Hello Cheryl!

Last night, Hubby and I shared a lovely dinner at Buca with some of our closest running friends. Buca is an Italian eatery known for its huge, family style portions.... deeeeelicious food, fun atmosphere. We don't go there a lot -- usually just for special occasions.

What was the occasion you ask?

Most of us that bellied up to the table were kicking off our 2012 triathlon seasons by doing the Tri U Mah indoor triathlon today.

Tri U Mah has been around for eight years. I've done it every year. In fact, it was my first triathlon ever! It consists of 30 minutes each of swimming, biking and running with 10 minute transitions. What ever distance you cover during the segments is your distance for the race. It is held at the University of Minnesota's Aquatic Center, which has a terrific pool.

Heats are small -- limited to for each, so athletes get their own swim lane (AWESOME) and then we ride on stationary bikes and run on treadmills.

It is a very welcoming event and -- because it is held in February -- it is a perfect reminder for us in Minnesota that triathlon season will indeed be here before we know it.

More about the event in a bit. First, back to Buca:

It had been a while since I'd seen some of my running/tri friends. Work, travel and the holidays kept us all busy since about November. I'd been running a bit with Gary and Marcia, but hadn't connected with Mary, Cheryl or Derek much since the end of 2011.

Everyone at dinner would be doing the tri --except Derek, who has become a CrossFit enthusiast, and Mary, who would be spending the morning today doing a run and yoga with her beaux, Jim.

It was great to share the meal and to catch up. If you've ever been part of a running group or trained with others over a long period of time, you know how important your partners become to you. You are all out there, day in and day out, good weather and bad weather, getting ready for great events and events that don't quite go your way.

The folks at dinner have been part of my core training group for many years. We've done marathons, triathlons, bike events and lots of training events over the years. They've encouraged me to go further than I thought I could and put up with me when I was in less than a happy mood at about mile 22 of a training run or event. I love them all.

At one point during dinner, Cheryl said to me: "So when are you going to update your blog?"

"Huh? Someone actually still reads my blog? Wow".

I've been very lackadaisical about updating my blog. Mostly because the end of last year was such a topsy turvy one, not knowing the outcome of my job; feeling a bit let down because I bailed on Iornman; and other just general 'blah' stuff.

I didn't have much to report and so I didn't. And, honestly, the behavior sort of lined up with another behavior habit I've acquired since last fall. I think the technical term is "half-assed". I've been training at a half-assed level; I've been logging my training on a half-assed basis; I've been watching my nutrition on a half-assed basis. I've been mentally challenging myself on a half-assed level.

So when Cheryl asked me the question, I perked up a little bit.

"Hmmmm.... Maybe I should get back at it".

So, here I am blogging.....and realizing that it's now only a few months until Liberty 1/2 iron and then only a few months to Ironman. So, accountability on all fronts (full-assed, maybe) is important now.

So thanks, Cheryl. I appreciate you more than you know.

Back to Tri U Mah: I did okay, but did not PR (see above for half-assed training efforts comment. You get what you train for and, although I was swimming, biking and riding, it was more leisurely (half-assed) than it should have been). I swim .848 miles, biked 8.08 miles and ran 2.59 miles for a total of 11.508. Not sure yet where this puts me in my Age Group. Definitely was an eye opener that it is time to actually put in the time.....

Chery, Marcia, Gary, Angel, Rick, Jumper, and Bev also did well today.

My biggest cheers, though, go to Hubby. This was his second Tri U Mah, fourth indoor triathlon. Truth be told, he isn't a big fan of the water. Or better said, being IN the water. (He loves boating and sailing. It is the swimming that he could take or leave). Once he is done with the swim, he is fine. He is a good biker and a good runner, so today, he once again, mastered the beast known as The Pool and had a great showing at Tri U Mah.

I'm so proud of him I could just squeeze him! I think I will.

20 WEEKS -- are you kidding?

Twenty weeks until IM Moo. That is Ironman Wisconsin for any one that has not been paying attention.

Like me.

Twenty WEEKS? TWENTY? How did that happen?

