Final List Update

Here is the final list.  I need to set the date for item #16 and I think it will be December 2nd, if you want to come along, let me know!  For the Art Class I have decided it would be a first to try to make some pottery so I am going to do that.  I still need to post about the dinner at Lenoir the restaurant that was amazing and will do so very soon.  Actually, if you see anything on the list that is remaining that you might want to tag along with me, shoot me an email.
 Hard to believe the year is almost up and it will be the end of this list.  Someone asked me if I was going to have a list of 46 next year and I emphatically said, "NO!"  Now that I have had some time to ponder, I may have a hobby that I attempt to do for 46 weeks, and that is the extent of next years list.

1. Get physical exercise 5-6 times a week for 45 weeks - Ongoing
2.  Austin 5k - Run for the Water
3.  Danskin Triathlon - June
4.  Highland Lakes Challenge - October
5. 135/8 - Ongoing
6.  Masters swimming meet/ 3x3 Challenge - TBD
7.  Diva Dash - April
8.  Change Hair - January
9.  Passport Vacation - Caribbean Cruise
10.  Trip to San Diego with Kim & Stacy and others – July/August
11.   Paragliding - August
12.    Surfing  - August
13.    Swimming with Sting Rays - Grand Cayman
14.    Horseback riding on the beach - Jamaica
15.    Swim with dolphins - Cozumel
16.   Chicken S*&t Bingo - December
17.    Zip lining - March
18.    Make bed each weekday morning - Ongoing
19.    Plant garden/produce veggies and herbs - Spring
20.   Get an egg from hens - Spring
21.   Empty kitchen sink each weekday night - Ongoing
22.   Redecorate Nicole’s room for 10th birthday - June
23.   Blanton B Scene Art Party - November 30
24.   AMOA Opening - Janauary
25.   Lenoir Special Seafood Dinner – November
26.    Opera – Lucia di Lammermoor – February
27.    Broadway Across America – Wicked – February
28.   Ballet – Fall
29.   Paramount Theater – Summer
30.   UT Football home game -Opening game vs. Wyoming
31.    Symphony - December
32.   Texas Advocacy Project – Handbags for Hope became KW Red Day
33.    SXSW – Focus Movie – March
34.   The Hobbit Feast - December
35.     One handwritten note a month to Nicole for book – Ongoing
36.   One handwritten note a month to a Friend or Family member - Ongoing
37.   Photography Class - December
38.   Ceramic Art Class - December
39.    Top 45 at 45 Blog – Ongoing
40.   Courage to Change Blog – Ongoing
41.    The Artist’s Way morning pages and art dates – Ongoing
42.   iPhone Apple class – January
43.    Practice French – Ongoing
44.   Whole Foods or Central Market Cooking class became Le Cordon Bleu Class - TBD
45.   Organize Family Birthday Calendar - December

Daylight Savings

     In about an hour and a half, the clocks on the computers, phones, ipad and TVs will automatically reset and fall back 1 hour.  I have already set the clocks, microwave and oven clocks back so when I wake up in the morning, I won't be alarmed by the difference in times.  Computers however, are not full proof in knowing the correct dates to change times as was evidenced last weekend when Nicole and I took part in the Run for the Water race.  As we headed downtown, some of the electronic signs had already adjusted to an earlier time announcing 5:30am instead of the actual 6:30am that we were at while driving on Barton Springs looking for parking to get to the starting line in time for my 7:15 5k kick off.

     I am fairly certain that the organizers of the race thought that the clock would change that weekend too, when they decided to start the 10miler so darn early in the morning.  Another explanation is that runners and organizers of runners here in Austin are just plumb crazy for setting a start time so early on a Sunday morning.

I know that Nicole was not too happy about getting up so early on a Sunday.  I had to use the parental line of, "We are lucky to have the things we have, including clean water to drink each day, because some people have to wake up this early to walk to get clean water," to help Nicole adjust her attitude about the wake up call (things you never thought you would say to your kids type of line).
      The race was a good bit larger than I had expected and Keller Williams Realty is a big sponsor for the race.  After meeting Gilbert Tuhabonye at one of KW Team Meetings, I decided to add this event to my list, substituting it for the Capitol Triathlon that I didn't do in September due to lack of training time.  The formation of the Gazelle Foundation was inspired by the story of Gilbert who was a survivor of the Hutu/Tutsi civil unrest in Burundi.  He wrote a book, This Voice in My Heart, that I intend on reading soon, and is an autobiographical account of his upbringing and tale of survival.

