Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
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!)
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!)
Saturday, October 11, 2008
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!
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!
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
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!
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!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
On the road again
102 miles (my first century!!!!!!!)
+
7.5 hours of pedal time
=
1 TiredSoreAndHungryMarni (ready to die on the front porch)
+
7.5 hours of pedal time
=
1 TiredSoreAndHungryMarni (ready to die on the front porch)
Thursday, September 25, 2008
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.
"I HAVE A CRACK!!!!!!"
Hmm. Not sure where that particular crack is. I chose to ignore that one and not ask any more questions.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
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...
*************************
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.
*************************
I'm pretty sure I pulled a muscle in my leg yesterday giving the dog a bath. That's pathetic.
*************************
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.
**************************
Hmmm, pretty sure that's it.
On to another week 'o fun!
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...
*************************
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.
*************************
I'm pretty sure I pulled a muscle in my leg yesterday giving the dog a bath. That's pathetic.
*************************
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.
**************************
Hmmm, pretty sure that's it.
On to another week 'o fun!
Friday, September 19, 2008
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!
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!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
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.
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.
Friday, September 12, 2008
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...)
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...)
Monday, September 08, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
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).
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).
Monday, August 25, 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
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.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
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!
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!
Monday, August 11, 2008
Hiking in the clouds
Yesterday Chris, Turbo, and I hiked Pikes Peak. In the clouds.
While my sister and niece pampered us by making dinner, cookies, and good conversation (ok, so Kylie kicked our butts at the Wii too...)
After a really fun night, Chris, Turbo, and I got up early and were on the road to the trailhead by 5 am. We parked the car and started our hike at 6:40.
Ok. So our hike started at 6:40.
Then we missed the turnoff into the campground where the trail starts, and walked an extra mile or so up and back down the road. So then we got back to the trailhead, and really started hiking around 7:10.
Then we hiked and hiked up this beautiful flatish trail, enjoying the meadows full of sun rays and spider webs. It was so beautiful.
And peaceful.
And Turbo found the meadow to be great fun and quite invigorating.
We were in extraordinary moods despite our wrong turn up the road to start the hike. Oh well. What could ruin such a perfect day?
Oh wait.
We kept hiking, all the while Chris was lagging a bit behind, always looking over to his right at some big rock structures. Something was clearly bothering him.
Oh well. Lalala, what a nice trail. It's so smooth and nice, let's hike really really fast and get to the top quickly! Lalala.
Oh look! We're already at 11,000 ft! We hiked really fast and covered a lot of ground! Wow!
"Um, I think we're supposed to be on the other side of those rocks," says Chris, pointing WAY over to the other side of a giant revene.
Oh, S***T.
So we pull out the trail directions and yep, we'd missed our turn that we were supposed to make waaaaaaaay back, a few hundred feet past where the trail started. We hiked all the way up to the Crags. Which is not where we wanted to go.
There were some tears and a serious breakdown on my part, while Chris (as always) tried to put a good face on the *bonus* adventure.
Then we headed back.
This time the meadow was never ending and hideous. There was no Sound of Music lalala-ing. It was more like... well... let's just say it's not language a kindergarten teacher should be using.
So then we started our REAL hike at 8:45. Only two + hours past our intended start time. Nice.
Turbo led the way, bounding and happy to be hiking.
I grumbled up behind him, trying my best to change my mood around.
(don't worry, I'll spare you the cranky Marni pictures. No one needs to see that)
Chris pulled up the rear, clearly still very tired from the Colorado Trail. It's not very often that I can out-hike him. And I was out-hiking him. I asked a million times whether he was ok or not, but he had his mind set on making this mountain happen. He was tired, but not broken.
Wrong turn or not, we were still there, hiking up Pikes, in what seemed to be a beautiful morning. My mood turned around, and soon we were enjoying the climb again.
But always, in the back of both of our minds, was our start time. 8:40 is LATE for August in the Rockies. Especially late for an 11 mile round trip hike that takes most people 4 hours to ascend. If we were lucky, and hauled, we could make it to the top by 12:30 and our hard and fast rule is to be off the summit and back down to tree-line by the time noon rolls around. Much later than that and you are really pushing your luck with the weather.
I kept one eye on the trail, one eye on the skies, and my two teacher eyes in the back of my head on Chris to make sure he was feeling ok.
We made it up the steep part where we should reach a clearing near Devil's Playground (named that because of the way lightning likes to jump from rock to rock in a storm here) and be able to see the summit ahead of us.
Instead we saw this in front of us:
This beside us where a beautiful view of the surrounding hills should be:
So we stood around for a few minutes, examined our options and the sky, and continued up.
