When Opportunity Worms it's Way in

The life cycle of a manduca sexta according to the 5 year old.  

Sometimes it's nice that I work at the University and can teach my minions that Science is cool.

Rails to Trails

Second half marathon this year - check

I beat my first half marathon time by 9 minutes.  Pretty excited about that.  I feel like I could have/should have run the course faster though.  I will admit I got pretty tired the last two miles and had to push myself.  But I didn't really train as much as I should have for this race.

What's that you're shouting in my ear, ghost of Coach Cole? Garbage in, Garbage out.

Yeah, I know....and I solemnly swear to practice more for the Tinkerbell Half Marathon.  Mostly because I plan on stopping and taking pictures with the Disney characters this time so I will need to be extra speedy!

This course has special meaning to me.  The Bizz Johnson trail is an old railroad converted to a trail for feet, bicycles, and horses.  Our family has spent many camping adventures at Goumaz.  I've bicycled up and down the trail several times but this was my first ever foot race there.  Even with the lanterns in the train tunnel to light the way I still got a little spooked and found myself wishing I was out the other side.  It's hard to run faster when you can't see the path in front of you. 

I'm off, to get a few more miles under these feet today.

Triple Dog Dare Don't

Whilst hiking amongst the ancient cedars I happened upon a bright orange mushroom. 

So naturally I tried my very hardest to talk the boy into eat it. 

 He said no. 

I called him a chicken. 

He said no.

 I triple dog dared him (I was led to believe from A Christmas Story that triple dog dares always work).

He said no.

I wouldn't have really let him eat it of course, but it was curiously, bright orange.  And it made me wonder what would happen if you did.  But then it'd probably taste like a mushroom and I wouldn't really like it anyway.  As I am not really a fungus eater.

If I had been more prepared for the cold or the rainy day I might have stayed out in the cedar forest all day. It was absolutely beautiful.

Watch Out Blue Hairs

My 'old soul' little girl

The other day I caught the girlchild playing bingo by herself.  And she wasn't just playing bingo, she was playing 6 cards at the same time. SIX.  And no, brother cannot have just one to use for himself.

She's going to be one tough, old lady some day.

And speaking of old souls....I'm reading My Name is Memory right now.  I'm loving every word.  I kind of want to lock myself in my room all weekend just so I can finish it.  I wonder if the bingo crowd will miss me??

10K at the Lake

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks without a post.  It's been busy in my neck of the woods.  There's been races and fall vacations and plans for fabulous Halloween costumes.....I hope.  How does one dress a 5 year old up as Gollum anyway??? 

Last year I ran the Tahoe 5K.   It was my first official race since hanging up my high school running shoes and shorty shorts.  You can catch up here if you missed it (the race not the shorty shorts...those are not an option any more).   This year, I signed up for the 10K.  Well...technically I signed up for the 5K but the boy encouraged me to be brave and run the 10K instead, so I did.  He's up for coach of the year award. 

Can't you just see Meg Ryan on her City of Angels bicycle here

The course starts at Emerald Bay at Lake Tahoe and runs down to Pope Beach.  A scenic trip through the trees and along the beach.  The only goal I had was to finish the 6.2 miles in under 60 minutes.  Last year my time didn't get recorded.  I was pretty sure I had placed in my age group so after waiting around for the awards ceremony and not getting to stand up on the little podium I was a little disappointed.  Turns out they lost my tag number.  I would have gotten third.   This year, I decided it didn't matter so much.  I was going to go out there and have fun and try to make my time goal.  If I hadn't been wearing my garmin watch I think I might not have made it.  The real time pace tracker is a great motivator, I'm pretty much in love with it.

The boy ran too! Holy surprise batman!

Final time: 58 minutes.  Yay!  The boy finished in 1 hr 04 minutes.  I'm so proud of him.  6 miles with no real training at all.  Afterward we met up with some friends for brunch and frozen hot chocolate...delicious!

A few days after the race they posted the official times.  What do you know, I got second in my age group.  Dang!  I didn't hang around for the awards ceremony this year because I thought there was no way I was up for an award.  Who knew?! 

You know what this means?  Next year, I need a little first place medal.  But will I run the 10K or go for the half marathon.....decisions, decisions.