Summer 2013...the saga continues

    The week of July 7-12 was pretty crazy!  There were terrible storms almost every day (especially at night) and we had lots of trees fall in various places around camp.  Sleeping alone in a tent (since it was all guys that week), I spent the first few nights laying awake filled with anxiety, hoping and praying a tree wouldn't come tumbling down on me.  The waterfront director slept in the tent the last 2 nights to keep me company and because she really wanted the chance to sleep in a tent.

goofing around in a flooded creek at our low ropes course

      Storms and nasty mud EVERYWHERE aside, the week was absolutely amazing!  The 6 campers were really fun and extremely mature for their age.  And the counselors (including an awesome volunteer counselor from Ohio Christian University I didn't even know I'd have) did a great job!

Andrew (the WA counselor for July 7-12) instructing kayaking

      Two of the highlights of the week were our trips offsite: we went kayaking on Lake Logan (the Hocking River was too high/fast/flooded) and rock climbing/repelling/caving!  The sky was beautiful somewhat clear and blue (finally!) for the kayaking trip and we had a good, relaxing time paddling and swimming.  The rock climbing trip was just plain epic!  We started off climbing at an area I've been to a lot.  Then we got lowered into a cave!  I was so excited!  I even got to use some of the knowledge I gained at the caving camp from a few weeks ago.  And of course it was fun doing my cave lizard impression again.  One of the boys also did a really good Gollum impression.  Haha!  After exploring/hanging out in the cool cave for a little while, we went repelling down a 150 foot cliff in an area called Big Springs!  This cliff was beside a gorgeous waterfall by the way.

with Jeremiah, the awesome volunteer counselor, at the bottom of the repelling site

     It was one of those weeks that I felt sadness instead of relief when the kids left.  They were such an amazing group!  

a beautiful heron on Lake Logan

     This past week, there were no storms or rain until Friday (when we were down in the lodge and main camp and the kids would be leaving soon).   It was very hot and humid, but I was very happy to have dry feet and no crazy storms to worry about!

Emmy (one of the counselors) proud of starting a great fire

     The week started off rough on Sunday: a huge tree had fallen over the weekend (suprise surprise), blocking our way up to The Meadow (our living area).  So we had to wait for people to clear it before we could move our luggage, water, and food up.  The kids were also way younger than I thought they would be.  I was told I had high schoolers, but the kids that showed up were 9-12 year-olds. I had to completely change my plans.  I also tend to enjoy older middle/high school kids way more because they are more independent, more mature, and you can do more awesome high adventure activities with them.

Adam (the counselor I had for WA for 2 weeks: July 14-19 & June 30-July 3). He's hilarious!

      In spite of the rough start, the week ended up being great!  The counselors were super fun and we had another awesome volunteer from OCU.  The kids were pretty cool too. 

with Travis, the other awesome volunteer counselor from OCU, at the end of the week

      My favorite part of the week was the rapelling trip (with a 40 foot repel).  At first I was nervous because I've never taken anyone under the age of 14 repelling, but they did great!  I was so proud of them!  The leaders in training (a group of older high schoolers at camp for the past 2 weeks) joined us too.  I was back-up belaying and spent almost half the time waiting/relaxing with the 2 high school girls talking.  After the trip, our camp director (who has been leading the rock climbing/repelling trips) treated us to ice cream! 

       This upcoming week was originally supposed to be Extreme Wilderness Adventures, where we were going to be traveling to West Virginia for rafting, repelling, climbing, hiking, camping out, and other exciting things.  Sadly, not enough people signed up so it got cancelled.  Now I will be counseling 8th graders.  I haven't been a counselor (without also having a bunch of other responsibilities) since 2011, so I'm both excited and nervous.  It will be our last week with campers, so I'm going to make it a great week!

beautiful Big Springs

Awesome summer so far!

