Sunrise pedal

Somehow, I again convinced Dad to get up before dawn and join me for a bike ride before work.

A layer of clouds at 6 on this gorgeous summer-like morning:

We zipped through Cook Park, around Tualatin, through King City, up a heart-attack hill (Naeve Street), through Summerfield and back home in time to shower before work.

I managed about 10.5 miles. Not bad before 7 a.m. :)

We love free food!

Native Foods Cafe is one of our very favorite dining spots - close to home, super yummy, good prices and all plant-based.

When we were invited to Saturday's private soft opening of the new Clackamas restaurant, we jumped at the chance to continue our anniversary celebration with more free food!

We arrived at the Clackamas Town Center location at our appointed noon time and were each told to order an appetizer, entree with side, dessert and drink. That's a TON of food!

We ordered the Native Nachos and Chicken Wings to start. Then the Twister Wrap and Southwest Chipotle Chop salad with sweet potato fries and potato salad. We each sampled teas and juices from the bubblers. We took home the Double Delight Brownie and the Toffee Cake for dessert.

It rang up at $50! We ate a bunch and then wrapped up two huge leftover boxes to take home.

The potato salad, chop salad, wings and desserts were new to us. I loved them all! Will definitely order that salad again!

Thanks to Native Foods for all the wonderful treats :)

No. 23

Grabbed this short book off the "A" shelf at the THS library.

Names Will Never Hurt Me, by Jaime Adoff, is the one-day, parallel stories of four high school students. It was a bit depressing because the students were all bullied. But it also drew attention to the very serious problem.

Interesting read.

:)

Annabelle and Miguel

Brad and I celebrated our anniversary Friday at the wedding of Miguel and Annabelle, one of my very favorite (CE)2 students of all time.

Gorgeous!

The ceremony, held at the West End Ballroom, was very nice!

We went upstairs for dinner, cake and dancing.

We got to meet Sue's friends Kate and Amy and their son, Evan. Heard so many good things about this energetic  guy!

(CE)2 group shot!

The food was amazing - so good that I have to put in a plug for Divine Catering. We dined on spinach salad, roasted veggies, rice, salmon, steak and bread with garlic butter. Everyone commented on how good it was!

I was so glad to spend our special day celebrating Annabelle and Miguel! Congrats, Mr. and Mrs. Rios!!!!!

:)

Hippie Chick 2014 - PR!!!

I signed up for my fourth Hippie Chick months and months ago - way before I knew I'd spend the first half of the year battling injury. 

I was supposed to run the half, but that was out of the question. I decided to go ahead and try for the quarter and see how it felt. 6:30 a.m. - ready to go!

They wanted to charge me $30 to drop to the quarter. No way. So I ripped off my timing chip and just ran! I know, I'm such a rebel.

Lynn, Mom, Sondra and Eryn:

Sisters!

I expected to feel pain right away... but I didn't! In fact, it felt pretty much normal for almost 4 miles. Then it felt a bit off, and stabbed just a couple times, but really felt good.

After experimenting with different shoes and speeds and such, I decided on my Newtons, tried to keep up the pace and watched for uneven ground and tight corners.

I told my family beforehand that I reserved the right to do the whole half if everything felt good. BUT... my iPod died in the middle of the second song and I knew there was no way I could battle through 13 untrained miles without music. I think it was divine intervention ;)

This year's race ended on the new Hillsboro Hops baseball field. The turf is brand new and really squishy. It made the kick at the end extra challenging.

Luckily, Brad spotted my hot-pink shorts and was able to get to the finish chute in time to snap some pics.

Absolutely ecstatic! 

I finished the 6.61 miles in 1:02 - a 9:23 average.

Hot dang! Not too bad considering I haven't really run in two months.

AND... I actually PR'd!! My old quarter-marathon PR pace, set at the 2012 Hippie Chick, was 9:24! I WILL TAKE IT :) :)

Eryn had foot surgery in February, and this was her first post-op race. She ran/walked it and kicked butt! So great to have my running buddy back.

Brad and Dad came to cheer us on and take pictures (and to eat our leftover pancakes).

 

Mom sprinting to the finish:

Great job!

Sondra!!!

Lynn!!!

I adore these ladies :)

Pancakes: get in my tummy!

The loot was awesome! They were handing out piles and piles of Ghiradelli chocolate bars, and bread and donut holes and mini bagels...

Run with Paula sold off her races last year to the Better Series. This was my first taste of a "Better" race, and there were some definite goods and bads. 

The Web site sucked. I couldn't find anything I needed, including info about changing races and packet pickup. Duh. And the price was completely and totally outrageous. (I signed up very early for a big discount)

But the course support was good and the start/finish was great. I did notice there were not porta potties on the quarter course. I sure hope they had some for the halfers!

I wouldn't pay $100 for this race, but I would definitely pay $50... and that's just what I did when I registered that night for the 2015 race!!! (Though I couldn't find the link to save my life. Only got it through Sondra's Facebook posting. Still don't know how she got there!)

As always, the Hippie Chick was a wonderful celebration of women! Loved it :)

Sweet 16

Sixteen years ago, this happened: Yes, we were 12! ;)

Happy Anniversary, Sweet Pea! Here's to many, many more :)

A Benihana birthday

My little sis celebrated her big 3-6 yesterday, and she was craving Hibachi Shrimp!

After feasting on an excellent Benihana meal (I tried the tofu and really liked it), it was time for song and sundae!

And the obligatory photo. Remember when these were Polaroids??

Happy birthday, Eryn!!! :)