Lewis and Clark Go Big or Go Home

Spent Friday night at Casey and Brigette's gorgeous home in Salem and woke up early to rain and headed north to Canyon Creek for camping. Got a cell call from the Seattle people saying they were bailing so Lonnie (Lewis) and Casey (Clark) decided we should go to a closer camp ground and switched up our plans while we were on the road. We headed east down the Gorge on the Washington State side of the Columbia River and then north to a campground that was FULL. Found more campgrounds on the map and headed farther east until we found a primitive site where no one else had setup yet. So four hours later... Yeah!

Lonnie is a professional camper. Seriously, his job is to take wayward teens onto treks and help them turn their lives around. He only back country camps so to celebrate this new found experience (car camping) he went out and bought the biggest tent he could find. Go big or go home he said. I was stunned, the thing even has cup holders. Cindy decided it was way too big so I think they will be getting rid of it.

We were expecting rain so Lonnie also brought a huge tarp that we rigged over the camp that basically kept us dry and happy the entire trip. We Oregonians know how to handle the rain, you stay out of it! Marshall was happy to see his buddy Sequoia and baby Samara so he settled into camping like a real veteran.

I'll write more later... I'm still not feeling the most fabulous.

Beaver Fever

I am recovering from a fancy illness that started up on Sunday while we were camping. We drove home late Sunday night which was a very good idea because Monday was the kind of day where I needed to be home. I spent almost the entire day either asleep or in the bathroom and couldn't stomach any food until after 10pm at night. I stayed home from work today and feel quite a bit better but I'm still getting hot and cold fevers and having little to no appetite along with the other stuff I won't mention. I am really hoping tomorrow shows more improvement so I can look at the computer longer than a few minutes and go to work. I have some great photos from camping and had a good time when I wasn't sick. Marshall has been by my side through the entire illness living up to his nickname The Cuddler.

I think Bill really wants me to feel better as soon as possible. He's been a great nurse but prefers me up and running instead of down and kicking. Ms Kitty is indifferent but was glad it was sunny today.

Competition

Pic of Michelle and I at the Black Diamond 1/2 Ironman in 2003. I had pursuaded Michelle to try the 1/2 distance for the first time, she is a very competitive sprint and olympic distance triathlete. This was my 2nd half in two months and I had a bad race. Michelle kicked butt.

There was some competitive tension during the race, Michelle is an awesome swimmer and biker but she knew I could bite at her heels on the run. I went out way too hard on the run and I blew up by mile 8 and finished with my tail between my legs, missing out on the top 10 overall (I was 11th) and winning my age group (I was 2nd).

It's not easy for me to translate competitive tension into a positive performance. I learned a lot that day, including that Michelle is a better triathlete than me. She moved to Texas and just delivered her 2nd baby a few weeks ago. She's still a tough triathlete, winning a bunch of sprint and olys down south.

I have come to terms with the fact that I am not athletically gifted enough to win most triathlons, however, I can position myself to do well and when the stars are aligned correctly, I am capable of kicking butt. So I must find some peace for myself in this and prepare to take advantage if an opportunity presents itself. My first tri is coming up and it will be the precursor to Hagg Lake which is the NW Olympic distance championship. I'm not expecting to do well at Hagg Lake, but if I finish the Blue Lake sprint outside of the top 5, I will be disappointed. I'm not as ready as I would like to be at this point, but I did manage a good track workout and ride yesterday despite tired legs so I can't be too unhappy with training.

Alright then, we're headed out for camping this weekend, staying at our friend's house in Salem tonight and driving up north early in the morning. I'll try to take some pics of Mt St Helens and the area. Hope the storm they are forecasting isn't too bad!

Little brother

Ms. Kitty aka Bree aka Baby Shah playing with Marshall last night. Last night she had some steak for dinner and a bit of peanut butter for dessert. We don't allow Marshall any people food but the cat gets whatever she wants.

Marshall is less like a puppy these days and more like an annoying younger brother. PLAY WITH ME! PLAY WITH MEEEEE! I can't even go into the bathroom without a little shadow who snatches at toilet paper and runs off with it. Bill is taking him trail running today so maybe we'll have some peace tonight. I'm excited to take him camping this weekend, he will enjoy playing with the other dogs and hunting new scents.

