From two weekends ago. Lovely, intelligent couple. Super bright mid-day shoot but we made it work.
Self-scolding: Never leave your reflector at home. Bad photographer.
This past weekend on Angel Island I achieved three goals:
1 - Place first in female finishers for a trail half
2 - PR my trail half (1:47:10! With the climbs!)
3 - Enjoy the race and not overdo it
I am super proud of how far I've come in life. As someone who struggles with envisioning the future and thinking big, pushing past my discomfort to find beauty in movement, pain, stickiness, giant hills, fatigue, anxiety, overwhelming emotions... is huge for me.
This is how I felt at the 2nd mile. The gloves and headwrap were not necessary 1 mile later! I'll stop using them eventually...
The prize for first female was a chicken purse. Magically enough, my purse was stolen the week prior. The universe granted me a new purse. I don't believe in fate or karma, but the circumstances surely made it a funny coincidence. I put myself in the right place, worked hard, and earned a reward from our quantum gods of entropy.
New short-term goal: Finishing a 30k without injury New long-term goal: Make it to the ultras without injury and continue to run the rest of my life.
For a friend's going-away celebration, we visited San Simeon State Park in central California, across the street (seriously) from Hearst Castle. It was incredible. Please go here if you get the chance. It was a Saturday in winter, yet we wore no jackets, ran around on the beach, and encountered maybe ~20 people on the trail. GO HERE!
The first photo is a Symmetry Portrait of the rocky shore.
Brendan and I had the privilege of visiting Judy Kendall's home studio in Benicia, CA. She's an upholsterer with a compelling collection of European romantic and religious figures, as well as little pieces of nature and nurture that tumble through time and hands into our lives.
Much thanks to Olga for introducing us.
Here are some things that stood out to me, plus photos of Judy & her work:
