The "You don't have anything better to do so update your blog" post

Walking the kids to school.

Athena getting ready for school.

Renae cross country skiing.

Christina, Athena, Aimery, and Jeff at Quail Hollow.

Christina and Spider-man.

Renae and Athena after coming down the chutes.

Athena chilling.

Me and Aimery during a break in the action.

Me and Aimery after coming down the chutes.

Athena and the escalator.

Tarra at Bubba Gumps

Tarra and I with Bubba the Shrimp.

LOL, I was reminded by my very good friend Stacy that I haven't updated my blog in a while. So I'm am going to give a brief synopsis of my life for the month of February 2011 as I have been somewhat busy. For those of you who don't know I've taken a job in Fairbanks Alaska and actually fly out on the 24th. Initially I am only taking 4 large suitcases and one carry on suitcase to live out of until sometime in May. In my gypsy-nomad nature I've been trying to give away, sell, or trash quite a bit of my stuff as well as say good-bye to new friends, rekindled friends, and enemies. If I were an outsider I would have probably talked to my self about these suicidal behaviors, lol, but that isn't the case I'm only moving.

I recently found my long lost best friend from high school on facebook and she amazingly enough lives in Colorado. So when I was traveling around I met with her in Fairplay and we spent several hours catching up on 20 years worth of stuff, life, and life changing events. As luck would have it though I never thought to pull out my camera and snap a couple of photos. Which I now regret, but what are you going to do.

That same weekend I also met with my friend Tarra who lives in Kansas but grew up in Colorado. She was in town for her nephew's birthday so I drove into Denver from Colorado Springs (took a Conceal Carry Weapon Class, that's right world I'm packing heat). I picked her up from her brother's apartment and we headed off in search of a record store so that I could sell some of my vinyl records that I have been toting around for nearly a decade. The store was downtown and I followed my phone GPS, sorta, to get there but then gave up totally and followed my instinct on how to get there. My instinct was much more adventurous than the damn GPS. Needless to say we found a parking spot downtown and set off to find the store but I forgot the records in car, so we decided to eat at Bubba Gumps instead. See the pictures above.

After this weekend I had two weeks before it would be time to head to Ohio to visit with my family. During these two weeks we met with the realtor to determine whether the house could be placed on the market, started packing some/most of my belongings into tubs and boxes, and have been trying to decide what belongings to put into the four suitcases and one carry-on. Let's say that the new pistols are in one of the suitcases. I bought a .45lc/.410 Taurus and a .45 ACP Springfield Armory. My bedroom is a mess because I've got clothes and crap all over trying to decide whether to keep, trash, or pack.

On Thursday Feb 10th Renae and I headed to Frisco to stay the night with RJ and Cheryl prior to going to the airport on Friday morning to head to Canton. We had fun playing dominos and had a great time. We got up early and got some Starbucks and headed to the Blue Moon for breakfast. (Side Bar: I've been having fun eating at places for the last time but have gained a couple pounds because of it.) We arrived at the airport and parked in the economy lot and managed to get on the shuttle and arrive at the terminal to check our bags. The baggage checking process is becoming such a burden anymore. We stood in this line to be redirected to that line to be redirected to another line. Our flight was to go from Denver to Chicago to Canton/Akron. Our flight from Chicago was delayed several hours because apparently the pilot refused to take the flight because it was not on time. So instead of 15-30 min late we were two hours late. Once we arrived in Canton we were informed that one of our bags was still in Chicago, great. Luckily it was the one with mostly the kids clothes but also our snowboarding boots and boarding pants.

So in the plans for the weekend with the kids was tubing at Brandywine hill and cross country skiing and snow shoeing at Quail Hollow near Canton. Aimery made it clear that he also NEEDED to go to Toys-R-us because Grandma Strange got them gift cards for Valentines Day. So Saturday rolled around and after getting our bags we were headed off to Brandywine for a three hour tubing session. It took us about 45 min to get there and the kids seemed pretty jazzed to go tubing. Once we got our tubes and on the escalator at which point Athena seemed a little timid about the loading and unloading process. After taking our first ride down the chute, Renae and I, spent some time encouraging the kids to try different chutes. Which eventually we made it up to chute 7 (they had 25 chutes).

After tubing we set out to find a Wendy's and encountered the smarty pants of Stow, OH. I had to figure out how to talk and think slowly. After the 15 min it took to order 4 meals we sat down to eat and then headed back to Canton. We found the Toys-R-us that Aimery NEEDED to go to. He was so funny picking out his gift, it was cute. Athena couldn't make a decision about what she needed vs what she wanted.