I'm tired. Trying to fit in more workouts during the week since we'll be gone this weekend and it's wearing me out. Yesterday, our swim coach had us doing 4x200 as fly, back, breast, free with fins on and then some hard free sets and my legs were completely fried 50 minutes in to the workout. I had to get out early, I couldn't kick anymore. The think the interval ride on the trainer the night before started it. Now I need to run and ride today with fried legs. A day off would be soooo nice. wah. waaahhhhh! Look at Puss-n-Boots. She doesn't get to go camping (this time).

Slug

I'm not the slug, it's what I stuck my hand on last night when I was gardening. eewwww! The rain has brought out worms and slugs and yucky bugs. I'm sure Marshall has been eating plenty of everything. The dog is getting so strong, between walks and runs he gets at least an hour of exercise a day so I've got about 1 month before he will knock me on my butt if he pulls on the leash.

I've got three weeks until my first triathlon of the season and I'm already nervous. Pressuring myself to perform well which isn't easy for the first race of the year. Gardening has turned into a relaxing and rewarding task for me and I am so grateful to the people who owned our house before us, they planted roses all over the yard and they are starting to bloom.

Bill thinks this tree is going to die. We don't even know what kind of tree it is yet but I think I'll have to get some expert advice on it, it would be sad to see it go.

Looks like we are going camping this weekend with a good group of people somewhere in southern Washington possibly near Mt St Helens. I like these friends but they insist on primitive or back country camping which means dried foods and no toilets. The last time Bill and I back country camped together we went into survivor mode and he hid the cookies I packed from me so I wouldn't eat them all. He even tried to eat them in front of me, like I wouldn't notice--we were crammed into a little tent together! This time I will have to be sneaky and keep the cookies to myself, I'll have to find a good hiding spot from him. wah ha ha haaaa haaaaa!

Elite total body pain

Forgot my camera this weekend (doh!) so I don't have any pics of Bill's assault on Mt Bachelor. Bill's friend Nate decided to register for Pole, Pedal, Paddle at the last minute and I convinced him to sign up for the elite wave with Bill so they could have the early start and race together. Both Bill and Nate are stud triathletes with many wins and trips to Kona for the Ironman World Championships between the two of them so no problem signing up for the elite wave for this race...

until they got there and saw the big boys hauling aspen down the slopes and skate skiing like Olympic champs. I had a blast watching the two of them warm up on the cross country course where they looked like they had never seen snow before and fell down many times trying to find their skiing legs.

Soon enough the race started with a downhill ski leg and the guys were surprised to find gates to navigate through. The fast guys made it down in ~30 seconds looking like Bodi Miller on a good day. Bill, who hadn't downhill skied in over 5 years, took around 3 1/2 minutes to navigate the "beginner" course. Nate had a snow board and took even longer. Needless to say, the transition area was nice and clear for them to switch into their cross country gear. The fast guys had skate skis and took off like Frode Andresen. Bill and Nate looked like they were auditioning for a slip-n-slide commercial and I hoped they learned how cross country ski while out on the course.

I waited in the ski to bike transition area with Nate's girlfriend Kara and we watched the race leader come in about 15 minutes later, I think the course is 8k so the top guys were fast. I hit the timer on my watch so I could tell Bill how far back he was to the leader and waited. And waited... and waited. Basically everyone came in, including a few people from the next heat when finally, 19 1/2 minutes later Bill came in with a good sweat going. I helped him transition onto the bike to ride 22 miles to Bend and told him his split to the leader and he said, "Oh is that all? No problem!"

Nate came in a few minutes later and Kara and I drove down to Bend to meet them for the next legs: 8k run and ~2k kayak and a running sprint to the finish. We missed the bike to run transition so we waited down by the Deschutes River so we could assist with the kayak put-in. Bill and Nate came in on the run together (behind almost all of the elites including several women) but looked strong nonetheless. These two can bike and run so I don't think they lost much time to the leaders on those legs but the kayak was another story.

Bill's core was shot so the only way for him to paddle was to lean way back and use his legs and upper body. (sweet revenge for me: I've been doing core workouts almost nightly while he sat on the couch watching tv) Nate didn't fare much better, he had a small kayak and had to muscle his way up and down the river. The guys just didn't have the right gear (or training) to compete in this leg.

