Tri U Mah Rocks

Tri U Mah indoor tri was yesterday.

I participated in the event with my good friends Nat, Marcia, Marty, Heather and her husband, and Dave.

It was the 5th year of the event and the 5th year I've participated. The organizers wanted to make a "big deal" out of their anniversary so they profiled the five of us that have done the event every year.

They made a nice poster highlighting us and our comments, which was a nice thing. We were asked to submit a photo, so I sent in one from 2007, which I was fit and trim. Turns out I wasn't the ONLY one that did that. Most of us wanted to highlight the buff I was very pleased with my swim: .984 miles in 30 minutes. That is very, very good for me. Master's class must be helping.

My bike had a couple of bumps: I got on the bike about 30 seconds after start time; hit my stop button at 9:01 on the clock and had to wait for a volunteer to restart my cycle. Ended up with a paltry 6.63 miles -- pretty lousy.

My run was not very spectacular: 2.70 miles in 30 minutes. I decided not to kill myself, but then realized, as I was taking it easy, that I was running 14.30 miles. That was a little TOO easy, so I bumped up the pace a bit.

It is evident that I am out of peak training shape, but that is the whole point of Tri U Mah: a stark reminder to get my rear in gear.

Everyone else did a great job with the event. After we were done, we all went for a very late lunch and to catch up.

All in all a great and fun day.

So 2009 is off to a fine start! One tri down, eight tris to go!

Lulled in to believing spring is on its way

The last couple of days here have been WONDERFUL.

Above zero. Above FREEZING! Snow is melting! Ground has been revealed!

Of course, I know and understand that it is only February -- early February at that.

But still: Hope SPRINGs eternal, or something like that.

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The other way I know that spring is coming is because Tri U Mah is tomorrow. First tri of 2009.

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I also started training for Fargo 1/2 last Thursday. My running buddies and I are working with a new training group this time around -- Running Room.

There were about 32 runners at the kickoff last Thursday. We broke down in to several pace groups, the last one being 12+ minute miles.

This is a far, far cry from my last training group, where having them recognize a pace group of 10 minutes/mile was a really big deal.

My friend Cheryl and I started with the 10:30 group -- sounds slow, but I was very happy in that group considering I've been lallygagging since Thanksgiving.

It was great to be back out and running with a purpose.

Put a little spring in my step...

Ahh, Fresh Air, Sunshine and 40 degrees!

We finally, finally, FINALLY had our January thaw on the 31st of January.

Yippie - eye- 0h - kai - yeah!

It has been a miserable winter for us. Long, cold, dark, snowy....bleech.

Yesterday's temperature and sunshine got people out of their houses and doldrums. The lakes were packed with runners and walkers; the ice-boarders were out in droves. Snow melted and a weird, stringy brown substance was revealed.

The City of the Lakes Loppet Luminary event was last night. It's held on Lake of the Isles. (Yes, literally ON the frozen lake). People cross-country ski or snowshoe or just walk the course, which is lined by ice luminaries.

Local ski shops and outdoor groups have tents set up and volunteers pass out hot cider, there a fire for folks to warm up by, and it is always a lot of fun to just get out.

With the warmer weather, there were a lot more participants out on the ice. Hubby and I met our friends Mary, Tom and Mary's daughter Layla. We all walked part of the course and then had coffee.

Today wasn't bad either, with temperatures in the mid-30s and more sunshine. I got out for a long walk and it was so wonderful to feel the sun on my face and to not have to wear a hat.

Training for spring marathons/half marathons and the like start this week. My band of happy running friends and I will start our training for Fargo 1/2 on Thursday. It is going to be a very rude snap back to reality to go from casual running to an actual "plan" again.

But, my jeans are very, very tight so... who knows. Maybe it will be a good thing to run more than once a week...

I'm leaving you with two last photos for the day.

I'm one of "those" people that feed the critters who happen to visit our yard. I feed the birds, the bunnies and the squirrels.

There are some who hate squirrels. "Flying rats" I believe they call them.

I happen to think they are very cute and the ones in our yard are really, really cute(and really, really fat).

My favorite of the bunch is the one that has a little kink in his tail and "lists" to the right, as if he had a stroke.

