I cannot remember wishing harder for rain than I did today. The fires have now claimed nearly 140 homes, the worst fire damage in Colorado history, and it is still listed as 0% contained. It did finally rain a little bit this afternoon but I was hoping for more. Todd took this picture of neighbor Joe’s house after the rain stopped:

For the updated  info on the fires: http://www.boulderoem.com/emergency-status

Many of us know people being affected by the fires in Boulder. Either they have already lost their homes or have been evacuated and are still waiting for the outcome. I wish our friends the best and I am available if anybody needs anything. In the meantime, I am arranging for a group of Flatirons CrossFitters to volunteer once Boulder Fire has determined the work that needs to be done. I will keep you guys updated if you are interested in participating. Others are also welcome to join our group. Just let me know. Todd took pics last night from Lafayette.

Notice the fire is spread out across the whole ridgeline:

Several separate blazes were visible from 75th and Baseline:

The smoke looked like an approaching storm:

I took this with my cell phone on the way home from Longs Peak. The smoke was so thick it nearly eclipsed the sun:

Despite freezing weather and hours of treacherous winds we made it to the top of Longs Peak today and more importantly back down. The wind became so forceful on the way back that we literally had to cling to the rocks to keep from being blown away. None of us had ever experienced such forceful winds much less while hanging on to the side of a mountain. I am very happy everyone arrived home safely.

I was very proud to be part of this group representing Flatirons CrossFit today (Sean, Joe Brown, Josh, and I). Despite being desperate to get out of the wind after enduring such an ordeal we stopped at the bottom of the boulder field to check on a man who had been blown over by the wind and had smashed his head on a rock. He was covered in blood and his wife was in an absolute panic and on the verge of a complete break down. The winds were too strong to send a helicopter. The couple was stuck there. With no other options, the four of us worked together to evacuate this man, his wife, and all of their backpacking gear 5 miles back to the trailhead fighting those gale force winds with every single step. Without hesitation and without complaint our crossfitters endured an extra several hours of bitter winds to help these people. It was amazing to me how our mental and physical conditioning had been directly responsible for our ability to help this poor couple out of such a desperate and dangerous predicament. When the wife asked ‘how are you guys so strong?’ I mentioned we all worked out at the same gym. She replied ‘I want to come work out at YOUR gym’. The man was taken to the hospital and will be just fine and his wife was extremely gracious. Well done today, team.

Despite planning to climb Longs Peak this weekend I still agreed to go mountain biking with Todd today. Only instead of our normal 10-15 miles we did a 22 mile loop at Buffalo Creek that took 4 hours. I was feeling pretty good until about the last mile of the last climb when my legs did not want to work anymore. Slow and steady in a low gear I somehow made it up the rest of the way. Totally worth it too. The trail was gorgeous and the payoff at the end of the climb was a full 8 miles of gradual down hill. It was so fun winding in and out of the trees and around the boulders that I forgot how tired I was. (I remember now though).

The first part was through the area destroyed by the Hayman Fire. A little creepy but fun trail surrounded by wildflowers and great views.

Much of the trail was in the trees and not terribly steep.

Then for the best part. Coasting down the hill.

We also met two very nice guys at the trailhead and ended up joining them for a late lunch at a place called The Buck Snort Saloon. One of the guy’s name is Charlie Brown. No kidding. Great guys though. Looks like we may end up going riding with them again sometime.

At Regionals, I noticed the girls of CrossFit have a particular style. Along with their short shorts, several female competitors wear knee high socks. I really thought it was just some kind of fashion statement or something, girls being girls, like me putting pink laces in my lifting shoes. After attending my 3rd competition my legs are covered in scratches and bruises from scraping weightlifting bars and kettle bells against my shins and climbing the ropes at the gym. I now realize the socks, however bold, may have more practical purposes. Probably more of a fashion risk than a statement but I went ahead and finally bought myself these three pairs. I hope they help!

This past weekend was the Colorado CrossFit Open. I had no idea what to expect so my original goal was to be in the top half. I ended up in 9th! What really made it fun was that we had a lot of people from our own gym competing. Quite a few people came out just for support, other gym members, friends, my whole family. I even ran into some volleyball girls there. Small world! Anyway, everyone from Flatirons who competed did exceptionally well. I was really proud to be a part of that group. What a bunch of studs! I need to add more pictures here are a few: Colorado Open Day 2.

Monday I was completely wiped out. For dinner I caved big time and had pizza. I dipped the crust in ranch dressing because I didn’t have enough honey. Then I ate a Snickers ice cream bar for dessert. I can hear the others from my gym cringing. Needless to say, after a meal like that I didn’t feel much better on Tuesday. It was pretty obvious I needed to get the diet back on track so I made baked scallops.

BAKED SCALLOPS
Ingredients
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2 pounds
1/4 cup almond meal
1/4 cup finely shredded coconut
1/8 cup grated Parmesan (opt) 
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Pour melted butter into a 2 quart oval casserole dish. Distribute butter and scallops evenly inside the dish.
Combine everything else and sprinkle this mixture over the scallops.
Bake in pre-heated oven until scallops are firm, 15-20 minutes.

