What Now?

New Website

2009-07-02T22:25:00.000-06:00

.... I've moved. Can be found here:

Baby Amato-Felder

Harvest Moon Half-Ironman. I'm done.

2008-09-16T18:32:00.002-06:00

Woohoo! I did it! My big race this year was on Sunday, despite the lack of training, I finished :)

Becca came up the night before and we shared a bottle of wine with pasta and mahi mahi for dinner :) I love how I manage to get some alcohol in the night prior to almost every race I've done this year! That's what a year in Iraq with no alcohol will do to you.

Race Report is here :RR

And of course, a slide show...

And you can click on the pictures to see them online at your own pace :)

Things are going well otherwise. I know I haven't been around much, but am trying to get settled still. The new job is going really well and I'm still liking it and feeling encouraged. It is still a transition to actually working monday - friday and not hanging out on my front porch drinking coffee all day :)

I {heart} Denver!

2008-08-13T18:01:00.002-06:00

Well, I'm just about settled in my apartment. I have a few things to get and more things to put away and some pictures to hang on the walls, but I'm comfortable here. Sister has been a big help too - doesn't hurt she lives 2 blocks away! I will post pictures soon, for those wanting to see how I'm living. I love my apartment and my neighborhood and my drive to work is easy. I also scouted out a few bike routes to/from work, so next week I'll start bike commuting while the weather is still great.

Work. Well, I am actually really excited about my job, which, I didn't think I'd ever say about any job. There are 'big kid' rules, like a flexible schedule - as long as I put in a certain number of hours in a month I have the option to take a day or a few hours to take care of things during business hours. And really, working only 40 hours a week is not what I'm used to! I have a lot of responsibility - a large team and a sh*tton of equipment they maintain. Everyone has been very welcoming. I didn't realize until actually coming to work how big a deal it was for them to hire me for this position. This level management normally comes from within the company - and for them to offer me this position adds a bit of pressure (just a little). I can tell the expectations are high. There is still a lot for me to learn concerning the program and getting accustomed to the culture, but I know where my strengths lie and I'm confident I'll do just fine.

Thanks everyone for the support!

The Incline Makes the NYT

2008-08-09T16:00:00.001-06:00

A friend sent me this link...

Incline

Crazy Crazy Month.

2008-08-04T13:02:00.002-06:00

I've been back in Colorado almost a week now and I've been running around like crazy since.

I accepted a job with Big Defense Contractor and tentatively start on August 11th (for you military/former military just so you know, it took a moment's thought to NOT type 11 AUG). I found an apartment just 2 blocks from Sister, 1.5 blocks from a very very nice park, 2 blocks from both a King Soopers AND a Whole Foods, oh an about 15 miles to work...

I'm sad that my summer o' fun is about to end, but anxiously anticipating starting this next part of my life.

I'll email my new address shortly. Phone number will stay the same (for now).

New York!

2008-07-17T06:48:00.001-06:00

I'm in New York visiting family this week after a week in Ohio visiting more family! I haven't sorted through my photos yet, but I have some good ones that I'll post when I get the opportunity.

Off for some yummy pancakes.

Can we say PANIC in the water? (Loveland Lake to Lake Triathlon)

2008-06-29T12:25:00.003-06:00

Ah, my first triathlon in years. Results:

Race time: 3:26:21

487 out of 595 competetors
41 out of 58 in my age group

1500 meter swim: 41:26
T1: 1:41
30 mile bike: 1:42:16
T2: 2:00
10k run: 58:56

Race report:

Boyfriend and I drove up to Denver to stay with Sister the night before. Sis made some Pad Thai (yum), giggled at a few episodes of Season 2 of Arrested Development. Went to bed fairly early only to wake up at oh-dark-thirty. Drove an hour to Loveland, picked up race packet and set up my transition area.

Walked around a bit, rode bike to make sure it was in an appropriate gear. Walked down to the lake and thought "Good God those buoys are far away." Boyfriend actually said that out loud. Put wetsuit on, waded out into the water.

On to the swim...Can you say PANIC in the water? I have no idea what my problem was. I can swim the distance. I didn't feel like I was going to drown. I just could not get my breathing/HR under control. And I didn't get kicked or punched or jostled much either. All I can tell you is that I would think I had it under control, then I'd put my face underwater and then start hyperventilating. Crazy! I probably spent most of the swim on my back, doing some modified backstroke. At one point I thought that my wetsuit was going to choke me, resulting in even more panicky feeling. Considered swimming to the peeps in the kayaks to quit the race, but then was like "I did not drive 2 hours and pay 80 bucks to f*ing quit!" Honestly though, I had no idea what my time would be, so when I finally came out of the water and saw 37 min on my watch, I was thinking "eh, not too bad!" The time above includes the LONG run up to the transition. Boyfriend was great, cheering and running next to me saying nice things all the way to T1.

