Weekend Swim Clinic - The Cheap way

While some of my cycling buds were sweating their butts off in the weekly indoor sweat sessions, my weekend training consisted of a swim clinic – the you-want-to-retire-style clinic (a.k.a, save your money!). I’m calling it my Ricky Brown Race Sponsorship program Swim Clinic. I’ve been checking out swim clinics to hone in on my faults that need corrected ‘cause most of the clinics videotape you, critique you, and then send you home to practice. But the downside of all the clinics are 1) there are none close-by…they are all either in Philadelphia or out of state; 2) they ain’t cheap -- $140 was the cheapest for 4 hours, and that one was in Cape Cod but it was an Xterra Pro giving the clinic so it would have been worth the trip; and 3) since they are out of town, extra costs like gas, hotel, food, really run up the tab. So this morning I remembered Ricky Brown has a waterproof camera and it has a video, but he never tried the video underwater. Well…it worked! So my Race Sponsor videotaped me, took several underwater snap shots, and came home and picked apart my problems. Being the anal, detailed type of guy he is, and remembering the Total Immersion Swim tapes we had a couple years back, he picked up immediately on my problems. Coach/Sponsor Rick is a Godsend. He just saved me another $200+! What a sponsor. Day three of the clinic is tomorrow. My shoulders and arms are about to fall off so tomorrow will be a welcome finish to a weekend of much-needed swim practice.

Drink Your Milk!

A couple posts back, I moaned and groaned about missing milk in my and coffee and until the glorious day I could find a dairy-products company that didn't support veal production, I'd continue my quest of ovo-vege lifestyle. Low and behold, I can drink milk in my coffee again!!! STONYFIELD FARMS is the best dang dairy product producer in the world. Their organic calves are NOT raised in confinement (organic standard - and that was my biggest gripe about veal production - not allowing the calves to move), and many of their calves are raised for organic beef . By asking one simple e-mail question, this company shared some satisfying insight about their animal practices that are GOOD for the environment. Here's their e-mail, and enjoy your milkshake!

Jill's Question to Stonyfield: "What happens to the calves from your milk producers?"

STONYFIELD's reply:
Hello Jill,Thank you for taking the time to contact us. We’re always happy to get comments and questions from our yogurt lovers and are grateful when someone takes the time to let us know what they think of our Company and products.To answer your question regarding to what happens to the male calves when they are born, we buy our milk from two sources. The St. Albans Cooperative Creamery is a member owned cooperative of approximately 530 family farmers based in St. Albans, Vermont. They provide the milk and cream for our non-organic (conventional) products. We purchase our organic milk from dairy farmer members of the CROPP cooperative, a 190 member dairy cooperative based in Wisconsin, with farmer pools in Maine and Vermont from whom we receive our milk. Farms in the St. Albans cooperative usually sell off a bull calf as soon aspossible. Very few small family farmers keep bulls on their farms as they pose a safety danger to the workers and families. There are very few veal operations left in Vermont as they have gone out of business. The consolidation of the industry has closed the small local business down. Because of this, generally the bull calves and culled cows (due to illness,age, lack of production) are transported via truck out of state to a veal operation. All diary farmers would rather have a heifer calf than a bull calf so that they can grow their herd or sell it for a decent sum. No farmer is pleased to have a cow birth a bull. As long as people buy veal, there will be bull calves sent to veal operations – organic and non-organic.

Farms in the CROPP cooperative, their male calves do not end up in confinement veal operations. Veal producers rely on cheap, abundant sources of calves from the conventional dairy industry. Organically raised male calves have a much higher value than their conventional counterparts. Their farmers either raise the males as steers for the organic meat market or sell them to other organic farmers that specialize in beef. It makes sense for an organic farmer to pay a higher price for organically raised calves,since they will receive a higher price for the meat at the end of the process. Organic farmers cannot raise calves in confinement conditions, so you will not find white veal producers in their cooperative.We believe that family farmers in the U.S. and around the world hold the key to implementing sustainable agriculture is defines as that which is ecologically sound, economically viable, socially just, and humane. Sustainable practices include rotational grazing, integrated crop management, soil conservation practices and humane husbandry. Stonyfield Farm supports agricultural innovations which enhance the viability of family farmers—not those which put them more at risk. We believe that continued investment in converting to more organic products supports more sustainable agricultural practices. This does not mean we aregiving up on our conventional farmers. Instead, we are helping to move them to these more ecological and human practices. When we began making organic dairy products in 1995 there were 6 organic dairies in Vermont. Today there are 81 in Maine and Vermont. We know we are making a difference and feel good about that. Farmers are getting a decent financial return for their work and are able to stay small. Soil is being improved. And cows are being carefully monitored under the watchful eyes of organic stewards. Does that mean all organic farmers treat their cows as well as we’d liket hem treated? No. as in all professions, there are good farmers, and not so good farmers, conventional and organic. There is also a great deal of differing opinion about acceptable animal husbandry practices.

