wildfires

wildfires broke out throughout san diego county on october 21st...covering hundreds of thousands of acres. the fires are still burning through countless residential areas, forcing thousands to evacuate their homes and the full extent of the destruction is still unknown. i went to work unknowingly on monday morning and left an hour later. james was being evacuated from his place in la costa and we rolled straight to my place downtown. the pictures here are some photos from the drive from james' house to mine...smoky smoky skies
this one is james' truck- loaded up with our dueling orbeas of course- couldn't leave those bikes behind!
here they are, safe at home...

back at my place we have been chilling as the entire county has pretty much shut down for the week. no school or work, pure hibernation. would be a great time to train, but the air quality is too poor to spend time outside. as a result, we've been hitting the treadmill and the bike trainer. ....
this is james on the trainer yesterday- look how stoked he is!....i just scream at him the whole time and tell him to work harder..i have a whistle and everything- as a fantastic coach should :)

hopefully the fires will slow very soon and we can begin to help the community rebuild. there has been lots of volunteering and donations throughout our triathlon club and its great to see triathletes open their homes for each other...the message boards have been flooded with offers of help...
as of wednesday morning, things don't look good yet. there have been over 1300 homes destroyed, 500,000 homes evacuated, and the entire county is in a state of emergency. if anyone out there needs some help, let me know!

that's it for now. this friday i'm off to cheer james on in maui as he goes for it at the xterra world championships

bonfires to wildfires

this past weekend, i headed out to borrego springs, ca with the triathlon club of san diego for some camping and training and drinking and eating. since i've been m.i.a. at most club events since i broke my arm, it was really great to catch up with all my tri friends and relax in good company. most of the campers, there were probably close to 100 in total, did a major bike ride on saturday mornings. when my friends returned exhausted and frustrated, i wasn't too sad that my arm had kept me from fighting the monstrous tailwind.
instead of the bike ride, i hiked with matt to an oasis near camp.heading out to hike...


we followed up the hike with a 7 mile run where we ran into lots of the demoralized bikers heading back sloooooooowly or in the sag wagon.

once everyone regrouped at camp, we pretty much ate and ate and ate and drank. in true tri club fashion, there was more than enough incredible food including some tasty healthy options. like
fresh sweet corn chowder
and solid salads
and then we did a lot of chilling.....i caught up with jen and friends and talked ironman strategy with kevin (in the picture below) as he's getting ready for IM florida in less than two weeks!
i also sat around eating a bag of cucumbers with some new folks i hadn't met before. nothing like bonding over some big old vegetables...
after working my way through all the healthy fruits, veggies and grilled chicken, i GOT DOWN on some major home baked cookies, brownies and cake...transfatalicious and enjoyed every bite. my original plan was to stay the night and run the "hilltop" challenge- a tradition where everyone scrambles up a mountain for prizes, but my leg had been nagging a bit from the day's run, so i went home to give it a rest.....the next day, wildfires broke out all around san diego county, originating in the town closest to our camp site...more on those in a few hours

santa cruz & healing up

being in santa cruz, ca is about enjoying life at the beach in norcal just like these little guys...they know how to spend a saturday- nothing better than a good surf and some ice cream.

one of my best friends from vanderbilt, ashley, got married last weekend in santa cruz, ca at chaminade...the doc had given me the ok for some light jogging, so i took a cruise to capitola, a sweet little beach town near santa cruz...here are some pictures from that run- about 3.5 miles each way...

Chilling with some friends at my run turnaround who were there eating lunch....they were all wondering about the laptop on my arm..sometimes you forget that "Garmin" is not considered a life source to folks in general
after my run to capitola, a trip into downtown santa cruz for some shopping and food, and some mimosas by the pool, i was beat, but ready for a big night! here are a couple pre and post shots
a) sweaty with the bride
b) all cleaned up!
the weekend was a blast- everyone at the wedding was out to have a good time and the rolling stones cover band took the dance floor to a whole new level. regressing back to my college days with four of my favorite partners in crime was a great hiatus from daily life...cheers!
oh, and as for the arm, my 4 week x-ray showed some new bone forming, but not enough for the go ahead for daily life. still no weight bearing, swimming, or biking for 4 more weeks. ick! but bearable...the end is near!

x-rays and granola this week...random posting

that's this week's granola crack. this one is called multi grain trail mix surprise. or not. there is no name, it's just like the power PB granola but with dried cranberries/chocolate /cashew/pb chip/peanut trail mix instead of straight up peanuts. AND i threw in some pretzel thins instead of regular pretzels. it's pretty tasty.

taking it easy these past few weeks has made it necessary to shift my focus and end my season (that never really started :) ) early. I'm trying to focus on eating right, getting enough rest, planning out next year- and some base training in december. i'm working out my race goals for 2008 and am going to post them pretty soon.

here are some x-rays that show the fracture. i had another set done yesterday and the bones haven't displaced any more (good!) but there is no new bone forming yet (not as good). i have been further instructed to take it easy (not easy for me).



and another in case you can't see it...