You'll note my training log on the side has been devoid of any mileage updates for quite a while. Oh, I've been working out. I've been training. I've been swimming, biking and running.

I haven't been blogging. (Or tracking calories, if the truth must be told...)

The good news is that I got through a couple of the races that Coach Dan put on my schedule for this year.

Human Race/ Earth Day 8K on March 28th. Ran it in 50:15, which was a very good time for me.

Trail Mix 25K on April 17th. Two loops through a really wonderful park, nature preserve and ski area. (In other words: HILLY). Finished it in 3:11, which was a 14 minute PR for me for the course. (The last time I ran Trail Mix was in 2004).

Last weekend, I was supposed to do two events: Get in Gear (GIG) 10K and 65 miles on the Ironman Bike Ride - Minnesota. Hubby's plan was to run the GIG 5K event and then play in his first Minnesota golf tournament for 2010.

Mother Nature had other plans.

Hubby and I woke to thunder and lightening on Saturday morning. We had planned to run if it was rainy, but did not want to run if it was pouring. So we went back to sleep.

We did end up running later in the day, so it was not a total wash out (pun intended).

Sunday was rainy too, but there was no lightening. Just rain. Oh, and wind.

Since I was riding this event with my friends Gary and Nat, I could not just go back to bed. So, I loaded up the bike, picked up Gary and went to the start line.


Nat's been under the weather and decided to not risk getting sick again, but Gary and I went out on the course.

We did decide to only ride the 30-mile route, which was a smart choice. My feet got soaked by rain and got very cold. I don't think they could have really handled 35 additional miles.

Despite the cold/rain, the event was really wonderful! Nice course with some challenging hills. Terrific rest stops manned by very helpful volunteers and yummy stuff like HOT oatmeal, HOT coffee, HOT chocolate, muffins, candy (?), Cracker Jack, Trail Mix and other deliciousness.

I was also happily surprised at the number of riders that braved the weather. Had the day been nice, I'm sure there would have been thousands of riders out on the road.

I definitely will do this ride again next year. I can not say enough good things about it.

Okay, back to reality:

Twenty weeks!

Really time to get serious about the mileage, the time and the training.

Cuz now it is nineteen weeks and six days....

Catching up: Tri U Mah and Valentine's Day 5k

Tri U Mah, held on Sunday, February 7th, was the usual blast of fun that it is. There are usually a number of my friends that also do this event, and although this was true for 2010, we weren't all able to register for the same heat. Marcia, Nat and Cheryl got in a late morning heat and Gary and I got in to a 12:40 pm heat.

This actually worked out perfectly, because Gear West had their Gear West University the same day. This learning event was a w e s o m e.

For a $20.00 registration fee, participants could six lectures of their choosing. (There were 24 lectures in total, four each hour, so participants registered for the sessions they were interested in). They also threw in a group run, lunch and time to meet other multisports nuts.

Nat and I split the registration and the day. I went in the morning -- I attended a "How to Change your Tube" workshop, where I actually changed the tube on a bike. The BACK WHEEL even! This was awesome and the fear of a flat right out of me.

I also attended "Race Preparation", which covered info about things to do during training to get your to race day.

Nat went in the afternoon and got to attend a workshop on bike riding for women; real nutrition, and one other.

Great info; great speakers, great fun.

By the time Gary and I got to the University of Minnesota's Rec Center, our friends were wrapping up their run portion. They all looked very, very strong as they finished up their event.

Gary and I cheered them on a bit and then we went to get ready for our heat.

I covered .879 miles in my 30 minute swim. I was one length off from 2009. I blame the cold that I caught the Thursday before the event.

My bike was very strong, though. I covered 8.23 miles -- my 2009 total had been 6.63 miles. Maybe it was the fact that we got to watch video from Ironman Championships or maybe because I've been spending lots of time on my bike trainer. What ever it was, I cranked out better mileage. Hurrah

My run reached 2.90 for the 30 minutes. This was .20 better than 2009. I was hoping for slightly better, but... all in all, I was very happy.

