Little series of Chris Surfing the remains of Bertha’s wrath…
This is our first summer in our “new” house. We’ve been enjoying it. Especially the new garden, firepit, and proximity to the ocean. And our neighbors. One couple is like us: under 40, no kids. So they have a lot of stuff to keep them busy. In the summer, it’s surfing. After talking about it with them a bit, we decided to give it a try. Now we can’t stop.
Our first surf outing was on July 4. Our friend Tracy was visiting so we scheduled a lesson at Cinnamon Rainbows Surf Shop. It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed it. Instead of a planned bike ride on the following Sunday, Tracy said he’d rather surf. So we rented boards, Chris bought a wetsuit, and went surfing again. Sunday evening we were all exhausted. And then on Monday, we could hardly lift our arms…Haha!
Since Chris was away the later part of last week, I hooked up with my surfing neighbors. I surfed Wednesday and Thursday on a board borrowed from my neighbor (he has two). By Thursday, I was so hooked that I bought a wetsuit. Chris was jealous that I got two days of surfing without him.
On Saturday we hit the beach with friends visiting from Boston. It was such a busy surf day that the surf shop had NO rental boards available. Chris made it until about 1pm, then bought his own board. Here are a few photos from that outing:
A ton of surfers in the water
Waiting for waves
Here’s Chris arriving to the beach with his new board
Getting ready to go in the water with the new board
Surfing!
After a good session
This past Tuesday night, I went to Wahini (ladies) night at Jenness beach. It was hosted by Pioneers Board shop and sponsored by Oakley. I had a one on one lesson with Jessica and improved my skills. Lots of stuff that I was doing wrong that I didn’t realize are now starting to be corrected. It really helped!
And I won a pair of Oakley sunglasses…sweet!
So we’re both fairly tired most of the time now. We’ve started running again. That, added with the surfing, makes us a tired bunch. But sore muscles means good things, right?
That’s how many miles you have to run to complete a half marathon.
We were invited to participate in the Covered Bridges Half Marathon in Quechee Vermont by some friends in our neighborhood. They have an annual gathering in Hanover New Hampshire around the race.
I registered myself and Chris in the race, online from Belgium, on December 10, 2007. That gave us plenty of time to train for the event. We did pretty well with our training. We started running in Bruxelles and then started a training program in earnest when we returned home in April. Then two weeks before the race, I got that nasty cold/bronchitis that I had back in Italy. And I am still dealing with it.
Here are a few photos of Chris on an 8.5 mile training run in the hills around his parents house.
Up the Hill
Down the Hill
We arrived on Saturday afternoon and enjoyed some canoeing and then a delicious pasta dinner.
Sunday was beautiful, though maybe a little warm for a race. The beautiful weather did bring out a lot of cheering support, and made the day better for the very important volunteers, which made it a great day. The excellent weather also made for great photos.
I wasn’t feeling in the best of health. I knew that my only goal would be to finish the race. So I brought my camera. This actually turned out to be a great idea as it gave me a little cause for distraction during the run. I’m not sure I’d carry the camera again, but it was fun.
They should probably call this race the Covered Bridge (singular) Half Marathon as we only ran through ONE covered bridge. And I only noticed one other bridge along the route. They also seemed to imply that this race was downhill except for hills at mile five and mile eight. So not downhill. Another runner mentioned this to me during an ascent of a non-hill during the race, it was pretty funny.
Everyone in our group finished the race, in spite of injury and illness. Chris did very well for his first half marathon. Actually, this was the first time he’d ever run 13.1 miles. So a time of 2:14:26 was great! I didn’t do nearly as well, but then I walked quite a bit in the later miles. I still passed people, and ran the hills. Respiratory illness does not enhance performance in distance races, I assure you. This just means I’ll have to run at least one more half marathon to get a real personal best. If I keep training with Chris, I’m sure we can get our time down under 2 hours. I’ll keep you posted.
Kate and Rick, our neighbors, along with Kate’s parents hosted a great weekend! The excellent pre-race pasta dinner and the post race BBQ was held at Kate’s parents beautiful riverfront home. And the group that gathered for the weekend was crazy and fun. It really made the whole experience to be surrounded by an excellent group that were either running or cheering us on. Kate even had team shirts made! Look for the green shirts in the photos.
Here are some of the photos from the race:
The toilet line
The Runners
Lined Up for the Start
Me and Chris at the Starting Line
At Mile 2
The only covered bridge we ran through…between miles four and five
The beautiful view between miles 6 and 7
Another Covered Bridge along the route (that we did not run through)
The Hill at Mile 8. Notice the cones…see how they go way down hill.
A beautiful day in Vermont
Mile 10, two plus hours into my race
Pipers near Mile 11
Beautiful view of the river along the course
Mile 12!! They’ve mercifully removed the time clock…
Eeek! This is what I look like at Mile 13?!
The team cheering me to the finish…thanks guys!
I can SEE the finish line! And more friends cheering, yea!
As much pain as we’re in today, I’m already thinking of next year…
