Hoopin at the Lake

And I'm not talking basketball.

Earlier today, while I was 'working' in the yard I spot the "Hula Hooper" . Some gal is down there, at lake's edge, doing a hula hoop routine. Seems to be done to music. Very cheerlead-ey-ish or similar to (I can't believe it's an Olympic sport) Rythmic Gymnastics. Hasn't stopped for the 20 minutes now that i've noticed her. This is when I need a reallly goood zooooooooom on my camera lens.

OK, so with my little zoom and a bunch of computer crop & zoom and here's what we got. You can almost see her pink hoop. Yes, she was down there for at least an hour, altho a bit of time was spent telling roller skater gal all about the Joy of Hula Hooping (in public)


no, really, in line skates are like so yesterday... hula hoops, yes, you can touch it, are retro, totally cool, and my capri's, well thanks, i luv them, too. And with an hour a day of hoopin i can stand out here in public in my sports bra... not that i'm seeking attention or anything.


the lady tries not to look, I think she's calling someone on her cell phone... "Gladys, you won't believe what I'm seeing at the lake today"


This is an adult toy, little girl... but you can dream


My hips... my hips .... my lovely lady hips....
or is it my hoop, my hoop my oh, forget it , that song sucks anyhow.

Margina & her Makita

OK, so all our friends with drills are out of town and Gina just happened to find the perfect curtain/door for the new bedroom. So, we rented a drill from Handy Andy (ok, really Aurora Rents but...) got a 2 minute lesson on how it works. Came home and Gina drilled and installed.

The funny part was at the store, the dude immediately says to her "why the frown? let me talk to the 'fun' one. You're the bean counter." How did he know? The fun one (me ! ) was over looking at an electric hedge trimmer to rent... hmmmm Anyway, he was nice. The drill worked and the curtain looks good.

Oh, and she was frowning cuz the rental store we've used in the past was closed, who knew? and so our errand was delayed.

tunnel of luv

this is the entrance to the 2.5 mile long tunnel on the Iron Horse Trail. We did a 12 mile run last Saturday. Starting a few miles west of here, then thru the tunnel of pitch darkness, out to pass Lake Kachees (sp?) , that we normally only see from the other side as we drive on I-90 heading to eastern Washington. Then we ran an extra mile out and back, then back thru the tunnel and back to the Lake Annette trail head.

A fun group was just starting their day, on the other end of this tunnel. A bike & beer ride from there down to Lake Sammamish. Some of the bikes had little trailers connected, holding big ice chests full of beer. As I was on the return run thru the tunnel, close to the end, we (coach lesley was with me at this point) hear the bikes coming.... we start running faster, faster... It was like in the movies when the dude is trying to outrun the train bearing down on him. Instead of just stepping aside and letting it pass.

No, trains do not use this tunnel anymore. Darcy.

2 in one day

Well, i've got time on my hands.... the mariners are just awful these days so i don't have to camp in front of the tv.

This past weekend gina and i rode bikes on friday. 34 miles. From here to Seward Park and back. And did not get stopped by the bike cops this time. Don't ask. But be sure and stop at stop signs if you're on a bike.

Then Sat. morning we ran 11 miles. It was supposed to be an easy run, but Gina got paired up with Trisha, who says 10:00 pace but really likes a 9:15. And I was with the coach, so my idea of a nice easy 9:15 pace immediately became an 8:30 pace. So, a tempo run it was !

Afterwards we jumped in the car and headed to Hood Canal to meet up with the gang for a cruise on Cindy's boat. It was a perfect day for a cruise.

Then we headed home because the running group was meeting at our house at 7:00am, for 5k race at Green Lake. We had a team photo taken. It was fun. Oh, and Gina and I were on the podium.



Mona, Teri and Gina


It was beautiful on the Hood Canal , or is it a fjord?


Coach Lesley's running group



The crew member barely fits thru the hatch


G and me with the Captain


Cruising along


The group... Legends, really.


Mona and Margaret, and not a tool in sight.

