Ironman Arizona Week 13: Checking the ego

13 weeks down, 11 weeks to go.

This past week was another good, solid training week. I made it out to the track on Wednesday night, for the first time in several weeks. It was good to do some fast running, although my quads and hip flexors paid for the next couple of days! I also managed to make it to swim practice twice, just need to start adding an open water swim at Barton Springs (that's the plan this week). I felt really strong on my Thursday night swim and did a solid 400m in 6:42 (1:40 pace) at the end of a 3000m practice and felt fantastic. Finally got to ride outside again after spending the past couple of weeks indoor on my trainer. We rode 73mi on the Rosedale route which is a quiet, scenic, flat, windy route and is perfect training ground for Arizona. I think we're headed back out there this weekend for a 90mi ride. Fingers crossed we'll have another nice day and that the arctic blast they're predicting fizzles out!

The training week ended with a 22mi run on Sunday which involved getting up at 4am, running a 9mi warm-up to the start line of the 3M race, and then running the 3M! I couldn't have done it without the rest of the T3'ers out there and our wonderful coaches. Thanks guys! I felt really good for most of the 22mi, apart from miles 18-19 when I started having some stomach problems. I really thought I was going to be walking the remainder of the course until a quick stop at the port-a-loo made me feel like a new woman! I felt fantastic those last 3.1 miles and just got faster and faster right up until I crossed the finish line (my last mile was a 7:55). I finished in 1:56:46 and PR'd by about 40s. Not bad considering I actually ran 22mi that day! It was mentally a little tough to be running with people who were "only" running the half marathon. I had to check my ego and keep running at my own pace... which in itself is good Ironman training because I know that come IMAZ I am going to be passed, a lot, on the bike but my plan is to stay with my pace and catch a lot of those people back on the run :)

Goal hours: 15.5

Actual hours: 14.1

Bike: 6.25hrs / 113 miles (Goal 6.5hrs)

Run: 5.1hrs / 32.5 miles (Goal 6hrs)

Swim: 2.5hrs / 6100m (Goal 2.5hrs)

Core: 0.25hrs (Goal 0.5hrs)

Burns Supper

Friday night Gordon and I were invited to a traditional Burns Supper. Robert Burns is Scotland's most famous poet, and he is nationally celebrated every January 25th. I've never been to a Burns Supper before and Gordon's boss and his wife (both Scottish) graciously hosted a group of us, some Scottish and some not. They went to a lot of effort and it was really fun. They even hired a bagpiper to play during the evening, although I'm not sure if their neighbours were too happy about that!

Highlights:
- Gordon in a kilt, in true Scottish style :)
- The welcoming of the haggis, while the bagpiper played and we all slowly clapped
- The delicious dinner (even the haggis was good, in moderation!)
- The very theatrical poetry recital performed by Gordon's boss
- The take home boxes of tablet*

* which were devoured within about 30 minutes after we got home from our bike ride the next day.

Mmmmm....

I could so go a meat pie right now, washed down with a Farmers Union iced coffee, then a lamington (but only if it's my Mum's). But I'm stuck with my bag of cashews and raisins and a cappuccino...

This is also the best hangover cure. For those of you suffering from pub run last night, get yourselves to the Aussie bakery Boomerangs on Guadalupe and get yourself a pie!

Being Australian

If you plan on spending Australia Day driving around in a ute while eating a meat pie and listening to Land Down Under, you qualify as the quintessential Aussie, according to a poll of Australians. And if you're heading for a barbeque at Bert and Patty Newton's better still.

Despite decades of multiculturalism, the Top Taste Lamingtons Aussie Poll has revealed stereotypical Aussie lifestyle is alive and well. The meat pie is our favorite Australian fare (56 percent), followed by the lamington.

Ian Thorpe, Kylie Minogue and television couple Kath and Kell are the celebrity icons that Australians are most happy to embrace.

When it comes to language our favorite Aussie word is "Gday", followed by "crikey", (thanks Steve Irwin) while Australian's happy-go-lucky attitude emerged in our favorite phrases "He'll/she'll be right mate (51 percent of votes) and "Don't get your knickers in a knot" (26 per cent).

The nationwide survey of 400 Australians aged 18 to 50 on all things Australian voted swimmer Ian Thorpe as the celebrity who made us most proud to Australian, followed closely by "singing budgie" Kylie Minogue. Interestingly veterans Bert and Patty Newton were our favorite couple closely beating Kath and Kell from TV comedy Kath and Kim.

