Lately I have been a very lazy blogger and a very busy girl. I guess that’s not a bad problem to have, but I like to keep this thing updated, so here we go.
A few weekends ago Mike and I decided to take advantage of a break in the weather to go for a hike. Shadow got to come along, which seriously made his day. I don’t know how he does it, but I’m fairly certain he is fluent in English… he knew exactly what the word “hike” meant, even though it’s not something we do with him very often.
We headed up to the fire lookout in Pine Grove and started walking. Here’s my happy, sweaty family about halfway up:
My Happy Little Family
Shadow seriously had the time of his life – we ended up hiking a few miles (just over an hour). The views were absolutely beautiful. Sometimes I forget what a beautiful state and city I live in. And take it for granted.
Valley View
It seriously already looks like spring! Thankfully after this we got a good deal of rain, so things look a little less dry, but this drought is killing us! Mike wanted to hike some more, so Shadow and I headed down the mountain while Mike hiked another hour or so. This is us on the way back down:
Me & My Dog
It was a wonderful morning out in nature and a beautiful hour with my family! Life is good!
Yesterday my parents came out for the afternoon to watch my riding lesson and to have dinner. It was quite the lesson… I was in the arena, which to date has been more exhausting than my longer trail rides. I think it’s because of the intense focus. This lesson started out a little tough… I was too focused on the fact that my parents were watching, my saddle was all wrong (we messed with the stirrups a bunch and finally ended up completely switching saddles), and I ended up changing horses. Once I got settled in on Rosie, I was good to go! I hadn’t ridden her before and she was a little more mellow than the other horses I rode, which was good because of the skills I had to practice. I also got to practice wearing spurs!
Rosie Loping In The Arena
We started with the normal arena work – walking, trotting, and loping. A key thing that I’m working on is anticipating the horse – Rosie wanted to stop at a bale of hay, so I had to practice motivating her past it before she broke pace. After a while of that, my trainer said that we were going to move to the circle arena to practice balance. I had no idea this meant riding without holding on. Not that hanging on to the reins really holds you onto the horse, but in my head it sure does.
Rosie would walk/trot/lope around the arena and Dana would make me do all sorts of fun things with my hands:
Hands OutHands AcrossHands On Your Head
While all of this was happening, my trainer was standing in the middle of the arena with a whip. Don’t worry, she doesn’t hit the horse. She would step toward Rosie and flick it, which would make her turn toward the fence and change direction. Keep in mind, we’re loping (which is a run). Rosie is a former cattle cutter, so she can spin on a dime. Dana told me to watch her ears, which didn’t make sense at first, but sure enough, her ears would signal which way she was going to turn and I could shift my weight to stay balanced. It was terrifying and so much fun! I definitely need more practice – my instinct was to grab at the saddle horn. Rosie was awesome… I think I was more exhausted than she was!
Yesterday I took the first real step in my journey towards fulfilling my lifelong dream of owning a horse. I took my first riding lesson. During my marathon training I ran past Oak Hill Stables every long run and always thought it was a beautiful place. Yesterday morning mom and I headed out to talk to the owner about boarding and training. I love the owner’s philosophy – it’s all about being in tune with the horse and making sure that horse and rider are well matched. I’m starting off with lessons – each time I’ll ride a different horse so that I can start to get a feel for what I like or don’t like in a horse.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of riding Nike, a 16 hand Appaloosa. The measurement of a horses height is in hands with 1 hand = 4 inches. You measure from hoof to withers (basically the shoulder). That means Nike was 5’4″ tall, which is a big boy. Appaloosas are known for their very smooth gait, and let me tell you, this one was wonderful. He was smooth and easy to ride.
Me on Nike
Mom got to ride a pretty little horse named Missy. We both had the best time – the lesson lasted two hours! We were shown how to saddle the horses, then we trailered them and drove to nearby Lake Tabeaud. We rode the whole three-mile loop around the lake and Dana (my trainer) taught me a bunch of the basics. When we were done we took them back to the ranch, unsaddled them, brushed them, and turned them out to the pasture.
By the time we were done, I was utterly exhausted from the excitement of it all. I honestly feel like this is something I was meant to do… I can’t even begin to explain how right it feels for me to be on a horse. I can’t wait to continue my learning experience and to then find the horse that is a perfect fit for me. I loved brushing Nike after we were done (his head got all droopy and he looked sleepy) and can’t wait to have my own horse to bond with. I’m so happy my mom came out to ride with me… I had such a wonderful time spending the day with her and sharing this milestone!
This year Christmas seemed to fly by. Part of that was because I missed half of it… Monday night I came down with the dreaded stomach flu. It was a pretty miserable night, but I was fortunate to only have the 24 hour version of the bug. It left me exhausted and I skipped Christmas with the Blankenheim side of the family because I didn’t want to share the sickness with anyone, especially with Mike’s grandma.
Since my gift from Mike this year is a horse, I didn’t have a lot of presents to open. Most of my gifts were either money or gift cards to the local tractor supply company for tack and such. Which makes me completely happy. I did get some cool stuff that I wasn’t expecting – Mike got me a cool pair of argyle riding gloves, my parents got me the most comprehensive horse care book I’ve ever seen, and Kati & Nate got me cowboy boots!
New Cowboy Boots
What I realized the most was how much I love giving gifts. It was so neat to see the excitement in Chloe’s eyes as she opened presents and I realized how much I missed seeing my Blankenheim nieces and nephew open their presents. Chloe got her first Cabbage Patch Kid from us… it was absolutely adorable to watch her give it kisses!
I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and got to spend time with your family!