Right after signing up for the race, I posted on Facebook that I had signed up and invited some friends to join me.  Allison and Maria eventually signed up to run with me and it was nice to have the support.  Allison is currently training to run a marathon and has been logging quite a few miles each week in preparation and Maria is more like me, not quite as much running.  When I asked Allison how fast she could run a mile, she pointed to her iPhone that was securely attached to her arm and said that it depended on the music that was playing.  I knew that I wasn't going to be able to keep up with her when she said the first song to play would be Let's Get it Started AND that I had forgotten to even bring music to run to during the 5k.  Maria remembered her music but was nice enough to hang with me throughout the race.  Having her to talk to helped in two ways 1) I ran a bit faster than I have recently and 2) I actually ran the entire 5k nonstop.
     I finished the run in about 37 minutes, not my best time in a 5k and also not my worst.  From the results, I was 24th in my age group.
     Nicole and Hadley were signed up to run the Kid K that started right around 9am.  It was fun to see them lined up at the starting line and I was proud of both girls for participating for the cause of clean water. 

     I definitely want to send out a special thanks to Allison and Maria for running with me, and to their husbands, Dan and Matt, who came out to the race to watch Nicole and Hadley while we ran our race.  We celebrated with breakfast at NXNW and then Nic and I came home and I didn't do much the rest of the day as I was still recovering from the 5k swim and then the 5k run complete within days of one another.

New list update to come this week.
Time for bed..even though we set the clock back one hour, I don't need to push my luck.

Highland Lakes Challenge

On Thursday morning, I swam in the 6th Annual, Tex Roberston, Highland Lakes Challenge.  The annual event is organized by former Olympian, Sandy Neilson-Bell, and her husband, Dr. Keith Bell.  Sandy was a triple gold medalist at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany in the 100 meter freestyle.  She won three golds, one in the individual 100 free, one in the 4 x 100 free relay and one in the 4 x 100 meter medley relay.  My masters swim coach, Carolyn, is a swimmer on Sandy's master team, the Team Texas Masters and is basically responsible for getting me to put this event on my list for this year.  She will pay for this inspired me and made me believe that I could accomplish this, so lots of credit to her for believing in my abilities to complete this even if I doubted it from time to time.

The Challenge consists of 5 stages of swimming in Lake Buchanan, Inks Lake, Lake LBJ, Lake Marble Falls and Lake Travis.  Swimmers can swim in all five stages or just one stage, swimming distances ranging in length of 1 mile up to 4 miles depending on the course and the day.  I chose to swim in the Inks Lake stage because it was the best day to fit into my schedule and as it turns out, it was the right choice because the weather turned cold overnight between Thursday and Friday. Originally, I was going to do a 1 mile swim, however there were only 4 other swimmers other than myself and they were all going to do the great distance.  Since I didn't want to create any problems for the organizers (or disappoint Carolyn ; ) ), I opted to increase my distance from 1 mile to 3 miles.

This particular leg of the event began on the docks of Camp Longhorn, a summer camp that was started by Tex and Pat Robertson in 1939.  Coincidentally, I had been to Camp Longhorn years before when I was a nanny for a family whose children attended camp over the summers there.  It has grown significantly over the years and I got lost looking for the docks because it was so different from when I had been there before.

Camp Longhorn Lazy River

Overcast Pre-race sky

My Pre-race companion, Hank

It is fitting that the challenge is named after Tex Robertson as he is a former Olympian in Water Polo and former swimming coach for the University of Texas who is best known for inventing the flip turn and coaching Adolph Kiefer who was a world champion backstroker.  Flip turns are only permitted during the freestyle and backstroke races while, in butterfly and breaststroke, regulations require swimmers to touch the end of the pool with both hands before turning back for another length. 

