explosion

the past three months have been, well...trying. they've consisted of moving, transferring offices, catching up on new projects, meeting new people, studying for the leed exam, training for my bike race, family events, family drama, adjusting to a new city/state, a last minute funeral in WA (well, are they ever planned?), launching two small businesses, taxes, planning/paying for my trip to france...and then some...and finally, the actual race, which i already told you about. so, last saturday was my birthday. i went to yoga, then hiked camelback mountain with my family. at the top of the mountain, they put a tiara on my head and presented me with a brownie and candle to blow out. it was cute...until they made me wear the tiara on the way down! :) then they cooked me dinner. exhausting day, but very fun and so appreciated. however, the following day, sunday, was my first day of downtime, literally, in three months. NOTHING TO DO. i had looked forward to that day for a long time. and i got sick. and i've been sick all week. finally, today, i feel better...and then i go to log onto my laptop first thing this morning and it gives me the blue screen of death. it's infested with 130+ viruses. hmm. no doubt, i am being tested.

do you ever get the feeling something big is about to happen? like a major event looming on the horizon is about to shift the course of your life, and you actually expect it? yeah, that feeling! well i have it. and i don't know why. but great patience is being demanded of me at this time.

the day of pain: mission accomplished

i did it! i finished my first 24-hour mountain bike race, and i feel awesome! although i am still groggy. i can’t catch up on my sleep and i still want to eat like a horse, which i can no longer do, so sad...

the highlights of the race are as follows:

• freezing temperatures and i got stuck with the 3am shift.
• high altitude and dry desert conditions, which means you could not drink enough water which led to dehydration and thereby cramps that ultimately doubled the size of my quads which equals massive PAIN. and that was the first lap…
• having to drink so much water that in the short spans of time you were allowed some shuteye (~3 hours) you ended up waking up every 30 minutes needing to pee your brains out, which necessitated having to get dressed in freezing temps (quickly!) and running to the porta potties which were located on the other side of the expo area, so everyone could see me skipping along desperately with my hand between my legs. certainly amongst my finest moments.
• a flat tire within the first mile of my 3am shift, whereby a tire iron breaks. i also run out of co2 so my tire is not inflated enough and i therefore had to spend a majority of the remaining 17 miles off the saddle to decrease my chances of getting a pinch flat. and this was before i ran into the guy whose headlights, both of them, died. i guided him for a few miles so he could make it to the main road and get moving so he wouldn’t freeze to death. totally killed my time…but you do not mess with karma.
• mini got to experience off-roading for the first time. great! she was filthy and ended up playing a 2-day game of alternating between boom box/soda can coaster/bonfire ash collector/just lay anything you damn well please against my car, people! poor mini. she got washed yesterday and i heard her squeal in delight.
• and guess who was in my category? yeah, my team competed against Dave Wiens’ team. this is the guy who defeated Lance Armstrong in Leadville by something like 16 minutes. needless to say, i am stoked my team got 19/37.

and then i would do it all over again. it’s that 99/1 ratio. 99% of the time is miserable, but that 1% will pull me back in. there’s something about being in the high desert alone at night with a clear sky, savoring the calmness and the peace of being overwhelmed with the elements. you come to terms with who you are, what you are capable of doing…in some sense, what’s most important to you. pushing your limits like that changes you, mentally and physically. seeing what happens to your body and mind is astonishing. i love it.

next time i think i’ll do it solo.

accreditation. FINALLY.

i took the LEED-NC exam this morning and passed! woohoo!!! immediately afterwards i went to my first u.s. green building council meeting as a LEED AP and ate two cookies while learning about soy-based paints and VOC-free adhesives. i felt way cool.

the best part was placing all of my study material on the shelf at work. it is off my desk at home. with the exception of the reference guide, i never want to see that stack of paper again! talk about feng shui'ing my life! completing (and passing) this exam was the ultimate decluttering exercise. :)

AND it's my birthday month! what a way to start...