Parents (and particularly STLDad): Before you stop reading to pick up the phone and yell at us for continuing on, let me explain. There were absolutely no lightning flashes or thunder booms, and we continued on with the one condition being that one thunder boom would send us running back down. Also, it appeared we were simply in a cloud. No rain, no wind, no serious weather, just a low cloud. Any other mountain, I would've turned around. But, as you can see in the last picture, Pikes has a road that leads all the way up to the top. A very busy road. If the weather turned bad, it wouldn't have been any problem finding a car to hide out in. It was a very busy Sunday on Pikes despite the less-than-stellar view from the top because of the clouds.
So was it the smartest decision to continue on? Probably not. But it actually worked out fine and we had surprisingly good weather the whole time. We just missed some of the views on the way up because of the cloud.
We were cautious though, and wanted to get to the top quickly in case the weather turned on us. So we jogged part of it. Yes. Me. Jog. With a pack and poles. I'm sure it wasn't pretty, but it got us there.
We made it to the top in 3.5 hours. After having to turn around once on this peak because of the cold, then almost having to turn around again a few times on this peak this time because of route errors and weather, the last talus scrambling to the top was exciting and emotional. Then you come over the talus to the summit, and you realize just how anticlimactic Pikes really is. There's a parking lot and buildings on top for goodness sake.
And LOTS of tourists. Looking at us like we escaped from a freak show. A half a dozen people must've come up and said "you HIKED up this? Why? How long did it take?" and seemed shocked when our answer was 3.5 hours instead of 3.5 days. Children stared at us in wonder, people took pictures of us, most pointed and whispered.
Ok, it's a class 1 climb. Nothing extraordinary, hundreds of people probably do it each week.
We took the obligatory picture on the summit bench (why it has a building as the background, which I cropped out, is beyond me -- at least put it near a view):
Then we sat down, very quickly ate our lunch, and took a better summit picture:
Then we got off the summit by 12:30 and headed back down. Off in the distance the weather looked a little iffy, but where we were and the immediate future was actually really nice. We got to see some of the stuff that we missed on the way up!
This should've been our view near Devil's Playground where we debated whether or not to turn around. Pikes is the high bump in the back.
More people gawked at us on our way down from their cars. Some even took pictures. It's funny to me that someone out there has pictures of "crazy random hikers." Save your memory on your computer, it's really not that unusual or cool.
So, we hiked down. Kinda slowly. We were both pretty sore and tired at this point. Since, by the time we reached the top, we'd already hiked nearly 13 miles... and this trip was supposed to be only 11 total.
A collapsing pole resulting in a rolled ankle made me think I'd broken it, as the next 10 steps or so caused excrutiatingly sharp pains, but it now appears that it is merely a sprain or something. That was oh so fun.
When we were near the bottom we got our first rain of the trip. The rain sprinkled through the trees and brought the bright greens, pinks, and yellows in the rocks to life. It was absolutely beautiful... only I didn't take a picture because I knew it would never do the colors justice.
9 hours and 19.5 miles after starting, we both collapsed on the tailgate of the car and had a good laugh.
It was an unintentionally epic day on Pikes.
After driving through booms and rain, we had a delicious dinner with my sister before heading home. A billboard on the highway said "Reward Yourself: Starbucks." So we did. With extra whipped cream. And it was delicious.
Today? Naps. Food. Olympics.
Out.
Waaaaaaay back this winter, Chris took me on my first ever snowshoeing adventure on Pikes Peak. I'd never even strapped the things on before we attempted to climb a 14er with them. I ended up turning us all around halfway up with numb hands and a fear of being blown off the mountain by crazy winter winds. Ever since then, every time I see Pikes off to the south when I'm driving to work, it would taunt me.
So, of course, we had to go back.
Only this time it is summer. And I got to use my actual feet to walk. And I didn't have to bring my since-Pikes-dilema-purchased-everest-quality-MontBell-down-mitts (although I thought about it just for good measure).
The best part about climbing Pikes?
We get to go down the night before and hang out with my sister and her family. Chris and I got worked in Wii Olympics by our 7 year old nephew, Trevor.
While my sister and niece pampered us by making dinner, cookies, and good conversation (ok, so Kylie kicked our butts at the Wii too...)
After a really fun night, Chris, Turbo, and I got up early and were on the road to the trailhead by 5 am. We parked the car and started our hike at 6:40.Ok. So our hike started at 6:40.
Then we missed the turnoff into the campground where the trail starts, and walked an extra mile or so up and back down the road. So then we got back to the trailhead, and really started hiking around 7:10.
Then we hiked and hiked up this beautiful flatish trail, enjoying the meadows full of sun rays and spider webs. It was so beautiful.
And peaceful.
And Turbo found the meadow to be great fun and quite invigorating.
We were in extraordinary moods despite our wrong turn up the road to start the hike. Oh well. What could ruin such a perfect day?Oh wait.