Tex's Olympic bag

Tex Pool Dedication

 

Tex Robertson's Medal Room

After meeting on the docks, we all climbed on a boat and Sandy drove us around a bend to begin the swim near a damn.  The water was fairly cold upon entry but since I typically get pretty hot during practice at the Y, I knew the temperature was not going to be an issue once I started the 3 mile trek.  We 'warmed' up a little before Sandy counted us down and we took off.  I was a little concerned early on because my left arm and shoulder were uncomfortable pretty quickly so I started alternating between freestyle and breaststroke to give other muscles a chance to kick in.  There was no choppiness for most of the swim and I am very grateful for that because the last time I did an open water swim, the small waves were hitting me to one side and I ended up getting really dizzy and nauseous that lasted most of the rest of the day after the swim.  The only regret I can think of was that I wish I had goggles that were shaded like sunglasses because the glare from the sun made it difficult to site the course.  Doing breaststroke did double duty, helping my muscles and helping me to site the course better.  I held my place in the middle of the pack for the entire 3 miles occasionally spotting Keith and Patty pretty far ahead and Bill and Paul a slight distance behind.  At one point, Sandy and Carolyn pulled up nearby in a boat to let me know I was pulling to the left and redirected me closer to shore.  As I got closer to the finish, the recognizable Camp Longhorn buildings helped to calm me down a bit as I knew that once I could spot them, I was coming to the end of the challenge.  The last 500-800 yards were pretty tough because the choppiness of the lake picked up considerably and luckily it was coming head-on instead of at an angle or to either side of my head.  When I saw the final buoy, I had enough energy to kick to the end to reach the dock and pull slightly ahead of Bill, as Carolyn told me after I finished. 

Carolyn said she felt like a proud momma for me and was impressed with my time.  I really didn't have any idea how I had done other than the time of 1 hour and 41 minutes because I had nothing to compare it to having never done a distance like this.  I was in the company of people who do this type of thing on a regular basis, Patty having just swam a 10 miler in Tennessee a couple of weekends ago for instance.  I am proud of the time and the fact that I pushed myself to do the entire 3 miles instead of the 1 mile but I am still recovering, several days later, and will play it by ear on whether or not I will do this event again. 

One final note, I was pretty surprised at how dirty my suit got, acting like a filter for the dirt floating around the top of the lake and was sure to take some Emergen-C to help prevent getting sick from the dirt and slime that I filtered through my nose while I raced.

Dirt filtered through my suit

 Tomorrow, I am running in the Run for the Water event downtown and will report on that early next week as well as do a recap of what is left on the list and how I hope to accomplish the rest before December 31!

The Shrew

A few weeks ago, I went with my friend, Margaret, to see the Taming of the Shrew ballet that was put on by Ballet Austin at the Long Center.  It was awesome!

Before the ballet, we decided to have dinner downtown at Bess Bistro on Pecan.  For those of you who don't know, Sandra Bullock is one of the owners of Bess Bistro in addition to Walton's Fancy and Staple that is across the street from Bess on the portion of 6th Street west of Congress.  Pecan Street is another name for 6th street because, like many of the streets in Austin, any street that is any street in Austin, has more than one name.  Just check out this list put together by one of the title companies I do business with below.

  

There were no Sandra Bullock sightings, however I have seen her there before.  Margaret and I enjoyed a really lovely, relaxing dinner finally finding some time to catch up on each others happenings.  We both had a fish dish and I ate everything on my plate because a) I was hungry and b) I couldn't take any of it home because we were heading to the ballet and there was no way I was leaving any of the yumminess on the plate!  For dessert, we had their dessert du jour that had a Nutella-like flavor and was so light and the perfect thing to have after dinner with some decaf coffee.

Both of us were a little apprehensive about the idea of Taming of the Shrew, that is seemingly Shakespeare-dialogue dependent, turned into a ballet and we were both in for a surprise.  The troupe was amazing!  They did such a wonderful job translating their emotions into movement that you could tell who was playing which character from the start and their was no confusion which ballerina was the shrew.  There were two lines spoken near the beginning of the ballet that honestly weren't needed, but it was fun to hear some spoken word at a ballet.

I really enjoyed the simplicity of the sets too, that through minor changes represented very well the various scenes in the ballet.  Many of the extras spent time easily moving props on and off the stage and a few pieces of the furniture were made of a translucent material that I really liked.  For some reason, the translucent furniture had a big impact on me because I think it served a really good purpose and yet it did not distract from the ballet.

 

Ballet Austin - Taming of the Shrew

I am winding down the year and will be doing on last list update this week.  I need to motivate in these last 12 weeks of the year to finish up the last of the Top 45!

