Labor Day 2008

It was an overall amazing and relaxing weekend, and I begin to worry that my days are numbered being able to survive in the concrete jungle of NYC. I absolutely love my life and living in New York City, but continue to discover gems of places a stone's throw from the city that I can easily imagine myself falling into a completely different lifestyle without hesitation. So, yeah, when I no longer need to work, I will let you know where I relocate :)

Friday, we rolled into Lake Placid about 6:15 and were in Mirror Lake by 6:45pm, racing the sunset. We quickly realized we had both forgotten wetsuits, but the water was pleasant enough for 1 loop. Finished in 31:55, which was more than enough time to justify beers at the Brewery across the street.

Mirror Lake, Lake Placid

Saturday, a 7-hour ride was on tap for my Kona-training friend. We figured the full Lake Placid course would put her close to that. As much as I wish I could have ridden the entire thing with her, I knew I was not in that kind of biking shape. If it had been a flat course, I would have gutted it out, but there are no detours around the climbing in Lake Placid. So I settled for 1 loop. Well, almost one loop, as we were too busy chatting away and missed the turn-off for the out-and-back section of the course (14miles). By the time we realized, we decided not to back-track, but I was sorta bummed to not ride the entire course. So I ended my day with 42 miles. The course is absolutely amazing and I loved every second of it. I really wished I was in the shape to ride the entire thing, but it will come with time. My hip was ready to call it a day, so I hung around downtown Lake Placid while my friend finished her ride.

After a quick gas station clean up, we were on the road with 1 destination in mind:

My happy place.

We loaded up on beer for the weekend, and headed to the house our friends had rented on Lake Champlain. To reach the house included a bit of off-roading and 10 miles on a dirt road, but it was worth it. The cabin was completely secluded, right on the shore. I spent the day Sunday here:

We got drunk, played Yahtzee and Rummy, and went to bed at 10pm. Girls Gone Wild, Vermont-style :)

Monday, my friend had a 2 hour recovery ride on tap (she ran 3 hours Sunday, as I coached her from the hammock ha). We decided to ride into Burlington, as we were about 15 miles north and figured it was a perfect distance for the recovery. We arrived in Burlington to eat the WORLD'S BEST SANDWICH*, to be greeted by this:

A 4-day stage race in Vermont over the weekend was culminating with the crits in downtown Burlington. Such a fun surprise! We sat in the sun and didn't complain as the Men's Master's 30 year old division passed us 15 times. We rode back to the house, climbed the steepest hill I have ever biked on, and swam a bit in Lake Champlain. After that we packed it up to head back to NYC.

Back to reality, GWB

Today is back to reality. NYC is crowded again after an empty August. The subway was packed. The line for the bus was long. But I had a glorious Marathon-Pace run this morning after the week off running, and all is well.

*I'm not joking that this is the best sandwich I have ever had. Every year we go back, and every year this is confirmed. If you are ever in Burlington, or even within 60 miles, the trip is well worth it.