Sorry for the lack of posts the past few weeks- it’s midterm week in my final three prerequisite classes before my Doctorate of Physical Therapy program starts in August so I have abandoned the blog to study the cranial and spinal nerves, chemistry words that I can’t even pronounce and the physics behind electricity in a circuit.

Speaking of studying, I decided to take the plunge on something I have been thinking about for the past several months. This weekend I ordered my study materials to become a certified personal trainer (CPT) through the American College of Sports Medicine!

It is in line with my future profession and a great way to make some cash while in graduate school. The certification is no joke- its a standardized test that ACSM recommends you spend 3 to 6 months studying for. I plan to take the test in the beginning of the summer so that when school starts in late August, I can focus all my energy there. I am really looking forward to studying and learning all about creating exercise plans for anyone from athletes, to people with health conditions, and people trying to get into tip top shape.

I’m so excited about where my life is heading career wise!

Ill be back with an update about marathon training (or lack thereof) after I kick ass on all my midterms this week!

With today being Valentine’s day I figured I would tell the story of how Phil and I met! It’s one of my favorite stories!

It was July of 2008 and I was fresh out of college, living in my first grown-up apartment in Alexandria, VA with a roommate whom I had known since college. In an attempt to make friends (many of my college friends moved to NYC after graduation) and explore our new neighborhood, we signed up for a introduction to rock climbing class at the gym near our apartment.

The class was held on a Saturday morning. We went out Friday night until the wee hours of the morning and I remember telling Ashley that I was not going to go to the rock climbing class because I was too hungover. She scolded me that we already paid the $25 for the class and we were in no position to waste money. She was right. With a pounding headache I threw on yoga pants and a blue tank top that had a hole in the left shoulder strap. I left the house without washing my face or brushing my hair.

We walked into the climbing gym, signed the waivers that said if we died we wouldn’t sue, and took a seat waiting for our class to start. I saw a tall and handsome instructor teaching another class and I remember saying to Ashley “God, I hope he is not our instructor because he is hot, and I look awful!”.

It was then that Phil walked up to us, told us he would be our instructor, and told us to write our names on a piece of yellow tape and class would start shortly.

The class was small- Me, Ashley, and two other people. Phil showed us how to put on the climbing harness, tie into the ropes and belay. Just when I thought things could not get more embarrassing, he handed me a bright orange helmet to wear as I climbed the wall for the first time.

Phil was friendly, so I started flirting. At the end of class I asked him if he and a few friends would want to go out to happy hour with Ashley and I. The next week we met up for happy hour (where I made sure to look super cute and brush my hair!) where Phil asked me out on our first date. The next three and a half years are history!

Guess I didn’t look that bad the first day we met? Or maybe my butt just looks awesome in yoga pants and a climbing harness? Either way- I fell madly in love with my rock climbing instructor

The title of this post is the best way to describe what I did this weekend. Lots of socializing. Lots of ankle thrashing.

Phil and I went to our first Denver Nuggets game on Thursday evening. Even though they lost, we had a great time! After the game we went to the bar down the street from our apartment that features free drinks for ladies on Thursday nights. I was giggling like a school girl after my fourth vodka and soda. Had to get my money worth

4th row seats!

On Friday evening I met up with other Denver bloggers for sushi and a movie. I seriously love how friendly people are here. I tweeted on Wednesday that I needed a girl to go see The Vow (which was not very impressive) with me since I knew Phil would rather go rock climbing (or do anything else for that matter). That one little tweet turned into this:

From left to right: Heather, Courtney, Lynne, Tiffany, me, Liz and Heidi.

It’s always weird to meet bloggers in person for the first time because you dont know them, yet you know all about them. We chatted for a long time before heading over to the theater.

Saturday, I hit the slopes with Phil, Liz, and her hubby Neil. The mountains got over 8 inches of snow on Friday night so Saturday was my first experience snowboarding in fresh powder. I loved it!

