The Winter Uintas

Since the Winter is just beginning and the road to our Uinta Sanctuary hasn't closed yet, we have been able to go out there to hike around in the snow. I just love the Winter season now that I know how to go play in it.

This is Hendrix's first winter season with us and for how little fur he has to stay warm, we were shocked to see him go bounding through the snow, enjoying himself more than ever. We bought him a little fleece to keep him warm and he knows that when he puts it on, we are going out for an adventure.

Ash is at it again with some great pics of me and Hendrix. We hiked up to the top of Mount Watson, about 11,700 feet.

On our second trip out there, we left just as the snow started to fall and the sun had just finished setting. We are looking forward to heading back out into the Uintas during the rest of the winter. I am getting some touring gear for Christmas so Ash and I will go skiing with Hendrix in the backcountry every chance we get.

Winter, here we come...now please send us some snow!

Comb Ridge: My Spiritual Rebirth

I recently went to Comb Ridge where I had an incredible experience. I have had experiences like this before but this was just incredible. I wrote in my journal about it to help myself remember the feelings of the places I visited. Ranier Maria Rilke wrote, "...Tell a wise person, or keep silent, because the massman will mock it right away." I feel like this is no more applicable than to this situation. I am glad that the only people that read this are those who care about me because I am going to write things I didn't expect to tell people.

While I was out, I was able to watch the sunrise on Comb Ridge and write in my journal . Although I don't like poetry, I have always been impressed with the way it can express so much with so few words. I wrote my first poem while watching the sun rise.

Awaken

As the sun rises

to awaken the Sleeping Ute

And the Navajo flautest

stirs the depth of my soul

my mind, my heart, become unconcealed.

The rock balances on the spire

and peace with serenity rises.

The awakened arises to greet it.

On the trip, we saw so many ruins and homes of the Native Americans. Finding these was incredible. It showed me that this land is not just beautiful but it supports life and it is sacred. The only thoughts I have been able to write down that I felt came even close to portraying my thoughts were written once I was home from the trip:

"As a young teenager, I spent several weeks pedaling my way through the desert of Southern and Central Utah. The colors, the scents, and experiences embedded themselves into my identity. It was not until my recent return to Comb Ridge that I reawakened that part of my soul. So many times I have tried to explain the reasons why nature feels sacred to me. Upon returning, I realize that interacting with the life-forms that sustain my life and discovering the mutual repsect that lies between us brings me into a state of wholeness and conciousness that I am not often acquainted with. This wholeness brings on a new respect for all the relationships I have- human, nature, meta-physical, and imaginative alike."

If you think what I am saying here is silly or contrived, my only response is to ask you, "When was the last time you were in the desert?" You must go there, sit in solitude, and breathe with the land. Only then will you understand my emotions and my respect for the land so many want to take away. Protect these lands. We are flattening our earth and exploiting our land and as a result, it is disappering under our fingertips.

Pumpkinman 2009

I just got home from my first olympic distance triathlon at Lake Mead, NV. The quick recap- I had a good race I was 1/1 in my age division and 17/71 female across the line. My final time was 3:26:52. My goal was under 3:20...to my credit, the bike was 3 miles longer than I had anticipated. 3 miles of 4% uphill grade makes a difference in time.

Enough with the excuses.

What went well:

1. The bike. I had the 16th fastest bike split. The course was about 70% uphill with the average grade being 5-6% uphill. I passed a lot of people on the bike and I give the credit for my success to the bike.

2. The transitions. I can't seem to get these under 1:00, but they are shorter than other people's and I seem to make up a lot of time here.

3. My nutrition. I didn't have any cramping during the bike or the run. With 90 degree heat, I was worried about that.

4. Drinking water. I am not good at doing this while I work out. In fact, I have thrown up more than once. Not on Saturday.

5. My finish place. I was stoked to be in the top 20 women.

Here is what was bad.

1. My tube exploded before the start. This meant I was left with no spare if I flatted in the race.

2. The chord on my odometer came out in the first 100 meters of the bike. I was left relying on my heart rate monitor to make sure I was working hard.

3. My swim- I still suck in the water.

4. My run- not as quick as I was hoping for. The bike took a lot out of me.

5. No one showed up to race me! I was the only female in the 20-24 year old age division. What?

What I learned:

1. More bike-run bricks.

2. Swim 4x/week.

3. Always have a backup. With the tube and the odometer. At least I had my HRM.

No matter what, I had a great time and I consider my first olympic distance a success. Thanks especially to my faithful husband who took a billion pictures for/of me and cheered me on the whole way. Thanks, babe, I can't do this without you.

Instructions: GO TO THE SWELL

I am in a class right now, Cognition in the Wild, that is changing my life. The reading we do are spectacular. Then we go to the desert twice in the semester to practice what we have read about. The best thing about this class is that it keeps promoting the idea that designing an outdoor fitness program that does not include a gym is actually worthy of a try and it keeps showing me that doing so has the potential, not to change the world, but to help humankind become healthier and happier.

Our first fieldtrip was in and around Goblin Valley, UT. We travelled to the San Rafael Swell. I have not spent a lot of time there before but the trip was great. I decided that I could take clients on fieldtrips like that as a 'bootcamp.' Submerging yourself in the outdoors and seeing how the world has changed over time, and humankind with it, is an amazing way to put life into perspective and an even better way to motivate yourself to submerge yourself in the wilderness and absorb the healing powers of the wild. I wish that the pictures did more justice to the trip, but they just don't. Enjoy anyway. And GET OUTSIDE !

