Rafting the Ocoee

Woke up at 5am to pack up my car and head down to GA to meet up with Kellye, SHOE, Leslie, and Joan. The 5 of us had an appointment with a raft and the Ocoee River. Woo Hoo! Along the way I picked up Kellye and Joan and we made it to Rolling Thunder Rafting Outfitters by 11am. As soon as we stepped out of my car, SHOE and Leslie pull into the parking lot. After hugs hello and catching up, we checked in with the outfitter. Since we had 2 hours to burn, we decided to walked thru the metropolis known as McCaysville of some lunch. Seriously, we walked the entire town in about 10 minutes. haha! It was a cute little town though. We rolled up on what looked like a town carnival. There were big slides, about 2 craft booths and a guy in a dunking tank. We watched some kids throw baseballs at the target until they hit it and made the guy plunge into water tank. We ducked into a little candy/fudge store that ended up being a huge shop. It had different sections from antique knick knacks, black bear novelty items, a candy/fudge/jam/general store shop, handmade wooden furniture, to a quilt shop. It was pretty interesting. We then made our way to the only Mexican Cantina in the town. I had a quick flash of what eating Mexican food and then jumping into a river full of class 3 and 4 rapids would be like, (puke fest!), but I quickly forgot about it when the chips and salsa came out. :)

After a yummy lunch, we headed back to the outfitter. Once we were there, we learned that they were running a bit late b/c the early morning rafters had a "situation" that they had to handle. Well... this is where I learned that Kellye was deathly afraid to go rafting. I mean she was really spooked, so nervous that she couldn't even look at the "pictures of carnage", that the outfitter had up of all the raft crashes on the river. I thought they were pretty funny, but I didn't let Kellye know. We all gather up to hear the safety rules and get our gear (helmet, PFD, and paddle) then we break up in groups. Kellye goes back to hear the safety rules, again, that the outfitter is giving out for another group. We finally load up on the stinky, wet, school bus and are on chugging along down the road to our output, when we hear this really drunk fool making a spectacle of himself. I have to admit, that for the first 15 minutes, he was pretty entertaining, but it got old after a while. He kept rousing the guide up front and yelling at the bus driver, and making fun of his friends. Anyways, I couldn't wait to get off the bus, not just b/c of him, but when I looked at my knees and hands, there was some dirty muck on them that came from the bus seats. I almost lost my tacos when I discovered it. We make it to the put out spot, get off the gross bus, and find our guide Brian. Immediately I like him. (He's wearing an ITALIA soccer shirt, only my favorite country in the world.) Because of the earlier "situation", there was no practice time for us, we had to get on the river ASAP, so we hauled up the raft and walked it down to the line forming at the river. I looked over at Kellye and I swore I thought I saw her go two shades whiter than her normal pasty self. ha ha! I mean there was no break, no practice time, no nothing. We just got off the bus, grabbed our raft, walked to the output, and BAM! within 5 feet we were in two sets of Class 4 rapids called Broken Nose and Slice & Dice. I hung on and knew it was going to be a wild ride!

After a couple of more rapids, we came to a section that looked pretty tough. The rapids were called Double Suck and Double Trouble. I knew we had to all paddle hard if we were going to make it through, so after Brian barked orders at us, I yelled for us to paddle hard! We coasted off that first ledge of a rapid that felt like we dropped 8 feet down, and got the raft going the right way again. After we made it through the second rapid, we pulled off to the side to spectate others attempting to make it through. Well, just our luck, we saw carnage and before we could even blink, Brian had us paddling hard out into the middle of the rapids to rescue a girl floating down the river. We made it out to her and as SHOE grabbed her PFD, our guide swiftly pulled her into safety and ordered us to paddle hard. I glanced at the girl to make sure she was OK and she looked terrified. I've never seen anyone so scared in my life. We smacked the second rapid and it wasn't pretty, no one fell out, but the boat went over the rapid sideways. All we could do is hang on. After we were in safe waters, we all look at the girl and the first thing she says is, " I lost my flip flops!" After that terrifying event, all she could think about was her flip flops! ha ha! We got her safely onto her boat and we continued plowing down the Ocoee. We were so on point with our paddling that we owned the rapids and I felt like a freaking warrior conquering the Ocoee. I whooped and hollered it up, we all paddle clapped and cheered each rapid. It was so much fun.

Towards the end of the trip, we pulled over to the side of the river so Brian, our guide, could touch base with another boat. Well, I finally got a chance to turn around and talk to Kellye. Poor thing, she had been scared silly this entire time. (Come to think of it, the usual chatter box WAS awfully quiet the entire trip down the river.) I felt so bad for her that I gave her a big hug and promised that all of us would paddle our hearts out so she wouldn't fall out the boat. I swore I saw crocodile tears well up, but it could of been river water. I'm glad she took on the Ocoee and I'm glad she stayed focused and strong. It says alot about someones character when they are in a dangerous situation and they stay focused instead of losing it. (Kind of like I lost it on my first ocean sailing trip. I curled up like a fetus and cried my eyes out til Boo took us to safety. Yeah... I can be a big baby sometimes. But that was a looooong time ago. I can now sail with the best of them.) Kellye stayed strong, contributed to all of our safety's, and endured the ride. And boy was it a wild ride! She can check white water rafting off her bucket list now.

