Irongirl Escapade

It all began in April. Maria received an email about the Aflac Irongirl Triathlon.  She rushed to show Laurie and they immediately signed up.  It was the thrill of competing in an intense event which would involve a 1/4 mile swim, 17.2 mile bike ride and a 5k run that inspired them both to participate.  Maria was especially excited about the bike ride because she rides her bike everywhere.  So the training was to begin.  It was a 10 week training program.  It started with the biking and running.  When the pools opened the swimming started.  The swimming was by far the most difficult part of the training.  At first Maria and Laurie both struggled but as time went by they grew more confident in their aquatic abilities.  After training for the entire summer it was finally race day.  All the gear was ready to go and off to Boulder we traveled.  We attended a barbecue at their host family's house.  Then it was time to get some shut eye before the big race.  Race day was upon us.  The nervousness of the day for both of us was the quarter mile swim.  Just looking at the open water was intimidating.  We checked our bikes in and unloaded everything at the transition zones.  We were one of the last heats to go so we had plenty of chances to watch the start of the open water swim.  It was like watching a group of sharks attacking a school of fish.  All the swimmers were jumping on top of each other and kicking everyone. If we weren't afraid before it was worse now. 

Attack of the sharks!

We were particularly excited about being marked

We each had different experiences which we will share.  

Maria's Experience:
It was one minutes before the gun went off to start the swim.  At this time all my brain was thinking was please let me get through the swim as quick as possible.  Bang... I was off, running with high knees into the water  and then it was time to dive under.  As soon as I went under all I felt was many legs kicking me like a whale's tale slamming against the water.  The wetsuit began tightening up around my neck and I felt like I was going to suffocate. I almost called the lifeguard over cause I thought I was going to drowned.  All I kept thinking was I trained for 3 months and this is how I'm swimming. I swam the doggy paddle the whole time because it was too difficult to swim under the water.  I finally made it to the shore and I couldn't have been happier. Land ho!!

I hit the sand running to the transition zone to get on my bike.   At this point I was pretty far behind and I knew I had to make up time fast.  Once I was dressed and ready to go I jumped on my bike and off I went.

I had a speedometer on my bike so I was tracking my speed. I was averaging between 17-22 miles per hour.  It was exhilarating passing people. The bike was by far my best leg of the race.  At the end of the ride I got off my bike and started the 5k run. 

As soon as I started running my legs felt like lead. It was difficult to run but I made it through.  When I reached the finish, I couldn't have been happier.  Although I was in a tremendous amount of pain; I retrieved some ice to help my aching muscles.  Now it was time to look for Laurie.

Laurie's Experience:

My race was quite different, but I would echo a lot of the things Maria said about the swim.  Absolutely terrible!  I went into sheer survival mode as I doggy paddled the whole loop too.  My goal was to continue breathing, slowly move forward, and not get kicked by too many people although I kicked a considerable number myself.  Sand under my feet never felt so good. 

I happily made my jog to the bike transition.  Little did I know the swim was only the first of my complications.  I went to strip my wetsuit off and I thought it was never going to come off.  It was stuck on my ankle!  Frustration building only made it worse, but I had to laugh. 

It finally came off and I jumped on the bike to take off...wrong!  The chain immediately fell off.  Two very nice men jumped right on the scene to fix it and send me on my way.  Great, I'm off right?! 

That's one of the nice men who assisted with bike and saw me off!

 Wrong, something feels terribly wrong about my bike.  The pedals were SO hard to push.  I was forcing the bike to go downhill.  This went on for 4 miles until I couldn't stand it any more.  You see, I had taken my bike into a bike shop the night before to fix my flat tire that I discovered just before the trip up to Boulder.  "The Chad" so kindly fixed the tire and failed to put it back on correctly.  I think only by the power of prayer, I was able to jump off my bike, randomly mess with a few things on the back tire, and it was good to go.  From there, other than the fact that I was miles behind everyone, the race was great.  The scenery was beautiful, weather great, and I was able to just enjoy a pleasant bike ride around Boulder. 

What can you do?  Just run it off!

 The run was definitely my leg of the race!  After all the frustration of the first 2 legs, I let it all out on the run.  This race definitely confirmed that I am much more of a runner.  All in all it was a great experience and I learned a lot. 

It was great to celebrate with Maria at the finish and enjoy the most elaborate post-race meal I've ever had. 

We're triathletes!

The race was all about the duck.  Instead of a starting gun they used "3, 2, 1, AFLAC!"

And so fittingly, Maria happened to get a Mango drink at the end.  And you thought mango wasn't going to be involved in this escapade! :)

Aaah, mango, you show up even we don't expect it!

Mt. Harvard Escapade

It's time for one of those exciting adventures again.  We decided to attempt something we had never done before...hike a 14er!!!  Mt. Harvard was our mountain of choice.  Little did we know it is one of the more difficult mountains to scale in Colorado.  Will we be able to summit?  Read on to find out!

We began the morning bright and early to avoid any nasty afternoon weather.  We documented that we were there and we were off!

The morning started off pretty chilly.  Laurie's hands were so numb that they were useless.  Thankfully Maria was doing a little better and could still take pictures and work the zippers on our bags. 

