Sunday, November 13, 2011

WE DID IT!!!!!!

It's funny how something can sound like a really good idea when your warm and cozy sitting on your couch and the "something" is in the very distant future.

I'm not sure where/how/why, but somewhere along the line I got the idea I wanted to do the Warrior Dash. Well no one wanted to do it with me but Drake and then one thing after another, we couldn't due to scheduling conflicts (damn football!). Around that same time, I heard about the Cheadle Challenge in Lebanon. PERFECT!! Drake and I can do it and it is close to home and we had done the Cheadle 5K so we knew the area.
We were all registered and just waiting/counting the down days (at this point still sounded like a good idea LOL)

As it got closer, we realized that his last football game was going to be the same weekend, then we realized it was going to be the same day and early on Saturday. Well, there went Drake's chance to go. Since I had already paid for it, I was looking for a substitute. Not really sure how it came about, but Brandi stepped up to the plate and said she would do it (Good thing too, my sub list was really really short!! Lost everyone's interest when I started talking about the mud, except Brandi, that made her like it more LOL).

Not alot of time to prepare, but we did manage to sorta come up with our race "outfits"....(Missy and I had sooo much fun at goodwill picking out my stuff).... We started our countdown and finally it was race day!! (Even as pumped and excited as I was, I was alittle apprehensive when I first woke up).....

Everyone meet at my house, of course we had to take pictures (With Missy and I around, there is never a lack of pictures), wished Drake good luck and off we went.

Got there and after checking in, had to take more pictures.


We were in Heat 3, so we were able to watch the first 2 groups take off (WHAT THE HELL WERE WE THINKING), Finally it was our time. We took off, jogging and before we even made it to the first obstacle Brandi stomped in 2 mud puddles....it was on. We climbed the hay bales
and then headed to the water crossing. As we came up to, some girls behind me wanted to know why no one was going thru the middle, well there went Brandi and I was right behind her, except, I lost my shoe, it stuck in the mud. What was even funnier was, as I went to stop to go back and get it, my feet went out from under me, splash, I was down. I was laughing soooo hard. Well, I got my shoe and were headed on.
Crossed the cattle gate and there was my nemisis, the one obstacle I was dreading/fearing, the wall!!!! Brandi was behind me, gave me a little push and up I went and then down the other side (I DID IT!!! YEAH FOR ME!!),

and then we were off and running. We did jog/walk most of it. Had other other obstacles, more mud, came back up the path, thru the spider web and back out in the field. My sister said she could read my lips as I saw the "mud hill", something along the lines of "are you f**king kidding me"...... (can you read my lips? LOL) Well, here goes nothing, we race to the top, MADE IT!! We both plopped down to go down on our butts, I could hear Missy yelling, "ROLLLLL", so we both went horizontal and away we went!!!

As we got up and headed off, I was pretty tired and still had a ways to go. We came up to the next wall and I kept telling Brandi, I'm going around, I'm not doing it....Well that was not acceptable and she told me to get my ass up there and get over it (or something as inspiring :D), she gave me a boost, up I went and damn that wall was taller, it was a much further drop. We were finally getting near the end. I will say it was awesome to have places were the spectators could watch and cheer us on, that was nice to hear when all you wanted to do was lay down (in the tunnel, but brandi wouldn't let me) and take a nap. We leaped our fire, 3x, and head to the last obstacle, the mud pit....The one I had been looking the most forward to. It was a little log jammed but finally I turn, I looked a B and said, let's go, and I launched like I was on a slip and slide. Well I didn't make it far and had to start crawling. It was cold......and I had to stay on my hand's and knees or I was afraid I would get stuck in it. Finally, the finish line, we did it, we finished, we did all the obstacles and we jogged over 1/2 of it. We got our medals and time for more pictures (Imagine that! more pictures).



We headed over to the "wash stations" to try to clean up. That was a show in it's self and Brandi got hosed down by Mario.
Time for some warm, dry clothes and then back for our free beer.

