Follow me on the road and on the trails, in the kitchen or in Tahoe (or in our kitchen in Tahoe), being artsy, girly or cultured. Whatever it might be, its bound to involve whitty banter, stories of success and failure, and great anecdotes about me and my friends. Enjoy!
Alright, so while I don't watch a lot of football, I can't help myself with the Pack in the SuperBowl. I must admit, I've got a little Wisco Pride these days. I mean, how could I resist with this gem?
And the Bears thought they were "fly" with their SuperBowl shuffle. I think someone paid off Cutler to sit out the second half so we wouldn't be subjected the music stylings of the flatlanders again!
So while I've renamed my blog to "Far from Wisconsin" I'm still from Wisconsin, afterall, so I have to give a shout out to all my fellow Cheeseheads! GO PACK GO!
Happy New Years! And I say that this year with all sincerity.
The New Year Ski Crew Me, Dana, Brian, Jeff, Tina, Sam and Troy
I have a fabulous group of friends of whom I value greatly.
Those friends are all happy and healthy!
I have a job that I love and that challenges me.
A year after surgery, my knees are good, and I have plans to use them to their fullest in the new year.
As of today, I'm officially aunt for the first time - congratulations Darren and Kim!
And I have a boyfriend that, while supportive, keeps me on my toes, each and every day (which, if you don't know already know, that is a good thing!)
As I embark on this new year, there's not much more I could ask for. Besides all of the above, I've already gotten in 10 days of cross country skiing this winter, summited Mt. Tam last weekend on my mt. bike (about 5000 ft of elevation), and am headed down to Santa Cruz this weekend and back on my road bike - 180 miles in all!
Yeah, things aren't too shabby.
More to come in the coming weeks and months. I'm really trying to get back in the blogging habit. While I love blogging about all my athletic endeavors, I hope to do more blogging about my cooking, my friends and just things in general. So stay tuned.
So for most people, running is a chore. Its something they do to get in shape, or train for an event, but there is no real joy in it. That has never been the case for me. And not so much since I had my knee surgery last year.
So since the surgery, I did some running on the Alter G, to take some of the pressure off my knees. But more recently, I've started to hit the solid ground again. Dana, Kara and I went out for a 50 minute run a few weeks ago, followed by a run with el Jefe a few days later. I did a run on the Alter G this week, then decided to hit Matt Davis this weekend.
Matt Davis is a most excellent trail - rolling, slightly uphill on the way out; the reverse on the way back. A constant change in environment the whole way - some heavily wooded, some mature trees, some new, bridges, waterfalls, views of the ocean, views down the mountain, scrambling up rock croppings...a little of everything. Some of the most beautiful terrain anywhere!
I first came to know this trail during my ironman training - sometimes solo, sometimes with my faithful training companion Sam. Either way, it was always a wonderful trail. My route on Saturday was only 55 minutes, from the Fire Station at Mt. Home to the picnic area. On our usual runs, we would go past the picnic ground, onto Pantol Station, then out Coastal Trail for the requisit time until we needed to turn around and head back. That being said, it never seemed like a chore...we always reveled in the views, the changing terrain, the solitude.
Saturday was a rather ominous day...I was doubting whether I would actually embark on my run while I drove to the trail head...it was foggy, drizzly, and it continued to get colder as I approached my destination. But once I parked, put on my trail shoes, and walked to the base of the fire station driveway, I decided it was the right thing to do.
I trudged up the first 3 minutes, a pretty steep uphill, and one that would normally bug my knees. Thanks to some recent exercises I've been doing to shore up my knee muscles, I was able to charge up it without any pain. That being said, my lungs certainly were hurting some. As I reached the top of the first hilll, I saw the stairs to the Matt Davis trail, and felt a certain sense of calm and excitement.
It was a most wonderful 55 minutes. In and out of fog and mist. Trees raining on me when the wind picked up. Sloshing through puddles, spraying mud everywhere. It was exhillerating. It was fantastic, and it made me a little sad at the same time. This is about all I can do for now, and possibly forever. I should just enjoy it for what it is, but if you know me at all, you know I want more. Some of my best girlfriends ran the Grand Canyon last weekend, and I wish I would have been there. But, it is not in the cards for me. I had accepted that for a while, but with my recent runs, it has stirred those ambitions that I had burried 2 years ago.
