Yesterday I had one of those days. Not a bad day, not a good day. But a day where I contemplate everything that is happening. Friday came at the end of a very long and interesting week. A reflective week maybe? I don't know, that may be taking things too literally. I often get philosophical when bombarded with too much external stimuli. Maybe I'm mistaking that for getting all emo. Who knows.
Death and dying are not things I think about. I recognize the inevitability of death: we're all going to die. But I prefer to keep that tucked safely away in the recesses of my mind, sort of by my thoughts of whether or not Jesus is real and paying taxes. I've been fortunate enough that my life has not been saturated with death. In fact, quite contrary, I've only been personally affected by it twice that I can remember. At least that is how many funerals I have been to. But both those times were pivotal moments for me. Because it forced me to reexamine the way I was living my life and evaluate how happy I truly was. This is what happened to me yesterday, though it wasn't the result of anyone dying.
As most people know, I'm moving to Germany in four weeks. And I couldn't be more scared. I'm excited, obviously--who wouldn't want to move to Germany simply to learn German for an entire year? I feel like I'm going to school again for the first time--completely unaware of what is going to happen or what the year will bring, but excited at the prospect of having all these new adventures. But at the same time, I've become comfortable with my life here. I live in a nice house, have lots of fun stuff and have amazing friends. And at 26, I'm not sure if I have the energy or the patience to start all over again. Yesterday I was parking my car near the Boise Library and I sat there for a few minutes staring at the window thinking "I'm going to miss this."
A year is a long time. A lot can happen in 365 days. And a lot will happen here. And I will miss it all. I've always firmly believed that everything happens for a reason. Whenever I get sad or depressed or start to question just what the fuck I've done with my life, I remember that I am where I am because that is how my life is unfolding. The decisions I've made have put me here. And I try not to regret things because 1) you can't change the past, no matter how hard you try, and 2) why would you want to? I used to think about how much different (better?) my life would have been had I not gone to U of I. But then I realize if I hadn't gone to U of I, I wouldn't have moved to Florida my freshman year, I wouldn't have gone to Humboldt State my junior year, I wouldn't have gotten the job at the prosecutor's office or with Eberle or with my current firm and I wouldn't know all the amazing people that were put in my life as a result of me taking the easy road and just going to Idaho.
Still, I can't help but question this next move I'm making or if it is the right one. In this past week, several alternate possibilities for next year have presented themselves. While I realize that ultimately turning down the chance to go to Germany simply to go on these whims may not be the smartest thing, what if these whims lead me down the path that ultimately is my happiness? More aptly put--eventually I will find the path to happiness, but going to Germany may be a more indirect route getting there. How long am I willing to forgo that exalted state of pure happiness for life lessons?
But that's not what this is about. In a roundabout way, I know that life is short and you have to make the best of it and blah, blah, blah. Insert bullshit happiness rant here. If I were to die tomorrow, would I be happy with the choices I've made? And the answer is no. (Yes, I understand I wouldn't give a fuck because I would be dead, but let's talk hypothetically). Despite the fact that most of the time I come across as a hard-ass, I'm petrified of almost everything. I'm scared to be who I really am, I'm scared to move out of my comfort zone, I'm scared to start over, I'm scared to stand up for myself, and I'm scared of what other people will think. And that fucking pisses me off. I feel like all I do is fake things. I fake confidence and I fake looking like I have my shit together. I'm so concerned with what other people will think of the choices that I have made that I never listen to what I truly want. There. I said it. Now you all know. I'm full of shit. And what scares me most of all is leaving this world and having my entire life reduced to a collection of photos. I don't know if anyone else feels this way ever, and this may be an incredibly self aggrandizing statement, but I KNOW that I am meant to make a lasting impression on the world. I am meant for something great, something huge, and if I wasn't so fucking lazy, I might actually get there.
So maybe that's what Germany is. Maybe Germany is the first step. A chance for me to live and experience more of the world, to make me a better person and move me closer to what is ultimately my purpose here. I have to believe that. I have to believe that this is the right choice. I remember reading that life is just a series of moments. Each moment defines us. How we perceive those moments and react to those moments, no matter how small, changes us and the world around us. Me sitting here and typing this blog could have a domino effect half-way around the world. It makes it easier to appreciate every moment. To take advantage of everything life offers. To realize that ultimately, the decisions you make are yours and yours alone and you can't hide behind your inadequacies with material bullshit, alcohol, drugs, sex, whatever. Those things always have a way of rearing their ugly heads. Sometimes we all need to just take a deep breath and look at the entire construction of the world around us. Which is what I did.
One of my favorite quotes, from the suicide letter Virginia Woolf wrote to her husband before she killed herself, is "you cannot find peace by avoiding life." I try to remember this when I think things are too hard or I want to give up on everything. Because those moments in life, those breathtaking, spectacular moments, are what will bring us closer to our ultimate happiness.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
Celebrating America's Independence...
So I just noticed I haven't blogged in a while. It's not for lack of excitement, trust me. Wait. I take it back. I've been pretty boring the last few weeks. The weather kept shifting between extremely hot and not-so-hot, and I responded by doing nothing but laying in my underwear on the couch watching reruns of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and really bad German porn. What are you going to do?
