tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27360693860944854002024-03-12T19:03:19.406-05:00A Life More CompleteFollow us through our many adventures together along with our own personal posts from day to day life. We are runners, multi-sport athletes, mountain bikers, geocachers....a little bit of whatever we have the chance to experience!Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08728672156854783032noreply@blogger.comBlogger124125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-3789048397436760352014-09-03T20:39:00.000-05:002014-09-03T20:39:22.892-05:00Sorry Blogger, we're leaving you<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #666666; display: inline !important; float: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 16px/24px "Open Sans", sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: purple;">We've been blogging infrequently since we've been together and honestly, one of the main reasons why there are often gaps in posts is because of the insanity that is<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span></span><a href="http://alifemorecomplete.blogspot.com/" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #2a92e5; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 16px/24px "Open Sans", sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank" title=""><span style="background-color: black; color: purple;">Blogger.com</span></a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #666666; display: inline !important; float: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 16px/24px "Open Sans", sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: purple;">. It has been a good site but formatting has been nothing but a royal pain in my behind. Luckily I know enough about basic HTML to go in and force things the way I want them but my tolerance for that only goes so far. When I got started blogging, Blogger was definitely the site of choice for most basic/intermediate users and so along the way I've been waiting for them to make improvements/updates to fix what are seemingly simple formatting annoyances. Picture insertions, alignment and sizing being some of them. And when I choose a text color of blue....I really mean blue. Not white, not black....BLUE!! But here we are a few years down the road with nothing to show for progress really. I was trying to insert a set of 3 pictures next to each other and after about 5 minutes of attempts, I threw up my hands and decided we are jumping ship. Even though it meant we had to purchase a domain name of our own. But for a first year price of just $2.99, it was well worth my sanity. So....</span></span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #666666; display: inline !important; float: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 16px/24px "Open Sans", sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398121757773217450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-10118088232041498852014-08-20T16:34:00.000-05:002014-08-28T14:19:10.758-05:00Hy-Vee Triathlon and the St. Paul Sprint Triathlon<span style="color: purple;">So we originally signed up for the <a href="http://www.maplegrovetriathlon.com/" target="_blank">Maple Grove Sprint Triathlon</a> figuring putting the $$ down would make us get off our asses. Well then we found out we screwed up because we have to work at a race that day. Crap...... <span style="color: lime;">At least we will get the shirts ;)</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">So we waffled about it a bit and then put down another chunk of change to upgrade to the <a href="http://www.hy-veetriathlon.com/" target="_blank">HyVee Triathlon</a> which is a week after Maple Grove but an Olympic distance instead of a Sprint.... crap, crap, crap.....have I mentioned we really haven't been swimming like, at all for about 2 years?!? But we've been on an abbreviated training plan that was created for us by our pal Vahid at <a href="http://www.areyouinthemoment.com/" target="_blank">In the Moment Triathlon Training</a> and with two weeks to go, we're feeling pretty good. Plus for being down there as a vendor for USA Triathlon, we get one free entry so that makes the cost much more bearable!</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: lime;">This will be our fourth year down in Des Moines for the HyVee Triathlon manning the USAT Midwest Region Expo Booth and Officiating the race so I am actually very excited to be a participant this year.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">We've been getting in some</span><span style="color: purple;"> long lake swims at Nokomis since now the Parks and Rec are allowing beach to beach swimming for free on Tuesday nights. 600 yards between the beaches so 2 laps gets us over our distance for HyVee. It's been great for getting us used to open water swims again and having to deal with arms/legs/feet around us while we swim. Oh and Nokomis is horrible for algae so after last night's 2400yd swim I came home sneezing and sniffling for a few hours. Ugh!</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: lime;">Lake Nokomis OWS have been really good for me as I have never been a great swimmer. Having the opportunity to swim beach to beach has really given me confidence in the water. </span> </span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">We also decided to look at the calendar to see if there was a sprint distance available for us to do prior to HyVee and luckily we could jump in on the <a href="http://www.frontrunnerusa.com/event/st-paul-triathlon" target="_blank">St. Paul Sprint Triathlon</a>. Small-ish event but gave us a good opportunity to remember how this all works. I wasn't going slow but I also wasn't trying to over push myself throughout the whole thing and was happy at the finish. My swim times were much slower than they used to be but my bike was a 18.5 average and run was 8:53. All of that got me in 5th place out of 22 in my age group so I'll take it as a success. I just need to put in place my faster transitions again. I easily know how to do those better :)</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;"><span style="color: lime;">St. Paul was a decent event, the bike course is VERY rough (which is no fault of the event) and if you have ever done Lifetime Tri Minneapolis, you know how bad the river road is? The St. Paul bike course is WORSE. I managed 19.4mpg avg. but I wonder how much better it might have been with out the road conditions. I was very happy with my swim and honestly it was my best segment of the Tri for me, which is really strange for me to say. Other than the road, my only other complaint as a participant was that it took them more than 24 hours to post the results.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">So less than two weeks to go and I'm feeling pretty good. It's all just about finishing at this point and I don't care too much about my times at this point. Looking at the field results from last year I should comfortably land somewhere in the middle of the pack I think. The past few years we have been down there, it's been quite hot so I'm planning for a walk/run situation at the end and some cool swag to take home :)</span>Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398121757773217450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-49091808349487144952014-08-06T10:19:00.003-05:002014-08-06T10:19:17.517-05:00Long OWS...<span style="color: purple;">Our longest Open Water Swim in....4 years? Eek I guess it is starting to sink in that we have been away from participating in triathlon since 2010. 2009 was a tough transitional year for me as I completed the divorce papers in July after....5-6 years of a separated marriage. I was lucky enough to have Mark by my side to get me through the rough parts and that included the ever taxing training for <a href="http://triathlon-chick.blogspot.com/2009/09/ironman-2009-i-made-it.html" target="_blank">Ironman Madison</a> which I did that September as well. After all of that we slowly stepped away from multisport and put a heavy focus on running for the next 2 years and then on the business for the next 2 years. <span style="color: lime;">We did continue with masters swimming well into 2011 and I know that this was a major factor with how good a shape we were in in the spring of 2011 and that the majority of our running PR's were set that spring. With as much success as we had, I am baffled as to why we stopped swimming. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">So here we are in 2014 trying to find ways to kick our asses back in shape. I'm enjoying training to a point but at the same time, it's been quite taxing on the body and my level of tiredness. Last night's swim was at Lake Nokomis where this summer they have been offering <a href="http://www.minneapolisparks.org/default.asp?PageID=1363" target="_blank">free beach to beach swims on Tuesday evenings</a>. We were very surprised to see the number of people down there doing laps but at the same time, this is a rare and wonderful opportunity for triathletes training for the <a href="http://maplegrovetriathlon.com/" target="_blank">Maple Grove Tri</a> or Ironman Wisconsin or the <a href="https://www.ywcampls.org/events/womens_triathlon/" target="_blank">YWCA Women's Tri</a> to get in nice, long, open water training. <span style="color: lime;">I was really impressed by Mpls. Park and Rec for putting on these OWS at Nakomis, two large sighting buoys and several lifeguards in kayaks all the way across the lake.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">We had to do 2000 yards which was almost 2 laps. We survived but barely. I think the last length back my technique was completely out the window. But we made it and it did add a bit of confidence for our upcoming <a href="http://www.hy-veetriathlon.com/" target="_blank">Hy-Vee Triathlon</a>. <span style="color: lime;">For me the swim was entirely about building my confidence and proving that I could swim long distance OWS. When were got to the beach I was at first taken back how far 600 (beach to beach) actually is but I just put my head down and concentrated on not letting anything surprise me, raise my anxiety or flat out freak me out. I will worry about technique later. </span> </span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">We had dinner at <a href="http://www.fatlorenzos.com/" target="_blank">Fat Lorenzo's</a> afterwards (ate too much...) and by the time we got home, we were so tired, we settled the dogs, fed the cat and the fish and flopped on the bed...passing out until 1:00am when I woke up and got up to turn all the lights in the house off. TV was still on downstairs too. THAT's how tired we were! <span style="color: lime;">I agree, I was more exhausted then any other type of training we have done this brief season. For as tired and sore as my body is, I have to think we are making progress.</span></span>Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05118053011554488449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-56870283727826102732014-08-03T22:15:00.000-05:002014-08-03T23:17:37.193-05:00Look who came to dinner.....<span style="color: lime; font-family: inherit;">Last night we had a very unusual visitor in the backyard. A Sharp Shinned Hawk seemed to be looking for dinner but not surprisingly there was not a lot of other activity in the yard at the time, the squirrels, chipmunks, mice and rabbits all found somewhere else to be.</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime;">"Nobody home"</span></div>
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<span style="color: lime;">He/she was kind enough to pose for quite a few pictures and only left after he tried to hop to the top of a metal bird feeder and slipped off. Hopefully he will come back again. This is only the second time we have had a hawk in our yard. On one other occasions a Broadwing Hawk brought his dinner to eat on a branch in one of our back trees.</span></div>
