Winter is still here. In fact, it is snowing again as we speak. YUCK.
Well, I have been kinda bummed out lately. I don't know if its because winter is coming WAY EARLIER than I want it to or if its my green pill week that's doing it, but I hate when this happens. I feel like sleeping all the time and have absolutely no motivation.
I did build a snowman the night of the first snow. We got 1.2 in. of snow here....it was fun building one again, but I'm ready for summer to return already. Damn, this is going to be a long winter. I think I'd be ok with the whole thing if it was November rather than the end of September, but just knowing this is the beginning of six long months...yikes.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Monday I had my 3-year cancer checkups and I'm pleased to announce that I am now a 3-year cancer survivor!! :) Only two more years until I can be called CURED and totally free of this thing.
I've also been talking to Matt more seriously about our trip to France and how we'll swing it financially...and I think we're going to make it work somehow even if we eat nothing but cheap food until then. That's awesome.
Now that the Equinox is over, I'm not really motivated to do a whole lot of running. I also have a problem with the arch of my right foot. I think it might be an overuse injury or from wearing poorly fitting shoes to work. After a painful run yesterday, I think I'm going to switch to swimming for a few weeks so I can let it recover.
I've also been talking to Matt more seriously about our trip to France and how we'll swing it financially...and I think we're going to make it work somehow even if we eat nothing but cheap food until then. That's awesome.
Now that the Equinox is over, I'm not really motivated to do a whole lot of running. I also have a problem with the arch of my right foot. I think it might be an overuse injury or from wearing poorly fitting shoes to work. After a painful run yesterday, I think I'm going to switch to swimming for a few weeks so I can let it recover.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
After a week of being sick and depleted of energy, I had the Equinox Marathon relay. The morning of the race, I was completely unmotivated by the cold and rain. I just wanted to curl back up in my nice cozy bed. It's my birthday, I should be sleeping in!! After convincing myself to wake up with a large chai tea latte, I was out of bed and getting ready to go. There was a meeting at 7:30 for all runners, which basically detailed the major hazards along the course: most importantly, the train crossings. Their message was basically this : Do not try to beat the train. You will lose. We have people standing there to make sure you don't kill yourself. After that wonderfully motivational message, we helped Julie (who ran the first leg) warm up and we took her sweatshirt and pants. We also took some pictures and cheered everyone on at the start. Julie also made me a tshirt for my birthday that says on the front : "It's my birthday..." and on the back "so there better be CAKE at the finish line." I loved it. :)
After the race started, Matt and I drove to the mile 6, one of the few places that the course crossed the road. We were armed with our signs of encouragement and the camera. We cheered Julie on and then drove to the relay transfer point. Since there was no chip time, it was a bigger deal than it should've been since everything was done by hand. There were tons of people waiting for the hand-off and even more making sure everyone followed the rules and kept their times. We waited for Julie and then when she arrived, Matt took off. We drove to the top of Ester Dome and it was raining and there was a 20mph wind. As if Matt's leg wouldn't be bad enough, the weather had to be uncooperative. We saw him at mile 13 and he looked like he was doing well and I offered him a coat, but he said he didn't need it. For as steep as his leg was, he did amazingly well!! :) He got the same time as Julie did, for the same distance, but MUCH more elevation change...about 2,000 ft to be exact. Then it was my turn. Matt came running through the chute and I kissed him instead of tapping him and then I was off.
