MS City to Shore Ride

We did it!! On Saturday I, along with my sister Amy and friend Gretchen biked 45 (or a bit more) miles to raise money for MS. My brother-in-law Dallas biked 100!!! It was a long day/weekend, but we did it!!

I have never biked that far before, and while I’m not quite willing to say that it’s the most physically challenging thing I’ve ever done (hello, Napali Coast), it was up there.

We traveled to Philly on Friday night, and stayed with my good friends Becky and Tim, who made me a birthday cake!! After cake and a quick visit, we went to bed (it was late, we didn’t even get there til after 9:30). We set our alarms for 5 am and packed up and got started. We drove to the Cherry Hill, NJ area to drop off Dallas for his start. That start point is 75 miles from OC, NJ, and if he made it to the 48 mile mark by 11 am, he could do the Century Loop, which made it 100. We hit some traffic getting there and were nervous he’d make his cut off in time- but he did!!!

The three girls then traveled to the 45 mile start (it was supposed to be 50 miles, but they changed the location that week). Check in there wasn’t until 9:30 with a 10am start, so we were like the 3^rd people in the parking lot. So, we got ourselves ready and just waited. (just enough time to get all nervous).

At 10am we kicked off (Dallas called to say he was passing us right around that same time, but we didn’t connect). For our 45 miles there were 3 rest stops, one after 12 miles, then 10 miles, then 10 miles, which left 13 miles to the end. We stopped at each one to have a snack and refill our water bottles and stretch out a little.

We made pretty good time on the ride, averaging between 10-11 mph. It wasn’t fast (we were passed by about 5,000 people, I think I passed 7 people the whole day), but we still made good time. We lost the most time at the rest stops, which ended up taking about 30 minutes each time. We met up with Dallas at the last one, and continued on (mostly) together). We crossed the finish line at about 4:30 that afternoon. They had snacks and tshirts, etc, at the end, so we got those, and then at 6:30 hopped the shuttle bus back to our car, and headed home.

We were tired, a little sore (apparently me more than the others), but it was a good day. The finish line was really neat, because not only did I feel emotional about finishing (those last few miles were quite hard for me, with high winds and those bridges into OC, which I had to walk a little on); but the streets were lined with people who have MS, with signs and yelling thanks to us for doing it.

I am so thankful for the health and body that I have. I was glad to be able to spend my (almost) 30^th birthday challenging myself and doing something to raise money to help with a disease that affects so many.

If there’s anybody out there who reads this and doesn’t read my emails or FB, it’s not too late to donate to my team to fight against this disease. You can donate here. My goal was $500, which I passed, but you can always donate more to a good cause. Many thanks to you who have already supported!!!

See a few shots below - unfortunately all the pictures after the first stop are on Amy's camera - could be awhile til I see them - but I'll be sure to share them as well!

The Beckies w/ my cake. Thanks Bec!!! DELISH!

Gretchen and I with the bikes before the start

Amy and I waiting for the start

Gretchen (off in the distance) and Amy at the first rest stop - 11.something miles down!!

This is big...

This is a big week for me. On Saturday I will bike 50 miles as a fundraiser for MS. I’m doing this with my sister, friend, and brother-in-law. He (Dallas, my B-I-L) did the ride last year with his best friend, who has MS. His friend isn’t able to participate this year, so the 4 of us are doing it together (well, not quite. Dallas is riding 100 mi. the girls are doing 50 together). I’ve raised over $400 so far, and something I’ve found as I’ve worked at this is that everyone seems to have a connected with at least one person with MS. So, I’m glad to do something positive for a disease that affects so many.

I’m not sure that I’m really physically prepared for this. I’ve been exercising a little more than normal (which doesn’t take much), and biking some, but only a few times a month…. It is definitely going to be a challenge, because let’s be honest, I spend at least 11 hours a day just sitting on my butt. The most I’ve ridden to date is 23 miles. Hopefully I can successfully double that all in one day.

The other big thing this week (and part of the reason I decide to do this ride) is that I turn 30 on Sunday. I decided that I wanted to spend my birthday weekend doing something good, not something overly self-indulgent or stupid (we all know a lot of 30th birthdays that land in those categories).

I’ve decided that I’m not sure that I’m ready to turn 30. It’s a big number. I’m not sure I really accomplished enough in my life to be at this milestone already. I don’t own my house, I’m still single, my education and career paths have yet to cross.

I know that it’s happening no matter what. And I’m going to be okay with that. But I’m just putting it out there that I’m a little intimidated by this number.

We’ll see how I feel next Monday. I realize the closer it gets that I might have made a mistake doing this large physical challenge the day before I turn 30. I think that I’m likely to wake up Sunday morning and feel like I’m 60. So, hopefully, by next week, both my body and my spirit will begin to heal, and I’ll have all kinds of new ideas of what to accomplish next.

Premiere Week is here!

