Adjusted Reality

Tag: holidays Page 4 of 5

Right now, I’m in the proverbial second half of the 70.3 run, or the last 10k of the marathon – survival mode. I decided to pool my vacation days for almost a month off in December, which will be AWESOME once it gets here, but very stressful getting everything ready to go enjoy that. Light. Tunnel. Getting there. But, since I have a spare moment, I wanted to write about a few things I’ve been up to.

nov29-3

Hurling turkeys isn’t as bad as it seems…

Since we weren’t running a marathon like normal, we signed up to do the Thundercloud Turkey Trot downtown Austin. 25k people registered = 25k people in traffic going to exactly one spot, so we finally made good about our idea to cycle down and back. It took approximately 75 minutes to do that and I’m pretty sure it would have taken longer to drive, sit in traffic, park, and do the reverse once the race was over. And… bikes!!!

The ride was a little chilly on the way down, but with gloves, three layers on top, and leg warmers on the bottom, I survived, which is good recon for longer rides in the winter. This is new territory, folks! It was a nice, chill, mostly-downhill 8-ish miles there as a warmup, we got the benefit of bike valet which meant a bag check (when the race wasn’t offering it), and we had plenty of time to tinker around before lining up.

My goal was to race this as hard as I could, because, why not? I lined up, was feeling my music, and crossed the start ready to play parkour with a billion other people. I did that up the first (pretty much mile long) hill, and hit low 9-something once my garmin beeped the first split. I felt kind of terrible but in that “I just ran really fast up a hill” way, and had faith that when the course flattened out, I could catch my breath a sec and rock it out.

Once the course flattened out, instead, I got hit by the worst cramp I’ve ever had. I’m still not 100% sure if it was girlie time fun or something bad I ate fun, or just a twisted amalgamation of both fusing together to cause me agony, but it was ROUGH. I convinced myself that “fuck it, I had less than 4 miles left, race through it”, but soon after I started feeling dizzy and dizzy is not something we ignore. I pretty much stopped in the sea of people (sorry, I hate when people do that), and started shuffling.

Thankfully Zliten had caught up and found me just as I was pulling over to the side. I sat for a bit, searing pain and dizziness not letting up. I convinced myself I needed to get up and walk to the aid station, so we started… and then I had to pull over on the side of the road and be sick. This is not only the first time this has happened to me during a race… but I’ve never hurled during a workout either. But here I was, mostly collapsed on the side of the road, heaving into the grass. I pretty much thought I was going to die.

Zliten and the nice officer right there (sorry guy!) kept asking me if I wanted medical. I couldn’t envision going anywhere but that little patch of dewy grass right then, I said no and kept allowing more my breakfast to rejoin the earth. Oddly enough, after whatever needed to work itself out of my system was gone, I sat up and everything felt, like, magically better. We tried walking and it was fine. Once we were up the hill and to an aid station for some liquid, I said we should try running again.

I certainly didn’t break any records with the rest of the race, but we clipped along at a 10-something minute mile chatty pace. I felt like my brain was packed with a little cotton by the end, but I really think I just needed some calories since I was really and truly empty. One hour, four minutes, some seconds official race time – for 1 great mile, 1 terrible and terribly long mile with about a 10 minute break and some walking, and 3 joggy miles.

After the race, we hung out with our friends for a while, and then we rode bikes home (uphill) and had a wonderful turkey day with family eating all the things and playing cards. It was a total blip on the radar, about 15 minutes of sheer agony, but totally not a day-ender.

In retrospect, it’s great Ironman training. I’m sure that at some point, something will be wrong with my digestive system during that 14-17 hours. I’ve never had my stomach go THAT rogue on me before, but it’s a situation I’ll be prepared for if it happens. In general terms of discomfort, everything in that moment was terrible. I not only didn’t want to finish the race, but I wanted someone to come pick me up and carry me to a car and drive me home at that point. Then, less than 10 minutes later I was walking, and then, less than 20 minutes later, I was running comfortably. It’s about managing the dark spots to get back to the bright ones, no matter how dark they feel in the moment.

nov29-2

Granger Lake bike adventures…

It’s been a month since I rode anything of distance or consequence, and we got an invite to ride bikes around the Granger Lake area, so it was time to get reacquainted with evilbike and friends. Zliten, Matt, and I took off from his in-law’s house before 9am and rode into the wind which was somehow coming from every direction (as it tends to do in the Texas country). We took turns pulling and chatting and got a little lost (extra miles!) and enjoyed a morning of bikes.

It was a super pleasant ride. Once we got used to the blustery day and got a little warmed up, the layers I had on were perfect (jacket, sleeves, short sleeved jersey, bibs with leg warmers). We stopped a few times to get pictures of things and eat snacks and stash layers and stuff. We flew down the nice flat dam road at 20+ mph for fun, but that was really, by and large, the only EFFORT (captial E) we made that day.

It’s nice that 60 miles is not the edge of my fitness right now. The edge of my comfortable fitness, sure. My quads had a bit of that long ride sting. My hands were shot from chipseal. But honestly, I was more concerned for Matt being late to his Thanksgiving meal (which ended up delayed until SEVEN THIRTY, so no worries about rolling in just before 2pm) than dying to get off my bike.

