Holla at cho Girls

United Yoggers

2009-09-28T18:08:00.000-07:00

Who ever thought to do a 199 mile relay race through Maryland, West Virginia and ending in DC? Introducing Ragnar Relay DC 2009. A team of 12 of us ran the 199 mile trek in 28:02 hours.

In short here is how the race is set up:

150 teams in total, each team has two vans, with six runners in each. The first van will drop off the first runner, drive ahead a few miles, cheer the runner on, and provide them with water, snacks, and plenty of love. That vehicle will then drive ahead to the first exchange point to drop off the second runner, and pick up the first runner when that leg is complete. They will repeat this pattern for six legs until they hand off to their second vehicle. This leapfrogging pattern will continue all the way to the finish line. The race begins in the morning and goes straight through until you cross the finish line, however long it may take.

My team was #117 the Unified Yoggers. I was runner #10 with a total distance of 14.4 miles. My first run began at 9:30pm. I must confess I was not ready for the run. I didn't really eat dinner before I left on our trip (we had to drive from DC to West Virginia to meet up with the first van by 6:30pm) and so I made myself a bagel sandwich shortly before. Unfortunately I don't even know the last time I ate a bagel sandwich and I don't think it set too well with me. Perhaps eating it right before didn't help either. Woops! So when I began my first run my stomach was not too happy. It wouldn't have been too hard if it was just a flat run but 3 miles of it was uphill. It was a really pretty run through the country. There wasn't anyone else running By the time I finally reached the end I cannot even tell you how glad I was. The only thing keeping me going at that time was my team cheering me on every few miles.

When the rest of my van finished our legs we drove to a Marriott hotel. One of our teammates works for Marriott and got us an incredible deal. We got to the hotel at about midnight and had to leave at 2am. Short stay. I did feel like I was living at home with mom and dad again because of how cold the room was. We kept the window open and the A/C was cranked up full blast. So I only got a few minutes of sleep. I think I've gotten too used to the warm weather, or at least the heat cranked up full blast to sleep.

On our way to the next major transition point we got lost and didn't make it back in time! The van before us took a lot less time than we anticipated. Most of their legs were 2 - 3 miles only. Michele waited at the finish line for 6 minutes for us to arrive, woops! My next run was at about 4am, a pretty simple run only 3.5 miles on a flat surface. I ran through some small random town in Maryland. No one was out except for a few vans for Ragnar.

The next major transition point we met up and then we were all so tired we went to the next transition point to wait for van 1 to finish their legs. Both Michael and Ryan were troopers driving the whole time. Because the rest of us were tired and sleeping in the car on our way there. The next transition point was at an LDS church. People were scattered all around. Some of them in sleeping bags on the lawn, some sleeping in their vans and some hanging out listening to music. As soon as my van and I arrived pulled out our blankets and pillows and crashed for the next hour or two. There were 2 other LDS teams who were competing who we hung out with until our first vans arrived. One of the teams we were neck and neck with.

When it was finally time for our last run none of us felt like running. We were so tired. And all we had been eating for the past day had been random snacks. Granted, they were good. But we were ready for real food. My final run was about 7 miles, in the rain. Honestly though, it was a great run! I ran through rock creek parkway and was able to run close to the DC temple. And I made great time (for me anyway) at just a little over 8 minute miles.

By the time we finally finished it had been a total of 28 hours. We were exhausted and smelly but happy. Our Results.

Happy Fathers Day

2009-06-21T20:03:00.000-07:00

Happy Fathers Day!

Fathers. Everyone has them. I however have been blessed with the best one. My father, Scott H Bowes, has been one of the most influential people in my life.

Some of my fondest memories growing up are when we would play games. One game in particular (favorite of mine) was called "tickle monster." It's a simple game with a simple goal: free the kids from the evil tickle monster's (aka dad) grasp. It consisted of us kids running around the tickle monster screaming as loud as we could trying to not get caught. If we were captured, the other children would have to sacrifice their safety to help pull them away from the tickle monster. On a few occasions at the end we would just end up dog piling on top of each other, squishing our poor father.

All growing up my dad would also plan amazing adventures including: camping, fishing, hiking, and hunting trips for the whole family. I think the most memorable activity we would do was fishing. Ever since I was a little kid, not even old enough to hold a pole, I was fishing with my dad.

We fished wherever we could. For several years while living in Florida we had a lake in our back yard. We would catch nice sized fish (as shown to the right) on a very regular basis. Many days and nights were spent playing around in the backyard and catching fish.

