Courtenay Brown

This week has been great. Granted, I spent a ton of time in the car (I just can't seem to stop driving! And you know it's bad when 75 miles feels like nothing...), but I've gotten a lot accomplished and I just have to tell you all about it. Thing 1, I drove Ben up to Boulder for his bike fit on Monday. Then we went for a run at the Boulder Reservoir, which, I WISH I'd had my camera, we were running into like 50 mph winds, it was crazy and oddly awesome. Even though the run was mostly flat, I felt like I'd done a serious strength or hill-repeat workout! Also I kept saying "wow, it's so ...

...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 ...

"Swick" is a word I made up by myself. It means "sweet" and "sick" at the same time ("sick" as in "cool", not "sick" as in "ew" or "can I stay home today"). It started as a joke but now I can't stop saying it. Appropriate use of "swick": You: "Hey Courtenay, I found this photo of you where you won a prize for a project your mom made for you in 4th grade." Me: "Swick!" My "big head" in Manila (Maybe for next Halloween I'll update the bull to Bizco!) ...

Well, I don't have *official* word yet as to whether this week's scariness was H1N1 (understandably, the hospital has more important things to do than call me back with my lab result!) but I'm pretty sure that's what it was. And I am feeling way better, no more fainting, thank god. Thank you for all the well-wishes! Tomorrow I am going to re-attempt commencement of my winter training for the THIRD TIME this fall! I have had enough of getting random sicknesses that the whole country is also getting. Strep throat, swine flu, it's ridiculous. This weekend, though, I enjoyed some off-season fun. Ben and I went up to Vancouver, and it was awesome! We went for a ...

Yesterday, my usual ride Cosmo had a bent shoe, so I didn't ride him. Instead I rode this horse: Perfect to a Tee wins 1999 Maryland Million T-Bone is retired from racing now, he foxhunts and trail rides and occasionally shows. He's a gem! I love stories of thoroughbred race horses retiring to fulfilling new careers. It used to be that thoroughbreds dominated the horse show arenas as well as the tracks, but in recent years showing tastes have turned to warmbloods from Europe. This is kind of bad news for thoroughbreds, because demand ...

This morning I got up and two of my favourite kids came over for breakfast! Cora and Nathaniel. Pre-race breakfast After a lot of butter-laden waffles, we headed out for some Tennis Court Sprints. We're off Cora attacked from the gun (as you can see she is not even in sight in the Start photo above), and held her lead past the Final Netpost Turn. ...

The other day, my mom marched in from the barn and announced: "Courtenay. Sijui is BANNED from her STALL." (Sijui is my horse, I got her in 8th grade and now she is retired at my mom's house.) Why is she banned, I asked. "As SOON as I let her in to eat, she always PEES. It drives me MAD. I JUST cleaned it! She is BANNED." See technically, Sal and Sij are friends Then yesterday... deja vu. Sal marches up to make an announcement, hands on hips and feet splayed as usual... "Courtenay. Sijui is BANNED from her stall. ...

(You can keep voting if you want to!) So training. This could actually be an interesting post, but I am feeling hungry and rambling so probably not. I am coaching myself now, which basically means I plan my workouts, then change my mind, then change it back, and I call Ben freaking out every time something hurts. Or when I re-read certain race descriptions (ahem Tinley's) and realize that the swim is now ONE AND A HALF miles. Good god. I had been working with Jen from November until May, but as we all know by now, I have too much time on my hands and too little money. My plans to get a job kind ...

Colonel K and the ittybitties Colonel K was like "gimme some of that clover!" little Hercules was like "no! mine!" Unrelatedly, Hercules' and his momma Ariel's color is called "champagne chestnut." They are soooo cute.