Time To Soar

It is fall break.

Yay!

I LOVE fall break!

After a week and a half of conferences after school causing me to be home stupidly late (including two nights of getting home at 8:30 -- ewwwwww), I have a five day weekend. Five days with nothing to do but enjoy the beautiful 70 degree weather with RetiredHubby. We contemplated a few different big trips, but ended up settling on a weekend at home, hanging with the dog and playing in the area.

Wednesday was one of the most pleasant "here" days in recent history. We slept in, ate some pancakes, then ventured to Boulder for a big adventure. Climbing the 3rd flatiron.

For those of you not from Colorado, Boulder is known (among other, less pleasant things) for this view:


Those rocks jutting up out of the mountain are called "The Flatirons." They are numbered from right to left -- the far right being the first flatiron, the middle is the second, and the next tall one is the third flatiron and so on.

I've always looked at the Flatirons, been awed by their beauty, and amazed that people even think about climbing them.

So Wednesday, I found myself at the base of the third flatiron, harness on, uncomfortable rock shoes laced up, looking up at what I always thought to be an impossibility. Only those "crazy" people climb such things.

Hello crazy.

We were climbing to get to the top so we could see some friends and lend them a rope to get back down. Chris led us up the climb, placing gear along the way, and stopping at the first belay point to allow me to start climbing and catch up. The first five feet were frustrating and I couldn't find a way to get up.

Keep in mind this is the FOURTH time I've climbed. Ever. Inside or out.

Needless to say, I was a bit rusty, nervous, and generally unpracticed. But I found a way up the first little part and then the climbing got a bit easier. I made my way up to Chris, who happened to be up over a little ledge that took some finagling to get over. He tied me into an anchor, made sure I was secure in belaying him up the next pitch, then started to climb. And so I cried. I looked out over the view, and the long way I'd fall if something went wrong, and I freaked out a little. But I'm happy to say that this was my only freak-out of the entire climb. Chris calmed me down, offered that we could turn back, and kept me positive.

Then he headed up to the next belay station. I was kinda awkwardly stationed so I looked up at Chris climbing when I could wrench my neck around, but otherwise I read the tension on the rope and fed it through to him as he flew up the rock like a tiny dancer. More often than not, throughout the entire climb, Chris could climb faster than I could feed the rope through to him. He was careful, as leading up a climb requires some caution, but he moved gracefully. Soon he was setting up the next anchor and calling to me to unhook and start climbing.


So I did.

Each pitch got a little easier and a little quicker. In general I'm a slow climber. I'm happy to admit to that. I would stop, analyze the next few feet, find places to put my feet and hands and plan a route up to Chris. Each time I'd stop to belay Chris, I'd feel a bit more secure. The cool thing about climbing is that after you get used to the initial shock of the exposure, it really doesn't get worse the higher you go. At least in this case.


So I got used to the view -- looking down on the small, hippy town that I spent four years growing myself in. I looked out at the brown haze that crowded the horizon and engulfed Denver. I admired the geographic features and bumps that make up the foothills around us.

At some point we had to cross over a big crack in the surface of the flatiron, which was a little interesting. As I climbed down into the crack and climbed back up the other side, I thought about how amazing it is that any of this even exists.

The climbing on the other side of the crack was my favorite of the day. I'd gotten into a groove and was able to move quicker and more securely. Think of it as you will, but I found that climbing can be an extremely spiritual experience. I got to a point where I had to let go of my own inhibitions and worries. I had to trust that someone out there was looking after me, pushing me a little so that I wouldn't fall. I moved with purpose, moved to places that I knew were secure and would hold my feet, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a little conversation with the man upstairs as I got nervous. It also helped, dramatically, to know that I had Chris up ahead of me, placing secure gear, able to catch me if I happened to get bad footing. He cheered me on, encouraged me, and gave me enough confidence to keep moving.

Eventually we made it to the last ledge, the last rest, before the final grunt to the top. Chris sprung up ahead, warning me of a few sections that didn't have good holds, where I'd have to rely more on the friction from my hands and shoes. I was nervous, as I'd heard that the last 20 feet is the true crux of the entire route.

He made it to the top, bribed me with delicious sandwich, chips, and Butterfinger. Food never fails to motivate me. So I headed up the pitch. I followed a few chalk marks from previous climbers and ended up finding a pretty good route up to the top. It wasn't nearly as bad as I imagined. I joined Chris on the summit, we admired the views, and high fived our accomplishment of getting each other up it.

We were soon joined by some new friends, who helped us set up the rappel for the way down. There were two different options -- go one way that required three short rappels, or go the other way which was one big free-hanging rappel to the ground. I wanted to go the three short rappel way, as I've never done a solo rappel outside the rafters in my garage. I was worried about controlling my own speed and somehow falling 60 feet to the ground SOUNDS better than 200 feet. Either way it's not good, obviously, but it sounded better.

