Friends

disclaimer....not sport related...because #life #love #friends #theimportantthings #32loves117 #radoroverwedding #1776

Let's try to squeeze 7 adults in a car made for 5...smart. 

I love my friends. I love, love. What a weekend!

This pretty much sums up the weekend....

This past week, I was lucky enough to get to go back to the mainland for a wedding. Although it takes FOREVER to get back to the east coast, it was definitely worth it. It's been almost 4 years (Napa 2012....can we go back?!) since the 6 of us have all been back together, on a trip for an extended period of time. Make me miss college. #32loves117. The hanging out and living together with not a care in the world part, not the swimming and going to class part. Although I do kind of, sort of miss the swimming part (I can't believe I just typed that). Anyways.....

My college girlfriends and I rented a condo right on the beach on Amelia Island and spent the weekend together just like old times. Everyone was sans kids and mostly sans significant others (Nate and Jake, you were troopers!).

The weekend was full of lounging, wedding festivities, rehearsal dinner, putt-putt on the golf course, going down memory lane, talking about the future, photo booth-ing, dancing, drinking, eating and celebrating us (and Trish and Brandon, of course). I also learned how to snapchat and faceswap and bitmoji...I'm not old yet!!

I can't believe we've all been friends for almost 15 years...maybe we are getting old! We live all over the country, Arizona, Colorado, DC, New Jersey, Hawaii and Florida....and to be able to get back together and not miss a beat after having not seen each other in ages is what friendship is all about.

However it's not like we don't communicate, sometimes I wake up to 64 text messages (no joke, it really was 64 the other morning) from our text string so we definitely keep in touch. I miss these girls so much and am so thankful we were able to have this weekend...it just keeps getting more and more difficult to have these weekends as everyone gets married and starts having babies. So I am #thankful for times like this. LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!

I know I said this was #notsportrelated, but we are triathletes of course so we did manage to squeeze in a few runs while we were there. Leslie and Nate nearly killed me on one of them, but it was probably one of the better runs I've had, so thanks for that.

Great wedding, great friends, amazing weekend!  Thanks to the Rado and Rover families for having us. We'll come back anytime!

I'll leave you with a few more snaps (not snapchats) from the weekend....

Arizona with these peeps for the night and heading back home tomorrow...

Are they not the cutest kids ever?! 

Malaekahana 40km TT

I don't know how to race a TT on my bicycle. Well, I KNOW how to do it, but when it gets hard, I don't want to say I give up, but I back off a bit because it's hard...I don't know why I do this because I don't do it when I'm swimming or running (hmmmmm?)....I know that's not the right thing to do when you are supposed to be racing your bike as fast as you can for an hour, but I do.

Riding bike up hills, I don't seem to do this, I can push, push, push uphill, but in flat, fast TTs I struggle. And I finished and felt like I could go for a pretty solid run...#triathlete. Congrats Kristy on taking the OA, much deserved!!

I guess I don't have a ton to say about this race other than I need to learn how to push harder on a flat, fast course, it was windy, the roads were semi wet, there was a headwind with some pretty gnarly crosswinds on the way out and a killer tailwind coming home. Carl and the other folks at Outtabounds Hawaii did a great job putting on this race, hopefully next year more people will come out!!

10,023ft

Sunday was my third time riding up Haleakala and it didn't disappoint. You never know what you're going to get in March. It could be clear, sunny skies, no wind and 70 degrees or it could be cloudy, rainy, wet and cold, cold, cold. Well, let's just say we lucked out this year and had almost perfect weather for our ascent. 

The ride is actually quite nice, if you don't mind climbing up a mountain on your bike all morning.  And any day you get to ride bikes is a good day in my book! It's a totally achievable ride, if you are prepared and have the right support. Thanks to all the BOCA support people, family, coaches and cars that were there for us, it would have been a much less enjoyable day without you all out there! Definitely a must do if you enjoy riding your bike in cool places.

You can break down the ride into 3 distinct sections and each of the sections should take about the same amount of time to complete, so it's nice palatable chunks instead of thinking you will just be going up, up, up ALLDAYLONG. The first section is from Paia town to Kula Lodge at about 3000ft. The second section is from Kula Lodge to the visitors center at 7000ft and the final section goes from the Visitors Center to the summit at 10,023ft! Making sure you have enough liquid and fuel before starting each of the sections is always a good idea. The most difficult section is definitely the middle portion of the climb, it's the steepest and seemingly takes the longest. But, after you pass the visitors center ($8 to get past on a bike) the final section flattens out quite a bit and you can kind of jam the rest of the way to the top.  

The last quarter to third of a mile to the top is a doozy. This section is almost nicer when you can't see what's up in front of you. We had a beautiful day so you could see every steep section and sharp turn in the final push to the top! When you make the final turn to the summit the road gets extremely steep and you, well I, just want to get off my bike, but you are so close and have ridden almost the whole thing anyway but you just need to keep plugging along, get out of the saddle and press on, you're almost there! 