On Sunday we were to head out to Quail Hollow to rent some cross country skis and take the kids out for their first snow shoe experience. The rental process was a little chaotic but soon we were off. The snow was soooooo much different than the Colorado snow, but luckily I only fell once at it was on a down hill. We all had a great time and decided to head to the secret hill near their house and run down the tubing hill a couple of times.

After tubing on Sunday we headed back home and got ready for dinner. We ate at a Mexican place called El Ricon where the waiter kept calling me "chula" which we all became curious about. At first we thought he called me lula, bella, and various other names. When we left the place and headed to Borders, Jeff looked up on his phone what "chula" meant it was something like when a guy thinks a girl is sexy. After getting up off the floor from laughing I helped the kids pick out some books and we headed home. The kids read to me before going to bed. The next morning we walked the kids to school and headed to the airport.

So that is the last week of January and February to this point. I am now pulling hair out of my head trying to get ready to head to Alaska. I'm excited and scared to bejeebers.

A Year in Review

Well it is now four days into the new year and I've been thinking back about last year and everything that I accomplished and things I wished I had been able to accomplish. So this is my retrospective mumblings.

Last year I reduced my weight 27.4 lbs which is a tremendous accomplishment. I went from 216 at the beginning of last year to 188 at the end of the year. My goal weight mainly to get back into the military is 168. So 20 more lbs and I am golden. It will be the healthiest I have been since 1994.

Last year I completed four half marathons including one with my sister, the Air Force half. She actually ran the full marathon but we finished within minutes of each other which was cool. My first half was the Reno Rock n River half in which I finished in 3hr7min. This time would elude me for the next two halfs; the Steamworks half in Durango (elevation 9300 feet) and the Gold's Gym half (elevation 4300 feet). Both of these halfs seemed like such work for me and I was absolutely miserable running them so I had little hope for the Air Force half. But man I love running at lower elevation. I rocked the Air Force half coming in 17 min faster than my best half marathon time. The Air Force half took place in Dayton OH at Wright Patterson AFB with an elevation no greater than 2000 feet but more like 500 feet. I came in at 2hr50min. So my new goal for a half marathon time wise is 2hr30min.

Last year I also completed numerous 5k and 10k runs such as the Highlands Ranch 10k in April, Children of Hope 10k in June or July, Rim to Rim 5k in Oct, Galloping Goose 5k in Oct, Scream Scram 5k with Kaleb in Oct, Turkey Trot 2mile in Wichita in Nov, Turkey Trot 5k in Grand Junction in Nov, and the Jingle Bell 5k with Kaleb in Dec.

Last year I started an ambitious project of returning to college. I decided that I truly enjoy working with veterans who have disabilities such as amputee, TBI, some sort of paralyzation, so I decided to pick up a BS in Kinesiology at Mesa State. This would give me more options when I go pick up my PhD (for those of you who knew me in High School ain't that a kick in the pants) other than just social work. I took 7 credit hours in the fall of 10 and received two A's and a B. If grandpa were still around I'm sure I would have earned at least $25 dollars of pocket money for those grades.

Let's see what else, oh yeah I had to be pulled off a mountain by search and rescue. That was quite the little adventure that really shook me confidence. Since that little incident I've been rather hesitant to even go snowboarding. Speaking of snowboarding last year was my second season in the sport and I rock. I was able to go probably at least 16 times last year and have advanced my way up to running powder on blacks or slowly running moguls on blue's.

I had my first crown and next week will receive my second crown. As much as I hate dentist's I really enjoy the one I have in Grand Junction. He barters for service, no not sex, but I traded him a snowboard for some work he did on my teeth. He is a really awesome dentist.

Over the last year I've also been able to come to terms with some of my demons from the past. I have worked through the military thing enough to pick up the courage to try to return to the military. That is truly a work in progress.

My New Year's resolution is to continue my journey to a healthier lifestyle, to live my life to the fullest, to continue to realize my potentials, follow my dreams, and be a good friend and family member.

A three hour tour....until the weather started getting rough!

Mary and Renae with packs on getting ready to start up the Hunter Creek trail.

All three of us before we start going.

Hunter Creek

We stopped for lunch around 1330 (Mary is eating cheetos)

About an hour later after passing the observation deck above Aspen.

