I’m a fair weather rider, and I don’t enjoy climbing hills. Prior to registering this year’s Chilly Hilly, I demanded to scout out the course. ktula and I took Mango for a road trip to Bainbridge Island, drove around Chilly Hilly route. The hills scared me. But the breath-taking scenics had me excited about the ride.

The day of Chilly Hilly was cold but fortunately, not wet. As we got closer to the waterfront, we saw cyclists in group making their way toward the ferry terminal.

What a sight, the ferry to Bainbridge was packed with cyclists and their bikes. We caught up with my friend Ted and his fixie, worked out a plan to avoid chaos when hundreds of cyclists rushed out of the ferry to start the ride.

We had a slow start – too many on the road, too polite to cut in front of others. I didn’t mind it, as I was enjoying the scenics and preserving energy for the 33 miles ahead of us. The route went from well groomed residential streets to forest to beach with hills along the way.

The first big hill was the hardest for me. As we started ascending, I quickly fell behind Ted and ktula. The only reason I didn’t quit was I didn’t want to mess with cleats on a steep hill. The second hill appeared shortly after, I got off to push. Then I had a moment. I realized if I were to push every time there’s a hill, I’ll be pushing bike for a good part of the ride. Once my mindset switched, I was able to pedal away the rest of the course, including couple of the bigger, longer hills.

Before I knew it, we were at the finish line. Alright!

While we were soaking in the warmth and stuffing our pie holes in Austin, TX, Mango was taking his little vacation at Leslie’s. The day after returning from Austin, this winter’s biggest snow storm hit Seattle hard. In the morning, we wanted to pick up Mango from Leslie’s boarding but was advices not to due to road condition. Later in the afternoon, the storm calmed down somewhat. With chains and autosocks in the trunk, we braved the snowy road, heading Redmond to get Mango.

We made it to Leslie’s after nearly an hour. All’s well the moment we saw our boy jumping and waggling his tail out of excitement of seeing us. Leslie suggested a little playtime before heading back.

Outside, the playground was covered in inches of snow. Mango was joined by his sister Hana, playmate Kiba, and a handsome black and tan JC. This small herd of shibas went nuts in the snow. They took turn chasing each other, with occasional yelping out of excitement.

Hef the Leonbergers watching with envy from outside the fence. Leslie decided to let Hef joined the party. All the shibas ran over to greet him. Everybody was excited to see Hef.

Then Leslie let another black and tan in. She is JC’s sister, and a sweetheart just wanted to be loved. She kept jumping on me and ktula, which is something Mango never does.

After some good chases, Mango did his business and was ready to go. Driving out of the beautiful snowy passageway, both Mango and I look forward to our next visit.

A real bonus, our friends Jen and Mark were great fun to travel with. Thanks to them, we tried some of the most unique food and stayed at a wonderful hotel.

The Food

Uchi and Uchiko are the two Japanese restaurants that blew me away. Their somewhat non-traditional approach was such eye-opening experience for my taste buds. Ingredients I never seen it put together elsewhere were making an impression on our table – Tuna sashimi, goat cheese, and apple chips in one plate and wow, it worked! Simple sea urchin with fresh basil and immediately the flavor transformed.

Stubb’s and Franklin were two of the BBQ places we tried. Stubb’s Sunday gospel brunch consisted of live gospel music and southern style buffet. While Franklin was all yummy business. We stood inline 45 minutes before the store open. What we got was some of the finest bbq meats and sauce in my years of BBQ eating chronicle.

So many food trucks in Austin, but so little time. We visited taco truck Torchy’s, then some incredibly tasty donuts from Gourdough’s. One donut called Flying Pig was everybody’s favorite. Doughnut covered in maple icing with bacon on top, as strange as it sounds, it was very delicious.

Coincidentally, the best fried chicken I ever had in the U.S. happened to be here in Austin. The popular food truck business recently transitioned to a restaurant location. Lucy’s Fried Chicken does fried chicken so perfectly crunchy on the outside, juicy and flavorful inside. Having such great fried chicken, I was a little thrown off by the below average slaw. But no matter, the homesome shoofly pie finished off the meal perfectly.

The Hotel

We love everything about Kimber Modern. It’s urban sophistication attitudes were everywhere: from the architecture, hotel settings, down to interaction between hotel guests and staff. Here, we were reminded to enjoy life – by slowing down and chill for as long as we want.

The City

Not sure if it has to do with Lance Armstrong, cycling seemed to be huge in Austin. Mellow Johnny’s is indeed a must visit destination for cycling enthusiasts. I for one, love the fact the store carries full range of woman’s cycling wears. For years, when buying bike jersey, I had to go for my size and compromised the look. But not here at Mellow Johnny’s. The shop carries great looking women’s jersey, and best yet, in my size!

I’ve seen more runners and cyclists in a day here than back at home. Austin’s fair weather and miles and miles of park and walking paths made the city a great place for outdoor activities. Regardless of the humidity, I was throughly enjoying my morning run along Lady Bird Lake. Austin is also very dog friendly. Big dogs and small dogs running freely at off-leash area in the park or dedicated doggy areas. I thought of how much fun Mango would have here.

During Mango’s annual physical exam, doctor found one of his back teeth was fractured. A fractured tooth will most likely became infected. So the tooth had to go.

According to the doctor, fractured tooth is not uncommon. Fractures are usually caused by chewing on hard objects like bones or hoofs. Doctor added it came as a surprise to many pet owners because it’s not a well known fact. I have given Mango countless bones and hoofs in the past. Poor mango is about to go through the pain and discomfort of the procedure I felt responsible for.

