Red Eye Relay

What do 7 people, 3 counties, 100 miles, and 18 hours make? A crazy, amazing, one-of-a-kind experience that I was privileged to be a part of this weekend.

Participating in the Red Eye Relay was as much a surprise to me as it might be to you. I had no idea that I was going to do this prior to Saturday morning, the morning of the race.

I received a call from Wes, one of the team members and a friend from church (we ran the Lousville 1/2 marathon together in May), at 10 am on the morning of the race saying that one of their mates had bailed and would I be interested to take his spot? Wes had been telling me about this race - called the Red Eye Relay - for several months, and I had been growing more interested the more I learned about.

It sounded pretty darn cool to me: now in its 5th year, the Red Eye Relay is a team relay race in which teams of 4 to 7 people run a 100 mile course, relay-style, each taking a consecutive leg of the course. Race officials mark off all legs of the course - 21 legs in total, between 2 miles and 7 miles in a length - and have stations set up at each relay point along the entire course. The race covers 3 counties and requires considerable organization to make it work! It begins at 3 pm on Saturday, and all teams must be finished by 9.30 am the following morning. 75 teams entered this year's running.

As is obvious by now, I joined the team, after thinking, Am I in shape enough to do this?! and also consulting with Jul, of course (in fact, I was actually hesitant about it, and she was the one who said, "Jim, you've been telling me about this race for several weeks, you want to do it, go for it!" Jul is such a champ and an amazing partner!)

It was truly an amazing experience - tough, definitely (the heat index read 103 the afternoon of our start) but something completely unique. In one other setting does one join like-minded friends, new and old, in order to run, sweat, puke, cramp, drink, stretch, sleep, blister, eat, and sweat some more together for 18 hours, from Saturday afternoon through sunset and into the dark of night, then continuing on as the sun rises and begins to burn the following morning? That's sounds pretty cool to me, don't you think? (Perhaps Steve G. can relate from his Ranger School experiences??) It was a great group of people - a few from church, such as Wes and Andrew - plus new acquaintances, many of whom are connected to IU.

I don't have many good pix, so these will have to do.

10th Anniversary

Last week - on 14th July - we celebrated our TENTH ANNIVERSARY!

It was ten summers ago, during the hottest week of the season in Durham NC, that we exchanged rings and pledged our love & loyalties for life. We have had an unexpected and amazing journey this first decade...
celebrating anniversaries in New York state; South Dakota; Durham; Vancouver, Canada; Wheaton, IL; Cape Town, South Africa; and Bloomington, IN.

To kick off the summer of celebrations (we like to get lots of mileage out of birthdays and anniversaries), on the evening of our anniversary we went out for a dinner date. Yes, we got a babysitter and went to dinner! Unfortunately there were no aluminum (traditional) or diamond (contemporary) gifts...but we did enjoy a glass of wine and delicious dinner at FarmBloomington, one of B-town's great restaurants specialising in a local, seasonal menu.

Jul was especially happy about the french fries - topped with parmesan, lemon zest & red pepper flakes and served with aioli. Yum.

Hopefully sometime in the next few months we will be able to do one or two more things to mark the 10th Year. At least that's what we are saying to help motivate Jim to get through his upcoming qualifying exams (three consecutive weekends of 20-page essays) and on to the dissertation phase. There are many restaurants and state parks still to explore in Indiana. Maybe we will get to one of those. And maybe for our 20th anniversary, we will finally do that longed-for week together at a beach.

New funny face

Gemma is working on her Tweety Bird imitation.

And she loves to snuggle up for a good read (even if it is a magazine). ...actually the real reason I included this photo is so you can see my new necklace from Thailand. What a husband I have.

Cook-out and chocolate cake

Thumbs up for a sweltering Saturday afternoon cookout with the Brashers! Ryan sacrificed by standing over the grill. Great chicken and veggie kabobs, and fun to see Gemma and Elijah (6 weeks younger) starting to take more notice of each other. Gemma enjoys poking eyes and mouths and Elijah was very agreeable about it. And older brother Thomas is becoming very talkative - sorry we didn't get a photo of him this time.

Oh and Jim made this AMAZING four-layer fudge chocolate cake with ganache that we all gobbled down!! (recipe from King Arthur Flour) You know...when he says, "I feel like making a chocolate cake," who can resist?

Early days of walking!

Our Gemma is 10 months old! and these days her main activity is walking, walking, walking. Fortunately she waited about 5 days after Jim returned from Thailand before she took her first steps - at the end of June - and since then she improves every day. Lately her favorite thing is to carry toys with her while she walks, shaking them and making excited noises (esp. rattles and her babydoll). The only problem with carrying the babydoll is that she likes to give it kisses and bury her face in it, and then she runs into the couch or something (but never fusses). She is perfecting turning and likes to walk in a big circle, or from the front door to the back door in the kitchen. Here are some recent action shots! including one of her new funny face all squinched up. (is squinched a word?)

She continues to love books and is very taken with practicing turning pages and pointing at pictures. We are going to the public swimming pool a couple of times per week, and she is pretty fearless. The bottom photo is Jim and Gemma, in her new outfit from the Ro family.

Jul & Gem in Port Orchard

continuing from a previous post about J & G's trip to Seattle in mid-June...

After our time with the Kirkland Giesers, we journeyed back to Port Orchard for 8 days with Phillip, Samuel and Daniel (oh, and Matt & Hannah, too!). The two older boys really spoiled Gemma with constant hugs and attention - not to mention sharing their Legos and trucks. Most mornings began with, "Where's baby Gemma?" and a round of hugs, followed by Phillip's question at the breakfast table, "What are we going to do today, Mom?" Since the weather was pretty nice, mixed sun and clouds in the 60s, we would do one big outing every day - usually something outdoors involving exercise and snacks of Tillamook cheese & fresh peaches! Awesome! Plus of course many hours at home, playing on the big deck. Oh wait, and taking naps too.

since Blogger is giving me layout problems with inserting text, here is the explanation on the photos below:

• playtime; Port Orchard harbour and a park along the water, with Daniel and Gemma testing out the mulch; a trip to the Tacoma Zoo
  
• Matt in his office (lots of paperwork!); playtime in the backyard; Aunt Karen, Jonathan, Rebekah and Joel over for dinner;
  
• a chilly visit to a beach on Bainbridge Island; salmon for Father's Day (Matt also cooked up shrimp, french fries and sweet potato fries. Wow! and Wow for a dad who made his own Father's Day meal)

There were also many, many moments of great conversations (thanks, Hannah); tremendous lattes from Tully's and cinnamon rolls from Sluy's bakery; lovely afternoon walks ("we're getting our exercise", says Phillip) and the simple joy of participating in life together for a few days amidst the beautiful P.O. scenery of water and hills and tall trees and sweet, fresh air.

My little helper

Jim in Thailand: Street Food III