I did the stupid shit I do the last quarter of small group rides where I speed up and think I’m pulling everyone but end up dropping them and having to wait because slowing down at the end of a bike ride LITERALLY MAKES ME DIE INSIDE for some reason. Joel and I raced down a 30 mph street trying to beat the speed limit around 50 miles in. I intentionally fell off the nutrition at the end so I would fade a little but with proper fueling I think I would have been up for more. I think I’m mentally and physically ready to start pushing the kind of bike mileage needed to train for the Ironman and that makes me happy.

nov29-1

We need a little Christmas, like right this very minute…

Normally, I’m a big fan of keeping the holidays kind of low key until real close to the day of. No Christmas shit until after Thanksgiving, and frankly, since we normally head to Florida the day after turkey day, it’s a while until we’re fully ensconced in the holidays.

This year is different. I feel like we really need it. Like *I* really need it. So, we bought wrapping paper 9 days ago and I didn’t even flinch at the massive set up at Big Lots. We set up the star showers the night before Thanksgiving. I’ve got most of my shopping done already and a lot of it wrapped. We have our lights and tree up, and it’s halfway decorated (and the iguana has already broken ornaments). We’re watching the shows we normally watch during the season. It all feels so right.

The great thing about it being the holiday season and in the 70s? Holiday light rides. We spent an hour winding down every street in the neighborhood looking at lights. We may or may not have gotten in the spirit ourselves as well (see above for the setup). I’m aware we’re ridiculous and make zero apologies and give zero fucks.

And… such is life. Back to the push of the last few ~~miles~~ productive days of the ~~race~~ year. I know I’m going to ~~finish~~ survive, I just need to keep my head in the game and get there.

Thankful, then and now.

By Quix

On November 22, 2016

In Uncategorized

2016 seems to have been a pretty trying year for everyone. Beloved stars died. I mean, really beloved, ones that were iconic across generations that hit hard, one right after another. We suffered through a nasty election season with a crazy plot twist at the end. More me-centric, I had some really rough races, big shakeups at work, and have had to really push myself to grow a bit after some harsh realizations about stagnation. I probably have had my share of alcohol this year to wash down the bitter taste of many things.

However, let’s look at the bright side.

thanks1

Still wear hoops and chokers. Not THAT much has changed.

I just renewed my passport, and here are my pictures, a decade apart. In 2006, I was at my highest weight (probably about 265 lbs? I dunno – I didn’t really frequent scales at the time…). I was working 100 hour weeks and probably making just over a third of what I do now. I barely fit in a size 24. Running was something I would do only if chased, I hadn’t been on a bike since probably age 12, and I got tired walking around my apartment complex. I always loved swimming, though. That’s something that never changed.

At that point in my life, I would have been thankful for a job opportunity that challenged me and let me take a crash course in video game management and direction, one that would help me learn how to do it on a much larger scale later. I worked the hours I did because I loved it. Like, with a passion of ten thousand fiery suns. Just like Icarus, though, fly too close to the sun and your wings melt. My wings would melt within 6 months of that passport being issued, and passion turned to resentment when I started looking elsewhere to live and be employed.

oct4-1

The difference between this picture and the one above it is totally camera angles. And a 110 lb weight loss, of course.

I would have been thankful for Zliten. He also looked a mess (he is SO happy to get rid of his passport picture too), but we were a mess together. At that point, we had talked about getting married and I was for it eventually, but I wasn’t into a whole big wedding thing looking as I did then. That, plus the actual size of the jeans I had to buy, kick started my weight loss efforts just two months after I got that passport.

I would have been thankful for living in beautiful San Diego with perfect weather and beaches and sun. I can’t deny that it’s the most PERFECT place I’ve ever lived climate-wise, and I miss the ocean and the wonderful balance between humid and dry you can only get in a lush desert beach area. However, 2006 loved the IDEA of outside, but in practice, as you can see from my pale skin, I spent most of my time indoors. At that weight, it was hard not to be a sweaty betty even just walking around, and as anyone who lives in a tourist beach town with regular weekday job hours will attest to, if you can’t play hookey to go to the beach, it’s typically not worth the hassle.

I would have been thankful for the awesome Mexican food. The combo plate with a fried beef taco, cheese enchilada, rice and beans and the iconic red sauce you can’t find anywhere around here. I still miss that stuff sometimes, but Austin is pretty much the capital of TACO so there’s a lot of choices, even if I still dream about the gas station with the taco shop near our apartment. There was alsoTogos and the sandwich nazi and the deli and some other places that probably wouldn’t hold up in reality but still were favorites in my mind.

sept7-3

I get to live within 10 miles of here! I mean, that doesn’t suck…

Flash forward ten years. I still can’t believe it’s been that long. Next June, Austin will house a decade of my life, which is the longest I’ve lived somewhere since I grew up in Chicago-land as a kid. While I dream about living nearer to the ocean, living somewhere a little more runnable in the summer (Oregon, Seattle?), somewhere a little more bike friendly (Boulder) and escaping somewhere tropical in the winter (Florida, Bonaire?), I can’t put my finger on anywhere else I’d pick for a permanent home at the moment.

I am thankful for Zliten. While I’m thankful for many, many things about Zliten, I’m particularly thankful that we became completely different people together. We went from eating, sleeping, and living video games above all else to finishing multiple marathons and 70.3 races, and if all goes well, we’ll be Ironpeople in April. He may have not been super thrilled when I started doing run races (it’s so eaaaarly, we both said, when we had to be at my first 5k for a start time of ELEVEN AM), but eventually he wanted to see what the fuss was about and got hooked (maybe even more than me). We are very changed people, but thankfully, we changed and grew together.

