dara marks marino

Just for Lisa, here are the latest belly pics. The first one is the progression from the beginning to week 24, the second one was on my birthday at week 27. For some reason I’m having trouble getting that last one to attach to the series photo, no idea why, since I’m doing it the same way I did all the others!

She’s been doing some mad kicking lately, and remains a hungry little thing, or at least makes me a hungry little thing. If I don’t wake up around 2 or so to eat, I’m for sure up by the crack of dawn ready to eat and start the day. I think I’ve gained somewhere around 19ish lbs at this point, which seems right on track to me. Our next appointment is next week, then after that we move to the every-two-week appointment schedule, which will be an exciting milestone.

I’m a morning person. Always have been. This morning, since I was up at 5:30 (hungry) anyway, I got myself out the door for a mountain bike ride before it got hot. That middle of the day heat has been one of my main obstacles for not riding more lately. I’m like a giant inferno of body heat with my extra 19ish lbs around the middle. The early start really paid off, and I had total redemption for my last skill-less ride. Sazi and I were out the door by 6:30, and were riding in the shade from home all the way up to top of Red Onion. We both really appreciate that! It was still mild and pretty shady across Brookbank to the Dry Lake Hills where Sazi got to swim in his favorite swimming hole. Then we just cruised it back down Brookbank and straight on home, for a super satisfying 2.5 or 3 hr loop. 28 weeks pregnant and still having awesome days on the bike…can’t ask for a whole lot more than that!

Saw this pretty flower while I was out there, growing straight out of a rock: Like a microcosm of Flagstaff.

I got to thinking while I was out there, about how much I love riding and how many years/miles/hours I’ve spent on the bike. I realized that although it is true that I absolutely have bad days where it really seems like I have never ridden before, and right now there isn’t a person around who would call me speedy, it is because of all those years/miles/hours that I can still have such wonderful days too. I guess you spend enough time and passion on something and you have to know deep down that it will always be in you, even if it doesn’t always seem that way, even if you are not always fast or strong, even if you are not always smooth.

And it looks like we’ve got some monsoon storms rolling in! That will make for some really sweet riding.

Yesterday, Melissa Buhl became a World Champion! She won the women’s 4x and it sounds like she did it with true style points too. And on Friday, Tim Allen finished as the US’s best placed U23 racer. No slight to Sam Jurekovic however, who looks to have been having a great day until a race-ending crash took him out.

Troy and I spent the weekend in Lockett Meadow, where we did a little hiking and a little riding. I evidently couldn’t ride for sh*t though, and walked down most all of Pick Up Sticks. Oh well, now I have lots to look forward to next year when I’m not pregnant, since I do hope to get my confidence and handling skills back! Troy was riding great, and looked super smooth hopping over logs left and right. Sazi was smooth as ever too.

Speaking of Sazi, he is now officially the Small Woodland Creature Terrorist. He spent every spare minute digging in logs for the little squeaky mice and other critters that make their homes in there. He was in dog heaven, digging away, chewing on logs, sticking his tongue in to the hollows just trying to get at the poor critters. I don’t think he actually got any for all his efforts, but I’m sure there are more than a few chipmunks in Lockett Meadow that are seeking counseling for post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Auspicious things:
-yesterday I turned 33 (excellent double number)
-the full moon rose bright orange while we were bbq’ing in the back yard for my birthday party
-2 days in to my 33rd year and I have gotten in 2 fun (albeit short!) mountain bike rides

A great start to what I hope will be a really great year.

Because I work such early morning hours, on my ride home I am going against the bike commuting traffic along the bike path on Rt. 66. For most of the year, I can count on one hand how many commuters I see, and I have little nicknames for most of them (Helmetless Recumbent Guy, Ultimate Commuter Guy, etc.). But yesterday morning was remarkable. I saw 10 commuters just along the one 2-mile stretch of the bike path that I use. Awesome job, Flagstaff! Keep on being One-Less-Car and pretty soon, we’ll have a revolution on our hands.

On my way in to work though, I did have a small incident. I had to throw down into pregnant lady race mode. I was coming up behind a guy who was riding the path in the same direction as I was. I politely rang my bell to let him know to move to one side or the other. He didn’t move for several rings, but eventually moved to the left. (Left? Doesn’t the natural flow of traffic here in the US of A just kind of move to the right, regardless of if you are on foot, on bike, or in a car?) Anyway, I pulled up on his right and he immediately started pedaling hard. Great, now we were traveling the same speed. For quite a while. It was getting awkward, you know, uncomfortable. I got curious. I looked over at him to see if he was smiling or anything. No, he was staring dead ahead, pedaling for all he was worth. It kind of made me giggle. I had two choices: 1- I could slow down and let him go, but then I would be stuck behind him because I could tell he wasn’t going to keep up this pace, or 2- I could throw down. So I did it, I threw down on the bike path. Dropped him. Didn’t look back, didn’t see him again. I’m such a jerk.

You might remember what I wrote about Mike Janelle back in November. Since then, his wife Maribel gave birth to their son, and named him after his father, and a fantastic fund has been set up to help support Maribel and Mike Jr. It looks like Larry Leith, the founder of Tokyo Joes (Mike’s cycling sponsor for many years) is the driving force behind the fund. For a donation of just $40, pennies to most of us, you not only get the good karma of helping Maribel and Mike Jr financially but you also get quite the schwag bag of goodies. The stickers, shirt, and dogtag are really just another way of spreading the word, so wear them proudly. I’ve already ordered mine!

Check out the site, and make a donation, at www.livelikemike.org.

Mike was truly a one of a kind person, and brought joy and positive energy with him everywhere he went. Donating to the Live Like Mike fund, whether you knew Mike or not, helps continue his legacy. Do it today!