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What: #7 Play Disc Golf

When: August 29th
Where: Ohana Camp, Fairlee VT

The contraption

Why: There is a park near me that I visit every few years, and each time I'm there, I see these contraptions that take me awhile to remember what they are: disc golf baskets. Over the life span of this blog, I've tried to add new sports into the list - curling, for example - to sample what's out there, and so disc golf made it onto this year's list. Unexpectedly, I found a disc golf course at the camp where we were all staying for our friend's wedding, so one night, dressed in my finest, I set out with a motley crew to learn how to play disc golf.

The "instructor" was slightly inebriated - and, it turns out, incredibly color blind - so that made for an interesting series of directives and key steps of the process were glossed over, causing slight confusion from the onset of our lesson. It also made it difficult to determine which disc landed where and who was up next because he couldn't identify the colors when we went searching for the errant discs (and trust me, they were often flung far off course).

We did manage to make it through about 4 holes (wait, are they called holes in disc golf?) before it A) got too dark to continue and B) the geography of the course became too much for our high heels. I still consider it a successful first try at disc golf, and hope to find time to meet up with my teammates again to play on our local course!

Right before he hit the camera man directly in the face...

 

Proper form, improper attire

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What: #96 HIke the Precipice Trail

When: August 27th
Where: Acadia National Park
Why: Three summers ago, I went to Acadia National Park for the first time and loved it. The scenery and feeling there is unlike anyplace else I've been, and I was excited at the chance to go back this summer. One hike I didn't get to do my first time there was the Precipice Trail, known for the sheer cliffs you climb on a system of iron rungs and ladders. On my first visit to Mount Desert Island, I climbed The Beehive with my friends - a very similar trail, but of a bit lower intensity - so I had an idea of what I was getting into this time. And, three years later, I have a lot more climbing under my belt, so I was confident I could get to the top.

The views along the way were amazing, but it was hard to stop to enjoy it, because anytime you had an opening to see the views, it meant you were precariously perched on a slippery rock ledge trying to stay balanced against the cliff face to not plummet down to a granite death bed. And I'm only being slightly dramatic about that.

Once at the top, we enjoyed a mini-picnic with the snack we had packed, and having a mini-picnic with the incredible vista made the tough climb absolutely worth it!

21 done ... 31 to go...

What: #67 Eat an ice cream sundae for breakfast

When: August 3rd
Where: Big Buck's Ice Cream
Why: I think the better question is, why not?? I guess as I compile this list each year, I want to do a few more things that are simply fun and not too serious and easy to achieve. And for this one, we couldn't have asked for a better place to make it happen!

We got up in the morning, headed off on our 3-mile run along the beach and then planned to grab ice cream at a coffee shop near the grocery store. We figured this plan was foolproof because the calories we would consume would be negated by the calories we had proactively burned off during the run. Little did we know that the coffee shop wouldn't make us an ice cream sundae, so we headed off to another set of cute stores and restaurants a bit further down the main road and it was there that we entered Big Buck's. The whole atmosphere of the place told me this was the right decision. When we ordered our sundaes, we were at first a little worried about the looks we might get for indulging so early in the day, but the couple in line behind us was so inspired, they got ice cream for breakfast, too!

Now, when I dreamed of what the sundae would look like, I didn't even get close to the amazing reality of it! It had hot fudge, it had peanut butter, it had 3 scoops of the most delicious homemade ice cream I might have ever tasted. It even had good whipped cream and an umbrella to top it all off!

After devouring these incredible sundaes - and making the slow waddle back to the beach house - we made two additional return trips to Big Buck's during our stay in Corolla...the ice cream there was so good we had to keep returning to try more flavors!

20 done ...32 to go...

What: #85 Rent a beach house with girlfriends for a long weekend

When: Aug 1st-8th
Where: Corolla, North Carolina
Why: A few years ago, a few friends of mine got together to enjoy a long fall weekend and it was a great time just talking and eating, playing board games, bike riding, sitting in the hammock, and generally enjoying some quality female bonding time. That started me thinking of this idea. Then, I read a great fun book that put the destination in my head: The Outer Banks. Back in March - when the weather in Michigan makes you want to get kidnapped just to end up somewhere else - I started talking with my college friend Susie about getting a group of women together to make this a possibility, so with her help, we pulled it off!

So, we found a great house on Whalehead Beach that instantly felt like our home away from home. I've rented a lot of vacation condos and houses in my day - usually for skiing - so I know to keep expectations low when you actually see the place, but my gosh, we were beyond giddy at the house and the location! From our deck, we had a set of stairs that crossed over the dunes and right onto the beach!

The group of us did a great job dividing up groceries and deciding on meals to make together or restaurants to try, and we had a lot of space both indoors and outdoors to divide up and do whatever we wanted, which was a lot of lounging and reading and soaking up the incredible views. Each evening, we'd sit around and play games and laugh and chat about our various life stories. Some of us have been friends since college days, others just met, and we had a few wonderful moms of friends join us to see that getting less young is still a lot of fun!

For a non-morning person, the sunrises were totally worth it!

We had a lot of really great activities to do while we were there, too, so that by mid-week, we still hadn't left Corolla! We definitely hit our stride around Wednesday and really didn't want it to end! If you ever have the inclination to put together a trip like this, it's absolutely worth all the planning to make it a reality!! And because we saw only Corolla, we are all thinking we'd go back again to another part of the Outer Banks. It really is a magical place!!

Took a Hummer across the beach to see the Corolla Wild Horses

View of the Whalehead Club from the Currituck Lighthouse

Boogie boarding with Susie!

Sunset kayaking!

Seven of us, still having fun on Friday morning!!

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What: #73 Run a 10K

When: July 25th
Where: Chicago
Why: For many years, I've run a maximum of a 5K and not a step beyond it. At 3.1 miles, my body knew it was done and it shut off accordingly. For a few years, I did sprint triathlons and did the run after a swim and a bike race, but still, at 3.1 miles, my legs and lungs proceeded to call it quits. This has been fine, until I got it in my head to run the Detroit Half-Marathon in October. It was a decision made entirely without proof that I could run that far, and so I've spent the past few weeks on a training program to push myself to go beyond a 5K distance.

Luckily, an opportunity came up for me to try a 10K in a city that I know is flat enough to not add any additional pressure to increasing my distance. Plus, I had friends that were running the 5K at the same event, so it would be a fun way to see them and to support my university at the Big Ten 10K in Chicago.

Around 6am on the morning of the run, the temperatures were already in the high 70's with high humidity, so there were concerns about how that would impact my run. I wasn't trying to get a personal best, just to reach as many of my 10 goals for my 10K as possible. Those goals were:

1) Finish it
2) Don't be last
3) Drink at every station
4) Be nice to Ohio State people
5) Don't take any selfies during the run
6) Go on the slip-n-slide
7) Keep at least a 14 min/mile pace
8) Don't get hurt
9) Don't pass out
10) Have fun

I accomplished 7 of my 10 goals. I failed at #4 when I saw an Ohio State girl totally cut a corner (oh, it was obvious!) and everyone around me that saw it started trash-talking her and that school and I joined right in on it. I failed at #5 because I have an awesome app that takes cool front/back pictures and I had to use it. I failed at #6 because the line was sooooo long that I couldn't imagine standing around for 10-15 minutes while the rest of the runners left me behind. I almost failed at #9, but luckily I had stashed an emergency granola bar in my pocket to eat when I felt faint. Oh, and I totally accomplished #7 by over a minute per mile!

Feeling pretty good for my first try!