My favorite kind of fishing we ever did was deep sea. I loved going out on the ocean and catching the really big fish. When I was 16 years old our family took a camping and fishing trip to Alaska where I caught a 50lb halibut. It was the biggest fish I ever caught, as well as the biggest on the boat. Up until my younger brother Mike decided to catch a 100lb halibut. I was not too happy about being beaten by my younger brother. Oh well. This upcoming Alaska fishing trip I plan on beating him ;)

My whole life my dad has always been there for me. Very willing to support me in whatever venture I decided to do. He has been such a great example always ready and willing to sacrifice so for us kids. My dad really is the best and I love him so very much!

Race for the Cure 2009

2009-06-07T18:26:00.000-07:00

One of the larger events on the National Mall is the yearly Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure. This is the first year it was a global function. Thousands of participants signed up and participated in either a 5k run, 5k walk, or as a volunteer. The entire National Mall was covered with people eager to support the cause.

I met some really amazing people from all over the DC region and different parts of the east coast as well. Many people had stories about themselves, friends or family which motivated them to participate. Speakers were present who talked about the foundation and performers who sang.
I joined a group with about 20 other LDS singles in my ward, Colonial 1st. A few walked the path while the rest of us ran. There were so many people when the race began it took my group and I about 8 minutes to get to the starting line before we could begin the actual run. When we did begin the run a group of 5 of us started out and began the game Frogger. If any of you are familiar with this game you can perhaps visualize the scene. Imagine a group of 5 of us zig-zagging through the crowds trying our best not to run into anyone else who could get in our way. We were going for speed. I have to admit, I did feel quite bad when I cut a few people off and made them either slow down or stop completely.

Needless to say it was a wondrous event with a lot of fantastic people and an amazing experience.

Duck Beach

2009-05-26T17:27:00.000-07:00

So every year since apparently the 80's a large group, 500ish, of LDS singles take the weekend of Memorial Day and head to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Duck Beach. I continued this tradition and headed down Friday night with a group of friends. We missed all the traffic because we left around 8pm. Five hours later we arived at our house. The whole idea of Duck is to rent a house and then have as many people as possible crammed into it for the weekend. Many of the houses have at least 5 bedrooms, a pool and a hot tub. Our house had about 28 people in it.

Saturday morning I woke up and went for an amazing run on the beach! It was still early out and no one was on the beach yet. It was almost like my favorite beach in Hawaii, almost. When I got back I grabbed some breakfast and we all headed out to the main beach where there was a volleyball tournament going on. I did not really pay any attention to the games going on. Rather I spent the day socializing, playing in the water for short periods of time (the water temperature was around 60 degrees Farenheit), and playing soccer. The latter I might add proved to have more lasting affects than I would have thought. It seems playing soccer barefoot in the sand against other guys left a few bruses. My right knee has a bruise about the size of a baseball from when I got kicked when defending the ball.

That evening there were plenty of parties to choose from as we party hopped from house to house. Or rather tried to find which house had the parties. No one seemed to know where they were at or who was hosting. It was one massive goose chase. I might add it was quite entertaining.

Sunday morning I went for another enjoyable run on the beach. The early afternoon was spent reading the conference issue of the Ensign and taking a nap. Then my roomate Melissa and I went to the beach where we met up with some more friends.

Later that night we went to an acoustic party and later ended up hot tubbing at a friends house.

Monday was our last day at the beach. Our plan was to leave at 2pm to head home. Hmm..well, how about 7pm? We left a bit later than we had planned. But the beach was just to enoyable to leave.

April Showers Bring May Flowers?

2009-05-19T14:26:00.000-07:00

The weather has started to warm up. . .FINALLY! I can not begin to tell you how excited I am about that one. And with the summer weather you get summer activities.

Most of April was rain, and apparently a lot of May has also been. I biked into the district on Saturday to go to some of the Smithsonians and on my way back got completely rained on. There is not too much you can do when your on the Key Bridge in a rainstorm. We ended up under a tree for protection further along the trail.

There have been a few good days where I've been able to do some fun things outdoors like a campfire, paddleboating and bike riding.

Happy Mothers Day

2009-05-12T18:57:00.000-07:00

I do realize it's a little late to do a mothers day blog, but better late than never. To tell the truth, I think I have one of the best mothers around. She has been an amazing example throughout my life.

One fond memory I have with my mom is when we would make treats and I would get to cook with her. My mother might be a little surprised by this, but it is true. I was very proud of being able to help my mom out in the kitchen. I think there is something special about being able to "help" mom with dinner. This of course was when I was a child, because when I was a teenager I decided anything of the sort I did not like to do. If it required any kind of effort on my part I did not like it (My mother will agree to this). It did not last too long until I realized I really do enjoy cooking decided to major in Culinary Arts in college.