They handled the sprint finish well and looked really relieved to be done. I asked Bill if he had fun and he said, "Yeah, except for my entire body hurting." They had a great post race celebration at the park and we had lunch at the Deschutes Brewery before heading home. We decided not to camp since there was a thunderstorm in the forecast so we slept in our own bed and I made Bill go for a bike ride with me the next morning.

I won't even get into the cheap motel room he booked (across from a strip club and rail yard) but let's just say the weekend didn't exactly turn out how Bill planned. We had a good time though and I have lots of material to make fun of Bill and Nate so I am very happy! Good memories for me, hopefully Bill got this out of his system and won't want to race elite again next year. Yeah right, who am I kidding!

Load em up

Off to Bend again tonight after work so we can make packet pickup for Pole, Pedal, Paddle. Thankfully Bill sprung for a hotel room because the weather doesn't look so good. We've found there isn't a lot of camping in Bend since there are so many parks in the outlying areas. In the past we have pitched a tent off some logging or utility road when we needed to be close to town. Not my favorite camping, I would hate to get busted (or run over by a huge truck)!

Bill isn't too confident about the event now that he's done some of the course. He has 15 year old x-skis, a large kayak that a girl gave him 8 years ago and really old downhill skis. He's going to wax his skis tonight (for the first time ever) so I hope he doesn't pull a Chevy Chase and go flying down the mountain and break his neck.

Of course this is the type of challenge Bill loves, going head to head with guys who are geeked out in super expensive gear. Bill doesn't believe in expensive gear, he believes in free gear. I'm just glad we have a hotel room and that I have cute sandles ;)

Guess who had raw chicken breast for dinner?

Someone is now tall enough to reach items on the kitchen counter. Someone snatched a thawing chicken breast out of the kitchen sink last night and munched the entire thing in a few bites. Someone is in big BIG trouble.

Bill thought Ms Kitty might have been an accomplice to the crime but I think that dog has just enough Lab in him to reach it himself. I hope he doesn't get sick from it, going to call the vet today.

As for me, I was able to ride my bike last night relatively pain free so I'll try running today to see how it goes. The rain is coming back so our early summer sunshine is almost gone :(

Good thing I'm not rich

The rocks that kicked my butt. Hours of squating, lifting and digging and I feel worse than I did after an Ironman. I tried to run last night but my seized up hamstring said NO WAY LADY and I enjoyed a nice long walk instead. We walked Marshall over to the river and Bill threw him in several times to get him swimming. He did great but still not ready to do it on his own. Poor Bubba.

Took these pics in our yard this morning, the plants and flowers are growing like crazy, Oregon climate is like steroids for plants. This is my first real gardening experience and I have to admit that I am afraid of screwing it up. I would really like to plant some dahlias for our wedding but I'm afraid they won't bloom and I'll be disappointed.

The wedding planning is causing my obsessive tendancies to flare up. Sarah made me feel better by telling me that there is a lot of opportunity to obsess, down to the buttons on the back of a dress, and I realized that I wasn't doing so bad. For once in my life, I'm glad I don't have a ton of money to indulge myself, simple is going to feel a lot better for our wedding planning.

Dang I'm old

Alright, a full day of rock gardening in the sun followed by a strong bike ride (trying to impress Bill) isn't that good for the quads and hamstrings. I could exercise for hours and not get this sore but squatting all day in a garden OUCH!

So I'm babying myself today. Bubba likes to find a sunny spot in the morning and take a nap. I think he learned it from Ms Kitty. Isn't that precious?

Multisport mania in the hot sun

Pic of Mt Bachelor from our bug splattered car window. Drove over to Bend, Oregon Saturday morning so Bill could check out the Pole Pedal Paddle course to prep for next weekend. Bend (elev 3600+) is one of the most beautiful places on the planet, it is a high desert country and is surrounded by multiple mountain peaks. This used to be a logging town but it is now bursting at the seams with competitive lifestyle enthusiasts, thus the popularity of the PPP event.

