Dancing!

At 8 PM, the furniture was pushed aside and the dancing started!

Zoya

The morning after clean-up...Stuey helped. I found a tray of rainbow cookies from last night. I loved the time that someone put into making them and presenting them on such a unique tray!

St.Patty's Fun!

Last night we hosted our first ever St. Patty's party! So fun to celebrate all things green and irish (and scottish) with good friends!
~Patrick made a corned elk roast with cabbage and carrots
~Dawn brought the fixin's for "car bombs" and made them throughout the night for the group. Combo of guiness, irish whiskey and baileys.
~Matt, our friend and neighbor played a song on the bagpipes and WOW'd the crowd! We always love hearing the bagpipes on Cliffside road and over Mill Bay. Thanks, Matt!

Zoya

My Physical Therapy Guru

This summer I am going to meet my physical therapy guru and how it all came about? --I'm still amazed.

When I was in Anchorage several weeks ago, I received an e-mail from Elizabeth Noble. 99.999% of blog readers aren't physical therapists, so let me explain who she is. As it says concisely on the back of her book, "Elizabeth Noble is the mother of two children and a graduate in physical therapy, philosopy and anthropology from Australia. She moved to the United States in 1973 and founded the Women's Health Section of the American Physical Therapy Association. The author of eight books including Having Twins, CHildbirth with Insight, and The Joy of BEing a Boy, she has trained over 2000 instructors in prenatal and postpartum exercise."
The work she has done is so far reaching.

She also wrote, "Essential Exercises for the Childbearing Year", a groundbreaking book on fitness and physical therapy for women prentally, perinatally and post-partum. This book was my BIBLE on starting with womens health when I graduated from college in 1999. I read it cover to cover multiple times and used so many of the techniques in the potions of birthing classes I taught. Her written work inspired me to pursue childbirth education as a physical therapist. She has trained and taught all over the world in her career and helped start a large women's health continuing education training program (the one I came back from last weekend in Seattle).

The e-mail read something along the lines of, "Dear Zoya-I am coming to Kodiak this summer in July and would be interested in doing a community presentation or training in Kodiak. It is great you are teaching childbirth classes." I was in disbelief. THE Elizabeth Noble had e-mailed me and was coming to Kodiak! She is touring Alaska and loves islands. I started crying tears of joy. I had to hide behind a pillar in the airport to compose myself before calling a few girlfriends and squealing with delight. It is a once in a lifetime moment, to have a celebrated author, professional to make contact for a visit. A dream come true in so many ways.

Since that time, Elizabeth and I have been in contact sarranging her trip here (she has a lovely Australian accent!). She has never caught a salmon before, but loves to eat salmon and seemed very enthusiastic about going salmon fishing. It will be so neat to spend time with a woman who has made such incredible change for women in our country and all around the world with health. How the work of one person can cause such a ripple effect to a small town therapist as myself who felt inspired by her work to pursue womens' health topics.

Excited for the summer and to meet Elizabeth!

Zoya

Kid Quotes

Today is Patrick's 47th Birthday! For his birthday, it is snowing nice big flakes.

Here are a couple of kid quotes from yesterday...

Nora ate breakfast and then proceeded to dance in the kitchen to music for a bit. She then said, "Side-aches are good! You know why? Its because you are working out!" Thats my girl! :)

"When I go to heaven I can see the Little House on the Prairie people. Do you think Mary will still be blind? Maybe Jesus will un-blind her?" -Nora

Zoya

In Seattle I am thankful for...

What an incredible weekend in Seattle!

Things I am thankful for during my Seattle weekend (in no order of importance):
-That I made it through airport security with my disclosed multiple face lotions, toothpaste, etc. I forgot to put them in my check in luggage. Several of them were over 4 ounces. I would've been quite sad to lose those. I am known for getting pulled aside at security for having lotion, lip gloss, etc in my bag. It almost never fails that I have to have my bag closely checked!
-My amazing girlfriend, Marias, with whom I got to visit with. What a gem she is...so many good laughs together. What a blast it was to catch up and cherish each moment after not seeing each other for 4 years. I love the soft occasional scent of patchouli which surrounds her! Missing Marias, big time!
-My physical therapy class lab partner, Rachel, for her patience with me in practicing my manual therapy techniques on her. In manual therapy classes, its all about a killer lab partner who is patient and can give good feedback. My class was on the sacroiliac joint...if you're not sure where that is...give google a go. Its one complex joint to work on. Rachel rocked it with her knowledge and expertise. To all the painful sacroiliac joints in Kodiak-here I come...armed with my new techniques!
-Whoever found my lost purse at the hotel and took the $70 cash was kind enough to leave my ID, credit card and photos-and leave it at the hotel front desk. Very bummed about the lost money, but thankful to have the ID card, credit card and purse to travel home with. Karma will catch up with them...
-The fun "retro" furniture at the vacant hotel sitting area upstairs from the check in desk. Marias and I took advantage of the space and took a few "girl power" photos with self timer.
Fun Retro furniture+reunited girlfriends+no one around=photo shoot!

