Adventure Race

This weekend in Del Rio, it felt like there were all sorts of things going on!!! There were two 5Ks, a monster truck rally, several concerts in the park, blood drives, vaccination drives, the adventure race, and the list goes on and on. I don't know why they can't spread things out a little more, because I would have loved to have participated in more events, and there definitely aren't this many things going on all the time!

On Friday night, I went to The Spot (the local roller skating rink) for a hail and farewell for Travis' squadron. Basically, they put together this event every once in a while to introduce all the new guys and families who have joined the squadron and to say goodbye to the families who are about to leave Del Rio for their next assignment. I enjoyed having the chance to see several friends and meet some new ones! I didn't roller skate because I didn't want to wear myself out before the big race the next day, but I had a fun time chatting with everyone and meeting the new people!

Then, on Saturday, it was finally time for the Adventure Race! Here's a picture of our team:

James (our token male) is a T1 instructor (the plane the students fly after they complete their T6 training with Travis); Kristy, a science teacher at the high school who's husband is a T1 instructor too; Heather, who's husband is a T1 instructor and also one of our drivers; me!; and Shannon, who is an Air Force nurse stationed in San Antonio and dating one of the T1 instructors here in Del Rio. (We had lots of comments on the socks along the way, and by the end, all the volunteers knew us as the pink sock team!)

We initially had 6 girls on our team, and we were excited about competing against all the guy teams. But, one girl dropped out in the beginning for various reasons, and then two of our other teammates found out they were pregnant. One girl dropped out, and the other decided she would only do the running portion. We had to have four people on the course at all times, and now we were down to only three. So, at last minute, we asked a friend named James to be on our team. He didn't have one of our green team shirts or the awesome pink socks, but he was a great team member!! He helped out with the biking portion and also took over for one of the girls later in the running portion. Two other major players in our game were the two drivers we had. There were various checkpoints along the race where we had to check in and switch out team members as necessary. Our drivers drove the truck with all our supplies to each of the checkpoints to help us out and cheer us on. They also stopped several places along the road to scream and cheer for us as we went by. It was really motivating!! :-)

The morning started out cloudly, gray, and freezing cold, but it ended up being a beautiful sunny day at the end. I am a little sunburned on my shoulders, and I have a great shorts tan being developed, but other than that, I feel great! I was definitely ready for this race and had a good time doing it. I stayed on the course the entire time, except at the end where we could only have two people in the raft at a time.

SO....how did we do? Well, we did a great job for the first six miles of the race. We were hanging in with all the other teams, passing a few, being passed by some... Everything was going along swimmingly, and then one of the girls had a flat tire on her bike. We were on the first leg of the race, still on the perimeter road around the base, and we discovered that she had run over a metal tack (probably about 1/2 an inch long). Her tire was completely flat, and despite all our efforts to fix it, we couldn't do it. As a team, we were a little unprepared to completely fix the tire (we only had a patch kit), so we fell into last place very quickly at the beginning. Shannon ended up having to run with her bike (pushing it with a flat tire) for over three miles until we reached the first checkpoint outside the main gate of the base. We had a phone with us, so we had called our drivers to let them know the situation, and they were waiting at the checkpoint with a new bike. So, after being delayed for over an hour, we were finally back on the road. We didn't see any of the other teams again until we got to the rowing portion at the lake. :-(

We rode our bikes along highway 90 and some back roads and didn't have any other bike problems. There were several hills and bumps, but we finally made it to the marina in one piece! Again, our drivers were there waiting for us at the checkpoint where we ditched all our biking gear and put on our running shoes. We then started our 8 mile run around the marina area, that basically was a rocky trail through west Texas. They had us run to the dam at the lake and then up the steep hill to the dam. They had various checkpoints along the way with water and volunteers to point us in the right direction and help us out if we needed it. The downhill portions were so nice! :-) Once we ran up the hill to the dam, we had to then run back down and continue back to the marina. The race challenge at this point was that we had to carry our own life jackets and paddles about four miles to the lake. I wore a life jacket while running...a bit weird, but manageable. It was really hot at this point, though, and the sun was really bright, so I did get a little hot. Again, our drivers came through for us, meeting us at the checkpoints along the way with cold bottles of water and snacks!

We finally made it to the marina, and we were really excited to catch up with several teams. We got to the marina at about the same time as five other teams. We all prepared our boats and sent two of our team members into the water for a mile of rowing. We met them halfway to switch out rowers to finish the last mile of the race. We finally finished the rowing, and then we had to carry the boat, paddles, and lifejackets about a mile to the finish line in the marina. We finished strong and came across the line smiling!!

We finished the race in 5 hours and 20 minutes, placing 43rd out of 51 teams! We were really encouraged by how great our time was, considering we had spent an hour fixing our bike. The first place team finished in 3 hours and 15 minutes, so we really did a great job overall!!

