Just A Colorado Gal

OUCH! I Cracked My.....Cookie

2012-02-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

Now that my font isn't blinding you with all the bold like yesterday......!

On to far more exciting stories.

Guess what happened yesterday, friends? If you follow me on the Twitter or Daily Mile, you already know the punchline to my story. However, let me regale you with the details. We shall call this, "How I Cracked My....Cookie." And we will call it that because I've gotta keep this as p.c. as possible!

Besides, how I broke my crotch just doesn't have the same ring to it. Just saying.

I was supposed to go for my scheduled 3-mile run yesterday, and I was really looking forward to it. However, I had a lot of work to do for my thesis prep course and Tals was driving me nuts. I decided to take her on a quick bike ride to calm her down a bit so she would behave through the morning until we got to our afternoon run. Famous last words.

We were riding down the sidewalk, and I will admit: I was not paying attention. Tally has been so awesome while riding lately that I don't really focus on her anymore. Unfortunately for me, she decided to abruptly stop and sniff an incredibly fascinating patch of snow, and without thinking, I slammed on my brakes instead of just yanking her down the path. Of course, since I was riding one handed, I only hit the front brakes, slamming my front tire to a dead stop.

Naturally, I went flying and full on cracked my nether regions on the frame of my bike. I followed that graceful display of acrobatics with a dramatic crack of my right knee into the softball bleachers. And then I rolled to the ground, once again yelling every swear word known to humanity.

That mother hurt!

It has been a long time so I've done that whole "knock the wind out of me because I hurt my vagina" move. Probably not since I was learning to ride a bike when I was kid. I rolled around on the ground, trying to get a breath while yelling at Tally and cursing her very existence. (We've since made up.) Eventually, I realized that I was flailing on the ground by myself and my public display would better be suited for my living room. I dragged my body up and somehow, rode my bike home with Tally in tow. Clearly, I don't learn lessons very well.

And yes, I have a hematoma on my.... area. How amazingly wretched is that?! Between that mess, my swollen knee, and the fact that my inner thigh looks like a horse kicked me, running was absolutely out of the question yesterday. In fact, I was struggling just to walk! However, I have plans for today. I'm getting that run in if I have to hobble the entire way!

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And now, because I really feel the need to change the subject, let me show you this fantastic playlist I just made two nights ago. I've been listening to Pandora while running, but I felt the need to dictate my tunes. However, you cannot mock, question, or laugh in any way at my music choices. I'm eclectic...or something. Besides, who doesn't love Wilson Phillips?!

Pretty bomb playlist, right?! I particularly like when it switched from Wilson Phillips to Green Day :)

And with that, I'll leave y'all with this:

Happy weekend everyone!

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Alright, truth time: did you feel bad for me or were you really just laughing through this entire story?

Any great song suggestions to add to my ridiculous playlist?

Don't forget: Akinz beanie giveaway ends Sunday!

Battling the Pushup

2012-02-09T07:48:00.001-07:00

Remember back when I compared myself to a dinosaur? The situation has not improved, my friends.

The power of the push up still eludes me. And I'm starting to get a little irritated about this.

Ok, I'm not freaking Jillian Michaels or anything; I get that. However, I'm in fairly good shape. I'm always active and I know I'm strong. Maybe not Arnold Schwarzenegger strong, but I'm not a wimp. So why are freaking push ups so hard for me?

I could maybe, MAYBE do 10 real push ups in a row, but that's it. And again, I strength train fairly often. So, as most good researchers do these days, I turned to the internet for help. My helpful hints?

Do more push ups. That will help.
Drink protein shakes to build your muscles
Do standing push ups against the wall
Build more muscle

Well, awesome. Thanks for those worthless tips of advice. I was feeling pretty down, but then I found one shining piece of advice, sparkling at me from the depth of the internet:

Strengthen your core. That will help with push ups.

Hmmm, this kind of makes sense to me and no one has ever said that to me before. What do you think? Think doing 4 million situps each day will help with my embarrassing push up stats?

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I know some of you mentioned that you are push up champions. Think this core concept will help me?

What's the one strength training move that just makes you want to cry?

Stories from a bike trip

2012-02-08T06:39:00.000-07:00

This has got to be one of the absolute most random posts I've ever written. Seriously! For some reason though, this memory has been recycling through my brain over the past day, so I figured I'd put pen to paper and share it with all of you (so to speak, of course!)

Literally, I'm about to tell you a story.

As most of you know, I spent a few months on my trusty Trek, riding my bike across the country back in 2005. In fact, this random adventure was the catalyst to this blog (Check out post #1 here!) As one would imagine, I have a stockpile of incredible memories from this trip: rabid dogs chasing me down the road in West Virginia, sleeping behind a strip mall in Kentucky, escaping a deranged sadomasochist in Arkansas. The list goes on and on. However, some of my most vivid memories are those that tell the story of kindness.

One story in particular is at the front of my mind today, so I'll share it with y'all. We were less than a week into our journey, and had barely hopped over the state border into Kansas. I have to admit, I was suffering.

As with most things I do in life, I had launched into this bike trip head first. I had only purchased my road bike 3-4 weeks before we left, and clipless pedals were a skill that I was acquiring while we rode across the state. Needless to say, my lack of preparation and training as a cyclist left me in a world of hurt that first week. My ass hurt from sitting on the bike, I was sunburned like the white girl that I am, and I was exhausted from six days straight of constant pedaling. In short, I'm sure I was a cherub to be around!

We rolled into the very small town of McDonald, Kansas around 5pm. The town has a population of roughly 150 people, so it did not take us too long to scour the area in hopes of finding a restaurant. We found the single bar in town, propped our bikes up against the front door, and headed inside to grab some dinner.

Of course, our spandex-clad bodies caught the eyes of all 10 bar patrons, but I was so famished that I barely even noticed. We settled into a table, ordered, and looked outside as a massive freaking storm blew into town. As we sat there and munched on our burgers, rain poured from the clouds, thunder shook the window panes, and lightning lit up the blackened sky. I sadly watched as a wind gust threw my bike sideways, into a large puddle of water. Every single possession I owned was on that bike, and it was now sopping wet....including my sleeping bag.

Eventually, as storms often do in the midwest, the storm passed and the rain subsided. However, the damage had been done. Everything was a muddy and wet mess and Steve and I were feeling pretty hopeless. This trip hadn't been about the money for us; we only stayed in a hotel once a week in order to shower and get a good night's rest on a real mattress. The other six nights were spent in our tent, usually camped out somewhere illegal like a park or behind an abandoned building. Besides, it wasn't like McDonald offered any type of lodging accommodations anyway. A town of 150 people does not have a hotel!

We were mulling over our options for the evening, trying to determine how cold we would get sleeping out in the mud with no sleeping bags, when a elderly man walked over to us. I don't remember his name, but I definitely remember his face. In fact, I'm pretty sure it resembled Santa Claus.

He told us that he and his wife lived in a farmhouse down the road, and we were more than welcome to spend the night with them. Although Steve and I were a little creeped out at the prospect of sleeping in the home of complete strangers, we were not sure we had any other options. Besides, I was pretty uncomfortable and being a girl, verging on tears :) We accepted his offer and pedaled our soaked bodies down to his farm.

As it turns out, it was one of my favorite memories of the entire trip. As soon as we showed up, his sweet wife came running out of the house to give me a hug. She didn't care so much about Steve, but she seemed absolutely horrified that I was in my current situation. (I got this a lot on my bike trip; people seemed to accept that Steve could spend months on his bike, but it truly horrified them that I would do the same. Maybe a female thing?) In the end, they gave us their guest bedroom and let us use their washing machine to clean all of our clothes. We even woke up the next morning to a homemade farm breakfast of eggs, bacon and pancakes!

Writing this now, I'm not sure I can capture the kindness of this Kansas couple. What they did for us was incredible. They trusted two unknowns, spandex and all, and invited us into their home and their life, no questions asked. It was pretty amazing. Even today, I know I'd struggle to do the same.

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Could you ever be so trusting of strangers, even in the name of kindness?

Did you fall asleep during my bedtime story?!

Beanies are the key to life (giveaway!)

2012-02-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

Guys, I have some news.

It snowed again last night!

To be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about this second go-round. We still have feet of snow piled up everywhere, and I was planning on running outside today. Not that we got a lot--just a few inches--but on top of the gazillion flakes we already have, it seemed a little excessive. And slippery-- no running outside for me today!

Am I whining?

Anyway, I debated holding on this giveaway for a few weeks because I just finished up with Gymboss and I know how annoying it is when you read blogs and it's product after product, giveaway after giveaway. However, this one is kind of, shall we say, time sensitive.

I like poof balls

Remember last week's post about my 11 random things? A lot of you mentioned loving the camel (sassy bastard) but even more of you loved my new beanie! I had quite a few of you ask where it came from, and one reader even went out and purchased her own! In light of this, I decided to do some reconnaissance for y'all.

I got in touch with Suzanne, the owner of Akinz, the clothing company that supplied my beanie. She and I met back when we both lived up in Steamboat, although she and her company are now based in Fort Collins. I told her how much y'all loved my beanie, and she kindly offered one up as a giveaway!

I have some CREEPY eyeballs!

(See why this is time sensitive? What good does a beanie do you when it's 900 degrees and summer?!)

The cool part about Akinz is that it truly is Suzanne's company. To the best of my knowledge, she is the only employee and she does it all. She designs all the images on the clothing, and she still hand makes every. single. one. of the beanies. How is that for quality assurance?!

And trust me, I honestly love them. I purchased every beanie in this post from Akinz, so I obviously like the product too! Even better? She makes beanies for both men and women, so the guys can easily get in on this action.

Sigh. I think my career as a model is officially shot.

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What you have to do to win:
Please be a follower of my blog somehow so I can track you down if you win. Then, go check out Akinz' beanies and come back and tell me which one you want. That's it!

If you want a bonus entry, tweet about this giveaway and let me know that you did! You can find Akinz on twitter too, and I'm sure they would love to be included!

Giveaway will be open until Sunday, February 12. The winner will be announced on the following Monday.

GOOD LUCK!

The Year I Become a Runner (giveaway winner)

2012-02-06T08:12:00.001-07:00

Happy Monday!

I hope everyone had an awesome weekend. I layed low, played in the snow, and went over to my parents' house to watch the game yesterday. I'm not really concerned with football, but it was still fun to watch. Besides, Tom Brady is never bad to look at, as far as I'm concerned!

A lot of you asked how my run went on Saturday and the truth is that it didn't! I went outside to go and immediately slipped on some of the ice. Right away, I knew my knee felt funny, so I turned around and went in. I didn't want to make it worse and I figured that I could go on Sunday instead. (See how I can make smart decisions? Me, for the win!)

I woke up yesterday and although chilly, it looked like the perfect day for a run! I decided to brave taking Tals because there was no way she and I were going to operate the bike with all that snow. And surprisingly, she was great!

Another thing that felt great? ME! I was cruising along and actually going a bit quicker than I typically do (cause don't forget, I'm a snail!) However, there were still quite a few icy patches on the path and they were those see-through, super slippery kinds that you have to tip toe around. Those slowed me down quite a bit as I had to pick my way through them, but I didn't mind. It was a glorious 4 mile run and left me loving life!

On that note, guess what I've decided? 2012 is the year I become a runner! Haha, well kind of. Awhile back, I wrote about how I am more of a cross trainer but not really good at any single sport. Well, it looks like this year is going to be the year that I figure out if I can get any better at running!

I am already registered for the Colorado half marathon in May, as well as the Loveland Lake to Lake Olympic tri in June. I spent the past few months debating between a HIM and a marathon, but my mom made the decision for me last week when she asked me to run the Georgetown to Idaho Springs half marathon with her in August. It is only a week after my potential HIM, and I know I cannot handle both. Because it is so important to her, I will definitely run Georgetown with her so that decision eliminated the potential HIM. I figured if I was already going to be on such a great running streak, I'd throw in the marathon for giggles :)

Although I haven't registered yet, it looks like Denver Rock 'n Roll in September will be my first marathon! Wahoo!

Can you sense the excitement? Yeah, probably not. Me neither, or at least not yet. 26.2 is very daunting to me, so until I'm fully immersed in training and feeling more confident, my excitement will more resemble terror!

Looks like it's time to finally see if I can become a real runner :)

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The winner of the Gymboss timer is Kurt @ Becoming an Ironman! Kurt, shoot me an email and we'll get you hooked up!

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What did you do this weekend?

Anyone have any great tips on training, plans, etc that I should know?
Currently I'm kinda following a combo of a Hal Higdon plan with the Run Less, Run Faster. I'm liking that RLRF simply because I can still get some cycling, weights, etc mixed in, but I wonder if 3 days per week is enough when training for a full?

Denver Snowmageddon: 2012

2012-02-04T11:33:00.000-07:00

I don't typically (read: ever!) post on Saturdays, but I really wanted to share more pictures of Tally and my adventures in the snow! Besides, how many times can I stress that I'm a rebel?!

Round 2 of the blizzard moved in last night so once again, we woke up this morning to a winter wonderland! The storm has finally stopped, but I think my area got around 20" by the time it was all said and done (Ironic: all of the ski resorts got like an inch, maybe two. Sad!)

Of course, I had to give you an updated "bench" photo!