This weekend, though, this glorious, glorious three-day weekend, I went up to Lucky Peak with some friends to *cough* camp. Wait, you didn't catch that? Fine, yes. I went camping...again. And this time was far more traumatic than last due to the lack of facilities on our camp site. Which meant I had to pee out in nature. More to come on that later.
Friday evening after I got off work, I drove up to Spring Shores and met Corey and Bob on the dock. The campsite they had chosen was only accessible via boat. Which meant that once I was there, I was stuck. The campsite they had so carefully selected was up the hill from the dock, where I would spend the majority of my time. There were a group of girls there that I had not met, and as it turned out, all of them were nurses. Which is awesome should, you know, I impale myself on a branch while trying to pee in nature. They had all been there since earlier that morning and had set up tents. I was told I would be sharing a tent with Baldwin and Joe. This is what the tent looked like:
If you're looking at this thinking "you've got to be fucking kidding me," that was the exact same reaction I had. There was no fucking way. So me, being the sneakster that I am, moved my stuff from the fucked up tent to my friend Corey's nicer tent. There was supposed to be a 90% chance of rain that night. I was not about to drowned in the fucked up tent that couldn't even stay upright (as an aside, later that night, while hurricane-force winds blew and rain poured down, it took Baldwin 30 minutes to get out of his tent to pee. All you could hear was "fuck, I'm stuck in tent. I have to pee.")
Corey, Nate and Bob had procured a keg for the night, in addition to several cases of beer. And don't you know, we drank almost the entirety of the keg the first night. Clearly we were not messing around (p.s. they had been up at the lake since 9 a.m. We're not THAT big of alcoholics).
The awesome thing about camping near a lake is that if/when you need to pee, you can just wade out to about stomach level in the water and pee there. Until it gets too cold. Then, well, you've gotta drop trou. Since I had never peed in nature, I was given a tutorial by my friend Ashley. Paranoid that I was going to pee all over my one pair of track shorts, I hiked myself up a hill, found a bush, and completely disrobed from the waist down. I was not going to risk peeing on any article of clothing. Which meant that, should anyone happen to come around a corner, they would have seen me, bare-assed, attempting to not pee on myself with quite possibly the widest stance you've ever seen (8 years of gymnastics prepared me for this moment). After successfully peeing, I put my clothes back on and decided I hated peeing in nature. Someone wouldn't have invented toilets if they weren't meant to be used. This is why I don't like nature. It's so...primitive. I prefer the comforts of the Hilton, thank you very much. So I tried SO HARD to keep the seal intact for the rest of the night. I think I convinced my body that the need to pee wasn't real. It worked...sort of.
Peeing out in nature aside, we did all the normal camping stuff: we made burgers and beans;
we did keg stands;
and we got drunk and drew mustaches on our hands.
When we all decided that it was time to go to bed (combination of cold weather, rain and overall drunkenness), we went to our respective tents. I was sharing a tent with Ashley and Corey on the air mattress. Being as drunk as I was, I could not figure out how to zip up Vickie's sleeping bag, so I ended up just using it as a giant blanket. At some point during the night, Baldwin, being wasted, started singing songs. I can't quite remember right now what songs he was singing, but soon all tents joined in. I'm sure the people at the campsite down the hill from us loved us.
The next morning, I decided that one night out in nature was plenty for me. I went back to the shore so I could go home and shower and nap (since I hadn't really slept the night before). Here's what I found out: apparently when you pay for day parking, they don't do a 24-hour cycle. If you show up at 6 p.m. and intend on staying until noon the next day, you have to pay for two-days worth of parking. Okay, fine whatever. So I didn't understand their instructions. Does that mean I need a fucking $75 ticket???? I mean, for fuck's sake. It was $5 a day to park and $75 if you violated that, quite innocently? Why not just ass-rape me--I would have charged you less. Fucking douche-bag cops. Anyway.
I went back up to the lake on Sunday so I could work on my tan. At some point, more people had shown up. Enjoy photos:
Oh, and my favorite part! I got to see Raelynn! Finally! Going almost a year without seeing your best friend is way too long! (Holly, that's a note to you, too, but I will see you in a few weeks!)
So all-in-all, I had a fantastic weekend at the lake. Next time, I'll bring a little portable toilet.
This weekend, though, this glorious, glorious three-day weekend, I went up to Lucky Peak with some friends to *cough* camp. Wait, you didn't catch that? Fine, yes. I went camping...again. And this time was far more traumatic than last due to the lack of facilities on our camp site. Which meant I had to pee out in nature. More to come on that later.
