Back In The Land of Earplugs

I have been spoiled for the last couple of weeks. Mr. L came to visit and he splurged on a few places that were a lot nicer than the ones I have been staying in. Also, I finally used up some of my Sheraton points and splurged for a five star treat in Santiago for a few nights.

In a nutshell, the past few weeks...

1. Valdivia, CH - College town, near a river, famous for its fish market....we only spent a day here before going back to the lake district.

2. Pucon, CH - Lake town, with many National parks, Lakes and Volcanos. We hiked Vocan Villarica, which is about 3000 Meters of steep climb, complete with dust and smoke. It was not a very difficult climb, but it was hot and I did not have enough water and it felt like I was smoking a few packs of cigarettes while hiking up a dusty mountain. We also spent some time at the lake, which was packed with Chileños and their niños and people trying to rent you quitasoles (umbrellas) but was still a refreshing treat.

3. Mendoza, AR - A little unexpected side trip - a sample of the outdoor cafe life, a little bit of wine and lots of relaxing days spent drinking coffee and chilling in the shade. Mendoza is the main wine region of Argentina, known in the US mostly for its Malbec, I believe. There are many others, of course, and try as we may, we did not have time to sample them all.

4. Viña del Mar - Beach town on the W Coast of Chile, this is actually part of the outskirts of Valparaiso, CH. It was nice, very much like Santa Cruz, a little bit foggy in the AM and then around 3, the fog blows off, leaving a very nice day behind. The beaches were packed, the seafood here was delicious, the houses on the hill were very quaint and precariously perched.

5. Easter Island, CH - Oh the heads!! I am so glad that I went here. It is very far out of the way; it was a 5 hour flight each way, but it was totally worth it. The history here is so interesting and captivating. Maybe I can summarize a little. There were two tribes, the long ears and the short ears. Both of them made these statues of the heads, called Moai. They went to war, and many of the heads were tipped over (and still are). However, some have been put back upright, so we can enjoy them. They were huge! Some of them have hats and the hats alone are as tall as me. It was great! This is a beatiful polynesian island which would be great all on its own, but with the history included it was a ten!

6. Santiago, CH - A couple relaxing days spent by the pool at the Sheraton was exactly what we needed after so much moving around. Here I met back up with Chris and we got back on the move again.

So, now I am back in the land of earplugs, cheap hostels, noise and PB&J sandwiches!!! More news later and pictures to boot!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

A while ago, I read about women who were donating their hair in order to make wigs for those who needed them (ie cancer patients etc). I wanted to do that and have been considering it for some time, but have kind of been a little scared... You have to have ten inches, which is basically all my hair. So I have been dragging my feet a little bit. However, last night I finally got up the gumption to do it.

Chris volunteered (he almost peed his pants he was so excited to do it) to cut it off for me. You have to put your hair in a ponytail or braid and then chop it off, stick it in a bag and mail it in. So I put my hair in a ponytail and Chris took up the scissors and 10 seconds later I was minus a foot of hair. I knew it would be short, but I guess I didnt think about the fact that when you cut at the ponytail, the back is shorter than the front...so, I went to the hairdresser today and he fixed Chris´ hack job, but it is still pretty short!! Anyway, some photos are below:

Before:

After:


Click here to see why I did this crazy thing...

Guanaco Hike, Ushuaia

Rapido Por Favor!!

Well, wow, I FINALLY got some photos online!! We are staying at a hostel with not only free internet, but fast enough internet that I can upload pics! Yay! So, enjoy a few photos here...

Brrrr...It´s Chile

No wait, it´s Argentina. Wait, where am I? No, really, we are in Bariloche, Argentina right now. We were travelling up Chile, going north, with no intention of going back in to Argentina for at least three more weeks, but we ended up flying from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt instead of taking the bus, which would have taken us about 30 hours (the flight was about 2) and then missing out on a couple of National Parks that we wanted to hit up, so the bottom line is...we have extra time! So we flagged down a bus (literally flagged down and didn't have a seat and had to negotiate a price with the driver) and headed back into Argentina.