I think that I blog about television more than any other topic. Which might be a little sad, but I don’t care.

My relationship with television is a complicated one. I really love it, and take pretty seriously what I watch. If I watch a show, I have to see ALL the episodes. I was in to this before there were things like DVR or seasons on DVD. I recorded stuff on my vcr obsessively, I still have tapes upon tapes of all of the episodes of Friends, that I saved to rewatch. I was ahead of my time. (of course, now I’m behind, because even though I bought all 10 seasons of Friends on DVD when they came out, I still have boxes of VHS tapes that I can’t part with…)

So, of course, when you love tv as much as I do, you’re very excited for premiere week. As I always do, in late August/early September I search online for the most helpful calendar of when shows come back and in what time slots, I print it out, and I highlight the ones I want to watch, paying close attention to moved time slots and new conflicts. This year, like last year, I have only 1 recording conflict (3 shows in the same slot, the dvr can’t handle that), so I prioritize and plan to watch something online. Simple enough.

Last weekend I sat down with my calendar and I programmed my dvr to record the whole season of all my shows. I had to do this because on Aug. 30 comc*st wiped all the dvrs clean for some kind of reprogramming (to what I think is a much less user-friendly platform). I did these on in non-HD b/c I didn’t want to overwhelm my dvr with too much space, because at the end of last year when I upgraded to HD it seemed to go too fast.

Well, Monday night my first shows recorded. I had 1 hr of previous HD programming, and 2 ½ hrs of non-HD programming on the box, and when I checked it told me it was 40% full!! WTF?!?! At that rate my dvr would be full by Tuesday!! So, I looked up online and it tells me that the dvr should hold 60 hours of HD programming. Not 3. So, last night I got on the phone with comc*st and they reprogrammed my dvr to bring back its memory. Whatever. What that means is they wiped the thing clean. AGAIN. Now, the only thing I hadn’t watched on there was DWTS, which I can see online, but now I have to reprogram it all again!!!!! I set it last night for HD recording of only Tuesday shows, and they all recorded, only using 11%. Much better. So I guess tonight I’ll buckle down with my calendar once again.

All this to say – isn’t having cable and a dvr supposed to make life easier? Less complicated? Less aggravating??? Although I do appreciate that I no longer am trying to switch out and label like 5 tapes a week.

I realize that there are bigger issues in the world than my dvr… but vent I must. Can’t wait to catch up on all the premieres!!

Life...

Life has gotten away from me again. If you look at the blog history it seems to always happen in July/August. Too much travel, not enough time to reflect….

I wrote this back in early august. 6 weeks later I’m posting it. I hope I'll do better soon. But I make no promises. Clearly, since I open this prologue and the actual entry with the same sentense:

Life has again gotten away from me. I have been home for about 5 waking hours all week, and there hasn’t been time for reading, writing, or reflecting of really any kind. But it’s all good stuff.
Last weekend I left work, ran home and showered, and headed to Greene Hills Camp in Barree, PA (population like 35) for IMPACT 2010: GO! It’s an event that the youth group was participating in (Wed-Sun) and I went up for the last 3 days. It was a very special trip in many ways: Impact started in 1995- Creation was cancelled that year on like the day before, and our youth group was all psyched to go. A youth leader that our youth leader had done some corporative ministry with organized an impromptu trip for the same days (everyone already had gear packed, etc) at this camp. It was such a good, intimate time with God (compared to how creation can be) that they decided to do it every year in July rather than June.

I’ve missed 2 since then. I attended 95-97, and then 98-01 I was summer staff at Greene Hills. Since then I’ve always gone back, if only for a day, at Impact. It was a chance to see the camp, the staff, and old youth friends who are still in ministry. When I couldn’t go last year I was really sad (but, I was in Napa, so I coped), so when the youth leader at the church I attend asked me if I wanted to come and camp with their youth this year, I jumped at it (I teach Sunday School to the jr. high, so I’m always looking for opportunities to continue to connect with them).

It was a GREAT time. I connected with a lot of old friends (some who I haven’t seen in 10 years) and was glad to be in a tent (for the first time in 5 years) surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation. Greene Hills is one of those places where I feel closest to God. I went there every year for camp or impact from the time I was 11, and being there just takes me back to those encounters with God and creation.

And while I loved being there to connect with the youth, who were having an amazing time, I realized, probably even more after I got home and started my week, how good it was for me to be there too. Life is busy, and hard, and I don’t make time for God in my life like I should. I know that I continually fail at that, but also know what I believe and know that God is still there, whether I feel the connection or not.

God spoke to me last weekend, through the exhaustion. I’m not quite sure of what to make of all of the things I heard through the speakers, but I needed to be reminded of some of the things that I’ve started to take for granted in my faith. When I was in high school I was so sure of God’s plan for my life. Twelve years later it’s difficult to be as confident, knowing what I know and what I’ve experienced. But this was a reminder that the plan is still there. And I can still be a part of it.