Merry Christmas!

Yesterday was too busy for a blog post but I'll try to keep up the every other day thing at least. JJ loved his new kitchen and Marni and I had a great time opening our budget presents to each other :) Marni's parents surprised me with a few DMM offset nuts at dinner too which is pretty rad!

Hope everyone out there had a fantastic Christmas, Marni and I sure did. We found out JJ was coming 2 years ago on Christmas morning so it's a little extra special now. Tomorrow my sister and her boyfriend roll into town and we're very excited to have them come stay with us. She's a third year law student so she is busier with studying than me and doing fantastically at it. One more week off work for me but I've got some homework to do. Lots of training and climbing going down too. It feels really good to be getting regular workouts in and I'm slowly starting to sleep better.

This morning I took a friend from my teaching program out for her first ever ice climbing. She was psyched to go out and it was fun to pay it forward in teaching a new climber. So many people have taken me out climbing and taught me key skills I like to return the favor for new climbers. Now JJ and Marni and napping, then more fun of some kind.

Day 7: Rest

Day 8: Ice 420 ft

Weight 164lbs (too much holiday candy!) I think I need a run or a ski later today...

Day 6

Yesterday I got out to TR solo some ice and mixed in Boulder Canyon (2 laps mixed, 3 ice). To be honest, the ice there is pretty lame this year and the top out is sketch since everyone has blasted all the ice away. Clear Creek isn't in at all yet which means it's an hour drive at least for any decent ice and 2 hours to fun stuff. Bah. I was going to play on the hard mixed lines anyway but the bolts were buried under 14 inches of powder and I already had to clear a bunch of snow off the first mixed lines I did. I should have put my crappy picks on before I left home too, oops. Lesson learned, I'll be filing today.

I debated going to Vail this morning with Chad and Erik but with lots of Christmas stuff to finalize and a dinner to cook I nixed it. Instead I'll do some 4x4's at the BRC and a quick run. Probably a better workout than I could have gotten in a short trip anyway. Now to finish cleaning and wrapping Marni's presents while she and JJ are at the kiddo museum. Marni and I are a budget so tomorrow will be really fun to see what she came up with this year. Luckily we've got JJ and he's the best present ever :)

Day 5 - 250ft ice/mixed

Weight: 163lbs

Day 6 - Run ~35min, Gym Climb 4x4's (routes)

Weight: 163 lbs

Day 4

Yesterday was a rest day which is always difficult for me unless I've done a lot of big workouts recently. Nevertheless it was planned and needed and I managed to stick to the plan. Today I skipped my run and instead went xc skiing for an hour with Turbo since it snowed a foot overnight. Between that and shoveling I was tired by the time I hit the gym this evening but I still had a pretty good bouldering session. Working on power is not my favorite (meaning I suck and have no power) but at least I get to cruise my favorite type of terrain during the warmup. If I'm ever going to climb the Flatirons 13a I have in mind then I need plenty of V6 power before I get to the fun vertical crimping part.

Day 4:

~1:00 XC ski

~1:30 steep bouldering

1:00 Ikea assembly (haha)

Weight 162lbs

Tomorrow I'm planning to swing some tools locally and maybe take a walk to check on Flatirons ice conditions after this big storm. Hopefully this new snow will settle out and I can get on a few big routes during my holiday off of work and school.

Day 2

Quick post, trying to get in the habit.

Ski and climb today, mostly working on technique and getting comfortable on ice again. Felt pretty good by the end of the day and home in time to put JJ in bed. It appears I fixed the oil leak in the Civic too. Marni had burritos ready for dinner, yum. She's still the best.

1:30 xc ski

~750 ft ice/mixed climbing (WI3/4 and M5)

Weight 162.5lbs

Day 1

I feel fat, out of shape, lazy. It's been over a year since I last blogged. No time or rather, time spent somewhere more important. So much has changed since I last wrote regularly, almost all good except for a pair of broken ankles. My cycling is non-existent, replaced with climbing and my new career in teaching. I love to teach but my program is extremely taxing. Luckily for me it's only 13 months long, leaving me exceptionally prepared and with a job and master's degree to boot. I'm halfway done now, finishing at the end of June 2012. 7 months in and I finally feel like I'm getting the hang of things. JJ is getting so big and he's a joy to raise. Watching him learn new things every day is so cool and I love being a father. Hopefully he'll grace these blog pages as he gets older with stories of his own adventures or if I'm really lucky, our adventures together.

I'm posting now in order to try and document a new adventure the same way I did before. June 2013 I wish to head off to Alaska again, this time without a bike. Undoubtedly I'm shooting high but I was when I decided to do Leadville with no training and ended up racing the Tour Divide on a singlespeed. Go big, fail big, succeed big. I'm giving myself plenty of time to learn along the way and get back to a high level of fitness.

I have a lot of stories to tell. Maybe some will make it here. Maybe they won't. Either way, it's hard to imagine what life was like before I believed I could do anything. 6 more months of school and an 18 month countdown.

Weight 163 lbs

Run 4 miles 34:41

Climbed ice/mixed yesterday in Vail (Day 0?)