Nothing to see here, move along

SO & I went to the State Fair last night. Now, being from different states, we each have our own opinion about the other's home state fair (Wisconsin's is far superior, I mean, an entire building devoted to cream puffs? It's no contest). We got to see Brandi Carlile, who was playing on the free stage. This was the first time either of us had seen her live. Wow. We're going again tonight (she's playing both nights).

I wimped out on my 18 mile run last Saturday. I'd intended to run 12 at home and then 6 more with my buddies J & M. However, Jen's relay team was running behind schedule and the rules disallowed friend runners, so that sort of blew that idea. But I had a really nice 12 miles, so I left it at that. On Sunday I went 9, also quite nice. It's amazing what 20 degrees cooler & less humid will do for a run. 9 this morning also, and I'm a little pressed for time cuz I slept late!

I tried to advance to week 5 of the 100 push up challenge, but I couldn't. I'll repeat week 4 column 2 again, because column 3 tried to kill me yesterday. It's about 6 weeks out from the marathon, so I've started a 100 crunch challenge (if only that involved, say, potato chips or breakfast cereal, but alas), using column 3 of the 100 push up challenge. Today was 10+10+8+6+7=41. I'm not doing the rests in between sets, it's more like a lay down on the floor and regroup, then start again. I'll do the crunch challenge on Tuesdays, Thursdays & Sundays. I can't imagine doing more things after long runs on Saturdays!

Oh, and it rained again in my cube yesterday. The maintenance guys were up in the ceiling and one of them spilled whatever is holding back the deluge up there all over my desk and me. Nice! The rulemaking records are boxed on the opposite side of my cube, so they're still safe. I love my cube, I just wish it wouldn't rain. The selection of vacant cubes is unappealing and I couldn't as successfully be codependent on my coworker (neighbor, running buddy, pet sitter) K.

So, it rained in my cube yesterday

Whine. Aside from being hideously busy yesterday multitasking in a way I haven't had to in awhile, it rained in my cube. As luck would have it, I have an umbrella set up on my desk (to shield me from a no-longer-in-existence evil fluorescent light) and I grabbed it, covering me, my coworker S, and two rulemaking records. The rain was then diverted into coworker K's cube, and she quickly grabbed a wastebasket to catch the deluge. All the stuff from that side of my cube is in boxes on the dry half of my cube now. Fun! I wonder what color mold grows in the ceiling above those suspended tiles...

Day off from running today, but Week 4 Day 3 (repeat, but now in column 2) of the 100 push up challenge. 25+19+19+17+25=105. I will admit to doing the last set of 25 as knee push ups, but my form was good for them, so I'm not docking myself any points. I'll do the max out test on Sunday to see what column I fit into for next week and if I'm ready for the dreaded Week 5.

My imaginary running buddy J is running the Ragnar Relay this weekend. M & I are going to join her for her last leg, which goes to the finish! Very exciting. I've reconsidered my long run tomorrow in light of this. I think I'll go 12 in the morning and then run BigG's last leg of the relay (almost 6), and that will get me to about 18. I've been really tired this week, and I have a 22 miler on the schedule for next weekend, so this is probably a wise move.

I've got Big Boy's Arctic photos organized on the computer, I'll post some this weekend. He went up there with a camera loaded with marathon pix from 2007, random cat pix, evidence of his 2007 Bloodvein Buccaneers Nor'wester trip of 2007, little boy's Chicago orchestra trip pix... They didn't take up too much room, I think I had a 2 gig card on that camera, but still...

Owie

So I ran tempo this morning. It's been HOT here, so I was a wimp and pulled out the treadmill. The goal was a mile each warm up & cool down, with 8 miles at an 8:20 pace. Umm... close, but not quite. I ran 8 miles in 1:07:01, for an 8:22 pace.

Then, push ups. I'm repeating week 4 of the 100 push up challenge, but using column 2 instead of column 1. That meant for today: 22+17+17+15+max (at least 20, I did 25) = 96. Oy. Easy 9 miles tomorrow, then a day off. Not a moment too soon!

I got an email from Big Boy in the wee hours of the morning. They feed him ok, he is the second youngest person in the group (but has the most outdoors experience), there is a girl there who majored in Russian in college (so he has someone to talk to! but he says he speaks better than she does), the cabins are small, and they are planning a hiking trip for an upcoming weekend. So I didn't send him off to some weird cannibal cult in the mountains. Deep breath.

Triathlon fun?

So. I ran the running leg of a sprint triathlon today and it was ok.

I was up too late because of a certain network and a certain historic sporting event.

Then I got up too early (5am) because I just sent my baby (aka Big Boy) off to California for AmeriCorps.

Oh yeah, and I ran 20 miles yesterday.

Had a cappuccino, ran a mile over to the park. Met up with my swimmer and my biker. We were one of eight all-female teams.

