How to hip hinge with 3 simple progressions

POLE PEDAL PADDLE IN BEND

Pole, Pedal, Paddle is a relay race in Bend Oregon, with six legs that include alpine skiing/snowboarding, cross-country skiing, biking, running, canoe/kayaking and sprinting to the finish. You can do it all yourself or be part of team. And it's the funnest thing we’ve done as a family since Christmas.  We’ll probably do it again and again as long as we live here. 

Dad had a little mishap beginning the race and being placed in the wrong group had a solo run in ski boots 100 yards to place his skiis, 100 more down to the startingline as everyone watched and waited. (You know how much Brett loves the spotlight right?)

As soon as Brett got to the start line, the gun went off. He sprinted in ski boots back up the hill (3 times within 3 minutes), clips into his skiis and pushes off before he realizes that his right heel didn’t actually click in. He stops, chips the ice off the bottom of his boot, and by now fifteen guys have passed him. Never fear, Brett gets “mozying” and starts passing people. Zing he passes the first two, zing, zing, passes 4 more. Flying along at 40 mph, just 20 yards from the bottom the guy in front of him wipes out and yard sales his belongings all over the run. Dad cuts around him and finishes a split second behind the number 2 man for third place. What a champ. No question that next year, with a better start and his power, he could dominate this event. 

Isaac was so absorbed with the snowballing wipeout that he forgot to video Dad’s big finish. (cue imagination.)

Joss went next with a 1.8 mile mountain trail run that replaced the Nordic ski leg of the race due to lack of snow.  It was pretty muddy and uneven with snow and ice and big tire ruts in it. This cross country runner said it felt way longer than 2 miles.  Maybe because the last half mile was entirely uphill. Bah!

The uphill finish

She tagged Isaac who took off down the highway. Dad filmed this transition so completely that there was not room to save it to his phone. So bummed!  Isaac started gutting out the first incline. 

20 mile road bike course

Plenty of uphill too

Isaac said watching the older guys pass him was a little unnerving, but he never felt out of control or freaked out. A friend broke her collar bone last year in this race, riding a road bike for the first time…just like he was. But he was calm and cool spinning it into Bend. 

Sweet relief...and food.

In fact SO cool, he was a little frozen by the time he entered the transition area. The only bummer is that his flashy new biking jersey was covered by several layers of old clothing he found lying around the truck before he launched.     #bikingshortsfeellikediapers

Don't be fooled. The supersuit lies beneath these common street clothes. 

And Isaac had ants in his pants til he got those biking shorts off.

The transition stations were so packed with people (2500 participants this year) that it was difficult to get pictures. But, here's what we’ve got.

Some nice loft on Ethan's hair

And Jonell waving to all her adoring fans (or to just get anyone's attention...one of those two).

Due to my lack of experience, drinking 1/2 gallon of water just before the race or inability to find the relief station at my transition area, by the time I rounded the first half mile turn I needed a bush for sure. You can imagine the surprise when a bibbed runner leapt from the underbrush back onto the path brushing pineneedles and forest tinder from her shoulders. 

No question, I was safely SPENT at the end of mile 4.

Joss joined me for the last mile to be my pacer til I staggerred into the field of kayaks to tag Lynley and Dad. 

#needleinahaystack

#Iamtheneedle

The Launch

And shoosh, they are off

Lynley led Dad to the river where they paddled a mile long course up and down. If you've been here to visit us, it's where we've taken you all kayaking only twice as far downstream.  

Halfway through this workout, Dad KNEW we need a lighter kayak next time. Imagine 31 minutes of continuous pushups. Really, no prob for Brett, "of the rippling pecs."

While it may not be the toughest job, every team needs an anchorman, and we had 3! As the kayak pulled up to shore Ethan high fived Lynley and ran for the finish line at Les Schuab Amphitheater, an 800 meter goal way too far for tiny legs to do but gradually. Jossie stayed behind to transfer the speed tracking device to her leg and Alex blitzed off in the meantime. Here they are coming across the finish line. 

E-bop wins the day

2 seconds later A-Train brings it

It was a sweet moment seeing their smiles. A 2 hr 47 minute Saturday family project was Fini! A whole lot of work for the collective gang, but what a way to spend a day.

