Three Things Saturday!

1. First I never officially congratulated my daughter, Emily, on her awesome race at the JFK 50 Miler. It was her second fifty miler. She placed in the top ten (7th for women) with an amazing time!  My husband kept asking me what all the results were and I kept having to explain that many people were still out there running. Not everyone finished it in less than 8 hours. And I am not dissing those who didn't. Anyone who runs fifty miles deserves huge kudos.  And according to Emily the first 16 miles, most of which were on the Appalacian Trail were very difficult and technical. Cannot imagine so many things about doing this race.  Her fifty mile pace was faster than my pace at my turkey trot 5K.  Oh well. I am very proud and amazed by her.

2.  On Thanksgiving I got out and ran in the first real snow of the season. I was delighted to discover I still love running in the snow and cold.  I was dressed for it this time. I only went four miles because there was the whole cooking Thanksgiving dinner thing waiting for me but it was a glorious 4 miles.

3.  I admit it. I am a Black Friday shopper. But this year was different. A good friend's mother passed away and her funeral was Friday.  Her mom was 102 and had a good life.  Her husband passed away  less than a year ago at not quite 100.  MJ's mom died on her dad's birthday which is rather nice.  Years ago her mom was a cook at the school I taught in.  They don't have school lunches like those anymore. Seriously. Homemade bread and rolls was the norm. Her mom loved to serve food to everyone and was well known for her cookies and doughnuts. So at the post funeral meal there were doughnuts and tons of cookies.  I made cinnamon buns but forgot them at home. But I took them to my friend's house last night so they weren't made for nothing!  This woman was also one of the people I write to weekly.  I wasn't sure she really wanted to hear about my running, biking and races but her son in law told me it was a world she didn't know and seemed interested in. I figure regular mail is always a good thing.  So rather than shop on BF (well maybe I did some on line and went after the funeral) I attended her funeral.  It is sad how you see people you never see at funerals.  It's good to see them of course but I need to make the time to see them at other places.

It's Wednesday, What Am I Reading?

I finished last week's book by Louse Penny. It started out slowly but I enjoyed it enough to know I'll be looking for the next in the series.  I've only read  one book since. This book is by an author I've read and liked before but she has stepped up her game for this one.  It is more than just chick lit.  Here's what Amazon has to say.

Jojo Moyes’s bestseller, Me Before You, catapulted her to wide critical acclaim and has struck a chord with readers everywhere. “Hopelessly and hopefully romantic” (Chicago Tribune), Moyes returns with another irresistible heartbreaker that asks, “Whatever happened to the girl you left behind?”

France, 1916: Artist Edouard Lefevre leaves his young wife, Sophie, to fight at the front. When their small town falls to the Germans in the midst of World War I, Edouard’s portrait of Sophie draws the eye of the new Kommandant. As the officer’s dangerous obsession deepens, Sophie will risk everything—her family, her reputation, and her life—to see her husband again.

Almost a century later, Sophie’s portrait is given to Liv Halston by her young husband shortly before his sudden death. A chance encounter reveals the painting’s true worth, and a battle begins for who its legitimate owner is—putting Liv’s belief in what is right to the ultimate test.

Like Sarah Blake’s The Postmistress and Tatiana de Rosnay’s Sarah’s Key, The Girl You Left Behind is a breathtaking story of love, loss, and sacrifice told with Moyes’s signature ability to capture our hearts with every turn of the page. 

From Booklist

Moyes (Me before You, 2012) writes with such clarity that one can almost see the eponymous 100-year-old painting at the center of her wonderful new novel. Also crystal clear are the emotions that protagonist Liv Halston attaches to the portrait. Gifted to Liv by her late husband, David, in celebration of their wedding, The Girl You Left Behind becomes a personal icon, embodying all that was good about their brief marriage. What is less clear is the painting’s provenance and who has the right to assert ownership. Will Liv’s notion of ownership unravel when the artist’s heirs sue to reclaim what they call ill-gotten goods, seemingly misappropriated by German soldiers during WWI? Did the artist’s wife—the subject of the portrait—give or sell it? Can anyone establish a clear trail of legitimate ownership? Does emotional attachment to a work of art have cash value? Can love ever trump greed? At its heart, such questions, thrumming in the background, add depth to what is an uncommonly good love story. --Donna Chavez

I don't always like books set in two time periods as this one is but I highly recommend this one. I did find when I recorded it in my book log that I didn't even finish the 2012 book by this author.  Interesting.  

