The Suspected Arsonist

No school today for the MLK holiday. Which led to Terry wanting to spend time with his best bud Michael. Terry's and Michael's favorite thing to do (aside from video games)? Go to the local middle school to play football or soccer on the turf field. Which leads me to a complete side rant--


WHY do all middle schools in Eugene have turf fields??? Those things cost a fortune! Granted, I know it rains a lot in Oregon and turf drains much better than a grass field, so I do see some value in them in a rainy climate. But all parents should at a minimum be given an instruction sheet for how to deal with all the tiny pieces of rubber that get embedded in their children's socks and DO NOT come off even upon washing and the piles of them that sprinkle out across the floor when the kids get home and shuck the shoes from their feet. End side rant.


So today Terry and Michael made plans to meet up at the turf field. Michael's house isn't far away and he walks to the field when they meet up. Well, it was cold today (had there BEEN school scheduled today it likely would have been cancelled due to the dusting of snow we had last night). So Terry, getting tired of waiting at the field for Michael, decided to walk toward Michael's house to meet up with him. As he walked, he got colder. So he cinched the hood of his hoodie up tight around his head and stuffed his hands in his pocket.

As he walked toward Michael's house, he started down a path through a condo community that they normally walk through. An older woman (Terry said she was probably as old as Grandma...sorry mom!) came out of her condo and started eyeing him. He just kept walking. Soon he noticed he was being followed. Not just "hey that old lady happens to be walking the same direction as me, I wonder if she is following me" kind of following, but the "hey, that old lady is following me and jumping behind trees to hide from me whenever I turn around and look at her" kind of following. Sweet, thoughtful, well-mannered Terry was being stalked by an old lady. This just freaked him out and made him walk faster and probably made him "more suspicious" in this poor woman's mind.

The face of an arsonist???
Looks kinda like a mug shot!

A few minutes later, Terry arrived at his friend's house to find he wasn't home. Michael had been at a tutoring session at another house in the area and was planning to walk from there to the turf field. So the boys had not crossed paths. Terry turned around and headed BACK to the field. As he started back down the road, he was soon past by a VERY SLOOOOOOOOWWWWW moving police car. The police car pulled up beside him and the office inside gave him quite the lookover, before finally driving on. At this point Terry is pretty well freaked out. He's been stalked by an old woman and now the police are checking him out. Just then another car goes by and completely douses him in slushy winter puddle mess. Not his day. He made it back to the park to find Michael patiently waiting for him, but by then he was in no mood for soccer/football. He was wet, cold, and well, a little paranoid. So the boys headed back to Michael's house.

Upon arriving back at Michael's, Terry learned from Michael's parents that over the weekend, a house fire in the south Eugene area was labeled as arson. And "a white male with short hair, wearing what appeared to be a light gray hooded sweatshirt...was seen leaving the backyard shortly before the fire was reported." (according to the article in the newspaper on Sunday) Which of course, to a nice old lady in a condo complex, must have been our suspicious arsonist-in-a-hoodie looking son! Luckily he must've looked pretty harmless to the police officer.

So, while we definitely support reprimanding suspected arsonists, and hope that this one is caught soon, please know that Terry Leonard is NOT the arsonist on the loose in Eugene. But perhaps the little spook he got today will remind him throughout his life that it's never good to get in trouble with the law.   :-)

2011 Year of Races

I did not start out 2011 with any major running goals. So looking back over the year, I've ended up running much more than I thought I would, and some fun PR's to boot! I didn't document any of these races during the year, so I want to sum them all up here now.

I guess it began last spring when I tried to strong arm Doug into running a marathon with me. I wanted to put in for the St. George Marathon lottery. Doug said he would run that marathon with me if we got in, but he was CERTAIN we wouldn't. And he was right...no such luck for 2011. The good news is, St. George has a "third time's the charm" rule and we are guaranteed a spot in 2013 if we don't get accepted for the 2012 race. So he's going to be putting in 26.2 miles SOMETIME in the next two years. :)

When we didn't get in for the St. George marathon, I figured I would wait another year. But my friend Laurie offered to train and run a marathon with me. She's a much better runner than I am, and I knew I would be challenged to keep up with her. But I'm also not one to be left behind--so I took her up on her offer. And we registered for the http://www.columbiarivermarathon.com/ in October 2011.

Meanwhile, a trip for work took Doug and I to Vermont in May. And part of the trip included running a half-marathon in Middlebury, VT. The Middlebury Maple Run was one of the prettiest courses I've run. It was beautiful Vermont countryside and even included running across a covered bridge. How can you beat a race with a covered bridge?!? It was a challenging course, but I managed to get a half-marathon PR of 1:46:23, an 8:07 pace. Doug joined me in the race, his second half-marathon. And he achieved a PR as well!

