Women Writing the West®: Chasing Bierstadt, Stegner, and Abbey

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Triple Threat Triathlon: Winter Training in Tucson

Triple Threat Triathlon: Winter Training in Tucson: Arizona is a popular training location for triathletes, especially during the frozen tundra experienced in other states. Tucson is the winte...

2013 Swim Bike Run Totals

Swimming: 62 Miles

Biking: 3,268 Miles

Running: 901 Miles

2014 Goals:

• Swim: 75 Miles
• Bike: 5,000 Miles
• Run: 1,500 Miles

The Fallen Sky and Obsessions

I am reading The Fallen Sky An Intimate History of Shooting Stars. And while, I am no scientist and I know nothing about meteors and meteorites, it is a really interesting book. What hooks me is how the author personalizes a story about the people who are obsessed with meteorites. The author, Christopher Cokinos, is searching for those who are searching for meteors; he is hunting the obsessive types.

I know that type well.

For I am obsessed with triathlon.

I am endlessly fascinated by fellow-obsessed triathletes. I want to know what drives them, what makes them get up in the morning and train, then go to work, and train again. But I’m also obsessed with the west and western writers and people who chose to live in the west.

Maybe my next book needs to be about obsessed nature writers who are triathletes and live in the west.

I am reading five books right now and The Fallen Sky is my number one. I can’t seem to put it down. This is my favorite passage so far. As you read it think of what you are searching for, the journeys you have been on and what you found, and the people you met:

“Whether someone wishes to possess a meteorite to sell it or to crack one open in a laboratory for discovery, the meteorite must first be found or hunted. Which often means you have to be willing to go where the meteorites are ….such journeys have impressed on me that wonder-whether from discovering a geological rarity or tracking down a hidden history or finding a lover – is not as pristine a feeling as some would think. I found that mine was a journey into wonder and its costs. Along the way, I bore changes in my life and realized that I was hunting the lives of the meteorite hunters – not just the stones themselves-and I began to understand these strangers’ lives better when I accepted my own. Quests, after all, can come at a very high price….As to the meteorite clan, they’re a complicated, colorful lot.” (4)

Yes, quests come at a cost and triathletes sure are a colorful bunch.

It’s like the osprey folks. They are obsessed about finding osprey. The obsessed are everywhere.

I’m going to keep reading The Fallen Sky and learn about shooting stars and crazy people who are endlessly fascinated by them, to understand my own obsessions.

Happy New Year.

Year in Review 2013

January: 

I ride the Casa Grande Century bike ride with my Team Soul cyclists. The temperature starts at 32 degrees. It is so cold but worth it. It makes me feel tough. I probably won’t do that one again in 2014 but will do another GABA Century.

February:

I run my first 50K at Pemberton (click to read race report post). I meet my friend Rosie in Sedona and run a half marathon with her. I don't PR. However, Rosie and I explore Sedona and we have a great time (link to post). I mountain bike with a team of three other women in the 24 hour race at the Old Pueblo. My first 24 hour race. I complete two loops. We are riding again this year and I want to complete four loops.

March:

After trail running at White Tanks in January, (near Phoenix) I sign up for another trail run in these mountains. After running half the distance (race course was 13 miles) I fall three times. I am cut and bruised but continue on. I find out four days later I broke my toe. I am really surprised when the doctor says the Xrays show the big toe is broken. It hurt but broken - really?! - I cry a lot.

April:

Not much running but I swim. After two weeks of not running, I can run again. I begin serious training for the Triple T in Ohio.

May: 

I travel to southern Ohio with my friend Joanne on a triathlon adventure. Columbus is confusing, Joanne’s plane is delayed, but we make to the venue on time and have a great race (link to post)

June:

A short trip back to Colorado to get the rest of my personal things from my condo. It is amazing to feel so winded and have such a dry mouth the entire time at 8,000. I never felt that living there. Daisy-dog has a great time off leash and running around. I’m not sure she remembers the place. 

