A long week ...

Evening at the lake

 It was a long 5 day trip to Ottawa. It seemed like much more than a few days. Of course only 3 actually in Ottawa - 2 were spent driving. But I am not going to complain because over those few days I got to spend a night at Malcolm's cottage on Long Lake, a couple of nights with Malcolm, Lynne and the girls and I got to see lots of Martika. On top of all of that I had a great meeting with the Government of Canada and got to spend some time with my brother and some old colleagues educating them on what I do now - so a good business trip as well.

Bulk Icing Sugar
(also have bulk cake frosting)

Some of the things that I do miss living in Virginia
    - old friends that have great cottages that are only a short hour away. That short hour really gets you out in the country - as you can see from the picture above;
    - running on downtown along the canal. So many runners and bikers - it is great;
    - Creemore Springs on tap at the Royal Oak

Bulk Prunes

    - and Tika reminded me of the Bulk Barn. The Bulk Barn is a place where you can get just about anything in bulk - as you can see from the pictures. For Tika it was spicy plantains and wasabi peas.

So yes it was a long and at times stressful trip but I was glad I was able to do it and I look forward to the next one. Hopefully it will be less stressful :-)

Happy Anniversary

Today is my parents anniversary. I will not say which one because then Mom will get defensive about her age, even though she has another birthday coming up soon. But I did want to make sure that they both know how much we love them and how happy we are that they are both around to celebrate their anniversary today. There are very few couples that have made it through all of the struggles and challenges that they have and while they sometimes seem to get on each others nerves I know that they love each other very much and each worries about the other more than they will openly admit sometimes.

Mom and Dad - we are very proud of your strength and tenacity, of your love for each other and of your love for us and your extended family.

We all love you very much and wish you a very ...

Happy Anniversary!

September 17th

Yes I know September 17th was yesterday but I wanted to just write a short post on how it went from a very long day to a very wonderful day.

The long day started very early in the morning with an electronic chirp-chirp. That chirp-chirp would haunt me all day. Every 20-40 minutes - chirp-chirp. I reset and changed batteries in every smoke detector in the house but still - chirp-chirp. I really did not need the being woke early to it. I really did not need the sound as I tried desperately to work reviewing technical papers and standards. I really did not need it when Kris called in panic mode at 1:30 when her computer crashed.

For me September 17th was supposed to be a day to celebrate. 4 years ago Laura had a procedure that changed her life - and thereby changed mine. It was a short 6 weeks after that day that we met and I am forever grateful for her doctors that made sure she was healthy and happy. But my day was turning into something else - that is until Laura came home. Even when the last chirp-chirp sent me over teh edge - she hugged me - and it all went away.

September 17th was a good day.

I love you sweetheart.

btw -the chirp-chirp went away after I figured out it was the alarm for a battery backup for my internet provider - Laura helped me figure that out - and for that I am glad she was her with me as well.

Official Results

The official results were posted for the Inaugural Navy-Air Force Half Marathon.

My finish time was 1:44:39 which was running at about a 8:00 min/mile pace, which was just a little bit slower than my last Cherry Blossom time. Overall I finished 296th out of 1723 runners.

I was very excited to see that I beat my goal of 1:45 after having missed my 1:50 goal at the last half marathon by only about 30 seconds.

One of the other cool things was that rather than giving out medals at the finish line they handed out Challenge Coins, which is a military tradition that started for members of units but has extended to recognition of special achievement within an unit. I now have 3 but this one is by far the most rewarding.

Bib and Challenge Coin

A Quick Race Report

This morning was the first Navy-Air Force half-marathon. The Navy has annually held a 5 miler about this time of year but this year they combined it with a half-marathon and with the Air Force banner as well. It was a fun race - relatively flat course running much the same geography as the Cherry Blossom 10 miler but adding a few miles up Rock Creek parkway.