I was around six years old in this photo as my mother, younger brother Mike and I made some sort of baked good. We were living in our "old new house" as our family calls it.

My whole life my mother has been a great teacher, strong in the gospel, very patient and loving, always willing to support me in whatever adventure I choose to do. I do not tell her enough how much she really means to me, however I would not be who I am today if it were not for her.

I love you mom! Happy mothers day!

Easter 10K and Cherry Blossoms

2009-04-14T17:05:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter everyone!!! Hope you the Easter Bunny left you all some good candy.

Saturday I ran in an Easter 10K fun run type of thing. I signed up last minute when I heard about it from my roommate Jennie, who in turn heard about it from another girl in our ward who I believe heard about it through another girl in the ward. There ended up being quite a few of us who ran it. It did sound quite delightful, a good run through DC towards the end of the Cherry Blossom Festival.

I woke up that morning to the sound of rain. I looked out the window and it was gloomy and overcast. I figured it would lighten up when we got there. That was not the case. Picking up our packets and waiting for the race to begin we all freezing! It may be spring, but it is still COLD! I couldn't wait to start running so I could warm up.

The run was close to the Jefferson memorial at a place called Hans Point. The race began with a mile and a half straight run on a cherry blossom lined road. The Potomac on one side and a park on the other. The run was fairly easy without any large hills or very difficult areas.

When the run was over we were all soaked and cold. I definitely earned a hot shower that afternoon.

Later that night Jared and I went to the riverfront to watch the close of the Cherry Blossom festival. A large fireworks display was put on. It was not as grand as the 4th of July but it was still really cool to see the whole sky light up and see the reflection in the water below (it had stopped raining at this point).

For those of you who don't know about the Cherry Blossom festival in DC it is a big deal :) There are over 2,000 cherry trees that blossom and for the span of 2-3 weeks all of DC is covered in these beautiful blossoms. If you look at the slide show I made earlier there are a few pictures showing how delightful they are. The festival commemorates the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from the mayor of Tokyo honoring the lasting friendship of Japan and the US.

I'm kind of bummed it's over, but that just means summer is really on it's way! Yay for summer!!

Update

2009-04-14T15:52:00.001-07:00

So I do realize that it has been a while since I have updated the blog. For that I apologize. I do promise I have been alive and quite well for the past few months. I have not fallen off the side of the earth. I did make a quick slide show of some of the happenings around town. Unfortunately due in part to the cold weather I have been somewhat boring. But don't worry. Summer is about here, and with that comes ADVENTURES!

Inauguration Craziness

2009-01-20T15:38:00.000-08:00

Ok, so Inauguration has been the big talk all over the nation. I think even more so where I am living, Washington DC. Sunday afternoon a group of 6 of us went to the Lincoln memorial where there was going to be a special concert featuring top artists like: Bon Von Jovi, Beyonce, Bono, and many many others. Also among the group was president elect Obama who also got up and stated a few words.

I must tell you, this was out of control CRAZY! The concert started at 2:30pm, so in order to get a good spot you really had to get there early in the morning before anyone else. I must admit my group and I were not quite able to get there early because of church. After the main part of church we all raced home and put on as many layers as we possibly could to prepare for the cold weather which lay ahead.

About the time we arrived was 11:30am. We had to go through security and try to find a spot. By the time we arrived there were already thousands of people there. My roommate DeEtte and I tried our hardest to get up as close as we possibly could and cut through the crowd.

Unfortunately, in the process we lost the rest of our group. Woops! Once you are lost in the crowd there is no finding you after. We tried when the concert was over to find them but that did not really happen.

With this large of a crowd we hit a roadblock. We got to a point where we literally could not move. In order for me to take my camera out of my pocket I had to strategically wobble my body so my arm and hand could get enough room to go into my pocket and up above my head.

You will notice in the video some crazy lady who was standing on a walker (?) towering above the rest of us. She was completely nuts. DeEtte and I laugh about her now because she was blessing people in the name of Jesus and then cursing others who, "had the devil with them." Then she'd be trying to tell us what to do. The lady was nuts and obnoxious.

We ended up moving around to another few spots to try to get a better angle after the show had begun. I did not think ahead to charge my camera battery so I only have a few shots before it completely died. If you notice, people are sitting on top of porta potties. I have never seen so many in my entire life. Porta potties have been lining the mall and all over the district for the past week. We were afraid the people on top would fall through because they were starting to sink in, but security made them get off before anything like that happened.