He was in the yard today and here are some pics of him devouring the core of an apple I had just finished:

Callie Does Triathlon

It may be a little hard to see, but that is Callie peaking out from my TYR backpack. She is looking for her goggles...

Tri U Mah -- a fantastic indoor triathlon held at the University of Minnesota -- is only two weeks away.

I'm doing the event this year with Marcia, Nat and Gary. I'm very excited to get back in to "the season".

The event always represents the "unofficial" official start of training season for me. Unofficial because it is held in FEBRUARY in MINNESOTA, so it is kind of tough to be very "in" to training when the winds are whipping, the snow is mounting and the days are still dismally dark.

But, it is official because the event signals "hope" that winter will end sooner rather than later and then the real fun begins.

The event's format is pretty cool: swim for 30 minutes; bike for 30 minutes; run for 30 minutes. T1 and T2 are both 10 ten minutes long. Volunteers measure the completed distance in each discipline and who ever covers the most ground during the event wins. (It is never me...)

Tri U Mah was the first triathlon I ever did and, apparently, that first time was five years ago. It's the 5th anniversary of the event and there are about six people (including me) that have participated every year. The six of us are being "highlighted" in some way or another during the event, which is nice. The people putting together asked for a photo to use, so I sent one from Lifetime Fitness a couple summers ago. I looked relatively fit, which is certainly not the case right now.

I've put on my usual share of winter weight, which is never a surprise and always a drag (literally and figuratively).

Although I have been better at working out again, I certainly have not been training in earnest. I've had some great days with my food (meaning no candy or sugar) followed by days of nothing but candy and sugar.

So, changing in to my swim suit today to get ready for my mini rehearsal for Tri U Mah meant avoiding the mirror at all costs. Same with positioning myself on a bike and a treadmill -- I found the ones with the least mirror exposure. I can feel my bulky bulkiness, I don't really need to see it... (Denial, denial, denial...)

I only did 20 minutes each of swimming, biking and running today. I covered 990 yards swimming (or .5625 miles); 5.62 miles on the bike and 1.70 running.

I should have covered more ground running, but a friend of mine, Phyllis, was at the club today. I haven't seen her in a very long time, so she and I chatted for about 8 minutes while I walked very quickly on the treadmill.

Sometimes chatting is more important than focusing on the distance...

You know it's cold in Minnesota when....

Although the temperature is no longer in the deep, DEEP freeze, it is still cold and snowy here.

Hey, it is January 19th. What do I expect?


Thought I'd share a photo of our beloved cat Lefty.

He is the "baby" cat in the family and an absolute hoot.

When he hears our furnace kick in, he runs to the bathroom and puts his front paws on the heat register so he can have the blowing air warm his tummy.



Proud parents that we are, Hubby and I think he is a door a bull....

Out of the Igloo

The temperature here is FINALLY above zero.

I woke up to a balmy 10 degrees. Woo hoo!

After 86 hours below zero -- including two mornings of wake-up air temps of 21 BELOW, ten-ABOVE felt like summmer.

Well, maybe not summer, but certainly much better.

I woke up in time to run with my friends Mary, Marcia, Gary and Sarah. We only ran about 5 miles, but it was really nice to be outside and to breathe some fresh air.

Although I'm not in hard-core training, I did swim twice this week; did an hour of cardio Tuesday and ran today.

I also successfully did not eat candy for three days. Progress, not perfection.

This afternoon, Hubby and I went to see Annie, the golden retriever that made the news last December.

She had been shot twice (by some jerkassholeidiot that has yet to be caught) and was left to die in a freezing snowbank somewhere in rural Minnesota.

A good Samaritan found her and brought her to the Twin Cities where Rescue a Golden of Minnesota (RAGOM)and the University of Minnesota Small Animal Clinic took her under their wings and saved her.

I've been following her story on the RAGOM website. Really a horrible story with a wonderful ending.

Today, RAGOM arranged a "thank you" party for people that have been supporting Annie through contributions or love or interest at a suburban car dealer.

Hubby and I went to say hello and to give her a hug. The place was packed with lots of well-wishers and other RAGOM dogs.

