Monthly Archive for August, 2008

First Nation Women

Published by Sally on 29 August, 2008, at 22:34, in travel. 0 Comments

I somehow put these women at the back of my mind after the trip actually happened. We met these women while we were on the way to our put in point at a little mom and pop gas station/store/ice cream place, talked about all the women’s photos on their van, their shoes, their walk across Canada, and their lives, in general. We were quite close to our put in point, but these women merited our time, at the very least. I am very proud to have spoken with them and to have experienced them. This trip was amazing and frightening from the very start to the very end. The mundane became monumental.

Here’s the info: http://www.petitiononline.com/glradek/petition.html

They’d gone through more shoes than I could count. One woman was 75 years old. They had a tornado pass within miles of where they were camping. We wished them the best and gave them our love, blessings, and the best we knew to send with them. Amazing. Women . We Will Change The World If We Unite.

I fell, again.

Published by Sally on 28 August, 2008, at 23:00, in random stuff. 0 Comments

For the second time, in Jensen Lake, Lebanon Hills park. Just wasn’t paying enough attention. Here’s the funny part: I used an old volleyball roll to not really hurt myself. It’s called a barrel roll, and frankly, I hated it when I played. I always sprawled or used an over the shoulder roll, instead.

So, because the light was playing between shadow, light, and dark, I missed a root. I caught my toe, everything went into slow motion, and I did a 100% volleyball aggressive “I’m about to get up and make you wish you hadn’t tried to make me dig this ball,” kind of move. I said, “GODDAMMIT!!!” to make sure that the dog knew I meant it; (we all know how effective that is…) and I got up and kept moving. I actually caused abrasion on my left palm, left hip, and right back of my shoulder due to the effectiveness of my old high school moves.

Strangely, I was thinking about the first time that I and my paddling partner flipped the boat during my trip. It was all very slow motion, I knew what was happening the whole time. I was calm. At least during the boating incident, I panicked at one point and did a lot of shouting and screaming. Post to follow one day…Today, I didn’t even bother brushing myself off, I just picked myself up, palm, shoulder, hip pain, and all. Crap. What more do I need on top of all the messed up stuff my spine and muscles are feeling because of this trip?!?! Sheesh. I see Golden Touch Monday. Thank the goddesses.

Yeah, Lumpy needs to run this off…

Published by Lumpy on 26 August, 2008, at 21:47, in lumpy's wisdom. 4 Comments

On Sunday, 8/24/08, I was back at The Great Minnesota Get Together for my yearly gig. And well, just like last year I was inclined to partake of the very very special State Fair Fare…this year’s results:

Continue reading ‘Yeah, Lumpy needs to run this off…’

Random thoughts upon my return.

Published by Sally on 25 August, 2008, at 20:48, in quotes and random stuff. 3 Comments

These are some direct quotes, some are casual observations that I have had since I’ve been back in “civilization;”

“Oh my Gawd; my bathwater is GRAY.” (First bath after my return)

“We could seriously sell all this fur on the floor to someone who could weave.”

Things are so loud.

I have a great life.

“Holy crap, I really did lose about 10-15 pounds. I wasn’t exaggerating!”

“How can I buy local produce when we don’t produce melons in Minnesota?!?!?!”

“I wonder if everyone else is slightly overwhelmed right now…?”

What challenges are left?

“Shouldn’t I not be tired anymore?”

How soon can I get back out on the water? Can I teach Lumpy how to read class II and III water?

I wish I had run more rapids.

I wish I could have brought the Berens River village puppies home with me. Gordon and Buster. They need me. They want me. They should be at my house. G and I could train them to be wonderful runners.

“Lumpy and I should figure out how to make Lily a therapy cat.”

“I can’t believe that Amy thought that I was one of the ’solid’ and ’steady’ members of our trip…”

Geez, I missed my animals. And My Lumpy.

I learned so much about water. That’s another full post itself. Water. Everywhere. Water.

I feel like I’m living…really, really living.

Boy, oh boy, did I miss you all. I sent flowers down the river for Pito at the beginning, and each one went down a waterfall or rapid…it was the only thing I knew to do for him and for myself while I was out there. (Side note: I just found out that Lulu has cancer. Keep her in your thoughts, and if you pray, please pray for her. Losing Pito and Lucette in this short amount of time might be more than I can handle.)

