Greetings from Canton, South Dakota! Has anyone else noticed how many towns there are by the name of Canton? I know that there’s one in Georgia, Tennessee, Michigan, Ohio, and South Dakota - of course. Any other Cantons out there?
We arrived tonight around 6:15 to a yummy dinner of salad and spaghetti. It was my grandparents’ night to cook. After dinner all the boys went downstairs to watch the Cardinals game and the girls went upstairs to watch the season finale of The Bachelorette. Not that I have ever watched that show ever once before in my entire life, but certain South Dakota cousins of mine are into it (and a certain contestant by the name of Kiptyn) so we all indulged. By the time the dramatic and tear-filled conclusion rolled around two hours later, the last of the families had arrived. We helped them unpack, had devotions and announcements, and have basically been visiting ever since.
Most people are off to bed now, actually. I’m sitting in the living room with a rotating fan and my uncle and two cousins playing chess. After posting this I plan to brush my teeth and make up my pallet in the girls’ room. And go running with cousins tomorrow morning.
Good night.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
The Family Reunion
This week is the family reunion. My family always refers to it as THE family reunion because there really isn't any other for us, at least at this level of reuniting. Every year my mom's side of the family - her family, her twin sister's family, the families of her two brothers (who are also twins), and her parents - manage to gather in one spot for about a week. That's five families and twenty-four grandchildren. And it never fails to be fun.
This year Anna can't come and the rest of us are quite disappointed. Cousins missing a reunion here and there is nothing terribly new, at least since we all started going to college and getting jobs. I almost wasn't able to go this year due to a teacher's conference back in Maryland. That fell through due to under-registration and so I'm going after all! In the spirit of thankfulness (and of blogging more often) I am going to write every day of this week to share some of the more interesting goings-on.
This afternoon we'll set out on the eighteen-hour journey to South Dakota where everyone's gathering this year. Our cousins who live in town here have already left. We all were at a friend's wedding last night and they decided to leave after that and drive through the night. My dad couldn't miss two Sundays of church so we had to wait until this afternoon. We'll stop in St. Louis tonight and proceed on tomorrow morning. For some reason my parents weren't into the drive-through-the-night idea.
And sometime this week I'll write about Flaab.com, too.
Let me know if there are any other requests.
This year Anna can't come and the rest of us are quite disappointed. Cousins missing a reunion here and there is nothing terribly new, at least since we all started going to college and getting jobs. I almost wasn't able to go this year due to a teacher's conference back in Maryland. That fell through due to under-registration and so I'm going after all! In the spirit of thankfulness (and of blogging more often) I am going to write every day of this week to share some of the more interesting goings-on.
This afternoon we'll set out on the eighteen-hour journey to South Dakota where everyone's gathering this year. Our cousins who live in town here have already left. We all were at a friend's wedding last night and they decided to leave after that and drive through the night. My dad couldn't miss two Sundays of church so we had to wait until this afternoon. We'll stop in St. Louis tonight and proceed on tomorrow morning. For some reason my parents weren't into the drive-through-the-night idea.
And sometime this week I'll write about Flaab.com, too.
Let me know if there are any other requests.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Three Month Update?!
I may have bested my time-between-posts record! Apologies to my dear readers, whom, without the aid of that blessed invention called the RSS feed, I surely would have lost to throes of frustration and boredom.
I'm sitting at my family's kitchen table this lovely July evening, listening to the cuckoo clock and LOTR Return of the King soundtrack (after worthy efforts earlier to expand my musical taste by second-hand listening to my brother's hip-hop Pandora station). I'm watching small insects crawl across the sliding glass door and non-committal attempts at rain on the part of the sky. And I thought I would share some highlights of my summer.
. . . and it is now about 45 minutes later. I got a sudden desire to write on Emily J's Facbook profile, even though she won't get it for several more days. And then, in the process of finding a picture of my most recent shoe purchase (see below) I got distracted by a new fashion blog and online boutique. I have moved on to the Love Actually soundtrack. Slightly more modern, but still a soundtrack. Hmm. So anyway. . .