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<br />Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398121757773217450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-11244219990363403362014-07-29T21:14:00.000-05:002014-08-20T11:25:49.939-05:00Chisago Triathlon - Volunteering - a new perspective.<span style="color: lime;">Last week, Kris and I both received and email from MN Masters Swimming indicating that <a href="http://www.dutrirun.com/page/show/843894-events" target="_blank">Chisago Triathlon</a> still needed volunteers and they were offering a free entry into the 2015 Triathlon in exchange for volunteering. We both have a participated in the race before, most notably when in 2009 I blew up on the run after turning myself inside out trying catch up with Kris on the bike. And then in 2010 we were signed up for the Sprint and never made it because of our epic bike ride late into the event and were too tired to get up the next day. So the idea of getting a free entry to try again had some appeal. Unfortunately, it meant getting up at 3:45am to get ready and drive to Chisago. </span><br />
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<span style="color: lime;">Once we checked in, our first job was body marking which was a lot of fun, I have never had that assignment and it was nice to chat with all the athletes before the race, when most of them were still in high spirits. H</span><span style="color: lime;">ighly recommend volunteering as a body marker. After that we were moved over into transition and I was assigned the Mount/Dismount line along with Doobie (<a href="http://www.hopkinsroyaltri.com/" target="_blank">Hopkins Royal Triathlon</a> Race Director), Kris was assigned down at the road for the turn in/out of the parking lot. I also had a fun time with this assignment. Truth be told, part of my USAT Official came out and although there were no penalties to be given out, I made sure to be plenty loud making sure everyone respected the orange line. The one thing that surprised me was that even though I was being firm with the mount/dismount line, most participants were quick to thank me for volunteering which was really nice.</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime;">The one problem with volunteering at a Half Iron Triathlon is that with no relief you are at transition until the last biker comes back, which in this case was slightly after the 4 hour bike cutoff. When you get up at 3:45am, it makes for a very long morning.</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime;">We brought our bikes with us and we had planned to get in our 90 minute ride after we were done volunteering (and brunch) but after a handful of miles, I noticed that my left crank was really loose and on the verge of falling off. We stopped and I tried to tighten but it only lasted about a half a mile of our ride back to the car. There is nothing quite so surreal then having your crank come off your bike but still be attached to your bike shoe. So as it became apparent that I would not be able to ride back to the car, Kris rode back on her own to get the car and come back to me. Good thing my car is now a Automatic. Got the ailing bike into the back seat, I was afraid the crank would fall off during the long drive home and we were on our way.</span><br />
<span style="color: purple;">(Now he got just a tiny hint of what happened to me during Gear West Du a few years back. I still get worked up thinking about that race. One of the few times in my life I new I really, really lost it!)</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime;">The other piece that I failed to mention is that both Kris and I were EXTREMELY sore in our quads. And I kid you not, it felt like we had run a marathon the day before and not just a 5K. For any of you who have run a marathon, you know the feeling, climbing stairs up is a challenge but walking down stairs in next to impossible. I know that we are out of shape and we did push it a little but this is <span data-dobid="hdw">ridiculous, there is no way we should be this sore from a 5K. As I write this Blog, it is Tuesday and I am still very sore and stairs are still a challenge. I am cringing just thinking about having to run for 10 minutes tonight as part of our scheduled brick.The price we pay for letting ourselves get way out of shape.</span></span><br />
<span data-dobid="hdw" style="color: purple;">My bigger fear is the hip/leg/IT band. I've decided to go back and chat with my PT again to see if we should look closer at my spine and hip because I'm really feeling like that could be the root cause but it is actually turning out to be just a muscle imbalance issue so I just need to foam roll more and do my core/hip exercises.</span>Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398121757773217450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-35231753602175777032014-07-28T21:22:00.000-05:002014-08-20T11:37:21.115-05:00Ghosts and Pets and 5K's - Oh My.<span style="font-size: large;"><b>1st 5K of 2014! </b></span><br />
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<span style="color: lime;">This past weekend found Kris and I running out first competitive race in over a year. We have run a couple of races in the past year or so but casually. Saturday was the first time we have really put an effort into any distance, in this case "just a 5K".</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime;">We decided that we had to start putting races on our calendar just as an incentive to get us going and the first race was a small one in Chaska, the River City Days 5K. A customer of <a href="http://www.zapevent.com/" target="_blank">ZapEvent </a>and originally one of my accounts so it seems like a good fit for us. Both Kris and I have been just running to get in some miles and time has not even been a concern, so we were going into the race blind as to what we could even do. So we got up early on Saturday with no expectations other then being able to finish the race and headed to Chaska. Like I mentioned, this race was small, with 79 pre-registrations and with a good race day registrations they managed to have 131 finishers.</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime;">The race was nicely laid out and took advantage of the trails on top of the dykes so it was a really nice course. They only thing going against the race was that it was very humid with the heat of the day starting to warm up during the race so the conditions were against us. So we lined up and at the shout of "Go" we were off. If you know me then you know that I have a bad habit of starting out every race I run way too fast and then dying at the end. So in addition to just figuring out what pace I can run I wanted to make sure I was consistent.</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime;">I didn't do myself any favors by starting near the back of the pack at the start line and found myself having to work my way through the pack until I got myself into runners with a similar pace. By about mile 1 I was right about where I should be and was surprised when the guy with the stopwatch said 7:42. Really? I was running sub-8' and not dying? OK, let see if I can keep this up. Sure enough by the time I got to Mile 2, my MapMyRun app chimed out that I just ran a 7:49 mile split. Wow.... OK can I keep it up to the finish??? Almost. When I turned onto the final stretch, a long several block into the finish line, I had to take a quick walk break, not long, only about a 1/4 of a block but the heat and humidity was really getting to me. Just needed a short breather. Besides, the guy right in front of my, that I could not catch, was walk/running. He would walk a bit and just as I would catch up to him he would take off. So I figured, take a few seconds and finish strong. It did help, although I would have preferred to run the entire course and I did finish fairly consistent.</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime;">Turns out I ran a 24:31 (7:54 pace) and I came in 3rd Place M40-49. Not bad for my first race in a long time. Remember that guy that was walk/running? Turns out he was in my AG and came in second. He was so close, and in fact during one of his walk segments, I was ahead of him briefly. He ended up beating me by 13 seconds, which had I managed to beat him (my short walk is to blame) I would have gotten a medal!! They were handing out medals for 1st and 2nd in each of the Age Groups. Oh well, maybe next time.</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">My race went pretty well as I was just trying to find a consistent uncomfortable pace to settle in to. As Mark said it wasn't a bad course, just hot and muggy. And I can still very much tell I'm carrying extra weight from last we were seriously racing 2 years ago. We are working to get our weight in check but at the same time if a brownie is going to make me happy.....I'm going to eat a brownie :) </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Home for Life</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: lime;">After the 5K we had to get home and get cleaned up as today was also the <a href="http://www.homeforlife.org/" target="_blank">Home for Life</a> Annual Blessing of the Animals Open House way out in Star Prairie so once we got cleaned up we still had an hour drive ahead of us.</span><br />
<span style="color: lime;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: lime;">As in past years, we got to visit <a href="http://www.homeforlife.org/jonathans-story" target="_blank">Jonathan</a> who Kris sponsors and some of our favorites including <a href="http://www.homeforlife.org/animal/stormy" target="_blank">Stormy</a>, Mozart and </span><span style="color: purple;"><a href="http://www.homeforlife.org/celeste" target="_blank">Celeste</a>. She has always had a piece of my heart and this year she seemed to be a bit weaker than before. I started to think about it....she's been there ever since I've been going to HFL and that has been 10 years. I gave her lots of love and hugs and am hoping to see her again next year. </span><span style="color: lime;">It has been a couple of years since we have been to the Open House as we could not make it last year so it was nice to get to see all the cats and dogs. I have made a connection with Mozart, granted he might be like this with everyone but I like to think it is unique to me as I can spend my entire time with Mozart in my arms, he is such a sweet cat.</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">Oh and don't forget your favorite avian friends, <a href="http://www.homeforlife.org/sam-cockatoo" target="_blank">Candy</a> and Penelope!! Erin was also there, she's a local runner we've gotten to know through Home for Life because she is <a href="http://www.homeforlife.org/animal/nike" target="_blank">Nike's</a> owner and comes back often to spend time her</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Ghost Peppers</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: lime;">So after spending the afternoon at Home for Life it was back home to get ready to meet our friend Mike for dinner at <a href="http://www.buffalowildwings.com/" target="_blank">Buffalo Wild Wings</a> at MOA. I had seen that their "Sauce Lab" had Ghost Pepper as one of their sauces of month and I have been curious as to how hot they were. To be honest, I love HOT but I also am hesitant when it comes to super hot sources and anything that using Ghost Peppers, the hottest known pepper. In fact, I chickened out when we went Smalley's Caribbean BBQ in Stillwater which also has a Ghost Pepper sauce for their wings.</span><br />