I ended up covering 12.009 miles versus 10.224 (2009), which put me in 2nd place for my age group. So there are benefits to getting older.

My friends also had good results for the event. It was nice to chalk up the first event for 2010.

Unfortunately for me, I ended up with an infected big toe that reared up its ugly (pus) head on Monday. I had a toenail that split and I cut it off, thinking that I would save myself from snagging the split on my sock or some thing, which would be painful.

What I didn't count on was the nail piercing my skin, allowing bacteria to fester in to the wound, creating pus which was really, REALLY painful.

I went on antibiotics and didn't train much for the rest of this week. My toe is finally better, so I was able to finish out the week following my training plan.

The plan included running the Valentine's Day 5k. Hubby and I ran the 5K together. It was a very beautiful not-too-cold, no wind morning and we finished in fine form.

Hubby is really getting in to running and starting to enjoy it. This is a good thing, has he has registered for Chicago Marathon. (Yikes! -- he is going to ROCK!)

After the 5k, I still had another 50 minutes of running to get in and then today, I rode my bike for 2 hours while watching the Olympics.

You might say that I'm back in the training saddle.

"what I learned last week on vacation..."

Hubby and I went on our first cruise last week.

It was a B L A S T.

Hubby's golf partner, Paul, and his wife, Deb, have done the cruise thing for years. They invited us to join them for some sun, golf and ocean breezes.

We booked on Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), which is the "freestyling" cruise line. Do what you want pretty much when you want.

We left Miami, had two full days at sea Grand Cayman and Cozumel as our ports of call. We golfed at both locations.

Let me say again: We had a B L A S T.

However, the big lesson learned on the trip was

"Check your camera BEFORE leaving the house".

My digital was on the fritz. Grrrrrr.

I had to buy an overpriced disposable on the ship ("duty free"!) which really limited my clicking creativity!

I'll post more about our adventures shortly, but will leave you with this:

When I got home, I did a little Google search on "Nikon Coolpix S4 problems" and found this:

Problem for Nikon Coolpix S4 Digital Camera
Coolpix S4, display doesnt show any image

Resolution: My camera worked again when i knock it gently to a table surface (object side).

I smacked the camera a bit and voila! Image popped up like a charm.

Guess we'll just have to take another cruise....

Anniversary Fun

Hubby and I were married four years ago...time flies indeed.

We've had four years of fun and adventures and have enjoyed every minute together. (Okay, maybe not so much when we (I) fight about chores and the division of household tasks...).

I'm happy to say that I'm married to my very best friend, my love, my confidant, my every thing. I'm grateful every day for him and our life together...

To celebrate this year, we went back to the place our lives changed: Las Vegas, Nevada.

We found cheap tickets on Orbitz and flew out last Sunday (after I participated in the St. Paul Triathlon).

We stayed at the MGM Grand, which is where we got married. We gambled a bit, took a long walk up the strip, window shopped, people watched and ate a really great meal at Craftsteak.

Fun, fun, fun.

Thank you for every thing, HUBBY. You are the best! I love you!

BEST $20 bucks I ever spent...

Hubby's birthday was last week.

We had a small celebration on the "official" day by having dinner with Sabrina at Famous Dave's BBQ (one of Hubby's fav restaurants) and then cake at our house.

For his gift, I redeemed the two free nights I had accumulated at any Kimpton Hotel and found cheap airfare to Midway Airport in Chicago. We flew there last Friday and came home yesterday.

We love Chicago -- I used to live there and we both love the vibrancy of the city, the cool stuff you can do at any hour of the day, the great food, fantastic people watching, and, of course, the "El".

Unfortunately, it rained all weekend. And I mean RAINED.

We were lucky in that it didn't rain when we walked from our hotel to the Art Institute, where we waited in line for about 30 minutes to get tickets. (Apparently a rainy day spent inside the Art Institute wasn't just our good idea...). I love this photo because it is so "touristy"....

We spent pretty much the whole day at the museum and had a blast.

