MR XTERRA 2007
Sept 29
I was absolutely blown away when
I received the Mr XTERRA award
for 2007 at the night of champions
dinner out at Lake Tahoe.
Rich Cruise (c)
Oct 4
A FEW PICS FROM TAHOE
These are just a few pics from Tahoe that I wanted to through up. I'll put more up soon.
Oct 6
TRAILER TRASH PARTY
Hooweee! We had a rip roaring good time at the trailer trash party that
Jason and I threw at my new place. What better way to celebrate living
in an RV than to party with 40's and red neck shenanigans!
Oct 7
A NICE LITTLE SUNDAY
Wake up and eat a big breakfast while watching a
couple episodes of South Park

Swim ~4000 meters at Flatirons. This was one of
those amazing days were I felt like a million bucks in
the water. It was AWESOME!  

Eat a big lunch and get ready for a sweet mountain  
bike ride with Ryan, Jimmy, and Blake

Ride for ~3hrs at White Ranch. With 3 small snow
flurries/storms and more water bars than you could
count, we tore up the trails with our mad skillz!

A nice family dinner (the guys, Maia, and me) at the
Olive Garden. They weren't really smart to let me
order the "never ending" pasta. I ate till it hurt and
then I ate some more.

Watch some TV at Jimmy and Blake's place and
pass out on the couch for a little while. I was really
tired for some reason!?!
9am