WHAT I DID THIS SUMMER
- Visited a J.Crew "sample sale" at the distribution center in Lynchburg, Virginia. I was looking up a code for 20% off or free shipping or something and came across a comment where someone made mention of a "distribution center sale". I was intrigued by the possibility of such a thing, and upon Googling it I discovered that there would be just such a sale the following weekend! My mom and brother came along for the four hour drive (Josiah was looking for college clothes, and what better place to get that preppy look, right?) and we were not disappointed. The place was a big warehouse from which they mail out people's online orders. It was set up like a garage sale, with cardboard boxes labelled with clothing styles/sizes set up on tables in a big ring in the corner of the warehouse. We got there about an hour early to wait in line, and it was definitely worth it. Once they let in a certain number of people, no one else could come in until someone else left. Upon entrance they handed us a big plastic garbage bag and price list. I didn't really know what to hit first. A lot of people swarmed the shoes - that was definitely the easiest place to find your size. For other things you just had to dig through the boxes. It was kind of hit-and-miss as to what you could find. But find stuff we did! I got some shoes, a pair of boots, two turtlenecks, matchstick jeans, a dress, and a couple of headbands. And a suit coat, skirt, and cropped pants. Josiah got some great kahkis, dress shirts, ties, and a couple of blazers. My mom got a skirt and some sweaters. Not everything was in perfect condition, and once we were home we discovered that a rather noticeable recktangular hole in the back of one of Josiah's shirts. Bummer. Somebody must have wanted a sample (attempt at wordplay).
Wow, that was pretty boring. Once I got started I felt the need to chronicle every little detail. And I didn't even mention everything like the fact that we dressed in skirts and athletic shorts and sleeveless shirts so that we could try things on without dressing rooms. Oh! and I am now on their email list, so hopefully I'll find out next time there's a sale. It's about four hours from DC, and if anyone's interested it's definitely worth the trip. It makes everyday J.Crew sales look expensive (they actually kind of are). Just to brag a littl--that is to say, to entice you to come, I got these $100+ shoes for $30. Even if none of the clothes fit (and you're bound to find something...I did) you can get shoes. They had boxes and boxes of shoes.
- Learned Scott Joplin's "Pine Apple Rag" (almost)
- Played piano for church one Sunday when all the organists were out of town (yay hymns)
- Bet myself money on Flaab.com to lose weight (and won)
- Went to a conference of the Association of Classical and Christian Schools in Atlanta, GA (where I saw many Hillsdale alumni)
- Visited a friend in Wilmington, NC (and went to the beach)
- Washed and waxed the family mini van after replacing hub caps (two were missing from the old set. . . redneck, anyone?)
- Slept in a LOT
WHAT I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO
- Family reunion in South Dakota
- Teaching a Latin review course
- Missing my family when I go back to Maryland
- Attempting to see a DC United soccer game
- Visiting IKEA and redecorating my room
- Buying jeans
- Joining the Annapolis Striders or some other running club
- Going to "Jazz in the Garden" at the NGA Sculpture Garden
- Thrift shopping in Baltimore
- Seeing friends again
- Teaching my second year of Latin
I'm sitting at my family's kitchen table this lovely July evening, listening to the cuckoo clock and LOTR Return of the King soundtrack (after worthy efforts earlier to expand my musical taste by second-hand listening to my brother's hip-hop Pandora station). I'm watching small insects crawl across the sliding glass door and non-committal attempts at rain on the part of the sky. And I thought I would share some highlights of my summer.
. . . and it is now about 45 minutes later. I got a sudden desire to write on Emily J's Facbook profile, even though she won't get it for several more days. And then, in the process of finding a picture of my most recent shoe purchase (see below) I got distracted by a new fashion blog and online boutique. I have moved on to the Love Actually soundtrack. Slightly more modern, but still a soundtrack. Hmm. So anyway. . .
