Tough Break

I was supposed to join the slalom kayak team for their XC ski training camp in Lake Placid this week. I woke up Tuesday morning with a sore throat, but ignored it. I lifted weights, packed my truck full of skis, and made a playlist for the 5-hour drive. I made it about 30 minutes from home before I realized I was really sick and I wasn't going to make it.

So I sadly turned around and drove home, got into bed, and slept for 18 hours straight. The past few days I've been alternating between sleeping, reading, eating soup, and taking dayquil/nyquil. I'm finally starting to feel better but not in time to make the drive to training camp. Super bummer. The moral of the story is I that I did not sleep or recover nearly enough during the end-of-the-semester craziness this year. Staying up til 2am writing papers and getting up at 5:30 to work out does not mesh well with my need for 10.5 hours of shut-eye per 24 hours. That's why I'm putting Get Even More Sleep second on my list of Themes for 2011.

At any rate, I'm currently typing at my desk bundled in warm blankets even though it's a balmy 40 degrees outside and the snow is disappearing. To quell my desire to work out and be healthy, I'm watching crossfit videos.

"I don't want any training to be easy... I want it to hurt really, really really bad. I want to start too fast and just try to always maintain that speed until I break totally down. I want to push myself just.... so hard. I really want it. I really do. Every time that I do training, I am telling myself, 'you know that the other girl won't stop.' so I am pushing and pushing." -Camille Leblanc-Bazinet

Happy Christmas!

Also happy belated winter solstice, first day of winter, lunar eclipse, full moon, and birthday to me.

I celebrated my birthday on Wednesday at crossfit with a special birthday WOD (workout of the day). For those who can't read workout speak, it's 12 minutes of as many rounds as possible of 22 kettlebell swings and 23 knees-to-elbows. This, of course, because my 23rd birthday is on 12-22.... and I wanted a strictly abs and arms workout. In the end it turned out to be a strictly forearms workout, but whatever.

I celebrated with my family with sushi!


My little brother Paul was less-than-enthusiastic about the sushi, but he did try a California roll before making himself a salami-and-mustard sandwich.


Our annual Christmas photo: me, Anna, and Paul

Update

Hey everyone, sorry I've been delinquent in posts. I've been slammed with end-of-the-semester work and finals. In fact, I have to get back to studying for my penultimate final, which is tomorrow at 10am. So here are some pictures of the latest and greatest in my life.

My cousins at Thanksgiving, arranged in age order: Emily, Justin, Emma, Anna, Evan, Paul, Tyler, Amory, Nicole, Melissa, Kyra


Creative workouts during Thanksgiving in Massachusetts: Push-ups With Cousins!

I got to hang out with my dear friend Heather a couple weeks ago!



Me with Ewa and Julie, some of the girls with whom I lift at Crossfit!


My fortune from last week


Studying for finals with a HUGE cup of coffee


This weekend Isabel and Laura and I decorated some cookies


The colorful ones are mine


Annnnd Isabel made snowmen characters. hehe


Yesterday my mom and I went for a lovely snowshoe!

2010 in snippets

Exactly a year ago, I was in the hospital in San Diego, very sick and very scared. 2010 was completely improvised: taking time off of kayaking to recover, moving home, starting to train again, and going back to school. With all the challenges and setbacks, it's hard not to think of the past year in terms of all the things that went wrong.

But- as cheesy as this sounds- check out the snippets I wrote during the year.

It's pretty obvious that 2010 was phenomenal. There was nothing easy about it, but there was nothing unfortunate about it, either. It's clear to me that I'm the luckiest girl in the world.

Thanks, 2010, for kicking my as$ but leaving me undeniably happy, healthy, and smiling from ear to ear.

Snow abounds!!!!!

We're getting quite an amazing snowstorm right now... in fact, for the past 12 hours. I've been stuck inside all day doing lots of of end-of-the semester homework, but tomorrow's theme= ski ski ski ski! And tonight's theme= wax wax wax wax!! I have about 12 pairs of Wright Family skis to get through during the next week.

It's my favorite time of the year!!!!!

Book Report!

Time for my bimonthly book report! It's been a good few months of reading, despite the volume of schoolwork... or maybe due to the schoolwork, given I'm a champion procrastinator.

Moby Dick- Melville
Anna Karenina- Tolstoy
Open- Andre Agassi
Memoirs of a Geisha- Arthur Golden
The Primal Blueprint- Mark Sisson
Gone With the Wind- Margaret Mitchell
The Key-Cheri Huber
On the Road- Jack Kerouac
The Paelo Solution- Robb Wolf
Wuthering Heights- Emily Brönte
Complaint-Free World- Will Bowen
Walden- Thoreau

I can't pick a favorite because they were mostly incredible. But I will say that Open, by Andre Agassi, is the best sports autobiography I've ever read. But then again, I did harbor girlhood fantasies of being the next Serena Williams.

Fem's Dream World: Part V

Last night I dreamt that Anna (my little sister) had SARS.

Fem's Dream World: Part IV

Last night, I dreamt that my friend Colin brought me an armful of purple unicorn toys and explained that they would protect me from harm. I started laughing so hard that I woke myself up by laughing.