What is next?  I picked out of my pile After Her by Joyce Maynard.  I keep trying to find more books I like by this author but I have liked none as much as the YA novel about 9/11 The Usual Rules.  I loved the characters in that book which always is what makes a novel stand out for me.  

Here is what Amazon has to say:

The New York Times bestselling author of Labor Day and The Good Daughtersreturns with a haunting novel of sisterhood, sacrifice, and suspense.

I was always looking for excitement, until I found some . . .

Summer, 1979. A dry, hot Northern California school vacation stretches before Rachel and her younger sister, Patty—the daughters of a larger-than-life, irresistibly handsome (and chronically unfaithful) detective father and the mother whose heart he broke.

When we first meet her, Patty is eleven—a gangly kid who loves basketball and dogs and would do anything for her older sister, Rachel. Rachel is obsessed with making up stories and believes she possesses the gift of knowing what's in the minds of people around her. She has visions, whether she wants to or not. Left to their own devices, the sisters spend their days studying record jackets, concocting elaborate fantasies about the mysterious neighbor who moved in down the street, and playing dangerous games on the mountain that looms behind their house.

When young women start turning up dead on the mountain, the girls' father is put in charge of finding the murderer known as the "Sunset Strangler." Watching her father's life slowly unravel as months pass and more women are killed, Rachel embarks on her most dangerous game yet . . . using herself as bait to catch the killer. But rather than cracking the case, the consequences of Rachel's actions will destroy her father's career and alter forever the lives of everyone she loves.

Thirty years later, still haunted by the belief that the killer remains at large, Rachel constructs a new strategy to smoke out the Sunset Strangler and vindicate her father—a plan that unexpectedly unearths a long-buried family secret.

Loosely inspired by the Trailside Killer case that terrorized Marin County, California, in the late 1970s, After Her is part thriller, part love story. Maynard has created a poignant, suspenseful, and painfully real family saga that traces a young girl's first explorations of sexuality, the loss of innocence, the bond shared by sisters, and the tender but damaged relationship between a girl and her father that endures even beyond the grave.

A Brutally Cold Turkey Trot

I want to start by saying this was the coldest race ever but was it really?  I've done some pretty cold races.  Let's see......I did one in the Albany winter series that was brutal.  I had been sick during the typical January race and needed to find one.  Jameson went with me in spite of the long drive.  Yes, I drive a long ways for cold races.

Another really cold race I did was about 4 hours away - another 5K.  When I signed up I was thinking it was about 2 1/2 hours closer - oops. Emily went with me to that one.  We huddled in the car until the very last minute. It was another brutal day.  I think these two stick out because of the distance I drove. But I'm not one to back out of a race because it's cold and I have done others close to home.  I can remember one race where the RD let us all stay inside until about  1 minute before the start.

But this was certainly top five.  I'm not used to the cold yet. The temperature was about 17 which isn't bad but the wind was strong, biting and brutal.  I did have just a thought this morning of backing out. But I am cheap, I had paid and I needed a November race. So off I went.

We are huddled trying to stay out of the wind before lining up.

The problem was - well one of the problems is that you get bussed to the start. Which of course means then you just wait around.  I didn't get on the first bus but stupidly I didn't get on the last either.  I really didn't dress as well as I could have. Just don't remember how yet. My pants were too thin and I should have worn a hat, not a headband.  A coat wouldn't have hurt either.

I'm not sure how I managed to smile at the start.

Finally it was time to start. I was very motivated to pick it up a bit.  I had my fingers stuffed inside my gloves, my hood up and my feet were cold in spite of running.  But what I really noticed was my nose. It was freezing!  I felt like I needed a face mask.  My nose was running like crazy and I didn't really care.  Lovely.

Of course we were running into the wind the majority of the way. At times it felt like it was stopping you and pushing you back.  I also found myself enjoying going up hills because I felt I would  warm up more.  Crazy, right?

I'd say I warmed up in the last mile although I was never what you would call toasty.  Usually at the finish I hang around a bit and watch others come in. But today I headed right inside.

