Great thread, Jules!

I'm an open book, so most probably know my hobbies, but here goes...

I am a huge soccer fan and I love to write.

I played soccer all my life, through youth, high school, college, and onto social leagues, until year 2001 when I had a really nasty accident. Since then I only run and do triathlons, and although it surprises me that I don't miss playing ball as much as I'd like, I still follow the game as a fan and love backyard juggle fests. I have also spent considerable time and money traveling to see my US squad. Back during Women's World Cup 2003, I attended every single US match plus countless others. I essentially took a month off of work to travel through the States to see soccer matches. During that time, as the men's team was attempting to qualify for World Cup 2006, I plunked down money for tickets to every US soccer match at WC06 in Germany, complete with vacation package. And I'm happy to report that I gave it up to achieve something greater, and that was Ironman. So instead of going to Germany for WC, I instead trained for and completed a childhood dream in Ironman Wisconsin. And I have zero regrets. Although I'm still a great fan of soccer, and probably always will be, I now spend my money traveling for marathons and triathlons. That will change when I totally burn out, but like Neil Young has said, "It's better to burn out than fade away." I believe that, and when that happens I'll trade one passion for another.

Writing blows me away. I am the type that never did well in English. I would fail anything that required writting. Heck, I didn't even write my own college essays. Because I didn't know how. Then one day I started writing as a way to express deeply set thoughts. And like Forest Gump, I wrote, and wrote, and when the page ran out, I wrote some more. Before long, I had 3 full length novels written and ready for editing. And they're still there. And they will probably stay there forever. I wrote them without a plan or plot. Each took a storyline of its own as I wrote. And through that, much like it is when I ride long solo, I peered deep into myself and discovered what makes me tick. Writing, who knew? Apparently quite a few. But I didn't. Never have I took lessons or classes. I merely picked it up much like I did swimming. And I never put it down.

A yearning deep inside me is to use my ability, in whatever form, to do better in this world. I have failed at this miserably, but I hope to find the right opportunity to use my strengths and help others, such as underprivileged children. Perhaps with the right inroads, this will be my next passion.

Since having children 6 years ago, I have really tried to be a good provider, both in terms of making some money, but more importantly by giving my time and trying to work from home as much as possible. I wage a constant battle with my desire to pursue sports more than I ought to and have a very supportive spouse, for which I am blessed.

I guess my big thing is cooking fresh foods from scratch for the family dinners. I grind flour, make breads, home made pastas, junk like that and feel that at least we are eating a decent meal as a family. It never looks quite like the Waltons, but at least the kids are somewhere near the table.

Julie: Funny you should post this as I was thinking about this very thing while I was out running today.

Hmm...let's see. Given that every one of my RR seems to evolve into a lovely beverage conversation, I think every one knows that I like wine and beer. In fact, I may be one of the biggest non-homebrewer hopheads I know and I go weak at big Italian reds.

I love to cook and experiment in the kitchen. My cookbook collection may rival Julie's since they not only fill a bookshelf in the kitchen but one upstairs and they are now crowding out a bookshelf in my bedroom. Many of them I just read for fun and inspiration. I get two cooking magazines....I used to get four but killed two in my quest for less clutter but am considering picking up a sub to Cooks Illustrated to appease the nerd cook in me. Lately, I've been on a vegetarian kick and can't wait until Saturday where I'll play with an idea brewing in my head: winter squash tamales filled with goat cheese to take advantage of all the lovely squashes that are just showing up at the market.

I'm also a knitter. I used to churn out projects at an alarming rate until I developed a nasty case of carpal tunnel due to knitting about two years ago. Now it's small projects only. However, I do have an embarrassingly large yarn stash.

I also like traveling, hiking, reading, collecting random bits of trivia. Love history but more in an anthropological sense. If I were not an engineer, I'd probably be a food anthropologist.

Nice to know more about all of you....lots of foodies here, for sure! I love food and wine but my main interest in them is eating and drinking!

As for me, many of you know that tennis is my first real passion and I play on a ladder at my tennis club and am captain of my USTA team. I enter some tournaments here and there, but they are always scheduled like Oct 12-18 and you never know exactly when you play, unlike a tri or a road race when you know the exact date and time of your race. It's tough to keep open a block of time until the draws are posted, especially when also training for a tri or HM or whatever. I try not to talk about tennis here too awfully much. I also love skiing and snowshoeing in the winter and spent some time this summer learning how to play golf.. I'm pretty dreadful at it.

As far as less active interests, I really enjoy creative things like needlepoint, cross stitch, knitting, scrapbooking, etc. It's hard to find the time to keep up with that stuff in the summer months though, so I tend to do more of it in the darker, colder months.

I love college football (big Sooner fan and am quite disappointed at the outcome of the OU-CU game the other day), ice hockey (Avalanche), basketball (San Antonio Spurs-used to live in SA), and the Broncos (cause you can't live in Denver and not be a Bronco fan!).

That's probably more than you ever wanted to know!
Carrie

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Hobbies? What are hobbies? Mine right now is sleep.

I like wine. Chardonnay and cabernet. Red wine makes me sweat.

I crocheted a scarf once. I was on vicodin at the time.

I moved to Colorado from the Chicago area in 1979 for one reason - skiing. For about 20 years I skied about 50 days each season eventually doing all sorts of crazy extreme stunts. In January of 2000 I injured my knee while ski racing. My recovery from the ensuing surgery brought my summer season biking more into focus - I had always used biking as a means to keep my legs in shape for skiing - and in September of 2000 I started running.

I am the only person to have ever served three terms as president of out local ski club in its 50+ year history. I served as an officer in other capacities as well.

I also loved to bowl and play softball. I have a bunch of trophies from team championships in both. I don't do either now as there is only so much time. My wife and I met on our ski club's softball team.

I don't get to ski as much these days, but I can still zip down a double diamond run handily. I've also added snowboarding to the mix, mostly for powder and snaking through the trees. I've given up jumping off cliffs and pressing my luck on avalanche prone slopes searching for the perfect powder.

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Don
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quote:<HR>Originally posted by kristine25:
To strap everything I need for a long weekend on my back and hike into some amazingly beautiful mountain lake. I honestly don't think there is a place I am more at peace. <HR>

Boy, I get that for sure. The mountains are my church, no joke.

Here's a picture of a typical "sermon" on the slopes of Mt. Adams. What's not to love?