So in February this year I joined the 10th Mountain Hut Organization in the hopes of doing a winter hut trip. After looking at all the options I decided on the Fabi Benedict Hut because it only holds 6 people and I couldn't stand the thought of sharing a hut with 16 strangers. So we reserved the hut for the 10-12 of December, this past weekend. All year long I looked forward to this trip. Of course Renae was in and we invited Mary Lasley, Karyn Franklin, and Cheryl. Cheryl couldn't make it because of her work schedule and Karyn broke her back 6 weeks before the trip (bummer). Mary and I had a planning meeting about a week before the trip and decided on what food to bring and other various necessities. We decided to start out from Grand Junction at 0900 on Friday morning.

Friday morning rolls around and Renae and I pack our bags and make sure we have everything we need or might need. I commented that RJ would be laughing at us because we were bringing things we probably wouldn't need. We left the house around 0830 to go pick up Mary in Palisade and hit the road for Aspen shortly after 0900. We seemed all pretty stoked about the trip and talked about all sorts of things on the way up. We found the Hunter Creek Trailhead fairly easily and Renae dropped Mary and I off with all the gear and went and parked the car. We decided not to cross country ski because it seemed there wasn't that much snow. We were all glad we made that decision because the trail gained almost 2,000 feet of elevation and it would have sucked to be on cc skis.

Once Renae got up to us we put on our packs oriented the map turned on the spot and headed up the trail. We saw quite a few people walking and made sure we were headed in the right direction and hiked on. We came to a fork in the trail where we could go towards Smuggler Mountain or continue on the Hunter Creek Trail. The map didn't show a fork in the trail so we asked a hiker that had come along and she indicated the huts were up on Smuggler Mountain. So we took the fork in the road. We soon began hiking up a couple of switchbacks in which we gained about 300 feet of elevation. We stopped around 130 to eat lunch. We had been hiking about 1 1/2 hours by the time we stopped. I estimated that we had gone about 1 3/4 mile only 4 more miles to go.

After lunch we continued on and the sun had come out. Up until this point it had been lightly snowing and cloudy. I had been leading the crew at this point and we were still going up switchbacks gaining probably another 400-500 feet to the Observation Deck above Aspen. It was about 2 1/2 miles into the trail with meant we had about another 3 1/4 to go. We had thought it somewhat steep to this point but we had no idea that it was about to get much steeper. I would say it was about 230pm by the time we hit the observation deck and I was somewhat concerned that we would make it to the cabin before the sun set but if we didn't we all had headlamps. The trail was marked with intermittent blue blazes. Which were pretty easy to follow.

We started up a steep grade that proceeded up Smuggler Mountain Road. We hiked for about another 1 1/2 hours before the terrain got really steep and I would take 25 steps and stop for 45 secs then another 25 steps and rest for 45 secs. When we started doing the above I guessed that we had another 1 to 1 1/2 miles to go and it was almost 4pm. Renae had started falling behind because she was she was wearing her hunting boots which were rubbing her heels. We stopped long enough for her to put her snow shoes on which seemed to help. We made it to the top of the mountain right at 445pm and it looked like on the map that we should be seeing the turn off for the cabin which was good because I was pretty exhausted as were the other two.

We continued looking for the blue blazes and were still seeing them however it was now almost dark and I was beat. I tossed my pack off for about 5 min and walked ahead to see if I could see the cabin which I couldn't. I dreaded putting my pack back on but did anyway. Renae then took the lead because I had been breaking snow for about an hour and I was in hiking boots and couldn't do it anymore. We all kept thinking that we would be at the hut shortly. By 530pm I was concerned and kept saying I could only make it 5 to 15 more minutes before I thought I would collapse.

Renae gave was able to push me on until about 615pm at that point I was totally exhausted and was ready just to stop. I mentioned several times we should press the SOS button on the spot but the group kept thinking we were around the corner from the cabin. Renae gave me some trail mix which I threw up about 45 min later. At this point my lucidity was fading fast and I told Renae we needed to have a plan. At 640pm we decided to turn around and head back down the way we had come in the hopes that we would see the cabin marker. By now it had been snowing hard for about 15-30. Mary took the lead and had worked way ahead of us. Renae and I stopped around 715pm because I wasn't able to go as fast I kept postholing and why I didn't put on my snowshoes I'll never know. I told Renae we need to press the SOS on the spot because we are headed for trouble if we don't. So Renae got the Spot off my pack and I pressed the SOS button.

