stage three

leadville to camp hale - 24.3 miles - total elevation 2930 feet.

i forgot to mention, when i first got to colorado, and started meeting people, they were horrified when they saw my hands. 'what's that from - trekking poles?' um, no, GI Jane . . . 'what's that??' um, a pull-up followed by a burpee - and you do it 100 times. it's crossfit . . . 'oh, you know that's a cult thing, don't you???'

anyways, day 3 was long, but again, outstanding. i thought my legs would cack on the big downhill, but they still came through with no grief ! here's 'another' shot of leslie goofing around - did i mention she was a great partner . . .

being silly - grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

kylie and roger from south africa - super sweet couple we managed to run with every day.

heading out on some single track . . .

so another solid day. finished it off in 5:31 - little bit of sufferage, but still feeling good ! chilly soak in the creek at camp hale to calm down the legs. spent an hour or so sitting around the campfire listening to buddy play the guitar. life is good !

stage two . . .

vicksburg to twin lakes - again, they lengthened this one from 10 miles in 2008, to 13.5 miles. the climb up hope pass was the same but didn't seem as bad this time. here's a saweet view from 12,600 feet up !



here's a saweet view of matt - a TR3 solo racer . . .


and here's an even better view . . . (bad dora)

great shot of me and leslie at the top ! bee-oo-tiful for sure !

and this lovely lady is jean - she was on the course everyday supporting all the runners. we knew we were close when we'd hear the cow bells ringing us in !! check out the abrasion on my leg. this happened, not on the technical downhill, but as a result of 'JRA' - or 'just runnin along' as leslie called it. stoopid dora !

another shot of me and leslie having a grrrreat time !

and look who i found at the finish line - ali's friend kim ! through a series of goofy coincidences and toronto marathon logos and sinister7 tattoos, we figured out who each other was !

and so we survived another day! run time was 3:39 and total elevation was around 3600 feet. managed yet again to find a creek to soak in. legs still doing great!

and funny story of the day - each night, they elect a team as 'king and queen' of the transrockies. cynthia from GORE got up at the awards after dinner, and started talking about this husband and wife who had planned on running together, but he got injured, and she threw out an email last minute to try and find a partner, and someone came forward with just 3 days to spare, and this someone hadn't trained at all. hahaha! so guess who won ?? and guess who got coined, 'the person who got up off the couch to run the transrockies' ???? wild ! and the best part - the prize was a gore bike jacket !

day one . . .

got into buena vista saturday afternoon and eventually found keith and leslie. i had met them 2 years ago when christine and i did TRR. we got registered and then made it to the bbq where i managed to remember some folks from 2008. had a good laugh at the super8 when we realized the 3 of us were sharing a room, and not ONE of us brought underwear ! hehe! the first of many amusing moments i would have with these two!

and we're off ! no pressure, no expectations! buena vista to railroad bridge. they lengthened it from 2008 - took out a nasty road section and added some sweet single track instead. total mileage was 20.6 miles/33.1 km and total elevation gain was 3029 feet. temp was a little steamy, but manageable.

not sure if you can see it, but the first of many glimpses of leslie's ass i would encounter over the next 6 days. this one's is by the 'ass-crack rock'.

another shot of leslie goofing around !

finished the route in 4:32 and rewarded ourselves with a soak in the creek - felt amazing ! super duper first day and wasn't really bothered by the altitude - we were up above 8000 the whole time. had a blast ! leslie put no pressure on me and we just went out and had fun !

chance in hell . . .

check out 'phase one' of my sunflower ! color to be added in 2 weeks ! big thanks to glen at art addictions for an incredible job so far !

AND THEN, on wednesday, i get this email from my friend leslie - who i met at the transrockies run in 2008.

''Yo, any chance of a free-lovin'-free-runnin'-free-wheelin'-ultra chick like you coming to run TransRockies? Serious! Now all you have to do is figure out how to get to Colorado to start a race this Sunday and take a week off work. Any chance in hell?''

hmmmm. let's see. if i can transfer my highly anticipated crossfit endurance course this weekend, without losing my $700. . . if i can book a flight that won't cost me a fortune . . . if i can get 'the week off work' - ha, like my clients will complain about that - well actually, 3 of them did ! it's getting better - used to just be 'the pugh' who got irritated ! if i can arrange shuttles to and from denver to the race start/finish . . .

and so, it's friday afternoon, and all of the above have been completed !!! incredible! i'm leaving tomorrow morning at 6:30 and will hopefully meet up with leslie and keith at the super8 motel in buena vista by tomorrow evening. stage 1 starts sunday morning! and you all know what that means . . . 'i'm going crazy right now!!' and instead of packing, i'm typing on my computer !! hahahahahahaha!

and most of all, i'm trying not to think about the fact that my last long training run was a 3 day/60 miler in tennesee in june . . .

ARGH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

demi moore sucks !

okay, this is the WORST i've done my hands so far. cause - tuesday WOD - GI jane - 100 pullups/burpees. i KNEW i hated that stoopid movie for a reason . . .

i couldn't even get my bike gloves on for the ride back to the treehouse, and every little bump on the road made me cringe.

looking forward to this weekend. taking a crossfit endurance course in milton - should be great!

and thankfully it's so much cooler now. lovin the chilly mornings - even had to put on a hoodie today! check out this pic from the sky on sunday night, just before the power went out - FOR 5 HOURS - leaving me and the moose with no fan and no running water! arghhhh!

stickers and 'i love saturdays'

got up early, well, kinda early, and went for a run on the palgrave sidetrail. hit the top of k2 and decided to go up and up the dingle. and yes, it is still uphill both ways. temp wasn't TOO bad, but the air was pretty thick. stoopid hoomidity - MAKE IT STOP ! on the way back, i thought it would be amusing to grab a pic by this 'partial chair' just past the haunted forest near the gore.

AND, when i got to my car, i noticed the notorious note leaving couple from tottenham had struck again ! THIS time trying to blame their dog . . .


speaking of my car, i've started accumulating some new stickers !


drove into bolton for some crossfit - big class today. the lovely lia had us do power cleans and running. guess it tired her out watching us kill ourselves . . .

she wasn't the only one . . . (jay, lisa, sonia and jo worked it pretty good too)

wicked shot of dino



love this couple !

still not satisfied, i got on the misfit and rode to tottenham for a root beer. managed to get in another couple of hours. finally finished the day off with ice cream from caledon and homemade burgers courtesy of the moose. mmmmmmm !

trail groupies session 4

big sweaty thumbs up to all my hard core trail groupies this summer! you braved deer flies, dog poop, monster dogs who do monster poops, skeeters, dirty knees, and most of all - THE FUCKING HOOMIDITY ! i'm sure more than one day saw the temp get above 40 !

nice push-ups sharon

you too elizabeth

check out the squat - looks good teri !

come on jan, only a few more !

and i bet you all had some 'splainin to do when you got home . . .

to the patch

hmmm, at first i thought my training hours for last week sucked, cuz i did NOTHING on saturday, but once i added them up, i realized i had 13 - not too bad! and the reason saturday was a bust for working out . . .

i went to peterborough to see my very most favorite sister who was visiting from kelowna. AND, i got to see my little red-headed nephew ben !

my 'not so little' nephew stevie . . .

my brother, me and my favorite sister . . .

it was great to see them. don't get down to the patch near enough.