The Golden Roof and the City of Water

Location: Somewhere in Italy

Well…clearly I made it.

I am currently riding on the train with Ellie to Venice. I am beyond excited. Here, we will spend the afternoon and evening touring, stay in a hotel and then tour in the morning before heading back to Innsbruck.

We have been busy over the past few days. Friday, after landing in Innsbruck, Ellie, me and my luggage took a bus to Maria-Theresian Strasse to meet up with her friend and teammate Emilie and Emilie’s boyfriend Stefan. This location is kind of like the main drag – a strip with stores, restaurants and a mall. I was hungry so we ate outdoors at a place called Orangerie. Ellie helped me order something “authentic” which wound up being these pasta noodles (they looked like French fries) and an Apfelsaft G’spritz (tastes just like Apple Juice!). After eating, Ellie and I headed back to her place to relax until she had to go to practice. I took a much needed nap and woke up feeling a little better, although still kind of like a zombie. Could have really used a Starbucks.

Hot off the train, eating at the Orangerie

My first meal in Austria

Speaking of Starbucks, at the Frankfurt airport I made a stop at one. 1) because I figured it was the last one I’d see the whole trip and 2) I was exhausted. As we all know, I didn’t sleep much on that flight from Dulles to Frankfurt before the infamous breakfast was served. Anyway, the Starbucks guy looked at me crazy when I asked for an iced coffee – and the result was expected. A cup of ice, hot coffee from the coffee maker and a straw. I made it work, but it was not that great and I wound up having to down it anyway because I had to go through security, again, to access another terminal.

At my gate (which I thought was my Gate because it is what was printed on my boarding pass for the second leg of the flight way back at Dulles) I found a table to sit at and worked on a presentation for class. Downfall, of course, is that there were zero outlets anywhere…and when I did finally find one, it required a converter which I clearly didn’t have. Smh. So much for a lot of schoolwork. I tried to lay down and take a nap, but that was rather unsuccessful. I also people-watched quite a bit, including two men’s volleyball teams that fly out of my gate during my 5.5 hour layover. Their team names were Asseco Resovia and the Rhein- Neckar (or Necker?) Lowen. They were flying to Lubijana…and that’s just about all I gathered. I learned people-watching is a bit different when you cannot understand anyone. There isn’t any possibility of eavesdropping on conversations – it is a complete observation of body language and guessing what they may be saying. It got old fast, lol.

Anyway, back to Innsbruck. So, Ellie’s practice was interesting. She has been describing the experience all along as completely not on the same level as college. And while I would have to definitely agree, her team was much better than I feel I had then figured them to be. It was just clear that they did not have the bond that a college team would have based on experiences and time together. It made me think of the NBA and NFL – and how much harder it must be for these people who do this as a living to bond based on the passion they still hopefully have for the sport. Of course, not everyone on Ellie’s team only play volleyball. The Austrian players make much less money, so they have other jobs too – the volleyball team is not their sole source of income. I will also admit it was not easy to sit and watch practice – I wanted to play! I supplemented my urge by shagging an occasional ball and working on some schoolwork when the drills weren’t of interest. It was really fun watching Ellie play though – and a position I hadn’t seen her play since high school!

Bed came soon after practice – after updating ourselves with NCAA games that were happening at the time. We watched the ending of the Norfolk State upset of Missouri (15 seed over number 2) and then the next morning learned of Duke’s fall to Lehigh (another 15/2 seed).

Yesterday we spent a majority of the day touring Innsbruck. I picked up some items (mainly candy and chocolate – you know me!) at a store and we tried on some things other places. I saw the infamous Golden Roof, we ate Hawaiian pizza (that had bananas and cherries on it!) and saw Old Town Innsbruck. It was a lot of walking which was good exercise but also a bit hard on the back. I think the best discovery of the day was a church we happened upon. It had a huge, wooden door that Ellie curiously opened and as we walked inside, past the blankets that hung right behind the door, I felt like it was an ancient discovery. The church was breathtaking. We later learned it was St. James’ Cathedral, which Ellie said she had been meaning to see so that was a bit of a bonus for her.