At 728pm I got a text from my sister asking if we were alive. I didn't know we had cell service so was really surprised. I texted her back that we needed help and then Renae took my phone because I was really out of it. I held the Spot in my hand and watched the green blinks thinking it was going to transport me some place warm. There were several texts and phone calls from my sister which Renae answered. Christi was coordinating with I guess Colorado State Patrol at first until they could determine our coordinates and get connected to the correct SAR team.

I'm not sure about the time frame but at some point the Aspen Mountain Rescue SAR team contacted my phone and Renae gave them the information they needed, after all we weren't lost because we knew exactly where we were we just didn't know where the cabin/hut was. At several points I thought I was in Alaska, I didn't know why Mary was with us, the snow falling in my headlamp light was pretty, and I knew I quit shivering at 730pm. Being a Kinesiology Student and having just finished A&P I knew that was bad because shivering is the body's way of putting the body back into homeostasis. Renae said that SAR was on their way with snow mobiles.

We connected back with Mary sometime in the 7 o' clock hour and Renae told her to stay behind me because I kept asking to just sit down. We made pretty good time back down the mountain. I would estimate that it had snowed anywhere from 8-12 inches in an hour making following our tracks back down quite difficult. Renae did an awesome job of locating her snowshoe tracks from the way up.

We had to get past a downed tree that we had crawled under on the way up in order to meet the snow mobiles. Which we made it to and beyond when the SAR team reached us. Renae had been telling them over the phone my condition which apparently every one thought was I was in trouble but in my head I was warm, in Alaska, and just ready to go to sleep, geez. So when we reached the team Renae gave them report, like the excellent nurse she is, and one of the guys took my pack off my back. Once the load was off my back I immediately fell face flat into the snow and began rolling down the mountain. John, the SAR team member, was like holy crap whats wrong, and Renae in her best non-sarcastic voice said, "she's disoriented" like hello silly.

I was loaded onto the first snow mobile and they took me down to the ambulance who was waiting at the bottom of smuggler road. I fell again getting off the snow mobile I remember that. The EMT took my shoes and socks of and my feet were blotchy and he wrung about 2 cups of water out of my socks. I was hooked up to a blood pressure cuff and O2 Sat monitor and my blood pressure was 150/100 and my O2 levels were between 86-88. He then took my temp and said crap. My temp was 94.6. He kept calling me Emily and I wasn't sure if I gave him that name or he just couldn't remember Julie.

I don't remember a lot of the ride to the ER in Aspen other than he stuck me with a IV. The two nurses at the ER were great, Jill and I don't remember the other nurses name, but they got my snow gear off without cutting off any of it. They put warm blankets on me and I started shivering. I looked up at the clock on the wall and it said it was after 11pm. The doctor was cool and wanted to know about the Spot and I started getting a little more with it. He told me I had Acute Hypothermia, Hypoxia, and Frost Nip. They put two bags of warm Normal Saline into me and discharged me around 0230 on Saturday morning.

While I was getting a ride to the hospital Renae was still having to walk down the trail because they had put Mary on the other snow mobile but the one that had taken me down wasn't back up there yet. So Renae was trudging down the trail. Once the other driver got back up there they got them down and the Sheriff's Deputy drove them over to the car and they came to the ER.

The head of SAR Hugh something was having a local restaurant open their kitchen so his team could get something to eat. Renae asked if she and Mary could go with them and he said he would take them. Apparently they got served petite steaks and potatoes. The SAR team was awesome. I told them I had a COSAR card and they asked if I could get them the number so they could be reimbursed. Not only did I do that but went onto their website and made a donation to their organization. Aspenmountainrescue.org

What a crazy adventure. The SAR team indicated to Renae that the hut we were headed to was the hardest hut to find in the Aspen area and that they have missed the hut turn off at least three separate times. The were happy that the rescue turned out well because they had been bummed about not being able to find a Snowmass worker how had taken a wrong turn 14 days ago. I'm glad the adventure is over and not sure I will attempt another hut trip.

Jingle Bell 5K at Canyon View Park

Well the Jingle Bell 5K was really a last minute thought considering we normally register for our events at least 5 weeks ahead of time. This one we registered 4 days before the run. We decided to have the kids run with us since Kaleb is always saying he likes to run. We kept the kids overnight on Friday and got up bright and early (seems like they get up before 7 am now instead of sleeping in until 8 or 9 like their parents). So we got all ready to go and dressed in layers since the forcast was for 40 degrees but it was overcast so a little bit chilly.

