Move Complete

To celebrate the sacrifices the men and women of the armed forces have made, Andy and I completed our move by cleaning out our storage unit. It took 5 trips. We brought in roughly 8 boxes of glassware. Mind you we got rid of a bunch of glasses before we moved from Division Street to the cabin at Lake Wygant. We currently have about 13 boxes total of wine, pint, stein, and other assorted glassware. Oy.

We peppered in some more European trip planning. We have a room in Munich now and have decided against the Eurorail pass. I’ve all ready spent almost 30 hours researching, planning, and booking tickets. I just want to be there all ready. Amy has agreed to watch the cats (!) and lend us some converters.

Andy has 13 days until he graduates. I don’t know who is more stressed: him or me. Probably him. But I am a close second. The count down is on: 15 days until we leave for Europe. Holy moly. This is going to happen!

Time of Use Pricing

So our new place has a washer/dryer and a dishwasher. Ahhhh the sweet luxuries. Oh wait what is that sucking sound? Oh its these appliances sucking up energy and raising my electric bill. Did you know about time of use pricing? I vaguely knew about it but it has never really applied to me. But it does now!

Time period Hours of the day Days of the week
Summer months — begins May 1 of each year
On-peak 3−8 p.m. Monday−Friday
Mid-peak 6 a.m. − 3 p.m. Monday−Friday
8 − 10 p.m.
6 a.m. − 10 p.m. Saturday
Off-peak 10 p.m. − 6 a.m. Every day
6 a.m. − 10 p.m. Sunday and specified holidays

Time period Price per kWh*
On-peak 13.266¢/kWh*
Mid-peak . 7.500¢/kWh
Off-peak . 4.422¢/kWh*

I believe we will be doing laundry on Sundays from now on. And getting up early to run the dishwasher. That’s a pretty significant difference in price. And I am in Andy’s words ‘a bean counter”.

Moving Part 2

We’re moving again. This time to a bigger place with a dishwasher, washer & dryer, bathtub, and covered bike storage. New place is way closer to downtown which will be a relief. Our daily commute by bus is about an hour and thirty minutes. That’s a lot of bus time.

Cinco de Run

I celebrated the holiday by participating in a scavenger hunt hosted by FitRight NW.

Me, Andleeb, Christine, and Mary Jane

We ran around to different businesses and got tickets. We then turned in part of the ticket to qualify for the raffle. They gave away shoes, gift certificates, socks, and all sorts of awesome stuff. It was fun!

What a day!

Momma Said There Would Be Days Like This…

3 Amigas celebrating their finish!

Tired but happy.

Eugene was marathon number three. Newport will be number four and Gresham Springwater will be 5.

The photographer must have loved this because he took like 15 of the scene below:

Off to see the wizard!

Eugene 2011 Marathon

In my quest to become a Marathon Maniac and I wanted to run in Track Town USA, I ran the Eugene Marathon on Sunday. Long story short, it was a fantastic course. Sorry Portland Marathon but Eugene’s course kicks a$$. Plus running the last 200 yards on Hayward Track (the famous Hayward track!) is an amazing experience.

My friend Amy’s in-laws live in Eugene and were kind enough to put me, Andy, and Amy up for the night. Linda and Joe (in-laws) were absolutely amazing. They were so nice, made us feel welcome, and fed us very well. Their home is beautiful and there are deer all around.

I ran the marathon with Jodi and Anna. I ran part of the Vernonia Marathon with them. They are fun, entertaining runners who are simply amazing. The day of the run started off very chilly. But the weather warmed up quickly.

Me, Anna, and Jodi

I honestly didn’t have a time goal for this race as I ran Vernonia three weeks ago and had been sick for two of those weeks. I could feel it in my lungs. Usually its my body that is sore and tired. But this time, it was my head and my chest. I developed a low dull headache at about mile 3. I think it was either from congestion. The headache wasn’t bad enough to whine about. I just noticed it and tried to forget about it. My lungs started hurting about mile 11. They felt okay for miles 15-19 but after that it was a struggle to maintain a consistent pace. Everyone has races like this so I’m trying to learn from the experience. Thank goodness I had Jodi and Anna to absorb good mojo from.

I tried to drink plenty of fluids as it was warm out. I actually got sunburned on my face and arms. The course follows the Williamette River for several miles and it was just gorgeous!! I loved being outside with my friends, running in the sunshine and just having a nice day.

At the end, we were definitely tired, hot, and hungry. I’m sure my companions got tired of hearing of my desire to have a sandwich. Jodi ran ahead of me and Anna so she could take pictures. The last 200 yards were on the track and Anna was determined to run as hard as she could. I am very competitive and didn’t want to be left behind especially as race officials were filming the finish line and displaying it on the Jumbo – Tron.

me and Anna running to the finish

PRE LIVES!!

I swear I'm not yawning. I am shouting enouragement

Andy was sweet enough to take these photos. So as we got to the finish line, they filmed Anna and me crossing the finish line and threw it up on the Jumbo-Tron.

We were seriously running at this point. My chest was burning so bad I thought I was going to collapse.

I felt like I was going to collapse

Today I feel pretty good. Less sore than any other race I’ve done. My left ankle feels a little jinky but I think I pulled some tendons or something. It will be fine in a few days. A big thank goes to Amy, Andy, Linda, Joe, Anna, Jodi, Garth (Anna’s husband who gave me water after the race), Amy B. (who also gave me water after the race), and Liz (who gave me a big hug while I was sweaty and stinky).