July:

Winnie-dog comes into my life and wrecks havoc with my Ironman training, but I just love her. No more swimming at lunch. Lunch time consists of coming home to give her a crate break. I reconfigure my swimming, biking and running while caring for a puppy and trying to get enough sleep.

August:

One month away from Ironman and my training isn’t going well. My longest bike ride is 55 miles and my feet and back are killing me. I buy new biking shoes and they are stiff. I like them but my feet hurt in a different way - mistake number 3 with my training. 

September:

Ironman Wisconsin (link to race report)

October:

Work, Dogs, and my book is published. The first printing has a lot of typos and errors. The second printing is better. I try to find a venue for a book launch without success. I’m proud of my book and can’t wait to talk about it to a group of people.

November:

I finally start biking and running again but not consistently. I’m frustrated with weight gain and lack of mental clarity. I watch El Tour this year and will add it to my race calendar for 2014. It is fun to cheer on the cyclists in the rain, but I rather ride. I hike my first big peak in the Catalina Mountains Pusch Peak.

December:

I join the YMCA and start swimming again. OMG – it takes three sessions to feel good in the water. I start trail running again in Catalina State Park. I’m afraid of the mountain lions that I know are in the park, but recruit my friend Kassandra to run with me. It’s so fun. I am mountain biking and road riding again with my friends. I join the Triple Threat Triathlon Team (link to post). It is fun to watch and cheer on Tucson Marathon runners, but I will do it next year.

This year has had its ups and downs: work, finances, training, dogs, friends. The one constantly good thing in my life: my family. I sure do love them.

Life is good. I feel fortunate. I pray a lot. I’m thankful for everything I have.

There is so much I want to do in 2014. I want to train and race. Take a graduate level writing class. I want to excel in my job. I want to write and publish. I want to be a better person than I was in 2013.

2014 Life and Athletic Goals:

• PR on the Half Marathon 2:00 or lower
• PR on 70.3 course 5:30
• Hike Mount Lemmon
• Publish 5 articles in Literary journals
• Take a graduate writing class at UofA

Triple Threat Triathlon Team - I Am Their Newest Member

I recently joined a new triathlon team, Triple Threat Triathlon Team. 

I was interviewed by one of the founding members, Collin, and here is a link to the blog interview:

What’s your background, and how did you get into triathlon?
I have been an athlete all my life. I played softball and tennis growing up. In high school I played basketball and softball. It was only after high school that I started swimming, biking, and running in various degrees with no consistency and I never raced. I remember swimming laps in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire YMCA pool and thinking about triathlons. The problem was I never followed through with anything back then. When I was 34 I moved to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Everyone was a runner or cyclist. Steamboat had a running series and I started running all the races; even winning 3rd place for the most points one year, mostly because I ran many of them to get points. I started meeting triathletes and the next thing I knew, I was one.

Read the rest of the interview here: triplethreattriathlon.blogspot.com

I'm so excited to be a member of this team with other members living all over the US. I hope to meet some of them at Ironman 70.3 St. George in May. 

Alone on Fantasy Island in Tucson

Everyone bailed on the ride this morning so I decided to brave the trail alone.

I’ve ridden some of the trails starting from Valencia, but today was an Irvington start. There was another solo woman who started before me and knowing she was ahead of me made me a little less scared. I was nervous running into wildlife or crashing but I finished the 6+ mile Lone Cactus trail in just under an hour seeing one roadrunner and no other riders except at the start/finish.

I loved going through the Half Pipe and getting practice with my bike skills on all the twists and turns.

I am getting to know this trail by doing it over and over. I’m getting over my fear of being alone in the desert.

I stopped a lot and took some pictures, and tried to get familiar with my surrounding, which I rarely do when biking with a group. I love the Fantasy Island Trail system. I love the challenging downhill and the short steep uphill. A great way to start a Sunday morning.

Now that I have my mountain biking legs back, maybe I will get brave and join a mountain bike Meetup in Tucson. I’m getting braver…..