May 2018

(I'm totally backtracking!! Sorry for the late posts and lack of details!!)

May was busy!! Mostly school stuff:

May 5 - PROM!! 
It was quite different just going. I didn't really have to DO anything!! We put kids onto 9 (I think) charter buses and trekked to the Cerritos Performing Arts Center. It was past Knott's - that's all I know. It was beautiful and quite spacious. There was a dance floor area (the actual theater part of the building), a game room with pool tables and such, several photo ops, a caricature artist, an outside live "band" (2 people?), and space to just wander or sit. It seemed like a lot but then I realized that the kids are stuck there the entire time so there needs to be stuff to keep them occupied!! We loaded up the buses at exactly midnight. I was so tired!! Then our bus broke down about 30 minutes from home!!! The kids were REALLY very good about the delay of about an hour while we waited for another bus to drop off its kids and come back for us. I finally got home about 2:45am. And I swore I'd never do that again. Hmph. We'll see!

May 16 - ASTROS!!!!
My first game seeing the DEFENDING WORLD CHAMPIONS in person!!! (I will never get tired of calling them that!!!) Joanna was awesome enough to join me for the occasion. While there, JV got his 2500th strikeout of his career (against Ohtani!), my boys played well, and I fell in love all over again (as I do basically every time I see them play!).

May 24 - GradNite at 6 Flags Magic Mountain
I was actually looking forward to this because it had been 25+ years since I'd been to Magic Mountain. However, I forgot that I'm now 43 years old and staying up all night is not my thing!! This time we took school buses. I lucked out and only had 16 on my bus. And they were good kids for the most part. Our driver was also very nice and friendly. Six Flags looks out for the chaperones. We had our own entire restaurant with food all night long. It wasn't big enough, and it was hot, but still it was nice they had anything "kid-less" for us! Several of us went off to ride roller coasters. It'd been a LONG time but it was fun! And we learned that chaperones could get to the front of the line. Yes, there were lines. SO many schools present and not all the rides were open!

on the way there

our chaperone restaurant

my first roller coaster in decades!

on the way home!

May also included the last day of school!! May 31. Good day ;)

Old Goat 50 2018

(this is long, but the end is the "best" part)

If you remember, Dad and I had quite the adventure back in November for the Chimera 100. Well, yesterday we drove back up to the exact same turn in the road for the Old Goat 50. Our part of the course is the same, except we're at 34 miles and 36 miles or so. Runners don't do as many loops at the beginning and only go up 2.5 miles before they come back to us and then head toward the finish. The nice part about a 50 mile race is that our time on site is shorter. There is no overnight. In theory, everyone will finish before it gets dark. Or they're VERY close.

Dad and I left the pups at home at about 7am and headed out. We were on site by about 9:30 I think. Set up went quickly since I'm now able to actually help. I've finally watched and "helped" enough that I can put up the antenna all on my own! Technically, I think I could do it all but while I'm doing antenna, Dad is doing radio. It makes it go so much faster! We had plenty of time so I set out on a run. This was sort of the plan but it all kind of depended on timing and how my toes felt.

TMI alert - I had popped the larger 2 blisters, one on each big toe on Wednesday night and re-doctored them on Thursday night after my short run. They had mostly felt fine since them (with big bandages on them), so I didn't touch them again. I almost took pictures of all this process, but I didn't.  Sorry.

Anyway, I really wanted to run up to the peak to see for myself what these runner had to do after they left us. We knew the radio guys were already up there which meant I could meet these guys whose voice I'd be listening to all day. I often find it interesting that I talk to radio guys (almost always men) all day and night and never get a face to put with the voice. So. I set off.

Oh my word that road is STEEP!! and ROCKY!!  So, I pretty much hiked the whole way up. I ran when I could but it was seldom and it was slow. It took me an hour to go the first 2 miles. I was told it was about 3 to the top. But I didn't let it bother me that I was walking so much. I was there and I was doing it and I knew I'd be able to FLY back down!!

Santiago Peak has some beautiful views. I didn't take any pictures. It is also the home of a massive antenna farm as they refer to it. There are MANY LARGE antennas and things. For a plethora of communication needs. I have no idea what they all are. But it was cool to see them up close. They really are as gigantic as they seem like they must be from afar.

I chatted with Jim and Matt, the radio guys, and headed back down. Oh, I tried to talk to Dad on simplex but we couldn't actually understand each other. We connected but the static and noise was just too much to be able to actually talk. But I was pretty sure he knew it was me and that it meant I was at the top. I'd been gone well over an hour at this point.

My prediction was correct - compared to up, I FLEW down!! About 80 minutes up and 50 down. Or something like that. I probably could've run the entire down but some sections were steep and rocky and I don't like to fall down. I also had to stop several times to step off trail for vehicles to pass me. This particular dirt road is very popular amongst people who like to drive their fancy 4wd vehicles on first roads.

I got down before we saw any runners so yay! We then did our radio thing. We saw 53 runners. We had to turn around 4 of them though because the race director realized we'd all be there forever if we didn't activate a cut-off. Those 4 weren't very happy about being turned around. We saw 49 runners go up and 49 runners come down so we didn't lose any!! There were 84 who started the 50 mile race. Most of the difference in those 2 numbers dropped down to the 30k or 50k distance that were also part of the race. Basically at one of the early aid stations they turned right instead of left. We did have one young lady who switched from the 50k to the 50 miler. I have never experienced that before. Who decides in the middle of a race to an extra 20 miles?! But there was some radio chatter that it was an accident - she'd turned left instead of right? But who runs an extra 20 miles ON ACCIDENT?!

The only other memorable runners were a couple. The gentleman was back after having gone to the peak already when I a woman came in for the first time. They seemed excited to see each other and gave each other kudos and such. Then they kissed. And he commented on her skirt. They then went on their different ways. When she came back through, someone said something about the previous kissing and she commented that "there's always time for kissing". Quote of the day?
I almost forgot to mention that when we were told to turn people around, we thought we had 6 we were waiting for. So I headed down the road to catch them so they wouldn't have to go up that extra bit if they didn't want to. About half mile before they get to us, they come off an actual trail and turn left on the road. So if I could catch them there, they'd have one mile less and only about 2 miles to the next aid station. Dad said he thought it was about a quarter mile. I am here to tell you it's closer to half a mile. I actually recorded it on my watch on the way back up cuz it seemed even further than that and that was going down! Four runners were told within sight of the aid station so they went up to refuel and complain and such. When I got to the trail, I radioed to confirm that the other 2 were really on their way. There had been quite some issue with reconciliations all day because of the very large numbers of runners who switched courses. Indeed, they were not on course to me so I went back up the hill. It was steep but I did it! So my mile count for the day was technically just about 6 though I only attempted to run a little of the down on that short stint.

We packed up and started off as the sun was setting. We ended up getting out in the dark. As is habit, we stopped at the Starbucks in the Vons shopping center to get some caffeine for the drive home, and to borrow their flushing facilities and running water with soap. Dad mentioned wanting to check tires since we'd kicked a couple rocks on the drive. He did this while I went in cuz I was in desperate need of the flusher, if you know what I mean. On our way out, I asked if everything had looked good. Dad said yes, as I looked down at the back tire on my side. Tire looked great but there was a large puddle of something that I'm pretty sure wasn't there before.

One of those rocks had punctured the fuel tank. NOT GOOD!! Gas was SPEWING out. This could be a long story so I'm going to give highlights. A young man saw us trying to figure out what was going on and got down on the ground and stopped it with his finger. Then Dad and I and Aaron (the young man) and his dad tried to figure out what on earth we could use to patch the hole. We'd already talked to AAA but there would be no towing if we couldn't get it to stop leaking.