Bill's plan: xski two loops, bike 22 miles from Mt Bachelor to Bend, trail run 5 miles, then kayak in the Deschutes River. We brought Marshall the monkey dog so my plan was to play supportive mate and have fun with the dog. The skies were clear so the warm clothes I brought were left in the car and Bubba I went for a hike in the snow while Bill x-skied around Mt Bachelor.

The last time we were near Mt Bachelor I was training for IM CDA and I got lost while biking and practically died. Long story made short: I biked to the top of the mtn, missed a turn and biked down the mtn only to realize that I needed to bike back up to make the turn. Then I got a flat tire while descending. Bill had already biked ahead (part of the reason I was lost) and he was waiting for me for so long he decided to get the car and come find me. Thank goodness! That day sucked.

Anyway, on Saturday Bill biked down just fine and we met down at the river at the kayak put in. We were going to go run but by then it was 4pm, we hadn't had lunch and it was in the upper 80s (we aren't used to that temp) so Bill just put the kayak in and Marshall and I played in the river. Bubba still won't swim so we might have to force the issue a little. We hit Subway as soon as possible and then I insisted we go to the Pearl Izumi and Columbia outlet where I found a few bargains before heading home.

Stopped off a couple of times on the way back, this pic of Lost Lake where we stretched our legs. Also stopped at House Rock campground and we think we'll camp there next weekend after the race. All of the camping spots are right along a little river that had some spots that are deep enough to jump into. I swear it's summer already!

Sunday we gardened in the sun. Bill took Marshall to play disc golf late in the morning and I started a rock garden in our back yard. I'm starting to enjoy gardening a lot more now that we have a good start on it. We fried a bit in the heat so we waited until after 6pm to head out on our bikes. Had a great ride, getting stronger on the hills so I might get in shape, eventually, some day. Supposed to get up to 90 degrees today. It's still May right?

Toughening up

Pic of men's collegiate swim start at Wildflower 2003. It was right here on this dock that I realized I had been flirting with Bill for over a year and really had a thing for him. We went on a walk together and had an actual conversation for the first time there. Plus I saw Bill in tri shorts without a top on so that was it for me.

I am having a stellar training week so far but the problem with that is the long workouts are yet to come. I did a short ride last night (just over an hour) and practiced climbing while still in aerobars. Afterward I ran with Marhsall for about 15 minutes so I did my first brick workout (bike-run) of the year. Today I swam at lunch and will run 4 miles after work and yet somehow I still need to do a long bike ride and a long run. And another swim would be really nice. And I still haven't mountain biked.

Being a triathlete is tiring. Not sure how I manage it every year. We'll be busy this weekend, hopefully I'll have some great pics from Bend. Bill is snow skiing and kayaking and I have to find a way to workout in between. Maybe Marshall and I will go trail running. Where's the couch and the Bon Bons?

Ups and downs and bicycle training

Vintage Bill and Erika pic from the Beaver Fever Duathlon 2003. It was the first year of the event and I talked Bill into doing it even though we weren't in race shape. He was irritated with me until he won. I was the 2nd female. We went out for burgers and milkshakes afterward, not much has changed since then.

I'm working on a web site for our wedding so I'm digging through all of our old photos. I think I'll put together a slideshow, I have lots of pics of Bill making goofy faces, should be fun (for me) to put those on display.

Having a good training week so far (rare excellent swim yesterday woo ho!) but we need to get out on our mountain bikes. Last night I managed to get in a run after work AND do some yard work, now if I could just do that everyday... Days like this are tough, I think all day about what I don't want to do and struggle to turn my thoughts into wanting to do it. I have been keeping up with swimming and running but have to almost force myself to get on the bike. I think it's the time committment. I can swim or run for an hour and be satisfied but if I ride for an hour, it's not long enough. Need to work my way through that issue, I don't like to force my way through training.

Ol Griz strikes again!

Bill and buddies were in our local newspaper this morning for a feature on Mary's Peak. The guys were riding up there (again) and Ol Griz made sure the camera got a good shot of him for the cover. Griz gets more press than the local police chief, it's a big joke amongst our group about what a camera whore he is. Lavs said Griz slowed way down, almost to a track stand, to get this shot. HA HA!

