Uff Da

Uff da (can also be spelled uff-da, uffda, uff-dah, oofda, ufda, ufdah, oofta or ufta) is an exclamation of Norwegian origin that is relatively common in the Upper Midwestern states of the United States. It roughly means "drats," "oops!" or "ouch!", especially if the "ouch!" is an empathetic one. In Norwegian Midwestern USA culture, "Uff Da" translates into: "I am overwhelmed." It has become a mark of Scandinavian roots, particularly for people from North Dakota and Minnesota

Yep, that pretty much describes the day. A chilly bike ride, a tough 50 min uphill/ 45 min downhill run with too much traffic, and then a short swim to end it took up most of our day today. We got a bit later of start than normal as we thoroughly enjoyed Stout Month at Mtn Sun last night as we tried to give Charlie and Tina some advice for the Mt. Taylor Quad next weekend. We even ended up buying two of the "I heart Stout Month" t-shirts. The bike wasn't all that terribly cold until we descended from Jamestown. As usual, warm on the way up, cold on the way down, even with more layers on. Then onto the run up Boulder Canyon to Four Mile to Poormans. Normally, there isn't that much traffic, but normal is at 7 or 8 in the morning. At 2 in the afternoon, lots of traffic. People, I know you live on the roads and know them well, but it doesn't make them your very own race course. The downhill is normally a lot faster but the icy trails slowed things down. Especially after my fall two weeks ago on an icy trail. Finally the swim, which was blessfully short (1500 m). We actually got a little sun during the swim, but when I say a little, I mean it. About 5 m of the pool was in the sun, while the rest was in the shadows from the next-door condos. But, it was our first swim in the light in a while. Although my hand is still messed up from the fall (still 9 finger typing and such). Wolfgang's advice of taping my fingers together is allowing me to swim. Normally, I'm not a big fan of swimming, but it was really annoying not to be able to do something. Wow, maybe I should break this into a few paragraphs. Nah. Now it is post out of order triathlon. A is off getting a massage. I am getting my legs squished by the NormaTech.

Next Saturday brings the Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon in Grants, NM. We have actually now lost track at how many times we have done the race. Who wouldn't love spending a good chunk of the day biking, running, skiing, snowshoeing to the top of Mt Taylor, snowshoeing, skiing, running and biking back to Grants. Hopefully we can both avoid bike issues (broken spoke 2 years ago and flat tires last year). The snow has been plentiful, so hopefully the ski down isn't too icy. My record is 4 (or was it 5) crashes on the way down. A snowplowed that year, didn't crash, and ended up with the same ski down time.

That's enough for now.

-E