Lap-O-Thon

Last week the kids school held their Lap-O-Thon fundraiser.  Basically, they get people (meaning Brian and I) to sponsor them in either a one time donation, or a per lap pledge. Then, they run laps. 6 laps is a mile. The older grades ran for 45 minutes, and kindergarten and 1st grade ran for 30 minutes. A dad/DJ provided tunes and there was even an aid station and goody bags.  My job was to mark the kids pull off tab along the bottom of their race bibs every time they passed the finish/start line. These were then collected and added up so the kids would know how many laps they finished, and thus how much money to collect from their sponsors.
I must say, I was totally impressed with how hard the kids ran, and how seriously they took the whole thing. I expected most to run a few laps and then walk. However, even the kindergarteners ran their little hearts out!  I had a blast cheering and marking bibs while dancing to the DJ! Myles ended up with 16 laps, Sophie with 22, and Emma 25!
A few pictures for ya -

 I love this picture! I dont' know that little girl, but I love that Myles let her rest on his shoulder...even if it looks like he's fixin to throw an elbow if she tries to pass him.

You may  notice his socks, he was a little bent out of shape that he could not match the girls and I with our knee highs....so we went with miss matched soccer socks instead.

Good times!

We are all soaking in the last few weeks of school at Woodside. It's also the last time the kids will ever all 3 be at the same school.   We've been there for 6 years now and have really enjoyed our time there. That said, this is our last year at this school. Emma will be moving on to Middle School. We thought it was good timing to switch Sophie and Myles over to the school that is a block from our house, and the one that they should actually attend. (We are still at the school we were before our move 2 years ago, thanks to an amazing office staff working overtime to keep us there).  I'm really looking forward to walking all 3 kids a block away to their schools - the middle school is across the street from the elementary school-in the mornings instead of the 25 minute drive in crazy traffic that we do now.

It also means I'll be much closer to the Mitchell Canyon trail head onto Mt Diablo than the Castle Rock entrance I'm close to in the mornings now, and the first year I'll have a full 5 hours of freedom!  Can you imagine summiting on a weekly basis?? Holy cow. : )

All that said, there were tears shed in the office when I let them know we were switching schools.  I'm at the school daily and the office staff and teachers really are like family.  We've had teachers at the kids races cheering them on, teachers call in mid summer because they missed our kids and ended up taking us all to the movies, and when we have had issues with a music teacher, it was the other kids, parents, and principal who took a stand and set her straight before Brian and I even knew there was a problem.  It's been a great 6 years!  We will miss not just the school, but the people and staff that have made it so great!

For now, we are all enjoying the good times that the last weeks of school bring. Coming up we have Kindergarten graduation, kindergarten field day, kindergarten picnic day, 5th grade field day (big, big deal, like bouncy houses and dunk tanks big deal), 5th grade graduation, 5th grade play, the Talent Show, 5th grade State Project Float Parade (we will spend this weekend making a Colorado float).....I'm sure there's more, but you get the point.

We're trying to soak it in, but reality is it's going to fly by.....sort of like the past 6 years!

To the Summit We Went!

 This is where we started in Mitchell Canyon.

 Pretty much just a steady climb up the Mt.

Thought these looked like Truffla Trees from The Lorax.

 That hill in the middle of the pic is Black Point, the one we climbed a few weekends back.

 Black Point was a challenging run, but now we are higher than it is.

 We can see all the way to the Delta now...

 The golden hills down there are where I normally run during the week.

 A nice shot looking down on Wall rd, it runs along the top of the dark hill in the middle of the picture, and is a challenging run!

 5 miles up, this is where there is normally an aid station on this run. None today.

 The Juniper Campground smelled so good, this pit was smoking still. We refilled our water bottles and then headed out on the final 1.5 mile push to the summit.

 The last 1.5 mile of climbing sounds so short. It is such a challenge though! Steep, and technical.

 We made it!

It was cold up there! We hung out in the visitor center and ate a bar. Then we filled up on water and headed back down.

Brian dropping down off the edge of the parking lot onto the trail.

 On the way down, it was colder, windier, and raining. The cloud deck was low and felt like running with a lid on....like being in a pot.

 And then we were done!

I was super happy to be able to run solid all the way back down/out. The last 2 miles is much flatter, though still down hill. Last go round I walked a lot of it, but I was able to run it and run strong all the way out!

I'm so thankful that I have a husband who is willing to do something like this on a moments notice! The fact that we even can just go do a 3400 ft climb, run back down it, and cover 13 miles with no notice...even after 5 years of us running....still unbelievable.

Holy Mt Climbers!!!

Brian and I just summitted Diablo...for fun!!!

Who does that??

PR's for both of us over our fastest race time!

3:45 for Brian.

3:55 for me.

Previous fastest race time was 3:56.

I woke up, made a cup of coffee, walked outside and realized it was overcast and cold. 

Went in and woke up Brian and before I knew what I was saying I uttered the words, "Hey, do you want to summit Diablo today?"

I'm so glad we did! The weather was perfect. Cold, windy, with a fogged in summit, and cold rain the entire descent : ) Perfect running conditions for me!

This was my 3rd summit of Diablo, following Coastal's 13.1 course. It felt the best, by far! Was still running strong at the end. I think part of the runners high came from knowing we just did it to do it, not because it was race day...and that we both PR'd!! 13.9 miles, 3420 ft, with no aid stations!

Woot!!

I'll have pictures up later.....

Coyote Runner - My Indian Name?

This whole series of events was very interesting to me. First, he was looking over his shoulder down into the valley watching a runner on a trail below us. He crossed the trail within about 20 ft of me. He startled me because while I see them out here often, it's not usually this close.  I startled him with my "@#$@%^", and watched him realize he had been watching the wrong runner and was much closer to a human than he realized.

He kept on up the hill and was now between me on the trail, and a hillside full of cows. I got the camera out, curious as to how the cows would react, and what the coyote was going to do.

 The cows were aware and watching, but never took  a step either towards him or away from him.

I think he posed for me under an Oak Tree.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm much less afraid in a face to face encounter than I am when I hear them but don't see them.

This is a nice shot taken on Briones to Diablo Trail, of how quickly the hills went from green to golden.

Was a nice week on the Mt, had a bit of everything-

One horrid run. 

One amazing run.

And today's run-

ran to my secret bench and finished a novel, then ran some more.

Life is good.