We took two separate cars as Renae wanted to go do stuff after the run and I had other stuff I needed to do. So I got to the park first and picked up our packets. The Byrds were 215, 216 and 217. I was 227 and Kaleb couldn't understand why I wasn't 214 or 218. We sat in the car and put on numbers and the jingle bells that came in the packet. About 7 min before the race start we got out and listened to the instructions for the run and then lined up. Kaleb would be running with me and Katie with Renae.

When the horn went off I talked with Kaleb about pacing ourselves and what that meant. Meanwhile Katie thought she needed to keep up with the front runners and so running was struggling to keep up with her. Luckily she is 5 and was only able to hold that pace for less than a 1/4 mile. Kaleb kept asking why Katie was running so fast and I told him not to worry because she will be walking shortly and we will pass her. No sooner did I say that then Katie turned around while running and then fell and hit her head (I am sorry but it made me giggle). We passed by Katie and Renae and Kaleb turned around as if showing off to Katie and ran backwards (again that made me giggle).

I had Kaleb run with Katie and Renae so I could get a couple of pictures of them running together. Kaleb and I then headed off and Katie and Renae kept up with us for about 1/2 mile before they really dropped back. Kaleb talked about running and school. After about a mile into the 5K we started passing a few walkers and that got Kaleb excited again. However, he was running in brand new shoes that we had just purchased the night before and so he was saying his feet were hurting. I put him on my back for about 150 yards and ran with him on my back. Once he was back down running he did alright. We passed a couple of more people so now each time Kaleb had to stop running and walk he would look behind to make sure the people we passed weren't going to pass us. If he thought they were then we would start running again.

Around 2 1/4 miles through Kaleb started saying his feet were hurting again and we had just passed another run/walker. Once we reached the top of the softball fields I bent down and he jumped on my back again. I ran another 150 yards or so with him on my back and then put him back down. I timed our next walk so that we could sprint to the finish. We finished in 40m40s. We waited and yelled for Katie and Renae and they finished about 5 min after us. Amazingly they were not last there were a couple more walkers that finished after they did.

I stayed around for the raffle. And won the very last prize a pair of XS Pearl Izumi running shorts which couldn't be exchanged at the the Bike Shop. So Merry Christmas Christina.

Turkey Trots in Kansas and Colorado

The dogs trying to warm themselves after the run.

Bethany finishing the 5k.

Bethany half way through the 5k.

Renae with the dogs before the race.

Renae and mom heading for one last bathroom trip before the run.

Renae and mom at the start line.

Me and mom finishing.

All three of us and the turkey.

So I decided to travel back home to Kansas before the holidays and picked the weekend before Thanksgiving. Renae (travel and best friend) decided to go with and we noticed that Wichita's Turkey Trot was that weekend. We discussed running the 10 mile but as it came time to register and we hadn't done much running down graded to the 2 mile. Since my mom had such a funny reaction to me buying hot pink vibram running shoes at the Air Force marathon I decided to start training in them so that I could wear them during the Turkey Trot. We arrived in Wichita late Thursday night and stayed at the airport hotel and met Tarra for breakfast the next morning at the Beacon. We goofed around in Wichita with mom and Bud and then headed to El Dorado to get our feet rubbed at Heads-N-Toes. Grandma was getting her hair done at the same time so we sat and talked with her for a bit. After a grand day in El Dorado we headed to Grandma Fuller's house.

After getting up at 7am the next morning (race day) we headed to pick mom up in Augusta at 0715. The race started at 0930 and we weren't sure about parking or anything so headed in to Wichita around 0740 and got to the run start around 0800. It was pretty freak'n cold (around 25-30 degrees and by comparison to the Grand Junction Turkey Trot was a tropical heat wave) so we stayed in the car for a while and discussed our strategy. We got our race packet and discussed the awesomeness of the long sleeve shirt. We decided to start warming up around 0900. I got lots of odd looks when I was walking around in my vibrams, one guy even asked, "Are you going to run in those?"