I am thankful for my house, most days. It’s called Casa De Jank because a 50 year old house definitely isn’t a dream to maintain, but it’s OUR weird house with character that is full of clutter and crazy art and drawings on the walls and a smiley face painted in the bathroom from when we moved in and never painted over it. It may need some love to fit into our half-the-houses-have-been-flipped-in-the-last-five-years neighborhood, but we’ll get to that when it’s time.

Apr25-1

I may HATE the color of the brick, but I love a lot about my house (and life) here in Austin.

I’m thankful for Austin being this really cool, relaxed, friendly city, for the most part. When questionable men aren’t yelling and throwing things at me on my bike and when the traffic isn’t RIDIC, of course. Honestly, it’s one of my favorite places I’ve lived because of the people. Everyone wants to be your friend. I’ve never been around groups of people that were more inclusive “yep, the more the merrier”, all the time. and really meant. I love it!

I am thankful for racing. I’m coming up on my 100th race soon, and you don’t pay to do something a hundred times that you don’t love. Once I lost all the weight, I knew I needed *some* reason to continue to go to the gym and continue to be a reasonably healthy person and not gain all the weight back because whiskey and french fries are awesome. I can balance my miles logged vs my tacos logged and try to maintain some level of stasis. Also, for some reason, I thought once I left high school and college behind, there was nothing out there for adults to indulge their competitive sides. Totally not the case! I love the atmosphere, I love the challenge, I love the training, and I love the friends I’ve made doing it.

jacks1

Team we Tri’d. Or Team Tri. Team Race All the Things. 😉

I’m thankful for many other things, but I’m also thankful for having a job, even if it’s been crazy lately, so I need to cut it short(er than I normally would).

And I am thankful that I get the chance to continue evolving as a person! Life is cool! Who knows where I’ll be or what I’ll look like when I renew my passport next, but I’m looking forward to spending the next 10 years finding out.

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all!

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#coloradoadventure Part 2 – Hanging Lake, Boulder, and Denver (again)

By Quix

On September 2, 2016

In Uncategorized

Part one, if you missed it, lives here. Onward and upward (again)!

Wednesday:

On the road again! The mornings in GJ kind of blended together, but there was definitely one more sampling of the typical hotel breakfast (I am DONE with traditional breakfast [junk] food for a while…), probably either a hot tub or pool, and then the suitcases made their way to the car again and we were off!

Sept1-14

Not sure if the reflection ruins the shot or makes it artsy. We’ll go with artsy.

We really enjoyed breaking up the drive with a run in Vail on the way there, and we had recommendations to hit Hanging Lake for a hike, so we stopped. There was a line out of the gate (at noon on a weekday?) and we almost skipped it, but something made us wait and I’m so glad we did.

Seriously, I’d suggest checking out my facebook album if my tale of Hanging Lake intrigues you at all, because this was one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places I’ve ever been in my life. And me, the water baby, saying that about something not on the ocean or that I can even swim in? You know it’s crazy amazing.

Sept1-15

First of all, it was a lot of up. We went up over 1000 feet very quickly. Our garmins say somewhere around 5 miles total, the official site says just over a mile each way, but there was a bit to get to the trailhead… so, whatever. It was a decently hard climb that took a while. It definitely counted as leg day.

Once we got past the initial rocky part, it was just waterfall after waterfall. Every scene looked like one of those motivational posters. I kept thinking “this is the best picture I’ve ever taken” and then we’d go around a bend and I’d see something more awe-inspiring. It was insane.

Sept1-17

The water shapes the rock through patience and persistence. Bam. Blow that up and sell it to poor saps like me stuck in a office box with no windows.

After some crawling on rocks at the steepest part, we reached the top and took a short break to eat a snack overlooking Hanging Lake. I wanted to stay there and watch it much longer, but there’s no rest for the wicked. Places to go, driving to do. We did make the trek to the top of the waterfall and got some other hikers to take our picture (see larger album for that one).

Sept1-16

Hanging Lake itself. So very much worth the climb.

On the way down, we decided to run it as much as we could. I did fall on my ass once, but it was exhilarating. It was like being a kid at play again, finding the right spot to place my feet while they were in motion, letting gravity help us down instead of fighting it… magical. And then, all of a sudden, we were back down at the trailhead and we ran the rest of the way to the car and were STARVING and it was SO MUCH LATER than we expected to leave but somehow would have done the climb again in a heartbeat right then if it was feasible.

Lunch was tacos from Qdoba. Tacos are the best. Sadly, we drove RIGHT by the hot springs we were going to visit after the hike (when it wasn’t going to take 3 hours), and put that on the list for next time. We drove to Vail and got out and walked around a bit again, mostly to stretch the legs, and then made the rest of the trip back to 10k feet (even after acclimation, still felt a little woogy) and back down to Boulder.

Sept1-19

Hung above the bed (thus the “also here”).

Boulder is a bit of a lie from the 70 freeway. You see signs to exit, and you get all excited… but then it’s another 45 minutes away. And this particular night, it happened to be getting stormy. Zliten held it together though, and we arrived at the hotel just after 7pm.

