A Three Hour Tour!

While my parents were here we were blessed with a 75 degree totally calm day, so we took a three hour tour of Resurrection Bay.

It was beautiful

We saw wild stellar sea lions

Incredible scenery

That is kelp in the water, but that's beside the point...

Look at the color of that water!

Humpback whale

A fishing boat to give the cliffs some scale and gulls surrounding a baitball.

And we ended with a special surprise... an Orca!  He was jumping and flipping and showing off just for us!

And I fell even more in love with this place I'm living in!

I totally lost it at Lost Lake

So I ran a 16 mile trail race today.

It was an experience!

I did a practice run through before the race that was totally rockin'.

Today... I totally lost it.

I started out strong, all the way up to 8.5 miles with lots of steep hills.

Then, I totally bonked.

Bonked def: crashing physically due to lack of food energy stores and/or dehydration.

I think I bonked today because I didn't eat enough protein

and because this race came at the end of a cuh-razy week.

At first it was just a bummer and didn't feel good.

But then it turned downright scary.  I got majorly dizzy.

I had brought a bunch of cashews with me in case that happened, but the nuts didn't even touch the bonk.

I had to walk a lot and was only able to run the flat portions due to pure motivation to survive and picturing myself coming home to all three of my guys.

When I stopped to let people pass me, I had to hold on to trees to keep from falling over.

I wasn't sure if I could make it to the finish, which meant staying on the trail in the cold rain until someone could run down and ask for help.

So I kept going even though I couldn't see straight and was just trusting in the Lord to keep me on the trail and safe.  And you'd better believe I was praying for help.  I think I even specifically asked that someone would give me some food.

And that prayer was answered.  I'm still emotional about it all as I type this.

I guess I got bad enough that it was obvious something was wrong. 

3 miles after I crashed, two different people offered me some of their food stores.

One man, Fred who was walking the race, opened his Gu packets for me (because my hands didn't even work) and then proceeded to stay with me until I felt well enough to run again.

Bless that man, I wish I knew who he was.

As I passed that kind man, running at full capacity, I thanked him and burst into tears right there on the trail.

Then I sailed down the remaining 4 1/2 miles like it was nothing.

I was so glad to cross that finish line easily, feeling well, and safe and sound.

Today was definitely the hardest thing I have endured physically and I don't regret going through it at all.  It has made me a stronger person.

And I think from now on, I will be on the lookout for those bleary-eyed runners in my life who I could maybe help along the way.

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Also:

Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you on the east coast as Irene approaches.  Please let us know how you do through this storm.  We love you!

Spending some time in Homer, Alaska

It is pretty common for Seward residents to run away from the rain from time to time.  Other parts of the Kenai Peninsula get much more sun than we do. 

My parents came in June 21st to some beautiful weather.

But... that didn't last long!

So, one of the first things we did was run away to Homer.

And we got the most beautiful few days possible I think.

 We stayed in this amazing hotel on the end of the "Homer Spit", a long stretch of sand bar, basically, that stretches halfway out into Kachemak Bay.  Our suite had a little balcony RIGHT on the beach.

 I think we spent most of our time on the beach and watching the water and the sea otters floating by.

 If you look really closely at the water below you can see the spit.

 It was soooo great to be there with Nana and Pop-Pop!