  So far this summer has been amazing!  I'm spending my fourth summer working at Camp Otterbein in Logan, Ohio.  Although I actually spent 2 of the weeks at other places/with another camp.

goofing around with a projector screen I found at Camp Otterbein

    The first week, we had what's called a user group at Camp Otterbein.  A church brought in their own counselors, planned their own programming, etc. and we were all just there to help out. It was a fun week with an awesome group!  The best part was helping to lead high ropes.  One of the high school girls was having a really hard due to her fear of heights.  While sitting on the platform, she asked me to pray with her, so I did.  Then she did one of the elements and later on went down the zipline.  It was awesome seeing this sweet girl overcome her fears!  I also really enjoyed having the opportunity to have an extra week getting to know my fellow Camp Otterbein staff members even better. 

with one of my fellow Camp Otterbein staff members,Grace, when we were both at Camp Wesley

   The second week was especially awesome.  I was assigned to help with a caving camp as the female counselor.  We met at a church in the Dayton area and then drove down to southern Kentucky for a week of camping and exploring caves in the area.  I can definitely say I've conquered claustrophobia!  Lol.  I had been in touristy caves before, but this was an entirely new experience: crawling, climbing (my favorite part), rolling through some passages, and even a bit of wading through water/swimming.  There was one cave with an "art room" where people make sculptures out of the clay/mud.  The people were amazing and I made some really cool new friends. I was invited to return and plan on joining every year I can (even as a volunteer when the day comes that I no longer work for camp).  I can't wait until next year!  P.S.  Did I mention I drove a 15 passenger van down a creek to get to one of the caves?  Now THAT'S off-roading!  Ha!  I also managed to get even better bruises than I've ever gotten from Taekwondo or MMA. 

in front of the Great Saltpetre Cave, right by our campsite

   On the third week, I worked as a lifeguard at Camp Wesley in Bellefontaine (another camp in the West Ohio Conference).  It was a little stressful since I'd planned on being at Camp Otterbein to make preparations for my program starting the following week and since being a lifeguard at Camp Wesley involves a lot of kitchen work, but I still managed to have a great time.  The staff there is super friendly, I enjoyed getting to know the other lifeguards, and some of the kids there that week were really fun to hang out with.  There's also the fact that I really enjoy lifeguarding: observing people, soaking up sun while sitting right beside or in the water, breathing fresh air, having the satisfaction of knowing I could potentially save a life, and just feeling important. 

beautiful view of the lake at Camp Wesley

   The following weekend, I went to Cincinnati/Lawrenceburg, Indiana to visit my mom and attend a good friend's wedding.  It was a beautiful and really fun wedding!  I could write a whole post just about the weekend.  My mom recently moved to a condo in a beautiful part of southeastern Indiana (very close to the Ohio border) also and this was my first time finally seeing it.  I just wish the weekend would've been longer!

the beautiful bride Kayla and me: I can't believe my little is married!

This past week, I was finally back at Camp Otterbein for the first week of Wilderness Adventures (the program I'm in charge of).  It ended up being a pretty good week, but I'm really glad it was only a partial week.  I was an emotional mess on Sunday (partly from feeling less than prepared after being unexpectedly at a different camp, partly from my TBS little and good friend getting married, partly from some health issues my mom is having).  The week was successful: the kids seemed to have a great time and I had 3 wonderful and helpful counselors up there!  The kids were the youngest age group I'll have all summer so it was a huge test of patience, but they were a really fun group.  The best part was a trip to Old Man's Cave for some hiking!

at Old Man's Cave with 2 of the counselors Nathanael and Adam.  Sadly, Grace, the other counselor had to leave for a real world job interview.

 I'm super excited for what the rest of the summer has to offer!  :-)

Mom and me in front of her new condo

Ray and me on the back deck.  I love the view of Lawrenceburg from Mom's condo!

Memorial Day

    I meant to post this yesterday, but didn't get a chance.....

    First of all, I'd like to thank the brave men and women who have sacrificed so much for our freedom.  Without them, things would be much different for us Americans, and not in a good way.
 
    Memorial Day this year was great!  Ray and I went to Medina to spend the weekend with his family.  For the holiday yesterday, we started the day going to a pancake breakfast for the boy scout troop Ray and his brother Dan grew up in.  There was a setback when Ray's mom hit her head during a fall on the way into the church and it wasn't very clear how the day would go.  If you're going to get hurt, though, the best place to do it is at a boy scout gathering.  Everyone around was First Aid/CPR trained.  For once I wasn't the first responder and actually felt quite unhelpful.  Luckily she was okay, with no signs of anything serious (just a nice sized bump).  An off-duty paramedic was there and evaluated her, we kept an eye on her all day, and she's still ok today.  She did call off of work (she had a noon shift) just to be safe: on the bright side, we now got to spend the whole day with her! 
    
     After finishing of lots of delicious pancakes and making sure Ray's mom would be okay, we headed outside to watch Medina's Memorial Day parade.  What we were able to see was pretty cool: scouts, marching bands, antique cars and fire trucks, the current (and very impressive) fire trucks.  Medina has YELLOW fire trucks by the way: pretty awesome looking. 

