October 2008

In the Bitterroot Athlete Valley

Dear Friends,

Wishing you all well during this exceptionally beautiful fall season.  We had a mild, smoke-free summer for the record books and now a wonderful Autumn to enjoy the great outdoors.  I hope you’ve been able to take advantage of it.  Me…I’ve been working on uploading pictures, descriptions and information to my new shopping cart that is very time-intensive.  This is a picture of my sister helping get it going.  I am looking for some student help…with a laptop and that knows Photoshop too…if anyone knows of someone that can help to speed up the process would be great!  Give me a call, 363-4193.

Is everyone ready to vote?  Have you heard enough campaigning already?  The day after the election, I will have an event to totally take your mind off of all the politics.  Greg Sangster will do a presentation to Introduce Diving and Diving Adventures.  What could be further from politics than swimming underwater with the sharks…ooops…that sounds like politics?  We  won’t talk much about the sharks…but you will hear about the crystal blue waters and a whole new colorful world open up to you by learning to dive.  Even if you don’t plan on doing it right away, how often to you get to see a presentation like this in the Bitterroot?  It might be the beginning of a tropical vacation you’ve been meaning to take?  Come and enjoy a little tropical paradise kind of talk.  Grass skirts welcome.

What has been going on around town?  Just our fantastic kids and coaches WINNING the State Cross Country Invitational, Oct. 26th!  Coach Gideon’s Darby Team came in first for the B Class school size with Matt Stout and Heather Demorest placing first in the Boys and Girls races. http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/10/26/web/webprepz/wpz25.txt Coach Albert’s Hamilton team came in a strong third for A Class schools. http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/10/26/sports/sports04.txt All had perfect Fall weather for the run.  Matt Stout sounded like he had been on his best eating behavior for the season, but planned to get back on gummy bears…just until Track, right? 

Our Saturday runs have been holding together, but we need some more runners out there!  Is everyone waiting for the colder weather?  We did have as many as 23 people last season running with ice and snow on the ground.  The more runners then the better chance of having someone that will run your pace and will run the mileage you want to run.  So everyone just show up at 8:00, awake or not.  We do have a nice run in Frenchtown coming up Dec. 6th, the Freezer Burn Half Marathon and 5k. http://www.runmt.com/2008FreezerBurn.pdf  Just what we need to burn a few holiday calories!

Missoula will also have a Turkey 8k run on Thanksgiving Day at 9:30, see the www.RunMT.com web page, no page link.

John List, Physical Therapist at Daly Hospital and Tony Neaves, Cycling Outfitter at Valley Bikes did a presentation on Identifying & Correcting Cycling Related Injuries on Oct. 22nd.  Three people brought their bikes and were able to see where adjustments could be made.  My bike fit revealed that my handlebars and aerobars were out too far for me…needing a shorting attachment.  Moving the seat up would put me out of alignment with my pedals.  They also showed how moving the seat up or down half an inch was huge.  Lance Armstrong’s pit crew would move his seat by a millimeter to mess with him and he would be off his bike within a block adjusting it.  If you haven’t had your bike alignment checked lately, stop by one of our two great bike shops, Valley Bike and Red Barn Bike.

If you haven’t all heard about the Ironman Hawaii event that took place Oct. 11,th  we have a Missoulian professional athlete who was 5th woman to cross the finish line and the only USA woman out of the top eight.  Linsey Corbin came across the finish line in a cowboy hat and had the announcers caught off guard as to how to pronounce “Missoula.”  We will have the opportunity to hear her story in person as Linsey will be @ Antara Sports Thursday, Nov. 20th to share in this ultimate triathlete destination and accomplishment.  If you would like to check out her website, she has a couple of great write-ups about her experience. http://www.linseycorbin.com/ This is a link about the Ironman.  http://ironman.com/events/ironman/worldchampionship/?show=about Stay tuned for more info and flyers about Nov. 20th.

A few other things…

October was also Apple Days and Antara Sports had a booth there.  It was a little rainy at first and then cleared up fine.  I heard that over 745 pies were sold out by 1:30.  There were lots of goodies to sample and snack on, plus, it was a great time to socialize with everyone out for the annual event.

Other than that, got some great lingerie photos on the Main Street bridge with the Autumn colors…hope to use online; planning a Trainer/Instructor social/photo shoot tomorrow night, and a talk for kids (3-5 yr-olds) tomorrow at Head Start.  I was asked to dress up in a wetsuit and talk about swimming!  I figured I could do that!  Also, Hincapie bike jerseys, jackets, and base layers have come in proving to be a real quality line, clothes made in Italy.  I am really looking forward to Spring when Hincapie will come out with a line of jeans that I know will look sharp.  I also have some really nice Zoot and Sugoi warm fuzzy shirts and tops for running and biking that look great on and feel really good.  Come in and see what is new.

Until later, look for notice that my athletic apparel is up on my website shopping cart, and I will ask you to send the notice to all your email lists, as I appreciate the friendly work-of-mouth advertising! ;-)  Thank you and have a great Halloween!  BEAR Halloween event Saturday, Nov. 1st at the Hamilton Community Center @ City Hall, featuring the Big Sky Mud Flaps music…no # to give, Bitterroot Ecological Awareness Resources, 7:00 to Midnight.