<span style="color: lime;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: lime;">Once the ghost pepper boneless wings arrived, I took it very slow and yes it was extremely hot, it was not a burning pain hot I was expecting. I was eating very cautiously as Kris finished her wings long before I did and that never happens. The wings came with a little flag which at first I made no note of but while I was taking my time eating the wings I had a chance to read the flag and was very amused that it is essentially a liability waiver to prevent BW3's from being sued. The unseen danger of eating something this hot is not when you are ingesting but rather when the wings have worked their way though and on the way out you get a second burn. ;) Would I have them again? Probably not but it was worth it for the experience.</span><br />
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<br />Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398121757773217450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-52276722411367525322014-07-22T11:46:00.000-05:002014-08-20T11:49:25.022-05:00On the road again...<span style="color: lime;">As some of you may know, Kris works for USAT Midwest Region </span><span style="color: purple;">(and I just realized I've been working with the region for 5 years. So I told Kris S (boss man) he needs to buy me some cheesy desk clock or something right?? :) </span><span style="color: lime;">and when recently she had make arrangements to ship the new region state flags and the US flags to the region special qualifier race in West Burlington, Iowa. She would have to ship those same flags from West Burlington to to Omaha, Nebraska for the Region Championship and then back home. Additionally, there are Air Dancers and Region Championship teardrop flags to ship to Omaha as well. Once Kris determined the total cost for all of the shipping, I mentioned that it would be cheaper to rent a cargo van and do all the driving ourselves for cheaper, including lodging.</span><br />
<span style="color: lime;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: lime;">I was sort of kidding but at the same time I was being a little self serving as I have never been to Omaha and I have not cached in Nebraska, so I had an opportunity to add a new state to my Geocaching list. Little did I know that Kris's boss at the Midwest Region would think it was a great idea and before I knew it we were making plans for an epic weekend driving trip. </span><span style="color: purple;">I think we did end up saving the region about $400 or so, so it was worth it all around.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="color: #999999;">So on <span style="font-size: large;"><b>Friday</b></span>...</span><br />
<span style="color: lime;">we took the afternoon off, picked up the van and stopped at storage and loaded up the sky dancers and championship flags in addition to two empty boxes for a couple sky dancers we need to pick up and return to Minneapolis that would be at the race in Omaha. Once we were loaded up , we were on the road by 3:30pm with a goal of making it to Iowa City for the evening. I have gotten pretty bad lately with long trips and driving after dark, I get uncomfortable and tired very quickly. Since our goal was to get to our hotel before dark we tried to limit our stops along the way and managed to keep ourselves from getting distracted to much. Only two stops, one for a cache in Janesville and then we could not stop ourselves when we saw a sign for the "Largest Frying Pan in Iowa" which we quickly confirmed in our <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.roadsideamerica.com/" target="_blank">Roadside America</a></span> App.</span><br />
<span style="color: lime;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: lime;">When booking this trip, we needed to keep it an inexpensive as possible and knowing that our hotels would be just a place to lay our heads for a few hours, in particular on Friday evening, I decided to give <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://hotwire.com/" target="_blank">Hotwire.com</a></span> as we had really good results booking our rental car for Portland later this year. We were able to book both evening very inexpensive and even though with Hotwire you will not know the hotel name until after you make your reservation (fully paid), they do provide you with the TripAdvisor rating for the hotel which is reassuring. The hotel in Iowa City was decent and we got it for over half off so I recommend Hotwire</span><br />
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</span> <span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;"><b>Saturday... </b></span><br />
<span style="color: lime;">was our LONG driving day and we got up early (not too early) to continue down to West Burlington to pickup the flags and then head to Omaha. West Burlington was still about a hour south of Iowa City on the Illinois border and we arrived about 8:30am. The flags were being stored at the local medical center and once we figured out where the flags were located and loaded them up we were ready to go. We got a treat as we were ready to go as the local Air Medic took off from helipad which was only a few feet away.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="color: lime;">My initial goal was to find caches in three states in one day on Saturday and to do this we had to make a quick side trip into Illinois to grab a quick cache over the river. Once that was done we really had to get going as it was 9am and we had to get to the race site in Omaha by 3pm, which was going to take all six hours to get across the state.</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: lime;">I won't go into our drive across Iowa and it was very uneventful and we did not have time for any distraction/ stops along the way but the one thing that we learned was that western Iowa is nothing but long rolling hills. The van was not a fan as every long downhill followed by another long uphill that always put the van into overdrive which was killing our gas mileage.</span><br />
<span style="color: lime;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: lime;">We arrived at the race site right at 3pm thanks to some minor seeping across the majority of Iowa and met with the Race directors and started setting up the flags on the finish line chute. All said and done it looked really good and made a nice touch to their finish line. We also dropped off the sky dancers and Championship flags that they would be setting up in the morning. Having completed our tasks it was now time to A) find our hotel and B) find food. Hotel was moderately easy to find, although we did have a bit of a challenge with their elevated freeway (Highway 6) but once we figured it out we were good. Again <a href="http://www.hotwire.com/" target="_blank">Hotwire</a> was a great resource for a decent, very inexpensive hotel.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="color: lime;">Based on a recommendation from one of the race directors, we decided to head downtown to the Old Market District to find something interesting to eat. Not the ideal area to drive a big cargo van into but we survived. It is a very cool area of Omaha and I am glad that we chose this area as it was very lively (busy) and there was a lot of choices to pick from. After a lot of walking around checking out the scene we decided on a brewery (surprise, surprise) which was very good. <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.upstreambrewing.com/" target="_blank">Upstream Brewing Company</a></span> has some very good and unique beer choices and has excellent food. I had the Chipotle BBQ Beef Tip Salad and it was wonderful. On the beer side of the world, I had their Raspberry Belgian Wit, one of their seasonal choices and I would highly recommend it My second beer was their Cask Conditioned Ale (conditioned in a cask and served at cellar temperature i.e about 55 degrees), unfortunately it is just one of their standard ales, in this case their Flagship IPA, conditioned this way. Not a beer I would have chosen but I was going for the experience. After dinner we were exhausted after such a long day of driving and we would be up early so we headed back to the hotel to call it a night.</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime;">Before going to sleep we tried to watch the Tour on the <a href="http://tourdefrance.nbcsports.com/" target="_blank">TDF Live App</a>, what a waste of time and money that app was. The recap video, if it was even available, was not our friendly Paul and Phil but some other announcer and the other clips were so small that you only got tiny slices of what actually happen during the stage. NBCSC normally does a great job covering the Tour but BEWARE, stay away from their App.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Sunday...</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: lime;">Started out a bit later then we planned, we were exhausted from the day before and knew we have another long drive ahead of us today so we let the alarm slip a bit. We were still up by 8am but by the time we got up and picked up something to eat (the free breakfast at the hotel was packed and they have Dunkin Donuts in Omaha) we made it to the race by 9am, not early enough to catch the top finishers but we did get to see a lot of the field finish. <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.raceomaha.com/omaha_triathlon.html" target="_blank">Omaha Triathlon</a></span> put on a nice race and it is a great venue, the swim is in a nice clear reservoir and how often does a race get to close all of the roads on it's bike course? While we waited for the final finishers, we found our first Nebraska geocache within sight of the finish line. Once the race was over we quickly packed up the flags and sky dancers and were were on the road by 11:30am which was about a half an hour earlier they I was expecting. On the way out of Nebraska we stopped at the last exit before the 680 bridge and stopped at the Florance Mill, a Mormon stop on their way west, to grab at least one more Nebraska geocache and were rewarded with a small farmers/craft market to look through as we grabbed the cache. Lots of muggles but we managed.</span><br />
<span style="color: lime;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: lime;">That stop at Florance Mill would set the tone for the rest of the day and a trip that should have taken about 6 hours ended up taking over 10 hours with all of our stops and side trips. We came home via Sioux City, Worthington and Mankato route which allowed us to cache 4 states (NE, IA, SD & MN) in one day with a quick side trip into South Dakota. Along the way we also stopped at Le Mars, IA the Ice Cream Capitol of the World and home to Blue Bunny Ice Cream where they have an amazing <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.bluebunnyicecreamparlor.com/" target="_blank">ice cream parlor and museum</a></span>, well worth the stop and the "Highest Point" in Iowa at Hawkeye Point. Kind of cheesy but worth a stop to break up a long trip. </span><span style="color: lime;">Special Thanks to our </span><a href="http://www.roadsideamerica.com/" target="_blank">Roadside America App </a><span style="color: lime;">for letting us know about this locations. </span><br />
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<span style="color: lime;">With a dinner stop in Worthington, it was time to get home as we would be driving in the dark yet again. Kris does not drive much during these trips, I for some reason feel I need to do most of the driving but she does help me out whenever I ask and drove a large chuck from just North of Worthington to somewhere near St. Peter. We finally got home at about 10:30pm.</span><br />
<span style="color: lime;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Final Stats for the Trip.</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: lime;">Total Miles - Just shy of 1200</span><br />
<span style="color: lime;">Total Hours - 23 Hours (during a a 55 hour period)</span><br />
<span style="color: lime;">Total States - 5 (MN, IA, IL, NE & SD)</span><br />