Annie was great. Friendly, cute, warm, oh-so-lovable. Very tolerant of everyone petting her and giving her praise and cookies.

The other dogs were also really sweet, wonderful dogs.

I was so happy that we got to go to say "hello" and to give a little bit of of a contribution to RAGOM.

I took a couple photos using my camera phone and now I have my whole evening ahead of me to figure out how to get them off of my phone and on the here....

Scales: fish-kind and "uh oh" kind

Today was a big day for me.

I got on the scale.

Uh oh!

While the number was not a big surprise, it is a bigger number than I want.

I certainly lived it up between my birthday and January 1st -- so now the Piper must be paid...with less calories in and more calories burned.

All in all, the number wasn't as scary as I thought and I should be able to get back to a more reasonable training weight within six to eight weeks, if I do this nice and steady.

I also went to a 3-hour swim clinic (hence, the loose association to "fish" referenced above).

Dave Cameron taught the clinic. I've worked with Dave a lot over the last few years and he has helped me become a more efficient swimmer. (Then again, when we first started working together, he was working with a guppy-student that was probably a "1" on the scale (yet another fish refrence)of 1 - 10 for efficiency).

I finally got to sign up for an advanced class -- YIPPEE. He had a clinic for beginners before the advanced clinic started. There were maybe 20 people in it. It was fun for me to watch them and to actually see some of the "newbie" things they did that I no longer do.

For example, I no longer swim like a barge (flat in the water). I swim more like a sailboat (up on my sides), which helps me cut through the water better.

Our workshop only had four swimmers; I was the only girl.

We did a warm up working on focal points: 3 sets of 200 free counting swim stroke; 100 skate; 100 build. First set focused on head position; second on extension; third on hip rotations.

Then we played 9 rounds of "golf", where you add your strokes and your time while working on drills.

I did okay on the first two rounds, but slowed down considerably in the other 7...Fortnately, the boys weren't too much further ahead of me, so I didn't feel too wimpy.

Then we did a 50 (25 strong/ 25 sprint). Dave filmed us during the golf game and the sprint and we all watched the videos for pointers, etc.

We did some more drill work (kicking; extensions, etc.). It was all wonderful.

I learned a lot and have some great things to work on.

Dave is supposed to email us our tapes, so I'm hoping to post one here.

I'm getting excited for tri season!

Resolutions Update and Social Media

This is what I wrote down for my beginning list of 2009 resolutions:

• Exercise 6 times per week, including a Masters Swim on Tuesday/Thursday.
• Go Vegetarian 2 times per week (Tuesday and Thursday would be easiest)
• Minimum Athena weight by the time Lifetime Fitness Triathlon rolls around (July 11th)
• Breath deeply
• Save money.

Let's see where I am in relationship to these lofty goals as of January EIGHTH, 2009:

Exercise: Four days: ran a 10K; another 2.3 miles another day; lifted weights once; swam once; walked briskly and rode a stationary bike once. So I did six things, not six days....AND the Masters swim happens at 5:30 in the A. wtf M which should count for extra credit.

• Rational: not yet in "training" Reality: It is freezing cold here and I've been woozy (really).

Vegetarian: So far, so good.

• Rational: it is pretty easy. Reality: It's only been ONE Tuesday and One Thursday. Also, chocolate does not contain any meat by-products (I hope).

Minimum Athena: I have't gotten on a scale in months. I'm petrified.

• Rational: I'm petrified. Reality: July is a long time away and I need to just face the number.

Breath deeply. Every day. No rational or reality comment needed.

Save Money: I think spending less counts too, yes?

---

I've become sort of a Social Media junkie, getting in to Facebook and Linkedin...A couple of my bloggie friends are into this too (Steve and Tri to be Funny).

Anyone else?

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).

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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....)

Where U At?

• Create your own travel map or travel blog


• Travel Info at TripAdvisor

An answer for Oprah:

"How did I let this happen again?" -- Oprah Winfrey, wondering how her weight got back up to 200 pounds...

Hmmmmmmm.......Ummmmmm........wait a minute......ahhhhhh........ummmmmmmmm

Oh Yeah. How?