St. James Cathedral

Ellie and I inside the Cathedral

In front of the Golden Roof

Hawaiian Pizza

The team she was scheduled to play last night had bus problems on their way to the match. In short, they wound up forfeiting the match which was disappointing for 2 reasons: 1) Ellie knows 2 of the girls on the team, both whom which we trained with in Anaheim…but I know one of them too because she is from Iowa and grown up playing volleyball with/against Ellie. It would’ve been fun to see them. And 2) I now won’t get to see Ellie play a home match in Innsbruck. Wednesday, we will travel to Vienna to play the same team (it will be match #3 of the best-of-5 series) so at least I will still get to see her play. In fact, her coach is looking for another player for that match. Ellie told her I could play – but amidst the language barrier and also probably not really knowing if I can play or not, she dismissed the idea. I am hoping I can practice with them either Monday or Tuesday though – that would be fun.

Last night we went to an old restaurant called Ritter-Kuchl (I think, lol). It is comparable to an American medieval times…only it was so cool because it was believable. The building was genuinely from the times and the food was authentic to Austria. There were four courses and we could only eat with our hands. We were with a group of 11 – it was a surprise dinner in celebration of Stefan’s birthday (Emilie’s boyfriend whom which we had eaten with the day before). It was so much fun!

Afterwards we headed to a bar where the group continued the celebration with cake and drinks. Ellie and I did not stay long, however, as it was pretty late and we had a train to catch in the morning…which brings me back to my current location :)

I’ve finished my presentation for class next week and now hope to start another assignment to complete before we get to Venice. I definitely don’t want my trip to be about schoolwork or work. But 4-hour train rides are good times to enjoy the view and also stay ahead! It is supposed to rain either today or tomorrow and be quite cloudy. It is hazy right now – but I’m still looking forward to seeing the City of Water :)

A Warm Wet Towel & Bottles and Bottles of Wine

Location: Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean

Well, it’s 1:23am in the morning in Washington, DC, but here in Row 40, Seat K on Luthfansa Airlines, it is apparently time to get up. The cabin lights were just turned on and the flight attendants are making their rounds with warm, sanitary cloths and….breakfast. Welcome to the time zone change ladies and gentlemen. It is 6:23am in Frankfurt, Germany (our destination) so we adjust as so. I have been sleeping (if you can call it that) for probably just under 2 hours.

It is kind of weird to think that I am flying through Frankfurt. A lot has changed in my life since I last booked a flight here (and didn’t wind up going) nearly 10 years ago. This time I’ll only be staying for a 5.5 hour layover before connecting to my final destination: Innsbruck, Austria. There, Ellie has been living for the past 7 months, playing professional volleyball. I am catching her last few weeks “on the job” before her season is over and she heads back to the states. ..I am also the last Blankenship to visit.

The last time I was on an international flight was 8 years ago when I traveled to this same basic region on a 2 week trip with my high school friend, Tyler. We visited Rome and Florence in Italy; Munich, Daukau and Ludwig’s Sleeping Beauty Castle in Germany; Paris in France; and Lucerne, Switzerland. We packed it in – but had an amazing time.

This time, I’ll be visiting a few different places in Austria including Innsbruck where Ellie lives, Vienna (briefly, as she has a match there next Wednesday) and hopefully another spot in which the name has slipped my mind that Tyler (Ellie’s fiancé, not the one I traveled with) suggested Ellie visit. We have also made plans to visit Venice, Italy (across the border) for a day which is exciting for me – that one had to get cut from the list that last time due to time constraints. Finally, half of my suitcase is filled with….ski clothes! While the weather is warming (dad complained of poor, warm ski conditions during his trip here 3 weeks ago), I am so excited to be able to ski the Alps for a day! Contrary to Troy now living in Denver and living it up on the slopes, this will sadly be my only ski trip of the year this time around. Gotta love working college basketball.

