40 4 40 #40 - FINALLY!!

As you might recall, over a year ago, I began a journey to try forty new things before my 40th birthday. The culmination was to be skydiving ON my 40th birthday. I had this wild idea on my 30th birthday, while parasailing. To make a long story short, I did not get to jump on my actual 40th birthday. But, Dad had the idea that I could do it in CA - at a location that he picked out :)

So I got to CA and we talked about it and I looked into it and just never seemed to actually schedule it. I started to run out of time! Since last week was so busy (I really should blog about it!), and this is my last week, this was the time! I made an appointment at Skydive Perris which has an excellent reputation, and is the place where Dad's former student jumps all the time.

Just like when it was planned in Texas, I was not worried about the risks and all that. However, this place made me watch a video and sign waivers that sure could make you worry about all the risks!! But when we got there, Dad and I decided this place knew what they were doing! There were parachuters everywhere - landing, packing chutes, wandering around, etc. Everyone was very nice and encouraging.

The whole process was quite easy, since I'd already watched the video and signed the mega waiver on line. Dad and I waited and watched lots of people land, until it was my turn to get suited up. Each plane took about 20 jumpers - most of them just jumping for fun - students and such. We saw probably half a dozen planes go up while we waited - for only an hour or so!! I got called and we went to the garage to meet Emmanuel and put my suit on. Dad got to be there for all of it which was really cool. Here are some before pics.

My favorite support crew :)

Suited Up

Harnessing

There was one other tandem person on my flight. His name is Chris and he was celebrating having finished his USC MBA! He was a little nervous but he did just fine :) The rest of the pics will tell the rest of the story...

Saying "see you in a few" to Dad.

Waving Hello to Josh, the videographer.

Emmanuel and I ready to board the plane! First on, last off.

On the plane, ready to GO!

The screaming was involuntary!! It was an excited, holy heck, kind of scream!

Free falling - REALLY fast!!

The chute opened!! YAY!!

I'd be attached to the yellow dot! Dad took this from the ground.

Coming in to the landing zone.

Almost down!

We made it!!

Wow!! Actually the quote of the day was "OH. MY. GOODNESS"!!

#40 done!! This is my favorite on the ground shot!

I jumped out of an airplane today! Not many people can say that! I enjoyed the experience and I'm glad I finally did it. I don't need to do it again though. I was never scared. It was definitely a rush of excitement when the wind slapped you in the face at 120 mph! And getting to see the world from that perspective was way awesome. I asked my videographer to take more video of what I was seeing than of my face. I'm really glad he listened. The video is pretty darn cool. There's me, but there's also the scenery which I'm glad I get to relive. You can too! Anytime you want to watch it, I'd be happy to share :) Oh, actually, it's supposed to go on Youtube... I'll keep you posted on that. 

The moral of this year long journey is this: KEEP TRYING NEW THINGS! You never know what you'll get out of it. 

The Penultimate Week of CA15

I just said to Dad that just because I haven't blogged doesn't mean I wasn't having fun! His reply was that we've been busy!! I decided I should write about last week, the penultimate (full) week of this epic visit to California. I figured out how to post date it though so it'll be in chronological order :) Fancy me!

I will start with the 2nd Annual Fawnskin Ride-n-Tie. Last year's ride was my first ever radio event. Now I'm an old pro ;) This event is put on by my big brother and takes riders/runners through the hills above the "suburb" of Fawnskin (it's across the lake from the "big city"). The race grew by 50% - from four teams to six!! Also, it rained. Stormed. Poured. Now, if you remember, I just spent at least 6 weeks wet in Texas. This was different. This rain was COLD!! It was quite exciting to turn on the heater in the car mid-morning in July!! In fact, this may have been the first time it was on in the new car!! The other memorable experience is that we had a team, so a rider and a runner, not me through our checkpoint. They left the one before us... After about 20 minutes thinking they'd be around the bend any second, we called in and the Race Director was alerted. They were found (they'd made a wrong turn but had turned around again) and headed back to the finish the way they'd come. We moved over to the first checkpoint and followed them in, basically. They were cold and wet and tired. I got home, took a hot shower, and slept curled up on the couch with Slugger while it rained. All afternoon!! Dad went to the airport and had some fun practicing direction finding, in the rain.