Dad went off to Vons and the gas station to see what he could figure out. Aaron and his dad went to Starbucks to clean up (later figured out that the barista was I'm pretty sure Aaron's sister). Aaron came back out with an idea. He used some guerilla tape in a ball as a plug of sorts and then taped it up. It seemed to work. They left. We called AAA again and a tow truck was dispatched. And that's about as long as the plug worked. Dad had bought some fancy leak fixing tape. It was leaking less but still leaking.

The tow dispatch lady called to let me know the truck was coming but the one that was about to pull in was actually for another call in the same parking lot. I told her that the leak was back and asked if anyone there had any ideas for us. Jimmy said to call the fire station. We did and WOW! They had some putty stuff that they just wadded up into a ball and bam, leak stopped!! I called the tow lady back and told her to keep the truck on its way!! The very nice firemen waited until the tow truck got there keeping us company. The tow truck driver, Darrick, had some cat litter to clean up the gas we'd spilled. We were on our way!!! Darrick drove us all the way home to Hesperia and the dogs were fed by midnight!! Golly were they glad to see us!!!

I highly recommend Steve's Towing out of Lake Elsinore, by the way. They were all very helpful and professional. Also, I thank God for the angels he sent in Aaron and his dad. They did not need to help!! But Aaron's short term fix gave us the hope we needed to get the tow on the way which led to the fire guys, etc. God is good. Also we were leaking gasoline many miles and nothing bad happened from it so YAY! Oh and also YAY for AAA premium which will tow you a long long way, like from Corona to Hesperia in the middle of the night!!

Dad has a good friend who is a mechanic in Big Bear. They chatted this morning and Nick assured us that the putty would hold it so Dad drove home. We talked almost all the way for my sanity and we had several contingent plans. We'd unpacked almost everything into my garage and Tuck stayed here. The car is now at Nick's garage and tomorrow he'll figure out what's next. But apparently the hole is in a large dent so there will be a new fuel tank for Dad! Also, we are both going to put some of this putty stuff in our glove compartment and recommend to everyone we know they do the same!! It apparently will stop any leak in anything. Who knows what a rock could puncture next time!! Also, my next car will be a high riding 4wd truck or jeep or something and will become our race vehicle!! Dad's car can go anywhere but with all the equipment it rides even lower than usual.

So apparently, Bear Springs adventures are BIG adventures. I guess I'll keep going back...

Sorry. I took not one single photograph. There is one of the aid crew but I don't possess it yet. Check back in a few days maybe.

My 1st 13.1

Now that I've run in double digits, the options are endless. Or something like that. Anyway, during Spring Break I planned to head to Big Bear for several relaxing days, and a trail run of course. I told Dad I wanted at least 11 but my brain kept saying 12. At that point, what's a few more steps, right?

Dad and I looked at maps and mileage while taking into consideration what trails would be driest since we'd had so much rain the week before, plus snow melt off. We even did a little reconnaissance by driving over to see if the gate was still closed on Van Dusen Canyon Road. It closes for the winter but it had closed so late we were hoping maybe they'd open it early. No luck. This meant I could start at the dump road, but I'd have to go most of the run without seeing Dad. Although it's way awesome for my spirits to see Dad every few miles, it is incredibly important for refueling! So I didn't like that route. We finally decided that the best idea was for me to just run up the closed road to the trail. It's not too steep of a road and more or less, that was the worst of the up. Then I'd see Dad after 5 miles, 3 miles and 4 miles. Add that up and it's about 12 miles. Perfect.

Dad dropped me off at the gate and I headed up. It really wasn't bad at all. The up was broken up with some decent flat (ish - it's all relative) and I was able to run quite a bit of it. I told myself I'd appreciate all the down more if I ran as much of the up as I could muster. It wasn't quite 2.5 miles to the trail where I turned left and headed West (or North to Canada 😜 ). This part of the trail was new to me (or at least after I'd gone a mile or two). I was excited to get to the top of Cougar Crest since I'd never been there from this direction before. I knew I was getting close because I started seeing people who were headed up to Bertha Peak (I guess). There was mostly up to that point but it wasn't that relentless steep stuff that wears on the legs and psyche. It was beautiful trail and I was happy to be there.