But…back to this warm towel thing. I definitely don’t remember this from last trip – I guess I’ll need to pull out my journal. Oh yeah, we hand-wrote things “back then” (laughs). Screw that – this computer will be much faster…and this blog needed some dust knocked off of it. Anyway…again, back to the towel – the flight attendant comes down the aisle with a tin tray and lifts a square of sanitary towel (basically it is a wet wipe) that has been steamed with warm water. It is a little unclear to me if you wipe your hands with it – or your face, so…I went with both. I am very clean now, in case you were wondering :)

I have dodged watching any sort of entertainment. I was hoping for a JetBlue type experience with TVs in the back of the headrests, but I guess Direct TV (and the NCAA Tournament, lol) doesn’t fly over the Atlantic Ocean...at least not in the economy section of the plane. The TV monitors are still in the aisle and have been showing all sorts of things – a movie, sitcoms and some National Geographic special about Black Bears that played during dinner. …I choose the pasta over the Black Bear entree. …kidding.

Speaking of food – I remembered that on my last international flight we had been served food – but hello economy tanking. I was a bit unclear this time if we would even have snacks. So, I purchased some nuts for a whopping $8 in the gift store…Seinfeld would tell you that “nuts are very rare here”…and a pre-packed box with crackers and hummus. I figured those two things, along with a large bottle of water, would get me through the overnight flight. Then, right before boarding, my stomach growled. I thought to myself – uh oh. Guess I should buy a real dinner (my flight left at 6:50pm). So I made a quick stop at Potbelly’s and brought a sandwich on board. About 20 minutes after eating my sandwich, and 5 after I downed half the bag of nuts…wa-lah! Dinner was served. Crap.

So, as Smokey the Bear and his bear cub were trouncing around the fields on the TV monitor, I opted for the pasta over the chicken (for real this time). It came with a roll (I passed – since I’d just had 2 slices of bread wrapped around my sandwich), a miniature Caesar salad and some sort of pound cake with strawberry sauce. I put a decent dent in it…but was most amazed at the drink service. Upon boarding the plane, we were served a drink. I chose Orange Juice while the German-American speaking lady next to me selected red wine. The Asian man (who doesn’t speak and gets up and paces with his arms crossed) ordered a beer. Clearly my priorities weren’t straight. Then, with dinner we were served another drink. The woman chose red wine – I picked Coke Zero in attempts to keep me awake longer to finish more work. However, the flight attendants weren’t done yet – they followed each other back down the aisles, wine bottles in hand, liquoring up anyone who wanted more wine with their meal. Of course, the lady ordered the red. Coffee and then tea followed and I couldn’t help but think to myself about the mass bathroom break that would inevitably be occurring in about 30 minutes on the flight.

Somehow, the drinks must have been special because the bathroom break never happened and if you know me, you’d be impressed I only made one trip to the restroom in the entire 8 hour flight. I guess I also skipped the 3 wine servings and coffee pourings. But, in case the Potbellys and dinner wasn’t enough (only a few hours ago), we were just served breakfast (fruit, granola bar, roll with jam and a slice of cheese). I might need to go for a jog around the Frankfurt airport upon arrival!

The only other thing worth noting is the first class cabin is located upstairs on the plane. I cannot remember if this was the case last time I flew internationally, but I was in awe all over again. The staircase seemed so long and majestic (even though it was really just a bare staircase) that I was tempted to drop my bags and race up it for a minute. Of course, who does that right? (face turns red). No…I didn’t. Instead I walked across Aisle 1 to Aisle 2 and proceeded 40 rows back. In fact, when we land here shortly, by the time I deboard this plane my 5.5 hour layover may be almost done. :)Well, that’s probably enough for now. I am looking forward to hugging my sister and seeing/experiencing some new places and things in the process.

Ciao! (Screw German – I didn’t take it…and we are close to France too !)

Where Did It Go?

How much would you pay for it to be July 1 right now? My answer: $500….starting bid.

Instead it is September 8 and I’m exhausted. The Fall is in full swing and probably our busiest Football season yet. With a new coach, new expectations and more things to execute the days of leaving work by even 6pm are long gone.

July 1 I was admittedly still wondering when my summer was going to begin. The month of June was a busy one for me – filled with lots of new projects at work and a trip to Orlando for a week for the annual NACMA Conference. Unfortunately, about midway through the week I caught a nasty cold – complete with sore throat – that prevented me from enjoying the conference like I truly would’ve liked to. But I guess there is always next year and I was still able to catch up with many good friends in the industry.

