Long runs, juicing and a BRAND NEW BIKE!!

Should we name this beautiful bike?

A lot has been going on 'round here lately! Most exciting is my new bike, the latest and GREATEST ARGON18 E-118. After saying good bye to my Orbea last year, I decided on an Argon18 E-114 and immediately fell in love. It has a longer wheel base, which makes descending a bit more stable and comfortable. Good thing for a gal who may not love going down technical descents at warp speed. After discovering how much I loved that bike, I got the opportunity to work with Argon18 this year and even though I was sad to say goodbye to the E-14, I couldn't WAIT for the 118 to get here and my resident bike fairy Mark to build it up for me. So here it is, in all it's glory (race wheels will be in next pics). I got my first ride on it this past week and am super stoked. This bike is going to be fast and it is making me excited for the first race of the year...when is that?!!

Mmmmmm, juice!

I have been continuing to juice up a storm, and am loving it. No special recipe, I don't have time to make it snazzy...just beet juice and carrot juice and mix them together. I juice only enough for two days as after that it seems to go a bit bad. And tonight before heading out for dinner I had juiced up a bunch of swiss chard for Mark and I to take as shots. Yummm, swiss chard shots (it seems like only yesterday that I was doing body shots of Tequila). Followed by a clementine and it isn't so bad. I figured after a big weekend of training, the best thing to do would be to get a quick hit of MAJOR nutrients. I have tried to juice other things like tomatoes and apples but they both come out very thick so I have stuck to beets, carrots and oranges as a special treat.

Jesster and I mid run...can you see her guns?

This weekend was a big one, Jess had invited me to go on Team Sheepers "ultimate run" a 17.5 20 mile trail run beginning in Woodside that finished with pancakes. It was gorgeous and brutal. Jess promised to keep it "conversational", which mostly meant that she was conversating and I was grunting simple yes, no, laugh responses. Seriously, if you haven'ty met Jess yet, she has an amazing ability to always be positive.  I may be thinking bad thoughts, but she alwasy manages to help me turn them around and get through another smash fest of a day with her. The first 6 miles were 2500 ft of climbing, followed by 5 miles across Skyline Ridge and then finally down the last 6.5 miles. It really wasn't too bad until the downhill section came. And by that time I was debating whether or not I might prefer the uphill. It was a gorgeous day for a run and for the second day in a row after I got home I put myself to bed for a nice long nap. Two days in a row of napping for 1.5-2 hours means I am one tired girl.

The End! Long run done & dusted

And when this is what your dishwasher looks like after only one weekend, you know that you are a super athlete family. I won't even bother with my laundry...all we do are workout clothes...it's like we don't own anything else!