I was equipped with my iPod and fully intended to lose myself in the music. I have never run in a race with music before, but it kept me focused on running. I didn't get to enjoy the sounds as much though...but the course was really empty compared to most races I've run. I could only see three or four people ahead of me at one time, if any at all. Everyone cheered for me as I went by and heard a lot of "Happy Birthday!" wishes. The downhill wasn't as hard on my knees and hips as it had been when we first ran it in training. I think I also ran faster this time, so all this training totally helped. :) The first 4 miles (17-21) were run on a very steep downhill, with the first mile being called "Alder Chute" (chute is the french word for waterfall), and it really felt like I was going down a rocky cliff. I was afraid to fall and did see the lady ahead of me do so, so I went down cautiously. About mile 19, the trail turned to road and I followed that down to a flatter area. Mile 22, I was met by the water station that Matt's coworkers were running. One of them is in a band, and they were playing there too. They had planned to play happy birthday for me as I ran by, but I came just as they were finishing up a break. They did play it as I was leaving though and were singing it as they got back to their instruments. As it turned out, a girl that was right behind me yelled out "it's my birthday too!" . That's so cool that they sang to the both of us. Speaking of birthdays, the female first place marathoner won on her birthday too! She was also born in 1984, so we were born the EXACT same day. :) What a birthday present...winning a marathon. Anyways, miles 23-25 blurred together through shin pain and general fatigue. Just when I thought all the trouble spots were gone, I hit a hill. In the last mile of this frickin' marathon, there's a hill. WTF, talk about cruel. I couldn't imagine doing the entire marathon and having that at the end. There were 3 people ahead of me going up this hill and NOBODY was running it at all. Most were hunched over, pushing their legs with their hands as they went up, including myself. We were rewarded with a nice long downhill to the finish line so all the runners finished strong and looked like they could run longer. I know I was glad to finish. Our relay leg times were as follows:
Julie - 8.6 mi. - 1:31.10 - rank 57/102
Matt - 8.4 mi - 1:31.45 - rank 40/102
Karen - 9.2 mi - 1:28.47 -rank 42/102
TOTAL TIME : 4 :31.43
OVERALL RANK : 42/102
I'm pleased with our performance. I don't know if I want to do a relay again, though. I spent all this time training with a buddy to have to run the race by myself. I'd rather run a half marathon with a friend by my side the whole time rather than do a relay. If this race had a 1/2, I would've done it in a heartbeat.
That night we celebrated my birthday with dinner. I was kinda pissed to start it all off because everyone showed up half an hour late. I hate when people aren't on time.. it makes me feel like I'm not important enough for them to care enough to be on time. GRRRR! But I'm easy, and they totally won me over with presents...which they wasted no time presenting to me when they arrived. I got a banana game from Rena and Mark, which is kinda strange but should be fun to learn how to play. It's similar to Scrabble, but I don't remember what it's called. Julie gave me a card that plays music and she baked me a cake. She also got the shirt for me that morning for the race. Rena's friend Selena came to dinner too. She's really fun. After dinner we went to FM to get some provisions....Long Island night. Everyone bought a bottle of booze and we went to stand in line. The guy ahead of us was impressed : "wow, everybody needs a bottle hey? you making long islands?". LOL. We had a good time talking and hanging out. We were loud for awhile and I was worried we'd piss off the neighbors, but nobody came over to complain about the noise. We all got to meet Julie's friend Adam too. As it turns out , he is from the UP too and JoAnne knows him from the mormon gettogethers that she used to go to in high school. I went to one, it was fun. I think they're pretty much designed to be like high school dances where all the mormon kids go to hang out and hopefully meet a future somebody to get married to and perpetuate the mormon religion into future generations. I mostly hung out with Zach B. who was the only other person I knew there, who was Emily's best friend in HS. Anyways, wierd coincidence I think.
Today I was very tired. I did some housekeeping stuff in preparation for winter. The patio door is completely blocked by our tomato plant family-- 10 plants in all. They are really huge too, but at least it'll be warmer for them in here and hopefully will help them produce more tomatoes. :) Well it's time to get ready for bed...I have my 3 yr cancer checkups in the morning, hopefully there will be good news.
After the race started, Matt and I drove to the mile 6, one of the few places that the course crossed the road. We were armed with our signs of encouragement and the camera. We cheered Julie on and then drove to the relay transfer point. Since there was no chip time, it was a bigger deal than it should've been since everything was done by hand. There were tons of people waiting for the hand-off and even more making sure everyone followed the rules and kept their times. We waited for Julie and then when she arrived, Matt took off. We drove to the top of Ester Dome and it was raining and there was a 20mph wind. As if Matt's leg wouldn't be bad enough, the weather had to be uncooperative. We saw him at mile 13 and he looked like he was doing well and I offered him a coat, but he said he didn't need it. For as steep as his leg was, he did amazingly well!! :) He got the same time as Julie did, for the same distance, but MUCH more elevation change...about 2,000 ft to be exact. Then it was my turn. Matt came running through the chute and I kissed him instead of tapping him and then I was off.
