It's Hawt!!

I know... it's hot everywhere this week. I really feel for the people racing in this heat. Isn't Ironman Lake Placid this Sunday? I'm sending good wishes to all those IM folks and hope they stay cool and safe!

That reminds me! I think Badwater is this weekend also! For those of you who have never heard of this Ultra-distance suffer-fest, this is a 135 mile run through Death Valley, dealing with temperatures up to 125 degrees!! The run starts at 280 feet below sea level and ends at the top of Mount Whitney, Ca. at a height of 8360'. It is the most grueling running race on the planet! If you haven't seen it, check out the documentary Running On The Sun. These people are amazing! (Now I feel guilty for complaining about 82 degrees!)

Here in the Pacific Northwest, our temperatures are 20 degrees above normal. Ouch! I am basically a lazy athlete. Actually, there is no basically about it! My favorite time to exercise tends to be about 9am, after sleeping in in the morning and about 4-5pm, before I eat dinner. The challenge is that these times of the day are pretty darn warm. Instead of adjusting my workout to earlier or later, I've tended to let them slip. I know, I'm bad. But, after all, I only have one more triathlon this summer, (Aug. 5th) and that's it. As temperatures cool down in the fall, I'm hoping to pick up the distances of my running in preparation for the Spokane Half Marathon in October. (October! Oh my... it sounds SOOO COOL!) :)

I did a quick trail run this morning. Was shooting for 4 miles, but quit after 2.2 when I ran out of water. While the temperature was only 83, the sun was torturous! Every time I'd break out of the shade into sunny spot, I felt like my skin was frying! Hot, hot, hot!

The purpose of today's run wasn't distance, it was to test out my leg. I've had some pain in my leg since my race last Sunday. It has been an odd pain, which comes and goes, sometimes around and behind my kneecap and sometimes my shin. The worst pain was in my ankle. Oddly enough, my ankle would be feeling just fine and then I would feel the pain starting to build over the course of about 5 seconds until it became excruciating! Then after about 5 more seconds, it would fade away and be gone! Weird, huh? Feel free to tell me what you all think, but I'm thinking it sounds more like inflammation issues vs an actual injury. So, I did a quick run today on a soft surface. We'll see how it feels over the next couple of days.

On Monday, Urs and I are headed out to a campground at a lake for a few days. We just bought a larger RV, so this will be our shake down cruise.


Here is a photo of our new baby. We needed something a little bigger than our last rig that we could live in for extended periods. We had been shopping for this particular motorhome for well over a year, thinking that we would have to fly to Phoenix to get a good deal on one. Lo and behold, we found this one 30 miles down the road! It's a 1998, a couple years older than we wanted, but the mileage (32k) was right as was the price. It's got a big 'slide out' on the drivers side that makes the inside feel like a mansion! I'm going to feel like I'm in the lap of luxury!


This will be Urs and I this next week at Priest Lake in northern Idaho. While I have high hopes of getting in a couple runs and mountain bike rides, the exercise will be punctuated by long stretches of slothfulness. As I've admitted, something I'm becoming quite adept at.

Speaking of mountain biking, not far from our campground is the trailhead for one of the most scenic mountain bike trails in northern Idaho. Photo's to follow.

Tomorrow, the Washington State Cycling Time Trials start and end on the street in front of the RV park. I plan on sitting in my lawn chair out on the sidewalk and watching the show. Expecting to see some serious bike porn! Nice of them to bring a cycling race right to my house! Very convenient!

Hope everyone is staying cool! It's suppose to be 102-104 for the next 5 days here! WOW-ZER!