The National Arboretum

Michelle and I visited the U.S. National Arboretum last week with our good friends the Hammocks. We were really excited to see this place because none of us had been there and it had been a long time since we visited a new place here in D.C. The National Arboretum is gorgeous. It is also huge. We only walked through the most well-known parts of the place, but I think you could easily spend an entire day there.

One of our favorite parts was the exhibition on Bonsai trees. I learned a lot about these little trees and I kind of want to 'train' one myself. I didn't know that any type of tree can be grown to be a miniature bonsai; I just thought bonsai trees were their own unique type of tree. If I ever did grow a bonsai tree I think I would choose an apple tree, mostly to find out if it would grow miniature apples that you could eat. The following are some of our favorite pictures (as well as the one above), all taken by none other than Chance Hammock:




It was really really hot the day we went, and I had gone on a 112 mile bike road earlier in the morning so this is what I did to help cool off:

No Longer TFA Corps Members, But Alumni

On Thursday, Michelle and I both officially became Teach For America alumni. One of the speakers at our Alumni Induction event said that being a TFA alumni instead of a TFA corps member has quite a different ring to it -- and I agree completely. For the past two years Michelle and I have dedicated a tremendous amount of time and energy towards TFA duties, responsibilities, and other activities. Just to name a few of our TFA duties and obligations, over the past two years we spent 5 weeks in Philadelphia training for what felt like 24 hours a day, sacrificed many Saturdays to attend professional developments, and we have been enrolled in grad school earning master's degrees the whole time. It hasn't sunk in completely yet that we no longer have any TFA responsibilities; we are no longer TFA corps members, but instead we are TFA alumni.

Michelle and I could literally write encyclopedias regarding the past two years with TFA. How we ended up joining TFA, the ups and downs of working in an inner-city school district, and how much we have learned and grown by having made the decision to join TFA are all lengthy topics. All I will say here though is that after having gone through the entire TFA process, from start to finish, I cannot think of a single bad thing to say about Teach For America. I truly mean that. I am thankful for the opportunity they gave me to join their organization and become a teacher. It has afforded Michelle and I both many opportunities to work and further our educations and grow in infinite ways. I would recommend joining TFA to anyone and everyone.

Its hard to believe that this chapter of our lives is over. I think though in many ways it is not over, and will never be over, because I am sure the impact that doing something like this has on you shapes the direction of your life forever.

Sixth Century

I did a 112 mile bike ride yesterday. For reasons I am still trying to figure out, it was the most physically difficult bike ride I have ever done.

As I was getting close to 100 miles, my legs started to cramp up. I tried to ride through it and got maybe a half mile before I felt like I had to stop. It was quite painful, and it was the first time I can remember ever in my life getting muscle cramps like this. After I stopped and walked around, the cramps went away but my legs were in pretty bad shape -- very tired, very sore, and if I didn't have to ride another 17 miles or so to get home I would have been laid out on the couch. To be honest, while I was resting when I stopped it was really tempting to lay down on the bench; I figured it would be a bad idea to stop and let my legs cool down too much when I still had quite a bit of biking left to do.

I didn't set any new personal records because of having to stop and a couple other reasons, but I learned a valuable lesson. I have to start taking nutrition and hydration (specifically replenishing electrolytes) much more seriously on these long rides. I have done some reading and have a good idea of things I can do to prevent the cramping to happen again.

Fifth Century

I went on a 113 mile bike ride yesterday. I left at 3:30 in the morning so that I could avoid the intense heat and still spend most of the day with Michelle. Man, was it hot yesterday! When I left at 3:30 it was already 73 degrees. By the time I got back at around 10:00 it was either getting close to the 90's or already there. Oh yeah, it was also incredibly humid as well.

I set a new personal best for biking 100 miles. I hit the 100 mile marker at about 5 and a half hours. I ran into some delays on the trail on my way home which cost me some time so I didn't complete 113 miles until about 6 and a half hours (about the same as it took me last time).

Harryman Half Triathlon Official Results

Out of 64 people that finished the race Half Ironman distance Triathlon, I placed right in the middle of the pack at 32nd.

My 1.2 mile swim time was 43:46, and that was the 36th ranked time.

My 56 mile bike time was 3:22:48. This is an average of 16.9 mph and this was actually the 13th ranked bike time. Thus, biking is clearly my biggest strength. Also, it would not normally take me that long to bike 56 miles, it was a very difficult course.

My 13.1 mile run time was 2:15:28. This was the 48th ranked time :( Running is my biggest weakness. I am planning on focusing on improving my running skills a lot this summer while maintaining and possibly improving as well where I am at in swimming and biking. If I placed even half as well in the swimming and running as I did in the biking, I would have finished a lot closer to the top.

These times, along with my T1 and T2 times and ranking, along with everyone else's times in the race can be found online at:

http://www.compuscore.com/cs2011/may/harryhlf.htm

(scroll down to #32 and you will find me).

And just for your information, I am officially signed up for my first Ironman distance Triathlon. I am doing the Chesapeake Man Ultra Distance Triathlon on September 24th. 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, 26.2 mile run, I can't wait!