Born To Run

Recently, there has been a revival in barefoot running. Every once in a while, Runner's World will publish an article about it or a shoe company will debut a shoe that is designed to cover your foot and provide the same benefits as barefoot running. However, in the short 10 years that I have been running, this is the largest barefoot craze I have seen! This is due mostly to a book that was recently published titled, Born to Run. The book is about the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico who are natural ultra-marathoners running over 400 miles in several days, without stopping, for fun. Yes, read it again, I said, "for fun."

I decided to start reading this book in August and since I have a lot of other reading to do for school, I try to read one chapter each time I sit down with it. The amazing thing is that another reading I was doing for school related so closely to it. The author of this other reading, Soul of Nowhere, opened his book by mentioning the Sierra Madre Occidental area in Northern Mexico. Ironically, this is the same exact place that the Tarahumara people still live.

It was interesting to read one day about an anthropologist studying an ancient people and the next day read about a people who still existed in that same part of the world. The anthropologist mentions that that these ancient people lived in cliffs and crags in an effort to fend off other indian tribes by hiding. Ironically, the Tarahumara people still live in cliff sides and crags in an effort to preserve their way of life. I very quickly realized that the Tarhumara people were the remnants of the ancient Mexicans that I had just finished reading about.

To take this one step farther, the anthropologist writes about an old sandal he found in an abandoned dwelling. When observing the wear pattern on the sandals he explains that it is not the same as the wear patterns or footprints of today. "The foot bore the well-used imprint of its owner. I traced my finger along the shape of this person's stride, asking questions. Here was the heel pressing outward and the gathered bulge just before the ball of the foot. The person had walked with most of the weight toward the outside, rolling the foot along the edge rather than landing flat-footed, as most Americans do now. The person's big toe took very little pressure when stepping off, suggesting that the next foot was already firmly on the ground before body weight shifted. There was no kick-off- to the next step. The back foot actually floated off the ground and ahead, no weight to it at all... It was not a way of walking on city sidewalks, no the step of a person who trusts the ground for its regularity."

When I was reading this, I realized that there was actual evidence that our foot, knee, hip, back, and neck problems could all be caused by us wearing footwear on hard, flat surfaces! It isn't just superhuman people that can run 100 miles in 15 hours without shoes on, in fact it is that we can't because we have changed our biomechanics by putting shoes on our feet!

I also made an observation recently when fitting some high-school girls for some shoes. I noticed that all of them had feet that were size 9.5 of larger, a very unusual thing to take place amongst women. When talking to one of my co-workers about it, he briefly mentioned the flip-flop generation. I again, never realized that by putting our feet in shoes, we are essentially, binding them. We are not allowing our feet to splay out and be the foundation that our large bodies need. Maybe there was something to short, native people- they didn't have a tall body because their little feet couldn't support it.

I know this is more like journal entry than a blog, but this the biomechanist inside of me is just screaming for me to remove my footwear and run savage through the streets of Salt Lake City, proclaiming my new found knowledge. I guess my small blog will have to do. I do find myself asking, is there really something to this whole barefoot running thing and is it worth giving it a shot?

Soul of Nowhere- Craig Childs

Born To Run- Christopher McDougall

Free Fruit!

The best thing about planting fruit trees and plants is the free fruit that comes off of them!!! Our peaches are becoming ripe and we both get to eat at least one a day. We also have a small raspberry plant that lets us eat a few berries each day. It is so great!

Jordanelle 2009

This year, while I was training, Ashley gave be a big surprise- he told me he wanted to do the race with me. The only bad part is that he told me less than a week before the race so he didn't train at all. In fact his only training outside of backpacking and hiking was the Wednesday prior to the race when he went to the course and did 75% of the race to see what it was like. I know that Ash is strong, naturally, so I knew I would have to pull out a great race to beat him.

When we arrived at the race, we rode the 4.5 miles from Francis to the race course, picked up our racer packets, got our body marked with number and age, and then went to the transition area to set up. Once the bouys went into the water, Ash was nervous about the length of the swim. Soon enough, he calmed down, I gave him a good luck kiss, and he went into the water to start the event.

Ash started the event 5 minutes before me, that way not all 700 people start at once. What that meant to me was if I could see him at any point, we could tie...if i passed him, I had him beat by five minutes. Even though I absolutely wanted to beat Ash, my ultimate goal was to leave it all on the course and to 'hurt' the whole time. I think I did that. Here is how it Turned out

• Swim: Ash- 18:55 Rhielle- 18:58 Ash: 0:03 ahead
• T1: Ash-3:59 Rhielle- 1:44 Rhielle: 2:02 ahead
• Bike: Ash-42:51 Rhielle-43:29 Rhielle: 1:36 ahead
• T2: Ash- 1:25 Rhielle-1:02 Rhielle: 1:59 ahead
• Run: Ash- 25:57 Rhielle-22:28 Rhielle: 5:28 ahead
• Total: Ash-1:33:08 Rhielle- 1:27:45

There you have it, I was able to beat Ash, but just barely. And, honestly, him being there helped me push harder than I have before. Last year, my time was 1:39 so I was mostly happy to beat that and to go under 1:30 which was my overall goal. I also placed second in my age division, only six seconds behind first place, and I placed 10th overall in the female division. I was really proud of myself. Ashley placed 10th in his age division. Not bad for his first attempt and no training...I hope I can stay faster as he keeps training.

The other bonus to this race was how many of my friends raced in addition to Ashley. Of course we had store employees and sponsored athletes doing the race, but I also had my friends, Melissa, Rachel, and Clari at the race with me. It made for a great race!