NYC Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T16:53:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving year I had the opportunity to celebrate the 82nd annual Macy's Day Parade. Let me tell you, this was an adventure of a weekend. Now if you talk to my mom you will realize getting me to watch a parade as a child was quite difficult. In fact I really don't even like parades. I have never watched the Macy's Day Parade on TV or anything. But, when my friend said let's go to NYC for Thanksgiving I thought it sounded like a grand idea.

After work on Wednesday a few friends and I packed up and took a night bus to NYC. The only time we were really hoping for traffic (it's the busiest as far as traffic is concerned for the entire year) was this night because we were planning on sleeping on the bus. In a perfect world that would have worked out just great. However, I think because it was midnight there wasn't any traffic and we actually got in early around 3am. So here we are, tired and cold wandering the streets of NY. It was Meredeth and my first time in NY so we decided to hit up all of the touristy sights like Times Square, Rockefeller Plaza and everything in between.

So around 4:30am we were tired of walking around and just wanted to find a place to sit and wait for the parade to begin (the parade starts at 9am). We found this perfect spot that we were so excited about. One of the NYPD guys told us about some bleachers we could sit without having tickets. We thought it odd but were way stoked. So we got some Starbucks for breakfast and then saved our spot. About 30 minutes later another policeman came buy and told us we had to leave. So we were bummed but it was still early so we found another great spot by the side of the road. Not going to lie, it was a great spot. However, yet again we got kicked out. I was not too happy about that :( Another officer came and told us we had to leave. By this point we were not too happy. And let's be honest we were a little cranky. I didn't get much sleep that week, then I didn't sleep much on the bus, and I was cold. All of these factors added together equal a very cranky Kari.

So after questioning the lady turns out it was a handicapped area or something. Although, I really don't believe that was the case. I think they just wanted us to go further down the road. So we had to move again. But by this time it's 6:30am and there are a decent amount of people starting to get their spots in line. We had to settle for a second row spot. We were kind of bummed about that. I guess it wasn't too bad, I mean after all there were about 20 to 30 rows of people lined up behind us when the parade started. We were more annoyed because we had been there since 3am.

After the parade we hooked up with some other friends who had also come up for the weekend.

Together we all went to more of the touristy sites like Times Square, Madison Square Garden, Central Park, The big famous toy store that I forgot the name, and other sites. 2 of the girls in the group, AJ and Meredeth, had to work on Friday so they took another bus back to DC that night. I was so glad I did not have to do that. Those of us who were left and didn't have any actual Thanksgiving dinner plans were me, Tami and Ashley. Together we ate some delicious pizza we bought from a local pizza diner. Not quite the traditional turkey with cranberry sauce but still delicious :)

Friday we met up with some more friends Tami, Justin and Ben. This day we pretty much crammed EVERYTHING else in that we hadn't done yet that was on our list. We went inside Macy's department store, all I've got to say is WOW. That place was so crowded I totally felt like I was being herded like cattle. There were literally so many people in the store that in order to move through the store you had to fight through a herd of people and wait in a line for about 3 minutes just to get on an escalator. YIKES.

We did take a ferry to Staten Island where we saw the statue of liberty. I've heard people say she was smaller than they thought, and now I have to agree. We didn't go to Ellis island or walk up it, but we just cruised by it. The picture to the right is me with lady liberty behind me.

Next, Ben took us to see wall street and ground zero. We also went to the MOMA art museum to see Starry Night.

I think my favorite thing I did was see a Broadway musical. We tried for the lottery to win tickets to see Wicked, but there were so many people there there was no way we could win. Ben, Justin and I put our names in and there had to have been about 150 to 200 people there also trying to win tickets.

While we were trying to win tickets to "Wicked" the others were trying to win tickets to "In the Heights." Which they were able to get. We weren't able to get all the seats so Ashley, Justin and I had to get standing tickets. Which weren't too bad. We just stood the whole time. I had never heard of the musical before, but I must say it was exceptionally good. If any of you get the chance I highly recommend it :) It was about a poor neighborhood in NY. There were several characters who all had different problems/storylines, and then one of the characters won the lottery. I know it sounds kinda lame, but it was really good. Amazing dancing and singing throughout the preformance.

We even got our pictures taken with the cast when it was over. The main character had actually starred, written and directed the musical. He's the guy in the hat on the right picture.

Now, I know I was not the only one to see the performance that night. I did run into someone. . . . . MONK! Yep that's right. I totally got my picture taken with Monk, Tony Shalhoub. I was so stoked to see him. We didn't want to make it a big deal, but we still got a photo. I think he was there with his daughter to see the show.

Saturday we just did a few things we hadn't gotten around to yet. We saw another art museum (in about 10 minutes), went to a famous cafe Serendipity, and did a bit more walking around.