At Cougar Crest, I turned right and headed down toward Dad. I had done the math after seeing a trail sign, more or less, and realized that I would be doing more like 13 miles. I was kind of excited that I'd be getting so close to the half marathon distance. Wasn't sure I'd feel like tacking on whatever was necessary at the end but I knew I'd be close so that made me happy.

After I saw Dad at Polique, I headed on to a more familiar trail which I think was my issue. I knew where I was but it seemed like it was 10 times longer than it should have been. Or something. I got inside my head, as they say, and I was basically miserable. I felt fine, run wise but I just wasn't having fun. I can't really explain it any other way. I felt like I was just lumbering along struggling mightily. Turned out I was actually faster in that section than the last time I ran it! So it was all in my mind. It happens.

I was also petrified of my inevitable toe blisters. I had tried moleskin and regular (non-toe) socks for the first time. The only way to figure out a cure is trial and error. Unfortunately until I find the right solution, I know I'm going to end up with some MEAN blisters. When I saw Dad at 3N12 (8.5 miles or so), I took off the moleskin and put on the gooey gunky stuff. In hindsight I can say BAD idea! Perhaps if I'd put on toe socks at the time it might not have been SO bad. But as it was, the next 4.5 miles gave me worse blisters than ever before. It was all downhill so I ran as much as I could but I just had to be careful how my feet landed so as not to hit the toes wrong.

The good news is that the rest of me felt FINE!! I was tired of course. I had started out in earmuffs and gloves, shed them and then reddened them here in the final 4 miles or so. It all kind of depended on which side of the mountain I was one and how much the wind was whipping. Wind can be very cool in the mountains!

Anyway, I was making my way toward Dad at Little Bear Springs where I was stopping. I was pretty sure I'd get to just about 13 miles. My head told me that a half marathon was 13.2 and I didn't think I'd quite get there but who cares - close enough!! I saw Dad and we walked the last .25 to the car together. Which put me at 13.15. I told Dad that was close enough to which he replied, "a half marathon is 13.1". I did it!!!

Last summer, I registered myself for a virtual half marathon through the Stars Hollow Running Club. It was originally "run" LAST winter. So I have awarded myself my medal finally (see pic below). And I have finally stopped beating myself up about my "bad run". Cuz well, I went a long way, and other than the blisters, I felt GREAT after!! And 2 days later I ran almost 2 miles (in the heat) and 2 days after that, I ran 5 (see next post). And I could be at 20+ by the end of the summer!

the first and largest of 5 trees I would go over.  

I used that piece on the left as a step to get over it. Great fun!

Views like this make it all worthwhile!! Can't get these in TX!!

They always send a bib too. I didn't wear it because I didn't start out thinking I was running that far!

Smell of Snow Half Marathon medal :)

I RAN A WHOLE MILE

When I started running, I kept running because I learned that "running" doesn't mean you can't walk! I have increased my running segments but kept my walking segments at about 1 minute. I now regularly go 4-7 minutes without walking during a long run. I've done longer. I'm not afraid to do shorter. When on trails, it often depends on the terrain. On my last long run here in the desert, I went 11 minutes on a run segment.

Well, today, I went a whole mile! That was 14 and a half minutes!! And it felt great!! I would like to point out, this was from 2.5 to 3.5 miles in a 4.7 mile run. And after that stint, I did 2 half miles, the final one up hill.

Moral of today's run: I'm making progress!!!

