Roller Derby

Today, I actually met a woman who does roller derby! They're actually real people who do that. She's another translator, and we were talking about activities that get us away from the computer and out of the home, and that's her thing. She doesn't have the big build you'd expect for such a high contact sport, but she said she can hold her own against other women who come at her with more weight. She explained some of the rules on who the scoring works with the "jammer" passing the opponents in the "pack" and also how in Quebec, the English words are used as well. And apparently, it's a challenging process to get into Montreal's league: she had to pass tests!

Also, there are apparently men's leagues starting up for the sport. But no, I'm not planning on joining one.

You learn some everyday. And some days, you'll even be surprised by some of the things you learn.

Charlevoix: Day 6

This was our last full day in Charlevoix, and was absolutely brilliant!!!

Day begin: Driving to Boyne City to have a fare-well lunch with auntie, uncle todd, and uncle tim. It was delicious, at a semi-european restaraunt. A good breakfast with good people is always a great way to start the day!

Mid-morning: "Exhausted" from the early rise, drive, and delicious food, we napped all morning :o) I love vacation.

Noonish: Arising slowly from a blissful nap, we meandered our way down-stairs, grabbed some snacks, and hopped on the kayak! It was the most wonderful trip! We made a map of it, where you can see where we went and what we did. (obviously, click on the blue line to see it)...

   Starting out: Paddled our way into round lake, passing through a sailing school and having to dodge young sailors! We padded our way around a small island, which was most peaceful and a fun place to take a kayak, as boats cannot go through there (it's too shallow).

 Next we went under the Charlevoix Bridge, and out to lake michigan! This was my first time being on, what feels like, open waters, and it was a wonderful freeing feeling. We eventually padded our boat onto the beach,  pulled it up onto shore, and ate some snacks. It was a fun adventurous feeling!

 When we left, the current and wind were in our favor, and we made it back to round lake in good time. We stopped by the pontoon boat that serves food in the summer, called "A Girl, and Guy, and a Grill" - now run by a brother and sister who use it as their summer job! Very impressive, and so much fun! We bought smoothies, which although they were over-priced, tasted wonderful after such a long paddle. We went back to the island, meandered very slowly (think "lazy river") around the island, sipping our smoothies, and then popped back out onto Lake Charlevoix. By this time we were quite tired, and went directly back to the home.

It was the most delightful trip, and was definitely worth hauling the kayak up here!

Evening: We went to the Dairy Grille, a mandatory pilgrimage for all who vacation in Charlevoix. We grabbed some DELICIOUS olive burgers (they even made mine without a bun!), and brought it back home to the grandparents, and ate dinner with them. (Don't worry, we brought them food too!) The day ended with some cleaning and rummaging around for our kayak car carrier. We got to bed on time, satisfied with a wonderful vacation in beautiful Charlevoix.

Progress :-)

JJ here (aka the Council). After a few days of hiatus for my poor legs, I got back out for a jog today. After doing some plotting around on Google Maps's beta version of walking distances, I'm thinking the loop around Lake Anne is about 1.5 miles. Probably a little bit more. And today I managed to jog the whole way around! It took me 15 minutes. The last couple hundred feet or so were really hard, but I pushed myself 'cause I knew I was almost there. And when I finished the loop, my legs were hurting pretty bad.
But hey, I didn't need to stop the whole way around. If I keep going, I probably will be able to do the 1oK! It's only a little more than 4 times what I ran today. I better drink well and eat plenty of calories before...

BTW, after the snow, 45 degrees sounds warmer than it actually is. I decided to wear shorts instead of pants, and it was chilly at the beginning, especially when the breeze picked up.

2 posts today to catch up for skipping Jan. 26

One of the advantages of working for yourself in Reston is that you have the flexibility to run out whenever you want to take advantage of the many paths throughout the woods that stretch out all over town. On the other hand, the thing about working for yourself is that every minute that you are not working is time you are not potentially making money. On the third hand, I have the intention of running 10 km at the Cooper River Bridge Run in now less than 2 months, and I've had no form of regular exercise in the past 32 months. Yes, while I was in Grand Rapids, I was playing soccer for a few hours once or twice a week. Every week. It was awesome. I kinda figured that going to the more cosmopolitan capital area I wouldn't have any trouble finding opportunities to play soccer. But the truth is, after leaving Michigan in April 2008, I did not play the beautiful game once until May 2009 when I was in France. I then found out that I did not have the stamina of yesteryear. And I've had pretty much no real exercise since then (except occasionally going swing dancing).
It helps that I already have a wonderful body. Hey I'm not just saying that 'cause I think so. I know a genius who tells me so every day. Keeping a slim figure was also helped for some time by having a job that fills you with stress (scientific fact of the day: stress bullies the fatty cells and scares them out of the body, that's how it works) and doesn't give you the time to have regular, decent meals.
On second thought, kids, the Council recommends that you do not try that last idea for yourselves. This stunt was performed by a professional.
Well, there weren't many job posts yesterday, and temperatures got above freezing again. So in the late morning I put on a few layers of jogging clothes and actually got out to the path to do me some runnin'. Well, jogging. I've always better enjoyed sprints to slow-paced endurance runs, but albeit higher on the funmeter, I didn't see how a sprint would help in this instance. Well, as it turns out I still don't have the stamina of 3 years ago. I thought by now it would have accumulated, but no! My legs were trying to reject my authority. But after 15 minutes, I made it around Lake Anne and back home. I admit I did slow down to a walk on a handful of occasions.
Fortunately, I can be stubborn when I want to, so I got back out today, even though it was colder. My legs hadn't fully recovered yet, so I did a shorter loop. We'll see what I manage to change before Charleston...

Yesterday's course did pass in front of our local wine-flower-chocolate shop, where I saw a reminder that the wine tasting was today. So I already know that this exercise thing has some benefit even if I'm too late to prepare for a strong showing in South Carolina.