Courtenay Brown

...in which the high life was lived. [nggallery id=62] The polo match defies description in many ways but in keeping with my website's tagline, I'll give it a quick go. The place dripped money, and it wasn't even a Pretty Woman-type tournament. I did wear a sun dress just in case. The spectators consisted of about 10 cars parked on a steep rise overlooking the field. It was evidently a very exclusive New Year's Eve invite. We sat on the grass and watched what seemed to be mostly 19-20 year old guys gallop around and around. Some had been flown in from Europe and Argentina to play. I heard one chatting up a girl, she asked if the poor horses were OK. ...

I'm flying to Rev3 Portland on Friday. My training has been good and I'm really excited to race. Plus with the new course, this is shaping up to be my first-ever "flat and fast" triathlon! Oh and to recap June 2011, which is among my most poorly-documented months since I started blogging 5 (?!) years ago: [caption id="attachment_3346" align="alignnone" width="200" caption="It was nice."][/caption] --- This is not me. There was a mouse day before yesterday. It came into my bathroom when I was brushing my teeth and I'm still hoarse from screaming. (Alternative hypothesis: I re-injured my throat with today's now-the-mouse-is-decapitated scream.) In other animal news: yesterday I ...

being Home. [nggallery id=51]

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I've been in Maryland since the 22nd, enjoying family shenanigans and staying sufficiently egg-nogged. A glimpse... [gallery = 43]

Riding Fox (in cycling gloves and cycling jacket!) Kitty came too.

No, this wasn't the turkey we had for dinner My sister and I actually *were* having fun November Rain in Maryland is comforting

Well my post from Wednesday sure was full of some wishful thinking. I still feel happy about being "balanced"... but... for the first time in my athletic career, I bagged no less than FOUR WORKOUTS in one week, and I didn't even have swine flu to use as an excuse. Nope, just being dead tired and h-o-t. It was so hot - low to mid 90's all last week through the weekend, with lots of east coast humidity and a new and starving population of bugs. I sadly realized that, just because I have survived hotter temperatures here, that didn't make the heat this time around any more bearable. Especially since, when it was a hundred degrees ...

So I have been home in Maryland for a week and a half and today I needed a REST DAY! Which basically just meant I postponed today's swim to Saturday, and didn't tromp all around the property/Anne Arundel County doing stuff with my mom. Although this morning, when the plumber came to replace the metal thingy under the sink that broke when my brother (the one from Hawaii) took the sink apart to retrieve the earring I dropped down it, I *did* stand up from my comics and coffee in order to look like I'd been being helpful :D . It wasn't a total rest day though - one thing I found in the wake of my back ...

This weekend I met the new neighbors, precocious twin 5-year-olds and their nice dad. The little boy thinks I am a boy, and the little girl thinks I am great because I ride horses. Win-win! Also, my daily "strength workout" has doubled from riding one horse, CeCe, to riding two! My mom wants me to ride her dear sweet precious baby. Ugh. Fox and I have a long history of each thinking the other has an attitude problem. Whatever, he is just a horse, but a big obnoxious one who on Friday managed to run over me and cavort (loose) through the strawberry patch and break my Garmin FR60. Lesson learned, I save the adventuring for CeCe and I make sure ...

Today I arrived in Maryland, where I'll be until July. Today I also rode my new horse! This is CeCe. She's a thoroughbred off the track, and the goal is to retrain her for a post-racing career. She's very athletic, sensitive, and smart, and I'm super excited about the project. First ride on CeCe I rode her at the trainer's farm where she's been for the past few weeks, after the ride we brought her home to my mom's house. She and her new next-door neighbor, Spooky (WATCH the video, srsly), eventually made friends. Spooky is the sweet friendly ...