E-Z.

The same way all of us mere mortals gain weight: we eat more calories than we burn up.

I count myself as of of the mortals, Oprah. I'm right there with you, with a little more jiggle in my wiggle these days.

I blame it on cold Minnesota weather combined with minimal daylight hours and the fact that I'm not in training doing "2-a-days". (Heck, I'm not doing many "one-a-days"...)

I must also lay some blame on my absolute inability to put a fork down these days.

The only thing that is saving me is the Recession. Really.

In fatter (pardon the pun) economic years of the past, vendors and customers would send boxes and boxes of delicious treats to people working at my company.

I, in turn, would spend hours and hours circling the floor, finding and sampling all the treats.

The Recession has taken its toll on the "limit of $25.00" gift basket this year though, resulting in minimal treats on the floor. (I know, because my circling floor flight plan continues...).

So, I've put on a few lbs, but probably less than I would have had times been better this year.

I did some exercise in this week. I ran outside once. I swam once. I lifted weights twice and did a treadmill workout once.

Not really sure the activity counterbalanced the chocolate covered peanuts that passed my lips this week but, hey, the activity is a start.

The good news is that I realized that my first swimming event is coming up fast. I'm doing a swim clinic on January 11th, with my first tri following on February 8th.

Only a few more days until the holiday food fest is over and I can concentrate on getting my activity up and my weight down. Again.

A blog in two parts:

Part I: Inspiration

I watched NBC's coverage of the Ford IronMan Championship (aka IronMan Hawaii) this afternoon. It was very inspiring.

I miss triathlons. I miss swimming in the lake. I miss riding my bike. I miss running outside without mittens (and jackets and hats and gaitors and long underwear and, and, and...).

Yes, I know I can swim in the pool (and I have -- a little); and I know I can go to a Spin class (I haven't in months); and I know I can run outside (which I do, with mittens, jackets, hats, gaitors, long underwear, and, and, and...)

Working out is just different in the winter. Sometimes the biggest part of the workout is getting to the workout.

I know there are plenty of people that are dedicated to the outdoors when it is cold, dark and snowy. My natural inclination is to nap, have covers on and eat calorie-laden foods.

In any event, watching Hawaii today reminded me of how much I really do like tri season and how I'm looking forward to getting back in to it.

My only "complaint" is that for the 90 minutes, the show focuses on the Pros and a handful of age groupers. It would be really wonderful to follow some of the back-of-the-packers -- kind of like the filmmakers did for "Spirit of the Marathon"....

Part II: Detraining
Greg, my tri coach from last summer, defines "detraining" as the period of time, where one is fully recovering from their training and race season by pulling waaaaaaaayyyyy back on volume and intensity.

I have been taking FULL advantage of this. For someone like me, this is not necessarily a good thing.

I've had a hard couple of runs this week. One on Monday, where I went out at night during a snow storm. Didn't feel very strong or fast, even with the little grippy things I wear on my shoes to help me stop from slipping.

I ran this afternoon and again, it felt tough. I haven't been wearing my heartrate monitor (because I'm detraining, don't you know...) and I felt sluggish and slow.


I was very glad to be out there though. The weather was nice today (in the 30's and overcast). We are supposed to get a big storm tomorrow and then it will be FREEZING, FREEZING, FREEZING.

Good thing I'm really in my best detrained shape!

I live for the future....

The future 2009 racing season, that is.

I never really know if I should say racing season or if I should say event season.

I don't really race per se. I'm happy to participate and to have a "decent" time (translate: not last).

Racing sounds cooler though, and these days, it is all about the cool.

As in COOL temperatures.

Like freezing.

Literally.

With snow and ice and all those wintery things I really don't care for.

Welcome to December in Minnesota.

We got about 2 inches of snow last night, which meant when I woke up to go run 8 miles with my friends, I ended up looking out the window, then getting back in to bed and going back to sleepy-land for a few more hours.

Two inches really isn't much snow; I've run in worse conditions. I just couldn't really do it this morning.

Rational: "I'm not really in training right now, so why not nestle in for a little snoozy-pooh?"