The good: the hotel had changed from a slightly ghetto Quality Inn and Suites motel to Boulder Basecamp, which was completely redone and much more hip and refined. There was a spa and sauna, a lounge with a rock climbing wall and ping pong, and a very homey breakfast nook. The bad: they didn’t have my reservation. The great: they were able to clear it up with Expedia in about 15 minutes and ended up giving us a suite for no extra charge.

Sept1-18

If I was on death row, it’s likely my last meal would involve a club sandwich on sourdough.

It was raining pretty hard, so sadly, we had to get back IN the car (all we wanted out of life was to walk and not drive) and parked at the downtown area. We walked around and found the Lazy Dog. I was in the mood for some comfort food, so I got a club sandwich, a salad, and a glass of chardonnay. Trivia was about to start, but we were beat, so we called it an early night and hung out at the hotel reading and relaxing.

Thursday:

We had a date with dirt in the morning, so we woke up, leisurely got our breakfast on, and Zliten searched where we were supposed to go. HOLY CRAP it was an hour away instead of the 20 minutes we thought, and we had to leave RIGHT THEN to be 15 minutes late. We called the guide who reminded us we were meeting at a trail, not the shop, searched the trail… and it said TWO HOURS away. CRAP CRAP CRAP! Then Zliten realized it was 2 hours WALKING, and only 15 minutes driving, and we were just fine. Whew. Way to get us truly awake!

Sept1-12

Gooooood morning! A little caffiene and a lot of “oh crap we’re going to miss it!”.

We got gatorade for our camelbacks and snacks and were super prepared for 4 hours out on the trails. Then, when we met up with the group, we spent the first hour learning how to ride mountain bikes (yeah, I picked up a few things, I’ll admit, but it seemed a little overkill for ME personally). We spent about 2.5 hours riding, which was actually about 1.5 hours stopping and talking about Boulder, and 1 hour riding. I was completely overprepared, but better than the other way around.

Sept1-11

The flatirons are the backdrop of Boulder, for the most part.

It’s not to say I didn’t have a good time. I so very much did. I was pleasantly enjoying myself riding over things that normally make me shriek on my tri bike, and then our guide showed us how to jump rocks. I jumped like EVERY ROCK for the rest of the ride because it made me feel nine years old again and now I need a mountain bike (n+2 for the vacation now) and better health insurance because I am actually about 9×4 (+1) instead, and all the mountain bikers I know are pretty much held together with bruises and stitches.

I did almost eat shit going down a hill when the girl in front of me slowed down too much, I had to veer off into tall grass, and I actually hit a rock that slowed me down ENOUGH to fall back in line. #rubbersidedown for the whole ride. Yeeehaw!

Sept1-13

A happy boy and his bike.

We drank a beer together on the side of the road, because, that’s what you do after bicycles. We left wanting a bit for more saddle time, so we rented b-cycles and headed downtown. Something about a sandwich sounded amazing to both of us, so we hit a little deli with yummy and unique sounding food. I got a chicken basil pesto half sandwich and super fun looking greek-ish salad with hummus. It wasn’t a whole lot of food, but it was enough to get to tank half full.

Sept1-10

I may have taken a bite first. Oops!

Zliten wanted a Colorado jersey, and we looked around for one, but everything was either not in the right size, or meh. We’ll have to look around online. It was starting to get wet and a little chilly, so we cycled back to the hotel – it was such a convenient way to get around. We got some hot beverages, and hit the spa. There were plans to swim in the Boulder Resevior that evening (5-9pm no boats!), but we were already cold and jumping in a chilly lake? Nah. Next time.

Sept1-9

Do want. Again. Right now.

Once the weather improved a little, we hopped back on the cycles and headed to a Vietnamese place called Black Pepper Pho. The egg rolls were SO flavorful, the pho was amazing and a regular size did us just fine, although I kinda wanted the large just because. I could eat pho once a week, but I could eat THAT pho about once a day. So, so good. On the way back, we found my cycle bag had ripped and hit REI for a new one, and some new walking around shoes for Zliten. Souvenirs, sort of!

After a long day of excitement, we were homebodies and read, hung out, played Pokemans, and relaxed our way into dreamyland.

Friday:

Up and at em… eh, at like, 9:30. We ducked out for a little morning run and enjoyed Boulder’s river trail. Sublime. I want to run there always, at least in the summer. While I felt we spent enough time in GJ, I wanted many more days in Boulder. Sadly, we were forced to check out of the hotel by the cruel mistress of reality. We consoled ourselves by roaming around on our B-cycles for a little longer, and then waved goodbye to Boulder and got ready to say hello to Denver!

Sept1-8

It’s just not fair how pretty this is. Usually if there’s running water on my run route, someone’s pipe has burst.

A friend from high school/college/early days lived about 20 mins away, so we made sure to meet him for lunch on his day off. It was great to catch up with some actually pretty great Mexican food, and it’s always nice to chat with someone who you haven’t seen in MANY years and it just feels like you’ve barely been apart. Facebook definitely helps this happen more often.

Sept1-7

Our hotel view did not suck.

Then… Denver. We got our 37$ parking spot for the night >< and checked into the hotel. The front desk gal was super nice and found us the best room she could – top floor with a great view. We did dorky things and squeezed in a weights workout in the room with the bands we brought (thus validating their inclusion in the luggage), and then headed out to walk around and meet another friend!

Sept1-4

Random Denver snaps.