It wasn't the Socceroo's World Cup performance in 2006 that was named the nation's greatest sporting moment. It was winning the America's Cup in 1983.

And forget the stubbie holder, the ute is considered the greatest Aussie invention, given the top vote by Australian blokes. The sheilas opted for the Hills Hoist, which came a close second.

In true larrikin spirit, the myth that Australians most want people overseas to believe is that we keep koalas and kangaroos as pets (41 percent) and that drop bears are a growing threat. (27percent).

Fair dinkum

26th January is Australia Day. It's not quite the 26th where I am, but home in Australia it is already the 26th, so happy Australia Day, Australia! I miss you!

(But not the coloured zinc cream!)

Ironman Arizona Week 12: We're halfway now...

12 weeks down, 12 weeks to go. The halfway point!

This past week was tough. Cold weather, ice and snow kept us indoors for a few days. Practices were cancelled, which meant no swimming or outdoor running. So instead I put in some time on the trainer. Finally got to run Friday evening with Gordon, in the cold and drizzly weather. At one point we were sprinting, chasing each other down the street, it must have looked strange!

Saturday the weather was still dreich (Scottish word for miserable, cold, wet weather) so we did a 3hr indoor trainer ride, then went out for a late lunch of delicious pasta and great coffee. Sunday we woke up to sunshine, finally! We went down to Town Lake and ran a double Dam loop to get in our 20 mile run. I had been feeling slightly under the weather for the past few days so I wasn't really looking forward to the run, but I ended up having a good run and finishing strong. I'm sure the lovely weather helped!

Goal hours: 12.5

Actual hours: 10.1

Bike: 6hrs / 120 miles

Run: 4.1hrs / 25.5 miles

Swim: 0hrs

This coming week is another big training week, culminating in a 75mi ride on Saturday followed by a 22mi run on Sunday. We get to run a 9-10mi warm-up before running the 3M half marathon on Sunday (to get in our 22mi) which is going to be interesting. That means we'll be starting around 5:15am Sunday morning... eeek!

Foxy

After worrying that we'd drunk all the wine in the house over the past couple of days while we've been stuck at home due to the winter storm... tonight we found a bottle of Vixen in the fridge, woo hoo! I can't believe we forgot it was there, it was that well hidden!

Vixen is the most delicious and unusual wine you'll ever have. It is a sparkling shiraz. Red wine with bubbles!

It is made by the winery Fox Creek, which is located in the McLaren Vale, South Australia, about a 45 minute drive from my parent's house. We went there last February when we were in Australia and stocked up big, luckily they're all under lock and key in my Dad's cellar otherwise I'm sure the entire stash would have been drunk by now...

Vixen goes down so easily that it feels like you've only had about three sips and the entire bottle is gone. I wish I had two, no wait, I wish I had six bottles!

"A powerful style of wine, it oozes opulent blackberry, licorice and chocolate flavours and has a lingering semi-dry finish."


For those of you in Austin, you can buy it at Central Market, Whole Foods, Grapevine Market... it's not that difficult to find, just difficult to keep in the house!

Ticket to Bulgaria... booked!

I leave tomorrow.

I just want the beer, honestly!

Meanwhile...

Yesterday in Melbourne it hit a high of 105F, and more hot weather predicted for today. I know where I'd rather be... hot weather of course. Hang on, did I just say that? Me, who normally complains about the hot weather?

Mind you, Melbourne is having a terrible time of it at the moment - they're already on water restrictions and now they might be on electricity restrictions too?!

Hope you manage to stay cool, Kate and Tim!

My 100th post brings news of snow!

It's not often that you see snow in Austin - the last time was February 14th 2004, the day before our first marathon! So I put on my new green hat that Mum and Dad got me for Christmas, wrapped myself up in one of Gordon's fleeces, put my sturdy, non-slip Caterpillar boots on, and went outside for a photo. Brrrrr... it is chilly out there!

Now I suppose I should get back to work. Unfortunately I have a laptop, so even though we're all stuck at home, I can still work... but it's nice and relaxing, anyway, and Gordon is home and working too. Time for another pot of coffee!

Happy Birthday Kate!

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Kate,
Happy birthday to you!

I hope you had a great 26th birthday, sis!