Swimmin' in the Rain

On the list, I had picked to do the Austin Tri Rocks triathlon and had to make a switch due to lack of training time.  Without proper training, I am pretty concerned about injury.  I substituted the "World Championship of Texas 3 on 3 Swimming Tournament" that took place this past Sunday.   The tournament consists of a series of games where a team of three competes with another team of three in various races and a team is eliminated after two lost games.  The pairs of competitors swim along other pairs of competitors in order to add a little bit of excitement and to prevent the tournament from lasting all day and night.  The games were in the following order: Free relay, 50 fly, 50 back, 75 IM (no freestyle), 50 free, 50 breaststroke then IM relay (again, no freestyle).  I was somewhat concerned the event would be canceled (and half hoping it would be, too) due to rain.  For those of you who have been in Austin for longer than a month, you know we definitely welcome the rain.  For those of you who know me, I get EXTREMELY anxious before any competitive event and I was semi-hoping it would start thundering...we only got rain, lots of rain, but nothing that would cancel the event.  At least it was swimming in the rain and not running or riding a bike in the rain.

Pre-Race (Carolyn MIA because she helped organize the event)

My master's coach from the YMCA, Carolyn, organized two teams.  The team I was on included our coach Carolyn, Courtney and myself and was named The Naughty Narwhals (our team at the Y is called the Narwhals) and the second team had Brian, Mitch and Christy called Sparkle Motion.  Apparently, Sparkle Motion is from the movie Donnie Darko and when I searched the name on google, it came up in the Urban Dictionary defined as, "Phrase that can be used to describe something awesome," and "Originally from the movie Donnie Darko, where Sparkle Motion was the name of a dance group composed of little girls."  I would say the first definition is more appropriate because Sparkle Motion at the tournament kicked some booty!

Courtney, Carolyn & Me

Brian, Christy & Mitch

In our first 'game', Carolyn warned us that we were swimming against some pretty tough competition and we may end up 'bagging' the races to conserve our energy.  Sure enough, one of the team members of our first opposing teams was apparently named one of the 10 fittest people in Austin.  Yes, you read that correctly.  In a city that has Lance Armstrong as one of the other top 10 people on that list, one of our first competitors is in his league.  Needless to say, we didn't win any of those games in that heat.  I came pretty close to winning the 50 free because I said to my competitor that it wasn't fair that they win all of them, but I still didn't win that race.

***UPDATE: I looked up our competition and sure enough, Kristen Turner was mentioned as half of one of the fittest couples in Austin in the Austin Fit Magazine's February 2011 issue.
We didn't have a chance....

Our second 'game' was not until the fourth heat which gave us a little bit of rest time.  We swam against a set of tween girls and when I looked at them I decided it was probably a better bet that we could with this game.  I swam the same events as the first time and we actually won.  About half way through the game, I realized this meant we were going to have to swim again and we had no idea if we would get a break because of the nature of the tournament.  I was a little bit worried that I had pushed a little too hard against our opponents AND it had really started to rain pretty hard.  I know that we were wet already from the water, but it was pretty chilly and there was a breeze.  We found it was better to stay in the water as long as we could before each race to keep our muscles warm.

Pre-Race and no rain.

Rain during tournament.

We won our second match up but then we had to turn around immediately and start our third.  We just couldn't pull out another win.  The three of us were warn out, tired and cold.

The tournament was a blast and I plan to do it again next year.  I am also hoping to recruit Nicole and some of her teammates for a group of younger Narwhals.  Other than the sore that I developed on teh bottom of my left big tow from having to start so many times on some rough starting blocks, I did get to bring home a prize from our 'win' set of games.

3 on 3 Booty

 We didn't win much, but we sure had a blast trying!