Before this, we have been hanging out in the Lake District of Chile, which has been great. It reminds me of Tahoe a little bit; it is beautiful, but not too hot, only about 70 degrees (sorry, North-easterners!! ONLY 70?!) It has been nice to do some hiking, hanging out at the lake, eating empanadas and seafood and just enjoying the Chilenos and their way of life, which is NOT bad at all! We went to a beach on the Pacific (Maicopue) that was ¨off the gringo grid¨. Nobody spoke English, we mingled with the locals on the beach and ate lots of cheap fried food and swam in the freezing cold Pacific... It was great!!

Next up is... a few more days here in Bariloche (nice to relax and not have to worry about where we are going next) and then its back to Chile for a festival in Valdivia and then onto the Lago Villarica, where there is a nice beach and a massive volcano...activity and relaxation all in one... Then we will contiue our quest north towards Santiago.

Tracking Us...

My brother is doing a google website tracker of our trip. You can get the link to it here On this site you can also see a photo of his wrinkled bald head....

Enjoy!

Chris´ Photo Links

The internet is still slow and I am still not patient, so have not gotten many pics online. I did get a couple of Ushuaia - Literally, like 2... and you can view them here.

Chris has more:

Fitz Roy

Puerto Moreno Glacier

Torres Del Paine

Enjoy!

Chicago Ain´t Got Nothin´ on Laguna Nordenskjold!

I am going to write another weight loss book – the premise is this - carry around a 40 pound backpack for 10 days and only eat oatmeal, tuna and packaged soup. Oh, and don´t shower. I think that helps too.

We just got finished with a 9 day hike in Parque National Torres del Paine. We competed the ¨circuit¨, which goes around several different peaks, including Paine Grande (aka Major Paine), Paine Sud, Paine Nord and Paine Central.

Some Stats:
Number of cans of tuna eaten: 13
Number of bugs eaten: 8
Number of bugs snorted: 6
Number of miles hiked: 100
Number of days without a shower: 9
Longest hike in one day: 20 miles
Longest hill: 3 hours STRAIGHT UP

A quick rundown of our trip is as follows.

Day 1: The Day We Had Cheese
This was our first day, so we were able to carry cheese for a little while and eat it on the trail along the way. Oh, cheese, how I miss you so! We hiked about 6 hours and set up camp about halfway up the mountain. The camp is nice; the bathrooms are semi clean, no TP, but that is what was expected.

Day 2: The Day That Was Easy
We purposefully made an easy day for today, as CK´s knee was bothering him and we also had decided to take the whole trail slow so as to enjoy every minute of it. We hiked up to a Mirador (lookout) which afforded us a beautiful view of the three aformetioned peaks (all but Grande). Then we took another easy hike before playing Hearts and making my favorite dinner, packaged soup.

Day 3: The Day S Got La Guardia/ The Day We Almost Got Blown Away
S woke up very sick and so after leaving him at the guard station, we kept on. Today we had scheduled 10 hours of hiking. The way they set up the camps is kind of weird. You have one camp 3 hours away and one 10 hours away. So you can either hike 3 hrs or 10. We chose 10. The hike was not too bad until we got to Lake Nordenskjold. Then the wind picked up. It was so strong it was blowing us over. Literally. I fell and scraped up my knee and CK fell over backwards into the bushes. It was brutal. It was also our last 2 hours and so we were tired already. We finally made it into camp around 730 pm and fell almost immediately to sleep. Since we are still so far south, it still stays light at least until 10, so it is a little hard to get to sleep, but with an eyeshade and some earplugs and a hard days hike, anything is possible.

Day 4: The Day I Stuck My Feet in a Glacier
We ONLY hiked 7 hours today. When we got to camp, I felt so dirty, so I went to the river and had a VERY cold bird bath. It is refreshing, as Dad would say. Invigorating as well.

