Mick’s Miscellaneous Meanderings

Meet Don. Don’s a runner. More accurately, Don’s an ultrarunner, a runner who runs races longer than marathon length. In fact, he often does 100 mile races. Yes, you read that right. 100 miles…of running (with walking sprinkled in). Yes, crazy. He’s got me hooked on the concept of running distances greater than the marathon, although I still can’t fathom 100 milers. I just can’t imagine being 18 miles in and thinking, “Oh good. Only 82 more to go.”

Don’s not just a crazy runner though….he’s just plain crazy. We (Don, me, Sharon, Carol, and Carl) just did a 15 mile trail run this morning. There is a 3 mile hill in the beginning of the run, much of it steep. Don entertained us with snippets from the Sound of Music, particularly, “The hills are alive…with the sound of music…” on the way up. He didn’t let the fact that he can’t sing stop him either. You’ve really got to meet him to really appreciate him…his boundless energy, his stories, his humor.

I’ll be crewing and pacing him in the Leadville, Colorado Trail 100 Miler this summer. I’m psyched. Colorado. Trails. Running. Mountains. Views. Woot!!! Is it August yet?

Ohh…and the outfit…clearly, he’s very secure in his masculinity.

Went down to Maryland today with some friends of one of the members of our running group to run a trail race. The website said that there were two choices for race distance – a 30K and a 50K. I was planning to run the 30K with secret intentions of doing the 50K if I was still feeling good. Somehow I got the wrong info and there were actually 4 distances – 11K, 20K, 42K, and 50K. Darn. The first two were too short to determine whether I’d want to run one of the 2 longer distances. So I decided on the 20K since I hadn’t eaten hardly anything the day before and would be running on 2 really crappy nights of sleep.

Turned out to be a really awesome run – one of those rare runs where it’s just effortless, you forget you’re running, and feel like you could go forever. The trail was excellent – very tame as far as elevation, much less rocky than the PA trails, and with lots of open meadow running with some great views. And while I wasn’t feeling top notch physically, mentally I desperately needed a long run – a run where I could completely zone out and think. I got it.

We started off to someone yelling “Get ready, get set, go!”. No air horn, no music, nothing. It was a “Fat-ass” race – a no-frills race format where there’s no registration fee, no finish medals, no awards, and no t-shirt. Just get your fat ass off the couch and go run. It was an organized training run, really.

So we headed out and I quickly got into the groove, running alone and setting my own pace. I wasn’t trying to keep up with anyone and wasn’t holding back either. It was wonderful. As soon as my toes thawed out by mile 3, I was deep in thought and oblivious to everything around me except for an occasional view and the pink ribbons that marked our route. About 15 minutes later I reached the turn-off point for the 20K. OK, maybe it was more like 2 hours. But it felt like 15 minutes. I contemplated continuing on for the 42K. I still had plenty to think about but I was still having trouble getting food down from a nervous stomach the day before and so was barely staving off hunger by nibbling on electrolyte gummy fish. I knew it wouldn’t be long before my body rebelled at the lack of fuel and I started bonking. Plus I really didn’t want to have a long recovery time from the run because there are 2 races in January that I’d like to PR on (set a personal record). So I headed back to the start. Got to the parking lot and there were 3 people there making some soup for the finishers. They clapped and I did a happy dance. Quite the opposite of the big Philly marathon, but it fit my mood. I thanked them and continued to the car to get my coat, stretch, change, and nap until the other 3 finished.

With the other 3 finished and changed, we headed home. I was still very much distracted by my thoughts so I was in and out of their conversations rehashing the race. I did pick up a few funny stories though. Despite my more subdued participation in the group, I did have a great day of running. Thanks a bunch Don, Carol, and Lauren. I’m looking forward to more runs at Stoney and especially the Buzzard run.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_4qwVLqt9Q

Got a letter from my alma mater (Mansfield University in PA) a couple weeks ago inviting me to a wind ensemble reunion concert. It would be a full day of rehearsal on Saturday, a rehearsal Sunday morning, and then a concert Sunday afternoon. I debated. I had been planning to attend ASP.NET Code Camp (geeky computer stuff) in Harrisburg on Saturday. Hmmm. But wait. Mansfield was bringing Mr. Stanley back to direct the band. Done deal. I was going to the wind ensemble reunion.

