Yeah, we like to use our weekends to the fullest around here. Saturday was a grand exaple of that. We were up and out of the house just before 7:00 a.m. in order to get to the Mike Horgan Hill Climb in plenty of time. Ellie prefers having about an hour on site before her race starts. This was the first hill climb of the season, and it was a big one. The junior start out at Nederland High School, west of Boulder. The hill climb was just 3. miles, but the grade is quite steep most of the way. She was tired even before she began since she had around three sleep overs, a full day and evening at the amusement park and then another visit to Lakeside Amusement Park on Friday night. She was tired enough to not even feel much like a racer. She still did okay, coming in second place. She is usually faster than the girl who came in first place. She used to feel like she was good at hill climbing. Yesterday shook her confidence. She said, "Hill climbing is good for those who are tiny. I am not tiny anymore." More than half of how you perform is in your head so we will have to work on this one. This was a race that was an accomplishment, and not so fun. For much of the course it is a 17% grade. That doesn't sound like much, but it kicks more people's butts.
We had fun while we waited for results. She loves to chat with her friends. She and Dad also kidded around. She was silly and did not want to look at the camera for any of the photos.
Ethan did not do this race partly because I thought we would not have time for that and taking him to camp. It is also a much harder race for those who are 15+ years old. They start out in Boulder and race for 18 miles. That trek includes going up Magnolia Road, the steepest paved road in North America (or something like that - it's killer!) He elected to spend the time wandering around and adventuring in the woods.
After the race was over we took Ethan to Tahosa where he will be on the youth staff for week two of the Big Horn Leadership camp. He was pretty excited. He gets to be the head quartermaster. This means he is in charge of getting and handing out all of the stuff, including the food. This is the job he hoped for. I think he will also be teaching Pioneering (how to make stuff with logs and rope.) as well as Orienteering. We had fun getting ready for camp. Each day has a silly theme including Future day, Romans and Eguptians, Cowboys & Indians, Pirates and Ninja and Midieval days. He took a toy ray gun, a sheet for a toga, a whip, lots of pirate stuff and a few other things. I also made him a purple robe for a creepy campfire story about the Purple bishop who kills campers and wraps up their clothes in purple cloth. We made a purple robe and found purple glow sticks. He will then slink around in the woods after they learn about the story. The boys think it will be fun. I think he will have a grand time.
On the way home we took a detour to go and see the Moffat Tunnel. It is a cool spot that we have visited many times. Larr was hoping he might get a glimpse of a train coming through. As luck would have it, one happened through about ten minutes after we arrived. He had a blast taking lots of photos. Then we hoped in the van and raced to the intersections so we could watch it go by. My favorite was when they passed by on the bridge. The engineer smiled, waved and honked the horn. I love things like that. It made me feel like a kid again, with the thrill of the engine, the rush of excitement as it goes by. It makes me forget the dirty dishes that seem to be ever present in the kitchen sink or the dirty clothes in need of laundering that seem to multiply overnight. It helps me live in the moment.
Larr and I finished off the evening by seeing "Departures". It is a movie that I have been waiting to see for some time. It is a wonderful Japanese movie about a young Celloist who has to get a job and becomes a person who prepares people for creamation. It is a tender, funny and sad movie. It made us laugh and cry. I was spent by the time it was done. I would definately recommend that you see it, if you like subtitled movies.
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