I seriously give into peer pressure. There were three guys on top and me. Three Chris's and a Marni -- three who thought I should just do the big rappel and then me who didn't. One Chris was my hubby who I trust my life to. One of the other Chris's happens to be a certified rock instructor. They told me how one Chris could wait at the bottom and be a backup for my rappel, the instructor Chris could be at the top reassuring me that I was doing it right. HubbyChris could rappel down next to me on a different rope and encourage me mid-air. So I gave in. Without freaking out, might I add.

Before I knew it InstructorChris was telling me to step back off the rock. Hubby Chris was a little below me on his own rope. I inched my way off, very much not prettily or gracefully, but there I was, suspended 200 feet off the ground hanging from a rope, controlling my own speed with which I slid down to the ground. Hubby helped me keep going without freaking out. Overall it wasn't that bad. I went pretty slow. I didn't look down until I was within 20 feet of the ground. The scariest part was when the rope twists and I'm no longer facing the rock, but instead facing out at the world. I was high above the trees. That was weird. At some point, after hubby had zoomed to the ground, that the two Chris's at the bottom yelled up: "Are your eyes even open???" Yes, they were open, I was just not going to look down. No matter what.

Eventually, probably the slowest in history, I made it to the ground. I was very happy to touch solid ground again. And very proud of my accomplishment. We hiked around for a bit to find the other Chris making his way down a different way, and then as it turned dark we made our way back to the car.

Dinner afterwards with new and old friends was delicious and fun. These guys can climb that Flatiron in MINUTES while it took me a few hours.

It may have been slow, but I made it.

I stood atop Boulder.

I soared (slowly) to the ground.

I was scared but I found a way to work through it.

I'm now very sore.

But happy.

White Rim Take 2

What is one to do when life gets a bit overwhelming, the world around getting a bit small, and the weather a lot blah?

Run off for an adventure in the desert -- that's what.

We tried this solution last Thanksgiving, and I ended up stranded on a snowy cliff in Canyonlands, lulled by the thawk-thawk of the emergency blinkers while Chris slugged himself up the hill in search of help. Ah, sweet sweet memories.

Not.

Anyway, we've been itching to return to White Rim together ever since. Only this time, even that 20% chance of precipitation kept us away... as that seems to mean 80% chance of feet of snow or flooding rain in the desert. But this weekend, the weather looked PERFECT and perfect it ended up being.

Chris crammed in some last minute packing on Friday (as we only made the final decision to go while sitting at our weekly Starbucks date that morning) while I taught the children. He picked me up from work and we drove the I-70 slog before camping super cozily in the Hotelement.

Hubby has an excellent write-up to recap the adventure, so I'll just throw in my own random memories:

1) The Shafer switchbacks were fun, and by no means would I ever want to ride up them. That seems painful. We saw some really cute mountain goats, which we took to be a good sign since the only other time Chris saw them was on his own first time around the Rim. It was very strange to start a ride by dropping down into something first. Colorado always starts with a big climb -- never a big descent (unless a chair-lift is involved)

2) My knee started to hurt at mile 8... a bad sign because my previous big ride two weeks ago (my first road century) left me unable to stand up straight that night from the knee pain. Despite having knee problems since I was 12, I've never really had bad knee problems biking; however, these last two big rides have been genuinely excruciating. Luckily I learned from the century that the pain doesn't stick around forever, and turning around wasn't an option to me, so we kept going. Both would bother me the rest of the trip and keep me from being able to sleep for the last two nights, but the overall experience was well worth it. There's no doubt that turning around then would've ultimately been more painful than continuing.

3) Our plan was to ride 70ish miles the first day and then the last 30 the second day. Essentially we did all of the hard stuff in one day, minus the last climb and road section.

4) I got extremely overwhelmed around mile 30. The canyon was SO BIG and I knew I wasn't even halfway through the day. I knew I couldn't turn back, didn't want to keep going forward, and generally felt emotionally trumped. Luckily, as he always does, Chris pulled me through it, got me back on my bike, and made me feel better. I'd have lots of peaks and valleys both days, but hubby was the ultimate friend and stayed sweet through all of it.

5) Murphy's Hogback is a heck of a grunt. Luckily there was the promise of lunch carrying me to the top. And Chris helped push my bike up part of it -- that's how sweet he really is.

6) Everywhere we go, no matter where it is, we run into someone Chris knows. It has become the standing joke "who will you see today?" but honestly, it's no joke, it really happens. Just prior to reaching Murphy's, we ride past a guy who says "Hey Chris!" Haha... it's always so funny.

7) The last climb of the first day -- Hardscrabble (i.e. "not-easy-or-fun-scrabble") was hard. I was hot and tired. Sick of pushing my bike up sandy pitches. But I knew that on the other side there lay a piece of ground with our tent's name on it. That kept me going up it. Plus Chris said that once you reach the top, it's all downhill to the campsite. Ok, so there are little uphills, and I sure let Chris know about each one of them. Haha.

8) Camping was great. I've never seen so many stars in my entire life. We even saw the Milky Way clear as could be. Unbelievable sight and perhaps my favorite part of the whole trip. My sleep that night was terrible and quite frustrating, but frankly, how bad can spending the night in a warm canyon really be?