    Later on, we went to a cookout with the boy scout families.  There was delicious food: burgers of course, several tasty side dishes to choose from and festive desserts.  After eating, I braved the 55 degree weather and jumped in the lake with a couple of the crazy kids also braving the cold.  Meh, I've swam in colder during triathlons.  Wearing my wetsuit would've been smart though and I could've stayed in the water for longer.  Haha.  Not swimming on Memorial Day was not an option.  :-)

    All in all, Memorial Day 2013 was a success.  Thank you again servicemen and women.

    'MURICA!      

Almost summer!

It's always a strange feeling when race season is over.  On the bright side, there are no distances to track, no anxiety to feel when I can't complete a workout, and I can just run for the sake of running.  However, I tend to feel lost and a little down when I don't have a goal race to keep me pumped up.   

Fortunately, prepping for summer has kept me busy enough to keep my mind off of this.  I've been helping with challenge course maintenance at OU and getting a head start on my summer job.

I'll be working at a camp nestled in the hills of Logan, Ohio (called Camp Otterbein) for the 4th summer.  I've been helping out with some of the cleaning up and preparation for camp over the past couple weeks.  I'll be in charge of a program called Wilderness Adventures again (I had the honor of being the first to run this program last year).  Basically I'll be cooking lots of meals over fire and in the Dutch oven, going on lots of kayaking and rock climbing trips, planning activities for a program with a more laid back schedule, and lifeguarding. 

One necessary part of preparing for summer and lots of firebuilding is making firestarters. I made 2 different types and here's how I made them: they are both easy to make...

   For the egg carton ones (which I've used a lot and they work great), you just need an egg carton, dryer lint and candle wax. Fill the holes with dryer lint and then melt a generous amount of candle wax over them.

   For the ones on the left (which are new to me), you need toilet paper rolls, brown paper, dryer lint, and string.  You wrap the toilet paper roll in the brown paper, tie up one end, and fill with lint (and newspaper too if you want).  I also added candle wax.  Then you tie up the other end.


Also, I got this wonderful water bottle at CVS a couple weeks ago: I will never be thirsty this summer...   :-) 

Dances with Dirt Gnaw Bone 50k Ultra

   DWD Gnaw Bone was an awesome and extremely challenging trail race!  It was in Nashville, Indiana, a lovely small town in Southeastern Indiana that my mom and I have visited once or twice a year for as long as I can remember.  I knew basically what I was in for because I did the marathon distance of this race a couple years ago.  I also was pretty well prepared for the new-to-me distance of 50 kilometers, thanks to a very helpful book I've been reading called 'Relentless Forward Progress.'  I recommend it to any novice ultrarunners out there.

    I wore my American Triple T tri jersey, which ended up being a great idea because it sparked some great conversations with people I met along the way.  One woman, named Stacey, I met and ran with from around mile 4-11 was especially awesome and we had a lot in common.  She graduated from Ohio University in 2005 and now lives in Cincinnati.  She does triathlons too and has done an ironman (Louisville: which I hope to do next year).  She's getting married on September 20 this year (Ray and I are getting married September 20 of next year). 

    Due to a sizable amount of rain on the days leading up to the race, the course was extremely muddy in several areas (including within the first mile).  The horse trails were especially bad: it was like quicksand!  Luckily there were also several creek crossings to wash our feet off with.  I was glad to be wearing normal, meshy running shoes instead of getting trail running shoes like I would have if I'd had the money.  This helped the water and mud drain right out as I ran.

     There were several lovely uphill crazy parts, including one section (around mile 24) that I had to crawl up and grab onto tree limbs to avoid sliding backwards face first into the mud. There were some fairly smooth sections of trail, but some extremely tricky parts as well.  I managed to take only one tumble, around mile 8.  It didn't cause any injuries, other than cuts and a big ole' bruise (pictured on the right).  I've grown to kind of like bruises though: they make me feel hardcore. 


      Some of the views were amazing!  The best was at around mile 29: a former ski slope we ran down that overlooked some of the park.  I wish that Ray's GoPro I was borrowing had some battery power left at that point!  Videos I took on that will hopefully be uploaded at a later date, by the way. 

