Way Lake 2010

Justin and I managed to take a little trip to my home away from home, Mammoth Lakes. Although I wasn't back climbing yet, I enjoyed the occasional run up to Mammoth Rock, playing with Turtle in the meadow as she bounded through the creeks and tall grass and watching Justin send Serpentine at Way Lake. What was most impressive about his send was the ability for him to find this incredibly unique sequence that allowed him to work the lower moves that are normally easier for taller individuals. Be sure to check out this wacky sequence in the video below.

I feel like it would be unfair to have a blog titled "Gossiping About Mosquitoes" and not mention that the mosquito alert at Way Lake was at DEFCON 1. Beware, mosquitoes were swarming to the point that we had to retreat away from water and into the talus. Even long garments couldn't prevent the attacks. Deet (although extremely toxic) may be necessary to tolerate the troops there. Good luck.

Way Lake 2010 from Becky Trafecanty on Vimeo.

80 miles and beyond!

On June 12 of this month I had the privilege of waking up at 5am and escorting my 67 year old father to the start of another 100 mile endurance run (yawn). He's participated in at least a dozen or so of these things, so it's nothing new. He's also completed over 130 marathons/ultras in his life. It was a fantastic weekend. He ended up finishing first in his age group (60 and above) and was the OLDEST PERSON TO FINISH THE RACE! Although there were ups and downs to the race, he did an amazing job and I'm truly inspired... again.

In my own life I've been battling a bit of injuries. I took a few months or so off from climbing due to some finger issues after Joe's Valley. And then I got that nasty cold that left me with two inhalers and a cough that persisted for over a month. After that subsided I got back into running (to be in shape to pace my dad). I was up to doing 9 milers on some hilly loops and then I decided to play soccer for a friend's b-day party and bam... reinjured the knee. I guess I won't be in world cup 2014 :(. It's not nearly as bad before, and I've kind of gotten used to this whole injured lifestyle so it's no biggie. I'll be back at it in no time I think.

Here's the 15 minute documentary I made about my Pops... Passcode is SD343.

SD 100 2010 from Becky Trafecanty on Vimeo.

Rites of Passage

No one ever told me that after you hit your 30s you cry at any rite of passage (weddings, graduations and sometimes sappy commercials [thank god I don't watch hardly any TV]), but it's true. I remember this phenomenon as a child watching adults in happy moments with tears running down their faces. "Mom, aren't you happy Joe and Jane Doe are getting married? Why are you crying?," I'd ask. I never pursued it any further and just assumed that adults were weird. But now this disease has infected me and I'm scared, and I can't seem to find any explanation for it in any of my anatomy or physiology texts, nursing school lectures or nursing journals. Is there some deterioration of the lacrimal duct as we slide into senescence? Well this past weekend was a perfect example of LDD (Lacrimal Duct Deterioration).

All joking aside, I have never been more emotional at any graduation before, and I don't think the severity of my symptoms were due to LDD, but instead witnessing the culmination of years and years of hard work and perseverance of my brother, Johnny, in his nursing program. There were moments when he doubted himself, did poorly on a test (despite studying harder than I have the patience for) and sometimes even received doubt and undue criticism from some of his own professors that should have been taking him under their wing and providing him with support. Some people would have shirked at the difficulty and criticism and given up, but Johnny would simply pick himself back up, press on and study harder and was completely unwilling to give up. Johnny, I'm so proud of you and this achievement given all that you had to endure and all the courage and strength you had to muster. What an inspiration!

Johnny's Graduation 2010 from Becky Trafecanty on Vimeo.

Shadow Warrior!

Although Justin has left CA for a brief "month or so"visit to Colorado, he went out with a bang. On his last weekend in Yosemite he ticked "Shadow Warrior" (V12) and made it look quite easy on the send, I must say. Congrats honey! I miss you... you can come home now.

Shadow Warrior (V12) from Becky Trafecanty on Vimeo.

Little Cottonwood Canyon

At the end of my Spring Break I took a little jaunt to Little Cottonwood Canyon with some amigos. I was so pleasantly surprised to find awesome granite with sandbagged grades. It reminded me of the Valley and made me yearn for home. I only spent one day at LCC on "easy" problems, but after that day SLC got a whole lot cooler. I can't wait to return for more LCC rock, Fert and Emily time and a little more Red Iguana action (fantastic Mexican food.... Fan... tas.... tic!).

Unfortunately this will probably be my last post for some time since I'm back to school and working my booty off... sniff sniff. Don't cry for me though, I'm sure I'll weekend warrior it a bit and make it out to the Valley on the weekends.

The following is a short video with some easy LCC classics. I apologize for the lower quality of the video... iMovie sucks and exporting high quality videos from iMovie is even suckier.

LCC 2010 from Becky Trafecanty on Vimeo.

SPRING BREAK IN JOE'S!!

The past two weeks have been fantastic. It's been great to forget about school for a while and be FREE and what better way is there to spend my freedom than in Joe's Valley with Justin! It was also great to hang with Fert, Emily, Melissa, Adam, Noah, Siemay, Sandy and Matt (not to mention our four-legged friends *Emma*, Daphne, Turtle, Oliver and Chilly too). Justin and I also managed to spend a few hours in Little Cottonwood Canyon on my last day... loved it.

Today was my first day back at school and I wore my scabbed skin, healing flappers and calloused, dried tips with pride. AND, I'm back in time for prime Yosemite season... YESssss. Life is so good.

Although it was great to get away and enjoy Joe's and get to know SLC a bit more, I renewed my love of Oakland when I stepped off the plane and was met with biracial families, dreadlocks, yuppies... people from all walks of life as opposed to the uniformity of Utah. It was like a breath of fresh air.

Joe's Valley 2010 from Becky Trafecanty on Vimeo.

Red Rocks and Beyond

So we have finally made our way over to Joe's, but not before checking out Red Rocks and Moe's. Below are the first two videos from Red Rocks. More videos from Joe's to follow.

So far Joe's has been amazing, but even greater than that has been meeting up with old friends, Fert and Emily.

Red Rocks 2010 from Becky Trafecanty on Vimeo.

Moe's Valley 2010 from Becky Trafecanty on Vimeo.

Trafectallejo Strikes Again

Although John already stole my thunder and posted the video on his blog, I thought I'd post it again in case some of you missed it. That's right, the amazing duo that is ***Trafectallejo*** has paired up once again to bring you coverage of another awesome Touchstone comp...

TRS GWPC 2010 from Becky Trafecanty on Vimeo.

In other news, Justin has made it home after crushing Hueco :) and is accustomed to falling asleep before 10pm and waking up way before 7am. I wonder if this is the same man? Strange.