Tall Timber Days 5K

I've written here about my Couch to 5K journey that started in summer 2011.  The first week of August was week 9 for this summer's Couch to 5K training I did, and I finally ran a 5K!  Our family picked a 5K in Grand Rapids to coincide with our vacation.  The race started at 8 a.m., so we were up bright and early to make the hour drive to Grand Rapids for the race. 

My goal was to run the whole race and to finish in about 42 minutes, or around a 14 minute pace.  I ran the whole way except for the last hill at the end, when I walked for about 20 seconds or so.  I finished in 42:11 with a pace of 13:36.  It was great at the finish line when people cheered you on through the finish.  Overall, a good experience, and I would consider doing another 5K some day.

Ready to run!

Mom and daughters

After the race with Jackson

Jackson ran without doing much training

The group of us: me, Abby and Jason (and Lucy, who hung out with Melisa during the race), Jackson, Mom, Preston, Tony and Ashley

I had to laugh at this picture, where none of us (except Ashley) took a good picture

Sunrise, July 28

As I mentioned last week, North Shore Mining has "closed" access to the beach I have been going to, so this week I went to the marina instead.  It was 48 degrees (yes, you read that right) and the sun rose at 5:38 a.m.  Heavy clouds were still lingering after a couple days of rain, so the sun wasn't visible until it rose over the clouds a bit.

Several fishermen launched boats

 Looking toward North Shore Mining--see the ship?

The middle boat has a big selection of fishing poles

Looking out over the breakwater

RPP

Your guess is as good as mine

Deer in the woods

The beach we can no longer visit :(

Jackson contemplates the spring run-off

 Hail storm, end of April

Large pieces of hail

Looked like snow in the backyard

Sunrise, July 20

Sunrise:  5:29 a.m.
Temperature: Low 50's (felt great after the heat and humidity we had during the week!)

I skipped the week of the 14th because Sunday was completely overcast and  Monday was raining. I'm disheartened that this may be my last set of photos from this location as North Shore Mining has posted no trespassing/violators will be prosecuted signs in the area.  I'm not sure what led the them cutting off access--speculation runs from missing kayakers to trash being left behind to ATV's tearing up the land, but the town is in a bit of an uproar over it.  Hopefully North Shore Mining will reconsider.  Until then, I'll be trying a different location.

This week, the sky was clear with one lone cloud hovering in the sky.

A group of birds was swimming near the shore, but they never let me get too close

 

Sunrise, July 7

Sunrise: 5:17 a.m.
Temperature: Low 50's
With the rain and dense fog we've had from Saturday through Tuesday, I haven't seen the sun rise.  I set my alarm for early on Sunday morning, but it was raining and thundering, so I went back to sleep.  I did go out around 6 a.m. on Monday for my morning run.  I took my camera in a backpack so I could take photos for the week.

Usually I can see the island behind this rock, but I couldn't even see an outline of it this morning

Fun with Fireworks

Because we're so close to Canada, we thought we should celebrate Canada Day on July 1st with a campfire and fireworks by the lake.  We got there at twilight so we could see well enough to make the fire, but it was dark before long.

Remy gets the first sparkler

Using a long exposure, I captured Raina making letters with her sparkler, like this (backwards) a

Barry made a nice e

Sunrise, June 30

Sunrise: 5:12 a.m.
Temperature: 45 degrees
The clouds were pretty in pink this morning.  What a gorgeous morning!

Someone made a rock path across the water

I decided to cross the rock beach this morning

Stacked rocks--always interesting to see what people leave behind