I hung around forever waiting for the random prize drawing.  A lot of people from "away" come to this race and I think it is the prizes.  They give turkeys away (20?) from a really good nearby farm.  There are many many good prizes. They were drawing numbers for at least an hour.  And again this year I sat there the whole time and got NOTHING as those around me kept clapping and cheering!

I did not get a medal because the age group was 50 and up.  I was 4 out of 18 (just missed it) and 60 out of 167. One of my goals is to be in the top half which I did.  My time was 29:46 which was actually one of my better times this year.  Must have been the hurry to get inside.

I'm glad I went  or I wouldn't have this very lovely t shirt.  I do seriously

like orange but I wish it was long sleeve.

Random Thursday

I took this picture at my pool Tuesday morning. I needed it for my Instagram Teamrunnerd photo of the day contest.  I always like the photo word each day thingies on blogs but they always seem like too much work. Instagram makes it so easy!  I haven't been doing Instagram very long but I am loving it. This contest of sorts has made it more fun.  This was for the word: easy. At first I wondered what to do, then when I was swimming I came up with it. I had left my phone in the car but I went back in with it to get this picture. I wrote: It is EASY to train in a pool compared to a weed infested pond or lake where you don't know what lies beneath. It is fun to see what each person comes up with for the word. Tomorrow's word is moment and I do have a plan for that one.  If you are on Instagram follow me at andyjha.  

I seem to have a bit of a swimming theme.  Sharing during morning meeting has a theme and you have a day you share.  It isn't show and tell but props are allowed and encouraged. The current theme is sports and last year I took in biking stuff for this. I thought about taking in my wet suit and talking about swimming but then decided I would take my swim caps. When I tell the kids I got them at races maybe my more materialistic kids will decide they too want to race!  I already took my medals in last year.  My kid who is on the swim team went nuts looking at these!

I seem to be back at my regular workouts pretty much. These days I am at the gym.  Not that exciting but not awful either.  I just go and do it.  Trying not to gripe about the small things.  Couple things going on around me that are putting things into perspective. I know I'll forget and complain at work but really.......I'm healthy, my family is healthy, I have enough to eat and life is quite good.

WIRW

This is the second book in the series I started reading on the way back from Oregon. The jury is still out on this one. I am not sure if I'm going to finish it.  It hasn't pulled me in yet.  Here's what Amazon has to say:

Welcome to winter in Three Pines, a picturesque village in Quebec, where the villagers are preparing for a traditional country Christmas, and someone is preparing for murder.
No one liked CC de Poitiers. Not her quiet husband, not her spineless lover, not her pathetic daughter—and certainly none of the residents of Three Pines. CC de Poitiers managed to alienate everyone, right up until the moment of her death.
When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, of the Sûreté du Quebec, is called to investigate, he quickly realizes he's dealing with someone quite extraordinary. CC de Poitiers was electrocuted in the middle of a frozen lake, in front of the entire village, as she watched the annual curling tournament. And yet no one saw anything. Who could have been insane enough to try such a macabre method of murder—or brilliant enough to succeed?
With his trademark compassion and courage, Gamache digs beneath the idyllic surface of village life to find the dangerous secrets long buried there. For a Quebec winter is not only staggeringly beautiful but deadly, and the people of Three Pines know better than to reveal too much of themselves. But other dangers are becoming clear to Gamache. As a bitter wind blows into the village, something even more chilling is coming for Gamache himself.

This is the third book I have read by this author in less than 3 weeks. I am really liking her books although none as much as The Husband's Secret.  They're predictable but not completely. There is always something that surprises me and always characters I like. I had actually started this book once before and not read it.  Worth that second try for sure.

Amazon:

Alice is twenty-nine. She adores sleep, chocolate, and her ramshackle new house. She's newly engaged to the wonderful Nick and is pregnant with her first baby.

There's just one problem. All of that was ten years ago . . .

Alice has slipped in a step-aerobics class, hit her head and lost a decade. Now she's a grown-up, bossy mother of three in the middle of a nasty divorce and her beloved sister Elisabeth isn't speaking to her. This is her life but not as she knows it.

Clearly Alice has made some terrible mistakes. Just how much can happen in a decade?