<span style="color: lime;">Total Geocaches - 14 (5 different states & 4 states in 1 day)</span><br />
<span style="color: lime;">Total Roadside America Stops - 4<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="350" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Robbinsdale&daddr=Iowa+City,+IA+to:Great+River+Medical+Center,+Great+River+Medical+Center,+1221+S+Gear+Ave,+West+Burlington,+IA+52655+to:N+40%C2%B0+48.907+W+091%C2%B0+00.720+to:Omaha,+NE+to:Sioux+City,+IA+to:Robbinsdale,+MN&hl=en&geocode=FfsirwIdP8Rv-ik5qUWlWDGzUjFy9u39EJr3NQ%3BFciyewIdSFyL-ikXiCBqwUHkhzGwggWHZxhxbQ%3BFWq2bgIdRc2Q-inlSEEmYDLhhzEvJ4xWyd0GEA%3BFQ3KbgIdYEST-g%3BFQt2dQId3C9H-int_Ay1yI2ThzEEtjeuT01CRg%3BFZp_iAIdTQxB-ikJUm1HNnmShzGMTGieywqYIQ%3BFfsirwIdP8Rv-ik5qUWlWDGzUjFy9u39EJr3NQ&aq=0&oq=Great+River+&sll=40.813078,-91.178091&sspn=0.015444,0.033023&gl=us&mra=iwd&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=42.920606,-93.707885&spn=4.223089,5.391221&output=embed" width="425"></iframe><br />
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</span> <span style="color: lime;"><br />
</span> <span style="color: lime;">We had a fun time, not sure I would have tried this in such a short period as we did, add another day so we are not constantly driving but I think we set a precedent and will be making a similar trip like this next year.</span><br />
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<br />Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398121757773217450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-62234981110312241262014-01-20T12:03:00.000-06:002014-07-29T12:06:58.108-05:00Our First Snowy Owl EncounterToday we had two goals....pick out a new, used car and get a good photo of a Snowy Owl. <br />
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First task was due to the fact that Mark got in an accident with an idiot on Christmas Eve and his Focus got totaled out. So we got enough from insurance to go find another used car and also get new tires for my Charger. We didn't want to buy anything that would end us up with a car payment yet. Just find something in good condition that will get us by for another year or two.<br />
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So we ended up with a Suzuki SX4 from Buffalo Ford<br />
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After that, we were off to Ramsey. We have heard SO many reports of local Snowy Owls there this winter that we knew it should be an easy place to find one and spend some time trying to get a good photo. And after 3 hours of hanging out with this beauty, here are some of our favorite shots:<br />
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<br />Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05118053011554488449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-82656640605998788122013-12-28T22:55:00.000-06:002014-02-15T17:56:09.040-06:00End of the Metrodome<span style="color: purple;">This weekend was the LAST weekend of any action in the HHH Metrodome. "The Bubble" will be deflated next month and demolished to make way for the new stadium. There was a season ticket holder event the night before the last game that we went to and got to be down on the field and goof around a bit.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgydLz-bVBKnDTR9IR0NGi0TuowxXP3ZBX60TaK9xNbDJgjUBgeNyjitx1zUHerWbOQm-i-kgl0Wi7ksVx-yWzpmhmyLbA4Kz6HzFQ8UroEOcDsSXfNA2a3n4b-ceXvVk4CDrDD752qxWsh/s1600/DSC_1121.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: purple;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgydLz-bVBKnDTR9IR0NGi0TuowxXP3ZBX60TaK9xNbDJgjUBgeNyjitx1zUHerWbOQm-i-kgl0Wi7ksVx-yWzpmhmyLbA4Kz6HzFQ8UroEOcDsSXfNA2a3n4b-ceXvVk4CDrDD752qxWsh/s1600/DSC_1121.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: purple;">And here are a couple pics from the final game against the Detroit Lions</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF6d38KBCSzdznLqBLoOFZeaEnqLHM9z2qPVaZgiYb105x_QoDNjBN5ZCTIJCD3DZ8GUluxvj7GE8-R9nD3VbEul8RtHHQngcXnBLy6iR3dgt6iTr-wQLNKrwoTEw9My8kds11tWiLaLVj/s1600/DSC_1224.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: purple;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF6d38KBCSzdznLqBLoOFZeaEnqLHM9z2qPVaZgiYb105x_QoDNjBN5ZCTIJCD3DZ8GUluxvj7GE8-R9nD3VbEul8RtHHQngcXnBLy6iR3dgt6iTr-wQLNKrwoTEw9My8kds11tWiLaLVj/s1600/DSC_1224.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">Matt Cassel</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwxaUbLyNtXifT6jrT8yX9Z54JbmiuA1W7UB5C18api9Ve5NS6-cRv4Q-p3EGD_OXKwth84nreDEGo8FF3SvyXf68Z6zGxlQv0j4tCOb2Xo3ULqVlDo1onm0Qle07jarm3ygP4kz04Tk2a/s1600/DSC_1227.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: purple;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwxaUbLyNtXifT6jrT8yX9Z54JbmiuA1W7UB5C18api9Ve5NS6-cRv4Q-p3EGD_OXKwth84nreDEGo8FF3SvyXf68Z6zGxlQv0j4tCOb2Xo3ULqVlDo1onm0Qle07jarm3ygP4kz04Tk2a/s1600/DSC_1227.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">Random fans with cool horns</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqiaDoXX9PgKLu1r7lQCfwPhDf6Dx2yZAHOmuoVXXACiYSYQyTslgmuwYUnNNsXZy7qUT45ELXVIFE0W_SF1evlD9BfEp-BJmTkIkY9weSRkJea8ie7hFXfSiDjvZC95Br6BPqNLA3E5Q1/s1600/DSC_1228.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: purple;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqiaDoXX9PgKLu1r7lQCfwPhDf6Dx2yZAHOmuoVXXACiYSYQyTslgmuwYUnNNsXZy7qUT45ELXVIFE0W_SF1evlD9BfEp-BJmTkIkY9weSRkJea8ie7hFXfSiDjvZC95Br6BPqNLA3E5Q1/s1600/DSC_1228.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">Defensive Line lead by Jared Allen</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzvWWBYEiMvpi2da-mbimUvbPsZHkocPSh5J2GdSS2Nz0SBXED2xK3GDXBAKuGeujx45FgqbwM0WwN0sCLPaLO37iMvnoMJmwM6H7EzsozJn7ikH4-Dy73Oqfvh29gQQarTCBe37WvrUre/s1600/DSC_1244.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: purple;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzvWWBYEiMvpi2da-mbimUvbPsZHkocPSh5J2GdSS2Nz0SBXED2xK3GDXBAKuGeujx45FgqbwM0WwN0sCLPaLO37iMvnoMJmwM6H7EzsozJn7ikH4-Dy73Oqfvh29gQQarTCBe37WvrUre/s1600/DSC_1244.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">Bud Grant sounds the Gallahorn (sp?)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90BzV2tosHEgq52koWqykgDqKuSE_M9PC34rf7qNtgESt8owsufeQrUn1QywAE_GTz45pCa3IBYQPCDybUaqOl27j_mTe4lhBeaW_kNx1KbksjP2hm0cuLZB9dRoz7naDAqklgx8n6OqS/s1600/DSC_1239.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: purple;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90BzV2tosHEgq52koWqykgDqKuSE_M9PC34rf7qNtgESt8owsufeQrUn1QywAE_GTz45pCa3IBYQPCDybUaqOl27j_mTe4lhBeaW_kNx1KbksjP2hm0cuLZB9dRoz7naDAqklgx8n6OqS/s1600/DSC_1239.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">Skol Line drumline</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjajuFqjatHl69xMiS_4pL57pHwchLispk7UgAZlpzV769g82ZLuwXnzawBXeg0-qhw3y1a9PGWLPtFPAKPfSycbTI3rs3w1jaLTrGVhxySg7Stu0rIpWFpDzX2Aiy_9XuMODzQMOo0R9hv/s1600/DSC_1249.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: purple;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjajuFqjatHl69xMiS_4pL57pHwchLispk7UgAZlpzV769g82ZLuwXnzawBXeg0-qhw3y1a9PGWLPtFPAKPfSycbTI3rs3w1jaLTrGVhxySg7Stu0rIpWFpDzX2Aiy_9XuMODzQMOo0R9hv/s1600/DSC_1249.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">Viktor</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFOsaz8x-MF-J1MNQZ8kkgJXV7KfNmxkR7uCT0PJNR7IkWZZrvMClxZBcFRcwC6DHV4gQXy075S6Fe72ox_djNGDJLrX8NVgf0ofmZhxW4O8S1kaeMib6vO2Gc-kIXPxdEofzr3A20s4zd/s1600/DSC_1232.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: purple;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFOsaz8x-MF-J1MNQZ8kkgJXV7KfNmxkR7uCT0PJNR7IkWZZrvMClxZBcFRcwC6DHV4gQXy075S6Fe72ox_djNGDJLrX8NVgf0ofmZhxW4O8S1kaeMib6vO2Gc-kIXPxdEofzr3A20s4zd/s1600/DSC_1232.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">Useless quarterback...Christian Ponder</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXZ5mFi0QbRXoO6TivtIHsj0YtSND226cfub11ECIcERk0yCIWTENGvQY_j8MAvWoGB_vQ2e4v846K9d44FEqab4nrCfWmO1GxUsD0fH2-ZRDxo6pQagBSrNw6vvX1HESXrLonqqIbPUOK/s1600/DSC_1247.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: purple;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXZ5mFi0QbRXoO6TivtIHsj0YtSND226cfub11ECIcERk0yCIWTENGvQY_j8MAvWoGB_vQ2e4v846K9d44FEqab4nrCfWmO1GxUsD0fH2-ZRDxo6pQagBSrNw6vvX1HESXrLonqqIbPUOK/s1600/DSC_1247.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">Ragnar</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh19Y5vphrTnhPfDw9gHaU5d9lh3LIuQ7pjdQhHoD-3WIjY-0KdxsRx_1vkzFkE_QhXEWVmKetzVuiBCDl1r7Q8JysvEWM49Vhm0gKsaZOo_0-GKMt3lUYUYvajFmk2b0ZnnIMvxEQ15nLB/s1600/DSC_1263.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: purple;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh19Y5vphrTnhPfDw9gHaU5d9lh3LIuQ7pjdQhHoD-3WIjY-0KdxsRx_1vkzFkE_QhXEWVmKetzVuiBCDl1r7Q8JysvEWM49Vhm0gKsaZOo_0-GKMt3lUYUYvajFmk2b0ZnnIMvxEQ15nLB/s1600/DSC_1263.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">Matt Birk was back to be the honorary captain of the game</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: purple;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh7H6-e8o5Jn_8TIeUuyxxQP4M_HXqt_NoGu5Tbwy8GVFfBXxfGZYoBUgRCMaoer2NG0C7zbr385_pUTOf-5_DFR4ghb3gPv6mAhEXJrIQLR2DFMIS8UQ8MhQ6tMRLyndqtvy689bDhv5w/s1600/DSC_1276.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: purple;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh7H6-e8o5Jn_8TIeUuyxxQP4M_HXqt_NoGu5Tbwy8GVFfBXxfGZYoBUgRCMaoer2NG0C7zbr385_pUTOf-5_DFR4ghb3gPv6mAhEXJrIQLR2DFMIS8UQ8MhQ6tMRLyndqtvy689bDhv5w/s1600/DSC_1276.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">Cordarrelle Patterson showing he's super awesome</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHflNTaV_sQ3KuZbWYQX3drx-cHbd2xTsb2rWjShu6poKP3-JU-wAl3TS6ri22CLaWhiE-e3xG3NX1ekPgUpo1OBb_q-jzLz-JgjcJs1FnHQxjqabZY0icv3EREjD05DtVUNVJlsi0zxrp/s1600/DSC_1294.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: purple;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHflNTaV_sQ3KuZbWYQX3drx-cHbd2xTsb2rWjShu6poKP3-JU-wAl3TS6ri22CLaWhiE-e3xG3NX1ekPgUpo1OBb_q-jzLz-JgjcJs1FnHQxjqabZY0icv3EREjD05DtVUNVJlsi0zxrp/s1600/DSC_1294.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">Referree Tony Corrente at the Instant Replay booth</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0k_uyLhX-PPe2Xc_W74TmTQiB0Tlwf4iN3UuFb_hgW10cTB-YlQuSy5s0zCq4x0ZCvvMtCNTNtdN9AB88dhO7rIDO48eZdGc96Ai1yhvvFqqneb_BjKyYwpLjtdbaPEdSrXjyloIg8gWX/s1600/DSC_1295.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: purple;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0k_uyLhX-PPe2Xc_W74TmTQiB0Tlwf4iN3UuFb_hgW10cTB-YlQuSy5s0zCq4x0ZCvvMtCNTNtdN9AB88dhO7rIDO48eZdGc96Ai1yhvvFqqneb_BjKyYwpLjtdbaPEdSrXjyloIg8gWX/s1600/DSC_1295.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">Head Coach Leslie Frasier (he got fired after this season)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_-G_v2Xmm13-pUGmAF9DWXVtJSvAX4WRyCnfaIBTx-JBG3MeM-eDt8r5o8vodu9MrbwpE24zVwJc1GoRC5vjdWZ_oWsncTxEVtjuzwh3MRZ4Vxc8ll2sF0itUTNyLyriS9QkJvIxci6CF/s1600/DSC_1299.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: purple;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_-G_v2Xmm13-pUGmAF9DWXVtJSvAX4WRyCnfaIBTx-JBG3MeM-eDt8r5o8vodu9MrbwpE24zVwJc1GoRC5vjdWZ_oWsncTxEVtjuzwh3MRZ4Vxc8ll2sF0itUTNyLyriS9QkJvIxci6CF/s1600/DSC_1299.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">Adrian Peterson - one of the most amazing running backs of all time</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: purple;">So for the next two seasons we have to figure out how to keep me warm to watch the Vikings play at TCF Stadium on the U of M campus. Eek!!....cold!!!!</span></div>
<span style="color: purple;"></span><br />Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05118053011554488449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-25702562865530435292013-12-07T15:00:00.000-06:002014-02-15T17:56:09.031-06:003rd Anniversary - Spooner Dinner Train<span style="color: purple;">Thanks to </span><a href="http://www.groupon.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: purple;">Groupon</span></a><span style="color: purple;">, we planned a fun anniversary outing this year. Since Mark is a big train fan, we booked an evening dinner and B&B on a train. It was one of the coldest days of the year but still made for a great time. </span><br />