9) Getting up was hard, as I hate getting up in the morning, but I was looking forward to an easier day and then returning home to my pup. Sitting on the bike seat was a horrible horrible experience. It quickly brought back Kokopelli memories and I squeeled in butt-pain as Chris tried to remind me that it does go away after a few minutes. Yowsers. The knees were not happy and pedaling was not pleasant. The view, on the other hand, was stunning down by the river and the terrain refreshingly flat.

Once we reached the Mineral Bottom Switchbacks, climbing actually made my knees feel a little better. As long as I could get into a textbook smooth pedal stroke up the hill, the pain virtually went away. Because of this, the climb was remarkably great. We even saw an airplane flying around inside the canyon -- sketchy for sure.

10) We got to pass the spot where we got the black E stuck last year. Even dry it looked a bit gnarly. Glad we made it out of that one in one piece. In the end, the broken taillight was nothing and our laziness in not fixing it ended up to be a wise decision as that car is now probably a paper-weight somewhere. It was good to revisit the spot and lay those bad memories to rest.

11) The last slog of the trip was a bit irritating. The dirt road that leads to the final paved road was, eh, as I expected. I'd already ridden part of it in March and knew it was fairly boring and generally uphill. Together, Chris and I had some good conversations, snacks, and laughs and it made the time pass relatively quickly. The last paved section was a slog that I don't particularly want to revisit. Sure, there's a big climb and then it's generally down to the car -- but generally means that there are freaking hills thrown in there to make you hate the world. I didn't think we'd ever make it to the car. But eventually we did.

12) I couldn't wait to eat the cheese danish awaiting me in the car. After shoving half of it feverishly in my mouth in my post-ride starvation, I looked down and noticed that the next bite would've been full of mold. Oh ew. Makes my stomach churn even now. Pringles were a good substitute once I saw that nastiness.

The trip, overall, was awesome. The scenery, company, and weather were unbeatable. The vastness of the canyon quickly put life and troubles into perspective, and after initially being quite overwhelming, ended up being just the therapy needed. I have, once again, pushed myself far far beyond my boundaries. The road through your own perceived limitations is one full of ups and downs, tears and joy, pain, exhaustion, and pride. The key is traveling the road with someone who can put up with you through all of it. Someone who will lift you up when you're down, high-five you when you're excited, and distract you through the pain with thoughts of Golden Shepherd puppies. While I probably would never do these types of adventures without Chris, I can't imagine not doing them.

Who would I be if I didn't have the opportunity to see myself totally broken down?

It is all too easy to get wrapped up in life, believing that "here" is all there is out there. Sometimes my world gets consumed by my 26 kids, their problems, their futures, my inability to fix the unfair world that they will grow up in. Now and then, even if it's painful, I just need to drop into a canyon, stare into the Milky Way, be with the love of my life, and Monday morning I return a better teacher, friend, and wife.

Thank you again, Chris, for taking me through canyon and bringing me back up to the mountains.

Awww.

My dog has socks.

What a day...

Chris came to help me on a field trip this morning, stayed to help me in the afternoon, and let's just say got a true taste of teaching in the 'hood in the process.

At the risk of perhaps saying too much, instead all I'll say is that I'm married to a saint. I'm surprised he even agreed to come home with me this afternoon instead of retiring to some far off 8,000 meter peak where s**t like this doesn't happen.

Thank you, wonderful, for coming to help me out today.

I'm glad you love me.

(and yes, even through it all, he still wants to teach! It's a miracle!)

Random Catch-up

So... after coming home from school everyday, my creativity and motivation has been a bit lacking, so my blog has suffered.

Luckily, today is Saturday and I've done a whole lot of nothin' so I can catch-up and get back to my normal blogging.

Thoughts from the past few weeks:

* Chris came to help in my classroom this week and reinforced my belief that he is going to make an unbelievable teacher. The kids LOVED him and learned a lot from him in one short afternoon. Monday he'll be accompanying us to the pumpkin patch -- if he still wants to be a teacher after a field trip with a 26 crazy five year olds, we'll know he really wants it.

* Chris and I have had a few great after-work rides around the dogpark. Yesterday I put my pedals back on the single speed and found that my love for it has not diminished in my short hiatus. We went up and down one of the fun hills a few times and played around like little kids for an hour. It seems to be those rides where you're just not motivated to go that end up being the most fun. I need to remember that the next time I talk myself out of riding after a hectic day at work.

* We just turned on the heat for the first time this season. It's freaking cold. Now I'm toasty warm though.

* We've tried to go do White Rim in Moab the past two or three weekends and have been weathered out each time. After our Thanksgiving disaster last year, then us almost creaming a cow going there for Chris to ride on Spring Break, we're both a little weary of pushing any sort of luck in Canyonlands together. Perhaps next weekend will be nice...

