Stingrays hockey

 

My coworker has season hockey tickets and sometimes gives us the extras.  Today was the last game of the regular season and the hometown team - the South Carolina Stingrays - had to win or tie to make it to the playoffs.  They managed to pull off a win (5-2)!

We've gone to 4-5 games between this year and last year and they're always fun.  You're really close to the action in an arena this small.   You could tell they play this team a lot and that tensions were high because there were a lot more fights than usual...which honestly is part of the appeal.  

Cooper River Bridge Run

Saturday morning we were up at 4:20 am to do the Cooper River Bridge 10K.  This is the sort of event that you only ever do once, just to say you did it.  What a zoo!  There were 44,000 people participating, which explains two things - why we had to get up so early and why we will never do it again.  It was quite a spectacle seeing the river of people going down the bridge though.

You line up in 'corrals' by wave (we were wave H, I think the waves went up to M or N, that's our wave in the picture above), which are assigned by your anticipated run time.  The race was supposed to start at 8 am with the elite wave (those who run it to win), then subsequent waves start every 5 minutes or so.  However, because there were so many people this year, the bridge wasn't cleared of traffic in time (they shut down both directions for the duration of the race) and the first wave didn't start until just before 9 am.  That meant we were standing in our corral (and getting colder by the minute) from 7:15 am until our wave finally crossed the starting line at 9:27 am!  By the time we were starting the race, the first place finisher had already finished!

It wasn't all bad though - there were lots of people in funny costumes (like the guy in the picture below, wearing a pinata on his head and getting chased by a guy with a stick).  Guys running in dresses, women running in prom dresses with tiaras, Fred Flintstone and the gang, complete with foot-powered car, and lots more.  It was also a pretty nice day once the sun came up and the rain held off until we were driving home.

Oh, and the best part is the view from the top of the bridge!

Rugged Maniac

So, it turns out that writing race numbers across your forehead is actually pretty common.  Let's just hope mine will come off before my Tuesday-Thursday meeting in Raleigh...

The Rugged Maniac 5K was a blast today!  It was 3.2 miles and about 18 obstacles, though some obstacles were kind of lame.  The race started with a short run, then up a dirt pile then down the other side where you had to crawl through the mud under a 20-25 ft stretch of barbed wire. When you got out you were wet and muddy then had to run a looooong ways through a soft, fleshly plowed field which kicked more mud and dirt up (it rained last night, so field was wet) and you feet got heavier and heavier as the mud built up on your shoes.  There were several 'crawl on stomach' through mud obstacle, jumping over 5 and 7 ft walls, climb up and over A-frame like wood structures, up cargo nets, through small tunnels...and more...it was really fun.  The final obstacle was a huge water slide into a pool of water, then over (or under) several floating tubes to the (soaking wet) finish line.  Because of the final dunking, we weren't THAT muddy crossing the finish line. 

I didn't get a lot of photos because (of course) I wasn't carrying my camera, but I did get the one at the finish line.

Steve is a tough mudder

Today in the mail, Steve finally got the (one and only) picture of him running the Tough Mudder in December.  I can't believe they wrote the participant's race numbers across their foreheads!

Nice job!  You look like you're in pain though...

Magnolia Spring (GA)

 

Magnolia Springs State Park (in Georgia) was our hiking destination on Sunday.  According to the park website, the spring flows a mind-boggling 7 million gallons per day.  Wow.  It bubbles up from the ground and a small lake has formed around it.  The water was perfectly clear around the spring, and there were dozens of turtles and HUGE fish around it.  I think one of the bass was at least 18 inches and very fat.  There were are few alligators in the area too.  In fact, we thought it was funny to see an alligator sharing his sunny spot with several large turtles.  One of the other hikers said he once got a picture of an alligator sunning itself with two tiny baby turtles on it's head. 

The hike was listed in the map as 5 miles long, but there's no way it was actually that long...it was maybe 2.5 or 3 miles, tops.  It was still really fun through, because after the hike through the woods we spent time exploring the boardwalks and spring.  I dropped my camera lens cap into the water near the spring and Steve climbed off the boardwalk and into the water to get it for me.  Luckily it was only in a foot of water and the alligators were pretty far away.

There was also a pair of wood storks hanging out by the small dam at the outlet of the spring-fed lake.  They were pretty calm, even as we got pretty close.  We left before they got too uncomfortable.

