run this amazing day

Oooof.  Two weeks after a swim race isn't the best time to be writing about it but I like to keep track of this stuff plus I have some really unflattering pictures & a normal amount of selfies to share so here we go... I signed up for this race as part of a bundle of three open water swims scattered around Colorado this summer for no other reason than I love to swim.  I've ridden my bike alongside of Carter Lake approximately one zillion times in the last three years but I've never actually been IN the lake, so I was excited to see if it was a disgusting swamp or perfect and delicious.  Logistics seemed a bit aggressive, we had to be at the race site several hours before the race (not to mention sunrise) to catch a bus to the start.  I rolled in at the end of the show up before X time or you will explode into fire  window and managed to get checked in, on a bus, and to the start of the race with over an hour to kill before we actually were able to get in the water.  

The weekend that my grandmother passed away, team amazing day was hosting training camp in Boulder.  My third and the largest one yet, and Colorado weather made sure to teach me a good lesson about planning.  Unlike camp in February, where we had cracking 65º weather through the last day when we were treated to a few inches of perfect fluffy snow, this time we got hammered with rain, flooding, hail, snow, thunder, wind.  By the end of the weekend, I think the only workout that we had completed as originally on the schedule was the race.   Regardless of all of that, I love hosting training camp; to spend time with athletes in person is priceless.  But also to watch how they work through a challenging weekend, to see how they fare and react as the fatigue piles up, I know, your crotch hurts and you’re tired of eating and then a road was closed so everyone got lost , when it stops being easy and fun and starts been plain old hard work, those are special moments and not just because I

I had a lot to talk about, a few weeks ago.  My parents came through town, we went shooting, I hosted the biggest training camp yet, ironman training has been different some more, Hunter is getting big and fat, all the normal things of my life.  And then last Sunday, my grandma passed away, and none of that exactly seems to matter right now. I was up to my neck in camp, crazy weather in Colorado meant that almost every single session on the original schedule got moved or altered due to pouring rain and then snow, I thought I was holding my shit together okay though but I woke up Sunday morning and saw that my mom had called at 3:45am and I knew.  My grandma had been sick for a while, she had Alzheimer's which I know affects a lot of people in a lot of different ways but the disease is disgusting, it steals precious moments from everyone that it touches.  But I don't want to talk about the last two years of her life and how she suffered.  I don't even know what I do want t

A few days ago, I went back and re-read some of my posts leading up to Coeur d'Alene back in 2012.  I used to post every weekday (exhausting).  Now I only post race reports and the occasional babbling missive on training and/or puppies with a hefty side of selfie.  I often feel like I have run out of anything even remotely interesting to contribute to the internet; I look up and notice that a month has gone by and I haven't spent any time in this little corner of my existence.  And I've realized that maybe I shouldn't worry so much about saying anything that has any value (ha!) but instead just scribble down the crap I want to remember if I decide to poke around in the time leading up to ironman number six a few years from now.  (It is very lucky that you cannot smell this picture). I want to remember that I bought a new bike this spring and I love it and it has been a colossal pain in the ass.  I've been on my CD.01 for four years, it has taken me through five