Hiking Mt. Rose, Part II

So Kevin and I decided to hike up to Mt. Rose summit on a whim last night, and so we dropped the boys off early at preschool this morning. We were on the trail by 7:45 a.m. It was a beautiful crisp morning, and I wore my vest I got from the Escape from Prison Hill Run and a light sweatshirt. Here is a picture of the half way point, and a sign with one of the famous TRT symbols on it:

I was really glad I had both because the summit was so windy (thought I might get blown off the edge!)- probably not even 50 degrees if you take in the wind chill factor. You can see how windy it was on Lake Tahoe, even from the summit.

At least there were no clouds of those weird flying bugs like the last time. We were the first ones on the trail, and met no one on the way up. It was about 9:45 by the time we reached the summit, had a little snack, gave Pirate some water, and headed back down. But before that, the obligatory photo, with Reno (and Pirate!) in the background.

I think we ran at least half of the 4.8 miles back to the truck, although I did take a nasty fall on the way down. I kept telling myself in my head to pick up my feet because there were lots of loose rocks, and rocks embedded in the dirt sticking up ready to catch the toes of lazy runners. Anyway, my hands aren't even scratched, but I did tear my new running capris, and bloodied up my right knee pretty decently. Of course I brought band-aids, but had nothing to wipe up the blood running down my shin, so I used soft flat leaves instead. The band-aids I stuck on ended up slipping off somewhere on the trail on the run back down because the blood was too much and too slick. Here is a picture of the dried bloody dirty ickiness I took back at the parking lot.

Reached the truck at 11:05, so it took us 3 hours and 20 minutes total. About the same time it took the first time we did this hike.

Sushi and Painting

I've had a busy weekend! We took the boys to sushi (Jasmine in Double Diamond) for the very first time, and I am proud to say they each ate about $17-18 worth of sushi each! I don't think I'll get them a-la-carte next time... I wasn't sure how they would do. They like rice, and they LOVE fish, but they've never had raw fish before. Of course, I didn't tell them it was raw, and they picked their rolls apart, eating every last bit. Sean tried to hard to use his chopsticks, and I worked with him on holding them, but he eventually either stabbed his sushi with one, or just used his fingers. He did develop a taste for my green tea though. They were so good, and the sushi chefs were really nice (we sat at the bar) since it was their first time. They seemed unsure at first though and offered their Chinese menu, but I wanted the boys to have a chance at the raw stuff. Now I'm not afraid to take them back, and have them try some miso soup (somehow forgot to order that part).

As for the yesterday, I spent hours in the boy's bathroom painting over that nasty dark yellow that was in there- took 2 coats of primer, and 2 coats of semi-gloss to cover it. Then I did a little sponge painting, and I have some simple lighthouse wallpaper strips I want to put up. I'll share a picture when I'm all finished. I also need to paint the baseboards and doorframes (whoo-hoo.) because they look dirty next to the clean white paint. I also added a second medicine cabinet and put in a new towl rack/matching tp roll holder. I'm very pleased with how it is turning out- although I had no idea how much extra work it was going to be to get all the yellow off all the corners, and the sink and the light fixtures (the previous owners didn't tape when they painted it). But it was worth it!



Oh, and I finally caved in and let Kevin buy a motorcycle yesterday. I was tired of him nagging me everyday, so I told him to just go buy one and be done with it. It's an '06 Yamaha 650, black and chrome (with matching helmet) and only has 5000 miles on it. It IS a good lookin' bike... But it will be a while before I get on the back of that thing- not until Kev feels completely comfortable with just himself on it.

Pyramid Lake Tri 8/04/07

Well, I've done it! I've completed all the races I said I wanted to this season, except for the Marathon de Mayo (too much homework that particular weekend, plus I hadn't trained enough to do a 10k yet). But I did add in an extra 10k in Grass Valley wth Chris to make up for it. Anyway, I did really well this year at Pyramid- I felt like I had trained almost enough. I swam a few times (a mile last Monday just to make sure I still could), ran 7 miles last Saturday and 5 on Wednesday, biked for an hour on Thursday, and walked for 25 minutes with Pirate on Friday just to keep my muscles loosened up for the Saturday race. Here are the distances: 800 meter swim (1/2 mile) in the lake (which was pretty warm!), 13 mile bike over gentle rolling hills, and a 3 mile run with a short steep hill at the beginning and flat for the rest of it. My time? 1 hour 35 minutes and 24 seconds, which put me in 3rd place for my age group! I checked my times from the last time I competed in this race in 2004 (my 2nd ever triathlon), and I did that one in 1:41:52. So I took 6 whole minutes off! I did add a minute to my swim (I'm stickin' to my shoulder surgery as my excuse), but I took off 11 minutes from the bike? That doesn't make sense. I think they included my transition times in that figure because we didn't have chips that year.
Anyway, here is a picture of Dave and me (I made him do the tri with me since Kevin was up at band camp being big important low brass instructor man). But guess what- I have some pretty good bragging rights as well- in 2004, Dave and I also did this race together, although I did not know him them (not until the next week when I started working at NW library with him), but he killed me in that race- I think he beat me by about 13 minutes. But this year, I beat HIM by 3 whole minutes! Whoo-hoo! (Sorry Dave- I know I made you do this race with me, but I am kinda stoked! Thanks for being such a good sport about it all...) Here is the link to the official 2007 results page if you want to look it up:

