Adventure in the Dales

Kagi and I had a really exciting week last week. There are lots of stories to be told, and although it is no longer lent so I probably won't be blogging daily, I'll try to tell them.

First, I'll tell about the climax of our week. In the autumn, +Kara and Forrest blessed us with a gift of a night at a bed and breakfast where they spent a night while in England. Kagi and I were looking forward to using it for months, but obviously needed to wait until I got back to use it. It worked perfectly to take a few days in the Dales during the university's Easter break.

Kagi also arranged with Jako and Anneke and their family to visit and coincide with our trip so we could get a day out together. They stayed with us on Sunday evening and then Monday morning we headed out, planning to meet them at Bolton Abby.

We rode our bikes down to the train station about a mile from home and took the train to Ilkley, a beautiful town on the edge of the Dales. From there, we rode our bikes to Bolton Abby.

Our cycle route from Ilkley to Bolton Abby. It's about 7 miles, and thankfully mostly down hill.

On some of the Abby ruins, next to the main part and looking at the main house. I believe all of this belongs to the Duchess of Devonshire. We had a picnick here. It was nice but it was unbelievably cold. 

Kagi skipping rocks near the Abby.

After our lunch, Kagi and I headed off on our bikes toward the bed and breakfast. Here is the route we took:

It was about 20 miles to our destination.

I loved this -- a solitary ewe with her lamb in the Dales.

When we came upon this Kagi and I did a little exploring. It's a very old ruined building.

One view of the inside.

We think this was a defensive tower from some of the signs we saw around.

I thought the flower boxes in the walls were interesting. Between them and the fire places you can imagine what this might have been like.

We continued cycling, and at one point were held up by the traffic:

Finally, exhausted but very happy, we arrived at the Tudor House. The owner served us tea with brownies and a dessert bar, and we decided to spend the evening in. We really enjoyed being there!

Our room.

Fresh flowers on the window sill.

 In the morning, we had an absolutely wonderful breakfast made from local produce which included everything you could imagine. We enjoyed our time eating and then relaxed again before heading on our way.

The B&B owner recommended the scenic route back to civilization. It was beautiful...

And then we came upon a little problem since we had bikes.

But the only option was to keep going at that point!

I know... looking cool!

Eventually, we made it back to the main route. We rode along this canal for 10-15 miles before getting on a train toward home.

It was a really nice trip, and it was also nice to get home and rest up:-)!

Lovely Walk

Today I took a walk in the late afternoon through some of my favorite places in this area. Here are some pictures from my journey.

I began my walk in the "Heaton Allotments" which are little individual gardens which I believe people rent and use. It is a beautiful area with paths and hedges on the top of "Heaton Woods" which are beautiful -- more to come.

I thought this fallen tree was really interesting looking.

The view from the top of Heaton woods. You can see several nearby towns.

Apparently this part of England is known for these special stone fences which were painstakingly built. Here, you can see only part of it is left standing.

Walking back through the Allotments.

Then I walked down through Lister Park. There are so many beautiful parts of it!

I think this best captures the mood of the day:-).

My Trip

I must have been weighed down as I considered what to write about earlier and decided my walk up the hill would be a worth-while blog. I actually wrote most of another blog but decided it needed too much work to iron out before publishing tonight. So we're back to the original idea...

Since Kagi and I don't have a car we do our main grocery shopping online and have it delivered. We did our big shop last week. Today I needed to get a few things we've run low on, particularly because I'm leading Global Cafe's St. Patrick's Day celebration tomorrow night.

While at the store there was an attempted robbery. It actually was kind of funny, a guy walked in and filled a big bag full of groceries. The man behind the counter had his eye on him via the security cameras, and while I was at the counter the guy walked out. The grocer ran after him and brought the overflowing bag back in. Overall, and interesting thing to watch. It kind of seemed like it happens all the time.

So I walked down the hill (it's only a 1.33 mile round-trip which makes the fact that I decided to document my struggle rather comical) and visited the local grocery shop. I got what I needed and then knelt on the store floor to pack it all into the backpack which I had (thankfully) thought ahead enough to bring with me. Then I began my journey back up hill:

It was a nice day and I enjoyed a (very) slight diversion through the side of the park. I liked seeing pigeons, ducks, geese, and possibly a swan all in one glance in the pond!

About at this point I was feeling the burn. My house can almost be seen on the left just past the white building.  The hill's slope is pretty painful at this point... and it's clear that it's going to get worse.

The hill is worse and sadly you can't see the house anymore. But it really is getting closer.

So here's what all of the fuss is about. This is the backpack I was using. Doesn't look that bad, does it?

I felt a little better about my internal moaning when I saw all of this again -- now in my kitchen. This counted as my weight-lifting for the day! (Note: each of those bags of flour is 1.5 kg).

Life without a car is certainly different!

Hurdles

I always thought running hurdles would be more fun, interesting, and exciting than just running straight through a race. Similarly, I think I'd enjoy a warrior dash much more than a straight-forward long run. One of the things I struggle with the most while running is the mental battle to stay interested and engaged when my objective is just to keep going, one step after another.

I guess that is true for much of how I live my life. I like having shorter-term objectives to keep me focused and interested while working toward the prize. I like hurdles.

That's probably one of the reasons I like living internationally. There are lots of interesting things that happen, lots of surprises and diversions. Life is very rarely boring. It can be both challenging and rewarding.

Some days, it feels like you are flying through life, leaping over barriers as they come. Other days, you're reminded that there are far more opportunities to fall on your face or break your leg.

Either way, it's an adventure.

Body Shapes

One of the things I found most surprising and fascinating when I was in Bostwana is that the manikins at the malls we went to (there are many very nice malls in Gabarone) are quite different than the ones we have in the States or the UK. Instead of straight hips & flat butts they have the pleasantly curvy figure more celebrated in Africa. I thought it was awesome! Wish I had taken a picture...

Packing Light

As I packed for London, I knew that I wanted to do a lot of walking and would need to keep my stuff with me almost all of the time. So I decided to pack carefully. I managed to get everything needed for two days (including formal clothing for a conference and reading materials for 10 hours on buses) into this bag:

Fully-packed bag for the conference trip.

Here's how I did it:

This is just about everything I took. on the left is my packing cube with all clothes and underwear, and my belt, shoes, clutch purse, and make-up bag. In the middle are the essential toiletries for a shower (which went into another packing cube), and a London tour book (actually wasn't necessary, oh well). Behind is my backpack which I think already had a few snacks in it. On the right are the clothes I actually wore the next morning.

Here is the main section of my bag. See how neat packing cubes make everything? The shoes and belt went on top.

I could have taken a lot more, but was thinking I'd probably need to carry whatever I took for up to ten miles of walking over the two days in London. I love walking in general and especially like seeing a city that way. One of my rules of thumb for exploring is that it is done best with as little baggage as possible.

Getting back to the gym

I decided this week that it was time to look into gyms in this area. I have been running some, but I don't seem able to make myself run more than two or three times per week, and I don't generally look forward to those times. For me, gyms are a different story -- I actually enjoy going.

So, Monday I decided to start a week-long trial membership at the local Gold's Gym. I'd checked their web site and their prices were great, and they even have my favorite exercise classes.

True to form, I wanted to get the most out of the week-long opportunity. Monday evening had a Body Pump class, so I went to it. If you've never done Body Pump, it's great -- 45-60 minutes of weight lifting, light weights and many reps. I was pretty proud of myself for being able to keep up since I haven't really lifted since living in England last fall.

As the class was finishing up, I heard that there was a cycling class happening next. I love cycling (although I haven't done that since England either), and since I was in the gym anyway thought I should get some cardio in.

Again, I was pretty proud of myself for being able to keep up and really enjoyed it. I bounced home all excited and proud of my fitness.

That is, I was proud until I could barely get out of bed the next morning.

EVERYTHING hurt. A lot! As I was wining, my dad told me I probably should stretch. Good idea. But when I tried to touch my toes (which I can usually do) my hands only made it to two feet above the ground. Oh no!

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. - Proverbs 16:18

I wish I could learn that lesson once and for all!!!

Iron

I have been really tired since coming to The Land, and about a week ago started putting pieces together and realizing that I am showing many signs of anemia (not that hard to figure out because my blood tests always have shown low iron, and I haven't been taking iron pills as I was supposed to). I was excited to realize this, because I can easily fix it. With gusto I started taking my iron supplements a few days ago.

On Saturday night, after a frisbee game, I had some popcorn before bed. I was surprised to find a screw in the bottom of my bowl of popcorn. I think the lid I was using might have fallen apart and deposited the screw in my food... at least I hope so. I threw it away.

Last night, just three days later, my roommate and I got a tomato sauce based dish at a local restaurant and brought it home for dinner.

I found a screw buried in the sauce. For your viewing pleasure, I took a photo of it this morning:

Is this God confirming that I need more iron? Or maybe telling me that He'll supply what I need?

Here's to hoping that I continue finding them before biting them and breaking my teeth...

