The End of an Era.

There I sat, on my bedroom floor. Deely dog snuggled up on my lap, looking up at me with those "I know something is wrong" eyes. My packed suitcase was next to us both....Deely despises that suitcase. She knows it means I am traveling. What she didn't know, was this time she was coming with me. Instead of traveling thru DIA with a bike in tow...I would have a pudgy yellow lap. Explanation: *After a lot of thought and looking ahead as to what my next year will likely involve, I decided it be best if Deely go back home to live in Massachusetts with my parents. It certainly wasn't an easy decision, but when I took emotion out of the equation it was clearly the right choice for us both.

Anyways. There we sat. Her in my lap and me starting to cry. Then I really started to cry. One of those, it just kept coming. I had panicked thought where I was certain 2014 was going to be my "best year ever"...and the unraveling would now begin. I thought "Wow. In this summer alone...I got to live with my dog in Colorado, move into MY house, train with the best, reach what was up to this point my biggest goal, experience what it is like to win lots of races, AND stumble into a fairy tale when I least expected it....yikes, it was a hell of a summer." I looked at all those pieces and thought that it just couldn't get any better. So, clearly it would have to fall apart...and Deely leaving was the kick off. Then I realized.....actually, this year was like "set-up". Everything happened just as it should and the foundation is laid for work to be done, new goals to be set, and memories to be made...So I reigned in that little emotional outburst and said outloud to Deels "The best is yet to come". And I believe that is the truth.

Now begins a new chapter...where with some of patience and heaps of dedication you can have it all. Oh and a side note: Now that I've been back in CO without a pup to care for....HOLY SHIT is my day to day a thousand times easier. #gooddecision

At this point Hyvee 5150 Champs was a month ago so we'll just not even get into it. Aside from saying the race was changed to a sprint course (eh, it is what it is) and I finished 2nd place Elite Amateur. More importantly our High Altitude Triathlon boys BOTH won 1st place in their age groups. It was a pretty epic cap-off to a fun summer. Nell and I were pretty proud. Oh, and I also had someone pretty special waiting for me at the finish line after having a great race himself. I felt #blessed that weekend (I really hope you detected the elevated sarcasm there with the whole hash-tagging of 'blessed'......)

Clearly not happy....at all.

In Other News:

Instead of racing Galveston 5150...I spent the day running with a friend on his birthday, mountain biking with my dad, doing yoga with mom, eating blondie brownies with Nonnie and Pepe and not worrying about a damn thing. I think I made a good decision.

So, clearly after Hyvee there was some time off off for recovery. I ate icecream 4 days in a row....ok 5 days....but I put just a littttttle bit of granola on it and would tell myself it was just really cold protein packed greek yogurt....That works right? Eh. Fuck it. I fully committed to this month of taking a break. Dusted off the bottles of TRIFECTA WINE to celebrate a great season. So delicious! You really should check them out! Trifecta Wines It took a bit to want to even think about getting back into training. Losing momentum is tough for me.

Me & Momma hiking in the Berkshires on our yoga retreat day at KRIPALU

Getting back to Boulder was like the flip of a light switch. I think the plane touched down and I was instantly feeling excited, focused and ready to set my sights on next season. Taking some time now to get back into training a little bit more, but still just whatever feels good. Reminding myself that this year of training is a marathon, not a sprint and I need to slowly build back into things. Spending some time on the mountain bike has been a blast, good for the soul.

Yep. My dad is pretty freakin' cool.

3 Signs You Are Surely In Boulder...

-You see a woman running intervals around the park with a neck brace on....
-During a lunch play date one 5 year old asks the other if they are "gluten intolerant" or "just enjoying glutenfree crackers"
-There are more than 3 milk alternatives at any given coffee shop...not counting soy

Quote of the Moment:

Cheers to changing aspens, climbing mountains and lots of check marks,
Aubs