We went to a hip, cool trendy restaurant for dinner on Saturday night: Sushi Samba. Dee-licious food, fun atmosphere. The rain also let up enough so we could stroll back from the restaurant to the hotel.

Sunday, the rain gods were not so kind. It poured all day. Buckets and buckets and sheets and sheets of cold, March rain.

We slept in late and then took a cab to Gino's East to indulge in some really great deep dish pizza.

The cab driver was a nice, friendly guy and we chatted about stuff on the way to Gino's. Thanked the guy, paid the fare and went in to the restaurant.

Being the nice (vain) girl that I am, I wanted to go to the restroom to wipe the rain off my head when I discovered that I LEFT MY PURSE IN THE CAB.

AAARRRGGGH. Panic! Fear! AARRRRGGGGH.

My ID, my credit cards, my camera, my make up, my cash, my PURSE! Left in a cab in a city with millions of cabs.

The waiter at the restaurant said "Just call the cab company".

Under normal (not pouring rain) circumstances, this would be a smart idea. But, because it had been raining so hard when we hailed the cab, we just jumped in, rode to the restaurant and jumped out.

"Company?" Ummmmm, errr, ahhhh. No clue.

For once, I had no idea what to do. Usually, I'm pretty good in a pickle. I can figure out "Plan B" probably faster and quicker than most (if I do say so myself...).

This time, I was stumped and fearful. I could certainly cancel the credit cards, but how do you get on an airplane with NO ID? How do you replace pictures on a camera?

After a few minutes of fretting and using the "F" word (a lot), who walks in the restaurant, but our friendly, cheerful, honest, WONDERFUL cab driver, who says "You forgot your bag in the cab".

I ran over to him and hugged him, which I think surprised the heck out of him. I was very, very grateful.

We went to the cab, I got my bag and give him a $20.00 for finding it and returning it. To the left, you see the bag, on the table, at the restaurant, with ME!

Hubby and I were able to enjoy dee-lish-e-ous pizza and the rest of his birthday weekend.

After lunch, we hopped on the "El" back to Midway and the birthday adventure was over...

Reality

Happy New Year to all!

Hubby and I spent an incredibly quiet night at home bringing in 2009.

We were hoping to be able to rent a movie from our Cable provider, but the service was down yesterday. So we flipped between football, "Saving Private Ryan", a show focused on former people that were on episodes of "Made" and "True Life", and "bringin' in the New Year in NYC" shows on CNN, NBC and ABC.

Yawn.

It was really nice to be cuddly on the couch -- don' t get me wrong. It was just a little sleepy, which is really want I wanted to do at about 9:00 pm.

I was convinced to stay awake until 12:04 am, when I went to bed and Hubby, who had indulged in a little 12-year old scotch, found "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" on a t.v. channel and stayed awake to watch it until 3:30 am.

I ran the Polar 10K with my running pals Marcia, Gary and Mary this morning.

The race was a rude reminder that the holidays are over and it is time to get back to Reality.

I ran a great 5k on Thanksgiving day and have really been very slug like ever since. Barely laced up my shoes once; put in minimal miles (except for walking to the fridge); ate sugar as if it was going out of style.

I could really tell during the race. I was slow, sluggish, winded. A long, long cry from where I was in August after Pigman 1/2 iron...

BUT, the course was pretty, I had a great time with my friends and I got through it.

I also bumped in to a friend of mind from grade school /high school that I've recently re-met on Facebook...Tom I.

I joined Facebook (FB) late last fall and have been having some fun finding old friends, like Tom. I didn't know he was running the race today, so it was fun to recognize his picture from FB and to see him in-person. We ran the first mile together and caught up (in-between my wheezing).

---
So 2009 is here -- full of CHANGE (1/20/09!) and opportunities and a successful reintroduction to Training and eating healthier..

I wish health for every one.

I wish for a year were things settle down and we all get back to "normal".

I wish peace for all.

I wish rockin' PRs for all my running/tri friends.

I wish that we all have fun starring in our very own Reality shows...

This One's for Nat

I got an email from my friend Nat today: "Checked out your blog. Nothing new..."