I believe that one of life’s greatest risks is never daring to risk. -Oprah Winfrey

The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams. – ” ”

Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of day are dangerous men, for they act their dream with eyes wide open and make it possible. – T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia)

Mission Trails

Published by Toots on 23 August, 2008, at 22:40, in cycling. 0 Comments

Tomate dusted off my mountain bike (it’s been about a year since that poor thing has seen the light of day) and we decided to go for a ride at the Mission Park Trails.  Tomate has actually been riding quite a bit since he volunteered to be a pacer during the night portion of the Ragnar Relay in October.  Anyway, it’s good crosstraining for me so Punxsk8erdude, Tomate, and I headed out to the Missions.  It was raining when we got there, but hey…it’s just water.  It was a short ride…somewhere around 12-15 miles…but we had a good time.  I had forgotten how pretty the southern portion of the San Antonio River is.  The Rock n’ Roll San Antonio Marathon route will actually cover parts of this area.  I’m looking forward to that.  :)

I have great hair.

Published by Sally on 23 August, 2008, at 20:08, in random stuff. 0 Comments

16 days with no shampoo/soap and I still look the same…

Well, I’ve grieved Pito, slept on many dubious surfaces, worried about being raped, almost gotten thrown from a boat, but I’m home.

I’m exhausted, due to having not slept much in the last 48 hours, and I’ve got so much to post about, but I’ll sum it up as a humongous growing experience, friend maker, and learning experience. It was much more than that, but I can barely keep my eyes open and I see a dog that needs my loving hands in her fur, so I will post no more.

More another day, after having slept and tried to put into words my back country experience.

I’ve missed you all terribly. So many thoughts to share…

Temporary memory loss?

Published by Toots on 17 August, 2008, at 23:11, in training. 1 Comment

I just finished week #5 of marathon training that ended with a 10 mile long run, the 1st double digit run in this training program.  I simply don’t remember getting here.  I know I’ve averaged about 1 missed run a week for the last couple of weeks, but I’ve been running for 5 weeks now and don’t really remember my runs.  I do keep a running journal and every single run has been logged, but without actually looking through the journal, I just don’t remember most of what I’ve run so far.  Should I be worried about this?

Anyway, I purposely postponed my long run until this afternoon because the weather man promised me rain.  I think I felt something equivalent to a spit somewhere along my 10 mile route.  Needless to say, the rain never came, at least not in my ‘hood, but the weather was pleasant…just warm, not hot, overcast, and there was a cool breeze, no really there was!  :)

Womens Marathon @ 2008 Olympics

Published by Lumpy on 16 August, 2008, at 18:48, in events. 3 Comments

The womens marathon even has already started at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.

Lumpy will attempt to live blog the event this evening, keeping our dear readers informed. Yes, I’m going to watch the whole thing.

Start:
-00:14:22 Just catching up with the status now. Appearantly it is a nearly pancake flat course. Deena Kastor was just talking about the cooling vest they wear before the race. I think we need some of them.

-00:16:13 Evidently the temperature is good, but there are big concerns about the high humidity. Doing a 3.1 mile look around the Temple of Heaven.

commercial break…

-00:19:06 OMG! Deena Kastor just dropped out of the race, holding her foot!!! Nope hope for a US medal now. How horrible for her.

-00:23:35 You know, this course is strange. The blue tangent line is way too close to barricades. Paula Radcliff is in it. Evidently she wasn’t originally expected to compete due to all the training she missed.

-00:28:07 77F 88% Humidity. BAH! They have SPONGES!!!

-00:48:57 Evidently the pace is slow. I’m rooting for Paula at this point. She deserves it after what happened in Athens.

-00:53:24 Wow. Fascinating. They have “computer chips” to track their times. Who would have thought of such a device?!

Continue reading ‘Womens Marathon @ 2008 Olympics’

Never really stopped running.

Published by Toots on 13 August, 2008, at 22:37, in training. 0 Comments

It’s been a tough last couple of weeks and I must say running has been great therapy.  I have not missed too many runs…but I did not run today’s 5 miler like I should have.  I was feeling great this morning but by the time I got home from work I had developed all sorts of aches and pains and a scratchy throat…kind of like when your getting the flu.  I got home and fell asleep for a couple of hours…I’m still not feeling better.  I’m just sitting here, sipping on some tea, feeling a little chilly (yes, you read that right) and about to go back to bed.

Pito (1938 – 2008)

Published by Toots on 13 August, 2008, at 22:36, in random stuff. 1 Comment

In Loving Memory

 ”A human being does not cease to exist at death.  It is change, not destruction, which takes place.”  -Florence Nightingale

 ”It is not dying, but living, that is the preparation for Death.”  -Margo Asquith

 ”It’s only another adventure, after all.”  -Dorothy Eden

 ”Watching a peaceful death of a human being reminds us of a falling star; one of the million lights in a vast sky that flares up for a brief moment only to disappear into the endless night forever.”  -Elizabeth Kuber-Ross