Harriman State Park Camping

In addition to competing in my first Half Ironman in NY last weekend, we also had a great time camping for two nights in the Harriman State Park. It was the first time we used our tent that someone gave us. We were very happy that the tent was HUGE and very easy to put together. The following are some pictures of the good time we had camping -- while I wasn't competing in the Triathlon. Thank heavens our campground had hot showers; that is one thing I was really looking forward to after finishing the Half Ironman.

I am a Half Ironman

Yesterday I completed my first Half Ironman distance Triathlon event. It was called the Harryman Half Triathlon because it took place in New York's Harriman state park. What this race entailed was swimming 1.2 miles, biking 56 miles, then running 13.1 miles. I completed the race in 6 hours and 27 minutes, and had a great time doing it! The race was in South Fields, NY, which is just north of New York City. Since the race was in a state park, we decided to make the race weekend doubly fun by camping for two nights at Beaver Pond campsite which was about 5 minutes from the race site. It was nice to spend time surrounded by nature, we've been living in the D.C. area for almost two years now! All three components of the race were surrounded by gorgeous nature scenery. When we entered the state park we were instantly glad we had decided to make a camping trip out of it. I will make a another blog post about the camping after this post -- which will be about my Triathlon race. I still don't have the 'official' results from the race, but these are the times based on what the timers showed when I finished each segment.

Swimming:

I finished the 1.2 mile swim in 43 minutes. This is pretty much right on par with what I have been doing in training. The water was 62 degrees (pretty cold) but with a wetsuit it was no problem. In fact, the weather was so nice that the lake actually felt much better than my last Triathlon where the lake's temperature was 68 degrees but raining, dark, and cloudy. The swimming was much more enjoyable in this nice weather, I could see where I was going easier and was able to stay oriented.








Biking:

I finished the 56 mile bike ride somewhere around 3 hours and 30 minutes. This is an average of 16 miles an hour, which is actually a little slow for me. The reason why is because the bike course was grueling. It was a truly difficult race course. It consisted of a 14 mile loop, which you had to do 4 times (56 miles total). What made the course so difficult is that it was all hills. You were either going up or down pretty much the entire time. There was one hill that was extremely steep and had a hairpin U turn that I was not prepared for the first time around and I had to ride off the road into the grass a little bit. To illustrate how steep the hill was, I was going just a fraction under 38 mph down the hill one time; then you had to really dig deep going up the hill for a couple miles. There were a couple people who maybe weren't prepared enough for the race that I saw walking up the hill with their bikes. I can normally average over 18 mph on long rides (centuries). This was a tough course, no doubt about it.
















Running:

So after destroying my quads worse in 56 miles than I normally do in a 100 or even 112 mile bike ride (not to mention I swam over a mile before this as well), I had to get off my bike and run a half-marathon (13.1 miles). Michelle says I did the 13.1 miles in about 2 hours and 15 minutes. At about 10 miles I got tired of looking at my GPS watch (which was showing my exact speed and distance at every moment) and turned it off. My legs had never been so sore. My knees were killing me. But I decided when I started running that I wasn't going to stop running no matter what. And I didn't ever stop, although by the end some people might have called my attempt at 'running' more like 'speed walking.' I never stopped 'running' though.








After I crossed the finish line after 6:27 minutes, they gave me my finisher's medal and Michelle was right there waiting to congratulate me and give me a hug and a kiss. I am grateful that Michelle even wanted to stand near me after how much I had just sweated/been in a lake/poured water all over me while running 13 miles/still had bug spray and sunblock on if it hadn't melted off. Michelle was such a great fan. She cheered for me and took pictures and video at every part of the race, including every time I went around the bike loop. I looked forward to seeing her as I made it to the top of the grueling hill.

All in all, it was a good race. As an added bonus I somehow got second place in the collegiate category. They took my picture with the first place collegiate racer and said they would mail me my prize. To be perfectly honest though, there may have only been two collegiate entrants because they normally announced a first, second, and third place winner in each category and for this category they only announced a first and second (me). The location of the race was beautiful, you couldn't ask for anything more scenic. The biking and running courses were the best that the organizers could create I think, but they were truly difficult courses. I am sure this will all work out to my advantage though training-wise as I am preparing for my long-term goal of doing a full Ironman distance event.

Catching up: Spring Break

One of the best things about being teachers is the breaks you get: 2 weeks Christmas break, summer break of course, and over a week Spring break. This year our spring break was at the end of April. We went to see our good friends Juleen and Matt in Florida. It was a ton of fun. We were so excited to get out of chilly DC and enjoy the warm weather for awhile. We did a lot of fun things with Juleen and Matt. We had several BBQ's, played lots of fun games and relaxed, went out to eat, went swimming at their pool, went dolphin watching along the ocean (and saw tons!), went to a cool nature and animal conservatory, went to Sea World, and spent a day at the beach. Unfortunately, I got really sick half way though so we had to cut our vacation short and head home a few days early. We really enjoyed the time we did have though! Thanks Juleen and Matt for being such great hosts! Here are lots of pictures (sorry they're out of order - I'm too lazy to fix them.)


