jtree and me

Why do people complain that things get busy during the holidays? With more time off work, off season low volume training and things cooling off outside, what's making everyone so stressed?

Oh wait. I work in retail. This is my IN season. Weather means nothing in San Diego.

Last week was busy. I've been coaching a lot more lessons lately and finding time to fit them into this IN season training alongside work has been increasingly difficult. But I somehow got it done. Week two in the books. Monday was a horrible run on the treadmill after coaching a 6am lesson.

Tuesday was a killer GWL with noko, ian, and julie. Tried starting at 7am, but it was too cold. So off to Starbucks for a hot chocolate warmup, and we were off. Much nicer. Not sure what was with me, but at the top of Lyons Valley right before the store I threw up. No warning, no nothing. Just puke on my arm. It wasn't real puke, but mostly just the water I chugged with a HR of 195. Oops. No digesting anything when my HR gets up there. Somehow the rest of the ride ended up decent. I had fun drafting and playing my cards right going up stinker hill. We all took our turns battling some tough head winds on the flat section back to Starbucks. Right around a 2:30 loop, so it was quite fast. Finished the day with Christmas shopping and crafting. Ah yes, crafting. To most, it is unknown. To my college roommates, it's madness. My room threw up too.

Swam at the JCC Wednesday, Thursday was the Moment ride in the am and a dinner date followed by PJR season finale with Erin and Leslie. Boo to the mean girl winning. Wasn't too impressed with the season. But good news; the next season starts mid-January! No wasting time getting to it! Woohoo! Friday morning I snuck in a run starting from the Y going along the path by Sea World Drive. Hopped in the pool for 25x100 on 1:30 with the masters. I was swimming around 1:16s feeling good.

Friday evening Kyle and I headed to Joshua Tree. Luckily he let me sleep on the way there. Set up camp at the secret climbers free campground and crashed. Saturday morning we headed into the park, contemplated running, and started climbing. It's winter in the desert. The sun is up, no clouds in the sky...and it's freezing. :) Got on a couple of climbs and headed back to the car before the sun got too low, and went for a run. A slow run, but I got out there. As you can see...it was cold. Headed back into town for a delicious dinner at Crossroads Cafe and made it back to camp for some cider and a fire.

Tying in.

Sunday we headed into the park and set off for our bike adventure. I had never been further east than Jumbo Rocks but I figured Jtree was all the same. Random blobs of rocks set in the high desert with a lot of Joshua Trees mixed in. Wrong. Heading east and south we actually got into some significant climbing...well it was descending first and turning around after we had been going down for way too long. Our final climb up ended being right around 40 min...and that wasn't even going all the way down. The views out there are amazing. It made the 3 hour ride go by pretty quick. After the ride we headed to the Thin Wall and got on some easy climbs, but really just enjoyed the day. Finished with a soup picnic. A very nice couple from Washington offered us some white wine and had us finish their bottle. Very random, but much appreciated.

Kyle leading; looking for some nuts! :)

I had a lot of time to relax and enjoy the weather, the scenery and the company that Jtree offered me this weekend. It makes me miss having them off every week, but I am then reminded that I am lucky to be where I am. In a job that I enjoy. Surrounded by friends. And hey, you can't go wrong with a mid-week GWL to always look forward to.

I am also reminded that today is my one day of work this week. I'm going HOME! :) Back to MN tomorrow until Saturday afternoon. I will be missing the GWL this week, but for a great reason. My entire family hasn't been together since my brother graduated high school a year and a half ago. My mom already has a family photo shoot scheduled for Friday. Hopefully we don't end up like this: