Henley Racing Day 2

Only race I had today was the U23 Quad.  We placed an easy 2nd, no sprinting or outrageous effort necessary to garner a spot in the final for Saturday!  Lots of Vesper boats placing today and yesterday!  Final for the Senior 8+ tonight, hopefully I'll be able to go down and watch the girls win some Canadian Gold! 

Henley Racing Day 1

Hey folks,

Raced my first race at Canadian Henley today.  We raced the double and we came in third in our heat.  With 8 total heats, only two boats from each heat got to advance so unfortunately we don't go on to the semis.  Not the best race we could have had, the conditions were pretty bad and we had a few bobbles that set us back. 

Tomorrow we are looking at a U23 quad race at 11:42 PM.  I'll post another round tomorrow!

Hilary

wow a week and a half later!

So I never realized that I didn't post after the 8+ race.  We got second in an extremely close finish.  After racing I headed to North Carolina for a day then to Washington D.C. for a full day and then finally back to Philly.  It was great to do some sight seeing and I'd love to go back to D.C. and spend a week just playing in the museums!

When we started up practices again we got our lineups for Canadian Henley and what we'd be racing, but then a few of our teammates decided that being home just wasn't right and so they came back and we mixed things all up again.  However in about 5 days I will be beginning my racing in the U23 4+, U23 4x, U23 2x and the Senior 4x.  I'm very excited to race and hope that my boats will go super fast!  It's amazing to think that my summer is just now winding down and I'll be home in just over 2 weeks.  It's been a long time and I'm happy that it's nearly over and I get to start fresh again, however I have had the most amazing experiences this summer and I couldn't ask for anything different or better because I have learned so much.  Rowing is truly my sport and I love being part of the extremely competitive nature of it.  I have seen a lot of people turned away from it over the last few months, but I know this is the direction I want to go and will keep working towards what I want.  In the end, if it really doesn't work, I'll have a billion stories to tell of great races and interesting people!

I'll keep y'all posted a little better with Henley stuff!  And check out the pictures below!

double won! Eight tomorrow!

we won the double by 4 seconds today, while not having to put too much effort into it.  It felt good although a little sloppy at times!  But no crabs today!  Anyways, we have the eight race tomorrow at 9:48 so hopefully that goes well!

operation friday domination: complete

Today I raced in the intermediate 8+ and senior 2x.  We did ok in the eight and are advancing to the final on Sunday morning.  And in the 2x we did soooo well, it felt great and we are going to the final tomorrow at 2:45.  It was rather a slow and silly race because we understroked the other boats and still managed to win by 20 seconds, including some terrible strokes!  So we're pretty stoked to race tomorrow and hopefully hopefully do well!  It'd be nice to do well.  The other heat had one boat that was like 6 seconds slower than our time, so we have to beat them. But you never know about some people and how hard they race. 

After that I plan on doing a little regatta shopping and catching up with friends before cooling off at the hotel.  I'm officially enjoying club nationals now that I get to race!

Much love, Hilary

another week down

wow, time really flies when you are rowing rowing rowing and well, having fun!
In the past week I have done a lot of 10ks on the water in both doubles and eights.  And I have been selected to race the senior double at club nationals starting for me on Friday.  And will also race the intermediate 8+ in 2 seat!  I am very excited for both races because I think we have a pretty great chance at doing really well!  Other than that, I have been to one concert which actually was finishing up as we walked in the door, but check out The Dangerous Summer if you like indie pop.  I have had a lot of delicious homemade food as I have been determined to not eat out all week.  I succeeded except for Friday and Sunday dinners, but they weren't expensive. 

Today we took the 10 and a half hour car trip from Philly to Oak Ridge, TN.  It was entertaining to travel past D.C. and then through Virginia.  A part of the world I'd never seen before and it was surprisingly very pretty. Sorry to anyone from Virginia, I'd never been there before remember!  In any case, I'm off to adventure in Oak Ridge, meaning play on facebook and watch TV.  And then I'll head to bed soon.  But I'll update more as soon as racing begins.  But for now I have 4 days to play!


Take care!
Hilary

moving, racing, winning, fireworks, and philly

Let's see we left off on Monday, when I found out that I was officially cut from the U23 team.  So then after a few phone calls I found my way onto the pre-elite team down in Philadelphia.  So Tuesday after my last U23 practice, my friend Catherine drove up to Princeton to pick me up.  Tuesday afternoon was my first pre-elite practice in the quad, apparently I had lots to fix, but we made it through practice.