Then the bike...I realized that my computer wasn't registering any speed/distance, so I hopped off real quick, and adjusted the sensor. All good from that point on. It took me a bit longer than I thought to calm myself down after the swim... HR was way too high for the first 15 mins or so. Once I settled into a rhythm I was good. Passed a few people on the big steep hill near Horsetooth Resevoir, but then was passed on the downhills. When I'm going 40+ mph, I tend to get scared! The last 10 miles were on a nice, paved road. I was able to get in big gear and average 19+mph.

Finally the run...Coming off the bike, I felt a little shaky but that feeling left after a few hundred meters. I need to get my bike fit checked because my left knee was killing me, though after 1/2 a mile the pain went away. Both feet were numb the first mile or so. I skipped the first water point but then walked through the rest of them. I was feeling great - I could have pushed a lot faster, but just didn't feel like it. I was enjoying the race. I felt strong the entire time. Boyfriend hollered out "You're doing great! Only 400 meters to go!" If I were any closer, I'd have punched him. "only 400 meters" my a**. It felt like 400 miles.

I could easily have taken 15 mins off my swim time had I not completely freaked out. I also had all good intentions of following a training plan specific to this race. That went out the window because I focused more on my prep for my running races. I don't need to run more! I need to swim and bike more!

I really really enjoyed this race (once I was out of the water). Its very very organized, lots and lots of awesome volunteers. Great course. This was a nice "welcome back" race after a few years off due to injury and a deployment. The post race meal was amazing - burritos, brownies yum.

I really did enjoy the race. I know what to do now in training to ensure that the 1/2 Ironman in September goes well. I can only improve on the swim at this point! It was so so great having Carol and JJ there to cheer me on and take pictures and support me. We woke up at 3:30am to make it to the race site by 5 - like I said, they're great and the race would have completely sucked if I didn't have them there to support me.

Starlight Spectacular

2008-06-24T17:38:00.004-06:00

Saturday night/Sunday morning a whole bunch of us registered for the Starlight Spectacular. Its a midnight bike ride around town benefiting Trails and Open Spaces here in the county. Woohoo! They had contests for best bike (we saw some really really cool tandem cruisers, bikes tricked out to look like big ole motorcycles, bikes with so many glowsticks they looked like moving Light Brights) and best costume (we saw care bears and lots of other fun get ups). About 1500 bicyclists donned headlamps and rode around town at midnight! We had a great time, cruising down the middle of the street while trying not to let the sea of flashing red taillights give us seizures.

Gold Camp Road

2008-06-20T13:57:00.004-06:00

A very nice climb today on the bike. It was windy, like I'd turn around because of the wind - windy, but riding up Gold Camp Road was nice. Couldn't feel the wind except on the exposed parts of the road... I rode until I ran out of pavement :)

Snapped some pics with my camera phone. Here you go :)

Through the Viewfinder

2008-06-19T18:14:00.005-06:00

I read about this technique in a magazine, or maybe on the internet. Either way, I found my way to this Flickr group, TtV. Soon, I was bidding on decades old twin lens reflex cameras on ebay. Kodak Duaflex and Brownie Starflex were the two I ended up winning - less than $1!

I threw a 4x close up filter stacked with a 2x close up filter on my 50mm. The closer I can focus my top camera to the viewfinder the less I have to crop. A macro lens would be better, but not in the budget.

Took a few today, played with them in Adobe Lightroom and here you go...

Productive? Who? me?

2008-06-18T14:26:00.003-06:00

So, today I was fairly productive. Well, in relation to the past week, today I feel I accomplished quite a bit!

1. Networking meeting at 7am.
2. Bike ride at 9 (before the wind!)
3. Violin lesson at 12.
4. Completed, scanned and submitted application forms for a job I interviewed for last week.

Still to do:

1. Run at least 20 minutes.
2. Return overdue library books.

I've managed to not drive my car today. Actually, I've managed to not drive much the past week or so. I filled up my car last Tuesday and I've only gone through 1/4 of a tank :) I even think I can make it the rest of the day not driving...the library is a mere 1 and a half miles from my house. Boy is cooking me dinner tonight and he just moved closer to me - about 5 miles away. I figure today I've saved about $5!

Why I'm Not Running the Garden of the Gods 10 Miler Next Year.

2008-06-15T13:53:00.003-06:00

1. Course is brutal - there's not a flat section in the entire 10 miles. See following elevation profile. (Blue shaded is the elevation, red line is my heart rate and green line is our pace/speed. You can see where we slowed for water with the spikes in green. Yes, I am a nerd. My gps watch/HR monitor along with a 3rd party training program for mac lets me analyze my workouts with a mind boggling amount of data.)

