Puppy is Coming!

We are officially getting a puppy!

We got to meet Jill, our puppy's mother, on Sunday. She's a beautiful blonde UK Golden Retriever up in Ellensburg, WA. The papa — Dash — is a reddish American Golden Retriever who lives somewhere else.

Jill

Jill was petite and friendly. Surprisingly small, but we're very happy about that. We'd rather a smaller dog than a large one. Tyler kept saying what a great smile she has.

And on the drive back from Washington, we alternately kept exclaiming, "puppy!" because we were so excited.

Dash

Our darling will be born around the first or second week of August and we'll get to bring him or her home at the end of September!

We are very very very excited.

And once we have our puppy home, you will be spammed with puppyness. Just preparing you.

Ciao,
kc

Big Word Wednesday: Pulchritudinous

My knowledge of this week's word actually stems from high school, but it was renewed in my memory this week by the sign over a floral shop that reads "Pulchritudinous! In a word: beautiful, like our peonies!"

I first ran into this word during a creative writing class in high school. We were writing a short script for some reason or another and we were looking for a fun word for the beautiful daughter that meant "beautiful" without sounding like it.

Which is pulchritude. Which doesn't sound very pulchritudinous does it?

pulchritudinous. adjective. [puhl-kri-tood-n-uhs]. physically beautiful; comely. 

•  The first film dealt with the selection and training of the famed pulchritudinous cheerleading lineup.

Ciao,
kc

Pacific Crest

Saturday morning dawned dark and dreary...

It was dumping rain when Tyler's dad, Larry, and I sojourned out at 6 a.m. to the Athlete's Village to pick up my packet for the race. They were sadly unorganized — surprising considering the plethora of events that were going on this weekend for this particular event (including but not limited to a half marathon, a Boston-qualifier full marathon, a triathlon, a duathlon, and a bike race) — and had me fill out a waiver that I'd already completed online and then said nothing about my finisher's shirt and other goodies (which I managed to snag after I ran).

It was still raining at 7:30 a.m. when Staci, who was also running, and her boyfriend met us at the cabin. There was talk of our support crews abandoning us until the finish line, which earned both significant parties glares and dire threats.

At 7:45 a.m. when we were dropped off at the start, the rain had petered out into a half-hearted sprinkle.

By the time the gun went off at 8 a.m., the rain had stopped completely and valiant rays of sunshine were peeking through the ominous clouds.

Pacific Crest's half marathon course twists and turns through greater Sunriver, OR on luxuriously flat bike paths. Hills on this course are laughable inclines that are noticed only when your pace becomes harder for but a moment. The downside would be if you're running the full marathon: it's a loop. You get to do it twice.

The rain staved off for the entire run and then a bit more before rolling back in.

I kept up with Staci for the first 5.5 miles, we clocked 9:17s and 9:25s before I couldn't maintain any longer and had to let her pull away. Even so, I didn't truly lose sight of her white jacket, pink hat and blonde ponytail until nearly mile 7.

By mile 8, I was hurting and had my first crew sighting. Tyler was at the right place at the right time, and he told me later that he nearly missed me because he thought I was likely further back (which you can hardly blame him for considering I ran this race really fast and based on past performance I ought to have been farther back). He was a little ray of sunshine that kicked my wrecked knees into gear and gave me a boost until mile 9 when I was able to have my snack.

He found me again at 10.5, and I asked him where the rest of the crew was.

"We spread out, they're back there! You're faster than we thought!"

At 11.75, he hailed me once more and gave me the boost I needed to get through until the last tenth of a mile of the race. Larry waited there to cheer me on and right at the finish was the rest of the crew.

My official finish time was 2:05:46.

Only 4 seconds away from a personal record (sorry to those of you who I told it was...I thought it was, but I just double checked. Heather and I did Run Like Hell in October 2010 in 2:05:42).

Pretty damn close though. And 11 minutes faster than the Dirty Half two weeks ago!

It was fun and I'd do it again, if only because it was so blessedly flat.

Ciao,
kc

Glutton for Punishment

I'm running half marathon number 6 tomorrow.

And yes, in case you're counting on your fingers, I'll do the math for you: I ran half marathon number 5 two weeks ago. Actually, it's only a 13 day gap.

What was I thinking?

You know you're in Bend when...

1. You run a half marathon and men and women old enough to be your grandparents pass you.

2. And beat you by a lot.

3. When said half marathon is co-sponsored by not one, but two local breweries. One of which has brewed a beer specifically in honor of said race. ("Down and Dirty IPA" made for Bend's Dirty Half)

4. When even the slowest runners are still extremely fit and fleet.


I ran half marathon number 5 this morning, and finished within a respectable 2 hrs and 16 minutes — respectable because not only did I eat it really hard in mile 10 tripping over a rock (and maybe my own feet too), but it was also mostly a trail run which are always going to run a little slower (at least for me).