Denver is beautiful, clean, unique, cycle friendly, and full of characters. On that walk, we found dancing Jesus guy, a free concert about to start, a robot street performer, and much more I’m forgetting. Another thing I’m not accustomed to is the casual attitude to marijuana. People were smoking it all over. The dispensaries have club cards. Even my friend, who is fairly allergic to the smoke produced, is just like, eh, it’s fine, it’s great for the state, I just try to stay upwind. It seems like a much more reasonable way to treat the substance considering it’s essentially alcohol for people that would rather zone out and eat chips.

Anyhoo, we hung back at the hotel to change. I actually put on just a little bit of makeup and used my hairbrush, first and last time of the trip, heh. Once we were fancied up, we grabbed a few drinks at a “speakeasy”. I ordered an old-old fashioned and spent the rest of the early evening drinking delicious whiskey drinks and eating fried things at Green Russell.

Sept1-6

Bathroom selfie as proof of said dressing up. Keeping it klassy with a K around here…

We wandered around a bit looking for dinner, and finally settled on Stout Street Social. We started with the kimchi fries (very much do recommend… they were great!) and Zliten and I split one very delicious burger and side salad. After a few more bevvies and chatter, we looked for one more place to end the evening and it was like Goldilocks.

One place was too crowded. One place was too loud. One place was impossible to find. Then, we finally stumbled on Polished Tavern. They didn’t have an impressive whiskey menu, but made up for it with a plethora of infused vodkas, a nice outdoor patio, and not too much of a crowd. We met up with another friend of a friend, and tried all sorts of different flavors, danced a bit, and finally got the DJ to play the entire Star Wars Cantina song.

We closed out the night wandering around trying to find the rooftop pool at the hotel (it was closed, sadface), and finally drifting off to sleep against the backdrop of the Denver skyline.

Saturday:

Travel home days are usually boring, but not when you fly out at 7pm! You still have lots of time for adventure! We got up and juuuuust in time, checked out of the hotel. Since we paid for it, we left the car in parking until the last minute of our 24 hours, and scoped out lunch downtown. After hemming and hawing, we found a place that did noodle and rice bowls to order – Tokyo Joes – and both our eyes lit up.

Sept1-5

Noms. Sans stevia sauce. Always sans stevia sauce.

Pro-tip: sauces with stevia suck. I use stevia to sweeten all sorts of things, coffee, yogurt, drinks… so I figured I’d give it a try. In savory food, it doesn’t work for me. I’ll take that little bit of added sugar if needed. So… while the noodle bowl was FAN FLIPPIN TASTIC, I am so glad they served my mistake of a stevi-yaki sauce on the side. I’m sure other people may appreciate it, but If I was avoiding sugar, I’d just go soy and hot sauce instead (which I did and loved).

Next, we hit the museum. Haven’t done anything like that in a while, and it was a nice contrast from the rest of the sporty spice vacation.

Sept1-3

My favorites in the Women in Impressionism exhibit.

Sept1-2

Some of my other favorites from other exhibits.

Sept1-1

Ok, one more of the more unique ones…

After that, Zliten was ready to get this show on the road, so after a few stops, we got to the airport nice and early. Same easy check in and TSA line, same 20 minute stop for the bag with the cords and the bike tool. Friends said we MUST go to the airport restaurant Root Down, which was a branch of the super popular downtown one, and since we had plenty of time, we did just that.

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The verdict? One thumb way up, one thumb sort of sideways…

My turkey bahn mi burger and sweet potato fries with curry sauce was surprisingly awesome. I’m not a huge deviant from my normal, but I figured, what the heck, and my gamble paid off. I loved it. Zliten got a traditional burger and did not love it that much. Either way, it was just fine as our last meal of vacation.

And, here’s where I cut this insanely long story short and save you from the mundane boring details about a uneventful 7 hours to fly 2 hours to the next state away home. I did definitely appreciate flying home Saturday night, so I had Sunday to relax and unpack and do laundry. Tip top. A+. Would travel home on a Saturday night again.

Overall – Colorado is on the short list of states I will probably live in someday. I’ll make that happen either when I’m rich enough to own a summer house, or when I decide that snow isn’t a deal breaker. I’m already plotting how to do an extended camping trip there soon! It’s definitely on the short list of places I will repeatedly vacation at, because friends, family, mountains, bikes, hikes, lakes, and all of the beautiful.

#coloradoadventure part 1 – Denver and Grand Junction

By Quix

On August 30, 2016

In Uncategorized

Ahhh. Vacation is magical. Real life… is real today. Can’t someone pay me a living wage to travel around the world and take photos of awesome things and write about them? Is that a real job? I know I make video games for a living and that’s pretty cool… but it’s so… INDOORS…. ><.

Aug30-21

Instead of by a beautiful lake….

Anyways, I’m happy to report that this vacation went much better than the last half of the last one with the work thing. I was threatening to remove the book of faces from my phone for the trip, but I ended up using it for communication and meeting up with people. I just tried to steer clear of anything real-life related and did fine to keep my reality adjusted to vacation mode (see what I did there?).

I’m going to be splitting this up into two parts because I have way too many pictures to be contained in two posts. If you want to skip ahead and see the photos without so much jibber jabber… you can here.