The race sponsors provided lunch, water, music, and celebration at the marina. We hung out for a while, watched the awards being handed out, and then we all went out on a friend's boat to enjoy relaxing for the rest of the afternoon.

When we finally came in off the lake, we headed to the monster truck rally at the fairgrounds. It was actually very entertaining!

After the rally, I went home, exhausted and in serious need of some sleep! And, like I said, I'm a little sunburned on my shoulders this morning, but otherwise, feeling great!!

Most of my teammates won't be around next year for the race, since their husbands are being reassigned to different locations in the fall. Hopefully, there will be another group of people who are interested in doing the race by the time it comes around again, because I would really like to do it again!

Overall, it was a great weekend and a fun event!

Tomorrow's the Day!!

It's here! The adventure race is tomorrow! I can't do anything else to get ready except get a good night's sleep tonight and make sure I have everything ready to go. I'm really excited and have been looking forward to this for a while!

The plan is:

Arrive on base at 6:45am for safety briefing, bike inspection, team strategy talk, etc.

Race begins at 8:30am

Bike 28 miles...

Run 8 miles...

Row 2 miles in the lake...

Hopefully finish and make it to the party at the marina before the sun goes down!! :-)

It should be a good time! Pictures and updates will come soon after!!

Productive Weekend!

We got so much done while we were here in town this weekend! I think Travis is really excited not to have any papers to write this week, and he has been doing so many things around the house. I wouldn't say it was a relaxing weekend, but it was definitely fun and productive!

We took the puppies to the lake on Saturday morning, and they had a blast playing in the water. The waves at the lake were a little scary, but Rio was tall enough that they didn't bother her too much. Percy kept getting submerged, but he was still wanting to play fetch with the tennis ball!!

Then, along with a lot of chores and general house, dog, and self maintenance, Travis also installed an automatic dog door in our house this weekend and fixed all the lights in the front of our house. Two great projects that have really needed to be done for a while; we finally just had a chance to get them done!

The old lights were broken and full of ants, so Travis bought some beautiful new lights to line our sidewalk!

Please install a dog door for us!! Please, please, please!!!! Please??

So Travis made a huge mess and cut a hole in the wall...

On the porch outside looking in....

On the inside of the half bathroom looking out....

He also had a friend come over and help him move the electrical outlet that was in the way. And tada...we have a dog door!!

We had to purchase the largest door possible because Percy wouldn't fit through any others. He is ten inches wide already, and the extra large size, at thirteen inches wide, is the only one that is large enough for him.

A little painting and spackling is still needed, but the door itself functions pretty well. By bribing Percy with treats, we got him to use the door pretty quickly. He is pretty fearless, so he'll be using the door regularly in no time. Rio, however, is petrified and doesn't want to go anywhere near the door! Maybe once it gets really hot outside, she'll start understanding what it's for and not be so afraid to use it!

The door can be locked, so critters won't be coming in anytime soon. It snaps shut after every use using magnets, so the cat won't be able to get out either. Also, the door goes right out onto the porch, so they can use it to get to their food and water even if it's raining. You can't see the door from inside the house, and we feel like it is in the perfect spot!!

I am so grateful to have a husband who can do or fix anything (and really isn't afraid to punch a hole in the wall, either)!! :-)

First Triathalon

Well, it was a bit of a disaster, but I finished it and am planning to do another one soon! (I'm going to wait until after the adventure race on April 10th, so the next one I have planned is on June 6th, unless another one comes up in May.)

I did the sprint triathlon on Sunday, March 14th, and it consisted of a 100 meter swim, 6 mile bike, and a 2 mile run. I actually had a little bit of fun, although I learned a lot about my triathlon weaknesses and strengths. Overall, I came in 6th place in my age group...out of six people, and about 60th out of 88 people total. *sigh* My time was 54 minutes, 32 seconds...yikes. Not great, and it definitely could be better. The swim took me about 2 minutes, and the run was pretty quick, but the biking and transitions really slowed me down. I'm not racing to be first; my main goals are to finish without stopping and be as efficient as possible.

I am terrible at the transitions, but these will get better with practice. In the first one, from swimming to biking, it took me entirely too long because of little things like the fact that I forgot to untie my shoes before the race and had to do it in the transition. Also, I forgot that I had to wear a helmet, so I had to redo the ponytail in order to make the helmet fit! I was also really awkward about taking my bike off the rack and getting going, so the entire transition took about eight minutes (which is way too long). Then, on the second transition, from biking to running, I knocked over the bike rack. Awesome. So I spent about five minutes getting all the bikes back up and on the rack before I could start running. (Next time, this won't happen!!)

Also, I am terrible at biking. Terrible. My legs were burning, and my feet were numb pretty much the entire time. Spin class, here I come.