Friday evening after I got off work, I drove up to Spring Shores and met Corey and Bob on the dock. The campsite they had chosen was only accessible via boat. Which meant that once I was there, I was stuck. The campsite they had so carefully selected was up the hill from the dock, where I would spend the majority of my time. There were a group of girls there that I had not met, and as it turned out, all of them were nurses. Which is awesome should, you know, I impale myself on a branch while trying to pee in nature. They had all been there since earlier that morning and had set up tents. I was told I would be sharing a tent with Baldwin and Joe. This is what the tent looked like:
If you're looking at this thinking "you've got to be fucking kidding me," that was the exact same reaction I had. There was no fucking way. So me, being the sneakster that I am, moved my stuff from the fucked up tent to my friend Corey's nicer tent. There was supposed to be a 90% chance of rain that night. I was not about to drowned in the fucked up tent that couldn't even stay upright (as an aside, later that night, while hurricane-force winds blew and rain poured down, it took Baldwin 30 minutes to get out of his tent to pee. All you could hear was "fuck, I'm stuck in tent. I have to pee.")
Corey, Nate and Bob had procured a keg for the night, in addition to several cases of beer. And don't you know, we drank almost the entirety of the keg the first night. Clearly we were not messing around (p.s. they had been up at the lake since 9 a.m. We're not THAT big of alcoholics).
The awesome thing about camping near a lake is that if/when you need to pee, you can just wade out to about stomach level in the water and pee there. Until it gets too cold. Then, well, you've gotta drop trou. Since I had never peed in nature, I was given a tutorial by my friend Ashley. Paranoid that I was going to pee all over my one pair of track shorts, I hiked myself up a hill, found a bush, and completely disrobed from the waist down. I was not going to risk peeing on any article of clothing. Which meant that, should anyone happen to come around a corner, they would have seen me, bare-assed, attempting to not pee on myself with quite possibly the widest stance you've ever seen (8 years of gymnastics prepared me for this moment). After successfully peeing, I put my clothes back on and decided I hated peeing in nature. Someone wouldn't have invented toilets if they weren't meant to be used. This is why I don't like nature. It's so...primitive. I prefer the comforts of the Hilton, thank you very much. So I tried SO HARD to keep the seal intact for the rest of the night. I think I convinced my body that the need to pee wasn't real. It worked...sort of.
Peeing out in nature aside, we did all the normal camping stuff: we made burgers and beans;
we did keg stands;
and we got drunk and drew mustaches on our hands.
When we all decided that it was time to go to bed (combination of cold weather, rain and overall drunkenness), we went to our respective tents. I was sharing a tent with Ashley and Corey on the air mattress. Being as drunk as I was, I could not figure out how to zip up Vickie's sleeping bag, so I ended up just using it as a giant blanket. At some point during the night, Baldwin, being wasted, started singing songs. I can't quite remember right now what songs he was singing, but soon all tents joined in. I'm sure the people at the campsite down the hill from us loved us.
The next morning, I decided that one night out in nature was plenty for me. I went back to the shore so I could go home and shower and nap (since I hadn't really slept the night before). Here's what I found out: apparently when you pay for day parking, they don't do a 24-hour cycle. If you show up at 6 p.m. and intend on staying until noon the next day, you have to pay for two-days worth of parking. Okay, fine whatever. So I didn't understand their instructions. Does that mean I need a fucking $75 ticket???? I mean, for fuck's sake. It was $5 a day to park and $75 if you violated that, quite innocently? Why not just ass-rape me--I would have charged you less. Fucking douche-bag cops. Anyway.
I went back up to the lake on Sunday so I could work on my tan. At some point, more people had shown up. Enjoy photos:
Oh, and my favorite part! I got to see Raelynn! Finally! Going almost a year without seeing your best friend is way too long! (Holly, that's a note to you, too, but I will see you in a few weeks!)
So all-in-all, I had a fantastic weekend at the lake. Next time, I'll bring a little portable toilet.
Friday, June 18, 2010
music recommendations from yours truly...
This week has been, like, an overflow of amazing music. There was so much music my poor head almost exploded. I just don't know how to deal with it. So I guess I'll write a blog and share with all of you the awesomeness of the sweet tunes I have discovered. (And yes, for those of you who are reading through this thinking, wow, there's a preponderance of lesbian rock on here...well, what did you expect? Deal with it).
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
Holy good GOD, this CD is fan-fucking-tastic. Amazing like whoa. This woman's voice is simply breathtaking. The way she belts out these lyrics like she is trying to scare Satan away gives me goosebumps. By FAR one of the best cds I have heard in a very, very long time. I'm sure people at work are going to be sick of it since I don't plan on removing it from my cd player for the next two months. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it.
Sarah McLachlan "Laws of Illusion"
Seven years. SEVEN FUCKING YEARS. That is how long it has been since Sarah McLachlan has released a new album. I was still in high school (wait, was I? Let me do some math...fuck, okay, first year of college). But still--to imagine me as a neurotic, stressed, no-fun college freshman that I can barely remember, and then realize THAT was the last time Sarah McLachlan released a cd is, well, fucking unnerving. (She did do all those Animal commercials that made me cry, but other than that, no Sarah). So Sarah, thank you for releasing this awesome cd. And thank you for bringing back Lilith Fair. If I can afford to go to Seattle over 4th of July weekend, I'm so there. I mean, it's THE lesbian fest of the year. And even though you tried to get Rhianna and Selena Gomez in an attempt to not make it a big lesbo-fest, it still is. Sorry.
