Summer 2014 Week 3! Fun at Camp Wesley

  This past week was the third week of camp. Since there was no Wilderness Adventures, or variation on it at Camp Otterbein, I was sent to be a counselor for the week at another camp in our conference, Camp Wesley. It started off pretty rough. In spite of getting a couple of volunteers and me, the camp was severely understaffed. Their program leader was even my co-counselor. I felt so bad for her having to do 2 jobs at once all week. On the bright side, she is a great friend of mine so we appreciated the chance to spend some time together! We had a group of 11 girls ranging in age from 9-16. I was overwhelmed to say the least and clueless. The schedule was different from what I'm used to and dealing with 11 campers was terribly overwhelming after having 3 and 4 campers the previous weeks! I also suffered through a terrible case of poison ivy that was continually spreading all week. Based on the timing, I'm pretty sure the exposure happened during the previous week's game of CTF at Camp Otterbein. Apparently I have developed a new allergy. Lovely.  :-p  In spite of these things, it ended up being an absolutely wonderful week!

 

  After a couple of days of everyone struggling, we all figured out how to run more efficiently and connect with the campers more effectively on Wednesday. The camp that I was counseling for, called Extreme Outdoor Adventures, went ziplining that afternoon too. It was such a great time soaring through the trees. Two of the more difficult campers were in my group (I decided to take on the challenge of the rebellious teens) and even they were grinning and cooperating more than I'd seen them all week long. On the bus ride back to Camp Wesley, one camper opened her Bible and started reading passages. She was sitting next to me, so she asked me questions as she had them: we had a great discussion and one of the other campers nearby chimed in too. Though the bus ride was far from calm (there were several rambunctious, rebellious campers and I was the only adult riding), this conversation made it worth it.

  Thursday night was the final worship and a foot washing at the lake. At first, I was a bit freaked out about the idea. Feet are gross. And I had to touch 11 campers' feet. It ended up actually being an amazing spiritual experience for the campers and for me. Katie and I each washed a foot of each camper and then prayed together over them one at a time. There were lots of hugs and tears. After the foot washing, there were a couple last songs. Of all the elements, water is the most soothing and the one I connect with spiritually the most. I was starting to feel incredibly sad and moved closer to the lake, standing right in front of the water. I didn't want to say goodbye to our campers, or my friends at Camp Wesley, who there's a good chance I won't see for the rest of the summer. Some of them I might not see for even longer. As the tears threatened to leak from my eyes, one of my campers stood beside me and put her arm around my shoulders. On the other side, another staff member, my good friend Andrew put an arm around my other shoulder. The 3 of us swayed, looking at the water. A wave of contentedness and calmness came over me. Those tears turned into a smile. And the camper, who had also accepted Christ for the first time the previous night, was beaming. It was a truly wonderful moment.

  Friday morning began with my waking up my cabin group with the chicken dance. Big fun! Haha! Later that morning, all of camp played Gold Rush. This game is an exciting tradition to Camp Wesley like Capture the Flag is to Camp Otterbein. It's similar to CTF too, except it's played in the daylight and instead of finding and getting a flag, you have to run and get as many of the other team's pieces of "gold" as possible. The sweat was pouring and my hypoglycemia went crazy, but it was so much fun! Fortunately we went for a final swim not long after that. Before long at all, it was time to send the campers home. The week that at first seemed impossible came to an end. Through excellent teamwork, lots of prayer, and a ton of dedication, we all made it.

  Before heading back to Athens for the weekend, I stayed to enjoy one last meal with some of my Camp Wesley staff friends. We had some delicious Dutch oven jambalaya and cobbler beside the lake enjoying a gorgeous sunset and each other's company. It was the perfect end to the week. I miss them all so much already!

 

 

  Today (Saturday) I've spent most of the day relaxing, and finally put aside my stubbornness to see a doctor about the disgusting rashes all over my legs. I'm drugged up on all sorts of fun stuff because such a severe case required aggressive treatment. Good thing the upcoming week is shortened because of 4th of July! Hopefully whatever counselors are there with me for Wilderness Adventures will have plenty of patience to deal with my loopyness.  It's still going to be great though; I just know it!  :-)

 

 

Summer 2014: Week 2! Exciting Wilderness Adventures!

