Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Kokopelli

This past weekend I was convinced by two of my friends to participate in the Kokopelli Triathlon. I'm not really sure what I was thinking. I signed up Wednesday afternoon and then raced on Saturday without any training. Well i guess my training consisted of swimming 15 minutes at an inservice the week before, running a mile on the treadmill, and biking to work and school.
The Triathlon was great and a lot better than I could have imagined. I actually finished in under 2 hours so that was exciting. Friday afternoon I headed down to St George with Cathy and Emily. On our way down we stopped at the red barn in Santaquin (or around that area) and tried their world famous ice cream...well Emily and Cathy did. I had an Apple Cider Slushie which was very tasty. We made it down to St George in time to sign in for our triathlon and get our numbers. Then it was off to the hotel to get rested for the race. I shared a room with Melanie and Melissa because Em and Cathy didn't want to wake up at 5:00am but either did I. I guess you have no choice when your the triathlete.
We left our hotel at 5:30 am and got to the lake in plenty of time to get all set up and see Melissa start her race. Melanie and I were in a different heat since we did the short distance which was a 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike, and 5k run. Below are some pictures from the race.


To start the race everyone just stands behind some floating triangles and then they tell you to go. Its crazy everyone swimming on top of each other but the further you get out the better it gets and you spread out. We had to swim around 3 orange floating triangles. The swim was great and the water was warm and very clear the only complaint I have is all the seaweed that got in my mouth. I know it wasn't seaweed exactly but little floating plants. The bottom picture is the boat ramp we had to run on and man that hurts your feet.


Last there was the run and man o man did I have to pee. The run was on a trail which meant it was really sandy being in Southern Utah and I did not like that very much. Also wearing all black in the desert at noon is not the smartest thing to do...I will not do that again. Here is a picture of Melanie running up the hill to the finish line. This is a picture of me at the beginning of the run when I was happy.



Here is a picture of Melanie and I right after she finished the race. I had come in just a few minutes in front of her and we were enjoying the free food they give you afterwards and a nice new water bottle.





Here are some pretty pictures after we finished our race. And of course Em was there to cheer us on. Cathy and Em were the best cheerleaders and took a ton of pictures of the 3 of us.



After we finished the race we got cleaned up and then went and ate at Cafe Rio (the cherry chubb tradition) Then we headed down to Vegas. We went to Melanie's and rested a little bit before going to check out Dan and Melissa's new house. They had to do a final walk through and we went a long. We took a walk when we got there and it was the coolest neighborhood park i have ever seen. It had all these great water features for kids to play in. Emily and I had to run through the tunnel that sprayed water. After Melissa's we went and ate at buffet that Melanie paid for and then we went to the Bellagio and watched the water show after we walked through their indoor garden which was really pretty. Here are some silly pictures of us waiting for the next water show.




Sunday we went to church with Melanie and then we were back in the car heading home. On our drive down we talked about going to Cove Fort and so when we got close we pulled off and had a tour of Cove Fort. It was a lot of fun and our guide was great. There is a picture of him below. It was a nice break in our trip and it was cool to go to a church history site too.






We got to play with these metal rings and I can't think of what they are called. In the picture on the left I was just about to run into Emily. You use the stick to get the ring rolling and then you can steer it with that thing. It was a lot of fun.

And last but not least I thought I would throw a picture in of the girls I worked with this summer. I guess working with them really helped me train for the triathlon. This is all of them but two.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

So I'm sitting here at work trying not to fall asleep but I'm sooo tired. I am working the front desk at the good old Provo Rec Center and we have to hang around until the scuba divers get out of the pool. I don't think I'll get home until 11. The worst part about this whole thing is I signed myself up for it. I work nights Wed and Thurs. I thought I would get a lot of homework done but that has yet to happen my eyes keep closing every time I try to read my marketing book. I guess that will have to wait until tomorrow.
I came back to Provo last Tuesday and was so excited for the hot dry summer heat but no my first weekend back it rained and snowed in the mountains.... so much for that dry hot summer. School started and is going good I'm really liking my fly casting class. I'm going to be better than Jesse when I'm done and then I'm going to catch bigger fish than him. Well i should do something with myself now.