Zoya

Photos:
A very tired Zoya, mini sacra-iliac joint and rockin' lab partner, Rachel, at the end of our class.
Marias and I!

Sledding at Abercrombie

Yesterday it was very windy and cold - not the sort of day to take the kids out onto a windswept lake. So we headed for the shelter of the trees at Abercrombie Park. I thought we would try sledding on the road out to the old bunker on Miller Point. It is a longer walk than I remembered (walking with kids always extends distances). About halfway in to the point Nora gave me a suspicious look, and asked, 'hey is this a walk?' I assured her that we needed to walk a ways to get to the long hill near the bunker on the point.

We got there and the hill was way steeper and longer than I remembered. Stuey wiped out pretty quick but Nora picked up some serious speed and shot around a corner and out of site. Huge trees lined the road and I feared she might 'jump the track' and pop off into the trees. Of course they both loved it and wanted to do it again. But i figured it was time to go back to the less steep hill and far safer hill closer to the car near the start of the road.

The less steep hill proved much more than adequate. Those plastic sleds really fly without much help! Stuey and Nora would start at the same time and have races down the hill. It was a cross between demolition derby and ski cross. Overall distance achieved seemed to matter more than placement. Rarely did they make it to the bottom, however. And once I saw that Stuey was going to go past Nora at the bottom and Nora moved her sled in the way to wipe him out. For some reason I found this sort of competition hilarious. Yes, they were fighting, but somehow it was very, very funny (and not very serious fighting either). Best of all, I got to stand at the top of the hill and do nothing as they raced back up the hill each time to start their runs again.

Patrick

More Kids Skiing

Well after all the fiasco of a ski a few days ago, it really does appear as if things have gotten better quickly. And best of all it seems the kids actually like to go cross country skiing. We've gone every day of late, and each time I gave them the option to go sledding. And each time they have chosen to go XC skiing on Island Lake instead of sledding.

I am amazed how much their skiing technique has progressed. Yesterday they barely fell (well one or 2 falls each) and we covered twice the distance we did the first day. Stuey still has the annoying habit of freaking out if he is not in front. But no cold hands, and no urgent needs to pee. They are probably setting me up for a major ski melt down. But so far so good. ... .

Patrick

Quote of the day while eating lunch:

Nora: "When you work, Stuey, you work at McDonalds - (teasing voice) 'Hi, my name is Stuey, I work at McDonalds.'" Later on Nora adds, 'When I work, I work at school'. And Stuey rebuts Nora to add that 'when I work, I work at Taco Bell.'

Where do they come up with this stuff?

Seattle Trip

Yesterday morning Marias and I leisurely woke up and walked down to Pike Place Market looking for breakfast. None of the pastry places struck our fancy so we did an alternative style breakfast. There was a small outdoor Chinese walk up bakery where I spotted sesame seed coated red bean paste buns. Marias and I each got one then went to the outdoor fruit stand and got a container of raspberries which we ate while looking for some place for coffee. It was so nice not having to be anywhere, not plans or commitments. To just see where the day took us.

Which was to the dress section as Nordstrom.
We went dress shopping~Marias was looking for a dress for a Coast Guard promotion ceremony for her husbands work. I forgot what fun dress shopping with a girlfriend is! We spent hours just talking and trying on dresses....looking for the perfect one.

As we left the hotel for dinner, it was raining heavy and fortunately there was a bin of tall navy "to borrow" umbrellas by the door. We each grabbed one and there is something so fun about walking through a city using umbrellas in the rain. Even though it rains all the time in Kodiak, you just don't use an umbrella. Marias and I laugh that it is probably only tourists that use umbrella's here.

Walked to dinner at Chinese restaurant and dessert consisted of banana spring rolls and ice cream (see picture!). So delicious.

