Carpe Swimmin'

This morning I managed to talk Karin G. into another brisk and dark lake Washington swim...no one else was even moderately tempted, but she's a champ and rallied. We met at Madison Beach for a 6:15 a.m. launch with the stars still clear and the beginnings of an orange horizon sunrise. The water was calm and, I swear, it was a little warmer than last Friday morning. We had a great swim and Tatyana was on the beach when we returned. Karin flew off to work and T and I went for coffee and an overdue "catch up and process our lives" session at Starbucks. Great morning, god bless neoprene.

Yesterday I had yet another weather-inspired bike ride (after a swim in the morning and weights at lunch, guess who can't sit still as usual). I've been photosynthesizing on a bike 6 of the last 8 days which might be a record for me. My legs felt heavy all day yesterday, but the sun was just too much to resist and once I started riding I felt good, even on the hills. I had a great ride around Mercer Island and to Seward Park in a sleeveless jersey with views of Mt. Rainier...not bad for the very end of September! The idea of fall is much more palatable on a sunny afternoon in record-setting temperatures, that's for sure. I was in bed crashed out at 9:00 p.m.

Bachelor Blue

My toenail color is back to blue and I painted them myself...'nuff said... Fortunately, the blue color of my toes and, OK, a bit of my mood this last week, has been shared by the SKY and a last blast of warm weather has improved my disposition considerably. Thank god it's not raining all the time already as I just can't take it yet.

On Friday morning, I had a really great sunrise swim in the lake...it was basically a solo swim as the only other people there were 2 really fast dudes I don't know. After one of them helped me get my wetsuit on, I didn't see them again till we were back on the beach. It was a pretty dang brisk swim, but the moon and sky were amazing and when I stopped for a few seconds at the Tennis Club to turn around and clear my goggles, Mt. Rainier was totally clear and I could see the snow on it. Sweet...any lake swim at this point is total bonus as most people have already hung up their wetsuits for the season.

I road-tripped down to Olympia on Friday afternoon after PT (where, by the way, I got good marks for hamstring improvement) to hang out with Heather and Chase...exactly what I needed and they made a great dinner and I crashed there. Yesterday morning I went for a great 40+ mile bike ride around Olympia, out to Boston Harbor...lots of great scenery and hardly any traffic...really great. I also caught up with Stacy & Wendy for a little while and got to see part of Carter (age 6)'s flag football game which was about the cutest thing ever.

Today was sunny yet again and I went for another ride...I figure screw the rest day idea when it's sunny and 70 because it ain't gonna last. I had just gotten over to Mercer Island when my bike decided to become a single-speed and I couldn't shift the rear deraillier. And, of course, it was stuck in the hardest gear on the back. CRAP. I went right back across the bridge and to Triumph where the super nice dude (same one who first aided my bike on at least one other occasion) discovered I'd snapped the cable and replaced it. I was glad I had the emergency debit card in my bento box so I could pay the $12.50 and be on my way. I went back to Mercer Island again and got in a total of about 41 miles on a perfect sunny afternoon.

I managed to get invited over to Cathy's this evening for food and TV with she and Stacia...first episode of the Amazing Race is on tonight...cool!

The little Hoover

Today was my last day of house sitting for Jill & Michele...here's a shot of the little football impersonator, Roxy. She was totally fun to hang out with and is a quirky funny (did I mention spoiled?) creature, for sure.I've always been much more of a big dog person (as in big dogs, not big person although there was my freshman year of college when I gained at least 8 pounds on peanut butter alone, but I digress...), but I now have a new appreciation for little dogs. Roxy is a total food whore (as one of her moms says, I didn't say it first) and I'm starting to call her the little Hoover. She really lives for food like nobody else, even me. She also became a good workout partner...the other day when I was on my bike trainer for over an hour, she chillaxed the entire time in my chair right next to the bike...and at least twice when I've been doing my PT and core exercises, she has literally ridden along. One morning I was lying flat on my stomach on the floor bemoaning the fact that it was time to do planks when she climbed on my back, curled up, and camped out. I rallied and did my planks and she didn't move at all, just stayed on my back...this morning, I was on my back about to do bridges and she climbed on my stomach, curled up, and stayed there for the sets of bridges. On both occasions, it was a nice distraction and I could give myself credit for the extra 3 pounds of resistance...good deal.