Ironman Arizona Week 11: A week to recharge

11 weeks down, 13 weeks to go.

The thing about doing really hard training weeks is that they're often followed by a recovery week. We had been building the hours and distance for the past few weeks, culminating in the 90mi/20mi double last weekend. The reward? A week of reduced hours and a chance to recover and do some non-triathlon related activities.

So I got a massage, went out for dinner with the girls from the book club, caught up with the T3 crew at Friday night happy hour, went out for dinner with our friends Arun and JoEllen, slept in Sunday morning, and went to a yoga class. Not to mention watching Sex and the City Season 6 part 2 on DVD, all 8 episodes in a row (I love that show). It was a restorative week, both mentally and physically.

Goal hours: 9.5

Actual hours: 9.1

Bike: 3.9hrs / 75 miles

Run: 3hrs / 17.6 miles

Swim: 1.25hrs / 2800m

I'm ready and raring to go again, except for the winter storm that is forcing us all indoors for the next couple of days! Good time to get on my trainer I suppose...

It is really raining here in Austin!

But it's a good thing, because we desperately need the rain.

Today we met at the T3 gym in the back of the old Bicycle Sport Shop (the location of our weekly Thursday night trainer ride) and rode on our trainers for 2.5hrs. We watched the triathlon movie "What it Takes". It was a good documentary. I especially liked the coverage on the Australian triathlete Luke Bell who I hadn't heard much about until this movie. He's young but seems very grounded, a good Aussie trait. I hope he does well in his career.

After the ride we went out for breakfast to Galaxy Cafe on West Lynn and 10th... the food was delicious! Really, really tasty and fantastic service. I highly recommend this place.

Now I'm at home, warm and dry, drinking a cup of tea and about to sit down and read for a while... or maybe watch a DVD. A long leisurely afternoon ahead of me, then dinner with friends tonight at the Clay Pit... it is perfect curry eating weather!

... and a not so good workout

Ah, the ebb and flow of workouts. Last night's good workout was tempered with a not so stellar workout this morning. Gordon and I got up early (5:30am) which was probably part of the problem - I've been sleeping in until 7am every other day this week! The schedule called for a 10-12mi long run and we wanted to get it done today instead of waiting until Sunday - Gordon is heading down to San Antonio all day Sunday and we have beer and curry plans for Saturday evening. So the plan was a Friday Longhorn Dam loop, with a bit extra if we felt that 10 miles simply wasn't enough.

We both ran side by side, listening to our iPods, enjoying each other's company but talking very little. The morning air was thick and heavy. We ran at a nice, easy pace and I was feeling fine until just after we'd run over the Longhorn Dam. Gordon wanted to kick it up a notch, but I was struggling just to hold an easy pace. My legs felt heavy, my stomach was a bit unsettled, and then my music ran out with three miles to go. But I kept running, trailing behind Gordon, he looked back every now and again to check on me, which was really very sweet but extremely irritating at the time... I don't like being the one that needs checking up on! By the time we'd finished we both decided that 10 miles was enough today. Plus, I'd ran for almost as long as a 12 mile run would normally take me anyway.

But I'll take the good with the not so good, if it means that I'm still out there doing it!

A good workout

Tonight I had a really good workout. First I ran for 30 minutes on the Town Lake trail and I felt great, like I've finally almost recovered from the 20mi run on Sunday. I love running the trail just after work on a weekday, especially Thursday night, when there aren't too many running groups out there and it's mostly just recreational joggers. I get to pass people and feel like I'm some super fast runner. It's great!

Then I met up with the T3 gang and we did a 1:20 indoor trainer ride. The music theme for tonight was techno. Not the best compilation, but there were a few good songs in there. It brought back a few memories of going to Heaven (the nightclub) when I was 17! During cooldown the music changed up a little and we got to hear some "Eye of the Tiger". That made me think of the music tapes that Dad and I used to put together to help motivate his Aussie Rules football team before a big game... which made me think, maybe I should get my Dad to suggest some motivational songs for my iPod? I could do with some blast from the past songs to inspire me during some of these long workouts!

Sennheiser MX 75 Sport stereo headphones

Photography by Gordon McGregor

I need some decent headphones for running. My first run with my new iPod Nano was frankly quite disappointing. It wasn't the playlist, although that could definitely benefit from a little post-run editing, but the unsuitable earbuds which kept ejecting themselves from my ears every few minutes. I realised that there must be some more appropriate earbuds out there.