I took Tals out this morning and finally just let her off leash. I figured if someone wanted to come yell at me or give me a ticket, they could wade through the snow and catch me! Luckily, the plows came out on our way back, and cleared the way for our walk home.

Probably shouldn't try to play softball today :)

Or sit on the bleachers for that matter!

Tals, of course, was loving the snow. After I realized she couldn't really get far and let her go, she tore around like a maniac! I started throwing snowballs for her and she thought it was the best game ever!

Clearly, Tally is having a glorious day :)

As for me? I'm off to run. Am I crazy for thinking I'll be able to run outside?!

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Before I forget, go check me out: I was featured today on PWHTR!

SNOW DAY!

2012-02-03T09:59:00.002-07:00

Alright, I had all these intentions of writing about a zillion different things today, but I can barely focus. Today is a snow day!

I'm sure you've all seen the news and they're talking about this massive storm that hit Denver today. It is kind of a running joke in Colorado that no one really watches the meteorologists because Colorado weather changes so quickly that they are very rarely correct in their predictions. However, they got this one right on the money!

The storm rolled in last night and there was already 12" by the time I woke up this morning. The fun part is that it is supposed to continue snowing all day long, as well as overnight and ease up tomorrow morning. When it's all said and done, the town I live in will probably get 15-18". Some towns in the foothills are already well over two feet!

Anyway, Tals and I already went out this morning for a pre-dawn walk in the greenbelt behind my apartment. I swear, when she sees snow she is like a kid in a candy store! As soon as she felt that bit of moisture on her nose, she went crazy and started running around like a maniac. She is taking a rest right now but I think we'll head back out again shortly so she can frolic around :)

Hope everyone enjoys their Friday, snowy or not!!

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What are your plans for the weekend?

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a Gymboss timer!

A Whole Lotta Nothing (Eleven To Be Precise)

2012-02-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks, I was tagged by Janine, Julie, and Wymberley with the "Eleven Things" chain letter deal that is going around the blog world. I don't feel like really following the rules (I know, such a rebel) nor do I want to answer 33 different questions, but I did want to participate. So, we're going to play by my rules.

With that, here are 11 things you probably never needed to know about me!

1. I had a doctor's appointment yesterday, and without going into too much detail, it was scary and painful. In order to make myself feel better, I came home with this:

Ignore the amazing pic quality. Iphone for the win!

A new Nike workout tank....

...and some new Puma running socks. I'm not usually brand-specific or loyal, but I've had good luck with Puma's running socks. And the retail therapy made me feel a bit better :)

2. I leave for Hawaii in approximately 18 days. Not that I am counting or anything.

3. I went through a piercing phase when I was younger and at my peak, I had 11 piercings. I still have 10 but I don't really wear them all regularly.

4. I'm pretty psyched that my new beanie came in the mail a couple of days ago. I had ordered it online from a friend's company and since it is supposed to snow tonight, I have plans to wear it! She hand crochets all of her hats, so they are super warm!

You need to see the side too. Don't you love how droopy it is?!

5. I really get a kick out of that news story about Pat Sajak and Vanna White drinking while hosting Wheel of Fortune. I'm dying to find a clip of them hosting while drunk!

6. I'm turning 30 in less than a month (March 1). Luckily, I'm not freaking out and am actually excited. I loved my 20s so I figure my 30s should be even more awesome!

7. I went to Egypt two years ago. While there, we did a camel trek to a Bedouin village. The trail zig zagged along the Red Sea, and I had the sassiest camel that ever existed. At one point, we walked over this narrow ledge and my camel came to an abrupt stop and tried to launch me over his head into the sea below. I started yelling at the camel, and he snorted at me! We had a talking to after that. Sassy camel.

8. I climbed Mt. Rainier back in 2007. We started the hike at like 1am and I realized we had been hiking for like 5 hours by the time the sun rose. It was an awesome climb and I am thinking of taking a few friends back so they can go for a summit attempt!

Summit Shot

9. When I lived in Spain, my friend Angela and I traveled to a small town called Denia for a day trip. Clearly we were stupid tourists at the time and didn't know that everything was booked solid for some festival. Long story short, we couldn't catch a train back and every hostel and hotel was booked for the night. We hung out in a bar until 2am and then snuck onto the private beach at a fancy hotel and slept on their lawn chairs :) Did I mention that I'm a rebel?!

Angela with the sign telling us we were S.O.L. for the night!

10. I rappelled off this arch in college. It's in Utah, just outside of Moab, but there are already bolts in the top for when tour companies take groups up there. I took this pic after we all made it down safely. We don't need no tour! :)

11. I got stung by a jelly fish doing my open water scuba cert in Ecuador. The kicker? Our instructor had driven the boat to the other side of the island since we were proving that we could swim (a component to pass the cert). We had to keep swimming, right through the sea of jelly fish, because we had no other options!

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Share one random fact about yourself: GO!

Taming the Crazy (How to Teach Your Dog to Run with a Bike!)

2012-02-01T07:13:00.002-07:00

I'd like to think this post is long awaited, but that might just be might inflated sense of ego :) In all honesty though, this is a topic that has come up a ton lately. And I figured if people in real life and Daily Mile are curious, that maybe y'all are, too!

Even better? It entails more pics of Tally!

We all know that I have a lovable yet highly active mutt:

I'm not 100% sure of what type of mix she is, but the vet and I were both leaning towards Rottweiler and Australian Cattle Dog. I confirmed this notion when I found this picture on the web:

Source

Although these dogs weigh a bit more than Tals, they are definitely her! She sticks her head out like that, flops her ears back in the same way, and even sits on the side of her hip. Identical.

Now that I've explained my logic, let me tell you why it matters: Australian Cattle Dogs are herding dogs and are highly active. Not just "go for a walk a day and be okay" type of active; I'm talking all-out crazy level. (They're also known as "velcro dogs" because of their attachment to their owners, but that's a topic for a later day!)

Tally has never been a dog that could be walked and be fine with it. If I just walked her, she would bark a lot and get really sassy with anyone that came near me. I realized early on that if she was properly exercised, her bad behaviors went away. Unfortunately, I don't always love running with her because she is all ADD, and because of leash laws, I can't let her off leash. So what was the solution?

Enter biking :)

I was really nervous to try biking with Tals at first. Like I mentioned, she has the attention span of a gnat and loves to chase rabbits, cats, squirrels, dogs, etc. I was super concerned she would yank me off the bike and I would die. However, she is also incredibly smart and I figured if she wanted me to love her, she would learn! (She knows who feeds her!) So, if you want to teach your dog to run with you while you bike, here are a few tips:

1. Steer with one hand and leave one hand entirely available to your dog. I am right handed, so I keep Tals and her leash in my right hand and steer with my left hand only. Don't wrap the leash around your handlebars in order to steer with both hands--all it will take is one random dog movement and you'll crash and burn! It does mean I wear my front brakes down quicker, but it's worth it.

2. Always keep your leash arm bent. I always have my right arm bent so that Tally can't suddenly get away from me. If she abruptly jerks, the bend in my arm gives me a bit of room before my entire body is pulled off the bike. More often than not, it's enough and I can pull her back into place without any damage.

3. Don't be afraid to bump into your dog. I know that sounds terrible and please don't call PETA on me! I had a hard time with this rule, but it in the end, it is a good policy. When Tals was first learning, she would veer into my front tire in order to get to something on the OTHER side of the pavement. Of course, I would slam on the breaks and I would get hurt. Finally, I let her run into my tire one time and she was smart enough to never repeat the action again :)

4. Don't use an extend-a-leash. This is definitely a do-as-I-say situation, because I do use an extended leash. However, I like to think I'm a pro and I can work that lock clicker like no one you've ever seen! When you're learning though, it is much better to have a tight reign on your dog. You don't want them having 2 feet of leash because they will entirely control your movement.

5. Get out of the way of other dogs. This one is tricky. When I see someone else walking their dog towards Tals and me, I always pull my bike to the side of the path and stop. I don't do this because I have minimal faith in Tals; she is pretty good these days and is typically more focused on her run than on the surrounding animals. However, I've noticed other dogs are REALLY entertained and/or terrified by a bike and a dog. Quite a few "behaved" dogs have jumped and lunged at us as we've ridden by, and it has definitely led to more than a few crashes. I prefer to be safe rather than sorry on this one.

In the end, the training can be tough, and yes, I've crashed multiple times. However, now that Tally is trained, it is so nice to be able to take her out for a 20 minute ride that exhausts her and frees me up for my own workout time. For me, it's the best of both worlds!

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If you have a dog, how do you exercise him/her?

Does anyone have a different kind of pet, like a pig or something?!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a Gymboss timer!

New Fav HIIT Workout & Gymboss Giveaway!

2012-01-31T07:50:00.002-07:00

If you follow me on The Twitter, you may remember that I spent my Friday night at the gym with Cindy. Yes, I am that cool. Don't worry though--we followed it up with a literal boatload of sushi, so don't go thinking I'm all rebel.

Anyway, we both needed to get our workouts in but neither of us felt like spending hours at 24Hour. There was nigiri to be eaten and Kirin to be drunk. Solution? Another HIIT workout in the form of tabatas!

(Or as I refer to it):

Seriously these suckers are no joke! If you remember, tabatas are any workout spread out between 20 seconds of intense work followed by 10 seconds of total rest. That is one set and it is completed 8 times for a total of 4 minutes. I picked five moves that I thought would equal a total-body workout, and did each one in a tabata form. It looked like the following:

And yes I got annihilated. During the plank jacks, I looked at Cindy and she started swearing at me!

Side note: She does that from time to time; it's normal! I enjoy it because she is very creative in her insults and it's kind of a running joke that she throws tantrums during intense workouts! One time, she even threatened to ram a stick in the spokes of my mountain bike during a particularly grueling ride. I told her she could, but she would have to catch me first!

Anyway, I laughed at her, but then cried because all the sweat dripped in my eye balls and it stung. Yes, I was dripping that much!

Why am I telling you all this? Because I have found the best thing ever to use during tabatas, and now you can win one too!

Enter: the Gymboss Interval Timer!

A few weeks ago, I was sent a pretty pink one that I got excited to use. I like to do intervals when I run or cycle, but I hate always having to use the treadmill or stare at my watch. It's annoying. And to be honest, I'm not sure I could do an effective tabata workout without the Gymboss--I'd spend too much time looking at the clock on the wall!

The Good: The Gymboss is super easy to setup and I really like that it has the option for one or two timers. I used the single timer option when I was running and wanted intervals, but I used the two-timer option for the tabatas. I just set one timer for 20 seconds, the second timer for 10 seconds, and then asked it to repeat it 8 times. Easy peasy.

The Bad: This isn't so bad but it could be! The beep that goes off at the end of each interval is really loud. When I was running outside or doing the tabatas in the group ex room with loud music blasting, I did not mind the loudness. In fact, I liked it because I could hear it over all of the surrounding noise. I imagine group exercise instructors love it for this reason! However, I did a tabata workout in the corner of the ab room one day and the beeps were totally noticeable to everyone around me. I got lots of stares :)

The End: I love my Gymboss and since tabatas are quickly becoming a large part of my weekly workout, the timer is now indispensable!

Now, for the part that you care about: how to win a Gymboss timer of your own!

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To enter: You must be a follower of my blog! Then, in the comment below, please answer, "Why do you want a Gymboss timer? What would you use it for?"

And that's it! Of course, we would all love it if you checked Gymboss out on Twitter or Facebook, too :)

Giveaway will close on Sunday, February 5. Winner will be announced the following Monday.

I was provided with the Gymboss timer free of charge, but the opinions expressed are all my own.

Recipe: Lemon Blueberry Bars

2012-01-30T09:38:00.002-07:00

Happy Monday, everyone!

Over the weekend, I took some "me" time to just relax and unwind. I realized that it was the first weekend since mid-December that I had actually spent at home, and I definitely needed it. I made zero plans and decided to lay low, get a run in, watch movies, and bake. That is a rare occurrence around these parts, and it was pretty damn glorious :)

Anyway, as per usual, I was stalking Pinterest on Saturday and came across this recipe that I absolutely needed to try. So, without further adieu, here it is: lemon blueberry bars!

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Original recipe adapted from here. And seriously, check her blog out--she takes amazing pics of her food!

Ingredients

For base:

A little butter to line the cooking pan

2 T sugar

Cinnamon to taste

9 graham crackers (more on this later!)

1/2 stick unsalted butter (melted)

For filling:

16 oz. cream cheese

2 eggs

2-3 lemons (to taste)

1/2 C sugar

1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325*

1. Grease the bottom of a 9x9 pan with a little butter (I only had an 8x8, but that worked great also). Then line the pan with wax paper, making sure that a fair bit hangs over the sides. Be sure to press it down tight in the corners; it should stick because of the butter underneath.

2. Put the sugar, cinnamon, and graham crackers in a food processor and pulse until it is all ground up. Note: I used 9 of the small squares of graham crackers, and the crust turned out great. If you want a thicker crust, use 9 of the full, long sheet-sized crackers.

3. Add in the 1/2 stick of butter, melted. Continue to pulse it all together until it is thoroughly blended.

4. Pour the crushed graham cracker mixture into the lined pan. Use your hand or the base of a mug to firmly pat the crumbs into place.

5. Bake for 10-12 minutes

6. After rinsing out your food processor, add in the cream cheese (room temp), eggs and sugar. The original recipe also has you had in the two squeezed lemons, as well as the lemon zest. However, I changed it up a bit here. I put 2.5 lemons (because I love lemon flavor!) and put them through my juicer, peel and all.

