2012 – 52 hikes in 52 weeks
2013 – completed 2 FULL marathons (Alaska & Arizona)
2014 – Ironman Boulder
- Swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles & run 26.2 miles – yep, 140.60 miles in a day
Impossible? Maybe – but won’t know ‘til I try. After completing my 2nd FULL marathon last month in Tucson, decided to continue with one FULL marathon a month ‘til Ironman in August (assuming my body continues to hold up).
Started swimming in late October – hit my Ironman distance for the first time today 🙂
Biking? Hmmm… Well I own a bike – but don’t plan on training ‘til April (after Colorado winter). Folks say it’s the easiest of the 3 disciplines. Haven’t consistently rode a bike since I was 9 – yet I plan on biking 112 miles by August. Yikes!
Scary stuff – but that’s what goals & resolutions are all about, right? Expanding your horizons, pushing yourself to greatness & living a life with zero regrets. Happy New Year 2014!
2014 Marathon schedule
January – Baton Rouge, LA
February – Austin, TX
March – Atlanta, GA
April – Salt Lake City, UT
May – Kennebunk, ME
June – Minneapolis, MN
July – Missoula, MT
Mt Sanitas, Boulder
They packed up, gave notice & drove across America – from Jersey to Colorado.
Welcome to your new Colorado life Ash & Tom!
What an awesome way to end 2013 🙂
Welcome to Colorado!
new BFFs, Ro & Marty
After a super fun day exploring ancient Pueblo ruins at Mesa Verde, woke early excited about my Day Two adventure – dog sledding! Another bucket list activity – check, done 🙂
Met up with 2 guides (‘Kentucky’ Chris & Sarah) from Durango Dog Ranch & 2 other day mushers from Sweden (Monica & Ida) at a local coffee house in Mancos – approx 35 minutes west of Durango on Highway 160.
Because of recent warm weather (past 2 days), drove deep into Mancos State Park in search of adequate snow for sledding. Kentucky Chris who lives nearby in a yurt (whole lotta back-story here) gave us our safety/do/don’t speech & we started unloading dogs. Sarah showed how to harness the friendlier dogs – lotta yapping, lotta fun.
What didn’t I know? Alaskan huskies are mutts. Each have a small percentage of Siberian husky in their bloodline (which makes them wanna pull) but then the remainder is greyhound or pointer generally – added for speed.
What else? Siberian huskies don’t really love people. Their temperament are more like cats. They really don’t need us. They’ll take food of course but not a fan of petting or human affection. Today’s huskies with a higher Siberian mix were very standoff-ish, sported sky-blue eyes – and made the best sled dogs.
What about whips? Yea, they thought I was crazy. I guess that ended sometime around Jack London. Now it’s all voice commands – HAW for left, GEE for right, YIP YIP for go & WHOA for stop.
Where do the humans go? One stands on the back, one rides on an ice chest in the sled (where supplies generally go).
Yip, Yip & away we went.
These dogs LOVE to run. Had to stop twice to avoid cattle guards (which can break the dogs’ legs) & with each stop, one of our lead dogs in particular kept jumping straight up & down – and barking wildly. LOVE LOVE to run, can’t wait to start up again.
Took a turn as Musher for a short distance but I’d be fibbing if I told you I did any more than went for a ride. The dogs knew to follow the groomed path ahead – I yelled HAW & GEE to keep us out of snow banks…that still counts, right? 🙂
Day ended with water, chow & hot dogs for the huskies – hot chocolate, hummus & crackers for us humans.
So was it worth the 7 hour drive? YES, YES, YES.
WATCH my clip ‘Durango Dog Ranch’!
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- today’s sled team line up
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- unloading & do/don’t speech (Kentucky Chris)
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- harnessing the Team (Sarah)
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- a quick Yip Yip & off we go
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- my turn as lead Musher
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- FAAAAANNNTASTIC day!
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- EOD pit stop — water & chow (dogs); hot chocolate & hummus (peeps)