Sincerely,The folks at Stonyfield Farm

Getting Serious - Xterra Training

It's time. The holiday food is just about gone and the Christmas rush is over. The time has come to get serious about the upcoming season. Ricky's contemplating his "focus" for next year with the kayaks -- a perfect combat roll. And my focus continues (gee, it didn't change from last week -- what a switch!) to be multi sport. In fact, Xterra is SO on my mind these days all I think of is improving my two weak sports - running and swimming. Not that my bike is exactly strong, but it certainly is better than the run and swim. The running isn't as much of problem as the swim. Swimming is SO technical and precise and when in the water, you have to continually think of all the positions and exact movements to be in to get the smoothest, most efficient stroke each time. Its an art. I discovered last week a bad habit I hadn't realized I had, and is likely the cause of my slowness... I was lifting my head to breath. Rather than simply rolling and breathing in my armpit, I was rolling and lifting; thus, slowing up the stroke with shoulder/neck drag. Bad news. So I have 4 days off for the New Year, and 3 of them will be spent in the pool coupled with a bike and/or run. The pool is my focus right now with perfect swim form. Training will be 5-6 days a week in the aerobic zone. Tuesdays and Thursdays are gym nights -- treadmill for 30-40 minutes, bike for 15 minutes, then weights. Monday is ez spin or off depending how I feel, Wednesday is 2 hr spin on trainer, Friday will be off, and Saturday/Sundays will be 3 hr sessions each day of swims, and long run with an ez ride, and a long ride with an ez run. Multi-sport training should nearly always be two sports in one session. It not only builds the endurance, but trains your muscles to be ready to go from swim to bike to run. Its truly a full-body workout. Weights will be limited this winter 'cause I want to spend my time in the three sports. Leg weights will be non-existent -- all leg training will be on the trainer pushing big gears. I pulled my training schedule and log from 2005 when I won the Xterra Regional Championship - my hopes are to recreate that year and win the championship again. So my "peak" will be June 15. Its really nice to know I can train hard this year and actually stand a chance at getting on the podium! I LIKE age group racing!

2008 Season Taking Shape

The schedule is starting to take some shape for 2008. Now that I’ve nailed down my “focus” as multi-sport again, my training will also reflect swim/bike/run/paddle, thus, throwing extra-long saddle time out the window along with the 50 milers, and yes as much as I wanted to do it again, the Ironcross will not happen either. I feel a sense of relief knowing I’ll have a little extra time to paddle with Ricky this year and not have to ride, ride, and ride. Its also good to know that I'm competing against my own this year -- same age, similar skill level. No kids or pros in the mix I race against in Xterra -- just old and cheesy, just like me! So here’s the schedule so far:

March 1 – Humdinger 7-mile Trail Run – Danville
April 1 – Red Mo Down River Kayak Race (observer)
April 27 – Savage Adventure Race
May 18 – Xterra King of the Hill, New Jersey
May 31 – Tour de Cure Metric Century (with Ricky!)
June 15 – Xterra East Regional Championship, Richmond VA
June 29 – Xterra Trimax - RB Winter State Park
July 13 – Xterra Rocky Gap MD
August 3 – Xterra Appalachia (Indiana) (?)
August 17 - Covered Bridge Metric Century (with Ricky!)
Sept 13 – BASH
Sept 21 – Cap City Adventure Race
October 7 – Wyalusing Triathlon (?)
October 19 – Chili Challenge (?)
November 16 – Horrible 100, Florida

When racing for Xterra series points with a goal of being the regional champ in mind, a championship race has to be in the mix because it offers that extra 25 points needed to reach the max of 250. For the East coast, that's the Richmond Virginia race. In 2005, I had the joys of winning that race, thus snagging the regional age group champ and it was a darn good feeling. The down-side of the Richmond race is a friggin RIVER SWIM. But getting past that, the bike and run make up for it tenfold. They have an incredible twisty, fun, no-climbing bike course on "Belle Island" in the middle of the James River in Richmond. And the run acutally takes you out in the river onto rocks, complete with a little rock "climbing" at a spot or two. Maybe Ricky can do a little WW kayaking in the James while I race...they have a kayak rodeo that same weekend as the race, so he can be entertained while we are there. Fun stuff.

