Harrisburg Half

Renee and Jeff Myers have been training for the Harrisburg Half Marathon held 9/13. While Renee has run several halfs and full marathons, this was Jeff's first half. They were concerned that there were not enough water stations on the race, so Renee asked if I would mind waiting at the half-way point with some fluids and fuel (energy bars).

They were looking pretty strong as they went by...the first time at just about the half way point. There was actually a turnaround point a mile or so beyond this point, and they opted to get the Power Aid and gummy bears on the return loop.

They were looking good, as they came by and headed down the river toward the finish. In fact, Renee posted a PR in this race! Great job, guys!

Summer Is Fading

Our neighbors Loren and Deb invited us over for a bbq. Loren smoked a brisket, and Deb had all sorts of fresh veggies, not to mention her awesome homemade salsa. Yummy. And Deb does make the best pina coladas from scratch. Oh yeah.

Our picnic time is quickly coming to an end. I'm so not ready for the end of summer. I've always heard of people moving to warmer climates as they age because they get tired of the winters. I never understood it. Until now. Oh well, we're going to make the most of these nice fall days while they last.

Speedwell Forge

Yet another rainy weekend during the summer monsoon season here in Central PA. It was one of those misty, drizzly mornings. The kind where you don't seem to really need an umbrella, but you find yourself getting wet if you don't use one. We've had enough rain where the venue was pretty muddy. And since the promoters of this race were insistant upon herding all the spectators into very small roped off sections like cattle, we had no chance of remaining not only dry, but clean. But I digress.


Brent's attitude about this tri wasn't the greatest (due to the weather?), and his results perhaps show that. This Olympic distance triathlon has been around for a long time, although Brent hasn't done it for years. The .9 swim, 26 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run are challenging enough without the dreary weather factor.

Put it on, take it off. These wetsuits are like body girdles. The athletes struggle to get the suckers on, then, wasting no time coming out of the water, they start struggling to get them off.



Brent didn't feel as though he had a great swim. Watching, I thought he came out of the water in better position than he really did. Once we viewed the results, he was right, this wasn't his best swim. The bike course was treacherous. Very wet, hilly, and one S curve right through the middle of a farm, complete with slippery cow patties on the road. Ugh! Brent made it through without mishap though, thankfully.

Brent looked tired coming in...of course, he had just completed the Olympic distance tri! He placed 4th in his age group, which he considered a sad ending to his tri season. Nothing left at the end but a messy clean-up!

Another Scavenger Hunt With Grandma

Our Wednesday nights together have been strange this year. So many rainy nights seriously curtailed the bike rides so that often they either didn't occur or Kera and Brent rode downstairs on the rollers and trainers. This night was no exception. The last ride planned before Kera's tri and it was, of course, a torrential downpour that started 30 minutes before they were due to leave. I guess that's better than having the rain after they started out though.

Gwen was eating dinner and she whispered that maybe we could do a scavenger hunt again. About 20 minutes before I was leaving work, I thought maybe I should just whip up a few clues just in case. Grandma is learning to be prepared. Good thing I did since we were stuck indoors and Gwen had tv and computer privileges yanked.

Grandma, you are so sneaky!

I can read these clues all by myself!

Behind the soap? Whoda thunk it?

What's my prize?

Yes, there always has to be a prize for a successful scavanger hunt. I've learned to collect little things as I find them, and bigger things when I find them on sale. You never know when they'll come in handy.

Kera's Marsh Man Tri

Kera, Brent, and Chris - last minute strategy

It was a brisk 48 degrees this morning. The lake at Marsh Creek State Park looked eerie as the steam rose over the water. The water temperature was an invigorating 65. A glorious morning for Kera's first triathlon in 20 years. (We're not counting her kids tri as a 13 year old!)

Kera and Chris visited the venue last weekend and Kera has been worried ever since. Curiously enough, she seemed to be most concerned about her strongest event, the bike. Yes, the ride began with a very steep hill and the overall course was hilly, but Kera's a strong rider with lots of experience on Central PA's hilly roads. I thought she'd be most concerned about the open water swim since she's never done one. But, she didn't seemed worried about that at all.

Kera (right) coming out of water into transition.

After seeing her plow through the water this morning on the 1/4 mile swim, I can see why she wasn't concerned. She had a great swim. Her strategy to start at the back of the wave worked out fine as she swam her way through the pack. Shewas strong coming out of the swim.

I considered the bike her strongest event, and she did, in fact, have a super 12 mile bike. While Kera rode up those hills she was worried about, she said many people were walking them, especially the first one. She came into the transition in good shape for the run.

Coming out of the bike transition into the run.

The timing mats were slippery as the competitors came out of the bike transition and into the run. Kera looked like she was tired, perhaps in a little pain, but still looking good as she started out on the 2 mile run. We found a good spot to park our chairs and wait for her to come down the home stretch.

Heading for the finish line.