I graduated to the medium difficulty slopes this past weekend! That means I was able to go all the way to the top of mountain instead of only half way. I was a little nervous at first but I did really well and had so much fun. Phil told me later that he was really impressed with how comfortable I looked on my board. My Garmin also confirmed that I do snowboard faster than 4 mph

While I had a ton of fun on Saturday, my ankles took a beating being in those snowboard boots for 8 hours. Good thing we had beer to help ease the pain.

Shouldn’t that picture be the next PBR ad?

I woke up Sunday morning with sore ankles and hips. Nothing like a 10 mile trail run in Boulder with Erin and Liz to really make my ankles really hate me. I have never ran on a trail before…and certainly not a snow packed one…for 10 miles. The run was challenging but with great views of the mountains, awesome friends to talk to, and a random cow that decided to block the trail at one point, the miles went by quickly.

My social self is happy I was able to be around so many great people this weekend. My ankles are begging me for mercy…so I am going to give them a break…until next weekend when I tackle Breckenridge with 2 days of back to back boarding and a long run. Hang in there ankles, I am making you stronger!

I <3 TTT because I can write a post that has no flow to it, and it’s totally random! Thank you to whoever came up with this mindless, yet genius, blog meme.

1. I have a new obsession with loose leaf tea. When my big sister was here this past weekend we ventured out to the mall during the snow storm and went into a store called Teavana that specializes in loose leaf tea. We sampled several flavors and both ended up loving and buying the Chai mix. I also bought a tea tumbler that keeps your tea hot for like a million hours. It was even hot after 6 hours of being left in the cold car while I was snowboarding! It has a double protection from spilling as well so it will be great when I toss is into my bag for school!

2. Speaking of snowboarding, I am going again this weekend! And next weekend! I am proud to say that this weekend I will be tackling a few blues (the medium difficulty runs) and moving up from the greens. I am still working at overcoming fear of snow sports but I think that will come with time. I’ve improved a ton, I am able to switch from my heel edge to my toe edge really well, but the speed is what scares me. As soon as I go more than 4mph I immediately slow down. I am going to wear my Garmin this weekend to see how fast I am actually going (I hope its faster than 4mph!) and how far I go in a day.

3. Since Brizzy hasn’t gotten any love on the blog lately, here she is being a huge fatty and checking out the food in the fridge.

She had her whole body except her back legs in the fridge, so I helped her a little. She didnt like it.

It’s almost the weekend!

With Valentine’s day around the corner, and the smell of a Hallmark holiday in the air, I decided to write a loving post on how Phil and I survived training for the same Ironman without breaking up, killing each other, or too many arguments (there were some, but not many).

oh the hilarious height difference.

1. Train together but not together

Just because you are doing the same race does not mean you have to do every run and ride together! In fact, it made more sense for Phil and I to each do our own thing. He is way faster than me and whenever we rode or ran together he would have to slow down so much that it was not much of a workout for him. And it frustrated me because he was leisurely going 17mph up a hill without breaking a sweat as I was chugging along at 6mph behind him about to die. Not good. If you are different speeds, don’t train together. We each found a training buddy that we were similar in speed, and enjoyed spending tons of time with. I think I spent more “awake time” with Kate than Phil at the peak of training.

However, we were both following a similar training plan, so our rest weeks and our peak weeks were the same. We both had 100 mile rides on the same day…mine just took 2 hours longer than Phils

2. date night!

I felt it was really important for our relationship to keep the “romantic” aspect. We are in a relationship, not training buddies. We made it a point to go out to dinner or something non-triathlon related together at least once a week. This was also my chance to remind Phil that I am capable of blow drying my hair and wearing clothes other than spandex. Granted, women do look sexy in spandex.

3. Dont talk about triathlon during date night

This came about one date night, where I was particularly cranky, and Phil mentioned something about his run earlier that day. I lovingly snapped back “I don’t give a sh*t what your heart rate was this morning!”. We (ok, mostly me) decided that while out on dates, we would avoid talking about sore legs, body glide, blisters, and all that jazz.