<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: purple;">Dinner was 5 courses while the train drove out and back along the tracks. Was pretty late at night so it was dark outside and hard to really see anything and the food was good, not amazing but when one of our favorite restaurants is Travail, we hold the bar kinda high :-P</span><br />
<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: purple;">Once we got back to the station there was music and drinks back in the entertainment car. We had a few drinks and kept dancing to the juke box music to keep warm. Our rooms were nice and warm so we retired to our room and cuddle up in the bottom bunk. Definitely tight quarters but was a super fun experience. Morning there was a hot breakfast before we left and had to dart home to take care of the dogs.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwizuhnHYWTHnVQaGUeCRjiDuv2YN4Tki6Lz40xpRRm46a4rhoMbODSvOJa0N8XzZ-GFxH4NPwB_-82M_tov_IfRdKvKOsWLnAD24ZrzYOo9HHVroAVqwBGHrnTUy8xD0sCx1ke_Y87kJt/s1600/DSC_0973.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: purple;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwizuhnHYWTHnVQaGUeCRjiDuv2YN4Tki6Lz40xpRRm46a4rhoMbODSvOJa0N8XzZ-GFxH4NPwB_-82M_tov_IfRdKvKOsWLnAD24ZrzYOo9HHVroAVqwBGHrnTUy8xD0sCx1ke_Y87kJt/s1600/DSC_0973.JPG" height="320" width="211" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">Our sleeping quarters</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6z2bAA24rmlRNkF8UzqSf7WnX_5szLSNmW-eqhdhxgc6u-SHO9alahcHfBI6MxHVHqQb0OZnhOTpPvHGxYxuMumWO2yogapAsRj0Gm9pOlPkD34MREpbgOm5Sejt9vdRgVjRjEvq7sN9x/s1600/DSC_0977.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: purple;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6z2bAA24rmlRNkF8UzqSf7WnX_5szLSNmW-eqhdhxgc6u-SHO9alahcHfBI6MxHVHqQb0OZnhOTpPvHGxYxuMumWO2yogapAsRj0Gm9pOlPkD34MREpbgOm5Sejt9vdRgVjRjEvq7sN9x/s1600/DSC_0977.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: purple;">Dinner Car</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqz_JR4V3btC-V0FOCY62cshMpPCM9ua5Twn_U8lH2zXCJMKwdoxrC_X9cxiCAtDFRI9-KKiZgGgmrRG5qim7vzQpvlo4Q7ZhS6pNOAlFXLyOkmgfwKfcA2OVLeQKRS-GDscGOs_FJBTyW/s1600/DSC_0978.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: purple;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqz_JR4V3btC-V0FOCY62cshMpPCM9ua5Twn_U8lH2zXCJMKwdoxrC_X9cxiCAtDFRI9-KKiZgGgmrRG5qim7vzQpvlo4Q7ZhS6pNOAlFXLyOkmgfwKfcA2OVLeQKRS-GDscGOs_FJBTyW/s1600/DSC_0978.JPG" height="422" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2C1JduHd_3lErU4gIULfTygQzPDYSkWCIt2Adk34UpDsU2q8MY-N1auz1x52vK1kGgw8XcGQganY70xkgAs62oaKxksRsdZWy6QA5bijFHLyrkqyF4pll4nEo-BY2tgW4-2QY0qnzi1Cm/s1600/DSC_0985.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: purple;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2C1JduHd_3lErU4gIULfTygQzPDYSkWCIt2Adk34UpDsU2q8MY-N1auz1x52vK1kGgw8XcGQganY70xkgAs62oaKxksRsdZWy6QA5bijFHLyrkqyF4pll4nEo-BY2tgW4-2QY0qnzi1Cm/s1600/DSC_0985.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuFPDFUfjlA55sPCyD_FpDKrDLWDff2bIBnnbahhXrJsk7sD-CUeEBd-ReEJww1iEDPcKBkvWKRW9OemCsLGrOpfvHNZq3Hmpy1s6vRWa6n3Rblz77OV40y2mGKkqJSKtm-furqQ0gcs4K/s1600/DSC_0987.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: purple;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuFPDFUfjlA55sPCyD_FpDKrDLWDff2bIBnnbahhXrJsk7sD-CUeEBd-ReEJww1iEDPcKBkvWKRW9OemCsLGrOpfvHNZq3Hmpy1s6vRWa6n3Rblz77OV40y2mGKkqJSKtm-furqQ0gcs4K/s1600/DSC_0987.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: purple;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: purple;">Oh and we saw this sign on the way home in some little WI town. Had to take a picture of it.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAJB5eG807UG7d_eExIHkBE-sHPnvnyHZF-8ag-cJMBqBxjwZQVNSk_1x8RjTJrjOts94dvrY_CxWAVFYw5EDK0BR4CA1PIi9ipywcX_Y4B4yQQQOUUfsMFowRhvkG6xAGS458QdBNkfsq/s1600/DSC_0989.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: purple;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAJB5eG807UG7d_eExIHkBE-sHPnvnyHZF-8ag-cJMBqBxjwZQVNSk_1x8RjTJrjOts94dvrY_CxWAVFYw5EDK0BR4CA1PIi9ipywcX_Y4B4yQQQOUUfsMFowRhvkG6xAGS458QdBNkfsq/s1600/DSC_0989.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: purple;"></span><br />Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05118053011554488449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-77192949975047657252013-11-18T22:06:00.000-06:002013-12-15T22:13:04.439-06:00Arizona Trip<div class="MsoNormal">
Leavin’ on a jet plane!
Ok…unfortunately in the wrong direction as we are heading home from a
long weekend in Arizona where I was once again reminded that there are tons of
places on this ball called Earth that don’t ever get cold and therefore don’t completely
suck for 3-4-5 months a year……<o:p></o:p></div>
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Our trip was multi-purpose as we were spending time with
Mark’s Dad, spectating for the Arizona Ironman and trying to have something
resembling a vacation. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Thursday we had a really, really early flight which got us
to the Phoenix area I think 9am-ish.
Having lunch on an outdoor patio reminded me there is hope for life
between November and April and definitely de-stressed my brain. I told myself I would try to stay off my phone/email
as much as possible on this trip and for the most part I succeeded. We also got to go for a great trail run on
Thursday PM before heading over to have dinner with Brandon and Theresa and
catching up with them pre-Ironman. It
was a wonderfully warm, difficult trail run.
At least for us coming from the Midwest.
450 feet of elevation change, lots of rocks, switchbacks and
“stairclimbing” made me really feel like we were doing a REAL trail run. I loved it.
It was harder than hell but I absolutely loved it. Such a great change of scenery from the paved
world we live in.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRQI9ydwc4j9npsiKCIwt-BMlrg7tXKl_j15obC_XfijE2nplBVvYdIdAIZhVVUo5-TTNUzps0YXQZM02c9ZT8XCUusKQDl66IIc3lRNyz_86Lvm3R8uXflozAC-hUO1W6Kik5bCmaCatT/s1600/DSC_0942-4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRQI9ydwc4j9npsiKCIwt-BMlrg7tXKl_j15obC_XfijE2nplBVvYdIdAIZhVVUo5-TTNUzps0YXQZM02c9ZT8XCUusKQDl66IIc3lRNyz_86Lvm3R8uXflozAC-hUO1W6Kik5bCmaCatT/s1600/DSC_0942-4.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Friday we got to go visit White Tank Mountains and go for a
long birding hike through the park.
Mark’s Dad was able to join us and put up with our crazy random stops to
try and hunt down birds we heard in the distance. Little fact I picked up this day was that the
standard cactus we all know grows so slow, it takes 50 years for it to get its
first “arm”. And we came across a number
of little lizards that seemed as curious of us as we did of it. Best photo of the day I think though was us
finally getting our eyes on a Gila woodpecker not on a tree but in the middle
of a trail munching on what looked like a smashed cheeto.<o:p></o:p><br />
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Saturday was an early wake-up call. We did it to ourselves. As usual we couldn't help but see if there
was an interesting race worth running while we were in a new area and found the
Pass Mountain Trail Run. We signed up
for the 12k and once again learned how difficult real trail running can be and
how much fun it is. Honestly, most of
the race course wouldn't never fly in the Midwest. They would rope it off and consider it too
dangerous to navigate. Here in the
Southwest, you run on singletrack type hiking trails and just try not to trip
on the rocks or slip on the way up or down hills so steep you would call it
mildly technical. Oh and no “passing in
the grass” like you do in Midwest trail runs.
Here you’re likely to meet up with a cactus plant that wants to burrow
into your skin. (more on that here
shortly…..). But we had a really fun time
and will absolutely continue with trail running.<o:p></o:p><br />
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After the run, since we were way on the other side of the
Phoenix area, we decided to stay over there and do some sightseeing and birding
and geocaching. Our trek took us on a
long and winding road up at Superstition Mountain to the Tortilla Flat. This is via one of those roads that makes
you a little nervous. Up a winding, super skinny road on the mountain side with
very few places to pull over and not go hurdling down the cliff-side. The actual town of Tortilla Flat is an old
cowboy type place with a restaurant known for its hot chili and dollar bills
lining all the walls. Highlight I think
though was the Prickly Pear gelato from the General Store. Seriously….if you ever see this on the
menu….get it!</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We went after a few geocaches on our way back down and one
of them we ended up getting close to but didn't make the grab since it felt a
little too much like one of us was going to fall to our death off the
cliff. It was a terrain of 3 but
honestly with the way I was having butterflies in my stomach getting across a
few spots I’d say it bordered on more of a 4.
Granted we got a couple really cool scenery pictures and while lining up
a photo of Mark I caught a bald eagle fly overhead.<o:p></o:p><br />
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And then as if our legs weren't tired enough, we found a
beautiful hike at Lost Dutchmen State Park.
2.4 mile loop up very close to the mountain side and again on trails
that would without a doubt be closed in any park in the Midwest. If you weren't pretty sure of your strength
and footing then this trail was not for you.
Our legs were exhausted but I would recommend it to anyone. We were lucky enough to be there an hour or
so before sunset too so the lighting was super pretty.<o:p></o:p><br />
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Along the trail I finally had to give in to one of my random
curiosities. There are many different
types of cactus plants in Arizona but this one really intrigued me. It was little a tree that dropped these crazy
green balls completely covered in thorns.
Maybe the size of a golf ball but we figured out these little balls
likely rolled around in the wind and then would root themselves down in
different places. I wanted to know if I
could pick one up. The best way I can
explain my curiosity is like that of a small child that keeps getting told
“don’t touch that, it’s hot!”….until you know what “hot” is, you don’t really
know why to avoid it. So with extremely
gentle touch I put my fingers around the little ball and it quickly burrowed
itself into my fingers. I’m telling you
that little thing has a life of its own and grabs you more than you grab it. Was sort of funny, while it stung at the same
time. I had to have Mark step on it to get it to let go. One small puncture wound later, I now have a
better understanding of why you never want to come in contact with a
cactus. <br />
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Sunday was Ironman Arizona so an extremely early morning to
get up and over to Tempe before the swim start.
Having both participated and spectated the entire day of an Ironman
before it was a lot of fun. Knowing the
little tricks like watching the swim start for no more than 30 seconds and then
booking it to the nearest breakfast location before the line is out the door
and around the corner. And watching the
final athletes make and not make the swim cut off time. There was a group of 5 swimmers all coming
towards the exit in the final few seconds and all of us spectators were yelling
and cheering so loud for them to make it in time. It’s very exciting and stressful and
heartbreaking. 4 of them made it and 1
of them missed it by less than 30 seconds.