Needed: A reminder that winter will end -- days will grow longer (only 16 days till THAT happens!) -- and my 2009 season will be here before I know it!

I've got my race calendar pretty much figured out and I've registered for most the events that I want to do.

Vacation Sports is offering half-priced entrance fees to people that register in December for their 2009 events.

That represents big-deal savings!

I signed up for two of their tris (New Bri ($32.50) and St. Paul Olympic ($42.50); There is a third I want to sign up for, but there is a problem with the event link.

I will probably sign up for Urban Wildland 1/2 marathon again in 2009 and some friends and I may try our luck by entering in to the New York City Marathon lottery.

I enjoyed running NYC marathon in 2007 and would love to run it again with my awesome running partners.

I also reserved a room at the Wisconsin Memorial Union for Sunday, September 13th -- the day of IronMan Wisconsin. The plan is to volunteer at the 2009 event and then, the next day, register for the 2010 race...

Just thinking of an IronMan in 2010 should get me through winter 2009....

Drama!

This is the kind of Saturday during a holiday weekend that I both love and fear:

I ran this morning with some of my favorite running buddies. It was a wonderful run of just under 7 miles.

Came home, ate breakfast (Optimal cereal with soymilk, followed by a hunk of leftover birthday cake).

Paid the bills, drank more coffee, ate more cake.

Now, Hubby is running some errands and I'm settled in in my workspace located on the 2nd floor of the house drinking yet more coffee.

I'm wearing the my vision of the Housewife's Horror Outfit: Sweatpants (nice and stretchy to accommodate even MORE cake), sweat shirt, slippers and no makeup.

Blogging, catching up on blogs and, (ready for it????): watching "THE WAY WE WERE"!

Ohhhh, the drama!

Speaking of drama: nothing like family drama over a turkey, I always say...

• Ran the Turkey Trot 5k on Thanksgiving morning (no drama there, just a nice day to be out with 4,000 others trying to offset a few holiday calories...)
• hosted breakfast for 11 people (lots of drama)
• then hosted dinner for another four (even more drama)

All in all, Hubby and I did our best to stay out of the fray (by staying in the kitchen) AND it was a pretty fun day.

We're just glad to have the weekend to recuperate.

Hope you and yours all had a great holiday too.

Cake Rocks

My birthday was a lot of fun.

Hubby and I were both in San Francisco for various meetings last week. He flew out last Sunday and I went out last Tuesday.

My birthday was Wednesday and I had "officially" taken the day off from work. I spent the day in a most perfect way: slept in; had coffee; took a nap; took a walk; had a little lunch; took another nap; took another walk; did some sit ups; went for a run on one of my most favorite traveling running routes and then had a wonderful dinner with Hubby.

We went to dinner at Maykadeh, a Persian restaurant that became a favorite of mine a long time ago. Service was great; food was wonderful and we had just a lovely time.

Hubby bought me a beautiful bracelet -- I was very surprised at his thoughtfulness and generosity

We came home on Friday night and I was surprised again.

Hubby had 50 -- count them, FIFTY -- red roses delivered to the house on Friday night.

I have never, ever, EVER had such a wonderful flower delivery. I felt like one of "those girls" that get the giant heart balloons and huge boxes of candy on Valentine's day.

We had some friends over on Saturday night for a little party. Hubby and I made three different kinds of chili (meat (with ground turkey), veggie and white chicken)and we had lots and lots of CAKE.

It was a really fun party. Being able to celebrate with friends and family was the easiest way to make sure that I survived turning the big 5-oh.

Photos of friends and family above....

"Unfortunately" we are "stuck" with the leftovers. (Lots of chili, cake and other yummy delicious things). And it is Thanksgiving week. AND we are hosting dinner for Hubby's family on Thursday.

Good thing I have a gym membership....

50 great things about turning 50!

I'm in San Francisco for a few days.

Technically, it is for business, but my birthday is tomorrow.

One could argue (fairly successfully) that I came out here a day early so I could prolong turning 50 by a couple of hours (Central time versus Pacific Time, doncha know...)

Fifty.

Holy cow!

FIFTY.

