- Pack 1 pair jeans, 1 light soft shell, 1 thin fleece, 5 pair skives, 3 pair socks, 4 tee-shirts, 2 rash guards, 1 pair cargo shorts, 1 pair board shorts, first aid kit, Nikon D40 camera, notebook computer, iphone, chargers, tooth brush, tooth paste, bug spray, and a pumice stone in a backpack that will fit in the overhead.
- Roll through the SeaTac airport like you own the place. Sometimes you just get lucky and security doesn’t have any issues to work out.
- Fly into Denver, hook up with Kristian, down two beers, two slices of pizza, and a Greek salad, have a white knuckle ride to the shuttle with Kristan the Boston driver (we totally wouldn’t have made it with out the Boston mojo), RUN! for the shuttle, back through security, fly to San Jose Costa Rica, sit in the sun for 5 hours, fly in a turbo prop to Nosara @ the 24 hour mark (and counting), get picked up by Richard Schmidt and Marisa, watch a Costa Rican kid wearing nothing but shorts and flip flops put gas into the car with a funnel (OSHA? I don’t think so), drop luggage at the surf house, put on shorts and rash guard.
- Catch first wave of camp with a helping hand from Ricardo.
Approximate running time 26:30.
Completely bad ass and totally worth it. And this was just the set up. 
Every year I go through the exercise of setting some gym goals. Always seems helpful but I’ve had bad luck in the past getting to them. Typically I go for super hard metrics, then turn myself into hamburger trying to get there. And the last few years I’d get dinged up (broken foot, surgery to repair torn shoulder labrum). So here it is.
- 4 minute Fran (currently 5:03)
- 50 pullups (currently 39)
- Bodyweight snatch (currently BW 95Kg, Snatch P.R. 77Kg)
- 3 continuous ring muscle ups
Logic runs like this. 4 minute Fran – dig into some real wind and metcon limits. 50 pullups – all twitch and capacity, Bodyweight snatch – power power power and ballance, 3 continuous ring musce ups – all about keeping a good weight to thrust ratio. These goals are hard but not suicidal and they’re a good set of variables to optimize for.
I took my friends Jim and Beth up to Snoqualmie Central for their first day on skis and I think they’re hooked. They found a beginner lesson package deal. 3 days of lessons, tickets and rental and if you complete the three you have the option of a cheap season and rental pass. All of this for less than what I paid for my season pass. So with an easy drive up. (rock star parking!) and living through the rental line, they were off in there lesson.
Interlude:
While Jim and Beth are in there lesson I went up to check out Tripple 60 and Silverfir chairs. Lots of snow, reasonably steep, and some trees. Very tasty.
When I met up with them after their lesson I was greeted with these big ear to ear smiles. (game, set and match!) Even after all these years seeing somebody get that “switched on” smile is a thrill. The rest of the day was spent trying out their new skilllzzz on the beginner lift and trying to estimate the amount of work they can safely cut while the snow is flying.
Congrats Jim and Beth. Welcome (though your wallet probably won’t thank me ). You can now look forward to the weather turning cold and snow flying.