Wildflower part two: the glass is half full edition

So, when we last left our intrepid author, she’d just finished crying on the boat ramp and was getting ready to head back to camp. I went back to transition and gathered up the majority of my gear. I left Slim there because the shuttles for bikes wouldn’t be running until later in the afternoon and I did not have the wherewithal to lug him up the steep walking trail back to camp. Todd was kind enough to carry my pack and I started my mental shift toward the new agenda for the day by looking forward to a hot shower.

As we got into camp, I ran into numerous team mates who were surprised to see me and had to tell the sad tale of what happened. Everyone was so unbelievably supportive and kind, which really lifted my spirits. My shower was magnificent and after a little chilling at camp, we packed up a lunch cooler, my little portable chair, some cowbells and pom-poms and staked out a good place to cheer for Catherine when she came by on the bike.

It was really awesome to cheer for the other cyclists out on the course. (And, to be honest, seeing how miserable some of them looked really took the sting out of not being among them.) I had an idea of when Catherine should be coming by and before we knew it, there she was. She looked surprised to see me and when I cheered her on, she said something to the effect of pulling the plug after the bike. I told her she was absolutely (effing) not and then Todd and I powerwalked down to the transition area.

Because I still had my race numbers, I could go into the transition area and found her fully changed into her run gear, standing in front of her spot. Having been in this situation so many times myself, it was easy to see that she just needed a little nudge and she was going to be just fine. So, I coaxed her onto the run course with a “just go out for the first mile, if it really sucks you can come back. Besides, what else do you have to do today?” And just like that, she headed out.

I texted our OTC teammate Betsy the situation and told her I was grabbing my bike and then would meet her to cheer Catherine on the run course. Todd and I rode the blessed shuttle up the hill and I released him to go nap/chill in the campground, grabbed my hydration pack full of anything Catherine might want when she came by, my chair, can of wine and cheering supplies and joined Betsy to wait for Catherine at approximately the halfway point of the run. There was a long hill that Betsy was planning to run with Catherine and I said I would do the same. After a little while a few more team mates joined us and we made quite a commotion when Catherine finally came into view. This picture says it all:

She looked so strong and steady, we were all amped up with pride and excitement for her. Betsy and I headed to the next viewing spot, right before the one-mile descent back to transition. It was great to chat with Betsy and get to know her better. Some more of our teammates joined us to high five her as she came by, all smiles.

The only bummer about the set-up was that there was no real way for us to get to the finish line in time, so we left Catherine to her well-earned triumph and headed back to camp for a group photo:

Clif was hosting an 80’s party, so soon our camp was filled with all sorts of rad fashion:

One of our teammates brought his costume box, so those of us who weren’t as prepared as Ms. Erica here could still join in the fun:

So. Much. Awesome.

I hadn’t really brought a full costume for the party since I figured I’d just finish racing about the time it started. But I did find some crimped colorful hair extensions that I tucked into my bag. There was one black one that I pinned on Todd as a makeshift rat tail. So stylin’!

Sadly, the 80’s party was a little bit of a disappointment when we got there. They turned off the 80’s music for some country western band (?!?) so a lot of us abandoned the party to go spectate an impromptu beer mile happening in another part of the campground. It was fun to cheer on that insanity and then we headed back to camp. By that point, we could hear that the 80’s party had ramped up, but we were too tired to go back.

The next morning, Todd and I had a leisurely morning at camp and then headed down to cheer on the sprint and olympic athletes. It was such a blast to cheer for everyone and see OTC kick some major ass. We stationed ourselves in the same bike course spot as yesterday and got to see most of the olympic distance folks pass by on the bike. Then, we went back and packed up camp. Originally, we were told that the roads were closed until 3, so I was planning to pack up and then go down to the finish to cheer. But, after we’d packed up, we noticed cars leaving the campground and decided to press our luck. I had to catch a plane to North Carolina early the next morning, so any extra time to pack my suitcase and be at home was too tempting to pass up. I was super bummed to miss the finish line antics and hear everyone’s race stories, but I will plan better for next year and not have a stupid business trip right non the heels of this race.