Can she ever get back to the woman she used to be? 

Happy Reading! Always let me know if you are reading a good book.

A Gift of a Day

Saturday was a gift. It was in the high 50s with sun and blue skies.  I had report cards to do and I worked on them as I waited for it to warm up.  My friend Cathy was going to ride 50 miles but I convinced her a shorter ride would be just fine.  We headed down to go around Lake Dunmore which is the lake I have done a lot (relative term) of tris in.  It was gorgeous. GORGEOUS.

It was nice because there was no traffic as it is pretty deserted. We went on the back side of the lake where Cathy had never ridden. She is a fun person to ride with as she is always so appreciative of the ride and scenery.  

We stopped at the beach (maybe to find a place to pee).  What a day!

Of course we played with the camera some. I don't always have someone with me to get myself in some of the pictures.  

We tried the zoom and she said it was too close - which it was - but I love the above picture.  

I was so glad I took a break from those pesky report cards. Two weekends devoted to them is too much but they take forever.  I never did get back to them as Jameson came by with a friend.

It was such a perfect day for biking.  I probably had on more than I needed to.  We ended up doing 33 miles which is more than I have done in awhile and I was properly tired last night. I ran 6 this morning and thought I might ride again but I didn't. Today was get things done. Finish report cards. Correct homework. Read my writing curriculum. Write some letters.  You know.  

On another note last night Jameson lost Jaxon.  It's okay he's found but wow!  I couldn't imagine it if he wasn't. Jameson was at a bonfire and someone had some fireworks.  That was it and Jaxon took off like a rocket.  Jameson walked and called him for hours.  I kept checking the doors here in case he came here.  It was cold and dark and there are miles and miles of woods out there. And it is hunting season.  Jaxon had gone about half a mile down the  road to a house.  The people there checked his collar and called Jameson.  When he was picked up he was wagging his tail but shaking like crazy. Poor guy.  I guess he slept in for quiet awhile today after his experience last night. I can't imagine it if he wasn't found.  Glad for the happy ending.

And in my last post.......the little girl is writing an informational book on hunting. She's done with the first draft of skinning a  deer. Now she's on clothing to wear.  It's the season.

Three Things Thursday

1. Work related - We are currently working on writing informational stories. Students are expected to choose  topics they are an expert on, not one that needs to be researched.  Some topics chosen are:
soccer, baking bread, making cards, sea creatures, cats, owls, wrestling, cheerleading, baking cookies etc.  One girl chose a topic that I know nothing about but she is teaching me with relish. One way they organize their writing is to write a mini table of contents for each chapter therefore leading to natural paragraphs. Here is the mini table of contents for the chapter she is currently working on.

• guts
• washing the blood off and putting on gloves
• the fat
• skinning it

I'd say only in Vermont but that's probably not true.  Do you know what she is writing about?  And I must say she is doing a darn good job!

2. I wrote an informational book as  a model on triathon training.  I hope no one ever sees the swim chapter because I so didn't know what I was talking about.  I threw a few things in there that I have seen on blogs but it's nothing I do. My students do know I don't consider myself a good swimmer at all yet I go out there and do races. That's what I want them to know.  I am also modeling you need to write about something you are passionate about.  Like the girl above!

3. I took a bit of a sabbatical from working out. I had said I was going to before I went to Oregon but I also did when I got back. Between the tiredness from the trip, the time change, time zones, and school craziness I felt I needed to do it.  I am pleased to say this week I am back into it at least so far the running.  I have been going to the gym but I am even enjoying that. Tomorrow I will swim again for the first time in awhile and I'm really looking forward to that.  Maybe I can get another bike ride in this weekend. I don't want to quit yet.

What I Read Wednesday

This is the final book I read on my Kindle as I traveled across the country and back. I finished it at home.  It is the first in a series and I will continue to read the rest.  This is not the one a friend recommended but I wanted to start at the beginning.  The series is set to the north of me in Quebec.  This was an added bonus to my enjoyment. Here is what Amazon has to say.

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it’s a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter.
Still Life introduces not only an engaging series hero in Inspector Gamache, who commands his forces---and this series---with integrity and quiet courage, but also a winning and talented new writer of traditional mysteries in the person of Louise Penny.

