Last ride of the year

 A and Charlie took Sunshower and me out to Banner Forest yesterday for our last ride of 2010. Banner is a 640 acre county owned park, its got 1 service road through it and many, many miles of trails criss-crossing all over. We like to go out here because its only about 10 minutes from home and we can't get lost too badly or for too long.

 When we were loading up the trailer at my house I couldn't find my helmet. A offered me the use of her hubby's but I declined, it was pretty cold, I had a warm hat on and I was going to trust me mare for this ride.

 Its been a pretty wet month so there was lots of water and mud puddles on the trails. On one of them Sunshower and I were in the lead when my toe got stuck on a fallen down tree. The entire tree was being dragged behind/next to us and she got scared. Sunshower jumped and bolted then she started crow hopping (felt like full out rodeo bucking to me) and I came off.  I landed in a nest of fallen down tree logs but really didn't hit any of them too bad. I have a big bruise on my calf/shin of my right leg, an abrasion on my left arm and my back has a sore spot which happened when she jumped. I came off  WITHOUT A HELMET ON. I am so ashamed of myself you wouldn't believe it.  But I am OK, just a little sore, like every time I take a step or more my arm or use my back in the smallest way.

At the spot where I took A's photo above we had stopped so I could take a photo of this iguana:  He was placed on the back side of a tree trunk as you go around a corner, if you are on a bike you're going to miss him. A sees all these things, I miss them. But hes cool so I got his picture. A has found a small bird perched atop a tree branch and when we went on the Scavenger Hunt last year she found a lot of cards.

 Today I got up early, before the sun had come up, and I went over to pick up my other friend, L. Shes a fellow Tri Babe. We went to volunteer for the Yukon Do It Full & Half Marathons today in Port Orchard. When I got to L's house the outside temp was 21 degrees at 7:30am. It was 25 at race start 9am, and warmed up to 33 at 11am, when we were done with our jobs.



Yukon Do It



 Our first job was at packet pickup. There were 200 people pre-registered and at race start time there were a lot of people who hadn't picked up their numbers. I think it was just too cold for most of them. We then drove out a bit over a mile onto the course and got photos of the leaders and the large group of runners as they came down the hill and onto the main road.

 After taking a few photos we went into Port Orchard to the half marathon turn around. Linda stood at one area and told runners to follow the yellow arrows around the mini mall and I stood at the other end and made sure they didn't cut it off. It was very fun seeing everyone running past, we were there for all of them.



L & me bundled in 3 layers



 Then we went to our third station, at the same area we had been in earlier for taking photos.  We told Full Marathoners to go out to the right and told the halfers to turn left, they only had 1.2 miles left till the end.

 All in all it was a very fun day and if it all works out next year I'd like to participate instead of just volunteering.

 Lan always tells me he can't ride his bike with me while I run but I saw 2 other men doing it for their wives today so I said he can do it for me next year. I might need to remind him that he said OK.

 I didn't get any training in today but helping out was so rewarding. In the last 2 years I have been in about 10 races and it was time for me to repay all the volunteers who have helped me. I got a lot of Thank Yous today and it felt good.  Next time I'll be, literally, in their shoes. Well, in my own but I'll be running.