Bob Firman XC Invitational

On Saturday, September 26th, Jeff and I took our varsity cross country runners to Spokane, WA to the Nike Bob Firman Invitational. The meet was held on The Course, a brand new this year purpose-built cross country course in scenic Spokane Valley. That means this course is ONLY a cross country course. It is not at a park that is used for other sports. It is not in playing fields full of divots from cleats and pivots. It's not even a golf course. It is a wide path of velvety grass that was planted and cultivated especially for running. It was the smoothest natural grown grass that I have ever experienced. The smoothness was noticeable even in the short time my feet were on the course-- I only jogged across the course a few times while watching the races. The Course just barely opened up in the past year, and this was our first time there! 

Eighteen Thousand

 We heard back from Nissan! When the factory recall procedure bricked and ruined Jeff's electric car six weeks ago, Nissan promised to pay us Kelley Blue Book value plus 40% to replace the car. Jeff estimated it would be about $14,000, which was not quite enough for an electric car with more than 120 miles of range, but still better than nothing. The replacement car he bought was $20,000. Once Nissan's payment came through, it would take us another uncomfortable year to pay off that last $6k, when we had just finished paying off the original car a few weeks before it was ruined! It was such an annoying financial setback, but what could we do? All month it was in the back of my mind, wondering how we would save any money over the next year while paying for such an expensive car. Nissan took its sweet time getting all of the information and paperwork together, and this week, nearly six weeks after the car died, they finally told us the amount they deemed sufficient to replace it. In a rare twist of fate, the replacement payout was more than we expected! On Friday, Jeff texted me one number with no explanation: 

Dog Days

 We are in the dog days of cross country season: putting in the work over and over and over. Yesterday we traveled nearly 4 hours by school bus to the Tacoma area for the Fort Steilacoom Invitational. This coming Thursday, we will be hosting a league meet on our home course. Two days later on the following Saturday, we are traveling 3 hours to Spokane for another big cross country meet. It's not the 17 hour days or the crowded busy meets that get me; it's those endless skeleton-wrecking hours jolting along in the school bus. I need to start doing yoga again or something!

The Sunburn 2026

 We hosted our home cross country meet, The 4th Annual Sunburn Cross Country Invitational, on Saturday, September 12th. As usual, it was a lot of work! But at the end of the day, Jeff and I looked at each other and agreed that it all went smoothly--usually we have at least one big snag, but we didn't this year! Come to think of it, maybe this year's snag happened the day before the meet while we were measuring the course. We had a list of distances between landmarks on the course from last year, so we walked the measuring wheel between each landmark to make sure it was accurate. The numbers were not adding up! We were so confused, because we have hosted meets at this course four times (the annual Sunburn Invite meet three times, plus one league meet) and the distance has always been perfect. Why was it different this time?? 

Jay's Senior Pictures

 Jay is a high school senior, and I am trying to keep up with all of the necessary traditions. I used to take pictures of my little kids with a real camera all the time. It was a self-taught hobby that reached a natural conclusion when the kids got older and weren't home as much. Since we still have the big Pentax K-5 DSLR camera that we bought on eBay 15 years ago, I decided to dust off my photography skills to take some senior pictures of our boy. First I did some online research to find some good photo poses for boys. Then I asked my sister Em (the professional photographer) for advice.

Sherlock and Watson

All of a sudden, we have two dogs! They showed up in our yard a week ago and we couldn't resist. They adopted us, so we adopted them. Nobody has claimed them, so we are keeping them. We didn't really have plans to get pets, but we have always told Amber that if another stray came along, we would feed it. These puppies are more than just gross traumatized strays; they are sweet energetic trusting youngsters who need a family. Sooooo we named them Sherlock and Watson and started feeding them everyday. 

Sherlock is on the left, and Watson is on the right.

Big!

Jeff, Jay, Rose, Amber, and I each had at least one Big Thing happen this week.

Even my neglected garden managed a Big Thing this week: I swear this giant pumpkin appeared overnight. How big will it be by the time it turns orange?

Grizzlython 2026

After a six year break from fundraising, we brought back the Grizzlython this year --our high school cross country team fundraiser-- and made it into a 24 hour relay, because why not start the grueling school year as sleep deprived and exhausted as possible? 

Week One

We joked that this was a "garbage date:" rolling the trash can out to the street together at sunset last Sunday night. It's the time of year where any solo activity together becomes a date, haha.

SVU again!

I loved visiting SVU so much back in June that I went again last week! Actually, my friend's daughter Kennedy is interested in attending SVU. While Kennedy and I were talking after a cross country run one day in July, I offered to go visit SVU with her if she needed a companion. Her parents (also my friends) ended up taking me up on my offer, and they booked me and Kennedy plane tickets! Less than a month later, on August 19th, Kennedy and I were flying to Virginia together to see SVU! I have coached Kennedy for cross country and track ever since her 8th grade track season, so we know each other pretty well. I felt honored that her parents trusted me to take her across the country! We had so much fun on our girls trip, exploring, running, hiking, eating ice cream, and lots of good long talks. I loved showing Kennedy one of my favorite places in the world! 

The end begins

The end of the summer has begun. It doesn't happen all at once because Jeff goes back to work as a teacher a week before the kids go back to school as students. First, Jeff goes back to work. Then, fall sports practices begin. Then comes the first day of school. Basically, the end of the summer begins with Jeff starting work, progresses with Jeff and me both starting to coach official cross country practice, (with Jay and Rose attending as members of the team and Amber attending as daughter of the coaches), and finishes with all of the kids starting school. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't feeling all of my usual end of summer beginning of school year emotions, plus a few new ones since this will be Jay's senior year of high school.

Sheep Lake Smoke Escape

 Wildfire smoke blew into our valley on Monday, August 3rd, and would not go away. The AQI hovered in the red zone, between 150-190, for four days. Even though this has happened in the past, worse, and for longer, it is never fun, and it messed up our outdoor plans (running and yardwork). I took Tuesday off from running, and it felt nice to have a recovery day. By Wednesday, though, Jeff and I were both ready for a real run. So we hauled Jay, Rose, and Amber up to the highest mountains that are the closest to Sunnyside: Chinook Pass. Rose drove us the entire 100 miles (1 hour and 50 minutes) to the parking lot by the Pacific Crest Trail in Chinook Pass. 

Sunset on Tuesday night was thick and smoky. We had low-grade smoke headaches, even after a day inside. It was time to escape to the mountains!