See Diva Run

Last year we ran the inaugural Expedition Everest Challenge with our son Jason and daughter-in-law Krista. The guys teamed up as the Yeti Chasers, while Krista and I teamed up as the “Kelley Girls”. This year, we decided to make it another family trip. This time we were joined in Florida by our daughter Cassi and her family. Krista had to stay home, but son Jason was able to make the trip. He and Cassi signed up as team Yeti Set Go. Richard and I teamed up as The Dog Walkers.

We arrived at the Animal Kingdom shortly after 6pm, and then realized that the race started at 7:30, not 7:00. We made the same mistake last year. At least we are consistent! This left us a lot of time to stand around and become stiff and achy. As we stood and waited, the clouds rolled in, and the sky became somewhat ominous. Last year we signed up early and were in wave 3. This year we signed up late, and were in lucky wave 13.

Since there was a 5 minute wait between waves, this delayed our start until 8:35. Richard took off way too fast for me, with Jason & Cassi not far behind. I told them I’d see them at the end, and settled into a very slow jog. After a few minutes, Richard ran back to look for me. That is when we noticed the first few rain drops. The light rain felt good, and I was wearing my Goretex shoes, so I wasn’t concerned. As we entered the park, the wind picked up and the rain started coming down more steadily. By the time we got to the water stop, I wasn’t thirsty. After that, every low spot in the path turned into a puddle. Some of them were quite deep. Water ran down my legs and into my Goretex shoes, where it couldn’t get out. As I ran through puddles, it ran over the top. It was like running in a pair of swimming pools! By mile marker 2, we’d caught up with both kids. They were walking. I was still jogging slowly. The rain just kept coming down harder, with thunder and lightning to let us know that Nature was cheering us on. The puddles were so deep that we started splashing through them like little kids, giggling because we weren’t going to get in trouble for getting our shoes wet! The last 1.1 miles felt longer than the first 2, but finally we were sprinting toward the finish line, and the deepest puddle of all. The water was up to my mid-calf, and I was struggling to lift my feet above the water line. We finished in 40:50 and headed for the obstacle course.

I was amazed that they hadn’t shut it down because of safety issues. I attempted the first obstacle, but was too stiff to swing my leg over. I climbed over the cargo net, and then waited while Richard helped a lady who was struggling. Next up was the balance beam. I skipped that one. Richard made it half way before giving up. We did crawl under the cargo net, then headed toward the scavenger hunt. As we were picking up our books, we heard an announcement that the obstacle course was closed. As we entered the park, we saw that many of the finisher’s were leaving. We wandered through the different areas, hunting for clues and writing the answers in our books. We crossed the finish line and collected our medals just as the rain stopped falling. There was a lot of confusion at the finish line. We tried to turn our books in, and discovered that they were no longer checking answers. A few minutes later they sent the volunteers home and stopped giving out medals.

The after party was a bit of a bust, because most of the rides were shut down because of the weather. We hung around for a while, and the Expedition Everest ride was started back up. We rode it once, and then started heading for the gate. It was a very different experience from 2008, but fun in a very weird way.

THE DOG WALKERS 1882 40:50 5:47 39:59 2:26:38 1:26:35
YETI SET GO 1887 40:50 45:46 2:26:40 1:26:36

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It’s funny how your entire outlook can change over night. Yesterday was a long day at the office, and when I was finishing up at 8:30 last night, I was not very happy about having to get up at 5:30 to drive to Seattle for the Iron Girl 5K. This was the fifth Iron Girl event in Seattle. I’ve signed up for all 5, but opted not to go in 2007. Last year it was a family affair, which we had hoped to repeat this year, but it is hard for everyone to keep their schedules open, and this year the event was on Saturday. My niece Lisa came over from Bremerton, with a group of friends. My friend Gladys invited her niece Selena, and friend Marco. There is never a shortage of good company at the Iron Girl.

I may have been dreading it last night, but I managed to get enough sleep to be semi-functional. The weather was excellent, and by the time we were heading for the starting line, I was wishing I was going to run instead of walk. My wish was granted somewhat when my friend Gladys left me in her dust by race walking. It was 5 kilometers of falling behind then running to catch up. I loved it. Afterward we enjoyed a smaller post-event party than previous years, but considering the economy, it was still quite nice. As we were leaving, I heard someone say my name, and was pleasantly surprised to see Chef Betsy. She had run the 10K as a warm up for the Skagit Flats Marathon tomorrow. Betsy is a Marathon Maniac extraordinaire! It was lovely to see her. When we first met in 2007, I was the race maniac, and Betsy was training for her first marathon.

After the race I headed to Super Jock N Jill for a new pair of Brooks Adrenalines, which I’m anxious to break in. I’ve got the urge to run, even though I still have hip issues. I’m going to make an appointment with a chiropractor here in town this week, to see if he can help me get things back where they belong, so I can get back to where I belong! This still leaves the question, “when can I fit running into my busy dog walking schedule?” That is a tough one. For now I’m going to try to work a little jogging into my walks with Friday, and hope that he learns to run beside me instead of dodging back and forth in front of me.