Just like that, marathon #2 is done! This is the marathon that I knew I could do… my final time was 4:42:37, which is over an hour faster than I ran San Diego. While I wouldn’t trade the accomplishment/experience of getting through San Diego (long story short, I had severe “tummy troubles”), this was an entirely different experience. I actually got to enjoy (well, as much as one can enjoy running for 26.2 miles) the course, the people, the music, and the overall experience. It was 22ish degrees at the start and a balmy 40ish degrees at the finish, which besides a little discomfort at the beginning (running with frozen toes anyone?) was actually nice weather to run in. I’ll take cold over hot any day!
Me At The Finish Line
The Signs: There were the traditional funny running signs (“Worst Parade Ever” and “Who Needs Toenails Anyway?”) and some new ones I hadn’t seen before (at mile 2: “You’re not almost there!”). One that really touched me read “Someday you won’t be able to do this. Today is not that day”. I don’t know why, but that was really inspiring to me, because it’s so freaking true. Unless you’re that 80 year old guy who passed me at mile 25. Apparently then you can do it for the rest of your life.
The Spectators: My mom was amazing… she was absolutely everywhere! It was so great to see a friendly face among the supporters. I think she ended up making it to four different spots on the course and screamed her lungs out! Kati, Nate, Mike, and Chloe all joined her at the end… it was much-needed support to get me across the line! Kati even made me laugh, which at that point in the race is really hard to do! Poor Dad was home sick, but was proudly posting to Facebook! I can’t believe how many people were out there in the cold cheering all of us runners on. I began to actually think “They must be freezing… at least I get to run to stay warm!”.
The Aftermath: I am seriously considering writing Dr. Seuss to come up with some new running inspired books, such as Oh The Places You’ll Chafe and One Gu, Two Gu, Chocolate Gu, Vanilla Gu. I went home and took a long, hot bath in our jet tub… it was the most amazing thing ever. This time around I am not nearly as in pain as I was with the first one. I am definitely sore and stiff today, but I think that by tomorrow I’ll be the “hurts so good” sore. And, I’m starting to get hungry. I wasn’t really yesterday, and I know that by tomorrow I’ll want to eat everything in sight. Hooray for running!
I am really proud of myself for doing this one. Honestly, this could not have been a better marathon experience. I felt like from the start of training all the way through the day-after pains I was able to actually enjoy the experience. My training runs were beautiful and I took time on the course yesterday to reflect on the whole process. There’s just something about setting your mind to something and actually doing it. Something that you have to push your body to do. More so than your body, your mind.
I think this might have been my last one, but I’ve learned to never say never! 🙂
Last night I threw Mike a 40th birthday party. It was supposed to be a poker party, but we did not end up playing a single hand of poker. What we did do was eat a ton of food, drink a lot of booze, and just have an overall really fun time.
The Birthday Boy
The singing of “Happy Birthday” and blowing out of candles was preceded by a shot. I asked someone to take pictures as I had what seemed like a brilliant idea…
Cake Face!
Needless to say, the favor was returned:
True Love
The party was seriously a good time… it was great to have so many people come out and celebrate Mike!
If my father-in-law had his way, retirement would have gone something like this: quietly turn in the keys to the truck, head home, enjoy the rest of life with the family. He is an extremely private and humble man. Unfortunately for him, the family was not about to let him ride off into the sunset without some sort of spectacular sendoff last weekend.
You see, my father-in-law spent the last forty-three years as a firefighter. Not just any firefighter at that – he helped shape much of the system as it is today in Amador County. He’s sort of a big deal. And it runs in the blood – both of his sons are firefighters, as is his son-in-law. Needless to say, there were a lot of people who wanted to come out and help celebrate Raymond. Right around three hundred, to be exact.
In true Blankenheim style, we roasted a pig. And made tri-tip. And barrel chicken. Because it’s not really a party unless you have at least three types of meat. Probably one of the highlight of the nights was the Great Pig Fire of 2013. I’ve been a part of this family for five years now and have seen many a pig roasted… never have I seen one actually ignite…
Flaming Pig
Apparently no one else in the family had either… about twenty firefighters stood and watched in awe before springing into action.
❤
When all was said and done, it was a great party for a great man. I can only hope that someday I discover I’ve had a positive impact on the lives of half as many people as Raymond has. Congratulations Raymond!
This morning I ran twelve miles before work. It was a beautiful morning – I started with four miles on the treadmill because it was still dark out, and let’s be real, I have no desire to be eaten by a mountain lion. In fact, I’m scared to death. So, I did some time on the TM and then headed out to my normal road to finish the last eight. It was absolutely beautiful – dare I say that fall is almost here? It was cool and clear and I got to see the sun come up. Not a bad way to kick off your Friday!
While I was running I got a text message from my sister. It was Miss Chloe saying good morning:
Good Morning!!!
Being the fun aunt that I am, I decided to say good morning back in the same way (so that she understands, of course):
Good Morning Chloe!
Yup, running actually makes you crazy. Just a little.
That title reads true for many different reasons, but today it’s because he completed all five passes of the 2013 Death Ride. In case you’re wondering, it’s a 129 mile bike ride over five mountain passes with 15,000 feet of climbing. Yeah, definitely a stud.
He and our friend Mark (also a stud) have ridden it together for the last few years and this year was no exception. I headed up to Carson Pass to be the photographer and cheerleader extraordinaire.
Before I get to the pictures of the studs, here’s a little gem… no way on earth Mike would pull my slow butt up five mountain passes…
No Way
Ok, on to the serious pics. This is Mike on his way up the last pass. He looks like he’s smiling, but I think it’s actually a grimace. Although this could have been when I yelled “You look just like Lance Armstrong. On steroids.”
My Stud
Here’s us when he was done:
Love This Boy!
And, finally, the two studs together:
Two Billy Goats
We stopped on the way home for burgers at this little place across the street from Kirkwood… they were delicious! Now that we’re back home it’s time to catch up on the Tour!
Down The Road I Go 