* My kids at work are cute. And hilarious. And overall a rowdy bunch. We started the nutrition program up again last week (a local grocery store gives us the ingredients for nutritious snacks each week and the materials to make it with and we do a little cooking lesson with the kids each week). Yesterday we had sliced pears. After giving out the pears one girl shouted "Should we say a little prayer? Anyone?" (then when no one responded, she looked up to the ceiling and said...) "THANK GOD FOR THESE PEARS!" Haha. She made me laugh. The other kids looked at her like she had lost her mind. Haha. She's the one that, after asking me how to cut out a cirlce and I showed her, immediately turned away and said "That's an idea. I'm not sure it's a good one" and walked away. She kills me.

So, overall, you haven't missed much by my lack of blogging.

Hopefully now that I'm caught back up and I can get back to my regular blogging. I'm currently cleaning up our iphoto so that instead of a VERY SLOW program with 5,000+ photos, we can have one that actually runs efficiently and both of us can get back to normal picture blogs.

CHRISTOPHER: POST A NEW BLOG ALREADY. ENOUGH SLACKING SLACKER.

p.s: The difference between a friend and a best friend that you want to spend the rest of your life with? A friend will have coffee with you on Friday mornings, but a best friend will stick his nose purposefully in his whipped cream just to make you smile. I am the luckiest girl in the world. Hands down. I win.

p.p.s: HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSIE!!!!! We can't wait to come see you some time soon hopefully. We both miss you!

At least someone learned something...

A funny thing happened in my class last week.

Imagine that.

We've been learning shapes. They all want to call the diamond a diamond, but I told them that's the preschool word, and the kindergarten word is rhombus.

So anyway, we're singing twinkle twinkle on Friday and we got to "like a diamond in the sky" and one of my kids interrupts with "NO! That's the preschool way! It's like a RHOMBUS in the sky!"

Haha. So funny.

So now that's how we sing it.

At least HE learned something.

First Century

After a week of recovering from yet another cold, I was finally feeling better this weekend. After Chris's excursion with Dave C out in Yogi-Bear-Land he was actually feeling more like riding than hiking for the first time in a while. So, rather than going for a 14er excursion this weekend, we got back to our roots and hit the road on bike.

This season has been full of firsts for me -- tackling tasks or routes that I once deemed impossible. One of the biggest on that list was completing a road century. We wanted to do it this summer, but the heat was an added complication that I didn't necessarily want to deal with on top of everything else. The weather for Saturday looked perfect, we didn't feel like hiking, and for once I wasn't in the middle of some illness.

We started out shortly before 8 am and Chris wound us up through Boulder to Carter Lake. This is a pretty classic road ride from Boulder, and just happens to be exactly 102 miles round trip from our house. By Boulder standards it's a fairly flat route, although it still had 4300' of climbing or something from home. The route there was beautiful. The weather was chillyish for most of the day, but didn't necessitate anything more than arm warmers all day. We got great views of the mountains to the west and got to ride through some beautiful farmland. We found several houses that we would buy if we suddenly became independently wealthy :)

I did fairly well for the first half of the ride. I was feeling good despite being off the bike for the majority of the month (minus some commutes here and there and some single speed rides which required a lot of walking). It's been a while since I've pedaled for more than two hours straight, so around hour three, my legs were starting to complain. We stopped briefly for a bathroom break and quick snack near Hygiene and were back out on the road. We got near the lake around mile 45 and my right knee started to hurt quite a bit. After downing some advil and more snacks, we wound our way up some switch backs to the beautiful lake. Surrounded by hills and mountainous views, the lake looked serene and I'd love to go back. We stopped near a little store and ate goldfish, M&Ms (THANKS TMOM!), and an apple. I was happy to have made it this far, but I also knew we had to the rest of the loop and then back home the rest of the way. The idea was more than slightly daunting.

I tentatively rode the big descent on the backside of Carter Lake before we turned back and started heading home. The advil had started to kick in so all was good. We stopped for a little break in Hygiene again which was much needed. Every pedal stroke hurt my right knee and by this time I'd already downed four Ibuprofen. Around mile 65, I surpassed my all time farthest bike ride! When we made it back to Boulder, we were hungry, my spirits were dwindling, and I was complete toast on the bike. Chris recognized my downward spiral and lead us directly to a Wendy's. We committed an assault on the 99 cent menu and after some frosty, nuggets, and fries, I was ready to finish off the last 15 miles of my first century. The food was great and the short break felt great. Unfortunately, when I got back on the bike both knees felt terrible... and I still had the hardest part of the whole ride still to go. See, this is an awesome century route, but the crux of it comes in the form of The Wall at mile 96!

Chris told me random stories to keep my mind from my screaming knees and he tried to train my brain into controlling the pain. He's so experienced now and good at keeping his body and emotions in check. I hope to acquire that some day! Before I knew it we were headed up The Hump and then The Wall. The Hump was ok -- it went quick and I was distracted enough to just cruise right up it. The Wall was painful. It's amazing to how extreme concentration and focus can deafen the noise of cars accelerating five feet from you at 45 mph. I stood and pumped up The Wall, trying to convince myself that it didn't hurt. I kept my head down and continually told myself that the road ahead of me was flat... nothing hurts... nothing hurts... nothing hurts. Soon we were to the top!

