Take Back the Power

What's your plan for tomorrow?
Are you a leader or will you follow?
Are you a fighter or will you cower?
It's our time to take back the power

The Interrupters, 'Take Back the Power'

This!



Have been feeling sort of sluggish this summer.  Maybe the heat, maybe the hormonal adjustments, maybe the losing Strummer, probably a combination of them all plus who knows what.  My race from 2 weeks ago (Xterra Winter Park) was postponed to this weekend due to some freak rain and flooded trails and 40 degrees and cloudy on race morning.  I was so thankful the race director postponed.  Apparently one person was giving him a load of hassle, sending loads of texts with pictures of the trail in places where it was o.k. on race morning.  But the area just out from transition was mud so goopy that you'd sink in it and standing water on other parts of the trail and did I mention the 40 degrees and cloudy for race start?  The race starts at just under 9000' which means the water is cold.  63 degrees or so which is not crazy horrible but still cold enough and add that to 40 degree air temp. and he would have been pulling people out of the water with panic and hypothermia.  I think those conditions would cross my line and I might have skipped the swim.  So I'm very happy to be racing this weekend where conditions look just about perfect.  Some afternoon rain storms predicted for a few afternoons previous to get the trails nice and tacky and sunny with a high of 71 degrees for race day.  Will still be cold for the swim (probably low 50's air temp. and colder water temp. than 2 weeks ago) but with the sun out it should be do-able.  Then perfect conditions for the bike and run.  I can't wait.

Except for the sluggish.  Dragging my ass swimming at the Rez on Tuesday and this morning was even worse.  But Jonny showed me an Interrupters video and now finally I've found a new theme song and hopefully some new found energy to go along with it.  Add in 2 more days of rest, some cooler temps. and the beauty of the race venue in the mountains and I should be good to go.

Another contributing factor to the malaise could be that I'm still battling the wasps.  I see these crazy people on YouTube with their various methods of wasp extermination and they seem like they've lost it, a bit touched in the head or something.  But now I understand.  It becomes an obsession.  You think you've finally won and then you see they've found another way in or are building a nest around the corner or have learned to avoid your Shop Vac nozzle.  Crafty little bastards.  So far I've been through:

6 bottles of dish soap/water solution
5 wasp traps
2 sandbags
2 rolls of duct tape
2 tubes of caulk (about to buy tube #3)
2 ladders
1 plastic rain poncho
zillions of rags
1 Shop Vac

And still they persist.  But I'm getting upper hand, definitely a lot less of them around and they're active for less hours of the day now that we have more darkness and cooler mornings.  But still, this is what my house currently looks like:

I know, I'm like the other crazy internet people.  But I will prevail.

In happier news my garden is doing well.  Zucchini plant is going crazy.  One in particular got way too big because I couldn't get in there to pick it due to wasps.

Big as a Chiwowow

Or maybe she's small as a zucchini.

She's doing great these days.  Took her on another 20 min. run this week and she loved it.  One more week and she's cleared for any and all activities including jumping.  I think she likes her new home.

She looks gigantic in that picture somehow.  Cameras are funny things, I wasn't trying to have an optical illusion.

Ah well, time to fret over my race gear and check out the wasp situation.  Take Back the Power!

Are You Faster Than a Chihuahua?

How about smarter than a wasp?  Because apparently I'm neither.  Took Ruby running with me for the first time a few mornings ago and she was hauling ass.  She was all business and pulling me the whole way.  We only went 20 minutes because it was warm and it was her first time.  But she's ready for more once it cools down some.  I think she may even be ready for some real hiking by fall.  So calm in the house but such a scrappy little thing outside.