After the run I sat down and thought about what I really wanted out of a pair of sport headphones. As a part-time triathlete currently training for an Ironman, I frequently run for two to three hours at a time and so I need something that is primarily going to stay in place during these long runs while also feeling comfortable. I don't shy away from running in the rain so I also need something that can withstand a light drizzle to a torrential downpour. Sound quality is also important, to keep me motivated during the last part of the run when it gets difficult, and I don't like to compromise on style.

After deciding on features, my next step was Google to find out what types of sport headphones exist on the market. After I'd selected a couple of options I searched for product reviews to get a general understanding of the consumer opinion. These opinions can provide some useful information if taken with a grain of salt. Then I hit the manufacturer's website. I'm partial to a well-designed, contemporary website.

Based on my research I decided that the Sennheiser MX 75 Sport stereo headphones were a good match. The MX 75 Sport headphones have a "Twist-to-Fit" design that promotes a comfortable fit that will stay in place during sporting activities, sweat and water-resistant construction that is also machine washable, and powerful neodymium magnets that provide crystal clear, crisp sound. As far as style goes I could live without the lime green, but I love that they twist into my ears rather than requiring a behind the head extender to keep them in place. So I headed to my local Target store and purchased a pair for myself, and also a pair for my husband to go with his new iPod Shuffle. The retail price was $49.95 although I have seen more competitive prices advertised on other websites.

My first opportunity to try them out came three days ago. I ran without music for the first 1.5 hours then decided that I needed some music to motivate me through the final 1.5 hours so I twisted in the earbuds, arranged the wire behind my neck, started my Nano and off I went. The sound quality was great, the music was clear with good volume. The earbuds never once came out and never needed to be re-adjusted. In fact, I barely noticed the earbuds other than the fact they were pumping music into my ears! The length of the wires was adequate although I wished I had clipped them more neatly to my armband, so that they didn't fly around so much. During the run it rained on and off, quite heavy at times, and the earbuds continued to stay put and provide great music quality. After running for 3 hours my body felt tired but my ears felt good. Now that's a good run.

Only 4 more hours to go...

Until I get my much, much needed massage at the new(ish) "milk + honey" spa in the 2nd St. District.

60 minute massage plus an extra 15 minute foot massage.

I simply cannot wait!

Ooooh, I feel all relaxed just thinking about it...

Ironman Arizona Week 10: I can do this thing, really!

10 weeks down, 14 weeks to go.

This past week not only gave me another dose of Ironman reality check, but also gave me a dose of "I can do this thing!" reality check. It was also the highest volume training since I started the Ironman training, and my highest volume training week ever... and I survived, with a smile on my face and enthusiasm that I can do this Ironman! It feels great to finish the week on such a high.

After not swimming last week I got back into the pool twice this week - two 5:45am swim sessions, check! I didn't run quite as much this week, but did an extra bike workout and also took a rest day on Friday as I felt like I was coming down with a cold and I felt extremely tired and lacking energy after the Thursday night T3 trainer workout. It was a good decision.

Going into the weekend I was pretty nervous - we were to do a 95mi bike ride Saturday followed by the 20mi ARA running race on Sunday. It was a very important training weekend and, understandably, I was a little worried about being able to do it all. But I think the fact that I took it so seriously was a good thing - I made sure to eat properly and get plenty of rest leading up to the weekend.

Saturday morning we started the ride in fairly gloomy conditions - it was cold and overcast. But the meterologist had said it wouldn't rain until around 3pm when we should be finishing our ride. The lying bastard! It started raining about 1hr into the ride. Not really hard rain, mostly drizzle and a few larger drops every now and again. But it made for very slick conditions on the roads. I was glad to be wearing my bright yellow cycling vest which at least made me feel a little bit more safe out there on the roads - that the cars could actually see me. We did a pretty tough bike ride, started at Lost Creek then made our way to Fitzhugh and took it all the way to Johnson City. Plenty of hills!!! I was cursing our coaches wisdom of making us do 90 miles of hills the day before a 20mi long run! I did have another one of those "what the hell am I doing" moments during hours two and three on the bike. It was raining at that point and a few of us had just fallen off the main group (I was nervous descending on those slippery roads so I took it easy). I started questioning, again, why I am even doing all this training. I shed a few crocodile tears. Then Gordon said we should work together to catch the main part of the group, so I told myself to get a grip and we spent the next 30 minutes working together and caught some people up ahead, which felt good! After the turnaround point I started feeling much better. There were some tough hills coming back including one monster of a hill that we got to go down on the way out to the turnaround point, but had to climb back up on the way home. But it really wasn't too bad. I was feeling good. Finally we finished, around 3pm, most of the day was gone! As soon as we finished it started raining heavily, so it was good to get in the car, go home and get warm, eat and relax.