B2V 2018

One of the races that Dad has done for years that I got tired of NOT being able to do is Baker to Vegas. It's in mid-March and I was never able to make it work to get here. So I moved here ;)

WOW! What an AMAZING feat of organization!! Baker to Vegas is an event for Law Enforcement and it is HUGE! This is a 20 stage relay race from outside Baker (a tiny town on I15 on the way to Vegas) 120 miles to Las Vegas. There are 275 teams involved. Each team has 20 runners (one for each stage) and many, many support personnel. There is a catcher and some sort of crew at every stage. I saw as many as 6-8 crew with a team at our stage. Some only had a few. There is a follow vehicle behind the runner at all times. The new runner has to be at their starting stage in time to check-in, warm-up, etc. I heard about and saw several clipboards with many papers - I am sure all in an attempt to organize who went where when. In addition to all the logistics, someone was probably also in charge of making their team competitive!! We talked to a woman representing the NYPD and she estimated that there were probably 50 people with her team. It's not a cheap endeavor! Many teams appeared to sponsored by local businesses and such - signs on their vehicles indicated this. Oh, these teams are from across the nation and further - the Canadian Mounties had a team and team #3 was from Belize!!

There are a lot of categories within a team could compete - all female, mixed, age-related, etc. I saw a lot of law enforcement personnel. There were teams from FBI, PD, Border Patrol, Game Wardens, Crime Labs, etc. There's actually an episode of CSI based on this race (420 Dead Ringer). Runners were all fit, some incredibly so. Their times for that last mile before they got to us ranged from 6-10 minutes or so. Mostly in the 7-8 minute range I think.  The results aren't in at the time I'm writing but Twitter told me that LAPD won again in a record 12:37.

Not only do the teams need to be organized but the actual event is incredible. There are 20 stages with hams (us!), medics, timers, sign-in, traffic control (of teams, not really cars though they did some of that too), etc. At any given moment, with stage volunteers and team people, I'd say there were 50-100 people at our stage. Of course, other moments, there were very few team people so it was more like 20-30 - just the volunteers.

Teams started in groups of about 30, every hour. There were 9 starts! The self-acclaimed slower teams start first and the elite really really fast teams start last. This way the start lasts about 10 hours (with sign-in and such) but the finish is considerably less time.

Our job at Stage 5 was different than any other race I have ever worked. We had some ham folks who set up one mile before our stage. They would let us know when runners came by. We then announced it to the masses so that the teams could be get prepared and all set up in the right spot. There were 3 distinct jobs at our table - take down the info from the early warning guys, announce it to the teams, record when runners actually come in to the stage. It got quite chaotic at some moments!! There were precious few moments of non-activity!

Our little team consisted of myself, Dad, Uncle Charlie, Aunt Patty and their son Steven.  Patty and Steven aren't hams (yet?!), but they were crucial. Steven did a lot of the announcing and Patty was able to field some of the team questions (though they didn't bug us nearly as much as they could have!) and give moral support. We commented several times that it really took all of us! It would be absolutely impossible to do it alone and incredibly difficult to do it with just two of us. We were able to take breaks when we needed, shift roles, etc. There were four guys down at the early warning set up. One of them was working this race for the 34th time!!

Dad and I left my house before 5 am and got home about 10:30pm. It was a very long day for us and the dogs (who hung out at my house) but SO worth it!! We got to Stage Five about 7:15am and immediately started setting up. And we were busy until 6:30pm. Time went so fast that I swear I blinked and were were waiting for the 275th team! I already can't wait to go back next year!!

Double Digits Baby!

I haven't written about every run. Just the highlights. And man is this a highlight!!

Last weekend I accomplished 9.4 miles so I decided that THIS weekend would be the very exciting TEN mile run! Except it was supposed to rain :(

Dad and I checked several weather sites several times and concluded that we'd get up Saturday morning and assess. It was not actually raining yet and for the most part, it looked like if it did rain, it would be later and not much. So, I decided I was going to start on the trail. We had a backup plan of sorts if the radar, etc was wrong.

