Welcoming in 2007!

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe New Years! We hope you all have a great evening Sunday night. Dave and I will be wishing the new year in on the strip in Las Vegas with a couple of friends from Maryland.

Celebrating Christmas in Salt Lake City, Utah

Dave and I decided to use some rewards points and take a small pre-Christmas vacation! Since SLC is a short 1.75 hour flight from LAX , that is where we headed. We spent Friday skiing at the Canyons in Park City. It was s snowy day but overall pretty nice. The canyons was neat with about 165 trails. We took the day off on Saturday to go tour around park city. We went to the olympic training facility for bobsled, luge, nordic jumping, and aerial jumping. Then we headed into town for lunch, shopping, and picture taking. Saturday night we went to see the Christmas lights over at Temple Square along with dinner in the city. Sunday was a ton of fun! We went skiing at Alta (a skiers ONLY resort). After skiing we stuck around to see the Christmas eve torchlight parade. This is when skier carry torches (flares) while skiing down the mountain. So it looks like a ton of red lights coming down the hills. On Christmas eve we hung out the hotel, in which we made dinner and watched The Christmas Story. Christmas morning we woke up, had breakfast at the hotel, opened one present, then headed over to Great Salt Lake to take some photos. We arrived back in LAX around 3pm and headed home for our Christmas celebration. Our Christmas consisted of Crab Cake Dinner, a bottle of Chardonnay from Napa, and opening all our presents. Dave got his leather jacket, Bose Noise Reduction Headphones, Several Chicago Bears and NJ Devils Items, and PSP+games. While I got my new 85mm Canon Prime Lens, monogrammed Wine Chiller, a really cool wine decanter, several filters, Ski Boots, and some China to add to our China Collection.

Christmas was pretty good this year. You can't beat Skiing in the best powder ever, a nice dinner, and watching each other open our presents. We didn't make it back to the east coast this year since Dave had to work this week. But we made the best of it and had a great time.

This week I am off of work, so I plan to finish some activities around the house before we head to Vegas for New Years over the weekend.

I have started uploading photos from SLC, so check them out when you get a chance. http://www.schanker.smugmug.com/gallery/2276160

Happy Holidays From the Schankers

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Holiday Season and a Great New Year!

First Ski Trip of the ’06-‘07 Season!

Dave and I just returned from a weekend Ski Trip. On friday night we packed up the car and drove 3.5 hours to the lovely town of Mammoth, CA. This is our ski heaven location. It’s not far away and the skiing is amazing. Unfortunately they didn't have a lot of snow right when we arrived…guess that’s the risk we took with booking the first tracks package! But we were in for a for a treat. It snowed! Starting saturday night at 6pm and it didn't stop until late sunday afternoon. By the time it was all done they had 14 inches!!! It made for a cold, snowy, adn windy day on the mountain on sunday...but the powder was awesome! We both skied the powder great and had a fantastic day on the slopes. I didn't get a lot of photos since it was snowing sat night. But I captured a few along 395 on the way home.

Cold Snap!

So we came back from Florida to find S. Cali in a big cold snap. The day we flew in was rainy and cool. Once the rain passed the cold lingered and got colder! So last night was a low of about 16! This morning I went to work in my very warm long brown coat and used the automatic starter to warm the car because the wind chill was 5! Yup, 5 degrees. See we live at an elevation of about 3000 feet. Therefore it gets cold here. And in the high desert the wind blows, resulting in a nice little wind chill factor. Don't think we're complaining because both Dave and I love it. Although I don't think Dave would have uttered those words after playing softball on Tuesday night! So for all you folks that think S. Cali is all warmth and sunshine, think again. The worst thing is we have all this cold weather but no snow!

