Running and Rock Climbing

Despite the cold weather this week, today was much nicer! So, I decided to head down to the water for a run in the sunshine. I even busted out a tank top for it! Before I headed out, though, my friends Kim and Brent texted, asking if I wanted to join them at a climbing gym nearby. I hardly ever get in upper body workouts and had been wanting to try climbing for awhile, so I figured why not?

Tank top: Under Armour [exact]

Sports bra: GapFit [similar]

Pants: Under Armour [exact]

Running Shoes: Newton Running [exact]

Sunglasses: Oakley [exact]

I found this sports bra at the Gap Factory Outlet last weekend, and I love it! It is reminiscent of Lululemon's Energy bra, but at about a fifth of the price. I particularly loved how it looked with the backless tank top I wore. These pants are also part of my latest Under Armour haul. The fit was fantastic! They're very compressive and completely opaque. Even when I was crawling up these walls with my legs all over the place, they stretched well and I didn't have to worry about anyone seeing anything I didn't want them to see. Between these and the C9 pants I shared the other day, I think I've found my new go-to running styles.

Sochi in Pictures: Part 2

Here's part two of my Sochi photo experience! Alpine events, Rosa Khutor, Valentine's Day, friends winning medals and more!

The Rosa Khutor Alpine Center was absolutely gorgeous! Views like this were a daily occurrence.

My Valentine's Day photo to my family back home, taken at the aerials venue - from Russia with love!

The gondola up to Laura Biathlon Center had breathtaking views. You could see the entire valley as you went up the mountain!

Afternoon in Rosa Khutor, the mountain village area.

My friend Alex won a bronze medal!

Lots of questions for Bode Miller in the mixed zone.

Sarah and I were burning up at the final nordic combined event! We were down to baselayers and still sweating (but also smiling!).

The hotel security guard at the Marriott. He was incredibly nice and, despite not speaking much English, always went out of his way to be kind to Sarah and me every evening when we came home. Although you can't tell here, he was always smiling!

Last night in Rosa Khutor. The vilage was beautiful!

The Great(ish) Amtrak Journey: Part 1

Greetings from Grand Junction, Colorado!

So far, the Amtrak journey from Salt Lake City to Denver is going well. It started this morning very early (or last night very late depending on how you look at it). I got to the station at 2:30am, mainly because it said online that you had to check bags more than 45 minutes prior to departure (departure time was listed at 3:30am) and I didn't want to lug my massive suitcase around. But, when I went to check in, they said the train would be arriving in ten minutes! 

The train did indeed arrive about ten minutes later, but it took 15-20 minutes for them to unload all of the passengers who were completing their journey at Salt Lake. The train still stayed at the station until about 3:30am, but I was glad to be there earlier so I could get a good seat. And I definitely did! I am in the bulkhead, so I have a TON of room. If you think bulkheads have a lot of legroom on airplanes, just wait til you see it on a train. I have a good foot and a half of space between my feet and the wall and I'm all sprawled out! I read that some people aren't fans of the bulkhead because the doors between train cars can be noisy, but I just popped in my in-ear headphones and played some Mumford and Sons and barely noticed the noise at all. I also had an eye mask (thanks, Gap Outlet clearance sale), so that blocked out any light.

I managed to sleep until about 8am. I didn't have anyone in the seat next to me, so I put both the leg rests all the way up and turned it into a little bed. Fortunately, since I am vertically challenged, that worked out well for me. I slept wonderfully, much to my surprise.

When I woke up, they were serving breakfast in the dining car, but I opted against that and watched some TV on my new iPad Mini. I think I'll go to the dining car for lunch, but right now, I am nice and cozy in my seat.

The desert scenery has been pretty cool...check out some of my Instagram pics below!

Colorado River

Utah desert

Shantytown in the desert

More desert

So that's part one. We'll call it the desert portion. Next up are the mountains...I'm definitely looking forward to the scenery for that part!!

30 Questions: 5 Weaknesses

Describe 5 weaknesses you have.

1.) Delicious and pretty baked goods

2.) Flat Boots...particularly equestrian style or Uggs

3.) Men in suits

4.) Cute, small animals

5.) Bright colored clothing/shoes/accessories

My Recent Life in Photos

New bedroom with a new duvet cover!