Swimming is the easiest thing for me, and I really enjoy it, but it doesn't help much in the overall time in a triathlon. So, while I am focusing more now on the running and biking, I have joined a swimming incentive program at the gym on base just for fun! It's called "Swim the Rio" and basically, the lifeguards help us keep track of all the laps we swim in the pool. They have plotted out the mileages to the different border towns along the Rio Grande, and every time we reach a city, we get some sort of prize! We are starting up in the corner of Texas, near New Mexico and going all the way down the Rio Grande on the border of Texas. First stop, Brownsville, 50 miles of swimming! (32 laps in the pool equals 1 mile) I am strangely excited about doing this.... :-)

Meanwhile, we are continuing to train for our adventure race on April 10th. 28 miles of biking, 7 miles of running, and 2 miles of rowing, all with our team of five people. Spin class is my top priority right now!!!

One thing I have always wanted to do is a triathlon, so I am really excited that I am getting into them now! No ironmans, just the sprints, building up to the next level of the sport. It's pretty fun, and I am enjoying all the cross training! Travis joins me in my workouts occasionally, but his schedule is so hectic and unpredictable that it's a rare chance that we get to work out together.

It's really exciting to have a chance to do triathlons! I'm having a great time! :-)

Spring Break 2010

For spring break this year, I took Rio and Percy to Canyon Lake, Texas to hang out with my parents. We spent the time playing at the lake, taking long hikes and swims in the national parks around the area, and playing fetch! Everyone had a blast, and the dogs were completely exhausted by the time the week was over. We are back home now, and we are preparing to go back to the real world of work and exercise. Here are some pictures and videos from the week:

We took the puppies out on the boat, and they had a great time. Percy was exploring the boat the entire time, sitting next to the captain, climbing the seats, and very eager to see everything! Rio was more content to sit and just look around.

This is the picture we took after Percy took a flying leap out of the boat, and we had to spend about five minutes hauling him back in. He literally jumped about five feet out of the boat in a split second; we had no idea it was coming. He swam right back to the boat and was a little freaked out, but he was ready to go swimming again after about ten minutes! He is definitely a flight risk out of the boat!!

Rio proved she really is part Retriever - she found a large stick, that was probably twice her body size in the river and focused for about five minutes on pulling the thing to shore!!

Both of the puppies LOVED the water and would play fetch and swim in the water. Neither of them could wait to go swimming each day. If they could hear the water moving, they couldn't wait to drag me down to the banks!!

Posing in front of Perdenales Falls, right in the middle of Hill Country Texas. It was so beautiful, and the puppies loved running around on the beach!

Another shot at Perdenales Falls - the puppies didn't stay dry for long!!

Here is one of Percy's many adventures into the water. He proved to be a great swimmer!! Rio was a little timid about going in the water at first; Percy had absolutely no fear.

Meanwhile, back at home in Del Rio, Travis and Mijo were hanging out and entertaining each other. Travis had to work all week, as well as write several papers for his classes, so he chose to stay home and get things done. He tolerated the cat as much as possible, and the kitty was not attention deprived when I got home; in fact, I think he didn't even notice I was gone!! Overall a pretty good spring break, although I am now really looking forward to summer!

No more scheduling!

It's official!! Travis is no longer the scheduler for his flight! This means, instead of having to stay two hours after everyone else goes home to work on the schedule for the next day, now he can come home when he's done flying! His job, along with flying, now involves testing the students in the classroom and giving general knowledge stand ups. Of course, his schedule still remains unpredictable and forever changing, but at least some days he can get home earlier! :-)

And what did we do with all that extra time today? We took a long bike ride to the airport in Del Rio, and then we took the puppies on a walk. It was a great afternoon. :-)

7 miles!!

I just have to be a little bit excited, because yesterday, for the first time in my life, I ran seven consecutive miles! It was amazing. No pain, just pure bliss and euphoria. Rio ran by my side the entire way and is such a great running companion! (We have been working up to the distance running...we walk almost three miles everyday, and she ran five miles with me last weekend!!) She runs right along with me and barely pulls on the leash. She really loves going on walks and runs and never complains. She runs a little faster than I normally do, so she is helping to motivate me along!

My friends and I are training to participate in the Adventure Race, a yearly event sponsored by the base. We are going to have to bike 22 miles, run 8 miles, and then row 2 miles at the end. The event is on April 10th, so we have about a month and a half left to get ready! We have six people on our team, and we are allowed to have four on the course at a time, so if someone needs a break, they can take it. We also will have a car and driver following along with the race, carrying our bikes, food, drinks, and change of clothes. It sounds like it will be a lot of fun! We have also signed up for a mini-triathalon (bike 10 miles, run 2 miles, swim 200 yards) in San Antonio on March 14th, and we are pretty excited about it too.

It feels pretty good to be back in shape and be able to express all this grace, agility, and strength! :-)