Well, first, this is really an instance of the pot calling the kettle "Chalphalon". She hasn't blogged since December 21st, so....harumph!

Seriously though, not much new.

Christmas was nice and quiet. We spent Christmas eve with my sister and brother-in-law. We ate wonderful food, played pool, ate more food and watch a little James Bond. (This was a gift for the boys). They all drank. I had coffee and cookies. Yum.

Christmas day was spent with Hubby's family. There was a whole lot less drama than there was on Thanksgiving, which was terrific.

Like most families, I find some of my relatives-by-marriage a bit difficult to deal with.

I'm sure (fact is I know, based on the way I get treated by some of them) that they think I'm not really a picnic either.

So it goes.

Hubby and I did not do a lot about presents this year. He got me personalized golf balls and I got him mittens from North Face.

We really have all that we need: a house that doesn't have a mortgage payment that is continually resetting; jobs (at least for today); health (the most important thing); cats (almost as important as health) and each other (the BEST!).

Thank heavens.

Oh: I'm also blessed with a number of wonderful friends, like Nat, who put up with me and love me for reasons unknown.

(Hey: it's YOUR turn to post....)

Fun Stuff in October

I can not believe it is the end of October - already.

It seems like only a blink of an eye ago, the weather was warm, the days were long and winter was a long, long way off.

This morning, we woke up to frost on the cars and crunchy grass (frost). We've turned on the heat in the house a couple of times already, sweaters are back in the drawer and I no longer feel compelled to go for a quick swim every time we drive by Lake Calhoun or Lake Harriet.

October has been a great month, though.

Started at the beginning of the month with a great run for me at the TCM 10-Miler event.

Mid-month, Hubby and I traveled to Orlando, Florida, where he played in The Golf Channel Amateur Golf tour's national event. He's played in the tour for the last couple of years.

It is a very interesting tour. There are teams in pretty much every state across the U.S. and in Canada. The teams play events in their area during the summer; have some regional events and then "The Biggie": The Nationals.

The teams are "flighted" -- meaning the players are broken down in to handicap groups, so no one is playing anyone much better or much worse than they are. (Similar to lining up in a running event at the corral spot where you expect to finish. This, for me, means I typically line up waaaay in the back.).

Hubby has made some great friends, played some really wonderful courses and has been a flight winner of several of the events, which is how he qualified to go to Nationals.

We were there for a week. He played golf every day; I worked a lot. Even though it was "vacation", I had several classes to deliver ("Language and Culture in the Workplace"; "Managing UP, the Art of Influencing").

We had a condo at Orange Lake, so we had a lot of space and a kitchen, but no internet connection. I had to go to the business center every day to connect to get my work done.

Fortunately, the business center was located right next to Starbucks, so I was happy as a clam to link in, do my work thing and have some coffee.

I did get to play golf once; I swam a few times in a really nice pool early in the morning before either the sun or the hoards of kids were up. I also ran a few times "training" for the Monster 1/2 marathon -- my last big event for 2008.

Hubby did pretty well for his first National event. His game - and his confidence - improved a lot over the summer. The best thing is that he didn't check his Crackberry once during the whole week and actually got to relax.

We had some fun during the evenings. We had dinner with some of his team mates and their significant others a few times; we went to Downtown Disney a couple of times and wandered around. All very fun.

The weather was hot and humid -- just the way I like it. So, it was very much a shock, as you might image, to get off the plane back here in good, old Minnesota. BRRRRR

However, the fall leaves have been just beeeuteeeeful. Kind of a trade off.

---

So, running Monster 1/2 last Saturday was quite lovely.

The course starts and ends at Lake Harriet, so my friends Mary, Marcia and Brenda, met a our house before the race to conserve parking spots close to the event.

Hubby drove us downto the lake/start, where we waited for Dori, who was in Minneapolis with her SD for the weekend. She signed up to run the 10-mile event. It was GREAT to see her.

