I can't believe that tomorrow is May 1st already. It sure seems like the year is flying by, doesn't it? I totally forgot that I'm going to be 28 this month...yuck.

Moving on...

We're really wiped out from the weekend. On Friday we met up with Robin to go on a hike and ride. At 10pm. Duncan let us park at his place and from there we rode up the Iron Horse trail for an hour or two. We stopped at a fire road and stashed the bikes in some underbrush, then did a 2 hour hike up the trail. The hike was pretty uneventful but slightly challenging due to the heavier-than-normal packs we were all carrying. Call me a chicken, but I'm not very fond of being out in the dark and tried to walk in between Eric and Robin whenever I got the chance. Anyway, by the time we got back it was about 3am. We had a pretty good time. I think Robin has a 12-hour training session planned for next weekend! If we don't do the ropes class then we'll probably join him. I'll make sure I bring more of "the best brownies ever" for that outing.

After about 3 hours of sleep (my internal alarm clock goes off at 6:30 regardless of the day) we crawled out of bed and loaded the kayak on the car- we were taking crazy Tony Catanzaro for his first paddle ever. He and Eric teamed up in a tandem (just in case kayaking wasn't his thing) and I used Eric's boat. I almost always paddle with Eric in a tandem and it's hard to tell exactly how much I contribute to the overall speed. Well, I must not contribute much because I was moving glacially slow. Looks like I've got some work to do before the Mountains to Sound race, which has a 12-mile kayak section. I have finally mastered the rudder though and I'm pretty happy about that. We tooled around Union Bay, watched some sea planes take off and then had an awesome lunch at the Jolly Roger in Ballard.

Later that night was Jerry's birthday party. Most of the Missing Link team had assembled to eat Mexican food, play poker and laugh our butts off.


Today we just played catch up by doing laundry, grocery shopping and hanging out with the birds.

I think we just had one of our busiest weekends to date. Eric, Jerry and Stacy manned our "yard sale" on Saturday. Since we don't live on a street garage sales aren't really a possiblity for us. Eric rose to the challenge and snagged a patch of grass right on the main road...and we made a couple hundred dollars, probably due to the great location :) While all this ruckus was going on I teamed up with Robin to do the Street Scramble around the U-District. We rode the 3-hour course on mountain bikes and it was a lot of fun.

Today Eric woke at 5:30 to support Jerry at his 50K race. He basically rode alongside him for the entire 50K, passing him water, GU packets, and words of encouragement as necessary. I also rode about 25 miles of the trail and met them at the finish line. On the way home I stopped to walk a friend's dog that I was pet-sitting and then Eric and I headed out for a 2 hour hike. Of course after that there's always a ton of errands like grocery shopping and 2 loads of workout-related laundry. Now it's about 10pm and I'm SO ready for bed!

Oh, I forgot to mention that it was 70 degrees today! Eric actually got sunburned and I have a head-start on my weird tan lines for the summer (lines from gloves, shorts, socks and sleeves). The weather is supposed to stick around for another week or so- perfect for training :) I've logged 14 hours in the past 7 days and I'd like to do at least that many this week.

Have a great week everyone!

Last night we hiked up to Poo Poo point (yes, that's really the name) in hopes of watching the paragliders take off. Unfortunately the sun had just set when we reached the top and all the gliders had landed already. Doh! Eric really wants to try paragliding but I don't think I could get up the nerve to do it! At one point a large Barred owl landed in front of us and started hooting. We should've asked him how many licks it took to reach the center of a Tootsie pop.

We've going to be really busy the next few days:
-Thursday- Kayaking with Robin
-Friday- Mariners vs.Detroit Tigers ball game
-Saturday- Garage sale, bike orienteering course(?)
-Sunday- Support crew for Jerry's ultra

It's officially that time of year...when the rest of the country is warming up and we're still in the 40's. Yuck.

We didn't do a whole lot this weekend. We went bowling on Saturday with some friends and then canoed on Sunday. My ankle is really hurting so I tried to keep off it as much as possible, but I hope to get running again later this week.

Quiz:
In the last 24 hours, have you:

-Have acquired a rash from stinging nettle?
-Endo'd into a pit of mud?
-Run over a mouse or two?
-Stayed out 'till midnight, then proceded to take a nap after work today?

If you can answer "yes" to 2 or more of those questions then you probably raced the Beast at Soaring Eagle Park! It was a good start to the '06 season. The course was tough but we had a great time and enjoyed each other's company. The next race is May 2nd at SeaTac!

*Click here for pictures*

Last night Shannon and I did a good 2 hour trail run at Tiger. The weather is finally starting to warm up, which means it's consistently in the 50's. I never thought I would consider 55 degrees "warm"! I would do just about anything to have one day of 80 degree weather :)

Tomorrow night is the Beast race- Shannon, Kim, Marna and I racing together, and Eric and Jerry make up another team. Check back later in the week for a write-up and some pictures.

Another weekend has flown by. I think all companies should have one 3-day weekend a month.

On Saturday Eric, Kim and I did a long hike and run at Tiger. The rain started about a half hour into the trek but we still had a good time (despite being soaked). Later that night Eric and I saw Lucky Number Slevin; it was pretty good despite so-so reviews.

Today we went to Pike Place specifically for clam chowder from the Market Grill. We putzed around there for a while then picked up a few things from REI. I managed to fit in a short ride today as well.

Hike on Saturday:

9 am at Tiger (exit 20 trailhead)-we're hoping to do 15 miles or so.

Call if you're coming...

What a gorgeous day outside...here's Daisy on the front porch.

Last night was our team training night at Tiger mountain. We had a huge group and some new faces this time- I think the nice weather drew everyone outdoors. In between all the talking and catching up, we managed a 2 hour run/hike on the Iverson and Northwest Timber trail. Everyone had a great time.

Not much is new with us lately. We've been really busy with work and spend the weekends unwinding...and training of course :) I can't believe it's April already- summer is going to be here before we know it.

Hey everyone!!!

I am trying yet another format for our webpage- a blog! This will be much easier for me to maintain.

Let's hope I can get this up and running sometime soon...

-Karyn