But the cd is wonderful, and I would expect nothing less from Sarah McLachlan after all these years.
Katie Herzig
I had the privilege of seeing Katie Herzig open from Brandi Carlile back in January (oh, and I totally get to see her again in Germany when she opens for Brandi again...yesss!!). I bought her cd "Apple Tree" a while back, and it was pretty good, but I recently procured her earlier album "Weightless" and love it. She has a beautiful voice, and she is an absolutely stunning woman (not to mention incredibly nice--she and I had a nice little chat). I'm probably going to have to get the rest of her cds before I leave for Europe.
Gillian Welch
So I pretty much love Patty Griffin. And Amazon.com recommended Gillian Welch to me based on my love of Patty Griffin. Gillian Welch is, for lack of a better word, so raw. So, so raw. I hate country music, but this is "reach into your soul and rip out your emotions and twirl them around like a fucking hula-hoop" country music. I'd actually like to classify this as kind of bluegrassy-folky-awesome. Raelynn, if you read this, I need to burn you this cd. You will <3 it, I swear.
Sarah Harmer
I bought "You Were Here" and "All of Our Names" on Amazon because they were about .50 cents a piece (well, with shipping they were like 3.50 each, but still). Sarah has another one of those voices that is just simply captivating, and her songs are fantastic.
So yes, if you have time, check them out. Or I can burn you a copy. But only if I like you.
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
Holy good GOD, this CD is fan-fucking-tastic. Amazing like whoa. This woman's voice is simply breathtaking. The way she belts out these lyrics like she is trying to scare Satan away gives me goosebumps. By FAR one of the best cds I have heard in a very, very long time. I'm sure people at work are going to be sick of it since I don't plan on removing it from my cd player for the next two months. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it.
Sarah McLachlan "Laws of Illusion"
Seven years. SEVEN FUCKING YEARS. That is how long it has been since Sarah McLachlan has released a new album. I was still in high school (wait, was I? Let me do some math...fuck, okay, first year of college). But still--to imagine me as a neurotic, stressed, no-fun college freshman that I can barely remember, and then realize THAT was the last time Sarah McLachlan released a cd is, well, fucking unnerving. (She did do all those Animal commercials that made me cry, but other than that, no Sarah). So Sarah, thank you for releasing this awesome cd. And thank you for bringing back Lilith Fair. If I can afford to go to Seattle over 4th of July weekend, I'm so there. I mean, it's THE lesbian fest of the year. And even though you tried to get Rhianna and Selena Gomez in an attempt to not make it a big lesbo-fest, it still is. Sorry.
But the cd is wonderful, and I would expect nothing less from Sarah McLachlan after all these years.
Katie Herzig
I had the privilege of seeing Katie Herzig open from Brandi Carlile back in January (oh, and I totally get to see her again in Germany when she opens for Brandi again...yesss!!). I bought her cd "Apple Tree" a while back, and it was pretty good, but I recently procured her earlier album "Weightless" and love it. She has a beautiful voice, and she is an absolutely stunning woman (not to mention incredibly nice--she and I had a nice little chat). I'm probably going to have to get the rest of her cds before I leave for Europe.
Gillian Welch
So I pretty much love Patty Griffin. And Amazon.com recommended Gillian Welch to me based on my love of Patty Griffin. Gillian Welch is, for lack of a better word, so raw. So, so raw. I hate country music, but this is "reach into your soul and rip out your emotions and twirl them around like a fucking hula-hoop" country music. I'd actually like to classify this as kind of bluegrassy-folky-awesome. Raelynn, if you read this, I need to burn you this cd. You will <3 it, I swear.
Sarah Harmer
I bought "You Were Here" and "All of Our Names" on Amazon because they were about .50 cents a piece (well, with shipping they were like 3.50 each, but still). Sarah has another one of those voices that is just simply captivating, and her songs are fantastic.
So yes, if you have time, check them out. Or I can burn you a copy. But only if I like you.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Sawtooth Relay--aka learn to breathe at higher altitudes.
I've been semi-consistently running for the past five months now. I consider myself *fairly* in shape. But nothing, I repeat NOTHING could have prepared me for the Sawtooth Relay this weekend.
The Sawtooth Relay is a run starting in Stanley, Idaho which goes to Sun Valley (Ketchum), Idaho. It's roughly 62 miles. There are six people per team, and each person runs approximately two 5-6 mile legs. The goal is to get to Sun Valley in less than 12 hours, I suppose. There are all sorts of crazy people that participate in this race, including hard-core people who are actually trying to win, but for the most part, it's just an excuse to run with friends and see some great scenery.
The awesome part about this: the race starts at 5:00 a.m. Some people start even earlier, depending on how long they think it will take their team to complete the race. So if you start at 5:00 (which our team did), you have to be at the start line by 4:15. Which means you have to be awake even earlier than that. F. That.