The reward at the top is so worth it, especially when you worked for it and you didn't just ride in a car to get there! 

I am beyond proud of this one ^ what a trooper, her first trip up Haleakala and she didn't give up, not once!!!

What a great day! 36 miles (well 42 from the hotel) from Sea-level to summit! And look at the sky!!! 

Then came the descent. The weather started to turn, the clouds rolled in, the temperature was dropping, so we needed to bundle up to head back down the mountain (that might be a little dramatic, but it did get cold on the descent, I mean look at what I'm wearing!) #thinblood. I don't love descending, but I would rather descend than sit in a car, potentially get car sick and be back at the hotel in the same amount of time. 

All-in-all it was such a great day on the bike! I love this mountain and I will be back in June for Cycle to the Sun once again!!!

Maui Part 1

Every year at the end of BOCA's cycling clinic we take a trip over to Maui to climb Haleakala (the world's longest paved climb, from sea level to summit at 10,023ft)! Last year was the first year I went over and I sure wasn't going to miss it this year.

But first, on Friday night we had a nice dinner at Hana Ranch Provisions in Paia town, super yummy "farm-to-table" meal. Because that's the trendy thing to do now, right?! And we ended the evening with some Gelato, of course. Gotta fuel up for the weekend!

Saturday morning was the West Maui Mountain loop ride. 60-ish miles 4,500ish feet of climbing....

It's always a nice ride, maybe one of my favorites...however with outer island riding, it's hard to choose my favorite because the roads are so nice and smooth AND the drivers are not jerks AND there are actually shoulders you can ride safely on AND there's actually bike lanes AND it's Maui. 

Anyways, the ride is always touted to be a nice cruise-y social ride, with a stop for crepes and coffee at Maui Swiss Cafe in Lahina right before the final push home. The last little stretch home is always a doozy...riding into what feels like 40mph headwinds for 15-20 miles to get back to the hotel. But it's a great day and ride and if you're ever on Maui, a must do! 

A few snaps from the day.....

Haleakala up next....

10 day challenge

I've never really done one of these before and I saw Sonja post about a 10-day challenge  to "feed your soul." 10 days, I can do that and what's the worst that will happen, I'll be happy and doing things for ME (it was my month)...sign me up!

So the premise is..."feed your soul then see what happens to your body, your confidence, relationships, career and happiness" and I thought, why not?! This is the year of new, big, bold dreams, so let's do it.

Everyday we got an email that had directions, gave us something to think about and then we were to take a picture around that topic and post it to social media, FB, IG, twitter, etc. with #skinnydipsociety #challenge and @katiedenouden

That's it, easy. So here's a recap of my 10 days

Day 1:
Flowers For ME

Day 2:
Send Some Love & Gratitude

Day 3:
Write a fear and "Let it Go" (burn it, baby)

Day 4:
Your theme song, thanks Trish for assigning this song to me! Always think of you when I hear my fight song!

Day 5:
What are your cravings? Surface craving, to go home curl up in bed and watch a movie, real craving= health, happiness and fitness. Get outside!

Day 6:
Make Space. De-clutter, De-stress, get organized again. Since I basically live out of my car during the week, this was an easy decision!

Day 7:
FAIL

Day 8:
FAIL

Day 9:
FAIL

Day 10:
FAIL

So, I guess I'm not very good at things like this, but at least I gave it a try and it was fun while it lasted!

This is totally not something I am usually into and at points I did say, this soooooo isn't me, it's a little too hippydippy, BUT I will say, in the end it was nice and refreshing  to have something different to focus on for 10...well 6 days, something to do for just me. A 10-day  6 day challenge worth doing.

Hill Hell Day....

....briefly

At the end of cycling clinic every year we head over to Maui to go climb Haleakala. Last year was the first year I participated and it didn't disappoint. I actually ended up going back over in June to race up the mountain at Cycle to the Sun. Can't wait to go back again this year! Anyways, last Saturday was the last weekend before we hop on over to Maui to go climb "the beast" aka Haleakala. The perfect time to get in some solid climbing here on Oahu. We like to call this day, Hill Hell Day. Here's a recap of last year in case you are curious 2015 Hill Hell Day. (this wasn't the BOCA hill hell day, but it was still a day full of climbing and those are the best days on the bike, in my opinion!)

Here's a link that details ALLTHEHILLS here on Oahu....Oahu Hill Climbs

This year we climbed....
Hanauma Bay

Kalama Valley

Kamehame Ridge

Mariners Ridge

Waialae Iki/Laukahi

St. Louis
&
Sierra

5500 ft of climbing in 53 miles, I'll take it!! A beautiful day to ride bikes with friends and that is ALWAYS a good day.

And then on Sunday, we celebrated our good friends Tammy and Felipe who are about to embark on a new journey in their lives, moving to California, traveling across the country, enjoying each other and life! Super excited for their journey and they will be greatly missed!

How lucky am I to have all these great people in my life?! Blessed.