WOAH BEAR, WOAH!!!

I've shown all my visitors the Grizzly Bear Safety Video, which is funny. According to the video, you're supposed to say "woah, bear, woah" as you back away. Well, turns out David and I weren't the only ones paying attention:


Hip shot deters charging grizzly

By JIM MANN/The Daily Inter Lake

‘It was just a monster bear’

It happened as fast Vic Workman as could say, “Whoa bear, whoa bear, whoa!”



FULL ARTICLE

THE bear video


The part about "it was just a monster bear" makes me think of the spoof done on Grizzly Man, which I previously posted in this very blog. What a big big bear!!!

Oh, bears are so funny. . .

THANKSGIVING -- a recap

Although it would have been nice to have the whole family around for Thanksgiving, we've become accustomed to *not* travelling on amateur weekend. Even though it was just the two of us, I brought out the good china and fancy table things Anne Wright made us register for. :p We even used the sterling silver eating utensils from Aunt Pat and Grandma. It was fancy indeed!

So below is my attempt at napkin origami (sp?). Not the best but hopefully I will be even better by Christmas.


Even though mom never made this, and I'm pretty sure no one in our family makes this, I thought I'd make green bean casserole to add some traditional kitsch. I have to say, though I love all the ingredients, it was totally overrated.


But the cheese fondue was absolutely perfect. Ted baked fresh sourdough bread and made the fondue -- I picked greens from the coldframe for the salad. They are GREEN. Apparently that's what happens when you pick them moments before the meal.


For dessert I made pumpkin pudding, which is a Weight Watchers recipe. Make a box of ff sf butterscotch pudding and mix it with a can of pumpkin and add pumpkin pie spice to taste. Top with whipped cream and you have crustless pumpkin pie. We chose this not because we were dieting on Thanksgiving, but because regardless of its low cal low fat properties, it rocks. Tastes just like pumpkin pie without the crust. And we all know crusts are hard to make.


I hope everyone had an equally lovely Thanksgiving!!!

ONE YEAR!!!

One year ago today was our first day in Montana. I miss my Chicago friends everyday, but I feel grateful to have found this life here.

More chicken controversy. . .

Cheryl emailed this article to me. Looks like chickens are causing controversy far and wide.

BLOG TAG

I was tagged by a BORG (the cool kind of course) and am to share five random facts about myself.

1) I have a tattoo on my left ankle -- it's a girlie sunshine that I got the moment I turned 18. I think that's what happens when you tell kids "you can do what you want when you're 18" -- you think they're going to forget and change their minds but it only increases their resolve. Other than my earlobes, however, I have no piercings.

2) I chose my profession (law) because I wanted to be Christine Sullivan (Markie Post's character) on Night Court. I watched that show religiously and just knew I would be like Markie! Except rather than becoming a PD, which I very nearly did, I sold my soul to the man.

3) Joanna (Hedy and Maggie's mom) and I had a fairly elaborate "game" we played when we were little called "Martian-Land." We were judges, which was the highest authority on martian land, and would travel there by lego. We knew we made it up, but my brother Dave didn't. We made him cry by not letting him come to Martian-Land. We were mean. (We met when we were 4).

4) I just agreed last night to join the Board of
Foys to Blacktail which is a super cool group trying to preserve a trail system right here in town. I just went to the meeting 'cause I wanted a trail race, gosh! :p

5) I'm really scared of chairlifts and am already feeling a little anxious about all the "plans" people have to take me up to Big Mountain to learn to ski. David might remember when I started crying in line for the chairlift in Breckenride - I was borderline hysterical.

OK, so now I'm supposed to tag 3 people. I tag Leanne, even though her blog is technically supposed to be about her dogs. . . I think it would be ok to branch out, and David, assuming he has time which he might not, and Maggie and Hedy.

CHICKEN CONTROVERSY!!!

I totally got this from David's sister's blog but I laughed so hard when I watched this video that I was crying. My boss walked in while I was watching (of course) and remarked: "only in the People's Republic of Missoula". . . Um, so, anyhow. . . evidently there's a chicken controversy down there.