The first things I had to get were bedding and food, so a quick trip to target and $180 later, I settled into my bed and fell asleep in my new apartment with the rest of my new team.

Wednesday we had morning practices and afternoon practice was weights and a 5k.  Settling into our routine and needing a bike led me to Walmart late on Wednesday to pick up the cheapest one I could find. 
Thursday was 500s in the morning followed by an erg 8k for me.  Then we had the afternoon off so I headed downtown to get dinner and go to Whole Foods.  Friday was a short row in the AM and PM in quads, just spinning the wheels and making our legs go.  Saturday we did a 10k on the erg and then watched the girls 4+ racing. 

And then yesterday, Sunday, July 4.  I raced in the intermediate 8+.  We came in first in our heat by 22 seconds and then raced the final in the heat of the day and came in first again by 12 seconds to a different boat.  It was a fun race and we really picked up run and speed on the second race, even though there was a strong headwind.   It made our time slower, but our boat definitely moved faster. 

After racing I headed to my friend Catherine's to shower and have a BBQ with her neighbors.  Which was really fun!  Then we headed down to the boathouses to watch the fireworks.  I met a lot of really hilarious people and saw old friends.  It was a spectacular and fun night.  And then it ended with walking 3.5 miles back to my apartment with my roommate, because her bike got stolen a couple days ago.  Anyways, we made it home and all was well.

Now we are headed to a BBQ and pool swim with the team.  Enjoy a few photos below!

I'll update more often, but internet is shaky here!

At the awards dock.After racing, the Vesper intermediate 8+.Our new watches that we won!

Philly skyline at night!

best ~ Hilary

Officially Cut

Well it looks like my time with the U23 team is over.  I'll be finding out where I'm headed next, but I didn't make the top quad and so now camp is over.  However, I'll hopefully be headed to Philadelphia in the next few days to continue training for the summer.

Fro-yo, USA soccer, and 2k races.

Yesterday I raced in the double. We came in second at the U23 trials, with a nice close race, but losing by 8 seconds.  I'm very happy to have raced and given it a shot.  It's the only way I know that that wasn't my route to worlds.  So it's back to the quad to seat race and see who the fourth girl actually will be.  So yes my life plans are again up in the air.  Today we raced the quad, came in second.  We had never really practiced the line up and had some steering issues and stuff, but no big deal.  Our first boat beat us all by lots.

Now I'm sitting in a little frozen yogurt shop called Twist, using their wifi and watching the USA soccer game.  Currently it's 0-1 Ghana, not sure how I feel about this score.  But my frozen yogurt, that is actually more fruit than yogurt is delicious.  I'm a sucker for strawberries ;)  well I'll post more as I learn up for now it's USA, USA!

Much love,

Hilary

The Caspersen Boathouse

This is the boathouse we are rowing out of, unfortunately we don't get such great water, but a breeze keeps the heat down a little.  Racing tomorrow!  Hopefully we get a good practice in today!

No Racing today - Friday only

We don't actually have a race today, one of the boats dropped out and now we have a final only race on Friday at 2:30 ET. 

This is where you can check results: https://secure.powerhousetiming.com/powerhouse/webpages/raceResults.jsp?raceId=266  I'll be in the women's double (2x). 

I'll probably post on facebook just after I get off the water from the race, so if you haven't added me yet, feel free to search my name and add me!

And my race on Saturday has live viewing: http://www.usrowing.org/Events_Regattas/NationalChampionshipRegattas/natchamp.aspx   I'll be in the women's quad (4x). 

One Shot

Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted-One moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?

(Lose Yourself - Eminem)

So I wouldn't normally quote Eminem, but these lyrics fit perfectly with my train of thought right now.  Basically it's come down to Vicky and I have one shot, U23 Trials, to make it on the U23 team.  So yeah we have one shot, this is our opportunity, so we're capturing it and going for it!

We did 2 x 750 with steady state in between today.  The first was a little lower and we didn't find rhythm until the last 250.  The second was sloppier but faster and we had rhythm.  Things are looking good.  We seem to be on the same page and headed in the right direction, we just don't know exactly what we are facing when it comes to competition.  We will take the heat race as a trial and then if we have to race two more times we will otherwise we will just race the final!  Which would be awesome!  But just had to share my thoughts on why Eminem was stuck in my head!