Even better: we decided to camp the night before. In a tent. Out in nature. Did I mention that I had never been camping before? Oh yeah--I've never been camping before. I've done things that I think may be considered camping, but as far as staying overnight in a tent in a sleeping bag...no. Fuck no. I do not like nature. I like to look at nature; I like to take pictures of nature. I do not want to be out IN nature. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. So we drove up Friday evening, set up camp and did what I suppose are considered camping things: grilled hamburgers (in my case, vegan burgers) in a fire, made s'mores, drank beer (well, I drank beer), etc. When we were setting up camp, due to my inexperience, when I asked what I could do to help, I was told to go make friends. That's right. My job was to walk around the campsite and make friends with people. Sweet. I could totally do that. I happened to make friends with a group from the Air Force running in the relay. They had such fun nicknames as "Nader" and "Knuckles." Very nice group of people, who were at nearly every exchange on the run.
Neither here nor there. Here are some photos from the campsite. I will give nature this: I've never seen anything quite so magnificently beautiful.
See? Stunningly beautiful. That's about where my love of nature ends.
We finally went to bed I'm guessing around 11. This being my first time really sleeping in a sleeping bag in a tent, I was not sure what to expect.
1. It was 18 degrees that night. 18. That is not a typo. FUCK that.
2. Apparently the side of the tent gets "moist" with condensation. So when I wake up and roll over, I get a face-full of wet tent side. SICK.
3. I cannot sleep in tiny sleeping bags. As someone who suffers from severe claustrophobia, I about lost my shit. I woke up almost every hour in a complete panic because I could not move. LAME.
4. Even with a foam pad underneath, ground = not comfortable.
I guess the good thing was that we had to be awake at 3:30 in the morning. So my stint with sleeping in nature really only lasted four hours. Still, that was four hours of hell. I was afraid to go pee because the bathrooms were so far away, so of course I had to pee the entire time (why, body? WHY?). I thought I would get eaten by a cougar or something. It's Idaho. Stranger things have happened.
So let's all flash forward to 5:00 a.m. and the start of the race. It's cold. We're all tired. But we're pretty stoked. Nikky ran our first leg and I ran the second. You'd think as a seasoned distance runner, I would be smart when it comes to putting on the proper clothing for running a race. I'll give myself props for having the wicking shirt on, but I lose some serious cred for having my hooded sweatshirt on. Granted, it was only 35 degrees when I started running, by the second mile, I was sweating balls. And I couldn't take off the sweatshirt because I had this damn reflective vest on with my number. Rules, rules, rules. Here's a pic of said reflective vest:
I finished my first leg, which was 5.8 miles, in 1:01. Not too bad, but I'm sure I could have gone faster if I had not been swimming in my own sweat for an hour. As soon as I crossed the exchange point, I started stripping off all my clothes. By the time I got to the porta-potty, I was down to my spandex shorts and sports bra. And it was still only 42 degrees outside. Sarah = smartest person alive. I also got a rash on the side of my neck from where the sweatshirt rubbed against my skin. I so lose more points for that.
Sally ran our third leg, Kent ran our fourth leg, Katie ran our fifth leg and Jake ran the summit and the last leg. Here are some photos from the race:
The sixth leg, which belonged to Jake, was this awesome 1400 foot hill climb up "Galena Summit." I'd like to call this death. Just DRIVING up this hill made me tired. I have no idea how Jake did it, or how he did it so quickly, but big kudos to this kid.
Here are some pictures from the top of the summit, and Katie and I being total dorks.
After the summit, the next six legs are pretty much a cake-walk downhill. Please enjoy the following pictures (in case you couldn't tell, this is a blog primarily dominated by photos).
I ran my second leg, which was a little over five miles, in 49 minutes. This is slightly closer to my actual mileage pace. I would have gone faster (and not had to walk part of it) had it not been for the huge difference in between Boise and Stanley. No kidding. I didn't think that elevation would make that big of a difference on my ability to breathe but oh my dear God, was I wrong. I thought my lungs were going to get coughed up and I would trip and them and probably tear my knee again. I'll keep this in mind for when I decide to hike to Base Camp at Mt. Everest.
Apparently while I was running, a group of women, who had stopped on the side of the road to cheer on their teammate, asked me how I was doing. I whined that all I wanted was a beer. And don't you know, one of those women met me at the exchange with a PBR. I almost cried. I gave her a hug. It was truly a touching moment.
We finished the entire relay in under 10 hours, which is super awesome. There was a fun little picnic at the end where I got a t-shirt, a medal and free beer. I also made friends with a volunteer who is from Boise. Because I'm one of those people that just loves making friends. Overall, I had a fantastic time, and I'm kind of bummed I don't get to run it again next year, but I definitely think this is a race I will keep up with, even if I move away from Idaho.
The Sawtooth Relay is a run starting in Stanley, Idaho which goes to Sun Valley (Ketchum), Idaho. It's roughly 62 miles. There are six people per team, and each person runs approximately two 5-6 mile legs. The goal is to get to Sun Valley in less than 12 hours, I suppose. There are all sorts of crazy people that participate in this race, including hard-core people who are actually trying to win, but for the most part, it's just an excuse to run with friends and see some great scenery.