Professionally, July 1 also brought a promotion my way. My title is now: Assistant Athletics Director for Marketing & Sponsor Services. It is so crazy to me to think back to 2006 when I was a Graduate Assistant at Arizona State and my boss, Steve Hank, said to me “Carrie, you should be a Director of Marketing in 5 years.” I remember my first 2 years at Maryland as an Assistant Director of Marketing thinking “how in the world am I going to be a Director of Marketing somewhere in only 5 years?! But so many things have fallen into place and last summer when, after 4 years of being a Terp, I was promoted to Director of Marketing I couldn’t help but reflect on Steve’s comment. This year, now that it has officially been 5 years, I am ahead of Steve’s schedule and I’m definitely okay with that. What does this mean? Increased responsibility my way, another employee reporting to me and another couple years that I will now be a resident in the state of Maryland and a fierce Terrapin :)

I didn’t take nearly as many trips this summer as I have in year’s past. My only true vacation trip was to Lake Okoboji in Iowa where my family spent an extended 4^th of July weekend together with a few special guests (including my best friend Sarah). There is nothing like relaxing at the lake in perfect weather – which we literally had every single day we were there.

The weekend of July 15^th was supposed to be a reunion of sorts with a few friends of mine – Sarah, Kenan, Darrell and Reggie – in Phoenix. However, 3 days prior to the trip things got a little chaotic in both Sarah and my worlds. The funny thing is, I was terrified to tell her I no longer thought I could make the trip – but before I could say anything, she called me and told me she didn’t think she could make it work. How funny. What wasn’t funny, was that 4 of the 5 of us ended up bailing – with only the coordinator of the trip, Kenan, still making the trek.

So it wound up being the summer of cancellations – a trip for my friend Lauren’s birthday to the Hamptons that I couldn’t make happen, Phoenix, a trip with work friends to Ocean City and Sarah not being able to make our Terps/Miami football game (Shoutout to my dear friend Joe…for travelling all the way from Orlando to check us out!)…. However for me it was also a summer of a new, special friendship. Last February I met, for the first time, a football coach at Maryland named Curome who had joined the staff the previous season, but our paths had never crossed. Through various department and social events, we wound up becoming the very close friends we are today. I am incredibly blessed to have him in my life – and for now, only an inter-office phone call or a trot across campus away. With many of my friends working in college athletics – and it being such a transient industry, it is hard to sometimes keep friends close by. And while I’m sure he will move on to a new position somewhere, sometime – for now it is refreshing to have such a great friend nearby...

Kind of hard to blog about the last 3 months when it seems all a blur. But hopefully I’ve covered a few things. As we speak, Troy is moving from Houston to Denver…literally. He departed with his things yesterday and made the 2 day trek to his new home. He is excited to start a new chapter of his life in a place we’ve all dreamed of moving to someday. Guess someone had to start it off.

Ellie may be next with moving to the West. She is currently playing professional volleyball in Austria. Her season, with a break for Christmas, will last until potentially April…at which time she’ll arrive home, frantically continue planning her wedding – which is set for the top of Keystone Mountain in Colorado next July. Who knew? The youngest Blankenship sibling at age 21 would get hitched first…with the older two siblings single and available. (Fellas! Where are you at? haha?)

A few final tidbits to check out below if you feel inclined:

Click Here to view a “20 Questions” feature on me NACMA did on their website. Enter: Political Carrie with a little personality still in there somewhere.

Click Here to view our special Football Introduction video, created with Under Armour, to introduce our surprise uniforms at our home opener against Miami. Our uniforms have been the talk of the country, with news outlets from ABC World News to Forbes reporting and blogging about them. People either love them or hate them. There are a few combinations (black/black, red/black and white/gold) that I like that were unveiled at our original press conference. However, the “Pride” uniforms, which were kept secret and on display during primetime when our team took the field Monday night vs. Miami on National Television (we were the solo game-no other college football game occurred at the same time to compete with our viewing audience), are my favorite. They showcase our unique state flag and are unlike anything I’ve ever seen in a uniform.

