no post-IM blues for this girl!

Hello blog world, it's me, Alexa.

I am alive.

This is my attempt to catch everyone up with the things-that-have-been-going-on-now-that-IM-is-over part of my life!


I am now 3 weeks post IM Wisconsin and life has been grand. I took 2 weeks completely off to be fat and lazy, and then last Monday, I started training again. Swimming, cycling, running - you got it! Feels great! Fall is the best time of the year to be training for the sake of happiness, well being, and love of exercising. The weather is perfect and it's so beautiful outside!

I also have been riding Cherry every weekend and I love it. She has been very well behaved (minus her pasture shenanigans) and has not been lame at all, which means that her arthritis isn't bothering her! That makes me so happy - it's a relief knowing that she is not in pain during daily life and it makes me feel a lot less guilty when I ride her.

Saturday I went to Mary's yoga class. I hadn't gone since March-ish (it's expensive and it's in a hot room so I like to keep it for the off-season as a treat). Wow.. talk about being sore. My abs and my arms still hurt and the class was over 48 hours ago. Combine that with sore thighs from riding Cherry and sore legs from running again and I am feeling achy all over - but it's definitely a good achy feeling!

I bought a new Blu Ray player last weekend that has built in Wi-Fi. So while I build up my BR collection (I only own 2 as of right now) I can stream TV shows and movies from Netflix and HULU. Right now I am working my way through season 2 of Mad Men!

I've seen some new movies recently - I went to see The Lion King in 3D last weekend with my friend Ari. I must have watched TLK at least 20 times when it was released in 1994 (I was 10) and I have loved it ever since, so I jumped at the chance to see it again! And then I found out that the Blu Ray edition is being released tomorrow, so of course I pre-ordered it on Amazon! I also saw 50/50 on Friday with Matthias and it was fantastic!

I am also reading "The Pillars of the Earth" which I am barely able to put down. It is super long - usually I am through a book in 3-4 days if I really like it (i.e. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo books, the Hunger Games books, The Help, etc) but this book is so long (900 pages-ish) that I've been reading it for over 2 weeks and I am only 71% of the way through (that's what the Kindle tells me, anways). Highly recommended!

This coming Saturday.. I'm sure everyone knows, is KONA! We have our very own Travis Earley heading to the Big Island to compete which is extra exciting. I am planning a Kona streaming/get drunk/board game playing party in my apartment for Saturday afternoon. Is there a better way to spend the day? I don't think so! Hopefully it will end up being more than just me and Matthias getting hammered on my couch.

Anyone who is local that is reading this and wants to hang out in my too small apartment and drink wine and play Cranium with a bunch of tri geeks is more than welcome to come by!

R.I.P.

Goodbye, bless-ed rest week. You were known and loved by all (ok, maybe not all, but at least by me). You were so nice to me when I was tired from working nights. You let me regain some of my sanity and catch up on things that I needed to do (like laundry and going to my yearly doctor's appointment). You made it possible for me to go out on Friday night and sleep late (WAY TOO LATE) on Saturday morning afternoon.

But mostly, you let me demolish my 400 yd swim test time, YET AGAIN. I dropped 5 more seconds off my 400 yd time - bringing it down to 5:43.

You have to remember, I am not from a competitive swimming background. I am from a Red Cross swimming lessons/lifeguard training/WSI background and that is all of the swimming experience I have. So my 400 yd time reflects that. It's not *swim team fast*. But it's fast for me! Considering that at this time last year I was swimming 6+ minutes for a 400 yd TT I will definitely take the 5:43.

I did this swim test wearing my new goggles, the Aqua Sphere Lady Kaimans. I have been swimming in Ladies Speedo Vanquisher goggles since 2007 and although they seal properly (a problem I have normally because my head is small) they also feel like they are going to suck my eyeballs out of my eye sockets, and by the time I am done with an hour swim they are killing me. So I decided to try some new goggles. They are a little more low profile than my vanquishers (meaning I could feel my eyelashes hitting the plastic of the goggles) and I think they are dorkier looking, but they are WAY more comfy. AND they are sparkly! Maybe that will up my game at picking up dudes in the next swim lane over. Or not.