  Last week was the second week of camp and first week of Wilderness Adventures. We had only a few campers and a few issues (such has a camper with a 48 hour stomach bug and a camper who really wanted to go home for the first couple of days), but we ended up having lots of fun too! We had a couple of great nights of worship around the fire in our small group as well.

 

  As usual for Wilderness Adventures, we had 2 trips during the week. The first one was a kayaking trip down the Hocking River on Tuesday. We even got to play with Camp Otterbein's new whitewater kayaks at the end. One camper was terrified at first, but I coached her through it and she eventually started playing in the waves with the rest of us, smiling. Some of us braved "The chute" (a small waterfall) too. No one tipped over! And it was exhilarating!

On Thursday, we went hiking at Old Man's Cave in Hocking Hills with another small group. I inadvertently took us on a much longer than planned hike, but everyone said they had a great time in spite of being exhausted. And the scenery was gorgeous!

  On Wednesday, one of our activities was mountain biking. It was going great at first. At the end, I gave everyone the option to go down a hill for the camper that wanted the extra challenge. To my surprise, another camper also decided to try. He had done the rest of the bike ride without trouble, so we figured he could do it. The older camper rode first since he's a very strong cyclist and I followed. As we waited for the other camper, we heard a terrible scream and ran as fast as possible to help out. As we ran up the hill, we found the small camper laying down crying, surrounded by the 2 counselors and our program leader (second in command of camp), who just happened to be in the area at the time. They had already checked for more serious injuries (and found none) and started patching up his myriad of scrapes and scratches. We got the health officer who happened to be nearby to help out as well. Being the leader of the activity, I felt terrible. Fortunately, the camper was only scraped and bruised a bunch, nothing more. A bit later when I had some alone time, I just broke down, imagining how bad it could've been, praying my gratitude that our camper didn't get hurt any worse. That moment was not just a meltdown point, but also my spiritual breakthrough and biggest "God moment" as we call them for the week. It was amazing just how well protected that camper was. For the rest of the week, he was able to fully participate in activities and had a great attitude about the whole thing. The health officer just had to re-patch him a lot.

  Thursday night was the Camp Otterbein tradition of Capture the Flag. As usual, we had a blast! I spent most of the game sneaking through tall grass at the edge of the forest. It was super fun, but I made the mistake of wearing shorts instead of pants. And I am still dealing with the consequences of this (I'll explain in my next post). We had time for 2 rounds of the game, and each team won one. Yay for everyone being winners!

Overall, that week went pretty well. And I could not have asked for better counselors to help lead the adventures!

ROCK!

   The first week of camp was absolutely amazing! The bar has been set really high for the rest of the summer! We took a road trip to West Virginia and went on some awesome adventures!

 

    The first two days were spent at Seneca Rocks. There, we did some climbing and hiking. On the first day, we hiked up high to a great, but challenging climbing area. Not too long after lunch, we got chased away and drenched by rain. It cleared up by the time we hiked back down to our van. And we still decided to go for a swim in the large creek (or small river) right beside the mountain.

    The second day, we went to the top of the mountain and had our packed lunch up there. The view was just breathtaking! At about the same time as the previous day, the rain started. It once again cleared up by the time we hiked back down to the van. We then stopped by the visitors center and headed to our next campsite, a couple hours away.

    The next campsite was right beside a river and had a sheltered area to set up our tents so we could stay dry overnight. There was plenty of rain that night, so the shelter helped a lot. The downside was the train tracks just across the river and the road right up the hill from us.

     The next morning, we did a wild cave tour at Lost World Caverns. This was almost everyone's favorite part of the week. So much fun! We crawled, rolled, and climbed through some awesome passages! The guides were very fun and helpful.

