Yesterday I suddenly had a vague recollection of a plaque that used to hang on the wall in my bedroom of a big tree. I could probably draw the tree from memory but at the time it wasn’t much more to me than a decoration. Next to the tree it said ‘Great oaks from little acorns grow’. I probably haven’t thought of it in 25 years but for some reason I suddenly thought of it yesterday when we found out that Todd’s sister had her brand new baby girl at 9:00pm last night. Meet Little Miss Maggie Mahan:

[Thoughts continued…]  …It means pushing the limits of what I think I am capable of doing …

… like mountain biking at 12,000 feet. Monarch Crest Trail including Rainbow Trail (long route).

Time: 4.5 hours
Distance: 35 miles
Climbing: 2600 feet
Highest elevation: 11,960 feet

[I will post pictures of this adventure soon.]

[Pausing my train of thought just to say – Mom, you’re never far from my thoughts. Love you and miss you] …

Nancy Elizabeth Stutesman (Feb 18, 1950 – Aug 6, 2003)

I should point out that making “better use of time” for me does not necessarily mean being productive every minute. It means remembering to take the time to see amazing things I have never seen before…

[Crankworx Slopeside Finals in Winter Park – Jul 30, 2011]

Lacking the capacity to handle my normal physical workload, I have a lot more free time. I have probably spent more time with family, friends, and neighbors in the past month or so than the past several months. My house seems to be getting cleaner and cleaner inside and out. Here is an update on the tomato plant I tied up like a puppet after it was flattened by hail and baked at 95 degrees for 5 days with no water (instead of tossing it in the garbage). Todd calls it tomato Franken-plant. But hey, it’s alive!

Personally, I am hoping to call it sweet success. Please turn red!

Patio before:

Patio after:

More to come…

Less than a week left on my 24 day challenge but aside from the Advocare vitamins (which I will soon run out of) I am going to keep on going through to the end of August. I am on a nice slow roll but I am not done yet:

Starting weight: 146
Current weight: 142
Goal weight: 135-137

I didn’t plan to even have a goal weight. I just wanted to feel better – which I do. But as it turns out I feel even better knowing I am approaching a measurable goal. That’s probably one of the main reasons I like CrossFit. A lot of people automatically want to tell me I don’t need to lose weight. That is probably true. I don’t need to do CrossFit either, or ride my bike, or be outside in general. But I enjoy life better when I am striving to reach my full potential at something. Right now I can’t improve my performance with difficult workouts so I am doing what I can to prepare myself for hard work later including resting and getting rid of extra weight I don’t need. And if you think I have nothing to lose let me know and I will send you a photo. Hahaha.

It’s funny. Sometimes it seems like the closer we get to being successful with difficult goals, the closer we get to obsession. There seems to be a very fine line between an obsession with the potential to turn into something amazing and one that is horribly destructive. Last year I ventured way over to the right side of that line and since then I have been hanging out a little too far to the left. With some practice and a little caution I am hoping to slowly make my way to a happy, well-balanced, non-destructive middle ground.

Advocare challenge is going strong. Sadly, I won’t know if it helped my performance until I can really get after it again. And it will be awhile. My knee is screaming after a really light workout last night. My shoulders and elbows are in pain under load. And the latest totally unrelated injury is that I have a scratch on my eyeball. What the hell?! Even after the doctor found the scratch he continued to shine a very bright light in my eye until it burned. I wish I had known what he was examining. I could have told him the spot on my right eye is an eye-freckle I have had since birth – unrelated to the scratch. Anyway, time to back off for awhile and let my body and mind recover from a year and a half of taking a beating. Need to set aside at least a solid month to heal and work out all the kinks. That means no triathlon at the end of August and possibly no more competitions this year. Seems like yoga might help so I might give that a try if my knee stops hurting. In the meantime I can focus on getting the landscaping finished and enjoying the outdoors as much as I can.

From what I hear, the weather has hit two opposite records in Denver. 13 days in a row at 90+ degrees and 13 days in a row of thunderstorms. While in Crested Butte there was not much I could do about my tomato plants getting fried by the sun and trampled by rain and hail every day. Every branch was bent in half and laying on the ground by the time we returned. It looked like road kill. I didn’t even bother to help them. But this morning I read that no matter how broken it is, a tomato plant will fight for itself to the end. With a little care they can heal themselves, become strong again, and go on to bear amazing delicious fruits. I like that. So this morning I decided to go on a mission to save them. They look more like puppets than plants at the moment but considering I almost threw them in the garbage if I can get a single tomato from them I will be happy. It would be an expensive tomato but  worth it.

The CrossFit Games are starting. Goal 2 is really about making better use of free time so I definitely am not dropping it. But the first step towards that end  was to stay away from TV and videos during the week for the next month. No way I’m doing that this weekend. The Games are starting and they are streaming live. And with our gym owner and trusted coach in the running for the title of the Fittest Athlete in the World I plan to follow all of it. Personally for me it qualifies as a great use of free time and major motivating factor so I am making the exception.

The fun starts today. They surprised the athletes yesterday with an announcement that they will have to take a swim test today to demonstrate their competency in the water. That can only mean that some kind of activity in the pool will be part of the events. Who knows though. It could be treading water. Retrieving objects from the bottom or moving them from one side to the other. Other stuff you might need to do in a water rescue, maybe? They tend to be pretty creative. Could be just swimming laps though which is hard enough by itself. We shall see.

I spent the weekend camping and mountain biking in Crested Butte and Salida. Best reminder of how to enjoy life. I will post an album soon. In the meantime, it is good to be home. Last night I stayed up until midnight hashing out details of our landscape plan. Going through the drawings reminded me of elementary school. My friends and I used to spec out what the perfect school bus would be like. It was usually two or three levels high, looked like a limo, and had a pool on the top. The seats were giant bean bags. Mine could fly so I would be home from school faster but that didn’t make sense since I wouldn’t have time to enjoy the pool. On my bus there was usually a candy store and the bus driver was Tom Cruise (Top Gun, not Oprah) or Johnny Depp (21 Jump Street, before Ed Scissorhands). Other times it was Ferris Bueller because then we probably wouldn’t even go to school. He seemed like he would be a lot more fun than our very sad bus driver Lilah who talked to herself. I always felt bad for poor Lilah. Anyway, the point is, I see no reason to stop dreaming up what life should be like. The only difference now is that I can make it so.