Out Is In

What a fabulous weekend! The weather was hot, the water was cool, the food was delicious and the company was fantastic!

A few of my favorite photos from Indian Mary 2007.

Everyone had a great time and we all did our best to 'Maximize the Fun'. Saturday was a little rough... my little guy had reached his camping limit and was quite cranky and irritable throughout the day. My little princess, on the other hand, was sweet and helpful the entire time. Some of the most memorable moments include: my daughters fascination with a little worm she found (she played with it for over an hour), my sons fascination with a dead June bug, the kiddos interacting with the adults (playing games, sharing stories, etc.), DD floating the river on an inflatable ring, DS eating his weight in watermelon, a bear sighting by my dad (fishing just a few meters upstream from the bear) and our raft flotilla, and me winning Super Scrabble for the first time (with "Zoril" ? for 70 points).

I even managed to get my runs in, for the most part. Wednesday morning, I woke early and did 8+ miles with about 10 minutes TUT along the river trail. Strangely, I discovered a part of the trail that extends uphill a significant distance that I had not noticed in the past - despite the fact that I run this portion of the trail regularly. Now I can be assured of incorporating more hill work into my runs. Sweet!

Kong and I awoke at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday morning. We did an easy 6+ miles at about a 10 min mile pace. I then added an additional 3 at an average 8:18 pace (between GP and T). It is always a treat for me to run with a friend as I don't often have the opportunity. I had intended to get up early again on Friday, but my body must have needed some rest because I slept through the alarm... which was on my wrist! Alas, Kong hit the road without me.

I did my long run on Saturday knowing I wouldn't be able to run on Sunday. I did the first 6+ with D2 (a friend of DH) and Kong. I then did the same loop a second time on my own. I loved running along Galice-Merlin road... despite the traffic. My weeks total mileage was just above 35 miles. I'll continue to build on that for 2 more weeks and then taper for the 30K on the 4th of August.

The view of Hells Canyon and the Rogue River was breathtaking. On several occasions, I was able to stop briefly to watch a pair of Osprey dive for the breakfast. On Thursday, Kong and I even woke a wild turkey from its slumber as we returned to the park. She saw him again (or perhaps it was a relative) right in our camp the next day.