Put the lemon juice in the food processor with the rest of the ingredients. Pulse on low until everything is thoroughly mixed; it should be fairly liquid.

7. Pour the filling mixture into the pan, on top of the baked graham cracker mixture.

8. Sprinkle blueberries over the top of the filling. The should settle in until they are about half covered.

9. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the center is slightly jiggly but still set. Remove from oven and cool completely. After it is cooled, place in refrigerator at least three hours.

10. Remove from fridge and use the sides of the wax paper to pull the entire baked good out of the pan.

11. Cut into pieces and enjoy! (Try not to eat it all at once; I was definitely on a mission and chowed down on half of the damn pan before the end of the weekend!)

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What's your fav dessert?

How was your weekend??

I'm thinking of trying this in a more chocolate, less fruit-format. Think that would be tasty?

Silent Sunday: Happiness

2012-01-29T07:48:00.000-07:00

Source: bellamumma.com via Uyen on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Uyen on Pinterest

Source: weheartit.com via Uyen on Pinterest

Source: gardenviewcottage.tumblr.com via Uyen on Pinterest

Link up!

Attune Foods Cereal Review

2012-01-27T08:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday!

Awhile back, Annelies at Attune Foods offered to let me try out some of the Attune Food cereals. Now, if you know anything about me, you will know that I am obsessed with cereal. Always have been! I've been known to eat cereal for lunch, dinner, snacks, and of course, breakfast. In fact, I consider myself somewhat of a cereal connoisseur! It's just so easy and tasty! I selected three different types, and was so excited when I came back from the Ice Festival to a box sitting at my front door!

Being the good little blogger that I am, I immediately dug in. Like, literally. I had been in the car for 7 hours while driving back from Ouray and I was hungry!

When I selected my cereals, I chose two from the "Uncle Sam" line: Strawberry and Honey Almond. I was initially drawn to the fact that both cereals have 7 grams of protein per serving. You see, I've noticed recently that I'm lacking protein in my diet and if I can get it in the form of cereal, I'll be golden!

Other fun nutrition information about the Uncle Sam cereals:

Each serving contains 10 grams of fiber
Each serving has less than 1 gram of sugar, so you can sweeten it however you like
Uncle Sam cereals contain flaxseeds! I love flaxseed!

Even better? Every single ingredient listed on the cereals is recognizable! Now, I'm not going to lie and say that I'm always great about eating "real" foods, but it is nice to know exactly what I am eating.

Both the Strawberry and Honey Almond cereals were tasty! They stayed crunchy while in the milk and never got soggy-- I hate when cereal gets soggy!

The bad? Not a lot. The only negative I found was when I ate the Strawberry cereal with chocolate almond millk. I thought the combo would be yummy but I found it kind of....odd. But that's my taste buds! Lesson learned :)

The third cereal that I tried was the Cocoa Crispy Brown Rice by Erewhorn Organic. I'm not usually one that goes for the chocolatey cereals but this one caught my attention because it is gluten free! While I don't have any problems with gluten, both a close friend and my little sister are gluten intolerant. It is always such a hassle for both of them, so I wanted to find them a new cereal to try!

(I am such a giver sometimes!)

Here is some nutritional info about Erewhon cereals:

No artificial colors or flavors
No hydrogenated oils
No added preservatives
Only natural flavors and sweeteners

Although this cereal doesn't have any weird sweeteners or flavors, it was still a bowl full of chocolatey goodness! Let's face it: usually "healthy" chocolate flavors don't taste good and ruin all the fun. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the Cocoa Crispy Brown Rice.


Don't mock the cereal bowl! I've had that sucker since 6th grade!

The chocolate tasted great and reminded me of those occasions when my mom would buy me special cereal when I was younger. Usually those sugary cereals were terrible for me so Mom would only buy them as a treat. While eating the Erewhon Cocoa Crispies, I kept thinking how she would have loved the cereal: gluten free, organic, nothing fake, and her daughters would have loved them!! Winning!

Final verdict? All three of the Attune Foods cereals tasted great! I found them at a local Sprouts and they were even on sale for $1.99! Extra bonus because that is cheap!! No excuses not to give them a try now :)

Attune Foods provided me with the cereals free of charge, but the opinions expressed (as well as the awesome photographs!) are all my own.

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Have you ever tried any Uncle Sam or Erewhon cereals?

Can anyone guess where the name Erewhon comes from?!

What's your fav cereal?

Ever Wanted to See a Video of Me?

2012-01-26T15:42:00.002-07:00

Ok, so I finally got a new cord for my computer and it's all up and running now, so I thought I'd start sharing some of my fav videos with you!

This first one literally has me laughing every time I watch it; hopefully that's not just me! This was taken up at the hut, and it was right after the five of us came back from snowshoeing. (I'm the one on the left making snow angels at the beginning; Angel is on the right. Or you can just tell it's me because I'm the ONLY ONE WITH NO SNOWSHOES ON.) Funny.

Anyway, I have three fav parts of this video:

I totally started this whole snowfight-- whoops! I accidentally was throwing snow on Angel during the snow angels....but then I purposely did it. I'm so sassy.
Please observe how I am a wonderful snow pony. Later on, I also accurately mimic a mermaid. I've got some talent!
I love Angel and my reaction when Lindsy says, "Uncle Craig called you guys snow ho's!" Our heads spin around so fast that it's reminiscent of The Exorcist!

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Ok, was that funny or am I crazy? And what did you think of my snow pony?

Benedict Huts Recap & A HIIT Workout

2012-01-26T08:50:00.002-07:00

**I'm a little long-winded today. Sorry!**

So, after we got back from our snowshoe excursion in the million feet of snow, I was cursing a blue streak. Like, I was seriously coming up with new swear words to describe my hatred for my snowshoe. You see, because the snow was so deep, my snowshoe issue was exacerbated and it drove me crazy for the entire trek back to the hut. I even hiked directly up the sledding luge because it was less distance than going around the hut! I spoke with Uncle Craig and we agreed to do some emergency maintenance on the shoe when we got back to the hut.

Now, I have some sad news for you. When we got back to the hut, an all-out, full scale, smash-snow-into- each other's-faces fight started...and Lindsy caught it all on film. I may have actually mimicked a "snow pony" so you know it's good! The only problem is that my laptop is currently dead because the cord ripped (sigh) so I'm typing from an old school computer that isn't working for me.(I can't even get the volume to work!) So, y'all are gonna have to wait for that video until another day! But trust me... it's funny!

Anyway, after our snow fight, we were all pretty chilly, so we headed indoors and spent the rest of the night eating, playing more spades, and at one point, naked sledding. This example of stupidity was most definitely demonstrated by the guys in the group. None of the women were dumb enough to shred their tender little skin pieces on frozen snow in sub-freezing temps. Alas, I don't have any pics of this either because A) it was too dark outside to see and B) I don't run a pornographic website. Sorry!

The bonfire after sunset

The next morning broke through with a bluebird sky and the sun shining! Uncle Craig and I decided to use pliers to cramp down the strap on my snowshoes and hope for the best. He was also carrying some duct tape and told me he would tape me into my snowshoe if our first method of reconstruction didn't work.

We headed back down the mountain, enjoying the sunshine while sweating our faces off. You see, the 18" of snow had completely filled the trail from when we had come up the mountain two days before. Not only did we have to search for the blue diamond tree markers, spread about 1/4 mile apart, but we also had to break the entire trail in knee-deep snow. For those of you who don't do a lot of snowshoeing, this is hard work! At first, all the guys manned up and took the lead, thinking they could muscle their way through, but even they had to bow out and let every take a turn.

The group before we left the hut

Breaking trail on a beautiful day!

Eric, however, is apparently bionic and ended up breaking trail for at least half of the hike down. Somehow, I ended up behind him in the #2 position, so I essentially had to break the trail also. Eric is like 6'3", so his footsteps were like twice as big as mine. I decided to tough it out and break the trail for all of the women!

I am woman, hear me roar!

About half way down, I realized my snowshoe was starting to slip again. Grrrrrr! I turned around and realized Uncle Craig was nowhere near me; I actually couldn't see him so I had no idea how far back he was. I didn't want to sit down to wait for him, so I just decided to damn near run down the mountain as quick as I could handle. I figured that I would get as far as I could on the snowshoe, and then just suck it up and hike without them.

This plan worked until we were approximately 2 miles from the car. The snowshoe fell off, I got pissed and I took them both off, strapping them to my pack. I decided to post-hole the last two miles. It's not like I wasn't getting enough of a workout, right?!

Luckily, the trail had become fairly packed down for awhile, so Lindsy walked behind me and laughed while I slipped all over the place. However, we hit a field crossing that was close to the car, and I just sank! I was literally sinking to mid-thigh with every. single. step.

(In case you're curious, I have a whole new dictionary of swear words. You know, just in case you need them.)

I fought my way across the field, bitching the entire time. My original plan (5 miles back) had been to stay in front of Lindsy for the entire trek. She is Angel's little sister and therefore, like my second little sister. Plus, she is literally only 4'10" and I worried that she would drown if she sunk into the snow! However, this plan went out the window in this cursed field. I asked Linds to go in front of me in hopes that her 90lb body would pack the snow down a bit for me.

Yeah, that didn't work. I weigh a bit more than 90lbs! (Remember, because I am plus sized?!)

Long story short, I finally made it back to the car with my boots filled with snow and a new appreciation for working snowshoes. But hey--we had made it back!!!

In the end, hut trip 2k12 was just as awesome as every other year! As a final verdict: yes, the Benedict Huts are not easy to get to and I would choose a different hut if you are a beginner. However, if you're in relatively good shape with a tough mental constitution, you should be fine!

Or, you can just bring me on your trip so I can break another snowshoe!!

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On another, completely random note, I wanted to show you this HIIT workout that I did this morning (for some reason) right after I woke up. I don't know what the heck happened but I was feeling inspired at 6:30! I am now feeling a bit bad for my neighbors that live in the apartment below me....but oh well. It was time to wake up!!

Note to self: don't drink so much coffee!

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So what do you think: do you want to come on a hut trip with me next year??

Raise your hand if you like snowshoeing (or would if you had snow nearby?)

Do you like the HIIT workouts??

Recipe: How to Make Ice Cream in the Backcountry

2012-01-25T11:19:00.000-07:00

Sooooo....I meant to include this in my post this morning but well, I forgot. Whoops!

One of my fav things about this year's trip is that we got *smart* and figured out how to make dessert while we stayed up in the middle of the woods. Usually, we don't get to enjoy little luxuries like dessert because no one wants to expend the extra energy required to carry everything up the mountain.

In comes backcountry ice cream!!

Step One: Use some large bowls and fill with snow from outside

Don't worry; we had a surplus of snow!

Step Two: Dump in a can of sweetened condensed milk

Absolutely no idea why Lindsy is holding powdered milk

Step Three: Stir in any additional ingredients that you have/you'd like to use for flavor. We stirred in some coffee and chocolate chips for a "coffee and chocolate" ice cream

Step Four: Set the bowls outside in the cold while you play all day. Occasionally check on them, re-stirring if necessary

Step Five: Eat and Enjoy!!

Benedict Huts Recap: Day Two

2012-01-25T08:27:00.003-07:00

You like how I left you hanging yesterday? That was my version of a cliffhanger :)

Anyway, after I finally made it to the hut and ~~collapsed~~ dropped my pack, I was able to take a look around. The Benedict Huts are actually comprised of two huts: Fritz and Fabi. Fritz is larger and sleeps 10 people, and Fabi is the smaller one that only sleeps 6. They are connected by a wooden walkway that has the outhouse in the middle.

Fritz is on the left, Fabi on the right

And speaking of outhouses, this one was awesome! I know that's a weird thing to say about an outhouse, but it's true. Two of the four walls were made of plexiglass so you had the best view in the world while going pee :) Don't believe me? I took pictures! Yes, I dragged my camera into the outhouse...don't judge.

Not too shabby, huh?!

Anyway, we all crashed pretty early on Saturday night since we were so exhausted from the hike in. I fell asleep watching a blizzard swirl around us, knowing that I was going to wake up to some serious fresh powder the following morning!

Per usual, I was the first one up on Sunday so I banged around in the kitchen making coffee with the percolator, trying my best not to wake everyone up. After a few hours, I made enough noise that everyone was finally awake. We spent the morning playing board games (anyone ever play Mad Gab?? So much fun!!) and finally decided to venture out into the cold around lunchtime.

SO MUCH SNOW!!! I would guess an easy 18" fell during the night so we had plenty of snow goodness to play in! Most of the girls set to work on making an anatomically correct snowman, but I joined the boys on the other side of the hut so we could all build an ice luge. I mean, we didn't lug all those sleds up there for nothing, right?!

See, he has "anatomy"

Nichole and I building the ice luge

Brad launching off the sledding jump

The one downside to sledding was that the hike back up the hill was brutal. As if I hadn't done enough hiking the day before, right? However, I hoofed it back up after almost hitting a tree, and I was rewarded with one of the best views of the entire trip. Check out the beautiful sky!!

I also took a quick video of Brad and Nichole sledding down our ice luge of death. Check it out!

