Random

A long and challenging weekend has come to an end.  Bethany participated in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer last weekend, enduring miles of walking in the grueling 90-degree weather.  I was lucky enough to be able to join her for the first few miles, riding my bike along the route, riding ahead to each cheering station so that I can cheer her along the way.  I was sad that I had to leave for the second half of Saturday’s walk, but was relieved and proud to hear that she made it all the way.

She was a true warrior all throughout the weekend, and gave it all before her hip gave out on Sunday and she had to cut her walk short.  I’m very proud of her, not only for giving it her all, but also for being able to face her situation and make the right decision and avoid long-term injury.  Even with the hurting hip, she managed to walk over 31 miles over the weekend – an amazing feat! Most importantly, Bethany raised over $1800, contributing to the $2+ million raised during the weekend in the fight against breast cancer.  Great job Bethany!

Bethany (middle) walking in Cherry Creek

I’m spending the night in Denver for the evening with Bethany, as she is preparing to walk 39.3 miles over the next two days for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.  We ended up getting a hotel down here, as she needs to be up at 4:30am to have breakfast at Washington Park before the race kicks off at 6:30am with opening ceremonies.

This weekend I’m going to be all over the place. I’ll be sleeping in until about 6am and then head over to Washington Park to watch the race commence.  I’ll then hop on my bike and ride around town for the first few cheering stations.  I’m a little nervous about riding my bike in Denver, but I’m sure I have nothing to worry about.  I’ll be following the race route until about 9am, where I’ll head back to my car and drive it to band practice. Afterwards I’ll be hauling my drum set to church, then will try to relax a little bit.  I need to turn in early so I can get back down to Denver at 8am and get back on the bike to see if I can find the cheering station closest to the walkers.

I found the bike route map for the Denver area, where you can download about 30Mb’s of PDF’s (geez!) on their web site.  I need to finish plotting my course for Sunday.

Of course my busy schedule doesn’t compare to what Bethany needs to do this weekend: get up really early and start walking, walk 28 miles and 9 hours later, try to rest up and keep hydrated, get some sleep and get up the next day to talk another 11 miles.  She’s going to do great, but I definitely will be thinking of her throughout the weekend.

This is an awesome mashup that’s floating around that takes the audio from Frank Miller’s 300 with the video from Anchorman – hillarious!

Well I am back from last week’s vacation in Las Vegas.  This was my first time since I was a teenager, so obviously this was the first time I could enjoy all Vegas had to offer.  The trip was definitely a blast, and I am eager to share my stories and reflections – but for now, I will let my pictuers tell the stories:

Now that there’s only a few weeks of school yet, homework is piling up every night, work is as busy as ever – what better time than to play with my blog design.  I spent some time tonight playing with a new theme.  Let me know what you think!