Today's housesitting snafus included waking up and discovering that I'd slept all night with the back door unlocked, fighting with the cat (who, I'm sure I mentioned, hates me) at 5:45 a.m.-- and having to wield the hose to get her back indoors, and falling down the stairs this afternoon. My friends have a gorgeous and very immaculate condo...the pretty bamboo floors are clean enough to eat off of, I swear--it's a great place. I made the mistake of putting on some socks and starting to go downstairs while looking to my left at the cat (who, I'm sure was still remembering the hose episode from the morning and set this whole thing up) and next thing I knew, I was halfway down the stairs in a pile with a few things hurting and the F word flying out of my mouth...youch!

The day ended well, however, with a really fun mountain bike ride with Nicole at St. Ed's Park. It was my first kinda-rainy and very-close-to-dark ride, but really fun and Nicole is a total crack-up...she navigated the trails for us, frequently yelling back, "Got 'er, Otter?" to make sure I was OK, and it was really fun. I also managed to get through a turn on the trail that I've never made before and felt pretty good about it...way fun! We may need to get some headlamps before next week as the days keep getting shorter (grr), and she seems to think that I should learn snowboarding this winter...hmmm...

I've also started using the old heart rate monitor this week...I got in 2 good road bike rides and started tracking things again. It's been almost 3 weeks since I've gone for a run, but I'm trying to behave and am religiously resting the dang hamstring and doing my PT exercises every day...it's getting better and I haven't lost hope for doing the Seattle Half in November...we'll see.

Stealth swim

It's the first day of fall and it certainly feels like it. However, despite the "highs in the low 60's" forecast for today, I'm holding out a little longer and refusing to wear socks. I'm bucking up one day at a time here...can't handle it all at once.

I am housesitting at Michele & Jill's for a couple more days and taking care of Roxy, the (slightly spoiled) Chihuahua, and Zoe, the fuzzy cute cat who (as most cats do) doesn't like me so much. And I'm not making that up...this morning she just would NOT come back into the house, despite my rumbling of the treat bag and my 2 attempted mini-safaris into the bushes where she was camping out as far from me as possible and looking at me like, "yeah, just try to get me out of this corner..." I was unsuccessful and will go back later to work on my imitation of Jill's nice cat-enticing voice, but I'm not at all confident I can woo her indoors without the assistance of some tough love from the hose...

Anyway, I got up early in the mini animal kingdom today, got them fed, and headed for the pool at Seattle U...went in the door right on time, through the locker room, and onto the pool deck where I was completely alone. For the whole hour. No teammates, no coach, nobody. I think we must be in between sessions until next week...anyway, I decided to carpe diem the indoor open water opportunity and had a slightly lonely but decent 3,000 yard swim...

Gettin' out my ax

"If Mother Nature had a second home, Idaho would be it." I cannot stop laughing at the slogan we saw several times in Idaho travel literature. Every time we read it, we just busted up. Despite the ridiculous-ness of that quote, however, I can say whole heartedly that Sandpoint, Idaho is a GREAT town...and I'd definitely go back in a hot second. The short vacation flew by (isn't that the theme of the last 3 months) and both HH and I didn't want to leave...we maximized every bit of the trip and got home as late as possible. We drove over on Sunday-- singing through the state to an awesome ipod playlist of cheesy 70s tunes -- and stayed until Wednesday at this too-cute "Cowboy Cabin" right on the lake...so fun!