Sunday we woke up to a gloriously sunny, not too cold, morning. I was feeling a little bit tired and my legs felt a bit heavy, but I was feeling surprisingly good and quite upbeat about running the 20 miles. We made our way down to the outlet malls (where the race started), ran into some of our friends and had a quick chat, then we were off! Gordon and I started running together but we both wanted to run our own pace so I took off a little bit, although Gordon was never too far behind! The course had some good hills but nothing too terrible, and the weather was just gorgeous and I felt good! I was deliberately keeping a really easy pace to conserve my energy and just get through the run - I was treating it more like a supported long run than a race. By holding back and conserving my energy, I kept a consistent pace the whole race, never felt like walking and even managed to kick it up a notch for the last mile. It felt good to pass so many people who had gone out too hard early on and couldn't hold the pace for the rest of the race. I ran into a few friends and colleagues from work - I was quite surprised to see my boss (well, my boss's boss) out there on the course. We had a chat for a while. Saw a few people that I used to run with and chatted with them too. My old marathon coach, Steve, gave me some great motivation at mile 19 - "Now, I know YOU know how to suffer, bring this thing home!!!". I much prefer to have that type of motivation rather than just the standard "Good job, you're nearly there!". Just like for some strange reason I like to listen to hip-hop when I'm doing a hard trainer workout, the nastier the lyrics the better!

I PR'ed the 20mi distance by over 17 minutes, nearly 1 minute per mile faster than when I ran the RunTex 30K in January 2004 when I was training for my first marathon. In fact, it's the first time I've ran this distance since my marathon in 2004. Plus, I did it after cycling 90 miles the day before. Way to go me!

I almost made my hours this week. I didn't do any core workout (need to get back on that) and I was a little short on running, mostly because I under-estimated how long the 20 mile race would take me - I thought I'd come in closer to 3.5 hours!

Goal hours: 16.5

Actual hours: 14.2

Bike: 7.9hrs / 130 miles

Run: 3.9hrs / 24.5 miles

Swim: 2.5hrs / 5600m

I find it really interesting the range of emotions that I go through with this training, from feeling like giving up and questioning why I am even doing this training to being on a complete high and feeling so strong and sure that I can do this Ironman. Not only am I training my body, but my mind as well. Every week seems to bring about a new mental challenge of some sort, but it's this type of training that will really make the difference on the day of the Ironman.

How was your Saturday?

I spent most of mine on a bike, 5.5 hours to be exact, in the rain, going up and down hills for 90 miles.

It's 4:30pm, we just got home an hour ago. Now I'm eating pizza and watching the BBC series "Dr. Who".

Cricket

For those of you who read this blog, you may be thinking "WTF is cricket?".

Cricket is a game of skill, patience and afternoon tea breaks. It is an awesome game and Australia kicks ass.

Every two years, Australia plays England in a series of matches called "The Ashes". It is cricket's oldest and most intense rivalries and the location alternates between Australia and England. It started in 1882. The name came about after England's home series defeat in 1882 led to a mock newspaper obituary, and when England won in Australia next time round, a bail-burning ceremony in Melbourne resulted in the ashes being placed inside an urn, and being presented to the winning captain.

Speeding forward, from 1989 to 2005 Australia were unbeaten. In 2005 England managed to make a comeback and won the series. This surprised everybody, not least the Australians who had probably become a little complacent. After all, it's hard to keep improving and retaining your edge when you are the world dominators of the sport.

The 2006/2007 Ashes series, played in Australia, has just concluded. Australia won 5-0, meaning that we gave those whingeing Poms a royal spanking.