Overall, it was a pretty good trip, despite the cold (I wore on average about 3 or 4 layers a day).

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!!!

Halloween Weekend

2008-11-05T17:00:00.001-08:00

Ok, so what have I been up to lately. As far as work is concerned I spent most of the weekend helping our company open one of our largest accounts in the Washington DC area, the World Bank. There are five buildings with food service operations. It's pretty amazing if you think about it, the amount of people and resources we use in order to take over and change everything in the space of two days.

But, let's face it. Even if I am working most the day and am tired. . .I am NOT about to not go out and have fun when everyone else is. Especially on Halloween weekend. So, yes I did go out and play.

One of my roommates and I came up with a costume last minute...hmm, nothing I would ever do normally. So, we ended up being the captain planet people. There was one other person as well so also did it. However, I don't even remember what the characters wore...let alone have something like that in my closet. So, in order to be the fire person (not even sure if it was a guy or a girl) I wore a red outfit. Oh, and my work out pants. And had a sign that said "fire." Ha ha, yea actually thinking about it it's kind of funny. We really needed the whole captain planet gang for it to really work. Once we explained it to people they were all, "oh ok." So we eventually just said we were the elements. That seemed to work better. We'll do captain planet next year :)

So the four of us roommates and some other friends got together and went to a party. Where we were the life of the party of course.

Saturday I got up early and helped out at World Bank to get it ready. Not going to lie, I don't even know how much diet Pepsi I drank that day. And donuts because they were there and I was hungry. Then one roommate, Melissa and I went to another Halloween party. This time, I did another outfit. Jean Gray from X-Men. Now...the outfit sort of worked. It would have helped if I had short red hair or a wig or something. But nonetheless, I had an "X" on my belt and felt that was good enough, even if it did look like 2 sticks of gum glued together.

So funny story. One of our apartment of friends moved from the 2nd floor to the 12th floor with us, at the other end of the hallway. When we had gotten home for the night I texted one of them, Adam, and said something about how we just got back and wanted to see the place. Well, he never responded so I figured he was asleep. When I get to work on Monday morning back at my unit chef, Andy, walks up to me and says, "Why are you texting me at 1:30am on a Saturday night?" I was insistent that I never texted him and why would I do that. He proceeds to take out his phone and read the text to the entire kitchen staff and then my director. My director who then asks, "didn't you have to work the next morning?" Woops! Andy's name is next to Adams name in the phone book.

Sunday, I had another record high with diet pepsi and diet dr. pepper intake. But it worked out ok. I pretty much crashed Sunday night when I got home. All I have to say is, can't wait for this weekend!!!!

Question

2008-10-23T17:57:00.000-07:00

Ok, so here's my question. Are there really 9am - 5pm jobs out there? Or is it the fact that I am in Washington DC and none of the jobs are really only 40 hours a week.

I have decided work is not really for me. I mean let's face it, my theme song is "Banana Pancakes" by Jack Johnson. If I could stay in bed all day, make Hawaiian style banana pancakes and pretend it's a Saturday, life would be grand :) Then again that's pretty much what I did when I lived in Hawaii and wasn't at class or the beach.

So I have come up with a list of about 50 things of what I could do instead of work, because I have decided work is just not what it is cracked up to be.

Some of the items on my list are as follows: traveling the world, river rafting, ziplining through the Costa Rican jungles, going on road trips, biking, going to the pool or beach, going to the movies, diving, learning to sail, hiking Mayan pyramids, going for cruises, body surfing, sleeping ALL day, etc.

However, out of my list of 50 there isn't a single item I can do for a sustained period of time without working. . .due to the money factor.

Due to this small detail I think I will continue to work. Unless any of you seem to have a solution to my dilemma.

I really did not have a point to this blog. I am just productively procrastinating doing my finances while I play on facebook and eat a mango. Which I must say is not quite ripe yet. Sad times.

Tri Geek in the Making

2008-10-19T16:47:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is true. Many of you may have thought I was all talk. Well. . .I am not. I did do it, a Sprint Triathlon. Two good friends of mine, Quinn and Audrey, and I went down to Richmond for the weekend. We spent Saturday hitting up the sites and getting my packet for the next day's triathlon. Richmond I have decided is a really cool city. We did a canal cruise where this guy took us through the city's tunnels and explained their history. We also somehow found a folk festival which was going on.

I have a family friend, the Zables, who live in Richmond and they were nice enough to let the three of us stay with them that night. It was way fun seeing them again, they used to be live behind my family and I when we lived in Kansas. Their kids have really gotten older since the last time I've seen them.