Day 5: The Day We Walked Uphill Both Ways
Another 10 hour day and the last hour and a half was totally uphill. No break. Every time we thought we had gotten to the top of the hill, we were wrong, it was only more uphill again. There were a lot of bugs in camp, so we took defensive action and hid out in the tent. Unfortunately, we have to eat, so we had to brave the swarm for a little while.

Day 6: The Spa Day
Today we only hiked 3 hours. It was mostly uphill. We decided to save the rest for the next day, as it was a 6 hour hike from 250 M to 1250 M, so we knew it was going to be a difficult one. We took a spa day today, washed our socks and selves as much as we could, cooked a hot lunch (oh, bliss, top ramen) and relaxed in preparation for the hard day ahead.

Day 7: The Day Our Knees Hated Us
6 hours, 12 K, steep, steep uphill for 2.5 hrs, then steep, steep downhill for 3 hours. In some places there was no trail, only rocks. We had to blaze our own path. It was really hard on the knees! However, we got to the tallest point of the hike, Paso John Gardner, which is 1250 M, and afforded really beautiful views of Glacier Grey, which we had been hiking along side of for the past few days.

Day 8: The Day We Joined a Bug Colony
The bugs are getting really bad. I have bites everywhere. Our hike today was fairly flat, but very, very long. We hiked 30 km today and by the time we got to camp (11 hrs later) we were so tired and annoyed with bugs and ready to just relax. We ate the rest of our food – we had a Thanksgiving feast – 3 different kinds of soup! Then instead of battling mosquitos, we went to bed.

Day 9: The Day My Dogs Barked
Oh my feet. Thank goodness, they have not hurt before, but today they hurt! Luckily we only had a 4.5 hour hike to the end of the trail and let me tell you, when I saw the end, I was soooo happy. The hike has been fun, but I really can´t wait to take off my boots and stinky socks and get into a shower. My pants can stand up on their own. Actually my hair probably can too!

We are now in Puerto Natales, waiting for our flight to Puerto Montt, which is tomorrow (hopefully!) From there we will visit the island of Chiloe and then the Lake District of Chile.

No Hay Peanut Butter

When I was in France, I was trying to find Peanut Butter in the grocery store. When I asked my flatmates boyfriend to help me because he spoke English, he did not even know what I was talking about. I tried to explain the concept of ground up peanuts and the fact that we put it on bread and he thought I was crazy. Well, the same thing goes for the Argentines. They do not have peanut butter. Our plan for our hike was to eat a lot of PB and Js, but it was not meant to be. We are eating a lot of Js though...

We just got back from one two day hike and one long one day hike in the Fitz Roy Range of the Andes in the Argentina side of Patagonia. They were all quite long and grueling hikes, but totally worth it once we got to the end. The first day we hiked into a valley and ended up at a glacier fed lake (Laguna Toro). The trail was hard - the first hour and a half way all uphill, then there was some flat ground, but much of it was marshy and so then we all had wet feet. Next was a loooooong downhill, which sounds like relief, but really is harder on me than the uphill. When we got to the bottom of the downhill, it began to rain really hard and the wind picked up. We hiked the last hour in the wind driven rain (haha, sounds like I am writing a PW) and finally arrived to camp about 6 hours after we had set out. Then we have to deal with starting the stove in the wind and rain and setting up the tent....but to me the challenge is what is part of the fun. The next day we hiked back, again, it was up, then flat, then down. CK hurt his knee on the downhill section and has been gimping around for the last couple of days.

Yesterday I (without the gimp) hiked up to the Laguna de los Tres, which is a path that affords beautiful views of Cerro (Mt) Fitz Roy, which is a huge craggy peak, and the tallest (at 3500 M) around. There is still snow on the top and the moutain shines kind of a bluish grey color. It really was a sight to behold. I have photos, but somehow they just do not do it justice...

