Welcome to issue #249 of My Monday Memo
by Rachel Brandes
Quote of the Week
“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Today is Monday, March 3, 2025
National I Want You To Be Happy Day
Happily Ever After
https://www.everafterphotographypnw.com/
Ever After Photography PNW is owned and operated by photographer extraordinaire, Mira Nachtigall. Mira specializes in birth, maternity, and newborn photography. She shares her art each week to help beautify the My Monday Memo. Mira and Rachel’s friendship spans back to 2007 in Las Vegas. They now reside very close in Washington.
Random Photo of the Week
Feline Tomfoolery
with Brady & Belichick
- Brady– We are strategic hunters, always on alert.
- Belichick– I am a strategic hunter, always on alert. I believe your photo is of you on mom’s lap and jumping in fear when you heard a neighbor walking down the hall.
- Brady– How dare you!?
- Belichick– Oh, I dare. What are you going to do about it?
- Brady– Dang it, Belichick, sometimes you are ornery.
- Belichick– That’s what you get for constantly mocking me and my special needs.
- Brady– Uggghhhh.
Brady & Belichick are Rachel’s adorable felines. Brady is a short hair and very dominant and athletic, much like his namesake (Forever Patriots). Belichick, aka Beli, the long hair, was the runt of their litter and is much more passive, until provoked. These two cute boys turned one on May 4, 2024.
Last Month at Orangetheory Fitness…
February was another fun-filled month at Orangetheory Fitness (OTF). Rachel participated in a few of the benchmarks. Let’s see how she did.
Firstly, we want to say farewell to a fun coach who has moved on to other opportunities, Coach Jessica. Pictured here posing as an ‘Angel’ during the transformation challenge, left to right, Joyce, Rachel, Jessica and Danika. Jessica will be missed.
The 500-meter row benchmark started off the month. Rachel was thrilled to finish with a new personal record of 1:42.61.
A Sunday Game Day workout was held the morning of the Super Bowl. Rachel attended and showed support for her son, Blake, who is a huge Chiefs fan. No, they didn’t do so well, but Rachel was proud to show her support. She is pictured here after the workout with the fantastic Coach Katie M.
The 12-minute tread for distance was next. Not only did she not get a new personal record, but she ended up running the same distance from almost a year ago. This is still a win. She had donated blood the day prior, after all. Well, that is the excuse she is using. Either way, 1.33 is respectable.
Orange Everest. Rachel has gone through this five times now. She says ‘gone through this’ with meaning. Orange Everest is a rough one. Let’s see, how would one explain Orange Everest? Fun torture? Maybe. But really… This is 23-minutes on the treadmill and the goal is distance. You start by running at a 1% incline and increase by 1% every minute until you are attempting to run at a 15% incline. Then you drop to 14% and every minute after, you drop by 2% more until you are back down to a 1% incline. The last minute of the 23 is intended to be what they call an ‘all out,’ which means run as fast as you can. Rachel didn’t do her best but was still proud of how well she did. She loves these rough ones.
The 8-week transformation challenge is still going strong with this being the last week. Rachel’s official body scan will be at the end of the week and she’s excited to see her progress in numbers. She certainly feels better after getting her diet on track again. The support of her fellow teammates and coaches has been essential in keeping her on track. The results will be in as of the next OTF update. Stay tuned.
We can’t forget Bill’s Birthday Brag Board photo. Bill has the most fun photo poses and is a fantastic human being. Rachel has enjoyed getting to know Bill and was excited to get to run with him on his birthday. Pictured with Bill (left to right) are Jennie, Coach Katie M and Rachel.
A Glowing Good Time
Pictured above: Jennie (left) and Rachel (right) pre-race with their glow glasses.
On Friday, February 21, 2025, Pierce County Parks & Recreation held a Glow Run 5k (3.1 miles) & After Party. The run was held at Chamber Bay Golf Course (home of the 2015 US Open) in University Place, Washington with a start time of 5 PM. It would be a little bit chilly and little bit rainy for the run, which was not a timed run, thank goodness.
Why thank goodness? While this beautiful trail surrounds the golf course and has incredible views, it also has a couple of significant hills. It’s a pick your poison situation when you are on your own for a walk. One direction of the trail you have a long steady uphill climb, and the other direction has a short steep incline through the dense trees. Which direction do you think the 5k went??? Yup, the short steep incline through the trees.
Pictured above: The race was able to begin and some runners actually had umbrellas. What? On the right, a shot of the trail as they headed towards the steep incline in the trees.
Rachel and her friend, Jennie, had signed up to participate in this event together. They were excited to run into another friend from their gym, Ashley (pictured below on the far left), before the run. Pictured to the right are the greatest couple photo with matching tutus and smiling socks. No, Rachel was not being creepy and snapping pictures of unsuspecting couples and their backsides, she asked permission and the couple gladly posed.
There were a couple of booths with nutritional and fitness information. Rachel was excited to spin the prize wheel at Super Supplements. Based on her face in the below picture, she looked way too excited and a little crazy-eyed. She won a recovery drink but hasn’t tried it out yet because it is super high in sodium, like really high, and grapefruit flavor. Hmmm, maybe one day.
Yes, she realizes sodium is essential to recovery but it was just a 5k fun run. Come on…
Rachel is beyond thrilled to report that she and Jennie were able to keep a jog the entire course. This may not seem significant but if you have ever walked or jogged this course, you will totally understand. As they jogged up that steep incline, which is supposedly only a 315 feet elevation gain (pshhhh), the passed several 5k-ers walking up the hill and even hear a few of them say “how are they still jogging?” That’s right, Jennie and Rachel may be in their 50s, but they can jog past those 20-somethings on a hill.
They were both also gasping for air at that point but continued to give each other positive feedback through the rough portion of the trail. Positive feedback like… “You aren’t going to die,” “You can survive this,” or “The downhill is right there!”
After the run, they were so excited to have not walked at all on the course, they were on a high. They enjoyed gathering up all of the goodies the after party had to offer for a photo. Jennie gave her sweets to her sweetie at home and Rachel only ate a couple of the goodies. They now have another cool medal to add to their collections.
There was no way they thought they could average such a good pace on this course. The hill, people, seriously. It is a doozy.
Here is proof, sort of… This map is the live tracking of the run from Rachel’s Garmin watch. The color differences are heart rate. Orange and red are the highest. Do you see the switchback areas in the trees where most of the orange and red are shown? That is the elevation. Great course though, and fun event. Running with Jennie is always a good time for Rachel. Until next time, be well.