10am



12pm


2pm



6pm




8pm
Oct 11
CENTAURUS GIRLS WIN
LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP!
BOYS FINISH 3RD!
The Centaurus Warriors Cross Country team (for
whom I'm the assistant coach) had a fantastic day at
the Skyline League Championship on Thursday.
**Brynn Valentine took the win in the girls varsity
**Kirk Harvey took 2nd in the boys varsity race
**Shelby Tisinai took the win in the girls junior varsity race
Tuesday Oct 23rd
So its that time of year. Time to pull the shorts back out for a few fun days in the sun. The
XTERRA World Championship is on the island of Maui in Hawaii on October 28th. I'll be
here for the next week and I'll be posting updates daily. So check back for stories and pics
from my Hawaii adventure.
The Oakland airport was small, but
had some pretty cool sights. I enjoyed
playing on the moving sidewalks while
I waited for my flight
I've said it before and I'll say it again - wearing
compression clothing while traveling is the
only way to go. I had on my 2XU compression
tights and my legs felt great the whole day.
Once I arrived in Maui, I got a call my friend, Jessi Stensland, that
she was here a little early and looking for someone to hang out with.
Her home in San Diego was under mandatory evacuation because of
the fires in the area. I took her to Jawz Taco to start things off right.
Fresh fish tacos are amazing. After lunch is was a rough day at the
beach. Its tough just hanging out, playing on the beach :-) We
finished the day with a swim at sunset. Only the first day on my trip
and I'm already having an absolute blast!!
Wednesday and Thursday
October 24th and 25th
The past two days have been the typical pre race prep, but
it has been more fun than normal cause I'm in Maui baby!!
On Thursday Ryan, Amy, Jimmy, and
I went for a swim at the race course.
With turtles, fish, and beautifully
clear warm water, I couldn't have
asked for a better pre race swim.
At the annual pro meeting, I really felt
like a big leaguer sitting with all the
other pros. When you get all the big
names in XTERRA in one place it can be
a bit intimidating, but really exciting.
Wednesday was spent eating, swimming,
and picking people up from the airport.
There were some pretty cool trees along
the drive, so I snapped a shot.
Creepy cat guy?
Yes, he is. haha
Whenever I go to the beach, I have an overwhelming urge to dig a big hole. For my
sandy construction endeavor today I dug a hole large enough to squeeze into.
Overall things have been going really well. Physically and mentally I am so ready for this race.
Every swim, every ride, every run gets me more and more excited to toe the line and see what
I can do. My goal for this year is to have a good race (no problems) and it looks like things are
falling into place for that.
Friday and Saturday
October 26th and 27th
The past two days couldn't have gone any better. Race preparations are finished, and I'm
ready to rock n roll. We picked up Kristin from the airport on Friday, so now we have a fun
loving group of 7 here at the condo. Good friends, good times!
Hanging out at the mall
getting some food. We
do love to eat!
Monkey'n around
The whole gang
in the van
Typical breakfast.
Lots and lots and
lots of food :-)
Pre ride. There is no
other course like this
one and boy is it tough!
Thats over $20,000
dollars worth of
bikes right there
Dinner at the local Irish pub.
No matter where you go in
the world there is always an
Irish pub. I love it!
Cute couple #1
Ryan and Amy
Cute couple #2
Ryan and Maia
Cute couple #3
Jimmy and Kristin
And me all by my
lonesome (sort of).
Ryan didn't want
me to feel all alone
Tomorrow at 9am the cannon will fire to start the 2007 XTERRA World
Championship. This has been an absolutely amazing year with so many
wonderful memories and I'm excited to end it with a bang. I can't thank
everyone enough for all of the love and support I have received along
the way. I'll race my heart out tomorrow and show 'em what I'm really
made of!
Sunday and Monday
October 28th and 29th
The XTERRA World Championship was yesterday (Oct 28th) and though it didn't go
exactly how I would have hoped, it was still a pretty good day. I ended up finishing 64th
overall and finished up my race with my typical visit to the med tent. I had a poor swim
and proceed to make up lots of ground on the bike. Unfortunately I just drained the tank
and ended up fading pretty bad on the run. With only one thought on my mind - Get to the
line, get to the line, get... - I was able to push it to the finish line where I immediately
collapsed. After a good rest in the med tent and two IV's I was back on my feet.
Setting up in
transition, I was
next to former
world champ
Eneko Llanos
Swim exit
Leaving T2
heading out
on the run
The overall winner
Conrad Stoltz
Post race dinner
with women's 2nd
place finisher
Melanie McQuaid
After the race and a good nap it was off to WalMart to come up with a costume. I decided to go
commando. Wearing only a tiny pair of shorts and a ton of body paint, I created my costume for
only $13. I was blown away at the party to see Jamie Whitmore (women's 3rd place finisher)
dressed as me! How cool is that?!? Show up to a costume party to find that someone's costume
is you! Everyone had a kick ass time and we all laughed and danced the night away in our crazy
costumes.
The name of the game for Monday was fun! Jimmy read about a hike called "The Commando
Hike" on the road to Hana, so we piled into the car and headed out. Along the way we stopped
to watch some surfers and bumped into some friends, who decided to join us for our unexpected
adventure. The hike turned out to me more epic than any of us planned. We started out by
climbing through a short lava tube. After a quick stop to eat some guava fruit we picked, it was
a long trek up a creek. We reached the mouth of a long dark cave and ventured in. We climbed
waterfalls, swam through pools, traversed steep narrow sections all in the darkness of a water
filled cave! What a rush!!  After we made it through the cave we headed back to the cars on a
muddy trail. In our typical goofy triathlete fashion, we decided to do a bit of a group run to make
things more interesting. All and all it was one of the most epic hikes I have ever done and I
would do it again in a heart beat.
Monday November 12
OFF FOR AN EXCITING VISIT
Tomorrow I head out to Columbia, MO to visit the
awesome folks of the Columbia Multisport Club. They are
4x club national champions. Wicked impressive! I'm
really, really excited because I get to do a few workouts
with them and give a talk at their monthly meeting about
XTERRA. This will be one of the only trips I've taken this
year were a race wasn't the main focus, so I'm pumped to
just kick it with these guys and have a rip roarin' good
time. Click on their logo to check out their homepage.
Thursday Nov 15
TOO MUCH FUN IN TWO DAYS
I flew into Columbia, MO Tuesday morning and I have had the best time since! In a 48
hour span, I went on two night mountain bike rides, a 5:30am group run, a 5:30am swim,
watched two movies, and got to give a presentation to the Columbia Multisport Club.
Wow! It was so much fun that I can hardly believe I fit all that in! Here's the recap.
Barbie picked me up from the airport in Kansas City and we made the
2 hour trek to Columbia. We stopped to see her dad along the way. He
was a fighter pilot many years ago and boy did he have some cool
stories! The first thing we did once we reached Columbia was barrow
a bike for me and we went for a night ride. I haven't been on a night
ride in a long, long time and I had forgotten how thrilling everything is
in the dark on a bike.
The next morning, we went for an early swim (5:30am) before Brad
had to go to work. I spent most of the rest of the morning and
afternoon watching movies and finishing up my presentation. Barbie,
her son Chris, friend Jessica and I went for another night right before
the CMC meeting. I went over the bars at one point. It was sweet!! We
rushed home from our ride and jetted over to Harpo's for the meeting.
I have to admit, I was pretty nervous on the drive over there and right
when we arrived. Would they find me interesting? Would they like my
jokes? What if I ended up making an ass out of myself? But that all
disappeared as everyone started showing up and I got into my groove.
I had the best time talking and then showing pictures from my trip. I
really hope that I inspired at least one person to go for something they
had been wanting, but had been lacking that extra little push it
sometimes takes.
Not wanting to miss out a perfect opportunity to put a plug in for my sponsors, Brad and
Barbie helped me set up a raffle were I gave away a ton of product. Everyone left with
something that night and I was ecstatic to see their smiling faces. I was on such a high from
the talk and getting to meet all those cool people that I wasn't sure if I'd be able to sleep for
a while. But with a 5:30am run on the schedule (and a few beers in me), as soon as my head
it the pillow I was out.
Seeing 50+ people with headlamps on at 5:30 in the morning ready to run is one of the
coolest sights I have seen in a long time. After a quick run and a couple of Krispy Kreme
donuts, it was off to the airport to head home. I said it before, but I'll say it again - I had so
much fun!! Hope fully they will set up an XTERRA out here, so that I can come back soon.
Friday Dec 7
Red Neck Will and Looking Towards the New Year
I have come to except that for the time being I am rather red neck/white
trash. What ever you want to call it the fact remains that I live in an RV,
have no running water, and pee in the woods on a regular basis.
Sealing up some of the
cracks in my roof.
Along with drinking a 40 out of a wine glass, you'll
notice I am attempting to grow a mustache. As
time went on it just kept looking sketchier and
sketchier. After one month I could take it no more.
I spilled some gas on the driveway, so
we had to burn it out. Then we resealed
the driveway with some roof tar.
EXCITING NEWS FOR 2008!
Under the current name of Stella Rosa Team Management, we have
been creating a new multi-sport team for 2008. Things are really
coming together and I'm very excited to be a part of it.

