Portland Fit Week 3

Week 3....All I can say this week is that 5 miles is a lot farther than 3 miles. Our run was good this week. We both now have MP3 players so that we can listen to music. After much discussion Bill has finally agreed that he does not have to run the entire way with me, which is a very good thing for both of us...
Our treat after the run was finding a new coffee shop. We stumbled upon one in the Pearl District: Barista. It was an interesting place and they were purists. No white chocolate, no french vanilla or even hazelnut and not whip cream. It made it very difficult to do a taste test because a dark chocolate vanilla mocha without whip doesn't taste a thing like a white chocolate mocha with french vanilla and whip. I survived. Bill survived too, but it's not to difficult to get a latte' he just had to do without his sugar free vanilla and deal with real vanilla.

Unfortunately today it's 86 and we are scheduled to run 30 minutes. I suspect it's going to be a very very long 30 minutes in this heat, but all we can do is try.

Portland Fit Week 2

Well we have survived the second run with our Portland Fit group.

Last week, Bill did much better than I as he could actually move without moaning and groaning those first couple of days after our three mile run (which was mostly walking). I thought my body was done for. I couldn't climb the stairs at work on Monday because I still hurt so bad. As the week progressed we both felt better. It was a 20 minute run on Monday (followed by yoga) and 25 minute run on Tuesday and then rest on Wednesday and a 20 minute run on Thursday.

Saturday morning was scheduled as a 4 mile run. We accomplished that with a minimum of walking and felt pretty good. One of the Medical Advice Staff gave us some great suggestions for nutrition and stretching right after our run and here it is Monday and we both feel great!

Looking forward to this week to see how it goes.

Portland Fit Week 1

Bill's goal for the year is to run a half marathon by his birthday or at least by the end of the year, and I volunteered to support him by being his workout partner.

I won a free membership to Portland Fit which is a group that trains you to run the Portland Marathon and then my company offered a 50% discount for employee's and their families. How could we resist joining?

The group gets together every Saturday morning for a run starting in NW Portland.

Yesterday was the orientation and the first 3 mile run to determine what group you would be in.

The opening speaker for the orientation session said the only difference between a walker and a runner is that the walker knows when he or she is going to be walking. We heard lots of motivational items that yes we can do this.

Neither of us have run in several years, and I can tell you that running 3 miles when you haven't done that in several years is quite a challenge.

We did complete the first run and there was some walking involved but we have made the first step towards reaching that goal.

Today is the morning after, my legs feel like jelly and I am dreading next Saturday because we will be running 4 miles instead of only 3.

A Day At The Mountain

2008 ended with a bang, about 24 inches of snow on the ground in Sandy and we had about 18 inches here. There were multiple Christmases due to weather delays and just when we thought 2009 would start on a quiet note, we spend about two hours on New Years Day evening trying to stop our garage from flooding, then my Mom’s well pump went out the pump house needs to be replace, her hot water heater broke and flooded her utility room, both of our work situations are a bit stressful so to try and have a stress free day we headed to the Mountain to ski in the morning and for Bill to work a shift as a Ski Host at Timberline in the afternoon.

We had a wonderful time skiing and then I went up to the lodge and had the best ever hot chocolate and read an interesting book called “The Shack” while Bill spent the afternoon as ski host.

Towards the end of his shift I wandered over to the “Bruno” chairlift where he was stationed to get a few pictures and my timing was perfect. A three year old little girl fell asleep on the chairlift with her ski instructor. When the they got off Bill carried the skis and the ski instructor carried the little girl back to her parents. What a sweet way to end a
incredibly relaxing day.

Weather, snow, weather, and more snow

It is now 17:45 and still snowing at home. Snow has been falling most of the day. Bonnie and Bill ventured to Sandy to grocery shop for Lois, Bonnie's mother. We stopped in Sandy and put on chains to travel down Ten Eyck, well more for traveling back up the hill. After Bills issues yesterday, a bit of caution was due. The chains made the trip up the hill a safe one with all the ice on the road.

Snow, amazing how much snow there was in Sandy. At least eight inches and it continued to fall the whole time we were there. Our concern now is loss of power at Lois's place. With temperatures in the low twenty's the house will cool quickly without the fan in the propane stove circulating the heat.

We can always tell when Old Man Winter has arrived. The robins come to clean the holly tree of its berries. Fun to watch them pick through the tree. Amazing how quick the berries disappear.

Our picnic table on the deck at home has a good eight inches on it. Per the weather reports, there is more snow to come. And then possibly the transition from snow to freezing rain to rain. A time Bonnie and Bill are very concerned about.