Seventeen years ago (eek!) I arrived at Mansfield as a freshman music major and tried out on saxophone for the wind ensemble. I made it…4th in the line up. That meant I played bari sax – 2 on alto, one on tenor, and me on bari. I had never played bari before. I got my own mouthpiece and reeds and used the school’s horn. I sat down in the first rehearsal for wind ensemble and couldn’t get a note out of the beast. I faked it through the entire rehearsal. Next rehearsal I got a few notes out. Three weeks into it I was playing most of the time but still not sounding great. That week my roommate was thrown out of rehearsal by Mr. Stanley for not being able to play her third clarinet part. I locked myself in the practice room that weekend and came to terms with the bari.

Mr. Stanley made it clear from the beginning what he expected – your absolute best playing, utmost attention, total preparation. Don’t even think of yawning during wind ensemble. You could get thrown out for that too. That meant you were bored and not giving your best. As a freshman struggling with playing a horn for the first time, it was all pretty intimidating. And yet, Mr. Stanley was one of the four reasons I decided to attend Mansfield. He was demanding and I liked that. While many directors are thrilled when the band gets the correct notes and rhythms, Mr. Stanley rarely even touched on those. You were expected to work out that basic stuff yourself. In his rehearsals we learned to blend and bring out the nuances and subtleties in the music. I was totally bummed when he retired at the end of my freshman year.

One of the reasons I chose to go to college at Mansfield – the location

Fortunately, the other 3 reasons I went to Mansfield remained. First was the location…in the middle of nowhere! I’ve never been a city person. I don’t like crowds or lots of commotion. Mansfield was perfect. There were only 3,000 students at Mansfield. And when school was in session, the town population doubled.

Mr. Stanley and Dr. Galloway

The other two reasons were Dr. Galloway, the trumpet and jazz band professor, and Dr. Murphy, the sax professor. I had gotten a taste of their teaching when I attended summer music camp at Mansfield. And they were a good fit with my style of learning. Little did I know what lay in store for the next four years. A lot of it came back to me this past weekend.

I arrived on Friday early evening, checked into the hotel and headed over to Wellsboro where I spent a lot of my time during and after college. I stopped in to see the family I lived with for some of my college days – Mimi and Derek and their 6 kids. Only two of the youngest are still at home. Ahhhh! When I was there, the oldest was 12 and the youngest was 3. Now the oldest is in graduate school and the youngest is in 10th grade and barely remembers me. I spent the evening chatting with Mimi and Derek. Derek tried hard to make me a risk management specialist in the local county government. Had he offered 2 years ago I probably would have jumped at the chance to move back up there.

Back to the hotel Friday night and up Saturday morning to play…bari…in a band that…Mr. Stanley…would be conducting. Oh my. Deja vu. I had no idea what shape the school bari was in. I’m not one who can just blow past leaks in a horn like some people. I need it to be in good condition to sound decent. But then again, I haven’t played hardly at all in the past year so what difference would it make. I just prayed I didn’t get thrown out of rehearsal.

Mr. Stanley took it easy on us. He understood that many of us don’t play on a daily basis any more. He even had some pretty good lines:

“Musical maturity makes up for a lot of physical deficiencies.” Yeah, I was understanding that one pretty well. Took me half the morning to get my embouchure back. It was like riding a bike though. By concert time I was doing wheelies.

Dave and Sharon

There were only 3 of us there that were at Mansfield in the 90′s. Dave (another sax major) and I graduated in ’95 and Sharon (flute major who married Dave) graduated in ’97. Dave and I reminisced about some of the great times we had as a part of the sax studio:

Going on a sax quartet tour using Dr. Murphy’s car and driving down a highway the wrong way (not sure we ever told Dr. Murphy about that!) and then finding out why we were having problems seeing once it got dark – the headlights barely shined through all the dirt and salt caked over them.

The jazz band tour where we were snowed in on the first day of the tour. And that’s all I’m saying about that!

The jazz band performance during Halloween at the coffee house on campus. Classic. Dr. Galloway showed up in this Fruit of the Loom style costume – he was a bunch of grapes. He used purple balloons for the grapes, wore green tights, and had a big ol’ green leaf draped over his head. It’s not easy playing saxophone while you’re trying not to laugh. I still can’t look at him 15 years later without at least cracking a smile.