The Perfect Gift for a Competitor

My dear hubby is always thinking...as he was this year for the gift giving. He came up with this great idea, and then sat down at the computer and created it. Now how thoughtful was that! Of course I was delighted...yes for the free entry, but for his continued support of this craziness I do every season. But there was a catch; the small print states "but not on a Lehigh Release weekend." Not a problem Ricky, no problemo!

Ovo Vege - Harder than I thought

After deciding to attempt (note....attempt. Its rougher this time around for some crazy reason!) to go back to the world of saving our enviornment and animals from death by doing my small part and NOT eating their meat, I'm finding it a challenge to give up the dairy part of it. I LUV cheese. I LUV yogurt, but I can live with soy yogurt and actually can do without cheese (except at holidays with CREAM CHEESE everything!) It's become a daily ritual to figure out the best foods to eat with calcium and iron to assure I'm getting enough of it (A bowl of Total (I wish they'd make it organic!) with soy milk and a glass of Calcium-enriched OJ hits the RDA for the entire day!). But the biggest, most-missed dairy need is cream in my java. Coffee just ain't coffee without being spiked with milk. And the even sadder part is my favorite kind of milk spike for the java is organic, raw milk with the cream in it yet! Talk about saturated animal fat. Soy milk doesn't cut it and non-dairy creamers are laced with chemicals and bad processing plus they taste bad. A seasoned coffee drinker would say you must drink it black and I'm trying that too, but its hard. Part of me wants to keep the dairy 'cause part of me keeps saying the cow ain't dying for production of milk; but in essence it is. A cow must stay pregnant in order to produce milk, thus the baby cows are born and if I knew the baby was raised to continue production of milk and doesn't meet its death in a veal factory, I'd drink dairy. But until that glorious day I can find a farm that doesn't sell off calves for veal, I'll keep trying the non-dairy life. Maybe I should give up coffee. Hmmm...

Advice from Xterra World Champ

Each year at the Xterra Worlds, the pros give free advice on racing and training Xterras. Looking back in my notes while contemplating what to do next year, I found my inspiration, Melanie McQuaid's suggestions on training for Xterras:

1. It's all about the bike, train hard on the bike the majority of the time. The bike WILL win the race for you.


2. Always, always, no matter how bad you feel, run after your bike ride. Even if its only 20 minutes, make sure you run after each and every ride.


3. Xterras are not long races, so you don't need to do a lot of long endurance riding. (and from an Xterra coach, they recommend 1 3-hour ride a week in addition to your intervals and hard rides. I can handle that!)


4. Even though swimming is the shortest part of the race, do work on decent form to get through it a bit quicker.

The Show Must Go On

4:30 am, Sunday - Sleet, hail, snow, slush, wind. Yuk. The lights flicker, go off, come back on, and go off again. Call PPL's emergency line to report...wait about an hour and call back to check status. 11:00 tonight 'til power is restored! Holy crap. Daylight - get Rick up, start the kerosene heater. Ahhhh, just like sitting around the campfire - very cool. 10:30ish..call again to check status. Uh oh - "we are experiencing very high call volume, please check back later." Ok - checked back later, "We anticipate restoring power to your area by 6:00 Monday evening." WHAT!? In the meantime, Rick's gathering ice to melt for flushing toilets and I'm figuring out how to get my training ride in. I just installed my new portable DVD/TV in the training "room" (a.k.a. cellar), and got my 3-hr spinerval CD ready to rock and roll and now I can't! So Rick decides he's going to the local YMCA whom still has power, and I decide the show must go on -- electricity or not. The camping headlamp comes out fitting nicely over the headphones playing Tiesto rather loudly and off to the training room I go. Power? The only power I need is the power it takes to spin the pedals. The trainer is electric-free, as is the battery operated lights on my head and sound in my ears. At one point during an exceptional good beat song, the headlamp went off and it was me, the bike, music and darkness, at high intensity. Very different...a unique experience. Who needs power...the electric kind I mean. PPL thought we needed more power (at least more than what I was outputting on the bike!) and showed up Monday around 10:30 and got us back up and running by noonish. Fun weekend!