But not to fret, I simply enjoyed my run, and I will not begrudge what used to be...only revel in what I CAN have. Thank you, Matt Davis, for continuing to provide a wonderful running environment, and for reminding me of the joy of running. I'll be back again, soon!
Distance: 14.18 miles
Elevation: 2799 ft
Time: 2:45 hours
Difficulty: A lot of climbing, but not too bad technically
How happy I was for this day to come! Our final day in Whistler! A victory lap of sorts, or so I thought. Well, while it was only 20K on the day, it had a lot of climbing, and some technical winding and twisting trails, so it certainly wasn't a short day. Short by comparison to the rest of the week, but still a 3 hour ride!
So we started out at the base of Blackcomb mountain, where we climbed up, and up, and up to a mid-mountain chair at over 1000 feet, before descending a fun, roller coaster of a trail that took us just about all the way to the bottom of the mountain. We had a short climb back up a few hundred feet, then finally down to the base of the mountain to the half-way point.
From there, we headed out on 10K of single track out behind Whistler village which was mostly rolling, with more bridges than I could count, but all rideable and pretty fun. That being said, it wasn't necessarily fast, so it took a long time to cover that final 10K. One trail was named Pinocchio's Furniture, for all the bridges on the trail. This was a bit of slow going, however, I made way more of these bridges than I did all week long. A win for me!
So after almost 3 hours, I crossed the finish line in Whistler Village - to more fanfare than the Ironman! Your name was announced, you were awarded your belt buckle and a finisher t-shirt, and your picture was taken...and I soaked it all in with a gigantic smile! I had made it!!!
We spent the rest of our weekend eating and relaxing. We started out with dinner at Earl's in Whistler Village - fillets, beers and wine all around! That night was the final banquet, where it was fun to see everyone clean and out of spandex for the first time all week! The next morning we had crepes for breakfast, then headed into Vancouver. There we had a meat and cheese "lunch" at this amazing restaurant Salt, then dinner at the Blue Water Sushi Restaurant in Yaletown - all kinds of yummy! The following day it was time to head back to San Francisco, where we were greeted by two purring kitties and Day 2 of the Tour :-)
An amazing experience all around! I definitely should have had some more technical riding experience under my belt before heading to BC, but all things considered, I think I managed pretty well! Looking forward to a little time off, then getting back on the bike to take advantage of my pumped up fitness from the week!
Distance: 29.28 miles
Elevation: 4304 ft
Time: 6 hours
Difficulty: Best Day of the Race!
Theme of the day: Rock Gardens are NOT my friend. Beer Gardens are!
So today started out a little rocky, as when we got to breakfast we were informed that today’s route would be 60K instead of the advertised 48K. That was a bit of a blow, as after 5 hard days of riding, we were looking forward to a slightly shorter one. But at the end of the day, what’s an extra 12K after the 250K + we had already completed?
So we set out through the town of Squamish for our last BIG day of the race. There were promises of big climbs and sweeping descents, and they didn’t disappoint on either front! We started out with a bunch of up, some on the road, some on fire trail, and some on single track. Up, and up, and up! Surprisingly, as the week has gone on, my legs have felt stronger. What’s more, most people, while definitely more prepared for the technical terrain than I, were certainly NOT prepared for the climbing or the endurance of it. So today, I was riding with and passing people I hadn’t encountered all week!
After about 20K of uphill we hit a trail called “Half Nelson” - it was a seriously banked, rollercoaster of a trail, that if you knew how to ride it, would have been the highlight of the week! I had some trouble at the start of it, but by half way down, I had found a rhythm and was giggling to myself as I made my way down…it was some serious fun! Good thing, as after that, we hit a trail called “The Plunge”, which was aptly named for its steepness, but threw in an extra dose of a complete rock garden! It was relentless! Even if I could ride it, I don’t know why I would want to…it was so jarring! Needless to say, I walked most of this section of trail, but this was the only part of the day that I really did so.