We headed back to the outfitter on the dirty bus, and everyone seemed to be in great spirits. I'll have some great memories of Joan paddling like a wild woman and her wide eye in amazement look about her as she commands the right front of our boat. Then there's Leslie's ever present 1000 watt smile and laugh holding up the right side middle. SHOE's cheesey grin and child like spirit with those foggy glasses manning up the front left side of our boat. An the look on Kellye's face when we pulled out to the rivers edge to end our Ocoee adventure, it was pure relief with a touch of joy. And I'm sure I had a bit of every one of those emotions running through me as well. It was a great adventure with the ladies from GA. What's next ladies? haha! Til next time... GET OUTDOORS!!!

Workouts for Week 2

This weeks workouts were pretty good. It started with a hike on Saturday with my friend Becky. We then did some Yoga on Sunday with a new instructor, that I didn't like. Not that I didn't like her personally, but I didn't like her yoga routine or the way she massaged our feet as we rested the last five minutes of class. Too weird, plus she talked waaaay too much for me to enjoy the calmness that yoga is supposed to bring and I think she f'ed up my left calf, cause since her yoga class, it's not been right.

On Monday, Becky and I did the week 2 workout 1 of the C25k program.

On Tuesday, I met my other friend Tracy and we started a new strength training program. We were assigned this 12 yr old Governor Arnold looking boy with emo hair that was constantly in his face to show us how to use the free weights. Well Zak sucked. He briefly went over the weights and cables for like 10 minutes and then, all hood like, said, "YOU GOOD?" Really? did he just say that to us? I looked over at Tracy and mockingly said "You good?" She says, "Good, you good?" Then to Zak I said "We good." (GOD I so wanted to roll my eyes just then.) I asked him to write up the routine he flew through so we could start some sort of weight training. After an hour at the gym, we had finished up chest presses, chest flys, bicep curls, tricep exercises, ab workout on a balancing ball, shoulder workouts on cables, and walking lunges that were crazy hard. The next morning I texted Tracy to see how she was feeling, and it wasn't pretty.

Wednesday Becky and I did week 2 workout 2 of the C25k program and we ended the day with a spin class. It was actually not that bad.

Thursday I woke up so soar it hurt to even move out of bed. My abs killed from all the sit ups and the back of my thighs ached from the walking lunges. I wanted to call Tracy and cancel our workout, but Boo made me stick it out. So I met Tracy after a ridiculous traffic jam day. It took me almost an hour to drive 4 miles. I got to the gym late, but then so did Tracy. We both were hurting but we had to work out. I saw that in 10 minutes they were going to start a cycle class and I asked if she was interested. She said sure! lets try it. So off we go to pick out our bikes. Our normal instructor was out on vacay, so we had some guy named Teri subbing from another Y. Well.... let's just call him Psycho Cyclist. He was like the drill sargent of spin class. I mean he was yelling, walking around screaming for us to hit it harder! turning up our tension to make the bike pedaling harder, checking to see if we were sweating enough. I mean he would walk right up to you to see if you were exerting and sweating! and if you weren't he would yell! This guy was nuts! AND he had us up off the seat for 90% of the workout. It was crazy hard. Poor Tracy kept looking over at me with a painful look on her face. I felt so bad, she will never come back to a cycle class ever. After our workout, we wobbled up to the stretching area and Tracy rolled herself down onto the mat. We both cracked up at how stiff we were feeling. We stretched for a good 15 minutes and noticed a really fit couple, that was in the cycle class with us. They walk up and ask how we liked the class. I told them it was Tracy's first spin class and they pleaded to her that this was not a normal spin class and to please come back. Even they were hurting! Tracy said she would be up for another class, so the Psycho Cyclist didn't scare her away.

Friday morning I ran/walked again with Becky to finish up my Week 2 Day 3 work out of the Couch to 5k program and it was tough. My legs were fatigued from all I did this week but I finished the last set of runs pretty strong. Tonight I am definitely taking it easy cause I got so crazy plans with the ATL girls this weekend and I am looking forward to it! Til next time... GET OUTDOORS!!!

5 mile Hike

Today I invited Becky back out for another easy 5 mile day hike. I picked her up around 8am and we zoomed up to Troutman NC where we were meeting a group to go hiking. It's one of my favorite local trails, Lake Norman State Park's, Lakeshore trail. It's a nice rolling trail, nothing too steep or too crazy, but enough to get your hear pumping and your body sweating. We started out following Mike, he hiked at a good pace, so we kept up him and got in a good workout.