Turkey Day Trip

For Thanksgiving this year Dave and I headed back to Florida. My folks drove down from Maryland, and joined us for turkey at the Scahnker’s house. Diane (my niece) came with them. While she was down there I decided to use her as my photography guinea pig. I took lots of photos of her so I could practice and get a good feel for shooting people. She even got to ride a horse while she was down there. We had a lot of fun going to parks and stuff during the weekend to take photos. See Diane's photos and feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think. While we were there I also got to see my brother, Trent, and my sister, Trina…along with all the nieces and nephews. So I again practiced my photography using the kids as subjects. On Saturday I ran a 5K race in Cocoa. There were not a ton of people so I managed to finish as 3rd overall female! Who would have thought? My time wasn’t even that great since I was really feeling the humidity down there (23:58). Sunday we spent with the Schanker family. We played miniature golf in Port Canaveral and then headed down to Melbourne for dinner with a few friends. It was really weird to be back in that part of Melbourne, since we were right by my old house. Sunday night we hung out and played some games, and then it was off to bed so we could get up at 4:30am to head to the airport. It was a nice trip, but we are glad to be back at home. We came back to cooler weather. The highs are in the 50’s and the lows are supposed to drop into the teens and 20’s. This weekend we will be home, but the following weekend is our first ski trip of the year! I can’t wait.

Wonderful Photos

While Dave and I were on vacation for our 2nd anniversary in Northern Cali, we had some photos taken in the city. The photographer has a wonderful style and I really admire her work. (I put a link to her blog under my photogrphy links). Anyway the photos turned outgreat. So take a peak if you want.

The link for the photos:
http://web3.sendtoprint.net/proofbook/DavidMichele/Cover.asp?sets=DavidMichele

The link to the slideshow:
http://www.jenniferskogphotography.com/darkroom/share/?client/DavidMichele

Red Rock Canyon

After a long and kinda stressful week, I told Dave I wanted to do something fun during the weekend. So Saturday after I returned from my routine gym workout, we drove up to Red Rock Canyon State Park. It's only about an hour from our house. It was really neat there. Mostly desert, but lots of unique rock formations. We hiked along some of the trails while I took many photos (of course)! We even climbed up along some of the rocks. It was so amazing to see the red rocks up there. We were thinking it would be neat to go up there and camp one night. Anyway, here's a few photos I took while we were there.

Weekly Update

Last Sunday dave returned from kentucky. We met in Santa Clarita (the next big town below us). Down the hill as us southern Californians call it. We then headed over to 6 flags for the afternoon. We got to ride the new roller coaster, Tatsu, but it wasn't as thrilling as I was hoping. You get to ride superman style so you at least feel like your flying. But with my shin splints, it was kind of uncomfortable for me. After leaving the park we went to anaheim to see the BMG concert. It was awesome as usual. Very much like the 1st Rock concert they did, but they added some new things to it. I really love BMG, they are so entertaining and the music is sweeett! This week was pretty much a normal work week, except that we got our accessories installed on the new car. We now have a ski rack, subwoofer, xm radio, and an automatic starter. The Automatic starter will be nice to have in the winter months!!! I went to my sprint workout on tuesday and boy was I fast! I love that I have so much speed right now, but my shins don't! I've been in pain ever since tuesday. I was averaging about a 7:10 pace at the workout! This weekend dave and I did not make it to red rock canyon as expected, so that is a trip for next weekend. I did make it out o shoot some photos for a little bit on sunday. We have also decided to use some of our AMEX rewards points and go to Salt Lake city right before XMAS to go skiing. I think we're going to spend 3 days there and ski at Alta and Park City. I was out there 3 times last year for work, and it is so nice. The city is so convienet to all the resorts. I can't wait to go back. Plus the snow there is great. I'm so excited to go skiing. I'm hoping for some local snow soon, as we have plans to head up to mammoth the weekend of Dec 8th.

Photography 101

Well, after buying my photography book last weekend. I decided that I would head out somewhere local today to take some photos using only manual mode. It was kind of an experiment or learning assignment for me. I think I did pretty well, but I did learn one thing. I learned the lesson of digital noise being introduced to high ISO speeds. So tonight I downloaded a free tool to help process the images. Besides the noise, I think I did well. Here's some examples of photos I look at Lake Elizabeth up in the hills. See more photos on www.schanker.smugmug.com

5K Heaven

Dave is out of town this weekend in Kentucky for Breeders Cup. So I'm on my own. I decided to run a local 5K Saturday morning. Even though I'm still fighting through the shin splints, I was able to run really well. I iced both legs prior to the race and took some ibuprofen. I wasn't sure what to expect. The course has a bit of an upgrade so I wasn't expecting a PR (personal Record). The gun went off and I took off. I ran my first mile (up the upgrade) in about 7:10!!! Wow I was flying! I then slowed myself down a bit in fear I'd burn out. But at the same time I knew I could have a great time. My second mile was about 14:50 and I finished the race at 23:12. My final time beat my previous PR by 9 seconds! Go Me!! I'm so close to my goal, it's in reach. I really want to be able to run a 5K in under 23 minutes! So I'll keep at it and maybe in a month or so I'll be able to achieve it. (sorry no pics this time, since Dave is out of town). Anyway I finished 1st in my age group and 5th overall in females. I also finished 23rd overall (male and female)! Can't be disappointed with that at all!