2. Race t-shirts are not only ugly, but they don't fit! Argh.

In all seriousness, I probably won't run it next year. B and I discussed that during the race. We really did chit chat pretty much the entire 10 miles, stopped for a bathroom break around mile 5, stopped at every water point, made conversation with random people around us. It is a beautiful place to run - you'd think after twice weekly training runs along the course for 2 and a half months I'd be sick of the Garden. But no, I went running there yesterday!

Whew!

2008-06-06T15:08:00.003-06:00

I should take a picture of my awesome tan lines and post, but it'd be a bit tricky to do myself. Last Sunday I rode the Elephant Rock Century (that's 100 miles on a bicycle for those not in the know). Um, not really prepared for the ride, as the longest ride up to that point was only 30 miles. I just kept telling myself it was going to be a long ride and just ... went. I don't want to say it went by fast, because it didn't, but it was like "oh, I'm at mile 30 already?" and then "hhmm, mile 50, ok" then "wow, mile 70." Mile 80-90 were screaming downhill - at one point my bike computer told me I was traveling 41.5 mph. But really, 100 miles is a long way. I spent just shy of 7 hours in the saddle but with the rest stops I was out on the course for close to 8 hours. Hence, the funky tan lines. I do enjoy that ride, 7000 cyclists including both my roommates! I thought the rest stops were well stocked and the course was a good one, very pretty. I could have done without the wind, but at least it wasn't cold. I'm still in a sort of shock that I actually rode my bike for 100 miles...

Other big things this week - I had a job interview in Denver on Wednesday which I felt went well. Think the guys I interviewed with thought the same thing as they just called for a 2nd interview!

Sunday B and I are running the Garden of the Gods 10 mile race. Woohoo! No more early Tuesday/Thursday training runs...

Bolder Boulder 2008

2008-05-27T17:22:00.002-06:00

Oh, goodness, we had such a good time!

Another slideshow - I'm just really liking them...

Weekend of Fun :)

2008-05-27T17:20:00.001-06:00

Memorial Day Weekend with friends!

Clicking on the slideshow will take you to the online album.

Uncle's 90th Birthday!

2008-05-27T17:18:00.001-06:00

I went to California to visit family and to attend my uncle's 90th surprise party. I want to write more, but I've been crazy busy...

Clicking on the slideshow will take you to the online album... love you family!

Way too much time on my hands

2008-05-13T10:53:00.004-06:00

Yesterday was the first day where I really did feel restless and (dare I say it) almost bored! I spent most of the morning sitting on the porch watching traffic. Rode my little cruiser a few blocks downtown to meet M for lunch. Hit the post office. Back to the porch. Wrote some letters to friends far away.

Sunday I spent a few hours cleaning the back yard. A winter's worth of leaves and trash into 3 contractor trash bags. A wheelbarrow full of potting soil after emptying oh, about 20 pots.

I wish I could tell you that I have a grand landscape plan, but I don't! I will finish laying the stone patio. Roommate and I will square out a vegetable garden. Neighbor and I will dig out the easement between the sidewalk and street and somehow unify his and my property.

Today I'm meeting B for lunch. Then to the DMV to trade in my Ohio drivers license for a Colorado one. Oh the excitement!

Headed to San Francisco to visit family this weekend - should be a good time. Cousins tell me its supposed to be HOT there, which is nice considering today its about 45F.

Run this morning.

2008-05-08T15:56:00.003-06:00

So, I spend way too much time on the internet while unemployed. Mapped my run this morning. Check it out!

Garden Run w/ Ridge Road
Find more Runs in Colorado Springs, Colorado

I like the elevation profile on the actual website...

Colorado Half Marathon

2008-05-08T15:43:00.005-06:00

So, B and I drove up to Fort Collins saturday and met up with M in Old Town. Its such a cute little college town! We picked up race packets and walked around a bit. M was like "Rio Grande has really good margaritas!" Of course we have not one, but two each with chips and queso :) (By the way, apparently Rio Grande's margaritas are so potent, there is a 3 per person limit.) Fantastic pre-race meal if you ask me.

I have friends that live just east of Fort Collins and they were great and let us stay with them - we cooked a big spaghetti dinner and chit chatted.

B and I woke at 4:30 to get to the bus station to grab the bus that drove us to the start. We arrived at the start point at 6:20 and shivered along with the other 1/2 marathon runners until the start at 7. The course was point-to-point starting in the canyon and then going slightly downhill along the Cache La Poudre river. It really was a great course and well supported with lots of runners! I took it easy the first hour (roughly 9:30 pace) and was feeling pretty good. Realized I could finish in under 2 hours, so I picked up the pace the rest of the race... I finished in 1:59:04 which is about a 9 min pace and I was very happy with that. The Garden runs we suffer through on Tues/Thurs mornings have improved my running. Yay.