Today we bussed back to El Calafate and tomorrow we will go to the Perito Moreno glacier, which is supposed to be quite a sight. Then Grant leaves us tomorrow afternoon and the rest of us (S, CK and I) go on to Puerto Natales, which is the Chilean side of Patagonia. From there we will tackle the "W" (S) and the "Curcuit" (me and CK) trails (5 and 8 days respectively). This will be the true test of our hiking and camping skills.

We are all so happy to be back in "civilization" where we can get a hot shower and some laundry done (it has been a while, I wont say how long..it is kind of gross - let me just say, I wouldnt touch any of us with a ten foot pole) and get ourselves ready for our next big hike...

I hope to get some photos and videos online soon, but with the internet the way it is here (Calafate is a really small town) I dont see that happening for a while. The next time I will be in a largish town will probably be in a couple of weeks.

P.S. Funny...as I was talking about smelling bad, a guy sat down at the next computer...and he smells worse than I do! I didnt think it was possible! Ciao!

Bella Vista

We arrived in Ushuaia safely yesterday and set right to it. We hopped on a boat and got a tour of the Beagle Channel. Ushuaia is the ¨southernmost point¨in the world. Except for Antarctica. Oh and a few small ports which are south of here...but whatever! It is cold here. After being in Buenos Aires where it was in the high nineties and hundreds, it is strange to be back in 40 degree weather. I guess this is what I have been carrying around all those heavy winter clothes for.

Today we hiked to the top of a mountain and from the top there were the most beautiful views! I have a video, it is on the bottom of the page. Hopefully it works, I haven´t tried to upload videos before. We are all going to be tired pups tomorrow. You can also see some photos on Chris´flickr site: check here. You can also see our Buenos Aires photos at Chris site: here. I will be putting mine online soon, hopefully....

So we are at the end of the world, where it doesn´t get dark until about midnight and it gets light again in the morning around 5ish...It is crazy. I was so tired last night around 11, but it felt like it was about 6, so I felt like I should be wide awake. Then the sun streaming in the window made me think it was about noon, but it was only 6 a.m. It is hard to go to bed when it is light!

Tomorrow we will do some more hiking and then we will hop on a bus for El Calafate, which is the gateway to the Puerto Morena glacier and the Fitz Roy Moutains, which is the Argentine part of Patagonia.

PS I tried to upload the video but the internet is just tooooo slooowww!!! I will have to do it some other time. Until then, ciao!

Ciao for now...

Today was our last day in the big city....Bye, bye Buenos Aires and hello Ushuaia. We had a great time in the city....Renting that apartment for a week was a great idea, becuase it gave us a chance to really explore the city without feeling rushed and to see parts of the city we never would have. A couple interesting things happened today, on our last day.

Number one: the family of the landlord came to inspect the apartment and they were not happy about the door. But, instead of just coming to an agreement, they had to fuss and moan for a while before we could get out of there...It was really a long and drawn out ordeal that could have been taken care of in a much more efficient manner. The only good thing was that they arrived at our meeting on time, which is a lot more than we can say about when they came to meet with us in the first place (they were 2 hours late).

Number two: I ate a piece of blood sausage. And I am alive to tell the tale. I was not planning on eating it. I have not eated red meat in...oh about 15 years or so... But S was being a wimp and he wouldnt try it, so I told him that I would try it if he would. I did not think he would go for it, in fact he said no at first. Until everyone else egged him on, telling him that if a vegetarian can eat it, he better be able to... So he ate a small piece and I ate a small piece... It wasnt that great, and I dont think I ever need to have it again. But my mom always told me to try everything at least once.

That is it. Now we say good bye to Buenos Aires and we head to the End of the World, Ushuaia, for some hiking, beautiful sights and general enjoyment...

