On river floating and dead bodies.

Hello, 2012!

It is our first post of the year, and it only took four months to get it published.  Not bad at all, wouldn't you say?

Well, the sun is shining (except when it's snowing) and the birds are chirping (except when those birds are geese and hissing evilly) here in Central Oregon!  Boy howdy, have I been waiting for sweet summer to come my way, and I can certainly smell the scent of its approach in the air.

Leslie and I decided to celebrate the warm weather last weekend by going on a river float!  You don't know this about me, but EVERY TIME we float I am absolutely sure there are dead bodies lurking beneath the dark waters, and I like to make these thoughts known to my companions.

Well, as we were floating last weekend, what do we see ahead of us but police officers on the bank, divers in the water, and nosy neighbors watching from a bridge...  Yes, we were those jerks wearing hot pink sunglasses and bathing suits floating through a crime scene.  We watched the news an hour later and apparently they were pulling a body from the water at that very time that we floated by, so that's pretty much one of my worst fears coming true.

In other news, I twisted my ankle two weeks ago and I am on a diet.  The two events are not related... or are they?  I'm an idiot and can't walk properly, and so I've been punished with a never-ending swollen ankle.  I am on a calorie counting adventure, and it's working out well so far!  But the swollen ankle is hindering my plan of daily bike rides with my pal, Leslie, so I hope to get that back on track ASAP.  I want to look like a Greek goddess by the time my ten year high school reunion rolls around in July, and I think that request is reasonable.

Weekend cardio

Forms of "exercise" completed this weekend:

1. Dancing like a fool, for several hours, to the likes of Journey and Beastie Boys. Yes, I am that cool.
2. Walking around (lots and lots of walking around) a local athletic event during which people ski, then bicycle, then run, then kayak, and then sprint. Totally forming a team next year.
3. Bicycle ride from my home to my office to see how difficult it would be to bike to work. Still moderately afraid of biking around cars and traffic, which is a problem... We'll see.
4. 9 mile run that turned into a 7 mile run, as I still have the plague and a freak thunderstorm was approaching. Still, I made good time, and it's better than 6 miles! Did I mention I have the plague?

You're welcome.

Good morning, winter. Did you know it is March?

I woke up today to SNOW. What the heck is with that? It's supposed to snow all day, but hopefully melt this afternoon.

Part of why I love spring so much is because the weather improves, and the sunshine does wonders for my disposition. I really have a difficult time getting outside to run during winter, and staying active.

I had grand plans to run tonight and go for a bike ride with Shawna, followed by gardening, a run, and a bike ride tomorrow with another friend. This will undoubtedly still happen, as I have decided to say "Suck it!" to the storm clouds and white powder covering the ground.

In one month I leave for Hawaii. Today it is 80 degrees there. Suck it, snow!

P.S. I bought a new swim suit online last night, because Shawna was on a date and I have a horrible problem with online shopping when left to my own devices. What can I say, I was waiting up to hear how it went, and the internet was right there! But really, who buys a swimsuit online? I really hope it doesn't look horrible, but that is probably the worst item to ever buy online. It's really a matter of trying things on to make sure that things are not squished where they shouldn't be, and nothing is popping out where it shouldn't be. Silliness, plain and simple.

Polar Plunge Survivors!

I have to say, jumping into the icy river wasn't as bad as I expected. The water was 41 degrees, and we had all taken a couple shots of schnapps before our plunge, so we were pretty well off! The coolest part was that we raised over $350 for the Special Olympics, and were plunging next to a group who had a family member who participates in the Special Olympics. It was a wacky event, but it was lots of fun! I'm the one in the green flannel and pink hot pants in that video. Keeping it classy, you know. Shawna has red flannel and a home-made ax--we were lumber jacks, and also had an Otter Pop mascot!