Juleen and I at Sea World looking at a manitee. Sea World was a lot of fun, but I was also a little disappointed. It wasn't as cool as I expected it to be for how expensive it was. The dolphin and whale shows were cool, but outside of that it was just like a cool aquarium - not quite worth the money. There were only 3 rides there and we didn't end up going on any of them. I'm really glad we went, but next time I'll spend my money on Universal studios or probably Disney World.

Chad and I at the beach. We had so much fun laying out and relaxing and playing in the waves. I wish we could have spent a few more days on the beach.

Below are some pictures of the whale and dolphin shows at Sea World. The dolphin show was my favorite because the trainers were in the water with the dolphins. They rode on the dolphins and had the dolphins push them through the water by their feet. It was pretty cool. The dolphin show also had some cool trapeze artists that made it exciting. The whale show was pretty cool too, but apparently it used to be better when the trainers could be in the water with them too. They can't any more after one of the whales killed a trainer a few years ago. The coolest part of the killer whale show was when the whales splashed the crowd at the end. We got soaked! It was so hot outside though that we were happy to be wet!

















The picture above on the left is of Juleen and I at the beach, on the right is at the nature conservatory.















Above on the right are Chad and Juleen using a stick to catch baby jellyfish. They caught a few, but I think they were dead. That was the first time I had seen jellyfish outside of an aquarium. The picture on the left is Chad and I at the beach.


Here are Juleen and I watching for dolphins. You can see one in the background of the picture (well, it's fin).

Lots more pictures:

Half Ironman One Week From Today

At this time in one week, I will have finished my first half Ironman. I have been training very hard for it and am excited to put my abilities to the test. After I finish this event, I already know what I have my eyes set on for the next race; however, just as I did not sign up for the half Ironman until I had completed the Olympic distance Triathlon, I am focusing on finishing this race before anything else. This is a nice video that I found on youtube. There are lots of motivating Triathlon videos on the Internet.

Flea Market Finds

Yesterday I went to get ice cream with a bunch of friends and on the way we saw a flea market at a local school, so we decided to stop and check it out. I got this awesome rocking chair for $7.50. The lady at the flea market said it was her great grandmothers'. It is still in pretty good shape. I plan on re-painting it and re-covering it for our nursery. My good friend Tana is going to help me. I can't wait to find out if we are having a boy or girl so I can get started on this project. Right now the rocking chair is sitting in our spare room and every time I walk in there I get excited about the great deal I got and how much fun it will be to fix it up and then rock our new baby in it! It's also really comfortable. I also got these 3 canvas-type boards covered in cute baby girl material for $1.50 total. I should be able to do something with them to decorate the nursery. If we have a boy, I'll just cover them with different material. Like Chad said in his earlier blog post, having baby things in the house makes having a baby seem more real and is also making us more excited. We will get to hear the heartbeat for the first time tomorrow and then I'm sure it will feel even more real. We're really excited for that too!

Baby Rocker

I am guessing these things have a real name but I didn't know what it is so the only thing I can think of to describe it is as a 'baby rocker.' Michelle got this for free from a baby listserv she is on. When Michelle brought it into our apartment, it kind of hit me, "Wow! This is really happening! We are really going to have a baby!" I am sure our apartment will slowly start to get more and more baby stuff as the pregnancy progresses. We will have to start working on making our apartment baby proof (hide all the cords and cables, etc.)

I keep getting more and more excited to be a dad, it's going to be hard to wait another 7 or 8 months!

Fourth Century

Picture I took of myself before I left on my 112 mile bike ride.

I went on my fourth century bike ride yesterday. This was the first century I would be doing on my new road bike which is considerably lighter and better in every way than my old bike, so I was hoping to shave a lot of time off my last century.

I decided to ride 112 miles this time, instead of 100, because that is the distance that you do in an Ironman competition. The extra 12 miles definitely made it significantly harder. I think anything you do after 100 miles is going to be quite difficult.

My time at the 100 mile mark was 5 hours 39 minutes. This is an improvement from last time, alhtough not as much as I would have liked to have seen. Just to give you an idea of how hard those extra 12 miles were, I didn't get to the 112 mile marker until 6 hours 28 minutes. That means I did 12 miles in 49 minutes - not impressive at all, except for the fact that I had already gone 100 miles.

There are several reasons why I think I didn't shave off as much time as I would have liked. First, I got caught in a nasty rainstorm at about 50 miles. This slowed me down no doubt. I was sopping wet and a little distracted because of the heavy rain. Second, the trail I go on ended at 50 miles (where I would normally turn around and travel 50 miles back) so I had to ride on surface streets and other less than desirable roads to get the extra distance in. I wasn't able to keep my pace and rhythm on these types of roads. I will choose a slightly different route the next time I try to do over 100 miles so as to not lose time. Also, it would be nice if it wasn't raining.

Regardless though, I have two things to be happy about: I did beat my 100 mile time record by 6 minutes and I biked 112 miles, the farthest to date that I have ever ridden.