Things are not always as they first appear....

I went for a great hike/jog today in the hills near my house - things just don't always look the same when its cloudy and snowy! Sometimes this is a good thing and sometimes it can really catch you off guard.

First challenge - the loop I chose today is one that I have never been able to do w/o taking a few wrong turns and lots of back-tracking to get back on course. Since it was cloudy with very limited visibility, by all means, it was a good day to do this loop in the direction that I've never done before. Or not... Mike came with me on this adventure and is a very good sport, despite the fact that I completely missed a critical intersection in the snow. I ended up taking us through the trees, shrubs, rocks - complete bushwhacking - up to some random ridge. Of course, to add to the adventure, we ran into another person on the trail who was also trying to find the same trail as us, so I led two people completely off trail! Luckily, when we were on the ridge, we spotted a trail below and were able to get back on track.

The next surprise came when we were headed up to a peak (this time actually following a trail). I was in the lead here and focusing pretty intently on staying on the trail which was snowy & icy in several spots. Well, about 5 ft in front of me, I saw what looked like a dark patch in the snow and the first thought that came through my mind was that it was a bunch of rocks. But wait, I know this part of the trail well and there are no rocks in this section. So, my brain kicks in immediately before I'm about to step on the "rocks" and I took a better look at the trail.



Yikes!!!! I almost stepped on this poor moose and let out a scream! Freaked me out a bit and definitely caught me off guard. It was hard to see. I imagine he probably starved to death. I know that its part of the whole cycle of life thing, but its still very sad. Can we just have a moment of silence for this guy?



I think I'll be working out in the gym tomorrow.

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the planet!! (at least not yet)

Hi again! ...The time sure flies when you get busy. A lot has happened over the past month or so! Last weekend, I was at the Adventure XStream camp in Moab with my teammates. Yes, this was the first time we all met up - and luckily, we all get along great and I think we'll be pretty well matched for the big daddy race. Here we are at the end of the weekend, still smiling so that's a good sign! (Jeremy, James, Serge & me)



The "camp" was a really great experience - we had fun mountain biking on the "famous" slickrock trail on Friday, but James left a little more skin out there than most of us! He has a new nickname because of this!



We also did our swimming certification for PQ - in an outdoor pool when the weather was in the 40's (ok, maybe in the 50's). It was a good thing the pool was heated! Saturday, we kayaked on the Colorado river and I think we all agreed that we need to work on our core and arm strength after paddling in inflatable kayaks for about 12 miles. (I actually learned that I need to work on about everything after the humbling experience over the weekend, but that's another story! Time for me to kick it into gear with my training!) Sunday we did our climbing certification - rappelling, climbing free hanging ropes w/mechanical ascenders, tyrolean traverse, and quite a bit of safety info - all good stuff.

Will and Jenny Newcomer organized the camp - and they also hold 6 adventure races in the Colorado/Utah area throughout the year! Absolutely top notch people - incredibly experienced and knowledgeable and so friendly on top of all of that. If you ever have the urge to try adventure racing, I'd highly recommend one of their races (http://wwww.gravityplay.com) ...And yes, I couldn't resist the little plug for my good friends! :-)

One of the other incredible things at the camp were the instructors & experts - Team Salomon Crested Butte (Yari, Brian, Sully, and John) and Danny Suter, a very experienced adventure racer who know coaches extreme athletes. They all shared their knowledge and experience freely and answered our millions of questions happily. They spent hours Saturday evening sharing all their tips and strategies that they use in races and training. Yari also had a special "women only" session in the morning to share her secrets, since it can sometimes be difficult to race w/a bunch of guys! (side note - most adventure racing teams consist of 3 guys & 1 girl - and its required to have a coed team for the premier races) Of course, now that we have all of Team Salomon Crested Butte's beta, they better watch out for the competition from us "newbies". LOL!!! (Note - they finished 5th overall in the last Primal Quest race & are even a stronger team now. ...Our goal is just to FINISH the race!)

Signing off for now - Have a very Happy Easter!