#12 Complete!

I went to my very first Timbers match on Wednesday with Alice.  We had such a great time!  Timbers fans are a little crazy - in the best way possible.  :-)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRSEyLqOpZw

Alice and I sat near the core of the Timbers Army.  Next time we go to a game (hopefully against the Galaxy or Earthquakes), we want to be prepared and learn all of the cool Army chants.  I also need to wear the correct shade of green.

The match we watched was for the inaugural Copa Verde.  Portland invited the Mexican club team, Monarcas Morelia, for this first cup.  The Timbers scored the one and only goal of the whole match about 40 minutes in.  Very exciting times.

There's really not much else to say about the soccer match.  I will let you know that I've resumed listening to the top 30 best-selling albums.  Unfortunately this one was a snooze.  I'm sitting at work and on my third listen of the Titanic soundtrack.  Woo.  I don't understand why the album sold so many units - just to hear Celine Dion.  That's crazy.  All of the other songs on the soundtrack are instrumental, which I'm totally fine with.  I'm just really surprised that so many people actually purchased this.

#19 - Complete!

View from the Burnside Bridge

I'm not quite sure how I've made to my 30th year without attending Pride.  Portland Pride was a lot of fun, but I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that I was expecting a little more.  The waterfront park was overflowing with thousands of people, so that was a cool site to see.  Lots of bright colors, rainbows, and blow up unicorns.

The parade itself fell a little short for me.  I realize that I'm generally not a huge fans of parades, but I was expecting a heck of a lot more pizzazz.

One of the cooler things I saw were items from Nike's "Be True" collection.  It's awesome to see a huge corporation support equality!

I left my spectator spot to check out the booths in the main festival area.  I was a little early and some of the booths weren't staffed yet since their groups were still marching in the parade.  Nothing too exciting here, but I did score some purple beads, lube, a beer cozy, and coupons for a few local merchants.  One of the last floats I saw on my way out was dedicated to Rocky Horror - that made my day.

Yes, I'll attend Pride again, but next year I'll find a group of people to with.  This doesn't make for a good solo activity.

#24 - Complete!

Jeff & Heather at graduation

This one was nine months in the making.  But tonight all of my hard work paid off and I officially graduated from my Search & Rescue training program.  This was by far the best thing I could have done for myself this year.  Not only did it give me something to do to keep busy, but I met some really amazing people and learned some awesome survival skills along the way.

The Search & Rescue program from the Multnomah County Sheriff's Department trains volunteers in many areas of outdoor survival so that we can be on call to go on searches to find lost or injured hikers. I spent the last nine months learning how to make fire, build shelters, use a compass, get retrained in first aid & CPR, and so many other cool things.  I won't lie - it's an intense program.  Weekly meetings on Wednesdays and an overnight backpacking outing one weekend each month.  It was incredibly time consuming, but every moment was worth it.

I was hooked on this program after the very first outing in October.  We were out at Larch Mountain learning how to perform the different search types (evidence vs. people).  It was cold, snowy, and rainy, and our groups were off trail climbing over rocks, under tree limbs, through blackberry bushes...  I felt like such an explorer!  I had never ventured off trail before and to get to do it with the Sheriff's backing was such a thrill.  I didn't care for the litter carry very much (when you package your subject in a basket and your team carries the person to safety), but I wanted more.

In November we got to use our compasses and started to learn navigation techniques.  Turns out I can

My first tarp & tree limb shelter

rock a compass!  Part of our end of the year testing was to navigate an 8-point compass course - they gave us a starting point and a list of bearings and distances to follow.  Never in a million years would I have thought myself capable of completing a task like that, but I did!

December was my favorite outing.  This was our mock search.  We were divided into six groups and set out for a long distance trail search.  I was on one of the two medium-distance groups who set out to complete a 15-mile hike - in the snow, carrying a 40-pound pack, yadda, yadda, yadda.  But seriously, the snow was knee deep and my pack really does weigh 40 pounds.  I could not have asked for a better team for this outing.  The guys in my group kept our energy level and spirits up.  And when the snow was knee-deep, they forged ahead and broke the trail so that I and the other gal on my team didn't have quite as much hard work to do.  We were the first team to find our "subjects" and return to the vans - at 1 am!  We were exhausted - physically and mentally - but I could not stop grinning.  I had never pushed myself to hike that far - especially carrying that kind of weight and trudging through snow.  But I did it!