As you might imagine, I am already planning ahead for next year. I definitely have unfinished business with this course and a head full of plans on how to improve. Stay tuned for Wildflower: the redemption edition post in 2019! Huge thanks to all of my OTC peeps. This would have been such a huge bummer of a weekend without you!

Wildflower part one: the “what happened” edition

For those unfamiliar with triathlon culture or who haven’t had to listen to me yammer on about my doings (you lucky bastards!), Wildflower is an iconic race that’s been around for ~35 years. It bills itself as the “Woodstock of triathlon” which is pretty accurate. It’s this weird combination of hippie festival and Type A sporting event. And I’ve wanted to do it for as long as I’ve known about it – approximately ten years or so. But logistics of flying to a race where you need to camp combined training for an early May half ironman in the Pacific Northwest were too daunting. Then, after we moved back to CA, the drought had taken it’s toll on the event – the lake levels continued to drop until last year when they had to cancel it.

So, when the announcement came that Wildflower was coming back, I decided this was a sign from the universe and pulled the trigger pretty early. I’d been wanting a big goal to train for and now I lived close enough to be able to drive my ridiculous amounts of stuff there. Plus, as an added bonus, OTC announced it as a club race, so there were a ton of people to train and camp with. Huzzah!

Spring rocketed by and, before I knew it, it was time to pack up the car and head to Lake San Antonio!

I wanted to get there early so that we could settle in and not do a big three hour drive the day before the race. I was very glad I did, because there was a little bit of drama with our camping sites. The club had been promised ten reserved sites, but between the event organizers not really marking them and mis-communication over which campgrounds were first-come/first-serve, we only had three. Thankfully, our president carries caution tape in his truck, (WTF Charlie?) so we hastily marked off some open space:

But, thankfully we got that resolved and we could settle into the serious business of glamping. Charlie’s hammock got the party started:

Then Todd raised the ante with his inflatable couch and travel bar:

And then it just went from there. Todd and I have met our match!

The next morning we went down to the festival/race start. I knew this was a big race, but looking at the transition area was the first solid indication:

The swim start/finish. The long concrete hill to climb after swimming was an especially nice touch…

There were these cool steps with the winners’ names on them. It was basically a greatest hits list of racers in this sport. It reminded me of the bricks at Ironman Canada in Penticton – such a sense of triathlon history.

They also had these big cut-outs of famous past racers (I assume?) set up around the park. It was pretty cool.

It was hard to stay off your feet and rest before the race. There was a huge expo to look at, packets to pick-up, food trucks, music, etc. But I finally tore myself away and went back to the camp site to put my feet up and watch Erica hang the disco ball:

You heard me, disco ball!

The majority of the group had shown up by this point, so we had a great afternoon/evening of hanging out and chatting:

Then it was time to go to bed because the next morning was race day! (I have butterflies just typing that.) Ear plugs and melatonin helped me get a few hours, but I did my usual tossing and turning, followed by the butterflies/pit of dread in my stomach when it’s time to get up. It’s weird that I choose to do a sport where I don’t actually enjoy competing. I love to train for a goal, but the actual racing – not so much.

So, as I gathered my backpack of race gear and headed down to the start, I was doing my usual pre-race warm-up of breathing/trying not to cry/going to the porta-potty a million times.  The transition area now looked like this, so I had LOTS of company:

Photo credit: Erica Hruby

I hadn’t really planned well for a bright and sunny start line (note for next year, bring cheap sunglasses… ) and was generally feeling rattled. They said that transition would be closed at 8, 45 minutes before my start time and I didn’t know if I would see Todd beforehand with the huge crowd, so I had to leave my watch and wedding ring in transition instead of giving them to him. By the time I saw him, I was a little bit of a mess. He’s seen this movie before, to he hugged me and helped me into my wetsuit and generally calmed me down.