Fly Like An Eagle

     There were many things that I _did_ do when I lived in San Diego for three years, and many things that I wanted to do that I didn't.  I worked at the San Diego Supercomputer Center for three years and it is located across the street from the Torrey Pines Glider Port.  For three years, I kept saying that I needed to go and check it out and I never did.  During those three years, my friend Greg, spent a good bit of time there, getting his pilot's license and spending hours learning how to use the equipment and fly on his own.
     When I was compiling my list of 45 things, I remembered how fondly Greg spoke about paragliding and how peaceful it was.  I told myself when I was making my list that it would not involve anything life threatening and technically speaking I guess paragliding could be borderline life-threatening, I had not heard about anyone dying from it.
     I called up the Gliderport on Tuesday morning and they said that conditions were right and the winds were favorable for flying so I put on a baseball cap and took off to fly above the cove.  My instructor/tandem pilot was Bob.  His description reads as follows:
"Bob Hammond is a lifelong resident of La Jolla.  Bob has been a Gliderport participant for over 40 years.  In the mid-70's Bob hang glided in the mountains, and in 2004 he transformed his dreams of free flight into paragliding.  Bob reflects a very patient and mellow approach to training newer pilots.  He works with students at their own pace to ensure that they receive a top quality learning experience.  Bob holds USHPA Advanced Paragliding Instructor and Tandem Instructor ratings."
Bob was definitely patient and gave me clear instructions on how the take off would happen.  He didn't just say, "Ready, set, jump off the cliff!," but it wasn't too much more difficult than that.

Jump!

      It is amazing how the gentle wind completely grabbed hold of the chute and yanked us into the air with barely any sensation of falling.  We turned toward the north and we were off!  We spent about 30 minutes gliding alternatively past the Torrey Pines Golf Course to the north and multi-million dollor homes to the south of the gliderport.  One home that Bob pointed out to me was valued at about $80m and was owned by the man who started one of the grocery chains in California. 

Torrey Pines to the north.

I wasn't going to tempt fate and carry my camera or iPhone with me and risk dropping it the 400 yards to the beach so I have to rely on the photos taken by the gliderport photog.  And here is as close as he got proving that it was actually me.

It's Me!

I really enjoyed the ride and the peacefulness of floating above the Torrey Pines Cliffs.  However, since I did start to experience a slight attack of dizziness due to inner ear issues so while I probably won't paraglide again, I am very glad that I have tried it at least once and it is tough to beat the view from these seats!

Fly like an eagle!

Coming up soon:
List update and UT Football!

World Champion

    A couple of weeks ago, I traveled to Southern California to work on two of my list items and get a little break from work and relax.   No, I didn't instantly become a world champion surfer, but my surf instructor Alisa Schwarzstein-Cairns _is_ a world champion and legend in the surfing world.  You can read about her here, here, and here.  Special thanks to my cousin, Fabiola for introducing me to Alisa because she was the perfect instructor for me.  Alisa didn't waste a lot of time grilling me on popping up on my board on the beach nor did she take too much time instructing me on how to recognize when a wave is good to catch because she was going to do that for me.  She either did none of the above because a) she knew I was a quick learner or b) she didn't think I had a chance of getting up and staying up and didn't want to waste our time.

Surf Kooks!

     After wiggling and giggling myself into the wetsuit and swim booties and the requisite (according to Christianne) photo in front of the 'kooks' sign we were off to the beach.  The biggest thing that struck me on the descent to the water, was the image of about 20 surfers floating about 10 yards out in the water gazing out to sea watching for the perfect wave.  They looked like sea lions popping up through the waves as bad ones rolled by them.  I must admit it caused me a little bit of anxiety thinking about trying get up on the board around so many people, but that feeling quickly passed when I remembered that I would be out there with Alisa.  She went over the key points again, including that when I fall, the best way to go down is with my butt first.  A round of hugs to Fab and Christianne and we were off.  Masters swimming practice definitely helped with the paddle out as well as the pull up on the board.
     On the first attempt, Alisa told me to turn and start paddling quickly.  I did as I was told and suddenly received a huge push from behind, tried to pull up on the board and promptly fell.  In my head I was thinking, "Man, I thought I was doing great paddling myself, but that Alisa is so powerful coming from behind to push me."  After a couple more tries and falls....

Hang Ten!!!!

....I GOT UP!!!!!
   I can totally see why surfing can become addicting and it is probably a good thing that I don't live on the west coast because I would be out there watching for waves to ride like those 20 others.  It was truly exhilarating and exciting and just so much fun.  I could have gone on forever, but after about 2 hours and several successful rides, my body just wouldn't let me paddle out anymore and we called it a day.

Alisa and Me after surfing

Thanks to Fabiola for introducing me to Alisa, for Alisa and for Christianne my cheerleader and photographer.  The end of the day was enjoying a glass of wine, watching the Olympics with Fabiola and Chuck, and getting to watch the sunset of Laguna Beach from the balcony chez Kinder.

Laguna Sunset