Finally,

getting around to updating the bloggy blog. Back from Canada and back to hard core training for this little race I have coming up in October.
Had a wonderful week visiting family and friends. Filled with lots of romps up these:
Smelling lots of these:
and this:

-- don't come across much of that in the desert... don't miss it.
Got to play with these:

And did a little, old school olympic race. We swam here: (what I miss the most...water)

And I picked up a Garmin Nuvi for my effort (sweet).
The other hours were filled with olympics and training.
While I totally enjoyed visiting my family and friends - I really missed it here.
This has become our home and I couldn`t imagine not looking out at the mountains everyday.... even though the only water I see comes from a tap.

ps. I promise to not be such a delinquent (spelling.... Bueller) with my blogging.

MIA

I have been in Canada visiting the fam and friends... haven't had much time to blog.. will update on Monday, once I'm back in Tucson.
In the meantime:

guess who was hit by a car, again?!

Yep, me - yesterday.

I had been cycling in London, Ontario prior to my move to Tucson for 2 - 3 years quite regularly. A town of 400, 000, many, many roads and to my knowlegde only one recently installed 500m stretch of bike lane. Never was I hit, nor even grazed by a car. The receiving end of many flipped birds, but never even touched by a moving vehicle.
Fast forward to Tucson. Every single road has a bike lane, cyclists are all over the place -- in fact, there are more bike lanes than sidewalks. I have been hit twice in just a few months.
Not because I was doing anything wrong --- Tucson drivers are f-ing morons.
This time I was not so fortunate in terms of injuries. Nothing too serious, could have been way worse (again). 5 areas of road rash scattered nicely over my body. One very messed up hip and one pulled SCM muscle (aka whiplash). Took a snapshot of my elbow, pretty eh?



My bike, I am extactic to report, has been checked out and is still as amazing as ever. Orbea, you rock.

Got back on the horse this morning and rocked the 2:30 climb up Lemmon.

Somewhat appropriate:

today/11 weeks out...

Today, I headed up my beloved mt. lemmon for a run. At altitude (7500 ft.), uphill for the first half and even more painfully, downhill for the second half. Bring it on Palani!! What made it even more enjoyable was the dark cloud that opened up on me just before half way. It poured and soaked the ground causing the most amazing smells to lift up out of the pines that cover the tops of the Catalina mountains. Even better was that I could look out onto a Tucson that remained hot, sunny and dry. My own personal oasis..

this weekend (well actually, saturday) officially begins the 11 week countdown to Kona.... yikes. I read on RR's blog, the 12 things she needed to do in the 12 weeks before Hawaii... I've missed a week, but here are my 11:

1. Find a new speedsuit -- the Zoot full length looks splendid!!
2. Book a flight.
3. Design a Splish suit (and matching bag -- new feature!) must be something
with maple leaves.
4. Go home for a visit/training fest.
5. Work 29 more night shifts.
6. Lose 5 lbs.
7. Start riding longer than 4 hours at a time.
8. Start running longer than 1.5 hours at a time.
9. Swim more than 3x/week.
10. Develop an itinerary for my two weeks in Kona -- anyone want to be a tour guide?
11. Lose 5 more lbs.

ps.. the article in "Triathlete" show casing the Show Low results said "Tucson Native".... no way, this gal's Canadian all the way.

long overdue update..

whoa. where does time go??
last weekend, ryan and I headed up to Flagstaff for the Mountain Man Half IM.
He did great. I turned it into an aquabike. No biggy, just had a big week and wasn't feeling the love. I'm over it and onto bigger things. Like Kona in 11 weeks!!

After the race, Ryan and I headed up the Grand Canyon for a wee hike. The hike more than made up for my poo poo race. Over 6 miles down into the giant gorge -- almost to the river bed (we would have got there but we were concerned about the amount of water we had left). We could see the Colorodo river and the Phantom Ranch. From there, it was a more painful 6+ miles back to the rim (7000 ft. elevation). The next day, my butt knew it had had a workout.

From there, we headed to Sedona.... beautiful. I just can't get over this state I now call home. From desert to mountain to ponderosa pine to canyon, it's breath taking.
We took sooo many pics.. I'll post a few for your viewing pleasure.

flagstaff, etc.

this weekend, Ryan and myself head up to Flagstaff for yet another half IM at altitude. this will be the last half I do before Kona (12 weeks away), so naturally I'd like to have a stellar showing.
after the race, we plan on visiting Sedona and the Grand Canyon (hiking counts as training, right?). I'll definately post pics...

no excuses..