Anchorage Relay for Life

For those of you who don't know, I work at the Anchorage REI store on Northernlights. 

I LOVE working there for so many reasons and this post is dedicated to one of those reasons.  REI is having an employee team at the American Cancer Society Relay for Life this year and I am going to be the Team Capitan.  A group of friends and I made our own team and did the Relay last year, and it was a blast.  I am so excited this year to be doing it with the REI team. 

I don't think I know a single person who has NOT been affected by cancer in some way or another.  PLEASE donate either your money or time to this cause!  You can donate at my personal page at this website. 

Thanks for reading!

Fireweed

So the last couple days at work have been filled with talk of the Fireweed ultra-race, which took place over the weekend. There were multiple events, from 50 to 400 miles. It's been exciting to hear the stories of those who entered the race, scratched and ultimately finished. The winner of the 400 event, John Caton, came into REI yesterday and chatted with one of my bike-nut co-workers as I listened closely. He finished the 400 mile stretch in something like 27 hours!

At the beginning of the summer, I heard about the race and contemplated entering it. But the summer got away from me, as it usually does, and didn't sign up for a single race. The Gold Nugget Triathlon will probably be the only event with cycling that I'll compete in this year. Hopefully that will all change next summer. I'm going to try to get out this summer and log some serious miles in a mostly mental exercise to see if I really want to ride such a distance in a time-trial event (I'm thinking the Fireweed 200 maybe). We'll see what happens.

my pleas worked!!

mileage: 17.3

total June mileage: 54.9

Biked over to my parents today to see my little sis, who had just returned from a trip to her university, Washington State, for orientation and registration. So exciting! Then we headed over to the Bagel Factory on our bikes for lunch with mom. I love that place! Stopped and grabbed some glass mixing bowls, stuffed my backpack with them and headed home. So those last 3 miles should count for extra because I was loaded down.

AND...REI called and I have an interview tomorrow! So all of you good thoughts worked and I thank you and wish me luck for tomorrow!

feeling technologically advanced

Mileage: 9.2

Fastest mph: 26

It's only 2.6 miles from my house to the Quilt Shop my sis works at and about 7-8 miles from her house, so I got there early and snapped a few pictures while waiting for her to get there.

I had also stopped for a minute at Westchester Lagoon to adjust my seat and snapped these pictures. It was sort of quiet for the lagoon in the summer. But by the time I got back around 3pm, it was packed.

I was able to average about 18 mph on the Chester Creek trail en route to the Quilt Shop, but had to slow down (or stop) pretty often for walkers and blind turns into the three or four tunnels I went through. Kind of frustrating. I just want to cruise down the path without any breaks in my speed or concentration. After Kelsey got to there and dropped off some paperwork to her boss...
...we headed back down the Chester Creek trail and stopped at Valley of the Moon park for the boys to get out and play a bit. They had just woken up from the nap they took as Kelsey towed them to the Quilt Shop, and were a little groggy but excited to play, as you can tell by the expression on Noah's face.
We then packed them back up and headed past the Lagoon towards Elderberry park. We got there pretty quick and then turned around and went our seperate ways. I headed up to New Sagaya to grab some salad makings and pita chips, then headed home to finish the laundry I am finally finishing up after the month long plumbing ordeal.

I have been trying to get a job at REI but haven't heard back from them. It's been a little frustrating because I am dying to work there, I have years of retail experience, I can start immediately, and I have a very open schedule. Note to REI: I am perfect for you! Please hire me! (maybe that'll help...)

I adjusted my bike computer to include my actual wheel size so I hope I'm getting more accurate information now. It's amazing how having the computer motivates me to push myself harder to get those mph up and to go further distances. I feel like I'm never quite going fast enough. Also, I really need to invest in some bike shoes or at least shoes that aren't six year old runners or sandals. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! (this plea implies that someone actually reads my blog which is probably very wishful thinking so I will most likely have to research bike shoes via google)