Truly Terrible Tarague Hill

I love weekends! Not as much as I did when I was working but still, they rock! It began Friday...at 430am. I wouldn't say this was fun but boy am I glad it's done! I drove down to Tarague beach for running camp. Not having much of a clue as to what was on tap for that day I was pretty relaxed. So like every day we start running down the road that parallels the beach. Not bad, it's pitch black of course so we've got flashlights and reflective gear. We get to the famous Sanders Slope. I say famous because this narrow little road goes from sea level to 600 feet, the highest part of the island in about 1/2 mile. I have never seen such a steep grade before, Colin's car can't even climb it! So we start climbing and about 1/3 of the way into it, I call back to Noemie, our coach in a meek little voice "uh Noemie? "Yes?" "So uh, how far are we going to go this morning?" "All the way Caitleeen (she's french)" "No (pant pant) really, (pant) how far?" "To the top! Keep running!" "(pant)Whaaat??" I yell. "YOU CANNOT STOP KEEP RUNNING!!!!!" (for such a cute little woman, she can scare the pants off you). Seriously there was probably about three inches between my steps as I climbed. Good thing it was dark, I looked PATHETIC! Combine that with cars speeding down the road, I was a mess. Somehow we made it to the top, we all survived it. I only managed to step on one slimy creature (I'm thinking a frog), not bad. The run back down was glorious. I felt like a speed racer, it was fantastic! Somehow the two miles back was nothing compared to that monster hill, amazing how your perspective changes sometimes!

So after I recovered from my torturous run we all went to the Osterhaus's house for Make-Your-Own Calzone night. Wow, Mike could seriously put my Nana to the test. They were fantastic! We played Balderdash afterwards, this is definitely a game you need to play with guys, there is no shortage of creativity in those heads of theirs, reminds me of those times in college when we would put off studying for as long as possible. [Sigh] Those were the days!

Today we all gathered in the "Quad" for football. The quad is the stretch of grass that lies behind our house. Several of our neighbors are from the squadron so naturally, we clearly feel it's our property! Today all the dogs showed up. We had Skipper, Cash, Oscar, Cheddar and Dawson (note, all 60lbs and up) all milling (er, sprinting madly) about the field. The game was more entertaining than College Game day, imagine trying to run down the field for a block as three dogs jump, spin and bounce...right in front of you. Oscar, a tank of a black lab decided to play linebacker and blitzed the QB every time. Poor Levi ran for a catch...straight into Oscar, both executed some Olympic quality somersaults leaving Levi sprawled on the ground and Oscar bounding back up to get the ball. The dog is pure rubber.

My team won of course (why wouldn't we?) and we polished off the evening with brats, burgers and chips. YUM! What is even better is that the ocean breeze swept in and kicked the pants off the humidity, praise the Lord!! The dogs of course were still panting and drooling, but this time by the grill. Relentless I say!

Now it is off to bed, I must rise and shine at 4:30am for my last week of running camp!

Adios!
Caitlyn

Displaying my vote in a rousing game of Balderdash!

Some of us gals after some fabulous calzones!!