Saturday, March 9, 2013
Thursday, March 7, 2013
JoJo's Day at the Carnival
Since her sister was off in Okla. having fun, JoJo got to go to the 'Carnival' (Enchanted Island) at Encanto Park with her mom.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Dogsitting
As part of a trade, Bobbins agreed to dogsit for one of her friends. The little gal is a miniature pinscher, or "min pin." It was a little tough having a not-fully-potty-trained dog unaccustomed to our rules, but the girls had fun with her and Bobbins enjoyed snuggling her. Maybe she even put some pep into the 7.5 year-old Dog, who probably was more bemused than bothered.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Saturday, March 2, 2013
We Were Tough Enough
Last year a mutual friend tried to talk Kevin and I into doing the Tough Mudder. It was too expensive and that guy ended up bailing. But Kevin and I decided to do it and registered early for the 2013 event at the old Proving Ground in southeast Mesa. Bobbins' brother Paul and a friend of his, Thom, joined us, which was nice because with four in the car we didn't have to pay for parking. And it turned out we needed a group that size for some of the obstacles. Plus the more the merrier, especially with the crude but clever jokesters Paul and Thom.
The weather was very accommodating, about a balmy 65 degrees. We climbed over the first wall into the starter's chute, where they have you yell 'hoo-rah' and play the national anthem to get you all pumped up. The first obstacle was a big mud pit, of course. The ice bath was fairly early on and wouldn't've been so bad if for the slow people in front of us. The mud hills were quite slick and difficult to traverse. Throughout the course they exhorted you to help your fellow mudders, and this was particularly true on those hills. We sauntered through the first half fairly well, maintaining a good pace.
I liked the jump over the wall of fire, even though it was into a three feet pool of muddy water. Didn't care too much for the trenches or the reverse crawl/float under the chain-link fence. But I really disliked the two obstacles with live electrical wires. The first was bearable - basically a belly crawl but with wires hanging overhead instead of barbed wire (although that was one of the obstacles too). The second was the hardest obstacle of all, and the last. I forget the name but it was basically a 30 ft. long trot over muddy mounds and muddy trenches through live wires hanging from above. They looked like Christmas lights but with exposed wire instead of bulbs. I made it through fairly well with only four or five shocks, but at the end two zingers got me in the right places and I collapsed, unfortunately right onto a guy to my left. We picked each other up and crossed the finish line, collecting our free Dos Equis beer. Which I don't like but downed quickly with Kevin, Paul, and Thom in celebration.
I was pretty proud that all of us completed every obstacle the first time perfectly. None of us fell into the water on the monkey bars or the ring pulls, and all of us reached the top of "Everest" on the first try. And we jogged the whole way, even the last few miles when nearly everyone was walking.
It's a fun atmosphere and very team oriented. We all enjoyed the music they had set up and there were some good water and food stations along the way. The other three stopped to clear the mud and rocks from their shoes. I didn't bother, figuring they'd just get mucked up again. That was one of the harder elements, running and moving with heavy, mud-laden shoes full of rocks and dirt grinding against your feet.
Pre-race at my house
One of the official race photog's snapped this shot on the "Carry Your Wood" obstacle. Basically carrying a large log about half a mile. This pic was on the AZ Tough Mudder 2013 FB page.
Celebrating post-race with free beers and orange Tough Mudder headbands.
Paul talked this cute girl (who was on her 3rd Mudder and finished about the same time as us) into photographing us on her iphone. Notice Paul's formerly white tank top and gray shorts.
A guy I know in Ohio has done 3 Mudders and is going to his 4th this summer in Pittsburgh. It would be fun to try one in a colder climate. Certainly "tougher." But I have a feeling this is a one and done for me, unless a group of guys or my brother wanted to do it. It was obviously tough, but the marathon was harder for me. I definitely overcame some fears on the Mudder but the marathon was a much more difficult proposition mentally as far as making it the whole way and finishing.
The weather was very accommodating, about a balmy 65 degrees. We climbed over the first wall into the starter's chute, where they have you yell 'hoo-rah' and play the national anthem to get you all pumped up. The first obstacle was a big mud pit, of course. The ice bath was fairly early on and wouldn't've been so bad if for the slow people in front of us. The mud hills were quite slick and difficult to traverse. Throughout the course they exhorted you to help your fellow mudders, and this was particularly true on those hills. We sauntered through the first half fairly well, maintaining a good pace.