So we rehearsed all Saturday and then went to an alumni dinner. Chatted with the people at our table about some of the more memorable professors. Mr. Rusk with orchestration and piano classes, the Wunderlichs {shudder}, Mr. Hill in eurythmics class (scarey, scarey class!), Hector (the violin teacher. I don’t even remember his real name. We just called him Hector), Mr. Owens, and darned if any of us could remember what the heck the music therapy prof’s name was.

Sunday morning I got up early and went for a run on one of my old favorite routes. It was here at Mansfield that I started running…an effort to take off the freshman 15lbs. I just ran a marathon a few weeks ago but running in Mansfield took me back to when I was thrilled that I had made it 5 times around the recreation center basketball court without stopping, then running outside for the first time and making it 10 minutes. Then the 2 mile routes. And the 3 miles routes. I was elated the first time I actually ran 5 miles without walking. I still have the 2 tapes I played in my Walkman to keep me pumped up – Mr. Marks’ trumpet and vocal tape he made with his wife and Glad’s Symphony Project. And the hills….I was in heaven. I loved running the back dirt roads, over the hills around Mansfield. They don’t make hills like that down here in Annville and Grantville.

Then on to a short rehearsal and the concert in the afternoon. It was great playing in a good sounding band again. While you’re in college, you don’t realize how spoiled you are getting to play with good players. Or that once you leave the confines of college where you have to audition to get into the groups, playing with good groups may be few and far between. I didn’t realize I missed that. I’d pretty much given up playing in the community bands lately because it gets frustrating going over the same mistakes every week for the same players. It was so nice playing in a group where the right notes and rhythms are taken for granted and the focus is on making music….even if just briefly.

Drove back home thinking of the weekend, of college days, where I’m at now, and wondering where I’m going. I’ve got my 5 year plan but who knows how it will really turn out. Hopefully, it’ll continue to unfold right here on this blog.

Forget this long-winded account. Just take me to the pictures already.

Run a marathon. It seemed like a good idea 3 months ago. How hard could it be? Do the training, get the miles in, and then run the race. I wanted to do it just to see if I could (and for the magnet!) and it was one of Jen’s goals before she turned 40. We sat down together with a training schedule at the annual summer H.A.R.D. picnic and mapped out our 12 week training schedule. In order to get the majority of the training in before the last marathon of the season in the area, we had to jump right into week 7 of a 16 week schedule. No big deal. We’d been running all summer and had a good base. We committed by registering for the Philly Marathon just before the price jumped from $102 to $132. Surprisingly Nicole registered at the very last minute. After her first experience with a marathon – getting a stress fracture during the race – I didn’t think she’d ever do one again. Woohoo. Then there were three.

So the training began. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Up at 4:30am. Drive into Annville and meet at Shawn’s at 5:00 am. The rest of the running group adjusted to our schedule. Whatever we were supposed to run, they ran. As the midweek long runs on Tuesday got longer, we moved the starting time back to 4:45, and then to 4:30. Members of the group still showed up to run. Then the weekend long runs started building the mileage. A few of the group members were still hanging in there with us. We worked on Bonnie. “Come on Bonnie, you’re getting in all the mileage, you might as well get something to show for it. Run your first marathon with us.” She caved and then there were four. Nydia was such a steam engine of our long runs, I felt sure we’d be able to crack her. But nope. She remained sane as did Michelle and Janelle.

And the training continued. Friday night/Saturday morning long runs, mostly in the dark. Wearing reflective vests, red blinking lights, and head lamps. Adding a few tenths of a mile to every run because of all the weaving back and forth to the opposite side of the road to get away from the traffic. There was the brutal 14 miler…possibly the most difficult time I’ve ever had during a run. Then the 16 mile run on a Friday night when it should have been starting to get cool out but was still 80 degrees when we finished at 9pm. And we’ll never forget the hilly 19 miler where we were almost charged by a bull, startled by a groundhog only a couple feet away, got freaked out by 2 cats fighting in a cornfield, looked at the beautiful sky full of bright stars well outside the town limits, listened to rustlings of other living creatures as we passed by the woods (quickly), and then invited ourselves over to the hot tub of one of the HARD Runner members. (Thanks for the towels, sweat shirts, and hot tub Steve and Brenda!!!) There was the 22 miler on a Saturday morning where we finished feeling great and knowing we’d be able to complete the marathon.

