Another one Bites the Beach

The highlight of any puppy's early days...that first sniff of marsh across East Beach Causeway, that first excited pacing in the sandy parking lot, that first glimpse of white sand and THE BIGGEST POOL I HAVE EVER SEEN (Browdie's words, not mine) that comprises the first trip to the beach.

We headed out with the little Hodges (and their young Golden, Max) to get the last of the light. Browdie took to it like a fish to - well.

He loved it.

He ran straight after Tilley then was caught up in the excitement of it all, including getting chatted up by one of those fellas on the skateboard/windsurfer apparrati (Browdie climbed right on the deck no problem).

Then it was time to hit the water, where Browdie tumbled right in to the surf line as Tilley and Max chased Ann Marie and Sam all over. Laika wandered around, happy as a clam and not minding wearing two leis as Tilley's had worked its way down to her waist like a tutu due to all the bodysurfing action.

Occasionally Browdie would get a little too much wave for his height (at his size, this didn't take much) and just shook it off like a pro.

Finally he decided he was a little waterlogged, salty, wet, and cool, and begged for Daddy to hold him until the last bit of pink light scooted out of the sky and we headed home for a rinse off in the pool.

Sea Island vs. Stipe

After months of careful preparation, planning, and great timing, I had successfully achieved R.E.M. nirvana with pit tickets to the Atlanta show.

Saturday, June 21.

Me. John. Front row. Stipe. 'Nuf said.

Then I checked the mail. Trouble.

Saturday, June 21 was also the same day as the fancy surprise party for my dear Aunt Bootsie and Uncle Allan for their 50th wedding anniversary at the Lodge at Sea Island.

F**************************k....

As already detailed herein, I made up for it in advance with DC and NC shows...and was happy to find a VERY nice fellow fan who traded for the tickets. He had seen R.E.M. about as many times as yours truly but never from that range. I told him it would change his life, and my heart felt happy about finding the right person for the tickets.

Particularly given the fact that my brother and his family were also coming down, I was all good with the change in plans and away we went. Despite the brief "challenge" Warren experienced with the roundabout (Big Ben, Parliament) we arrived at the Lodge relatively unscathed and in high spirits.

The night was most entertaining...it was great to see family and close family friends we don't normally get to see, and it was fun to get gussied up as well.

Not to mention the fun of kicking around the Lodge eating delicious snackies, drinking Pinot Grigio, and availing myself to the sea-shaped chocolates on the silver tray by the ladies' room. Repeatedly.

After lots of visiting and a great toast from Cindy, we opted to head over to Bootsie and Allan's house (via a brief but fairly hilarious stop at KFC with a moderately buzzed set of parents, siblings, and spouse, as well as mini mart stop for Warren, and a Starbucks stop for yours truly, the designated driver) for some post-party visiting.

Next time, Stipe. Sorry.

Click here for many more pictures

A Fool for the Pool

So just in case no one gets how eagerly Browdie clambered onto the float his very first time in the pool on SSI, here's a little video evidence.

Yes, we think he's going to like the water juuuuust fiiiiine.



The following video sums up pretty well Laika's mood on the island, in this case taken while car surfing on the way back from a morning romp on the beach:

Race Report: Super Dolphin Day: St. Simons Island, GA

I retreated this weekend to St. Simons to participate in the 30th running of the Dolphins. The Super Dolphin Day Races, that is. Sponsored by the local elementary school, where else can you do a race that features a pasta dinner sitting at elementary school lunch tables, and the tee shirt features the tagline “Faster than a Speeding Mullet”?

Now let me be extremely clear. I have NOT been doing any speedwork. At. All. In fact, I’ve only had one real tempo run of just over 4 miles a few weeks ago and even that netted out to be a blistering 10:52 pace. So suffice to say, expectations were low and unknown. My primary goal was to not go out too fast and get discombobulated, but rather just run a sound race and not totally beat my legs up.

Dad and I went to the pre-registration and pasta dinner Friday night, where I was informed that Tilley could NOT register, despite the fact that the posted rules had no mention of no dogs. iPods? Sure. Strollers? Absolutely. Weaving 6 year olds all over the course? But of course. Dogs? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Which really sucks…I was really looking forward to this moment: “….and for the 10K, in the 1-8 female age group….Tilley Hodgeski!” And then watch the crowd go apeshit when a corgi wearing her own race number and ChampionChip waddles up to the table to get her medal and her picture taken with the Super Dolphin. Sigh.

After enjoying our feast, we did our best to drive the course even though the start was rather ambiguous, so we drove it in reverse. I wasn’t sure if they would have mile markers and I wanted to get a handle on my pace in some way at least at the 1 and 3 mile marks.

After a night of fitful sleep as the last of the southeastern storms (that I drove through Friday) expired themselves along the coast, I rose at 6am for a half bowl of oatmeal and a hot shower. I always shower before a race, since it both loosens me up and relaxes me. By 6:45 I was out the door, leaving a seriously confused and mildly irritated Tilley behind. I left a note for Dad with my approximate times on the course and directions to the finish line with instructions to bring Tilley. Turns out it was for not; and the only on-course race shot of me would be a quasi-sasquatch shot at the top of this post proffered by the race photographers. Order yours now ;).

It was a pretty tame turnout, and felt pretty low key. I warmed up a little and wandered over to the start line…which as it turns out wasn’t chipped, so even though it was a chip timed race, we had a gun start. So my time is probably about 4 seconds longer than true. And yes, every second counts :).

