Elbe Work Day

Today, Terry and I headed down to Elbe OHV park to do some trail maintenance with our 4-wheel drive club, the Timber Tamers.  The morning started great by breakfast with our friends Mike and Claire Jennings.  It was nice to start the morning with a good breakfast among friends at our house.  From our house, we headed down to Elbe hoping for snow. 

There was a little snow on the grounds when we got to the parking lot, but not too much.  There was definately more mud than snow.  We had a small showing of Tamers, but enough to get done what we needed to do.  Rudi, Dirtball, the Jennings, Greg, Terry and I were all there.  We spent the first part of our day doing the usual trail maintenance.  We opened up some of the water traps to help drain water off the trail and fixed some by-passes.  We also had to fill in some rock in a few areas where the slickness of the trail was causing people to decide to make by-passes, which is a problem.  The trail is much easier now than when we got there this morning, but until people stop making by-passes, we have to have one easier route for people to choose. 

The trail was quite busy today and we saw a lot of interesting people pass us as we were working.  We had to help several out who broke, or had other issues making it to the top.

After some trail repairs, we decided to do a little wheeling.  It was really pretty out with a light dusting of snow, but not too much that made the trails any more difficult.  After a short trail run, we headed back to try and make it home before dark.  Overall, we had a great day and a good start to Terry's birthday weekend!

Fall Sunshine in Orting

Yesterday, Terry and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather and head down for a walk/jog along Orting Trail. We parked in downtown Orting and then headed up the trail. It was SO pretty. The trail borders a river in the beginning and jogging along the water with a blue sky and the changing colors of fall was amazing. I wasn't excited in the car on the drive down, but I felt really good once the workout was over. We ended up going for about an hour on the trail, but we aren't quite sure the distance. Sometime, we want to ride our bikes there so we can get an idea of how far different landmarks are from downtown.

Quick Trip to CA

Over the last weekend of October, Terry and I took a quick trip to visit family and friends in California. We were fortunate and got amazing weather and were able to visit with lots of people. We arrived on Thursday night and spent the evening with my cousins, Greg, Debbie & Trinity. On Friday morning, we were able to meet Lola for the first time. She is a cutie!

We headed down to Hollister on Friday morning and spent the day with Terry's parents. That night, the rest of the family came over for dinner. On Saturday morning, Terry and I did a little jog to his sister's house. I was amazed I was able to jog the entire way (5.6 miles) and it only took us about 70 minutes. Not too bad since I felt like we were going incredibly slow. I think running with Terry helped keep my pace up and since we were able to talk the entire time, it made the time fly by.

On Saturday afternoon, we headed into Santa Cruz. We had a nice lunch at Ideal Bar and Grill, at the end of the wharf in Santa Cruz, where we were able to sit outside and enjoy the sun. From there, we headed downtown and did a little shopping. I would have liked to stay downtown longer, but it was packed due to Halloween.

After that, we headed up to Boulder Creek. We stopped first to see Cassie. It was great seeing her and I wish we could have spent more time visiting. Then, we headed up to our friends' house, Robin & Michelle, to help set up for their annual Halloween party. This year's theme was Dead Celebrity Gala. It was nice getting there early since we were able to talk some before things got crazy. We had a nice time at their party and were able to see a bunch of our old friends from Santa Cruz 4-Wheel Drive Club.

On Sunday, we headed home. We were fortunate to get the exit seats on the way home which made the flight more enjoyable. Overall, we had a great trip!

Timber Tamer Halloween Party

On October 24, Terry and I attended the annual Timber Tamer Halloween party at Gary and Lori's house. We had a great time!

First 5k Race

**Note: I wanted to post this sooner, but was waiting for the pictures, but they are taking too long so I will post this anyways.**

One Sunday, October 4, 2009, Terry and I completed our first 5k. We both participated in the Walk for Hope 5k Fun Run at Magnusen Park in Seattle. I was so nervous on Saturday night, I actually had a hard time sleeping. I was really apprehensive about doing the race. I had two goals for the event. First, I wanted to jog the whole way and second, I wanted to do it in under 40 minutes.

As I said before, I have never been a runner. I have always struggled at running, even as a child. The thought of running for 3.1 miles straight was quite scary and I was really worried I wouldn't be able to do it. I don't think I had EVER run that far before in one stretch. Amazingly, I was able to do it. I am still in shock that I was able to jog the whole way. There were a few times I wanted to stop and walk a little ways, but I pushed through it and was able to jog the entire course. Goal #1 = completed.

Secondly, I was shooting for doing the event in under 40 minutes. Based on previous workouts, I was pretty sure I could run the course in under 45 minutes, so in my mind 40 minutes was a long shot. I know that I jog slow and kept a slow pace throughout the race. It seemed like all the runners had passed me until I crossed the finish line and noticed there were still a ton of people behind me. I amazingly completed the race in 36:11. I was in tears when I looked at my watch and saw the time. Goal #2 = completed

After the race, I was literally in shock. I was amazed I actually ran the whole way and in under my goal of 40 minutes. I hate the "if I can do it, you can do it" mentality, but that is a little how I feel right now. If I can do a 5k, I really think anyone can with some training. Just a few months ago I could barely run for two minutes straight; now, I can do 36 minutes without stopping and I know in a few months I will be able to go farther. The half marathon is in June and I can't wait to see how I complete that!

Oh, and after the race, they had a huge line of tables filled with samples for us to take. I couldn't believe the amount of food they gave away! I felt a little bad taking it, but they said it was there for us to have. Check out all the food!