Curling at the new rink

This past Sunday was the first day of curling at the new rink at Northcross, and we dragged Michael and Andrea along to try it out

Curling with Michael and Andrea

Road rash photos

Here's the photos we took from the Road Rash. I took most of them, so it's after I finished skating.

TX Road Rash

Texas Road Rash

Both Tom and I participated in the Texas Road Rash this past Sunday. The event, now in it's 5th year, is a series of skating events. There was an Elimination Race on Saturday and then a 1/2 and full inline skating marathon on Sunday.

Last year, I was supposed to skate this event, but I had hurt my Achilles tendon a few weeks prior, so I wasn't able to participate.

This year, Tom participated in the full marathon (actually a bit longer at 28.2 miles) and I participated in the 1/2 marathon (14.1 miles). It was a beautiful day to skate - lovely temperature, mixture of clouds and sun. However, while skating 2 of the 4 sides of the looped course we were struggling against strong winds. Naturally the wind was blowing head-on where there was no protection from trees.

Tom managed to improve his per mile time over the last marathon he completed. The overall time was not comparable because the course was longer on this race.

And I did pretty well :-)

Curling!

Tom and I are members of the Lone Star Curling Club. Ok, sure, we haven't been going to curl very much of late (sleep is winning the Sunday morning battle). But we still do love it.

The rink that we curl at is being relocated on the property. Part of the exciting part about the new rink is that they are putting the houses (the bullseye at the end of the curling rink) underneath the ice sheet. We had been drawing them on each week with markers on a huge compass (a 12' version of the one you used to use in high school geometry class)

Here are some pictures of the new rink and the beautiful houses:






The other exciting thing is that we are getting permanent rock storage, which sounds like a big old 'who cares', but the reason this is good is that curling stones need to be kept at ice temperature to work best. At the old rink this meant someone had to go put the rocks out on the ice the night before Sunday curling. Even then, they still weren't all that cold, and managed to get a nice thick coating of frost on them, which you had to chip off. To sum up, it was DULL and SUCKY

Anyway, here is the new rock storage area.

Runtex Distance Challenge

As I mentioned before, Tom finished the RunTex Distance Challenge this year. He finally got his finisher's jacket, and it's quite nifty this year.

Mid America Speed League - Austin

This weekend we had a meet here in Austin. It was the 3rd Mid-America Speed League race, and I
I got a few more medals. The great victory is that I didn't fall down. I'm getting more consistent, but I've still got lots to work on

I placed in 2nd in the Grand Classic Division
I placed 5th in the Novice B Division (this is where I compete against 14 year olds)
I placed 1st in the Classic 2-woman relay
I placed 2nd in the Classic 2-mixed relay

(click on the pic below to open album - I've included commentary on my form)

Mid America Speed Meet

Updates, falls, etc

I took my first tumble in practice on Wednesday. It wasn't bad. But I do have a charming bruise on my left hip.

One of my new years resolutions was to donate platelets regularly. I'm headed to the Blood Bank of Austin today for my second donation of the year. It's a bit of a pain, since it takes 2 hours, and their hours are quite limited. But it's good to do, and if I'm going to do any sort of blood donation, this works best for me since I don't lose the red blood cells that help with exercise.

Our yard cat, Trouble, who ostensibly lived with the people behind us seems not to have gone with them when they moved. She started showing up again recently. Or perhaps she moved with them, and then found her way back. Either way, it's lovely to see her again.

My dream come true

They should pick me. I'm perfect

Yay for Tom!

Tom successfully completed his 3rd marathon this morning. He started well, but had some extreme muscle fatigue as his pre-emptive Advil wore off - around mile 16. He took some more at mile 20 when I saw him, and by mile 23, he was much improved.

His finishing time was 4:32:55. So if you are compelled, send him an email to congratulate him

twilbur (at) stanfordalumni (dot) org

Oh, and one other great thing - in successfully completing this race, Tom has also completed the 2007-08 Runtex Austin Distance Challenge. A series of 6 races culminating with the AT&T Marathon

Ahhhh....short track speedskating

Here are some of the pictures from our weekend in Salt Lake City for one of the short track speedskating world cup events.

Day 1

SLC World Cup Day 1

Day 2

SLC World Cup Day 2

Day 3
(still to come)