The awesome part about this: the race starts at 5:00 a.m. Some people start even earlier, depending on how long they think it will take their team to complete the race. So if you start at 5:00 (which our team did), you have to be at the start line by 4:15. Which means you have to be awake even earlier than that. F. That.
Even better: we decided to camp the night before. In a tent. Out in nature. Did I mention that I had never been camping before? Oh yeah--I've never been camping before. I've done things that I think may be considered camping, but as far as staying overnight in a tent in a sleeping bag...no. Fuck no. I do not like nature. I like to look at nature; I like to take pictures of nature. I do not want to be out IN nature. Ew. Ew. Ew. Ew. So we drove up Friday evening, set up camp and did what I suppose are considered camping things: grilled hamburgers (in my case, vegan burgers) in a fire, made s'mores, drank beer (well, I drank beer), etc. When we were setting up camp, due to my inexperience, when I asked what I could do to help, I was told to go make friends. That's right. My job was to walk around the campsite and make friends with people. Sweet. I could totally do that. I happened to make friends with a group from the Air Force running in the relay. They had such fun nicknames as "Nader" and "Knuckles." Very nice group of people, who were at nearly every exchange on the run.
Neither here nor there. Here are some photos from the campsite. I will give nature this: I've never seen anything quite so magnificently beautiful.
See? Stunningly beautiful. That's about where my love of nature ends.
We finally went to bed I'm guessing around 11. This being my first time really sleeping in a sleeping bag in a tent, I was not sure what to expect.
1. It was 18 degrees that night. 18. That is not a typo. FUCK that.
2. Apparently the side of the tent gets "moist" with condensation. So when I wake up and roll over, I get a face-full of wet tent side. SICK.
3. I cannot sleep in tiny sleeping bags. As someone who suffers from severe claustrophobia, I about lost my shit. I woke up almost every hour in a complete panic because I could not move. LAME.
4. Even with a foam pad underneath, ground = not comfortable.
I guess the good thing was that we had to be awake at 3:30 in the morning. So my stint with sleeping in nature really only lasted four hours. Still, that was four hours of hell. I was afraid to go pee because the bathrooms were so far away, so of course I had to pee the entire time (why, body? WHY?). I thought I would get eaten by a cougar or something. It's Idaho. Stranger things have happened.
So let's all flash forward to 5:00 a.m. and the start of the race. It's cold. We're all tired. But we're pretty stoked. Nikky ran our first leg and I ran the second. You'd think as a seasoned distance runner, I would be smart when it comes to putting on the proper clothing for running a race. I'll give myself props for having the wicking shirt on, but I lose some serious cred for having my hooded sweatshirt on. Granted, it was only 35 degrees when I started running, by the second mile, I was sweating balls. And I couldn't take off the sweatshirt because I had this damn reflective vest on with my number. Rules, rules, rules. Here's a pic of said reflective vest:
I finished my first leg, which was 5.8 miles, in 1:01. Not too bad, but I'm sure I could have gone faster if I had not been swimming in my own sweat for an hour. As soon as I crossed the exchange point, I started stripping off all my clothes. By the time I got to the porta-potty, I was down to my spandex shorts and sports bra. And it was still only 42 degrees outside. Sarah = smartest person alive. I also got a rash on the side of my neck from where the sweatshirt rubbed against my skin. I so lose more points for that.
Sally ran our third leg, Kent ran our fourth leg, Katie ran our fifth leg and Jake ran the summit and the last leg. Here are some photos from the race:
The sixth leg, which belonged to Jake, was this awesome 1400 foot hill climb up "Galena Summit." I'd like to call this death. Just DRIVING up this hill made me tired. I have no idea how Jake did it, or how he did it so quickly, but big kudos to this kid.
Here are some pictures from the top of the summit, and Katie and I being total dorks.
After the summit, the next six legs are pretty much a cake-walk downhill. Please enjoy the following pictures (in case you couldn't tell, this is a blog primarily dominated by photos).
I ran my second leg, which was a little over five miles, in 49 minutes. This is slightly closer to my actual mileage pace. I would have gone faster (and not had to walk part of it) had it not been for the huge difference in between Boise and Stanley. No kidding. I didn't think that elevation would make that big of a difference on my ability to breathe but oh my dear God, was I wrong. I thought my lungs were going to get coughed up and I would trip and them and probably tear my knee again. I'll keep this in mind for when I decide to hike to Base Camp at Mt. Everest.
Apparently while I was running, a group of women, who had stopped on the side of the road to cheer on their teammate, asked me how I was doing. I whined that all I wanted was a beer. And don't you know, one of those women met me at the exchange with a PBR. I almost cried. I gave her a hug. It was truly a touching moment.
We finished the entire relay in under 10 hours, which is super awesome. There was a fun little picnic at the end where I got a t-shirt, a medal and free beer. I also made friends with a volunteer who is from Boise. Because I'm one of those people that just loves making friends. Overall, I had a fantastic time, and I'm kind of bummed I don't get to run it again next year, but I definitely think this is a race I will keep up with, even if I move away from Idaho.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Mem-Day weekend, aka: SHE & HIM!
