Anyway the show was amazing, I liked it even better than when I saw them in Seattle last year. It is my new best-show-ever. The band released a new studio album in June, American Slang, which I have struggled to like because I found it to be overproduced and less energetic than The ‘59 Sound, Sink or Swim, and the Senor and the Queen EP. Live, however, the American Slang songs were all awesome (and they thankfully spared us the bad-rap-type intro to Boxer), and Sink or Swim songs that sound rough on that album were also better live.

I got a T-Shirt, actually I bought two so I could send one to my sister, but the one I kept for myself has a picture of a cougar on it and the phrase “Older but Bolder!”. It’s a reference to one of my Gaslight favorites, Film Noir, which has an “older woman” (ahem) in the lyrics… Not that I consider myself a cougar. REALLY what made me relate to the shirt was when they covered Pearl Jam’s State of Love and Trust (one of my FAVORITES), and I was so stoked, but all the little late-teens early-twenties kids around me just stood there. What?!?! That song is a classic! It’s awesome! I def. felt “older but bolder” at that moment. So I got the shirt. I love it. My sister’s shirt is just a regular Gaslight shirt though .

Here’s the setlist. They didn’t play my three favorite favorites (drive, elvis, and cassanova), but they got most of my other favorites in there. I was going to make a CD for my sister, which is why I noted every song on my phone during the show, but she has pretty much all the songs already and I am out of blank cd’s:

American Slang
Boxer
The Diamond Church Street Choir
The ‘59 Sound
Old White Lincoln
Even Cowgirls Get The Blues
Bring It On
Miles Davis & The Cool
Red In The Morning
The Spirit Of Jazz (currently a free download on Amazon)
Angry Johnny And The Radio
Orphans
Blue Jeans And White T-Shirts
Film Noir
Stay Lucky
The Queen Of Lower Chelsea
Great Expectations

Encore:
War (Lucero cover, with Tim Barry – link is to a video of the performance!)
Boomboxes And Dictionaries
We Came To Dance
State Of Love And Trust (Pearl Jam cover)
We’re Getting A Divorce, You Keep The Diner
Here’s Looking At You, Kid
The Backseat

Anatomy of/by a Splish suit

I’ve spent a lot of time in the pool since 2007, something like 500 hours, so I only have 9,500 hours to go before I am an official expert. Simon said yesterday that, for the amount of time I have been swimming, I am actually not doing sooo badly. Then he pointed out that he remembered me from this past February, he remembered that I rode with his group and I got dropped. (HELLO give a girl a break. Borrowed bike, elevation, cold, and I was not here for training! I was here to be smart! Plus for the record, I wasn’t dropped, I had a temper tantrum about how much winter sucked and I went home early. Completely different.) Swimming is going to be even more fun now that I have my Valentine’s Explosion ride to get to and from the pool .

Anyhow on Tuesday I did climbing intervals with Uli. At some point we realized it was 99 degrees outside (literally), the cruel part was we were riding along the most delicious looking creek! We saw Mara Abbott a couple of times and called out congratulations on her history-making Giro Donne win.

Other athlete-celebrity sightings have been numerous, it is Boulder after all. My favorite celebrity by far is Simon Lessing. He coaches two swim workouts per week at Flatirons, I really like the workouts because they are triathlete-specific (so, no dreaded IM sets, which let’s face it, when you are slow at swimming, IM sets are the most inefficient use of masters swim practice time) and because Simon is a really attentive coach, regardless of your ability level. He is famous AND he actually seems to want to help me improve, which in turn makes me actually want to try my absolute hardest to improve (instead of my default sort-of-hardish-hardest).

Oh, SPEAKING of celebrities, the cover model has another cover!

Yesterday morning, he and Will and I went to the Boulder Reservoir to do an open water swim. If you go to the official reservoir entrance you have to pay something like $5 and you can only swim in a little area the size of a large lap pool, so we went to the other side of the reservoir to swim unconstricted and for free. But, we made the mistake of having breakfast, enjoying our coffee, checking in on the Tour before leaving home, and letting Dan knock down an entire tree on his way into the water (not the best karma)…

Oh DAN, you're so STRONG!!

20 minutes of swimming later, we were gleefully intercepted by a park employee and made to exit the water immediately (he herded each of us on his fancy jetski), then, the walk of shame back to our towels and clothes and shoes… If I try it again, I’ll go way earlier in the morning.

One final word… whoever told me that no pitbulls are allowed in Boulder was WRONG!! I met a pitbull mix on my run this morning, his name was Jake and he was absolutely beautiful and sweet .

I had a great start but then suddenly there were girls on both sides and I freaked out. Then I realized that my last criterium was… exactly three years ago. The 2007 San Rafael Twilight. I remember being at the front a lot at that race, but my how things have changed!

