Courtenay Brown

Lately, I've gotten some amazing new contraptions and "training equipment" (i.e. clothes) that I want to share with you all in case you are looking for tips. 1. I think I finally came up with the perfect order from Splish. Today's delivery was just awesome, partly (obviously) because of the beautiful suits (what is it about bright shiny lycra? Is it a b-s-l affinity gene that sucks triathletes into this sport??) but also because I got to procrastinate going to the pool even longer ;) . Couldn't decide which one to wear, finally went with the Skulls and ...

...instead I get giant KNIVES in my back. Argh. For the fourth time in my brief triathlon career, I'm heading into a big race with stabbing pains under my shoulder blades. Last time this happened, I thought it might be mental, a psychosomatic outcome of stress and race fears. But I couldn't be more excited and positive about Wildflower, I barely feel stressed, so it's got to be something else, right? I think what maybe happens is that I work my body pretty hard during regular training, so that makes me susceptible to tweaks and whatnot. Then taper time comes and I am super vigilant about lazing around and doing nothing, which often results in Netflix marathons (who else loves ...

My mom is now totally famous, after being the lead story on my blog for nearly a week. Anyway, tons has happened since I last published something on here. Thing one, my aunt Betsy and uncle Tony and I lost our taste buds to a bad batch of pine nuts, and it's totally Trader Joe's and China's fault. Ugh, talk about unpleasant - I've been going through a period of nutritional apathy lately and getting a bitter taste in my mouth every time I ate something was just making it worse! So last night I got on google, remembered the gross pine nuts we all ate on Tuesday, and stopped blaming it on Tony for feeding us possibly ...

"When I want an opinion, I know who to call," said Tony as he was dialing the phone. My mom, his big sister, did indeed have an opinion. Tony and Betsy should fly into Philadelphia and then drive along the eastern shore instead of through Baltimore because even though Wilmington is a nightmare, overall that way is prettier, although every time she goes through Baltimore she notices that it's way faster, but through Baltimore on that particular Friday afternoon they would likely hit a lot of beach traffic. Then she asked if I was behaving myself, and I yelled "hi sal!" across the breakfast table to the speaker phone. In other news, I think I ate something. I don't know. Today ...

OK, I know that San Diego is actually pretty close to Mexico, but it is not Mexico, and all I know about border crossings I learned from Weeds.  So today, I am driving to what I think is home, and suddenly I am 5 miles from Mexico? On some freeway I don't even recognize? How did that happen! (uh, took the 805 split off of the 5 by accident whilst on the phone gossiping, didn't realize it for 20 minutes, then found 5 again, continued South for 2 miles without realizing it, so actually I was more like 3 miles from Mexico). It was all very confusing, ...

This was in today's funnies... I've been spending a lot of time on video chat lately, I can't believe I didn't think of doing this myself! Maybe it's because I have a laptop.

In August, I'll be starting a PhD program in Public Policy at the University of Colorado at Boulder - I am so very excited about the next five years! My decision-making process was a long one, which was sometimes hard for my impulsive side, but I made sure to be very thorough and deliberate and responsible (except the couple of times when I maybe read my acceptance and financial aid letters on my phone while driving down 1-5 for a bajillion miles). I feel absolutely sure that I've made the right choice for the right reasons. In other big news, look at my awesome Splish race kit! And my awesome bike! And my awesome self-bike-fitting job! That ...

[photos coming!] Today I raced the Superfrog Half IM, my first triathlon since Portland last August, and it was great! We had a stellar field, a small preview of what's to come at Wildflower, with Hillary Biscay, Hayley Cooper, Angela Naeth, Kate Pallardy, and 10 or so others on the start line. (Also be on the lookout for Angi's Superseal race report, she won the Olympic distance race for the second year in a row!) The swim was kind of awesome in a pee-my-wetsuit-a-hundred-times kind of way - we did two laps in the Pacific Ocean (with a ~400 yard beach run in between), so twice we had to battle the waves to enter and exit ...

The bird gets it Generally the only time I use the word "ironic" is to point out someone else's misuse of the word... No it is not ironic that you got two flat tires at the same time, it's just unfortunate. No it's not ironic that your pet/child shares a name with a celebrity but you didn't plan it that way, it's just a coincidence. No it's not ironic that you got your master's degree and now work in a field you wanted to be in before you got your master's degree, that's just the way grad school works. Today I'd like to offer ...

I am talking about grad school here... sorry for the false alarm on Saturday. No big announcement today. In other news, I think yesterday's earthquake was all my fault. Yesterday afternoon I was standing in my aunt and uncle's kitchen in San Diego, talking to them about Easter and the church service they went to with my aunt's aunt who is 100. I asked if they thought the minister really believed that Jesus came back from the dead and flew up to heaven, or if he took Easter a little less literally, because I don't understand a lot of the literalism out there in certain organized religions. Then ...