I (don't really) want to ride my bicycle.

I don't own a bike. Unless you count my old bike that's still in my parents' garage in Santa Fe. I do, however, still have my helmet with me. Because, you know, a bike might come along and I need to be prepared. And in fact, a bike has come along! Josh's grandma is lending me hers. It's not a "grandma bike" though, don't worry. (Well, except maybe for the side mirror attached to the handle bar, but if that makes it a grandma bike I'm really okay with it.) Tuesday Josh and I went for a bike ride, but I didn't like it too much. Sure, it was fun to ride (he kept saying gleefully "isn't this better than running!"), but it was also very scary. We were riding in town, and therefore on streets and in traffic. I never did that growing up. The only time I've ridden in traffic like that was once on a bike tour in Germany, and when a bus pulled over and I should have stopped but freaked out about losing my tour group and went anyway, a busload of people yelled at me in German. Okay, maybe not a busload, but one guy definitely yelled. Anyway, the point is that riding with cars scares me. And it's bad enough huffing and puffing up a hill on a bike, why add the extra threat that if you don't hurry that car trying to turn might run you over? It's all too much.

tidbits

My mouth is coming along quite nicely! I still have some unsightly sutures in there, but unless I smile quite creepily, no one can see them. Thursday I have my check-up and they'll remove whatever is left.

I'm trying to figure out what I should run next. I need a running goal to help me actually work out regularly. Apparently I was mistaken by a lady at work who thought I was addicted to exercise. I'm not, but I can commit to following a schedule. I'm thinking about another half marathon at the end of August. That would give me the summer to train (at an intermediate level instead of beginners like the last half marathon), and I'd be done with the big time commitment in time for school to start in September.

I don't watch LOST. So I don't care about the series finale! But I'm really loving the new NBC show Parenthood.

I had an African violet back when I lived in Raleigh, but that didn't really work out. I'm trying to have plants again, and so far things are going much better. I was given some little baby spider plants several months ago and after planting them and giving them plenty of sun and water I have lots of baby spider plants of my own! I haven't decided if I want to pot or, uh, "prune" them, so in the meantime I've got some crazy long sprouts going on. I would take a picture to show you but I accidentally vacuumed up a couple of the plant's leaves once and I'm embarrassed to show you their tips. Anyway...I also have a beautiful orchid that Josh gave me for my birthday. I love orchids and have wanted one for a very long time, and I finally have one! He got one with a tag that says all I have to do is give it three ice cubes once a week to water it, and so far so good. Next up, I want a cute little jade plant.

Last week I went on a work field trip to Poplar Forest. That was Jefferson's other house, his Bedford County estate. It's still sort of in the reconstruction faze and isn't completely finished inside and furnished, but it's still pretty cool. The yard was filled with really annoying gnats, but the house was neat and worth the trip to Lynchburg.

gross fest

Friday I took off of work so I could go to Richmond and have some good ole' oral surgery. No biggy really, just a little gum graft. But, you know, surgery. I was awake for the whole thing but the doctor's office was great because they gave me a blanket and an ipod to listen to, plus some dark glasses. So I snuggled up, put the ipod on shuffle, closed my eyes, and tuned out with my mouth wide open. A little over an hour later I was on my way back to my grandparents' house, where I proceeded to take a five and a half hour nap. It hasn't been too bad, and luckily I haven't had any pain at all. But the worst part? Looking in my mouth completely grosses me out. It's disgusting. Grandpa says it looks just fine, but he's a doctor so he can't appreciate how disgusting the whole thing is. And even if I'm not looking at my mouth in the mirror, just the thought of what's in my mouth grosses me out. So it's best if I don't think about it.

Montalto Challenge, WITH PICTURES!

Turns out Josh is a miracle worker and he rescued my deleted photos! I know how disappointed you all were to not see pictures of sweaty runners, so you can thank him when you get a chance. And here we go!

At the bottom of the mountain waiting to start. Notice all the trees. The lower trail part was very woodsy.


By the time we got up to Montalto it wasn't woodsy anymore. If you think this looks like a pleasant hill, just realize those lines are all switchbacks. I think if you zoom in you can see a couple walking.


Josh took this one while still running.


I came in 65th, see?


Bagpipes greeted us at the top.


Swwweeeeeaaaatttttyyyy


TJ was lookin' pretty sweaty, too.


See that white building? That's Monticello.


There I am in my brown race shirt with all the winners. Because I came in second in my age group, remember?


Hooray for a successful Montalto Challenge!

Montalto Challenge

Well I went through with the crazy challenge, and this morning I ran a 5k up a mountain. Josh ran up, too. The race is put on by Monticello here in Charlottesville and starts at the bottom of the Saunders-Monticello trail and continues all the way up Montalto. They say we rose in elevation by almost 900 feet, and when we reached the top we looked out over Charlottesville and the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was beautiful, and definitely challenging. I've run up the Saunders-Monticello trail a few times before and this time I did it in a minute less than I'd ever done it before. But after the trail came the really steep and winding road up Montalto, and unfortunately I had to take several breaks and walk up the extra steep parts. But just about everybody around me was also taking walking breaks. It was intense. I didn't quite make my time goal, but I think my goal was unrealistic. I came in 65th out of 122, but get this...

I came in second in my age group!!! They called my name in the awards ceremony and I got a prize and everything! So that is very exciting.

You know what is decidedly not exciting? The fact that I came home and proceeded to delete all the wonderful photos we'd taken. I thought there were duplicates so I deleted the second ones, but turns out there weren't really duplicates and I deleted all but two. Here they are:





Photos you do not get to see, because they no longer exist, include before and after photos with two co-workers who also ran, a shot up at Montalto to show you how high it is, a shot looking over and down at Monticello, Josh and me extra sweaty at the top, the bagpipe players who provided entertainment atop the mountain, and my Thomas Jefferson temporary tattoo that was bleeding ink down my sweaty arm by the end. Hopefully I can get some of the photos my co-workers took, but in the meantime I suggest you check out the photos from last year's race so you can get an idea about what it was like. And if I run next year you can be sure I'll be extra careful with the pictures I take.

Update: The pictures were recovered and you can see them in this post. You can also read my post about the 2011 challenge here, 2012 here, 2013 (my PR!) here, and 2014 here.

Crabtree Falls

This morning Josh and I went for a hike to Crabtree Falls in Nelson County. We live near mountains now, so we figured we should go check them out. Apparently Crabtree Falls is the tallest waterfall east of the Mississippi. Basically the entire 1.7 mile hike is up the mountain by the falls, so every time I thought we must be at the top of the falls we'd hike some more and find out I was wrong, the falls were still there. It was pretty cool. Then we kept walking another mile or so along the stream at the top. Some hikers passing us said they'd just seen a snake, but luckily it left before I had to see it. We also made sure to talk and sing so as to scare away any potential bear visitors. That might be what caused my nap-time dream about bears this afternoon.