A Lovely Life

Today, I went to a new dentist and my hygienist and I struck up a conversation when I noticed her Ironman and Bike MS medals in the office. She's a pretty cool woman: a smoker for over 30 years who turned to triathlon and now competes all over the country. When she said she's doing Marine Corps Marathon later this month, my eyes lit up while my mouth was full of whatever torturous instrument was in it. I later told her how much I loved that race and that I went on to do this ride with Hank a couple of months ago. She was sweet, said kind words about the cool things I'm doing and asked, "What's next?". Initially, after my ride with Hank, I had no desire for a "what's next". I wanted time to think and process. I say that every time (as you endurance athletes understand), but every other time I've said it, I've had an idea of what the following year will bring. This year, I don't. And I feel so LOST. Leaving the cycling i...

I've been wanting to give Kebler its own post because it deserves it. And so do I, for that matter. Some of you may have heard me reference Kebler. Some of you KNOW what Kebler was like because you were there. Some of you have no idea what I'm talking about, so let me elaborate. Kebler Pass is a mountain pass outside of Crested Butte here in Colorado. It summits at 10,007 feet and passes through the Gunnison National Forest and is a mixture of paved road and gravel. It's known for one of the largest Aspen forests in the United States. It's part of my Big Bike Adventure course and has been scheduled on the third (of four) day of my ride. It's big and bold and stunning. It's also the place I've learned (twice now) how to dig deeper than I have considered impossible.  I went into my ride with Noah in 2018 woefully underprepared. I hadn't looked at an elevation map, or any map for that matter, before taking this on. I knew it was gravel and I...

I'm still in a post-ride haze: 141 miles with, 8,400' of climbing, and 130 pounds in tow through the mountains of Colorado with one of my favorite, most inspirational guys. There's a lot to process from last week. It was wonderful and HARD and life-changing. My Big Bike Adventure with Hank. All of it is too long to ever share in a single post, or ever probably, but I'll try to give you some snippets as I recount our ride together. For now, I'll share some lessons I've learned in no order of importance. Lesson #1: There will always be lessons. The thing I love about events (and life) is that you're constantly learning. Something will always come up. The goal should be to figure it out, overcome it, write that shit down and remember it next time. Lesson #2: Check your shit. Hank got a special bike to ride with me because he was my pusher in this. The HUGE upside was that he was able to train on it getting him comfortable in it for our adventure. Th...

Hi. It's been a while. Sorry about that. Life's been a little weird, which has made me weird(er) and much MUCH quieter than normal. I wanted to post some updates on life and training for any of you who may still pop on here from time to time. Life. In June, I took a full-time position with the CU Anschutz Health and Wellness Center in admin. It was 8 months of back-and-forth and figuring out a place for me to get my foot "officially" in the door there. I love the environment and much of the work that the wonderful people I work with do. I've already learned so much and have begun to carve out a little niche for myself there. Something I seem to be good at--making shit work! I'm excited to be a part of it and I'm hopeful that I'll be able to continue to grow myself and my career where I actually feel valued. Plus! BENEFITS Y'ALL! I work an hour from where I live. I'm also trying to have some semblance of a dating life, so I feel like I live...

On October 28th, I closed the book on 2018's athletic endeavors with a thing I swore as early as this Spring that I would never do: a marathon.  That's 26.2 miles of RUNNING. On purpose . There is no way I'd have agreed to it or trained for it if it weren't for Hank Poore, who is a dear friend, Kpeasey athlete and marathon veteran. We decided to take on Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C. and I am so glad we did. Even though I'm in the best shape of my life thanks to that  little bike ride  I did in August, I wasn't sure how I'd do. I knew that so long as I kept up with my training post ride that I'd get it done. I just wasn't confident in how quickly or painless I'd be able to do so. My greatest fear going in to race day was letting Hank down. This was his 3rd Marine Corps Marathon and the previous girls he'd run with were much faster. I'm what I like to refer to as a "forced athlete" and speed does not come natu...

This will be a long one.  Mostly, for me. I want to savor every moment of what was the biggest physical (and emotional) challenge I've taken on. I want to relish this great accomplishment. If you're into small novels, sit back, grab a cup of coffee (or wine depending on the time of day) and come with me back through Helen & Noah's BIG Adventure. First, I have to say that our team of people was INCREDIBLE. I couldn't have asked for a better, more perfect group of humans. They played every "role" perfectly. I'll name them and give a general description of what they were around to do. However, I cannot possibly describe them or what they gave me any further. Simply put: I wouldn't have gotten through this without each of them. Naomi - Noah's Mom Stacy - my coach Peter - mechanic/sherpa/human compass Josh & Nic - our film crew Day 1: The Intro We got Noah into the trailer and learned quickly that zip ties would be our friends during...

We have 30 days. I can't believe it. This journey has been so eye opening on every front. The training has been the easiest (cannot believe I'm saying that). The mental part the toughest (that's not surprising in the least). And the financial part harder than I thought. We are halfway to our $10,000 goal and that scares me since we are so close. It's easy for people to like, love and share things on social media for us, which I so appreciate. We live in a time when "good deed" and cute animal videos are shared all over the place as palette cleansers for what's going on in this sometimes scary world we live in. The issue that I'm finding since I'm living it, is that there is no genuine connection. Watch this video for 2 mins. Get teary, LOVE it, share it, go drink coffee. Repeat.  I'm guilty of this myself. It's easy to glaze over it. And when I say "it" in this particular instance, I mean our story and our goal: to help pr...

Sunday was a massive training day. A few weeks ago, Cindy Snyder reached out to me via Facebook offering me the chance to train with her son, P.J. P.J. is 32 and has Angelman Syndrome and an incredibly accomplished athlete. We were connected through Dennis with Athletes in Tandem here in Colorado. Dennis is the guy who sparked this entire adventure idea. We made plans to have a training ride with P.J. and to invite the local community to come ride with in hopes of promoting inclusion, showing how it's done and gaining donations to Helen & Noah's Big Adventure.  It would be the most I'd hauled at 104 pounds. The trailer is 32lbs, P.J. weighs 72lbs. I was scared sh*tless. My training leading up to this had been with a max of 45lbs. There were a few rides where I was climbing when I was like, "How in the HELL am I going to do this with even more weight. I'm going to embarrass myself in front of a group of people who are there to support us." So, I took...