According to Forbes, the buzz about the uniforms has created millions of dollars in free advertising ;)

My First 10K

I’ve had better nights of sleep...and I’ve had worse. When it comes down to it, the sleep I DID get wasn’t going to negatively impact my race so I won’t drag on about it. The temperature outside when we left the hotel was 54 degrees. I was conflicted as to what to wear but decided to go with running pants, a long-sleeved Under Armour shirt and a neon pink short-sleeved Under Armour shirt over it. I figured I wouldn’t be too cold this way and the Under Armour material would hopefully prevent me from overheating should I have made a bad decision with the layers.

In addition to my bib pinned on the front of me, I pinned a special bib on my back as well. Its purpose, if we wanted to wear it, was to honor military personnel (past, present, deceased or living) serving our country. I decided to honor Moshe “Bananaz” Thompson (yes, we really call him that). He is a dear friend of my friend LeRon and subsequently has become a good friend of mine through the years. Moshe is currently stationed in Iraq.

The race had a FedEx drop point system worked out that was pretty cool. For an extra couple of bucks, you could drop a bag of things (clothing, personal items, etc.) into a FedEx truck near the starting line and by the time you were finished, the truck had relocated to the finish line where you could claim your items and be on your way. We definitely took advantage of that – storing wallets (perhaps we were a little too trusting, although all worked out), cameras, keys and a long-sleeved shirt Lexi decided she didn’t need.

Eric, Lexi, Ellie and I were all in the same heat – mainly because we had requested to be. It was the “GB under 11:00” group which was simply runners that signed up claiming to run an 11:00 mile or faster. Troy and Tyler ran earlier because they were able to use a previous qualifying time (in an official race) to more accurately measure their pace and place them with others of their same speed. Our GB group was still somewhat comparable to each other, but the speed of runners had a much larger range in timing than I’m sure Troy and Tyler’s individual heats had.

The Colorado University Athletic Director stood at the starting line, sending us off by the sound of a gun. Strangely, as if she wasn’t expecting it, I think Ellie jumped a mile when the gun went off. It was kind of funny. She and I had decided to at least run the first part of the race together and admittedly, this was most helpful to me. I was worried I would be too slow for her, but we had discovered a month ago we may actually run a similar pace and having a partner to run next to made all the difference for me. We shot ahead of Lexi and Eric at the start and begin our 6.2 mile journey.

Along the way there were various bands, music and other things to keep the runners entertained including a “Blues Brothers” band, Elvis impersonator, National Guard band, a kids band, belly dancers (Ellie was disappointed with them, lol), kids gymnastic acts and a Reggae band. I had invested in an iPod Shuffle and placed a strategic playlist on it for this specific race. I avoided listening to it during runs leading up to the race, trying to save it (and thus be “excited” when a song came on) for race day. I even thought I might run at least half the race without it, feeding off the crowd and entertainment. However, I wasn’t really that impressed with the acts and at 5,000+ft. above sea level and “slightly” winded after Mile 1, the iPod Shuffle was rolling nice and loud almost right from the beginning.

There were a few things the locals did that cracked me up. They made Mile 2.2 the Marshmallow Toss, throwing marshmallows to willing racers as they ran by. Yes, I caught one. No, I didn’t eat it. Are you kidding me? Haven’t you seen The Hangover Part II yet? J There was a Slip and Slide in someone’s yard, free Beer and Donuts around another turn, a Doritos station where people ran up alongside you with an open bag of Doritos encouraging you to grab a handful and a guy throwing water balloons TO racers (not at them) that we could in turn bomb at someone else. Near the end, there was an old man and his wife parked in their lawn chairs, waving an American Flag holding a sign that said “Only 2.1 more miles to go”. It made me smile. So did a bend in the road marked by a bunch of people holding up funny signs such as “Keep Going, Keep Going, That’s What She Said”.

