Adventures of Rachele

I just got back from our race weekend.   Kyle, Kristen, Erin, Wilson, Aaron, Steve, Ian, Tien, Dana, Maren, and Amy all ran the full marathon.  Lily, Tim and I did the 1/2.  I have to admit trips to races are very fun vacations for me.

Wilson wouldn't tell us his birthday because he didn't want us to make a big deal of it.  Of course, that's like telling a kid not to push the red button...it made us try extra hard to find out his birthday AND throw a surprise party.  Also, there's no point in trying to hide our birthdays and ages, we do enough races, that you can figure it out pretty easily by our age divisions.  Also, if you do a lot of races (like Wilson), you can see when someone ages up.  We (15 of us) all had our pre-race, carbo-loading dinner at Joe Federigo's.  We also celebrated Wilson's birthday (early).  Of course, we had to completely embarass him with cake, balloons and singing.   Plus, it was fun hearing all the smack talk about our times the next day.  We actually put money in to see if Wilson could beat Steve in the marathon.  Steve ended up winning the pot.

Boston Qualifiers!!!

Yes, we met at the crack of Dawn (actually before since the sun wasn't up at 5:30am!) on Sunday.  I forgot my timing chip, so I didn't get an official time, but I was only 1 minute off my PR, so I was pretty happy.  Aaron and Steve both qualified for Boston!!!  Was it really worth the IV and the stay in the medical tent, Steve?  Really, we're not having a good track record with our group...we seem to have someone "taking advantage" of the medical facilities at many of these races.  Ugh!

Even though this was the inagural Eugene Marathon, the event was well organized and well supported.  The couple who organized it actually has never directed the race AND they've never planned an event larger than a 40 person party.  They did a wonderful job.  Jared, the spokesperson from Subway, fired the starting gun.  There were water stations about every 2-3 miles.  There were fans throughout the course.  They even had food at the very end.  Plus, since Subway was one of the major sponsors, they even had turkey and veggie sandwiches at the finish line.  The course was absolutely beautiful, we went through streets and paved trails, along the river, and it was Eugene, a running town.  This was the land of Prefontaine, the running spirit was contageous.

Yes, I would totally do this race again.  However, I'd do the full marathon instead.  So, who's up for Eugene 2008?

Last Thursday was Tapas' (my friend, Richard's little Chihuahua) first birthday.  We went over to Mel & Richard's for dinner and they even baked him a doggie cake.  Of course, I had to take pictures.

Last Thursday, I did another podcast, but this time there were actually more women than men.  Consequently, we called it Confemme (instead of Confab).  The talk is split into two parts.  The first part is released today and the second will be released next Monday.  We focused on plastic surgery based reality TV shows, women struggling with how their appearance affects their careers, and how technology is changing our social interactions.

Here's the link, www.confabshow.com.  Enjoy!

Thanks, Jim, for forwarding these...

Some of the tulip fields

Yes, I just realized that I committed to doing STP (bike ride from Seattle to Portland) this July.  So, I looked up what training I need to do in preparation for the 204 mile ride.  I have to admit that I was surprised at how many miles I'm supposed to be riding right now.  My current habit of one ride per week will need to change...soon.  Ugh!  If it wasn't for Lily babysitting me, I think I'd still be wandering Skagit county, getting lost in the tulips.

61 miles is a long way!

Elevation

Bethany was kind enough to share the data from her Garmin which shows the course and elevation.

Every once in a while I feel the need to do a home improvement project.  Actually, it's a pretty rare occurance and today I was reminded why.  There are some things I'm very good at...planning, math, and making spreadsheets dance.  Then there are my underdeveloped skills, such as basic home maintenance projects.  I really shouldn't be allowed to use power tools.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not tackling difficult projects or haphazardly throwing things together.  Today I attempted to install a bike hoist.  It consists of three pulleys, a rope, two anchors to the ceiling, and a cleat to fasten the extra rope.  Really, it should be easy.

Well, I installed the hard part, but I couldn't screw in the cleat to the wall.  Even after reinforcements came, I was left with five new holes in my wall.  I am throwing in the towel.  I have to admit that I have to wait for my dad or friend's husband to save this one.  At least I learned how to use a stud finder and power drill today.