Blog Out

Alright, after joining all the crazies on facebook, I have decided to take that route rather than continue blogging. If you are on facebook and know me, send me a shout at c.ralls@gmail.com, and I will send a friend request your way.

Blog Out
Cassie

Is it July already?!

I've been remiss at blogging mostly because I've been busy. Let's see, there was the "stage race" that wound up being a 1 day race. 95+ degree heat was a bit too much to enjoy so we blew off the next two days. It also didn't help that people on the course let us know we were running on the prettiest trail for all 3 days... and there was maybe a mile of trail that I considered scenic during those 22 miles. No regrets on cutting it short. Here are a few pictures from day 1.




At least there was some shade!






Scenic spot 1

Scenic spot 2 - no more to report

Part of the course that required a rope to ascend and descend.

In the creek at the end of the run - glad it is over! I am just not made for hot weather :-(

We had planned on doing some hang gliding, but unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate. No worries as we would not be completely deterred. A few week later, Steve did his first tandem skydive and I my second.

At the end of June, I spent 4 days at Fort Dix, New Jersey, in the great outdoors, surrounded by the sounds of exploding artillery simulators. The next day I headed to Wartrace, TN for Gas Giant IV. Laz (Gary Cantrell), Steve and I left around 8 pm on a nighttime trek of 24 miles from Pulaski to Lewisburg, Tennessee. The first section of the course had quite a few hills. The second was flat, but boy did it warm up! Half way through the journey, we were lucky to find an open McDonald's around midnight. Chocolate shake! Yum! It was my first all night town to town trek, and it was a lot of fun! I'm looking forward to the next one!

My 4th of July consisted of camping, trails, baseball, and fireworks. One of my best 4ths yet!

I hope everyone is having a great July so far!

Hiking the Glen with Charlie Dog

Toady Bar the Door

As I was having a rather nondescript sort of moment walking toward the door to go back into the building, I noticed a little sentry at the gate. After a polite conversation about the rainy weather and the reason for his blockade, this cute little fella decided to let me pass. While he said an autograph was out of the question, he was willing to pose for a quick snapshot.

Take me home country roads: West Virginia Marathon

Weekend before last was the Run Under the Stars (RUTS) endurance run in Kentucky, but I knew not to do anything too crazy as we would be going to West Virginia for the Ridge Runner Marathon in Cairo the very next weekend. My "goal" of around 20 miles turned into 26.5 miles. Mom walked 6 miles for the evening as well, and there were plenty of folks to chat with along the way. Charlie dog came along as well and had an absolutely wonderful time. He wasn't exactly sure of what was going on, but he was happy to see so many people having such a great time. He highly recommends RUTS and suggests bringing your doggie along.

Wednesday was a local 10K trail run. Steve was first in his age group. Go Steve! Shari took home a 2nd place in her age group. Great job!

Friday evening we were off to West Virginia for the marathon on Saturday morning. West Virginia is hilly, and the beginning of this marathon is no exception. It starts in North Bend State Park and travels through the West Virginia countryside and small towns. The elevation ranges from 600 to 1000 feet.

The best part of the race has to be the rails to trails section. It comes when you need it the most at around mile 20. It is very scenic, and has pitch black tunnels to run through. The race crew put glow sticks in the tunnels, but it was still impossible to see your feet as you ran. Very cool! The last few miles consisted of a killer uphill followed by a blazin' fast downhill.

The only real downside to the marathon was the porta potty situation. The situation was that there weren't any! You had to fend for yourself. I finally gave in and asked where I can find one. They pointed me toward an outhouse behind the church. It was so funny that we had to go back and take a few pictures of this beauty after the race.

On Sunday we decided to give our legs a rest and do some kayaking.

26.2 miles on foot and 10 miles down a river. What a great weekend!

The Broken Spoke: Horsey 100

Last weekend was the first long bike ride of the year. Steve and I planned to do 100 on Saturday and 70 on Sunday on a borrowed tandem. Neither of us had much tandem experience. (Okay, so I had zero tandem experience.) The weekend would more than double our total bike miles for the year as well. Still, we were not deterred.

At the expo I was very excited to find Chuck Harris selling his handmade rear view helmet mirrors. I have wanted one of these things for a while now. He makes them out of a recycled bicycle spoke and recycled plastic parts. They cost less than the plastic ones you find at bike stores, and they are almost indestructible.

On Saturday we started off in a crowd of cyclist and managed to stay upright. Woohoo! After a short amount of time, we were moving along without issue. At the rest stop at mile 25, Steve noticed the back wheel was sticking badly. The McDonald's SAG team checked out the bike and determined one of the spokes had broken which was causing the wheel to be out of true and rub the brake. We were a little surprised to hear this as the tandem was brand new and been ridden only once before. Luckily, the McDonald's team had a very nice, large van that could hold the tandem. They dropped us off at Capital City Cycles 6 miles away. Unfortunately the 6 miles took us in the opposite direction we had traveled previously along the path which meant more mileage for the day. The folks at the bike shop quickly got on the job of fixing our wheel, and after 30 minutes or so we were back on the bike heading back for the course. The course for the first day had plenty of horsies and plenty of hills. I was really starting to feel that Kentucky heat! At one point I saw a sign that reported the temperature at 92 degrees. Luckily the afternoon would be a bit cooler courtesy of a 4 mile wide storm that we managed to find ourselves in the middle of. The rain was stinging with each drop and visibility wasn't so we decided it was time to stop and find some shelter. After about 15 minutes, the storm passed, and we were once again on our way. After another 30 miles or so, we heard a pop - another spoke gone. We decided that perhaps we were only meant to do 80 miles for the day so we opted for the shorter route. As soon as the ride was complete, we took the wheel back to the shop for repair once again. Saturday was one heck of an adventure!

While we were hopeful that we would avoid any broken spokes on Sunday, we knew that the wheel obviously had an issue. The probably was high that there would be more of the same but that wasn't about to stop us. The course for Sunday was wonderful! There were a lot of horsey farms and gently rolling hills. We managed to make it 45 miles before we heard the dreaded pop sound. Within another half of a mile, we heard another pop. After about 5 more miles of pedaling, it became very obvious that 70 miles with a wheel rubbing on a brake was out of the question. My right knee was also yelling at me at this point so we decided to call it a day. SAG vehicle to the rescue!

The Horsey 100 was a great time, broken spokes and all. 130 miles total for the weekend. Giddy up!

Bu-tee-ful! Zooooooooom

It had to happen eventually. After a 7 mile run with Shari, the aching in my legs told me it was time for my Nike Zoom Jasaris to go. I knew the end was near, but they were my favorite shoes. I went in search of more Nike Zooms and was sucked into the Nike ID website. The thought of picking my own colors was entirely too enticing. Since they no longer sold the Jasari, I went with the Zoom Victory. I present my masterpiece...