Bill and I are working through the details for our wedding, neither one of us are totally decisive so it's a bit of a process. It looks like we will have the ceremony in our back yard and the reception at an area park. We looked at a nice park last night but I think we'll choose the park with the long picnic table so we can have privacy and some options for sporting (volleyball, horse shoes, and softball).

Pic of the other park, which is pretty, but there's nothing to do there.

That says a lot about us as a couple, we don't enjoy the view unless we're being active. The weather is gorgeous so training will be great this week! Looks like we'll be traveling to Bend this weekend so Bill can ski and kayak to get ready for Pole, Pedal, Paddle. I might have to mtn bike or go to the Pearl Izumi outlet while he's kayaking to keep myself busy. Sounds real good!

Reality used to be a friend of mine

Check out the monkey dog. Someone should train that beast. He watches me come and go each day and gives me sad faces while he stands by the door. It's very sad. There are several areas of tall grass near our house and he seems happiest when he is leaping and bounding through it.

The coffee shop I like to visit during the week makes croissants fresh daily and the smell makes me crazy. mmmmm I told the coffee lady that I was treating myself to a croissant and strawberries so she gave me coffee for free. She is a nice lady.

Still bike commuting, going to ride the bike longer today and do some hill repeats to start training for hilly Hagg Lake triathlon. I thought my hips we sore from swim class but I think it's actually my groin. I've never had that problem before, hopefully I'll be able to ride hard today. My first triathlon of the season is five weeks away, I better start speed training.

We're talking honeymoon trips now, we feel a little pressure to do something wonderful since it's possible that we will start a family sooner than we'll have money for a good trip. We've never actually taken a relaxing vacation by oursevles. Every trip we've done has been either for a triathlon or to visit family. It will be interesting to discuss.

The Hobo Lunch Incident

Saturday we got up before 5am to drive north to Hillsboro (near Portland) for the Hawthorn Farms triathlon/duathlon. We got there late and there were 2 transition areas so I set up my little stand near the finish line and waited for the racers to finish so the sales could begin. We thought we might make some nice $ since the tri was hosted at an upscale athletic club near Intel and it was kind of cold but it wasn't a good day for sales for tribabe.com.

Bill and I had a good time regardless, he always entertains me with his strange behavior and goofy facial expressions. I noticed he was sitting next to me, kind of scowling and eating food out of a plastic grocery bag. Turns out he brought a half eaten burrito, a bag of BBQ chips and some Dr Pepper and was chowing down on his hobo lunch at 8 o'clock in the morning. Gross man! No wonder sales were slow, we were a total freak show. Oh well, we decided I need a TRIBABE.COM banner and we did get to socialize with some folks so even though the cash didn't flow, we left somewhat happy.

We got out of there before noon and drove over to Hagg Lake so we could ride our bikes around and check out the terrain for an upcoming triathlon. It's hilly so I will be motivating myself through fear and will try to bring at least my B game to race there. YIKES! My legs were FRIED from Friday's swim class, we did fly sets with swim fins on for 20 minutes and I had nothing in my hips. So the first hill out on the ride I was breathing hard and feeling the burn. NOT FUN.

Next we drove down to Salem to a friend's house for a party. They own some beautiful property and have a great party house with a frisbee golf course, horse shoes, and volleyball. Bill and Lonnie got going on frisbee golf and I didn't see Bill for a couple of hours. There was a trophy for best score and those two wanted it. Eventually, I had to drag Bill out of there, so we got home late and realized we were trying to make ourselves dinner at 9:40pm. We put the salad fixings away, ate some cereal and passed out easily. What a day.

It rained most of Sunday so we drove over to Eugene for the REI sale. We stopped off at Bellfountain Park on the way to see if we want to reserve the park for our wedding reception. The park boasts one of the world's longest picnic tables. Hey, at least we wouldn't have to rent chairs and tables! There's a baseball field so we could have Amazing Athletic Feats at our reception. Could be real good. Bill could serve lunch out of plastic grocery bags.

Billy Goat

Bill rode his bike up Mary's Peak yesterday afternoon and he didn't feel so good last night. Bill's training buddies (the Doggs) keep time trial records for various local rides and one of the toughest is a 9 mile time trial straight up the steepest climb in the area. I think with a few more months of mountain biking he will have no problem breaking the record for this course (HA HA LAVS!)