    
    After caving, we headed to our last campsite, at River Expeditions, a whitewater rafting company. In spite of the rain (again), we enjoyed one last campfire dinner together and some great discussions. We even had a furry visitor! A kitty! She was very friendly and actually stayed for most of the evening. I really hope she had a home and was just exploring.

    
     On our last day, before heading back to Camp Otterbein, we went whitewater rafting on the New River. The water was surprisingly warm and refreshing, rather than cold like we thought it would be. We went on rapids ranging from class II to class V. We even had the opportunity to swim through a couple of the milder class II rapids. The rapids were exhilarating! Especially those class V's: wow! And we managed not to have anyone fall out through the entire trip.

     Arriving back at Camp Otterbein was bittersweet. It was great seeing the other camp staff members, who I really missed. However, it was sad to see our adventure come to an end and have to say goodbye to the amazing small group of campers. The group grew so close throughout the week!

     Someday, I plan on going back to all of these places! West Virginia is an amazing state full of wonders!

American Triple-T 2014!

Yesterday I finished the hardest race(s) I've ever done for the second time: The American Triple-T. It is a multiple day triathlon event including a super sprint triathlon, 2 Olympic distance triathlons, and a half ironman. Not to mention the setting of this race is in Shawnee State Park in West Portsmouth, OH (an area with tons of gigantic hills). I met some amazing people, while accomplishing an amazing feat! And Ray, as usual, was incredibly supportive! My mom, unfortunately, couldn't make it to this one.

Here's how the races went:
  
  Race #1: Super Sprint Triathlon

This was just a short warm-up race on Friday evening, so it wasn't bad at all. We started with a 250m swim. The water wasn't particularly warm or cold. The bike ride was a 6k teaser with a slight downhill, followed by a fairly challenging ascent up to the Shawnee State park cabins, and back down to the transition area. The run was a mile to the trail we were going to be running all weekend and back to the finish line. My time was 7:22 on the swim, 2:02 on T1, 16:56 on the bike, 45 seconds on T2, and 9:26 on the run. I had slow times for such a short race, but I wasn't pushing myself at all considering I had the whole weekend of fun ahead of me... ;-)

   Race #2: Olympic AM

This race consisted of a 1500m swim, followed by a 23.8 mile bike ride, ending with a 6.55 mile run. It was a bit chilly in the morning, but I got through that swim! The bike ride was fun, but super challenging. Oh the hills! And that was just the beginning of them for the weekend! My favorite part was probably going through the horse camp (besides the stupid speed bumps). The horses were watching and neighing as though they were cheering us on! Haha! Pretty cool. :-)  The downhills were great too. Scary, but exhilarating! The run, as usual, went smoothly for me.  It was a trail run, with plenty of hills. My times were 39:35 on the swim, 6:31 on T1, 2:06:46 on the bike, 1:17 on T2, and 1:12:13 on the run.

   Race #3: Olympic PM

After some lunch (mainly some delicious pasta salad served by the volunteers) and a quick power nap, it was time for the second race of the day and third race of the weekend!  The format of this race was different than typical triathlon format, switching the bike ride and swim. The bike ride was 25.6 miles, the swim was the same 1500m as earlier, and the run was 6.55 miles on the same trail as earlier. The race started 2 people at a time. Those of us in the back had a great time sitting in our transition area chatting as we waited our turn. The bike ride, again, was brutal (even more-so since I was so tired from earlier still), but along a beautiful course. And I wasn't thrilled with having dogs chase me about halfway through. They weren't behind a fence or anything and there were no owners in sight. I'll never understand why some people refuse to control their canines! Fortunately the dogs listened when I yelled "NO!! Bad dog!! Get away!!" I thought for sure they were going to run into me and cause me to crash! The rest of the ride went fairly smoothly, besides dodging potholes and (very) slowly ascending hills. I had to walk up a particularly hard one (along with pretty much everyone else, so I didn't feel as bad). A sharp turn right into a super steep ascent is just cruel punishment. :-p After the bike ride, I squeezed into my wetsuit prepping for the swim (remembering some great advice I got from a coach at a tri clinic to put plastic bags on my feet to slide it on). As I struggled with the zipper, a kind fellow participant rushed over to help. That's what I love about the Triple-T: it's all about getting through it and camaraderie with fellow triathletes. The swim went smooth and I managed not to get a single cramp! Many people have cramping issues with this race since they rush into the water so quick after the grueling bike ride. Again, the run was great! And then finishing for the day felt just amazing! My times were 2:16:38 on the bike, 4:58 on T1, 41:38 on the swim, 3:13 on T2, and 1:13:38 on the run.