A desperate attempt to get some warmth in the fingers

 Nothing was going to stop us though.  We were determined to reach the top!  We trekked through the trees and then through the valley.

What a landscape!

Finally the top was in view!

The peak is the far left highest point on the range.

After crossing the valley we came upon the rocks.  Being the first-timers that we were, we weren't sure where to go from there.  Luckily a very nice father-son duo came up just in time to explain to us the cairns.  Cairns are these wonderful little piles of rocks that strategically lead you up the mountain.  You hike from cairn to cairn all the way to the top!

A very nicely built cairn

As the day went on the clouds got a little worrisome.  They just kept growing and growing, but thankfully they never caused any problems.  They were certainly the topic of discussion with all the other hikers we happened upon.

 

Our little  marmot friend was an exciting find towards the top.

 

After about 4 1/2 hours of hiking the 7 mile trail, we reached 14,420 feet.  What a view!  It was gorgeous up there and you could see for miles.

No Mango Escapade would be complete without a mango.  Yes, we actually cut and ate a mango at the very peak of Mt. Harvard.  I bet not many can say they've done that!

After a refueling at the top and taking in the amazing scenery, it was time to head back down.  It seemed to go on and on.  We found ways to entertain ourselves though...

Maria brought a trusty knife to protect us, but we decided maybe she could grab us a fish to eat from the stream.

  And finally we reached the end.  Mt. Harvard Escapade accomplished!!!

We're out!

Hellacious Race in Colorado Springs

Due to unfortunate circumstances we had to do the race in different roles.  Maria was injured last weekend after running down Barr Trail.  Sadly, she was unable to run the race and volunteered to help instead.  Laurie ran by herself :(.  The first part of the escapade will be told from the two different perspectives.

Maria's perspective: So I attended the volunteer meeting the night before the race.  My friend Jessica was kind enough to volunteer with me. We were fed a free meal of pizza from the lovely Pizza Hut.  Our roles for the event were to sign up to help at an aid station.  I was appointed to be the team leader. This meant I got to call 911 in case of an emergency.  The morning began at 5 am; Jessica and I were to arrive at the race at 6 am.  Let's just say McDonald's coffee was calling my name!!  Upon arrival we were immediately told to hop in our cars and follow the director to our aid station location.  The drive up to the aid station was gorgeous.  The sun was rising over the mountain tops and it was glowing all around us.

We finally arrived and were told we had to hike up this hill to the location.  Luckily I was up for a brisk morning hike.  Seeing the table with the water and cups and gels for the runners made me excited for the runners but feeling blue because I  was unable to participate.  After setting up the materials we still had an hour to spare so Jessica and I took a hike up the trial to explore.   To my surprise Jessica and I rounded the trail and saw horse manure all over the trail.  As a runner this was grossing me out, and I know if I would have stepped in this during a race I would be one unhappy runner.  So I decided to get a stick and use it as a rake to remove the  manure from the course. 

After the hike Jessica and I decided we needed some tunes to keep us entertained for the next 30 minutes before the runners arrived. We listened to various songs by the Black Eyed Peas, Pink, and numerous 80 tunes until we finally witnessed our first runner. He was fast as lightning and was focused on the race.  I got the aid station team pumped up to cheer for the runners!! One of the lovely volunteers, Robin, was tallying how many runners had past.  We gave out tons of water, powerade, and gels.  All the runners were nice and thanked us for volunteering.  I enjoyed cheering the runners on and being part of this event. I do have to say I was ecstatic when  Laurie ran by because she was doing such a great job!!  The last runner had gone by and my new friend Robin asked if she could look at my foot. She is a massage therapist and knows all about injuries.  She gave me a foot massage and some great advice to help heal my foot.  I appreciated it all and I hope that the remedies will cure my injured foot!! After an hour and a half we were on our way to the finish line to see how Laurie did!! 

Laurie's perspective: My morning luckily didn't start until about 7am where I gathered with all the other racers to start the hellacious course.  Being a trail run we were all concerned about staying on the right course, and we got off to a great start.  The lead runners led us all down the wrong trail!  The race director was quickly yelling at us and flailing his arms to get us back on track.  The rest of the course was well marked with neon orange flags and chalk arrows, which were greatly appreciated.  The course was filled with great rock climbs and descents such as this:

I was very fortunate to stay on my feet despite a few slips and slides.  Others at the finish line apparently didn't fair so well and walked away with some battle scars.  At mile 4.3 I came to the best water stop ever!  Maria and Jessica were there to cheer me on and offer water and powergel.  They were awesome encouragers!  The rest of the course offered amazing views over the city and of the mountains.  I loved the adventure of the ups and downs over the rocks!

The finish line had much more excitement to offer.  There were free goodies for all!  At first we were happy to get snacks of oranges, bananas, trail mix, granola bars, and bagels.  Little did we know there was much more to come!  As we ventured around we came across the North Face tent.  We found our new running shoe for 2011!  We wanted to get them immediately, but we were informed that they're not for sale now even after Maria tried to persuade the North Face rep.  Take a look, available in February 2011:

The picture doesn't do it justice; it looks even better in person.  Even though we couldn't get the shoes we did get free North Face socks and stickers.

