Oh, the Shame!

I know...bad blogger! Sorry I took such a long vacation from blogopolis, but I'm back now...

...with not a whole lot to report. Except that I'm working on a half marathon training program in preparation for a race in Atlanta on Turkey day, and if it goes well, I'm signing up for the Austin Marathon in February. Eee!! But before all that takes place, I'm running in a little 8K near Portland in September. So, the training is going well so far, I'm just concentrating on running 5 days a week with my long one on Sunday, two cross training days (one x-train day is on a run day), and one full rest day, and believe it or not I'm finding it hard to actually rest on my rest day. My schedule's been goofy lately, with me home on some Fridays, and when it's nice, what do I want to do?

You got it: bike ride'o'rama! This past Friday B and I rode with some bikey friends up a big ol' cinder cone called Rocky Butte with some serious elevation gain. The whole trip was 30 miles (that was heading up to north Portland to meet our buddies), but the major hill climbing was about a 500 ft gain in less than a mile. Yee-ouch! But once we got to the top, we could see 360 degrees of Portland! We could see Mt Hood, Mt. St. Helens, and the new IKEA out by the airport (now open!) Well worth the cranky knees and sore buttocks.

What else have I been up to.... oh yeah, I had a booth in a local craft fair selling my "hoboglobes" (snow globes made from random misfit trinkets rescued from Goodwill and flea markets 'repurposed' using recycled jars and lotsa glitter). The fair was kinda lame, none of the other vendors sold much. I sold four jars and traded two with a potter for one of her coffee cups. Shitty sales nowithstanding, it did give me an opportunity to get an insiders look at the crafty underground here in town, and boy lemmee tell ya: those gals are serious business! But they're also lots of fun, and I met some fabulously talented women who can do wonders with all sorts of materials (much of it recycled by the way). I may post some pictures later (I'm in Boise now away from my personal computer), so that you can see what folks out here do, as well as some pics of my jars.

That's about it for now, but I promise I'll be back soon...