   Race #4: Little Smokies Half Ironman

The beginning of this race was all about survival. The water was still cold enough to be unpleasant (but still far from the coldest I've swam in) and the air temperature was in the upper 30s/lower 40s! I had to start the swim with a little bit of back-stroking and side-stroking as my body got acclimated to the water, but once I got going I went fast! And my sighting was perfect! Emerging from the water, I started shivering instantly. Other participants were struggling just as much, and several were going into hypothermia! The volunteers were amazing though! I didn't catch her name, but I referred to the woman that helped me out as my guardian angel. Cheesy, I know, but I really don't know if I could've gotten through that awful transition without her help! It was my slowest, most painful transition ever! She helped me out of my wetsuit, wrapped me in my towel, and helped me put on my layers for the bike ride. My Raynaud's kicked in, of course, so my hands were not working at all. Finally, when feeling somewhat came back to my hands, I was mostly dried off, and I thanked the volunteer immensely I took off for the long 56 mile bike ride! At first the downhills were awful, sending a chill down my spine and causing me to shiver like crazy. I said a quick prayer for warmth! Finally during the first big ascent, I gained full function of my fingers and my body temperature felt like it was back up to normal. The sun was finally completely out, and this bike course was gorgeous! The hills were awful though. My quads just couldn't take it anymore when I got to the third big climb, so I had to walk my bike up the rest of the hills. A little over mile 30, the nice smooth part of the bike course finally arrived-mostly flat with a few fun little bunny hills. But then out of nowhere I felt a huge knot form in my right shoulder. The pain was so intense that I actually started tearing up a bit. I had to stop briefly to stretch it out. So frustrating! The rest of that bike ride was a huge struggle, but I finally made it to the road leading to transition. I couldn't help but yell "Thank you Lord!" Haha! After dropping off my bike and cycling gear, I was off on the run! It was 2 laps on the same trail we'd been running all weekend. Still loved it!  :-)  The first lap, I went slow and steady, making sure that I didn't hit a wall. That bike ride really zapped my energy! The second lap, though, a huge burst of energy consumed me. I don't know if it was the encouragement from volunteers and spectators or what, but I suddenly felt amazing. I was unstoppable! After one last time running up and down the hills of the trail, I approached the finish line. The crowd support was amazing! I crossed that finish line with a huge smile on my face and Ray greeted me with a hug and kiss. What a wonderful fiancé! :-) A couple of other participants greeted me with hugs and high fives. I waited for a couple other people I got to know during the weekend to finish and did the same for them. It was a big, sweaty hug fest! It was glorious! Haha! My times were 46:12 on the swim, 11:50 on T1, 5:01:29 on the bike, 1:16 on T2, and 2:40:17 on the run.

 My time on all the events combined was better than 2012. I still really have to work on my quad strength for climbing crazy hills on the bike though! That, again, was a huge struggle!  They say that the American Triple-T is even harder to complete than an Ironman, and I have now done the Triple-T twice! Looks like I should step up to the full Ironman in 2015!  ;-) 

 

Early May Adventures

  The past week and a half has been just amazing!

  For some training for my summer job at Camp Otterbein (5th summer-yeah baby!), I spent May 1-3 in West Virginia at Seneca Rocks. It is just GORGEOUS out there! Most of Thursday was just spent getting there. Friday was mostly hiking and getting to know the area. Saturday morning included a little more hiking and some climbing. I can't wait to go back in June...with campers! 

