Feeling better and a relaxing weekend

After a good does of antibiotics I'm finally feeling much better! Doug and I spent the weekend in Winter Park with our friends Ryan and KC. It was a really relaxing weekend and we were entertained for hours by Ryan and KC's 3 month old kittens, Scout and Loki. Doug reminded me that it is fun to "play with other people's kittens" (implying that I don't need to bring any home). Since I've raced the last 3 weekends in a row and have been sick I talked myself out of racing on Saturday and enjoyed an easy ride with Ryan and KC around Winter Park and a little jog. We had a leisurely breakfast and played with the kittens most of Saturday morning before riding up to the resort to catch Doug finishing. Doug is on fire this year...he ended up winning the Expert Men overall and would have been 27th in the Pro Men! I cut my ride short so I could go back to the awards and get a picture of him on the podium but my camera skills failed me yet again and I only got a picture of his back. On Sunday we rode for a few hours on some super fun trails the nobody was on before heading home. My typical "Sunday blues" (being bummed that early rise time and work are right around the corner) were minimized since the weekend actually seemed long for once. Only 4 days of work this week and then we'll be relaxing in Breckenridge and going for the coed team win at the Firecracker 50...can't wait!

Xterra Buffalo Creek

For the last 3 weeks I've been battling one cold after another. I was feeling good all week until Thursday when my sinuses started to throb and my nose was expelling all kinds of colorful gunk. The buzzing of the alarm at 5am on Saturday was painful. My boyfriend extraordinaire chauffeured myself, Becky and Brian to the race venue outside of Bailey. Despite the mountain bike lacking any technical sections I love this race as the venue is beautiful! Minus the rain that started falling as I crossed the finish line, and never stopped, the day was perfect for racing (cool and overcast). This year there were 550 participants making it one of the largest Xterras in the World. The race was run very smoothly considering how many people there were...props to the promoters and all the volunteers who made this event happen!

I was one of only two professional women at the race. Susan Williams (bronze medalist in triathlon at the 2004 Olympics) would prove to be great competition for me and end up beating me by less than a minute. I had a decent swim in the chilly lake (61 degrees). For about 30 seconds I was swimming next to Susan but then she took off and there was no way I was going to try and stay on her feet. Doug was out riding around on the course and both times I saw him he told me I was about 3 minutes behind Susan. On the run I had no idea how far ahead Susan was and I just kept focusing on catching the men in front of me. In the end my time was 9 minutes faster than last year...I biked 8 minutes faster than last year and ran almost a minute and a half faster. How I did this with snot running down my face the entire race I do not know. As soon as I crossed the finish line a random lady gave me a tissue and said, "here, I think you need this". I do know that I paid for it dearly on Sunday and was confined to the couch the entire day except for my 20 minute walk around the neighborhood. I even broke down and took TheraFlu and Advil (I hate taking medicine of any kind) and had to miss Father's Day dinner with my family.

Hopefully the doctor will give me the good stuff today and I can kick whatever has been moving around my body for the last 3 weeks. Thanks to all my sponsors for their continued support...Wheat Ridge Cyclery, Yeti, Powerbar, Rudy Project and Pearlizumi.

Out of the dark ages

My boss has told me that my fear of technology means I'm an old soul. Old soul or not I'm going to try this blog thing out.