Tomorrow morning Dave will be back. I am planning on meeting him in Santa Clarita. We are going to spend a few hours at Six Flags and then it is off to see the Blue Man Group Concert. I can't wait to see BMG. Anyone who attended our wedding knows how much we love the BMG. I hope the concert is just as good as the last one.

What's new with the Schanker's

Well, not to much really. This weekend was pretty low key as we were still resting up from our N. Cali Vacation. We managed to get some stuff done around the house. I mostly got done with painting our master bath while Dave cleaned out the garage. After going to Napa, I really want to put down the heated tile flooring in the master bath. It would be so nice on those cold winter mornings. So the time has changed and boy can we tell fall is here. I went for a 6 mile run yesterday and I loved seeing all the yellow fallen leaves on the roads. Our lows at night have been really getting down there too. Last week the thermometer on the car read 37 while I was driving into work. It's almost time to break out my winter coat and gloves. : )

So the other thing I did this weekend was a lot of thinking...about photography that is.

Since I was a little kid I’ve always had a love for Photography. I remember taking some birthday money when I was about 8 to Kmart and buying my first 35mm camera. (I had a 110mm before that). Remember those days of film and you had to choose between 35 and 110? Wow that seems so long ago. The camera I bought was bright pink, but I was so happy to have my own camera. Our house is decorated in almost every room with photos that I have taken. So I’ve decided that I want to become more advanced in my photography skills. As most of you know when Dave and I won some money off a slot machine in Vegas over a year ago, I took that money and invested in a Digital SLR. I’ve seen my photography improve over the last year, but I still have a lot to learn. So this weekend I drove myself down to Barnes and Nobles and searched through tons of photography books. When I finally found one I liked, I bought it and headed home. I figure this is my first step in the right direction. But I think I really should find some sort of class to enroll in. I know it’s going to take a lot of effort, but it’s something I am totally dedicated too. Check out this photo from Yosemite, I love the colors of the leaves and the contrast against the dark tree trunks.

And the winner is...

So I decided to enter my first amateur photo contest with one of my photos from yosemite. It's not much just a $100 cash prize. So we'll see if it at least gets picked as a finalist. I hope so. I submitted one of the photos I took at Yosemite this weekend. I think its one of the best I've taken as far as coloring goes. The finalists are supposed to be posted weekly. Wish me luck!

Check this link next week to see if I won.
http://www.quantum-leap-strategies.com/photo_contest/photo_contest_landscapes.html

Details of our Northern Cali Trip

See all vacation photos at www.schanker.smugmug.com - look under California Travels - Northern Cali Trip

Day 8: Yose-Mite National Park, Again...
To finish off our trip, we decided to spend a day at Yosemite, NP. We spent the night before at Curry Village on the Valley Floor. This time of year is kind of conflicting. It’s amazing because of tge cool crisp air and the leaves changing colors. But at the same time it’s a little sad because there is hardly any water flowing. Yosemite Falls was virtually dry, the Merced River was so low you couldn’t do any sort of kayaking, and Mirror Lake was dry as a bone. We still enjoyed the scenery of the park and spent the day hiking. We did a 5 mile loop near Mirror Lake in the morning. By the time we got done it was time for lunch. We stopped at the deli for sandwiches and then we headed over to Yosemite Lodge area for one more hike. This was short but steep. It took up to a rock to look out over the valley. I can tell I’m really improving on my photography skills. I got some great shots of the valley floor in the later afternoon hours.
After getting my photos I wanted, Dave and I headed out of the park to get home. We arrived at our house later than we wanted, about 10:30. But it was well worth it for the day at Yosemite.

Day 7: Horses, Driving, Photos, and Yosemite at Night
This morning we left San Fran, but not until we stopped for some photos of post card row. We had planned to go through Golden Gate Park, but we got a much later start to the day then originally planned. So that got put off until the next trip. We headed out of the city to Bay Meadows Horsetrack since Dave loves the hores races. It gave him a chance to see a new track and offered me opportunities to take photos. we stayed for a couple of hours and dave actually had a lucky day. We figure that made up for some of the money we spent on wine in Napa! : )
Once we left the track it was off to Yosemite. We didn't arrive there until 7:30pm. So it was dark adn we missed the start gazing show at Glacier Point. Instead we wandered around, ate pizza, and admired the stars from the valley floor. Then we watched a little bit of a movie in our tent before going to sleep. The tent was heated, so it was actually really comfortable but made us feel like we were camping. I was so exhasuted from the previous days that I slept great. But I was so excited for the next day. As I have said many times, I really love Yosemite!

Day 6 : Our Third Day in Frisco
This morning Dave and i got up early so we could get down to fisherman's Wharf to rent our bicycles. We rode the bikes along the bike trail to go over the Golden gate bridge. I stopped several times to take photos. I have so many photos of the bike trip. We really had a lot of fun. After going over the bridge, we ended up in a small town of sausalito. Where we had lunch at a cute restaurant. We then showered and changed to head out with our friends form FL, who just happened to be on vacation at the same place and same time. So all of us headed over to Alcatraz. We got to watch the sunset behind the golden gate bridge from the island. When we got back to the city we all headed to the Little Italy portion of town for dinner. after dinner some of us decided we wanted to go out. So we headed to Union Square and shared a bottle of wine in the hotel room. Then it was off to the Irish Pubs. It was a lot of fun hanging out since we don't get to see each other very often. We ended up staying out til 2am when the bar shut down. It was a nice evening and a lot of fun!

Day 5 : Touring San Fran
Today was day 5 of our vacation...I can't believe how fast it has gone by! This morning was spent wadering aroud the Union Square area. Then we spent the rest of the day wandring around the rest if the city. We walked down Lombard street, watched the Sea Lions at Fisherman's Wharf, and went to the top of Coit Tower. After wandering around the city, we ate dinner at China Town. The food was pretty good. Afterwards Dave and I ended up at a Piano Bar to enjoy some irish beer. We really like the location of our hotel. It is so conveinent. We have tons of restuarants and transporation right outside the door of our hotel.

Day 4 : Sonoma and San Fran
Today we wined and dined....again! This morning we woke up to enjoy our wonderful breakfast from the bakery at our cottage. Bouchon bakery has some gooooooddd stuff. After breakfast we checked out of the cottages, which was kinda sad. It meant Napa was over and our stay at the cottage was too. But we truly enjoyed our stay there. Se then headed over to Sonoma, for a few more wine tastings and lunch. We did wine tastings at 3 sonoma wineries and bought two more bottles of wine. We are coming back to lancaster with so much wine, I truly don't know where we are going to put it. After sonoma, we headed to San fran to check into our hotel the Villa Florence. It's not as nice as the cottage, but its a cute Italian style hotel. The rooms are small, but we are in a great location...Union Square. After checking in we walked around the city through china town and eventually ended up at Fisherman's Wharf. At the wharf we saw seals, wandered around, and ate dinner at Scoma's. Dinner was so good...we had seafood cannelloni and dungeness crab cakes. It was so good. Then we stopped at Ghiradelli's for some chocolate to take home. Come back and check our blog to see our adventures from San Fran. We will be here for two more days.

Day 3: More Napa Valley
October 17th was Dave and I's anniversary. So this was a special day in Napa. We truly had a memorable and good day. We started off with our basket of breakfast in the morning. Then we were on our way we started out at Robert Sinskey Winery, then it was on to Mumm Napa. Mumm was interesting because it was strictly sparkling wine We sat at a table overlooking the valley while we tasted our wines. when the server found out it was our anniversary she decided to give us a taste of a special sparkling wine. I thought that was really nice of them. after mum we made the trek into the hills to this place called Rust Ridge. It caught our attention since they apparently train throughbred race horses there. It was this small winery, almost kind of shady. But the wine was good and we enjoyed the horses. Next it was back to mainstream Napa. We made stops at 3 or 4 more wineries, including Beringer. However Beringer to me was just a touristy winery. By 6pm we were back at the cottage to get ready for our dinner. We ate our anniversary dinner at PJ's Steakhouse. The food was amaing!!!! What a great dinner. I had salmon and Dave had short ribs. We even ordered "our favorite" for dessert...Creme Brulee. Dinner was complete with a bottle of Dry Riesling. To complete the evening Dave and I sat by the fire at our cottage and just relaxed. We never got to drink our champagne, because we were to full. So hopefully tonight. Today we are leaving Napa and heading to San Fran. I'll keep trying to post things, but I don't know if I can access the Internet.

Day 2: Our Napa Valley Arrival
This morning we woke up to a rainy campsite. So we decided to pack everything up, change, and start driving. Our navigation system told us it would take bout 2 hours to get to Napa. So we started driving and stopped for a coffee and a small breakfast in this cute town called Saratoga, CA. Then it was on to Napa Valley. We arrived about 10:45am, and were at our first winery by a little after 11. We visited 6 wineries, and tasted at 5. We bought wine at 3 of the wineries. So we have more wine to add to our wine fridge collection. One of the wineries told us to try the Rutherford Grill for lunch. So we headed over there and have a really good lunch including a glass of Pinot Grigio. Once evening was upon us, we tracked down our lodging location. we are staying at the Napa Valley Cottages. They are so cute! We have our own cottage complete with King Bed, kitchen area, fireplace, outdoor fireplace, and heated tile floor in the bathroom! In the morning they bring us our breakfast in a basket. It is truley the cutest place I have ever stayed. A great place to spend our anniversary.

Day 1: Camping at Big Basin Redwoods State Park

On Sunday morning Dave and I got up bright an early to finish packing and get out the door. We stopped for breakfast at Carrow’s in Lancaster, and then it was time to hit the road. We drove up to the Santa Cruz area and headed into the mountains to Big Basin State Park. This is one of the many parks in the area with California Redwood trees. We set up our campsite and went for a 3 mile hike. It was already pretty late in the day (3pm) so we figured 3 miles would be good for the day. It was really nice to just wander around on the trails through the redwoods. Although I have to say the redwoods just are not as impressive as the Sequoias. After the hike we went back to the campsite and then headed into town for dinner at this cute italian restaurant. After dinner it was back to the campsite to start our fire and roast marshmallows. By the time we got back to camp the temperature had dropped to 53, so we were thankful to get the fire started. Monday morning we woke up packed up camp and got back on the road to head to Napa Valley.

Northern Cali Here We Come

On Sunday Dave and I are off on our next vacation. We figured its a good time to take a week of of work, since it's our 2nd anniversary. This time we are heading to Northern California. Our trip will start with a night of caming in one of the Redwoods State Parks. Then we head to Napa Valley for two nights in our own cottage in Napa. We will sepnd two days wine tasting and eating at great restaurants. Then we head down to San Fran where we are staying at this cute hotel that reminded us of the places in Italy. The hotel has an evening wine reception. We will spend 3 days touring around San Fran, including sites such as Alcatraz and Golden Gate Park. On saturday we leave San Fran, make a stop at a horsetrack for Dave, and then head to Yosemite NP. At Yosemite we will be staying in a heated cabin at Curry Village. Yosemite at this time of year should she be amazing. The trees will be turning to shades of fall and there has already been some snow in the moutains. I plan to take many photos throughout the trip so stay tuned and check our website. I hope to post some while we are on the trip. Here's the link directly to the galleries
http://www.schanker.smugmug.com/Califorrnia%20Travels/241248

San Pedro

This past weekend I got to go to a new place in the LA area...San Pedro. I had never been, but it was kinda neat. A friend of mine from Florida was out there visiting family, so I went to go see her for the afternoon.

San Pedro is this cute town near Long Beach and it's right on the coast. We headed to this ocean side park and it was a blast. There were all these tide pools, and we got to see various type of sealife including starfish, crabs, and sea urchins. We had a ton of fun just walking around looking at everything and tyring not to get to wet.

After touring around there we decided it was time for lunch. We ended up at this fish market by the port area. This was a unique experience itself. We got to pick out of fish and shrimp then we took it over to the grill to have it cooked. The food was really good, although there was a ton of it. We were way to full to even think about diner later on. After lunch and some shopping, Chiara and I headed to he cousins house. We sat out by the pool on the patio and drank some champagne. It was a pretty nice day and its always nice to see my FL friends in Cali. So if your ever in San Pedro, check out the tide pools and fish market!

Our new additiion is here....

Well, after 3 hours at the Subaru Dealership last night we have our car!!! I took a few photos with my wide angle lens. The car is Swweeett! I love it. I drove it in to work today and it so nice to have a brand new car. We have to take it back in a few weeks to have the ski rack, remote starter, and XM radio installed. We are so ready for the mountains this winter. The nice thing is the car already comes with all season tires too.


LIfe in Lancaster, CA: So my second favorite season is upon us….Fall. You ask why…because it means winter and skiing are right around the corner! I do love the fall season since the leaves change and there’s that special chill in the air. Boy did I miss this stuff. We never had any of that while living in Florida. But I have to say winter is my favorite. The hope of the big storm and hitting the slopes in fresh powder! Ahh….I can’t wait. It’s so close I can feel it. Our temps have already started to drop. The highs are about 70 and the lows getting into the 40s. I can even see the leaves on the trees getting a hint of yellow to them.

This weekend: This should prove to be another relaxing weekend and hopefully productive. I plan to getsome home improvement projects done around the house. Although I will be driving the “Subz” down to Long Beach on Friday to meet with my friend Chiara. She is visiting from Florida and it just happens to work out to be my day off of work. Next weekend is when we head off for our week long vacation to Northern Cali. I can’t wait to relax and sip some wine in Napa! I just booked a tent cabin for one night in Yosemite too. WE weren't planning on going to Yosmeite, but since the new car is here that means we don't have to worry bout snow. So were going to take a day to see the valley floor in the fall. Hopefully I can get some good photos of the leaves changing in the park. Our Plan is Santa Cruz-Napa-Sonoma-San Fran- Yosemite.

Subaru B9 Tribeca

So after test driving the Nissan Murano, Toyota Highlander, and the Subaru Tribeca we have decided to make a purchase! And the winner it....the Subaru Tribeca! Dave made it all official today. The dealership is actually giving us a good price, so we didn't have to spend hours haggling back and forth. They also offered him more for his trade in then the Toyota dealership did. So in a few days we will be the proud owners of a dark gray 5 passenger Tribeca. It comes fully loaded with leather seats, dual climate control, IPOD connection, heated seats, navigation system, and more. We also added on XM satellite radio, automatic starer, and a ski rack. The Subaru has a great AWD system, perfect for those mountain ski trips after a recent snow storm. No more cables!!! Yeah! :) This also means we can now take our winter weekend trip to Yosemite and not have to worry about snow!

The Results Are In....

I just had to post this. I'm so proud and happy!!! The results of the Nike Run are posted. I placed 30th in my age group out of 1436! I also placed 80th out of all females (4226 total)!!! I also placed 461st out of 7535! You may be asking what do all these numbers mean.
Well basically here's the summary:
Age Group: Top 2 %!
All Females: Top 2%!
Everyone (male and female): Top 6%!

Wow am I happy about that!! Imagine what I could do with some hard core training!!!





http://www.active.com/results/display_html.cfm?results_file=1312271_20060925105319.htm

Nike Run Hit Remix 2006 Success!

So today was the day, and I have to say I'm pretty happy. I did better then I thought I would. Dave and I both participated in the Nike Run Hit Remix today. The weather was warmer than I like. I prefer temps in the 50's and 60's for running. (Race time temp was probably about 70). This was a 5 mile race through LA (near USC). Nike brings out bands every year that perform as you run. This years theme was more of 1990's rap music. They had Young MC, Coolio, Vanilla Ice, and De La Soul performing. Debbie Gibson was also there and sang some older songs as the race started. It was quite amusing to hear some of those old songs again. Anyway there were 10,000 people entered in the race and we all wore the same Nike Dri Fit Shirt. I started the first mile at 7:50 pace, my second mile was oh way to fast at abut 7:10 pace! Overall I averaged about a 7:40 pace for the entire race. Accoriding to my stopwatch my final time was 38:21!!! I'm very happy with this since all I wanted was to be at or under 8 minutes! Go me! Dave also did very well. He did not train at all and managed to average about a 12 minute mile pace. I was happy that he was able to sustain that pace for 5 miles! I'm so proud of him.

Relay For Life

Every year my department at work participates in Relay for Life. So next weekend I will be participating in the relay. Last year Dave and I did this and we got rained on and I got sick. But the weather looks nicer this year so it should be a lot of fun. I will be running around the track and using this as part of my half marathon training.

Anyway, if you are not familiar with this, Relay for Life benefits the American Cancer Society. It's a 24 hour event in which people run/walk around a track. The American Cancer Society helps people in the community that have been diagnosed with cancer. If you would like to donate to the ACS please go to webpage and make a donation.

Thanks

Michele

https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=171407&lis=0&kntae171407=014A8D9652844056A394820466ABF06B&supId=141119863

Run Forest Run

So, I started to increase my mileage this past weekend. I ran just under 6 miles. But I'm realizing I have a long way to go. Thankfully the half marathon is not until January. I just ordered new shoes today. This was the most I've spent on shoes so far. I ordered the Mizuno Creation 7. I really hope they help me since I suffer from major shin splint pain. If anyone has any cure or wonderful advice on shin splints I'd love to hear from you. I have tried everything in the book and nothing helps at all. Currently I'm exercising 6 days a week. Of course this isn't all running., it's strength training, cardio at the gym, and running. I plan to increase my mileage by a half mile every week since I have plenty of time. Hopefully this will help me reduce any injuries.

This weekend is the Nike Run Hit Remix in LA. Both Dave and I are participating. This race should let me know how I'm doing right now. If my time comes in under 40 minutes, then I'm doing pretty well. Last year I was on a 7:45 pace. I doubt I'll be that fast this year.

Other than the race Dave and I are planning on staying home this weekend. We still have lots of house stuff to catch up on. We will be heading out on our vacation to Northern Cali in about 4 weeks. I can't wait. We have reserved this little cottage in Napa for 2 nights. The cottage looks so cute. It has a king bed, sofa, flat screen TV, breakfast nook, fireplace, patio, and an outdoor fireplace. We can't wait to sit outside in front of the outdoor fireplace and drink our bottle of champagne from Temecula. Dave and I have started this tradition. Every year around our anniversary we buy a bottle of champagne and keep it for the following year. We then drink the champagne on our anniversary the next year. This all started when we had one to many bottle given to us on our Honeymoon. We didn't have time to drink it and we brought it back with us. The bottle did not get drank until our anniversary last year. Then on our way back from San Diego we stopped in Temecula at a winery and bout another bottle there. It's a neat little tradition. that I hope we carry on for years to come.

Let The Training Begin

So the people that know me pretty well know that I exercise quite a bit. It’s pretty much a way of life for me. I started this routine a few years ago, not because I had to, but because I wanted to. I honestly love it whether its running, biking, swimming, or going to the gym. I consider my exercise time my time. Well, I’ve decided two things in the last few weeks.

• Start riding my bike so I can actively participate in Duatholon’s
• Begin training for another Half Marathon I will be running in the Orange County Half Marathon in January.

I’m excited because this time I’m going to be smarter. I’m going to use the few months I have to train and not push it like I did last year. Hopefully I can beat my time from the Santa Clarita Half Marathon. My time last year was 1 hour 47 minutes. I would love to get my pace down to 8:00 minutes exactly which would be 1 hour 45 minutes. So my training starts now. I will be running in the 5 mile Nike Run Hit Remix on the 24th. The following weekend I will be running on the track for Relay for Life. There are a bunch of 5K and 10K's coming up in the fall and I plan to run a bunch of them. I just hope my shins can survive another Half Marathon. I certainly don’t want a repeat of last year’s painful injury. In order to really keep my times up I think I’m going to combine road time with gym time. Hopefully this will keep the injury subsided since the elliptical is pretty low impact. But it should allow for me to keep pushing my cardio capabilities at the same time. Keep posted and I’ll let you all know how my training is progressing.