Monster 1/2 was just one of the events held that day. Team Ortho also hosts a 10-mile event, a timed 5K and a 'fun run' 5K for trick or treaters and pets. People have a lot of fun at the events and there were a lot of people and animals there wearing some very cute costumes.

As we were near the bandshell taking pictures, I noticed a costume that caught my eye: Grim Reaper hood, scythe and "yellow bowl of sunshine" shorts. Yes, it was Steve Stenzel, who was there to run the timed 5K. (He came in 3rd by-the-by).

I called out to him, introduced myself and Dori as fellow bloggers and he took a couple pics with our group. Dori had the photo on her camera -- it is posted on her blog.

The race started at 8:45 and followed Lake Harriet, down Minnehaha Parkway almost to Cedar Avenue, back to Harriet and then looped around Lake Calhoun.

I started out with Marcia, Mary and Brenda, but by the time we got to the Parkway, I broke a head a bit and just did my thing.

The route is so familiar to me -- I live near it and used it a lot during the spring and summer for my training. I love the route, though. Every time I run the lakes or follow the parkway, I'm so grateful for being able to be out there, enjoying the day, the trees, the lakes, Minnehaha creek and more.

I settled in to my run and just observed every thing around me -- runners, spectators, costumes, fall colors... I just took it all in.

I had a nice pace going (just over 10 minute miles).

Another good friend, Gary, was volunteering along the course, so I got to see him a couple of times during the event.

By the time I got to mile 5 or so, I had to go to the bathroom, so I pulled off at a portapotty. There were three other women waiting to use the portapotty, but, once in, they took FOREVER to do their thing.

Now, I'm a female. Presumably I have the same body parts that they do. I was not wearing a costume; they were not wearing costumes.

Can someone, then, please explain to me why, oh why, did it take them over 1:30 minutes to do thier thing once in the john? What do they do in there?

I go in, I do my thing, I grab some Purell, and I'm OUT OF THERE. Forty-seconds TOPS. (Yes, I timed myself).

But, I had lost almost 5 minute waiting. I decided to just enjoy the day and not really worry about my finish time.

Good thing too! By the time I hit mile 10 (1:51 -- 4 minutes slower that TCM 10-miler), I decided mentally that I was done.

I was tired, mostly out of gas and was really looking forward to being finished. My last three miles were very slow, but did finally hit the finish line at 2:30:50. (11:30 / pace).

Dori had already finished her 10-miler (with a big, fat PR no less). She found Gary at the finish and they both were waiting for the rest of us to cross the line. Mary's significant, Tom, and her kids were also there, along with our friends, Cheryl and her husband Derek.

I found them all at the finish line and waited them for the rest of our crew to come in. Everyone enjoyed the race -- and we were all very proud of Brenda, who had just completed her first 1/2 marathon.

Everyone came over to our house, where Hubby had made coffee and breakfast for us. It was really fun to have everyone there enjoying good food and good company.

And so, the official events of 2008 come to a close! Kind of like fall. Just like "that" it's over.

I'll probably run the Thanksgiving Day 5K -- will also do the Polar Dash on New Year's Day, but that is really the first event of 2009....

I've already signed up for Tri-U-Mah indoor tri (February); Fargo 1/2 marathon (May) LifeTime Fitness Tri (July) and Natalie and I will do our second 1/2 Iron distance event -- Chisago (July). Gary is also "this close" to signing up for Chisago.

I'm considering doing the Minnetonka Triathlon (June), a couple nameless other Tris, maybe another 1/2 Iron distance for August or September and will throw my hat in, along with Mary, Dori and hopefully Marcia and Gary for the New York Marathon lottery.

I also have secret plans on being in Madison in September to watch IronMan Wisconsin. My goal is to sign up for IronMan Wisconsin 2010! Shhhhh...

For now, I'll just try to bask in the glory of a great 2008 season and have another piece of Halloween candy....

Happy Anniversary, Bay-BEEEE!

Hubby and I celebrated three blissful years of marriage yesterday.

"WHAAAAAT????", you say? "You and Hubby, hip oldsters that you are, have only been married THREE years????"