Telephono

So I guess there is a reason after all that we have cell phones. I sometimes wonder why. But today when I was waiting - by the way, I HATE waiting - for the boys, I realized, cell phones really have done at least one thing for us. They have allowed us to spend our time more economically.

The situation was this. I needed to get money from AMEX; Grant needed a sleeping bag. I was going to ¨pop in and out¨of the AMEX office... That didn´t happen. I ended up spending about an hour in the office and Grant ended up spending about 2 hours getting a sleeping bag. However, I couldnt get out of line to tell them that I was going to take longer than expected and they didnt know why I was taking so long. So we both ended up waiting longer than expected for each other.

So being here has made us all learn how to plan. Well, I use that phrase lightly...Plan. We have tried to plan, but sometimes it doesn´t work. But it has been interesting...Remember when we didn´t have cell phones (gasp). What did we do!?
I kind of like it. People can get ahold of me, they just have to wait. And the same goes for me...So we learn patience and planning. Maybe. Well we are trying to!

Break Me Off a Piece

Happy New Year everyone! Well, 2008 has already been quite an exciting year here in the big city. Let´s see...First we will start with New Years. The clock struck 12, we had a toast, danced the congo, watched the fireworks and then split into two groups - the early crew and the late crew. You know me, grandma, went with the early crew. We got to our apartment and when we tried to open the door, we couldnt. There are two locks, one on top and one on the bottom, but when the lady gave us the keys she said that we would only need to use the one on the bottom. So, we could turn the key in the bottom and we could hear the lock disengaging, but from what we could tell, the top lock was still locked. We thought that probably Kaylen, who had the other set of keys had maybe locked the top one for some reason. Well, we knew that the late crew was going to be gone for a while, so we went up to the roof to hang out for a while.

When the late crew finally did come home, they tried to open the door and had no luck either. So, we were tired and a bit cranky, so we broke into the apartment. Good times. Luckily we were able to do so. I guess. Hopefully it is not that easy for burglers.

So the next day we decided to go to a cemetary quite like the ones in New Orleans with the above ground graves...after that we wanted to take a new train home, one we had not tried before. However, when we got to the station, there was a barbed wire fence between us and the station we wanted to be at. So, KE and S decided to cross over a train bridge to try and climb down the other side. They got about half way across before a train came. These trains don´t move as slow as cargo trains either. Kaylen made it to the end of the bridge, but S had to climb to the side and crouch down in between two support beams. He made it. He is still alive, but I think he is going to have grey hair soon.

So. Yesterday and today were uneventful. We just explored the city a little more, went to the beach, went to the park... Tomorrow our plan is to go to the Casa Rosa, which means pink house. It is apparently a lot like our White House. And that´s all for now... Let the good times roll!

Naive Tourists Beware

The fun continutes.

This morning S and I were sitting at an outside table at a cafe while the other boys went to run errands. We had all of our bags sitting next to us and we were just relaxing and chatting over the remains of our coffees. A man walked up to us and was asking us directions and while we were trying to help him, his buddy took off with CK's backpack. We didn´t even notice until the people at the next table started shouting and out of the corner of my eye I saw one of the waiters take off around the corner like a shot. Luckily the waiter (god bless him!) caught up to the guy and got the bag back because in that bag was CK's passport and everything else important. So, thank goodness a good end to a bad story, but I think from now on we are all going to be a little bit more careful about our things.

We settled into our apartment in the suburb of Belgrano, went shopping and are planning a marvelous feast and some toasting of the New Year tonight. The Argetines don´t go out until late, so we may go to another party after we ring in the New Year locally.

Now we are six. CK and I are in it for the long haul, S is here for about 2 months, KE and Rafe and Grant are here for approximately 2 weeks each. It is nice to have an apartment, although we had to have a ¨house meeiting¨today to figure out who was going to sleep where and how we were going to split up the grocery bill... it is fun though. We already kicked KE off the island.

Tomorrow we will relax and then probably go to the beach the next day for some fun in the sun. The temperature here today was about 100, so I can´t wait to hit the beach!!