We skipped the beer tent (!) post race and opted for a fattie breakfast! Yay for stuffed French Toast!

It really was a great race and we're definitely wanting to do this next year. I like the 1/2 marathon length. I can comfortably complete one without too much training. Next up Bolder Boulder!

Snow. In May. Seriously.

2008-05-01T13:45:00.002-06:00

I took this picture this morning. The day started somewhat ok. It was in the low 40s, high 30s during the Garden run this morning. I wore shorts, only because I thought I had a pair of yoga pants in my car (oh, I didn't) into which I could change. *sigh* Late this morning it started raining then snowing. Then the sun came out. And now its snowing again! As G.O.B. would say, "C'mon!"

Today is my last Army Day! Say it with me "Woohoo!"

This week has been crazy but good. I spent a lot of time with Friend Now Living Here which, I'm going to have to change her name to Friend Who Moved to Delaware. The two kids and her are leaving tomorrow! What am I going to do?! Monday, we spent (minus the kids) two and half hours at Target. Yes, it is completely possible to spend 2+ hours in Target. Especially when the Target has a built in Starbucks! Hey!

I've mentioned that B and I committed to running the Garden of the Gods 10 Mile and their Tues/Thurs training runs. At first we were running with the Middle of the Pack group. The past few runs we've mixed it up with the two trail groups - we tried the slower trail group last week which was fun. Tuesday we decided to run with the fast trail group - not because we're fast, we just didn't want to stop and wait with the slower trail group. Um, yeah. That run I think was the hardest run I've done - 63 minutes of torture. And we weren't even keeping up with the group! The rest of Tuesday I was sick. S.I.C.K. and I blame the run. Needless to say, this morning B and I ran with the Social group and that was a nice 47 min run. There was a craptastic hill included, but really, you can't run the Garden without running hills. *sigh*

Yesterday Boy took me to the driving range. Other than Adventure Golf during gym summer school, I've never hit a golf ball. He proved to be a good instructor (though he says he's an awful golfer) - I hit almost every ball and some I even hit straight and quite well. It was way more fun than I thought. Plus it was a beautiful day (70s) yesterday - hard not to enjoy it.

This weekend we're running a 1/2 marathon in Fort Collins.

Climbing

2008-04-24T08:57:00.002-06:00

I'm really enjoying this not working thing...

Tuesday, Roommate + co-workers let me tag along while rock climbing at Red Rocks Canyon here in town. Beautiful Day.

I'm trying this embedded slide show..lot of pictures I know.

Sunday

2008-04-15T10:52:00.002-06:00

Casualty.
Me.
Attacked by a rock. In my way on the trail.
I stumbled.

Well, ok, really I bit it. Hard. Flew flat on my face after scraping a huge chunk out of my knee and forearm and both palms. Ugh . And we were only 2 minutes into the run! Rinsed the dirt off and kept going. About an hour later, I look down and saw the crusty, bloody mess that covered my knee trailing down my leg. A pool of blood in my shoe. Ew.

Saturday

2008-04-15T10:34:00.005-06:00

Friend Now Living Here (+2 kids) stopped by the see me Saturday afternoon. The kids were in the car watching a movie and Friend was trying to talk her son into naptime. I'm not sure when Friend decided to abandon naptime but within seconds she said, "How about riding rides at the penny arcade in Manitou?" She then smiles, looks at me and goes, "Wanna come?" I was slightly hungover from the previous night - see below post - but I rallied. Its hard not to want to spend time with them!

It was such a beautiful day - grabbed my camera and hopped in the mommobile.

There's a penny arcade in Manitou Springs - well, that's misleading, it really should be called the quarter arcade. Anywho. They've got everything you'd see on a boardwalk (without actual boards or a nearby ocean).

Skeeball was dangerous, however. All the balls were being chucked across the room, not exactly rolled up the ramp into the score holes!

Friend and the kids will be leaving the area soon and headed back to the East Coast. Its been such fun getting to know her kids and be able to spend some time with her.

Friday

2008-04-15T10:30:00.002-06:00

I was a date to a military ball! It was a bit weird, seeing as I used to work with most of these people and here I am in a dress and not dress blues.

We were standing in line at the bar when I heard one of my former troops say "CPT A is here?! Where?!" and we were standing right behind him.

Brr.

2008-04-10T08:31:00.003-06:00

I am ready for warm weather. You know, to stay! The Garden run this morning was horrible (tummy issues) so I ended up breaking from our 4 person group {the other groups seem to have like 10x more peeps than us!} for a pit stop. Ugh.

Yeah, so today is overcast and chilly. Sister said it snowed in Denver last night. Ugh!