I liked the jump over the wall of fire, even though it was into a three feet pool of muddy water. Didn't care too much for the trenches or the reverse crawl/float under the chain-link fence. But I really disliked the two obstacles with live electrical wires. The first was bearable - basically a belly crawl but with wires hanging overhead instead of barbed wire (although that was one of the obstacles too). The second was the hardest obstacle of all, and the last. I forget the name but it was basically a 30 ft. long trot over muddy mounds and muddy trenches through live wires hanging from above. They looked like Christmas lights but with exposed wire instead of bulbs. I made it through fairly well with only four or five shocks, but at the end two zingers got me in the right places and I collapsed, unfortunately right onto a guy to my left. We picked each other up and crossed the finish line, collecting our free Dos Equis beer. Which I don't like but downed quickly with Kevin, Paul, and Thom in celebration.
I was pretty proud that all of us completed every obstacle the first time perfectly. None of us fell into the water on the monkey bars or the ring pulls, and all of us reached the top of "Everest" on the first try. And we jogged the whole way, even the last few miles when nearly everyone was walking.
It's a fun atmosphere and very team oriented. We all enjoyed the music they had set up and there were some good water and food stations along the way. The other three stopped to clear the mud and rocks from their shoes. I didn't bother, figuring they'd just get mucked up again. That was one of the harder elements, running and moving with heavy, mud-laden shoes full of rocks and dirt grinding against your feet.
Pre-race at my house
One of the official race photog's snapped this shot on the "Carry Your Wood" obstacle. Basically carrying a large log about half a mile. This pic was on the AZ Tough Mudder 2013 FB page.
Celebrating post-race with free beers and orange Tough Mudder headbands.
Paul talked this cute girl (who was on her 3rd Mudder and finished about the same time as us) into photographing us on her iphone. Notice Paul's formerly white tank top and gray shorts.
A guy I know in Ohio has done 3 Mudders and is going to his 4th this summer in Pittsburgh. It would be fun to try one in a colder climate. Certainly "tougher." But I have a feeling this is a one and done for me, unless a group of guys or my brother wanted to do it. It was obviously tough, but the marathon was harder for me. I definitely overcame some fears on the Mudder but the marathon was a much more difficult proposition mentally as far as making it the whole way and finishing.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Shiner pt. 2
Not to be out-done by her sister, MM acquired her own black eye, this time from falling onto the hydrant at G & G Dwyers' house. She immediately sprang a nice bump (just like a horn we pointed out) above her eye. The black and yellow bruising came in later.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Reading Lewis
One of the first things I thought about after hearing I would be a father was how much fun it would be to read The Chronicles of Narnia to my kids. MM and JoJo are probably a tad young, but I couldn't wait any longer and we recently broke into The Magician's Nephew. (My series has it first even though that wasn't the original order.) MM did a pretty good job keeping up with the plot and characters. JoJo seemed very impressed by Queen Jadis picking up Diggory and Polly by their hair; she re-enacted that part several times. The girls referred to the book by the kids' names instead of its real title and we worked through it one chapter a night. Reading it to them was everything I thought it would be.
Somewhat coincidentally, I simultaneously read Lewis's The Screwtape Letters as part of a class at my church, taught by our pastor, Fr. John. I had never given much thought to demons and their methods of tempting before. I always believed in Satan and devils but never put my intellect to them. The class was great and I learned much about myself and Christianity. In some ways ignorance was bliss, but I'm the better for it. The description of Wormwood losing "The Patient" to Heaven is such a beautiful rendering of what leaving this life for the next might be like that you don't at all feel sad that he was killed in an air raid and separated from his sweet, Christian girlfriend. That part made me long for death.
Somewhat coincidentally, I simultaneously read Lewis's The Screwtape Letters as part of a class at my church, taught by our pastor, Fr. John. I had never given much thought to demons and their methods of tempting before. I always believed in Satan and devils but never put my intellect to them. The class was great and I learned much about myself and Christianity. In some ways ignorance was bliss, but I'm the better for it. The description of Wormwood losing "The Patient" to Heaven is such a beautiful rendering of what leaving this life for the next might be like that you don't at all feel sad that he was killed in an air raid and separated from his sweet, Christian girlfriend. That part made me long for death.
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