We found out that the 2 mile started at 0940 after the 10 milers started at 0930. So after the 10 milers started we worked our way from sunny spot to sunny spot until we reached the start line. So with about a minute to start I looked over and couldn't find mom and Renae said she moved to the back of the pack. Then the gun went off and I sprinted off feeling pretty good. Of course there were tons of kids in this race who thought there place to start was at the very front. So the first mile or so I spent a good deal of time avoiding kids who would stop right in front of me or would run 4 or 5 across on the sidewalk. I checked my IPOD and it said I was just at a mile and running around 8 min miles. I thought holy crap I'm fast. I was able to keep that pace for only another 1/2 mile or so and had to slow down because I was nearly out of breath. Once I was within 400 yards of the finish I kicked back up and crossed at 19.03 which I thought was awesome.

I started walking back along the course so I could get pictures of Renae and mom. Renae was only a couple of minutes behind me. I think she finished around 23 min. Mom was a couple of minutes behind her and I ran with her the rest of the way in. She finished in 26 min I think. I was really proud of her because she hadn't run in a long time and she said she ran the whole thing. She was so inspired that she said she is going to sign up for the Jingle Bell 5k, awesome job mom.

So by the end of the trip to Kansas I had developed a cold and humidity induced water retention. So slept the entire trip back to Colorado. Fast forward four days and it is time for the Grand Junction Turkey Trot benefiting the firefighters.

Renae worked the night before so I told her I would wake her up at 0830 so she could roll out of bed, get dressed, and get in the car and I would have everything else ready (or at least I hoped). Naturally it's the coldest day to date of the year a whopping 5 degrees when I wake up. What to wear what to wear. I decided on running tights with shorts over them and my really cool new running shirt that my mom got me but covered that with a sweatshirt and what Renae has now termed my "chemo hat", nursing humor I just don't know about it.

So I get the dogs stuff ready, put bottles of water in the car, start the car (after all it is only 7 degrees now), put some breakfast in the car and head to wake Renae. Although asleep manages to dress in record time so I load the dogs and we are out the door. Oh yeah did I mention this was a dog friendly run and somewhere in our screwed up head we thought it would be nice to bring them. We got parked at Albertson's and got the dogs leashed and out of the vehicle and started walking to the race start. Well the dogs needed to poop in the bank grassy area. What is the one thing Julie forgot about, that's right poop bags. I managed to find a trash bag in my car (I don't know why it was there but thankful it was) and Renae scooped up the poop and ran it over the trash can at the gas station.

By now it had warmed up to a balmy 9 degrees. My face hurt like no tomorrow. We walked to the start line managing to avoid about 60 other dogs and 900 people. We stood up on the side walk as the race started because I wasn't sure how the dogs would do. While we were waiting I managed to throw my camera on the ground, dislodge my earphone plug from my IPOD, get tangled with Kyrie's leash, and almost kick someone. I got myself all put back together and looked up and the walkers were already passing us. I told Renae that I didn't want to pass all the walkers because I PLANNED to run so we jumped into the fray and began weaving through strollers, kids, and dogs.

Now those of you who know the dogs know that Zeus is a people greeter and Kyrie, well Kyrie needs to be on heavy doses of Xanex. I wished I had horse blinders on her she yanked, pulled, and skitted every which way while we were trying to weave through the traffic of people. A stroller would go by, she was off this way, then a runner with a dog would go by and she was off that way. Maybe a 1/4 mile into the thing I told Renae I couldn't do this and started walking so Renae who had Zeus, who was running like he had been doing it for years on a leash, was right beside her. I walked maybe 100 yards and stopped on the side of the road trying to decide whether to turn around or continue. I had this little mental debate going on when alas I saw Bethany trotting towards me. The pain in my head said turn around and wait at the finish line, however, the competitor inside me said you can do this. So I sidled up to Bethany and we walked together for about a mile. During this mile Kyrie tried tripping me twice and tried ripping my shoulder out of the socket at least 1/2 dozen times. It's a good thing animal cruelty laws are more severe then child abuse because I'm sure I thought about hanging her from a tree a time or two (just kidding, but not really). I saw Renae on the trip back down the River Trail and decided to jog a little to see if I could catch up. I bid ado to Bethany and Kyrie and I were on our way.

At this point Kyrie was doing really well until we reach the turn around point. I made the turn Kyrie failed to yield the right of way and we got tangled again. I'm sure this was somewhat comical to watch and several people commented that it wasn't the dogs fault. Well of course it wasn't it was her parents fault we all know that. Anywho, I trotted along until Kyrie tripped me and then we walked again. This whole thing seemed to take forever and I wished I were done because my head hurt. Finally, finally I saw Renae and Zeus and just let go of Kyrie's leash so Renae could deal with her while I finished. I crossed the finish line handed them my running number thingy and waited for Bethany to cross the finish line.

