Recycle

I was just looking at the GU website, and I found that they have a pretty cool program to encourage us not to litter our empty packets. Save up all your old gels and mail them in, for every 10 you get a free new one. Or if you’re not quite as frugal as me, but still don’t want to litter, pick up those empty packets and hand them to me the next time you see me (plastic bag appreciated). I’ll gladly return them (and keep the reward.) Oh, and they don’t care if it’s a GU or a Hammer Gel, or a Clif Shot or a Power Gel. It just asks for empties.

Also, for all the Kona qualifiers out there, don’t forget to sign up for your free GU goodie bag. $200 value. (I’m not sponsored by these guys, I was just really surprised to see this because I thought Hammer and Clif were the only companies that boasted environmental love.)

Ok, enough for the free advertising. Moving on to this weekend’s eventfullness.

I’m joining a cycling team here in Seattle. The next two months there are “meet the team” rides every Saturday morning, and this week I joined 1st Rate Mortgage. It was a lot of fun, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never ridden the Mercer Island loop quite so quickly.

Saturday I went out with some friends to an art show that was taking place in a condemned Motel in the part of town where motels charge hourly. It was pretty cool. In one room they had ripped out the ceiling, poured dirt on the floor and made a campfire (complete with s’mores!). Another room had a human sized spider web to crawl through, and yet another room required us to remove our shoes and walk barefoot on beach sand around a room that featured a video of an aquarium and random pages from a woman’s diary (it was eclectic). There were more exhibits, but they’re harder to explain.

After the show I called it an early night, but apparently not quite early enough. After riding in the rain to watch the Kirkland Triathlon on Sunday my sniffles have turned into a cold. It was worth it though. Two of my Columbia Swimming teammates, Jake Abbott and Ben Neuwirth were competing as their first triathlon (I heckled them as they sat on the lawn to tie shoe laces and change clothes after the swim). I also made a point on Saturday of trying to make Chris (three time Kirkland Champion) a bit nervous by leaving a message on his phone saying “Hey Chris, I’m back in town. Looking forward to seeing you at the race tomorrow, it should be a fun one!”. Chris is the nervous type before a race, so I figured he needed something to sweat about. Apparently it worked.

Tomorrow I get back into training, so I’m hoping my throat and sinuses clear up soon. I still feel like I have Polish “food” in my system.