Missing the cutoff by a few minutes is one thing but missing it by
seconds is so much worse I think.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We were able to catch Brandon and Theresa all over the
course and it was fun to run into Jon and Dana along the bike course. We didn't know they were going to be out from
MN too spectating for Alex who was doing his 3<sup>rd</sup> Ironman. Only saw a couple bike crashes which weren't
anything serious. Brandon and Theresa’s
parents were out later in the day and we got to help them navigate and project
times at different points along the course.
That was fun being with them and seeing their excitement. Especially at the finish of course. Brandon finished about 15 ½ hours and Theresa
just under 16 hours which, if you’you've spectated an Ironman before, within that
final 2 hour window where the finish line becomes a huge party. Mike Reilly spends most of his time down on
the carpet pumping up the crowd and personally congratulating the athletes as
they go by. The 17 hour cut off was a
little stressful as there was a good number of finishers in that last 2
minutes. One of which was pretty much
dragged by Mike Reilly and the winning pro female. He was on his feet but I’m not sure he had
anything left to give and they were holding him up by the armpits to get him to
finish as an official Ironman.<o:p></o:p><br />
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No one crossing within the first few minutes after midnight
as we walked out of the park. The worst
is seeing someone come in within a minute or two and not be considered an
actual finisher. As we were walking back
to the car we had a heartbreaking moment.
As we crossed the bridge over the lake, the streets and paths were all
quiet and we were by ourselves. Mark all
of a sudden stopped, gasped and pointed down to the path below. This was probably 10 minutes after the race
was over and right about the 23 mile mark was two people walking with a lady
who you could tell was shuffling one foot in front of the other as much as she
could but at a painfully slow pace. She
was an athlete still heading for the finish line. Probably not set to get there until an hour
after it was all over. Part of me
wanted to go down there and walk with her to help get her there and the other
part of me just wanted to see her continue slowly off down the path on her own
journey to that finish line. She wasn't
alone so I wasn't worried about her, just heartbroken for her since she spent
all day out there like most other athletes did but at the finish line wouldn't’t
be a crowd, wouldn't be music, no Mike Reilly, no one telling her she’s an
Ironman. That’s one of the harsh
realities of the race.<o:p></o:p></div>
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After a weekend with a lot of trail running and triathlon
focus, it does make me start to ponder again what our race schedule for 2014
will be like. It will continue to depend
on our business schedule as we’re not quiet to that point yet where we are
making enough money and have paid off enough debt to stop working 24/7. Business is really doing very well but until
something miraculous happens and we bust the street-rat theory, we just don’t
seem to have enough funds to live the life we ultimately want. (*end rant…..) Part of me is thinking we will sign up for an
ultra this year. Especially after how
much we enjoyed the trail running this past weekend. The other part of me thinks maybe we will
find our passion for morning workouts again, head back to swim and sign up for
a few triathlons. Who knows.<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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So now here we are on a plane back to the friggin’ frozen
tundra on Monday night unfortunately knowing that we both have to work tomorrow
and I have a ridiculous amount of work waiting for me on all fronts. Zap, USAT, UpTempo and RaceGuide365. It was nice though to get away from the
computer for a few days and a huge thanks to Mark’s dad for letting us stay at
his place the entire time, borrow his car and treating us to breakfasts,
lunches and dinners!<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
A few other random trip photos:<br />
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Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05118053011554488449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-7595702041947059072013-10-27T18:16:00.001-05:002013-12-15T21:31:28.860-06:00Mankato Marathon Expo and Race<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So to continue in the right direction after the TC10 mile we decided to sign up for the Mankato Half Marathon. Right after TC I was actually contacted by the Mankato group asking if we wanted to come down and have a booth at the expo again. They supposedly had received our insurance information and wanted to know if we were indeed coming. Believe me, we did NOT send our insurance information so it was just a line to contact us with but obviously it worked since we bought into a booth. They were offering half price cost and we ended up signing over 200 new emails to our RaceGuide365 newsletter list so it was worth it. Plus gave Mark a chance to chat in person with a few ZapEvent customers and potential customers. </span><br />
<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="color: lime; font-family: Arial;">In the picture you can see our new UpTempo Logo and Expo backdrop that we are very excited about. Plus we also now have a Plinko board. Draws them in like flies and all they have to do is give me their email address to play and win a prize. Value for Value!</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The keynote speaker was pretty cool too. Kathrine Switzer. If you are a marathon runner, you know who she is. (</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathrine_Switzer" target="_blank"><span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">her story</span></a><span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">) She truly paved the way for women in marathon running so it was really cool to hear her speak and then get to meet her afterwards. Mark bought me her book and we had her sign it. She's super nice, although you can tell some that she does know she's important and goes through the motions a bit when meeting her fans.</span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before the race we damn near froze to death, luckily tucking into a spot in a slightly heated bus stop. It did start to rain right before the start and at the moment I realized my iPod had very little battery charge, Mark decided he was going to run with me that day. I know he doesn't always enjoy my slower pace but it is really fun to run together in races once and awhile. Even if he insists on singing aloud, not looking like running is taking him much effort when I'm about ready to fall over I'm so tired :-P</span></div>
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<span style="color: lime; font-family: Arial;">I originally planned on running by myself but as the weather forecast became more dire ;) I decided to run with Kris and keep her sprits up during the frosty morning. I was hoping that we could run a sub 2:00 hour half and the entire race I had the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld in my head yelling "No 2's for You." I know, I am weird.</span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">IT band came on pretty strong again in the last mile. Thought it might hold out for me but the last mile was pretty painful and my stride really shortened up because of it but Mark kept me going and we crossed the finish line hand in hand. <3 data-blogger-escaped-font=""><!--3--><!--3--></span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh and it was some weird deja vu in the last 3 miles or so as we were running through the area and park that we came down to for a geocaching event a couple years ago. <a href="http://alifemorecomplete.blogspot.com/2010/09/otak-2010-geofest-bike-hike-crawl.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">The OTAK event</span></a><span style="color: blue;">.</span> </span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And it took us all of 5 seconds after getting back to our hotel room to grab a celebratory drink :)</span></div>
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<span style="color: lime; font-family: Arial;">The beer pictured is Organ Grinder from Mankato Brewery - Not bad but I came up with a new hashtag that I am going to use in the future. #drinklocal</span></div>
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I only noticed once along the course that my right toenail may be poking my other toe a bit but it quickly resolved itself and I forgot all about it. Until I went to take my shoes off to take a shower and noticed that it actually bled so bad it soaked into my shoe!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've switched to trying Saucony's and so far have liked running in them but this is an odd instance because I have never had a bloody toenail issue in my right foot. It's always been the left foot, middle toe toenail digging into my second biggest toe. This time was the same exact issue just the opposite foot.</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the way out of town Mark noticed a fun little stop:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: lime;">I love finding game shops and checking out how they are setup. Dork Den has a great name and is a really nice shop, very friendly and they introduced me to the artwork of </span><a href="http://antlucia-com.myshopify.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Art Lucia</span></a><span style="color: lime;"><span style="color: blue;">.</span> Very Cool!</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I couldn't resist stopping at the gigantic Candy store along Hwy 169 that was having their fall festival of apples and pumpkins and squash.</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> ---Oh and as I was writing this blog, we found out just how much of a chicken Rugar can be. Mark accidentally overboiled a pot of jalapeno jam on the stove and it created some major smoke and as soon as the smoke alarm went off, Rugar was beside himself and when we put him outside, he was sitting on the ground with his leash stretched out as far away from the house as he could get, shivering harder than I've ever seen him before. Our big chicken ;) Granted I found Sugar underneath the deck as well.</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-family: Arial;">In my defense, I was washing dishes when the pot overboiled. I can not comment about a watched pot but I can confirm that an unwatched pot will boil.</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398121757773217450noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-6697801715242021512013-10-17T15:58:00.000-05:002013-10-17T15:58:13.030-05:00Back to ITSo after Mark was let go from PowerObjects last May, we've been working on finding a way for him to continue in a sales position. We took a bit of a leap of faith and he accepted a position with ADT Security selling to small businesses. <br />
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<span style="color: lime;">Needless to say ADT was not the solution. Oh they talk a good game and say you can make this and that but in all honestly it is bull and they are constantly hiring because in the end it is not sustainable. Case in point, I was hired the 4th in a group of 4, I was the most successful but in the end all of them quit before I did. Others were hired after me or were supposed to start but decided better. And of those that were working before me at ADT, 3 quit while I was working there. It was a tough summer.</span></div>
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Money has been more than tight and we just can't seem to get ahead. The ultimate goal is to get out of this house, fix it up enough to rent it out and buy something much newer if not brand new and livable. This house works but it's not livable. What I mean is that we can't have people over, or use most of the space due to the dogs not having room of their own so I feel like we are missing a huge social element in our lives. I'm even embarrassed when the pizza guy walks up to the door and can see in. Problem is that all of that takes a lot of money that we just don't have yet so we are working on a savings plan (and continuing to buy lottery tickets) in the hopes that soon, very soon we can afford to make some changes.<br />
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<span style="color: lime;">Once I realized that Sales was not a consistent income solution for us, at least it did not match our goals, I decided to bite the bullet and go back to my roots and a place where I know I can make decent money. IT</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime;">It didn't take long once I posted my IT resume, I received countless calls from recruiters and on two separate occasions, recruiters asked where I had been, finding my resume suddenly in the resume pool was a shocked as my skill set sets it apart from what had been previously been out there.</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime;">At one point I had three job offers and in the end I decided to accept a position with CompuCom, the vary same company that I started my IT career with back in 1997. A little ironic to come back to IT at the same company that I got my start with. Currently I am on a patch management project for US Bank and with a little luck that will role into a long term assignment. But for now we are back on financial track for the next 4 months.</span></div>
Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05118053011554488449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-7083766959439495432013-10-17T09:47:00.001-05:002013-10-17T09:47:31.892-05:00Maverick<div style="text-align: left;">
So I don't know if I've really been too busy to write or just avoiding it. 1) because i'm on the computer all the time and don't like being on it more or 2) because the reason for this post just sucks.</div>