I tail-gunned it for most of the first half, trying to get more comfortable and relaxed. Then I headed up to the front and took some pulls (because obviously the break was already gone). Then I’d be at the back again, then the front, then the back, mostly the back though . I wasn’t getting any love from my fellow racers, but when I looked at photos I realized why…

I am thinking of a number between 163 and 165…

Saddle bag? No-name kit? Triathlete shoes?? Not even wearing socks?! SADDLE BAG?!?!!? Argh! I wouldn’t have let me take a wheel either!

I have a bit of the racing bug though, I’m excited to do some more bike races. It’s a nice feeling!

I finally got a camera this week! It’s pretty awesome. And waterproof, so it won’t die the ugly death that my last camera did (over a year ago, yikes. Photos in the interim have been from borrowed cameras or my phone).

Here is where I am living (Ma this photo is for you). You can see Will’s van and Dan’s scooter out front, and all the plant-y type gardening areas that I am not likely to be touching:

Home

Look how clean my closet is! The rest of my room is a disaster place. But, I don’t have a dresser or shelves yet.

Lazers + Splishies = top organizational priority

Some “training” images:

On Thursday I saw a deer with giant antlers on my bike ride. See?

Yesterday I stood in Lefthand Creek in the middle of my ride.

Then today after training I got a strange urge to go for a walk. ?! But I live two blocks from this gorgeous park with a bunch of trails and views. My walk was amazing. I can’t wait to explore more!

Looking North from Chautauqua

Shadows are more fun than mirrors!

Up up up!

Time to head home.

Then I got home and sat on the porch steps for a while, debating whether or not to go to the store. I hate grocery shopping, which of course has ironic consequences: I always get frustrated mid-shop and leave without something essential, so I have to go back to the store the next day, and the next. Anyway as I sat debating, I heard huffing and puffing and a crunchy unsuccessful search for an easier gear… Dan arrived home from his long ride!

"Oh Courtenay… You weren't supposed to see that!"

This week, all that’s changed! I started working with a coach! I’ve known and respected Felicia for a long time, I ran into her at Pacific Crest and we started talking about coaching – things just clicked. I’m excited .

I feel like Wonder Woman in this suit!

Honestly that is my one and only small complaint about Pacific Crest, the paparazzi is a teeny bit lacking. I like having a bazillion photos of myself to browse! I do really love this race. The course is challenging and absolutely gorgeous (yes I did take a second to notice the crystal clear mountain lakes during the bike), the race is well supported, and overall it’s just a great experience.

One highlight of the weekend is I got to hang out with Mackenzie Madison, my roommate from Wildflower (yes yes, I do know how to accidentally pick awesome roommates) with whom I get along famously. I was especially grateful she was around on race morning… I couldn’t hear the announcers at all and Mackenzie suggested we stand in the water instead of the shore, it looked like we had an in-water start anyway, and suddenly the gun went off. Not missing the start was a very nice way to start the race .

I took the long way around on the swim. I seem to do that. Towards the end of the swim, I realized I might have figured out why… I kept heading DIRECTLY towards the turn buoys, then I’d get to them and they’d be wayyyy off to my right. I think it’s because I breathe to the right at races (bilateral in training, finally, but right at races) and so I sight kind of to the right and, lo and behold, the buoy is suddenly way off to my right… All the girls seemed to have slow swims though, so we must have all taken the long way ’round!

My bike started off great. I felt great. Everything was great, my LOOK 576 is responsive and fast, and I loved the loaner Rolf Prima TDF wheels I was riding. Then as the road tipped upward, great became OK became UGH. I don’t know if it was the altitude or the pollen or my imagination or what, but the middle of that bike was tough as I climb-climb-climbed up to the base of Mt. Bachelor. Finally the descent came, I tried to bomb it but the lack of hills in my training became obvious and I found myself in the base bars for more time than I’d like to admit. Thankfully. I’ll get to work on that plenty here in Boulder!! I felt better as I rode into T2, and got ready for the run.

Surprisingly, I enjoyed the run. I say “surprisingly” because the bike left me feeling drained and slow, and because I’d been staving off tendinitis leading up to the race so my run volume had been super low. But I came here to race and it was time to run… I caught the girl ahead of me in the first mile, ticked my feet over step by step, hit mile 1 in 6:50, and realized that I could do this. And it felt great! I ran a 1:31:30ish, about on par with my best half-IM runs to date, and I think this was a harder course than either Oceanside or Eagleman. So I was really pleased with that.

I finished 3rd overall female. I was only 1 minute out of 2nd, which was of course disappointing because in long course, a minute is nothing. It’s a brain fart basically. But, I raced hard and was better in all three disciplines than I was when I raced the same course in 2008.

Preparation never goes as planned, especially in triathlon when there are so many factors involved, so I am really proud of myself for arriving at this race healthy and prepared despite some setbacks and challenges in the previous months. I love seeing improvements, and I am looking forward to my next few months of training and racing!