When deciding what to do for the rest of the evening, the bartender told us that there was either a jazz club or small irish bar with live music in the close vicinity. To the Irish Bar (Kells) we went, where live music began shortly after arriving. The dance floor was small and the band was a small 3 piece Irish Jig group. The girl played an irish whistle instrument that looked a small recorder and played the high pitched melodies. It was just lovely.

Great ending to a fun day enjoying Seattle with Marias.

Its 6:45 am..Now off to breakfast and to start my physical therapy class.

Zoya

Pictures:
Marias and I with dessert last night. She got the Mini desserts which are served in large shot glasses!
Falafel Plates for lunch

Reuniting....in Seattle

"Reunited and it feels soooo good...." Marias sings as I write this post!

Marias and I haven't seen each other in 4 years and tonight we finally reunited for the first time since she left Kodiak. Since Marias left we have kept in close contact and we have taken such similar paths in our lives....with careers, birth, child rearing, friendships, etc.
She is a friend who has always, always understood me. No matter what I tell her.

Tonight I took the light rail to the airport from my hotel and waited for her to come through airport security. Marias was flying in from Petaluma. She walked through the security gate "border" in such cute boots, skirt and fun scarf with her enthusiastic smile and hug. We took the light rail train back to the city and chatted away, catching up.

1/2 hour into the train ride, someone eavesdropping into our conversation said he would be eager to buy a round of drinks to continue to listen to the details. He was preparing to depart as he admitted to eavesdropping. Marias and I got a kick out of that!! Did we ever laugh as we thought back to the thread of our conversation. It feels so good to catch up with her after years apart.

Yesterday I visited my friend, Pauline, who gave birth 10 days ago to a beautiful baby girl, Pyper.
Pauline moved from Kodiak last summer and her friendship has been a sacred one -introducing me to yoga, helping me with fitness goals. We've always shared similar perspectives on health, fitness and life in general. When she lived in Kodiak, we we went on runs, hikes. It was so fun to see her as a new mom with little Pyper...what a lucky baby she is. Pauline and her husband Andy are such incredible parents...and now they move to South Carolina in a few weeks. Hopefully she is going to visit Kodiak this summer so I can give gorgeous Pyper some more squeezes and catch up with Pauline more.

So fun to connect with these fabulous women in Seattle! Girl Power!!

Zoya

Pics:
Marias and I at Dahlia..
Pauline, Pyper and I.

Camera Realization

I just realized that ever since Thanksgiving I have had my Pentax point-and-shoot camera set at 1040 by 640 pixel dimensions for all pictures. No wonder I have been so disapointed with its pictures of late! I noticed something was definitely up when I took those mountain goat pictures while skiing the other day (see blog post for February 28th). But at the time i could not figure out what was wrong. I thought the '1040' picture setting was for the camera's video.

And then yesterday I took this picture (I take this same picture all winter long so I can compare how the snow cover changes), and I noticed that the picture is only 1040 pixels wide. I went back and looked at all the photos I've taken with the camera and noticed that the camera was still taking big res pictures at the Phoenix airport at Thanksgiving, but small res pictures at the pool a few hours later. So that is when I inadvertently changed it. I bet I was trying to change the video quality!

The funny thing is that I was convinced the camera had 'gotten old', and had almost completely shifted to using Zoya's Panasonic waterproof camera. I'd even been telling people that the Panasonic camera took 'WAY better' photos than the Pentax. Little did I know that it was all operator error. The good thing about all this is that I have brought new life and confidence to an old camera, and now Zoya can have her camera back. It also made me realize that cameras are only as good as their operators!
Patrick

Daddy's Island Lake After School Ski Program

Today after I picked the kids up from school/daycare I took them to Island Lake to go skiing before we went home. The photos make it all look worthwhile but I must admit it was all not as joyous as it looks. First off at the car there is the rush to get the kids in their boots etc and it was super icy getting down onto the lake. I had to carry the skiis down to the lake and then pack each kid down individually. I, of course, fell down while carrying all the ski gear. This made the kids laugh.

Then out on the ice just as it was starting to get fun, Nora stated, "I have to pee". Great - in a snowsuit on over her school uniform and wearing ski boots. Time to go home. Stuey wanted to prove that he had something over Nora and promptly dropped his pants and peed in the middle of the lake. He would not let anyone go ahead of him and kind of liked to break his own trail rather than following the set track. Of course he fell a bunch and so his hands got super cold (He'd taken his gloves off).

Anyway, we made it back to the car and I tried to help Nora pee with the snowsuit pushed way down, but of course she peed on the snowsuit. I was trying to hold her up while she peed and she was laughing like crazy. Hard to get mad when the kids are obviously having fun. Then they wanted to ski again when we got home, but by then I was DONE.