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As I've said time and time again, I'm sentimental and I want to have something to go back to and remember all of our memories so I'm going to get this one typed out and try to keep it somewhat brief. Mostly because I want to forget the heartbreaking details of the moments I had to say goodbye and the heartbroken days after that were as excruciatingly painful as I always expected they would be. </div>
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Maverick and Neo have been my boys for 13 1/2 years and on September 22nd, 2013 I had to say </div>
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goodbye to Maverick. He had been having troubles with inflamed intestinal disease and the doc was worried he may also have been developing pancreatitis. In the end it was a blood clot on top of it all that made us know it was time. Our vet was great and explained everything and helped us understand that we did the right thing and his chances of recovery, even if we went to the U of M and worked with specialists were less than 10% and he would be in pain.</div>
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The part that still puts a deep pain in my heart is the memory of the moments in the end. I am glad we were there and got to say goodbye and hold him and tell him I loved him but it comes with the price of the memory of when it happened and how much it hurt. I know in time I'll be able to put that all aside and remember only all the amazing love and joy he brought to my life but so far a month later it still stings.</div>
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How we used to crawl up my leg when he was just a kitten and spent some time sleeping in a Mt Dew 12 pack. When I would pick him up he'd rest his chin on my shoulder and occasionally decide to crawl up on my back. And all the cute kisses he would give me by rubbing up against my nose.</div>
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How he loved to tear apart rolls of toilet paper and paper towels. </div>
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How he insisted all TV time included him in my lap and back in my townhouse when I was working from home, I'd get home from Masters Swim in the morning and have time for us to nap together on the couch before starting work. In his later years he did the "in your face" cat thing to wake me up much earlier than the alarm to ask for attention and breakfast. And that crazy chewing thing he did with his mouth that after much discussion with the vet was assumed to be just a habit. <br />
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And how he would drink out of my glass of water by shoving his head in it. </div>
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If you are not a pet person...you are rolling your eyes right now. If you are a pet person, you get it. Neo has been doing great. We've seen a shift in her personality but for the better. He doesn't seem sad or depressed but he's been much more vocal and cuddly and enjoys being in my lap. While he can't take Maverick's place, he's doing a pretty damn good job of consoling with his cuteness.<br />
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Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05118053011554488449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-63072711757899585492013-10-16T21:30:00.000-05:002013-12-15T21:31:42.572-06:00Getting our running feet back on the road - TC Marathon weekend<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I have two races to catch up on. Feels good to be running at least a little and I think we've both come to terms with the fact that we can't be 100% "on" and training super hard right now and just need to get back running, don't care about pace and just enjoy being out there on the road or trail or whatever. </span><br />
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TC Marathon weekend we were working the expo again. We setup the ALARC booth, Mark managed our UpTempo booth and our fancy new Plinko board.</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I worked with Jamie over at the Skirt Sports booth. It was fun, I'm not the world's greatest sales person and spent a lot of my time at the prize wheel but we made a lot of sales and I got two new outfits out of the deal. (Score!!) </span><br />
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We managed to run a fairly successful TC 10 Mile. A lot of that probably has to do with the super cool weather that morning. Neither of us were in it to race by any means but just go out and enjoy it. I maybe slacked a little more than needed in the first few miles but I was unsure how the IT band was going to hold up. I felt really good in the middle miles but then the IT band started to lock up in the last two miles so it was a pain maintenance type finish.</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The coolest part was the VIP passes. Someone inside TCIM must have given them to us in our Expo packet. What they gave us was access to the VIP area at the finish line. Nice bathroom trailer, snacks, lunch and a really nice travel bag. Plus front row seats to watch the marathon winners cross the line</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We walked back to meet up with Brandon and T who were in town for about 12 hours to watch a friend run the full marathon and we caught Michael as he was nearing the finish line, smiling and sporting his Target team singlet.</span></div>
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<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-08Qaf53qvIk%2FUm19Cu6lq7I%2FAAAAAAAAAYE%2FnqlBLvEMt0w%2Fs320%2FIMG_2934.JPG&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXDk0sFaYlWIJAM74-HNDowx96PlqbCRFDuNuDPhUsrUihlS8K9ScAtkR0uGy5fhgY4r9_z_htzn99bpPfcDP6J5sls98l1zWYexjKqNx7cV8l1kWICNqTBzvqeJD8P-o5gmZ5Z4fY6O8p/s320/IMG_2934.JPG" --><!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F-5K5Nv4FSZUs%2FUm19CMeUdII%2FAAAAAAAAAX4%2FwjcCwTwIdOk%2Fs320%2FIMG_2930.JPG&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhviRrttT1Bys1ws9oNZdJfO-peBNARROs-J2IdaUIGYtpZJYEf6ztNsUdPzVakqFNF1D9olkLewthuNIkMp07LHvvz3w-3kgqjTnFbEjMjQRmnwzcuuEwJAFHuof9IkuKiVwXxzk1kK5QS/s320/IMG_2930.JPG" -->Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05118053011554488449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-20184401785196477132013-08-08T20:21:00.001-05:002013-08-08T20:21:07.022-05:00Random postSo as I've mentioned before, I need to get better at blogging short posts just to capture randomness.<br />Tonight we went over to Ronald McDonald House for a tour. What an amazing place! It's huge with beautiful rooms, kitchens, play areas, backwards, a half court for basketball, and the only remaining k-12 school left in the state!! We were very impressed at the work they do and look forward to helping them more in the future. We dropped off a donation. Even though the Skirt Chaser race didnt make money his year, we wanted to do something to show them we want to help and stay connected.<br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=13/08/08/2145.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/13/08/08/s_2145.jpg' border='0' width='300' height='400' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />Went for a run along the river afterwards and it felt pretty good. 4 miles with 2 miles a little faster in the middle. Middle miles were comfortably averages at 8:39. We both bough new shoes on clearance from Startline. With the IT band problems I've had over the past 2 years, I'm going back to a "drop" shoe. I think the zero drop stuff was causing the problems. <br />Not going to loose us to easily with these bright babies!!<br /><br />Mark has Nike and I'm in Saucony.<br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=13/08/08/2146.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/13/08/08/s_2146.jpg' border='0' width='400' height='400' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />Last night we were out at Carol's and Mark finished up power washing the deck. <br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=13/08/08/2147.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/13/08/08/s_2147.jpg' border='0' width='300' height='400' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />Sugar joined us for the night out too and is helping me supervise :)<br /><br />Supposed to have done a cross training but didnt have time. Week 2 of training for the TC 10. Basically I feel like if we can survive the TC 10 at an OK pace then I'll feel like a runner again. Winter weight is still on and stress levels have been high due to all the work/jobs going on so training is very minimal. <br /><br />Weather had been oddly (but wonderfully) fall-like for most of the summer. Fantastic for running in the morning.....or sleeping in with the windows open as we have been choosing to do.<br /><br />Hm...another random iPhone pic<br />Here's my new office space at ZapEvent. 4th move in the building since I started. This is nice though, Jeff and I share an office on the first floor where we can watch the world go by.<br /><br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=13/08/08/2148.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/13/08/08/s_2148.jpg' border='0' width='400' height='300' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone<br />Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05118053011554488449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-37155161091919648802013-07-29T21:39:00.001-05:002013-07-29T21:39:19.545-05:00Another month gone byOK you may not believe me we but I really do think about writing something on this blog every day. I want to capture the craziness of our lives right now since it will all be good memories in the future.<br />
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So I'm going to catch up by using my iPhone photos to help my memory:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIjAsmACwsEMDRdDQfiHO1OSkVcCigOid-vB-4GgnLXbCWzHMJjHC6KtAqCHa4y3_ZHn7tJhpm03UMp_nbSRqYWuJNwGLFhP-yk2G99d_Kk3HETUvxfHFZAyZWD31O4HcCOq5KMQeLexYq/s1600/IMG_2039%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIjAsmACwsEMDRdDQfiHO1OSkVcCigOid-vB-4GgnLXbCWzHMJjHC6KtAqCHa4y3_ZHn7tJhpm03UMp_nbSRqYWuJNwGLFhP-yk2G99d_Kk3HETUvxfHFZAyZWD31O4HcCOq5KMQeLexYq/s320/IMG_2039%5B1%5D.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Random cuteness of Deb and Lily's girl, Maggie</td></tr>
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End of June Mark had to be away for 4 days in Jacksonville, FL for training for his sales position at ADT. As with any all commission sales job, we both took a big breath and hoped for the best in the transition period while he got up and running. Things are a little smoother now but money still seems to continue to flow more out than in with all the projects that must be done in order for us to ever think we can look for a new house. Last check I think we are over $25k to get everything done and that we do not have :( And that's not counting us having a life or saving for a down payment on a new place. Sigh.....often a daily heartache for me searching for options and just not finding any other than attempting to win the lottery. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvl8tzA_yyJg3mf7eECzsMJfQQF6x2YM63D5hn-83m62nRjmWT9PiufBmTQ8al3k2ZshR8amv9x3jfZYkPew7N6RPi5qdrZD_k08pbNImEoNmGjiU_vMQNtiaylbgY3m52wO8i9dwqC75w/s1600/IMG_2091%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvl8tzA_yyJg3mf7eECzsMJfQQF6x2YM63D5hn-83m62nRjmWT9PiufBmTQ8al3k2ZshR8amv9x3jfZYkPew7N6RPi5qdrZD_k08pbNImEoNmGjiU_vMQNtiaylbgY3m52wO8i9dwqC75w/s320/IMG_2091%5B1%5D.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
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We both are struggling to get our motivation to really start <br />
training for anything this fall. We both are way into bad calories and Mt. Dew is often part of our diet to relieve the stress. The business has been good and we have some exciting stuff potentially rolling out soon but it's taken it's toll on us. We both have pounds to loose and lots of strength to regain. I really miss feeling like an athlete and being able to run an "easy" pace that starts with an 8:xx min/mile instead of struggling for low 9's. We are trying to plug in small races here at there to force ourselves to move again but I think 2014 will be our better year to get back after it.<br />
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We had the Pink Courage Walk for Warriors that we helped consult and manage at the end of June. I think they were hoping for more participants (which seems to be every races problem this year....and I mean everyone, even the "big guys" at Grandma's Marathon, Twin Cities in Motion and Life Time Fitness. That same weekend we also helped manage a 5K at the Mpls Convention Center for the AHA Expo that was in town. Fairly simple since it was just for their people and not anyone could sign up.<br />
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Spent an afternoon at the State Fairgrounds Orange Jeep at State Fairgrounds reviewing the Skirt Chaser course and running it as well. We happened to be there the same day as the "Petapalooza" so of course our marketing radars went up and we went cruising for potential organizations and businesses to contact for Fast and the Furry 2014. We parked near "our Jeep." Or what our Jeep will be when we can ever afford to purchase one and stick our logo on the door. Just imagine this beauty with "UpTempo Race Management" on the door :)<br />
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Finally bought a new grill after loosing our old one after the big dead tree decided to fall for what has to be the final time last fall. We were going through Home Depot and came across this one for only $200 so we made an impulse buy since it WAS the 4th of July weekend and not having a grill just felt....unAmerican. Unfortunately we only had my Dodge Charger to haul it home and in the end it took 7 Home Depot associates to figure out out to get it apart and into my trunk. 1 or 2 bolts seemed to be causing most the trouble. 4-5 of those associates spent most of their time standing around trying to say something useful to the 2-3 that were actually trying to get 'er done.<br />
