Recapping 2007 as Promised

As I mentioned in my previous post, because I was very delinquent in posting for much of last summer, here's a recap (a few months at a time). My 2008 resolution is to get much better (weekly posts)....I promise!

JANUARY
skiing with Nina with my cast on (tore and had repaired the left UCL – thumb ligament). The arrival of Action Jackson the Sick but Cute Cat from the Humane Society. He fetches! He plays in the snow! He thinks he’s a dumb-ass dog!

FEBRUARY
Vail with Matt, Wendy, Dave for a belated New Year’s bash

MARCH
San Diego early March with Dave (saw Don & Leah), Cleveland late March where I saw the Skinners @ Final Four

APRIL
Rome, Viterbo, Napels, Pomezia & back to Rome with the WNT … ahhhh, life was good back then! Spent my 40th birthday wandering around the city while Dawn & Renee shopped until I dropped and then had a most amazing dinner with most of the staff at a lovely little place a few blocks above the Spanish Steps. I think I gained about 10 pounds from the wine and pasta for the month and I was forced to wear sweats all through May because none of my spring clothes would fit!

MAY
I tried to lose the weight put on in Italy, wore sweats all month, Moab with Chris (aka Spanky), Janice & Charlie and Don & Leah. Bagged two more parks on my bike that weekend. Camped along the Colorado River right outside of Moab. Life didn’t suck for six days straight. Spent a week in Honolulu with many family members for the wedding of Chris & Jessica. In addition to the most beautiful seaside ceremony I’ve ever witnessed, Cheryl, Nina, Vince and I flew over to the Big Island and toured around Volcano National Park. It was simply amazing - like walking along a moonscape. We did a long hike (8 miles?) and a few short ones. Then on Saturday the four of us, plus Chris, donned grass skirts, coconut bras and leis and ran in the Jamba Juice 5k. We were the only ones (aside from a guy in a Spiderman costume) in costume so we got on TV and were asked to stage our finish for the cameras a couple times. Good times!

JUNE
Elephant Rock Cycling Classic, did the 50-miler with Scottie Burns, kicked his ass up the hills, he killed me on the downs & straights, stood RIGHT behind Gov. Bill Owens (I have photo proof) when he signed a bill promoting cycling in the state. I even made it on Bicycle Colorado’s web site!

The following weekend I was in the French Riviera. Well, the poor man’s French Riviera at least. Antibes is more of a working person’s area than a celeb-infested part of the shore. But hell, I wouldn’t kick Clint Didier out of bed (pretend it’s 1986) for eating crackers so I won’t complain about being in Antibes in June! We also hit: Monte Carlo (game), Le Garde (game), St. Paul (tour) and Caen (tour) during the two weeks there.


From Antibes and the Nice airport, which is replete with the most inept Lufthansa agents (even the Munich Lufthansa agents agree) came Moscow Region (don’t make the mistake of calling it Moscow in front of someone from there). Dave Walden kept me sane during this time. We saw Red Square, the outside of Lenin’s Tomb, the GUM Factory Building (biggest department store in Moscow proper), changing of the guard outside Russia’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, 4th of July back on U.S. soil (ok, so it was the U.S. Embassy’s gym in Moscow, but still we were back ‘home’ for a few hours!!!), the biggest U.S. Embassy party of the year at the home of the U.S. Ambassador to Russia on the 5th of July (he had to go back to hold Bush’s hand when Bush met with Putin), inside the Kremlin walls for a few hours of a tour (what once was sacred to Russians is now mostly a tourist attraction --- attracting thousands of Rubles a day that is!!!). You can’t get into the most secret areas of the Kremlin, but what I did see was the inside of a few cathedrals that, while amazing in the fact that they were so old and beautiful, and situated inside the Kremlin, really didn’t hold a candle to some of the ones I’d seen in other parts of the world. The biggest canon in the world sits inside the walls of the Kremlin. Not that it ever shot anything – too big! The biggest bell in the world sits inside the walls of the Kremlin. Not that it ever rang out – too big! Seems the Russians once were more concerned with appearances than they were with making things that actually worked (hmmm …. Cold war, anyone?). Russian subway. Don’t talk. Don’t laugh. You might be shunned. Mexican restaurant? Not quite. Hotel for Asians? Yup, that’s where we stayed. Russians (as far as I knew then) are very miserable. Running through ‘Central Park’ I saw many with scowls on their faces.

JULY
Moving from Russia to Serbia was sad, but fun at the same time. Goodbye U21 women, all of whom were great, hello U19 men. They’d been training together for two weeks. How would I fit in? Would they accept me? Ha! Crazy! Almost from the start they welcomed me into the fold. I will be forever grateful. I will also never forget .. it was either Patrick or Johnny who first started the conversation right outside of passport control in Belgrade…. Too long to write at the moment, but it ended with one of them asking me if I was excited to be there with them, to which I replied, “sure, it should be a good tournament.” And then the other one responded, “Idiot! She’s probably done many of these before!” Ok, I had to chuckle at that. The (SP) naievete of the young kids – they’re All-Americans and have been in the sports news all across the country so, of course, anyone would be DELIGHTED to work with them (which I was because they turned out to be such great kids).

Novi Sad, Serbia. Rolling hills like southern Hungary. Danube running through town. Petrovian Fortress across the Danube. Exit Festival. Adoption by a departing team, the Lebanese weren’t strong enough, but I became friends with that staff and it was sad to see them go. Our interpreter Emri Tokaj (or something like that) asking me, “running by yourself? You are very brave.” Said with all seriousness of an older brother looking out for his younger sis. Despite his warnings, there was never any problem running through town or the countryside alone.

Beastie Boys! Making friends and turning people back to liking Americans one bartender and one cabbie at a time. (one cab driver even tried to set me up with his son – “Are you married?” “Yes.” “Oh. That is too bad. I have a son that I think you would like very much.” “Thank you, I’m very flattered. I’m sure he will find a very nice girl to marry someday.” 24-beersy.

Herb Parris was adopted by the hotel staff. Greg Farnham & me running into all the interpreters at Laze Teleckog. Novi Sad’s square … churches at the east and west like they’re getting ready for the battle of the bands, cows everywhere like the artwork in Chicago. The Irish Pub on the 2nd floor of a back alley. Finding that Italian restaurant and hitting it three nights in a row. Ahhh … July was filled with so many great memories!

AUGUST
Lisa, Kurt and family came to town and I went white water rafting with Lisa one afternoon. On another sunny lunch hour I headed to Uncle Wilbur’s Fountain to spend lunch with Lisa and the kids. Big Breakfast (was it breakfast?) at Ed’s (Kurt cooking, whatever the meal was). Sadly leaving town (the Skinners were still there) for Las Vegas.

The Wynn doesn't suck, but we spent most of our days at UNLV. Maureen was there for the tournament, but saw her very little outside work. I found a Wetlands Park east of town to run in some mornings. I also ran (three times each) every stairs from the Wynn to the Bellagio and back (I puked one morning after my run b/c it was so hot and I ran too long and hard). There are plenty of interesting people walking The Strip in the mornings – people just returning home and those out for their morning coffee. I found the public track at UNLV one afternoon and hit that a few times for sprint workouts. Hit the Freemont Street Experience with Jenny & Ned one night and then saw the sun coming up when we came home a few hours later!

Ok, that's about it for now, I have to save the rest of the year for next week!

Peace,
Moi