Sunday Dad and I drove down to Aunt Mary's in Temple City. Aunt Mary and Uncle Charlie were supposed to go to my birthday bash but I told them to stay home because of the weather. To make this  re-do as authentic as possible, I ordered a vegan hot pink cake from a bakery on the way. I also took tablecloths and napkins. I forgot the tiara in Big Bear though :( It was a fun afternoon of family visiting, sandwiches and a really good cake! I think the cake was better than the first one!!

I don't remember Monday, but I think I did laundry...

Tuesday, Dad and I had volunteered to help with the Special Olympics World Games team(s) that would be spending a couple days in Big Bear. Cities around the area hosted teams and showed them good California hospitality. We were on tap to carry their luggage from buses to their hotel room. The time frame was quite fluid so that took up all day, even though we didn't actually do it until the evening! I actually went and had dinner with the other volunteers while Dad went to Search & Rescue training. I think I carried half a dozen bags. Glad to help though!

Wednesday was the big day! The team in Lake Arrowhead was being honored with a parade. Dad and I went to help with radio. I got to work "parade control" which is where all radio traffic goes through. I think I was supposed to just be the one to write it all down, but I ended up doing all the radio!! I was told I did so well at the beginning that they just let me go with it. It was a confidence builder when the other two guys kept walking off :) OH, and one of those other guys is a legend in the Ham radio world! He is a leading name in Ham instruction (like to get your license) and even has books and stuff. He was impressed with my abilities :) I still say it's just in my blood and I'm only doing what everyone else is doing. Dad says I'm crisper and more direct. Okay.

Thursday we got to sleep in and hang out!! We went for a nice walk in the woods with the pooches. On the drive back, we passed Uncle Charlie and family on their way to their campsite. We knew it was them by the gigantic RV pulling the jeep with all the kayaks! We ended up going to dinner with them that evening. Family spontaneity is good!

So, I'd been hoping to paddle board again while here this summer. It was new thing #2 and I remember it being incredible, but it just hadn't worked in to the schedule yet. Turns out that Cousin Sam has a paddle board instead of a kayak. On Friday, I rented a board and we all paddled around together!! I must add that I stood up and she did not. But I went in, and she did not! It was great fun!!

Oh, before that, on Friday, Dad and I went back to the hotel and helped load luggage ON to buses. Took all of 20 minutes. And that included watching the buses back up the driveway!

And then there was Saturday. I spent the day riding in a car going from Heaven to Hell and beyond. And back, of course. What? I was radio in a SAG vehicle for the Grizzly Gran Fondo, a mountain bike race of varying lengths that was all over the mountain. Heaven and Hell were two stops on a long, steep, gnarly dirt road. Dad was in the other SAG vehicle and he spent his day driving to the hospital. THREE level 1 (meaning hospital needed) incidents. This group of radio workers hadn't had that many combined until now! And dad said the hospital was flowing with even more riders who got there on their own! It was a LONG day and we were very glad to sleep late on Sunday!!

Sunday wasn't all about sleeping in though. Slugger and I enjoyed a great lunch with my dear friend Sarah, her hubby and their two dogs. Then we had a nice, warm walk through the woods to the lake. All three dogs enjoyed getting their toes wet. Of course, Slugger got his whole self wet, cuz, well, he's Slugger. Actually, we met another dog who's dad had a ball that he threw for Slugs. It squeaked. Next year I think Slugger needs more lake days!!  That evening, Dad and I had a very nice Emig dinner with Uncle Charlie, Aunt Patty, Cousins Sam, Tyler and Steven, and Dave!

It was QUITE a week!!

(This turned in to a really long post - guess I should have blogged as it happened. Oh well!)

An EPIC 2015 Western States Endurance Run

I've been in CA for a little over three weeks now. A week of that time was actually spent in MD/VA visiting friends and family, and Ma. Apparently nothing notable happened because I didn't feel the need to blog it. Perhaps eventually!