We kept hiking, all the while Chris was lagging a bit behind, always looking over to his right at some big rock structures. Something was clearly bothering him.
Oh well. Lalala, what a nice trail. It's so smooth and nice, let's hike really really fast and get to the top quickly! Lalala.
Oh look! We're already at 11,000 ft! We hiked really fast and covered a lot of ground! Wow!
"Um, I think we're supposed to be on the other side of those rocks," says Chris, pointing WAY over to the other side of a giant revene.
Oh, S***T.
So we pull out the trail directions and yep, we'd missed our turn that we were supposed to make waaaaaaaay back, a few hundred feet past where the trail started. We hiked all the way up to the Crags. Which is not where we wanted to go.
There were some tears and a serious breakdown on my part, while Chris (as always) tried to put a good face on the *bonus* adventure.
Then we headed back.
This time the meadow was never ending and hideous. There was no Sound of Music lalala-ing. It was more like... well... let's just say it's not language a kindergarten teacher should be using.
So then we started our REAL hike at 8:45. Only two + hours past our intended start time. Nice.
Turbo led the way, bounding and happy to be hiking.
I grumbled up behind him, trying my best to change my mood around.
(don't worry, I'll spare you the cranky Marni pictures. No one needs to see that)
Chris pulled up the rear, clearly still very tired from the Colorado Trail. It's not very often that I can out-hike him. And I was out-hiking him. I asked a million times whether he was ok or not, but he had his mind set on making this mountain happen. He was tired, but not broken.
Wrong turn or not, we were still there, hiking up Pikes, in what seemed to be a beautiful morning. My mood turned around, and soon we were enjoying the climb again.But always, in the back of both of our minds, was our start time. 8:40 is LATE for August in the Rockies. Especially late for an 11 mile round trip hike that takes most people 4 hours to ascend. If we were lucky, and hauled, we could make it to the top by 12:30 and our hard and fast rule is to be off the summit and back down to tree-line by the time noon rolls around. Much later than that and you are really pushing your luck with the weather.
I kept one eye on the trail, one eye on the skies, and my two teacher eyes in the back of my head on Chris to make sure he was feeling ok.
We made it up the steep part where we should reach a clearing near Devil's Playground (named that because of the way lightning likes to jump from rock to rock in a storm here) and be able to see the summit ahead of us.
Instead we saw this in front of us:
This beside us where a beautiful view of the surrounding hills should be:
So we stood around for a few minutes, examined our options and the sky, and continued up.
Parents (and particularly STLDad): Before you stop reading to pick up the phone and yell at us for continuing on, let me explain. There were absolutely no lightning flashes or thunder booms, and we continued on with the one condition being that one thunder boom would send us running back down. Also, it appeared we were simply in a cloud. No rain, no wind, no serious weather, just a low cloud. Any other mountain, I would've turned around. But, as you can see in the last picture, Pikes has a road that leads all the way up to the top. A very busy road. If the weather turned bad, it wouldn't have been any problem finding a car to hide out in. It was a very busy Sunday on Pikes despite the less-than-stellar view from the top because of the clouds. 
So was it the smartest decision to continue on? Probably not. But it actually worked out fine and we had surprisingly good weather the whole time. We just missed some of the views on the way up because of the cloud.
We were cautious though, and wanted to get to the top quickly in case the weather turned on us. So we jogged part of it. Yes. Me. Jog. With a pack and poles. I'm sure it wasn't pretty, but it got us there.
We made it to the top in 3.5 hours. After having to turn around once on this peak because of the cold, then almost having to turn around again a few times on this peak this time because of route errors and weather, the last talus scrambling to the top was exciting and emotional. Then you come over the talus to the summit, and you realize just how anticlimactic Pikes really is. There's a parking lot and buildings on top for goodness sake.
And LOTS of tourists. Looking at us like we escaped from a freak show. A half a dozen people must've come up and said "you HIKED up this? Why? How long did it take?" and seemed shocked when our answer was 3.5 hours instead of 3.5 days. Children stared at us in wonder, people took pictures of us, most pointed and whispered.
Ok, it's a class 1 climb. Nothing extraordinary, hundreds of people probably do it each week.
We took the obligatory picture on the summit bench (why it has a building as the background, which I cropped out, is beyond me -- at least put it near a view):
Then we sat down, very quickly ate our lunch, and took a better summit picture:
Then we got off the summit by 12:30 and headed back down. Off in the distance the weather looked a little iffy, but where we were and the immediate future was actually really nice. We got to see some of the stuff that we missed on the way up!This should've been our view near Devil's Playground where we debated whether or not to turn around. Pikes is the high bump in the back.