Last week when I wasn't working out I had time to go to the library. I got another book by the author of The Husband's Secret which I loved. While I do not like this one as much I am enjoying it. (Okay, now I'm done and I liked it quite a bit. I saw a friend at the gym tonight reading yet another book by this author that she said was really good. I LOVE discovering new authors to me.)

Sophie Honeywell always wondered if Thomas Gordon was the one she let get away. He was the perfect boyfriend, but on the day he was to propose, she broke his heart. A year later he married his travel agent, while Sophie has been mortifyingly single ever since. Now Thomas is back in her life because Sophie has unexpectedly inherited his aunt Connie's house on Scribbly Gum Island -- home of the famously unsolved MunroBabymystery.
Sophie moves onto the island and begins a new life as part of an unconventional family where it seems everyone has a secret. Grace, a beautiful young mother, is feverishly planning a shocking escape from her perfect life. Margie, a frumpy housewife, has made a pact with a stranger, while dreamy Aunt Rose wonders if maybe it's about time she started making her own decisions.
As Sophie's life becomes increasingly complicated, she discovers that sometimes you have to stop waiting around -- and come up with your own fairy-tale ending.
As she so adroitly did in her smashing debut novel, Three Wishes, the incomparable Liane Moriarty once again combines sharp wit, lovable and eccentric characters, and a page-turning story for an unforgettable Last Anniversary.

This is my current book.  I am not enough into it to have much of an opinion. I did like The American Wife by this author.

Working Out Again

I really did no working out this week before the weekend.  Finally Saturday I went for a run on an absolutely gorgeous day. It was a little cool but very sunny and lots of blue sky.  I only went 5 miles because I decided I wanted to get home and also go for a bike ride. I had report cards to work on and my plan had been to run and then head to school to work.  I had thought it might be too cold to ride but I changed my mind about both things while I was running.  Not a tough decision: report cards or bike?

I changed my clothes when I got home and headed out. I brought my school stuff still thinking I would manage to get to school. 

Once I started biking it became cloudy and not as pretty.  But it was still a great ride. I managed to go 25 miles which is quite a long ways these days.  I went to Kingsland Bay, a state park, which is closed for the season.  I had envisioned sitting there for a bit but it was too cold to just sit around.  I was surprised that I wasn't the only one there.  

 I did get to school thinking I wouldn't get done all that I had planned but I did.  I even stayed a bit after dark which I hate. It is too big a building and rather scary when you are there alone. 

Then I went and visited my brother. I try to go every week but I had not made it last weekend as I was across the country.  He is having health issues that are not going away.  I try to share what I am doing as he seems genuinely interested without going on about it too much.

Today I had a bit of a longer run with no bike ride.  Then I stayed home. MY CAR DIDN'T LEAVE THE YARD. It was wonderful to have a quiet day at home.  I got stuff done and took some time to just sit and read too.  Loved it!  

Coast Day - Best Run Ever

We stopped in Florence for a fantastic meal.  I had steamed clams, mussels and garlic bread. It was beyond delicious! What a find!

We went to a state park in Cape Perpetua where I had one of the most scenic runs of my life. You can see Emily ahead of me on this switchback along cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

There are many paths. We did a very small part of them.  

The ocean was awesome in the storm. But word has it this is a good place to

watch whales. I don't know if I could have stood so much joy.......running with my daughter,

along the coast and seeing whales may have been too much.

Love this picture.

There was a "real" photographer taking pictures here probably for some

wonderful book or calendar.

I liked taking pictures showing different terrain.

Love the color mixed in with the grays of the sky and ocean.

We played in this section to take several pictures.

This one is worthy of a Runner's World Rave Run.

This tunnel is along a bike ride. I cannot imagine going through this on a bike.  No way!

We stopped to take pics of this West Coast lighthouse.

The evening ended at Voodoo Donuts. 

What I'm Reading Wednesday

I had a lot of reading time while traveling and while Emily was working and running a marathon.  I had my kindle with me and except for the fact that I forgot the small light it worked just fine.