Friday:

I’ve actually decided that I quite liked traveling on a Friday evening. I was able to leave work at 5pm, get to the airport by 6pm, and through security by 6:20. This would have been quicker because there was no line, except Zliten decided to bring his bike multi tool, which put us in the long slow TSA process to have his carry-on searched, but hey, bike safety first! We ordered dinner from Maudies, which ended up taking way too long and being kind of disappointing and small, but *shrug* airport food.

Aug30-1

Girls who unknowingly photobombed us talked THE WHOLE FLIGHT loudly. I was amused. Zliten was NOT.

The flight itself was a little late, but I didn’t mind. The airport is the best place to catch pokemon! Also, a lot of other flights were getting cancelled around us due to weather issues, so I was just happy ours only experienced a 40 minute delay. The flight itself was a little bumpy, but otherwise fine. We retrieved our rental car without any trouble, and hit the hotel (#1 of 4 this trip) around 11pm (midnight Austin time).

The disappointing dinner at the airport many hours earlier meant we needed a snack… and the only thing open in the area was the Applebees in the parking lot. I had a salad and some boneless wings and wine because… vacation.

Aug30-2

Not exactly a local experience, but at least Zliten was drinking Coors? 🙂

The nice part about the Friday evening departure was a) didn’t have to take time off -and- b) got all the business time traveling stuff done so starting Saturday morning, we could just wake up and start playing instead of the inevitable 7 hours of BS it takes to travel one state over for a 2 hour flight these days.

Saturday:

We woke up, checked out of our hotel 11 hours after checking in, and headed to Chatfield Lake for an open water swim. It satisfied the requirements of being a) not too far out of the way (e.g. running at Garden of the Gods was nixed because travel time) and b) it was not going to turn me into an icicle! Sadly it also c) had a swim beach about the length of an Olympic swimming pool and d) was really dirty – there was a sign saying “Don’t Swallow the Water” which I saw AFTER swimming… and I always end up drinking some of the lake. Ah well. A little under 1 mile on the garmin, and spoiler alert: I survived.

Aug30-3

Beautiful place to bike, run, and hang out. Not the best open water swim of my life as you can see from my mud beard.

We hit the road, and later stopped in a little mountain town called Genesse, and I ate one of the best turkey clubs I’ve ever had in my life at Hideaway Kitchen and Bar. Influencing that may have been no breakfast and an open water swim before lunch, but that’s just details.

Aug30-4

I will dream about this bacon for years.

Our drive continued over the pass. This takes you above 10k feet. If you haven’t been that elevated outside of an airplane, let me tell you – it feels woogy. I felt oddly fatigued all of a sudden, and on the edge of being dizzy just sitting. So, what did we do after that? We went and ran 5k in Vail (at a much lower elevation of 8200+, heh) to see what it felt like.

Aug30-5

Running in Vail = sucking my oxygen through a teeny straw. But the scenery almost made up for it.

It was both easier and harder than I expected. I didn’t feel quite as flattened as I had anticipated, but just that pace didn’t feel like pace. Just under 12 minute miles, less than 24 hours at altitude, and at over 10x the elevation I normally run at, felt like a tempo run. It was bizarre, just like I was having a really off day or my garmin wasn’t working right, but I imagined it would be more like running in deep sand. It wasn’t.

Aug30-6

More pretty stuff in Vail. Especially that watermelon sorbet.

After that, we cleaned up, got some ice cream, bought me a hoodie, and then kept on driving towards our final destination for the day, Grand Junction.

Aug30-7

East to west from the drive.

The views did not suck, but we determined that both ways, the drive took an hour too long, for some reason. We checked into hotel #2, which smelled like overmicrowaved chicken noodle soup (one night with the window open fixed it), and then hit a brewery nearby for dinner and a beer with Zliten’s cousin. I got this lovely caprese chicken sandwich and some ridiculous spinach artichoke dip (half of which came home with us), and a sour plum beer.

After, made our way to Charlie Dwellington’s for drag queen karaoke (to watch, I wasn’t nearly “up” enough to participate). Since we were running in the morning, we cut ourselves off around midnight and moseyed back to home base.

Sunday:

Being vacation, and vacation in Colorado, we slept in a bit. I figured this would be no problem because I figured I’d get hypothermia here from lows in the 50s. Look how hopeful I was with that long sleeve shirt! However, this was a particularly warm day, so getting out late was not ideal, nor was my attire.

Aug30-8

So hopeful. Didn’t quite pan out.

I had picked a trail that sounded awesome, and happened to be 8 miles (since I wanted to run 8 miles that day). Zliten took one look at the elevation profile and decided I was out of my mind (I was), and took us to a different trail – Dinosaur Hill. It ended up being less than 1 mile, completely in the sun, and in disrepair, so we only ran it once. After striking out twice, we decided to play it safe and run in town.

Aug30-9

Pretty, but not something I wanted to run 8 times.

The first half, I was hating life. Then I ate a gel. Then life slowly became fine… then fun! If we weren’t slated to climb a mountain the next day, I may have actually pushed and finished up 8, but I got 6.65 miles or so total, both on a trail and through a new town. It was 84, feels like 92, at the end, which is actually pretty chilly compared to our normal run weather here.

Aug30-10

I’m taking a bike selfie. The world feels more normal all of a sudden.

After the run, we ate the other half of our food from dinner the day before, and picked up our steeds from Bicycle Outfitters. We rode around town a bit to make sure they were in working order. They were, and then some! I have some major n+1 issues right now (n+2 actually, but we’ll get there later) because that is the nicest road bike I’ve ever ridden.