I was equipped with my iPod and fully intended to lose myself in the music. I have never run in a race with music before, but it kept me focused on running. I didn't get to enjoy the sounds as much though...but the course was really empty compared to most races I've run. I could only see three or four people ahead of me at one time, if any at all. Everyone cheered for me as I went by and heard a lot of "Happy Birthday!" wishes. The downhill wasn't as hard on my knees and hips as it had been when we first ran it in training. I think I also ran faster this time, so all this training totally helped. :) The first 4 miles (17-21) were run on a very steep downhill, with the first mile being called "Alder Chute" (chute is the french word for waterfall), and it really felt like I was going down a rocky cliff. I was afraid to fall and did see the lady ahead of me do so, so I went down cautiously. About mile 19, the trail turned to road and I followed that down to a flatter area. Mile 22, I was met by the water station that Matt's coworkers were running. One of them is in a band, and they were playing there too. They had planned to play happy birthday for me as I ran by, but I came just as they were finishing up a break. They did play it as I was leaving though and were singing it as they got back to their instruments. As it turned out, a girl that was right behind me yelled out "it's my birthday too!" . That's so cool that they sang to the both of us. Speaking of birthdays, the female first place marathoner won on her birthday too! She was also born in 1984, so we were born the EXACT same day. :) What a birthday present...winning a marathon. Anyways, miles 23-25 blurred together through shin pain and general fatigue. Just when I thought all the trouble spots were gone, I hit a hill. In the last mile of this frickin' marathon, there's a hill. WTF, talk about cruel. I couldn't imagine doing the entire marathon and having that at the end. There were 3 people ahead of me going up this hill and NOBODY was running it at all. Most were hunched over, pushing their legs with their hands as they went up, including myself. We were rewarded with a nice long downhill to the finish line so all the runners finished strong and looked like they could run longer. I know I was glad to finish. Our relay leg times were as follows:
Julie - 8.6 mi. - 1:31.10 - rank 57/102
Matt - 8.4 mi - 1:31.45 - rank 40/102
Karen - 9.2 mi - 1:28.47 -rank 42/102
TOTAL TIME : 4 :31.43
OVERALL RANK : 42/102
I'm pleased with our performance. I don't know if I want to do a relay again, though. I spent all this time training with a buddy to have to run the race by myself. I'd rather run a half marathon with a friend by my side the whole time rather than do a relay. If this race had a 1/2, I would've done it in a heartbeat.
That night we celebrated my birthday with dinner. I was kinda pissed to start it all off because everyone showed up half an hour late. I hate when people aren't on time.. it makes me feel like I'm not important enough for them to care enough to be on time. GRRRR! But I'm easy, and they totally won me over with presents...which they wasted no time presenting to me when they arrived. I got a banana game from Rena and Mark, which is kinda strange but should be fun to learn how to play. It's similar to Scrabble, but I don't remember what it's called. Julie gave me a card that plays music and she baked me a cake. She also got the shirt for me that morning for the race. Rena's friend Selena came to dinner too. She's really fun. After dinner we went to FM to get some provisions....Long Island night. Everyone bought a bottle of booze and we went to stand in line. The guy ahead of us was impressed : "wow, everybody needs a bottle hey? you making long islands?". LOL. We had a good time talking and hanging out. We were loud for awhile and I was worried we'd piss off the neighbors, but nobody came over to complain about the noise. We all got to meet Julie's friend Adam too. As it turns out , he is from the UP too and JoAnne knows him from the mormon gettogethers that she used to go to in high school. I went to one, it was fun. I think they're pretty much designed to be like high school dances where all the mormon kids go to hang out and hopefully meet a future somebody to get married to and perpetuate the mormon religion into future generations. I mostly hung out with Zach B. who was the only other person I knew there, who was Emily's best friend in HS. Anyways, wierd coincidence I think.