4. Know that your goals are different

I just had my eye on the finish line. Phil has his on the finish line in 12 hours or less. I struggled at first when Phil would come home and say “that 18 mile run was so slow, I averaged an 8:30 pace!”. 8:30 pace for me is FAST…but for Phil it’s not. In return, Phil would get excited for me when I told him I biked 100 miles holding almost 16mph.

5. Don’t use all of the ice

I’m not kidding. Don’t be the one to use all of the ice from the freezer leaving your significant other with no ice for their ice bath. A fight will ensue. Don’t. Do. It.

6. Be each others biggest fan

Hands down my absolute favorite part of having Phil race the same races is race day. We both are nervous in the mornings. He always hugs me, kisses me, tells me he loves me and gives me a “go get ‘em tiger” tap on the booty as he walks away to jump into the water. It always makes me excited to start the race.

My other favorite feeling is seeing Phil during and after the race. He always cheers for me as loud as possible. Most times if we pass each other we just give each other a high five. During Ironman, he ran up to me and gave me a huge smooch and a sweaty hug.

When I see Phil during a race, I always ask him if he won. Which was a joke at first…until he did win…like 3 times.

7. Know that there will be challenges

It certainly was not easy at times. We struggled to find time to hang out together. We would fall asleep on the couch before even talking about how our days were. Sometimes we just didn’t feel like talking at all.

8. Know that overcoming those challenges and being able to talk about how awesome your first Ironman was will be the best feeling in the world

At first, Phil and I thought it may be better if we did different Ironman races. We decided to do the same one because of timing reasons and I am so glad we made that choice.

Despite the harder times and a few silly fights along the way, having Phil be the first person I saw once I crossed the finish line was an amazing feeling. I think training for something that big actually made us stronger as a couple. We will be able to tell our kids one day that mom and dad did an Ironman together.

The weekend consisted of beer, homemade soft pretzels, snowboarding (Nikki is the snowboarder of the family!), the worlds most ridiculous game of scrabble where the Riley team couldn’t beat Phil, sushi happy hour, wandering all over Denver, impromptu dance parties, and amazing food. I’ll save you the play-by-play of the weekend but here is a picture summary! Yes, I know we look alike. We also have the same dance moves. It’s pretty impressive.

mmm beer

so. much. snow.

makin' soft pretzels!

pre boiled and baked pretzels

the finished product. mmmm.

drivin' up the mountain!

snowboarding!

taking a lunch break!

we had a great day on the slopes!

Colorado lamb burger, pork green chili, and a Colorado beer sampling!

Denver!

a quick campus tour

an amazing, amazing dinner!

It’s never a boring time when Nikki and I are together. Especially when we don’t know how to spell simple words for scrabble after a few beers.

Well January is over. That was fast. I have officially been in my new home of Denver, Colorado for 1 month. In that month I:

•  Started my last 3 prerequisite classes for PT school (hello Chem 2, Physics 2 and Anatomy 2)
•  Found an awesome part time job
•  Learned to snowboard
•  Went to the Rodeo
•  Started training for the Colorado Marathon
•  Celebrated my 26th birthday with 3 awesome dates that my wonderful boyfriend planned

That’s a pretty damn good month if I do say so myself. (and I do!) In February I hope to:

•  Ride my bike at least twice…I know that is not a lot but it’s something! I haven’t even looked at my bike since Ironman so I think she is feeling a little lonely.
•  Try at least 2 new recipes- one of them including shrimp. Ive never cooked shrimp before.
•  Snowboard down a green without falling or stopping before turning. I have been a huge baby on the slopes the past few times. After lunch and a beer, I do much better in the afternoon. Phil says the solution is to only snowboard after lunch. Clearly the solution is to drink a beer at breakfast.
•  Keep up the track workouts and running in general. I had my first taste of Yasso 800s on the track the other night and they hurt but I know they will make me faster.
• Meet three new friends (I have my eyes on you Courtney, Lynn and Heather!)
• Maybe…MAYBE…get back in the pool. Maybe.

What do you have in mind for February? Have any good shrimp recipes I should make? How about advice on how to not be a huge sissy while snowboarding?