After tiring themselves out on the sledding hill, a few of the guys realized the hut actually had an outdoor fire pit that had been buried in all of the snow. Because they are men, and that's what men do, they immediately decided to dig out an entire trail to the fire pit, as well as dig out the whole ring. It took them awhile, but I think it was worth it in the end!

At this point, every decided to head indoors for lunch and a nap. You forget how exhausting playing in the snow can be! However, Angel, Cindy, Lindsy, Uncle Craig and I decided that we didn't hike into the backcountry to take a nap: we wanted to play! The five of us put our snowshoes on, and headed out for an exploration run.

Unfortunately, we didn't make it crazy far because my snowshoe was still misbehaving. However, we did get to explore a beautiful area and I got some pics that kind of capture the beauty of the area.

(L-R) Angel, Lindsy, Cindy, and me.

Check out how deep that snow was! Angel broke the trail for the majority of the way, and I was so impressed. Girlfriend is a beast because that was exhausting!!

Could it be any more beautiful?!!

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Do you still sled as an adult? How about build snowmen?

When you go on vacations, do you prefer to relax and take a nap (like the boys did) or would you rather take advantage of the surroundings, even if it means you'll be more exhausted when you return from your "vacation"?

Benedict Huts Recap: Day One

2012-01-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

I'm baaaaa-aaaaaaaaack!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I got back from the hut trip late last night and after jumping in a much-needed shower, I fell asleep hard. Of course, Tals woke me up at 6:30 like normal this morning, but I'm already back in bed, under the covers as I type this. I think the weekend exhausted me!

Ready for lots and lots of pictures?!

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Saturday morning started bright and early at 5am while Angel, Adrian, Lindsy, and I scrambled around our hotel room in Glenwood Springs, trying to get every last minute detail together. Alas, I failed. I'm pretty sure my cell phone charger still sits in that hotel room. Sigh.

The whole gang at the trailhead (I'm in the pink shirt on the far left)

Lindsy and me and the start of the hike

Anyway, we managed to round everyone up and get to the trail head in Aspen right around 9:30. Unfortunately, we pulled into the parking lot and saw lots and lots of.... dirt. It didn't bode well for our planned winter wonderland excursion, but we kept the faith. After all, the trail head is *only* at 8,300 feet so we still had some elevation to gain. And sure enough, once we got away from the paved road, we were all able to strap on our snowshoes. Of course, I say this with enthusiasm now but I wasn't so happy about it at the time because...

This hike was hard!!

Benedict Bridge

We crossed over Benedict Bridge and immediately, the trail turned left and headed up a steep incline. According to the topo map, we were still in the *flat* zone so I began to wonder what those super steep topo lines were actually going to look like in real life! After cutting across a flat and mellow field, we headed back into the woods and began the never-ending trek uphill.

Now, when we signed up for this hut trip, the lady on the phone's exact words to Cindy were, "Wow, you're going for a tough one, huh?" Of course, we laughed about it but didn't really take her seriously. Girl knew was she talking about though! We spent the first 2 hours of the hike heading uphill the entire time. Usually, hikes in Colorado involve a lot of elevation gain so this isn't completely abnormal, but it is infinitely harder when you're wearing a big ol' backpack on your back. (I didn't weigh it, but I'm guessing my pack was around 40#).

After a few hours of hiking, we were split into 3 groups: 9 of us in the front, 2 people about 10 minutes back, and the last 3 people about an hour+ behind us. We decided to finally stop and eat lunch, and although it was totally necessary and we were starving, that was the beginning of the end! We had warmed our bodies up so much that I hadn't quite realized that the temps had been dropping as the predicted major blizzard blew in. Once we got moving again after lunch, I was freezing and truly had a rough time getting warmed back up. I finally had to let everyone go and completely stop and stand still with my hands hanging at my side for a good 5 minutes. That was the only way to get the blood to come back to my fingers!

Once I got my hands warmed back up, I started cruising again and began to catch up with everyone. Unfortunately for me, that progress only lasted for about 20 minutes because then disaster struck in the form of my snowshoe. It broke!

For anyone that has seen snowshoes, you know that they all have some type of strap that loops around your heel in order to keep your foot in the snowshoe. Well, the clasp that keeps this strap tight against my foot came loose, and my hiking boot was popping out of my snowshoe every 10 minutes or so. Under normal circumstances, this would have been kind of funny, but I definitely was not laughing! I was 4ish miles into the hike with 1.5 miles to go and around 1000 feet of elevation to gain. I had absolutely no other options other than to keep going, so that's exactly what I did...stopping every 10 minutes to squat down and re-tighten the strap. After the 15th or 20th time though, my body was tired and I was sick of the added squats. Where was the damn hut???

Finally, I came to a T in the trail where it jogged left and steeply climbed up the hillside. I should have been sad looking at the steepness of the climb, but I was actually excited. I knew from looking at the topo map that the last 1/2 mile involved a crazy steep climb, so I knew that I was close to the hut. Sure, I had some serious elevation gain to tackle, but at least I was only a 1/2 mile away!

I cranked my iPod up and told myself that I would be at the hut within 10 songs. Yes, I know that is crazy slow hiking, but you have to remember that A) I was carrying a massive pack, B) It was snowing pretty hard by now and C) I had to continually stop to fix my snowshoe. Luckily, I caught a glimpse of the hut roofs at the start of song 8, so I knew I had finally made it!!!

I was cursing every last pair of snowshoes by the time I arrived :)

I think I showed massive self-control when I refrained from launching my snowshoe into the woods. I was pretty frustrated with it and I really wanted to, but luckily, I maintained some semblance of common sense. After all, how would I hike out a few days later?! Instead, I took off my pack, had Lindsy dust all of the snow off my head (from when my snowshoe gave out and I took a tumble into a massive drift of snow!), and headed inside to check out the hut.

To be continued tomorrow!

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Similar to my "10 songs until I reach the hut," do you set mini-goals for yourself when trying to achieve something larger?

How was your weekend?

Anyone want to buy a single snowshoe? The left one works great, I swear! :)

Tabata What??

2012-01-20T06:00:00.002-07:00

Happy Friday!

I was happy to read all your opinions regarding yesterday's post. I personally appreciated Kara's sentiment when she said, "I'm a size 4 or 6 too, and I'd love for someone to call me plus sized to my face :)" My thoughts exactly!

As you read this, I should be in the car, on my way to the mountains for the next four glorious days! I'm heading to Copper today for a decent day of skiing (finally!). As of Thursday, they had 8" of new stuff with more on the way, so I figured it was time to get out there! And after that? You guessed it--I'm into the woods for 3 days of hut trip madness!! Happy, happy weekend!

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I recently received a Gymboss timer (hint, hint, maybe a giveaway coming soon?!) and was anxious to test it out. However, I wasn't in the mood to do running intervals, so I went to Blonde Ponytail's website and looked up a few of her moves (girl is tough!). In the end, I came up with a decent Tabata workout that I was excited to try out.

I shouldn't have been so excited. I got annihilated!

In essence, tabata basically takes one exercise of your choosing and breaks it into 8 sets of 30 seconds, for a grand total of 4 minutes. Each set is composed of 20 seconds of all out maximum effort, followed by 10 seconds of complete rest. I did the following four exercises:

1. Plank Jacks on a Stability Ball

2. Medicine Ball Push Ups

3. Split Jack Lunges

4. One Armed Clean and Presses

(For videos of each exercise, go check out BP's My Moves page)

I split each set up with a one minute break in between for a grand total of 20 minutes. And I was breathing like a maniac when I was done. Actually, more like Chris Farley dancing to She's a Maniac. It was bad!!

Source

And you know what else? Tabatas or not, those plank jacks on a stability ball are no joke. As I sit here on the couch (cause get it, I'm writing the night before?!) I can feel my abs and my shoulders feeling tired. Like the good kind!!

**Edited to add: It's Friday morning now and my core is sore! Love it cause very rarely do I get a good ab workout!**

Everyone have a great weekend!

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Y'all know my plans this weekend, but what are you up to?

Have you ever done a tabata workout?

Do you like the crossfit/tabata/interval style of training or would you rather just go for a long run or ride?

Size 6 = Plus Sized???

2012-01-19T05:30:00.000-07:00

Alright, I'm fired up on this one.

Last night, a friend on facebook posted this link and I was absolutely horrified. Take a second to read it; I'll wait!

..............

Basically, according to this story done by a Fox News affiliate in Dallas, the fashion industry is now considering a size 6 to be plus sized. SIZE SIX.

Well, technically they are now considering plus sized models to range anywhere from a size six to a size 14, which I think is ridiculous in itself. That range is so large that I would guess it encapsulates at least 2/3 of the American female population!

But a size 6? Maybe this article hit home to me because more often than not, I wear a size six. Sometimes I fluctuate down to a size 4, depending on the brand, but for the most part, I live in the 6-zone.

And you know what? I am okay with that. You know why?

I can hike 6-7,000 vertical feet in a day.

I can (train) and then run at least 13.1 miles in a day, if not further.

I can successfully complete sprint and Olympic triathlons, and maybe, a half ironman.

I can spend four months riding my bike every single day. I can pedal my legs in circles for eight hours a day, eventually completing 4,000 man-powered miles.

I can ice climb for eight hours on Saturday and turn around and do four more on Sunday.

I am strong and I am healthy. And I have a really big problem with this mentality that the fashion industry is trying to shove off on the American population. Somehow, it has become acceptable for the fashion world to tell us that thinner and thinner is always better, so much so that even "average" women are made to feel unacceptable. And it really frosts my cookies! (Anyone else remember that quote from Troop Beverly Hills?? Anyone?!)

More than anything, I dislike the notion that the fashion industry is continually pushing the envelope by continually pushing the mentality that "Barbie" is the perfection that we should all strive for. It's unattainable and ridiculously unrealistic. Trying to convince women that a size zero is normal is just not fair. For some women, sure; that is their natural body type.....but not all.

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What's your take on the entire situation? Should size six be considered plus sized? Did I just unreasonably freak out?

PS If you're interested, go check out Journey TV's challenge to the fashion industry!

10th Mountain Division Huts: How to Do a Hut Trip!

2012-01-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

If you've read my blog for a bit, you have definitely already noticed that a crew of us goes on a hut trip every year. And guess what?

Hut trip 2k12 is here!!

Well, not exactly here, but I am heading to the hills on Friday and I will be MIA in the backcountry from Saturday until Monday afternoon when we come back out of the mountains. I look forward to this every year and this season is no exception. I mean, how often do you really, truly get to go "off the grid?"

The 10th Mountain Division Huts are a series of 30 different huts that are spread throughout the Colorado Rockies. According to the website:

"Our name honors the men of the 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army, who trained during World War II at Camp Hale in central Colorado. Hut visitors share the special spirit of these individuals, especially their pursuit of excellence, self reliance, and love of the outdoors."

And these huts are awesome. We try to stay in a different hut every year so it makes the voyage different every season. This year, we chose the Benedict Huts: Fritz and Fabi. However, your trip could be a little scattered if you are unsure as to what you are doing, so I thought I would do a quick tutorial in case y'all ever want to come on a trip with us!

1. Make the decision between skis and snowshoes. We had no idea what we were doing the first year and it almost *literally* broke my back by trying to snowshoe in while carrying both my downhill skis and boots! In order to complete the trek into the hut, you must be on either snowshoes or skis. Skis have their definite benefits (quicker coming out, backcountry skiing while at the hut, etc.) but you have to be very comfortable on two planks. Skiing with a large backpack throws your weight backwards and if you aren't comfortable enough to compensate for this, you may hurt yourself. Additionally, regular alpine (downhill) skis won't do the trick since you have to climb uphill. Tele skis or AT skis are required. This is also a pain for my friends who are snowboarders since most of them do not own a split board. Because of this, I am typically one of the few in our group that skis in; most of my friends snowshoe. However, this year I decided to try something different and I'm hiking in on snowshoes!

2. Don't bring extra clothes. No, seriously, don't. Again, we did this all sorts of wrong our first year! The key to making it to the hut successfully (and still happy!) is remembering that you have to carry in everything you need....including your clothes. I usually take one "outside" outfit that will also be the clothes that I wear while trekking into the hut. This will include all my snowgear like snowpants, jacket, gloves, etc., as well as my base layers. In addition, I will pack one "inside" outfit that includes comfy pants and a long sleeved shirt. That's it for clothes. Sure, you'll be dirty and smelly, but eh.....keeps the bears away ;)

3. Don't forget your slippers! The huts are heated (wood burning fireplace) but the floors get wet from all of the coming and going in the snow. My sis got me the best slippers ever for the hut trips! They are down booties from REI but they have a hard sole so I can wear them out to the outhouse. LOVE THEM!!!

4. Organize your meals as a group...And Bring Good Food! Again, I speak from experience on this one! The first year we all just brought our own food for every meal and we ended up with so much extra food! This was stupid because A) it meant we carried in far too much, B) we had to carry out food which was super annoying, and C) I ate Ramen Noodles for 3 days. Yuck.

Nowadays, we put a group of 2-3 people in charge of one meal during the entire trip. For example, this year Price and I are responsible for one breakfast. This means we have to bring enough breakfast for the entire group, but it really is not that bad. We are doing pancakes, eggs, and bacon. We can store the bacon outside in a cooler so it stays cool, and the egg beaters and pancake batter can be easily carried via a large Ziploc bag. For dinner, we will usually do pasta and someone will carry the sauce in via Ziploc as well.