So, early Sunday morning 10/12/08 I woke up at 6:30 am to leave the house by 6:50 am so I could arrive at the transition area by 7:00 am. I know, early for a Sunday morning. Once I got my area set up and my bike in place I got my chip (you attach it to your ankle via anklet and it tracks your time) and my markings.

I really hurt myself when I put in my time for the swimming. This particular triathlon had the swimming portion in a pool. I would have greatly preferred an open water swim due to the fact that swimming is my best sport of the three. Because they can not have all 600 people jumping in the pool at one time they try to put you with people who will have similar time as you. So when you sign up for the triathlon you must give them an estimated time you will swim the distance and they will place you with people who are in your time. I unfortunately did not time myself and guessed. But guessed completely wrong. Because during the swim I passed about 11 people and I kept getting stuck behind others. Which means I could have shaved off at least 2 minutes from my total time. I now know for next time how important it is to start off well. It was frustrating when I would want to pass someone but couldn't due to the fact that there was little or no room to do so because of the other people in the pool or we came to the pool wall.

Once I finished the swim portion I moved on to T1 (transition area number one). Yet again, I seemed to have another issue getting dressed. Just as with the first triathlon I seemed to cause more problems for myself. Last time I got stuck in my shirt trying to get it on, this time I almost fell over trying to put my pants on. My two friends who came to support me shook my head in shame. Quinn tried to guide me through the process "put your right foot in then your left foot." What would I do without friends?

When I was finally able to dress myself I had taken up so much time that the first person I passed on the swim portion was dressed and on his bike as I was just about to hop on my bike. Woops!!!

The bike portion was quite pleasant. For the first part of it it was a bit cloudy and overcast so being wet wasn't particularly nice. But it eventually did warm up. The course took us all over Midlothian. It's actually quite a pretty town. During parts of the ride I got kind of caught up in the pretty sights and the changing of the leaves in some areas I almost forgot I was in a race, well until I would get passed by someone else. However, cool as this is out of the 600 or so people who were in the race I got my picture taken and was on the Midlothian city page. Click on this link and then click on "view photo gallery" and it's picture #12. I did realize that my helmet was a bit crooked due to the fact that I put it on really fast and my hair was a mess under it.

The T2 transition area seemed to go a lot better. All I had to do was take off my helmet, put on my number and put my bike back on the rack. So I was able to get to the running portion in a pretty good time. If any of you really know me you know running is not my forte. In fact I do not really enjoy running all that much. But it's at the end so I just pushed on through. The run wasn't too bad. The bike had a lot of hills but the run was pretty much flat. So the 5k was completely doable and I was able to get a good time on it.

One of the funnest things were the fact that there were volunteers all along the road telling you where to go and they would all yell out, "Good job 525" or other inspirational sayings to keep you going. As well as other triathletes who you passed or who passed you. In other words, there was a lot of positive attitude going around. I've decided there were a lot of really cool people who participated in this event. Talking to them in line waiting for everything to start or talk to them after they all just seemed pretty cool and inspirational.

All the money for the triathlon was going towards cancer research. So those of us who wore pink were supporting breast cancer research. I picked pink because it matched my bike. I have a pink and black bike, which I think is the cutest thing in the world! So all during the race everyone who had pink on whether you were passing them or they were passing you would say "I like the pink" or something similar to show their support of pink. Which was pretty neat really. There were a lot of women there all supporting the same thing.

When all was said and done I did a total of 400m swim, 20k bike, 5k run

So looking over my blog, I have come to the conclusion that it seems the purpose of this was to see how many pictures I can post of myself without it seeming too narcissistic. Nevertheless, I don't think I will take any out.

New Design

2008-09-07T19:16:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend my roomates and I decided to change the layout of our apartment. We did a black and White theme with a yellow and purple accents. These pictures don't due it justice but it's still pretty cool. We have a few things we need to change, a few things that need painting and a such but this is it.

Oh, and we bought some fish!! Yay for apartment pets :) We have 5, all named after charectors in Hamlet. This way if they die it's ok becuase it will follow the course of the play. My roomate Melissa (an English major) came up with the idea.

Update Time!!!!

2008-09-07T18:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's been a while since I've written. So I've made a slideshow of what I've been up to lately.

In short what I've been doing a lot of lately is work. I just helped open a new cafe a little over a month ago with the company I am working for. That took a vast majority of my time for several weeks. I'm not getting things into a routine and getting all my employees trained. However, as everything is in the Food and Beverage industry we've had a few staffing issues. Things are slowly but surely sorting themselves out. There is still only one printer for the 4 computers we have. So if we want to print anything we have to use that one computer. NOT fun.