On the way back to the car I told Renae that Kyrie couldn't come on any more group runs without being heavily drugged. I checked the temp 15 degrees. Definitely the coldest temp I've run in. We swung by Starbucks on the way home and as I was sitting in the drive through watched as my windshield finished cracking all the way down, fascinating to watch expensive to fix. Oh well.

Once we got home I was dead quite literally. I laid down for a 3 hour recovery nap. Sucks being sick.

VA Sponsored Deer Hunt and Separate Elk Trip

The vets on the VA Hunt (Matt Lucas, John, Darryl, Me, and Riff)

Myself, my deer, and Ryan my guide.

Sunrise one morning on the ranch.

Renae from last weekend. Check out the hi speed hi tech shoe covers.

Sunrise up on the Mesa while hunting elk.

I was approved to go along on the RecreationTherapy and Butch Lowery Disabled Veteran Hunt the last weekend of October. I was super stoked because I've not been hunting since I left Liberal, KS oh so many years ago. I was also a little nervous because there were supposed to be a bunch of people there and I only knew Matt Lucas. I quickly calmed my fears with the help of Glenn White who helped me sight in my brand new 1 year old 30-06. It only took about 12 rounds to get me sighted in at 100 yards. So Friday the 29th of October I headed to the Stop-N-Save in Clifton which is where we were meeting everyone since no weapons can be brought onto VA property. I was transporting Darryl's weapon as he was riding with Matt in the government vehicle.

We got up to the ranch which is 10 miles north of Rifle and waited while D came down to unlock the gate. Then we parked the cars and some of the guys rode up in vehicles while Matt, Vance, and I walked the 1 1/2 miles up to the camp. Nothing like getting the heart pumping. Once we got there we (Matt, Vance, and I) began setting up camp. Matt didn't want any of the other vets to help for fear of getting hurt (lots of paperwork). Matt then headed back down to Junction because he had a funeral to attend and the guides took the vets out around 1530 hours. My guide was Ryan. We walked to our blind which was set up over looking a ravine and two ridges. We sat and talked for several hours before getting restless. We snuck out of the blind (which I didn't realize was that difficult but they are noisy) and walked further up onto one of the ridges so we could see better down in the ravine.

After walking for about 5 minutes Ryan stopped and lifted his binoculars then handed them to me. He pointed to a group of trees where a doe was laying down. I saw the doe and then looked over to the right and there was a 3x3 buck just standing there looking at me. Ryan told me I needed to take the shot even though it was downhill and about 175 yards away and I was unsupported. He handed me this monopod which I put my rifle on. I'm sure someone looking at this spectacle would have thought I was drunk the way my rifle was waving around on that monopod. Thank gosh when I chambered a round into the rifle it didn't load because I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to hit the broad side of a barn using that dang thing. So when I pulled the trigger it just went click. So I reloaded and told Ryan I didn't think I could take the shot from here. All the while my buck just stood there watching this whole thing play out. Ryan and I maneuvered around so that I would have a better vantage point while sitting on a bucket. Needless to say the buck was still there when I got settled. This time I was sitting and unsupported from about 160 yards with the sun setting fast. I locked in the buck in my sights right behind the shoulder and pulled the trigger. I immediately chambered another round but lost the buck in my sights. Ryan said he jumped up and initially thought I hit him so we waited then went to investigate. By the time we got down to where the buck had been standing it was dark and Ryan and D looked around a bit but didn't see a blood trail.

I was disappointed but one of the other veterans got a buck so I went with the guys to learn how to field dress. We picked up the buck and took it out to clean it and brought it back and hung it so it could cool down over night. We then ate and I headed to bed as I was exhausted.