Still, I'd do it again. And they do seem to like skiing. We even circum-navigated all the way around the main area of the lake. But I must admit I do 'Jones' after those kids ski programs in Los Anchorage. Some day soon it will get easier, right?

Patrick

Seattle Trip

After a whirlwind of a week last weekend, and a day of seeing physical therapy clients, I am off to Seattle for a course.

In years past when I take classes in Seattle or Portland, I fly in the night before the class, take the class and promptly fly out. This year I decided to take a day of enjoying the city. My girlfriend, Marias, from Petaluma is going to fly up tomorrow. I haven't seen her in 4 years since she and her family moved from Kodiak with the Coast Guard. And today I'm going to see my girlfriend Pauline who recently had a baby girl.

Last night during my layover in Anchorage, my mom picked me up and we went to Spenard Roadhouse for dinner. I couldn't resist posting a picture of the veggie appetizer I got....mainly because we cook a similar dish at home. It was deep fried beet chips, deep fried brussel sprouts and lightly sautéed kale with garlic. The brussel sprouts were amazing and flaked apart in a crispy fashion. Its the best brussel sprout recipe my taste buds have ever experienced. Just goes to show that anything deep fried can be good!

Landing in Anchorage last night was spectacular. The ocean was flat calm and the mountains reflected the evening light over the Cook Inlet water and ice bergs.

Zoya

Some Final Thoughts on the Race

Aubrey took so many good photos of the race that I just had to do another post! Also, you've only heard Zoya's side of things - so this is my take on the race. To put it succinctly - lots and lots of double poling! Double poling is what I am doing in the photos above - except the last one where I have just finished the race and have finally stopped double poling. I double poled about 90% of the race. Zoya figures she double poled for about 50% of the race. I only did the classic 'back and forth running motion' on the uphills.

The Tour of Anchorage course is fairly flat - so there is a lot of double poling. At the start there is a hill, then another long hill near the middle, and finally a beast of a hill with about 2K to go in the race. But that's just about it. The whole race is supposed to be 25K but it is really a bit longer - maybe 26 or 27K total. Most of the race is along the Tony Knowles coastal trail and is pretty much flat as a pancake. It was a very FAST race. I found myself double poling as fast as I could and still having a hard time keeping up with pack.

Kodiak has had a lot of snow this winter and with no grooming our trails have been very soft. So when we tried to double pole in training our poles punched deep into the snow. I think this put us at a disadvantage during the race. I know I just did not have the raw speed and power to keep up. That said - I am happy with my race. I finished 8th overall and only 10 minutes behind the winner which really is not all that much. Funnily enough my time (1:37) in the 25K freestyle race (skate skiing) would have gotten me a silver medal for my age class, but in the classic race (usually slower times) it only got me a bronze.

Photos: Top - double poling during warm up immediately prior to the start. Second - double poling at the start. I skiied most of the race with the kid in the background 2045. He is just 13 and we switched off drafting each other trying to catch the pack in front (I dropped him immediately prior to the last hill). Bottom 2 photos are at the finish. Patrick

Tour Wrap-Up

The Tour is over. The race that Patrick and I anticipated and trained for all winter. Today my legs ached, and I moved slowly at work, but it is a good soreness.

This year along the course, there was more crowd support from friends and family both on the trail and off the trail than ever. There were friends and family cheering on at Westchester Lagoon (where Aubrey-friend/photographer was there taking pictures while cheering us on!), Earthquake park, and the finish line.

On the trail, there were friends and family doing the race we were able to cheer eachother on. What a difference it makes to have a little support from familiar, caring faces along the way. People would cheer to others, "Looking good!" "Go Bob!", or my favorite thing to holler "Woo-hoo!". People also give this support to strangers skiing. When passing someone I often say, "Nice job" or "great day!". People seem to appreciate this. There was good energy on the race course.

A guy from Wisconsin and I skiied the second half of the race together. His defining characteristic was a 3 inch icicle hanging from the mustache. In the end he finished several minutes ahead. But for most of the course I was ahead and he said I kept a good pace. I called him "Wisconsin" and at the finish line he waited for me and told me how he appreciated us motivating each to keep at good clip.
Patrick skiied most of the race with a 13 year old and they would take turns drafting each other. In the end Patrick ended up finishing ahead.