What an experience, I have never done anything like that before and I am very proud to have accomplished it. We did the course in 1:08, not too shabby for 3.5 plus miles and all the obstacles. I went in fearing the wall(s), but I conquered both of them and I think the most daunting obstacle ended up being the big ass mud hill. I'm not afraid of mud, I think it was the size of the hill and at that point, I was pretty damn tired. One thing I will say, it is not a good idea to drink peppermint schnapps after, instead of water (especially on an empty stomach), it makes a person feel a little toasted!!
Woke up a little stiff and sore on Sunday and still on Monday, I am finding bruises in places I didn't now I could bruise. My knees are tore up and bruised but if you asked me to do it again, I'm there!

Thank you Brandi for going with me, I appreciate it and thanks for pushing me, literally and figuratively :D It was an awesome adventure.
Thank you Missy, Nicole, KayDee and Brandi's mom for being there, cheering us on and taking pictures. It was nice to have a cheering section. (Had to laugh at Brandi's mom, we get done and she is snickering, she looks as me "I can't believe you still have that damn tiara on :D).....

Cheadle Challenge:

Online Registration: $49.50
Attempt at Obnoxious Outfit from Goodwill: $10.00
"Training for the event": walking every day and drinking 16 oz beverages
A crazy adventure with a crazy partner: PRICELESS!!!!

PS: This is what your cheering section does while they are waiting and they have a camera :D




PSS: It turned out to be a beautiful day for it, no rain, the sun came out and was great. Also, the sponsers and everyone who put it together did a great job!!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Harrison Summer 2011 (long w/lots of pics!)

The Harrison's have been busy, busy, busy this summer. I know I have been a bad blogger and really it has not been from a lack of things to blog, just too damn busy. I won't bore you with ALL the details, but I will hit the high points.

I am not sure I can even remember back to the beginning of summer. We were pretty busy with baseball. Drake had his normal summer team/league and then Gunner was playing summer league for the high school. The high school did not have enough kids to fill 2 full teams so the freshman/jv summer team pulled a couple of kids up from Drake's team, Drake was one of them. For about a month, we had 2 of them playing on 3 teams, which made it almost every night and several weekends. I am sure there are highlights I should share, but quite honestly, who can remember that far back???





We did manage to get some camping in as well. In June we went down to Diamond Lake fishing. We all know how crappy the weather was here, well it was not much better there and the fishing sucked on top of it. Got skunked but atleast we got away for the weekend (Saturday poured buckets, was socked in and couldn't even see across the lake!)




We went to South Beach for 4th of July, that was nice, the weather was great, had lots of vistors at our campsite, went the beach and Drake made a new friend. He had a squirrel that he had feed peanuts and would come up and sit on his belly while he feed it. Very cute!! (again, we had crab, they went fishing, don't remember the details but nice to get away)



The next weekend we went to Clear Lake, had a game on Friday, so did not even get out of town until 10:00. That campground is not a good one to pull into at 11:30 at night and try to set up and set up a tent. I don't think we woke too many people up. Drake took a friend so they were out in the rubber raft, Mark Gunner and I were in a boat. Caught some fish, threw most back, got some sun and relaxed. Walker did catch the monster fish of the weekend, he was surprised, I think it was the biggest one he has ever caught. Not sure he was real happy with us making him clean it. Gotta learn sometime right?



Then it was time for the Linn County Fair. Last year was chaos for us at fair time and so I had promised Gunner this year we would camp at fair. WOW!! That was an experience. It was fun and he enjoyed, but momma was tired by the time it was over. Gunner did well, he ended up placing 4th over all (over 100 pigs) in Market and took Champion Reserve (2nd) in his class in showmanship. He was able to auction this year and did really, really well, we were very please (Thank you Grandpa Bill!!)



During that time Mark's sister was here from France with her girls. The boys spent some time with them, we went to a couple Corvallis Knight's games and FINALLY finished the other side of our fence (Did first side in May!) (Had to cut a big limb off the tree and made a bigger mess before we could finish!)

August was still pretty hectic, we spent a weekend in Seattle (I did blog that!), Missy had her 40th Bday (blogged pics of that HEHE) had a wedding and then spent Labor Day weekend at the coast. WHEW!!! It blew by!! I did manage, pretty much all summer, to keep with my exercise, I try get my 3.5 miles in everyday (some days more, some days a little less) and even had some sessions with a personal trainer (he kicked my butt!).

We are now officially back in school mode, football mode and soon hunting mode (Gunner has never left the fishing mode, he is at Diamond Lake fishing as I type!) I will try to be a little better with keeping up, but sometimes there is just not enough hours in the day!!