In an effort to embrace this new decade/era/age group, I've come up with a list of the top 50 great things about turning 50...

(Note: I really wasn't that clever in coming with a list of 50 things. I tried, but geeze: 50 is a very big number!

I've done my best to try to come up with a list of 5 things -- one thing for each decade. Also much easier to read...)

1) I'm still alive. Really. After wasting much of my youth deep in the depths of drug and alcohol abuse, I'm happy to report that I'm sober (13 years) and free of all the horrible things that go along with that life. I could have very easily been killed at any point during those years, but here I still am. Hurrah.

2) I'm still alive -- part deux. Really. Besides drugs and alcohol abuse, I was bulimic for many, many, many years.

Growing up a chubby chubbette -- no -- actually what I meant to say was -- growing up the fat kid in school -- I fell in to a pattern of eating issues that plagued me from 7th grade until about 1999.

It wasn't until I started training for my very first 10k that I took a long, hard look at my destructive eating patterns and quite abusing my body (aka "eating my feelings") for the very last time.

Here I am, oh so many years later, a strong, fit marathoner/triathlete with few whacko food issues.

3) I have a great network of family and friends: Hubby, my sisters and my brother, my family of running /triathlon friends, my fantastic non-running friends (who listen endlessly about my running and triathlon adventures), my virtual friends, my cats and, yes, even the squirrels in our yard, all provide me with lots of love, support and hours of non-stop entertainment. I love you all. (Hey Squirrels: you'll have more pumpkin when I get back home on Friday...)

4) I'm employed. This is a crazy time -- absolutely. I'm very, very grateful to be working for a company that -- so far -- has avoided much of the downturns and downsizing plaguing our industry today. Although my job can drive me crazy sometimes, I'm very grateful to be employed, have health benefits and some where to go on a daily basis.

5) I've got another 1/2 century to look forward to. Despite the inevitable sagging, wrinkles and other totally unappealing loss of elasticity and "looks", my plan is to be here for the long haul. I'm excited about the next 50 years and all the adventures and experiences coming my way.

Oh yeah: and there will be lots of CAKE for me this weekend back in Minneapolis.

Yippee!

Cold, Dark and Lazy

Those three words pretty much sum it all up for me these days.

It is really cold here -- much colder than normal. I'm really not enjoying it -- but I have to admit that, because the cold has hit sooner than expected, I'm not as "prepared" as I should be.

Sure, I packed away my tee shirts and my cotton, comfortable summer outfits and am wearing my turtlenecks and layers. But I haven't yet switched from panty hose or knee highs to tights and long underwear. (Who ever invented CuddleDuds is a genius!). So, I'm pretty much freezing all the time.

I finally got out my Uggs and my mittens, but some how in the depths of my delusional thinking, I haven't quite come to terms that will not be 70-degrees again before the holidays.

Sigh...

It gets dark at about 5:00 pm. Just in time for me watch about 45 minutes of the news before I want to fall into a deeeeeeep sleeeeeep.

This drive to hibernate makes working out a little tough.... Sort of hard to do any pace work or hill work from a prone position under the covers...

What can I say...

--

I can happily report that Hubby and I spent some quality time last weekend at IKEA. We finally bought a number of bookshelves and storage cubicles to help get our house in order.

We have been trying to declutter the house and our lives. It feels pretty good to let go of some of the stuff we've been holding on to -- donating some stuff; recycling a lot of stuff; just letting go.

I've also registered for a couple other events: The Thanksgiving Day 5K -- a HUGE event held in downtown Minneapolis and the Lake Minnetonka Triathlon,scheduled for June 20th. The tri is close to home -- looks like a fun course -- and will be another race to help prepare for Chisago 1/2 Iron.

Yes, Nat and I will be doing another 1/2 Iron next summer. Our friend Gary will be joining us in the fun...

Lots to look forward to --

Wow

Watched the election returns until the wee hours last night.

Very happy that Obama was elected; curious about other Minnesota outcomes (e.g. Michelle Bachman still in the House? What's up with that?!?).

Happy that our clean water/outdoors/arts referrendum passed.

Baby Ruths almost gone (finally).

All in all, a good day.