We found a place to sit on the dock and watched the swim waves start. It was good to take a minute to chill and gather myself. I was still super nervous, but feeling okay. Way too soon, it was time to put on my hot pink swim cap and join my wave. I gave Todd a final hug good-bye and headed over.

The swim start is super narrow and I’ve heard many stories of getting punched and kicked, so I started way in the back of my wave. As usual, the adrenaline of the race start had my heart rate through the roof, so I did my customary stop/breast-stroke for a couple of strokes to look at where I was heading, get my breathing under control and find my rhythm. I’ve done this so many times and while I’m not a fast swimmer, I am a steady one. I usually settle into a nice stroke, find a line a little off the buoy line, so I’m not getting swum over by faster swimmers behind me and get it done.

But this time, I just couldn’t seem to catch my breath. I stopped and breast-stroked a few more times and it just wasn’t working, so I finally stopped at one of the safety kayaks and paused for a little while trying to figure out what to do. (The poor 20-something on the kayak had no idea what to do with me, so thankfully my only real option was to keep swimming – either back to shore or to finish the course.) I started to feel better and so I headed out again.

The swim course is a big triangle and my kayak stop was probably a third of the way up the first side of the the triangle and I was finally starting to feel better and get into my groove a little bit. Then when I made it to the turnaround point (the top of the triangle) it felt like someone stepped on my chest. I moved over to the side, so I wasn’t in the way of all the swimmers, but I was seriously freaking out (which didn’t really help things). I was wheezing and thinking about all of Todd’s pre-heart attack symptoms and various bad scenarios.

So, when the second 20-something kayaker asked if I was okay, I was like “I don’t think so?” Like the first one, he didn’t really know what to do once I said I thought I needed to stop, but thankfully he found a lady with a radio who did. I cried on his kayak for a bit while the medical team came over to give me a ride back to shore. They handed me off to some nice paramedics (one of whom made my day by asking my age and then doing a double take when I told him. It’s the little things, right?) The paramedics checked me out, ran an EKG and listened to my lungs. They asked me a million questions and didn’t really have any explanation for me, but at least I could rule out my horror scenarios.

I walked up the ramp to meet Todd and had a good cry saying good-bye to the race day I wanted and accepting the one that I got. I was full of doubts that I’d done the right thing. (Was it lack of fitness? Was it an anxiety attack? Would it happen again?) Thankfully, my many years of doing this sport kicked in and I had to accept that even if I’d “toughened up” and made it back to shore, I was in no shape to tackle a long, hot, hilly bike ride and would likely have not made the bike cut-off. That mental picture went a long way and helped me be thankful that I could listen to my body, even when I didn’t like what it was saying. Plus, having my race end on the swim meant that I could still cheer Catherine on the bike and run. Stay tuned for part two!

Finding my flock

Author’s note: I was hoping to write this post before Wildflower so it could be it’s own thing, but life got in the way. So, there will be some unavoidable foreshadowing happening, but I will try to stay true to the original post I was planning to write. Good news, it’s going to be crazy long, but at least it will also be chockfull of pictures…

Wildflower training has been as full of ups and downs as it’s race profile. It’s been a long time since my last half-ironman and I’m not only going into this one without the fitness base of my previous ones, but it’s early May as opposed to the summer/early-fall races I typically train for. So, I’m super nervous about it. But something that is hugely different from my previous training is joining a tri club and having access to a community of like-minded crazy people.

A while back on a club ride, I got to talking with Catherine, a fellow Wildflower long-course trainee, and we were commiserating about the hilly bike course and how we were nervous about it. We both had plans to do a crazy epic ride that combined two shorter hilly club routes, so we made plans to tackle it together.

Here’s a little graphic comparing the elevations of the race and our training ride:
It was definitely a tough day, but I was really happy about how it went. I was definitely slow, but I felt steady. Plus, riding a harder course really bolstered my confidence.