9/11/2007

So, what happens to a blog left unattended for weeks?? does it gather dust? grow weeds? get tagged? shrivel up and die? (you wish) nope... it just sits there. which is not what i've been doing.

9/11 .... what a date. For the Rinehart family, it's the day Catherine survived. We were lucky. Her story of getting out of her office bldg. which was next door to the WTC was just like what we all saw on tv that morning... And her seeing one of the planes circle the bldgs. too eery. erie? eary? a little help here, ABB. anyway. just talked with her, and it's still a very emotional date.

So, when last i wrote i was heading to canada to watch Coach Lesley and others compete in Ironman Canada. She did great. Bettered her time from last year. Unfortunately, a few ringers in her age group (the toughest) showed up. So she didn't get a qualifying spot for Kona. But still awesome. As were the races of my other friends. Eileen, one of Lesley's clients, was the last finisher. Which is actually a really cool thing. There is a big crowd that stays to cheer on the final competitiors. There is a cutoff of midnight, and actually Eileen finished at 12:03, so she's not official, but you couldn't tell from the announcer and the cheering. Fireworks go off at midnight. Lesley and Tony and some others, including a race official were running in with her (he made sure she got a medal cuz she was running) ( I was in charge of Jersey the dog) It was truly amazing !

The thing about Ironman Canada is to enter the race you must be on site the day after to register for the next year. Are you following along...?

Let's see if I can find some photos.



Lesley starting out on the run. Mumbling something about a headwind for last 60 miles of bike.


Ironwomen Eileen and Lesley


I found a beer garden surprise surprise.... and a buddy from California, Spiff.


Ann Judd, a buddy from our gym, who had a great day !

12

This morning I got 12 miles of running in.... and yes, lots of it seemed / was uphill. From Marymoor half way around Lake Sammamish. And it is obvious that the construction/remodel business is in full swing out there.

Ran with the group , such as it was this morning. 4 of us. Coach Lesley is up in Penticton. Ironman Canada is tomorrow morning. And Eileen, one of the team, is also doing the race. And we've got a few others we know.

I'm flying up to watch in the morning. More news on that later.

Gina stayed in town and ran her 12 miles around here, the Burke Gilman, the UW campus, GLake, etc. Which reminds me to try and get a photo up here from my latest ride around campus.

Danskin Triathlon 2007

Here are some photos from this year's triathlon. It was a rainy day. I freaked in the swim. Gina had a flat , and we still managed to land in the Top 10 of the 50-54 age group. Val, of course, took 1st.
Karen B. waxed us all, competing with the elites (and she's had at least 20 more birthday parties than the rest of those gals)
Darcy placed 8th in the youngsters group (40-44). I guess all those spin classes paid off.




I think the little green dot behind the lead lady's butt, is me.

Post race, freezing, but the gal next to us insisted on taking our photo. uh, ok.
Nice that the free hat matched my shirt. (cuz we're all about fashion)


Gina runs

Gina finishes

Ann runs behind an ex Russian basketball player


Finishers. Gina, Darcy, ATR, Val, Karen


Our best-est (wettest) fan, Kathy.


No wonder I freaked in the swim.


Gina "speeds" thru the transition area.

ATR goes with the 'off the shoulder' look...... ooooh la la


Cap beauties.


Gina bikes... this is on the way out. The flat occurred about .75 miles from the finish. She rode it in, flat... and did not ruin her rim.

Sunday at Green Lake

Coach Lesley (in the middle) and her swim posse.
Gina and I decided it was too wavy.
We are the swim wimps.


Here are some guys doing the tight rope gig.


Not so balanced.


And Monet, NOT. He certainly wasn't painting our view.
Or if he was we need to check his beverage.

From Pigs to Blimp

The Goodyear Blimp was this close overhead aminute ago.. and you know my camera has a weak zoom.

OH NO watch out for that tree !!!!!!!!!!!

film at eleven.

More Pigs, please

hey, where are the models ?













ok, that's mo better

Pig's on Parade in Seattle