The best part of the route? After killing yourself up The Wall, the last six miles home is a simple coast back home. The lack of pedaling was like sweet candy to my legs.

By the time we got home, we'd been pedaling for a little over 7.5 hours, and out on the bikes for a little over 8. I spent the rest of the night bitching on the couch while Chris catered to my every need. My knees HURT last night and they are pretty sore today. Other than the joints, I'm feeling remarkably good despite doing my farthest ever ride by almost forty miles.

Thanks to Christopher for putting up with my whining and hooking me up with an extremely fun and beautiful first century!

On the road again

102 miles (my first century!!!!!!!)

+

7.5 hours of pedal time

=

1 TiredSoreAndHungryMarni (ready to die on the front porch)

Kindergarten quote of the week

"PLESKO!!!!" (It's never a good thing when a yell from across the room starts with... simply... PLESKO)

"I HAVE A CRACK!!!!!!"

Hmm. Not sure where that particular crack is. I chose to ignore that one and not ask any more questions.

A little somethin'somethin'

I usually hate change.

But I felt the need to change up my blog today.

Give it a little somethin'somethin' extra.

I hope you like it, I think it's perdy...

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Had a great night last night with the girls. It's rare to find friends that you can laugh so hard with every time you see them. We all met in college and became good friends as we went through education classes at CU and went on to student teach in the same district. We've gotten each other through the first years of teaching and had many a good night with wine or margaritas. Last night involved four bottles of wine between the four of us, a delicious dinner of cheese and chocolate fondues, and karaoke on the x-box. The night was much needed and I hope we get an opportunity to do it again soon.

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I'm pretty sure I pulled a muscle in my leg yesterday giving the dog a bath. That's pathetic.

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I'm watching the last game at Yankee Stadium right now -- well, ok, not the game but the pre-game thing with all of the greats coming back. I wonder how much those tickets went for -- what an awesome night! I was OBSESSED and IN LOVE with Joe Girardi back when he was a catcher for the Rockies (like, convinced I'd grow up and marry him despite the fact that I was 12 and he was 30-something -- haha). When he moved to NY, I became a Yankees fan, and now he's their manager. It's simply incredible that my Joe has become so big.

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Hmmm, pretty sure that's it.

On to another week 'o fun!

Friday night fever

It's been a while since I've blogged.

Blasphemy.

Alas, it is Friday night. Time to kick back in the sweats and blog.

I'm so glad I'm married and don't have to worry about 'dating' and 'impressing' on Friday nights any more. I love my Friday nights of blissful nothingness. Long gone are the days when I felt like a total loser for not going out on a Friday night -- now I consider myself one of the lucky ones.

Anyway.

I have lots to catch up on.

Last weekend I ended up listening to my head instead of my heart and we skipped the fun 14er hiking on Sunday in favor of relaxing and healing. As a way to get over the flu, we shopped instead! I've been itching to buy a new pair of shoes. Well, I did. But not the kind of shoes I was looking for. Chris and I happened to find some display rock climbing shoes in my size on super sale and so now I stick to rocks like spiderman! I tried them out Tuesday night and while they are hideously ugly and unbelievably uncomfortable, they work like wonders! Why we have to resort to old chinese foot binding techniques to climb rocks is still beyond my understanding, but they work! The climbing was really really really fun, but I am still sore.

I did my first bike/bus commute of the year today. The original plan was to ride home, but as the day progressed, I realized I am fighting another cold that has been going around school. Rather than riding for an hour and a half not feeling great, I rode for 15 minutes up to the bus stop, waited 5 minutes for the bus, and took it down to the stop near home. It was remarkably easy. While I probably almost could've ridden home in the time it took me to get home on the bus, it was relaxing and not very difficult. You do see a very interesting subset of the human population on the bus. Perhaps that will be a topic for its own blog one of these days.

I have started my masters class for this semester. I am not happy to be back to the world of homework. Yesterday, I realized that I had forgotten to do an assignment about what a typical day in my classroom looks like. We were supposed to focus on us, and how we approach the day, not necessarily about the students. We were encouraged to write a narrative that would create a picture in the reader's head. I wrote part of it at the end of my lunch hour, another part at the end of my planning period, and crammed the rest in while I waited for "math night" to start last night. Frankly, it started out well, and then quickly deteriorated as the narrative went on. Then last night I got the grade from the teacher (a principal in the district). I am supposedly now the star student in the class and she wants to share my narrative with others because it was so fascinating and full of twists and turns. Ha! I love my ability to b-s.

One of my girls broke her nose at lunch recess yesterday by falling on her face, then one of my boys hit his on someone's head during afternoon recess and his bled for almost 30 minutes. I think I need to do a mini-lesson on how to not fall nose first.

