My Dreams. My Loves. My Life.: 11.2009

11.29.2009

Legacy Parkway Duathlon

Each year I commit myself to one new, larger physical challenge to be completed before my birthday. Last year it was skiing a black diamond, the year before that was running my first marathon. This year I picked a duathlon. As some may remember from a previous post, a duathlon has been on my list of short-term goals for about a year and on April 17th, I can scratch that goal off. The Legacy Parkway Duathlon consists of a 2 mile run, 20 mile bike followed by another 2 mile run; I hope to do a longer race later next year. Now, as you may have realized, November is not an ideal time to begin a biking program, especially in Park City. To work around the snowy months, I have decided to attend 3-4 spin classes a week for my bike training and run 30-60 minutes 3 days a week. Come early March, I will move my biking from the gym to the SLC streets. If anyone has any training/transitions/general advice, feel free to post it.

11.18.2009

Wounded

Abby had a rough day. During my second to last PE class yesterday, I received a text from Troy saying Abby is now missing part of her ear. Scenarios that would leave my dog deformed rushed my mind as I responded with a simple "how?" Apparently while on their daily run, Troy, Abby and Shady had a less than pleasant encounter with an unleashed German Shepherd. The dog darted at Abby and seeing the crime taking place, Shady stepped up to defend her buddy. After the scuffle was over, Abby came out looking like Evander Holyfield and Shady received a cut across the chin. The tears immediately started to flow when I saw the poor thing, blood soaked and whimpering, in the laundry room. My initial reaction was to march over to the neighboring house and give the alleged owners a piece of my mind (by the way, I don't know how moms do it. I was insanely angry last night over my dog. Jeez, I can't imagine if my child was hurt), but after taking an hour or two to calm down, I realized the better, and more anonymous, approach would be to call Animal Control. Hopefully that is the last time we see that dog.

11.08.2009

Naples, Italy

When we decided to take this trip, I realized there were only two sites I really cared to see: the Leaning Tower and Pompeii. So when we finally made it to Naples, we spent our entire day at the ruins.

In 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the Roman city and several thousand of it's inhabitants under 60 feet of ash and pumice. Pompeii was rediscovered in 1738 and is still being excavated by archeologists today.

What was once the marketplace of Pompeii

Cast of the pregnant woman

Man praying

Courtyard at the entrance of a home

In the chariot-worn streets

Kitchen

Mosaic on the doorstep

Pompeii is a close second for our favorite Mediterranean destination (Barcelona was our first choice). You could easily spend days just in the ruins and hopefully, just maybe, we'll get a chance to dedicate more time to further explorations of Pompeii.

And that concludes our European trip. Besides some local getaways, we don't have any trips planned until February. But that's ok because ski season is just around the corner!

11.07.2009

Halloween Half Marathon

Second half marathon this year is over! Becky and I made a quick trip down to Provo on Halloween to participate in the festivities. True to form, I spent little time preparing for the run. Actually, unless I can somehow count getting chubby in Europe as an alternative training program, I hadn't done any type of training for about a month prior to this race. Whoops. So I planned to take it as a leisurely run, but my running partner, coming fresh off a finish at the St. George Marathon, is a little more determined than me. Darn her. :) So we crossed that finish line in 2h 20 m. A slight improvement from my last half.

A few thoughts on the race: This was undoubtedly one of the poorest organized runs. The last bus was to leave at 6:45 am, meaning I had to leave my house no later than 5:15. I got there at 6:30 to find dozens of shivering people still waiting to be picked up. We ended up not getting on the bus until 7:30! The race started up Provo Canyon so there was no alternative means of arrival at the start line. Due to the delay of the buses, the race started an hour late. It was a fun run, but I would be hesitant to sign up again next year.

11.03.2009

Palermo, Sicily

Sicily was... interesting. Though it was fun to see, Troy and I can safely say it was our least favorite stop. The first thing you notice, well besides the unmistakable stench of garbage rotting under the hot sun, is the traffic. Three or four rows constantly screamed down the two lane streets. Cars drove the wrong way down the road, on the sidewalks, etc. But we noticed a theme: as long as you blare your horn, you are completely exempt from traffic laws. Red light approaching? Just honk as you cruise through the intersection. Pedestrians in the road? Not a problem as long as the trusty horn is working. Fortunately we were able to see a few sights and live to tell about it!