The X Comeback

As I ponder over what-to-race next year, the Xterras are starting to spark some interest again. My 2nd week at the pool has the old stroke coming back and feeling pretty darn good. Coach Rick critiqued some bad arm form, and after that was corrected, the swim was feeling long and strong. I even passed the guy next to me! Well...I guess I should say he had the build of Sumu wrestler. teehee. Maybe a 2 year lay-off was what the doctor ordered.

So the schedule? Well, the Savage and Cap City Adventure races are definites -- they are the highlight of the races and are fun, fun fun. I wouldn't miss them and racing with Donna and Chrissy and gang for anything, except maybe some sort of natural disaster or accident. Now they are semi-short, and wouldn't require a ton of long hours. The Xterras are short too; again my longest ride wouldn't have to be more than 3-4 hours and I could easily squeeze in a swim after work (once the swim team gets out of the pool in the spring), coupled with a bike ride home. Runs are easy to do -- maybe I can handle those before I start work to save some evening time. On the other hand, the 50 milers require a BUNCH of saddle time -- maybe more than what i want to commit next year. Ricky needs to kayak and I wanna join him paddling too. Then, there's my want to getting back to my organic eating roots, which means organic gardening, which means more time in the garden and less time in the saddle. It means doing the compost pile again, making sure I get my umbrels planted for good guys to breed and grow and fight off the bad guys. Nothing like a little IPM in the garden. But all that DOES require a lot of time. And I'm not totally ready to give up training and biking. Soo...the ponderance continues. Costs are a factor. Kayaking with Rick is a factor. And organic gardening is a factor. And of course my goal of being as fit as possible by my 50th b-day is a factor too. That was my vow when I turned 40 and was fat and blubbery - be the fittest possible by age 50; and I'm 8.1 years there. I'm not jumping ship now! But if I garden I might...so there I just answered one of my questions; will tehre be a garden. I think I'll continue to support local farmers and Natural Acres. for a couple more years and keep training a bit. Later kids..

Laughing Really Hard

There's nothing better and healthier than a really hard, belly-hurting laugh. Its interesting how while one person will find slap-stick humor funny as hell, and the next person won't flinch a smirk. For at least 3 generations, there's nothing that would make me, my mom, dad, brother/ aunt, uncle, grandma, grandpa and so on and so laugh harder than a really good fart. So my dear friends, I apologize to those of you that don't find flatulence funny, but to those of you who do, enjoy this lovely holiday greeting from my neice:

http://www.jibjab.com/originals/farting_elves_12_days_of_christmas

Mr. Brown

Today is Ricky Brown's Birthday. Here he is in HIS sport of choice.

As much as we love OUR sports, Mr. Brown's passion is whitewater kayaking. He has videos, links, books, and ALL the gear for any condition. He watches rain gauges and posts on message boards. His multiple boats are starting to push the cars out of the garage, and he near crashes the car every night on the way home stretching his neck checking out the Dauphin Narrows. All summer I torture him with my racing...he's SO supportive; yet I know in his heart he'd rather be kayaking. I even went as far as to say I'd race less in 2008 so we could kayak more. But I've been known to change my mind (sorry honey, but I'll try to cut some races, or only race where you can kayak too?) In just another short month, we hit the indoor, heated pool of CV to start our winter practice at rolling. Its something he waits for each winter like kids waiting for Santa. And its heartwarming to watch Ricky at these sessions 'cause if he sees folks struggling, he'll jump in and share his video-education on rolling and show folks the correct form and style to get a good roll. He's incredible. Last year he helped this father/son team that was having a tough time. The kid wasn't getting it, and getting that teenager anger, I-hate-you attitude with his dad. His dad was trying SO hard to have patience and tell him what to do, but it was going no where fast. So Rick, in his quiet, helpful way, stepped in and made a few suggestions. By the end of the session, the kid was happier, smiling, and rolling! Needless to say his dad was pretty darn thankful too. This is one example of who the Mr. Brown really is. He's a dear, and the absolute best hubby in the world (well...you could use some lessons on putting the dishes IN the dishwasher, no on top). I thank my lucky stars every day. You're the best Ricky Brown! Happy Birthday.