Today we graded benchmark tests ALL DAY (no kids today). I was in a group grading 5th grade writing papers of students who have just transitioned to English instruction... so needless to say, the writing was a bit, well, entertaining. We were grading a prompt that asked them to tell a story about when they were little. One girl wrote a story about how when she was little, she was in Mexico trying to learn to ride a bike and her mom taped her feet to the pedals so she would learn. I wonder whether it was duct tape or masking tape... Duct tape could present a problem if she tipped over and tried to get back up. Another wrote a story called "The Water for My Pants" (which, after reading the story, I assume him to mean "The Water for My pLants). Another wrote about jumping on the trampoline with water and soup. Another was writing something about pencils and an eraser, but the spelling made it appear to be about penises and erections. Unbelievably funny. The day was way more entertaining than I expected.

And now?

Dinner!

oh kitties...

I may be allergic to cats, but I still find them extremely amusing...

Torn...

Tomorrow is supposed to be absolutely perfect in the mountains.

Perfect perfect.

The forecast is not even the usual "20% chance of storms" or "partly cloud" it is simply:


Ahhhh. Beautiful.

Originally Chris and I planned to do a 3 person single speed family attack on the 12 hours of Snowmass tomorrow, but STLDad had some important bus meetings that he wasn't able to get out of. The plan changed, and so it was going to be Chris and I in a duo team. However, in the end, Chris is very burned out on bike racing right now and frankly, the $250 entry would be better used toward much needed groceries. So instead, this week we decided to climb some 14ers instead.

Then the flu hit.

I'm feeling pretty good today. Still have a bit of a headache, but my energy has somewhat returned, and at least at the moment I'm able to eat without feeling like dying.

My heart wants to go up and climb Belford and Oxford tomorrow. Take advantage of the unbelievably perfect weather and enjoy a day out in the mountains with Chris and Turbo. Finally follow through on planned fun outing with Chris without letting him down... he's been bailed on a lot lately, by myself included, and disappointing him is worse than the flu.

My head tells me it's not the best idea to go hike 11 miles and tackle two fourteeners when I'm not totally recovered.

So I'm torn.

I hate decisions.

Pesky germs...

Well, I made it almost a whole month into school without getting terribly sick this year (I had a good head cold over labor day weekend, but at this point, if I'm not puking, it's not that bad).

Yesterday started great. The power was off so I got to take an adventurous shower in the dark. Then, since there wasn't any power, Chris and I got to bump up our starbucks date a day and go have some awesome pumpkin-spice-white-chocolate-mocha and tasty breakfast sandwich for breakfast. I was in a surprisingly optimistic mood, considering how insane the children were on Wednesday. I was in a good mood, all was well.

Around 10:00 I started to get really dizzy and lightheaded and, in general, just felt weird.

By the time my first masters class rolled around at 4:30, I felt like I was going to die. Chills. Nauseous. Achy. At some point the teacher opened up a pack of chips ahoy cookies (one of my greatest weaknesses in the world -- LOVE THEM), and the smell nearly made me puke. I talked to her into letting me go home early. I came home, Chris put me into bed, and there I've been ever since.

It seems my fever already broke, which is incrementally faster than usual, so that's good. I'm feeling ok, although I haven't eaten since breakfast yesterday, so we'll see how some food hits me. I'm still dizzy and lightheaded, but I'm sure the lack of food isn't helping that.

Today I'm trying to rest and trying hard to ignore how screwed up my children are going to be on Monday after being split between various classes today (ah the joy of a city school district that can't get subs for anything). I feel bad that I'm putting out the other kinder teachers by making them have six or seven extra kids at the last minute, but I'm pretty sure I would've been in terrible shape at school today and then proceeded to be sick for the next two weeks like usual. At least right now I feel like I'm kicking it fast, and that'll be good in the long run.

(In more interesting news... UNBELIEVABLY awesome ride on the single speed on the opening section of the Colorado Trail up to Lenny's Rest on Wednesday night. Horribly spun out on the road section and stomping awfully hard to get up some of the trail climbs, but Chris hung around and coached me how to ride a lot of it. It was so fun!!!!!!! One of my favorite rides in a while...)

My personal chef

I didn't marry Chris for his mad cooking skillz... yo.

However, it has proven to be one of the many perks.

Especially now that he's not working and has an abundance of creative energy built up when I come home.

Tonight ChefChris has concocted a delicious home-made noodle thing out of leftover cheesy mashed potatoes and then stuffed them with chicken, garlic, red pepper and mozarella. Then cooked and sauteed in butter. With some sliced fresh pears on the side and peanut-butter-cup-ice-cream for dessert.


YUM.

I love my Chris.

Fall of perpetual smiles

While our summer of perpetual Saturdays is now, sadly, over, the Fall has brought a multitude of smiles (yeah, I know, it's not Fall yet, but tomorrow's high is 54 degrees, so I proclaim that it's now Fall).

A not-so-quick rundown of recent events:

1) I LOVE my new 29er!

Chris and I had looked at this bike a year or so ago at Salvagetti in Denver when they started sponsoring our team. It wasn't a good time to buy it, but I wanted to try a single speed, and they happened to have it in my size.