WHAT I DID THIS SUMMER
- Visited a J.Crew "sample sale" at the distribution center in Lynchburg, Virginia. I was looking up a code for 20% off or free shipping or something and came across a comment where someone made mention of a "distribution center sale". I was intrigued by the possibility of such a thing, and upon Googling it I discovered that there would be just such a sale the following weekend! My mom and brother came along for the four hour drive (Josiah was looking for college clothes, and what better place to get that preppy look, right?) and we were not disappointed. The place was a big warehouse from which they mail out people's online orders. It was set up like a garage sale, with cardboard boxes labelled with clothing styles/sizes set up on tables in a big ring in the corner of the warehouse. We got there about an hour early to wait in line, and it was definitely worth it. Once they let in a certain number of people, no one else could come in until someone else left. Upon entrance they handed us a big plastic garbage bag and price list. I didn't really know what to hit first. A lot of people swarmed the shoes - that was definitely the easiest place to find your size. For other things you just had to dig through the boxes. It was kind of hit-and-miss as to what you could find. But find stuff we did! I got some shoes, a pair of boots, two turtlenecks, matchstick jeans, a dress, and a couple of headbands. And a suit coat, skirt, and cropped pants. Josiah got some great kahkis, dress shirts, ties, and a couple of blazers. My mom got a skirt and some sweaters. Not everything was in perfect condition, and once we were home we discovered that a rather noticeable recktangular hole in the back of one of Josiah's shirts. Bummer. Somebody must have wanted a sample (attempt at wordplay).
Wow, that was pretty boring. Once I got started I felt the need to chronicle every little detail. And I didn't even mention everything like the fact that we dressed in skirts and athletic shorts and sleeveless shirts so that we could try things on without dressing rooms. Oh! and I am now on their email list, so hopefully I'll find out next time there's a sale. It's about four hours from DC, and if anyone's interested it's definitely worth the trip. It makes everyday J.Crew sales look expensive (they actually kind of are). Just to brag a littl--that is to say, to entice you to come, I got these $100+ shoes for $30. Even if none of the clothes fit (and you're bound to find something...I did) you can get shoes. They had boxes and boxes of shoes.
While I'm on the subject of shoes, here's the picture of the black Circa Joan & David "Beauchamp" Oxfords that I got at TJ Maxx for $7 (I know all that info because I had to look them up online because my camera is broken and I couldn't take a picture myself).
They're a little. . . adventurous. . . but I am up for the challenge. I'm not sure if it's actually a trend that will work for me, but for $7 I may as well try, right? I'll let you know if I can pull it off.
WHAT I DID THIS SUMMER, CONT'D.
- Ran the Crazy 8s. I made the distance in time! My sister Julie was a big encouragement, my running buddy for about the first month. After that, she decided running wasn't for her -- she's really into tennis right now -- but she definitely helped me get back into it. If you ever want to start running, I highly recommend running with a friend. I've also enjoyed running with my cousins who are MUCH better runners than I am. I go with them on their long slow runs or we go to the track together for speed workouts.
I ran the same race back in 2007 and then kind of slacked off. This year I have decided to do a bunch of other races to keep things interesting. The week following the Crazy 8s, my cousins persuaded my brothers and me to do a 7-mile trail run on top of Bays Mountain. Although it was farther than I had trained this summer, I had run 6.3 a couple weeks before and I figured I would just run slowly. And I did. . . at an 11:12 pace!
On Sunday, my brother Caleb and I tried a speed workout called "Tabata" after the scientist who researched it. It's only 4 minutes long (aside from warm up and cool down) and goes like this: run as-fast-as-you-can-like-a-bear-is-chasing-you for 20 seconds, then jog or walk for 10 seconds. Repeat 8 times. Whew. It went a lot faster than I expected, but hurt so much more! It hurt my chest. . . I don't think I've ever had to breathe that hard in my life. I told Caleb that I should have consulted with a doctor first. But no heart attack. I recovered nicely and might even be crazy enough to try it again next week. Apparently you can do this with any exercise (lunges, squats, pushups, etc.) and there are even .mp3 tracks available online of upbeat songs that people have edited to include audio signals for each interval. The benefits that Dr. Tabata found in his study include increased speed and VO2 capacity. I guess time will tell if I'm doing it correctly. We read about it in Trail Runner magazine (which they were giving away at the last race).