Then the following weekend, I did an all-women’s metric century with some of my OTC ladies. We had a great day of snacks, tutus and 64 miles of saddle time:

Then, the following weekend, I hopped on a plane to head to the awesome trail running camp that I went to back in 2015. I was super excited to go back to an awesome area, hang out with my friend Jenn and meet some fantastic ladies. (I was also hoping to be in bad-ass trail-running shape, but hey, three out of four isn’t bad.) Plus, I was looking forward to a good confidence boost with my running like I’ve been feeling with my riding.

Sadly, my run fitness is not coming along as well as my bike fitness, so I can’t really say I felt great about it. Initially, I was really struggling with this and beating myself up about it. When you’re chasing a big goal, it’s easy to get swept up in negative self-talk and doubt. But then I decided to use this opportunity to train my mental strength as well as my physical. And from everything I’ve heard about the course at Wildflower, I’d need all the help I could get.

So, I decided to work on being gracious with myself and roll with where I am right now. I figured this would come in handy if things got tough at Wildflower. Plus, it allowed me to really enjoy the experience of being surrounded by amazing women in a spectacular setting. There was a much bigger group at camp than the last time I went. Initially I was dubious but, somehow, everyone I talked to was so rad.

It’s always so nice to spend time in this area. I mean, look at this scenery!

Plus, one of my awesome book group ladies also came up. She’s pregnant with her first baby, (which meant that I could actually keep up with her). Here she is, posing on this weird frozen white stuff that kept showing up on the trails:

And one with me photo-bombing in the background…

And then one with Jenn and I, enjoying artisanal post-run chocolate milk:

Let me repeat that, ARTISANAL CHOCOLATE MILK:

Plus, I got to meet Jenn’s new co-owned pony Strawberry:

And there was outdoor yoga in a beautiful place:

And as a special bonus: cans of wine by a roaring fire, laughing so hard it hurt and coming away with a bunch of new friends. In short, the training over the last few weeks has been tough, but it’s been made much easier by finding my way into this awesome new tribe of bad-asses.

Easter weekend adventures

This weekend was an Easter basket full of awesome. On Saturday, Todd and I went out and rode with Oakland Tri Club on a beautiful Marin ride. It’s a recovery week for me, so it was a nice relaxing ride followed by a lovely brunch. Then we had a few hours to relax before meeting up with Erik, Nerissa and their friends Janis and Dave for our Intro to Curling class. (Yes, you read that correctly… )

For those who are unfamiliar, curling is that sport you may have seen during the Winter Olympics where people try to slide these big weighted stone pieces into a bullseye on the ice, while their team mates frantically smooth the ice in front of it with brooms. Unsurprisingly, it’s a lot harder than it looks. First we learned how to launch the stones. You press one foot into this little starting block looking thing anchored into the ice, place the other foot onto this little Teflon slidey-thing and then put one hand onto either your broom (if you know what you’re doing) or a plastic beginner version and the other hand on the stone. Then you basically crouch down and kick off with the foot on the starting block, hoping to move into a graceful lunge forward…

But often ending up in a crazy mess:

But we eventually got the hang of it:

After they taught us the various skills/techniques, they had us play a game against another group of people. Every junior high P.E. anxiety flooded through me, but I tried to play it cool. The first game, my stone had to get a pity push from one of the instructors, but the second time it shockingly not only made it all the way to the other side, it actually landed inside the bullseye and was the only point we scored. Here I am with my winning stone:

It was really fun. Even for a girl who hates ice and slippery surfaces. 😉 Many thanks to Nerissa for organizing!

The next day was Easter Sunday. My typical Easter plans usually involve me realizing it’s Easter about half-way through, usually when I’m trying to go to a store that’s closed. This year, Erik & Nerissa invited us to join them on their traditional Fancy Easter Brunch at the Ritz in Half Moon Bay. The weather was PERFECT:

Brunch was ridiculously awesome. Words cannot describe it, so here’s a picture of Nerissa with the world’s tiniest carrot:

Nerissa was rocking the bunny ears and even got Erik to participate:

Todd and I had to rely on Instagram filters for our Easter spirit, but I hope you all had a great Easter holiday!