There are lots of chickens in my neighborhood -- in fact, when my dogs got loose the other night they found some of our neighbors' chickens but left them unharmed. Thankfully. I actually researched our city ordinances because I would love to have hens for eggs. Unfortunately, I'm not sure Sibes and Hens are natural friends...

So here's the video and article

BIG NEWS!!!

I'm going to be an AUNT!!! Tina, pictured below eating watermelon, who was nice enough to marry my brother Dave, pictured below with me (since it's my blog it's still somewhat about me, right? :p), is pregnant!!! This is very exciting news. They're going to be GREAT parents.

VETERANS DAY

My maternal grandparents met during WWII -- Grandma was in the Women's Army Corps and my grandfather, who died before I was born, was in the Army. They fell in love during an air raid. Bombs = romance. They married during the war in Italy. Below is a picture of a picture of them (I'm too lazy to use the scanner). Happy Veterans Day.

Another reason I love where I live. . .

The dogs got out. They were "at large." I was running around the neighborhood screaming for them. Very quickly, neighbors were mobilized -- either running around looking or driving looking. People were all very concerned and took the case of the loose Huskies very seriously. Leanne and Iris came and helped rather than being where they were supposed to be -- which was so wonderful of them. We finally got 'em. The time Zeke got loose in Chicago, he was hit (gently) by a car -- and the driver yelled profanities at Ted and sped off. Gotta love a "community" (I think that's what they're called anyhow).

END-OF-THE-SEASON HIKE

Tom, Leanne, Zeke and I hiked up to Mount Aeneas -- we didn't quite make it all the way because I was nervous on the slippery ice/snow, especially with Zeke. Yeah, I had my trekking poles but still. Also, it was incredibly windy and my hands were getting super cold under my thin gloves. But, it was really nice to get out. And it's always a good excuse for a big breakfast/lunch after.

Crazy Halloween

This picture isn't the best but it shows the endless line of cute little trick-or-treaters that invaded our neighborhood last night. I believe we got over 300. We ran out of candy twice AND I gave away all my gels, sport beans, Cliff Bars, Lara Bars and Cereal Bars. I didn't want to shut down operations! Ted ran out and bought more candy but even that wasn't enough. Wow. Next year we'll need like 20 bags of candy! Or we'll need to HIDE!

Stealing a page from someone else's log (or something)

I read a blog entry about running logs (on the blog of the rockin'ist ultra runner in the west) and was inspired to review my own old log. This is the only "old" one I have -- I never logged a mile until 2003. This log is from late 2003 through November 2006. It's pretty funny. It's weird to look back at the things I gave smiley or frowney faces to. I also like to put stickers in my log (like the medallion from my first Century Ride). I should really be a kindergarten teacher. Anyhow, this is boring for the rest of the world, but it's fun for me.


Stickers on my log


Oh gosh what a terrible run! (If I could do that now I would cry tears of joy -- I believe that's 2005).


Woohoo first Century Ride! Cheryl was sure I got my certificate and sticker -- even though I was really pathetic and whiny to her that day (little tantrum). Thanks Cheryl and sorry.

CONFESSION:
I snuck off at homecoming with a scary/naughty nurse (scary because her eyes were red and her hair was green -- naughty because she was drinking on the job)

HOMECOMING QUEEN AND KING
(or perhaps Halloween)

The royal couple



Oh nos he's kissing someone else!!!!


But he's soooooo dreamy I forgive him


Reflecting on my achievements as Queen (why didn't I have a servant to clean up?)

A Late-October Saturday Morning with the little brown furball



Ready to run!



Trailhead (1.6 miles from the front door according to Garmin)



A little hazy



Perfect morning

My Trip to Boulder!!!

This past weekend I visited Joanna, Kale, Hedy and the newest family member, Maggie. Hedy is so cute!!! She is funny and has not yet mastered pronouns so she speaks in the third person. "Danni pick up Hedy's legos?"