Aug30-11

Didn’t get to see a sunrise the whole trip, but the sunsets made up for it.

We went to Zliten’s cousin’s house and she prepared us some delicious chicken and veggies on the grill. I may have ruined that healthy meal with a half a bag of chex mix, but I needed carbs for the epic ride the next day…

Monday:

We set the alarm for 5:30. And then snoozed. And then dragged ass to get ready. It was after 8am when we got out, which ended up being okay, because it stayed overcast and cooler for the morning. Although… the temperatures they were warning us about were laughable to us Texans. 80s? Please. That’s what happens at dawn here in August.

Within 2 miles of downtown, you’re into the wilderness. By mile 4, you’ve started noticeably climbing, and you’re not even to the Colorado National Monument state park yet. I almost asked Zliten to do a little more of a warmup, because my legs do not handle bike work well in the first 20-30 mins, but figured we should get this ascension over with… so we paid our 5$ each and in we went!

Aug30-14

Non-selfie scenery shots. Jaw-droppingly gorgeous.

I figured I’d need to rest a few times. Within two more miles, I was essentially hyperventilating from breathing so hard on the constant 6-8% grade and lack of oxygen at 5k+ feet and had to stop at just about every other turnout. My head went to a lot of negative places on the approximately 2 hours it took to climb less than 10 miles.

Aug30-13

My attitude on the first half of the climb.

A caffeinated gel about 10am (oops, I should have been stuffing my face sooner) helped a bunch, and eventually we found some flatter road (only 2-4% grade?) and we started pulling off the road to take pretty pictures instead of simply to get my breathing under control. Gritted teeth became grinning smiles. We climbed a mountain, through patience and persistence. It. was. awesome.

I thought I was going to be MUCH more terrified going down the mountain, but after so much climbing, I earned that shit and enjoyed it immensely. The wind whipped by me, I went from going 2-3 mph to 20-30 mph, and I got to enjoy the views on the way down that I couldn’t see because I was starved for oxygen on the way up. It. was. amazing. I didn’t have the balls to ride all the way down the mountain in Alaska, but this time, I never got off my bike once to slow down. I felt in complete control (most of the time), and only a little sketchy once. I did apply my brakes liberally, but… baby steps.

Aug30-15

Scenery with selfies because this is how we do (as you can see, I get happier as the day goes on)…

After leaving the park and heading home (from the other side of the mountain, so I think we had about 13 miles left), I started getting grumpy at the fact there was any more hills. I though I had done all the hills? Hello? After muttering a lot of things about building a ramp from the mountain back to town, I remembered to eat more food and then my mood improved again.

Especially when I looked over and saw what we had done. We were up there. On the top. Amazing!

Aug30-12

Me: “Was I up there?” (points at random place) Zliten: “Yep!” Me: “Wow…” —an actual conversation that happened about 25 times before we left GJ.

After we finally made it to the hotel, we snacked and rushed out quickly for lunch with family, at a Venezuelan restaurant. Beef empanadas and mashed yucca, with a side of fried plantains? Yum. Great post-bike food.

Aug30-16

I’ve never drank Pacifico out of a 24 oz can. It tasted like old, canned Pacifico. Fancy that.

We spent the rest of the day drinking beers, eating pizza, talking with random people, and ended up at the same fun bar from Saturday night… and they had Game Show night. I ended up rocking my Jeopardy round, correctly guessing a daily double and the winning the match (so that got me 5$ and a free drink respectively), and ended up drinking water to stay coherent for the final round with the 25 dollar prize. Zliten ended up having quite a few more waiting for me to be done. I ended up second (whomp whomp… I got the final question right, risking it all, but it wasn’t enough to beat one other competitor…) and consoled myself with another drink or two, and then we called it a night.

Tuesday:

There was this awesome Nepalese restaurant with a lunch buffet. I was SO looking forward to it, and after a morning hot tub and pool, we walked our stomachs over at opening.

Aug30-17

Mish mash of delish.

Nepalese ended up being Indian food mixed with Chinese food. I love both of these things! It was not the best Indian buffet I’ve had in my life, but the fact that it had eggrolls, potstickers, and chow chow noodles as well? I’m sold.

Aug30-19

Couldn’t bring myself to actually swim but you KNOW my feet were in the water for a couple hours.

This was really the first *vacation-y* day of our trip – no run bike or swim planned. We were going to go rafting, but the weather kinda sucked, so instead we went to a pretty lake called Highline, stuck our feet in for a while, read books, and hiked around it. Next time, we traverse the rapids!

Aug30-20

Highline Lake scenes. Halfway around the lake, I found the only bugs in Colorado.

My husband has a weakness for Del Taco, and since there are none around us anymore, we hit one whenever we see it. While I’m not sure a 5k hike deserved a two taco and half a cheese fries snack, that’s what it got. For some reason, the whole time I was in Colorado, I could not get enough food. I was rarely full after a meal, and even if I was, I could totally eat an hour later.

We changed for one more GJ meal, and EVERYONE had told us to go to Bin 707 Food Bar. However, everything about it screamed HIPSTER and wayyyyyy too cool for me. I mean, it’s in the basement of a bank, right? The turning point was Zliten’s cousin recommended it and she is about as opposite of a hipster as you can get. So, that was the target for the evening.

Aug30-18

A little bit hipster, a lot great food and service.

