Turkey and Back to the Base!

The last month has just flown by… So much has gone on and I am not really sure where to start. Needless to say this might be a long one….

You may or may not have noticed that I skipped the Chicago triathlon, with a trip to Turkey scheduled the Sunday night after the race, and the strong possibility that I was in for a pretty much forced week off from training, I figured I would be better off finishing off my 4 week training block strong & using the race weekend as a longer weekend of training. With my flights already booked out of Chicago to Turkey, I decided to spend the weekend in Chi town and do a little training with my great friend Keith Norsym (who recently moved from Boulder to Chicago and also just had a baby boy.. well not him but his beautiful wife Tiia – so happy for you both). I did manage to get down to watch some of the race and was so happy to see Becky Lavelle take the win – Becky is one of the nicest girls on the tri circuit and after a rough end to 2007 it was nice to see her back kicking butt again!

The trip to Turkey was for my sisters wedding… Yes she did marry a Turkish man. And no he is not allowed to beat her with a small stick ☺. He is actually one of the nicest guys I have met and I think a perfect match for my sister – they btoh met while working on a cruse ship about 5 years ago. They had a traditional Turkish wedding and it was really cool to be able to see how weddings are done in their culture. I was one of the bridesmaids. Although, when Colette (my sister) told Murat (her husband) that he needed to pick two groomsmen he had no idea what she was talking about… Guess they don’t have them in Turkey. This was pretty much the one thing my sister insisted on, and we were able to bend the rules slightly to have a small bridal party… In Turkey the ceremony is more a formality, the real wedding is what we would call the reception. Just a big party really, with live music and lots of dancing in a circle with everyone holding hands . The music was certainly different -Murat’s family is from near the black sea and their traditional music sounds a lot like bagpipes. It was a lot of fun & a really cool experience!

The trip to Turkey came and went so quickly – it was just busy, busy, busy from the moment I got there, I met my family in Istanbul (so great to see them all again) and we spent 2 days sightseeing – I am not a big fan of sightseeing, but it was cool to check out the blue mosque, I did manage to sneak in a run while in Istanbul and certainly got some funny looks from the general public. I ran in shorts and a t shirt, and while it was very hot, I would not dare take my shirt off!! Then we headed to Ankara where my sister lives and where the wedding would be; I was only there for 2 and a half days, so there wasn’t much time to get all the last minute bits and pieces ready for the wedding. Then it was time to say my goodbyes once again, and I was back off to the US, sad to be leaving but glad to be hopping on the plane where I could hopefully get a little sleep! Fortunately my mum and younger sister (Kalista) were able to spare some time to come back with me to Boulder before they had to head home and back to work.

We met back up in Denver and had 6 nights in Boulder – where I tried to get back into some training before LA tri as well as show my mum & sister around Boulder. It was also my last week in Boulder. So again, it was a rather busy week with packing/sightseeing & training. Then we were all off to LA for the LA tri where mummy & Kalista got to watch me struggle through the race (and oh what a struggle it was –note to self – don’t schedule any more races so close to a family members wedding). Unfortunately that was the end of the holiday for Mum & Kalista, they were on a plane back to Aussie that night ☹


It was so great to have had that time with the family & I was definitely sad to see them leave. But it’s also getting to the business end of the season & I am very happy to be back into training without any distractions at all… And I really mean that – I’m now in our new training base which is in Borrego Springs (inland from San Diego). It is a tiny desert town with really not much going on. But I really love it here – It’s so beautiful with mountains surrounding the town & virtually no traffic at all. Actually there isn’t even a traffic light in the town. I don’t have any internet access, or cable tv at my house, and if I want to get online I have to hop on my bike and roll down to the library. I am here for 8 weeks and am sure I will have some stories to tell about the place in my next blog.

Peace out ☺