the bush

you are probably wondering..... what am i supposed to be looking at?
this looks like a bush.why yes, it is EXACTLY what you should be looking at, because it is what my weekend revolved around.

many of you might remember earlier this year when i single-handily chopped down 3+feet of thick overgrown lilac bush..... single branch by single branch (because it was so extremely thick). at that time, our conversation was like this:
andi: did you notice the bush?! look how much i chopped down!
dallas: yes, i saw it. it looks much better (lack of enthusiam)
andi (10 min later, still looking out window at miraculous change): hey! come look at the bush! did you see?
dallas: yes, for the 10th time, it LOOKS BETTER (patience getting short)

since we have had a lot of rain, the bush has once more got out of hand and it was time to trim 2 feet of small.....very small branches off the top. for this, dallas required me to hold the ladder for him while he used the electronic bush trimmer to do this. now, i must give credit where credit is due.... that thing is heavy and his forearms did hurt for the rest of the weekend.... now the story has changed.
dallas: wow... that is a good looking bush!
andi: remember.... i did that my myself earlier this spring
dallas: yeah.... but now it has shape. look how good it looks. i bet all the neighbors are happy becasue the bush looks SO good

(every 5 min or so) dallas: wow. the bush looks GOOD!

ugh... YES! and since it looks SO good i'm making you all look at how good it looks again!
hopefully tomorrow we have something more interesting to blog about

runner #9

tonight we had a co relay team meeting to decide which legs we would be running.

i had to come home from work and quickly decide which ones i would be worst at, and then had planned to plead my case that i should not have to race these.

as it turns out, all the girls on my team are great, and have decided that i will be leg #9. according to the race directors this is the 3rd hardest leg (based on elevation and distance). the only other people running the harder ones are the people crazy enough to do ironmans.

now i get to train for:
leg one: 5.9 mi, moderate
leg two: 10.78 mi HARD (emphasized in all caps on the handout sheet). this leg will be at night. (which is awesome because i really love the night portions of 24 hr races)
leg three: 5.13 mi HARD (again, emphasized in all caps)

bye bye love

dear blue jeans,

i remember the day i got you---
you were the last resort after finally convincing
the lady at the store i had large thighs.
you were once dark, and not faded.
and despite all the smaller holes, i was convinced that i could wear you once more....until i found the massive hole in the butt (which i'm glad i found before we went out together in public again) and now you'll hit file 13.

i think i'm most sad that i'll have to go thru the depressing experience of shopping for a new favorite pair of jeans. bummer.

Slacker's Weekend

so we set out to do 8 14ers, but only did 6...so we're calling it slacker's weekend! here's the recap:

for those of you who don't know, 14ers are mountains that summit at above 14,000 ft. there are 55 in colorado.

friday night:
drive to kite's trail head at the base of democrat. car camp. i must say, the commander is rather comfy.

saturday:
leave by 5:30 to beat the crowds up.
tag democrat, cameron, (which technically is a 14er, but is not considered one by most 14er standards since there is not enough rise between it's saddle and lincoln's summit), lincoln and bross. jenny and dog coco came with for day one. ( we also took pics of ourselves at the top of every mountain (except belford) but won't bore you with every single one of those pics. they look pretty much the same.) done by noon, drive to breck to eat

sat night: drive to chaffe cty road 390 and camp out. this road is one of our top co beauty spots. i realize it's hard to see it's beauty thru the bugs on the windshield, but a GORGEOUS valley. fortunately we get to head back this way to do huron peak. on the way there, we stop at leadville at the melanzana (spelling is not correct, but translates to eggplant) store. like any member of the snifferdoodle party, you have to stop here when in passing and grab one of these awesome hoodies. seriously--- you put one of these things on and hope the weather is bad forever on. they're just THAT comfortable. (d and i got boy and girl colors, which i find funny) and apparently they give you superpower strength.

evaluate dallas' swollen and painful knee from hiking injury earlier in the day. (which is either ligament strain or meniscus tear. either of which he should be resting, not hiking). he decides we go for it the next day. car camp again....asleep by 9:00.

sunday:
alarm off by 4:00--- we actually move by 5, on the trail by 5:30. dallas takes off at grueling pace. well, grueling for everyone except dallas. it was 34 when we started. within the first 5 min i was working so hard i peeled down to my tshirt and wore winter gloves and was just right for the next hr.....totally anerobic. (i shouldn't complain since i am doing the co relay in a few weeks and i told myself that i need to let dallas just go and i need to keep up with him but gosh, it was PAINFUL!)

when you finally get out of tree line you look up at belford and want to cry. the trail up is a giant stairstepper and really is straight up.

once up belford 9am (freezing, may i add) you head down the saddle and back up oxford... which was really a pleasant hike. 10 am. then head back the saddle to belford 11:00 and take the valley hike down to meet missouri mtn's trailhead. bobbi kae--this pic is for you! (bobbi got me these awesome socks. now looking at this pic, i'm thinking i should photoshop in a tan on those white girl legs, huh?)

now, most people don't do the 3some combo. the book says it is a tough day.... and gerry roach wasn't lying. missouri mountain was misnamed as it should have been misery mtn, but i'm sure that this is just a typo that no one has caught until now. by the time we get to the trailhead for misery mtn, my inhalor has completely wore off (i left it in the car---good move, huh?) and i feel like either my head will explode (from no inhalor) or my legs will start shaking so bad i'll fall flat on my face. basically you climb straight up (again) for 1 hr, hit the ridge and climb/scramble over to the highest peak. by the time we hit the top, the fun factor was zero and it was there we decided to call it a weekend.

descend everything (missouri mtn on the right),
go down the valley, and curl up in the car seat for the trip home. gas station root beer has never tasted so good!
a special thanks to adam & chelsie for watching ez

total trip elevation: 11,000 ft
total trip mileage: 21.4