Saturday, January 29, 2011

Las Vegas Marathon Wedding - Our Highlight Video

The highlight version of our wedding video is now uploaded and ready for viewing!!  For our closer friends and family that haven't seen the full version yet (which is REALLY REALLY AWESOME!!) is too large to be uploaded anywhere so you'll need to let us know if you want to watch sometime.   It's a 52 min feature in high definition.  I feel like we're celebrities :D  I'd love to share with everyone, but we only have it available on DVD.

I can't say enough wonderful things about our guys Charlie and Mike from Forever Films that put the video together for us.  These are a fantastic pair of dedicated videographers that will do WONDERS to capture your big event.   Please check them out for any video project you may be looking to have done professionally.


Kris and Mark's Marathon Wedding from Forever Films on Vimeo.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Driving to Milwaukee - blog via Bloggie

Kris: I'm cheating and doing today's blog via video while we're driving to Milwaukee.   An update on work and our updated training plans.


Friday, January 21, 2011

#Geocache365 project notes

Kris: We're making some decisions to try and further the reach of our #Geocache365 project beyond just our completion of the challenge.  For those of you that follow our Twitter as well, you'll notice we Tweet each of our finds with a picture, plus now that we have our new toy (The HD Bloggie) we are starting to take videos from time to time as well.  We are working on developing the #Geocache365 page on this blog but not entirely sure where it's going to go yet.  So for our Geocaching friends...keep an eye on our blog and the #Geocache365 page.

We were also recently interviewed on Cache-A-Maniacs and that podcast should be posted I think this coming weekend.

We finally got to see our entire wedding video as it was done by Charlie and Mike at Forever Films.   It was so fantastic!  I wish I could post the full video for all to see but it's 53 minutes long so I'm guessing it might be a bit much for YouTube.  But....the feature highlight version should be posted within the next few days so that will be available for all of you.  I was so stoked to see that we got a special message from the finish line announcer who was the one and only John "the Penguin" Bingham!  I've been such a fan of his articles when he was writing for Runner's World.   Charlie...that was money shot #2 whether you knew it or not :D

Mark: The video is absolutely AMAZING!! And worth every penny. We have watched the video several times since we got our BluRay copies. And honestly I can watch it over and over again, especially the highlight video at the end. It really makes me wonder why in this day and age do people place so much emphasis on a wedding photographer? What do you get with a photographer? A photo album that you will look at once when you get it and then probably never look at again. Save yourself the money, collect all of the pictures from your friends and family, everyone has a camera, and put those in an album. Take the money you were planning on for a photographer and hire a GOOD videographer, you will be able to relive your wedding over and over. And Forever Films is a VERY GOOD videographer.

Kris: Hey, Team Baby Dinosaur! You are both in our full feature video so consider yourselves famous ;) Hope we can show it to you when you venture up to our frozen tundra of MN!


Kris: And a little plug for Charlie and Mike, they also have launched this fantastic wedding video series called Forever-TV.    If you are planning a wedding in the Twin Cities area or just love everything wedding, you NEED to check this out!!

Oh yeah, I tend to forget about training.  Since I'm still rehabing this @#%!ing leg and the weather has been anything but favorable for running, we honestly haven't been doing much.   We have been back to Masters Swim at least once per week and have been getting in short runs maybe 1-2 times per week but other than that we've been a bit lazy.   It's quite hard mentally, emotionally to feel like we're being total slugs but at the same time we have been able to prioritize things like going to free social networking events for our ZapEvent work, relax and watch TV without having to be multi-tasking on something else and (most importantly for my sanity), sleeping in more than once a month!   Part of me has a hard time feeling like a lazy slob that is doing nothing but becoming a worse athlete by the day but there is also a part of me that realizes if we're going to have to take a break and me rehab from an injury....now isn't such a bad time to do it.

Mark: I am very fustrated with training, the weather in particular. It is so tough to go out in the cold, the snow and the dark to get in any runs. My original plan was to run the Securian Half Marathon in a couple of weeks but at this point I will probably just do the 10K or if our lack of training continues not run the event at all, which I would be really upset at myself. Securian was the very first Half I ever ran and I have run it or a clod shortened half or the 5K every year since. I hate living here in Minnesota at this time of year.

Random Cuteness - Maverick and Neo

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Something Old, Something New

Kris: Sorry folks I've still got wedding on the brain.....should wear off soon ;)

This past week we finally got our new Newton Shoes and gave them a try.   We got VERY lucky to both get our Newtons for free or we wouldn't have had room for them in the budget.  My boss gave me mine for a "bonus" and I won a pair for Mark on a Facebook contest.   Seriously that is some ridiculous luck!   Mine are the trail version and Mark's are the road versions.   The hope is by time summer comes around we can afford to stay out of a box....uh....I mean get Mark the trail shoes and me the road shoes.

Left - Mark's road shoes / Right - Kris's trail shoes
We went to the gym and did about a mile and a half on the short track and then did about the same on the treadmill.  They feel weird but good.   Very soft and I can tell I'm definitely striking mid-sole more.   Leg still got sore but it was post-run so maybe improvement......?

