For Our Next Trick - Summer Garden

Well, there must be something about moving to the 'burbs!  We planted a few veggies in the planter box Jeff built last summer:  a few lettuce varieties, a cucumber, some peppers, a mini pumpkin, and some scallions.  We'll see how it goes!  Otherwise, the Fort Awesome yard is looking amazing!  There must have been the perfect mix of sun and rain recently, because everything we just planted is going bananas.  We got inspired by the succulent pot you made us, Mom, and Jeff added a living roof to one of the bird houses he built.  Totally cool.  Hopefully now we'll get some little birdies.   

Portland R&Recap

Thanks for the email and the Facebook posts!  I missed being able to call you guys to share in the excitement right after the race, so think God for things like Facebook!  Thought I'd take a moment to recap the experience briefly.

We couldn't have asked for better conditions on Sunday morning:  overcast with even a bit of a drizzle.  Yet, for whatever reason, this was a really tough race for me.  I was super pumped at the beginning, and even got a full night of sleep the night before. But somewhere around mile five, my mental energy just left me, and I could not shake it off.  I kept waiting for the euphoria to kick in; it never did.  And so the finish was *hard*.  I had a great plan to gradually increase my speed in the last 5K so that I would finish the last mile at just under a 10 minute mile pace. That did not happen. Whether my legs actually felt like lead or I just thought they did, it took everything in me to finish hard.  The only thing that kept me going at that point was looking down at my watch and thinking, "oh hell no! There is no way I'm going to finish with a 16 at the end of my time!"  So I found an afterburner and somehow kicked it in.  My official final time was 2:15:31.  Jason finished 20 seconds ahead of me.

In hindsight, I think the mental issues may have been because I forgot to have fun!  We were so focused on maintaining our pace, not going too fast, finishing in the time that we wanted to, that we forgot to look around and take in our surroundings and just have fun with it.  I couldn't tell you what we saw on Hawthorne or what the houses in Laurelhurst looked like.  I was super happy at the end once we crossed and it was a great event overall, though.  And today I'm feeling great!  Very little muscle or joint soreness, so that's a good thing!  I'm all ready figuring out when my next one will be!

Bunco Madness

My friend Stacia is part of a regular Bunco group that meets on the second Wednesday of the month.  They needed a sub last night, so she asked me to join.  There's a $5 buy-in: the winner gets $25, most Buncos gets a $25 gift card (or $25 if the host forgot to buy a gift card), and most "1-2-3s" and the most losses gets their $5 back.  Well, it must have been beginner's luck because I won the most number of games (15 out of 18) and the most Buncos (4).  Of course, I didn't get two prizes; I think ultimately I took the "most Buncos" prize because there were several people with 2 (nobody had 3) and no tie for second place among most games won.  Anyway, it was totally fun.  The only person I knew was Stacia, but that's the great thing about Bunco - forced interaction!

The morning has started out a bit overcast, so it seems our heat wave has broken a bit.  I can't say I'm horribly sad about that.  The temperature had to top 80 degrees yesterday.  I apparently had not hydrated enough on Tuesday because it took me all day yesterday to feel "normal."  Well, normal for me.  😋. Tonight  is a 30 minute run - the last real run before the race on Sunday.  Butterflies are setting in!

The Greatest Sport on Earth

As is typical, we are getting an early taste of summer here in May!  The temperature has been in the upper 70s and near 80 for the past couple days.  I had a cross training day on my half marathon schedule yesterday, so I took advantage of that and played some tennis with Jeff, Jason, and Dan.  How wonderful it was!  I think it has been almost a year since I played!  Dan is quite good.  He gets some interesting topspin on the ball and his serve will be wicked once we start playing enough and he gets it back under control.  And Jeff never ceases to amaze me on the court.  I cannot believe he did not play competitively in high school.  He has a beautiful, easy forehand stroke.  It is so natural and fluid; I get a little envious of his apparent natural ability.  It must be the musician and him.

My game was coming together toward the end, which was encouraging for the rest of the summer.  Surprisingly, I was hitting my serve quite easily.  Of all the strokes I thought I would have lost, my serve would've been my first thought.  I was even hitting a topspin second serve toward the end.

After our fun on the court, Jason and Dan came over to our place and we barbecued salmon burgers and corn, and had a wonderful potato salad that Jason prepared.  Actually, Jason made everything! I can take no credit for the meal.

It looks like we will have another scorcher today.  As you can imagine, Jeff is thrilled!  Today is a day off from the training schedule, so tonight I will be sitting in as a substitute for my friend Stacia's regular Bunco gathering.  Should be a good time!