A word to the wise on this one: yes, a Ziploc bag infinitely beats carrying a large glass jar, but please remember to double bag it. You will be so sad if you have marinara all over your single set of clothing :)

5. Plastic Is Not Always Evil. Alcohol ~~usually~~ always makes the trek in with us. However, carrying an entire glass bottle of wine or a 12-pack of beer is just not going to happen! Typically, I will prep before the trip by transferring whatever alcohol into a plastic Gatorade-style bottle. Yes, I have a zillion Nalgene's and Siggs which I love, but if you ever make the comparison, you will notice that a Nalgene weighs substantially more than a Gatorade bottle. And when you are snowshoeing 7 miles and 4000 feet of elevation gain.... well, that extra weight starts to REALLY make a difference!

6. Make the Effort and Carry a Sled. Ok, so this one might just be my group of friends, but we started carrying a sled in a few years back and it has provided us with such entertainment that we have continued the tradition every season!

We usually grab 2 or 3 plastic saucers and attach them to the outside of our packs. Yes, this completely counters everything I've been preaching about cutting weight, but they are seriously so much fun!! The huts are almost always stationed on the top of a hill and having the sleds usually keeps us outside and playing for hours. We usually send the boys out in the morning and they start to tromp down a sled chute and build a big jump for our sleds. Since there is always a lot of snow (knock on wood), the jump can be massive without fear of consequences!

7. Get an avalanche beacon. This one is important. Most of the huts have at least one or two areas that are in known avalanche areas and on certain years, like this one, the snow can be very unstable. Because of our lack of snow, the little bit of snow crust has hardened into a very icy base. However, we got quite a lot of new fluffy stuff this week, and the combination of the light and fresh snow on top of the hard, icy base makes the avalanche danger fairly high.

If you don't have an avalanche beacon, no problem. There are tons of outdoor gear stores that will rent them to you, along with a probe. They will also show you how to turn the beacon on and how to use it in case of emergency. Be sure to turn on the beacons on before you start the trek in since that is how the beacons work: they communicate with each other so one can find the other, even if it is buried underneath snow.

Most important? Make sure to wear the beacon on YOU while skiing or snowshoeing in. Worst case scenario, you want the beacon to lead to YOU underneath the snow, and not to your backpack which could be separated from your body.

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Do you ever go into the backcountry for camping, backpacking, skiing, etc?

Have you ever seen an avalanche?

I saw an AMAZING one while backpacking down in Patagonia, Chile. I have it on a video somewhere...I should post that!

Do you have any other hut trip tips?

Training Schedules and Then Some

2012-01-17T08:47:00.001-07:00

I'm finally back. And wow, am I glad to be home.

I'd like to say, first and foremost, thank you so much to everyone who extended condolences, thoughts, prayers, and well wishes to myself and my family. Although I didn't have the time to respond to ~~everyone~~ anyone, I truly appreciate your thoughts.

As you can imagine, the weekend was rough, but I think it was a necessary evil. Everyone said their goodbyes, obtained whatever closure they needed, and are now able to move forward with their own lives. So again, thank you to everyone who swung by to show me some love!!

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While I was back in Ohio, chaos reigned. Visitors were coming in and out, plans were being made and changed, lots of food was being cooked, etc. Amidst all the bustling, my parents and I managed to find a tiny local gym where we could sweat out our stress. I went on both Saturday and Sunday, and although it was a lot smaller than I am accustomed, it was SO NICE to have somewhere to bang out the chatter in my mind. Another fun fact? I could probably run forever back in Ohio! As I've mentioned a zillion times before, I hate the treadmill with a passion, but since it was freezing outside, that was my only alternative.

And you know what? The surplus of oxygen made me feel awesome! This always happens when I drop down to lower elevations, but it was more noticeable this time and it made my running even more fun :)

It also made me realize I needed to sit down and draw up some type of training plan! I have a half marathon in early May, as well as an Oly tri in June, and I'd like to lengthen my training as much as possible so I don't have to deal with any injuries. Sooooooooooo.....this is what I did this morning:

Clearly, I'm not done yet! And yes, that's the best screenshot I've got :)

Ok, I know for a lot of you crazy amazing runners out there, a schedule 16 weeks out is probably not necessary for a simple half marathon. But you know what? I think I'm actually going to establish some goals for this race! Imagine that! And again, I don't want owies. (Yes, I said owies.)

Typically I just "run to run" and "run to finish" and "run to enjoy" the event. If I'm feeling sassy, I'll tell myself that I have to finish quicker than the last time I ran that same distance. However, this time, I'm thinking I'm gonna set a "goal time" for myself....I just don't know what that is yet. Standby and I'll get back to you on that!

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Ok, and in my final news, I decided to use my first degree for some good. I know, it's about time, right?!

So go check out my FitFluential guest post! I mean, it's not like you haven't read enough of my constant chatter, right???!!!!

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Ok, tell me about your weekend: I'm hoping you have better stories than me!

Did you make full-on training schedules, or do you just kind of wing it?

Any tips to help me with mine?!

The End of an Era

2012-01-12T09:46:00.000-07:00

Once again, I've taken to writing because it is where I find my outlet in life. I question whether this is an appropriate venue, but in the end, this is the exact reason I began my blog, seven years ago: to express my thoughts. I never expected people to actually read what I wrote, so I never considered the appropriateness of situations like I am faced with today.

My aunt died this morning at 7:05 EST.

As you can imagine, my family and I are pretty destroyed. We all knew it was coming, but nevertheless, the abruptness of her passing has caught me off guard.

Then again, I have a feeling my aunt knew exactly what she was doing. She knew her time was coming, she had been able to experience her final adventures, and she absolutely did not want to put her family and loved ones through the stress of a final "death watch." She made it quick in order to save all of us that final bit of sadness. In her own way, she was doing what she deemed best for all of us.

The ironic part? I think my subconscious knew what was happening. I am one of those individuals that can sleep all night and anywhere. Put me on a park bench in the middle of Times Square and I'll still be able to sleep through the night. I guess I am one of the lucky ones in that regard. However, I shot out of bed this morning at 2:30am Colorado time, which is like 4:30am on the east coast. I looked around, confused and dazed, wondering why I had woken up. At the time, I assumed that it was nerves that I wouldn't wake up with my alarm this morning (I was supposed to head up to the mountains with friends for a day of skiing). In retrospect, I think the back of my brain knew that my aunt was in her final stages of life....and it wanted to let me know.

Cancer won this battle, and in the end, my aunt's body was what it took away from me. However, I find a lot of solace in the fact that my aunt believed in reincarnation. I know that the world just gained a beautiful hawk, soaring over the mountains and soaking up the magnificent view from above.

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I'm catching a flight back east to spend time with my extended family for the next couple of days, so I imagine I will be off the grid. Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

The C Word: Cancer

2012-01-11T08:24:00.001-07:00

Today's post is going to be a bit of a departure from the norm. No fun pictures, no details of any adventures, and although it is snowing outside (!), I'm probably not going to write about that either. I've internally debated whether or not to even post anything on the topic, but in the end, it is all I can think about lately.

For the two of you that were reading my blog last year, you might remember that I did a series of races in 2011 in order to fundraise money for the non-profit called First Descents. We chose FD because it helps recovering cancer patients by getting them outdoors and allowing them to enjoy a variety of mountain activities to celebrate their recovery. Of course, there are so many amazing charities out there, but we chose FD for a more personal reason: my aunt.

My aunt was diagnosed awhile back with terminal cancer. And although I didn't write or speak much about it, we were all lucky enough to be able to spend some time with her back in December when she came to visit us. She used to live in Colorado in the early 90s, so I think she truly enjoyed getting to spend time here once again. I imagine it brought back a flood of memories. My parents were also able to take her to visit my sis in Hawaii, which I was so happy about. My aunt had never been, and the state was on her "bucket list" of places to visit before she passed. She got to lounge on the beach, visit Pearl Harbor, and experience sea lions in the wild on the beaches of Kauai.

I've also mentioned before that I was one of those weird baby deliveries in that I was not born in a hospital; instead, I was delivered at home, in my parents' bed. And no, this was not intentional! My mom had eaten a bunch of candy the day I was born, and when her contractions began, she assumed they were cramps from all of the sweets she had eaten since I was so premature and no one was really expecting me (my mom also has a really high pain tolerance!) Obviously, I was on the way, and by the time my parents realized what was going on, I was well on my way out. My aunt had been visiting my parents, and in the end, she helped deliver me with my father. Because of this, I've always felt a special attachment to her: she helped bring me into this world.

This is all at the forefront of my brain because things have taken a downturn for her in the past 48 hours, and it has become evident that my aunt is not much longer for this place. Quite honestly, I am really struggling even though we've all known for awhile and I knew December might be the last time I saw her. I have never experienced the loss of anyone close to me except for my grandmother, but this is very different to me: she is still so young. And I am having a really tough time accepting it. I am not ready for a funeral, and I am not ready to say goodbye.

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How do you cope with loss?

Have you ever lost someone close to you?

Ouray Ice Festival Recap: Day 2

2012-01-10T08:35:00.001-07:00

You didn't think yesterday was it, did you?! Of course not. You know better than that! :)

Sunday morning came bright and early, but this time, it was a bit painful. We had all crashed around 9:30 the night before because we were so exhausted, but I still didn't want to wake up at 6am. I quickly realized that I had some nice and sore muscles, particularly my triceps. Youch! However, as we headed up the hill towards the ice park, I got to see some of the most amazing views of the entire trip. Some 3-4" of snow had fallen during the snowstorm the night before, but the morning had brought beautiful blue skies. The contrast of colors was literally breathtaking.

Thew view from the base of the ice park

Downtown Ouray from the ice park

Isn't the town cute? A local told me only 800 people live there year round, so it's definitely small. I thought Steamboat was small when I lived there with 8000 people.....800 is like one big family!

Anyway, we hurried over to our tent to meet our instructor for the day. We had signed up for a half day Intermediate Climbing clinic, and we were curious to see what the difference in courses would entail. Apparently, a lot!

Getting into the canyon this time was actually kind of nerve wracking! Just like on Saturday, we had to crampon and helmet up for safety. However, the first half of the descent involved a rickety metal ladder. Try climbing down metal steps with a bunch of spikes on your feet. NOT EASY! After the stair case, there was a rope tied to the side of the mountain that we had to hold while we hobbled down the steep embankment. It was definitely sketchy, but I have to say, kind of fun!

After we arrived at our climbing site, we took a look at the routes our instructor had set up. HOLY HELL. The learning curve between Saturday and Sunday was insane. The routes were exponentially more difficult and so incredibly steep. I will admit: when I first looked at them, I was very intimidated if not a bit scared. For me, that is huge because I never get scared about trying new or scary things. Obviously, I like adventure and I like challenge....but these suckers looked hard!

The route on the left was the harder of the two, but the route on the right still kicked our asses! Brad was able to get up to the top of the right one, but he was the only one! As for the one on the left.... none of us were able to top it out.

Me, attempting the right route

In addition, the canyon was freezing on Sunday!! I was the last to climb, so by the time I finally got on the ice, my hands and toes were numb. I had hand warmers in, but I could barely feel the heat. Of course, they got worse when I was climbing since all the blood drained from my hands. However, after I got pumped out and hopped down from the route, I dropped my hands down and it was like they were on fire! All the blood came rushing back into my fingers with a vengeance and it was so painful that I swear, I almost cried. I can't even imagine how patients who are verging on frostbite feel!!

Do I look at least a little cool?!

In the end, I absolutely loved the ice climbing festival! Was ice climbing hard? Hell yes! It was very intimidating and challenging but of course, I think that was what I enjoyed about it. If something is easy, then I get bored quickly. I don't think this would ever be the case with ice climbing.

However, I am guessing my ice climbing will be limited to the festival every January and maybe one or two other occasions. Why? Ease of access and gear! Let's face it: we were all learning and none of us are good enough to head out on the ice and set up the ropes. Because of that, it would be pretty darn hard to go ice climbing without the help of an instructor, and I am not going to pay for a guide every weekend when I feel like going!

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What is the one sport that you would most like to try in the world?

What holds you back from trying new things, new activities?

Ouray Ice Festival: Day One

2012-01-09T13:12:00.002-07:00

Hi everyone!

So I'm BACK and although I was only gone for a few days, I feel like everything is scattered all over the place! My apartment is a mess with all of the gear I threw on the floor last night, Tally really needs a run, and I don't want to get out of my pajamas! It's always so hard to come back from a vacation, mini or not....you know?

Anyway, the good stuff..... the ice festival was awesome! After packing up out super full car, we hit the road!

We ended up arriving in Ouray late Friday night with just enough time to go out for dinner and head back to our room for a good night's sleep. We did get to check out downtown Ouray just a bit, and I think the town is super cute. It's an old mining town, like so many of the mountain towns in Colorado, and the main street reflects that history.

We woke up early Saturday morning in order to eat a good breakfast before heading up to the ice park. Turns out, many climbing companies like Black Diamond, Petzl, and La Sportiva had set up demo tents in order for festival participants to demo any gear they may need. This included ice tools, crampons, clothing, boots, everything! The best part? They were allowing everyone to demo the gear for free! As I'm sure you can imagine, this led to a mad rush on any and all gear, but we were still able to sneak in and grab a few items that we needed.