Early Christmas Gift Exchange 2008

Last evening Bonnie and Bill were at Dale and Kristinas with Tonya, Noah, and Izabella for an early gift exchange. With weather and all it was decided to swap gifts early.
Dale and Kristina hosted a very nice lamb dinner. Nice to have good amature chefs in the family such as Dale and Kristina. With daughter Tonya being on a gluten free diet, Dale whipped up an almond cake with creme frachie for dessert.
A very nice evening overall. Even the dogs, Emily and Archie got along.
Merry Christmas to All.

Lacey's Six Month Check Up Plus a Little Extra

It’s hard to believe that in April Lacey had a pace maker put in. It was quite an experience for all involved. At the end of May she had her 30 day check up which gave her the OK to go back to her regular activities, which would include a 6 month check up for the rest of her life. This was our first six month (11/21/2008) check up since Lacey was given the thumbs up to go back to being normal. Our appointment was at 9:45 in Corvallis at the Vet School and Dr. Scollan who did the pacemaker surgery was still doing her internship so was Lacey’s Dr for this appointment. Since the 30 day check up only took about 2 hours we were anticipating more of the same, but we were wrong. Dr Scollan gave Lacey the once over, said they needed to do x-rays, ECG plus check the generator and that we should come back at 3:00. While Lacey wasn’t thrilled with the prospect of this visit, there was nothing we could do except make the most of it. We waved goodbye to Lacey, told her to be a good girl and headed out of the exam room.

So there we are with 5 hours and no firm plans. Bonnie bemoaned the fact that we didn’t know we’d be there so long otherwise we could have called up the Co-Motion Factory (that is who manufactured our tandem) in Eugene and then headed up to the reception desk to get a map of Corvallis. When she got back to Bill, he was on the phone with Pete at Co-Motion and we had an appointment to tour their facility.

Bonnie and Bill were quite excited since they had recently purchased a used Co-Motion tandem bike. Pete, the manager of the facility was very gracious with his time, talking about their new models, and then taking time to walk Bonnie and Bill through their facility. How cool to see the process of raw tubing being turned into a gorgeous bicycle built for two. The first step even before cutting the tube pieces is creating a detailed design. From here the tube is cut into various lengths, notches and holes drilled where necessary. Then these pieces are put together in a jig and tack welded, with the next step being the finish weld of each joint. Brazed for steel, welded for aluminum. With all the heat of welding the frames are then locked down and fine tuned for straightness and various dimensions. Next is polishing and frame readying it for the paint room. The paint room is such that six frames can be sprayed at the same time. The room in like what the auto industry uses. Some frames have a simple single coat of paint, while others require multiple sprays with buffing between each coat of paint. Interesting note for shipping. The bikes are shipped broken down. Once received at a retail store, they are assembled for the sales floor. Much less damage when shipped in this fashion. If you ever get a chance to visit the Co-Motion factory it is well worth your time. It is best to call ahead a day or so, so Pete can plan for your tour.
A big thank you to Pete and the Co-Motion crew for their time, and friendly environment for a couple of individuals with many questions of why, what, and how.

Once we left Eugene we headed back to Corvallis as there was still lots of hours until the scheduled pick up time. Since we’ve been to Corvallis previously we already had a lunch and coffee place picked out. The first item on the agenda was FOOD, so we headed downtown to the Great Harvest Bakery. We sampled bread and had a great lunch, then we walked along the river and did some window shopping. If you ever go to Corvallis be sure to stop at “Sibling revelry”….they have a fabulous selection of all kinds of stuff and we were able to purchase a few Christmas gifts, the next store of interest was Grass Roots Books, another wonderful store, we could have spent hours looking around the store.

As the 3:00 hour approached we headed back to the vet school to get Lacey’s test results. The technology used in the pacemaker is absolutely amazing. Dr Scollan told us that Lacey’s x-rays were perfect and the lead and generator had not moved so it wouldn’t be necessary to have an x-ray next time and we would just do it once a year. The lifespan of the battery is expected to be 9 years and Dr Scollan showed us a bar graph indicating what Lacey’s heart rate has been over the last six months. The heart rate has varied between 60 (which is the low that the pacemaker is set at) and 140, with the majority of the heart rating being below 100 bpm. Wouldn’t it be interesting to know what she was doing when her heart rate was up to 140?
As we headed out of town we stopped at our favorite oddball coffee shop, The Internzone and had our latte & white mocha and a piece of Strawberry rhubarb pie that was out of this world.
It was a very good day!