I dropped Mango off at the animal hospital first thing in the morning. Before the procedure, the hospital took some dental x-rays and found out his other side of the same tooth was fractured as well. I learned that Mango will be just fine eating without those teeth. Finally, some good news.

The procedure required Mango to be put under anesthesia. The hospital called around 2pm to inform me that Mango had woke up from anesthesia. They would keep him in the clinic for few more hours to make sure he’s fine before sending him home.

When I return to pick up Mango, he was alert but still a little off. I was told after Mango regain conscious, he was given some can food but he didn’t touch it. It’s pretty unusual for Mango to refuse food. Especially he was not feed since last night. That worries me a little.

Mango was more than eager to leave the hospital. He practically lead me to my car, didn’t waste a second sniffing other dogs. He was having trouble getting up the car seat. I pick him up to give him some much needed help. My poor little guy.

Home at last! Mango carefully climbed up the satires, still slipped and stumbled on one of the steps. He saw his half-chewed bully stick on the floor, slowly and surely, he approached the bully stick, attempted to resume chewing on it.

The sight of him showing interest at the bully stick was a huge relief for me. Thank goodness, he still got his appetite. I boiled some chicken breast and made some rice. Mango pick up the smell of chicken boiling in the pot, start whining and getting restless. Yes, our hungry little guy is back!

Shiba is known to be pretty difficult with hospital visits. We were fortunate Mango has been really good with doctors and nurses poking and checking on him. I hope after his teeth procedure, he remains his sweet self with the hospital folks. We’re going back to the hospital in couple weeks for follow up checkup. We’ll find out!

Going 4-year-old, sometimes Mango still got a puppy look. How does he do that?

The herbal planter was the last thing I added to my container garden. As usual, the herbs did well with little care.

I tried a delightful summer soup recipe using mints that was overgrowing in the garden. I do love to cook with things I grow out of my garden.

This month’s fillet was bigger than usual. I left a few pieces aside as treats. I enjoy giving Mango treats because he is super gentle when taking the treats off my hand. I caught two videos of him working as hard as a shiba can for his favorite salmon pieces. In the first video, his final facial expression filled with anticipation of tasty treat was just precious. But since he was such an eager beaver, I tried to milk as many tricks out of him as possible…

First Video

Mango got impatient on part II video and started getting fresh with me. For some reason his rollover acts has always been a bit of hit and miss. 20% of the time he can’t flip to the other side no matter what. And when he lost his cool like in this situation, his body stiffed into a plank, which makes the rollover even more challenging. I was losing him fast, but I couldn’t just give in and let him had his way. So finally when he did two half-assed rollovers, I quickly handed over the salmon piece.

Second Video

I was not a swimmer. 3 months prior to the race, I took my first swimming lesson with Kainoa of Pauole Sport. During our first session, I couldn’t swim even 50 yards. Kainoa assured me with plenty of practices, I will be able to complete 800 yard at the race.

Early July, we started open water training. The open space, murky water, low visibility, underwater vegetations… Everything about open water swim terrified me. I even had nightmares before my 2nd open water practice. It was that scary. Overtime I did get used to it. Once I reached that point, I knew I was ready.

I had tons of fun training for the race. Unlike my previous races, this time I was able to switch up to different activities. Even though the training demanded more time and had much less rest days, it was a good excuse to be out everyday, enjoy the summer to the fullest.

For a triathlon newbie like myself, the pre-race preparation could be confusing. The knowledgable Danskin volunteers and staffs at the expo and at the race were truly helpful. Overall, the race was well organized. At race day, I was able to focus just on completing the race.

In August 14th, over 2 thousands women participated. We were getting ready at the transition area, everybody’s face lighted up with excitement, the energy was unbelievable.

Simply put, this is the most fun race I’ve ever participated. I had new personal records on swimming and biking; and one of my best times for running. The race result: My division place: 37/207; Overall place 233/2036.

I signed up for Warrior Dash when I learned there would be barricades and fire pits. As a bonus, the event website promised mud, lots of it. The promotional video did a good job getting me into the warrior spirit. I was ready!

I showed up at the dash with my plain workout outfit – lame! Many participants were in costumes. I should have at least colored my face.

There were 11 obstacles in over 3.5 miles of rugged terrains. Personally, the obstacles were the real challenges. I didn’t train for the obstacles, nor did I remember trying out most of them, ever! I was a little intimated whenever I saw an obstacle ahead. To my surprise, I was able to pulled my own weight up and over tall wooden barricade; teeter through narrow track about 5 feet above ground; survived smelly dark trenches; crawled under barbed wire and tangled cargo nets; stampeded over junk yard of car wreckage and tires without falling on my face; running through mud puddles in the woods…

The last part of the race were series of nets climbing, fire pits leaping, and finally crawling beneath barbed wire in mud pool to reach the finish line. Something I learned that day about mud, was that people got stocked in it, kind of like flies on flypaper.

After hosed down by high pressure water hose, I was a little less muddy but still nowhere near clean. It was time for a little celebration, warrior style! ktula feasted on a turkey leg the size of his face. I went for tasty tasty beers.

The result: I was top 30% of the overall Sunday participants (2066 of 7695) and top 11% (53 of 514) in my age group. Not that it matters. If I ever enter the dash again, I am going for the best costume awards and focus on my warrior poses!

Portrait

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