I am not sure where the time has gone but the last month has been a blur of training, eating and sleeping.....the true life of a triathlete, so I am sorry for the slow updates.  I wasn't sure what to expect from California but one of the first things I noticed, was the diversity of the scenery from dessert to stunning beaches and rolling green hills.  Brendan's ex-girlfriend, Jana had managed to hook us up with a home-stay with one of the professor's Jo Ellen, who she works with in LA. Accommodation was one of our biggest concerns with training in San Luis Obispo, as it's really expensive and it's always stressful trying to organize something with all our equipment, strange working hours etc.  When you are away from home for long periods and training really hard, it makes a huge difference to be happy where you are staying.  Jo Ellen and her husband, Jim couldn't have made us feel more welcome and I am so grateful to them for making us feel like part of the family.  I think I can safely say, this has been one of the best periods of training for me and most of it goes down to the fact I was so happy at home, so thanks Jo Ellen, Jim and Jana....I can't wait to come back! 

During my trip to Argentina with Beth, she mentioned her frustration with training and working with various coaches so I suggested she work with Siri during her build up to the US Olympic trials.  While I thought this would really help Beth, I also had an ulterior motive as its fun hanging out with her, so it would be so cool if she joined the training group. She lives in LA, so agreed to come up to SLO a couple of times to train with us and was waiting at our home-stay when we arrived from Boulder.  Everyone who meets Beth seems to fall in love with her....I think it's the combination of the blonde innocent look & fun, infectious personality.  She already had a swarm of police and station workers projecting her at the train station when Jim arrived to collect her, all wanting to make absolutely sure he was the right person and not just some random male trying to pick her up!  By the time we arrived at the home-stay an hour later, Beth had already charmed Jim & Jo Ellen and we had warm chocolate brownies waiting for us.  She makes the perfect pre-arrival party!

Siri was not going to arrive until Sunday, which gave us a day to explore the area so we were all up early and set off with Jim on a local group ride.  I knew we had really scored with the home-stay, when I came down that morning to the wonderful smell of freshly brewed coffee. Jim joked when we left that he was sure they would find the coffee machine and their Australian sheepdog, Ozzie gone!  The riding in the area was awesome with a choice of riding various country roads around our home-stay or heading into town (10km away) and up the Pacific Coast Highway towards San Francisco.  As you can see from the pictures, there are plenty of hills in the area but also numerous flat options.

We were swimming most days at 6am at a pool on the edge of town, so there were plenty of early mornings but in some ways it was nice to see the sun come up half-way through our workout.  Siri worked really hard to organize everything we needed, from cheap pool & gym time, to finding and measuring bike & run time trial courses to suit all our up-coming races. She even called on her friend, Scott Tinley to come up for our first weekend to show us the good training routes in the area. She comes to almost every single workout we do with an abundance of enthusiasm and the atmosphere in the group was amazing with everyone pulling the best out of each other.  Susan Bartholomew Williams (US) had joined the team in December, as she prepares for Olympic trials.  She is an amazing swimmer and cyclist.....watch out guys if we are doing hill repeats as I have yet to see anyone (male or female) hang onto her wheel.  She brings a wealth of racing experience with her and 100% focus and commitment, so I really enjoyed training with her.

Cookie and I have both missed having dogs since we lived in HK, so I was thrilled to find out Jo Ellen & Jim had two dogs.  Pepper was an older lab & Ozzie a younger, deaf Australian sheepdog.  We soon became firm friends and running partners.  I was going on a number of extra 30minute runs before dinner each week, as well as my other running so he was soon as fit as a fiddle.  If I didn't take him out or went cycling, he would cry constantly and keep looking out the window, driving anyone left in the house crazy.  I have been running better than ever on this trip, which I put down to running all the hills round the ranch with Ozzie.  Jo Ellen started to catch him sneaking up stairs and rolling around on my bed smelling it while I was out, so it was true love......I will really miss him back in HK.

After a couple of weeks in SLO, I seemed ages since I had seen Cookie in NZ in January, so I started hunting on the internet for cheap flights from HK to the US.  I find the hardest thing about being away is that I can't share the experiences and people I meet with him, so I was desperate for him to come to SLO.  Finally, Cathay announced a US$400 ticket to San Francisco, so I convinced him to pack his bag and fly out 2days later.  I borrowed the car and drove 4hrs to the airport to collect him in pouring rain, it's amazing how Californians can't drive in rain....there seemed to be a car run off the road every mile!  We had wanted to drive back along the coast and through Monterey, which is meant to be some of the most beautiful coastline in the country but the weather was terrible.  Cookie soon fell in love with both the dogs and was walking them round the ranch every day.  We even took Ozzie for his first trip to the beach for a walk....he couldn't decide what to smell first! 

On Sunday, we decided to drive up the coast to Cambria and visit the Elephant Seals but first Courtney and I had a lake swim and long run to get through.  Cookie came as life guard as the water was an icy 55F......talk about serious brain freeze and the longest we managed was 20minutes!  I couldn't even talk properly when we came out.....nice - lots of dribble and slur!  We then headed to Montana d'Ora on the coast near SLO for our run. This is a country park with stunning scenery where the hills meet the sea and you can run along the cliffs.  Cookie came with us on the mountain bike as bodyguard and practiced his technical skills through the gullies.  It made life pretty much perfect for me now he was around too....what more could I ask for?

I wasn't sure what to expect from the seals but I certainly hadn't envisaged them to be that big!  There were hundreds of them from pups to large males all lying on the beach in the afternoon sun.  We stood watching them for about an hour and where entertained by the chief bull, who was feeling particularly randy and wobbled up and down the beach praying on unsuspecting females and crushing any pups who got in the way.  All the other males were living in fear and would creep up on other females while chief was busy but as soon as he headed in their direction, they were off up the beach like a shot.  It made me laugh how they move......it's like a centipede made of fat and once the momentum was up, them seemed to fly along. 

Unfortunately, the weekend flew by and we took a lift to LA with Jo Ellen, where I was going to head off to Honduras with Brendan, Susan & Beth for an ITU race and Cookie had to head home.  It was hard to wave him off but at least I knew I only had another 2wks to go before I headed home as well.  We had such a great weekend and as I sat on the plane, it made me reflect on how lucky we both have been to travel to some amazing places, experience so many cool things and most of all, make some great friends all over the world. Some people would say I was crazy to give up a good job & career but I haven't looked back with regret once....life couldn't be better and I am certainly taking the saying, live life to the full to heart.

News from Honduras coming soon......keep up the training.

Cheers Claire