August brought our 5th consecutive year of the Hood to Coast relay. This year we shook things up a bit and were the 2nd van. We've been Van 1 the previous 4 years. It was fun to see a different part of the course and do some new runs. I ran leg 9, with a total of nearly 20 miles between the 3 runs. Doug ran leg 11, with almost 18 miles of running. We had a great group in our van, too. The only bummer was the EXTREME overcrowding this year. They added a bunch of extra teams which created a log jam near the finish. In fact, we didn't even make it to the finish line before our final runner (Doug's brother Ryan) got there. We sat in traffic for almost two hours, arriving at the finish line close to 90 minutes AFTER our team finished the race. But Doug and I both ran well, turning in splits for each leg that were the best times we've ever run during Hood to Coast.

That's me in the way distant in white/blue getting ready to hand off. For some reason we don't have any really good H2C photos this year. :(

With Hood to Coast behind us, I got serious about my marathon. Training with Laurie really pushed me. She introduced me to speed workouts, something I'd never done before. We had a training plan to follow, which included either a tempo run (a run in which you do a mile or so warm-up, then run 5-6 miles at a set pace--a rather fast one, followed by a cool down) or mile repeats each week (a workout with 1 mile warm-up, then 3-4 1-mile intervals at a really fast pace with 1/2 mile recovery between each mile). Those were the most challenging training runs I've ever done, but they really made a difference. Laurie and I set a goal to run the marathon in 3:50. For me, that would be almost a 40 minute improvement over my first marathon.

The marathon was in Umatilla, OR, right on the Columbia River. It was a beautiful area and one of the perks of the race was running ACROSS the dam into Washington state for 7 miles of the race.

Ready to run--tutus and all

Oh, did I mention we also ran it in tutus? Laurie won her tutu on a running blog and planned to wear it for our race. So I got me a tutu as well. Half way through the race, Laurie said "I feel like wearing a tutu is cheating....everyone is cheering for us more than anyone else!" We were affectionately called the "two tutu girls" throughout the race and got lots of kudos.

We started out really strong and were well ahead of our goal pace. At 11 miles we were sitting at an 8:20 pace, which was awesome! And then everything changed. at mile 11 we hit the Lewis and Clark trail, right along the Columbia River. It was a very scenic part of the race, but it was also torturous. We had 10 miles of GRAVEL and SAND. Not something we had trained for.

Finishing the first 5 miles of the gravel trail

My favorite photo of the whole race--that DARN gravel and sand!

 Coming out of the gravel trail at mile 23 (there was 5 miles of gravel followed by a mile out and back, then 5 miles back on the gravel trail), our pace had tanked. We went from the super fast 8:20 average pace to an 8:44 pace. And THAT was our OVERALL race pace. Still 3 miles to go and no time for fading. Oh, and there was still THE BIGGEST HILL of the race to tackle. Seriously.

Almost done... 

Finished!!!

I lost Laurie when I stopped for water at about mile 19 and she kept going. She stayed about 30-40 seconds ahead of me, but I never could catch her. We both plugged along though and were overjoyed to finish right on target! Laurie came in just under 3:50 and I finished at 3:50:11, which I vote is right on target for a 3:50 finish. Laurie is a much more dedicated blogger than I am. You can read Laurie's race report here.

You would think after the marathon I would have had enough. But no...

During one of our marathon training races, Laurie and I started discussing ultramarathons. We both agreed that MAYBE SOMEDAY we would do an ultra. We rationalized that people often WALK during ultramarathons. And anything LONGER than a regular marathon is an ultramarathon. So we could start with the entry level 50K race (31.2 miles). What's another 5 miles beyond a marathon, right??? I came across a really nice 50K scheduled for September 2012 that I thought would be good to try out. But Laurie searched harder than me and came up with the Frozen Trail Run Fest in December, just 2 months after our marathon. Again she said "we're already in marathon shape, what's 5 more miles?" Well, we discovered exactly what 5 more miles is--a KILLER. 

Ready or not...

The race was at Mt. Pisgah in Eugene. I'd hiked there with a field trip for Trevian's class once before, but soon learned the field trip stayed mostly on the FLAT part of the mountain. The race course was 4 loops around and OVER the mountain with a total elevation gain of 4000 ft. 4000 FT!!! 