Today is the day:

V O T E

My neighbor Beth and I met at 6:00 am to go to our polling place. We were first in line.

By 6:30 am, the line was out the school's door, down the block and around the corner. Hurrah!

Take the time to vote today. It matters.

My American Prayer

November 3rd + 70 degrees + Mpls = HUH?

The weather forcast for today includes sunshine and temperatures reaching the low 70's.

It is November 3rd.

It is MINNESOTA.

I am taking the day off.

Blogging now, will get outside in a little bit.

Friday's forcast? 39 degrees and snow.

Gotta love it!


P.S. I did face my fears and got on the scale this morning. Not as bad as I suspected, which was also a surprise.

Nice to get two of them on a Monday morning.

ENJOY!

Happy Halloween

Scary:

Lots of candy ready for those cute little goblins that will be visiting the neighborhood tonight. Note the curious absence of Almond Joys and Baby Ruths...hmmmmm


Scarier:

Working from home today, I took a bike ride at lunch time. It was the first time in a very, very long time, that I actually got on my bike.

Beautiful ride; beautiful day. Only "huffed and puffed" a little bit; not enough to blow a house down...

Scariest!

The Scale. My nemesis. My arch enemy. My "Newwww-man...".

Tomorrow (after all the Almond Joys and Baby Ruths are gone...) I will face the music and get back to reality.

My birthday is coming up and I want to be able to face my first morning of "50" with grace, dignity and slightly looser pants.

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....

TC 10 Miler: wet but wonderful

I ran the TC 10 Miler today (part of Twin Cities Marathon events).

The first thing I have to do, is thank my good friend Mary and her daughter, Layla, for coming to the race to cheer me on.


They waited in the freezing cold, pouring rain (see below) to watch me cross the finish....and, because of the layers and bulk of all the clothing items people wore, missed me in the crowd. Still and all, they were there, and after the race, they they took me to breakfast. What wonderful friends.

The race started at 7:13 am (right before dawn) and it was very chilly and very cloudy. It had rained a little bit before 5:40 am, making the roads slick, but it had stopped by the time were were lining up for the start.

As I was putting my warm clothes bag in to the shuttle van, I ran in to an old running buddy of mine: Heidi. I met Heidi several years ago when she was training for her first marathon (Grandmas). We trained together with some other really fun friends including Amy P and Mary B. As happens, life sort of got in all of our ways in the forms of babies, moving out of the city; moving out of the state, etc. It was great to see her and it reminded me to send out a few emails to reconnect this week...


(What a difference a year makes. Last year, my friends and I ran == or attempted to run == Chicago Marathon. As many of you may recall, it was hot and humid and the course supplies (like, uh, water....) were in very short supplies.

Chicago ended up shutting the race down. People were dehydrated and over heated. One person died. Many, many went to the hospital. My friend Nat and I got to mile 18 before they closed the course and diverted us back to Grant Park. Other friends, Marcia, Mary and Cheryl were slightly behind us on the course when they got sent back to Grant Park.

TCM was held the same date as Chicago last year. It was hot and humid here too, and I heard that the temp was in one degree shy of shutting down the race here.)

So today, "layers" were the smart thing to wear -- to keep warm. Not to help with runner recognition.

I ran very well, despite not having much "training" around this one, and ended up PRing this event by about 7 minutes and 41 seconds (off gun time); 8:32 off of chip time.

2008: Chip time: 1:47:38; gun time: 1:51:25


2005 (last time I ran TC 10 Miler): Chip time: 1:56:16 Gun time: 1:59:06


I've been sort of slug since the end of August. I'm swimming (a little); running (some); biking (not at all). Work is out of control; I'm in a little funk (still). But Greg says that it is okay to pull back after a peak event, so....all is not lost.

(By the by, Greg ran the marathon today, keeping pace for his girlfriend Devon. I think it was Devon's first marathon. They both finished in about 4:02. Very impressive for a first time result and running in the rain).

I really like the 10 mile course. It starts at the Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis and winds west along a beautiful river road, crossing up and over in to St. Paul. We share the same last eight miles with the marathon course, stretching along Summitt Avenue, a wonderful street lined with huge homes.

