July 10 - Sept 24, 2011 Training Review

Finally, I'm back. It's been a grueling two months away from training. With work getting busy and starting my masters program, my time has been extremely limited. Here is my updated training list, as limited as it is.

Run Week:

Run YTD: 827.80 miles

Bike YTD: 452.52 miles

Swim YTD: 10.32 miles

Busy Baby

Elias has been very busy. What does a 10 month old do to stay busy, you ask? I'd be happy to show you...

Trying to get into the kitchen

Finding new sleeping positions

Watching the neighbor boy play outside

Cheering daddy on in his Olympic tri

Chillin' naked in the sink

Vacuuming

Ridin' the hippo around the kitchen

Ridin' round the neighborhood in the Burley

Making googly eyes at mom

Watching his first snowfall of the season

Sleeping in his highchair

Quick MN Weekend Round 2

We made another quick trip to Minneapolis for Heidi and Ben's wedding. We spent the first night in Minneapolis visiting Matt and Kev, then drove to Rochester on Friday for the wedding. Even Elias had his own name card.

Aaron and E tore it up on the dance floor...

...which resulted in this:

It was fun to reunite with these girls again, for the second time this summer!

What a beautiful bride, huh?? We had quite the delay Saturday trying to get back to Denver. Elias kept himself busy.

Labor Day Weekend

The Blowers bunch made their way to Denver for Labor Day weekend. It was fun for Elias to spend time with his cousins. Two months in a row must be a record! Brit and E sported their matching shirts when we went to Ikea.

Saturday morning we all packed into one car (unbelievably) and drove to Buena Vista. We went on a short hike to Agnes Vaille Falls in the afternoon.

Mount Antero in the back

Look closely - everyone else is up near the falls

Elias loves being in his carrier. We made dinner over the fire, then roasted marshmallows.

The ranger warned us of bear activity earlier in the afternoon. Needless to say, I did not sleep well that night. Fun weekend!

E's first rafting trip!

This past weekend we took Elias out on the water for the first time. Sadly, we didn't even use our own boat. That marks a whole summer of our poor, lonely raft being left in the rafters in the garage. Hopefully next year will be less despicable. Elias seemed to enjoy himself as no crying ensued during the two hour trip down the river.

Ryder and Elias before getting into the boat



Right before E bit Ryder...not a proud parenting moment

Hopefully we'll get out more next summer! We put in near Glenwood Springs, right below the Shoshone section. It was a beautiful morning. After taking out, we drove over to Leadville to catch a glimpse of the LT100. Elias helped Aaron set up the tent.

We put Elias in the empty tent to play for a bit by himself while we caught up with Rob and Jenna.

We went into town and caught the first place finisher - I think he came in around 9 pm. That's an amazing time to have run 100 miles! Here's a shot of Aaron and Elias watching the finish...

...and one of Elias early Sunday morning in the tent.

We stopped at the finish line at watched the last two hours of the race. It was SO inspirational. Heartbreaking, too, to hear the gun go off signaling the 30 hour mark. I can't imagine being able to hear the gunshot, knowing you missed the finish by minutes. Aaron definitely got geared up for next summer.

Quick MN Weekend

We drove to Minneapolis for a very quick weekend, and Elias flew with Oma and Opa. Friday we went out on Kev's boat with Uncles, Oma and Opa, Auntie Rita, GG, cousin H and her parents.

Aaron spent Saturday recovering from a terrible hangover. He slept in the park while Elias laid in the grass next to him, and I was busy doing wedding things.

Elias was a machine on the dance floor! He seems to favor 80's bands. Sunday we woke up early and drove back home, and Elias stayed with Uncle Matt and Auntie Rita.



Pikes Peak

Friday night we drove down through Colorado Springs and camped near the base of Pikes Peak. There were beautiful backcountry camping spots before the trailhead - they were all very secluded. We arrived just before the sun set, and finished cooking dinner in the dark. Elias loved having his own little outdoor playground.

I sat and didn't do much while Aaron cooked dinner and set up the tent...let's blame my laziness on the fact that I was 6 weeks pregnant. That's all, not much else to report.