It was a mad house, but really fun to watch. And, I only had 1/3 of the responsibility, which was a bonus.

K swam the half mile in 14:52, which was the second fastest of the female team swimmers.

S biked the 12 miles in 38:33, which was second fastest of the female team bikers.

I ran the 5k in 23:05, which was the fastest of the female team runners (by a minute and 38 seconds). My splits weren't as bad as I thought:

1 - 7:24
2 - 7:27
3 - 7:24
0.1 - 0:41

Ugh, it was hot in the sun.

Our overall time was 1:18:02, and we came in first of the female teams (the team in second place was 1:24:41). Nice debut for a tri-team!

Then I ran a mile home and we all went out for breakfast. Then I took a nap. Big Boy arrived safely at LAX, found the correct bus, and is currently on the train to San Bernardino.

Big changes for Big Boy

Big Boy was offered an Americorps position beginning on August 18th and going through January. He's flying out tomorrow morning to Los Angeles. Here are the details on his project.

The Forest Recovery Team is working on a fire fuel reduction project in the San Bernardino National Forest. The project entails the elimination of hazardous fuels from the forest, restoring habitat in recently burned areas and repairing and maintaining hiking trails. The Forest Recovery Team is provided professional training from the U.S. Forest Service in areas including forestry resource management, conservation restoration, erosion control, and slash removal. Prospective members should be individuals interested in pursuing opportunities in wildland firefighting, environmental heritage or forest stewardship. The Forest Recovery Team Members live in a camp-like setting for a 900-hour commitment, after which an Education Award of $2,362.50 is available. A living allowance of $5,000.00 is offered, with meals and lodging. The camp's accommodations are cabins, which house from four to six Members each. Each cabin offers single beds and shared bathrooms for each Member. There is also Internet access, satellite TV and plenty of recreational opportunities from skiing in the winter to fishing, biking and hiking in the summer. The camp is located at approximately 6,000 feet in the beautiful San Bernardino Mountains near the base of the tallest mountain peak--San Gorgonio--in southern California!


View Larger Map

FRT corpsmembers are one of the primary providers of preventative and restoration services on the Forest. Their services include clearing, by burning or chipping, fire fuel. FRT service activities also include constructing water bars on trails to mitigate rutting, performing tread work on some of the more heavily used trails, installing trail signage, even realignment of trailheads. Recreation and resource issues have also been addressed: FRT members have been and will continue to be utilized on Forest-related projects such as carpentry, building maintenance and repair; landscaping at Forest Service facilities; gate and fence erection and maintenance in burned areas and in high-impact public areas; installation of signs at abandoned mines; and, construction of walkways, stairways, and dock structures in picnic areas, around lakes and along streams. Additionally, FRT corpsmembers will plant tree seedlings and native shrubs whenever weather and other conditions permit.

Garmin got lost

My Virtual Partner got lost again on this morning's tempo run. It was extremely foggy (couldn't see across the lake) so that may have had an impact on Garmin's navigational skillz.

So, again, even though Garmin told me that I did not meet my goal (insert sad frowny face here), it had cheated me out of more than half a mile of running (when it got lost). So, the plan for today was a mile each warm up & cool down, and in between 7 miles at tempo, which for today was 8:20. Here are my splits:

1 - 7:50
2 - 8:21
3 - 8:07
4 - 8:21
5 - 8:08
6 - 9:03
7 - 8:25

Total tempo time - 58:15, average pace - 8:20. Take that, Garmin gods!

I'm having a nice mini-vacation in the middle of the week. Although I went to a meeting this morning after running and then dropping off little boy at cross country practice (oh, and he wanted me to say that I neglected to mention that the run he was on while up at camp was a 14 mile run), my mom is up here from Milwaukee and we're getting Big Boy ready for his next adventure.

My Boy's back in town!

We left for camp on Saturday morning at 5. little boy snoozed a bit, I drank a lot of coffee. We stopped for donuts in Grand Marais and headed up the Gunflint Trail.

Big Boy's group was the first into camp just after 2. The ever-exuberant engages had told the parents sitting on the kitchen dock to "hide" and "don't make any noise." Contrary to our previous parental experiences at camp, this was (yes, now I'm Yoda). The boys waved at us as they passed by on the pontoon and they looked a little confused as to why we parents weren't snapping pictures and hooting and hollering.