I went out for an easy run yesterday, and averaged 8:30 pace for 5 miles. I think a few track sessions would do a lot of good for me so I'll start on that next week.

Bill met me downtown in the evening (after I had a few cocktails with Melissa out on the rooftop of American Dream Pizza) and we went out for gelato for dessert. The gelato place is doing booming business because IT TASTES AMAZING and the good people of this town have no problem indulging in goodness. Corvallis has one of the highest incomes per capita in Oregon so locals can afford luxury. We've been there twice in two years so last night was a sweet treat!

Tomorrow we're headed up near Portland for the Hawthorn Farm triathlon/duathlon early in the morning (5:30 am), then were driving down to Hagg Lake for a bike ride (we're doing a tri there in June) then we're driving down to Salem for a party at a friend's house. It should be an authentic Oregon party with a bunch of long hairs drinking home brews, dogs and kids running loose and the ultimate granola sport: frisbee golf. There has to be some musicians there too and if we're really lucky, some hippies dancing around (doing the granola shuffle). It should be great! I'll take some pics so readers abroad can see what Oregon hippies look like (young people dressed in REI but haven't had a haircut for a few years). HA HA!

Strange motivations

Pic of the cat coming on a dog walk. If she's outside when we leave for a walk, she chases us and yells MEEEEOOOOWWW really loudly while she runs so it sounds incredibly pathetic. It's embarassing! Bill said he carried her down to the river a few days ago and then hid from her so she really started yelling. And people think I'm the strange one!

In order to get myself motivated to ride yesterday I decided I had to have a picture of some hogs I recently noticed alongside one of the roads we regularly ride on. You don't see a lot of hogs around here, why, I don't know, because there are llammas and sheep and even miniature horses so why no hogs?

The hogs are right at the turnaround point of the ride so I get out there and there aren't any hogs. So that was stupid, I guess that's small town living, I'm intrigued by hogs. I'll have to use hogs as motivation again next week. I skipped running after work so I could drink beer and prune bushes in the back yard again. I've got to set a deadline for getting serious about training because right now I'm fairly well distracted. I'll run a little longer today to make up for it (another motivation, I think I have a problem)

Getting my hair done tonight after work and meeting the girls for cocktails afterward. Then Bill is supposed to meet me downtown and take me to dessert so it should be a very nice evening. I can walk everywhere I need to go today, the good side of small town living.

The ramifications of a pink bike helmet

I'm back to bike commuting. I decided I had to start back up after I bought the pink bike helmet. We live 3 miles from my office so it's not a huge burden, it's just not as nice as my old commute (six miles on a bike path). It didn't help that we saw a bicyclist get hit by a car last week.

I was going to ride on the trainer last night after seeing the chiropractor but I decided a cold beer and pruning in the early evening sun sounded better. Going to have to focus more on training if I want to be competitive this year.

Bill and I talked more about wedding plans and I introduced him to some new concepts. Even though he has attended many weddings he didn't realize that you have to pick colors and flowers and that the flowers should go with the colors. He had no idea it was that complicated! He told me last week that he wanted to help with all of the decisions, I don't think he realized that involved flowers.

I spend most of my free time thinking about the wedding now so I was able to connect some dots and I reminded him that I always love dahlias when we see them at the Farmer's Market and that he likes it when I wear yellow. Dahlias bloom in August and Sept and there is a huge dahlia farm near Portland. So yellow and dahlias. DONE!

Napping in the sun

We picked Marshall up last night at the vet and HE WAS HUNGRY! Poor guy hadn't eaten for almost 24 hours. He kept trying show us he was being obediant by sitting but his little back end was sore so he was just doing a little hover butt.

It was kind of pathetic. Ms Kitty thinks Bubba should lay in the sun and relax for a few days. She highly recommends daily sunning and long naps.

I could use a long nap. We're working on wedding details and I keep thinking as soon as we decide this detail... then it will get easier. Time to wake up!

The Cuddler

There's no getting out of it. Today Marshall gets fixed. My little man. I'm so sorry.

I took this picture of him last night, I think he could sense our guilt. Last night we fell asleep with his head resting on my shoulder. He woke up early, my faithful cuddler, his head still on me.

Our little pound puppy is growing up.