Joining the Festivities

It's been a long time since I've been to an actual festival, so it was nice getting to go to one a few weeks back with Sophia, who posted a couple days ago here about her 2-mile walk. Though I'm working on my health issues and trying to get to where I can walk, I wasn't in shape to join her and I won't lie...it wasn't easy getting around the festival grounds. However, the rests I had to take gave me a chance to take in everything, and I was able to get a few pictures of some of the art that represented the focus of the Smoky Hills River Festival.

Art, exhibits, booths, festival food, and entertainment were everywhere, and families and groups of friends wandered around enjoying seeing everything. The first thing we saw going into the festival was a bike exhibit, pictures, and decorated trees. None of the pictures of the trees came out well, unfortunately. 

 My favorites were the giant spiders, a display we got to see while heading to one of the tents to listen to Bill Harley, an amazing storyteller who was holding a workshop at the festival.

While I enjoyed what I did get to see, I'm a little bummed about all the things I didn't get to see. But I won't dwell on it. This gives me another reason to continue working out and getting into better shape. Next year I hope to be able to spend a full day there, not only joining the fun walk, but wandering around and enjoying all the sights, sounds, and smells.

Who knows? Maybe I'll even stay and dance during the evening entertainment.

Guest Post: Walk This Way

Sophia took over for another blog post because she's awesome. We recently went to the Smoky Hill River Festival in Salina where she completed a 2 mile walk. She's been an awesome workout partner and has inspired me to try for next year. 

The annual Smoky Hill River Fest has a component called the Festival Fitness Five. This is composed of
a five-mile and two-mile race, a two-mile “just for fun” walk and children’s races. This year I completed
the two-mile walk.

The walk started at 8:15am, just as the sun decided to make its presence known. I stepped into the
cluster of people a few minutes before the start of the walk. I couldn’t push my way into the back of the
crowd so I stood just a few bodies from the front of the pack hoping I wouldn’t fall behind too quickly.

I realize that the walk was non-competitive but that did nothing to quell the voice in my head telling
me to make sure that I finished in a reasonable amount of time. I had signed up earlier that week on
a bit of a whim, and had no idea what my pace would be or what a reasonable expectation was. The
starter went off and I headed out trying to pace myself at a rate I thought I could maintain. It wasn’t
long before I realized that the walk catered to all types of folks. There were the lean and sinewy old
men who had no body fat to slow them down. There were couples and families with strollers. There
was a group of particularly loud women who felt this was their opportunity to discuss personal stories at
a high volume.

We moved out of the park and into the streets of Salina fairly quickly. A few of the older men passed
me quickly followed by a stroller. And the person pushing the stroller. By the end of the first mile I
realized that I might have done better to sign up for the two-mile run. When I use the treadmill I have
my own mix of walking/running/jogging that I do. I used to think I started the running when I got bored
with the walking. Turns out that I start running when my shins start aching. And believe me, they were
aching. I have a feeling I would have hurt less if I’d run the whole way, plus the time would have gone
by faster. Sometimes I have trouble relaxing in the midst of activities. I tend to focus on the goal and
when the goal is relaxation I do great doing nothing. However, I’d registered to cover two miles of
distance on a Saturday morning and I had to fight the voice inside telling me that breaking into a jog
would accomplish that more quickly. But I had signed on to walk and so I stuck it out.

It was a good thing; it forced my brain to accept that I was not going to get to the finish line any more
quickly. Once that realization sunk in it became about observing the town around me as we passed
through and making conversation with the walker beside me. I will admit that when we were passed
by a stroller feet from the finish line I felt just a bit disheartened, but that spurred me on so there was
no slacking at the end. They read my time as I hit the finish and it was just over 28 minutes. A pace
of 4mph for someone with short legs is not too shabby. I am definitely glad for the experience. It has
encouraged me to focus my training and attempt a legitimate, competitive run in the next year.

Beer!

I did an article for AC on Brickside Brewery recently, but I thought it deserved a mention on here too. Since this is a personal blog, I can take it from a little more personal angle.

People who know me know I'm really bad with keeping in touch with friends. It's nothing personal, I'm just sort of selfish like that. I tend to get wrapped up in my life and let past relationships fade. Thanks to Facebook, I can now keep up with friends from the past, even if it's just with a comment or a "Like" here and there. While I tend to complain about Facebook, it really is good for staying in the loop about what people are up to.

Jason and Jessica were friends of mine from college. Jessica was one of my sorority sisters, and we lived together for a summer (along with some other friends and sisters). I think the first time I met Jason was during an outside smoke at some event at the Cisler Center, and though I have alot of memories about Jessica, I always remember she was the first person to ever get me to try gaming (I was fail in that first attempt and had no idea what was going on).

When I found out they were opening a brewery, I was really excited! They live in Copper Harbor, MI, way up in the UP with their family. Kudos to them anyway for living that far up north, but they both seem to love it there. The winters kicked my tail, but they seem right at home. Unfortunately, this means I have no idea when I'll get up there to try their stuff, but it's definitely a goal.

I also wonder if I can talk them into sending me some brew through the mail. Beer of the month club, maybe??

Please check out the article and interview linked above and visit their Facebook and Kickstarter pages. I'm excited to see how this venture is going to turn out for them and I'm sending them all my best wishes!

Good Causes: Bowling for Big Brothers/Big Sisters

This post is coming a week late, but better late than never.

Last week, Jon and I joined our friend E and her husband in the local Big Brother/Big Sister bowl-a-thon fundraiser. Though it's been years since I've bowled, this was reminiscent of the fundraisers I did with my sorority for our philanthropy.

E did all of the fundraising. Our part was volunteering to be on her team, though we did pledge some money for the cause. The deal was two hours of bowling or two games, whichever came first. The organizers fed us chips and salsa and pizza and I managed to win a door prize. I opted for a free drink from Bluestem Bistro which I will use when I finally get my butt there for Manhattan SnB night.

I actually won the first game, but my game went downhill in the second game for a few reasons. My arm was fatigued by that time, so I wasn't throwing well at all. If you think bowling isn't a really physical activity, try doing it when you're out of shape. Besides the arm thing, I ended up hurting my knees. Awesome. Instead of finishing my second game, which was turning out to be a gutter game, I let Little D finish it out for me.

All in all, we had a fun time and I was able to get some knitting done between frames and I felt good helping out a good cause.