WHAT I DID THIS SUMMER, CONCLUDED
I am a very lazy writer. And now that I've put off writing for so long it would take way too long to write about it all. So I'm switching over to list format. If you would like to hear more about any one of these, tell me in the comment section and I will expound in future posts. I'm afraid I have bored most of you blathering on about clothes and running. *sheepish grin* Here's some other things I did.
- Started reading the biography of Alcibiades in Latin (really need to finish)- Learned Scott Joplin's "Pine Apple Rag" (almost)
- Played piano for church one Sunday when all the organists were out of town (yay hymns)
- Bet myself money on Flaab.com to lose weight (and won)
- Went to a conference of the Association of Classical and Christian Schools in Atlanta, GA (where I saw many Hillsdale alumni)
- Visited a friend in Wilmington, NC (and went to the beach)
- Washed and waxed the family mini van after replacing hub caps (two were missing from the old set. . . redneck, anyone?)
- Slept in a LOT
WHAT I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO
- Family reunion in South Dakota
- Teaching a Latin review course
- Missing my family when I go back to Maryland
- Attempting to see a DC United soccer game
- Visiting IKEA and redecorating my room
- Buying jeans
- Joining the Annapolis Striders or some other running club
- Going to "Jazz in the Garden" at the NGA Sculpture Garden
- Thrift shopping in Baltimore
- Seeing friends again
- Teaching my second year of Latin
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Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Family Reunion - Day 1
Greetings from Canton, South Dakota! Has anyone else noticed how many towns there are by the name of Canton? I know that there’s one in Georgia, Tennessee, Michigan, Ohio, and South Dakota - of course. Any other Cantons out there?
We arrived tonight around 6:15 to a yummy dinner of salad and spaghetti. It was my grandparents’ night to cook. After dinner all the boys went downstairs to watch the Cardinals game and the girls went upstairs to watch the season finale of The Bachelorette. Not that I have ever watched that show ever once before in my entire life, but certain South Dakota cousins of mine are into it (and a certain contestant by the name of Kiptyn) so we all indulged. By the time the dramatic and tear-filled conclusion rolled around two hours later, the last of the families had arrived. We helped them unpack, had devotions and announcements, and have basically been visiting ever since.
Most people are off to bed now, actually. I’m sitting in the living room with a rotating fan and my uncle and two cousins playing chess. After posting this I plan to brush my teeth and make up my pallet in the girls’ room. And go running with cousins tomorrow morning.
Good night.
We arrived tonight around 6:15 to a yummy dinner of salad and spaghetti. It was my grandparents’ night to cook. After dinner all the boys went downstairs to watch the Cardinals game and the girls went upstairs to watch the season finale of The Bachelorette. Not that I have ever watched that show ever once before in my entire life, but certain South Dakota cousins of mine are into it (and a certain contestant by the name of Kiptyn) so we all indulged. By the time the dramatic and tear-filled conclusion rolled around two hours later, the last of the families had arrived. We helped them unpack, had devotions and announcements, and have basically been visiting ever since.
Most people are off to bed now, actually. I’m sitting in the living room with a rotating fan and my uncle and two cousins playing chess. After posting this I plan to brush my teeth and make up my pallet in the girls’ room. And go running with cousins tomorrow morning.
Good night.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
The Family Reunion
This week is the family reunion. My family always refers to it as THE family reunion because there really isn't any other for us, at least at this level of reuniting. Every year my mom's side of the family - her family, her twin sister's family, the families of her two brothers (who are also twins), and her parents - manage to gather in one spot for about a week. That's five families and twenty-four grandchildren. And it never fails to be fun.
This year Anna can't come and the rest of us are quite disappointed. Cousins missing a reunion here and there is nothing terribly new, at least since we all started going to college and getting jobs. I almost wasn't able to go this year due to a teacher's conference back in Maryland. That fell through due to under-registration and so I'm going after all! In the spirit of thankfulness (and of blogging more often) I am going to write every day of this week to share some of the more interesting goings-on.
