Thought I'd share a picture I've been working on the last few days as a gift for some friends (who I hope don't read this blog...I think they don't). It's based on the photo in the heading, which I took last fall in the Wallis.
I don't have the patience to properly photograph my drawings (or maybe I just don't know how), so this photo is a bit washed out and blury, but not bad. I still have about a million things to do on the drawing, including: fix the shape of the barn, sharpen it up, and fix the light on it, fix the light on the happy little bush in front of the barn, finish my distant trees, draw the cow in (oh yes! there's a cow!), fix the color/detail level in the distant hills, add fences, add detail grasses, etc. But..it's on it's way, and I'm pretty pleased with how it's going. I wasn't sure the composition would work with so much space between the yellow tree and the barn, but I think when I finish my cow and trees and mess with the light it'll be ok. I hope they like it.
What's that you say? Why yes, I do have a dissertation to be writing! Why do you ask?
Howdy! I'm back from my triathlon relay in France. Team "Faster Than You Can Say Jack Robinson" finished in 6:52:31, position 816 overall, and 34 of the mixed relay teams (not sure how many mixed teams there were...very possibly only 34). The runner was definitely the slow poke. John finished the swim in 36:21, which is fast. Although Cedric cycled past us on his first loop looking relaxed and chatting with his neighbor on the next bike, he finished his 94k in 3:59:52, which is also pretty quick. I ran my 21k in 2:13:02, which is not like lightening, but also isn't terrible for a first half marathon, despite what some people may think. Gina heard my time and said, "ok, so high speed walking. Not running." It sure felt like running to me! Here's how the race started on Saturday morning:
I'll post some pictures of our teams when I have some. I'm surprisingly motivated to do another 1/2 marathon and try to improve my time considerably. On this one I learned that I need to be running longer distances more often. I was on track for the first 8 or 9 Kilometers to finish in closer to 2 hours, but slowed down a LOT during my last 7K particularly. The furthest I'd run before Saturday was around 8 or 9 miles I think, so that extra 4 or 5 miles was tough. I also learned that no matter how many times I go to the bathroom before I start, I'm probably going to have to stop along the way, so I'd better figure that into future running time estimates.
Our team name turned out to be literally more fitting than we anticipated. People along the course often read the team name off the people around me and called out specific encouragement to them. I could see them trying to read mine, but I was indeed faster than they could say Jack Robinson, and so they resorted to "Allez la Fille!" and "Bon Courage la fille!" There were so many more men competing that the women got lots of enthusiastic support anyway.
Our group stayed in a chalet up on the hill, with a great view of the lake and the hills. Raph came out Saturday night and did massages for people at the house (much appreciated!) and when we were driving home Sunday he noted that the landscape reminded him of Oregon. I had thought the exact same thing. I hope to have some pictures for you in a couple days. Bye!