My first piece of IKEA furniture ever.

Another IKEA item that also caused me to throw out my back.

Sporting 2006 Olympic-wear to work

Mountain life

Wandering Park City's Main Street...what ski resort are you trying to find?

New World Trade Center building in NYC

Bright Uggs!

Still the best vanilla cupcake I've ever had!

Cupcakes for Margaux's 21st!

Taking notes in colored Sharpies makes life a little brighter.

Repping the U.S. Ski Team

Absentee ballot!

Nice day in Salt Lake City

More delicious NYC cupcakes!

Gotta work out since I enjoyed all those cupcakes!

Mountain morning

Hot air balloons by the office

My first Utah rainbow

AWOLNATION with Korey and Ashley

Delicious, overpriced cookies.

Truth.

30 Questions: Dream Job

What is your dream job, and why?

To be perfectly honest, my dream job would be to get paid handsomely to travel and take photos. So, I guess that would maybe be photojournalism? Only in order for it to be my dream job, I'd be the one choosing where I went, for how long and everything else.

As far as jobs that actually exist, I'd say being CMO for an internationally-recognized sports body would be number one on my list. It'd be pretty amazing to run the marketing side of an organizing committee for the Olympic Games. International sports, communications and marketing are my loves...so if it combines those, I'd say I'm a happy camper.

One Year

One year ago today, I arrived in Colorado Springs with my brother after a long day in the car.  And I'm currently writing from Indiana, a few days after yet another long day in the car with my brother.  It's amazing what can happen in a year...looking back at everything, I'm shocked that it's only been that long!

So, true to form...some photo highlights from the year that has elapsed.  They aren't in any particular order.

Played tourist with brother for the first week in "Colo Spgs"

Went rafting on the Arkansas River twice in July

Tackled two 14,000+ ft. mountains in one day, successfully summiting one before storms drove us back to treeline

Got certified to scuba dive (again) with Jimmy

Conquered the Incline...multiple times

Lived here and spent a LOT of time staring at this view (and no, it still hasn't gotten old)

Worked for the USOC's Digital Media department

Went to some Rockies games

Did the Incline way too many times!

Climbed Pikes Peak with a little pit stop at Devil's Playground

"Acquired" an Iron Man mask

Went to the Coors Brewery in Golden

Made (and lost) some good friends

Had one hell of a Halloween

Attempted to make grilled cheese over an open fire on 4th of July weekend

Worked as an official photographer at a pentathlon world cup in Palm Springs, CA

Moved into an apartment

Got a puggle named Lola

Had a lovely 25th birthday

Learned to ski on the Rocky Mountains

Made a friendship that will last a lifetime

Made and played tourist with some friends at work...and said goodbye to one of them

Made some Russian friends and had some crazy nights with them!

Played dress up at an awards dinner

Got my Masters degree

Gave into my love for tart frozen yogurt any chance I got

Got into photography and saved my pennies for my very own Nikon D90

Had a LOT of cupcakes...including the original bacon cupcake from Tee and Cakes!

Celebrated Hanukkah

Shared lots of stories...and drank a lot of Starbucks (which, coincidentally, was where lots of those stories were shared)

Went to the first US team trials for the London 2012 Olympic Games (they were for taekwondo)

Worked as production assistant on a video series shoot with 1996 gold medalist Dan O'Brien

Saw one of the most amazing sights in nature - Colorado's Great Sand Dunes

Went a little crazy at the USOC Warehouse Sale

Got some speedskates

Wore a gold medal (which belonged to 2010 gold medalist, Steve Mesler)

Got published...a lot

Saw quite a bit of colorful Colorado

All in all, quite the year.  And the photos don't even begin to cover EVERYTHING that went on, obviously.  If I put a photo from everything I did this year, I might break the internet!  

Needless to say, I've learned a lot and had a lot of great experiences.  I've met some amazing people, made some great friends and learned who maybe wasn't as great of a friend as I thought.  I figured out what I truly want to do with my life, and I made great steps in the direction I want to go. 

Let's see where the next year takes me!