Bradford, Day 22

I had an absolutely wonderful day today. I went to Haworth today with the intention of spending some time alone with God and taking a nice walk into the moors near the Bronte house. I got to do that and God surprised me by having different plans for my time than I did, which was really good. In the evening I went to the youth group meeting for the church I've been attending here. I really enjoy the students:-)!

I'll have to post some pictures, but at the moment I'm too tired. Tomorrow if I can get on the internet. I'll be traveling to London tomorrow.

Bradford, Day 9

Hi Friends,

Today was the last before I am part of a team coming from the states to do join in some projects we have been preparing, meet people in the international community here, etc. I will be moving tomorrow to stay with a local family. I'm really looking forward to staying with them -- we went over to their house for dinner last week and they are really fun!

This morning I enjoyed my run. I took a little different path and ran through more woods and less road while listening to a Matt Wertz album. It was quite fun. Thanks again to Emily for the wonderful gift of my iPhone arm band which makes running and listening possible!

In the afternoon, I took a bus into the heart of the city! Even with as much public transportation as I have taken, it still makes me nervous the first time I travel somewhere. I went and met Olau, a friend who works in Conflict Resolution, and attended the University of Bradford for a degree in that subject. I am very interested in entering that field and it was wonderful that he was willing to show me around the school and tell me all about it!

In the later afternoon Bob, Kathryn and I worked on some final preparations for the team. Then we had dinner and watched a little Magnum, P.I. (a first for me) before heading to bed early!

Hopefully I'll be able to keep up daily updates after my move, but I'm not sure what the internet situation will be at the new house. I always love hearing from you!!!

Love,
Laura

Bradford, Day 7

Today was beautiful! Most of the day was spent with Bob and Kathryn doing a variety of things, and I also got back to the woods to do some running and to take some pictures!!!

Remind anyone of Rapunzel? Me either, but somehow that is what I had in mind!

One angle of the ruin.

There are fields with sheep in them on the other side of those trees.

This is pretty much the whole ruin.

Me in the pretty woods with the ruins in the background.

I stopped on the run back to take a picture of these beauties!

Bradford, Day 6

This morning I jolted awake with sun shining into my window so brightly that I thought it was noon! I was mistaken, though, it was only 6:30am. We are far, far north here. Knowing that rain and clouds were in the forecast, I decided to take advantage of the early morning sunshine and do my running before breakfast.

I had such a great time! I went back to the Manor grounds, and since I now know the paths somewhat, was able to run much farther along it. A ways in I came upon a ruin which looked like part of a castle wall, although I'm not sure what it was. I had a great time exploring it! I know, I'm a kid with stuff like that. It was a really fun run.

The other highlight of my day was as a girl gave me a hug in greeting she told me that I smell like America! It was one of the most funny things I have ever been told:-). Since I wasn't quite sure what she meant, I didn't know how to respond. She clarified that it smells "sweet" and that she likes it, so I took it as a compliment. Really, as much as I try not to stand out as an American whenever possible, I am glad to be identified with my country.

Adventure Relay -- Lessons

I realized after my last post that I forgot to tell you about the coolest moment of the race for me.

When I started my 5am run, I was exhausted. I'd run over 10 miles already within the 20 hours preceding it, and only had two hours of sleep on a cold gym floor. It was pitch black, and as I started the leg with a woman whose pace was (amazingly) slower than mine. I wanted to stick with her as long as possible, because within the first half-mile we descended from partially lit streets into the C&O Canal -- running under train tracks in the darkness with only a head lamp to light the way. About a mile in the woman stopped to walk, and I kept going.

I ran a while longer and was just so tired. My legs didn't feel like moving anymore and I didn't have a very good idea of how far I'd gone or would still need to go. Walking sounded like a brilliant idea. Then, a few things happened:

I realized that I (a) could finish the run and (b) started praying that God would give me the energy and discipline to do it. One step at a time, I plodded along.

I got frustrated looking at my feet, and wanted to get a better idea of what was around me. Twice I moved my headlamp from facing mostly down in front of me to being angled up, thinking I'd be able to see straight in front of me. It didn't work. All that happened was that I no longer had such a good view of the step right ahead. There was nothing close enough to me in front to catch the light of the lamp. So I shifted it back down and kept running.

In that moment of exhaustion and frustration, God showed me a few things. Most of you know me, so you know that I tend to be very much a "big picture" person. I'm not a huge fan of trifling with the small details... show me what's really going on and I'll do much better than if you just tell me what to do. I like to know the end goal before I start something, keep my eyes on the prize while doing it, and be aware of the underlying motives and pressures affecting actions and interactions in the meantime.