I don't really follow cricket much these days, but I remember fantastic days spent at Adelaide Oval with Dad, Kate, my Uncle Bert and cousin Sharyn, watching the cricket. Warm, sunny skies, mexican waves, the whistles of the drunken yobbos sitting on the beer hill under the scoreboard as all the cute women walked past them, and swarming onto the grounds at the end of a match to shake the hands of a cricketer. Once I even managed to shake the hand of Viv Richards from the West Indies, one of the greatest batsman to ever play the game.

Ah, those were the days.

Tree House Fridge

While reading my daily technology update I came across the "Tree House Refrigerator".

Apparently when you go to take an apple out of the fridge it feels like you're picking it from a tree. There's also what looks like a birdhouse for storing your eggs. I admire the creative thinking, but really?

Full article here.

Ironman Arizona Week 9: Going long...

9 weeks down, 15 weeks to go.

This past week we did our first really long workouts - 17mi long run and 85mi bike ride. As indicated in a previous post, it was also the week that gave me a dose of Ironman reality check. Up until last week, the workouts have been tough but nothing too much tougher than what I've endured during half ironman training (although I have consistently done a lot more running this time). But last week switched us into Ironman training gear, with the longest run and bike ride that I've done in a while. I've only ever done one bike ride over 70 miles (Shiner ride back in May) and the last time I ran 17 miles was back in December 2004! The only thing I didn't do last week was swim, which isn't such a big deal considering that I'm most comfortable in the swim. I got back in the pool this morning.

The long run was pretty tough. We did this on Friday after our bike trainer workout Thursday night. Fortunately the legs didn't feel too tired. The first 15.5 miles felt pretty decent, but the last 2.5 miles (we over achieved) was tough. I had to really stay focused to keep going and I have to admit that I took a couple of 30s walk breaks during the last mile, but I picked up the pace for the last 0.25mi so I think that makes up for it :) It had been raining off and on for the whole run and once I stopped it started bucketing down. Now I have a couple of long rainy runs under my belt, which is always a good thing to have.

The long ride on Saturday was surprisingly not too bad, for the first 75 miles. We biked a reasonably hilly course so that made it a bit tougher and my legs were already tired from running the day before. I paid more attention to my calorie intake and took in about 1700 calories for 5 hours on the bike (5:45 total ride time), not quite enough but getting close. I ran out of water for the last hour and so didn't eat anything which is probably a big part of the reason I got so tired in the last 45 minutes. I also wanted to pick up the cadence during the last 45 minutes but pedaling faster was hurting my butt on the saddle so it was a frustrating trade-off. But I didn't get a flat today, woo hoo! Others did, and we stopped and waited which made it really hard to get started again, but I figure if I stop and wait for someone then they'll return the favour some day if I need it!

Goal hours: 14.5

Actual hours: 12.9

Bike: 6.15hrs / 108 miles

Run: 6.75hrs/ 42.45 miles

Swim: 0hrs

Happy New Year!

We definitely rung in the New Year in style.

It all started with last minute (4pm) phone calls to several Austin restaurants trying to find somewhere to dine at a reasonable hour. After Uchi and Zoot both only had 10pm reservations available, we jumped at the chance to get a 5pm reservation at Wink... but that of course meant jumping in the shower and getting ready in 20 minutes, which I managed to do and still look half decent!

So we started the evening at Wink with their seven course "2007 Celebration" tasting menu, which consisted of seared tuna, gnocchi with black truffles, seared lamb, lobster, duck, venison, cheese platter, then we ordered their trio dessert of lemon meringue pot, creme brulee and warm chocolate pudding... it was all so delicious and surprisingly I didn't feel too stuffed at the end. This restaurant is so classy, we even had chilled cutlery for the seared lamb and extra warm cutlery for the duck. It was fantastic. We talked about our plans for 2007, laughed, reminisced about 2006... it was a wonderful dinner.

Afterwards we parked near Jack and Adam's and walked over to see Blue Lapis Light do their show on the side of the Radisson. It was good, although not as good as Requiem (the show we saw back in October) but it was free and it was fun standing in the middle of the city and seeing them dance and abseil down the side of the Radisson! Afterwards we caught a pedicab over to Jack and Adam's and hung out at their New Years Eve party for an hour or so. We saw quite a few of our friends there and it was pretty relaxed and fun. We left around 10:30pm, planning on going to another friend's party but we were feeling so tired by then that we came home and chilled out and just barely managed to make it to midnight, before falling fast asleep around 12:15pm.

It was a great way to spend New Years Eve. Hello 2007!