Summer Retreat

One of my daily titles is “Media Director” for CityChurch Tulsa. Once a year the CityChurch staff takes a short retreat to bond, relax, and prepare for the fall season. This year we stayed at Spring Vally Ranch, and being that SVR is only a short drive from Grand Lake, Molly, LoveTulsa Director at CityChurch, brought her boat for us to enjoy. I hadn’t had the privilege to be pulled behind a boat in many years so I was excited to get out on the lake. With my GoPro strapped to my chest I hit the Ski’s, Wakeboard, and the Tube. Here’s a video of Day one.

On day two, we awoke to the sound of rain dancing on the tin roof which I could have laid in bed and listened to for hours, especially since my body was not thanking me for the previous days activities. But instead, we hopped on some ATV’s and took a tour of the ranch property. Unfortunately I didn’t check my SD cards capacity before leaving and it was full before we got to the really fun rock climbing. After the ATV’s we canoed down the river boarding the ranch to a rope swing we had discovered during the previous year’s retreat. After swinging as many times as my body could handle, and watching Chad and Misty flip their canoe, we paddled back in to lunch waiting in the kitchen. Not a bad morning.

Overall, we had an amazing retreat with an abundance of  laughter, stories, games, and food. Oh man the food, I could write a blog just on the food. In addition to owning a boat, Molly proved meal after meal to be an amazing cook. Looking forward to another year with these extraordinary people!

Explosions, dogs, and creepy old men.

Lately I have been running way more than normal. (Since normal is not running at all, it’s not hard to beat.)

One night last week, Cody and I hit the pavement for a 5K run. He quickly advanced far in front of me to where I could no longer see him. Normally I am not a fan of running by myself, but that night I didn’t care. I had Rdio and my Nike+ GPS app, so I was content. It was a rough run that day, but I was determined to beat my time. I had less than a mile to go and I felt that second wind. I crossed the street and saw a guy up ahead acting a little strange. Our neighborhood is full of people, so I didn’t think much of it. As I went to pass him, he lightly grabbed my arm to get my attention. I pulled the headphone out of my ear and jogged in place as he talked to me about a explosion he heard and firetrucks speeding by. Apparently a house had caught on fire. I tried to end the conversation by saying that I would check it out once I got home, and as I turned he said, “I’ll run with you.” Alarms went off in my head. This guy was not about to run with me to my house! A little freaked out, I turned my music up louder and picked up the pace, thinking he would take the hint. After about a block, he stopped, saying that he was too out of shape for that. As he mentioned something about checking back, I smiled and turned the corner.

Breathing a sigh of relief as he disappeared from sight, I noticed something at my feet. A dog. Of course. I slowed and looked around and saw a couple chasing this tiny dog, explaining that his bark is worse that his bite. I quickly asked them about the sirens and the reason the other guy had stopped me. They had heard something, but did not seem too worried. So I kept on jogging. One block from home, I saw a guy on a bicycle. He was crossing in front of me when all of a sudden he turns and heads my way. For real, are you kidding me? He stops me and asks if I had seen his dog. I quickly replied no, that the only dog I had seen chased me. I tried moving on quickly, but I had no such luck. He began to tell me in detail what his dog looked like. Did I need to know about his mole? I think not.

After all of the crazy, I finally made it home with a time of 33 minutes. Sometimes I just cannot believe my luck. Am I alone, or do you have some crazy running story too?

Ever been caught with your pants down?

It’s camping weather! Perfect weather for sitting on the beach, basking in the sun, and listening to the voice of nature. That’s exactly what we are doing tomorrow. We’ve been planning our trip to Keystone lake this week and it reminded me of a great lake story.

Last summer.