So as I was running in the dark, God showed me that, in the race and often in life, He would have me trust Him one step at a time, following the path He has set before me, willing to change directions by His bidding, and trusting that He has the big picture. This was especially poignant given my current life status and situation. Sometimes it is the right thing to focus on my feet and just keep going, one step at a time. I can use the info I have but need to be OK that I don't know everything. At this point I need to move ahead with the information I've been given!

Getting Caught Up -- Adventure Relay

Hi Everyone,

Thanks so much for your patience as it has been so long since I've posted! It has been an eventful month or so, and I'm going to try to start getting caught up.

Thanks so much for your prayers for the adventure relay! I survived all of my runs (and ran it all, although not too quickly), and had a wonderful time! I was the first runner, so I started our team out at 10:15am. My first leg was 6 miles in Pennsylvania countryside, and reminded me a little bit of running in Grove City. A few miles in, I got concerned since my feet were falling asleep. My shoes were new, and I was afraid that there was something wrong with them. I'm embarrassed to say that it probably took me a mile of running to realize that they were tied too tight. After adjusting them things went better! My run finished past Gettysburg College and through the city of Gettysburg. It is beautiful!

This is Emily and me preparing for the race.

My team was waiting for me when I finished my first run. I was so thankful to know that it was the longest one I'd be doing, so it was quite a relief to have it over! Stacy ran after me, then the rest of our team. There were a few epic runs completed by my teammates in the first leg. It was great to get to cheer for them.

Many of the transition points were entertaining -- I liked this one.

My second run was right at dark, around 8pm and was about 5 miles. It was probably my best run in terms of speed, but I was nervous running alone on country roads after dark. Thankfully, though, I was safe!

We got some sleep on a gym floor (about 2 hours), before we traveled to the start of my 4 mile third leg, which I started at 5am. I started the team along the C&O Canal, which we followed for the rest of the day. We had a great time together as a team especially as we each completed our last legs. What a wonderful feeling of accomplishment!

This was right after the last transition point. After sending Dan (the last runner) off on his final leg we jumped in our cars to head to the finish line in DC.

Adventure Relay

Hi Friends,

This has been a really nice month+ of being in Maryland and Pennsylvania -- spending time with my family and friends in a few locations and investigating possibilities for next steps! I didn't realize this would happen ahead of time, but I feel a lot of continuity between my time overseas -- spending time with people I admire who are doing things I'd be interested in doing -- and my time here living with Trent and Wendy and their awesome family. It is such a blessing to have this "gap" time to stop and learn and relax and evaluate opportunities. I am not sure where this journey will lead but I am confident that I will look back on it as a very formative time.

I decided to post today because tomorrow promises the beginning of another kind of adventure for me.

Five months ago (or so) some of my friends started talking about running in an "Adventure Relay" where 12 crazy people will run around the clock from Gettysburg to the Washington Monument. I wasn't sure where I'd be at this time and had all but decided that my distance running career was over (my max was a 10-miler last summer, and although it was a good learning experience it was not exactly the favorite thing I've ever done), so I decided not to sign up. I may have said something about being an alternate or something... not sure.

SO, when I got back to MD many of my friends were in the midst of training for this run. As I've been trying to get back in shape after my travels I've done a training run or two with the girls running in this relay. I have not pushed myself too hard, knowing that I did not really need to be ready for the run -- I just wanted to be in decent condition.

HOWEVER, one of the other runners needed to back out last week. I was approached to take his place, and let my friend who is coordinating this thing know that, although I thought I could probably physically survive the race, it would not be pretty. I advised her to try as hard as possible to find someone else to do it, but said that I could probably do it as a LAST resort.

Well, as you suspect by now, last resort had to be pulled in. So without training I am somehow going to run 15 miles of the relay starting Friday morning. Thankfully my friends were gracious enough to move people around to give me the easiest spot!

Yesterday, after hearing that I actually might be called upon to do this, I decided to run about 4 miles. During my run I realized my running shoes desperately need to be replaced and that my pace is embarrassingly slow. I love doing things that fall into the, "well, this will at least be humbling if nothing else" category.

So, if you praying folk would remember me Friday and Saturday, I would sure appreciate it. I'll post some race pics afterward and I'm sure I'll have some kind of story :-).

Also, I'm looking forward to a trip to Florida on Sunday! I'll be there for six days visiting my sister Allison, and am really looking forward to it!

Oh, and here are a few pictures from the last month:

Jenni visited me for a week -- we went mountain biking. I fell over 3 times...

For my 25th birthday, my friends took me to a restaurant in downtown Baltimore. So fun!