Week 5: DIYS Summer 100 Challenge

Day 29. Monday, June 24th

I love it here in Michigan and the mosquito's love that I am here too. Denise and I took the pups for a nice walk in the woods and then took another one later in the day by ourselves. After dinner, Deb and I went back to Portage Lake for a swim. I think I swam about 100 meters, or 4 laps. Was a nice post-race active rest day. Did 10 pushups before bed. I need to consider throwing burpees back into the mix. ugg.

Tilly. Keeping an eye out between storms.

Day 30. Tuesday, June 25th
THUNDER STORMS!!!! I love them. Luff, luff, luff. Now Nico and Tilly disagree and run and hide, but I love them. Back in California we are lucky to get one, maybe two thunder storms a year. But it has been storming on and off almost all day long. I am in heaven. It has been really hot here and Denise says these storms should break the heat. That would be a bonus too, but just for today I am one happy girl!

I am pretty sure we got more rain in the last 24 hours here than we get in Southern California in a year.

Day 31. Wednesday, June 26th
Today is Taylor's 24th Birthday. The profound loss is still more than I can articulate. I am grateful that I am no longer in that moment-by-moment, every day agony that I was in for so long. There are times that despair tears at my heart, but not nearly as often. I have not gotten to that place where people say her memory will makes me smile. Not sure that is reality. Missing her is still just too intense.

< Insert: Song for Zula. Phosphorescent >

In any case, I have never been away from home for her birthday. Never in 23 years. This was a first. I was worried that it would be too hard on Hayley for me to be gone this year, but she said she was fine, or rather, would be fine. So here I am, 2,000 miles from home, a sobbing mess, learning to be ok, no matter where I am. Two things that I find very healing are: surrounding yourself with love (check) and exercising....

So.... I ran up Sayers to Plum Orchard again and made it all the way back to the house this time. The hills are a killer. I was soaked in humid sweat, but so happy that I made the entire run this time, pushing, pushing, pushing. I was a tad bit shocked that the total ascent was only 69ft and the total decent was 66 feet. What the hell?

• Distance 3.88 mi
• Duration 44m:15s

Happy Birthday TeeToe. With every breath I take, I think of you.  No hills will ever tear me down.

Day 32. Thursday, June 27th
Dear Grand Pooba of the Michigan Alliance of Mosquito's, please call off your attack of the California Girl. I come in peace and admiration of your fine land...

No one answered my call. I am being eaten alive. No deet, no cutters, no wristband are saving me. I can either be outside where I love and be eaten up, or I can stay inside. I am starting to like inside.... however, the Spartan Beast will have no mercy, so running gear on, shoes laced up, hydration pack filled, music ready, Endomondo on.

As I headed down Sayers I decided to hang a left and run by the cemetery. Knowing that it was only a three mile round trip, I pushed past it and went up to where the street began to turn the other way and which point I turned around. This time, as I approached the cemetery, I darted in and ran the perimeter. Cemeteries are always about remembering for me. Honoring. You are not forgotten. As I came out of there I was exhausted but pushed on home. I am always floored when I am able to push on.

• Distance 4.12 mi
• Duration 45m:26s

Have I mentioned ice cream? We have had ice cream a few times now and I am loving it. Vanilla with chocolate sauce. Such indulgence. And the thunderstorms? We are still getting them. There is just no other way to go to sleep than to listen to the sky rumble and the water pouring from the sky.

Day 33. Friday, June 28th

Nico is supervising.

It has been raining every night. But it doesn't just rain, it thunders and lightnings. This rain is wonderful, however it increases the humidity and brings out the mosquitoes. Deb goes to work each morning and Denise and I try to figure out what we can do between the rain drops. Today we tackled the fire pit. We laid down the sandstones and will sweep the polymeric sand in as soon as we can get 24-hours of no rain. I am bringing home these stones and am going to do a fire pit here in my circle.

Day 34. Saturday, June 29th
Dirty Girl Challenge

Something new for me, the Dirty Girl Challenge. I head into this just for fun. There is no timer, no time to beat and both Deb and Denise's first OCR. I am so excited to be doing this with them. Ann, Jeff's fiancee is also doing this with us. Her first OCR as well. Deb has managed to recruit a lot of the women she works with to do this also, so we really do have a "team."

The rain let up and we had a great time. The obstacles were a lot of fun and very doable. I love the net cargo climbs. They seem to consistently be my favorite. There was a big slide at the end and the final mud pit. It was a lot of fun to kick up the mud and play like children. Denise seemed to have the most fun playing in the mud.  She definitely laughed the most.



Day 35. Sunday, June 30th
Denise and Deb hosted a small get together so I could spend some time with people I don't get a chance to see much. Deb and I worked on getting the yard ready (been raining so much we weren't able to do it before today) and Denise began cooking up a feast. We had a great time with Cris and Janet, Maria and Kate, Suzanne, Jeff, Lori and Rob, Deb's friend Ruth's husband. Ruth was not feeling well and he came without her. That guy was a riot. I still laugh when thinking of him. The party was great fun.

When everyone left, the unexpected happened.... the sun was starting to set and I realized it was late, like really late. Yes, we had been going to bed early, but for me that is nothing new. And yes, I guess the sun was still up, kinda, when I was going to bed, but here it was, definitely sunset and it was 10:15 p.m. Never have I seen the sun set at 10:15. And then it got better. I looked out at the sunset and I saw something. Then I saw another something. Then I realized what I was seeing. FIREFLIES. oh my gawd! Fireflies! I have been here over a week, and I was here last summer too, but somehow I never realized the sun set so late and there were fireflies. What a treat. Icing on the cake of a great day.

TOTAL MILES THIS WEEK: 8.0 even.
TOTAL MILES TOWARDS THE CHALLENGE: 37.4 (end of week 5)