A few months ago, our teammate Nicolette bought that exact bike and my jealous bones flared. Lately, with fall and winter quickly approaching (and a potential duo 12 hour in the works) Chris and I ramped up our search for a MarniSingleSpeed. We searched for the better part of a weekend and didn't find anything in stock, in my size. Then we heard about a killer sale at Salvagetti happening -- with all '08 mountain bikes on sale. Including the single speed I'd originally looked at. Chris called down, they had another one in my size, and we ended up in downtown Denver, during the DNC, picking up my new bike (and getting it minutes before some other guy planned to purchase it).

So... Rhonda the 29er single speed joined our stable last week. We took it for a spin around Marshal Mesa and it felt like I was flying. The 29er rode as smooth as butter even as a rigid bike. Chris was amazed at how fast I could cruise down trails that would usually slow me down. Last night we rode it around Green Mountain, and the single speed pretty much kicked my butt. I walked... a lot. But coming down in the 29er was suuuuuuper sweet. And I got a lot of funny comments from shocked guys seeing little me ride a rigid 29er single speed. That's always fun. In all, I need a lot more work and conditioning to pull of the single speed. But I enjoy it. The bike overall makes me feel like a little kid again. I can't help but smile riding it.

2) My true racing season is now over. It started back in April with the Cherry Creek Time Trials and continued with the Winter Park cross country series which ended last weekend. Last year I did pretty well in Beginner, so I earned myself an upgrade to Sport this year.

I truly did not believe I belonged in Sport.

I hadn't trained as I'd planned, and the Sport girls are generally pretty fast. After the first race, I'm pretty sure I cried to Chris about how I didn't belong in Sport. He got me through it though, taught me how actually *riding* could help me, and told me I belonged there. Each race felt more natural, I quickly got into better shape, and I learned more racing tactics from Chris during our post-race-rundown-drives-home.

Last Saturday, I actually won my class in the King of the Rockies race. I gunned from the start for the girl who got 2nd place last race, and then I held her off for the following 26 miles to beat her for the win. The race itself was really fun. In the end, I took off more than 10 minutes off my time from last year -- and last year I got to do the short course since I was in beginner. This year, there was a last killer, never ending climb and technical descent. (I've had lots of questions about whether or not I rode my new speeeeedy bike for this race -- I didn't. I would've died on a single speed. No doubt in my mind.)

I not only won my race, but also got 2nd overall for the series in my class. Earning me an upgrade next year to Expert.


Yikes.

I already feel a bit inadequate, but Chris assures me I will survive.

He is the greatest husband (and impromptu coach) anyone could ever ask for. Somehow he's believed in me through everything we've tried over the past 7.5 years, and now he has finally convinced me to believe in myself.

3) Waaaaaay back in the day -- 2001, the summer after Chris and I first met, he took me rock climbing at the amphitheater in Boulder. Just the little hike to the rock alone almost killed me, then climbing was very scary. I was too nervous to even try to belay Chris. I think I climbed up once, then repelled down and went home.

Since our Longs Peak trip got sicked out over the Labor Day weekend (I got sick immediately following King of the Rockies on Saturday and remained that way for a few days), we took it easy on our Monday off and instead decided to give rock climbing a try. We practiced in the garage, then went back up to Boulder to the amphitheater. This time, the hike up took 10 minutes and hardly any hard breaths. Chris set us up and we climbed again. I was still scared -- yelling out "do you reeeeeally have me?" every five seconds. This time I belayed Chris and it was really fun and surprisingly easy. I climbed again and we soon got tired and headed back home. The only incident on the day was a slip on the path walking back causing a gigantic lump and bruise on my arm. Fortunately though, I survived the climbing part just fine, and look forward to going again soon.

4) My students are pretty good. I think, as they get settled and used to the whole school thing, I will have an awesome class. They are unbelievably cute, and a never ending source of good stories. My best quote lately? "My grandma's belly is really big because she drinks so much beer. I don't know why she drinks beer, orange juice is better. I thought she was having a baby, but it's just the beer." And this was just walking out to recess.

Even though Fall is just now beginning, I already feel it is going to be a great season.

won, two, three

Coming soon to your friendly Hmmm? blog...

1) My awesome new 29er single speed and how FAST it makes me go!
2) King of the Rockies report from Saturday: my first official "win", and second place for the series
3) Rock climbing = dirty hands + big smile

For now, dinner, then more sleep to completely shake my first illness of the school year (which spontaneously hit me five minutes after the race on Saturday).

Ooooh lah lah!!

Could there be a new steed in that them there kitchen stable?

Let's just say her name is Rhonda.

She is Monocog's hot new girlfriend.

She likes the number 29.

She's single.

And a bit rigid.

She also has an identical twin sister on our team. Rhonda, however, might look dashing in pink.

I've joined the revolution.

No turning back now.

p.s: Last night I went to the basement to find that I have a rock climbing Panda Bear too...


How's that for cryptic?
More tomorrow when there has been more sleep.