This afternoon we'll set out on the eighteen-hour journey to South Dakota where everyone's gathering this year. Our cousins who live in town here have already left. We all were at a friend's wedding last night and they decided to leave after that and drive through the night. My dad couldn't miss two Sundays of church so we had to wait until this afternoon. We'll stop in St. Louis tonight and proceed on tomorrow morning. For some reason my parents weren't into the drive-through-the-night idea.
And sometime this week I'll write about Flaab.com, too.
Let me know if there are any other requests.
This year Anna can't come and the rest of us are quite disappointed. Cousins missing a reunion here and there is nothing terribly new, at least since we all started going to college and getting jobs. I almost wasn't able to go this year due to a teacher's conference back in Maryland. That fell through due to under-registration and so I'm going after all! In the spirit of thankfulness (and of blogging more often) I am going to write every day of this week to share some of the more interesting goings-on.
This afternoon we'll set out on the eighteen-hour journey to South Dakota where everyone's gathering this year. Our cousins who live in town here have already left. We all were at a friend's wedding last night and they decided to leave after that and drive through the night. My dad couldn't miss two Sundays of church so we had to wait until this afternoon. We'll stop in St. Louis tonight and proceed on tomorrow morning. For some reason my parents weren't into the drive-through-the-night idea.
And sometime this week I'll write about Flaab.com, too.
Let me know if there are any other requests.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Three Month Update?!
I may have bested my time-between-posts record! Apologies to my dear readers, whom, without the aid of that blessed invention called the RSS feed, I surely would have lost to throes of frustration and boredom.
I'm sitting at my family's kitchen table this lovely July evening, listening to the cuckoo clock and LOTR Return of the King soundtrack (after worthy efforts earlier to expand my musical taste by second-hand listening to my brother's hip-hop Pandora station). I'm watching small insects crawl across the sliding glass door and non-committal attempts at rain on the part of the sky. And I thought I would share some highlights of my summer.
. . . and it is now about 45 minutes later. I got a sudden desire to write on Emily J's Facbook profile, even though she won't get it for several more days. And then, in the process of finding a picture of my most recent shoe purchase (see below) I got distracted by a new fashion blog and online boutique. I have moved on to the Love Actually soundtrack. Slightly more modern, but still a soundtrack. Hmm. So anyway. . .
WHAT I DID THIS SUMMER
- Visited a J.Crew "sample sale" at the distribution center in Lynchburg, Virginia. I was looking up a code for 20% off or free shipping or something and came across a comment where someone made mention of a "distribution center sale". I was intrigued by the possibility of such a thing, and upon Googling it I discovered that there would be just such a sale the following weekend! My mom and brother came along for the four hour drive (Josiah was looking for college clothes, and what better place to get that preppy look, right?) and we were not disappointed. The place was a big warehouse from which they mail out people's online orders. It was set up like a garage sale, with cardboard boxes labelled with clothing styles/sizes set up on tables in a big ring in the corner of the warehouse. We got there about an hour early to wait in line, and it was definitely worth it. Once they let in a certain number of people, no one else could come in until someone else left. Upon entrance they handed us a big plastic garbage bag and price list. I didn't really know what to hit first. A lot of people swarmed the shoes - that was definitely the easiest place to find your size. For other things you just had to dig through the boxes. It was kind of hit-and-miss as to what you could find. But find stuff we did! I got some shoes, a pair of boots, two turtlenecks, matchstick jeans, a dress, and a couple of headbands. And a suit coat, skirt, and cropped pants. Josiah got some great kahkis, dress shirts, ties, and a couple of blazers. My mom got a skirt and some sweaters. Not everything was in perfect condition, and once we were home we discovered that a rather noticeable recktangular hole in the back of one of Josiah's shirts. Bummer. Somebody must have wanted a sample (attempt at wordplay).