Still battling the wasps.  Turns out the little bastards have teeth and can chew duct tape.  So I no sooner block off a hole with more duct tape than they chew another one or actually pull the tape back.  This morning I saw one gnawing on a piece of foam I'd stuck in one crack.  Chewed big chunks of it away and got in.  Home Depot man was wrong about the caulk being strong enough to keep them out and even worse they sell caulk type stuff specifically for wasps/bees/insects:  http://www.homedepot.com/p/GREAT-STUFF-16-oz-Pestblock-Insulating-Foam-Sealant-11034540/203282346  No idea if it works or why the Home Depot guy didn't suggest it and of course the Boulder store doesn't have any.  Would have to drive the 20 minutes to Louisville and hope the one remaining can is still there.  Or maybe it's time to admit defeat and call in the professionals.  Because those professional guys in the videos are wearing special suits that cover their heads and faces and I'm out there in shorts and a tank top and flip flops if I even bother with shoes.  I did start off with a heavy winter coat, pants and hat but that gets old super quick in 90 degree temps.  And all I'm armed with is a piece of duct tape that I slap down quick as I can then run like hell.  I have one more idea to try and then it may be time to call in somebody who knows what the hell they're doing.  And at the bare minimum I should probably buy some Benadryl just in case.

My race last weekend was postponed due to flooded conditions on the trails.  We've been have a super hot, super dry summer except for when I have a race in the mountains.  Oh well, lost a week of training to tapering because the storm didn't come through until the day before the race so didn't know it was postponed until late afternoon on Friday.  On the other hand maybe a little bit of extra rest isn't the worst thing in the world.

Sunday morning at around 10:15 I heard sirens heading for the general direction of the Ironman bike course.  LOTS of sirens.  I knew it wasn't good.  A woman swerved into traffic and was hit by a car and did not survive.  Terrible tragedy.  Lots of blame and finger pointing going around, especially at the race director but really it's just a terrible accident and a risk of competing on a 60 mph highway that's open to traffic.  The bike lane was separated from traffic by traffic cones and the woman swerved out of the cones and into a car.  Impossible to know exactly why but a likely scenario is that she was trying to pass some riders and another rider in front of her pulled out in front of her also trying to pass someone and cut her off so she swerved into traffic.  Though this is pure speculation.  Terrible tragedy and the fourth cyclist killed in Boulder County since late May.  Another one of those deaths was on a road I also travel very frequently both in the car and on my bike.  I've ridden that stretch of US 36 where the Ironman cyclist was killed a zillion times as well since it connects my house to some Open Space trails.  I long ago stopped doing long rides on my road bike and this past winter I stopped riding on US 36 to get to dirt roads on my mountain bike choosing instead to drive to a trailhead and pick up the dirt roads from there.  Traffic on that road has increased significantly as well as the number of distracted drivers.  I see cars drifting in and out of the bike lane all the time and all over town, not just US 36.  I rode 2 miles to my office and was nearly taken out by a school bus that drifted into the bike lane.  I've come to the conclusion that bikes and cars in the same roadway are incompatible and it's just not worth it, especially with the Too Many People thing we have going on as well as all the cell phone zombies.

I think today is meant to be our last day in the 90's, should be cooling off to the 80's but I'll believe it when I see it.  Looking forward to fall and runs/hikes with Ruby and maybe even starting some agility training with her.

You Knew It Was Going to Come Down to Duct Tape

Yeah I know, you're sick of the freaking wasps.  Believe me, so am I.  But I think victory is finally mine!  And all thanks to duct tape.  This morning there were more wasps in the trap and still some hovering around the access point so I wondered if they'd found a way in.  So I added more duct tape to the t-shirt/duct tape combo and after an inital swarm I seem to finally have peace at my door.

No gasoline or explosives or toxic chemicals or hippy dippy concoctions, just good old fashioned duct tape.  And a sticky wasp trap for the stragglers.  I've seen a few random wasps buzzing around the yard but so far nobody coming or going from the access point.  Hopefully by tomorrow they'll be totally gone.

In the meantime I put up a little barrier so no birds or dogs end up with sticky wasp trap stuck to them.  Because if I still had Strummer he'd totally end up with sticky wasp trap stuck to him.  In fact no way this would be enough barrier to keep Strummer out but for my current pack of Good Dogs this is fine.

Now, the question of the day is, do wasps make honey?  The internet has mixed reviews on this question but I'm with the 2 sensible guys here.