Yesterday we had to do 3 x 20 at 2:07, 2:06, 2:05, however the humidity and travelling got in the way and we were all pretty tired, so we ended up doing 2:07, 2:06, 2:06 and having super high heart rates.  It was slightly pathetic, but it was like 90 degrees outside and 99% humidity, ok maybe a slight exaggeration, but I'm not used to this!  Nor do I ever sweat this much!

Anyways, we finally get an afternoon on the water today!!!  Super excited to do race starts and sprints!  :)

blessed and in Princeton!

We arrived in Princeton on Friday evening.  We left the training center in San Diego at 5:30 am and arrived in our rooms around 7:30pm.  It was a very long day and a lot of waiting, which tests my patience to no end, but we managed! 
We began practicing on Saturday, we arrived at the boathouse around 9:30 am and didn't get on the water until 11 because we had very limited tools and had to prepare all the boats and oars.  We did a slow steady state, just getting the blades wet.

In the afternoon we had to erg because they open the lake up to just about anyone in small paddle boats, so we can't go out on the water and attempt to get some good work in without hitting them.  However we got some good lifting and erging in :) 

Today we had practice this morning, which consisted of steady state and bursts.  I'm feeling really tired and diminished today, so hopefully our afternoon erging session won't be too challenging. 

I feel so blessed to be here, in a fairly nice dorm and rowing out of the Casperson Boathouse on Mercer Lake.  We have a brand new fleet of boats (wintechs...) and get to use oars that are just fine.  So my double partner and I have been able to take the paper out of the shoes (literally) for our last two rows.  The steering was screwy with the first boat so they gave us another boat.  :)  I feel so special, they have US National Team logos and writing on them and it's ours!  So we now just have to race hard at trials to secure the boat for good! 

The weather here is awful, so hot and humid, I just want to hang out inside all day, but practice is a must and so I'll spend every other waking moment enjoying the shelter of my bedroom and not wearing much clothing while outside!  I've been drinking more water than imaginable, it's a struggle to stay hydrated. 

Well that's all for now!  Headed to practice and hoping for cooler weather!

Final Days of Seat Racing

A friend recently commented about the fact that she was going through a day of seat racing and I realize that we've basically seat raced for 2 weeks straight and are still going.  The final results?  I've been ranked 6 of 8 in the seat races although the places 4-8 are within seconds of each other. So while I still have a shot at racing in the quad at worlds, fellow sculler Vicky and I have decided that racing a double at U23 National Team Trials next week wouldn't be the end of the world.  So we have a few boats of competition and hopefully we can pull off some great racing!  I'm excited to just go after an opportunity to race and maybe we'll win and if we do, they we have made the U23 National Team.  If we don't, then we'll have a few days of seat racing and one of the 5 of us leftovers will be in the quad.  And the rest of us will go on our merry ways to each end of the US.  I have decided that if I don't go to worlds, I'm going to enjoy a little vacation and see some part of the US I haven't seen yet, maybe NY?  Hmm... I just don't know, it'll depend on money. 
In any case we'll need to get some quick practices and fast racing in to win, but that's what's new in my life!  I'm excited! 
Nothing much else is new.  We are headed to Princeton tomorrow morning early.  I'm sad I never got to see San Diego, but they had us on a short leash here and I was happy for the rest during the day.  I'll be sad to leave the compound and the wonderful weather and food of the OTC.  One of the best experiences of my life and I'm so glad I got to make it this far already!  And so happy I've had some great people to talk to online everyday, they've helped my every decision and pushed me through the tough rows and injuries.  :) 
A few things I've totally enjoyed about being here:  1) everyone wants to make friends, thus doing so is easy and I've met a lot of fun people.  2) doing your nails is like number one fun time activity, besides watching tv and movies, which can be done simultaneously. 3) NEON is in... 4) I miss my WU Crew girls (and boys) and my roommates a lot, they've made everything so easy!  But being a tentative member of Team USA has been great!

I'll send an update from Princeton! 

~Enjoy everyday!  Hilary

Pictures!

Walking to the cafeteria.

The Boathouse

On the way to the boathouse.

The damaged boats.

The lake.

Walking back from the boathouse, throwing arena.

oops! ~ The past week

  So, there hasn't been much to report and I've been lazy on my breaks and haven't wrote anything for a week!  Sorry all!