Afterward I participated in some beer drinking. Saturday I hiked a butte and did laundry. And today I enjoyed some more wonderful sunshine while I ran a little over an hour up the river trail, followed by a ridiculous adventure on my bicycle. You see, I reset my ipod in attempt to pacify it and make it work again--but I still need to calibrate it. I mapquested the nearest high school to find a track, and set off on my bicycle. Turns out that the nearest high school is atop a freaking MOUNTAIN. Holy burning thigh muscles. I made it there, eventually, only to discover that they lock away there track and don't allow public use. No calibration for me today--but I did discover a near running trail nearish to my house! It will be excellent if I want to run hill sprints, because did I mention it is on top of a mountain?

I really like not being sick anymore (and am glad that jumping into a river didn't make me more sick). I'm also really digging the sunshine. Please spring, stick around for awhile!

Bicycles and springtime, oh my!

It does not look like February around here lately. I am most definitely okay with that. I arrived home today just as the sun was setting, so I quickly changed and went for a super quick (2 mile) run. Then I got back and still had light, so I went for a bicycle ride through the park. Ahhhh, sunlight.

It's amazing what sunshine does for my mood. I think that's why I enjoy living where I live (it's sunny a large portion of the year). During winter I definitely get the wintertime blahs, and don't run, and am not as active, and get a little heftier around the middle.

I am hoping that this spring-like weather sticks with us, and it decides to just be spring already. That would definitely be a-okay with me (and the size of my ass). Keep your fingers crossed that it stays okay weather, cause if so, I have plans to hike up a butte this weekend!

Holy bike ride time...

Earlier this month I updated my facebook status to say, "You know how people say you won't be given more than you can handle? I think those people should be punched in the face."

Fact.

Tickets, technology and Tour de Fat...

You might be asking yourself (all three of you) how my 16-mile run went. Well, friends, I am asking myself that same question. You see, I got to Boise at approximately 11:30 p.m. and slept horribly, but got up at 4 a.m. after 3 hours of sleep to run 16 miles. It's dark outside at 4 a.m. And scary. At some point during my run I lost my pink pepper spray which is very unfortunate. I did run, and run, and run, and it was all through cement-business-downtown blah because it was too dark and scary to run on the kickass trail by the river. After 8 miles my ipod fried due to my sweat (this only happens in Boise!!!) and due to sucky knee pain and general misery, I ended up quitting after about 12 miles. I suck sometimes. That's what she said. And also, you won't see any record of my 12 miles cause my ipod deleted it. That's T for technology, and how it hates me.

I don't regret not finishing, as I was supposed to do 12 this weekend and will just do my 16 instead. I was upset with myself at first, but I clearly take life too seriously and just need to relax a little. I ran 12 miles. That kicks ass.

The T for tickets comes from Friday night... on my drive over I got pulled over. Let's just say I was going too fast, didn't have my valid insurance card (WHERE did I put that thing?) and had a bike rack covering my back license plate. Hello, illegal stuff... Anyway, for some reason the cop did NOT give me a ticket!!!! I felt like the luckiest girl alive. I totally deserved a ticket, but could not afford to pay one, so I probably would have smooched that cop right then and there if I weren't afraid of the repercussions of randomly kissing cops.

Saturday was spent at Tour de Fat--a festival for Fat Tire Ale whereupon people dress up all crazy and participate in a bike parade. My fake family and I dressed up as a band of gypsies. I should mention I was completely sober. And yes, I did crash my bike. And yes, I did bleed. I fall down a lot. I told Shawna that story and she immediately googled me to see if I popped up on youtube as a random girl at Tour de Fat who fell on her face. I'm very sore and bruised from it... Turns out biking in a gypsy skirt is not as easy as it seems. All in all I biked about 5 miles between the trip there, back, and during. Add that to my run and that's 17 miles of ground I covered! I'll take it.

Some pictures of my sweet gypsy attire, along with my best pal Chelse:




So there we have it. No 16-mile run, but adventures all the same. I'm okay with how my weekend turned out. I got back last night, completely exhausted, and yet was up immediately for my run this morning... October is getting darn close!!!!