If there is one thing I absolutely love to do, it is go to concerts. I will travel great distances to go to a concert. Hungover, sick, tired, cranky, angry, angsty, sad, whatever. It is nothing good music cannot cure.
Sunday, a group of us packed up in my car and drove the 320 miles to Bend, Oregon for the She & Him concert. For those who may be unfamiliar with She & Him, this amazing duet is the product of the whimsical combination of M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel. See video below.
Total feelgood music. AND I can dance to it. Sweet.
So road-trip + concert = Sunday was an absolutely amazing day. Aside from the fact that maybe I had a little too much fun Saturday night, making Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m. feel almost like a swift kick in the stomach, I rallied (and drove). Katie, her sister Sarah and her friend Rachel met at my house and we headed on our way, very, very early.
Anyone that knows me knows that when I'm driving someplace, I do NOT stop for bathroom breaks. I hate stopping. I've held it for hours on end. I attribute my awesome bladder to never wanting to "break the seal" at parties. This, though, does not work well when people have to pee all the time (okay, once on the way there, but still). Now if we hadn't stopped, however, I would not have been privy to the awesomeness that was the free museum outside of Burns, Oregon. Please revel in the following pictures.
I'm pretty convinced this doll is possessed. Remember that episode (Chinga) of The X-Files with the extremely creepy doll? I just kept imagining my hair getting caught in a nearby milkshake machine.
There was also this sign in the bathroom, which could be one of the more perplexing things I've seen:
Do they mean to say don't stand on the toilet seat or if you're going to stand to pee, lift up the toilet seat? How does a woman stand and pee? How do you aim? Do you hoist one leg up on the sink? And how is this preferable to sitting or squatting? There are so many unanswered questions!!!
So back on the road, the weather was beautiful. Blue skies, some clouds, gorgeous landscapes. We rolled into Bend and it was a balmy 78 degrees, which made me oh-so-happy considering the weather in Boise has been anything but summer-like for the past few weeks. We went to this Italian restaurant to eat near the Ampitheater, and that is when it started raining. It sputtered for a bit, then full on poured, then the sun came out. I was crossing my fingers that it would stay sunny since I was in a super-cute sundress from Anthro and only had a cardigan to protect me from the pouring rains. Apparently finger-crossing did not work.
Before we went to the show, we loaded up on alcohol and badminton ($5 at Rite Aid). This turned out to be a worthwhile investment as we ended up waiting in line outside the ampitheater for a good hour. Dear Ticketweb: when you say "5:00" on your ticket, please clarify if that means the doors open at 5:00 or the concert starts at 5:00. OK? Thanks. Because as much fun as it was to listen to the woman behind me talk about her friend who was having an affair in her horrific southern accent, I would have much rather been inside...drinking...
When we were finally allowed inside, we set up our blankets in the grass and chilled for a bit. There was an opening band for She & Him and Band of Horses called Dawes. And they sucked. I'm just going to say it. Their harmonizing was terrible and it reminded me of the sounds the alley cats make when they fight outside my house. The only good thing was the drummer. He had the most amazing Jew-fro and looked like he was puking whe he played the drums. No, seriously. He made the retching face. I couldn't stop laughing. What a tool. You are not bad ass, buddy.
Neither here nor there. Let's get to the awesome part: SHE & HIM!
They were amazing. That is all I have to say. Despite the fact that it was pouring rain, despite the fact that all these hipster-wannabe-stoned assholes kept shoving their way forward, despite (or yay?) that there was weed being smoked like we were at a freaking Willie Nelson concert, they were simply fantastic. Here are a few pics of my new girlfriend, Zooey (and I should clarify I use the term girlfriend loosely since she is married. We're more of a weekend thing...kidding! Sort of).
Seriously? Could she be any cuter? I don't think so. And get this--she TOTALLY dances like me (if you consider jumping around, arms up in the air, looking like a 6-year-old with ADHD dancing). So much love. They played a full set, which included all the songs I absolutely love, and I really could not ask for any more.
The band that came on after She & Him I was not particularly interested in. I think they were called Band of Horses, and they seemed to be the band that everyone was there to see. They were all right. Not really my cup of tea, which is probably why I took a nap. Or at least rested my eyes. There is not a whole lot of sleeping that can be had at a concert like that.
We decided not to stay the night in Bend and drive back to Boise after the concert. While I'm glad we did, because it gave me all day Monday to collect my thoughts, driving six hours back to Boise leaving at 11:00 p.m. does not do good things for one's sanity. Pretty sure I started hallucinating. Pretty sure. But I guess the great thing is cops aren't really too keen on staying out on Highway 20 at 3:00 in the morning to catch speeders. Sarah: 1, Oregon State Police: 0.
All in all, fantastic trip. I cannot wait to see them in concert again, and HIGHLY recommend this as a show you MUST see.
Sunday, a group of us packed up in my car and drove the 320 miles to Bend, Oregon for the She & Him concert. For those who may be unfamiliar with She & Him, this amazing duet is the product of the whimsical combination of M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel. See video below.
Total feelgood music. AND I can dance to it. Sweet.