     I finished in about 8 and a half hours, not bad considering I had no time goal and considering the crazy challenging terrain.   I felt surprisingly good afterwards, no worse than with some of the marathons I've run.  The only new issue I had was actually a minor case of overhydration (the opposite problem of what I usually have).  I didn't sweat enough because of the pleasantly cool temperature to need all the water I drank and my hands were a bit swollen.  I have yet to master water and electrolyte balance while racing.

      My first ultramarathon will certainly not be my last.  I've now gone from marathon runner to ultrarunner.  And it feels amazing! 

   

Race for a Reason/Athletes in Action Sprint Triathlon Race Recap

First of all, yesterday morning was a beautiful day for a race!  The sun was shining bright, the sky was clear, and many of the budding trees in Athens still have their beautiful pink and white flowers.
 
The swim was in the OU Aquatic Center pool.  I started towards the back like usual: I'm not the fastest swimmer and I hate getting passed.  There was a small group of us from a group I've been training with and we enjoyed chatting and cheering on our faster friends as they hopped out of the pool and ran to transition.  The start of the swim was just jumping in, one at a time  The swim was 500 meters and I felt pretty good, especially considering the fact that I haven't been to the pool nearly enough lately.  And I'm not going to lie: I really appreciate races with a pool swim sometimes.  It's so much less intimidating than open water swimming. 

The bike was a very hilly 15 miles.  I felt ok with it: didn't feel like my best or my worst.  The scenery was gorgeous and there were some very friendly spectators on the way. The only problem was having to stop for a car by an intersection (at a point when I was cruising along at a great speed-go figure).  This jerk passed me and then stopped right in my way waiting to get unto her street.  She was over to the right far enough that I couldn't get by.  Grr.  I remember yelling, "Are you kidding me?!"  Luckily it wasn't too long, but still enough to throw me off for a little bit and halt my forward progress for a minute (every second counts during a race).  Other than that incident and a little twinge of hip pain, the bike split was not bad.  The section with the gently rolling hills past a bunch of freshly blooming trees was my favorite part of the whole race.

When I got to the run, I was booking it!  I zipped passed person after person, weaving through the groups of walkers and other runners.  That was my only real issue with the race by the way: the 5k for the triathlon was the same course as the regular 5k.  Many of us were still doing the triathlon and had to deal with all the people in the way.  I felt really good about my time on the run (I think it took me about 22 minutes, but I could have done even better without having to go around so many people).

The finish was pretty cool.  We ran off the bike path accross a grassy field, where the 'fitness fest' was, greeted by the excited crowd.  As I crossed, I heard a couple people yelling my name really loud.  That's the beauty of smaller races like those in Athens: it's super easy to find people you know.

I'm not sure what my finishing time was and am looking forward to seeing the results.  This race was an overall good one, with a lot of the registration fee going towards charity as well, and I hope it fits in my race schedule next year.

**Edit: The results have been posted (only 2 days later: not bad at all).  I finished in 1:49:06, meeting my goal of under 2 hours, and came in 4th place (out of 8) in my division, collegiate women.

Trying to Process the Tradgedy

This entry is a day late because I was too shocked to come up with the right words yesterday. 

Words cannot fully express the tradgedy of the bombings at the Boston Marathon. My thoughts and prayers go out to all of the victims. 

The Boston Marathon is more than just a race: it is the biggest of accomplishments, a lifelong goal, for runners all across the nation and even from other parts of the world.  It is the ultimate symbol of dedication and achievement.  Any finish line really is supposed to be (and usually is) the most joyful and triumphant place on Earth.  And some sick **bad word** took that away from thousands of people.  It just doesn't make sense.  And I really don't think it ever will.

One thing that may come to mind is hatred towards whatever monster is responsible for this.  But let's take this opportunity to instead be even more unified.  Fight hateful acts like this with love.  In spite of the terrible scenes in the news yesterday, as well as the shock, disgust, and terror that came with those images, it was heartwarming to see so many responders comforting and caring for both the physically and emotionally wounded.

Finishing races will not be the same.  There will be anxiety, of course, especially for those who had to endure the tradgedy of April 15, 2013.   But, we will all be stronger and more unified than ever.  We will be even more grateful every time we cross that finish line and never take it for granted.  We will hug our friends and family so much tighter upon finishing.  We will have even more mutual respect for our fellow runners. 

My message to whoever is responsible for what happened yesterday: we will never understand why you did this terrible thing, but you will not bring us down.  You have only made us even stronger.  Good always overcomes evil and always will.