The next morning I got up and Ryan and I headed out to our blind. All morning long we watched three does dance around the area but never saw my buck. However, as the morning progressed we watched a gaggle of magpie's scavenge at something over in the oakbrush about 50 yards away from where I shot at the buck. Soon a coyote joined them and I noted that it was odd that a coyote would come out in the middle of the morning to eat on something. I got a sinking feeling in my gut and we decided to go over and investigate. Sure enough there was the buck which I shot. I started crying but quickly sucked it up because all of this was very anti climatic. It wasn't until D came down and told me it was a hell of a shot to make and that we could save some of the meat that I felt better about the whole situation. So I helped field dress my animal and we took it up to camp to hang. The rest of the day was pretty much just hanging out. The next morning the other two veterans went out. Around 0730 we heard a couple of shots but apparently everyone who went out forgot to take radio's. So at 0930 we went to pick up Darryl and Vance (Darryl is blind) and Darryl was sitting there by himself. He had shot a deer at 0730 and Vance was out tracking it. So we called for reinforcements and D, Matt, and Vance went to track it and they were soon joined by Randy. Thankfully within a couple of hours they located the animal and were able to bring it down from the mountain it decided to climb. Darryl was pretty happy as this was the first time that he had been hunting since he lost his sight 5 years ago.

I got back and picked up Renae and we headed to Old World Meats to get my deer processed. I turned in 55 lbs and have gotten back hamburger and steaks. Still waiting for my sausage and sticks.

Renae got pretty stoked and asked if I wanted to go elk hunting with her during the next weekend. I was pretty game for it so we went to the DOW and pulled some left over tags for the Collbran side of the Mesa. I looked on-line to see where the migration trends were for that area and we decided to hunt near Atkinson lake were we have previously camped. We headed up on Nov 6th after the Veterans Parade and got there around 5pm and so sat underneath a clump of trees where there were lots of tracks. We never saw anything. The next morning we got up and headed to a place that was down from that first evening and sat and watched. Renae went off down the road to see if she could scare anything up but never did. She got back and said she found fresh poop and lots of tracks. We decided that we would sit there that evening to see if we saw anything. So we picked our firing positions and went back to the motel.

We returned later that afternoon and heard lots of things moving around us but never saw anything. We came back the next morning to watch a more open field and never saw anything. I was a little disappointed but since I didn't know how to hunt elk felt pretty successful in just being out in the snow and not getting frostbite.

We went out the next weekend as well and saw a herd of elk down on private property but never saw any up in the elevation in which we were hunting. But I took some nice pictures of the sunrise.

Rantings from a Maniacal Wanna-be Athlete

Well ever since the Air Force Half Marathon on Sept 18th my running has taken a downword spiral to say the least. For most people they might say, "oh well you need to recover from the half" I say maybe. But I think I've ran a total of maybe 20 miles since the half marathon which was now a month ago. With the longest of that 20 miles being a little over 4 miles on hills. I can't really seem to click back into it. My breathing gets weird and it feels like my lungs are coming out of my chest or I feel sluggish like I haven't been nutritionally sound (which in reality I haven't been as good).

Needless to say the last couple of weeks have been especially frustrating because my mind is ready to get back into running it just seems my body isn't. Maybe it's because I need the thrill of the crowd or the competitiveness of running next to someone who is maybe going a little bit faster. I went for a run yesterday on the River Trail and I even pushed myself up the Broadway hill on the first section of my run. Wanted to do between 6 and 7 miles so I set my ipod for a 10k. Well the first 5K was really no problem but then I felt really sluggish like I needed fuel but I'd only been running 40 min. By the time I hit 6K I had to walk and that was frustrating. So I checked my knees, fine, ankles, fine, feet, a little sore but fine, what then what the frick.

Maybe it's what I'm fueling my body with before my run; to many simple sugars. Well I did eat Cap't Crunch for breakfast that morning. Plus my post run recovery has slipped some so maybe I go back to the drawing board and eat my banana and bagel with peanut butter before my runs and after my runs go back to drinking my recoverite.

I've been doing circuit training at the gym on Tues and Thurs to help build muscle strength and endurance. Plus then going for a stationary bike ride for 30 min to work some of my other leg muscles. Next semester I am taking Biomechanics and Physiology of Exercise at Mesa so hopefully that will give more insight as well.

Perhaps it is my up bringing and being told I wasn't as good as so and so or I wasn't smart enough. While I've overcome this in other parts of my life maybe it hasn't hit home yet in physical activity. Maybe I've lost my inner drill Sergeant as my friend Bethany calls her inner voice. But I shouldn't have to dig deep to run 6 miles for crying out loud I ran a PR in the half.
We haven't covered the brain yet in A&P so I can't tell which part of my brain helps with motivation and "digging deep" but I sure has hell can tell you which muscles are activated when I run and how to make fast twitch muscle fibers respond more like slow twitch muscle fibers.

Bowha ha ha ha ha (I am Maniacal which is my word of the day).