camping and iron(wo)man

The family and I spent four happy days in McCall, Idaho. We camped at the splendid Ponderosa State Park. We filled our days with biking, huckleberry picking, cliff jumping, running, swimming, and playing at the beach. It was all rather relaxing and enjoyable. My personal favorite activity would probably be the huckleberry picking. It's so soothing somehow and I just adore the berry stain I get on my fingers. The lake is gorgeous and it was so nice to be able to jump in it whenever desired.

Yesterday I completed my first legitamate triathlon ever and it was a half ironman. So that means I swam 1.2 miles, biked 56 miles, and ran 13.1 miles. I finished in 5 hours and 41 minutes. I was pleasantly surprised by being more prepared for it than I thought I would be. I had concerns about my rib injury bothering me, but that area of my back didn't start aching until I had about 2 miles left on the run, so I was happy about that. On the whole, I just thought it was going to hurt like mad, but it wasn't too bad. The hardest part for me actually was probably the first couple miles of the run; it's a hard transition and my left quad was having a grand old time cramping up. It was seriously fun and as I started out on the bike I couldn't stop smiling because I was so excited. After I finished I couldn't believe what I'd just done. Yay for triathlons. I'm doing my next one in September in Yuba. It's Olympic length, so 1 mile swim, 25 mile bike, and 10k run. Huzzah!

I'm back at school in meetings this week and then the real thing starts 18 August. This summer I've possibly enjoyed myself a bit too much, but it's been a much needed mental break and I'm looking forward to teaching again.