More people gawked at us on our way down from their cars. Some even took pictures. It's funny to me that someone out there has pictures of "crazy random hikers." Save your memory on your computer, it's really not that unusual or cool.So, we hiked down. Kinda slowly. We were both pretty sore and tired at this point. Since, by the time we reached the top, we'd already hiked nearly 13 miles... and this trip was supposed to be only 11 total.
A collapsing pole resulting in a rolled ankle made me think I'd broken it, as the next 10 steps or so caused excrutiatingly sharp pains, but it now appears that it is merely a sprain or something. That was oh so fun.
When we were near the bottom we got our first rain of the trip. The rain sprinkled through the trees and brought the bright greens, pinks, and yellows in the rocks to life. It was absolutely beautiful... only I didn't take a picture because I knew it would never do the colors justice.
9 hours and 19.5 miles after starting, we both collapsed on the tailgate of the car and had a good laugh.
It was an unintentionally epic day on Pikes.
After driving through booms and rain, we had a delicious dinner with my sister before heading home. A billboard on the highway said "Reward Yourself: Starbucks." So we did. With extra whipped cream. And it was delicious.
Today? Naps. Food. Olympics.
Out.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
A week of fun
Today is Saturday.
For real.
Unfortunately, our summer of perpetual Saturdays is quickly coming to a close. This year I feel more prepared to go back to school, having soaked up every moment of this awesome summer. In fact, even just the past week has brought plenty of adventures and fun.
Saturday: I raced the Crankworx Winter Park race -- #5 maybe? It was fun. I felt good. My bike, with its new bars, grips, seat post, and rear tire felt awesome. Everything was in the cards for a great race, I was climbing well and descending even better for once. I raced hard for the first half. I passed a lot of girls and was in a pretty good position to kick some butt. Then, at some point, the thought creeped into my brain that Chris wouldn't be at the end to congratulate me and see me finish and I wouldn't be at the end of his race to see him finish either. Everything felt a bit pointless and I stupidly let up. My legs were in Winter Park but my heart was somewhere between Silverton and Durango on the Colorado Trail. My goal was to finish, jump in the car, and then drive the 7 hours down to Durango to see Chris. And that's about what I did. Turns out I got 4th place -- 5 minutes off of 3rd. Dang. Oh well, another day. I got to Matt's house in Durango around 9:30 and got to see my Chris. He was dirty, stinky, swollen, and exhausted -- but he never looked better to me.
Sunday: Lots of lounging around on the couch in Durango. We also ate... a lot. Bagels, Starbucks, lunch, dinner. Yum. We went for a walk that night with Turbo around the neighborhood, and after only a half of a block, Chris asked if we could head back. He was tired! Poor guy. I've never seen him so tired.
Monday: More eating and resting with hubby. Sooooooo relaxing. We even shopped a bit, got some new books and a toy for puppy, and had some great hot chocolate and treats at a bakery. Yum.
Tuesday: Yet more eating and resting with hubby. We had awesome french toast at a french restaurant for breakfast. Then we had a wonderful picnic lunch out on the Colorado Trail -- fried chicken and sandwiches -- YUM! Then an unbelievably awesome anniversary dinner at an Italian restaurant. We got an appetizer, bottle of wine, bread/butter, entrees, and two desserts. We relaxed, talked, and got to reflect on the last four years since we got married. A lot has changed in four years, but luckily we still love each other just as much -- if not more -- than we did on that rainy Friday at Red Rocks four years ago.
Wednesday: Our actual anniversary was spent driving home from Durango. Fairly uneventful, but we still managed to have a good time together.
Thursday: Doctor appointment in the morning for me (nothing new or exciting going on) and then a really fun road ride with Chris in the afternoon. He's still tired, which makes riding with him all that much better. For once I can keep up with him :)
Friday: Our last Starbucks date of the summer, errand running, tasty food eating, and opening ceremony watching. Chris is regaining his appetite as he easily downed several pieces of yellow cake with chocolate icing, ice cream, all dipped in chocolate sauce.
Today: Chris is out riding and exploring with Stefan. Meanwhile I am here preparing for yet another adventure. Tonight we will go down to Colorado Springs to spend a fun evening with my sister, brother-in-law, niece, and nephew. Tomorrow morning we will be getting up verrrrrry early to climb Pikes Peak.
I go back to school on Wednesday, and kids start coming next Monday. I look forward to meeting my class, but nervous as always. I also got officially "accepted" into grad school at CU-Denver. I've been taking grad classes through my school district and UCD, but now I will officially be taking the *extra* classes needed to complete my masters in Linguistically Diverse Education. So... after a summer of perpetual Saturdays I will soon be thrown back into my full time job and taking two masters classes this semester.
I loved this summer more than any other summer that I've ever had. Hopefully I will be able to say the same about the school year.
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