With a nice 15 minute break at the half way point, we finished up in just under 2 hours. And let me tell you, I was sweating up a storm! All in all it was a great day to be out, it was nice and overcast, so not so hot, the trail was tree covered to keep us cooler, and the breeze floating off the lake was just what we needed to keep us going at a good pace. There were a few times when we didn't talk cause we needed to breathe, but other than that it was a great beginner hike. Til next time... GET OUTDOORS!!!

My new Hell.....

So I've attempted to creep back into the gym. My original thoughts were to take it slowly with a class or two a week, maybe hit the elliptical, some weights.... you get the idea. Well.... it seems I shot out the cannon with both feet running. You see, I bought my Y membership last week and invited my friend Becky (whose been wanting to get back into the gym) to start out slowly with me. After our hike on Saturday, she was a bit sore, so we THOUGHT we would take it easy this week. On Sunday, we went to the Y and took a Yoga Basics class that was really good. I've never taken an actual yoga class, just did th DVD thing, so it was neat. The instructor had the lights out, the soft music playing and for an hour I twisted and manipulated myself into a pretzel. It was tough to start, b/c I'm not the most flexible person, but I loved how I felt after the class, so loose and limber. We will definitely be back for another stretch session soon.

On Monday, we started the Couch to 5k series again, she been wanting to run, so I told her I'd jog with her. Week 1 was pretty easy for me this time around :) Then on Monday afternoon I get an email from her saying there was a Spin class she wanted to take that night. Since I've never taken a Spin cycle class before, I was mildly interested and told her I was game. She picked me up around 6:30pm and we headed to the gym for our 6:45pm Spin class and boy was it HELL!!! hahaha! Oh my... I got in a real good workout with that class. We had the cycle Nazi instructor from hell and not even 5 minutes into the class I was out of breath and sweating up a storm. She had us up off the bikes for about 75% of the class, and it was a good thing too, those seats were hard! They hurt so much and made my bum numb, that I actually looked forward to when she made us stand and cycle. (*Note, bring a gel seat cushion to Spin cycle class if you ever go.) Anyways, we loved it so much, we did the same routine jog/spin on Wed, and Friday. haha! We're going to add some sculpt classes on Tues and Thurs, and do some day hiking on Saturday. Sounds like alot (and it is) but my body can handle it so far and I'm having lots of fun. That cycle class is definitely a challenge that I want to beat. So... Til next time...GET OUTDOORS!!! (or indoors, just get moving!!!) :)

Nice hike today

Aaaaahhh..... it's been a while since I've been on a day hike and it's been a LONG time since I've been to Stone Mountain State Park in NC. So I was looking forward to my summer hike. I had invited Becky, a newbie hiker, and had promised her that it would be an easy 5 mile hike. The only hard part would be the first .75 miles, where we would actually climb up 750 feet in elevation, but the rest would be nice trail.

Around 8:30am, I picked up Becky and we zoomed up to the mountains and at 10:30am we were stepping on the trail and climbing our way up to the top. Now it has been a while since I've been to this park, over 7 yrs and I took my mom last time, and alot has changed. As we were climbing up these never ending nice wooden stair cases, I was telling Becky that back in the day, we used to hike up this mountain along the rock face and had to literally hold onto roots, trees, and rocks to get us up to the top. The trail has also changed a bit, it used to be along the side of the mountain, where you had some great views for most of the way up. Now the stairs wind thru the woods and you don't get really good views til you get to the top. It's a shame they changed the trail, but I can understand why. It's safer and more accessible for more people to come out an enjoy the park. Still, it was really a workout before and you felt like you were really deserved the views b/c you were busting your hump over the rock face.

So after we reached the summit, we stopped for a break to snap some pictures, eat a snack, and drink lots of water. Then we walked the ridge a bit and started our descent down along a 200 ft. water fall. The last 4 miles were pretty smooth and easy and I think Becky really enjoyed it. Once we got to the bottom, we took a picture of the rock faced Stone Mountain we just climbed. I didn't see the usual slew of rock climbers out, but it was pretty hot. We made it down to the little outdoor museum settlement, which consisted of a barn, corn crib, garden, another building, an outhouse, and a little cabin. We met a nice man named Mr. McGrady, and he told us his grandfather used to live in the settlement and he remembers spending lots of nights in the old two room house with a loft. The property was in his family since it was granted to them in 1783 and The Hutchinson family eventually sold it to the state park system in the late 1960's. It was really cool to talk to a real live part of history. It made the little museum that much more interesting. We hop back on the trail for the last 1/4 mile and we are back at the car by 1:30pm. As we hop in the car, I ask Becky if she wants to stop and have lunch at the little country store that is famous for it's ice cream! She says yes and off we go to enjoy our earned reward. As we were browsing the little gifts in the shop, we come across this sign, right above the homemade jelly's, that reads, "Flies $1.89 each, this box." We both immediately think it's for REAL flies! and start laughing, after all it's set up right by all the food stuff, not the fishing stuff. Anyways, I snap a picture and we head out to go home. It was a perfect day for a hike, the weather was overcast so not that hot, and the climb gave us a good work out. Becky enjoyed the hike and I loved being outside. Til next time... GET OUTDOORS!!!