Unanswered Questions

Saturday night I attended a company holiday party with my friend from Atlanta, Mike Thompson, VP of an IT company HQ’d in Denver. Several of the VP’s live out-of-state and flew in for this big event and Mike invited me to join the evening. The party was at some ritzy house in Castle Rock; one of those places where you wondered if you were in the home of an heir to the Vanderbilt fortune? It was a gorgeous place decorated in modern art deco; a design aesthetic that embraced clean lines and classic principles. Party “staff” refilled my wine glass and took away my used plate as a pianist played lovely classical melodies in the background. I continued to tease Mike that I would no doubt embarrass him at some point in the evening. “You can’t bring a girl from the ghetto to a place like this!”, I would whisper to him as he laughed.

At some point during the evening, I discreetly made my way to the bathroom....

The shark RACES the manatee…..

It remains to be seen which one I will be.

So, our little training squad is working well for me. Brandon has been working his hot little butt off, especially in the pool. I cannot get over the progress he has made just in the last few months. He is a RUNNER. He ran for UCLA so the fact that his non-webbed-footed-ass can keep up with me, even an out of shape me, has been pissing me off!! It’s not like I will ever be near him when we run – so it isn’t fair!!!!

A couple weeks ago we somehow got into some testosterone-filled verbal jousting about our swimming skills, or lack thereof, and I really don’t know how it started, but SOMEHOW a war is on. !! Brandon challenged me to a 1500 race! Oh GOOD LORD! We’re doing this sucker in mid-January and I am actually a little freaked out. The dude...

The shark or the manatee….

So there’s a bit of accountability in place.

I’m in a little training group with 3 of my favorite Boulderites …. (I have lots of favorites but these are certainly at the top of the list) …. Billy Edwards, Brandon DelCampo and JZ. “Training” is a bit of an overstatement, but some basics are in place. Those 3 are in off-season, and I am in no-season with emphasis on continuing to heal, so nothing hard core going on. Just some basics. My back is the best it has been in more than 18 months; I am grateful for that, and continue to move forward in calculated, small additions.

On Wednesday’s – JZ, Billy, Brando and I meet at FAC with our strength trainer, Joe Horton, to do a series of targeted core and glute work. Though I am by far the weakest link of this team (on many levels), we are each somewhat limited by core and glute strength, so we each need this. Then on Saturday am, the 4 of us meet...

December Racing

I’m one of those people who will try almost anything once. Last weekend I did something that I’d never done before (get your mind out of the gutter, people) … I went to my first Cyclo-cross race.

TR invited me to go watch the race in Boulder. Our friend, Dave Walker, was racing, representing Velo News (popular cycle mag) and there was likely going to be a VeloNews tent, etc. I was excited!!

Pic: TR and Dave after the race.

Typical unpredictable Boulder weather, it turned beautiful on this day and the temp rose to almost 65 degrees. (Of course it snowed the following day, but there you have it.) The race was about 5 miles away so TR and I decided to bike to the event instead...

One of the great things about being in Boulder is having the opportunity to make an impact on the life of my 18-mo old Goddaughter, Isabelle (nicknamed “Isa” – pronounced eesa).
Isa is the daughter of my cousin, Andy, and his wife Michelle.

Our extended family have all made comments that she resembles me so much. It’s hard for me to see it, but most people are pretty astonished at the similarity. If she looks like ME, I can only feel sorry for that poor kid!

It’s funny to have her with me because, due to how she resembles me, most people assume she’s...