Looks like fun, doesn't it??? As we lined up at the starting line, all 27 runners, the race coordinator explained "you'll do base loop 1, followed by base loop 2, then base loop 1 again, and finish with the summit loop. And you're welcome!" Seriously--27 miles into the race and you have to climb the summit of the mountain, a 1000 ft elevation gain in 1 mile. What were we thinking!?! 31 miles of trail running in the cold, muddy, Eugene winter. What fun.

The race started out great and we finished loop 1 faster than I thought we would. Loop 2 was mentally really tough for me. I think it was because I knew we still had 2 more loops to go, one of which I had already completed. I kept wondering how I was going to finish if I already wanted to be done, only 13 miles in. But we got through it and headed into the 3rd loop. After about 19 miles, Laurie and I started to separate a bit (did I mention Laurie ran this race 16 weeks pregnant?!? yep!) Just as I started loop 4, my cell phone rang. I had my phone with me just to take pics, and just in case I needed to call for a rescue. It was Trevian. She wanted to know if we could go to the bookstore when I got home. Yep. 24 miles into my first ultramarathon I was fielding phone calls about going to the bookstore. But I was glad to just be talking to someone and verifying that I was indeed still alive.

Approaching the summit of Mt. Pisgah

A few miles later, as I approached the summit of Mt. Pisgah, I was debating in my head if indeed this race was THE MOST DIFFICULT thing I've ever done in my life. There are those people who would debate that childbirth is harder. At mile 28 of this race, I'm not sure that I agreed. I was 6 hours into the race (how many people labor for fewer hours than that during childbirth? LOTS!) and every part of my body hurt, right down to my brain cells. It was just as painful mentally as physically. And there was no epidural or painkillers for the race. Plus, it's been 9 years since I gave birth, so that memory is a bit more hazy.

At the summit, emerging from the fog and looking out across the valley

And, just like with childbirth, when I reached the summit and I knew the hard part was over, I started to cry. Yep...just a bit...but I cried. I wasn't sure if it was because I was grateful to still be alive or if it was because the view was so beautiful (the whole race had been foggy and cold), or because it was all I could do. But I cried. And then I took off to find the finish line, which was just a couple miles away.

Laurie's muddy feet--31 miles of muddy trail just like this

Well, Laurie and I didn't have nearly as ambitious goals for the ultra as we did for our marathon, especially given the difficulty of the course and the fact that it was our first ultra. But our hope was to finish in under 6:30. Yep--six and a half hours. I was running for six and a half hours. As I came around the final corner to the finish line I could see the official time clock. I was going to make it. Official time...6:29:18. Woohoo! 

So, 2011 brought me a half-marathon, Hood to Coast relay, my second marathon, and first ultramarathon. More running than I would have ever guessed. But it was a great year with great races. I enjoyed every bit of it (in the end that is, after surviving each race) And guess what--Doug's considering doing an ultra with me this September (and the St. George marathon if we get in)!

Just a housewife...with a blog.

Welcome to 2012! And welcome to Heather's effort to do a better job blogging. In the past I've had many excuses in my mind as to why I was such a slacker on our blog. But truth is, I read other people's blogs and wish I was doing a better job. So it's not that I don't want to blog. Actually, I really want to blog because I feel like it is a good way to keep a family journal. I don't care if nobody ever reads it. And Terry has informed me MANY times that I am in no way funny, so I know people likely won't be reading for my humor and wit! :) I just want to do a better job documenting life at the Leonard house.

So this year is starting off with the big news that most everyone knows by now...I quit my job. Yep! After 11 years, I called it quits. It wasn't an easy decision. And I could probably write numerous blog posts on the reasons why and how I arrived at the point of quitting my job at the end of 2011. But suffice it to say, I quit. This decision didn't come without some interesting reactions from the family however...

First of all, yes, Doug and I consulted together on this decision. But we didn't reach it without Doug recalling what happened the LAST TIME I quit my job. That was in 2000, and was warranted due to a cross-country move to Vermont for Doug to go to medical school. I quit my full-time job, had a baby (Zach), and moved across the country in a 2-week time span. I lasted 6 months. Doug more vividly recalls what transpired that led me to look for a job. But it went something like me meeting him at the door one night with a crying toddler, a crying baby, and a crying mom muttering something about how he has 90 built-in new friends in this strange town, while I just have a 2-year-old and a 6-month-old, my brain is turning to mush due to repeated viewings of Barney and Airplanes for Kids (which truth be told, that airplane video was the GREATEST thing ever and I have saved it to this day because it probably is what maintained my last thread of sanity during those months), and that he COULDN'T POSSIBLY find anything sexy or attractive about me because I spend all day covered in spit-up and and other tiny child messes. It was a bit for him to take in. In hindsight, there are better ways to inform your husband that you need an outlet or a hobby. Nevertheless, I found a small part-time job that was just the outlet I needed. And it has followed me everywhere for the past 11 years. This time around, I told Doug we'd just try it out and see how I do. It's a different time and I'm in a different place in life (as is he and as are the kids).