We hit aid station 2 at 40K and most of the folks around me were looking pretty haggard. They were grasping for food, and seriously not wanting to get back on their bikes. I chatted a few people up, ate a bunch of orange slices, and wait for it - ate a banana and LIKED IT! So weird! It must have been out of desperation! J
I took off from the aid station with a fellow triathlete, who was also new to mt. biking. We chatted a bit on the climb out of the aid station, then hit a legitimate ramp to head onto our next bit of single track. The rest of the day was single track similar to what I’m used to at Tamarancho, so I was right at home! It was rolling, with some roots and rocks, some steepish ascents and descents with some rocks and switchbacks thrown in. Flashes of Zoolander came to mind as I made all the left handed switchbacks, but failed on 2 or 3 right handed ones. I just can’t turn right!
So at 2:30 pm, I hit the road, and a volunteer said it was just 3K to the finish - a full 10K shorter than the 60K advertised in the morning! Apparently they thought it would be funny to mess with us on Day 6! At the end of the day, it didn’t matter, and was a pleasant surprise in the end. It meant I was just that much closer to the finish line and the beautiful, beautiful beer garden and pizza that awaited me!
Tomorrow is a mere 20K in Whistler, which promises to be challenging, but fun and short at the same time!
p.s. There will be pictures, GPS data and VIDEO coming shortly after the race. We just haven't had the time or energy to coordinate it all this week.
Distance: 24.75 miles
Elevation: 4193 ft
Time: 6 hours
Difficulty: Medium-Hard. Hard mostly due to the fact that we’ve had a full 4 days before this.
Theme of the Day: Only in British Columbia can 25 miles take 6 hours to ride!
Today was actually an early morning start - 8:00am! Most mornings we have had some sort of shuttle to take to get to our starting point, but today we started in exactly the place we finished the night before. We woke to a light drizzle outside, but like many of the morning’s before, we figured it would just pass. So after breakfast we went back to the RV to stay dry and get ready for our ride. And when walking back to the RV after breakfast, we had heard they were pushing the start back to 8:15 from 8:00. It was 7:45, so we had plenty of time…or so we thought. At 8:00 we saw racers lined up in the starting shoot, and at 8:05, they were gone! We missed the start! So we all gathered our stuff as quick as we could and took off for the start line! Quite a rush to start the morning!
So unlike the 15 minutes of rain yesterday, today it rained most of the day. Fortunately, it was really only a drizzle all day, but enough to get everyone pretty wet. And then, as if we weren’t wet enough, there was a knee-high creek crossing about 5k into the race. Most people were pretty put out by the rain and the creek crossing. I, on the other hand, just rolled with it. It was still fairly warm out, so I never felt too cold, and the creek crossing was just down right fun! I smiled the whole way across. But that could be as it really only was knee high on me…the girl next to me had water most of the way up her thigh.
The morning was mostly filled with climbing - some on the road, some on the trails. As with most days, the stuff on the trail varied. Some of it was completely rideable, and some was just so steep and loose, you just had to walk it. And some of the trail that would have been rideable otherwise, became walking sections due to the rain which had made the rocks and roots wet and slippery. But unlike yesterday, I was surrounded by other riders, so when hiking it, we all chatted and kept each other company.
The finish today was 10K of solid downhill, on trail that was almost completely rideable. A few steep/loose sections that I chose to walk down versus chancing it, but otherwise, smooth sailing. Every night when the course designers preview the course for the next day they all talk about “sweet, flowy singletrack” - I think this was really the first section of this we’ve hit all week! It was a great ride down until I got down to about 3K left to the finish. There was a straight, downhill grade, I had put it into my big chain ring and was picking up speed. Then that pesky log got in the way and I suddenly found myself splayed out on the forest floor, gasping for air. I’ve never really had the air knocked out of me before, but for about 20-30 seconds, I was definitely feeling it. After I did a quick body scan to make sure nothing was broken or bleeding, I got back up and headed to the finish line. I soon saw the 2K to go sign, and charged on home.
