giving thanks

dear blogger:
I’m thankful for:
my family, my friends, my life in san diego.

MN climbing friend Amanda flew into SD on Wednesday evening where I took her to experience the famous In and Out Burger. (thumbs up!) Thanksgiving was spent at hockey friend Mysti’s in Poway. We had an amazing dinner and then headed out to Joshua Tree to get on some rock! Of course, the entire park camping was listed as full…but I had hope. We drove around the sites looking for a spot with only 1 car. Jackpot! Boys from Denver and Phoenix were hanging out by their fire, and as shy girls we argued who was going to ask. She did, and we were in. Enjoyed the fire but crashed pretty early. A cold evening led to sleeping in till 10am! There was no way we were climbing any earlier than that. Our first climb was The Bong which happens to be my first trad lead. Amanda geared up and “manned up” to dive into her first trad lead…with her shiny new gear. She did amazing! We did two more leads (one for me one for her) and got on a top rope problem. We had a pretty interesting (read: unhealthy) dinner in town. Burgers, onion rings, fried cucumber, and hot chocolate. Mmm…and then ugh! Saturday was a pretty lazy day, after having felt successful on Friday, we did Big Mo and the Aiquille de Joshua Tree. (pictures to come) We looked at another route but decided to head out after a large party had already set up. We arrived back in San Diego, had dinner at Phil’s BBQ (delicious!) and went bowling (and cheap beer drinking) with a bunch of my triathlon friends. Sunday I went for a very hungover relaxed ride with Buck and Bethany. Ahh recovery. I took Amanda up the coast to show her my favorite place and then to Pizza Port for some much needed carbs before her plane departed.

So, after a great 4 day weekend I’m back to the grind. Trying to get serious about this whole half ironman training. I ran 30 min on Monday and an hour today up in Solana Beach with Stephen. Yesterday was JT’s ride. I’m thinking about doing the tri club duathlon this weekend in Carlsbad. Hmm, what am I going to do without the swim?

Bethany and I are on this eating healthy kick; necessary after the binge of a weekend! It’s nice to actually have a kitchen as well as a buddy to keep me in check. I’ll end with some pictures of our delicious concoctions.