Mark: Since Kris' shoes had to be ordered in, I have had mine for a few days longer and have run in mine twice now. The one thing that I noticed that the bottom of the ball of my foot gets a little numb after a while and my toes were starting to tingle. I changed my lacing and the second part seems to be resolved but the numbness on the balls of my feet might just be a getting used to the shoes thing, that is the area of my foot right above the "lugs" on the bottom of the shoes.

Kris: The something old...our trainers finally made an appearance!  Neither of us have been on our bike seats since the Duathlon last August so it wasn't the easiest ride.   Our two bikes on trainers barely fit in the living room area but it's the only place that makes sense.   We just rode a consistent cadence for the first half of the Packers/Eagles game (damn it Packers won...although I don't like Vick either so it was hard to decide who to root for.)

Random, we put Christmas away this past Tuesday and for some reason when the pine cone wreath was sitting on the boxes, the cats both decided it was a good place to sit and hang out.


We both are having a hard time finding motivation to workout but we just keep trying to find the motivation.   Me with the really bum leg isn't helping as we both just want to run.   And a few days of poor eating choices aren't helping our "get up and go" either but I know we'll get out of that too......right after my next sugar cookie for the evening.  Yeah.....we'll start tomorrow ;) Mark: Tomorrow is a Monday morning swim, that should be interesting.


My opportunity for a Random - I have been fighting with my laptop for about 2 months now, first my XP got corrupted and died on me and then after upgrading the memory and HDD I installed Widows 7, which took all of about 3 weeks to be corrupted and stop working. The ironic part is that the main problem was caused by Microsofts' own update. Well, I have now reinstalled windows 7 again (twice in about a month) and we will see what happens this time. I was able to get it to work on the HDTV and it looks really nice!

That is a full size keyboard at the bottom of the picture. :)

Thursday, January 6, 2011

My two new best friends - Yoga Mat and Roller Stick

Kris: ......whether I like it or not!

So I've been continuing with my PT at least once a week ($80+ per visit....sigh...) and making some slow progress on the healing of my leg issues.  After today she believes I'm deformed, to put it lightly.   Without trying to go into medical speak, basically my hip joint isn't perfectly aligned and when my muscles are tight and knotted up, it causes issues.   It's not rare but it's not really common either.   In some cases it requires surgery to fix but she doesn't think I'm anywhere near that conclusion.

I have only done a few VERY short runs and am excited to pick up my Newton shoes tomorrow and give them a whirl.   I hope I'm not getting too excited that I'm going to put them on and all the pain will be magically gone.   A number of people have noted that after starting to run in Newtons they no longer had IT band issues.   Cross your fingers please :)

We have both been struggling to get back into a workout routine.   In the past couple weeks, we've been swimming a few times, been to a fitness class once and done a few 3 or less mile runs.    Having a hard time getting motivated to want to workout but at the same time I have this nagging voice in the back of my head all day saying "slacker.... go workout, you know you'll feel better, you're getting weaker, don't you want to be stronger? faster??"   I don't think the weather is helping at all unfortunately, for those of you that have followed me on my old blog you know I'm not a fan of treadmills and also hate the cold, slippery trails.

But I've had a few very panicky moments during those short runs.   I am feeling so much more exhausted after just a mile...WTF?....and I want to sign up for a 50k at the end of April and then focus on speed training for a Boston Qualifier???  Good freakin' luck right??  I was excited about it before my running world came tumbling down....

Work has been crazy this week on a number of fronts but all good I guess.  Just sucks when I feel like I can't get caught up to a place where I don't feel behind.   Still going to have to wear two hats for awhile but hopefully come summer that won't be the case anymore.

And I think we just got talked into becoming co-race directors for a 5k/10k race.  Stay tuned

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And we are still doing well on our #Geocache365 challenge.  Today was day 151.  I know we haven't posted much about it but I wanted to let you know we are still in full swing with that :)

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Oh and Mike and Charlie (Forever Films) told us that our wedding video will be ready to preview next week.  They are super excited about it.  I was surprised to hear that it's about 45 minutes long.   There will be a "highlight" version that comes out as well that I will post a link to as soon as it's out on the web for viewing. 

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Live95 Concert and Christmas as Mr & Mrs Kuhn

Kris: Sigh.....here we are again trying to do a quick catchup.   As some of you have noticed, I've spent some time ending my previous personal blog and transitioning to this one (yes....that would be my excuse :-P) Mark: I'll buy that for a dollar. ;)

Kris: One resolution.....keep up to date on the blog!  I really want to write more often....believe it or not

Dec 17th, Mark won us tickets to go see the Live95 Concert. Mark: Actually I didn't really win them, it was more of a plea to the Moon and Staci show who interviewed us earlier in the year about the wedding contest. I sent an email thanking them for their help even though we came in second place and asked for help as Kris had been trying VERY hard to win tickets and I still did not have a wedding present for her. Moon got back to me and set up a time when they called me and helped me surprise Kris with the tickets live on the radio.


