Real Cross Country

I ran a race this morning! This was my first race since the Bedford 12k in mid-May, so I felt rusty and slow. It wasn't all from being out of shape though: the race was a cross country style "5k-ish" race. Someone said the course was 3.2 miles. Someone said 3.7 miles. I think it was somewhere in between. Anyway, it was longer than a 5k and definitely slower too. It was out in the boonies of Massachusetts at Great Brook Farm State Park. The course had rolling and steep hills, skinny trails, and a zillion little holes and rocks that just about broke my ankles. It wasn't muddy, but the dust from the trail combined with the sweaty humidity made me look quite dirty afterwards. You don't get this awesome sock-line from a track race!

The race went well considering my fitness level and course difficulty. Everyone went out fast - except me. I thought I'd have time to make it up. Then everyone funneled into a single-file skinny path where it was impossible to pass people. This was about a mile and a half long! So by the time I got out of there, I had a lot of catching up to do. I ended up third female. I'm not sure what my time was, but I'm not sure of the distance either so what does the time mean anyway?

Scott was helping some friends move this morning, so Bruce came with me. I borrowed a guy from the track club and his kids to watch Bruce while I ran. I strapped Bruce in his stroller to make it a little easier to watch him. I finished my race and took Bruce for a few miles of cooldown in his stroller. By the time we were done, he was ready to get out.

At this park I ran at was an active dairy farm with a few other animals. I put the stroller away and let Bruce run up and down the hills and then up a big hill to the farm. We checked out the tractors and a front-end loader hauling manure around. We looked at goats, rabbits, honeybees, sheep, ducks, roosters, and very loud pigs. And cows. Lots of cows.

There was an ice cream stand/barn, so we went inside and ordered a glass of milk and some lemon sorbet for me. I ate my sorbet; Bruce tried one bite and made a nasty face. He hates cold stuff - like ice cream. Strange, yes. He took a few sips of his milk and decided he was done. He'd rather watch the cows. I wasn't about to dump a $1.50 glass of milk, so I drank it. There goes my cholesterol. It was sooo good to have a cold glass of milk. Perhaps I should have splurged on real ice cream (although the sorbet was amazing!).

Anyway, inside the ice cream stand were big windows that looked in on a row of cows about to be milked. There was a "maternity ward" of a few enormous heifers just about to burst, and then a few dozen other cows lined up and ready for milking. Bruce was enthralled. I must say, so was I.

That was today. Earlier this week was our 4-year wedding anniversary. It has been a wonderful four years! Scott, I'm glad you married me despite my limited knowledge of protein-folding and fluorescence tomography. And despite my worst-ever grade at BYU, a C+ in Child Development in the Marriage, Family, and Human Development department. Hopefully that class isn't a grade on motherhood!

Found: Hideous Glasses

Bruce and I unpacked a few more boxes this week. We found Scott's nasty glasses from his senior year of high school/mission. Scott says he got these glasses just to see what his mom would say. I think her response was a very reserved "um, they look um okay..." He wore these for a few years so we have all kinds of pictures with these nasty glasses. The frame broke when he was on his mission in Russia but he's hung onto them since.

I've always thought these glasses were hideous. I've told Scott repeatedly that I'm glad we didn't meet when he was wearing those nasty glasses. Bruce may have never happened. I've made threats before that if I ever found them, I'd throw them out. I think they're ugly. But when I did find them this week, instead of throwing them out Bruce and I snapped a few glamour shots before putting them back in the case and shoving them under the bed.

Narragansett, RI

After a week of unpacking, we thought a breather at the beach was in order. This time we drove down to Narragansett, Rhode Island, where the waves are bigger and the water supposedly warmer. Scott got in. Bruce went in to his waist. I got to my ankle and it was too cold for me!

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of this event, but Scott got hit by a car this week. He was riding his bike to work and someone turned into him. I think the van was in worse shape: Scott took the passenger-side mirror off. Scott was a bit shocked, but got back on his bike and went to work for the day. He had a few bruises for a few days but is doing just fine. Thank goodness for bike helmets!

Buh-Bye Hair

As promised, here are the head shots. Hair today. Gone tomorrow.

I had to dry out the ponytail for a few days; Scott said it looked like a dead rat. Once it was dry, I sent it to Locks of Love. My hair won't actually be made into a wig though. I had about 7.5 inches of ponytail so it will be sold to offset wig manufacturing costs. Weird. But what was I going to do with it anyway?

I got to see my big sis this week! She and her husband were on Cape Cod for the week so we drove down where they were staying and had dinner. Bruce jumped on a trampoline, threw rocks in the bay, checked out shells scooped from the bottom, and showed Janis and Philip how to eat a nose. My niece taught him that when she was here a few weeks ago. He says, "Eat my nose" and pulls his nose off and stuffs it into his mouth.

We headed to the beach last weekend with a bunch of friends from church. Bruce wore his pajamas. He learned how to say "hey ladies" this week.

I am slowly getting back in shape for a few fall races. I ran a workout with my track club last week and just about died. This morning I did a fartlek (for all you who don't speak in running jargon, a fartlek is training that involves intense running with periods of not-so-intense running). I warmed up and then ran 3 minutes fast, 3 normally, 3 fast, etc until I covered 11 miles.

The New England Grand Prix 5-mile championship is on Sept. 8, which is a bit earlier than I'd like it to be. I won it last year, so I'm sure there will be all kinds of expectations for me. My eyes are rolling. My more realistic goal is the Tuft's 10k a month later. I've run that race for 3 years but never as a main race. One year it was a week after the Akron Marathon, so I was burned out but jogged it anyway. The next year I was getting back in shape post-Bruce. And last year the Tuft's 10k was on the Monday before my Saturday Hartford Marathon, so I practiced my marathon pace but didn't actually race race.

A Move and A Mystery Rash

Lots happenin' at the Raymond residence. For one, we've moved. We found a cheaper apartment and packed all our belongings in a truck and went there. It's a bit smaller and there's no storage space, so we're still tunneling our way through the house until we get things under control. Bruce likes it though. There is a pool here and Bruce has been in it almost every single day. There is also a little fenced-in canal that he likes to look at: there is a picture of him throwing rocks over the fence and into the water.

A few days before we moved, Bruce had the nastiest rash ever. I'll spare you the upper portion of that picture, but let's just say he was very spotted all over the place. It mysteriously appeared. And two days later it mysteriously disappeared.

In other news, Scott got a fellowship that will fund grad school for another year and I went bizerk from the heat and chopped my hair off. I'll put pictures of that up soon.