During all these runs, there was the AWESOME support crew showing up when we needed them most with Gatorade, water, gloves, energy beans, Vaseline, and anything else we could possibly need – Shawn, Nydia, Nydia’s husband, Bonnie and Dennis, and Kathy J.! At one point Kathy J. (there’s no other Kathys that we need to differentiate between, we just call her Kathy J.) literally gave me the socks off of her feet when my socks wore through, causing blisters on a long run. And during one support stop, we got some poor guy out of bed with our whooping and hollering because he thought there was a car accident out in front of his house. Sorry about that mister!

We ran through ups and downs: hurting feet, bladder infections, pee stops in corn fields (and in the middle of the road – it was dark!), setting new mileage records together, second winds, chafing, blisters, blips, cramps, and a COLD, WINDY, 10-miler (BRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!). I discovered that all modesty, inhibitions, and self-consciousness go out the door sometime between mile 16 and 19. I’m not sure you ever fully recover them.

And then came race weekend. I rode down to Philly with Shawn on the Saturday before the race. We arrived before 8am to get the keys from her son for his apartment before he left for the weekend for a wedding. We were all (all 7 of us, that is – the 4 of us newbie marathoners, Shawn, our matriarch, and Al and Ann, lovebirds and experienced marathoners) staying there for the race the next morning. When the running expo opened, we headed down to the convention center to check things out and pick up the race packets. We got back early afternoon and napped while waiting for the others to show up. They arrived, unloaded and we all piled into Jen’s van to take a spin around the race route. 1.5 miles and 1.5 hours of Jen’s expert maneuvering through a gridlocked city later, we gave up on that quest and parked and headed into the expo. Then it was back to the apartment and Shawn’s awesome spaghetti with meatballs supper.

Lights out at 9. Then the problems began. Jen was battling a head cold and was having trouble sleeping. I was sleeping on a borrowed air mattress that leaked. Either I got up every half hour and reinflated it, slept on the floor, or figured something else out. Bonnie had a smaller matress that I put on top that did the trick. Off to counting sheep. Until the chainsaws arrived. I woke up at midnight to both Shawn and Bonnie sawing logs. Oh. My. Word. I turned over, double checked that my ear plugs were still in, pulled the pillow over my head and laid there until 1:30 when I couldn’t take it anymore. I jarred Bonnie’s mattress a little hoping she’d wake up enough to turn over. No such luck. I gathered up my sleeping bag and pillow and headed upstairs to a little 5X7 storage room off the hallway. I headed back downstairs to grab my mattress pad and found out Jen was still awake. She says, “I thought I could sleep through anything, “ and follows me up the steps. We were dying of laughter at the situation as quietly as possible. I burrowed into my new digs by the light of my cell phone while Jen set off the jet engine of a bathroom fan by flipping on the light. She came out blinded and we stood in the hallway laughing our heads off some more. I checked my email and finally fell back to sleep around 2.

5:30 came quickly. I headed back downstairs and we harassed Shawn and Bonnie about their snoring. In the middle of it my phone rang. What?? Who would be calling me at 5:30 on a Sunday morning. It was none other than Kelly from work to wish me luck. We chatted for a little and then I got ready for the big day. We headed over to the starting line in fashion. Running clothes with plastic bags with a hole cut out of the bottom for our head. They played the Rocky song for each wave of runners and then count down. 3-2-1-bang. We were the 7th and final wave to be set free.

Anyone that’s done any amount of running knows that on occasion you have a really good day and running is just effortless. And once in a while, you have a really bad day and running is just drudgery. Most days though, things are middle of the road. By mile 3, I knew that today was going to be a drudgery day. Ugh. Sometimes, nature just doesn’t cooperate and things happen when you don’t expect them. That was today. All I could do was the best I could. So I knew the time would come when I probably wouldn’t be able to keep up with our little group. I hung in there until the halfway point, perking up briefly when we passed other members of our group who came down to cheer us on and help run us in. Then I started falling back, running mostly on my own until mile 21 when who do I see ahead but Jen coming back to me. She started running with me. I asked her what the hell she thought she was doing. She had become the steam engine of the four of us over the past three months and was still running strong. She had no business coming back to drag me along. I tried my best to make her see reason. She gave me some drivel about not caring about the finishing time, but just wanting us to finish together. Shortly afterward Kathy J. jumped in with us. These two were awesome. I almost cried, I was so happy to have them with me even though I felt guilty for holding Jen back. Finally the end was in sight. Everyone from our group that came down to watch and help us was there at the finish line (Shawn, Erin, Marc, Kathy, Kris, Nydia, Dennis, Wendy, Sandy). Jen and I crossed the line and hugged and I burst into tears. We did it.