Wow, that was pretty boring. Once I got started I felt the need to chronicle every little detail. And I didn't even mention everything like the fact that we dressed in skirts and athletic shorts and sleeveless shirts so that we could try things on without dressing rooms. Oh! and I am now on their email list, so hopefully I'll find out next time there's a sale. It's about four hours from DC, and if anyone's interested it's definitely worth the trip. It makes everyday J.Crew sales look expensive (they actually kind of are). Just to brag a littl--that is to say, to entice you to come, I got these $100+ shoes for $30. Even if none of the clothes fit (and you're bound to find something...I did) you can get shoes. They had boxes and boxes of shoes.
- Learned Scott Joplin's "Pine Apple Rag" (almost)
- Played piano for church one Sunday when all the organists were out of town (yay hymns)
- Bet myself money on Flaab.com to lose weight (and won)
- Went to a conference of the Association of Classical and Christian Schools in Atlanta, GA (where I saw many Hillsdale alumni)
- Visited a friend in Wilmington, NC (and went to the beach)
- Washed and waxed the family mini van after replacing hub caps (two were missing from the old set. . . redneck, anyone?)
- Slept in a LOT
WHAT I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO
- Family reunion in South Dakota
- Teaching a Latin review course
- Missing my family when I go back to Maryland
- Attempting to see a DC United soccer game
- Visiting IKEA and redecorating my room
- Buying jeans
- Joining the Annapolis Striders or some other running club
- Going to "Jazz in the Garden" at the NGA Sculpture Garden
- Thrift shopping in Baltimore
- Seeing friends again
- Teaching my second year of Latin
I'm sitting at my family's kitchen table this lovely July evening, listening to the cuckoo clock and LOTR Return of the King soundtrack (after worthy efforts earlier to expand my musical taste by second-hand listening to my brother's hip-hop Pandora station). I'm watching small insects crawl across the sliding glass door and non-committal attempts at rain on the part of the sky. And I thought I would share some highlights of my summer.
. . . and it is now about 45 minutes later. I got a sudden desire to write on Emily J's Facbook profile, even though she won't get it for several more days. And then, in the process of finding a picture of my most recent shoe purchase (see below) I got distracted by a new fashion blog and online boutique. I have moved on to the Love Actually soundtrack. Slightly more modern, but still a soundtrack. Hmm. So anyway. . .
WHAT I DID THIS SUMMER
- Visited a J.Crew "sample sale" at the distribution center in Lynchburg, Virginia. I was looking up a code for 20% off or free shipping or something and came across a comment where someone made mention of a "distribution center sale". I was intrigued by the possibility of such a thing, and upon Googling it I discovered that there would be just such a sale the following weekend! My mom and brother came along for the four hour drive (Josiah was looking for college clothes, and what better place to get that preppy look, right?) and we were not disappointed. The place was a big warehouse from which they mail out people's online orders. It was set up like a garage sale, with cardboard boxes labelled with clothing styles/sizes set up on tables in a big ring in the corner of the warehouse. We got there about an hour early to wait in line, and it was definitely worth it. Once they let in a certain number of people, no one else could come in until someone else left. Upon entrance they handed us a big plastic garbage bag and price list. I didn't really know what to hit first. A lot of people swarmed the shoes - that was definitely the easiest place to find your size. For other things you just had to dig through the boxes. It was kind of hit-and-miss as to what you could find. But find stuff we did! I got some shoes, a pair of boots, two turtlenecks, matchstick jeans, a dress, and a couple of headbands. And a suit coat, skirt, and cropped pants. Josiah got some great kahkis, dress shirts, ties, and a couple of blazers. My mom got a skirt and some sweaters. Not everything was in perfect condition, and once we were home we discovered that a rather noticeable recktangular hole in the back of one of Josiah's shirts. Bummer. Somebody must have wanted a sample (attempt at wordplay).
