Zoo Run Run

Nashville Zoo - Zoo Run Run

I've been running 5Ks in Nashville for about 7 years now and I'm progressively getting faster.  It's been a long slow process for me.  I have been able to increase about 15 to 30 seconds each year.  This past Saturday, I set my fastest time for a 5K.  25 min 25 seconds for a pace of 8:05.  I must be completely honest and admit that I hoped all the girls I saw finish in front of me were younger or older and I had somehow won my age group.  I was imagining the prize to be a chocolate elephant or a giraffe head!  But to my disappointment I was beat by none other than "christie beth adams".  I say it this way because this girl beats me in every single 5K and not just by a little.   If you notice, by an entire minute per mile!  I don't know how she has time for all this running.  And she always enters her name in all lowercase letters.

After a little research, I find that she is co-owner or something at Fleet Feet Sports here in Nashville.   I guess the chocolate elephant will have to wait until she decides to move or have babies.  :/

Zion, Bryce, Havasu and In Between

For as long as I can remember, I've had a strong desire to see every nook and cranny this world has to offer.  You could tell me it was the most miserable place on earth and I think I'd still want to go there.

I'd love to mark off lots of places in the US before expanding out, but other countries often call my name and you just have to let things flow the way they want.  Due to my love for travel, here is my first TRAVEL POST.

This past summer...late summer...I had the opportunity to visit Havasupai Indian Reservation and added Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park onto the trip.

HAVASUPAI 

To get to the falls, you hike 10 miles from Hulupai Hilltop down a dirt and gravel road (also a river bed during heavy rains) to the village of the Havasupai Indians then continue 2 more miles to the campground and Havasu Falls.

Havasu Falls is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.  The water is so blue...I thought all the photos I had seen before were photoshopped, but no.  Calcium occurs naturally in the water and the deposits cause the coloring.

Hiking through the brush to the next set of falls

PAGE, ARIZONA

  

Horseshoe Bend wasn't very adventurous as far as the hike out to it, but definitely worth feeling "touristy".  

Lake Powell

BRYCE CANYON

This is a great place to see if you just want to drive straight up to the attraction.  It takes literally, zero hiking to see the most amazing colors in stone formations.  These crazy formations are called hoodoos and the early Mormon settlers to the area would allow cattle to graze in the valleys between.  Talk about losing a cow!

The famous Thor's Hammer

ZION NATIONAL PARK

I drove into this park during the sunrise hours.  We left Bryce around 4:30 in the morning to get to Zion first thing and start our hike of the Subway.  The drive in from the East was spectacular.  You come through the famous Zion-Mount Carmel tunnel completed in 1930 and wind down a road into the valley between the mountains.  The sun was just peaking over the edges of the ridgeline and casting amazing shadows on the stone to the west.  I tried to wake Jesse from his slumber, but he was pretty exhausted.  I owe him big time for taking the first driving shift and allowing me to experience that God-proof moment.

       

  

I must admit that while hiking the Virgin Narrows was one the most different and exciting things I've done, it was also a bit unnerving.  There were flash flood warnings out for the day we hiked this and while it didn't rain on us while hiking, there were storm clouds looming the entire afternoon.  The rain hit while we were camped out up on a little dirt mound above the flash flood line.  The muddy water you see me hiking in is the day after the rains.  The day before, the river was so clear we could see the bottom.

Our last night in Zion we sat and admired the view.  A sidenote:  everything in the dessert will attack you.  Never try to wear flip-flops or walk anywhere barefoot.  Even the most inconspicuous plant has spikes and teeth.

We ended the trip with a drive up the west side of Zion to go Rock-Hounding in the backlands of Utah and then finished up with a relaxing day in Vegas.  If you can imagine Vegas being relaxing at all.

I would highly recommend seeing this part of the country whether you consider yourself an adventurous soul or not.  You can't look a single direction without seeing something that baffles your mind and causes you to wonder at the mighty creativity God encompasses.

Facebook Strike

Facebook and the New Year...

So for the start of the new year I've decided to remove myself from facebook and it's many distractions.   And these are not positive distractions.  I have not committed myself to staying off of it for a certain amount of time, because I don't like setting goals that I can't meet.  My main reason is that I found myself checking it immediately when I woke up in the morning.  Before I would even get out of bed, I checked facebook to see if anything exciting happened at 3 AM.  But did I really care what happened in the middle of the night?  No, not really.  I think it was more a way for me to just have something to do because being completely still is no longer acceptable in this world.

So about being "completely still"...it is in those moments that I meet God face to face and I'm able to hear what he wants from me.  I am able to connect to his VERY SILENT plea for me to be close to him.

My friend sent me this after I told her I was closing my facebook account.  It cracked me up and is pretty true for most of us I imagine.

If getting off of facebook brings about nothing more than me spending more time focusing on the good things God has provided me, it will be well worth it!