We followed through the corralled area and got our finisher medals and space blankets and then went through the food tent. Then we met up with our group in the designated area. I was doing my best to hold back the tears. Growing up I’d rarely ever had anyone come to watch my events – college saxophone recitals, concerts, marching band tournaments, basketball games, etc. So it really meant a lot to me that this group of friends were taking time out of their busy schedules and away from their families to drive all the way down to Philly to cheer us on and run us in and share in this achievement. I was touched.

We got pictures and then walked back to the apartment for showers. We loaded up and headed down the street to an Irish pub for good food and awesome company. It was the best ending to the weekend to sit and laugh over stories from the past few days (Are you going to wear THAT to run in?) and hear new stories from Bonnie. Just when you think you know someone…

Thanks for the great memories, H.A.R.D.!!! Don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank you for all you do.

Now on to the next adventure. A triathlon maybe? Shhh. Don’t tell Wendy yet though. I’m not 100% sure of that yet.

The Awesome HARD Runners crew

Marc getting Al pumped up

Erin helps run Nicole and Bonnie in

Jen and I happy as clams to be finished

You can stop running now Bonnie. You’ve finished!

One of my favorite pictures – the four of us marathoners with our matriarch, Shawn, before the race

Did you see what Mickey’s wearing? Can you believe she’s wearing THAT?

Oh my gosh, she really is wearing that?

She is. I can’t believe it either.

Walking back to the apartment after the race

Stretching, Bonnie-style

What in the world are you guys doing down there?

We got Jen to join us. Sucker…

At the restaurant

At the restaurant

Statue with marathon shirt ready to run

Hanging around

Lots of activity here – Nicole chugging some energy, Kathy forcing her fleece sweatshirt over my head (THANK YOU!!!), and who knows what Marc’s checking out.

More activity – Kathy still playing mom and tucking my space blanket around me and I’m scared of knowing what Marc has on his mind with that look

Bonnie, Nicole, and Sandy

Bonnie, didn’t you just call everyone while you were running?

Made a little progress on the house in the last 6 months. Got the floor down in the living room in March, painted the outside of the house brown on July 4th weekend, and got the wood stove insert installed in the fireplace back in September. And just finished getting the firewood cut and split. I’ve been keeping it toasty warm!!!

No moonshine is made in the shed although I am considering turning the shed into a smokehouse to make my own Famous Dave’s ribs.

NOTE: See edits at the end of this text. Ebay will not allow me to add to the description

1992 Fleetwood Prowler travel trailer – 19 footer. I’m the second owner and it’s been well taken care of by me and the former owner. It passed PA state inspection last month and registration is up-to-date. There are 2 – 30lb propane tanks on the back that are about 4 years old. Battery was replaced last month. Everything works – water pump, oven, stove, lights, shower, toilet, etc. There are no problems that I know of other than the tires. I replaced 1 of the tires at inspection and the other 3 will probably need to be replaced in the near future. Includes a bunch of extras including the stabilizers, hoses, hookups, outdoor shower, etc.

7-day money back guarantee (less Ebay, Paypal, and shipping/pickup costs) if you’re not completely satisfied.

Located in central PA – 20 miles east of Harrisburg. Call 717-867-0473 and leave message to schedule an appointment to view. Or let me know if there’s something specific you want a picture of and I’ll post it. Contact info.

BID OR BUY ON EBAY.

Edits – Forgot to mention:

1.When I bought it 4 years ago, the awning had a hole in one of the corners. I opened it up once to look at it. Seemed ok other than that. Haven’t had it open since.

2. On two of the windows, there is a problem. They crank open fine but don’t crank closed. You have to go outside and push them closed. I think it’s just the knobs that need replaced. Forgot about that!

I think that’s it. If I remember anything else, I’ll post.

Also, someone asked about the gross/dry weight and the tank capacities. I think 5100 may be the gross weight instead of the dry weight. I’ll find out for sure and post. The water heater is 6 gallons. The tanks…I need to find out from Fleetwood. I’ll post when I get the info.