More later. I will probably have limited internet connection while in Patagonia (we will be doing a lot of hiking and camping) but I will do my best to keep up the good news!

Bienvenidos A Buenos Aires

We made it!

Day one: the day of the hostel search. We arrived around 10 this morning after a nice ride in first class, complete with a seemingly 7 course meal (thanks to S's dad!). After finding our luggage and getting money, we found a cabbie who was willing to transport us and our 400 pounds of baggage (seriously, my bag weighs about 40 lbs!) to the city. We got dropped off at the Palermo district, which is supposed to be known for its good eats, night life and is quoted in Lonely Planet as a "seriously chic and hip place to shop". However, it is apparently NOT the place to find a cheap place to stay (or any place to stay!) We looked for a while, but finally bagged an overpriced place with only 3 beds for 4 of us (we will have to take turns sleeping on the floor).

Tonight's plan: experience life the Argentine way...dinner at 9, drinks at midnight and then... who knows. Luckily, we are still on California time, so with Buenos Aires being 5 hours later, that should be about right for me. If I go to bed at 2 here, that is 9 my time. Perfect. Beinvenidos A Argentina!

Let’s Make it Advent to Remember

There are only 25 days left until Christmas. Yes, I count them. It all stems from the fact that as kids, we had this great advent calendar that my Aunt Sara made. It is a big felt tree with all the days on the side and as each day goes by, you get to put an ornament on the tree. Day one was always the star and Day 25 was always a Santa Claus with a pack on his back. My brother would get the odds and I would get the evens, but we always split the star and Santa between us, because they were the coolest ones. We loved that tree! Tomorrow is the first of the month and if I was home, I would probably be fighting over the star with Matt. However, I am not home, so Mom gets to fight over the star with Dad now instead.

The advent calendar gives you a heightened sense of anticipation, which is a huge part of the fun of Christmas. If it were only about the one day, it would not be nearly as fun. It is about the frosty air, the snow, the mistletoe, the Christmas cards, the decorating, the spending money, buying gifts, imagining people loving the gifts…It is about Christmas movies and songs and general joy. I know, I sound like a giddy schoolgirl, but my mother taught me that it is not all about the presents, that it is about a feeling. And also, I am a giddy schoolgirl. That is what Christmas is!

Sometimes it is hard to remember the giddy feeling. When I worked at Nordys, we really got sick of Christmas. The decorations went up Thanksgiving Day. The cheesy Christmas music played on a continuously looped track all day every day. The shoppers were annoyed and frustrated and annoying and frustrating. The traffic was horrible. The tourists were ooohing and aahing and walking oh so slowly as they gawped at the gaily decorated Macy’s shop windows. We opened at 6. We closed at 11. We got no sleep and no time to do our own Christmas shopping, and even if we did, we couldn’t get inside any of the stores because of all the people in the way. Oh it made me want to go home and get in bed and forget it all. It made me crazy sometimes.

However, I am in a better place now; I’ve finished my Christmas shopping (a lot of it online – thank God for the internet) I have sent cards, I have decorated, I have spent money and now I am ready to put the Muppet Christmas Carol on and sing along like a giddy schoolgirl.

Gobble, Gobble.

Yes, it is that time of year again. Time to sit down with your loved ones and give thanks that we have all made it through another year and are here together once more. Thanksgiving means so many differernt things to each different person. To me it means family most of all, but Thanksgiving also wouldn't be the same without the most iconic thing of all -- the turkey.

Yes, to many of us turkey sybolizes Thanksgiving. It is a ritual. We buy it, or it some cases kill it, clean it, cook it, carve it, eat it, put it away, eat it again, strip it and then make soup out of it. A little turkey goes a long way... I realize that the turkey is important. However, having not eaten meat in about...a dozen years or so, I can personally do without the turkey. Luckily, there are a few alternatives.

