear this pssssssssssss.... I of course don't know what it is at first because I have my ipod on and I think for a second I have a leaf or bag or something stuck in my wheel so I look around and don't see anything.

A few seconds later I realize my back tire is flat. Yikes. So up until now, I have been riding for 3-4 years and haven't had to actually change my tire out on the road. The first flat I got was just a leak and I made it home, the second one was also a leak racking at White Lake Half last year and I didn't even know it until after the race. I got another flat a week after than but I was only a couple miles from home and called Eric who came and picked me up.

So I call him because I am freaking out, it is my rear tire and I am clueless as to how the whole gears and stuff work back there with the wheel. He talks me through getting the wheel off and I manage to change the tire after like 5 calls to Eric to make sure I was doing it right.

Too bad the CO2 cartridge hardly had any stuff in it. I rode home because my tire was still really soft and when I got home, I checked it and the cartridge only gave 30 psi's. Yikes! My wheels require 130 psi's.

Eric said he had only given me 50-50 odds on whether I could do it while his co-worker gave me 75-25. Thanks Mike!

Juno

What an excellent movie...

My favorite line:

"That ain't no etch-a-sketch. This is one doodle that can't be undid, homeskillet."

House Stuff...

We spent the weekend doing what seemed like a million different things. We managed to dig up some sod and plants a few plants as part of our front yard makeover. Maybe we will finish that this weekend...I am really sore though from diging and planting though.

Then I decided I wanted to finish painting our bathroom. I had picked a different color for the small room where the actually toilet is, a deep purple to complement the gray lightish purple bathroom part. So it is a really small space and so I decided we didn't need a gallon , so I bought a quart. Well, we are painting away and Eric asks me if I think the walls seems strange and I do....turns out, the builders never actually painted the room, just sprayed on the paint (1 coat-flat) over the drywall so it is just dry. Well, that meant it just soaked up the quart. Couldn't even finish one coat with it. So I had to go out and buy another. Stupid little cans...the two cans are costing me more then it would have cost to buy the gallon to begin with. :)

I am also testing a different color for the main part of the house, a more green then gold color. But that project will come at a much later time.

If we finish the yard this weekend, I will post pictures...and maybe we will get some chairs for the porch too!!! We only bought ones for the deck so far.

The Games

A few weeks ago, Eric and I were extremely fortunate to get some tickets (Thanks Tyler) to the first round NCAA tourny. Of course, we were excited since Arkansas was playing and so was UNC. The first games of UNC vs Mount St. Mary's was a blowout and not very exciting but the Indiana vs Arkansas game was great and we ended up winning! Unfortunately, that meant playing UNC in the next round. Yeah. The first game that day was the Davidson vs Georgetown game and wow, that was amazing. The entire arena in powder blue was rooting for Davidson (since they are in Carolina), and the student section was great. And then I watched Arkansas get blown out by UNC which was embarrasing. Just terrible.

Anyway, here are a few pics!










And here is us at the game after it was over...