Today I was very tired. I did some housekeeping stuff in preparation for winter. The patio door is completely blocked by our tomato plant family-- 10 plants in all. They are really huge too, but at least it'll be warmer for them in here and hopefully will help them produce more tomatoes. :) Well it's time to get ready for bed...I have my 3 yr cancer checkups in the morning, hopefully there will be good news.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
This week was the longest one that I've had in quite some time. It was the first full week of class, band started AND I started subbing. Whew, was I happy for the weekend and a day of absolutely nothing. Today was that day. I watched the Pack beat the Lions and did some catching up on laundry.
Band was Thursday night. I got to chat with Sue and see how her summer went. She played in the summer band, so she wasn't nearly as out of practice as I was. We also have another alto, but I forgot his name. Wendy is conducting this time, so Sue is first alto. :) I really enjoy playing and every time I join a band like this, I'm reminded of how much I love music. Sometimes life gets too distracting to be reminded of how much I do love it.
Wednesday and Thursday, I subbed at different schools. On Thursday, I did the RSMS 8th grade science class. I loved it. The kids were so enthusiastic and very excited to do their projects. Usually I have a lot of problems with the last hour of the day since they're ready to go home, but these kids were really good. Maybe the Fairbanks kids aren't too bad. :)
Yesterday, Matt , Julie, and I did our final Equinox Marathon training run. We're running the relay on Saturday (my 24th birthday), so I think we're ready. Matt's leg, which we ran yesterday, was really really hilly (all uphill in fact, if you can believe that!) so it was really hard and I walked a lot of it. Boo! I'll be ready to run on Saturday though . I've also rediscovered my love of swimming....with just one problem. My swimcap was stuck to my swimsuit, and when I removed it, a bunch of the waterproof fabric sealer thing came off with it, so part of my swimsuit is see-through. Wonderful. I'll need to get a new one, but I looked in town and I'm NOT paying $65 for a swimsuit, I'll wait until I go back to MI to get one and wear a two piece inbetween.
Everything is going well..horray!
Band was Thursday night. I got to chat with Sue and see how her summer went. She played in the summer band, so she wasn't nearly as out of practice as I was. We also have another alto, but I forgot his name. Wendy is conducting this time, so Sue is first alto. :) I really enjoy playing and every time I join a band like this, I'm reminded of how much I love music. Sometimes life gets too distracting to be reminded of how much I do love it.
Wednesday and Thursday, I subbed at different schools. On Thursday, I did the RSMS 8th grade science class. I loved it. The kids were so enthusiastic and very excited to do their projects. Usually I have a lot of problems with the last hour of the day since they're ready to go home, but these kids were really good. Maybe the Fairbanks kids aren't too bad. :)
Yesterday, Matt , Julie, and I did our final Equinox Marathon training run. We're running the relay on Saturday (my 24th birthday), so I think we're ready. Matt's leg, which we ran yesterday, was really really hilly (all uphill in fact, if you can believe that!) so it was really hard and I walked a lot of it. Boo! I'll be ready to run on Saturday though . I've also rediscovered my love of swimming....with just one problem. My swimcap was stuck to my swimsuit, and when I removed it, a bunch of the waterproof fabric sealer thing came off with it, so part of my swimsuit is see-through. Wonderful. I'll need to get a new one, but I looked in town and I'm NOT paying $65 for a swimsuit, I'll wait until I go back to MI to get one and wear a two piece inbetween.