March musings

The rains have finally arrived in Northern California. I know we need the water, but man, I don’t know how I ever lived in the Pacific Northwest! I truly hate the dark skies and cold water dripping down from above. Add the omnipresent darkness of current events and it’s really hard to find stuff to write about that isn’t just ALL CAPS PSYCHOTIC RANTING. But lord knows there’s enough of that on the internet already, so I’ll confine myself to random tidbits from my life.

Wildflower is looming large on the horizon. Thankfully, a good-sized number of folks from my tri club are doing it, so there is a training plan to follow and group workouts I can join when I need company/ass kicking. Especially for getting out on the bike when it’s cloudy and cold:

(Photo by Charlie Keen. I’m in the back on the left. I think you can see my arm… )

But little by little I’m finding my mojo again. It’s been a LONG time coming. I’ve been getting up at zero-dark-thirty to get on the bike trainer or go to the pool, which I never managed to do consistently before. On Friday, I made it for my pre-work, outdoor swim in the actual rain. (I was feeling like such a badass about this, until the aquacize ladies rolled in and showed me what hardcore really was. It’s one thing to do an activity where you’re largely under heated water during a cold drizzle. It’s another thing altogether when you’re treading water with your full torso out there. Mad respect, ladies!)

Yesterday, I went out to do a long, hilly bike ride. Originally, Todd was going to join me, but he had some work stuff and his back had been twingy, so he stayed home. I decided to ride out near where I worked and tackle a climb that I’d bailed on the only other time I’d attempted it – Patterson Pass. I figured it would be a good confidence builder, assuming I could do it, and a chance to bump down to a shorter distance if I failed.

Patterson is a long, somewhat relentless climb. It seems like it goes on forever. I generally like climbs like this for training because they build mental strength, along with the physical.

And, of course, there was a ridiculous little steep section before the last part of the climb where I had to stop and take a wheezing/panting/recovery break…

But, I made it to the top and the view was AMAZING:

It was crazy to look down on all of those windmills, completely the opposite of the view I usually have. That climb was followed by many miles of screaming fast/slightly terrifying descents and then some lovely riding through the country. I was feeling so good that I decided to take on a second climb that had eluded me – the road up to Del Valle regional park.

My brother and I have ridden part of it as part of lunchtime and weekend rides, but we’ve never made it all the way to the top. Usually, it’s a million degrees and we have time/fitness constraints, but it’s always bugged me that I’ve never finished it. It’s another long, relentless climb with about a million switchbacks that seem to go on forever. It was the end of my ride and I was tired, but I put my head down and basically willed my legs to get me there. All in all, it was 40 miles of confidence boost. I was tired, but also really proud of myself.

Aside from all of that craziness, life has been work stuff and random adventures with this guy:

And this one…

Even when the weather is bumming me out, I know I’m so deeply blessed to be able to do this crazy athletic stuff and have such wonderful people (and dogs) in my life.

Girl’s trip: the Palm Springs edition

Sometime last fall, I was either listening to an interview with someone who mentioned that they’d just returned from a girl’s weekend in Palm Springs. My initial reaction was to grumpily think “I wish I could do a girl’s weekend in Palm Springs.” Followed by “Wait, why can’t I?” So, I queried my crew of PNW ladies (because, let’s be honest, they need sunshine the most) and everyone was receptive to the idea.

Because I have zero chill and a relaxed work ethic, I immediately sent around a Doodle poll for compatible dates and geeked out on rental house listings. Shockingly, there was a weekend that worked for everyone and direct flights were reasonable. It was meant to be! I booked us a ridiculous house and we were all set.

