Friends Part II

After Bekah rolled out, Sara rolled in and Chris, Jason, I, and she rolled up to Seaside to get going on Hood to Coast.

Hood to Coast is a 12 person relay that traverses 199 miles from Mt. Hood to Seaside, OR. It's a rousing good time as 12 people, split between two vans, try ti navigate running three legs, not sleeping for 48 hours, and not killing each other while surviving on peanut butter sandwiches and goldfish. Good times.

We make a LOT of PB sammies

I like to pretend to be strong before running

and after running

Gettin' down in the van to some Beyonce

Our 2013 team

Never Leave

Bekah and Chris are here and I never want them to leave. It's just a reminder of how awesome life is when you have awesome people to laugh and carry on with.

We drink coffee.


We ride in cars.


We drink drinks.


We smile.



We stand.


We walk.


We eat food.


We hike.


We make fried chicken.


We do the things that people do with the friends.

And, it's great.

Jason's First Drop

Yesterday Jason had to do a very hard thing, something that every runner has to do at some point in their career.
It's not pretty.
It's not a happy moment.
The drop.
Dropping out of a race before you finish.
In Jason's case he stopped at mile 32 of a 62 mile mountain run. Most people, myself included, would find running 32 miles quite absurd.
So ain't nothing wrong with that.
I say there's no shame in it.
It means you know your body. It means you know your limits. And it probably means, and in Jason's case definitely means that a great running season preceded the drop, and it was time to call it a day.
Quitting while you're ahead: the greatest underrated intelligent decision.

Einstein knew

Does this mean the apocalypse is here?

Abandoned?

It was brought to my attention today that I have "abandoned" my blog.
Ok, fine. So, I haven't blogged in 15 days.
I get it.

So, here's what I've been up to.

1) I've been TA-ing a class for the Master's in Teaching program at the U of O. It's all about ELL teaching and Second Language Acquisition, my apparent specialty. It's been fun. For some reason, though, teaching still terrifies me. There's something about standing up in front of a group of people in a classroom and talking about something that you proclaim to "know" about that just rubs me the wrong way. How will you teach yoga then?, you ask. Well, here's the thing: teaching yoga doesnt make me nervous. That has to say something, right?

2) I got a job at our favorite coffee shop here in Eugene. I'm barista-ing again! Besides smelling like coffee after a shift, I really love it. Making coffee reminds me of simpler times. And other than yoga, I think it is the one thing that I have always done in some capacity (going on 10 years now...woah.) I've lost my milk pour, hopefully it'll be back.

3) I've been studying Bikram Yoga dialogue like a madwoman. I can't believe I'll be in LA in exactly a month at Teacher Training!

Other things:

I take pictures of myself.

It was my oldest friend, Kristin's, birthday on August 5th. I made this photo grid from some old pictures of us.
We don't talk too often, and both have traveled quite different paths but it's still amazing to think that we've known each other for 21 years!

Jason, the dogs, and myself took a little road trip up to the Columbia River Gorge. It's beautiful up there. 

Don't know why these photos are such terrible quality.
But, hey, there's a waterfall!

Checked Washington off my list of states to visit.
Dog children romped!

I have a sneaking feeling, or intense certainty rather, that the next month is going to be quite a whirlwind. We've got friends coming up for the Hood to Coast Relay Race next weekend. We'll head to NC in early September for a wedding and a little visit. Then, I'll head to LA for my Bikram teacher Training.

Woah.

Yoga is everywhere

I believe this baby turtle is doing full locust pose:

Am I right?