It was cold and wet - nothing falling, but wet. I'm sure you know what I mean. And really, it wasn't THAT cold... it's all relative! I started in a long sleeve shirt and a rain jacket (it's an old one from my bike days, I think it's supposed to be for rain...) with light gloves and earmuffs. When I saw Dad the first time after 2 miles, I took off the jacket and gloves but kept them with me. I left on the earmuffs. Those were removed (and worn around my neck) somewhere before I saw dad again at just under 4 miles total.

There we also saw two women who were section hiking part of the PCT. They were finishing where I had last seen Dad. For now. They planned to start there in April for another few days. Fun, fun. I was tempted to ask them "book or movie" but they seemed like legit hiker people. (Watch the Gilmore Girls revival - that'll make more sense)

The plan was to get to 2N02 and turn around and go back almost to where I started. Each segment was about 2 miles (segments being runs between seeing Dad) so I was doing 5 - not finishing where I started. Once I got there, it was confirmed that as long as I made it back to Highway 18 as planned, I'd have my 10 miles! We were both pretty jazzed!! I was hot so there I took off the long sleeve shirt but kept the jacket tied around my waist. I also ditched the earmuffs for good.

About halfway back to seeing Dad again (mile 8 or so), I put the jacket back on, over my pack. The clouds were rolling in and there was a nippy breeze. Once I got to Dad, I took my pack off and put the jacket on proper. We also discussed the fact that at some point, I'd be running in a cloud. It looked like possibly the rest of the way. Also, we knew I would definitely make my goal. It was fun that Dad was excited as I was!!

I never did run in a cloud. When I got to where I had just been so sure I would, I looked back at where I was and THAT was in a cloud. Weird. But probably good.

I knew this section held a very steep hill before I got to the last half mile or so which was all downhill. I got to the steepest part and ran into a family out for an adventure. It was so steep there, I didn't care; I walked. Also, I had just crossed into having gone further than I ever have. I was tired. And the blisters had arisen.

I pressed forward, running when I could but not much. I kept an eye on my watch so I'd know when I was approaching 10 and so I could make sure I was running at that point. Right?! I was about 10 yards from the top of the hill when my watch beeped 10 miles. I radioed to dad. I stopped and praised God a moment at the top of the hill. Then I let it rip all the way down! Hehe. I'm never very fast.

WHAT A DAY!!! I never really got wet, just damp at the beginning. Never saw mud. My bad toe never hurt! The blisters held off until the very end. As always, I was happy to stop, but had fun while I was doing it!!

Dad took this at almost 9:

Dad is so awesome! He spent his day roaming around the mountain but mostly just waiting for me! It's great having a crew along, but it's even better when they're experienced in this madness and know what to ask, etc. If I'd been on my own, with the threat of rain and all, I might've just sat on the couch all day!! This was SOOO much better :)

I'm the pink line. Dad's the blue line. I'm not sure what the teal line is!
The green/red dot is where I finished. I started upper left. 

Guns? Sanity?

I posted this on Facebook on 2/16 - 2 days after the Parkland FL school shooting. 

As my students took a quiz, I pondered how I could make my classroom safer, harder to penetrate.

As I graded papers, I considered who might target and who might be targeted.

As I watched these teenagers work, I questioned how on earth I'd be able to keep them quiet in a scary situation. 

As I stood at the classroom door welcoming my students, I wondered how many I could fit inside in the middle of a spree of gunfire.

As I took precautions, I wondered if other people ever have to worry about these things. 

Do the people who think anyone should be able to buy an assault rifle ever think about these things?

Do the people who own firearms and worry about government taking them away ever wonder how they'd keep 35 teenagers safe? 

Do the parents of the shooters ever ask themselves what they could have done differently? 

Do parents ever consider their actions and what reaction their kids might have?

(That last one, I'm guessing, from my friends anyway, are yes)

Know what? I'm not staying silent anymore.

It's not a gun issue. It's not a mental health issue. It's not a discipline issue.

IT'S AN ISSUE!!! It is ALL of the above!!! It's my issue and yours. And WE have to do something. 

I'm starting here: https://gunsensevoter.org/

Thank you for reading.