And the 2004 Race Results if you want to compare and contrast how I did then to how I did yesterday. (I guess these links are mostly for me though, so I don't have to go back and look them up again later. :)

Since I got 3rd in my age group, I wonder if I won something? I didn't stick around for the awards ceremony...

26th Annual Donner Lake Triathlon

This was my fourth year doing the Donner Lake Triathlon. (Although last year I could only do the bike leg of a relay team because of my shoulder surgery in January. Still counts though!) Here are the stats: 1/4 mile swim (400 meters), 6 mile bike, 2 mile run. It's a pretty quick race, and a select few even finish in under 40 minutes. I however tried my best to stay under an hour. The bike alone takes me almost that long. The lake was really nice this year- MUCH warmer than in previous years, and it was glassy smooth. There must have been about 50 other girls in my wave (32 and under), and I got kicked quite a bit at the start, before it thinned out a bit. One girl even knocked my right arm which gave my bad shoulder a little twinge. I quickly decided to let her pass. I could tell that I haven't been doing much swimming lately and found myself breathing every other stroke instead of every three, rotating from side to side. I was happy to get out of the water, even though that is usually my best leg. On to the bike! It is a grueling 3 mile bike up with a 1200 foot climb on Old Hwy 40 up to the bridge. I think that took me about 30 minutes to climb, and 5 minutes to peddaling furiously on the way back down. The only times I used my brakes were for the right curves in the road. For some reason, I just don't feel as comfortable going 35-40 mph downhill turning to the right as I do to the left. Half way up, I remembered I forgot to tie my bib number on. Oops! I meant to put it on after the bike, but then I forgot it again. I think those are mostly for the cameras anyway- I was wearing a chip on my ankle, plus I had my number (1186) inked on both shoulders and legs. I had a pretty strong bike, despite the short trainings I've been doing. I kept telling myself, "Almost to the run!" That is where I have been doing the most training for this year- running 3 to 5 times a week between 3 and 6 miles per workout. (When I don't get a bad stitch in my side, anyway.) So I took off for my run, and I didn't hold back after the first quarter mile. I was passing people right and left, especially on the uphill. It wasn't much of an uphill, but man was that a great feeling! I know I dropped time on my run, if nothing else. I don't know what my race results are yet (they didn't have them posted when I left, although someone said that my name wasn't on the list- hopefully that wasn't because I forgot to put my bib on!). Another thing I forgot to bring was a towel. I like to dry off my feet before I put shoes and socks on, but I think because I didn't pause to do that this year my transistion times were faster too. My official time was 1:07.11, which is only 39 seconds faster than I did it in 2005. Oh well. Good thing I ran fast! They some how lost my times, but finally posted my overall time, although no splits. Better than nothing, I guess. Here are a few pictures: First, Sara and I before the race started, about 6:45 a.m.

Here I am, getting out of the water on my way to the bike.Here are Scott and Sara, post race:

I'd like to take the opportunity to congratulate my entire family as well- both of my parents participated in 2 separate relays, along with my husband and his dad, my older brother, and my Aunt. My little brother and his girlfriend did the full triathlon with me (and probably both placed in their age groups)! Yeah us!

Feed Me!

Family camping up at Stampede last weekend with some friends when this doe meanders near our campsite lipping at some grass here and there. She didn't run away when I pointed her out to the boys, who immediately made a bee-line in her direction, so I ran and grabbed my camera.

Those two are completely mesmorized by her, you can see it in their stance- for four-year-olds, they held pretty darn still for a pretty long time.

I was more and more amazed as I watched this completely tame deer come closer and closer, while my boys inched in her direction. She had no fear of them, or me, when she heard me clicking picture after picture of her- and looked directly at me for two of these.

It's almost like watching a movie, I got so many pics- she just got closer and closer...

And for the glorifying moment, she nuzzles their fingers hoping for a morsel of food. They had nothing to offer her (not sure they even knew she wanted food from them), so she quickly wandered off after that. I must not be a very cautious mother, because it never entered my head that she had rabies or other strange wild diseases, nor did she seem like she would bite or hoof them. I think I was almost as excited as they were, and just let it happen. I'm glad I did, 'cause I think I can be a bit over protective sometimes, and I would have regretted it later had I interfered with this sweet moment. I hope they'll always remember it- almost 5, so they might.