My brother Danny and my cousin Lauren have come to visit me this past month. Which has been fun. Unfortunately, they both came during the first few weeks of my opening so I was quite boring and overworked. I think they both saw my boring side. Sorry guys!!!

Some other things I've been up to have been the same sort of things: Camping, hiking, bike riding, kayaking DC, and hanging out with the friends.

Welp, that's about it for now. Hope your all doing well :)

Quinn's Birthday/Danny's Visit

2008-07-13T16:12:00.000-07:00

This weekend was Quinn's birthday. To celebrate some of us Hawaiian friends decided to go to Six Flags. Yay for theme parks!!! However, I will not post any pictures or movies. "Why?" You may ask. For the very simple reason, it's gone. It was lost somewhere in the park. I tried not to let it ruin the rest of my day, but let's face it. I was not a happy camper.

It was quite the adventure of an a day though. It began with Meredeth breaking the first ride we went on. We were so excited we didn't have to have to wait in any line, we buckled in and were set ready to ride. Then Meredeth's seat wouldn't lock. We ended up having to unboard the whole car and get back in line waiting 20 minutes for them to fix it. They got an engineer and everything. It was during this time my camera was somehow misplaced.

Throughout the day more and more frustrating events took place. A water ride we were in line for (and in line for quite some time) we had to leave because someone had thrown up on the ride and the whole water was contaminated because of it. Oh, how I remember the days of lifeguarding when you had to close the pool for just such instances.

Later, we were in line for a Batman roller coaster. They only had one car going. And it was the most inefficient process I have ever witnessed. The employees were chatting away and taking their time getting guests into the cars. Not to mention, they wouldn't try to fill all the seats. So the car would run with 4 or 5 empty seats. Ridiculous. A line which should have taken roughly 30 minutes (what the sign said) took almost an hour and a half. Ugggghhhh, not cool.

So in short. My feelings of theme parks are this: I love the roller coasters and the theme park experience. However, the long lines make me mad. And it's almost not worth it. . .almost. It was still fun though. We really did have a good time overall.

I left early so I could go to the airport and pick up my baby brother Danny. He came to Virginia to visit and friend for a few weeks and he got to stay with me for the weekend. Sunday I took him to the Air & Space Museum where we did the coolest thing. We did a flight simulator where I was the pilot and Danny was the gunman. OMG, talk about FUN! I apparently should never be a pilot because we did like 4 - 360s and I crashed us into the ground. Danny somehow was able to kill one enemy plane. But, unfortunately we lost the game because I couldn't fly very well.

After our exciting video game we walked around the mall, and went to the White House. After that we met up with his friend. For the next few weeks he'll be having fun with his friend enjoying Virginia.

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July my friends!!

This year I was able to celebrate our nations independence in the nations capital. The day began with a hearty breakfast of pancakes thanks to our good friend Ryan who put on a large breakfast.

Then a large group of us went paddle boating. Carolyn, Quinn, Casey and I were all in one boat. However, they boys ended up paddling the whole time. Us girls were in the back. Can't really complain about that one. We soon became feared on the water as we rammed into other boats and shouted "aaarrgghh!" Good times.

The rest of the day consisted of BBQs and bike riding. I will tell you this though. Bike paths are not just made for walking. They are made for biking, contrary to popular belief. A few of us rode our bikes down to the Lincoln Memorial (where we got free bike valet parking, how cool is that??) and we followed a bike path. When you pass someone it's courteous to say "on your left," or "left" or something along those lines so everyone knows your coming. Well, there were so many people on the paths this night I swear we almost died. People weren't moving out of the way, they'd fling their arms about, not watch their children, and their dogs would be on almost invisible thin leashes. It's a surprise any of us made it alive.

When we did arrive on the steps it started raining. Luckily others brought their umbrellas and we all huddled together on the steps. The fireworks were awesome to see. As they shot in the sky you could also see the Washington Monument below.

Unforgetable Camping Adventure

2008-06-25T19:17:00.000-07:00

What can be better than roasting bratwursts over the open flame of a roaring campfire? Or hiking through the beautiful wilderness of Virginia? Perhaps all that would be missing would be a full grown black bear, a few thunderstorms and an injury.

The trip started off well. Saturday afternoon (June 21st) the four of us got together and started our crazy adventure. Everything started smoothly as we made a few stops for food and supplies along the way. We arrived at Shenandoah National Park and set up camp. As soon as we were ready it started to rain. A great way to start off the trip. When it stopped we ventured out of the tent and went for a hike. The hike besides getting lost was pretty uneventful. Until. . .we saw a very, very large

BLACK BEAR!!!!

