Thursday, June 26, 2008

îOlé!


This summer we're temporarily relocating to Ventura and living with various family members. As Ryan says, we'll stay at the house that serves the best dinner each night! I'm enjoying my time here. I enrolled in Español 3 at Ventura College (hence the sombrero). It's nice to take a class just for fun after the time I put into earning my Master's degree! I miss San Diego, but it's nice to spend time with Ryan's family. I am experiencing the same dilemma I have in San Diego, though. Everyone works all day long! My class is daily until 12:30, but after that, I have little to do. I guess I'll have to find more things to do. I'm trying to save gas by riding my bike wherever I can and have found easy routes to the harbor and the beach. As I mentioned earlier, I'd like to take a dance class, art class, or something else this summer. I had planned to do some of this in San Diego with fellow teachers, but now that I'm up here, I'll have to check things out. In the meantime, I'm content catching up on summer reading, trying out Martha Stewart's latest craft, and riding my bike around town. I love the summertime!
(By the way, please forgive the special upside-down exclamation point in the title. I learned how to type special characters, but can't find the code for that one!)

Saturday, June 14, 2008

The End is the Just the Beginning of Something New

What a week! School's out for the summer as of yesterday! I completed my Master's research and presented my final research project on Thursday. Now what? I'm thinking a Spanish summer school class, possibly take a belly dancing class, I want to learn a new art form - glass blowing?, and time to start training for my next half marathon!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Rock 'n Roll!


I did it! The BIG DADDY!! I completed my first marathon! Whoo hoo! It only took me 6 hours and 4 minutes (if you subtract the time I spent in line for the bathrooms)! I am really sore and can't climb up and down the stairs yet, but I DID IT!!

Ryan accidentally shot a video instead of taking a picture, so you'll see me running and then you'll see his shoes as he runs alongside me for a few steps! My shirt is so cute, I wish you could see it. It says "26.2 miles and still smiling!"


Here is a link for a video of me crossing the finish line from NBC. I crossed at the same time as the blind guy in the red shirt, so look to his left and you'll see me! The clock time was 6:34:49.
http://video.nbcsandiego.com/player/?id=257858

What a great experience! I recommend this marathon to anyone. It is a great course for first timers because it is relatively flat and the course is very scenic almost the whole time. Also, there were 26 bands playing along the way, so there was very little quiet time on the course. Another thing I loved was that they personalized our bibs. It was so encouraging to hear spectators shout out "Go Krista!" "You can do it, Krista!" "Krista's going 26.2 miles and still smiling!"
This was one of those events of a lifetime. Anyone want to join me May 31, 2009?