I did my swim test on Saturday because Thursday (the originally scheduled day) and Friday I was a) tired from C-shift and b) worried about trying to do a legit swim test while fighting my way through the weirdos that I normally end up sharing a lane with. Weirdos include: 400 lb man with buttcrack showing, various snorkelers, man who swims with paddles AND fins at the same time, man who swims the length of the pool along the very bottom and then rests for 10 minutes at each end, man who does butterfly right over my head, variety of large women wearing swimsuits with attached skirts "water walking," etc. These are all difficult people to circle swim with when you're going for as fast as possible. A Saturday swim test was a really good choice because the pool was essentially empty and I was definitely feeling refreshed after a mere 14 hours of sleep. (Once again, the benefits of a glorious rest week). I think  I will repeating both (Saturday swim test and excessive sleep) the next time around!

photo was taken outside of a library..
and we annoyed a guy trying to use the book drop!



crazy horse! but I <3 her

Sunday morning I did a 45 minute run with some teammates and then we all met at a bagel shop to get team gear and take a team photo. It was definitely an invasion of Bruegger's Bagels by athletes in spandex! After the photo shoot I visited my horse (I tried to ride her but she is currently lame) and then spent the afternoon relaxing before nap time and then work time. I have a super crazy brick workout this Saturday and I haven't decided how I feel about it. It's a bike/run/bike/run/bike/run totaling 3:15. Yeah.

...ew.

But I bet it will be worth it when I'm killin' it in Coeur D'Alene! :)





photo circa 2006: I fell down.
Greg picked me up. obviously, drunk at the bar.





Something that is totally unrelated but that I am really excited about - over the weekend one of my BEST FRIENDS from college - Greg, a fellow bio geek at Slippery Rock U., got engaged to his boyfriend Josh!! I am so happy for them! Greg and I were lab partners (or at least at the same lab table) countless times, sat next to each other in tons of classes, wasted time studied at the library together, screwed around in open labs, went to the bar to celebrate birthdays, end of the semester, etc. Now he lives in Washington DC so I don't get to see him anymore but facebook keeps us in contact! :) Congratulations Greg!!!!

my friend Flicka

Some of you may know, probably most do not know - I have a horse. Her name is Cherry. My mom bought Cherry for me when she was 4, and I was 10 or 11. She is now 20, and I am 26.



Cherry is one of the most important things in my life (so is my cat, Fiona). I have always liked animals more than people. And I LOVE my 2 animals.

For the majority of my life, I have been a horseback rider. I have ridden Western and English. I have personally hauled Cherry in a truck/horse trailer. I have fallen off, I have been stepped on. I have trail ridden, barrel raced, team penned, cross country jumped, done dressage - you name it and I've probably tried it, and I've probably tried it with Cherry. She is truly the best horse in the world. She is small and furry. She is not registered (in fact she is a grade - a mutt of the horse world - part Quarter Horse and part Morgan). She is a huge pain in the ass at times. She is also slightly crazy to ride. She has the best ground manners you could ask for - but sometimes questionable riding manners. I love her in spite of her difficulties!

Cherry's idea of a horse show is to race around the arena as fast as possible. When I first got her I was a barrel racer and that is what I did with her. This is where you run around objects (either barrels or poles) that are set up in a pattern and it's timed, so obviously we were running as fast as possible. We were pretty good! She's a fast horse. We won a lot of awards. I eventually lost interest (AKA she was getting too nutso and I didn't want to die) and I switched to 3 day eventing - the "triathlon" of the horse world because it's made up of dressage, cross country jumping, and stadium jumping. (It's the cool stuff you see people doing with horses in the summer Olympics).

As eventers, we stuck out. I was eventing when I was 17. I'm short and my horse is small. I used to wear purple and dress Cherry in purple (saddle pad, boots, etc. all purple). One time I was warming up before my cross country jumping run and some lady made a comment about the cute little girl and her pony in purple. Sorry ma'am.. I was 17. Cherry also liked to run at the fences as fast as possible and leap over them at breakneck speed. There was nothing I could do to stop her. I rode with a gag bit in her mouth and this thing called a running martingale to hold her head down - didn't matter. She ran the show. I'm surprised I survived.

My riding slowed down when I went to college, then graduate school, and then entered the real world, and finally picked up triathlon. I have ridden twice this summer. It is something I feel incredibly guilty about. But my horse is old, she is arthritic, and she deserves her retirement. If you had arthitis and a bad ankle, would you want a person getting on your back and riding you around, forcing you to exercise? She has no way to tell me if it hurts her when I ride her! I don't think she minds her retirement. She gets to play with other horses, hang out in the pasture, and the kids at the barn give her treats and brush her.

I think I mostly feel guilty because I have slowly been letting go of a major part of my life in order to make room for something new. I feel guilty because Cherry has always been there. As Sir Winston Churchill said,

"There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man."



When I was younger, having a horse, being able to ride every day, that is what kept my head on straight. Now, that is what triathlon does for me. It is very difficult to balance them both. My horse is so special and I love her so, so much. She deserves her retirement for sure. However she also deserves consistent attention from her owner, so I am going to make a better attempt at getting to the barn to see her on a regular basis. Seeing my horse makes me SO happy but sometimes I get caught up in my daily routine and it gets pushed to the back of my mind. That shall happen no more. :)