I sized up the competition…there were some SERIOUS runners there, most of them women about my age. There were a few token wife/girlfriend running with serious runner male types, and a few token overdressed runners (it was 61 degrees). With little fanfare, we were off. As usual, everyone burst out like a shot and I just kept it steady to get into a rhythm. Before I knew it, we were at the first mile maker with a nice person calling out times. 10:20. Right on.

After a little weaving through the back neighborhoods in the village, we struck out on Mallery up towards East Beach. The course was great; it really gets in a lot of the island from village to marsh to sound to ocean. A lot of people ran on the sidewalks, but probably 70% of us stayed on the road. I would say 80% raced with music. I train with music, but find racing with it both a distraction as well as not being terribly safe. I had a little cat and mouse re-catching some folks who had passed me, and one guy who had the heaviest feet EVER and insisted on staying (what felt like) two feet off my left elbow (the one moment where I wished for not music, but maybe earplugs). As a reward for not clocking the guy, I arrived at the three mile mark to hear “THIRTY”. 10:00 minute miles. PERFECT.

I think I was worried about losing it somewhere between 4 and 5.5 miles, because I must have slowed down to try to leave too much in the tank. I also hit a brutal headwind for probably the last 1.5 miles of the race which didn’t help….but overall I felt good, in control, and nothing was falling off (sadly, including my 6 spare pounds of PMS water).

I finished under the clock at 1:04:50, so 1:04:46. I wandered around aimlessly (repeat: Grandy stood me up!) and made a few friends including a woman who lives on Jekyll and two women who did the race as a run-walk, they are just starting to race. They are patients and big fans of Dr. Berg and were *so* nice. I regret not going to breakfast with them; I waited for the results since in all the past years only 2-4 women were in my age group. Turns out, this year there were nine. And I was ninth place. Breakfast would have been a much better call :)

Ouch! The age group brass finishes were like well under an hour. The truth is, I think I deserve a medal – I ran the race exactly as I had planned, and did better than I thought. If I had come across anywhere south of 11:30 minute miles I would not have been surprised, so I feel really good about the effort. Even better was the fact that I totally could have run longer….granted not at race pace, but it makes me feel like the Shamrock half won’t be a complete joke. Plus I will have my sidekicks with me which inevitably will make it much more entertaining than just high fiving the volunteer kids on the route (which ain’t bad fun either).

I went home to retrieve Tilley and Grandy for a quick breakfast at Dressner’s then a walk around the village. They were just then giving out awards so Tilley got in her requisite “CAN I PET YOUR DOG” time with strangers. And?

Our picture with the Super Dolphin.

To the Beach!

So ever since we got a place here, I have wanted to "run to the beach". It's just at 5 miles, and our full-time tenure here coincided, with few exceptions, my hiatus from training.

Redemption time.

After a relatively slovenly few weeks since our last 5 mile run, we headed out down the island to the beach from the house. It was about 60 so I opted for the (adorable) knickers and a short sleeved top. Tilley chose a simple choker chain.

The run was fairly uneventful and pain-free; our only incident was coming through a neighborhood where a LARGE black dog was at the edge of the yard untethered. Rather than deal with an incident, I picked Tilley up who immediately barked. I said Shut. The. Hell. Up. You. Are. Going. To. Get. Us. Eaten. She obliged, and I went into my super friendly HEY PUPPY PUPPY voice to the dog, who eventually wagged a tail as we scooted by. I returned Tilley to the ground and off we went. Once we arrived at East Beach causeway, Tilley looked up like, oh yeah I totally know where we are yeah this is the road to the beach! She picked up her step and so did I.

Just about when we hit the parking lot John pulled in (our ride home!). We finished the run to the water then doubled back to meet him for a quick walk on the beach.

All in all a good time. My legs are a little tired but not bad...same blister is annoying me despite wearing thick socks. I think a consult at Potomar River Running in DC is in order for a new sock approach altogether.

Tilley is out COLD next to me on the couch, but I bet I will be more sore in the morning :)

An Island Christmas

We had a great Christmas on St. Simons, and the best way to sum it up is with a few pictures and videos.



Tilley, suffering dog abuse (she was moaning during the photo):




Waiting for Santa:




Enjoying loads of treats and presents:




Ready for lunch-ummmm-dinner:




Laika, not believing her good fortune at getting her own plate for lunch (note the eye expression):




Touring Ft. Frederica with Cousin Cindy, Claire, and Mom:




Beach Picnic with Tilley and Claire:




Tilley playing her favorite game with Beauty: "Put my WHOLE HEAD IN YOUR MOUTH BEAUTYYYYY!":

California Dreaming

So of the many holiday guests here on St. Simons where we've retreated for John's 4-week break from school (in part, excepting our upcoming swing North to DC, PA, NYC), the lot included my parents, my niece Claire, and my friends Jessica and Bill from San Diego.

Jessica is an original member of the Girly Sporting Clan and has swam, biked, and run more miles with me than is probably possible to count. She moved out to San Diego about a year after I left DC and met a fabulous boy (and triathlete!) to whom she'll be hitched in June.

We had a fabulous visit filled with browsing the Village shops, walking on the (unusually cold) beach, eating good Southern fare (including breakfast at Dressner's, Barbara Jean's famous crabcakes and Frankie G's Fried Green Tomatoes), the exchanging of Festivus/Christmas gifts, and just generally hanging out.

Of course, a run was in order for Saturday morning. We did an easy 3.3 miles around the nieghborhood, the Q once and the O once for those who are familiar.

Tilley particularly enjoyed the route because mid-loop we ran into her BFF Beauty who is frequently on the lam from her own fenced yard.

It was great to be out and about and enjoy the views (the marsh, the homes, Bill from behind) and to have my elbow once again swinging in time with Jessica's. Read about Jess's account of the trip.