The Husband's Secret - Liane Moriarty

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, August 2013: Liane Moriary is probably doomed to be forever labeled a writer of “chick lit.” But despite its dopey name, her new novel, The Husband’s Secret, is better described as a comedy of manners and one with a serious undertone. As in her previous books, most successfully What Alice Forgot, Moriarty here wittily and observantly chronicles the life of middle aged, middle class Australian women, suburbanites who grapple with prosaic issues like marital fidelity and torturous ones like moral guilt and responsibility. You can’t help but laugh along with the small observations--“And there was poor little Rob, a teenage boy clumsily trying to make everything right, all false smiles and cheery lies. No wonder he became a real estate agent.” But it’s the big ones--Can good people do very, very bad things, and what, exactly, are we responsible for, and for how long?--that will make you think. This is a deceptively rich novel that transcends its era and place at the same time that it celebrates same. --Sara Nelson

I really couldn't put this book down - even if I had been doing something and had a reason to put it down.  The story and all the connections sucked me in.  Great book to be reading while having nothing else to do.  I'll be looking for more books by this author.

Into the Darkest Corner - Elizabeth Haines

Below is what Amazon has to say. My husband would say it sounds like a movie I would watch and he is right.

Catherine Bailey has been enjoying the single life long enough to know a catch when she sees one. Gorgeous, charismatic and spontaneous, Lee seems almost too perfect to be true. And her friends clearly agree, as each in turn falls under his spell.

But what begins as flattering attentiveness and passionate sex turns into raging jealousy, and Catherine soon learns there is a darker side to Lee. His increasingly erratic, controlling behaviour becomes frightening, but no one believes her when she shares her fears. Increasingly isolated and driven into the darkest corner of her world, a desperate Catherine plans a meticulous escape.

Four years later, Lee is behind bars and Catherine—now Cathy—compulsively checks the locks and doors in her apartment, trusting no one. But when an attractive upstairs neighbour, Stuart, comes into her life, Cathy dares to hope that happiness and love may still be possible . . . until she receives a phone call informing her of Lee’s impending release. Soon after, Cathy thinks she catches a glimpse of the former best friend who testified against her in the trial; she begins to return home to find objects subtly rearranged in her apartment, one of Lee’s old tricks. Convinced she is back in her former lover’s sights, Cathy prepares to wrestle with the demons of her past for the last time.

Utterly convincing in its portrayal of obsession, Into the Darkest corner is an ingeniously structured and plotted tour de force of suspense that marks the arrival of a major new talent.

Again - I'll be looking for more books by this author.  Apparently this was her debut novel. It is violent and may not be for everyone.

Monster Marathon Many Miles Away And A Total Photographer Fail

 Saturday we got up at 3:30 to go to Ashland.  It was a long ways away and the ride down was in the dark and rain. I was glad I hadn't rented a bike.  Finding the start was problematic so Emily had very little time to get ready. I thought I took some start pictures but you'll notice there are none at the start. Or finish for that matter.  

So EMily blasted off and it was  wee bit cold.  My mission was to find the donut place with some very specific types to get.  Sounds easy?  It took forever!  But I managed, filled the car with gas and decided not to go to the aid station. Turns out to have been a good decision.  I kind of slept/read in the car.  Then I saw a few runners go by to the finish including a woman so I thought I should get out of the car.

This race was started in a state park. There were many 

of these around and humans bothered them not one bit.

I stood here at the finish line for more than an hour waiting in the

cold and rain for Emily to come. One of the early finishers told

me not to worry.  He does many marathons and considered

this the hardest by far. There is 9200 feet of elevation and I guess

the first 12 miles go up a mountain.  Not my cup of tea.

I'm still waiting and do easily see Emily coming but pictures?

Nope.  

While I was waiting the finish line fell over.

This was taken after.  Yes, this is how

she was dressed.

After we went to Caldera Brewery. I had beer cheese soup

that was to die for.

EMily had a black bean burger on awesome bread.

I took this picture outside because the terrain was so different.

The way back we chased this rainbow forever. Very stunning.

I had never seen a rainbow come right to the ground so clearly.

I had brought running clothes with me, in fact I wore them all day, but even though my daughter managed to run 26 plus up a mountain I ran not at all.  Does a lot of fast walking count?  

That evening we went to Beer Stein for beers and dinner.  We ended up having nachos - great supper - but it was delicious.  It was an early night as we were both exhausted.  Then Sunday.......the coast.