Last week after obsessing over my out of control Peanut M&M habit, I decided to face the music and step on my scale. To my surprise I had not gained weight. I’d lost some. This was confusing, and didn’t exactly curb my M&M intake. Since I’ve been wondering how much walking I do with the dogs during the day, I strapped the Garmin on Monday morning and wore it for the majority of our walks. At the end of the day, I’d logged 3 hours and 27 minutes, though some of this was spent standing while they were sniffing. The total distance was 7.37 miles. There was one long walk with Friday of nearly 4 miles. The rest was the around the block type walks we take throughout the day, or “business trips” as we refer to them. On a typical day, Friday’s walk could be anywhere from 1 to 6 miles, so this was a pretty good indication that I’m logging at least 5 miles on most days.

I attended my niece Stacey’s 40th birthday party last night. She looked fabulous for any age, but extra fabulous for 40. I’m 15 months away from turning 50. If I have the will power to give up the darn M&Ms, I could be fit and a little fabulous at 50. If you’ve got to be 50, you should be fit and a little fabulous, don’t you think?

August was going to be my triumphant return to running. I went for one jog with the puppy, and a lot of walks and soon found that I was unable to keep up. It seems I’m really out of shape. Eventually I had to ask the puppy to settle for short walks for a few days, and then we started over. We take a long walk of 5 or 6 miles on Sundays. During the week we take an evening walk of 2 or 3 miles. We also take a half mile walk with Admiral in the afternoon, and several shorter walks at other times of the day or evening. When I see people jogging, I think about how much I enjoyed it back in the day, but my brain and feet can’t quite grasp the idea of doing it now. Before I started running in 2004, I was walking 5 miles daily. I’m hoping that if the puppy and I get enough walking in, the urge will return. In the meantime, I’m enjoying the walks.

Life has taken some interesting twists and turns. The night I brought Jasmine’s ashes home, we discovered Harley. He is a lovely, quiet, old dog who radiates calm. He was rescued from the Kent Animal Shelter by the wonderful people at Old Dog Haven. We aren’t sure of his age, but he is suffering from arthritis in his back, and weakness in his back legs. Despite his difficulties in getting up and walking around, he is perennially cheerful. He helps me keep my life in perspective. He also gets along very well with other dogs. Here he is with our other old dog, Baby. We’ve had Baby for 15 years, but she normally hides in a corner. She and Jasmine did not get along, and there were many fights when they were younger. She is much more tolerant of Harley.

While this might have sated my need to take care of an old dog, my need to rescue them was not yet fulfilled. Next we learned of Admiral, a 13 year old Dalmatian whose owner was moving out of state. He arrived on Father’s Day.

Admiral is as old as Harley, but in better physical condition. His mental condition is another matter. This is one very stressed out dog. He just wants to go out and walk until his legs collapse out from under him. The transition away from his lifetime home has been an ordeal, but I can see he was a high strung boy to begin with. We discovered that he is terrified of cameras, so we are no longer taking his picture.

Things might have settled down, but during the 2 week period between agreeing to take Admiral, and his arrival, I learned of a puppy that was going to be put down if he wasn’t taken from the shelter by Friday, 6/19. His scared little picture, and his sad little listing that said he was in cage 12 and had no name really bothered me. I contacted Dalmatian rescue people, and even contacted family in Idaho, to see if they could help. I also contacted the rescue group that posted him on Petfinder, hoping to buy him some extra time. They told me they had a van delivering dogs to western Washington the following week, and if I would agree to take the puppy, they would save and deliver him. That is how we came to have Friday.

Friday arrived the day after Admiral, which didn’t give anyone time to adjust. He is full of puppy energy and enthusiasm, which in not appreciated by the old dogs in any way. His constant attempts to lick their faces and engage them in play are met with growls. I didn’t exactly have a plan when I said I would take him, but once I realized that I would have four dogs, I knew that I would have to foster the puppy until I could find him a home. So far 2 prospective homes haven’t worked out. In the meantime, I’m getting attached to the little guy, and my plan to run a retirement home for dogs is in peril.

Admiral and Friday arrived 3 days before the end of school, but I somehow managed to finish my research paper and complete my last tests. The credits are all on my transcript, and soon my diploma will be conferred, Summa Cum Laude. I’m so glad that is over with!

Somewhere before the dogs doubled in number, Mr Diva persuaded me to sign up for the 2010 Goofy Challenge. We are also committed to the 2009 Honolulu Marathon, to celebrate his birthday, and the Inaugural Rock n Roll New Orleans Half Marathon. I’m actually pretty unhappy about that, but we wanted to run New Orleans one last time, and those corporate weasels at the Competitor Group are out to destroy every good race in the country. Except for little doggy jogs, I’m not running. I suspect these races will all be really long walks, so I’m going to concentrate on lots of walking. I’ve got 4 training partners, as well as a neighbor dog who needs to walk more. I do want to get into decent 5K shape for the 2009 Iron Girl.

As I get more organized with running, I’ll start updating my Sweat365 training log again. In the meantime, I’m getting lots of walking in! I hope to start catching up on reading blogs this week. Next week I’ll be on vacation with the family. We are going to see my sister. I’m really looking forward to that. When we get home, I plan to start a “dog blog” on my jasmineshouse.com site, including a tribute page to Jasmine. Here is a link to some of my favorite digital photos of her.