We all headed up to the dining hall to await our boys. little boy was across the lake on a long run and I wasn't sure when he was going to get back. The Copperminers came up the stairs, looking dazed and confused and although Taylor's mom hugged Big Boy before I did, I didn't take her out at the knees or anything. We chatted for awhile and looked at the map in the dining hall and ate the best kettle corn I've ever had and then little boy was there and oh, Big Boy had a beard (much better than last year's). Then the Copperminers were off to get checked out by the nurse and sauna and get cleaned up for the banquet at 6. The food was excellent and the four groups who'd been out on long trips and their associated families all went down to the point for a bonfire and end of camp skits that each group puts on. After that, back up to the dining hall for more stories about their adventures. I managed to stay awake for both boys' groups stores, but I was falling asleep during the first girls' group stories and I knew there'd be no way I would be anything but unconscious for the last girls' group story. So, I headed up to bed as discreetly as possible. Good thing my headlamp worked this time. There was more than a half moon, but wow it's dark up there. I stopped for a bit on a bench and watched the sky for a little while, until I started falling asleep again. Then I headed up to the cabin and fell asleep. At least until the other 19 people I shared the cabin with came in and every single one of them let the screen door slam.

Next morning, we had breakfast and lots of coffee, the best scones I've had in quite awhile. little boy had been an honorary engage for the evening, so he'd ended up staying awake for 23 hours and then getting 4 or so hours of sleep. Big Boy hadn't fared much better, the long trippers shared pictures and stories until after 1:30am. Long good byes were said, but we stayed back until after lunch. Big Boy took me on a short paddle (with a short paddle, there are 15 groups out and equipment supply is low!) to one end of Bearskin Lake and back to camp. We finally left around 2:30 and headed back to civilization.

Part of our trip back included taking a look at some property outside of Two Harbors. I won't be making an offer. It's priced way too high and, well, the description following is what I emailed to a friend of mine.

The land was just a little too raw. The county road was great, even though the section where the property is located off of is gravel. The logging road up to the cabin was less so, but was fine until the last mile to the cabin, which I shouldn’t have driven in the Jetta. Even in the Subaru, I’d have had to drive no faster than 5 mph. At the gravel pad that allowed me to park and an opportunity turn the car around, we headed off to the cabin.

After a mile of hiking, where we crossed a stream on a “bridge” made of rotting plywood, we got to a high rocky point (think those big exposed rocks that actually make up the land near Lake Superior) we got to the cabin. It has a relatively newer roof, but the 90’s era door & windows were cut in badly and not hung level or plumb. Once inside, the cross beam logs that hold up the roof were only 2 inches above little boy’s head. The wood stove might not have killed us with carbon monoxide if it didn’t burn down the cabin first.

Although advertised as looking down on the river, we couldn’t see the river from the clearing where the cabin was located, nor could we hike down to it. Too much underbrush, no trail to speak of. I’m not entirely sure how the owner uses this for hunting – there are no trails but the state-maintained snowmobile trails which are adjacent to the parcel, if you could even find them. The last time the land was surveyed was 1967.

Something between this and a condo on the lake is what I’m looking for. I don’t want to have to buy a truck (or a Hummer, that would have got us almost up to the cabin), a four-wheeler, a snowmobile, and have to pay for an actual gravel road to be put in. Eh. Plus the county was logging 2 miles away on an adjacent parcel.

I’m not all that disappointed. I was a little worried about parting with that much cash.

Final Arctic trip update

8/7: Kugluktuk to Winnipeg on Canadian North Airlines
Our flight takes us from Kugluktuk to Yellowknife to Calgary to Edmonton to Winnipeg. Four transfers! Click on the map to make it bigger and see how far they are flying.

8/8 – 8/9: Winnipeg to Menogyn by van

View Larger Map

Seventh Arctic trip update

8/6 – 8/7: Days 38 – 39 On Trail
Kugluktuk
We’ll spend a couple days here to explore the town and meet some of the people living there. Last summer, the Hommes and Femmes groups did a community-paddling clinic in Baker Lake, and I’m hoping we’ll be able to do the same.

View Larger Map
The town is right on the peninsula in the upper right corner of the picture. The Coppermine River looks really big when you're zoomed in this close!

19 today

Not me, of course. Big Boy, somewhere in Nunavut, Canada, on the Coppermine River, turns 19 today.

I ran a half marathon with two of my best imaginary running buddies today. It was sunny and the newly paved sections of road seemed especially hot. But, the sprinklers were fabulous and whoever put out that cooler full of baggies of ice has my vote for emperor of the universe (for a day, anyway). It wasn't a PR day by any means, so our motto was "If you can't run fast, and you aren't running pretty, you may as well run together." At least, I think that's what it was. So we did run the entire thing together. SO and her sister (visiting from Wyoming) came out to cheer us on and we saw them three times on the course. I missed them at the finish, though. Too happy to be done, I guess.

Some slimeballs beat up a woman late Thursday night (late as in after midnight) in the park near my house where I run. With baseball bats. I'm sure the police will be fast to solve this crime, just like they worked so hard to solve those sexual assaults from last year (one psycho still running free). I don't mean to knock the cops, who have difficult jobs, but it seems that law enforcement isn't real stringent here on the east side of St. Paul. They're just not enthusiastic about it over here.

I am setting up an appointment to look at some property up north. I've been threatening to do this for years now, but it seems like the market might be in my favor this year. We'll see.