So road-trip + concert = Sunday was an absolutely amazing day. Aside from the fact that maybe I had a little too much fun Saturday night, making Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m. feel almost like a swift kick in the stomach, I rallied (and drove). Katie, her sister Sarah and her friend Rachel met at my house and we headed on our way, very, very early.
Anyone that knows me knows that when I'm driving someplace, I do NOT stop for bathroom breaks. I hate stopping. I've held it for hours on end. I attribute my awesome bladder to never wanting to "break the seal" at parties. This, though, does not work well when people have to pee all the time (okay, once on the way there, but still). Now if we hadn't stopped, however, I would not have been privy to the awesomeness that was the free museum outside of Burns, Oregon. Please revel in the following pictures.
I'm pretty convinced this doll is possessed. Remember that episode (Chinga) of The X-Files with the extremely creepy doll? I just kept imagining my hair getting caught in a nearby milkshake machine.
There was also this sign in the bathroom, which could be one of the more perplexing things I've seen:
Do they mean to say don't stand on the toilet seat or if you're going to stand to pee, lift up the toilet seat? How does a woman stand and pee? How do you aim? Do you hoist one leg up on the sink? And how is this preferable to sitting or squatting? There are so many unanswered questions!!!
So back on the road, the weather was beautiful. Blue skies, some clouds, gorgeous landscapes. We rolled into Bend and it was a balmy 78 degrees, which made me oh-so-happy considering the weather in Boise has been anything but summer-like for the past few weeks. We went to this Italian restaurant to eat near the Ampitheater, and that is when it started raining. It sputtered for a bit, then full on poured, then the sun came out. I was crossing my fingers that it would stay sunny since I was in a super-cute sundress from Anthro and only had a cardigan to protect me from the pouring rains. Apparently finger-crossing did not work.
Before we went to the show, we loaded up on alcohol and badminton ($5 at Rite Aid). This turned out to be a worthwhile investment as we ended up waiting in line outside the ampitheater for a good hour. Dear Ticketweb: when you say "5:00" on your ticket, please clarify if that means the doors open at 5:00 or the concert starts at 5:00. OK? Thanks. Because as much fun as it was to listen to the woman behind me talk about her friend who was having an affair in her horrific southern accent, I would have much rather been inside...drinking...
When we were finally allowed inside, we set up our blankets in the grass and chilled for a bit. There was an opening band for She & Him and Band of Horses called Dawes. And they sucked. I'm just going to say it. Their harmonizing was terrible and it reminded me of the sounds the alley cats make when they fight outside my house. The only good thing was the drummer. He had the most amazing Jew-fro and looked like he was puking whe he played the drums. No, seriously. He made the retching face. I couldn't stop laughing. What a tool. You are not bad ass, buddy.
Neither here nor there. Let's get to the awesome part: SHE & HIM!
They were amazing. That is all I have to say. Despite the fact that it was pouring rain, despite the fact that all these hipster-wannabe-stoned assholes kept shoving their way forward, despite (or yay?) that there was weed being smoked like we were at a freaking Willie Nelson concert, they were simply fantastic. Here are a few pics of my new girlfriend, Zooey (and I should clarify I use the term girlfriend loosely since she is married. We're more of a weekend thing...kidding! Sort of).
Seriously? Could she be any cuter? I don't think so. And get this--she TOTALLY dances like me (if you consider jumping around, arms up in the air, looking like a 6-year-old with ADHD dancing). So much love. They played a full set, which included all the songs I absolutely love, and I really could not ask for any more.
The band that came on after She & Him I was not particularly interested in. I think they were called Band of Horses, and they seemed to be the band that everyone was there to see. They were all right. Not really my cup of tea, which is probably why I took a nap. Or at least rested my eyes. There is not a whole lot of sleeping that can be had at a concert like that.
We decided not to stay the night in Bend and drive back to Boise after the concert. While I'm glad we did, because it gave me all day Monday to collect my thoughts, driving six hours back to Boise leaving at 11:00 p.m. does not do good things for one's sanity. Pretty sure I started hallucinating. Pretty sure. But I guess the great thing is cops aren't really too keen on staying out on Highway 20 at 3:00 in the morning to catch speeders. Sarah: 1, Oregon State Police: 0.
All in all, fantastic trip. I cannot wait to see them in concert again, and HIGHLY recommend this as a show you MUST see.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
most definitely a worthy investment
I am officially in LOVE with Klean Kanteen water bottles (canisters?). I own probably three or four of them in varying sizes. They keep water cold, they are BPA free, there are a variety of colors and mouth-pieces, AND you can decorate the shit out of it.
Plus, it cuts down on the use of plastic bottles and other materials that just end up in landfills. That's my green sales-pitch for the day. Live it and love it.
Plus, it cuts down on the use of plastic bottles and other materials that just end up in landfills. That's my green sales-pitch for the day. Live it and love it.
I'm still laughing this morning
Follow this link. You'll thank me:
http://xkcd.com/436/
(How the fuck do you insert a link? This blogging thing is quite complicated).
http://xkcd.com/436/
(How the fuck do you insert a link? This blogging thing is quite complicated).
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