Lake Pend Orille in Sandpoint is 43 miles long with mountains all around...gorgeous. The weather was perfect and we discovered that the whole place is a big 'ol playground for biking, mountain biking, hiking, skiing, swimming, and pretty much everything fun. And with the exception of one confrontational bigoted jerk-face resident we encountered (hopefully the exception that proves the rule), the people in Sandpoint were friendly and really cool.

On Monday, we drove all around the area, and up and down the mountain to Schweitzer ski resort so HH could look at some property. The morning of gaping at the views and saying a zillion times, "I like it here!" continued into the afternoon as we went for a really great hike near town, followed, of course, by a brisk (brr) open water swim in the lake and happy hour on the dock by the Cowboy Cabin.


On Tuesday and Wednesday, we biked the same trail we'd hiked on Monday and I'm quite proud to say that my mountain biking ability (and thus, enthusiasm) continued to build some momentum...I LOVED riding up and down that trail with HH and am hoping to find more stuff around home that I can ride/learn this fall. I also got in another blissful solo lake swim on Tuesday afternoon while HH continued her real estate searching... I had a blast swimming around looking at the mountains and the lake front homes and then sitting on the sunny dock soaking up some late season sun and the view.

Unfortunately, things back on the Seattle home front are shifting into fall and after less than 48 hours of driving back from Mother Nature's 2nd home (and did I mention a near-miss speeding ticket when I was driving? Shew, just a warning), the trip already seems like the distant past and a bit of a metaphor for the entire summer (kick in the Elton John soundtrack, "Don't let the su-uh-nnnnnn...go down on me....").

My friend, Heather (the other Heather), has a saying I've swiped and use frequently now about people each having a pile of wood to chop--as in dealing with their own "stuff," and the fact that we all have our own "wood to chop." It appears that dealing with the transitions of the end of this summer is my wood to chop at the moment...so, along that theme, a visual from the Cowboy Cabin below. This summer has been so so so fun...and I'm not not NOT at all happy to be letting it go...chop chop.

Facebook is the new Blogger

OK, OK, I can no longer take the assessment of my blog as "languishing" as an insult. It's become more of a valid observation. However, lately it's seemed that most everyone I know is on Facebook and we all get each other's concise and frequent updates (and, hey, I'm thinking concise is something that perhaps could serve me well...) plus lots of photos, too. It almost feels redundant to post photos here when I already put them up on Facebook. So languishing or not, I'm going with the strategy of using Facebook as my blogging crutch from now on when I'm not up for my usual verbosity.

ANYWAY...catching up again here...last weekend was another fun-a-thon with happy hour with Anh on Friday, a Storm Game + Karoke on Saturday (group efforts I participated in after several beers included "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart" and "We are Family") and the last roof BBQ party I hosted on top of the Shoebox building on Sunday night. On Monday I came down with something that only hiking with HH could cure and we spent the day up off of Hwy 2 at Lake Serene. It was another perfect fun day...the tally of those this summer has gotten pretty high, for sure. HH was smart enough to hike with 2 pumpkin beers in her pack (and nice enough to put them in a ziplock of ice when I wasn't looking and surprise me with COLD ones at the top...SWEET!!)





I've also been to a new PT 3 times in the last week for the hamstring situation...not surprisingly, the problem seems to need: (1) rest from running and, (2) improved core strength that can only be achieved by doing exercises correctly (for godsake, isn't it enough to just DO them? Crap, I hate doing them RIGHT and figuring out how to turn "on" the TA muscles, doesn't someone just have a remote or something?). I haven't run in a week, but have been hanging in there with a bit of cycling, another mountain biking lesson (during which I had a short attitude problem, but eventually corrected it) and a lot of swimming, indoors and in the lake. I also have to admit that I've hardly been using my HR monitor at all and...here's the big confession...I'm starting to NOT miss it.

HH and I are road tripping to Sandpoint, Idaho, tomorrow for about 5 days to play...the forecast is stellar and I can't wait! Another chunk of summer...woo-hoo! I'm savoring every second of sun and fun as the end is unfortunately in sight...