Swimming sucks -- unless you're a swimmer

Now that’s an understatement. I have a bunch of friends that are born, natural fish. Chrissy Bohensky, Donna Weiser, Donna Mummert, Katie Raezer, and Lynne Fickes. Ahh…the Fickes. The one that beats all the guys out of the lake usually, the 1st or 2nd one out of the water. Someone joked “she started swimming when she was about 2!” The girl can swim like no one I’ve ever known. But all of them seem very natural at it, and enjoy it. Katie swam some channel somewhere exotic – the Caribbean I think? It was like 5 miles from one island to another. Dang! 25 yards at a time is my limit, and then I need to take a break. Maybe its because while my fish-like friends were getting lessons and swimming competitively as kids in those urban schools and towns that had pools, my jumping in the local farm pond and puppy paddling for dear life didn't quite give me enough natural "form."

That was my quest for today, this rainy, icy, cold, couldn’t really do anything outside day since we really don’t have any snow and there really isn’t any decent snow within any normal driving distance. I decided to try a swim after about a two-year hiatus.

The hiatus was a result of a piss-poor swim in Lake Tahoe two years ago. Mostly due to my inexperience and the simple fact I really suck at swimming. I’m not a bilateral breather; thus, when the waves are hitting you in the face on the only side you breath from while swimming, you ain’t going to make it too far, now are you? Lake Tahoe was hungry that day, and it got me and about 20 other drowning rats. 3-foot swells in 55-degree waters coupled with poor swim-form had several of us screaming for the rescue boats. I struggled through one more Xterra after that, but pretty much gave it up since then. Lots of excuses…pool is never open, it’s not convenient when it IS open blah, blah, blah. But the bottom line is, I suck at swimming.

So here it is two years later. My budd, Chrissy, is an Xterra queen and she swims incredibly well. So she has a couple Xterras on her schedule in 2008, and there’s one that’s SO close to home in a place I absolutely love to ride, that I think I’m gonna attempt to suck it up one more time and race an Xterra. R.B. Winter is home to the Xterra Trimax held the end of June. And today was a trial run in the pool to see if I might be able to do it again. Maybe, just maybe with a little luck and learning to breath on BOTH sides, I can figure this swim thang out. Chrissy, I think I’ll join you the end of June for the Xterra Trimax. Maybe Rocky Gap too!

Your Food, Our Environment

The Food Revolution, by
John Robbins (ex-heir to the Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream fortune)

Tasked with the assignment at work of researching farm animal regulations as it relates to treatment of animals and government regulations to prevent bad farming practices and potential “exposure” of bad-boy farms who may have received state business $$$, I rekindled some sleeping opinions on food, animals, nutrition and lifestyle. The research led me to a book I purchased a few years back, but never read: The Food Revolution by John Robbins.

John is the heir to the Baskin Robbins’s fortune; but he chose to walk away from it at a young age, and focus his attention on the environment, which led him to vegetarianism and the study of “healthy” foods. (Yes, his dairy-product fortune family pretty much dis-owned him for many years when he proclaimed dairy is not good for you). He starts his book on health and well-being, how you can change your health simply by changing the foods you eat. Dr. Dean Ornish writes the forward and Mr. Robbins makes many references to Dr. Ornish’s highly successful, and scientifically documented reversal of heart disease through vegetarianism (Eat More, Weight Less). Mr. Robbins then talks a good bit on factory farms and treatment of the animals and of course, the slaughtering practices. There are numerous pages on drugs injected into the animals to prevent diseases caused by confinement, and how humans ingest those drugs and can become ill. Growth hormones injected into cows, beaks cut off chickens to prevent insanity pecking from not being able to move, growth hormones injected into poultry to make them so fat their legs break (ever wonder how Purdue really has such meaty breasts?). The list goes on and on. He then gets into the plant industry and genetically modified foods and how those too are developed in a lab and eventually passed onto humans; again causing ailments. Ever wonder why you may not feel as well as you should, or have allergies from seemingly nothing? Trace your food. A co-worker of mine has a daughter with a mild form of myalgia. She changed her food consumption to organic and started feeling better. Mr. Robbins sites myalgia as being directly linked to genetically modified soybeans, which are in 60% of all the soybean products, you buy. And of course he ends the book with hope for the future…how in recent years organic and vegetarianism has gained momentum with the biggest success being USDA certification of organic foods – a certification the organic community felt was a major win. 6 years later, we can truly trust the USDA organic certified label because the USDA does in fact check annually that the food producer is meeting those specs and certifications. Chickens must get light and roam free for at least 4 hours a day; only a certain number of birds can be in cage together (they can move!); organic cows can only be fed organic grass and have no growth hormones or other drugs; and food cannot be grown with any pesticides or herbicides. The book is extremely informative for those that aren’t aware of these things, and re-emphasizes many facts for those that are currently vegetarian or organic. It’s a worthwhile read.