Back to reality

Last August I wrote a blog about my first day of school.  I toasted "me + one year" for surviving last year through all of the challenges and craziness.  That first day of school was rough, and the year only got progressively more bizarre as it wore on.  

Today, I graciously take the champagne flute from "me minus one year" and pass along yet another toast to "me + one year". 

Today's first day was a hundred times better than last year's first day.  

But it was still a first day.

And, as I always do, I came away questioning both how and why I teach these little ones.  1st grade was hard last year with my... let's say "challenges"... and my K/1 split was hard for its own reasons.  But today I remembered how hard, really really hard, it is to teach Kindergarten on the first day of school.  I taught a straight Kindergarten class my first year of teaching -- in fact then, I had two first days of schools with two different classes.  It was difficult, but it was my first year.

As one kid screeeeeeeeeeeamed out the hall door after her Grandmother, just as one other kid bolted out the back door after his mom, I took a deep breath and tried to remind myself that it gets better.  Several kids sobbed as the day went on.  I tried to read a book, but got through about two pages before their attention spans hit the fan and I spent the rest of the book stopping at each sentence to remind them how to sit.  One kid, who I have yet to hear speak a word (and that's after a half hour testing session on Monday with him), spit in my face.  A few absolutely cannot grasp the idea of walking in a line.

By the time I walked them through the lunch line and got them seated, I had eight minutes to walk the block and a half back to my classroom and eat lunch myseslf.  

Eight.    

After I gained eight minutes of perspective during lunch, I started to find the day amusing instead of stressful.  Read along as I show you just a few snippets from life with 25 five year olds...

As I tried to talk about our classroom rules, the discussion went a bit like this:

me:  Who can think of one thing we should always do when we have a question?

a few kids:  Raise your hands!

me:  Very good!  We should raise our hands!

most of the kids now raise their hands

me:  Well, not right now, just when you have something to say or a question to ask while I'm teaching

hands are still raised

me: Ok, put your hands down, let's write this on the chart.

one kid still has his hand raised

me:  Do you have a question?  

kid:  yes

me:  Ok, what's your question?

kid:  I like racoons.

me:  Cool.  But let's stick to talking about raising our hands.

most of the kids raise their hands again

me:  Ok, put your hands down...

And on, and on, and on it went.  

We played, had fun, went to recess, and things started to look up.  Then I had the genius idea to play Simon Says.  So... most of these kids are just now experiencing school, and even just a social setting with other kids.  So lots of them did not know how to play Simon Says.  Yeah, try to explain how to play that...

me: So, I'm Simon and when I say "Simon Says" you are supposed to do what I say.  But if I don't say Simon Says, you don't do what I say.  If you do something when you're not supposed to, you sit down.

the kids sit down

me: Ok, don't sit down now, we're going to play the game.  Stand up.

kids:  YAY!

me:  Simon says touch your head

they touch their heads

me:  Simon says jump up and down

they jump up and down

me:  Simon says touch your nose

they touch their noses

me:  Touch your shoes

they all touch their shoes

I laugh and say... "But Simon didn't say!"

they look at me like I'm crazy

we repeat

This time when I get to "But Simon didn't say!" one smarty kid says, "but you said you're Simon and you said it."  

The other kids nod like that was totally obvious and I'm the big idiot for not getting it.

me:  "Who knows the hokey pokey?"  

So, once again, here's to me one year from now, somehow you taught these kids something somewhere along the way.  

Or at least they eventually learned Simon Says.

Snow day!

Today our Winter Park race got postponed due to snow.

I did not feel like getting up early this morning since I am still adjusting to starting work back up this week. And it was cold so the nice warm bed felt awesome. But alas, I was pretty excited to race so I got up and showered. Chris was halfway through making us a delicious pre-race breakfast when I called the race hotline and realized that the race was indeed cancelled. Initially I got the excited snow day feeling, but as it sunk in I was really bummed. The bad weather only benefits me in my Sport crowd, and with a brand new super technical course, I will take any advantage I can get. Oh well. Now it is next week, making me have to ditch out on doing some course support for a ride that Chris is doing with friends. Fortunately, I'm currently tied for second place in the series standings... unfortunately, I can't afford to miss this coming race... therefore, I end up ditching Chris and racing alone again. We all know the racing alone thing didn't work so good two weeks ago. But this should be different, so that's good. I'm still excited and hopefully will get in some better training this week than I did last week (which was NOT good at all).

In other news...

Meet my brother's new dog Sydney:

She's super cute and staying with us for the week while they galavant around New York. She's a good girl and has been really fun to have around. Last night I went upstairs to go to bed and saw this:

Apparently the dogs decided that Chris and I were supposed to sleep on the floor!

Also, here's a cute picture of Turbo from our picnic on the Colorado Trail in Durango:


And I have my classroom all set up and ready for kids to start on Tuesday! The stress level is lower starting this year than it has been in the past, but we'll see how the kiddos are on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Chris has been playing house-husband and having a clean house and deluxe meals ready upon my arrival each night. He's amazing and I wish we could afford for him to never work again, so we're both enjoying it while it lasts!