Red Rock World: Stick a fork in it...

Although I'm terribly outta shape (thx to, hrmmm, winter? lingering knee issues? no training plan for, um er, over a year????...yeah, probably mainly that one), I still partook in 4 races over the past 4 weeks. Three of those were in the past mere 8 days. Two MTB races, one desert trail race and one hilly hilly hilly (paved) half-marathon. The two running races were totally last-minute...probably mainly in spite of that certain doc in Flagstaff who dismissively told me I'd never run again and to "go find a new hobby". I podium'd in both, so...take that doc! (And thanks thanks thanks thanks to the best doc...Dr. Amit...who was honest, patient, and apparently pretty darn good!) All in all, the knee is ok. Calves are screaming, but that's soft tissue, so I deserve that pain, considering I didn't train at all.

That said, the races weren't exactly pretty. And the MTB race...yikes...definitely not pretty. Very technical course. But I'll keep on keeping on; if anything, 'racing' on the technical crap will hopefully just push me to be a stronger rider. (BTW, I'm not bothered at all though that the Cat 1 winner of one of the MTB races is actually a pro XTERRAn and world-class athlete. And she's super nice, so...can't really complain about that one :-) Not every day a nomad like me gets to share a podium w/that caliber, so...coolio.

As it was winter this trip home, there wasn't much sweating nor dirtbiking going on, altho we did let "Donkey" out of his stall a few times. I did try out a hot yoga class which was the best non-hokey yoga class I've ever attended (definitely sweated in there:-)

And CB and I became temporarily obsessed w/trying to 'capture' one of the area mountain lions on film, via our new motion sensor wildlife cameras. Unfortunately, I couldn't stand to wait more than a few days to go see what the cameras caught (who me? impatient? b'lash!). So, there wasn't much more than a deer (actually, just its butt), a stray hiker, lots of wind (trees a'blowin), and me and CB who imitated a herd of wild javelina in front of the camera to test if the motion sensor was working. So, there's that.

So, am now tired. Stick a fork in it. Am ready to take a break for a few days and to make the most of forced rest while travelling. Might even read a book or get back in the pool or something. Next up is a 50-mile MTB race, some more MTB ego-crushers, and of course some XTERRAs. Come play!!

Some random shots...