Well, we've known each other and been a couple for a lot longer than 3 years. We dated for a

L O N G time and then we moved in together (living in sin) and then we tied the knot in Las Vegas at the Forever Grand Chapel located in the fabulous MGM Grand Resort and Casino on August 23rd, 2005.

We had a great wedding. We got married exactly how we wanted to in a place we love to visit. It wasn't cheesy Las Vegas, it was actually a very nice ceremony in a very nice chapel, surrounded by many people that we love who were there to help us celebrate.

We had two Las Vegas touches, one traditional and one very "now". We got to pick our own music for the ceremony and the song we picked for our "exit as the new couple" was a classic recording of Frank Sinatra singing "Fly Me to the Moon" -- fabulous!

The "now" piece was a web-cast of the wedding that allowed people that did not come to the wedding to watch us through that "interweb" thing. That was great!

It has been a great three years and things only get better.

Our tradition is that Hubby plans our anniversary celebration for the odd years and I plan it for the even years.

Yesterday, Hubby proved he did a lot of really great planning!

We drove to Cannon Falls (about one hour south of Minneapolis) and we played a really fun and challenging round of golf at Gopher Hills.

The front 9 holes is set up as a "links" style course -- wide open spaces, lots of natural grasses, not much water. The photo to the right is of the front 9.

The back 9 holes is a more traditional course -- lots of trees, doglegs and elevation.

It was a perfect day -- sunny, warm, but not too hot. We played some holes brilliantly, some -- not so much.

After golf, we drove to Red Wing -- a very charming town on the banks of the Mississippi River town -- where we spent the night.

We took a walk down to the main river launch in the middle of the town, where lots of other folks were watching a beautiful sunset.

The American Queen riverboat had just launched from Red Wing and was taking its passengers down to St. Louis

We had a fantastic meal at a restaurant called Norton's and the Lucky Cat Lounge. Hubby had a very flavorful Cuban pork roast and I had grilled salmon. Deeelish!

Today, we woke up, had a little coffee before we got on the rode and then drove about 30 minutes to Prescott, Wisconsin, where my sister and brother-in-law keep their boat.

We went on a long, lazy river ride from Prescott to Afton for lunch. We all had a wonderful time enjoying the day.

Hubby and I both got a chance to really relax with each other and just to just "enjoy".

Now, I have 364 days to plan Anniversary #4....

I love you Choppy...

Hill Work in the Mecca of Hills

Fast and furious business trip this week to San Francisco.

The trip was planned long before Gorby was diagnosed with cancer. I feel a little guilty for leaving, but work is work, and Gorby is doing remarkably well. And, I've got some ACE cat sitters taking care of the house and the critters.

THANK YOU GINNA AND SABRINA!

One really nice thing is that Hubby had to be here too for work so, although we traveled separately and arrived and will depart on different days, we do get to hang out a bit here.

My training plan is "suffering" a bit here, as I don't have a bike here. (Yes, I know I could rent one, but....)

My coach, Greg, did write out my training plan to accommodate my travels: yesterday called for hill work.

I did a nice warm up going from the hotel down to the Ferry Building, over past Fisherman's Wharf to the beach where other triathletes do their open water swims.

I continued past the beach and went out on the breakwater. Turned around and started hill repeats at the entrance of Fort Mason.

The entrance is open to pedestrians and bikers only, so I didn't have to worry about anyone trying to recreate the "Karl-Malden-Michael-Douglas ARE the Streets of San Francisco" thing.

WOW. Talk about a hill for repeats! Zowie!

Up and down; up and down; upanddown; upanddown; updown. You get the drill.

After my run, Hubby and I went Circa for dinner. The head chef is one of the folks that was on Top Chef - Chicago last season. Food was very good (salmon and brown rice for me; sea bass and garlic mashed potatoes for Hubby). We split a slice of really SUPER DELICIOUS key lime cheesecake for dessert.

Hubby is on his way back home now; I leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow.

I have a swim workout planned for later today. No, not in the bay (call me "Weenie"), but a nice pool at a health club near the hotel.