The first time I did the tour was 11 years ago and I have done the race 4 times total. Finally this year, I found a groove with the race course and am not feeling defeated by it anymore. I felt defeated because I was never able to really improve my time, which killed me inside. It was a big mental challenge.

But this year changed things. I took 25 minutes off my time and placed second for my age, leaving me feeling very pleased. I appreciate it more after years of just wanting to improve my time, to just do a little better. To find out I had placed for my age this year was beyond what I could've hoped to achieve.
What a fun weekend it was!

Zoya

Photos:
-Patrick and myself at the finish. 2 minutes prior, I had been crying tears of joy with Patrick when he told me I got 2:37!
-Patrick and Aubrey M.-the awesome ski photographer! She is an archaeologist and was at the Anthropology conference the week before in Seattle. Picture of she and Patrick was taken at the conference the week before.
-Big spaghetti feed dinner the night before at Will and Beth's house. Amazing baked ziti, elk spaghetti, apple pie, laughter and conversation...
-More skiing pictures taken by Aubrey.

Tour 2012

What a weekend!

Saturday 2pm: Picked Patrick up from the airport-he was flying in from Seattle from an archaeology conference.
Saturday 3:30 pm: went for a quick "warm up" ski at Hillside. I felt very stressed about which skis to use, snow conditions and the fact that I had slight pain in my right hip. I was in minor tears. Patrick re-assured me that all would be fine with wax/ski choice on day of race.
Saturday 6:30 pm: Dinnner with our cousins, Will and Beth and family friends. Beth and Will prepared an incredible spread of baked ziti, elk burger spaghetti, apple pie for dessert.
Sunday AM 9:00: 25K race start for my brother in law Todd, Step-dad Mike, Patrick and myself. Patrick locked his keys in the trunk of the rental car. Fortunately he had everything he needed for the ski race by the time the keys were locked in the car.
Sunday Noon: Race finish...Patrick skied his race in 1:36 (8th overall!!), me in 2:37 (2nd for my age group!). I felt great through the entire race and had tears of JOY at the end of the race. I've never had so much fun and felt so good doing a race!

My stepdad Mike beat me...and he had a personal best in the race as well! I am so happy for him. We both worked hard to improve our times.

Just as patrick and I boarded the airplane, the race results were posted on-line, and I found out I took second for my age group, which was a goal beyond my wildest dreams. I NEVER imagined I would place for my age group. I was so giddy with excitement the entire flight home.

Sunday 2:00 post race party at Julie and Ray's house. Hot tub, pizzas...Felt so good to celebrate the day with good friends.
Sunday 11:30 PM: Arrived Home to Kodiak. Safe and sound and overall good reports from Leona on the homefront with Nora and Stuey.

Zoya

Picture by our friend, Aubrey M. She took many photos throughout the race...more to come later!

Time to Race

My conference is over and I am on my way to Anchorage. It's Tour of Anchorage time!

This morning when I woke up I had already mentally checked out from the conference. So when I went to breakfast before heading out to the airport I was surprised to see all my conference friends eating breakfast too, and getting ready for another day of the conference. I'd already forgotten about the conference. But I sat with some of my fellow Alaskan archaeologists and talked shop and mentally 're-checked in' for a moment until I caught the shuttle to the light rail station and hence on to the airport.

But now that I am at the airline terminal the conference really is over. Now I am thinking about the Tour of Anchorage. Tomorrow at 9:30 AM I am in the 25K classic nordic ski race. I usually do the 50K skate race but this year I decided to do the 25K classic with Zoya. Classic skiing requires more finesse and technique than skate skiing and I have been trying to improve my classic technique all winter. Zoya and I even took lessons in Anchorage. So tomorrow we will find out how we did.

I always like to put my goals down in writing before the race - so here they are: I want to finish in the top 20 and I will be ecstatic if I finish in the top 10. Time wise, I hope to break 1:40 and will be supremely pleased if I break 1:30. In 2008 I also did the 25K classic and that year I was 6th overall with a 1:26 time. But that year I got to do a lot more double poling beforehand. This year the snow has been so deep that I have mostly worked out my legs while training and have not got the upper body strength so critical for the flat Tour of Anchorage course. Nonetheless, I am hopeful that I'll break 1:40 because in the Pia's Classic 30K race that Zoya and I did earlier this year I was at 1:35 at the 25K point in the race. So we'll see!

Photo is Barometer Mountain on the morning I left Kodiak to go to Seattle. This is the view as I walked into the Kodiak terminal after parking my car in long-term parking. Patrick