Our Wedding

So last Friday, 8/8/08 Stacie and I got married! Yeah you read that right, we got married... We have been engaged for about 4 months, we wanted a small wedding and nothing fancy. It took place outside at an area called Catherine Creek, I have spent a lot of time in this area trail running and it just fit to have the wedding there. It was a small wedding, my mom, Stacie's parents and brother and Stacie's aunt and uncle. We had a friend of ours marry us as the sun was going down and it was a great day!

To be honest I never thought that it would happen. I had asked mom is she would go for a motorcycle ride with me and she really didn't think that it was a good idea. I asked then if I could just get a picture of her sitting on the bike with me, she said yes and then something must have clicked, she decided that she did want to go for a ride... It was a short ride, we just followed the river a ways and then turned around and came home.... I think that she enjoyed it! At least I hope that she did!

Mom's Visit to the Pacific Northwest

So Mom came out for about a week, she came for a very special event and we had the best time. We headed down to Bend for a night and then came back to the Hood River area for the remainder of her stay..... I think that she really liked it out here, it was great having her here that is for certain.

Stacie is back on the water!

Wednesday Stacie and I went out to the wall for some windsurfing, it was going to be Stacie's first day back out there since she broke her leg windsurfing at the end of last summer. We had come out to the wall last week to sail but the wind wasn't all that great and although I got to sail Stacie decided that she was just fine not getting out there.
We get to the launch area and it is just packed with people, I have never seen that many people before at this spot. Neither one of us were glad to see that I can assure you but we get a parking spot and say hello to a few people and start to rig....
I rig 4.7, Stacie gets her 4.2 out and before you know it we were both on the water. I was hanging close to watch Stacie the first few reaches and I have to say that it was great to have her back out there again..... She was smiling ear to ear!!!
Stacie got in two sessions and I got in one long one and then we called it a day, I am not sure that i have ever had a better day on the water than that day, great to see her out there....
Oh yeah, I forgot my camera at the house when we left so that is the reason there are no pictures of Stacie's first day back on the water.

Fires and More Fires

So last week I decided to go out on the motorcycle and see from the top of Dalles Mountain what the fires looked like up there. Mt Adams has a huge fire going on that is burning east and consuming many acres of land. The view from this top is incredible for sure and you can really tell just how big the fires are. Hard to believe that we had such a wet winter and spring and we are so DRY right now!

Siskiyou Out and Back 50K Trail Run

Weekend before last I headed to southern Oregon to do a trail run called the Siskiyou Out and Back on the Pacific Crest Trail. Must say that it was a tough race but one that I enjoyed very much all but the last 6 miles.

I left on Thursday went down to Stacie's parents house in Grants Pass and had some great food and stayed the night there then headed over to Ashland on Friday afternoon. The race started at Mount Ashland Ski resort and I just slept in the back of the car and was up early to race that Saturday at 7AM.

I would say that the run up till the marathon distance was just fine but after that I started to struggle, I had been eating along the way just not sure that I was eating enough. After one of the last rest stops there was a three mile climb back out of the gap up to the top of the mountain, I have never seen such a long three miles in my life.

Well I can say that I finished and the time was a respectful 5 hours 35 minutes.... I will be back there next year to do it all over again!

2008 Dirty Half Marathon

So last Saturday AM a bunch of us headed down to Bend for the running of the Dirty Half Marathon.  Joel, Jen, Bill, Hollie and myself all made the trip down and had a great time.  First stop off in Bend was to the Deschutes Brewery for some lunch and then off to check out some of the retail stores that Bend has to offer that we can't find here in Hood River.

Stacie's parents were nice enough to let us stay at their condo for the night so after getting a good nights sleep we all headed out early to get to the start of the race.  I have this problem of always wanting to be somewhere early but we did get a good parking place.

The race was good, fast for sure, something that the three of us from up here never get to run that much.  We all ran fast and had fun, the drive back was good, Jen got some food along the way back and she talked the rest of the way home!  Bill thanks again for driving and I look forward to doing this all over again next year!