Meanwhile, I had Noodles & Company, visited the MontBell store and bought Ted a swanky skiing jacket and went to Wild Oats and stocked up on Smart BBQ. Well, I bought them out. All three they had in stock. But it was nice to return to civilization, if only briefly. :p Though Boulder seemed pretty crowded. I don't know if I can handle the big city anymore :p

I am playing the lottery

So there's this race, that from the sounds of it is sorta the ultra equivalent of the Boston Marathon, and we all know how much I love that race and enjoyed qualifying, so since my Grizz time "qualified" me (not as in "I am qualified by my abilities to enter or run this" but as in "they will let me pay the fee and enter") to enter THIS LOTTERY, I couldn't *not* enter. I mean, granted, I was drinking red wine while I made this inredibly reasonable decision. . . it's always smart to enter all lotteries and contests. I mean, I probably won't "win" anyhow so what's the harm?

On a more sane note, I should have pictures of Maggie and Hedy up soon.

ERRATA

LINK TO DAILY INTERLAKE ARTICLE

Evidently I finished Le Grizz in 10 hours 19 minutes and 43 seconds. It's funny to me that I sort of glanced at the time of day on my watch (6 something PM) and decided how long it must have taken me. Math is hard. After running so many marathons where I'm obsessed with time, pace, splits etc. it's nice to have run a race where the only "stopwatch" type action happening was my 7/1 alarm.

Also, it's interesting to see that I was 62/85. Not too shabby for my first 50 -- especially considering the little inner tantrum in the early miles of the race. I'm pleased.

REFLECTION

I think ultrarunning is like binge drinking. I will admit that I've had some wicked hangovers and yet I still love beer. I think I spent most of yesterday on www.run100s.com.

Yo! Gabba Gabba Party In My Tummy

This is the Le Grizz post-race party yo.

LE GRIZZ 50
50 miles 7 minutes and one shot blok at a time

My basic race strategy was a 7:1 "Gallowalk" and one Cliff Shot Blok per mile. This tedious routine got me through though. I finished in 10 hours and 10-15 minutes (I really don't know for sure).

Shoes: Montrail Hardrocks (1-36) and Mizuno Wave Creation (36-50)

Background: after DNFing the Ice Age 50 at mile 37 in May 2006, I've had my heart set on completing a 50 miler. I'm not sure when I decided to do this particular race but I do know that I was one of the very first people to register.

Ironically, I was one of the very last people to make it to the race. My girlfriend Leanne picked me up early and we headed towards the race start. Somewhere in Columbia Falls on Highway 2, which is a major 4-lane highway, there was a very large animal running down the middle of the road. It was a large donkey!!! We stopped to find help - the donkey seemed frightened and I was afraid someone would hit it (and frankly, the car would fare worse than the donkey). We made various efforts to find help but without success. The donkey eventually left the road and we gave up. I'm sure the donkey found its way home.

It was still dark as we made our way to the start. The sun was beginning to barely show itself behind the craggy mountains of Glacier and the smoother profile of the mountains in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. As we turned one corner, we saw a shooting star.

Finally, we made it to "Area 51" where the race would start (mile 51 on the Forest Service mileposts). The race director was in his car coming the other way and said "you must be Danielle." I was the last person to arrive and would have to get my number from him at the starting line. This was no trouble at all. I even had time to introduce myself to Kendra Borgmann, who would place second overall (she was only a few minutes behind the winner dude) and first among the women and very nearly smash the course record. The starting line was at a Canadian flag and there was a sign for "seeded runners." This was amusing since there were 91 people or so who started the race.



Pat Caffrey, the longtime race director, gave last minute announcements including instructions to think positive thoughts during a mile that would be marked "Ann's mile" - Ann was the wife of a local man who ran this race last year at age 80. She passed in June. We were reminded that our loved ones are the only reason we're able to do this stuff. He said we could feel sorry for ourselves during the other 49 miles. Then, rather suddenly, he held up this enormous rifle and with the look of a madman fired a very loud shot. OMG what have I gotten myself into this time????

Miles 1-10 - these miles flew by. Leanne jumped in around mile 5 and ran with me until about mile 16. I felt a little stressed though because I was tired from the beginning. However, I was lucid enough this early to know that I ran the first ten miles in 1:45. That's about all I know about pace for the whole race I tried to stay in the moment and enjoy the spectacular scenery but I was nervous. I had a lot of running ahead of me.