This past weekend, Dad and I travelled to Auburn, CA. Auburn is a small town Northeast of Sacramento. I hadn't been there in about 30 years. It has grown up a lot but the quaint downtown and hilly streets with cute houses are still there. We made the trek so that we could work radio communications at the 2015 Western States 100-mile Endurance Run.

When I was a youngster, my family attended the event several times. We would crew for runner friends and my dad even paced a couple the last 40 miles. All the aid station names were familiar to me but it had been a long, long time. Too long!

Our aid station, Brown's Bar, was actually one I had never been to. It is down a long dirt road with very little space for cars or extra people. Crews are not allowed anywhere near it. Dad has been doing radio there for several years and was able to get us there without incident. My uncle and cousin met us in Auburn and also made their way to our spot. Actually, they left their jeep about 1/4 mile up the dirt road. Only two cars stayed all night at the station. Not much else would fit!

The aid station personnel were all from a running club in Ashland, OR. They were obviously all runners - some even came in on foot down the trail! One of them was famous. Well, famous in the world of ultra runners - Hal had won this race twice. Runners would take selfies with him as they stopped to eat and fill up water bottles! It was kind of entertaining.

Our first runner, Rob Krar, came in at about 6:10pm. He was a little under the record pace. He didn't stay long. He lost time after he left us and ended up finishing in 14 hours and 48 minutes - 3 minutes slower than the record. The next few runners trickled in every 10-30 minutes until the middle of the night when it seemed we had one every 5 minutes or less. There was never really a lull. Runners came in until about 8am or so.

To me, the notable thing was that there were a LOT of runners!! At the AC100, the only other one I've done, we saw less than 100 runners. Here at Western States, we saw 255!!! And that was a low number. At the start, there were 371! It was a VERY hot day on the trail and that likely knocked out a few more than normal.

The other difference of this race, for me, is that we call in, over the ham radio, EVERY single runner that comes through the aid station! This year, Dad let me do most of it. Like probably 200 of them!! And when we got back to Net Control - the people I'd been talking to all night - they were very complementary on my radio skills. I think it's my math background. I wasn't about to call a zero an "o"!!

A few memories stand out from the all nighter at the curve in the trail...

- Most of the women wore skirts. Fancy running skirts, but still. I need to get me one :)
- Many of the pacers looked worse than the runners. The aid station folks even commented on it. Not sure what that was about! They'd run no more than 27 miles by the time they'd reached us - the runners had run 90!
- The youngest runner on the course was just 19 years old. And he was from Austin, TX!!
- Women need port-a-potties. We had one at the aid station (thank goodness) and many women looked quite excited when we told them that!!
- Beards are in. I already knew this. I just don't get it.
- This footrace began as a horse race and is still raced as such in August. The sweep teams are horses. They were very nice ladies who were also ham radio operators. Their antenna is on their helmet! Wish I'd taken pictures.
- About 1/2 mile from us, the sweep ladies came upon Alvin, #254, who was not wanting to go on. They walked with him to our aid station. He was my first drop. He had to walk UP a long hill to get to the cars of the aid station people so he could get a ride to the finish. He seemed happy to get to the cars!

Overall, we saw 255 runners. Alvin stopped, so we sent 254 on their way, and all 254 of them finished in under 30 hours.

The most memorable part of the run was definitely Gunhild Swanson. She wore bib #70 because, well, she's 70 years old! She ran the race in 2005, at 60 and finished in 25:40 setting a record for her age group (60-69). I happened to hear her number called in from the station two before ours, at about 4:30 am (I think). A couple hours later, I kept saying she'd be there any minute. Then the station before ours called in their final 5 runners. She was on that list. So she was coming, eventually! She ran in about 7:30 or so, looking pretty darn good! She didn't stay long, she was cutting it close to finishing before the 11am (30 hour) cut off.