 

 

  On Saturday night, I went to Cincinnati (after stopping briefly in Athens) for a team dinner with my Flying Pig Relay team. I found a new favorite place in Cincinnati to carb load, by the way: it's called Buca de Bepo. Really cool place with reeeeally good pasta! Sunday morning was the Flying Pig Marathon. This was my first time doing the relay part of the Flying Pig. It was a lot of fun and our team did great!  It was a wonderful day for a race with warm temperatures and a sunny blue sky. And it was great seeing my friend Adam from school again finally! We hadn't gotten a chance to see eachother face to face in a couple years!

  The rest of the week and the following weekend were spent in Cincinnati with my family and a couple friends. I was even able to meet with my best friend Caiti, which doesn't always get to happen when I visit home. The quality time with my mom and cat were especially wonderful.

   On Saturday (the 10th), my little cousin Caleb got married! I got to be on the decorating crew and had a great time hanging out with some of my family and meeting a few awesome new people. The ceremony was at my home church. The reception was at a nearby community center. The wedding was beautiful and it was great spending time with family, celebrating and dancing the night away at the reception. And I have a new cousin now-Yay!  :-)  So excited to welcome Jessica to the family!

   I can't wait to see what else is in store for May 2014!  :-)

 

 

 

 

 

The Martian Marathon and And Awesome Weekend in Michigan

So I'm a few days late posting this, but that's ok.  Last weekend was just AMAZING! 

  On Friday, Ray and I took the 5ish hour trip to southeastern Michigan for my ninth marathon and a weekend of fun with Ray and my good friend Kyla who I know from camp. Ray and I arrived in Dearborn for packet pick-up and then went to Ypsilanti, where Kyla lives. We went to a really good local restaurant, where I got pasta of course, and did a lot of catching up.




Best marked packet pick-up ever!

  The race day conditions could not have been better! It was just cool enough in the morning to need a light jacket before starting and my race sleeves to wear with my Star Trek cycling jersey. The temperatures were pleasantly warm and the sky was mostly clear. My sinuses, unfortunately, chose race day to act up. So this was far from my best race time, taking me about 5 hours to complete the marathon. But what's important is that I have now completed 9 marathons and have a new state to color in on my map of states I've raced in!

   This race was definitely one of my favorite races I have ever done! First of all, I LOVE the theme: there were inflatable aliens everywhere and they just made me smile. The spectators and volunteers were amazing, enthusiastic, and incredibly encouraging. The course was beautiful and mostly flat (with a few very small rolling hills). It was funny hearing people talk about all the "hills" along the course: I don't think they've ever been to Southeastern Ohio..  ;-) The course included a combination of suburbs, running in a large park, briefly through a college campus, and in the city. Even though I normally despise out and back courses, the park was so beautiful that I actually didn't mind the out and back part of the race.  And the bathrooms, located approximately every 5 miles, were all REAL bathrooms...with running water! No port-a-potties! Talk about a race luxury!

   The other runners were generally very friendly and some of them had awesome outfits on. One guy was even dressed up as an alien from head to toe-mask and cape included! Another guy had lime green hair with a lime green beard!

   One particularly fun encounter during the race was with a red squirrel. I named him Tubby. He was very large and sauntered slowly across the street in front of me. Instead of running away when I ran towards him like squirrels usually do, he stopped briefly and looked at me, cocking his head. Then he continued slowly sauntering the rest of the way. It was adorable! Apparently Michigan squirrels are friendlier than Ohio squirrels. Haha!

    My energy level dipped a little bit around mile 18, but taking a caffeinated Gu helped immensely. I finished the last few miles feeling energized, especially when we got back into the city where the huge amount of spectators were. I finished strong!

   For the rest of the weekend we spent some time with my good friend Kyla who we were staying with. We went to a great restaurant/bar both nights (they had mostly Italian food), did a lot of talking and catching up, and played a card game Saturday night. Sunday morning Kyla and I went to church. After coming back, we talked a bunch and did our nails. She's a consultant for a company called Jamberry: they have wraps that you stick to your nails and they look awesome! Ray joined in conversation but didn't do his nails...as much as I tried to talk him into it. Haha! Around 5 we left for home. It was so hard to leave!