Miles 10-25 - these were the hardest miles for me during this whole race. I wanted to cry just thinking about how far I had to run. In addition, my hip flexors were already cramping and I was tired HOW pray tell was I going to do this??? Deb jumped in around mile 10 and ran until around mile 20 and I was just sort of cranky. I tried to stay in the moment and enjoy the scenery but all I felt was stress. I just needed to make it to mile 25 and then at least I knew it was ok if it started to hurt.

Miles 25-30 - I started to feel better. Rebecca, the founder of our running club, ran miles 20-30 with me and was at one point talking about other ultras we were going to run later. I think I might have informed her of my planned retirement from running. Meanwhile, Leanna hooked me up with water and V-8 juice or whatever struck my fancy every 3-4 miles. Each five miles I got an S-cap and I greatly looked forward to those. Oh and the Tylenol. I love me some Tylenol. At mile 30, I think I was already somehow behind my goal time by 15-20 minutes but didn't care anymore. I just needed to finish. I tried not to dilly dally during aid stops but I always do.

Miles 30-36 - Ruth jumped in at mile 30 and was a very calming influence. She is very sweet and encouraging. She told me about her new puppy and I dragged myself along. These miles were fairly calm and I was finally able to genuinely enjoy the scenery and be in the moment. I love how she says "good hill good hill" at every hill. It makes me smile.

Mile 36 - this is where we hit pavement. The remainder of the race is on pavement sauf the bushwhack at the end. I change shoes and sock and grab my iPod. I was going to have to be rude but I needed music. Somewhere Tom had hopped in, who would run the rest of the race with me. He was the perfect person for this job. We took off and between the music and shoes that weighed less than half (it seemed) than my trail shoes, I started flying. Tom and Ruth were both with me at this point and remarked that I had really started running faster. It's funny how when you're exhausted (or intoxicated) song lyrics take on new special meaning.

Listen, listen: This is mark I cannot place This is the wish I dare not leave Time uncovers what is keeping still I unaware move against my will

Simon says, "pass on by" Passions wane, stragglers weep Hungers fight Here, things are We'll never get that far Close enough to die a time or two or three

Who needs pain to survive? I need pain to change my life

I fly with the aid of my music. I think to myself "this music tastes soooooo good." Hmmm guess I'm a little delirious.

Mile 38 - I believe this was Ann's mile. Somewhere around here. I thought about loved ones and how good life is and then had to stop because it was making me weepy. Weepy and running don't mix.

Mile 40 - Yeah!!! At this point, I'm just knocking off single digits. Happy day! I made it! I keep flying. . .

Mile 43 - Leanne looks very worried. "Are you feeling ok?" "Yeah I feel fine! Do I look bad?" "Yeah you look really pale." Well, I don't have that much further so who cares.

Mile 47 - At this point in the race, we cross the Hungry Horse Dam. Tom and I stop to check it out and hang over the edge. Bad idea. I get total vertigo. I feel very dizzy and want to throw up. Suddenly the "highlight" of the race becomes what feels like a scary swinging bridge suspended thousands of feet up. I just need to get across. I do and I don't throw up.






Mile 48 - all my friends join me. Deb, Tom, Ruth, Rebecca and Leanne are all running with me. We see John drive by -- who graciously volunteered his day to serve as Grizz Patrol. I'm oblivious listening to my iPod, which at this point has become my life support.



Mile 49.something - there's this bushwhack straight up a dirt hill (no trail) where I have to grab trees and pull myself up. Luckily, Leanne was behind me (I think?) to catch me when I nearly fell backwards and gently push me up.

Mile 50 - my friends ran ahead and made an arch with their arms for me to run through. I was laughing so hard it's ridiculous. Only they could make it so funny. I'm done!!!

I guess it sounds like I didn't really enjoy myself and I guess I can't lie and say it was fun. It was hard and it was far. I'm glad I did it and I feel a great sense of accomplishment. Most of all I feel so honored to have received so much help from my friends. I've only been here ten months and have already made the kind of friends you hope to make in a lifetime. I am so blessed.

I wrote this yesterday. Now, Monday, I'm already excited to run another one. And it seemed more fun in hindsight than I thought yesterday. Next summer I'd like to work on my trail running skillz and attempt Devil's Backbone and Elkhorn. In 2009, maybe 100??? We shall see. ;)