January - It's a wrap (almost!)

Yes - January, despite my sense of lackluster motivation and a slow start, ended up being a good month and has concluded on a positive note.  Returning to work after the holidays is always a bit brutal, but the Jan. schedule at the school where I teach is pretty awesome and allows for much socializing.  Add to that my birthday and some solid training weeks, and the month rounded out quite nicely!

Yes, my birthday - another year older but not necessarily wiser.  I used to hate having a January birthday (mainly when I was a kid because I wanted a pool party which was never possible, not even in South Texas), but I've obviously gotten over that and now embrace getting older.  I think that, once I'm closer to the big 5-0, I might enjoy celebrating it a bit less, but for now, I'll continue to raise a glass to my health and happiness.

Drinking a home-made margarita by the resident mixologist and sporting a great little Smartwool pullover that my parents got me - total win!

With my birthday, I didn't move up an age group, sadly, but hopefully it will be a good year for me in the 40-44 group!  My actual birthday was filled with some star power - I attended a CalTri season kick-off meeting and met the very inspiring Hillary Biscay who talked to the group.  I admit that I didn't know who she was until I got my first Smashfestqueen kit, but then I started reading about her and wow, she's pretty amazing.  And I really do love the kits that her company makes - the designs are awesome and the kits are comfortable.  Anyway, I wavered - to introduce myself as a fan girl or not?  I finally decided that it would be kind of silly to not say anything to her, so I ended up talking about how great the kits are, showing her a picture of me wearing the Fly kit, and then we blabbed about triathlon. I was a little starstruck, I must admit, and she was very nice.

Hillary with Maik Twelsiek - the following photos are courtesy of CalTri (and Harrison Shao)

No pictures with Hillary but Harrison snapped one of me with Maik - he only came in 11th at Kona this year!  He was swiping my credit card so that I could make the following purchase:

I know, I know!  Another kit. But so cute and I love the fish scales on it!  And Maik also talked with me about the St. George course - and the hills!

My "real" birthday celebration followed - Michael and I spent an afternoon hanging out at LA's Grand Central Market , visiting the Hudson River School exhibit at LACMA and eating and drinking quite well.  To be honest, there might have been a bit too much over-indulgence over the course of the month, but how can I complain about *having* to spend time at some of my favorite places - Amigos, the York, Golden Road Brewery and POV (this last place has forever ruined pizza elsewhere for us) with friends.  Also, I had my first ramen experience - since the days of Top Ramen - at Tsujita.  The LA Weekly claims that you can find better ramen, but you have to get on a plane to do so.  I'm not a ramen expert, but I can say that it was one of the most decadent meals I've ever had.

Perhaps my favorite part of the meal (except for the ramen) - Glad that no one died while we were eating the ramen!

I mentioned drink, and I know that serious triathletes and runners eschew alcohol.  Sigh.  Obviously I'm not one of those serious athletes, and I've developed a recent crush on the Old Fashioned and variations of said drink (such as the Claremont).  Also, Golden Road's "Better Weather IPA" is one of the best beers I've had in ages which I would drink on a more regular basis except that it has 9% alcohol or something ridiculous like that.  In other words, it packs a punch.

Despite a month of eating and drinking a bit too much, I would say that the rest of my training regime is on track.  Yes, despite my mid-month groaning and moaning and belly-aching, it's been a solid training period.  I started off the month with a great run in Boulder on New Year's, and I started today with an early morning long, slow distance run.  Many of these have felt like a slog, at least at one moment or another, but I enjoyed every moment of today's run. I feel that some of the training is beginning to click, and I'm looking forward to a more focused month in February.

Christmas in Boulder

Yes, I'm back in sunny CA where it should hit 78 or 80 degrees today.  Perfect weather for the Rose Parade which ruined my morning outing to the Pasadena farmers' market.  Cancelled today even though things (Parade, Game...) don't happen until Monday.  Totally unfair.
I should, however, back up and wax poetically about the white Christmas that we spent in Boulder, CO.  We arrived last Wednesday night, snow just starting to fall in the early evening.  By the time we woke up Thursday morning, about 12 inches had accumulated.  Exciting!  It was the lightest, fluffiest snow that I've ever experienced.  I tried to make a snowball to throw at a certain person, but the snow didn't even stick together.  Crazy!  We depended on the kindness of a brother-in-law to chauffeur us around town since our awesome Toyota Camry wasn't quite up to the task.  I spent most of the first few days oohing and aahing over the snow and also complaining about the cold!  Still, we did brave the elements several times with the pups who LOVE the snow:

(Gus is too busy eating snow in the second photo to pose for the camera.  As I look at these photos now, I wish that I had spent more time in the snow!  Agh - I hate those regrets.)

We seemed to celebrate Christmas for several days, a non-stop eating, drinking, and present-opening fest.  The best present that I received, hands-down, were a bunch of socks from one of my in-laws.  I realize that socks don't necessarily scream "Awesome present!", but these do!  THREE pair of awesome SmartWool socks and a pair of cycling socks with "Colorado" stitched on them - I hit the motherlode with that present, and my brother-in-law may now be my favorite family member ever.

Given the snowfall in Boulder and our aborted ski efforts in Taos, Michael and I were pretty determined to go skiing while in Boulder.  Nothing crazy, like Breckenridge or Keystone, but we figured that a nice day at Eldora, a local ski place, would be perfect.  We went up last year to Nordic ski, but we both wanted to try out our downhill legs, despite years and years away from the slopes.  So, we (and half of Boulder) geared up on Tuesday and headed up the mountain.  By 10:00 am, we'd already gotten in two runs - success on the green runs at least!

Not to sound like one of my students, but I felt like yelling "OMG! This is so FUN!".  I was really nervous about trying to downhill ski again, since my last run, on March 23, 2003 (I found the tag on my ski pants which I hadn't worn since that day) ended with a torn meniscus.  Well, we started out on the easy runs and didn't challenge ourselves with anything beyond a blue slope, but as we spent more time on skis, we both relaxed into the movement and had a spectacular time.  I think that I had forced myself to forget how much PURE fun skiing is because I thought that I'd never ski again.  Thank you again, Dr. Hatch, for my new ACL (and thanks to the cadaver who gave up his ligament).

By noon-ish, we were tired and hungry, so we settled into a relaxing lunch in the lodge.  The food was so-so, but the Bloody Marys were damn good and strong!  After that, we were pretty much toast - tired and relaxed.  So, we did two more runs before calling it a day.  It was the perfect way to end our time in Boulder!  We are also jonesing to ski again soon - maybe here in SoCal?!

Ah, the post-Bloody Mary relaxed state!

Heading back out to ski - yes, I look like an alien with the goggles on!

No trip to Boulder is complete without lots of good food and drink.  We skipped some of our standards (Snarfs, a great sandwich shop, and Lucilles, a rockin' brunch place), but discovered a few new favorites.  One place, Bitter Bar, replaced a great Asian restaurant.  We were disappointed that the Happy Noodle had closed its doors, but Bitter Bar served up good food and drinks and had an awesome happy hour!  I have also continued my love with Avery Brewery.  I almost fell OUT of love with Avery on Christmas Eve afternoon because it was closed (in fact, most bars in Boulder were closed on Saturday afternoon which was an outrage!).  However, we made it back on Monday night, and it was worth the wait.  I discovered a crazy-strong beer called "The Beast" which has 16.83% alcohol.  It is definitely a might fine sipping beer.
All-in-all, a stand-out trip to Boulder, CO and a great way to enjoy the Christmas break. Now we just need to toast both the old year and the new year, and our celebration will be complete!
Cheers!