Kris: General admission so we got there super early to stand in line outside and freeze but we ended up standing against the stage.  AWESOME!  It was also our first time playing with our new Sony Bloggie Touch camera.  Check out the video we put together: 


The next night was our first time going to an infamous Holiday theme party by our friends Kolby and Jessy.   This year's party was title the "Holiday Hoedown".  



That guy is actually passed out...
Tons of fun, white elephant gifts, a few too many drinks and dancing to karaoke.   A super fun party and we can't wait to see what next year's theme will be. Mark: Whatever it is count me IN!! I have not been at a fun party like this in years. Thanks Kolby and Jessy!

Kris: Mark and I also volunteered again with Home for Life at the annual Mall of America fundraiser on Sunday the 19th.   I was looking forward to having Lisa bring Olive for me to hang out with but was absolutely crushed to learn the Wednesday before she passed away from a nasty infection that lead to organ failure.  It was a very common infection for cats of her type, I won't go into details but it took her within a day.  She was 11 years old so she had a longer life that usual for a cat like her with an incontinence problem but it still came as a huge shock to learn she was gone and I'd never get to see her again.  Later this month (January) we will go to the HFL facility so I can choose another kitty in need of a a sponsor to transfer to. Mark: During the fundraiser at the MOA, I got to handle Shane, an absolutely beautiful doberman that reminds me so much of my own Journey. Some day I hope to be able to sponsor a dog at HFL as well and Shane might just my first choice.

Miss you sweet girl!
Kris: We also did gift wrapping for donations to HFL again at Barnes and Noble Galleria and in just two nights made $222 so that was very exciting. Mark: As part of our time donated and the money we raised for HFL, WACSO has agreed to draw a new picture of our dog Roscoe who passed away early in December. When the picture is completed, we will post it and talk a little more about Roscoe's passing. Here is a previous picture that he drew of Roscoe:

Christmas
Kris: Christmas shopping was a bit stressful as the weather around here sucked and we were crunched to get it all done in just a few short evenings but we pulled it off.   Really felt like Christmas was shortened for us since the wedding kept us occupied until the middle of December. Mark: I have to agree with Kris, Christmas really didn't feel like Christmas, or at least the days leading up to the holiday I was not in the spirit. Hopefully next year will be better as we will just be celebrating an anniversary not planning a destination wedding.

Kris: Christmas parties were fun though. Mark: We ran into Kate, a former co-worker of mine who every year throws an amazing Christmas party with her husband and she extended us an invitation. We had so much fun, great food, drinks and Microsoft Kinect with Dance Central. We have decided that we "NEED" a Kinect someday. ;)

Kris: We spent Christmas Eve at my sister's for my side of the family:

Playing on the Wii with the nieces:


And Lily playing Silent Night on the infamous Bontempi:


Then Christmas Day was over with Mark's family:


Running:  

Kris: My boss gave me an awesome "bonus" for Christmas by allowing me to go buy my pair of Newton shoes and then I managed to win a pair of Newton's from a Team Ortho contest so now Mark and I both have our first pair :) Mark: I am SO Excited to try out our new shoes! The entire second half of 2010 I have been working hard on modifying my running style knowing that I would need to switch to a mid-sole strike with the Newtons. Now, if only the weather would cooperate.

Kris: Unfortunately for me though the leg/knee is still not back to normal.  It's getting really hard on me mentally as the recovery is taking much longer than I expected.  I'm going to try as many short runs as I can but this was supposed to be THE year to start pushing hard for our run paces and look forward to qualifying for Boston.   But I wake up with a sore spot by my knee and a hot spot in my glutes and I feel like freaking out.   And get pissed.....that's my luck right?   I just hate talking about running right now because I can't do it.   Friggin' f-ing depressing.....  So I'll continue with short runs in the new shoes, group fitness classes and some time spinning.

Mark: I am supposed to be running the Securian Half Marathon at the end of January, a race that holds special meaning to me as it was my first half marathon. My original plan was to use it as a good tempo/tune up race, an opportunity to stretch my legs a bit. Unfortunately my friend Steve who is also running asked me if I would pace him, he wants to break 2 hours and set a new PR for himself. I have mixed emotions about this, I am always willing to help anyone who asks but at the same time I have no had a chance to run for myself in a long time. I have agreed to help Steve so I just need to look ahead to the 50K that we are running in April.

Geocaching:

Kris: We've been doing a lot of deep snow caching lately and got a funny picture of Mark after being attacked by a pine tree.   I submitted it to Cache Advance for their "Fan of the Week" and it was chosen as the winner so his photo is their profile photo for a week now :)


Mark: Along with our daily #Geocache365 obsession there was a push on my part to get a few extra caches by the end of the year making our #Geocache365 find on December 31st my 1500th cache find and then we found 3 more caches after that one so that I ended up finding 600 caches in 2010.

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