Exactly Never

"Exactly never" is the amount of times I would have predicted a few months ago that I'd ever want to learn mountain biking. We know what's happened with that...I'm hooked. It's also the number of times a week ago, that I'd have predicted that I'd play soccer again-- or want to. As a matter of fact, I was having a glass of wine with my cousin, Liz, on Friday evening and she asked if I ever play soccer anymore...and I replied adamantly--as I have for several years now since college-- that "I'm retired." Enter the usual reason that "Exactly never" has translated into "That would be so much fun!" for the last few months, HH. At the time I was hanging out with Liz, HH (a veteran of 5th grade soccer, almost "exactly never" status as if she'd care anyway) was in typical "upgrade" mode at an "invitation only" opening night party for players in the FOB soccer tournament. By the end of the evening, she, of course had been recruited for a team and was scheduled to play 2 games the next day. On Saturday morning, I gave her my cleats, socks, and 22 year old college shin guards with some "go get 'em" wishes...and I went out for a long run. I ran, well slogged, 10 miles down on Lake Washington Blvd. and returned to the Shoebox to shower and head out to watch (that's WATCH) FOB.

Despite the fact that I was wearing jeans + chacos, and had just eaten a huge egg & cheese bagel on the way to the field, all I had to do was see the grass fields... and HH running around out there with a bunch of other cute girls... and it was all over--- I was twitching to kick the ball and completely jealous that she'd gotten hooked up with a team without me. When she caught my eye from where she was playing and yelled, "You should be out here!" a pit crew on the sidelines kicked into gear and before I knew it, I was wearing shorts, a jersey, and cleats and chasing the ball around...and I even scored a goal with my left foot and thought, "Maybe I still have it!" Note to self: a 10 mile warm up for coming out of several years of soccer retirement is not recommended. Intermittent Jello shots and beers, however, make the whole thing better (this event is, as Stacia pointed out, a "soccer" tournament. Clearly, the emphasis here is placed on more fun and debauchery-related activities than soccer to say the least---makes Pride weekend look kind of like nursery school). I only played half a game on Saturday due to a family event in town (dangit, I missed HH's first goal!), but it was enough to determine how and where I'd be sore by the end of the weekend...I was hurting already.

Enter day 2. Unlike the other teams, most of our teammates didn't go out on Saturday night (honestly, I stretched and tried to work on some small knots in my IT bands) and we proudly dubbed ourselves, "Team Stay at Home." This helped us start the games on Sunday with a little more energy than our hungover-yet-PBR-toting opponents. (We're talking players and referees drinking beer and the DJ thumping tunes on the field by 9:30 a.m...why was college soccer never like this??). We won both games on Sunday (was I the only one keeping score? They seemed to notice I was a little more competitive than a few of the other players, oops...) and, I must say, there was a pretty impressive goal scored when I passed the ball to HH and she executed a perfect shot. Way fun. By the end of the 2nd game, however, I think most of us had caught up to the rest of the teams in beverage consumption and the soccer part of the "soccer" tournament had pretty much been scrapped on all 3 fields. At this point, I did NOT care about that fact and it was an effort to even walk anymore. I think we ended up in 3rd place in our division, but thankfully the final "competition" was not exactly a soccer game...By 4:00, things had deteriorated (or do I mean improved?) into quite the exhibition of costumes and behavior unsuitable to document on a blog or Facebook... and I needed a nap and some food to recover for the real party at Cowgirls later that night. I would love to post a more detailed description and some photos of the weekend, but, well...let's just say that might not be a good idea. I will say that the short summary of Sunday night's closing party included HH skillfully riding the mechanical bull at the bar with several hundred cheering fans and leave it at that. We were completely levelled on Monday and I am still a little sore 4 (!) days later. This morning, after a painful shuffling 5-mile run, I got a new prescription for physical therapy where I will try to have my hamstring re-constructed starting tomorrow...