We were ready with our cow bell to cheer her down the last stretch of the run. Obviously she was tired and hurting, and she later told us that she had some severe stomach cramping which forced her to stop running for a few seconds as she was doubled over in pain. But, she pulled it together and continued on. As the racers ran by, we could tell that, while she wouldn't place in her age group, she was having a great race.

As it all turned out, she was 13th in a field of 40 in her age group. Overall, she was something like 258 out of 750 athletes. A very fine race indeed.

Horses of Another Color

Meet Blond Actor. He's the third thoroughbred horse my friend, Jason, is part owner of.

It's been great fun betting on the horses. I've won some and I've lost some, but having a real reason to bet on and root for a particular horse is much more fun than picking a horse because of the name! While Brent was in Canada, Jason took me to the barn to meet his horses.

This is Jason's first horse, Sea Dancer. She's quite feisty. She wouldn't let Jason pet her, and if he didn't feed her the carrots fast enough, she'd snort and stamp her feet.

This is the most recent addition to the stable. His name is Communicator, and he's a big guy. He loves those red and white peppermint candies.

I really enjoyed my trip to the stable and even fed the horses some carrots. I missed seeing Whisper That Calls as she just had sinus surgery. But I hope to get back again sometime to check her out.

So long Blond Actor. Run fast. Make me some money! LOL!

Magic Meets

On August 15, I joined friends Renee and Deb for a little Disney Magic right here in Central PA. We joined 500 other Disney fans at the Radisson Penn Harris to listen to presentations and talke about all things Disney. Renee has more information about this event on her blog http://reneesrantsandraves.blogspot.com/.

My favorite, Justin Muchoney, won a Disney sponsored contest to become the Chief Magic Official. He was great. I also had the opportunity to meet Deb Wills of allears.net fame.

There was a silent auction which netted over $23,000 for the Make a Wish foundation. This was

one of our favorites. I had my eye on a Fess Parker wine item for Brent, but when it went over $100 I decided to pass.

I'm not as lucky as Deb or Renee as they both won great keepsakes of the event: a Grumpy music box and a Mickey pitcher. I had a great time though and am sad that next year they'll be doing a cruise. We won't be able to make that trip.

Lake Chautauqua

The Seitz family owns a wonderful "cottage" on Lake Chautauqua. We had been there once before, but that was quite a few years ago. With Kim laid off and the rest of us holding onto employment by the skin of our teeth, my "wings" group planned a long weekend at the Lake.

Kim, Matt, and I took off on Wednesday night after work. It was a relaxing day and Matt did take the jet ski out for a little jaunt.

On Friday, Brent drove over from Canada where he had been working for the last two weeks and Jim and Danna drove up from Harrisburg.

What an adventure. I'm blaming it all on Danna.

First, Jim and Danna decided to go into town for for coffee and donuts. Her SUV was making a racket and adding oil didn't help. They limped it along to a garage with the hopes that perhaps on Monday the mechanics could take care of it. Then we decided to take the boat out for a spin. Planing along, our speed suddenly dropped. Uh oh, Captain Matt was still at full throttle. I kept my fingers crossed that we'd get the sucker back to the dock.

We should have known better. Really. With our luck, what were we thinking. Matt and I decided to take the jet ski out together. I'm a little hesitant to take it out myself. If there were two and I could be with someone, I wouldn't worry, but by myself, I'm so afraid I'll tip the sucker over and not get it flipped around. Anyway, Matt and I set out to the middle of the lake and hop off to take a little swim. Ahhhh, it was beautiful. Until we tried to get back on. Matt climbed on, and I climbed up behind him but we couldn't keep the sucker balanced. Ok. Try again. I climbed on and Matt climbed up behind me with the same result. We were back in the drink. We tried another time or two and I was drinking the lake. Now Matt's idea was that I would drive the jet ski and he would hold onto the back. Two problems with that. One, Matt was in danger of losing his pants. Two, I didn't have glasses or contacts, so I really had no idea where I was going. Apparently Brent, Kim, Jim, and Danna were howling.

So, Kim and Brent decided they'd show us how it was done. They were a little smarter. They didn't go as far out into the lake as we did to take their swim. We all sat out at the end of the dock prepared with binoculars for a birds eye view and beer as we settled back to watch the show.

I feel vindicated. They couldn't both get on either. Then, they couldn't get the jet ski started and we laughed as they floated further down the coastline. Finally, they were close to a dock and Matt walked down, flipped the switch to the reserve tank, and it started. Yup...out of gas!

We made the mistake of taking Danna home with us. I'm telling you, she's jinxed! Shortly after crossing the state line into Pennsylvania, the GPS quit. We pulled into a rest stop to check the map and someone knocked on the window. "I think you've got a flat." Yup. Thankfully after Brent changed the tire the rest of the trip was uneventful.

We did have a good time while at the Lake, but I gotta say, it was one snafu after another!