Let's see here, here's a rundown of the last week, every day gets a sentence or two.
Sunday: Morning off and max power testing in the PM.  Did well, PRed for the 10stroke test with max watts 630.  Just about what I've always hoped for!
Monday: 4 x 2k, 20-26.  Went really well.  Afternoon swing row.
Tuesday: 3 x 1500, not so well.  Afternoon weights and swing row.
Wednesday: Morning only technique row and 3 x 20' on the erg.
Thursday: 4 x 2k same as Monday, different partner.  But in the afternoon we rowed in the quad!
Friday: 3 x 1500, switched partners each row!  Afternoon in the quad again, yay!
Saturday: Which is today, I did 3 x 20' on the erg again.  My heart rate is dropping and I'm obviously responding well to the training plan!  Love it!

Let's see what's been exciting around here... I got to go to Target the other day!  Yay!  Didn't really get anything exciting but leaving the compound was great!

The world cup has officially started, watching soccer as much as possible, so much fun!  Can't wait for the USA - England game to start!  Never felt so patriotic, but when you're training for the US, that little bit of patriotism comes out.  Nothing like Denmark or Ecuador though, they're way patriotic!

And... the food is still good, the weather has been windy and crappy lately but we'll get over it.

6k test tomorrow afternoon, we'll see how it goes.  :)

I'll post pictures soon, when I'm not feeling quite so lazy!! 

It's Saturday and we get a day off!

Let's see it's been a couple days since I wrote and my hands hurt too much to write much.  And they still do but it's time for me to give a true update on how things are going because I haven't exactly done that yet. 
We've been going out in quads a lot, which I love.  The easy speed is so great!

So what should I talk about in this post?  I guess I'll give you all an outline of my day and then as I think of more things I'll jot them down.  I come up with great ideas for posts while I'm taking a nap or out doing steady state on the water. 

My day goes as such:
5:55 or 6:55 wake up. 
Eat a snack, usually a banana and a granola bar or two. 
6:30 or 8:15 run with the team for 20 min.  Usually a pretty fast paced run, but nothing I can't keep up with. 
6:50 or 8:35 stretch and get ready to row.
7 or 8:45 team meeting to discuss the plan for the row. 
Row, row, row for about 2 hours or so. 
Come in, wash the boats, and put everything away.  Stretch again. 
Eat breakfast.
Sleep
Eat lunch
Watch TV.  We've been watching a lot of FRIENDS lately, because my roommate brought a bunch of seasons of it and it's better than watching commercials.  Right now though we are watching House, which I've never seen before, but am enjoying already.
3pm practice.  This is a bit more relaxed practice, usually in bigger boats (quads for us scullers) and a lot, a lot of steady state.  Like 18k of steady state.  :)  But it's enjoyable.
Around 5 we are off the water and washing the shells and stretching.
Then either we shower and then head to dinner, or head to dinner and then come back and shower.
Then it's an evening of TV and computing.  I've been spending time catching up with old friends that I stopped having time to talk to as much while in school and rowing.  So it's been great to catch back up with them.
And then around 9 or 9:30 I head to bed, because well I'm tired from the long day and need to revitalize my body!  And mind too!


Since my last post, we have done a lot of practicing of course and eating and sleeping and tv watching as my schedule suggests.  But the practicing bit has gone really well and things are progressing.  As I learned or relearned this evening I have a bunch of things to work on, but they're manageable details and didn't put me in a rut.  So with the next few hours off, I will attempt to sleep a lot and get ready for our first round of testing and hope my hands get a little less swollen and heal quickly.  I visited the trainers today and they gave me this really cool stuff that basically goes on like glue and doesn't come off.  So it basically covers half my hand and feels really weird, but hasn't taken any of the pain away, so I'm still dealing with that, but I don't have wounds like before.   I have to put more on tomorrow before I row, but I have all night to sleep and all day tomorrow to ice. 

Let's see what else... The OTC (olympic training center) where I'm at is pretty great!  The food like I said before is awesome, to have fruit available all the time is great.  The boathouse is simple, nice and not too out done.  The lake has a reasonable 3k course and we follow it and do laps on it daily.  The trainers like I said are cool, they have a nice track here and there are so many throwing stations for track and field.  And there are a billion bunnies here and lizards and birds.  The weight lifting tent is really cool, but we haven't spent much time there.  I'll share a more about that later, when the post isn't a few pages long.