A bloodied Ashton

January's outing was focused on medical training.  Instead of roughing it in the woods, we got to stay in cabins at a nearby camp.  And of course the one time we have proper lodging and are not required to sleep in our tarp shelters, we have perfectly dry weather.  Oh well.  We spent hour after hour running through dozens of different medical scenarios learning how to treat so many different injuries - how to help out if someone has sprained or broken a limb, what to do if you suspect a spinal injury, how to stop bleeds, how to properly bandage someone, and more litter carry.  And also how to improvise your care using only what you can find in the woods and what you carry in your backpack.  Offering medical help is definitely easier when you're in a nice heated room with sterile bandages and ace wraps aplenty!

I kind of missed out on February's snow survival outing.  My poor teammates had to spend a night in
proper snow, which requires a very different kind of shelter setup.  I was busy with one of my Saturday HR classes.  I joined my group the next morning for compass practice though.

The theme of March's outing was "Embrace the Suck."  This was another rainy survival outing where we were required to "sleep" in our tarp shelters.  We were paired up (fortunately I ended up in a trio) and were responsible for building a fire and keeping it going all night long.  Having three people for these scenarios is very nice so that two people can tend the fire while one sleeps.  I don't know what was in the air this month, but it seemed that all of the teams really struggled with the fire - even though we'd made fire in the rain before.  I think my team called it quits around 2 or 3 am and we all went to bed.

April was our pre-certification outing where we were given the opportunity to challenge and test certain skills required for certification.  I challenged all 7 opportunities and passed 6 of them including shelter, navigation, overnight fire, litter packaging, and medical.  I could not get my natural fire going though.  I was stoked to cross off most of those items so that I would have more time for my fire building in May. Turned out to be a wise call since my natural fire in May took all freaking day to do!

May's certification outing was definitely the most challenging for me mentally.  I had a bunch of smaller, easier tasks to cross off for certification and then this darn natural fire.  I went straight to the fire building area immediately after breakfast Saturday morning.  I was forced to stop at lunch to take a break.  I returned to fire after lunch and kept working right up until dinner.  Fortunately, I finally got the darn thing to go.  No one else struggled quite that much that day - I guess I just have bad fire juju.  Oh well.  It's over and done with and now I am a fully-certified Search & Rescue member.  Woo!

I have already gone on two searches.  The first was for an elderly man with dementia who wandered
away from his adult care home.  It was the middle of winter and a particularly freakishly cold week.  Unfortunately he did not survive and his body was found the next day.  So sad.  The second search I went on was from a homicide case that was a few months old.  Investigators theorized that the suspected killer may have gone into the woods and killed himself so we searched the area for his body. To my knowledge, he has yet to be found.

I am really looking forward to this summer and the years ahead with my amazing Search & Rescue group.  There is an opportunity for me to do intermediate level training, which I am contemplating.  I'm still not entirely sure what all it entails (other than ropes training and also helicopter training - how to help them land; no flying), but I think it would be awesome!

If you love the outdoors and like to help people, you should see if there is a similar program in your area!  It's amazing!

#11 - Complete!

I first learned about Portland's tweed bike ride last summer; after the 2012 ride had taken place.  I told myself I had to remember to do this event in 2013 because it looked like a ton of fun.  Naturally, when I was trying to think of items for my bucket list, the tweed ride came to mind and clocked in at #11.

Yes, I was a little tired after running the 10k this morning, but I was so excited to get decked out and ride around town with some dapper-looking folks.  I scoured Goodwill & Buffalo Exchange for tweed clothing items last month and didn't have much success.  I was able to procure a little blue jumper, a cute pair of heels, and a beautiful parasol and figured those would suffice.

Posing before the ride

We had an amazing group!  The ladies and gents did a fine job getting dressed up in Victorian-era clothing.  Some people had amazing accessories from old-timey bikes (one guy rode a penny-farthing) to tobacco pipes.