Wow, that was pretty boring. Once I got started I felt the need to chronicle every little detail. And I didn't even mention everything like the fact that we dressed in skirts and athletic shorts and sleeveless shirts so that we could try things on without dressing rooms. Oh! and I am now on their email list, so hopefully I'll find out next time there's a sale. It's about four hours from DC, and if anyone's interested it's definitely worth the trip. It makes everyday J.Crew sales look expensive (they actually kind of are). Just to brag a littl--that is to say, to entice you to come, I got these $100+ shoes for $30. Even if none of the clothes fit (and you're bound to find something...I did) you can get shoes. They had boxes and boxes of shoes.
While I'm on the subject of shoes, here's the picture of the black Circa Joan & David "Beauchamp" Oxfords that I got at TJ Maxx for $7 (I know all that info because I had to look them up online because my camera is broken and I couldn't take a picture myself).
They're a little. . . adventurous. . . but I am up for the challenge. I'm not sure if it's actually a trend that will work for me, but for $7 I may as well try, right? I'll let you know if I can pull it off.
WHAT I DID THIS SUMMER, CONT'D.
- Ran the Crazy 8s. I made the distance in time! My sister Julie was a big encouragement, my running buddy for about the first month. After that, she decided running wasn't for her -- she's really into tennis right now -- but she definitely helped me get back into it. If you ever want to start running, I highly recommend running with a friend. I've also enjoyed running with my cousins who are MUCH better runners than I am. I go with them on their long slow runs or we go to the track together for speed workouts.
I ran the same race back in 2007 and then kind of slacked off. This year I have decided to do a bunch of other races to keep things interesting. The week following the Crazy 8s, my cousins persuaded my brothers and me to do a 7-mile trail run on top of Bays Mountain. Although it was farther than I had trained this summer, I had run 6.3 a couple weeks before and I figured I would just run slowly. And I did. . . at an 11:12 pace!
On Sunday, my brother Caleb and I tried a speed workout called "Tabata" after the scientist who researched it. It's only 4 minutes long (aside from warm up and cool down) and goes like this: run as-fast-as-you-can-like-a-bear-is-chasing-you for 20 seconds, then jog or walk for 10 seconds. Repeat 8 times. Whew. It went a lot faster than I expected, but hurt so much more! It hurt my chest. . . I don't think I've ever had to breathe that hard in my life. I told Caleb that I should have consulted with a doctor first. But no heart attack. I recovered nicely and might even be crazy enough to try it again next week. Apparently you can do this with any exercise (lunges, squats, pushups, etc.) and there are even .mp3 tracks available online of upbeat songs that people have edited to include audio signals for each interval. The benefits that Dr. Tabata found in his study include increased speed and VO2 capacity. I guess time will tell if I'm doing it correctly. We read about it in Trail Runner magazine (which they were giving away at the last race).
WHAT I DID THIS SUMMER, CONCLUDED
I am a very lazy writer. And now that I've put off writing for so long it would take way too long to write about it all. So I'm switching over to list format. If you would like to hear more about any one of these, tell me in the comment section and I will expound in future posts. I'm afraid I have bored most of you blathering on about clothes and running. *sheepish grin* Here's some other things I did.
- Started reading the biography of Alcibiades in Latin (really need to finish)- Learned Scott Joplin's "Pine Apple Rag" (almost)
- Played piano for church one Sunday when all the organists were out of town (yay hymns)
- Bet myself money on Flaab.com to lose weight (and won)
- Went to a conference of the Association of Classical and Christian Schools in Atlanta, GA (where I saw many Hillsdale alumni)
- Visited a friend in Wilmington, NC (and went to the beach)
- Washed and waxed the family mini van after replacing hub caps (two were missing from the old set. . . redneck, anyone?)
- Slept in a LOT
WHAT I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO
- Family reunion in South Dakota
- Teaching a Latin review course
- Missing my family when I go back to Maryland
- Attempting to see a DC United soccer game
- Visiting IKEA and redecorating my room
- Buying jeans
- Joining the Annapolis Striders or some other running club
- Going to "Jazz in the Garden" at the NGA Sculpture Garden
- Thrift shopping in Baltimore
- Seeing friends again
- Teaching my second year of Latin
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)