I wore a long sleeved light dri fit shirt and layered it with a dri fit tee. I also wrapped a Sugoi jacket around my waist (which annoyed the crap out of me) until I hit mile 8.5 and the wind picked up.


It got C O L D. Needless to say, I was no longer annoyed with the jacket...


About mile 9, it started to R A I N.


Soon, it was C O L D and R A I N Y. Really RAINY. I was very happy I had that jacket.

As I rounded the last turn at the Cathedral and moved towards the Capital, I started to look for Mary and Leilah. We just missed each other in the crowd.

By the time I crossed the finish line, I was pretty well soaked. I got a MEDAL! I did not get one in 2005.


(Not sure if they gave medals this year because it is the 10th anniversary of the event, or if they do it as a regular "perk" now....who cares! It's just always nice to get a medal. That is the "tear" or "raindrop" looking item in the lower left corner of the photo above).

I got my warm clothes bag, met Mary and we hightailed it to the car and seat warmers!

So: one more longer distance race to go for the year: Monster 1/2 Marathon (10/25). Mary, Marcia, Gary and I are running it.

Should be a spooky fun time.

Busy days...

I haven't posted in almost a month.

WOW.

Time flies when you are having "fun" (?).

Work has been very out of control lately. I work for a company in the financial services industry which has been, oh, let's just say "challenged" for the last few weeks.

Fortunately, my company happens to be in the clear, but like pretty much every other company and people, we are cutting back in a big way.

I think they say "More with Less", yes?

In addition to my regular duties, I'm also this year's Communications Chair for our annual Community Support (also known as United Way) Campaign. So, I've been building websites, writing scripts for kickoff events, securing speakers, coordinating fundraisers, etc.

Rewarding but lots of hours.

I'm hoping to get back to a normal work load by mid-October.

-----

I had my last tri event on September 8th: Square Lake Short Course. I set a 2 minute PR for myself. Swam well, biked much faster than at Pigman (17.4 mph vs just under 15 at Pigman) and ran pretty well.

My friends Gary and Marcia also did the event and rocked. Nat and Marcia's husband Marty came along to cheer us on. (Hubby was participating in his own golf event that day).

Steve in a Speedo came to check out the race and I "met" him as I came out of the water to make my way up to T1. He and his wife, Pharmie, did the 1/2 Iron distance the next day. If you haven't seen him in his Grim Reaper costume, you should check out his blog. He ran the entire 1/2 marathon wearing his costume. Still posted an unbelievably fast time. (grrr).

It's sad to me that tri season has come to an end. I really enjoyed this year's events. I've already signed up for my first 2009 event (Lifetime Fitness Tri)and am trying to figure out my race schedule for next year.

I do have a couple other events slated for October: Twin Cities 10 miler and the Monster 1/2 marathon.

I always seem to need to have something on the schedule to plan for.

Not really sure if it's because I'm obsessive or....

My Friends Are the Best

It's almost been two weeks since Pigman 1/2 iron distance tri and have I been a SLUG...

Very little working out; very little adhering to an "athlete in training" nutrition plan.

Some of this slugginess has been wonderful: sleeping in a little later; having that extra serving of whatever it is strikes me at the moment...

However, believe it or not, this lazy streak is getting a little old.

So: goal for the weekend (after one last HURRAH at the great State Get Together (aka the Minnesota State Fair, where you can find pretty much every food item on a stick...)

1) Get back on the bike

2) Get back in the lake

3) Get out for a run or two.

4) Get back to counting points.

I do have one more triathlon to complete this year.

Square Lake short course is next week Saturday. My friends Marcia and Gary are doing the event too. It will be fun to participate with them.

Speaking of Marcia, I got a lovely surprise in the mail today -- a CD of photos that she and her husband Marty took of Natalie and I during Pigman.

Marcia and Marty weren't competing in the tri, but they sure had their own grueling day out there on the course. They spent a lot of time, effort and energy following us around the corn fields of Iowa both cheering us on and taking lots of photos.

As you can see from the photos at the top, all those hours on the course took a toll: both Marcia and Marty sprouted mustaches and needed glasses...

Here are a few:

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...