Gear tents

Number one on the list? A harness for me! Seriously, duh. If you'll notice in my prep post from last Thursday, I outlined all of the gear I was bringing....but what you won't notice anywhere is a climbing harness. A somehow managed to completely forget my harness, the single most important piece of gear when you are going to attempt to climb up anything! No harness, no climb. Double duh. Luckily, Petzl was demo'ing some awesome harnesses and I got the opportunity to test a few out. Is it too early to ask for a new one for Christmas?!

We had signed up for a full day "Intro to Ice Climbing" clinic on Saturday, so after gathering out gear, we met up with our instructor and the rest of our class. We packed up our stuff, put on our crampons, and headed into the canyon.

The Uncompahgre Gorge is the location for all of the ice climbs that constitute the Ouray Ice Park. Although the approach was only a few minutes, it was a bit hairy as we had to descend down a very steep trail into the gorge. In fact, crampons and a helmet were required simply to descend due to the steepness and slickness of the trail combined with the ice crashing from above. I have to admit, I was already getting excited when we were descending and I hadn't even climbed anything yet!

Angela, our instructor, and her two helpers had set up four roped routes for our clinic of 10 people. Since one person had to belay each climber, only two people had to sit out at a time. This was an awesome way to learn because you could take as many laps as your muscles allowed!

I really appreciated Angela's style of teaching because she realized that ice climbing isn't something you can tell people how to do: you just need to give them the basics and let them loose on the ice. In her words, learning to ice climb is all about the "mileage" you put in and the amount of time you spend actually climbing. Having said that, all four of us realized very quickly that ice climbing is not like rock climbing at all! On my first climb, I found myself continually looking for foot holds like you would when you are climbing on rock. However, I heard Brad yell at me, "Heather, don't look, just kick one out!" When he said that, I realized how silly I was being! I was wearing crampons with massive spikes on the bottom: I didn't need a foot hold! I just needed solid ice to kick myself a foot hold!

I'm the one climbing in the black jacket with the white snowpants :)

I also had an eye-opening realization in regard to my upper body strength.... or lack thereof! I strength train and am strong enough on a day-to-day basis, but I had nowhere near as much strength as these instructors and climbers! When you are ice climbing, your arms are always over your head. You use your legs as much as possible in order to step up, but there is still a fair amount of arm muscle required and that was definitely my weakness! After doing a handful of climbs on day #1, I was completely pumped out and exhausted!! I also learned that I am so right-handed that my left ice axe swings completely sucked! When I got tired, my left arm would swing towards the ice and the pick would pretty much bounce right off. It was really pathetic, but it also made me laugh. Guess that's something I'll just have to work on!

My favorite part of the day came about an hour before the end of the clinic. Like the rest of Colorado, Ouray has not gotten a lot of snow thus far this season (the gorge is in the shade and is fed by purposely leaking water pipes down the side of the gorge. It just stays frozen cause it's in deep shade). However, a mini snowstorm blew in when we were down in the gorge and we got to enjoy the quiet beauty of the snow dumping down during our last hour of climbing. Sure, it covered all of the ice which made finding solid stuff a bit trickier, but it also made everything so pretty!

After wrapping up our first clinic, we headed into town to grab some food. We were starving and cold, so we didn't even bother to change out of our snow clothes. We had known we were taking a full day class, but the schedule had been deceiving and stated that lunch was from 12-1. We assumed that meant we'd take an hour break to climb out of the canyon and eat our lunch. WRONG. Turns out, we didn't leave the gorge all day which was great for climbing but really bad for the four us who didn't bring any food! I think we had 2 Cliff bars, a bag of peanuts, and one Camelbak full of water to get us through the day. #Fail! Needless to say, we started to get a little cranky when all the restaurants were coming up full. However, we saw this sign in one of the windows, and it made us all laugh:

Only in Ouray, right???!!!!

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How was your weekend? Did you get outside to play??

What's the longest duration of time you have exercised without any food?!

Can anyone top 7 hours of ice climbing on a Cliff bar?!

Ouray-bound!

2012-01-06T08:43:00.002-07:00

Finally, I am all packed and ready for the 7+ hour drive!

That's just my stuff. How five people, two dogs, and a crap load of gear are going to comfortably fit in one Xterra is beyond me....but I guess I am about to find out!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Toe Pick!

2012-01-05T12:13:00.004-07:00

Anyone remember that movie? Anyone? And speaking of TV, let me just tell you all this one piece of advice: if you're ever in a bad mood, watch the show Nip/Tuck. The people on that show are so insane and dysfunctional that it will make you feel better about anything!

Moving on.

Let me tell you what I did this morning because it ANNIHILATED me (and no, that is not an exaggeration!) Today is my friend Cindy's birthday, so when she asked me to meet her at the gym at 7am, I said yes. Luckily, I'm a morning person so I was long awake anyway, even though I don't have to get up for anything these day (yes, that was bragging.) We debated what to do when I suggested this crossfit workout that I saw over at Bringing Becky Back. The workout was:

200 kettlebell swings (25#)

Split up by 8 burpees, every minute on the minute

Looks all innocent, right? That's what I thought too, until I got to kettlebell swing #75 and burpee #20. I was dying. I tried doing the swings faster so that I could do a fewer number of burpees, but then I started getting more tired in the arms. All in all, in took Cindy and I about 15 minutes to complete everything, but I was totally wiped. I don't do too much in that anaerobic area, and my lungs were on fire. Seriously, just try it, and then let me know how it goes!

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Guess what? I am leaving tomorrow for the Ouray Ice Climbing Festival!!

I mentioned awhile back that I had registered, and I am super excited to learn to ice climb. We are taking a full day Novice class on Saturday, followed by a half day Intermediate class on Sunday. I've spent the morning get all my gear together, and let me tell you what-- that is a chore! I'm lucky enough to have a lot of my own mountaineering gear, and my friend lent me the rest of his ice climbing gear. This way, I don't have to spend an easy hundred on gear rental.

My friend told me my mountaineering crampons would work out okay, especially since I am a beginner. Ice crampons have pointier spikes on the toes, but I'm hoping these will work out okay while I'm learning.

These are my "anime" mountaineering boots. I call them that because they look so tiny when placed up against a men's boot! I bought these back in college when I did more mountaineering, and they were a huge pain in my ass to find. At the time, mountaineering boots were only made in unisex sizes, and since so few women were involved in the sport, I couldn't find a unisex size small enough. In the end, I bought these off the demo rack at an alpine store in Boulder. Luckily, not a single woman had been crazy enough to want to demo them, so I got a great price on a pair of boots that no one else had ever worn!

I am so glad my friend was willing to let me borrow his ice tools! I have an ice axe but no ice tools and again, these are the priciest piece of gear to rent. Apparently these are a bit older so they weigh more than newer, modern tools, but I'm pretty okay with that. Again, I'm just learning so I don't want to go all crazy until I know whether I really enjoy the sport!

Of course, my helmet. Gotta keep my head in one piece, you know! I've told y'all before about how I have a shelf in my garage dedicated to all my helmets: skiing, cycling, climbing, etc. Thankfully, this baby has never really taken a hit so it's still in pretty good shape. I was sad to notice that my T-Rex sticker on the front had worn away though :( It was a big t-rex head that made me feel all badass whenever I went climbing. Now I just look like a dork that takes self photos in the bathroom while wearing a climbing helmet with a disintegrated sticker. Fail.

Oh wait.....

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What are you doing this weekend?

If available, would you want to learn to ice climb?

How do you like my shower curtain?! (Haha, just kidding!)

Mom, You Suck

2012-01-04T15:13:00.003-07:00

Man, I am in A MOOD today! No idea why, but I just feel kinda blah. Does that ever happen to you where you are just kind of cranky for no apparent reason? Good thing I'm not married as of yet -- my husband would have complete grounds for divorce based on my attitude all morning! Tals, on the other hand, is stuck with me. Pretty sure she would sucker punch me today if she could, but luckily, she knows whose wallet feeds her. I know what she is thinking though....I can see it in her crazy little eyes!

Blurry picture, I know. Sigh.

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To combat my case of sass, I took Tals on a bit of a trail run this morning. I was supposed to go skiing with some friends, but the snow up there is seriously pathetic. I don't know if y'all read SR's blog, but she is at Mammoth and has some pics of their not-so-stellar snow. The snow here isn't quite as bad as that, but it's definitely cringe-worthy. I like to call our current conditions "crust on dust." Needless to say, I'm a ski snob and although we all have season passes, none of us were willing to make the 1.5 hour drive just to carve on some ice. Unfortunately that tends to happen when you come off a powder year like last year! Keep your fingers crossed for some snow, please!

Anyway, that was a totally random tangent. Whoops. So I didn't go skiing but instead, I took advantage of this 60 degree sunshine and took Tals on a trail run. I have to admit, it pulled me out of my funk a little bit. There truly is nothing like Colorado sunshine and a lovable mutt to make you feel a little more content with life, you know?

I topped our vitamin d-filled escapade off with a nice little snack once I got home. If you follow me on The Twitter, you probably saw how thrilled I was to discover "banana ice cream" a few days back. Apparently, so many of you in the world knew about this discovery and failed to tell me. Rude.

For those of you in the dark like I was, here is the scoop: basically, you freeze some bananas over night or whatever. Whenever you're ready, peel them and stick those babies in a food processor for like 5 minutes. Wala! Banana ice cream. Something about the consistency of the frozen banana really equates to soft serve fluffiness, minus all the calories and sugar.

Unless you're like me. I put chocolate syrup on top and it was delightful!

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I need votes here: who knew about this banana ice cream deliciousness? Was I truly the last person on Earth?

What do you do to pull yourself out of a bad mood?

I'm Not Sure Where I Live Anymore

2012-01-03T09:14:00.000-07:00

Hahaha, just kidding. But the past few days have been absolutely beautiful here and I keep forgetting that it is winter! Yesterday was sunny and in the 50s and completely gorgeous. I slept in this morning because the sky is so overcast and dreary looking, but when I finally took Tals out, I realized it was so warm!!

I'm actually pretty excited about this so-called heat wave cause I really want to get Tals out for a run! I've been stuck in a rut lately and haven't really had the motivation or energy for much of anything. I'm like a sloth! Anyway, I have this great idea that if I take Tally to a new place and go for a run somewhere new-ish, I'll be reinvigorated! The final decision?

Red Rocks!

I usually do a lot of mountain biking here in the summer and occasionally will do the stairs in the amphitheater, but it's been awhile since I've gone trail running here and it is seriously so beautiful! The rocks are so red, and on a day when the sky is bright blue, it can be one of the most visually stunning places anywhere. It definitely reminds me of how lucky I am to live here :)

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In other news, I'm curious about what y'all prefer to eat for fuel during long workouts. I've never been too picky and I'll eat a variety of stuff: Gu, ShotBlocks, Swedish Fish, whatever. However, I was reading Women's Health the other day, and you know what they suggested as a cheaper alternative? Raisins!

Source

According to the mag, raisins provided just as much energy as sports jellybeans, and they suggest eating a mini box every 20 minutes during longer workouts. They also mention that the individuals enjoyed them even more than the jellybeans.

Have you guys tried this during workouts? I love grapes, but I've never been a huge fan of raisins-- they have a sickeningly sweet flavor that I don't love. I also don't think I'd like storing little boxes all over my cycling jersey, and you definitely can't hold these babies in your hand. It would be so sticky!

In short, not sure I'm loving this suggestion, although it most definitely would be a lot more cost-conscious that the other stuff. What do you think?

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What is your favorite fuel during long workouts?

Have you ever done a workout or seen a concert at Red Rocks? Or, if you're from elsewhere, do you own any music that was tapes live at Red Rocks?

The music that comes out of that place is amazing. I think it is so cool that they turned the natural environment into a world-class music amphitheater.

NYE Recap & Giveaway Winner!

2012-01-02T14:09:00.000-07:00

I've gotta start right off the bat and tell y'all that I suck at taking pictures. When I go on fun-filled adventures, I always remember to snap pics and am lovingly known as "paparazzi." Unfortunately, my camera-ready enthusiasm doesn't seem to apply to dinner parties and NYE activities. Eh, so it goes.

Anyway, this weekend was a whole lot of fun and a whole lot of mellow. I had planned to go skiing during the day, but the winds here were terrible! The gusts were so bad that Copper Mountain was on a lift delay and Winter Park closed all the lifts on the higher mountain. Definitely not optimum skiing conditions!

Clearly, this was a skiing fail. But I wasn't too concerned because my friend Cindy had arranged a little dinner party at her house on Saturday for the festivities, and that sounded about perfect to me. Did I mentioned she is the most amazing cook ever in the whole world? Seriously. She is.

(This is where I failed because I am about to describe some delicious food of which I have zero photos.)

One of the other guests started us off with a delicious crab-stuffed walleye fish that was absolutely amazing. He had caught the fish while ice fishing up in South Dakota, and it was a tasty critter! After that, we followed that mouth-watering delight up with Cindy's pan seared scallops in some pasta. Again, taste buds for the WIN!

We concluded the evening with some (possibly) illegal fireworks (I have no idea idea what you're talking about....) and watching the ball drop with Dick Clark. I was home and in bed by 1am, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

My fave part of Saturday's NYE celebration? This tree:

Cindy and Craig chopped this sucker down in the forest without realizing how massive it was. After a hole in their wall, scratched paint on the ceiling, a ruined carpet due to sap, and a homemade tree stand (reinforced with free weights), they finally got this beast up in their front room. It made me laugh every time I saw it, and I really want to be there when they *try* to take it down!