Everything is going well..horray!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Today was my first day of sub teaching in Fairbanks. I was at a charter school nearby that specializes in an Athabaskan Indian culture education. It was kind of interesting to see so many minority kids being the majority. The first two classes I had behaved really well (although only watching a movie) and everything went smoothly. The third (and last, since I only had half a day) class was noisy and definitely testing my patience. I hate ending up barking out orders and getting mean, but I had to do it with them. Their teacher left specific instructions about things, so I had to follow them. The instructions kind of sucked, since it said that each student had to turn in their study guide before taking the quiz...and half the class didn't bring their study guide along. It's really hard to give a test to half of the class and keep the rest of the class quiet. I can't threaten to take their quiz away. Who knows. I can tell when I have a relatively good day because I leave 1. with a smile, 2. want to go back , and 3. don't have the worst tension headache ever. I enjoyed that the classes were smaller and that overall, the students were cooperative and helpful. Only a few tested my patience and grrrrrrrrr it's frustrating, but mostly they are good kids.
On a side note, I think one of the students had snuff he was using, but he didn't have a spit bottle or anything so I wasn't sure how to catch him, but he kept putting something with that texture and color into his mouth and made trips to the garbage can every 3-4 minutes to spit something out.
On a side note, I think one of the students had snuff he was using, but he didn't have a spit bottle or anything so I wasn't sure how to catch him, but he kept putting something with that texture and color into his mouth and made trips to the garbage can every 3-4 minutes to spit something out.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
I'm not sure about competence of the prof for my French class. She spent the first half of class complaining about books and how all of them are inadequate for needs of her students so that's why we have $233 worth of books for ONE class and have to pay to make copies of other things on top of that. Also, she mispronounces things and can't spell rudimentary words like "salle" and "plancher" instead spells them "sale" and "planchet". Phonetically, they make sense, but as a professor of French, I think she should be able to spell. I'll give her a couple of more classes, and if I see that she's a total joke, I'll drop the class. I can't return the books since they were wrapped, and can't be returned once unwrapped, but I'll just suck it up and learn my lesson.
Friday, September 05, 2008
Riding the Bus
Since I now have a one UAF class and a student ID card, I can ride the MACS city buses for free. I figure that I'm going to do as much traveling that way as possible when winter comes. Yesterday was the day I decided to get some practice riding.
Highlights of my day:
1. Random guy yells to me "you're hot" as I cross the street. I guess he thinks cheap fleece is sexy. *shrugs*
2. Different random guy (stoned as all hell) tells me his life story while I wait for the bus. Apparently he lives between here and Anchorage and grows lots of pot--over 120 plants he says--and nobody can touch him because his dad is big and tough and he has a medicinal marijuana card. This was intended to impress me. It just reminded me of Steven. I'm cool, selling drugs, nobody can get me because of *insert really dumb reason here*. Just wait dude, someone'll get you.
3. Drunk lady and man in their 50's riding the bus at 2pm. The lady asked me what I was going to do with my life in 10 years. She says she can sense a fire in me. Pfft...whatever the hell that means. Coincidentally she started talking to me just before my stop, so I pulled the chain and got off. They all thought that she scared me away. Whatever. lol.
4. Random cute guy telling me about how he'd rather be moose hunting than in class. I told him a little about riding the bus all day saying that I had taken "just about every color".
All in all, I had a good day. Yes, it was long, filled with a lot of waiting, but I got to meet a lot of different people. Now I can truly say that Fairbanks is full of strange creatures.
Highlights of my day:
1. Random guy yells to me "you're hot" as I cross the street. I guess he thinks cheap fleece is sexy. *shrugs*
2. Different random guy (stoned as all hell) tells me his life story while I wait for the bus. Apparently he lives between here and Anchorage and grows lots of pot--over 120 plants he says--and nobody can touch him because his dad is big and tough and he has a medicinal marijuana card. This was intended to impress me. It just reminded me of Steven. I'm cool, selling drugs, nobody can get me because of *insert really dumb reason here*. Just wait dude, someone'll get you.
3. Drunk lady and man in their 50's riding the bus at 2pm. The lady asked me what I was going to do with my life in 10 years. She says she can sense a fire in me. Pfft...whatever the hell that means. Coincidentally she started talking to me just before my stop, so I pulled the chain and got off. They all thought that she scared me away. Whatever. lol.