For the asparagus I brushed them very lightly with oil and sprinkled sea salt on them. I baked them in the convection oven for about 8-10 minutes. Then I allowed the excess butter from the baked scallops to run underneath them.

Days to Colorado CrossFit Open: 3

They finally posted the the Friday workouts from the CrossFit Games in California: http://live.crossfit.com/. The weekend is covered hour by hour. To see brief moments of coverage of our team and an interview of Tim you can select the hours below from the dropdown on that site. Be patient, They take a long time to load and sometimes suddenly stop playing. Might take a few tries.

16-Jul-2010 10:00-11:00
5:12 – 1st workout explained. Tim, Sean, Rosanne, Elizabeth divide the work.
22:25 – Our heat starts
29:38 – Our only footage. A very brief shot of Tim and Elizabeth doing thrusters.

16-Jul-2010 13:00-14:00
26:12 – 2nd workout explained. Tim, Sean, Sid, Rosanne, Elizabeth, Karen.
46:30 – Our heat starts
49:25 – Judges laugh when I fall on my butt trying to do a pistol.
49:54 – Some random girl shows up everyone on pistols.
50:58 – Me on the rower. Rosanne resting. Elizabeth doing pistols.
56:08 – Elizabeth jerks 135 (eventually gets 145).
57:34 – Tim hits a 275 jerk at the end setting the record for the days so far.

16-Jul-2010 14:00-15:00
0:00 – Interview with Tim and the team after Tim set a record on the jerk.

17-Jul-2010 11:00-12:00
3:15 – 3rd workout explained. Sean, Sid, Elizabeth, Karen.
6:00 – Look for the girls in the neon yellow-green sports bras. That is us.
9:10 – Sean is on the 3rd box from the left in our lane in the board shorts. 
10:40 – Elizabeth in the glowing sports bra smokes those 24” box jumps.
Sid was the real hero in this workout even though his heroics did not get coverage. He was the only team member we never had to wait for at any station and he cranked through his last set of lunges at lightening speed landing us just under the 25:00 time limit.

TODAY’S WORKOUT: Day 16
“Grace”
For time:
30 Clean and Jerks at 65#
My time: 2:14

Days to Colorado CrossFit Open: 4

THE WORKOUT: Day 16
2 rounds: 1 min of kettlebell snatches each arm @ at 16k (35 lbs). Ouch. Then for time: 21 reps, 15 reps, 9 reps of: Overhead squats and Burpees. My time: 6:05.

My time today was fine but was tainted by my terrible form. As I grew tired the depth on my overhead squats became questionable, I stopped keeping my arms straight, and the weight went out in front of me making it much more difficult than it would have been otherwise. A good lesson for next time, I suppose. Slow down a little and keep the form in tact and I won’t have to rest as much or have failed reps.

Today’s workout got me thinking about this coming weekend. The workouts will be similar to last year. So I looked at last year’s. I would have done pretty well at one of them, just okay at another, and probably really stink at the third. So I guess it just depends what order they are in whether I have a chance of making it to Sunday.

THE DIET: Day 16
Tonight I made a taco bowl. I started by making fresh pico de gallo with tomatoes from my dad’s garden and a couple jalapenos from ours. So easy and so delicious. My sister and I got this recipe from a Mexican cooking workshop. Mmm.

Pico de gallo:
1 large tomato (or a couple smaller ones)
1 jalapeno
1 clove of garlic
1/4 c red onion (i use less cut really small)
Chopped fresh cilantro
Squeeze of lime
Salt or garlic salt to taste

Make extra to put on steak or chicken later. Mix a few tablespoons into some mashed up avocados for guacamole.

Taco Seasoning for Ground Meats:

1 TBSP Chilli Powder
1 TBSP Cumin
1/2 TBSP Paprika
1 TBSP Onion Powder
2 tsp Oregano
A pinch of red pepper flakes
Combine these with 1 cup of water and set aside. Brown the ground meat and drain. Add the seasoning mix. Stir while maintaining a medium heat until the water is evaporated and the meat still looks moist.

Taco Bowl
All you have to do is put a little shredded lettuce in the bottom of a bowl, the taco meat, the pico, and a little guacamole. A couple clementines for dessert to tame the taste of onion and garlic.

So this doesn’t have to do with anything but last weekend when we returned from our bike ride the neighbor girls had set up a bike wash in the driveway across the alley from ours. They wanted to raise money and donate it to charity. How cute is that?

We slept in today but still managed to get out for a ridiculous ride up Sourdough Trail. It does not have really steep climbs or major technical sections. What made it difficult is the steady uphill climb to 10,200 feet. So much less air up there. Great trail except that it gave me a big middle finger right at the top. Something caught the valve stem on my back tire and broke it right off. When we tried to put the spare tire on, the tip of the valve on the spare broke off too. So after all that work getting up to the top we didn’t get to ride it back down. Had to hitch a ride back to the car. Can’t complain though. The day could have been a lot worse. They were turning people around at the ranger station by Brainard Lake because a guy fell of Pawnee Peak. I heard someone tell the ranger they could still hear somebody screaming when they left their campsite. Sad. Hope he is okay.

Anyway, all that uphill is for the birds. I want to learn how to do this: