Summer Photography Workshop (Friday Five Edition)

This past summer I took a 6 week photography workshop.  The workshop was for those who used a DSLR camera and knew how to use the manual settings on them.  The plan was to have minimal classroom time and go out to different parts of the James River most weeks to take photographs.

I took a couple of photography classes in high school and have a fancy (even though it is 10 years old) DSLR camera.  I haven't used it much in the past several years, especially after getting an iPhone, so this was a way to get me out there to use the camera.


The first week was in the classroom going over basics of photography: ISO, aperture, shutter speed, etc.  Also what to expect for the rest of the workshop. 

The second week we went to Pony Pasture (where I ran the Pony Pasture 5k).  My favorite pictures from that evening were from me playing with the settings.  This is the same spot, the first was done with a faster shutter speed (water frozen in time) and the second is with a slower shutter speed (the blurred water making it look like cotton candy).

ISO1600 - f/5.6 - 1/400

ISO800 - f/22 - 1/13

The third week we went down to Bell Island and the T-Pott Bridge.

Richmond

 This is one of my favorite from the night.  I love the lines and the focus into the unfocused.

The park area have these odd circles.  I love how the light just comes through the trees.

The fourth week it was a very hot night with a good chance of storms so we had a classroom evening and looked at and discussed the groups pictures.

The fifth week we went down to Rockets Landing.  It was an overcast evening, which made some photos tricky, but it was fun to help each other try and help each other try different settings. 

 Another picture with the lines I love with the in focus to out of focus.

I do love focusing on just the one thing in the picture.

One of the city with some great reflections in the river.

As it got darker, we played with lights streaking.  This is done by having a slower shutter speed, like the river that looks like fog.

The last week we went down to the Flood Wall to do some light painting.  We wandered around and took pictures while we waited for the sun to go down.

This was done with a macro extension on the end of my lens.  I zoomed in to where it gave me the circle framing.

Once it got dark enough, we went down to the water's edge and did some light painting.  Light painting is where you have a slow shutter speed (up to 30 seconds) and have someone move a light to look like it is painted.  You do not see the person moving the light because they are either still or move in enough away from the light that the camera does not pick them up.  The light painting was my favorite week.

This was done with a light stick (like a light saber).  He twirled it in a circle while walking from one side of the photo to the other.

This was done with a light at the end of the string.  He spun it in a circle in front of him and then turned in a circle.

This was done with cage holding something on fire on the end of the string.  He is spinning the string in the air and you can see the sparks flying in the circle.

This was a very fun workshop and I wished we had more weeks to go out to take photos.  While we had a shared Dropbox to post our photos each week, I'd also like to have a few more class sessions to discuss them with the class.  I got some very valuable feedback from them.  The leader of the class has different workshops through the year and I really want to take more.

Have you ever taken a photography class or workshop?  Have you ever done any light painting?

I'm linking up with Fairytales and Fitness and Running on Happy for Friday Five 2.0

Let's Finish This! (Tuesdays on the Run Edition)

As I continue my goal of doing at least one race a month this year, my pick for the September race was easy, the Speak Up 5k.


In 2014 I ran the Shamrock 8k and volunteered at the half.  I would learn that a 16 year old girl, Cameron Gallagher, passed away just after she crossed the finish line of the half.  She suffered from depression and anxiety and wanted to raise awareness of teenage depression by creating the Speak Up 5k.  Her parents, who did not know she was working on it, found the plans, sponsorship requests, and speeches for the race and made it into reality in September 2014.  I've wanted to do this race since, but each year I had a conflict.  This year I didn't.

The race was in Byrd Park, the same park where I did the Frostbite 15k.  I arrived there about an hour early so that I could find parking and do packet pickup.  I found parking just across the street from the park and went to pick up my bib and shirt.  The packet pickup was by bib number, not last name.  Thankfully they had a bib lookup board.  The shirt was so soft, I can't wait to wear it.


There was an after party and the booths were mostly set up.  I decided to walk around and see what was there.  I was amazed that this 16 year old girl had this dream and her family and friends made it come true.  It was sad that she was not here to see it come true.


It then hit me that there is that much support and help out there for those with mental illness today.  I started to tear up thinking that if there was this much support and openness out there when I was a teenager, I probably wouldn't have been in so much pain.  While I am fairly comfortable talking about my depression and anxiety now, it was much different when I was a teenager.  I teared up, partly because I was happy for those that have the resources but also sad that I didn't have the same thing.  To say the least this was a very meaningful race, even before it started.

They were also handing out this card. Take time to read it both ways, it’s very cool. 

I headed back to my car to put my shirt up and grab my race things.  I also wanted to get some cash to donate to the CKG Foundation.  I hung out at my car a bit and before I knew it, it was time to head to the start line.

They had pace signs lined up and I headed to the back of the start line.  Cameron's dad said a few words before the start, including letting us know that it was not a race, but an experience.  He said that before Cameron started the Shamrock Half, she turned to her friend and said "Let's finish this!".  And we were off.


The morning was overcast and very humid out.  There were so many walkers where I started and had to run off the path to get around.  I love walkers, but I think they should have had one more pace sign for walkers so that the runners could start ahead of them.

There were several cheer stations.  Some had high fives, others had water soakers and silly string.  and others had bubbles.


There was even a bag pipe group.


This park had a 3 lakes and we were able to go around all three.  There was also one water stop that we crossed twice.


I couldn't wait to finish, only because it was so hot and humid.  Everyone was drenched with sweat.  A couple of the people taking photos were from my photography workshop that I took over the summer.  It was fun to see them.

There were also a lot of inspirational signs.


Thankfully there was a lot of entertainment on the course to help distract me from how humid it was.  I was grateful to see the finish line.  I crossed the finish line and was surprised to see that they were handing out medals.  They also had cups of water and tons of food.


I walked around one more time through the booths in the after party.  They even had a bounce house set up for the little ones.  I was glad I did this race and know I will be back again.


If you or someone you know is suffering from depression, anxiety, or any thing else, Speak Up.  There are resources out there to help.  Remember you are not alone, help is available.

I’m linking up with with MCM Mama Runs, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and My No Guilt Life for the Tuesdays on the Run linkup.

Pink Power 5k (Tuesdays on the Run Edition)

Uggg, it's been forever since I've had time to do a post.  Work has just been crazy for the last couple of weeks and I've just been too tired when I get home to think.  But I do have this week off and I am taking full advantage to catch up on everything, including posting.

A few weeks ago, on August 11, I ran my August race.  Like most places, it's hard to find races in the summer, August especially.  This year was the 10th year of the Pink Power Triathlon.  It is a sprint triathlon that is only open to women and it was my first triathlon 5 years ago.  And no, I didn't sign up for it this year.  This year was the first year that they added a 5k on Saturday open to both men and women.  And I signed up for the 5k.

When I got the email the day before discussing the details of the day, they had said that they were still taking walk up registration and they were still advertising the fact that the first 100 signed up would get a medal.  I knew that this would be a small race, which is never good for me.  I didn't even have past years to look back to see if I would be able to finish the race before they started to clean up.

I got there early as I planned on picking up my bib before the race and I wanted enough time to bring everything back to my car and still have time to stretch and stuff.  I got down there and it was sprinkling.  I got my bib and shirt (which was so soft).  I asked how many signed up and they said 54.  My stomach sank.  I decided to wait in my car since it officially started raining.  When it was time to head back to the start line, it had stopped raining.  Not that I would have minded it to continue, as it was hot out.  But for the race it stayed dry, but overcast.

The parking lot was set up for the tri the next day and I looked around to the crowd as we waited and saw a few men (7 in all) and a bunch of ladies.  I was terrified that I would be left in the dust.  The national anthem played and before I knew it, it was time to start.  The course was the same as the one they use for the tri, so I sort of knew what to expect.  A big down hill to start, tunnel under the road and around the lake, back through the tunnel and through a neighborhood, and then back up the hill we came down at the start.


Most of the runners took off.  There were a handful of people back with me and I started to feel better.  I stuck with my 30s run/45s walk, even down the big hill.  I knew I could make up time if I just ran down the hill, but I have been very protective of my knee.  No way was I going to mess up my knee again this time by over doing it when I didn't have to.

At the bottom of the hill, we rounded to the tunnel that took us to the park with the lake.  The tunnel was very slick and dark so I took my time through it.  The lake was beautiful.


I even saw ducks!


Back through the tunnel and on this gravel path.  I made sure I was careful as uneven ground is very hard for me.  I didn't remember this path from when I did the tri, but it was very interesting.  It happened to be the "Richmond Coal Basin".  There were a couple restoration type buildings that were on display.  This was the Grove Shaft Ventilation Building which was built in 1924.


We ran up a short little hill and into the neighborhood.  I realized that this is the same neighborhood that hosts the Tacky Light Run, which made sense since the start is in the park with the lake.  Earlier I noticed that there was a man running without a bib near these ladies and he kept taking pictures of them.  He had run ahead of them and past me.  He mentioned that this was his wife's first race in several years and he was there to support her.  That was nice to hear.

After the neighborhood, we were back to the main road and that hill.  Having to end a run on a hill like that is just cruel.

This does not do the hill justice - it was steeper then this looks.

I kept up my walk/run even on the hill.  I made it up and through the grass to the finish line and I was done.  There were not many people left cheering people on and I knew that there were only a handful behind me, so I decided to stay and cheer on the last few.  It turned out that there were only ten ladies behind me, and it was so much fun to cheer them on.


Overall it was a fun race.  I know I shouldn't be nervous about finishing last, but it's more then that.  I'm afraid that these smaller races would be packing up before I can even finish.  And really the lady that came in last had the loudest cheering section.  And after all of that, I looked at the stats when I got home and in my age group I placed third out of five.  Unfortunately they were not doing age placements.  Always my luck. :)




Do you like to do races the first year?  Do you like very small races like this?

I’m linking up with with MCM Mama Runs, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and My No Guilt Life for the Tuesdays on the Run linkup.

Star Wars Dark Side 10k 2018 vlog (Friday Five Edition)

I had finally caught up on all of my race recaps!  I know, finally.


In case you missed the recaps from the Star Wars Dark Side Half Marathon Weekend in April:

• Expo & vlog
• 5k & vlog
• Magic Kingdom & vlog
• 10k 
• Half

Here is my vlog from the 10k on Saturday.  Enjoy!

I'm linking up with Fairytales and Fitness and Running on Happy for Friday Five 2.0

Hamilton (Friday Five Edition)

Last month my mom and I drove up to DC to see Hamilton.  My mom got to my house around 9 and we headed up in the pouring rain to the Kennedy Center for the Saturday matinee.  I had never been to the Kennedy Center and was excited to see the place.


We parked in the underground parking lot and headed up to their Cafe for lunch.   The Cafe was packed and I wasn't sure everyone was there to see Hamilton, or if there were other shows going on.  After we ate, we had a little bit of time before the show started and looked around the gift shop.  I ended up getting a beautiful necklace and bracelet for a great price.

The Kennedy Center is huge and have several theaters.

I didn't know much about the play Hamilton, except it was a Broadway hit, it was about Alexander Hamilton, and that a lot of the music incorporated rap and hip hop.  I knew even less about Alexander Hamilton.  I'm a little embarrassed to say, I thought he was a president.

We headed down to our seats and my mom said that they were in the center about half way back.  The usher walked us down and it was about half way back, but it turned out that our seats were all the way to one side.  My mom said that she called a third party ticket agent and they knew the row, but did not know the seat numbers, just a general section.  Looks like they were wrong.  In the end it turned out fine.  It was easy to get out and we beat the crowds to the bathroom during intermission and the garage after the show.


The Opera House theater was so beautiful!  As I was taking a picture of my playbill with the stage, an usher came to me and said that there was no photography allowed.  I looked around and tons of people were taking selfies, so I thought he meant of the stage.  I get that.  The balconies were so pretty that I had to take a picture of that and he came back and said that there was no photograph at all.  I told him I thought it was just of the stage, and he said no.  It turns out that they were protective of the design of the theater and did not want pictures of it out there.  He walked off and again I see tons of people taking pictures.  I did eventually see something about photography restricted in the playbill, but nothing on the walls as we walked in or any announcement. 

The play was AMAZING.  Probably one of the best plays I've ever seen.  I found myself tapping my foot or bobbing my head along with most of the music.  The actors were amazing.  One of the things I didn't know was that they purposely cast non-white actors as the Founding Fathers.  It made it more of a history of America, not just a history of old white dudes.  It seemed that they also made the point that Hamilton was an immigrant.  With what is going on in the country today, we have to remember that except for the Native Indians, this country was built by immigrants. 

While Hamilton will be in Richmond for the Broadway Under the Stars 2018-2019 season, it was so good that I don't know if I want to wait that long to see it again. It was such a fun day that I could totally do another trip up there to see it again.

Have you seen Hamilton?  Have you been to the Kennedy Center?  What is your favorite play?

I'm linking up with Fairytales and Fitness and Running on Happy for Friday Five 2.0

Big Hairy Audacious Goal (Tuesdays on the Run Edition)

Currently I don't have any Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG) for running.  Or really anything grand like that.  Well except for retirement, but I don't think that was the intended for this topic.  I have done most everything running wise that is on my bucket list.  Except I'd maybe like to do a 70.3 or commonly known as a half Ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run).  I don't see that happening any time soon.  So I thought I would recap some of my BHAGs from the past.

My First 10k
When I first started running, thoughts of running anything more then a 5k was something I never thought I would do.  While I had walked the Ukrop's 10k a few years in the past, running it was nothing I thought I wanted to do.  In 2011 I joined the training team and each week I surprised myself and ran the whole long run.  And three months later I ran my first 10k.  It's funny reading back at that post as I said that I didn't think I would want to do something that long again.  I love the 10k distance now.  In fact I do the Ukrop's 10k almost every year now.

My First Half
I actually had a different blog when I wrote up my recap of my first half marathon in 2012, the Richmond Half Marathon.  I honestly don't remember what made me want to run a half marathon, but I joined the training team and stuck to the plan.  The funny thing about that is I didn't think I would want to do that distance more then once a year.  Since 2014 I don't think I've done less then 2 half marathons a year.

My First Tri
The next year, in 2013, I did my first triathlon.  It was the Pink Power Sprint, which was an all women pool tri, which is very first timer friendly.  This is another one that I don't remember why I made it my big goal.  I just knew that I had been swimming and biking since I was little and now that I had been running for a couple years putting all three together might actually be fun.  While I could run, bike, and swim with no problem, putting all three together was something I just knew nothing about.  I joined a local tri training group which helped conqueror my fear of doing something so daunting.  I was glad to have the training group as they showed us things that we would need to know, I also still have great friends that I met through it.

My First Marathon
In 2014 I had run a couple runDisney half marathons and started eyeing a new challenge.  I was one of those that said I would never run a marathon.  Never say never!  I had signed up to run the 2015 WDW Marathon as my first.  Despite having food poisoning and going to the ER the day before, it actually was a great race.  I followed my training closely and that really paid off.  Should probably remember that next time.  lol

First (and only) Dopey
In 2014 runDisney announced a new challenge, run the 5k, 10k, half, and full in one weekend.  They called this the Dopey Challenge, because you have to be, well, Dopey to do it.  I had always been intrigued with Dopey and after I ran my first marathon I knew it was something I wanted to do.  And in 2016 I did.  Luckily I am a stubborn person.  Training for this race was long and it was hard.  It was the hardest weekend I had ever experienced running.  By Sunday I was done.  I had pain in my calf before I started the marathon and just did everything I could to finish.  This is one that I don't think I want to do again.  I'm glad I did it cause now I know I can do anything as long as I put in the training and commitment.  


And then of course I went to Disneyland the next weekend to participate in the Inaugural Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend.  Yes, I did 7 races in 11 days covering 71 miles.  I didn't plan it that way.  They had announced the Star Wars Weekend after I signed up for Dopey and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to be part of the inaugural race and well it's Star Wars.  The funny thing is the Star Wars Half was the most fun race of all of them. 


Back to Back Marathons
After I finished Dopey, I knew the next marathon I wanted to run was the Marine Corps Marathon.  Since the Richmond Marathon is just two weeks after MCM I decided to join the Richmond Marathon training team.  This would be the first time since my first Half Marathon that I would be training with a group.  I was very excited to not have to worry about fuel since they would have SAGs.  And I would have the chance to run with others.  I knew that I would probably change my race distance at the Expo and just run the half or 8k.

The MCM was HOT and the last 8 miles were miserable as we were out of the fun part of DC and there was no shade.  While I am very proud of that race and did PR, I knew with the great training I had had, I could have done better if it weren't for the heat.  I left changing the race distance for Richmond at the Expo.  By then I felt great.  So I decided to run the Richmond Marathon 2 weeks later. I am now a Marathon Maniac. 

MCM Accomplished

Richmond Accomplished

We will see if I have any other crazy goals at some point.  You guys will be the first to know!

What have been some of your BHAG?  Do you have any coming up?

I’m linking up with with MCM Mama Runs, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and My No Guilt Life for the Tuesdays on the Run linkup.

Napoleon Exhibit (Friday Five Edition)

For my parents birthday (they both have a birthday on the same day) last month we celebrated by going to dinner at Amuse which is in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and then see the new exhibit about Napoleon. 


Since it was my dad's 80th birthday, I wanted to surprise him with a bunch of balloons that said "Happy 80th Birthday".  It turns out that I couldn't take them in the museum with me.  So I had to run back to my car and leave them there.  Dinner was amazing as usual.  We love going there for dinner.  After dinner I told my mom that I would take the presents that I had given them and put them in her car.  With my hands full I went to the parking garage and to the top floor to their car.  I went down 3 levels to my car to get the balloons.  Then back up three flights to their car to put the balloons in their car.  Wow that was exhausting.

After dinner we went to visit the Napoleon exhibit.  This was a very interesting exhibit.  I never knew much about Napoleon except he was short, always stuck his hand in his jacket, and tried to take over a lot of Europe.

There were a lot of paintings.

And more paintings. 


And clothing that was featured in paintings.


And the hat.


It also had a lot of explanation and history throughout the exhibit.  I felt like I learned more that evening then I had in some of my history classes.  They even had an Emperor's seat where it videoed you and put your image on the wall like a painting.

Me in the chair.

Me and my dad watching the video of us, which was used to project our image on the wall.


My dad in the fake painting on the wall.


The VMFA always brings very interesting exhibits to Richmond.  I'm glad we were able to see this one.

Do you have a favorite or memorable exhibit that you have seen at a museum? 

I'm linking up with Fairytales and Fitness and Running on Happy for Friday Five 2.0