I was also impressed at the number of kids running the race with their parents. I guess the energy level and endurance of kids is quite high although all I can remember related to running at that age is faking an ankle injury in gym class so I didn’t have to run THE mile…let alone 6.2! The Bolder Boulder encourages costumes and many racers took them up on this. I saw an guy in an Indian costume, a 10 year old girl in a grass skirt, a woman wearing ski goggles, a man wearing a cow suit, another racer dressed as a puppet (including strings attached to all his limbs running to a wooden circle suspended above his head), many neon shoes/socks and a group of runners dressed as cats slamming cans of Bud Light Lime in the parking lot before heading to the starting line. Hilarious.

As for the run itself – my main goal was to finish without walking…no matter how slow this meant I might be jogging in place. My secondary goal was to finish under an hour which was probably a little far-fetched but nonetheless it was sitting there in the back of my head. It was pretty crowded the entire race but Ellie and I did a good job weaving in and out of people to keep a decent pace. Without a watch on you really have no way of tracking your time. For me, all I could go by is the training I’d done leading up to the race. The official chip tied to my shoelace would have the final say when the race was over. After Mile 1 I was definitely more winded than when training in Maryland, but could still breathe much better than my jog with Troy in Keystone a few days prior. Mile 2 is kind of a blur besides the marshmallow toss and Mile 3 and 4 seemed to drag on forever. I did my best to ignore the fact that there was a lot of race left and while after Mile 3 I thought I’d be thinking “Yes! Halfway there!” I was instead thinking “Ugh, only halfway there…”

After Mile 4 I was starting to drag. I knew 2 more miles was attainable, but I began to breathe even harder and my legs were getting a little tired. It was right around this point that Ellie pointed ahead and said something. It took me a minute, but I finally figured out that she had spotted Eric and Lexi! We were both so confused because we thought we had been ahead of them from the very beginning…clearly we were mistaken. They weren’t going to be an easy catch for us – they were flying. Yet, looking back, this was the best case scenario for Ellie and I. And if you know the Blankenships, then you know what happened next.

Ellie and I picked up our pace. Not too much or we’d burn out…but we kept one eye on Eric and Lexi and the other eye on the road. They had a nice rhythm going and were not going to be easy to catch… But we made sure not to let them get any farther ahead of us and began to chip away at their 30 yard lead. Both Ellie and I will tell you that those last 2 miles were like death. We thought we were running faster than we had been running before but at the same time were so tired that we wondered if perhaps it just felt like we had sped up because we were having to work so hard.

Shortly into Mile 5 my body started telling me “More Oxygen Please.” I felt a little lightheaded and my leg muscles ached. We also both realized (we’d forgotten) that the 6 mile marker wasn’t the end – we’d have another .2 miles to go. The road widened and Ellie and I almost evened ourselves with Eric and Lexi. Finally, crossing the 6 mile mark and giving each other a high five (as we did after each completed mile) we fired up the last kick. The Bolder Boulder sure didn’t make this easy. It was uphill for a good 100 yards…and it was hell. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to lay off a bit and wait until the top and then kick it into high gear? Or if I should plow right up the hill and hope I’d have something left when I reached the top? I’m not sure how much thought I really could put into it at this point either – my brain cells were probably dying from lack of air – not trying to solve a simple problem. “All I Do is Win” by DJ Khaled had just finished playing (totally random timing) on my iPod Shuffle and I didn’t have time or patience to search for the next “perfect song”. So I just replayed the song and starting pumping my arms. I think my legs followed – although I’m pretty sure they were going up in flames at this point.

As the hill flattened off, we ran down a path leading into Folsom Field, Colorado University’s football stadium. I shoved myself into the highest gear I had remaining (which was admittedly more than I expected after I ran up the hill) and raced toward the finish line. The last 150-200 yards or so was wrapped around the football field –110 yards down one side, curved around the endzone, and straight toward the opposite 50 yard line where last timing platform, linked to the chip in your shoe, lay waiting for each runner to pass over. The Finish Line.

I had done it. I had finished the longest race of my life and I hadn’t stopped once. Best yet, I had done it next to my sister. We both hate running…and we BOTH had done it.