    Last weekend was the best and hopefully the Martian Marathon can become a yearly or almost yearly tradition!

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Training Tip Tuesday: Pre-race Preparations

Sorry I've been slacking lately: I've been pretty busy with both jobs and wedding planning. And swimming/biking/running of course.

Since the spring race season is upon us, today's training tip will be about pre-race preparations. Here are the things I always make sure to do before a race.

1)  Check out a map of the course, so you know what you're in for! If I'm doing a trail running race, I also print off a copy off the map to put in my pocket. It's pretty easy to get lost on a trail run, even on marked courses.

Maps, glorious maps!

2) The day before the race, stay hydrated and eat those CARBS! Nom nom nom. This is my favorite part. :-p Carbohydrates are the first source of energy for your body, and you'll want plenty of that energy readily available come race day. Just don't overindulge to the point of discomfort. Racing while bloated is no fun.

3) Avoid foods that cause you GI discomfort the day before and morning of the race. I'm lactose intolerant: even though I take Lactaid whenever having dairy, I still make sure to avoid dairy altogether before a race, just to be safe.

4) Rest and avoid stress as much as possible the day before the race.

5) Do a quick warm-up before your race. Without a warm-up, it takes you longer to get up to your optimal performance level. If you're curious and want the details about this, look up the graph for oxygen consumption during exercise and EPOC.

6) Don't try anything new before a race! This applies to everything: food, clothing, accessories, etc.

My fuel for the American Triple T 2012. The cookies don't really count, they were my post race treat each night that weekend. Haha!

7) Make a checklist of supplies you'll need. I try to get this done a couple days before the race, in case there is anything I need to get at the store. I try not to wait until the day before, because it's important to minimize stress the day before the race. The day before the race make sure everything is packed and ready to go. Here are the checklists I use:

ROAD MARATHON OR HALF:
   ~running shoes
   ~running shorts
   ~dri-fit shirt
   ~race number
   ~safety pins or number belt
   ~fuel                                           *Most road races have plenty of aid stations, so I don't usually
   ~hydration belt or camelback      carry my own water since it adds weight. It's personal preference.
   ~sunglasses or hat                        Just check the race map for frequency of aid stations. *
   ~Sunscreen. Because skin cancer sucks.
   ~clean clothes to change into afterwards
   ~compression tights for recovery
    
TRAIL MARATHON/ULTRA:
   ~running shoes
   ~running shorts
   ~dri-fit shirt
   ~for drop bag in ultramarathon: change of socks and shirt
   ~fuel
   ~hydration belt or camelback
   ~race course map
   ~sunscreen
   ~cell phone: in case of emergency
   ~tissues: if you have terrible sinuses like me or severe allergies
   ~clean clothes to change into afterwards
   ~compression tights for recovery

TRIATHLON:

  For the whole race:
   ~tri top
   ~bike shorts: long ones. Never wear really short ones. Because chafing sucks.)
   ~sunscreen

  For the swim:
   ~swim cap
   ~goggles
   ~wetsuit

  For the bike:
   ~water bottle attached to bike
   ~bicycle
   ~helmet
   ~bike shoes, if applicable: I don't have clip-in peddles, so I just wear my running shoes.
   ~sunglasses: I wear them even on a cloudy day. It keeps things out of your eyes.
   ~portable handheld pump or mini CO2 cartridges in case of a flat
   ~tire patch kit

  For the run:
   ~running shoes
   ~race number
   ~race number belt or shirt with race number pinned to it
   ~hat

  For transition area:
   ~towel or mat to put your stuff on
   ~hand towel to wipe off your drippy face after swimming
   ~fuel
   ~water
   ~Gatorade

   ~clean clothes to change into afterwards
   ~compression tights for recovery


I hope this was helpful! It's late: I also hope I didn't leave anything out.

 Happy racing!  :-)