Zach 11-years-old now

When I informed the kids that I was quitting my job, it was a bit more interesting...Zach asked what he was supposed to tell people now when they asked him what his mom does. I asked him what he was telling them now. He said "I tell them that you are a dietitian." I said "well that hasn't changed. I'm still a dietitian. And I'll be working on small projects here and there. So you can still say that." That seemed to satisfy him.

Terry's reaction was that of a 14-year-old...he promptly asked me to go to the store to get something for him. And then added "and don't tell me that you are too busy because I know you don't have anything else to do now!" Nice Terry. For that, I'm sharing your "look I got braces today" photo!

Terry and the new braces

But the most surprising was Trevian's reaction. I really didn't expect it at all. When I told them that I had quit my job, tears welled up in her eyes and she got a very worried look on her face. And she asked "Does this mean you are JUST going to be a HOUSEWIFE now?!?"

WHAT???? Where on earth did THAT come from? I don't believe that in any way I have raised my daughter to think that women HAVE to work, that there is no value in being a stay-at-home mom. And I've always worked FROM HOME and mostly while the kids are at school. So it's not like I've ever been "gone to work." Plus, she's ONLY NINE!!! How does that come out of a 9-year-old's mouth?

Miss Trevian

So, we are working on the image of the "housewife" at our house. And I am working on acclimating to being unemployed. This is really the first week of a regular home routine/schedule since I finished working, due to the holidays and the kids being out of school for so long. But I'm finding my way. I've made dinner EVERY night this week (even put up 6 freezer meals in the process). I've dejunked the kids' toy boxes (shhh...don't tell them). I've washed most everything I could put in the washing machine. I'm reading a couple of books here and there. Oh, and I've got about 5 different "words with friends" games going on my phone. I'm finally tackling some projects that I've put off for a while (like blogging) and plan to do some backdated blog posts to catch up on key things I want to document on the blog.

So here's to the new opportunities of 2012! And here's to being "just a housewife."

Kentucky Falls

For Labor Day today we took a family hike with the Heiner family, friends of ours from church. The destination--Kentucky Falls in the Oregon coastal range. Doug and Terry have been raving about this hike from their 50-miler this summer. One day of their hike they covered 10 miles along this same trail. Today we did a modified version of the hike, hiking in 2 miles to the falls and 2 miles back out.

The gang--ready to hit the trail

I don't think we were even 1/4 mile into the hike when trouble struck...BEES. With all of us spread out along the trail, the first group of kids passed by a bees' nest without noticing, but their movement got the excitement brewing and the bees were ready for the next group of us to come along. Doug, Trevian, and I were all stung before we even knew what was going on. Before we'd hit the 1 mile mark, a second set of nests came along and the number of victims rose. One more spot along the 2-mile path was guarded by bees. We were glad to make it to the falls, but knew those bees would be waiting for our return trip.

We enjoyed a picnic by the falls and some great photo ops (potential Christmas card photos perhaps???). Of course, Terry explored a bit and finally decided to take the plunge into the swimming hole. He was the only one crazy enough to try it.
When it was time to head back, we formulated a game plan. This time we would outsmart the bees. Armed with a towel, Paul Heiner went first down the trail (note to self--smart plan to bring a bee expert along on the hike!) and snuck just past each nest. Then a group of us would run as fast as we could past the nest and Paul would fan the bees away from all of us. The rest of the group would wait for the excitement to die down, then we'd repeat the process. It must have just been bad bee season time because everyone we passed on the trail had also been stung. But the boys insisted they had no trouble with bees during the 50-miler earlier this summer.


By the time we made it back to the cars, we took a count. Breaking down the numbers:

Hikers: 13
Bee nests encountered: 3
Total group stings: 11
Doug: 4
Heather: 1
Terry: 0 (must've been the dip in the pool)
Zach: 2
Trevian: 3
Votes for returning to Kentucky Falls next Labor Day: 0

Don't get me wrong--it was a beautiful hike. But avoid the Labor Day bee season!

The Donner Party--Take 2!