Yes, there are races that exist with much greater distances that many of you have probably raced in (half marathon, marathon, etc.). But I will never run that far. And today it was okay – because after 6.2 I was just as proud. And yes, Eric and Lexi had no idea we were stalking behind them, racing to keep up and eventually pass them. Had they known, perhaps they would’ve ran faster and not allowed us to come even close to passing them. But hey, I’ll take what I can get. Because of the Blankenship competitive spirit kicking in that last 2 miles, Ellie and I ran our fastest mile split times of the whole race.

My Split Times

Mile 1: 9:24

Mile 2: 9:43

Mile 3: 9:55

Mile 4: 9:53

Mile 5: 9:07

Mile 6: 9:04

Official Final Time: 58:56

Pace: 9:30

I finished under an hour! For my full results, click here. (You can even see what place I finished out of 723 total 31 year old females! lol).

After a few group shots, a cup of Gatorade and snarfing down the free snack pack they give you after the race, we said goodbye to Eric and Lexi and the 4 of us showered in our hotel and headed to Denver. I felt like a train had hit me. My body was just exhausted. I guess that is what you get when you turn it into an actual race and push yourself versus a 60 minute jog through the park, lol.

Lunch at the Denver Chophouse & Brewery, watching Maryland Men’s Lacrosse lose a heartbreaker to Virginia in the National Championship game, and some casual walking (to get the blood moving) along the famed 16^th Street rounded out the afternoon before heading to the airport.

So…now here I sit on the plane – thankful I have a window seat, no one in the middle seat next to me and most of all that I haven’t cramped up yet. Yet, I am even more thankful that I have such an awesome bond with my brother and sister. I love them both so much and only wish we lived closer. Maybe someday…

#BolderBoulder2011

Rocky Mountain High

This morning, I woke up before the rest of the crew and had an urge to go for a walk. I wasn’t going to let myself do any running…primarily because Troy and I already notched that off the list yesterday if you recall and it wasn’t pretty. I threw on a fleece and long pants (it was a bit chilly) and took off toward Keystone Mountain. In the winter time, in the dead of cold, I am definitely not making that walk. I am “Team Free Shuttle” all the way. But it was a sunny, crisp morning – and in those conditions it really isn’t a bad walk. While I brought headphones intending to listen to music, I instead opted to listen to the sounds of the outdoors. I climbed off the beaten path down to a gurgling fresh water stream and sat on the bank for awhile. The birds sang to each other, the wind rustled through the evergreen trees and the sky seemed to just open up – so very blue and clear. Sounds like a novel right? Or maybe a painting by Bob Ross? I swear…it felt like it. I cannot express how much I love the Rocky Mountains. It is the one place I can relax and easily lose track of time. In fact my walk, which I intended to only last about 30 minutes, wound up taking over an hour. I even stopped at a playground at the base of the mountain in the “River Run” development and hopped on a swing. Now seriously, tell me when the last time is you were on a swing!? It was awesome…until of course the squeaking chain that supported the swing got the best of me.

Mid-morning the crew did some cleaning up around the house, laundered all sheets and towels and packed the cars. It was time to head from Keystone to Boulder to grab our race packets, check in our hotel and see what else we could get ourselves into. So, after taking some pictures at the dam, stopping at the Under Armour outlet store on our way out of town (because I surely needed more UA gear, lol), the Smiling Moose Deli (which I have officially fallen in love with) and grabbing a Cherry Dip Cone from DQ (heaven on earth to me)…we forged ahead to Boulder.

The sibs posing at the Dam

One-handed bandit

The Crew (l to r: Lexi, Eric, Ellie, Tyler, Me and Troy)

Troy clearly didn't think my face was important in this shot, lol

After picking up our Dick’s Sporting Goods brown paper bags, complete with race bib, t-shirt and 40,000 presenting sponsor coupons, we wandered around –checking out various exhibit tents. There was a point, however, that my legs decided it was time to stop walking. And, when they do this, I am the first to listen because I know all too well that the next thing to start hurting will be my back.

We thought the Cheesecake Factory was a good compromise. An early dinner (5:00pm) beat the rush and also became the root of a funny story. When we came in, Troy told the hostess that there were 6 of us. The hostess said “6 of you for…?” We all kind of paused at this point and then Troy slowly responded “…um…food?” We all died laughing and the waitress remained confused only for a moment until she realized we wanted to eat NOW. She thought we were trying to make a reservation for later in the evening.