To prove that she is an even better hostess, Cindy also had a NY day brunch at her house yesterday, and cooked even MORE food for even MORE friends! With paninis, veggies, and some awesome quiche, my stomach was literally at capacity for the weekend.

My fave part of yesterday? This dog:

Yes, that's right. This is Dexter, a 130-lb, year-old Great Dane. Apparently, his mother was like 180lbs so this fellow is not done growing. He was the cutest thing though! He realized pretty quickly his head was on the same level as all the countertops and all of the food, so he took full advantage :) At one point, I grabbed his collar and tried to stop him and he literally pulled me, in my chair, across the room. I don't even think he knew that he had a person attached to him!!!

Note to self: I want a Great Dane.

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In other news, I have the winner of the Aspaeris Compression shorts!! These awesome shorts are going to #96:

Katherine @ Neon Blonde Runner!

Not even gonna lie: I started laughing when I saw that she won! She just hosted a giveaway over at her blog and announced me as the winner just yesterday. (I swear, this isn't rigged!) Anyway, if you don't already read her blog, you should definitely go check her out--she just BQ'd running her second marathon EVER!!

Katherine, shoot me an email and we'll get you hooked up with your shorts!!

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How did you spend your NYE??

Did you make any resolutions for 2012? These can be racing goals or personal, whatever!

Silent Sunday: 2012

2012-01-01T09:04:00.002-07:00

Source: Uploaded by user via Jordan on Pinterest

Source: gatherlove.tumblr.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

Source: tumblr.com via Molly on Pinterest

Source: soon2befit.tumblr.com via CeTea on Pinterest

Source: eat-sleep-run-repeat.tumblr.com via Janelle on Pinterest

Source: healthyfitandtoned.tumblr.com via Kristi on Pinterest

Memorable Pics

2011-12-30T09:14:00.002-07:00

Happy Friday!!

The weather is gorgeous and sunny today, minus all the death wind from yesterday, so I can't wait to take Tals out later for a little jaunt before spin class. My apartment is also in desperate need of a major cleaning overhaul, so unfortunately, I'm thinking that's gonna be my afternoon. Ugh. I even have to do floor boards. I HATE cleaning floor boards!

I swear: how do I get everything done when I'm working?! I seriously have no idea!

Anyway, I was flicking through some photos last night and realized that somehow, I've managed to capture some pretty good photos this year! I credit all of the good ones to my beautiful friends and my beautiful state because I know I sure don't have any photography skills!

I thought maybe you guys would enjoy seeing some of my favorite snaps of 2011. If not, skip on through and enjoy your New Year's weekend!

Happy New Years!!!

LAST CHANCE to enter the Aspaeris shorts giveaway!

Mental Musings

2011-12-29T14:35:00.001-07:00

Let me tell y'all what I've been thinking. Like the rest of bloggity-blog world, I've been reading everyone's resolutions for the new year. I'm one of those people that doesn't set resolutions because if I want a change, I'll just start that day....I figure that I'm more likely to forget about it by the time January comes around since I have the short-term memory of a koala. (That's a lie: I have no idea how smart koalas are and I probably just made a really stupid comparison. Whatever!) That's just me; that's just how I roll.

Anyway, I've noticed that a lot of other athletically-inspired blogs involve resolutions about cross training (and yes, most of these come from runners!):

I'd like to get to yoga once a week.

Take a spin class twice per week

Get in the pool on occasion

Strength train more frequently

Of course, I started to think about these resolutions and realized I am the exact opposite. Cross training has never been a problem for me because I don't have just one sport. I bike, I run, I swim, I lift, I practice yoga, I climb, I hike, I ski, I snowshoe.....I could go on and on. In my delusional brain, I like to think that means I'm a "renaissance woman" of sports (as long as it doesn't require a ball. Basketball, volleyball.....don't even get me started on my lack of coordination with balls! #TWSS)

Thanks to Kayla for the jumping picture!

It's been a long standing joke among my friends that I'm a "gear whore" and I laugh along, but it's true! My garage is filled with a ridiculous amount of outdoor gear because I truly enjoy all of those activities. I also like to think my range of athletically-diverse interests is the reason I have never been truly injured. I figure that I am not exhausting one single part of my body more than any other, leading to less injuries. C'mon, that could be true, right? RIGHT?

I didn't bring this up to talk about all of the fun stuff I like to do. Rather, I started thinking about this because I finally realized that this is why I am not particularly good at any one sport. I see so many runners that are like cheetahs (a much more appropriate animal comparison!) or rock climbers that can crimp on holds that I can't even see with my eye glasses on, and I am in awe of their talent and ability.

The real question, however, is would I change this about myself? Should I change this?

I don't know. It could be an interesting experiment to devote myself entirely to one sport for an entire year, for example. Maybe running, just for the simple reason that I'm not very good at it to begin with and the progress would be easily measurable. Would I be a better runner at the end of the year? Faster? Most likely. Would I be healthier or suffering from different injuries? Who knows.

But you know what? I'm probably not gonna do that :) I think I like my out-of-control, whatever strikes my fancy, jumping into all activities feet first, type of mentality towards staying fit. It kinda fits my personality too :)

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Where do you fall: does one activity have your heart? Or are more of an eclectic hodge podge of sports like me?

Do you think one way is healthier than the other?

Don't forget to enter my Aspaeris compression shorts giveaway--just a few more days!

2011: My Favorite Things

2011-12-28T09:53:00.001-07:00

No, I'm not Oprah, and you're not going to win any great prizes by reading this. I mentioned yesterday I was thinking of doing a recap of the year, but couldn't quite figure out the format. In the end, I've decided to screw the format and just go with my faves; you know, those events and happenings that just pop to the front of your head the second you start to think about anything.

So, without further adieu.... MY FAVORITES OF 2011!

1. Hut Trip 2k11
I've mentioned a group of us goes on a hut trip every year, and last year was no exception. We skinned/snowshoed into Harry Gates Hut which was surprisingly easier than any of the other huts.

No one struggled or got left behind this time, so I'll always consider that a win. The hut was situated on this beautiful little hill, so we spent our days sledding and playing in the snow. It was awesome, and all of us had an awesome time. I look forward to these trips every year!

2. My First Duathlon
Cindy, Craig, and I signed up for the Barkin' Dog Duathlon last year and it was our first-ever duathlon for each of us. None of us knew what to expect, but to this day, I still remember this damn race as much harder than I was expecting! Apparently the run-bike-run combo is terror on your legs!!

My other mistake with this race was that I chose to start in a different heat, thinking the chip timing meant that it wouldn't matter. It was a very small race and was our first for the season, so Cindy and I decided to start the first run together. Unfortunately, while the race was chip timed, the start wasn't, so I never actually knew my finishing time since I started with Cindy, some 10-15 minutes after my original heat was supposed to begin. It was kind of a bummer, but it was my own fault for making a stupid decision. Sigh.

3.Tough Mudder
Agh, do I need to say more?! Of course, almost everyone has heard they hype surrounding the TM events and I really wanted to check one of these babies out to see if it was all that it was cracked up to be. Of course, the fact that so few women participate made it even more of a challenge :)

The group at the finish

The vicious underwater tunnels--probably all blurry cause I was shivering so badly!

Monkey bars greased with butter. Awesome.

In the end, four women and Craig ended up completing the 10-mile ass kicking and we loved every minute of it! Verdict? TM is not quite as brutal as everyone says, but it was so much fun!! The majority of the obstacles weren't that tough physically, but the few that scared me were mentally challenging. The hardest obstacle (for everyone, from what I hear) was stationed up around 11,000 feet. They had placed three sections of barrels in a river and you had to swim across the river, swimming underneath each set of barrels. Not physically demanding by any means, but the water was only 35 degrees. How's that for mentally demanding?! Forcing myself to stick my head underneath the water three times was awful, and I literally had to shut my brain off and just tell myself to GO.

Sign up for an event. Just do it!

4. Crested Butte
Crested Butte, CO is considered a mountain-biking mecca, and I've been told it's where mountain biking originated. Who knows if that's true, but instead of our usual voyage to Moab, a group of chose the Butte for our annual camping/biking extravaganza.

The town of CB is adorable and I really loved walking around the main street. Those old mining towns in Colorado get me every time--they are so darn cute! The mountain biking was fun as well, but I really enjoyed the scenery the most. Fields of wildflowers were in full bloom and we were able to watch the 4th of July fireworks from a comfy-cozy corned in the downtown area. I'd love to go back!!

5.Travel
Sadly, I didn't get to internationally travel this year, but I did get to visit both Portland, Maine. Portland, Oregon, and Bozeman, MT. My sis graduated from PA school, so that was awesome trip to go see her in her white coat, being all professional. I am so proud of her (even if this graduation did lead to her subsequent move to Hawaii. Sad.)

The Maine trip was also a family vacation because my cousin was getting married. The best part of this trip, however, was that my fam and I got to explore our old stomping ground from our time living up there. I got to see my old school, our old house, our old neighborhood, etc. It had been well over 10 years since I had been up there, so it was nice to go back and feel the memories flow in.

Bozeman was a more recent trip for a girlfriend's wedding. Angel and I road tripped up there and swung through Yellowstone on our way back. More than anything, it was so nice to have a girls trip again: that was something that had happened in a long time! We got to look at the bears, watch Marie get married, and take in the views in the Grand Tetons. It was awesome.

6. Floral Design
I've mentioned my fam owns a landscaping company and that's what I do for a living: I'm the manager of the company. However, a good friend got married this year and asked me to do the flowers for her wedding. Although I've done portions of weddings before--center pieces, etc.--I had never done the whole shebang, including bouquets.

It was definitely a learning curve for me, but I really enjoyed the entire experience! My friend likes unique and different things, so I was able to play around with her flowers and color combinations so that she had something unique and eye-catching. In the end, she seemed very happy with the floral arrangements, and I realized that I may have a new hobby :)

7. The 14er Journey
It's been one of my goals for a very long time to summit all of the 14ers here in Colorado. For those of you who aren't familiar, a 14er is a mountain of 14,000 feet or taller. Colorado has 53 or 54 of them (depending on who you ask), and I've summitted 41 of them. I started this journey back when I was in college, and was really on a mission for awhile. But then, life got in the way and my goal got shoved to the wayside. I'm happy to report that 2011 was the year where I got back up on a few summits again!

I summitted both Bierstadt and Evans (via the Sawtooth) for probably the 4th or 5th time in my life. Those are two of the easiest mountains but the ridgeline between (the Sawtooth) is considered a class 3 route. It was my second crossing of the ridgeline, but it was fun to take Cindy and Craig across because they had never been.

A group of us also headed to the hills to summit Mt. Yale, another 14er down by Buena Vista. This was a new summit for me, so I was excited to add another "new peak" to my list. It was a very steep climb, and I think we calculated that while it was only 4.75 miles from our campsite to the summit, it also covered 4300 feet of vertical elevation gain. Yeah, that steep. Tals loved it and romped around far too much--she literally couldn't move for two days once we got back to the city!!

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So that's my recap! I decided to cut the list to a nice, round 7. Haha, just kidding. I've realized that I've gotten to do a lot of fun things over the past year, which is kind of ridiculous because I was thinking it had been a rather mundane year!

Here's to hoping that 2012 will be just as fun-filled!

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If you could pick ONE FAVORITE memory from 2011, what would it be?

If you did a recap, please leave your link here so I can be sure to read it!

A Whole Lotta Nothing

2011-12-27T14:42:00.003-07:00

I originally wasn't going to blog today because I didn't really have anything to say. But then, as the day went on, I started poking around with my blog (obviously) and ended up changing a few things around. Obviously, the main change was the header. I really loved that other picture, but I felt like it got a tad blurry when it was enlarged and stretched to fit the header. I used the AMAZING Picnik and came up with this photo collage.

What do you think? Do I like look like Kenny from South Park in that picture on the left?

I do what I can.

I'm in the process of coming up with an "end of the year" post. I'm nothing if not original :) I'm realizing that it is actually harder to come up with my highlights for an entire year because there were so many different people, places, and events that I enjoyed. Should I focus on my athletic achievements? My favorite memories from the year? My most enjoyed experiences? I'm torn.

What do you guys think? Are you doing end of the year summation posts?

Christmas Recap

2011-12-26T13:26:00.000-07:00

Right off the bat, I must tell you all that I had flipping awesome Christmas weekend! A few of you mentioned that you like when I post "real" pictures on here (which I should be doing anyway!), so I'm happy to oblige :)

The weekend started off on Friday when my sister's flight arrived on time from Honolulu. She had literally paid an arm and a leg for this plane ticket, and since she could only stay for 72 hours, we calculated that she was paying $28/hour to visit us this weekend. Of course, with that kind of pay scale, we had to make her time worthwhile!

We started off Christmas Eve with my all-time fave holiday tradition: The Nutcracker ballet! I'm sure you all remember that I grew up as a dancer, and my parents had hopes at one point that I would be one of the ballerinas in this production. Obviously, that never happened, but I still love the ballet. The Nutcracker is my favorite classic story, and I truly enjoy going every single year (even if the story doesn't change!)