Oh, and the results of my research on treatment of farm animals? The United States feds AND state government pretty much exempt all “normal” farming practices and farm animals from any Animal Cruelty laws. They can stuff as many beakless chickens as they want in a cage; but the farm CAN be sited for neglect if dead birds are found in those cages. So my dear friends, the only answer is to avoid any meat not labeled “organic” and certified USDA organic. It’s the only answer. Yes, it’s a bit more pricey, but we have to pay the price so more is produced; thus eventually bringing the prices down. They’ve already dropped considerably in the past 3 years. Buy only free range, cage-free eggs and only organic milk. Better yet, skip the animal products altogether and go green. That’s the true answer.

Retirement

I guess this is what makes me and Rick so compatible...what's that saying - that opposites attract? After about two years of nagging, begging, pleading, complaining, ridiculing and just plain telling him he looks awful, Mr. Brown finally got new shoes and clothes. What you see are his retired WORK clothes. In an office work clothes! Geez...the hems in the pants were all frayed out, the seams down the front were just about wore through. And the shoes!? There were holes in the front, sides AND heels. The soles were smooth, yet he claimed they were the best gripping shoes he had. So we went to the local shoe store and got the new treads. Mr. Brown was quite observant while in the shoe store...the owner was more than helpful to Rick; but didn't ask any one of the 3 women (not including me) if THEY wanted help. The Amish, I hear, do not respect women much. That little shopping trip fell true to that rumor. And the duds were purchased while on vacation while we actually had some down time to shop. He didn't like the trip much... isn't into that matching thing, so we (well, mostly me) were careful to pick 5 pairs of pants with 5 shirts that all matched no matter how you sorted them. I was rather proud of myself for accomplishing that little task, I must say. So the new work clothes came home from Florida and are now heading to work each day in Harrisburg. This will likely be the last work clothing purchase for Mr. Brown before the real deal retirement in March of 2011. I guess this batch will truly be shredded by then. Hey...maybe I should save these -- they may be in better shape come 3 years from now! Hmmmm.

2008 Tentative Schedule - Pending final schedule/costs

It's tentative and will change. Costs are gonna be a HUGE factor next year as all the promoters start raising prices. I have some difficulty plunking down $70 bucks for a mountain bike race especially if proceeds go to a promoter and not a charity. So I'm just not sure yet about some of these. One thing is a definite -- no XC Mid Atlantic Super Series races for many reasons -- mostly I'm just too old and slow to compete with pros and kids. If they would break out the 35+ women, or throw the pros in an Elite category, maybe; just maybe I'd think about it. But until that glorious day, no MASS XC for this old, flabby cheesy butt.

These folks hold some good races and they are CHEAP! So I may do more of their races next year: www.rivertownrace.com

March - Humdinger Trail Run - 7.1 miles in Danville
April - Savage Adventure Race - Marsh Creek State Park, PA
May - 75 Mile road bike race in Montour County - Tour de Montour
May(?) - 50 mile RB Winter Mountain Bike Race (need to see what the cost will be...the 75 mile road bike race is only $30 buck!)
June - tour de Cure road bike metric century (ricky's doin it with me!)
June - 50 mile STOOPID 50 in State college (need to see what it'll cost)
July - Maybe the Wilderness 101???
August - covered Bridge metric Century (Ricky's doing it too!)
Sept - RCST BASH
Sept - Capital City Adventure Race
October - IRONCROSS. Missed it too much last year.
October - Chili Challenge Adventure Race - Danville.
November - Horrisble 100, florida

I am not a blogger. This is not a blog.

You're seeing things...this isn't anything about me. I am not a blogger and refuse to join the blogging ranks. I tried, but just can't do it. I had three blogs now, and they all were so/so, and have been deleted. Well, the last one was pretty good for the Mid Atlantic Super Series Short Track women, but I grew to busy to update it; thus its gone too. And the other two blogs? One was all about that Xterra stint I attempted a couple years back, and then there was the one about "rocky trails" which was all our bike reports from the Rattling Creek trail rides. But in the end they all just got to be too much work to update, too boring, too much about me, blah, blah, blah. I guess I'm not as creative as some; and there's some awesome blogs out there. Sooo I'll try this damn blogging thingy again for the 4th time. Of course, don't expect a lot of updates...work gets in my way TOO much to do the fun stuff. Soo...here it goes!