Jan 27, 2008

NAIAS, XTERRA (both the car and the race), and a good workout to boot!

This is the weekend of a lot of car-oriented things mi amigos!

First off, let's discuss the 2008 North American International Auto Show.

It was pretty cool. Probably my fave year if only because there were specific vehicles that Mike and I wanted to see - so we were able to make the entire trip around the exhibit hall in just under 3 hours.

Here are a few of the funny and or interesting (to me) pics from the day. I for once did not waste my entire memory card on every single vehicle. In fact, I took very few pictures relatively speaking.

Detroit has spoken - Eff Kwame!

Mike refuses to take a normal picture... but I sorta love him for that.

The new Concept Genesis Coupe from Hyunai - read this is the new Tiburon - Mike's car.

Vee Dub in das haus.

OK - funny story about this one. First off, I work for a direct competitor of Michelin. I thought that it would be humorous to get a pic of me in front of the giant MM for S&G. As I am standing there, this man walks past and says - "grab his balls!" Because I see a little person walking behind him I yell back - "Sure.. sir you are a WONDERFUL example for your son." After he walks past and the said little one trailing behind him turns around and stares me down... I realize... that little person... with a BEARD... was NOT his little son as I thought, but his friend... who was a little person. *shakes head*. Yeah - only I can almost get my a$$ kicked at an auto show by a little person.

My attraction to MM - he runs too!

So.... exactly how do the Chinese auto mfg's think they can sell a car here... you know, when we have safety requirements and all?

So it was a good time. Saw a "man" threaten to kick his son in the stomache because he took a picture of a trash can with a digital camera. Yeah. We thought the same thing as you are. Aside from totally disrespecting a little person, today went very well! :o)

So on to XTERRA. First off - I want one. Secondly - I am going to race in one.

See - I sat in the Nissan XTERRA off-road today and fell in love. This is truly the Jenn-mobile. It can fit my road bike, the MTB, and like a small army of aid workers in there. It gets decent gas mileage - actually comparable to the Toreass - and is awesome in YELLOW!! It is YELLOW people! Mike agreed - it is a vehicle that will work for me.

So the racing one? Not the physical Nissan XTERRA, no, but rather I will be racing in the XTERRA triathlon in Brighton this year - the XTERRA torn shirt triathlon.

It is an off-road triathlon: typical swim, followed by a MTB ride, followed by a trail run. My new partner in crime Lana and I agree after hearing one of our tri club members, who is a pro triathlete and a pro XTERRA triathlete, that the XTERRA will be a super fun time!

So there it is. My first actual race race on the calendar. Woot!

After all of this - I made it to the gym for some strength training (upper body) and a good 20 minute run. Uuummm... my entire run averaged a 176 HR. Anyone else think that this is a little high?

So now I am waiting for my uber healthy meatballs to cook and to finish off my spaghetti dinner, and then I am relaxing and maxin' the rest of the night!

})i({ RunnerGirl

6 comments:

TNTcoach Ken said...

I can’t handle the crowds down there, does that make me old? 176 is pretty high up there, were you racing?

Rocks said...

My wife drives an Exterra and it gets horrible gas mileage. I think she averages around 12-14mpg. The pathfinder and trailblazer we had before that were much better so to speak around 16. I guess if you are getting an SUV that’s not your number one priority. But the other problem is that the roof rack bars are too big and our roof top thule bike carrier wont fit. Other than those two things it’s a great car. It handles the best of any of our prior SUVs. Plus if your get a boo-boo during your exterra race you can always pull a band-aide from the first aide kit in the lift gate.

chia said...

Ha, my boyfriend went to the auto show as well and is very disappointed to hear that he missed this exchange :-D.

176 is pushing it, were you feeling ok? I know sometimes if I take a bit of a break from running and start off again too strong I'll hover around in the 175-185 range but I *feel* perfectly fine and usually go down after a few workouts. Sudafed or other decongestants will oomph my average by at least 10bpm as well.

Hope all is well Jenn!

Stuart said...

176 is a bit on the high side, depends how fast or how steep?

Pat said...

your heart must have still been racing from the xterra. I bet it won't be so high on the next run.

Doug said...

We love your scarf! Is it long enough? Well, I guess bigger is better right? Did you rob The Gap for that thing, no you HAD to have knitted that funny looking scarf yourself... It goes right along with your pink Corvette sporting a huge wing, 22-inch spinning rims, and Michelin racing slicks...