The weather wasn't quite cooperating for us, but we didn't mind the gray & drizzles.  We left Mt. Tabor park and rode through some of Portland's east-side neighborhoods.  It was so much fun to see the reactions of people we rode past.  My favorite comment came from an older woman with her young granddaughter who were admiring us.  After we explained the gist of what we were doing, the woman asked, "Yes, but why are you all dressed like Sherlock Holmes?" - Because it's fun!  :-)

We took a short picnic break midway through our ride.  I came prepared with cheese & crackers and a bottle of wine.  Riders were sharing their flasks of hard liquor with each other while we mingled.

Wine break with Kendra

The ride concluded at Velo Cult where we each received a free pint of Ninkasi.  I love how all of the organized athletic events in Portland always include beer.  Since I skipped the beer after my morning run, I made a point to enjoy a pint with my coworker who also happened to be on the ride.

Post-ride pint with Simran

What a fabulous day!  I'm already looking forward to next year's ride.  I'm going to start shopping for tweed months in advance so that I'm better prepared.  :-)

#1 - Complete!

Wondering what topped my bucket list?  To be completely honest, this item evolved a few times before I had my list set in stone.  My initial #1 was to complete a marathon.  But the more I thought about it, the more discouraged I became.  I realized I would be spending all of my free time running - not a sacrifice I was willing to make.

Then I thought about doing the Hood to Coast relay.  This sounds awesome, and I would like to do it one year.  You work in teams of 8-12 to complete a 199 mile relay race.  But when I saw that the registration fee is $1400 and you have to average 9:45 min miles (or faster), I decided that this is not the race for me - at least not this year.

So I settled on a 5k.

Fremont Bridge from the Broadway Bridge (Summer 2012)

Only the race I discovered turned out to be a 10k.  The Bridge to Brews run started & ended at the Widmer brewery.  The cool thing about this run is that the course took us over the Fremont & Broadway bridges.  I get to walk over the Broadway Bridge everyday for my work commute, but the Fremont Bridge is closed to pedestrian traffic, so this was quite a treat.

This morning I laced up my sneakers and attempted a 6.2 mile run.  Let me back up and tell you that I only seriously started training for this about two months ago.  My longest training run was last Sunday when I did five miles, but I had to stop and walk after just 3.5 miles.  Needless to say, I wasn't too keen on the race today knowing that I could only run half the distance before needing to stop and walk.

I gave myself a little mental pep talk and said, "Heather, you did 3.5 miles last weekend.  Just get to 4.0 today and if you can do that, I promise you'll be able to do the whole thing."  I didn't believe it.  And when mile marker 3 came up and I was huffing and puffing, I thought there was no way I could finish.

Then I got to mile marker 4 and volunteers were standing around to cheer us on.  It gave me the little boost I needed to have a little faith in my earlier pep talk.

And I did it!  I jogged the entire thing without ever stopping to walk.  It was pretty amazing.  It took me an hour and 8 minutes which is right about what I was expecting - I planned on averaging 11-minute miles.  I'm quite proud of myself.

Now it's time to shower and get ready to cross off another bucket list item.  It's gonna be a double-header today.  :-)

#16 - Complete!

I cheated a little bit for this one and actually started working on it back in August.  I wasn't feeling so great about myself and realized that with all of the walking I was doing for my new work commute, I could probably lose some weight.  For three months I made slightly better food decisions (still eating all the bad things I love - just a little less).  And pretty quickly I lost twenty pounds.  For a 30 before 30 bucket list though, it would be fitting to make 30 pounds my goal.

I finally did it!  :-)

MyFitnessPal - Nutrition Facts For Foods

Yes, I would like to lose a little more weight, but I'm not going to focus on that right now.  Just want to get good at maintaining.  I'm down a dress size, feeling great, and loving it!

I don't have great comparison photos, but we'll try these:

Now (March 2013)

Before (Aug 2012)

#9 - Complete!

The transition from winter to spring has been incredibly busy for me between work, Search & Rescue, and my HR classes.  I do apologize for the blog hiatus, but I'm back and plan to get caught up.  I crossed number nine off my list back in January - this was to ski Mt. Hood.  I went out with a group of co-workers on a beautifully sunny day.  Esha and I stuck to the bunny slope all day because it was her first time skiing and my first time since I went in Mammoth seven or eight years ago. 

Don't judge - the bunny slope can be pretty cool.  :-)

I think I should plan to purchase some skis and boots in the next year or two so that I can enjoy skiing more often.  It's too expensive to justify going all the time when I have to pay for rentals on top of the pricey lift ticket.