The Stella Rosa multi-sport team will race nationally and
internationally focusing on Triathlon, Mountain biking, and Cyclocross
and will be based out of Colorado and Connecticut. The team will be a
non-profit 501c3 organization and will focus on pursuing financial
sponsors related to the Eco friendly/Energy conservation business.
January 30th
Track and 4 Wheelin
The unofficial track season has started for 2008. I'm super excited because we
already have a bunch of kids showing up. We'll be running in the Frozen Foot 5k on
Sunday February 10th at CU and it should be pretty fun. I can't wait for the official
season to start because I have loads of different workouts to torture the kids with!
Last weekend, my buddy Blake got new axles put
on his jeep and needed to break them in. Always up
for a good time, I climbed aboard for some 4
wheeling up in Left Hand Canyon. Blake let me drive
the whole trail! It was freaking sweet!! I drove like a
little old lady (super slow), but I had a blast. It was
a much different experience driving rather that just
being the passenger. I can't wait to do it again!
STARTING THE SEASON WITH A BANG!
'Starting with a bang' is referring to when I
totally blew up on the run. I raced the
Playtri Half Iron Triathlon on Sunday and
finished 9th overall. It was a decent first
race of the season, a good gauge of where
I'm at, and what I need to work on. I had a
great time seeing an old friend and my
grandparents while I was there.
Coaching at Centaurus High School
The warriors at Centaurus are great! Day in
and day out they give it their all and I am so
proud of them. Their energy, enthusiasm,
and sense of humor are one of a kind.
BUFFALO CREEK XTERRA UNIVERSITY
The XTERRA University at Buffalo Creek went incredibly
well. There were over 40 people there asking questions,
getting tips, taking home some free swag, and then we
all went for a pre ride. Such a fun day!
MY FOOT FIASCO
At the XTERRA East Championship out in Richmond, I ran into (or
should I say swam into) at a little incident. In the beginning of the
swim, I kicked a branch and a stick got jammed into my foot between
two toes. After my insane drive home (32hrs in the car - 28hrs
driving), I went to the doctor and they told me I had a staff infection.
I went to the doctor 4 times last
week. Wed - sliced me open, then two
shots in the butt (ouch!). Thurs, Fri,
Sat - IV's of antibiotics. They left the
cathedar in on Thurs, but it was
bugging me, so when I got home, I
pulled it out. That was sooo cool!!
Its now Tuesday (9 days later) and I'm almost better. I've just been
swimming once a day, but I'll get to hit the trails as soon as the
antibiotics are finished. If you've noticed I've been acting weirder
than normal, I'm gonna blame it one the drugs.