PROPHETIC SUPPORT FOR A MODERN CAMPOUT

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DREAMS and VISIONS IN THE LAST DAYS

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BLOOD MOON RISING

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THE WORDS WE USE, USE US... DECLARATIONS 2015

Mount Washington, Oregon

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CHRISTMAS GREETINGS, AROUND THE WORLD

Francis' in Taiwan, Argentina, England, Ireland and Bend Oregon

Francis’ Go Foreign - 2014

Have you heard? Americans could be living on Mars in 2016. Haven’t ventured that far from the planet yet, but we have broadened our view of this beautiful world and covered some foreign ground. Like bitty grains of sand at the beach, “Those Francis’, they’re everywhere.”

While the kids have wandered far, Brett and I are manning the home front in Bend Oregon. This week, picture us on the icy planet Hoth from Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back. Blanketed by ice and evermoving snow drifts, we secure the Echo base shield generator each night once everyone is accounted for… Yep, it’s cold up here, and not even taun tauns can survive outdoors. Remember last week when Brett woke up with his feet frozen to the ceiling of that wampa’s ice cave? #closecall #jedipowerforever

Lauren and Dal (26) set up the first foreign family outpost in Bracknell England before the new year began. On weekends they canvassed the British Isles & continental Europe. They’re home in Provo now preparing for their next adventure, MBA school. 

Tanner (24) reconnected with his Irish roots working in Dublin last summer. He climbed the cliffs of Moher (aka. The Cliffs of Insanity) ate his fill at the Greedy Goose, tuned in to rugby, hurling (an ancient Celtic field game in which 30 spirited Irishman enthusiastically run around a field hurling a hard leather ball at eachother at roughly 100 mph) and other “Class” pursuits. He came home using Irish phrases like “banjaxed,” “bunk off” and “What’s the craik?” He’s in the final stretch of undergrad work in Business Management Finance at BYU.

Megan (21) returned in August from Argentina, with a testimony of Jesus Christ burning in her heart and a mug of Yerba Mate warming her hand. You don’t wanna miss homemade empanada night with Meg. !Que rico! She’s applying to both Accounting & Finance at BYU, with a lil’ harp on the side.

Nate (19) finally arrived in Taipei Taiwan in October to immerse in Chinese culture as he’s longed for since…well since birth. Always one for the bizarre but delectable, he’s sampled several kinds of dragonfruit, milkfish dumplings, Tsong Tse (Chinese Tamales) and most recently, pigs blood soup -a gelatinous blood mass in oil with boiled onions for garnish (molto no bueno, he says).  It’s Chinese food and fellowship to exceed his fondest dreams.

Lynley (16) stretched her wings and flew…to London with Mom and Nate, for a fabulous 10 days exploring the unknown. After 3 days she was no stranger to the streets and began directing lost tourists to their desired destinations. (Say what?) She loves hostessing at a fine Thai restaurant downtown.

Isaac (14) is dabbling in foreign studies at school: Spanish, AP Geography and teenage girls. Talk about foreign experience, check this.  Isaac was interviewed for a yearbook segment on “Guys with Style”.  I know, right? Thanks to Lynnie’s mentoring, he is looking strangely dapper these days.  

Joslyn (12) has entered the alien world of middle school. Unrattled by the locker thing, changing classes, clipping through homework or running her way through Fall she’s praying for just a few more snow days…’cause you can never catch too much air on those sledding jumps she & the bros make.

Alex (9) may have been responsible for ‘foreign’ objects appearing at the bottom of our breakfast cereal bowls. Airsoft BB’s look and feel a lot like dried currents, only a little less digestible. Next to airsoft strategy, he’s a closet detective and deep thinker. When Meg returned from South America he mused that “now that she’s home, we get to unlock the mystery of what ACTUALLY happened to her while she was gone.” Indeed.

Ethan (7) – Ethan's no stranger to the power of affirmation. He and Tanner were pillow fighting against everyone else one night. And in the heat of battle, Ethan screamed out this encouragement to Tanner. “You can do it! You’re a missionary!” Fulltime missionaries, whether current or returned have phenomenal cosmic power. This we know. They know for whom they stand, and with whom they’re allied. And that their mission cannot fail.

Wherever you are this Christmas season, you’re no stranger or foreigner to Him whose birth we honor.  May your road be long, only when traveled with good company. And may you have the Holy Spirit, the most favorable company of all, as your travel companion, always. 

Merry Christmas,  

The Francis Family