4. Random cute guy telling me about how he'd rather be moose hunting than in class. I told him a little about riding the bus all day saying that I had taken "just about every color".
All in all, I had a good day. Yes, it was long, filled with a lot of waiting, but I got to meet a lot of different people. Now I can truly say that Fairbanks is full of strange creatures.
Monday, September 01, 2008
I sort of suck at posting on this thing don't I? It has been a long time since May. Well , summer has come and is nearly over. The fall colors are the most beautiful ever. In Michigan, not all the plants turned color, only the trees. Here, everything from the tundra plants that barely grow off the ground, to the shrubs, to the trees---everything turns color. Matt and I went backpacking in Denali N.P. last weekend and it was absolutely gorgeous. All the tundra was RED, the shrubs were yellow and orange. It was beautiful.
So I've finally built a life here for myself. It's taken awhile, but I finally have friends. I'm starting a French class (equivalent to FRN 315 : Advanced French Grammar at CMU). I know I took this class, but it was exactly five years ago and I want to refine my skills for when we go to France (which we hope to do in April 2009). I'm also beginning substitute teaching once my fingerprints and background check go through. So I decided that one day that I was kind of sick of having no direction in my life and nothing to fill the days, but now I see some sort of structure to my life and it's nice. It gives me a little bit more purpose other than cleaning up after Matt. I did enjoy not working for the summer so we could go on different trips whenever Matt had days off--and they never fell on the same days each week, so it was convenient that we could go when he was off rather than coordinating days with my schedule. Band also begins again in a couple of weeks.
I have more girl friends than guy friends for the first time since elementary school. We went to the movies one day a couple weeks ago and we all dressed up in skirts. I love dressing up, but I can never get my guy buddies to do it---they're like "dress nice for a movie? it's dark, nobody will see anyways." Girls get it. I love that.
Matt and I ran a half marathon in North Pole in August with a friend and running newbie, Julie. I got a new PR of 2:02.12. The three of us are running the grueling Equinox Trail Marathon on my 24th birthday. We're doing a relay, so the legs are 8.6 mi (Julie), 8.4 mi --ridiculously hilly (Matt), and 9.2 mi--ridiculously steep downhill that I may fall and die on (Karen). It should be fun. :)
Well time for bed. Matt's parents are visiting for the week and I should get some beauty sleep. I also think that I'm getting a cold. :( boo. I better not be sick for my first day of school on Friday.
So I've finally built a life here for myself. It's taken awhile, but I finally have friends. I'm starting a French class (equivalent to FRN 315 : Advanced French Grammar at CMU). I know I took this class, but it was exactly five years ago and I want to refine my skills for when we go to France (which we hope to do in April 2009). I'm also beginning substitute teaching once my fingerprints and background check go through. So I decided that one day that I was kind of sick of having no direction in my life and nothing to fill the days, but now I see some sort of structure to my life and it's nice. It gives me a little bit more purpose other than cleaning up after Matt. I did enjoy not working for the summer so we could go on different trips whenever Matt had days off--and they never fell on the same days each week, so it was convenient that we could go when he was off rather than coordinating days with my schedule. Band also begins again in a couple of weeks.
I have more girl friends than guy friends for the first time since elementary school. We went to the movies one day a couple weeks ago and we all dressed up in skirts. I love dressing up, but I can never get my guy buddies to do it---they're like "dress nice for a movie? it's dark, nobody will see anyways." Girls get it. I love that.
Matt and I ran a half marathon in North Pole in August with a friend and running newbie, Julie. I got a new PR of 2:02.12. The three of us are running the grueling Equinox Trail Marathon on my 24th birthday. We're doing a relay, so the legs are 8.6 mi (Julie), 8.4 mi --ridiculously hilly (Matt), and 9.2 mi--ridiculously steep downhill that I may fall and die on (Karen). It should be fun. :)
Well time for bed. Matt's parents are visiting for the week and I should get some beauty sleep. I also think that I'm getting a cold. :( boo. I better not be sick for my first day of school on Friday.
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