I'm happy with my time.

And I beat my boss, who's been talking an awful lot of smack about beating me the last couple of days for someone who hadn't trained and was gimpy to boot.

That's something at least. Off to recover!

Ciao,
kc

Big Word Wednesday: Impunity

So last week's words came from a radio commercial that I couldn't figure out. I finally deducted what they were trying to say..."storied." This gives us an important lesson: when using big words, enunciate. I can say with impunity that enunciation is king when it comes to trying out big words.

Oh? Impunity? You caught that?

Yes, that is our word this week.

impunity. noun. [im-pyoo-ni-tee]. exemption from punishment. immunity from deterimental effects, as of an action. with impunity: with no unpleasant consequences, with no care or heed for such consequences.

• A successful career marked by impunity from early mistakes
• The security forces continued to enjoy virtual impunity  for past human rights violation.
• Ending impunity is what we can do that no one else can.
• Today the internet is a lawless society; hackers can break into computers with relative impunity.

Don't for get to enunciate!

Ciao,
kc

Redefining Happiness

I met Tyler when I was 15 years old.

It was the summer before my junior year and his senior year. We met through our mutual friend Michael, who at the time we called "Wookie" for reasons that I can't remember anymore. Tyler knew Wookie through boy scouts and I knew Wookie from computer programming class. Tyler and I had known each other as acquaintances from track & field, where we both ran hurdles, but we'd never said more than, "hey."

The day I really remember getting to know Tyler, we were zipping around our hometown in Wookie's bright blue Subaru. I was riding shotgun, and I kept peering into the backseat at the lanky boy who kept shyly smiling at me.

He gave me his number when we parted ways that evening. I must have given him mine, but I can't remember and neither can he.

We dated for a year and a half back then, and then he graduated high school and that chasm that opens between those who have left high school and those who were still there opened up and we broke up.

I cried for months it seemed like.

For a couple years, he attended the junior college in the same Central California town where I went to college, and we hung out, made mutual friends, and were tentative friends. He left that town and moved north to Mount Shasta.

Almost two years after that, I ran into one of our mutual friends, Phillippe, at Jamba Juice. Phillippe -- most likely for lack of anything better to say -- asked me, "hey, how's Tyler?" And I said, "you know, I haven't actually talked to him for a while, so I don't know!"

I called Tyler that evening to see how he was.

One thing led to another, and we decided to try the whole dating thing again. It was going to be tough, because it was going to be long distance for a while, but we both had loved each other once and seemed to still have those feelings floating around.

Yesterday, a little more than four years later, we're still together and Tyler managed to (almost) surprise me with something special.

He asked me to marry him! And I'm a tough girl to surprise.

I might have said yes.

Actually, I did.

It's because I really like him.

I can't believe it.

I'm gonna get married!

Excuse me while I go get girly and mushy. I deserve it.

Ciao,
kc

Boston

Once upon a time there were two little girls.

They were pretty cute back then, and they're still pretty cute now. They both grew up and went their separate ways. One stayed in the West, the other wanted to get as far away from home as humanly possible without leaving the U.S.

So she moved East.

And then she did something really cool.

She graduated from grad school.

That, folks, is my little sister wearing that funny hat. She's got a Master of Science in Genetic Counseling. It compliments her Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences.

Yes, she's kind of a brainiac. We love her for it and in spite of it.

We got to watch her get hooded.

It was fun, and long, and we were all very very hungry. But it was still worth it.

Her graduation also gave my family a great excuse to visit Boston, Massachusetts and do the touristy thing. And spend time with each other of course.

Because as a family, we're kind of close.

We wandered around.

 We went to the aquarium.

Boston is a really cool mixture of old and new. They have a requirement that any historical building cannot be changed in any way, even if the business that goes into it is different. So you have these really beautiful old buildings surrounded by skyscrapers.

 

 

We walked. A lot.

And we went to Fenway.

Tyler really liked Fenway. 

We missed the tour, but we went to this nice bar called the Bleacher Bar instead, that's situated underneath the outfield bleachers, and it has the nice view seen in the photo above where we sat and had a beer. Really, it was better than walking around in the hot sun listening to facts we didn't really care about it.

Unfortunately, Tyler and I didn't get to see a Red Sox game there, because they were playing in Philadelphia the weekend we were there. But everyone else got to go the following weekend. It was all right though.

We still had a really fun weekend.

Ciao,
kc