After dinner we headed to Louisville, Colorado (5 miles from Boulder) to check into our hotel. Big talks of a card game rematch or watching a movie slowly disappeared when my eyes lost the battle with my eyelids and I dozed off. I think most of the others got pretty tired too. This could also have been because we started discussing what time we were getting up in the morning (5:00am for some of us) and grew a little faint, lol.

Troy and Tyler shacked up in one room (they had an earlier start time, by about an hour, and would leave before us) and the rest of us claimed the second room. Lights out quickly followed – Race Day is almost here!

Pasta with Spoons

Tonight I had more fun than I’ve had in a long time. Of course, the fun couldn’t officially begin until we were able to actually enter the townhouse. Somehow in the time spent away for the day, the moisture finally got the best of the wooden door jamb at the bottom of the front door. We couldn’t open the door for the life of us and after some forceful shoving, we decided it was time to call Dad (and subsequently the Keystone Properties 24-hour line) for help before we got too aggressive and broke something. With more appropriate tools, compared to our measly screwdriver, 2 workers were able to open our door for us and let us in the house. Thankfully, we had lovely weather and plenty of fresh raspberries and blueberries to munch on while waiting (we had just left the grocery store). If that same scenario happened in the dead of winter…I might’ve died.

Troy, Ellie, Tyler, Eric, Lexi and I ate a home cooked spaghetti dinner (Carb-ing up for the big race Monday) and then decided that instead of playing one of our many board games, we’d throw it back a little and pull out a deck of cards instead. First up was a classic game of Hearts. Troy started the game off by pointing out to the crew that he wasn’t sure he’d ever actually played Hearts before with “real” people…only “Bob” and “Susie” on the internet. There was a lot more Shooting the Moon than usual…and successful too! Tyler and Lexi did so back to back near the beginning of the game, setting us all back 52 points immediately. And although we valiantly clawed our way back into the game, when Eric finally hit 100 points, Lexi took the title and Tyler grabbed the runner up trophy. Carrie narrowly passed Ellie for third and Troy rounded out the Blankenship clan in 5^th place.

After Hearts I was admittedly pretty exhausted. It was late, especially if converting the clock to the East Coast timezone. However, someone (we can’t remember who) threw out the idea of playing a game of Spoons. It had been so long for us, we had to look up the rules online….but boy am I glad that we did! It was SO FUN. Lots of laughs, spoon stealing and definitely safe to say we have now broken in that deck of cards. Lexi taught us a fun new twist called “Pig, Hog, Sow” that provided additional laughs as you were allowed to speak to some people without penalty and forbidden to speak to others. In the end, I must admit…I was the biggest loser. Lol. But I swear my seat location might have been a huge disadvantage ;)

About That Drinking Straw...

Troy and I woke up this morning and decided to take a short jog. When he told me he was planning on jogging for 20 minutes I admittedly turned my nose up a little. 20 minutes? That's only 2 miles - we have 6.2 to run Monday and while I wasn't trying to overexert myself, I at least wanted to break a sweat.

It was a bit cool this morning. I went with running shorts and a fleece to keep me warm. We decided against bringing along any music...after all, we weren't going to be gone that long. I even had a story that I was all ready to share with Troy to help pass the time.

3 minutes into the jog, and about 5 sentences into my story, I could barely breathe. I could've sworn I didn't pack that drinking straw to suck wind through...but somehow it must have snuck itself along with me for the trip. One final sentence squeaked out stating "how about I tell you the story after we are done" followed the previous 5....and then a whole lot of mental toughness.

After the run, winded, we both admitted it was good to get that out of the way. I think it will actually help me for Monday's big race - besides, you can adapt in one day, right? :) lol.

When we returned to the townhouse, I had Ellie look up the difference in altitude between where we currently are (Keystone, CO) and Boulder and I feel a lot better:

Feet Above Sea Level:

Keystone, CO: 9,000
Boulder, CO: 5,340
College Park, Md: 79
No, I didn't forget any zeroes on that last one.

However, it looks like my "training" in College Park doesn't even come close to comparing with the big boys...