Perma-smile

Have you ever been so excited about something that you feel like you could explode into a million pieces of pure joy?  And I mean the 'five-year-old-night-before-Christmas/Vacation JOY'.  That's me right now.  I have a perma-smile that may take weeks to get rid of (not that I'm wanting it to go away).  Details to follow in good time...

Have a fantastic weekend!  We're driving three hours (each way) for a hike in Georgia tomorrow...I'm sure I'll post photos when we get back.

AND next weekend is the Rugged Maniac 5K - 3.2 miles with 18+ muddy, wet, and fun obstacles!  Yee haw!!

Mom's in town

My mom is in town Saturday through Wednesday and we've been having fun and relaxing.  Yesterday we ran a few errands then spent the afternoon reading in the shade on the front porch. 
 

Sunday we took my mom to Cypress Gardens out in Monck's Corner.  The azaleas, magnolias, lillies, and camilias are all blooming and we saw several alligators on the boat trip through the swamp.  It was a really gorgeous day to spend outside, and I guess the alligators agreed...

 

We also did the short walk around the swamp, trying to spot the same alligators we'd seen from the water.  We could only find one again...but that's ok. 

 

 The butterfly gardens at the park were also nice and for once I was able to find a butterfly sitting still long enough to get a picture.  They have lots of tiny quail in the garden too and there were two tiny baby quail - they were smaller than a chicken egg! 

Mom is trying to get a close-up of the anole.  The picture turned out amazingly well!  Camera phones these days are really good.

One year ago today

One year ago today marks the earthquake in Japan.  It's not something I think about much these days...the US news seldom has a story about the tsunami devastation or the nuclear mess in Fukushima.  Immediately after leaving I had nightmares and would think the smallest shake of the bed at night (like the dog bumping up against it or Steve rolling over) was an earthquake, which would leave me wide awake with my heart racing, sometimes for an hour or more.  Going back to work was hard - it felt too normal for what was going on in my head and in Japan.  However, it's comparatively easy to go on with my life, forgetting the horrific event for thousands of people living in Japan whose lives will never be the same.  It was stressful for me, but not the same for those who live there, I suspect. 

I do find that my...perspective...has changed.  At work I find myself worrying less about work and thinking about the worst that could happen if I fail at something.  "Nobody will die, if this meeting doesn't accomplish everything this week" or "Well, all the reports are late.  It is what it is.  There's always tomorrow.", I think to myself.  I stress out less about the little stuff, which is good.  At the same time, since one year ago today I've also made some changes and been thinking really hard about the future.  What do I want?  Where do I want to live?  What do I want to DO?  Life is short.  Do what makes you happy.  That's part of why I started this blog - it makes me happy.  I don't care if a single other person on the planet ever reads it.  If there ever comes a time when I don't like doing it or it feels like a chore, I'll be done, and that's ok.  I had thirteen long hours on the plane ride home from Japan and I made a mental list of things I wanted to do.  And I'm pursuing them.  Because I want to.  Because I can.  Even if some are scary and make me question whether I can do them or worry about failing.  Life is short.  Go for it.

Around the house

It rained - hard - for 20 hours straight here.  We haven't seen rain like that since the first winter we lived here.  I actually thought it was really nice because it gave me an excuse to do things in the house without feeling like I should be outside enjoying the oddly warm winter weather we've been having this year.  I'm making homemade macaroni and cheese for dinner tonight, we're cleaning and organizing the house a bit (filing papers, sorting out old clothes to donate, etc), and now Steve's going to clean the fish tank.

Steve's got a planted aquarium set up in his man cave office/spare room.  The plants produce oxygen (lots of it!  Look at the bubbles in the water) the fish use the oxygen and give off CO2, which the plants take up.  The fish also poop and provide nutrients for the plants.  At night an air pump comes on to keep the oxygen levels up while the plants aren't producing it and there's supplemental CO2 being trickled in from an outside source too (yeast + sugar + water = CO2).  It's a pretty maintenance-free system, especially for me since Steve does all the work!  The trouble is that we started with guppies, which make babies like crazy.  We started with seven fish and at one point estimate that we have over 200 fish in the tank.  Steve put up ads on Craigslist for free guppies and some have found new homes.  Still too many big females in the tank though!

Happy Sunday!