After a hard race Laurie decided she needed a free massage, which was wonderful!  Waiting for that took us right up to award time.  To our surprise they started calling the top 5 female runners.  Number 5: Laurie Eastup!  What?!  This got Laurie a nice North Face bag.

Then they got around to top 3 age group winners.  Female 20-29 number 3: Laurie Eastup!  And since she already had the bag they decided to give her a gift card to Boulder Running Company.  Money to go towards the new shoes!  And if that wasn't enough then they did a random drawing for prizes.  We both got our names called and each got a gift card to Boulder Running Company.  Jackpot!  At the end they were giving bags to everyone, so of course everyone got a bag and now they will be our official race bags.  We concluded that this was by far our best post race!

You might think the escapade is over, but it has just begun.  As you know, every race must be accompanied with mangoes.  This time we decided to create our own dish: Hazelnut Crusted Scallops with Fresh Mango Salsa.  First, we started with the salsa, which required a lot of chopping of fruits and vegetables.

The mango slicer works!  Maybe we'll start our own mango business on the beaches of Guam, where we hope to attend the mango festival next year :)

The salsa turned out to look quite delectable!

Then came the scallops!  Jessica did a fantastic job of chopping and roasting the hazelnuts.

We decided it would go well with roasted corn and asparagus.  We also took the recommendation of the recipe and paired it with Pinot Grigio.

Before long the meal was complete!

Bon Appetit!

We felt like we were eating in a gourmet restaurant because it tasted as good as it looks.  We will now be adding the mango salsa to all our meals!! Yumminess!!  To top it all off Maria had slaved over the stove the night before to treat our taste buds with homemade mango ice cream!! It doesn't get any better than this!!

We hope you enjoyed this mango escapade.  We look forward to sharing many more escapades with you in August.

Steamboat Springs Escapade

 As you know our first escapade began in Steamboat Springs, CO.  We were greeted by our first Couchsurfing host.  We were immediately welcomed into their home and given the option of staying in our very own room or in the green bus. 

As nice as the bed in the green bus looked, we opted for our own room in the house.  Maybe next time we'll consider the bus.  Fortunately our Couchsurfing house was within walking distance of downtown.  They kindly walked us to the main street, which is when we first realized just how small Steamboat is.  Everyone knew everybody, and it was really quite fun. 

At the recommendation of our hosts we decided to try Azteca for dinner.  What a great decision!  They specialize in delicious burritos.  We tried the chicken burritos topped with the most important element...mango habanero sauce.  Don't be afraid of the heat!  It is essential to the burrito.  Both of us have been craving these ever since we left.  If you find yourself in Steamboat, make sure you treat yourself to an Azteca burrito.

We followed up our burritos with Ciao Gelato.  Laurie of course had to try the mango gelato.  Maria went with hazelnut and chocolate chip.  It was all delicious, but we would recommend going with the hazelnut.  Another great place to stop by when you're in town.
                                                                              
Saturday brought more fun.  We started the morning on a quest for our very first patch!  Things were not looking too great, but alas we found them.  It was meant to be. Steamboat Springs patch: check!

For lunch we went for a delightful meal out on the back deck of Sweet Pea.  It sits right on the Yampa River, which was raging while we were there.  It turns out that Sweet Pea had only been serving lunch for 5 days.  For years it has just been a Farmers' Market full of wonderful, fresh produce.  You wouldn't have known that they were so new to the restaurant business because we were so impressed by their food.  It doesn't get much fresher than that!  Our recommendation would be the Sweet Potato Salad - spring mix lettuce, sweet potato, almonds, ricotta cheese, and maple almond vinaigrette.  Sounds like a strange combination, but be adventurous!  It's well worth it.

For the afternoon we decided a relaxing trip to the hot springs would be great for pre-race.  We drove out to Strawberry Park Hot Springs.  For $10 you have all day access to natural hot springs.  It's beautiful and peaceful and the pools are kept at about 104 degrees. They aren't kidding when they call them HOT springs.  We also enjoyed the company of many chipmunks racing around our feet.

That night brought our first confirmation that we had indeed picked the perfect name for our adventures.  We were enjoying the beautiful weather on the deck with our Couchsurfing hosts and their sister-in-law.  Randomly Nina turns to us and says, "So when do your escapades begin in the morning?"  Our faces probably would have been priceless when we heard the word escapade and our hosts probably thought we were crazy because they had no idea what it meant to us.

Sunday was finally race day!!!  We had heard that the Steamboat Springs Half Marathon was one of the most scenic in the country.  After running it, I think we would agree.  The weather was nearly ideal and it was beautiful everywhere you looked.  At about mile 12 we received our 2nd confirmation that the Mango Escapades were meant to be.  On the side of the road sat an RV called Escapade.

 How perfect and just enough inspiration to help us finish out the race strong.

Before leaving town we just had to stop by Sweet Pea one last time.  What's better than a fresh fruit smoothie after a long run?  Sweet Pea serves up refreshing fruit smoothies right out in front of their shop.  A great end to a great weekend.  And so concluded our first escapade!