Butt Burner Weekend

Soooo...On Saturday I competed in my first Crossfit competition...eak! I decided to sign up for this event for a few reasons. First, it was being run by a couple of our really good friends. Second, it was a running event...5k with crossfit movements after each 800m. And finally, I definitely waited until the actually workout movements were announced to find out if they were all movement I could do pretty comfortably and a weight I could handle. We also had a huge turnout of competitors from our gym, a lot who were also first time competitors, so that was super fun!

All the people from our gym!

So the workout was...Run 800m, then do 50 deadlifts @ 65# (not a heavy weight, but a lot of deadlifts), Run 800m, then do 30 box jumps on a 20 inch box, Run 800m, then do 10 'Curtis P's' (squat clean, 2 lunges, and a push press...google it if you're really interested), Run 800m, then do 15 burpee box jump overs, Run 800m, then do 20 squat clean thrusters, then finish with a final 800m run! Whew!

Doing Curtis P's

Box Jumps!

It took me just over 34 min to finish the whole thing. I think I finished right around the middle of the group of competitors, so I'm feeling pretty good about that! It was a lot of fun and I like that it was much more about endurance than super heavy weights. Needless to say, that was a lot of work on my legs and booty...hence the blog title...I'm definitely feeling it in the glutes today! 

Running...I can handle that!

So the huge downside to the awesome competition is that I got terribly sick after it. I think the main issue was that I didn't eat properly before the event. We were actually helping out at the event. I was thinking I'd grab a snack when I got there at 730 since I didn't compete until 9:15. Unfortunately I was put straight to work checking people in for the 8:30 heat. After check in, I was pulled off of that to be a judge for the 8:30 heat. By the time that was done I had a whole 5 minutes to get ready for my heat! I tried to get some food right after my event and drank plenty of water, but I started getting a terrible headache and bad nausea which got worse as the day went on...and of course we were both working the rest of the heats too, so I didn't really get to recover. Anyway, we ended up having to miss the after competition BBQ and hurry home so I could sleep it off. Next year I'll be better prepared and I'll definitely compete in this one again!!

Special group of people

So after all that we decided it would be an awesome idea to climb a mountain on Sunday. Talk about another butt burner! We hiked up Bandera mountain. It was a super short drive from Seattle, so that's why we chose it. It was about 5 miles up the mountain. The first few miles were pretty easy, but once we got towards the top, we were definitely scrambling up it (as in using hand and feet to crawl up). Even ben was exhausted from it and kept stopping to lay in the shade. It didn't help that it was 80+ degrees and we were on the sun facing slope with very few trees to block the sun.







It was super pretty from the top though, so we hung out there for a few minutes to rest and eat a snack. On the way back down we took a little detour to a nearby lake to cool off. It was an alpine lake though...so it was freeeeezing!



Definitely a good workout of a weekend!

Navaho Pass

We decided we need to get on this whole backpacking thing before we loose all this great Seattle summer weather! I think next year we'll do a better job at getting weekend backpack trips in. They're so easy and cheap and amazingly beautiful! This weekend may have been the best backpacking trip I've ever done. It was perfect weather. We chose a close hike so we didn't have to rush. There weren't too many people on the trail to deal with. The starts were out in full force. It was great! We had been throwing around a few different hike ideas the last week or so. Finally we decided on Navaho Pass since it was the closest one and we weren't motivated to get up super early on Saturday to make it to a trail. We made it to the trail around noon and headed up.









The trail was pretty easy. It was a decent amount of elevation gain, but nothing too technical. We took a few breaks along the way and made it to the pass in a few hours. The views from the pass were amazing! Quite a few people had already claimed little camp site so we set out to find one for ourselves before it got dark. We got a little nervous at first since every place we thought might have a good spot was already taken. We walked up the ridge for a ways without finding a good flat spot to set up. We were about to give up and head down to a lower spot when we came across the perfect spot...with no one anywhere near it! It was right on the ridge, so we had great views of the valleys on both sides. We were a little nervous at first that it might get super windy since there wasn't much tree protection on the ridge, but it was perfect.





We set up camp and just sat and enjoyed the views for a while. When the sun started to set, Ryan cooked up some supper while I did a little reading out loud...I'm such a nerd. When the sun set it started getting a little chilly so we bundled up in our sleeping bags in the tent. Since it was so clear out, we opted to sleep with the rainfly off...which basically left us sleeping under the open sky. The stars were killer! We just laid there for a while staring at the stars before we drifted off to sleep. 







Since we didn't have the rain fly on, we were also woken up as the sun rose. That was pretty amazing as well :) We enjoyed the sunrise from our tent before getting moving with some coffee and breakfast.



We packed up and hit the trail back around 9am so we could get home at a decent hour and clean up around the house. It was a pretty easy hike back down and we made it back to Seattle in the early afternoon. Definitely worth a quick backpack trip! It could also easily be a day hike if you went a little earlier in the day, but it was so much fun watching the sunset, sun rise, and sleeping under the stars!







Sunny SF

I do believe we may have lucked out a little bit with an amazingly beautiful weekend in SF. No fog, no clouds, and definitely no rain!

Overlooking SF from Twin Peaks

Ryan and I flew down there after work on Friday for the long weekend. We decided to stay with Jordan and Kristen this time in their new (not really new) apartment in Noe Valley. Saturday morning we started out bright and early with some football watching! First up...the Michigan game! We had about an hour in between the Michigan game and the Auburn game, so we decided to get out of the apartment and enjoy the sunshine for a little bit with a quick trip to the top of Twin Peaks. It's super close to Jordan's apartment, and it was one of the things I hadn't done in SF yet, so we checked that one off the list! It definitely helped that it was a perfectly sunny day, so the views of the city were great!

After the second football game win of the day, we did a few more touristy things to check off the list! I've been to SF several times obviously, but I never really do the touristy things other than the first time I went there when Kimberly had just moved there years ago. So I figured it was time to check a few things off the list! First up...Alamo Square and the painted ladies. It was a lovely park, but we really just snapped a few shots of the iconic painted ladies houses and checked it off the list.

Attempting a group selfie with Jordan's long arms

 

A much more successful shot by a passerby...

Next up, the Golden Gate Bridge! We've actually driven over the bridge before and seen it plenty from a distance, but I wanted to get a little closer up and actually walk across at least part of it...so we did!


Bridge group selfie attempt...



After a rather massive pizza dinner down the street from J's apartment, we had a few drinks and called it a night in preparation for our next big day of events! Sunday we went to the Scottish Games! It was a bit of a drive out to Pleasenton, but it was also a lovely hot sunny day to enjoy a festival. We spent some time watching the strong man competitions (Caber toss and tossing a weight really high...). The caber toss made me super nervous...but I also really want to try it sometime! I feel like it's probably a lot harder than it looks to flip that giant log. After that we practiced some archery and headed in for some whiskey tasting. There's nothing like sipping on some whiskey while a Scottish bands marches through the crowd. It was so random and fun.












Monday morning we got in a few more touristy things. We did a quick walk through of Mission Delores park, which it would have  been a perfect day to lay out in for a few hours if we had more time.


Then we had to be nerdy architects and stop by the Federal Building, which is a fairly recently completed building in SF done by a Morphosis (a famous firm). It was actually pretty fun to see up close after seeing it in architecture publications.




We had a few minutes before brunch so we did a quick stop off at the Palace of Fine arts before heading in for our last full group meet up!




We were lucky everyone was free for Labor Day weekend se we could book this last minute trip. It was so much fun to see the family for a few sunny days!

Group Brunch!