Holy cow that was the scariest moment of my life!! Seriously, it was like 20 feet in front of us. I thought it was going to eat us for dinner. However, it was just as scared of us as were were of it so it ran away. The rest of the night we were all psyched we saw a bear, and a HUGE black bear at that.

The next morning we got up and finished off those brats we started the night before. I swear I gained like 10 pounds. All I ate that weekend was bratwursts, cheezits, a few granola bars, and candy. Hmm...the meal of champions. So after the nutritious meal we started our next day of hiking. After of course I got my stamp in my national park passport!!!!

We started a hike that hooked onto another hike and then eventually looped down to where we parked the car. A total of 10ish miles. We begin the hike on an exhausting note. The trail we started with was a steep uphill climb. I felt as if I was in Alaska again on my way to work. Only on a much longer trail. We went an elevation of 2000 feet in about 2.5 miles if I remember correctly. So it was an uphill climb most the way. Way to work those legs :) We finally reached our midway point, Mary's Rock which overlooks the whole area. Unfortunately, we were not there long before we heard the thunder from an approaching black sky. So we hurried our way back down to the safety of the car.

Only 2.5 or so miles remaining it started to rain on us. Just a small drizzle. Matt, who tempted fate said, "this isn't that bad." Seconds later the small drizzle turned into a massive downpour. Our trail turned into a mudslide with jagged rocks poking through. The mud and water accumulated in little puddles at the bottom of each steep incline we walked down. The thunder crashed overhead us while the lightning lit up the whole sky. Just as we didn't think things could get any worse Matt tempted the fates yet again as he said, "at least it's not hailing." Seconds later hail dropped from the sky. The four of us quickened our pace. Matt one last time opened his mouth tempting the fates, "at least things can't get any worse." Seconds later Chad sprained his ankle. Matt was forbidden to speak.

So here we are, 1 of us on the ground in agony and the rest of us standing around him as the water and the hail hit our skin. Somehow, Chad was able to stand and walk the rest of the way. Which was a good thing, I'm not sure how the rest of us would have carried him 2 more miles in the rain, hail and mudslides. When we finally made it to the car we almost jumped for joy. But not Chad because he couldn't jump. . .his ankle was sprained.

The Happy Campers

Pretty Freaking Amazing News Update

2008-06-16T18:42:00.000-07:00

I GOT 3RD PLACE IN MY AGE GROUP!!!!!!!!

So I just found out, I was 3rd place in my age bracket for the women's triathlon I participated in on Sunday morning. If only I would have stayed for the awards ceremony and not gone to church I would have gotten my award. But that's okay. Because I am ranked 3rd place for the women's age 20-24 division!!!!!

My First Triathlon

2008-06-15T18:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, so today I woke up at 5am to get ready for my very first triathlon!!! Yes, you read correctly. My roommate, Carolyn, and I have been training for the past little bit and today was the big day :)

Now here is the big question everyone asks, "How big was the triathlon?" And here is the answer. This is not a huge one like Ironman or anything. That's a little too much. However, this is a mini triathlon to help us prepare for the larger upcoming sprint in September. In short what we accomplished in order was a 25oM Swim, 4 mile bike, 1.5 mile run.

So let's be honest here, one thing I realized I need practice on was during the transition phase. When I was trying to put my shirt on after the swimming section I totally got stuck. I put my head in where my arm was supposed to go. Needless to say if it wasn't for Carolyn coming by to help me out I would still be stuck in my shirt. What a good friend.

However, that was nothing compared to the night before at about 11:30 at night when I realized I had lost my goggles. Not the thing you want to find out when you are getting ready for bed. So I had to call several friends to try to get a pair for the next morning. Thankfully my dear friends Chad, Quinn and Ben came to my rescue and I was able to get a pair of goggles. Only problem, by the time I got to bed it was about 12:30am and I had to be awake by 5am. YIKES!!!

Although I seemed to have a few setbacks overall I think I did quite well. I was in the zone. Swimming and biking are the easiest events for me, but the running is the hardest. But I was able to do the whole event in a decent time. The mini tri people will email me my time in several days when they put it all in the computer, but I think I my time was around 30-35 minutes. Not amazing, but not too bad. A good start for the next triathlon.

Washington DC

2008-06-15T17:20:00.000-07:00

So here I am, yet again turning to the blog as a form of communication between me and the rest of the world. Just as quick update, I have moved to the Nations Capital (more exactly Arlington, VA) about 4 months ago. I wanted a new adventure, so here I am. DC has treated me well these past few months. Currently I am working as a cafe manager of a small cafe in the area. I live in the Pentagon City area in an apartment building with an amazing view of the city.

Anyway, here's to blogging yet again. I hope you find it all interesting enough to at least skim over :)