So, as you might guess, so far so good here in Boulder. I was lucky to happen upon a sublet situation with Will Kelsay, his girlfriend Shelby, and Dan. They are all really awesome. I got myself and my car registered with the DMV here in Colorado (so I can be in-state at CU next year), figured out where to buy groceries and where to swim, put together all my bikes, and have started to get back to training. What could have been a really rough and scary transition has so far been fun, friendly, and beautiful. I’m loving it here!

Oh, sheepish story: this morning I went to swim practice and my lock has a keychain on it with my USAT Elite Card on it (the little bitty one like what you get at the grocery store for your supersaver card). Then I looked around at the other ladies putting on their swimsuits (Chrissie Wellington, Sam McGlone, Joanna Zeiger…) and I took the keychain off. Ack! I know no one cares or notices what other people are doing but I decided I could keep track of my newly anonymous locker key just fine .

Pacific Crest went great. I finished 3rd!! I’ll post a proper race report separately, when there are photos and you can all check out my most awesome Splish suit yet. Seriously, I didn’t want to take it off, even though it was kind of wet and smelly by the end of the race.

Then I hung out with some bike racing friends. It was super cool that USA Cycling National Championships were the same weekend and the same place as Pacific Crest, I hope they continue that trend. I had a blast watching the racing and trading stories.

But race weekend had to come to an end at some point… and I drove my giant awesome XM-equipped rental car from Bend up to Seattle to deal with all the winter clothes, photos, and mementos I’d left at my now-ex boyfriend’s parents’ house. Yep, now-ex. Sigh. Long distance is really hard, and that’s all I’m going to say about that. Well, that and my future boyfriend(s) are not going to be internet boyfriend(s), no twitter facebook blog stuff, so you guys are going to have to call me up or meet me for coffee to get any scoop on my romantic life . I have learned that, for my personality, relationships need to be in-person. Ben’s still pretty cool though, so please no one start hating him or something.

So anyway, moving, ugh. I am chalking the last two days up to one giant learning experience and hoping my credit card doesn’t pay too big a price. I had made what I thought was a great arrangement, this crate was going to get delivered right to Ben’s parents’ house and I’d pack my stuff up and the crate company would drive it to Colorado, all for $500! Sweet! But they delivered it 24 hours late, and it was completely disassembled and heavy and upside down and I couldn’t even move it, and I had told them I really needed it yesterday not today, so I made some crazy-privileged-white-woman-diva phone calls and got a different company to come fetch all my things and left the “crate” nonsense outside. They better come pick it up tomorrow, but I am leaving here at 4:15 a.m. so it is out of my hands.

OK that’s it for now. Sorry not to have a photo to accompany the post, next time…

Honestly though, I’m not sure they are very effectual. I think I need some regular medical compression tights. The Skins don’t have feet on them, even though I pull them over my heels and ankles, I still get really fat toes and feet at the end of a travel day.

So anyway, yesterday I left the east coast and now I am in Bend, OR! It was a typical Courtenay Brown Keep-Life-Interesting Travel Day, i.e. 12+ hours with at least one delay, dire need of antiperspirant, and a few instances of getting lost. I got up at 4 a.m. (!?), my mom drove us to the airport because she had a flight to Montana that left an hour after mine, but on the way she wanted to stop at the barn and check the rain gauge, then she wanted to drive cautiously, then we got to gossiping, then I almost missed my flight. I didn’t though. I sat next to a nice teen-aged girl from Kenya who was on her way back to her home in the U.S. after graduating from her Kenyan high school.

Then on the next flight there we sat on the runway waiting for thunderstorms to pass, so I got an extra hour to sit next to Mr. Portland Super Hipster. He mostly watched old movies on his iPad but he also did some graphic design work on his MacBook Pro (17″), received a jillion text messages on his iPhone (while we were on the tarmac of course), and took handwritten notes about something on his teeny lime-green graph-paper notebook with a fancy pen. I accidentally spilled apple juice on his leather boots and tight jeans, LE OOPS! but his well-coiffed hair and logo-less gray T-shirt went unscathed, as did his full-sleeve tattoos.

When I got to Bend, first order of business was to sort out my sunglass situation. My Specialized glasses were stolen last weekend! I was so bummed, I loved those glasses, and I didn’t bring any others with me. So. I bought my first pair of Oakley’s!! Pricey, I know, but they are super cute. Option b. was to get a $40 pair of Tifosi’s that I would race in this weekend and never want to wear again. Good sunglasses are kind of important. I don’t have a sunglass sponsor, so, might as well buy them in a state that doesn’t have sales tax!

Second order of business was to chill with my cousin and his family – the kids are 11 and 8 years old, and they are excellent unicyclists! It’s pretty adorable to watch. Colin is confident that I too will be very good at unicycling, because I am “such a good athlete” (his words, not mine). I think I’ll wait to test his theory until after Pacific Crest on Saturday.