My mom (post surgery and already moving!), me, and my sis

Me and Melissa

For the record, I am not a giant! I'm only 5'5" which is below average, but I am wearing heels in these pictures...and my sister and mama are seriously short! We even got our pictures taken at the ballet and the photographer told me I was too tall and I had to bend at the knee to fit in the frame! Seriously, I'm going to get a complex or something!

Anyway, I'm not sure my family enjoys the ballet as much as me (AHEM, Missy!), but they humor me and go. I appreciate it :) Unfortunately, one of my sister's gifts was caught up in the UPS drama that was taking Denver by storm on Christmas Eve, but we didn't let that get us down!

Yesterday, of course, was awesome. I woke up early and zoomed back over to my parents' house. After waking my sis up and getting my mom situated with her foot all comfy cozy, we embarked on our gifts.

Let me take a moment to explain how ridiculous my fam is with Christmas: it's almost embarrassing. We honestly, truly enjoy purchasing gifts for each other and we have a tendency to go overboard. Like, by a lot! I feel like I was incredibly by spoiled by all of my family and I loved absolutely every single gift I received. I did notice a trend with my gifts this year that was very different than in years past: I'm not a vagabond anymore.

You guys all know that I spent a large part of my 20s traveling the world, living in tents, and being a ski bum. As a result, my gifts often reflected my outdoor interests, etc. However, this year my fam realized that I am enjoying settling down and getting a bit more "domestic." As a result, my gifts reflected that portion of my new life! A few of my faves....

A really nice comforter set that I'm in love with. So cozy!! (Don't even think about taking my bear--he is like 30 years old!)

Self explanatory, I think!

A food processor!!

A juicer

I am in love with all of them. I haven't had a chance to use the crock pot or food processor yet but I am in love with the juicer! That glass of juice in the pic is a combination of 4 clementines, 2 apples, and about a cup of fresh spinach-- and it was tasty!! I am sensing a juice cleanse in the next few days, so I'll keep you posted!

And, last but not least, these suckers arrived in the mail a few days before Christmas:

My new Brooks Adrenaline 11's that I won from The Boring Runner! I got them in a different color than I have, and I'm not going to use them until I wear out my current pair. But....not gonna lie. These babies are staring at my from the depths of my closet, begging to be taken outside!! :)

Sigh...and now it's back to the daily grind. My sis left this morning, but we're already making big plans for my visit in February. We have this awesome trek on the agenda that I can't wait to share with y'all!

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Don't forget--one more week to enter my Aspaeris shorts giveaway!

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How was your Christmas weekend?

What is the best gift you've ever received?

Do you like household/domestic gifts, or would you prefer something for "fun"?

From My Family to Yours...

2011-12-24T08:08:00.003-07:00

Source

Secret Santas!!!!!!

2011-12-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

Guess what? I got a present yesterday!

Awhile back, I signed up for the Secret Santa gift exchange that Run with Jill was doing over at her blog. (Btw, thanks so much to Jill for organizing this--you did an amazing job!)

Anyway, my present came in the mail yesterday and I realized my Secret Santa was none other than Chelsea from Running is My Diet! She started popping up on my blog awhile ago and I never even realized! (And yes, I believe the word gullible is written on the ceiling. So what if I do?!)

I love my new necklace! The left charm is a running shoe, and the right charm says, "Love to run, live to run." And I seriously love it. Thank you, Chelsea!!!

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I imagine most of us are going to go missing over the coming weekend as time with family and friends will most likely take priority. I am super excited because my sis (the one that moved to Hawaii; yes, she is my only sis!) is flying in today! Because she just started her new job, she couldn't take a lot of time off, but she caught a red-eye flight out of Honolulu last night arriving today, and then has to fly out on Monday. Not a lot of time, but hey--she gets to spend the holidays with us, AND it's just in time for her to experience the 14" of snow that we finally ended up with!

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And with that, I'm gonna skedaddle. My dad is picking my sis up, so I have to get to the gym and do some errands pretty quickly so that I can be with my mom while my dad is away. She insists she doesn't need anyone there, but I would be so worried that something would happen with her foot and no one would be there to help! *shudder*

Everyone have a wonderful holiday weekend!!! I'll leave you with this :)

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Did anyone else do the Secret Santa exchange?

Any out-of-the ordinary plans for this weekend?

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

2011-12-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

Remember that storm I mentioned yesterday when I was kinda laughing about everyone blowing it out of proportion? Well, that baby blew in last night with a vengeance!!!

Every year, my mom, my best friend, myself, and a few other friends "adopt a family" through the Denver Rescue Mission. Last night, Angel and I had to drive down to deliver the presents after my mom's surgery, and those snowflakes started coming down!!

Don't worry; I wasn't the driver :)

Anyway, I was still skeptical until I got a text this morning at 5am from Regis, the university where I am getting my M.Ed at. The text said campus was closed. Once I read that, I knew this storm meant business!

After stumbling out of bed, I looked out the window and I have to admit--I got SO EXCITED!! I immediately loaded on all of my snow gear, grabbed Tally's leash, and headed outside.

There is a large greenbelt behind my apartment complex, and usually, there is a path that winds through the area. Today, I was the first person out there, and I realized that leashing Tally made absolutely no difference. The snow is so crazy deep that it was a struggle for the two of us to walk through it!!

(Beware of picture overload!)


Eagle eye saw a squirrel or something

She was actually standing in a snowdrift in this picture--look how deep!

Needless to say, we only walked probably 1- 1.5 miles out there, but it took us about 45 minutes. Tals and I both just stumbled back inside exhausted and soaked, but supremely happy. I know I'll have to go to the gym today (cause clearly, running outside isn't an option!), but in the meantime, until the roads get better, our personal winter wonderland will have to do :)

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes for my mom yesterday! Surgery went great, but now she is in for the brutal and frustrating recovery. I have to admit: the entire day made me very reticent to willfully sign up for the procedure myself!

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For all you Colorado peeps-- how are you handling the snow this morning?!

Anyone doing any traveling for the holidays?

I'm not going anywhere, but my sister is flying in tomorrow from Hawaii! Looks like she is going to be in for a bit of a temperature shock!

In 'n Out

2011-12-21T09:13:00.000-07:00

Not like the burger chain, although I really wouldn't know. I've never eaten there, but I hear good things!

Anyway, I don't have a ton of time today because it is one of those days. My poor mama has a simple surgery today, so I've got to get moving and head over to my parents' house so we can take her down to the hospital. Nothing crazy, so don't worry--she is just getting a bunion removed from her foot. She had one removed years ago, but since this is a problem I am also going to face in the next 1-2 years with my right foot, I'm very curious about this entire procedure. Yuck.

Damn genetics. Damn ballet shoes.

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In other news, if you haven't turned on the weather today, you should. And if you do, I'm pretty positive you're going to see my happy little state smack in the middle of the forecast. Apparently there is some blizzard supposedly rolling in tonight that can potentially bring the Denver-metro area a half a foot of snow.

What kills me? People are acting like this is something new. It's Denver, people. It snows here, and it happens pretty often. As a native, I am always amazed at how worked up people get over the snow! You think they'd be used to it by now. Sigh. Oh well. I have plans to come back and enjoy these delicious treats that I made yesterday:

Thanks to Pinterest and Pbfingers for the idea!

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Last thing-- have any of y'all tried rowing before? As in the rowing machines at the gym? Cindy and I went last night with the original plan of going to spin class. Unfortunately, she got held up at work and we missed class, so we had to get creative in terms of cardio. Instead, we created this Crossfit-style cardo workout that alternated 4.5 minutes of spinning with 1000 meters of rowing. We did this for three sets, and it took me just under 30 minutes.

Source

In case you are confused, this is not me. I don't look like that and my 24Hour most definitely does not have fancy brick walls.

The reason I ask is because that rowing machine worked me! My back and shoulders are definitely feeling it today, but I am pleasantly happy about this. Very rarely do I do any cardio that make my upper body sore, so I'm pretty psyched. I really enjoyed the machine too, so I think I'll try to incorporate it into my world more often. It's kinda fun!!

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How do you feel about the snow? Love it or hate it?

You all know I like it! I figure if it's going to be cold, I would rather it dump snow!

Do any of you use the rowing machine? Am I just really late to this bandwagon?

Don't forget to enter my Aspaeris Pivot Shorts giveaway!

Aspaeris Shorts Review and Giveaway!!

2011-12-20T08:47:00.000-07:00

Woot woot, it's giveaway time!!

Not gonna lie--I've had these shorts for about a month now without even saying a peep to y'all! What can I say--I really wanted to wear them and use them before writing a review and...ahem...offering a pair up for a giveaway! :)

Anyway, when they came in the mail, I was pretty pumped and tore into the package immediately. But then....I got kinda sad. These babies look little!! I was a bit concerned that I had ordered a size or twelve too small (I got a medium) because they looked like they would better fit on Tally's legs than my own.

See, the leg is almost as wide as the pen!

However, these shorts stretch way more than you would ever guess! A medium was the perfect size for me, and only required a few lunges and split jumps to get them into place. I like that though--after all, compression gear is supposed to be tight, right? If it's all loosey-goosey, I feel like it isn't doing its job!

From the Aspaeris website:

Aspaeris Pivot Shorts™ are actually two pairs of shorts bonded together. The Outer Short is a high performance compression short designed to support your muscles. The Inner Short features our breakthrough, Dual Sensory Compression Bands™. These cross-knit bands guide your muscles into the proper position, thereby improving your pivot performance, which helps prevent ACL and hip injuries.

In terms of compression, I am in love with these shorts! I've worn them after a few runs, as well as after some brutal spin classes where I had a feeling that my legs were going to be sore and tired the next day. In all instances, my legs felt very refreshed the next morning.

See, all refreshed. And that's about all I have left from my dancing days!

Even better? I stuck them under my snow pants and wore them skiing! Usually, my first time up each season hurts so bad because my quads are just not used to that type of muscle fatigue. (Trust me: you can run 500 million miles each week and your legs will still be hurting after your first day on the snow!) Anyway, I can honestly say that my legs were nowhere near as tired as they usually are after my first day riding! Granted, I could possibly be in better shape than usual.... but I definitely think the shorts had something to do with it!

Yeah...I don't really have an explanation

I also wanted to wear the shorts skiing because ACL tears are a HUGE problem in the ski world. I've had at least one close friend or family member tear their ACL every year for as long as I can remember -- last year, it was my poor mama :( Anyway, I wanted to see if I felt these shorts would keep my knees properly aligned while cruising down the slopes.

Verdict? I think so! Although I definitely would not say that it's impossible to tear your knee while wearing these shorts, I did feel like something was just right in terms of alignment. It just felt different. I noticed this even more while I was running in them.

Tals wanted in a picture, too :)

PS They don't give you a muffin top either. Muffin tops are evil, so when is that ever a bad thing?! :)

Kari at Aspaeris has been awesome enough to offer a pair of the compression shorts to one lucky reader!!

How to enter:

Check out the Aspaeris website and come back to tell me something you learned from it (+1)
Follow my blog via GFC on the left side (+1)
Follow Aspaeris on Twitter (+1)
Tweet about the giveaway (+1) And yes, I can say this now since I'm finally on Twitter!
Follow me on Twitter @AColorado Gal (+1) Please see above

That's five different ways to enter the giveaway---sweeeet!! Because it's the holidays and I know everyone is super busy, I'm going to leave it open for longer than usual. The giveaway will close on Sunday, January 1, 2012.

These compression shorts were given to me free of charge, but the opinions are my own. The really unflattering photos with zero makeup and my pajama shirt are also all my own.

Best. Weekend. Ever.

2011-12-19T08:19:00.001-07:00

Know why?

Cause I am finished with my classes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the best part is that I am not just done with my classes this semester; I am done with classes forever! I only have my thesis left and I am so freaking excited to not have to worry about homework or deadlines. Awesome.

Muah ha ha. Six more months and that M.Ed WILL be mine!

In order to celebrate being done with the boring stuff, I took Tals out for a run yesterday. It was the perfect Colorado day: 55* and sunny and we both loved every minute of it! Tals wasn't used to being so warm so she was kinda struggling with that, but not to worry: she just laid in the snow a whole lot to cool herself down :)

Could the day be any more perfect?! I was actually wearing shorts and a tshirt, and for the first time, my Zensah compression socks. I've never bought into wearing compression gear while working out; I typically just use it for afterwards. I was a bit concerned that I had under-dressed for the weather though, so I threw on the socks thinking they would just add another layer of warmth if needed.

The mud yesterday was ridiculous too! I knew that it would be with all of the warm temps melting all of the snow, but it was insane. Tals, of course, thought it was her own personal pig pen, and tried rolling on her back into a big puddle. Yeah, that was awesome.

Home of my pig pen

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In other, exciting weekend news, I am a sellout.

I signed up for Twitter. It's true, I did. We'll see how it works out for me, but right now, I am confused as hell. There are hashtags and @ symbols floating around everywhere. If I accidentally do something weird or wrong, please tell me. I'm a technological idiot!

But more importantly, please be my friend! Or follower. Or whatever people have when they twat. See how I am advanced enough and put that little link on the top left of my page? You should just click it.

Yeah, go do that now. Thanks in advance :)

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Tell me about your weekend!! What did you do?

Are you done with your holiday shopping?

Are you on Twitter and will you be my friend? I am not above begging for friends :)

PS Be ready for another awesome giveaway this week!!!