This spring break we repeated our Tahoe ski trip from last year. The kids were so excited for another week with friends at the Donner Summit and a week of skiing. Of course, we are always wondering...how will the skiing be? Will the weather be good? Will there be enough snow? It is the last week of March after all. But this year, Mother Nature had an entirely different experience in mind for us!

We arrived in Tahoe on Sunday, March 20th, just barely. The freeway had been closed for hours that day due to a big storm. It finally reopened only to cars with 4-wheel drive or chains. So we creeped up the mountain, excited to know there would be fresh new snow to ski on the next day. Who knew that ski resorts can actually close due to too much snow!!!! In the week we spent there, the Donner Summit (named such because it is where the Donner party was stuck in the winter of 1847) received 14 feet of new snow. Yes, you read that right...14 feet in one week! This winter was one of the biggest snow falls on record for the Donner Summit--mirroring the winter of 1847. In fact, the monument built to the height to mark the snow depth the winter of 1847 was completely buried when we were there.

Our 4-story condo complex we were staying in was barely visible from underneath the snow. The last day there, they had to come and dig us out of the building because the entrances were snowed in as well!

From inside the condo building, looking out.

On Monday, the ski resort we were staying at was closed. They had too much snow to open. Doug packed up the kids and went with the group next door to Ski Bowl to ski, while I stayed behind to work on a few things for work (that online job of mine follows me everywhere I go, and I was really behind due to a lot of time off in March). My friend Maria and I made a trip into Truckee to get some more supplies. While at the grocery store in Truckee, the freeway was closed again. So we enjoyed a 2-hour parking spot on the freeway until it opened again. People were out of their cars, building snowmen on the freeway divider, waiting for the freeway to open again! We finally made it back to the condo, vowing to not leave the mountain again until it was time to go home. That was a smart plan.

On Tuesday, the ski resort we were at managed to open the front half of the mountain. We had a fun day skiing as a family, even if our choices of runs was severely limited. We were skiing in powder like we'd never seen before. Terry wasn't too happy when I snapped a photo of him waist-deep in powder (it took him about 30 minutes to dig himself out). Wednesday through Friday, the resort we were at was closed as record levels of snow continued to fall. So we spent one day skiing at Boreal and another day at Ski Bowl.

Terry-waist deep in new powder

Thursday at Ski Bowl, the wind was blowing, the snow was flying, and the temperature was freezing! But we had so much fun. At one point the resort lost power and the ski lift came to a halt. That's when we learned that backup generators for ski lifts take about 25-30 minutes to get started. I was on a chair with Trevian and to keep her calm through it, we sang all her favorite songs from music class. She taught me the Turkey song that she sang all Thanksgiving long..."a turkey knocked on my back door so I invited him in...it was a chill November morning so I invited him in...won't you come into my kitchen, my friend..." Doug did not have it quite so easy. He was on a chair with Zach. Zach doesn't take to unexpected circumstances quite so well. The panic started to set in and he wanted down...NOW! He asked Doug "what are our options?" Doug replied "well, we either sit here and wait for them to restart the lift...or we jump." Zach quickly replied "THOSE ARE NOT GOOD OPTIONS!" But the chair did eventually restart and in the end the kids were rewarded. They gave out vouchers for $30 in food and free hot chocolate for everyone stuck on the lift. So Zach and Trev enjoyed the rest of the afternoon in the lodge, sipping cocoa and playing table top hockey with sugar packets.

All 5'7" of Terry, against the 14' side of the road.

Our last day there, Friday, we were just desperate to get out. We felt like we'd been prisoners all week, buried in more snow than we'd ever seen in our lives. Thursday night the snow plow driver had warned us that there was so much snow coming that we needed to park in a different location if we had any hopes of getting out. The next morning, we were pretty grateful we'd done that, as it took 3-4 hours to dig everyone else out. But our car was loaded and ready to go once we helped finish digging and we hit the road, just as the freeway opened again to 4-wheel drive vehicles to get off the mountain (it remained closed to anyone wanting to go UP the mountain). When we arrived in Sacramento and stopped to refuel and eat, we felt like kissing the grass when we got out of the car. Finally released!

I must say we have a new appreciation for what the Donner Party went through those many years ago. It was amazing what we faced with all that snow--and we had winter clothes/gear, a warm condo to stay in and a 4-wheel drive vehicle to help us get around. I can't even fathom what that winter must have been like for those pioneers.

The next day, happy to be home again, I headed out to do some much-needed retail therapy (which my friend was convinced was due to my suffering from PTSD) and came home with a pair of bright red high heels...since dubbed my post-traumatic stress shoes. Not that I needed an excuse to buy shoes!