1. When in Rome...When I was in Turkey (ha - no pun intended) for Thanksgiving, my friend and I searched for days for a shop with a turkey or something similar to a turkey, but to no avail. All we found was a rotiserie chicken, which I was told was quite good. But NOT turkey.

2. Can a Loaf Really Be A Good Substitute?...This year I am going to try for the first time, Tofurkey, the fake turkey. Regardless of what you may think, it is NOT shaped like a turkey (I think there was an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond where they eat a turkey shaped tofu turkey). It is shaped like a meatloaf (see pic). I have never tried it, but I am sure it tastes similar to a lot of other tofu-"meat" products. NOT like turkey.

3. Or You Can Really Overdo It...Folks in Louisiana like meat. They like all meats...Beef, Pork, Crawfish, Fish, Chicken, Turkey, Duck...So why not put as many meats together as possible and enjoy them all at once. Enter the "Turducken". The Turducken is a Chicken stuffed inside a Duck which is then in turn stuffed inside the Turkey. Oh and even better...Let's fry it! Now they know how to cook...but is this really turkey? (see pic)

So, there are many ways to enjoy your holiday traditions, be it the food fight with uncle Jim or the turkey, any which way you may like it. The bottom line is that you enjoy them, no matter what they are!

Holly Jolly Christmas

I was flipping through the radio stations on my way to work this morning and as I was scanning through, I heard something that really floored me. There was Bing, singing, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”. Is it really? It’s not in Louisiana. Actually this morning, it was about 45 degrees in Baton Rouge, which is quite cold for this area. However, it does not look like Christmas to me! Christmas is snow and presents and family. I don’t have any of those things here.

I remember when I used to work at Nordstrom; we used to wait to put up the Christmas decorations until the night of Thanksgiving. Even my Mom, who is a Christmas fanatic, waits until after Thanksgiving to decorate. Are we pushing Christmas more and more every year? Will we soon have holiday decorations up after Labor Day?

I hope not. I enjoy Christmas. I like shopping for people; I like the holiday cheer; I like the frosty air, the snow, the stockings… However, like anything else, if we get too used to it, it becomes mundane. And that is the last thing I want – Christmas is meant to be special! So, Bing, go ahead and sing your song, but please, please don’t get Christmas started too early!

5K Or Bust!

Since the August Half Marathon I have not been running very much. So when my friend Bricker said he was going to sign up for a couple of 5K races, I kind of hemmed and hawed for a bit before I decided to shut up and sign up! Bricker used to be..how shall I say...not so healthy. A year ago, he weighed maybe 250, smoked, drank and ate lots of large Louisiana meals. He has since got his s**t together and I am so proud of him. It is the least I can do to support him.

Or so that is what I thought I was doing. As it turns out, he could beat me any day! Well - can, could and HAS! The first race we ran together was the Gumbo Festival 5K. We had never really run together, so I had no idea what his pace or style was. We ran for about 3/4 of a mile together and then he took off like a shot. He ended up coming in about a minute before me, which when running a 3.1 mile race is a lot.

This week we have been running together, and then today we had another 5K race (Crescent City Fall Classic) and he beat me again! He only beat me by about 15 seconds this time though... Results to follow, but we both got about 25:40.

It is great to have someone to run with and to pace yourself against. It really makes it so much easier. When I run alone I get bored and unmotivated. But thanks to Chris, I am back in the game!

Sometimes I Wonder...

...why people sit in the drive thru lane when there are about a dozen cars in line and nobody inside.

...why people don't respond to an evite. You know they looked at it. But then they don't reply. Isn't the whole point of the evite to figure out how many people are going? Why can't they just respond? There is an option for "no" and for "maybe". I don't see why it is so difficult.

...why people don't use their turn signals. What do they think they are there for, asthetics? Actually, it would seem obvious what they are for...it is right in the name - "TURN" "SIGNAL". Yes, you SIGNAL and THEN you TURN!