I’m so glad we did. Yeah, it was expensive and the menu was a little silly, but it was worth it. We started with a Colorado whiskey flight and a charcuterie plate with all sorts of local accompaniments, and it was kind of nice to feel fancy. We sat at the bar, and the bartender gave us all sorts of information about the drinks, and even gave us some samples of other whiskies he liked, and we were totally in there almost an hour after closing and there was NO rush to leave. We followed that up with the general bourbon tasting, and split one of the best burgers I’ve ever had.

Also, it was on a Poke Stop. Can’t beat that! It was a fabulous evening all around, and one we were content to end with just a leisurely walk back to the hotel instead of more revelry.

Part two coming soon to a blog near you!

White Elephant Wrapup

By Quix

On December 23, 2009

In Uncategorized

Thus begins a week or two of mostly fluffy posts. I’m kinda tired of digging in my head, scooping out my brains, and attempting to analyze the contents. So, enjoy!

I think in attempts to get some holiday cheer (and humor) for a relatively low overhead, we attended not one, not two, but THREE white elephant parties. We brought just about the same presents for each one (except the first, because it was 15-20 dollars, and present was only 10 – and it was my work one – so I didn’t want to look like a cheapskate and splurged on the 16 dollar DISCO BALL at Big Lots).

My present:

Zliten’s present:

For those of you who don’t know what a White Elephant gift exchange is – essentially you bring a silly present of some variety (hence, our gifts above). Sometimes there is a dollar amount set, sometimes there isn’t. You draw numbers and when it comes to your turn, you can choose to unwrap a new present, or steal one that has already been unwrapped. Most often, the rules are the gift can be stolen 3 times before it’s out of play. It’s a bunch of laughs, because you would never ever elsewise see grown humans fighting over a snuggie.

The first party was, as I said, at my work holiday party. Near the end, we all converged around the stage and started the game. I got a fairly early number, walked over and almost tripped and fell (just call me grace) and picked out a present. I unwrapped it and HOLY FUCK it was a leopard print snuggie. After a few glasses of wine, that was THE COOLEST PRESENT EVER in my eyes and I gave everyone the stinkeye if they looked around the room for things to steal. It worked for a while. Being the boss has its benefits. However, someone got brave enough and purloined my snuggie right at the end (yes, a dude) and then one of the BIG bosses stole it. Who knew that would be such a hot commodity?

Zliten ended up with a magnetic dartboard (that is soooo going to my office in the new year for some stress relief) and I ended up with a pretty ornament that’s now on the tree. The guy that ended up with fake voltron wasn’t too happy but one of our artists loves the disco ball and it’s at his desk to annoy everyone at the office.

Next was a sponsored party at one of our favorite bars downtown (though we don’t go often cause it’s semi-pricey). Open bar, sponsored goodies, an arts and crafts table, free hair styling and makeup refreshes, and of course, a table full of presents to pick from. Some were from sponsors, and they were supposed to actually be pretty cool (some jewelry, gift certs, etc). The rules were different (I mean, there were at least 100 people there) – you give a present, you take a present. That’s all. No steals, but consensual trades.

For a while, there was just too much to pick from so I waited and sipped on some free mint margaritas. After a little bit, Zliten decided to be “that guy” and picked up the biggest, heaviest package on the table. Here is the definition of literal.

Yes, Zliten picked the WHITE ELEPHANT (wearing a tutu, no less) at the white elephant party. We ended up finding a seat and meeting some very cool people who want to be nerd friends with us. They also ended up with Zliten’s robot and loved it. Other presents around the table included a half eaten box of chocolate, embroidered christmas tree button covers, and then I realized I need to pick something as the present table had dwindled. This is the gem I ended up with. Here is the story:

…and the present:

Well, at least the next door neighbors have doggies, and can use the jerky. Then, we proceeded to have a wild and crazy night. Which ended way too late for a school night. Which made the next day hell. But hey, I went full holiday and looked festive.

The next last one was Saturday night, with a few friends. This one was pretty low key, but the hilarity factor was definitely there. Presents included a foot massager, some cheesy porn, a yanni CD, a sarcastic magic 8 ball and more. Zliten picked early in and ended up with some cat figurines and cat food (which is ironic because ALL OF OUR friends have cats, and he is terribly allergic) and I ended up with a poop calendar. Yeah, you got that right. A POOP calendar. Every month, a new poop. It is SO going up in my office. Also, the gnome and the robot were both stolen gifts, so they were a HIT!

But the pictures are not of a cat. A deal was brokered later over some beers, and Zliten ended up with this:

So all the holiday parties (not including our traditions Christmas Eve and the family Christmas) are done, and we ended up with, among other things, two heavy ceramic figurines. Way too fun! What is the craziest holiday gift you’ve given or received?

FYI, the pantry is clean from Monday’s hat draw, today (Tuesday) we picked Mini Golf which was a BLAST, and tomorrow is a BBQ adventure in Lockhart (the BBQ capital of Texas, apparently). So excited!

Adjusted Reality

“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.” – Mark Twain

Tag: holidays Page 4 of 5

Hurling turkeys, bike adventures, and all the holiday things.

Thankful, then and now.

#coloradoadventure Part 2 – Hanging Lake, Boulder, and Denver (again)

#coloradoadventure part 1 – Denver and Grand Junction

White Elephant Wrapup

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