My goal going in was to beat my Marine Corps half time. I had targeted 1:50 for the Marine Corps race but missed it by about half a minute. So this one I wanted to make sure I beat the 1:50 but given the flat course I thought I should target a bit faster so my dream goal was 1:45. So I was feeling great as I was passing through mile 12 on target for 1:45. In fact my gun time looked to be 1:44:44. My Garmin gave it at 1:44:34 so I will be anxious to see how I actually did. But either way - as the picture shows - I was happy.

A Busy Sunday

Yesterday was quite the busy day. With a week before the Navy-Air Force half marathon I cut back on my normal long Sunday run but I did want to get in a couple of miles so I woke early and did a quick 5k before I grabbed a coffee and picked up Sam. Yesterday was our level 1 whitewater kayak course. It was a cool morning when I first wen out running but thankfully by the time the class was starting it had reached into the low 70s.

The course was run by Valley Mills Kayak. The two instructors were great and made sure to cover things from the very basics and doing it in a way that had us first work with the instructor and then practice with a partner. We first started off getting wet by practicing a wet exit. You may ask what that is - well the wet should be a good indicator. This technique is used when you roll your kayak so you are underwater, you have lost your paddle and there is no one close by to help. As you can imagine this is an important technique and I decided I would be the first to try it so the first thing I did in the water was to intentionally flip my kayak without a paddle. The first time the instructor flipped me back just so I could get a sense of what it was like to be anchored in the kayak but upside down in the water. Once she rolled me back over I gave it a real try and rolled and exited. It is straight forward and surprisingly easy but I can see how some people would panic quickly. Of course we did this on flat water - I imagine in fast moving water it is a different experience.

So after I did this Sam followed and nailed it - which was pretty much what she did all day. We ended up practicing another rescuer technique which saw us also flip our kayaks intentionally and I managed to do it all on my own - not quite intentionally.

The course ended up being 3 very wet hours but was great. I think myself and Sam will do the level 2 course - maybe in the winter where they do it a pool. After we finished Sam slipped into some drier clothes and we ran out to grab a bite - but even in the mid-70s Sam still found it cold - as you can tell from the picture.



It was a fun day and lots of fun to do with Sam. I have a lot of practicing to do to get the paddling of a whitewater kayak down but I also have access to some great flat water to practice. I will just try to do it without flipping :-)


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Labor Day ... aka BBQ ... Weekend

It was a busy and a bit smoky weekend. Labor Day weekend is the usual weekend for friends of ours to throw their end of summer BBQ. This is Dave and Jill's fourth year of hosting this at their place in Maryland and I think (Laura will correct me if needed) we have made it every year. Dave trained as a chef and is very good at creating a lot of good food for a lot of people. This year Dave had some great chicken souvlaki and some fantastic pulled pork shoulder and many other meats. And then of course sides galore - potatoes, salads and countless desserts. It was a great Saturday afternoon and motivated me for Sunday.

Sunday Kris was home from Mason and she was looking forward to a home cooked meal. We had some lamb ribs and picked up some burgers and lit the barbecue. We added in some roasted potatoes and grilled squash and ended the meal with some homemade vegan chocolate cupcakes. After lunch Kris, Sam and I headed out to see ParaNorman. It was so funny - we had a great day of it.

Monday was a day to relax ... in our way. Laura headed to the gym and I decided to try a new waterway so I packed up the Jeep with the small kayak and headed down to the Occaquan River where I put in just north of the Bull Run Marina. I paddled up the river from there passing by a number of nesting areas for herons and egrets and also saw cranes and eagles. It is a great place to paddle, even with the low water, as the river is only about 30-40 ft across with high shorelines so you get a real sense of being away from everything. It will be beautiful in a few weeks when the leaves start to change. When Laura and I go I will make sure I put in somewhere else as the put in site this time involved a good hike down through the woods and across some mudflats.

After we both got home we took care of some things and sat down and enjoyed Wanderlust. It was pretty funny .... and we only interrupted our watching to get some fresh tomatoes from our garden to make some homemade pizza sauce and then pizzas. It was a wonderfully relaxing day.

It was a fantastic weekend and next weekend will get more interesting when Sam and I take a whitewater kayaking class - nose plugs optional but suggested. Yikes!


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