Finally a quad

In the last 3 days I have rowed a total of about 76 k!  It's been a lot but it's fun and that's what I'm here for, to row and have fun.  The food is still great.  And today we finally got to row in quads and go fast!

really that's all i have to report for now, off to watch so you think you can dance and then bed!  my hands are super blistery and so typing hurts!

more later!

I'm here!

Well I arrived yesterday, it was a long day because I left the house at 6:45 but didn't get into the training center until about 4.  I had to wait to 2 hours for the shuttle from the airport to the training center.  So I got there and got unpacked and watched tv until it was time to go to dinner.  The food here is AMAZING!  Anyways, today we had practice at 9. We did 6k on the erg super steady state and then about 8k on the water.  Just getting our bearings back for sculling and learning the new styles that the coaches want us to use.  Then we had lunch, yummy pasta!  After lunch I took a nap and used the computer, before heading to afternoon practice.  For afternoon practice, I started on the water and did 6k in the double and then we went on land and did another 6k on the erg and stretched for a long time.  Then it was off to dinner and shower. 

For food here they have carbs and all the right proteins.  And it's unlimited food and we can take it back to our rooms for pre-workout snacks haha.  Well that's all for now, not much to report.  We got sweet ID cards that are all olympic offical.  :)  This place is great!

Leaving tomorrow!

So it's been a few days since I wrote and I can't say I've exactly been busy, just really lazy!  But the cat has fallen asleep in my lap and instead of moving her, I'll write an update!

Let's see I last wrote on Tuesday, which means I have let almost an entire week slide by without any sort of writing.  Tuesday was a quiet day of Harry Potter and ab workouts.  It just never stopped raining, very frustrating for an outdoor kid like myself! 

Wednesday morning came quickly, but I got the call at 5:20 that said we weren't heading out on the water so I fell back asleep for a few more hours.  Since my dad was working all day I just hung out by myself and went for a soggy run in the rain.  Averaged about 6.5 miles again and conquered the hills which now aren't all that bad, my legs are finally feeling stronger!  Wednesday evening was very quiet and we didn't do much out of the ordinary, lots of Harry Potter!

On Thursday I ran my newest and most favorite run.  It was about 9 or 9.5 miles and took me along West Valley Road in Chimacum down to the five mile marker and then I came back up and through the woods of our neighbors and made it home about an hour and a half later.  It was great!  Nice to be out running in shorts and a sports bra and so few people on the road, and it's so green around here.  In the afternoon my dad and I headed to the neighbors lake to go fishing!  We didn't get started right off because my neighbor was chopping down trees and falling them into the lake.  But after awhile we took out the little boat and paddled around searching for hungry fish.  Unfortunately we were very unlucky and got one bite and saw one fish before we decided it was time to head home at which point on one of my final casts I caught mr. fishy!  The fish was about a foot long and big enough to keep, but I was more excited about going to town and getting pizza, so we let it go and then went home.  But it was very exciting to catch a fish!

We went to town and got pizza at our favorite spot Waterfront Pizza and then went to Elevated Ice Cream for dessert because that's tradition! 

Friday was a slow day in the morning, I made lamb pockets for a appetizer potluck for the evening then went running and then came home and got some stuff together and then we headed to Port Townsend for my fundraiser.  The ladies of Tuf as Nails rowing organized a very nice fundraiser for me.  About thirty people came and went throughout the evening and we raised $1800 for my trip south!  I'm so thankful to have such a great community and people who want to help and support me!  I can't express my gratitude enough!  So, thank you everyone a thousand times over!

Saturday we went to seattle to the Northwest Folklife Festival.  It's a great cultural music festival with super great food!  I met up with my old friend Cassie, who I never get to see anymore, and we caught up on our lives and went shopping at REI.  Then I headed back to the center and watched some more music and ate a little and then we went home around 10:30.  It was a very late night for me and I'm still recovering!  :)

Today is packing day, put one thing in and take two out.  I always have to give myself a goal and this year it's to take a significantly large amount less than I have in the past.  Which means one checked back and absolutely one carry on.  It's proving somewhat hard by I'm managing!  I'm headed to Chula Vista tomorrow morning early and so here's to a good start of the rest of my summer!  As my mother recently told me, "none of the pull hard, go fast stuff, it's time to fucking move!" or something very close to that!