Gross weight: 5100 lbs
Dry weight: 3390 lbs
Fresh water tank: 40 gallons
Black water tank: 40 gallons
Grey water tank: 26 gallons
Hot water heater: 6 gallons
Hitch: 360

When I applied for the web dev job at PCAR, I listed my blog site on the cover letter of my resume so that whoever was doing the interviewing could get an idea of who I was. In my blog was this posting. So Harold, my boss, had fair warning in what he was getting into by hiring me. He hired me anyway. And below is the result. Together with Andrea, another member of the IT team at PCAR, we did a little “decorating” for his birthday. H.A.R.D. would be so proud.

What a week! Ugh. Started off with a bad 14 mile run last Saturday that I barely made it through. Continued with trying to figure out a networking problem at work that took half the organization off the internet and phones. Then on to the stress of ending a relationship with a web company. All that culminated in a run on Thursday where I didn’t even make it 3 miles, broke down and bawled in front of our entire running group (how embarrassing!), and then landed in the doctors office Thursday afternoon. Sheesh. Just shoot me already.

Things started looking up on Friday though. Went out Friday after work with the runners intending to take it mile by mile. After not eating or sleeping well all week, my expectations were low. I had Shawn on standby to come pick me up when I reached my limit. 16 miles later, I was still feeling pretty good. Yeayyy! I’m back on track for the marathon training.

Went hiking this morning with some people from work, foolishly intending to do maybe 10 miles. Hah. A couple of miles in I started fading. Thankfully, Sally and Jen kept an interesting conversation going that carried me along. But about 3 miles in I’d had it, admitted I was spent and we turned around and headed back out. Sorry for cutting it short, ladies! You were such good troopers!

We stopped at a diner and had some brunch on the way back. Mmmm, tuna melt sandwich. Maybe eating healthy isn’t so bad! And of course, the company made the meal. It’s so nice to be around people that are courteous and thoughtful when the world can be so full of jerks sometimes. So, thanks for a great hike Sally and Jen. I promise I’ll be perkier next time!

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FINALLY got out on a short hike for the FIRST time this year. How could I have let this happen? I’ve normally got several backpacking trips under my belt by this time of the year. Life just gets in the way sometimes.

Kris (sister), Karla’s mom (Wanda?), Karla, and Jen (a princess on her first hike!)

Anyway, did a 5-mile loop hike on the Appalachian Trail with some friends…5 miles that were a good representation of the AT in PA. Read – lots of rock and boulder hopping. We all took turns leading the pack and eating the spider webs spun across the trail through boulder fields, tropical rain forests, meadows, dense underbrush, and every other type of forest that PA offers. Ok, there were no tropical rain forests but there was a huge variety in vegetation.

Black snake across trail

Animals were sparce…except for a huge black snake sprawled out across the trail. First we thought it was a stick. After Charlie (my dog) walked across it a few times we realized it was a snake but thought it was dead. I reached for my cell phone to take a picture and saw its tongue move out of the corner of my eye. We threw some sticks near it and as it reluctantly started slithering off the trail, I think I heard it mumble something about “freaking hikers” under its breath. We continued on, coming up with some good headlines about a Palestinian woman (Jen!) out on her first hike being eaten by a black snake.

We continued on to the AT shelter about 2/3′s of the way in where we disturbed a couple sleeping in. Bummer. We sat on the edge of the shelter and the picnic table and ate a snack, and I took Charlie down to the spring for water. I’m always forgetting poor Charlie’s water bowl! But Karla’s mom gave me a great tip. She suggested keeping a piece of Saran wrap in my pack and then just digging a little hole in the ground, lay the Saran wrap over the hole and fill with water…voila, instant dog bowl. Cool!

Also got another great tip from her. I’ve got all kinds of packaging materials from having to ship horns. She said she uses the bubble wrap as a seat cushion. It’s light-weight, cheap, and replaceable. I’ll have to try it out.

So…we all had a really good time on our little outing…even my sister, Kris, who I often try to drag along on my ventures. Occassionally (very occassionally), she’ll give in and join me for something. I think she usually regrets it with several days of sore muscles and vows to never do it again. Eventually she always comes around again. This time, I think she actually enjoyed herself. By the end of the hike she and Jen were well ahead of the rest of us and chatting like magpies.

Then I went home and took an hour-long nap!!!