California

After returning from Florida this weekend I can’t help but think about how much I love the state of CA. So Dave and I have officially lived in California for about 2 years now. Well, it’s been 2 year and 2 months for me and about 22 months for Dave. I can honestly say California is great! I never imagined I would love it so much. While lviing in Floriada I was constantly unhappy. I not only didn't like my jobs but I also felt like I was stranded on some island and I couldn't get off. My attitude has completely changed over the last couple of years and I'm so much happier. It is amazing how many things there are to do here. Between the various cities, the national parks, the beaches, the wildlife, and skiing. I knew while living in florida that I needed more than a sandbar and the beach. But wow, I never imagined I would get to do some of the things I’ve done. I’ve skied in some gorgeous powder, I’ve hiked to the top of rock formations in the sierras, I’ve seen elephant seals in the wild, I’ve kayaked next to harbor seals, I’ve tasted some of the best wine in the country, and I’ve stood on the rocky shores of the pacific ocean looking for whales, sea otters, and sea lions. I can’t imagine having never lived this life. I guess what you don’t have you never miss, but I’m so glad I’ve had the opportunity to live somewhere that would make me happier and fit in with my active personality. These are all adventures that I can share with my kids one day and hope to instill some adventure and curiosity in them as well. In the last few years I’ve determined I have an adventurous personality. I can't sit back and do the same old activities every weekend. I seek out the fun and adventurous things to do nearby. I love to go do things unusual that not a lot of other people have done before. I love the sense of accomplishment of achieiving these things. That is one of the reasons why I run. I love to get better with each race that I run and I am competitive at heart. California has so much to offer me that I'm amazed everytime I think about it. I love it here and I can’t imagine not being able to have these things to my disposal ever again.

Here's a new CA goal of mine: Hike to the summit of Mount Whitney. Hopefully next year.

Hopping on the Blog Bandwagon/Labor Day Weekend

So I figured I’ll go ahead and jump on this blogging band wagon. (Although the term “Blog” really bothers me for some reason.). You know those words that just grate on you…this is one of them for me. Ah, oh well.

So I figure this will be easier to keep people posted on the happenings of the Schanker’s rather than updating my SmugMug site every week. Instead you can just check this as we are constantly busy and traveling around the CA area.

Last weekend was truly amazing. Dave and I camped at Sequoia National Park at the Lodgepole campground. I really like Sequoia because it’s not as crowded as Yosemite, you still have the wonderful Sierra’s, and you get the really big Sequoia Trees! Since we were here last year we decided to skip all the touristy things and hit the trails. On Saturday we did a small hike to the top of Little Baldy. It was a nice clear blue sky day. So we could see well into the Sierras and the rocky peaks. We then returned to camp and cooked a wonderful dinner on the grill, made our campfire, and had brownies and wine for desert. We bought this bottle of CA wine on the way up and it was so good!!!! So Saturday morning we woke up, cooked a hearty breakfast of pancakes and turkey sausage, and headed out to the Lakes Trailhead. Wow, this trail was amazing and better than I ever expected. The views of the Sierras were almost constant. We reached this part called the Watchtower. It’s a bunch of rocks sticking out over Topakah Valley. I felt like I was on top of the world.



Then we continued on to the first alpine lake. What an amazing place. This lake was nestled in the mountains with views all around. It was so calm and peaceful. We were now about 9200 feet in elevation and close to the tree line. At Heather Lake we ate lunch, relaxed, and took photos. Then we continued on to the next set of lakes. These were just as nice as Heather Lake. Emerald Lake was almost a bit hidden and we almost missed it. But wow when we found the lake, it was a gorgeous site to see! Now we were only about 1000 feet from the top of one of the peaks. It looked so easy to get to too and I so wanted to climb to the top, but I didn’t want to leave Dave. After relaxing here we decided to head back down. At the very end of the trail I had a bit of an accident. The runner in me decided it would be a good idea to jog the rest of the way. Then I hit a rock and did a faceplant. Ah, whatever the trip up to the top was so worth it. The Sierras have to be my favorite place to visit in all of California. Upon returning to the campsite, Dave and I grabbed a beer from the cooler and headed to the river to stick our feet in the ice cold water. This was one of my favorite moments of the entire weekend. Check out our photos at http://www.schanker.smugmug.com/gallery/1814082.