I got back to the finish with 10 minutes to spare before the next ferry loaded…the boys were very happy. We would have had to wait around another 3 hours for the next one. I can honestly say I had a fun day out there today. And I am looking forward to an afternoon of relaxing. Most days I finished up around 6 or 7pm…leaving little time for anything else other than a shower and some dinner before pouring myself into bed. Today I get to hang out a little with the gang, enjoy a little fro-yo as my post ride treat, leisurely write my blog post, etc. Still planning to head to bed early tonight as we still have a fairly early morning tomorrow - 9am start time - which we will not miss!
Distance: 38.4 Miles
Elevation: 5367 feet
Time: 7.5 hours
Difficulty: Hard. Hardest day for me, anyway.
Douchebag of the Day: The guy who was re-wearing a jersey and/or shorts and clearly hadn’t showered!
From the start of the day, I could tell it would be a long one. I just never really got into a rhythm, my stomach had been upset all morning and I just wasn’t into it. I think I was having the day 4 blues. That and the fact that it was our second longest day, and they had moved in the cutoff time at Aid Station 2 also made me a little fearful. I had made it so far that I didn’t want to get cut off at the Aid Station and not be allowed to finish. Now, as he day went on, and I had some “dark miles” there was a part of me that had wished I had gotten cut off so I did have to complete the whole day, but of course I would have been seriously disappointed if that had happened.
Today was a tough day, full of climbing. It wasn’t necessarily very technical, but the climbing just kept coming at you. And at you. And at you. And on legs that were already tired from the last 3 days, it was a little relentless. And on some of the climbs, I just didn’t have any pick up to speak of! My favorite Swiss couple that I had played leap frog with most of the week went flying by me at one point, and I didn’t have any energy to tag along. As I got to the aid station, I realized that I had actually bonked, which was a huge part of the reason that I felt like I did. But the good news was that I made it to the 2nd Aid Station with 20 minutes to spare to the cutoff…I was safe to keep riding.
This, however, was a blessing and a curse. The next 20KMs consisted of 15K of climbing and 5K of downhill. Fortunately, another rider I had been leap frogging all week was at the aid station as I was taking off, so we did the next 7-10K of climbing together. After that, the FP (family practitioner) took off as the trail got pretty technical and he was just faster at that section than I was.
So speaking of FP, the fact that this is such an international crowd has led to a funny naming convention around the pack. This week I have been known as “Marin”, “San Francisco”, “California”, “Mill Valley” and “Roadie”. Only Marie, a sweet girl from Alberta who I’ve spent a lot of time with this week, calls me Jessica. My personal favorite is “Roadie”, though, as it keeps me close to my roots :-)
After I split from FP, I road along on a pretty technical part of trail, with riders pass by that I had pass earlier in the day on the climbs. But after I had already been riding for about 90 minutes since the aid station, I realized that I hadn’t seen anyone for a while, and didn’t end up seeing anyone for over an hour - not another rider, support crew, nada. These would be the dark miles. I was still on course as the ribbons were all around me, but not seeing anyone for that long made it really, really lonely. Plus, who would think that 12.5 miles could take you 3 hours to complete! So without a GPS or Odometer on my bike, I had no clue how much longer until the end of my day. Plus, at this point, it was nearing 7:00 at night. I was tired, frustrated, cold, hungry, and just wanted to be back at camp.
Well, after what felt like FOREVER, I finally came upon a road, and some volunteers, who informed me I only had 3K to go. It ended up being the longest 3K ever, but still only 3K to go. When I crossed the finish line, I was greeted by Jeff, as I have been EVERY day, and the FP, who gave me a big high-five. But the emotion of the day had gotten the better of me, and I looked back at Jeff, he gave me a big hug and I just started to cry. Hard. They Marie came over, crying, too, to give me a big hug too and to let me know just how long of a day she had had, too. That was very sweet, and honestly, made me feel better!
So after all that, we only had 15 minutes until dinner, so I hobbled over to the RV, wiped off some of the dirt, put on some clean clothes and ate everything in sight! I had more Caesar salad in one night than I’ve had in the last five years. I don’t know what it has been this week, but I can’t get enough salad vegetables! And Canadian “party mix” is my new favorite guilty pleasure. I have to see if I can get some imported to US J