Before I knew it, February arrived and I found myself flying into Palm Springs. As always, I was horrified by the ridiculous number of golf courses and green lawns in the middle of the desert.

I got in about fifteen minutes before the rest of the crew, so I wandered around the tiny airport. Like many small southern California airports, this one had a nice outdoor atrium section. Unfortunately, that leads to scenes like this:

Everyone arrived and we headed to our rental house. It was every bit as ridiculous as advertised, with a beautiful view of the mountains from our own private pool:

It was a super chill, enjoyable weekend with some of my favorite ladies. We did some touristy stuff: wandered through the neighborhood, took a wrong-way/death march to brunch (sorry again, ladies!), browsed in the cute downtown shops and enjoyed delicious cocktails and Mexican food while watching hipsters and the Olympics at a bar in the Saguaro hotel.

But mostly, we lounged by the pool and just hung out drinking wine and enjoying the sunshine. It was so exactly what I needed. But Sunday rolled around and we had to return to real life:

The PNW crew were all on the same flight back to Seattle, which left about 3 and a half hours before mine. We had to be out of the rental house by 10, so we grabbed a quick breakfast before I dropped them off at the airport. Thanks to my friend Google, I learned that there was a community pool not very far from the airport, so I got to enjoy a little more pool time:

I’ve swum in a fair number of outdoor pools, but this is the first time I’ve seen a locker room that was pretty much open on the top. (God help the drone operator that thinks he’s going to see the ladies locker room of his dreams… ) But it was quite lovely to change in the sunshine.

Afterward, I had just enough time to do a little wandering around the cute downtown, grab a little lunch and then head to the airport myself. I returned home refreshed and happy to see my boys. Many thanks to my Seattle/Bend ladies for joining me on this adventure. I hope it’s the first of many!

Powering into 2018

How are we already two weeks into January? So far the theme of 2018 has been “Oh crap, how am I so far behind schedule?” I’ve been ruminating about the whole start of the year “fresh start phenomenon” and was planning to write a post about it much earlier than now, but hey, better late than never, right?

I LOVE the concept of a fresh start. When I was a kid, I always liked the first day of school because I believed that this would be the year that it all would be different – I’d finally be that good student/popular girl/”insert ephemeral and impossible to attain goal here”. Needless to say, that never seemed to happen and I would remain the same person. (Shocking, I know.)

Fast forward to New Year’s Resolutions. Same idea, but sadder because I should have caught a clue from the earlier lessons. Nope! “I’m going to go to the gym every day!” “I’m going to lose xx pounds!” You name it, I’ve probably resolved it. I think this is why the phrase “New Year, New You” makes me so ragey. Or maybe it’s just because that phrase is so. stupid.

But I can’t help it, I still love that fresh start feeling of January 1. This year, I came across a new (to me) idea that I really love: picking a power word. When I first read about it, I was intrigued and immediately overwhelmed. How could I sum up what I want to accomplish in only one word?

At first, I approached it from a logical standpoint. What are my goals? What do I want to accomplish this year? But that felt a lot like the resolutions and the words that were coming to mind just weren’t resonating. So, I tried to delve deeper – what was underneath all of those goals? And I realized that what I truly want is to not be swallowed by the darkness around me, I want to be happy and healthy and pursue the things that have meaning to me without getting bogged down in the bullshit and distractions that are all around us. And the first image that came to mind was a night sky with a few lonely stars shining bravely.

So, my power word for 2018 is shine. I like it for the above reasons and from the concept of Shine Theory from one of my favorite podcasts. I love the idea that you can elevate others while still trying to be your best self. And it’s funny, since I picked that word it’s been easier to get out for my workouts, make better food choices and, most importantly, to not beat myself up when I fail to do either of those things. I know there will be days where it will by harder, so I’m just going to focus on nurturing that flame inside me and giving it what it needs to burn brightly out into the darkness.