Dad and I pondered heading to the finish line to see her finish but decided it'd be an hour that would put me home to Slugger in the dark. And we were both exhausted and ready to get going on the long trek home. As we drove in to Sacramento and I got internet back on my phone, I kept an eye on the website for her finish time. We were eating our In-n-Out as she finished. In 29 hours and 59 minutes. The website didn't give us seconds, but SHE DID IT!! We have since read several articles and watched a video over and over. She finished with SIX seconds to spare before the official cut off. She is officially the oldest woman to finish the WS100. What an inspiration!! Here's a link to the npr article and video.

I have said it before and I will say it again... Ultra runners are awesome people. They are incredible athletes. And they are so very nice. They thank US for being there, they joke and have fun, and today most of them are back at their normal jobs where very few people understand what they just accomplished. And this weekend, they'll be back on the trail, looking forward to the next event!

Summer 2015 BEGINS!

Slugger and I have some major plans this summer - primarily, lots and lots of walks with Dad and cousin Tuck!!

Yesterday was the last day of school and graduation. This morning I slept until 10am :) Although I have to go back to school on Monday to sign off on grades and such, and for a stupid all day math meeting on Wednesday, SUMMERTIME IS UPON US!!! And we are SOOOO glad!!!

I decided that we needed to "get out of town" for a bit. If you don't live here or haven't been watching the news, Texas has seen some rain. Okay, A LOT of rain. I saw a graphic this morning that said we have had enough rain to cover Manhattan 4 times, or something like that. Slugger and I have been able to walk - between storms, in the rain, short distances several times a day - but we're getting tired of our neighborhood. Several of our walks entail grassy parts, which are currently just muddy green parts. We haven't been to the Nature Reserve because I can only imagine what those trails look like. They're muddy after a normal, one day storm.

So, we drove out to Weatherford where the Lake Mineral Wells State Park trailway begins. Or ends? I thought that the first two miles were paved, but that's the OTHER end apparently! But it was hard packed gravelly path that was actually mostly dry except in a few places. We went out almost 2 miles and then went back. The best part is that it was sunny-isn and relatively cloud-less. Okay, no storm clouds, so good enough!! We even stopped to take a picture or two, because it was just that beautiful.

 

Slugger had a great time dancing through puddles and chasing lizards. He did very well considering this is the farthest we've gone in almost a year! It was a very slight uphill on the way out, and of course downhill on the way back. Parts of the path had been under running water at one point recently. One stretch was still wet with a very small stream running by it and through it. About halfway back, Slugger was apparently tuckered out. He walked through a puddle and drank from it. And then laid down in it!! He moved around a couple times but seemed to enjoy the refreshing water on his belly. 

I almost had to force him into the running water later. I was hoping it was cleaner and perhaps would make him not quite so dirty and smelly in the new car on the way home! 

Pretty sure this isn't a creek normally!!

 

The knee likes to be in its brace after being iced.
It didn't start to bother me until about mile 3. Progress!
I'd like to point out that puppy is wet lying on top of me.

We've both done a lot of nothing (after baths for everyone) since we got home :) 

So far, summer is off to a FABULOUS start!! 

A New Endeavor?

I have always wanted to run a marathon.  But I'm not a runner. REALLY not a runner! I don't even run to get places faster. I just walk very quickly. My natural walk is pretty fast anyway. Who needs to run?! But, then again, if I don't run, the marathon dream will never happen. I've even thought about how long it'd take to WALK a marathon. Or at least a half. Too long was my conclusion.

As you know, Slugger and I walk. Every day (almost), most days twice. We don't always go far, but we go. If we're lucky, it's a hike on trails somewhere. But usually, it's the streets in our neighborhood. Slugger and I both enjoy this time immensely. He likes to chase after trucks with trailers, motorcycles, bicycles, and joggers. When he tries to go with the jogger, I always tell him that we don't go that fast but we have just as much fun.

Yesterday, the absolute strangest thing happened. I RAN!! We crossed a busy street and jogged a little to beat a car. I kept jogging! I jogged a block and walked a block for several blocks. ON PURPOSE!!! And the whole time I wondered if I was logging extra steps, and marveled at what my heart rate must be :) Indeed, I got into the "cardio" zone according to fitbit, for the first time!! And it seemed to last longer than the amount of time I actually jogged. Interesting. My (surgery/arthritic/patella issue) knee hurt a little when I got home and a little today, but it's probably just shock!