Here's a photo for the day:

Since Saturday

Well Sunday was a quiet day. Had a wonderful breakfast and a short 5-6 mile run. Those hills though are killing me. I'll find a way to make them easier over time. The rest of the afternoon was spent lazily watching the clouds roll by and I started re-reading Harry Potter.

Monday morning was an early, early morning, with a wake up call at 5:30. I jumped into rowing clothes and headed to Port Townsend. I met up with the ladies of Tuf as Nails, one of the women's masters rowing groups here in town. Unfortunately the water was rough and the wind was building so we elected to grab a cup of coffee at the Undertown and talk about a fundraiser. These wonderful ladies will be putting on a nice fundraiser for me at the end of the week, which I'm so grateful for. They're so generous. After our chat, we headed back to our cars and ran into the other group of rowers who had decided to go out no matter the conditions. I found my way into stroke seat of a quad and we battled 2-3 foot waves for about an hour. It was crazy, and not entirely the most enjoyable row of my life, but I think we learned that south winds might pick up on Port Townsend bay! However, it was a nice day to be outside. I spent the rest of the day running errands and reading Harry Potter.
For dinner my mom and I made homemade orecchiette (little ears in Italian) pasta. They were spectacular. We put on some olive oil, lemon peel, sauteed garlic, ham, tomatoes and olives and so it was a warm pasta salad of sorts. I also added some wonderful olive oil that was given to me by a friend. It is infused with chili, cardamom, and other spices to give it a special taste, and you could definitely taste it in the pasta. Here's a link to the company that makes it: oilvinegar.com.
And today I got up and read Harry Potter for a little while, 500 pages in! And did 2 x35 min on the old erg. Which should have produced far more than 15000m but it didn't. I would love to know how much energy I was exerting to produce so few meters, but I know I haven't gotten that slow. :) Anyways, I'm debating on another bout of exercise before the day ends, but Harry Potter is also calling so it may be a walk later and a little at home weight lifting to do the trick!


Picture of the day: And so with that the song of the day needs to be: "With a little help from my friends" by the Beatles


Also I recommend the Ingrid Michaelson channel on Pandora which gives you a mixture of Regina Spektor, Coldplay, Lily Allen, Norah Jones, and many many more great artists to help you get through a long hour!

Bike rides, organizing, and mentally preparing.

So let's see, I believe I left off on Wednesday night after eating Cous-Cous chicken curry. To continue our story, I headed home on Thursday morning after getting rid of a few loose ends and cleaning up the last bits of the house. Packed my car full, front seat reserved for my fish, Gomez and Ringo, and began the 4 hour trek home. I had to stop at the outlet mall to find a new watch. Who knew they don't actually sell them there, ugh... Anyways, I jumped back in the car and drove non stop to reach my house at 1:50 pm, having left at 9:35 and taking that short detour through Woodburn, left me with yes a 4 hour drive. Almost record time, almost... :) In any case I was glad to be home with my cat, Autumn (pictured below), and of course my padres. After unloading the ungodly amount of boxes from my car, to join the already full bedroom, I enjoyed a short run/walk with my mom. My legs were still burning from lifting on Wednesday.Friday was a morning of burning a large burn pile and raking up little twigs around the outside, and watching the fire burn. So terribly thrilling... Then I went on a nearly 8 mile run, which is a bit harder around here as there are lots and lots of hills. Well lots and lots compared to Salem which has like maybe 1 on my run through Minto Brown Park. So, getting in 8 miles took me nearly two hours... OUCH! But it was great mental toughness training, because I was in pretty instense pain for the entire run, but had to keep going and make it home. Totally worth it. Plus my legs still hurt from lifting. oops! The rest of the day was left to relaxing.
We finished the day by watching Paper Moon. It is a movie from the 70's, but set in the 30's and done all in black and white. It is one of the best con-men movies I have ever seen, especially since the star actress is little Tatum O'Neal. She did an awesome job, it was a great, great movie! Totally check it out on Netflix if you like those kind of movies. It's based off of the book "Addie Pray".Today was a quiet morning. I managed to organize my room and gave myself the ultimatum of having to get rid of a large box of clothes. But it's a good thing to finally get rid of the prom dress I never will wear again, man that was kind of hideous. The my mom and I got a ride to Sequim, WA where we got on our bikes and rode 22 miles to downtown Port Angeles to meet my Dad, load up the bikes and head home. It was a great ride (shown in black, above), and I'm so thankful that I now can ride for hours and not really mind the hard work and feel like I could keep riding for a few more hours. After a snack of course. Plus it made me love my neon pink 90's trek bike even more! Tonight consisted of a BBQ chicken dinner and me starting to reread Harry Potter #7. But now it's time to go to bed. We'll see where my adventures lead me tomorrow, but I know for a fact that they will be starting with a nice traditional waffle breakfast. More on that tomorrow! Below are pictures from today!