Farewell, big dog

So, one of the last actions of the asshole year 2017 was to take our beloved big dog Wally from us. Wally was 12, so we’d been steeling ourselves for his passing, but you’re never really prepared for them to go. I am grateful that if he had to die, it was at least in one of his favorite places – his “grandma” Susan’s house.

Wally was a very special dog and just about everyone who spent any amount of time with him probably has a story. He was mischievous, shockingly stealthy when it came to stealing food off the counter, but a genuinely sweet and gentle dog. He loved to snuggle close to you and one of his true joys was sleeping on the bed. He always felt like he had to ask permission, which usually came from resting his chin at the foot of the bed and staring at you with his sad eyes.

Susan rescued Wally after he turned up on her friends’ property outside of Salem. When we later met these friends, they said it took them a few days to get Wally to come to them. Given how friendly Wally is, this spoke volumes of how scared he must have been. We were living in Portland at the time and had been considering getting a second dog to keep Smokey Joe company. Susan called us to tell us she had a “fat lab” for us to come meet. (It turns out that Susan meant giant dog, because Wally was definitely not fat – just ginormous.)

Our early years with Wally were… challenging. The first year we had him, I wanted to give him back on numerous occasions. He was boisterous and out of control and none of the training techniques that had worked so well on people-pleasing Smokey Joe seemed to work.

One of my favorite “early Wally” stories was when a friend came to visit us. Somehow, Wally had gotten upstairs and shaken her suitcase all over the landing (and broken the zipper on it). Then, the morning when she had to leave for an early flight, Todd had prepped coffee for her. She told us later that while she was drinking said coffee, she looked over and there was Wally – happily chewing on her toothbrush between his two front paws. This pretty much sums up what we were dealing with.

Another favorite story from those early days was from a camping trip we took in 2007. We’d had him for not quite a year and we’d met up with a group of friends at a campground that had a special section for tents. We had the two campsites on the lower level and a family had one of the sites on the upper level. They had a few kids in the mix, two girls probably 11 or 12 and a younger boy, maybe 5 or 6. The girls had been super into the dogs, so as we were loading up the car, the dogs were tied up and the girls were petting and fussing over them, with the little boy hanging back a little unsure. On my next trip to the car, there’s my rambunctious big dog, sitting patiently, while the little boy is giving him a full body hug. I’ll never forget it, it was so sweet. Wally clearly had kids in his previous life.

Wally stole all manner of food off the counter – steaks, bread dough, entire sticks of butter. For a dog as big as he was, it was shocking how quietly he could jump onto the counter – once literally right behind me. We visited a friends cabin (who had good dogs) and he broke into countless bags of treats and food. We had to come up with various protocols of closed doors, baby gates and childproof locks on cabinets to keep him out of the garbage, right up to the end.

Wally generally wasn’t great with other dogs. I don’t think he’d ever lived with other dogs before because he was completely clueless about reading dog body language. He and Smokey Joe would get into various skirmishes because of it. So, when we wanted to adopt Austin, we were really worried that he wouldn’t accept the new arrival. But upon Austin’s initial tail wagging greeting, I think he genuinely enjoyed his new brother. The two of them lived together for three years with no fights and even ate out of food dishes side by side. It makes me happy that he was finally able to have a buddy.

It’s pretty amazing how much you can miss a big quiet dog who spent the majority of his time sleeping, but we really do. I’m so grateful for the years we had with him and I’m glad we stuck it out. RIP, Sir Wallace. You are loved.

It’s complicated

On one hand, 2017 was a real trash heap of a year. I’m typically pretty good at managing my media intake so that I don’t become overwhelmed with current events and political rhetoric, but that was pretty much impossible. The stakes are too high and the current administration’s strategy seems to be to carpet bomb the populace with terribleness, so that we can’t possibly keep up. UGH!

Not to mention, it seemed like everyone I knew was having terrible things happen. Beloved pets died (more on this in a bit… ), job losses, family member illnesses, and just random terrible things happening to people I care about, etc. Perhaps it’s confirmation bias due to the aforementioned political situation, but it sure seemed to be everywhere.

