Running..

Apparently I've past my one year anniversary with running, unannounced. I've been a quasi-runner since my older sister talked me into running track my freshman year in high school. (Being talked into a sport is pretty much how my oh-so-stellar basketball career began also). I hate being guilted into things, but that's a whole 'nother blog post. This is about running...

I've been a full-fledged runner for one year now. I used to train for races and claim I was a runner, but spend as much time excusing myself from a run as actually running one. I attempted to train for a half-marathon about two years ago and ended up in Physical Therapy for my knee. After working back into running shape last fall, I made a commitment in November to be a regular runner. I figured running 3 miles a day in a healthy, consistent manner for the next 20+ years was better for me than overdoing it with a half-marathon. So, I've done exactly that. I've been running 12-15 miles a week for the last year, consistently. I'm not fast or particularly threatening in the sneakers, but I'd say, for the first time, that I'm really a runner. I've done one 10K and a few 5Ks, but nothing more than that. And I love it. There's something about being the only crazy person running at 5 am with your even crazier dog that's refreshing.

Maybe one day I'll get to the marathon that's on my Bucket List. Until then, I'll keep at it.

El Cucaracha

I feel as though must set the record straight, for fear that Brent has portrayed me in a bad light. I have not read his blog, yet, but feel certain you will feel worse for me than for him upon further information.

This morning I almost didn't make it to school. Because I almost couldn't put my shoe back on. Because I almost couldn't shake the image of what I'd experienced.

I went to put my shoe on this morning - barefoot, mind you - and there was a LARGE SQUIRMING COCKROACH in my shoe. He slimed his little legs all over my foot in the split second it took me to register that something was moving between my foot and my shoe. I pulled my shoe off and crushed him with it. And, I'm sure Brent has told you this, I left him on the ground. Finding him in my shoe at an hour previous to 6 am was punishment enough.

And we already know I don't like cockroaches.

Triath...long

Kate, Amy, Emily and I did a triathlon together this weekend. It was the first for Kate, Emily and I. Amy is was our seasoned veteran with all the advice (and the one who legitimately looks bad-ass in this pic). It was quite an experience. I'd liken it to a half-marathon.

Here's what I learned:
1) One should never underestimate a 500 meter swim.
2) I should invest in a road bike.
3) Everyone in life should have their age written on their calves, for the competitive part of all of us.
4) Perhaps for future tris (and there will be future ones) I should actually train. :)
5) And, most importantly, everyone in their life needs to do a triathlon with Emily Aker at some point or another. Priceless. It helps if Emily is also registered as number one.

As promised...

Bad Ass ---The picture, perhaps, does not do our bad-ass-ness justice and if you've never backpacked, you probably don't know how hard it is to walk into the woods with everything you need on your back. I got a chance to get out in Pisgah with some girlfriends from Asheville earlier this week. We had some veterans to backpacking and some newbies and could not have had a better time. We did a good bit of hiking in the rain, but it was worth it for the sunset over the Blue Ridge Mountains with mist sliding in and out of the hills. It it so good to get into the woods. There is something both humbling and liberating about nature. The highlights of the trip were certainly:

- hiking in the rain for most of one afternoon and the entire hike out
- sharing more than enough info on bowels and birth control over smores
- fetching our own water from a spring
- realizing that at "the point of confusion" we did, in fact, choose the right direction to set up camp
- watching a sunset on the blue ridge mountains
- eating well-earned smores
- meeting Steve, the well-intentioned hiker who Sarah was certain was going to kill us in the night
- seeing our car again after trying to wait it out then finally hiking out in the rain

I am ready to go again. Who's with me???

And then there's this...

The Old North State

Or the one shaped like a hand where things are pronounced funny and you tell people your location by holding your hand up. Bag is bahg. Macinac (island or bridge or ice cream) is macinaw. The UP, well, it stands for the Upper Peninsula. This is funnily enough the chosen vacation spot for the Arnold family. My dad grew up in Ohio, so it was a meager 8-hour trip every summer for him. Then my parents moved to NC, where they raised their kids and made the epic 18-hour drive in a blue Astro conversion van for a two-week vacation in Michigan every summer. I've only missed coming to Michigan in the summer twice in my life: the summer of Governor's School and my honeymoon. Brent and I had decided that we wouldn't come up this summer, for multiple reasons. Then, my dad sweet-talked me into riding up with him and back with my sister. I couldn't resist, so I rearranged my schedule and drove overnight last Friday. Somehow the trip only takes 14-15 hours now, but it's still a haul. If you've never come, plan it as your next vacation. I'd love to help. It's worth the drive.

My Favorites:

#5 - Cherries. I know the Teet has Washington cherries on sale right now and when I thought I wasn't coming up here I bought some. But Michigan cherries (and all other fruits, really) are phenomenal.



#4 - Lake Michigan. Our family's house is not on Lake Michigan; it's on a small lake. But we go to see the sunset (and take a myriad of pictures) each year at Lake Michigan. Being from the east coast, it's especially nice to see the sunset over water. And the Great Lakes are indeed great. Somehow, without a tide, they still have waves rolling in all the time. It feels like the ocean.

#3 - The Wet Burrito. We go to a local joint here called Ruthie's. They have killer ice cream and a wet burrito that's unlike anything in the world.

#2 - Speaking of ice cream, we make it our job up here to eat as much of that as we can. I don't know what people in Michigan do in the winter, but they consume some ice cream in the summer.

#1 - Being on our lake. I love to ski. I love to swim. I love to lie by the lake. Today it's about 75 degrees, if not cooler. I'm sitting in a sweatshirt and I've been cold, like the beach in the spring, all day.

This year has been exceptionally cold. Normally, we're only in our sweatshirts at night while by the campfire or playing games, but this year I didn't bring enough warm clothes. Right now I'm wearing my dad's Petosky sweatshirt. It's refreshingly amazing. It's been so windy that I haven't gotten my dad up for early morning skiing, which is unusual. That's normally my thing: skiing in freezing cold water by 8:00 am to get the glassy lake and going to the very end of the dock in the morning to read. One year I slept on the dock, but that's another story.

I love it here. And I'm convinced you would, too.

Love/Hate

Love:


I love the greenway more and more. I've ridden a good bit of it. I love that I pop out on streets and realize where I am in Raleigh and I'm always amazed how I got there. I love exploring new parts of the greenway. I love that it's so stinkin' close to my house. I love that Raleigh thinks I'm a really good biker because they love to include dark tunnels and insanely curvy/hilly boardwalks. I love that, because of the greenway, I don't fall off my bike sideways when I stop nearly as often anymore.

Hate:

La Cucaracha. Brent and I had an epic battle with the first one of the season in our bathroom this morning. Brent almost stepped on it. We staked it out on both sides of the sink and then the freak of nature that he is appeared out of nowhere. And I screeched. Battle-weary Brent grabbed it and flushed it with only a thin sheet of toilet paper between the beast and his fingers.