Anyway, running isn't completely foreign to me. My dad was an ultra runner in my formative years. I often ran in with him to the finish line. You know, two hundred yards or so. I even ran track in junior high (late elementary?). In late junior high and early high school, I ran on trails, because I could. They were steps from my house! I enjoyed getting away, into the woods, listening to my Tiffany cassette on my walkman. I honestly don't remember if I enjoyed the actual act of running. I guess not too much since I didn't continue - seems like the end of my running might have coincided with getting a driver's license...

So... am I now a runner? No. Might I try it again? Yes! Do I think I'll ever run that marathon? It's a possibility!! It would give me a goal, that's for sure!!

Oh, also, an update of sorts from my last entry... I have not lost a pound, have not had the best will power (free teacher appreciation lunch, how could I say no?!), but I FEEL fitter!! I have energy, my brain is mostly working, and I'm sleeping. Life is good :)

Not What I'd Planned - Some Healthy Thoughts

I was going to write about something but now I can't remember what! Must be in the part of the brain with the 2nd question I was going to ask my boss on Monday. I remembered as I was falling asleep last night... it had something to do with May... oh well!!

Instead I'm going to put in writing my commitment to being healthier (again). Yesterday I bought myself a fitbit. It's a plastic bracelet that tracks steps taken, sleep patterns, heart rate, among other things. You can challenge and support other people who also have them - like coworkers and friends, across the world! This aspect is what sold me on it. I love a good, healthy competition!! (I'm winning my first challenge so far!)

If you're a regular reader, you know that in the last year or so, I've lost 25 pounds. Yup, still at 25 pounds lost! The good news is that I've maintained my current weight through some stressful weeks recently (prom!). But I really want to go at least 5 more, preferably 10, I think. At this point, it's more about how the clothes fit and such.

Anyway, my recommitment to health, and the vegan lifestyle, is really more about how I feel, and how my brain is working. I am out of it 95% of the time it seems like!! Okay, now that the stress is better and I'm sleeping more and better, it's more like half the time. But it is still bothersome!! I forget words or use the wrong one, can't remember what I need to be doing, forget questions as above, and more. It's annoying.

Oh, and because I am SOOO excited to paddle board as often as possible when I get to Big Bear in 6 weeks :)

So, now that I've written it down, it's real. Healthy, fit, fabulous 40 here I come :)

Whoa! Too long!!

I can't believe it's been over a month since I've blogged!! Seeing as how I wrote pretty regularly since July, that seems like forever. However, if you look at the history, it's not all that strange!!

Since I turned 40, I've been busy. Mostly, recovering from the excitement, and then making prom happen. Prom was last night. It was a HUGE success. Kids actually stayed and danced until it was over and we turned the lights off and made the DJ stop playing music! Last year, they were all gone by about 30-45 minutes before official end time!

The only other notable occurrence was my attempt to get a picture of Slugger in the middle of a field of bluebonnets. Why? Well, we're in Texas! It is a spring thing here. Parents put their kid in a field of bluebonnets (Texas' state flower) and take a bunch of adorable pictures! Bluebonnets pop up everywhere and anywhere it seems so often these pictures are actually on the side of the highway or a random vacant field owned by who knows whom!

We went for a nice hike last weekend. Two and a half miles! I think Slugger's glucosamine is helping his knee!! Or maybe just finally enough time. I haven't seen him do any limping or owie hopping in a couple weeks. YAY!! So, we went out to the Nature Center and I decided to see if we could further. We started on a loop and actually made it all the way!! I was fully prepared to turn around and keep it short.

While there, we found a few bluebonnets :)

There just weren't enough bluebonnets!! So on our  next neighborhood walk, we stopped at the batch by the church up the street. Better. It would probably help, if he'd sit on command...

Love this one!

My new favorite Slugger picture :)

I'm sure we'll find more and I'll keep trying. Why not?! It's fun!! And I'll try to write more. Promise!