But I also had some really great moments in 2017. I tried to start writing a post on this blog so many times, but it just seemed so frivolous and dumb in the wake of all that was going on. So, I’m just going to say fuck you 2017, you can’t take all of my joy. Here’s a list of some of my personal highlights from this year:

Finally got back to triathlon
In April, I did the sprint distance at HITS Napa, which was freezing cold (like, for real, not just by my wussy California standards… ) I couldn’t feel my feet until mile 2 of the three mile run. But I ran every step and finished with a smile on my face:

I also joined a tri club and toed the line of the Oakland Triathlon Olympic distance. I was way undertrained, but it was so much fun to race in my city with a bunch of new friends (plus one of my rad Seattle book group ladies!) Definitely looking forward to coming back next year with some actual consistent training!

Celebrated 20(!!!) years of marriage
Since I still feel like I’m in my 20’s… maybe early 30’s, this was a crazy milestone. But we went to New Orleans to celebrate and had the best time. We stayed in a gorgeous bed and breakfast, ate and drank ALL OF THE THINGS and generally just fully enjoyed our first, but hopefully not last, time visiting that wonderful city.

Went to freakin’ Japan!!!

I need to write some retroactive posts for this trip because it was AMAZING. Seriously, find a way to go visit because it is worth it. We joined up with Erik and Nerissa for this trip, which made it even more fun.

Got to see Hamilton

Christmas present from Erik & Nerissa. It was fantastic. See it if you can.

A few random travel adventures
A Las Vegas trip with Erik & Todd, work trips to Boston and Napa (I know, rough life!) Plus, we got up to Oregon to celebrate my parents 50th anniversary and down to visit Heidi and the fam in LA. So many fun excursions, so little time…

And more!
Plus, as I scrolled through my Instagram to remind myself of what else happened this year, there were so many great photos of culinary excursions, wine tastings and general life awesomeness. Even though two good local friends moved away, one went to her dream job and the other to a pretty perfect fit for her hobbies and well-being. I look forward to adding both of them to the random travel adventures category in the near future.

So, let’s all cross our fingers that 2018 is all of the good stuff for the majority of the population and let all of the bad stuff rain down on a certain administration.

Fun in the sun with Susan

Susan came down for her first visit to our new digs. Austin was pretty excited about it:

Susan is one of those rare houseguests that doesn’t disrupt your routine all that much. She actually doesn’t want to be entertained. She wants to hang out and play with the dogs, but still appreciates the occasional outing. Like wine tasting on a Thursday.

We took her to one of our favorite wineries (and picked up our club shipment.) They recommended another little winery nearby, so we decided to check it out. They not only let us taste outside…

But it was freakin’ poolside! (Apparently, they have a house on the property that they rent out, which includes use of the pool area in the evening when the winery is closed.) I sense a future group outing…

But the rest of the view wasn’t too shabby either…

Mixed in with awesome outings, Susan did a ton of yard work:

Spring has definitely sprung in our little yard! I took the opportunity to take a photo of our gorgeous roses, before they got pruned:

We took Susan out for her 66th birthday to Greens restaurant:

And there was plenty of dog time. Here’s Blue getting groomed:

After:

Austin did not like when Susan would take Wally for a walk. (Even though he would always go for a walk right after… )

We took a trip into San Francisco for some tourist fun. We visited the Nespresso store, then walked through Chinatown to check out Coit Tower

Despite the various years we’ve lived here, I’ve never actually gone inside. It was really cool. There are a bunch of murals from the 30’s in the lobby:

And the top of the tower is pretty cool in it’s own right.

But the views of the city are the star of the show. Here’s Alcatraz:

The Transamerica tower and downtown SF:

And home sweet home, Oakland:

And that was basically our visit. It was so much fun to hang out with Susan but I’m pretty sure it’s going to take Wally a few days to recover…