Keeping in Shape

Three days since graduation, I'm finally sitting down to write a quick note while my coconut chicken curry with cous-cous is boiling away on the stove. Not sure if that is a well rounded meal, but I'm eating what little food I have left before head north tomorrow. The last three days have been days of lazy packing and errand running. And then working out as well.
Monday was a good day off, packed my parents car and said goodbye to them around 11:30 and then did some errand running and packed up my room.
Tuesday, I accidentally ran 10 miles. As a few people asked on facebook, how did you "accidentally" run 10 miles. Well in the midst of graduation and working out, I have misplaced my watch and I'm afraid it'll be gone forever. I think I'll have to stop and pick up a new on tomorrow on my way home. In any case, I just kept running on this great path that runs by the river and fields of Minto Brown. Then about two hours later or a bit less, I found my way back home and had to map my run online using Map My Run. And found out that I had run just about 10 miles. My legs were pretty jello-y after, but it felt really great to be outside. After several hours of packing, cleaning and more cleaning. I headed back to the gym to lift. I played it heavy on the arms and felt great about the workout. Then came home to another couple hours of lazy cleaning. Katie and I have termed our cleaning lazy cleaning because we are allowed to take breaks, a lot of breaks. :)Then today I got up and went for a short run and did good ab workout. Packed up a little and cleaned the kitchen and hallway. And then did recycling with Katie. We made enough money off bottles to get coffee! It was a great trip, except for the rain. Then I headed to the gym after some wonderful TV watching and stumbling. And then made curry.
This post has taken like an hour to write because I had to cook and eat and watch America's Funniest Home Videos. :) By the way the curry was super delicious, if you want the recipe, unfortunately I don't know it because I just threw things in the pan! Tonight I will pack the car and head off tomorrow as soon as I can!
Here's a thought for the day: Worst Drinks ever!

And a picture for the day: Chula Vista training center: 10 days away.

Have fun! ~Hilary

Graduation Day!

Since my last post I rowed my last hour of power on the river, yes it was tough, but fun. Said good bye to the WU boathouse and Susan and Todd (my coaches). Below is my route for rowing, I started on the right and went against the current. It's amazing how much things can change in four years, I'm glad I tried rowing and showed up to that meeting the first day. I had no idea that it would turn out the way it has. But that story is for a later date.
Yesterday we celebrated the graduation of my roommates and I by throwing a nice bbq with family and friends. It was fun to see everyone's families together and have us all in the same place for one last hurrah before we all go separate ways for awhile. Almost all of us have been friends and/or roommates for the last four years!
My brother and I also went on a gorgeous run yesterday around Minto Brown Park in Salem, it was wonderfully warm and we ran for probably 80 min! Tomorrow starts packing and cleaning so I can head home to Washington in a few days! But for now it's time to graduate and celebrate!

4 days til Graduation!

First post, new blog, new summer, new adventures...
Now that I'm no longer a member of Willamette University Rowing :( I have been rowing the single out on the river and dreaming of new lakes and rivers that this summer will bring! Also new boats and boathouses but that's beside the matter. After a great showing at WIRA and coming back with a gold and a silver, I was pretty darn happy to have been a member of such a fun team for the past four years!
Here's my favorite picture from WIRA! See the photo credit for more photos from the races! Can't wait to head back to California for better weather and fun, super competitive racing!
Graduation is in 4 days, today we went shopping for dresses to wear and ended up with awesome shoes as well, plus I picked up a pair of Nike Lunarlite's super cheap, not sure how I'll like them though but hopefully they'll be great! Mine are a little bit more green, but here they are!Today I had a great cardio workout and abs. Looking forward to rowing the single tomorrow and then doing weights in the afternoon! More fun stuff later...

Cheers ~ Hilary