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Haven't gotten the road bikes out at all but have had the mountain bikes out a couple times. We randomly took off on this ride and ended up being gone for a few hours. This is a shot from the bridges on the Luce Line trail heading west. Not sure how many miles we put on but I know our bodies weren't real thrilled with that last 7 or so miles.<br />
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This is just a cool shot from the rooftop bar at The Cafeteria in Uptown. Randomly ended up here late one night for a couple drinks and enjoyed the fresh air. Haven't gotten too many nice nights in MN this summer.<br />
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We again managed the finish line for the Mpls Tri and think we are getting pretty good with that event. The Life Time event staff seemed to have a big turnover this year but despite all the new faces, they did extremely well in the face of adversity as Mother Nature decided to flood a good portion of the bike course only hours before the start time. Two hours delayed start and no long course option anymore but I think it was still a very successful event.<br />
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I got to take my kid (Mark) to the candy store <br />
(Eden Prairie Air Expo) and saw some very cool old war planes. I'm no history buff....at all....but these things were really cool. We toured a B17, got to see a replica of the Tuskegee Red Tail and a TBM Avenger. The highlights for me were watching Mark get so excited to see all the planes and watch them fly demos around us. The other highlight was not spending $2,000 for a ride in the P51 Mustang (Tuskegee Red Tail) or $425 for a spin in the B17 but forking out a more reasonable $170 for about a half hour ride in a bi-plane over the river valley. That was super cool! End of the day, one of us remembered we were near Lions Tap so dinner was burgers and fries. Some of the best in the business if you ask me!<br />
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Look I caved again....must have confessed with this picture in a text to Mark that I caved and bought a Mt. Dew. I think if I remember right he did the same that day.<br />
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Torchlight 5k we managed the Start Line again this year too. <br />
Pretty simple, just lots to do in a short amount of time since we only have about 15 minutes from the time the road closes to get everything setup and herd the 4,000+ cats (runners) into the corral. Everything was running very smoothly until all the runners were gone and out running the course and we all realized that this year they gave plastic water bottles at the start line and now they were left ALL over the place in the start area. Hundreds of water bottles and we had no trash bags or garbage cans so we ended up throwing them all in the back of Brian Mastel's truck and unloading into the garbage later. <br />
We also had a booth space due to a marketing trade at the Torchlight finish area. Got a good amount of interest in Skirt Chaser there but registrations are not really showing that yet. We wish we were more like 200 registrations right now but currently we sit around 116 or so. <br />
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Last weekend we took off down to Blue Mounds State Park with Sugar in tow for a few days of relaxation, hiking, birding and camping. I have never been out camping with any of our dogs so it was a lot of fun to be able to curl up with Sugar at night and she seemed to enjoy that too. Unfortunately both of our hikes ended up much longer than we were anticipating so she was just beat by the end of the weekend.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtCQVGXnY3zrT_zBTWa5qhPGbIqC0Nnj_NjomjyA2G6CdBez_K6tg6F1MDX1plnFBLRq3STbYR3bF1lx_exhd-RH91N0UGmFdLBt7NtyxKetxmJfSooTB3uGge63EuAlxo345JUbhmbwLT/s1600/IMG_2228%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtCQVGXnY3zrT_zBTWa5qhPGbIqC0Nnj_NjomjyA2G6CdBez_K6tg6F1MDX1plnFBLRq3STbYR3bF1lx_exhd-RH91N0UGmFdLBt7NtyxKetxmJfSooTB3uGge63EuAlxo345JUbhmbwLT/s320/IMG_2228%255B1%255D.JPG" width="240" /></a>Got 6 new lifelist birds while we were there too. American Kestrel, Nighthawk, Western Meadowlark, Orchard Oriole, Blue Grosbeak and the Cedar Waxwing. We've really gotten into the birding thing lately. Not sure how much I've mentioned that before but it's really another fun way for us to explore the outdoors. Hoping to be able to travel a bit next year during migration to see some of the action down in Texas.<br />
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Skirt Chaser is this Saturday and it's pretty much all-consuming this week. I'm hoping we have a huge rush to have to deal with on race day but I'm not holding my breath either. We won't break even this first year so now it's just to minimize the loss. Excited to have Cities 97 and their afternoon DJ Paul Fletcher on site as our emcee but the big bucks we spent trying out radio ads to advertise the event in late June/early July I don't think really did much for us.<br />
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Pray for us..... ;)Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05118053011554488449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-55936595703353548312013-06-28T11:17:00.003-05:002013-06-28T11:17:41.866-05:00Kris - Random Post - One of my favorite songs everEvery time I hear this song I feel like quoting it. Such great advice he dishes out....<br />
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<span style="color: #a64d79;"><i><b>Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of '97.<br />Wear sunscreen.<br />If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.<br />The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience... <br />I will dispense this advice now.<br /><br />Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.<br />But trust me, in 20 years you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked... <br />You're not as fat as you Imagine.<br /><br />Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. <br />The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind.<br />The kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.<br /><br />Do one thing everyday that scares you.<br /><br />Sing.<br /><br />Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.<br /><br />Floss.<br /><br />Don't waste your time on jealousy; <br />Sometimes you're ahead, <br />Sometimes You're behind.<br />The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself.<br /><br />Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; <br />If you Succeed in doing this, tell me how.<br /><br />Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.<br /><br />Stretch.<br /><br />Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your<br />Life.<br />The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don't.<br /><br />Get plenty of calcium.<br /><br />Be kind to your knees, you'll miss them when they're gone.<br /><br />Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't, maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't, maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary.<br />Whatever you do, don't Congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either.<br />Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's. <br />Enjoy your body, Use it every way you can... Don't be afraid of it, or what other people Think of it, <br />It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own... <br /><br />Dance... even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.<br /><br />Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.<br /><br />Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.<br /><br />Brother and sister together we'll make it through<br />Someday your spirit will take you and guide you there<br />I know you've been hurting, but I've been waiting to be there<br />For you. <br />And I'll be there, just tell me now, whenever I can. <br />Everybody's free.<br /><br />Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good.<br /><br />Be nice to your siblings; <br />They are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.<br /><br />Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. <br />Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.<br /><br />Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; <br />Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.<br /><br />Travel.<br /><br />Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will Philander, you too will get old, and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.<br /><br />Respect your elders.<br /><br />Don't expect anyone else to support you. <br />Maybe you have a trust fund, Maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.<br /><br />Don't mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.<br /><br />Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.<br /><br />But trust me on the sunscreen... <br /><br />(Brother and sister together we'll make it through<br />Someday your spirit will take you and guide you there<br />I know you've been hurting, but I've been waiting to be there<br />For you. And I'll be there, just tell me now, whenever I can.<br />Everybody's free.)</b></i></span><br /><br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/b/baz_luhrmann/sunscreen.html">http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/b/baz_luhrmann/sunscreen.html</a></span>Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05118053011554488449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-40764709454152304762013-06-24T08:36:00.001-05:002013-06-24T08:36:48.249-05:00Breakfast on Marathon Morning<html><body><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 17px; margin-bottom: 17px;">
For the first time in 6 years, neither of us were running or spectating Grandma's Marathon. It was weird but nice to sleep in and just have a day to relax. Twin Gables restaurant for breakfast. Chilly morning again for a hike through Amnicon State forest to checkout the crazy flood rapids</div>
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Now we are venturing towards Ashland and stopped at a cute cafe with the real deal when it comes to biscuits and gravy. Love finding places like this with the friendly staff and patrons. Almost wish we could stop back for dinner and try the bacon-dusted fries :)</div>
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After a long drive though some forest (can't remember the name but I'll remember the ticks and Mosquitos!!!) we caught a pair of northern flickers feeding their babies and wished we had brought our Mtn bikes to your this area a bit more.</div>
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And now for a giant fish statue in Ashland WI. We found it thanks to our "Roadside America" app</div>
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<p><img height="300" src="http://photo.blogpressapp.com/big_photos/13/06/23/3003.jpg" width="400" /><br />We really wanted to grill at least one night and admist the raindrops we cracked a couple drinks and enjoyed some brats, corn and s'mores. Of course....we had to make it interesting... Here's Mark's Facebook post about our grilling adventures:</div>
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And yes my formatting is yuck....they haven't quite gotten the "- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone" figured out. Was thinking I could save the draft and then edit back on my PC but I can only do it in html. Not ideal so please ignore my formatting :)</div>
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</body></html>Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05118053011554488449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-74606168485753040662013-06-24T08:32:00.000-05:002013-06-24T08:32:15.815-05:00Duluth in the fog<html><body><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 17px; margin-bottom: 17px;">
Almost forgot...here's a cool iPhone pic I got of a spider web. Love the foggy lift bridge in the background</div>
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Oh..and Mark playing a new game from Angry Birds. Something about Vikings</div>
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Oh and "Riding the Storm Out" is playing in the restaurant. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>How fitting for our evening :-P</div>
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Location:<a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Canal%20Park%20Dr,Duluth,United%20States%4046.780088%2C-92.092950&z=10">Canal Park Dr,Duluth,United States</a></div>
Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05118053011554488449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-46622887610034885942013-06-20T22:15:00.001-05:002013-06-20T22:15:52.068-05:00Random back online post - Grandmas Expo<html><body><p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:17px;">Yeah im trying to find a happy medium to blogging again. I miss documenting our crazy, fun, stressed out lives so heres a random jump back into the present...</p><br /><p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:17px;"></p><br /><p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:17px;">So the expo went well today advertising the Skirt Chaser race and now we are watching a huge thunderstorm head our way. Camping may or may not work this evening...hope the seats tilt back nicely in my car </p><br /><p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:17px;">.<a href="http://photo.blogpressapp.com/big_photos/13/06/20/3407.jpg"><img align="center" src="http://photo.blogpressapp.com/big_photos/13/06/20/3407.jpg" height="400" width="225"></img></a></p><br /><p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:17px;">Yeah...those two northerly dots....that's where we are and that lingering doom is moving east-northeast</p><br /><p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:17px;"><br></br><br></br>- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone</p><br /><p style="font-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:17px;"></p></body></html><p class='blogpress_location'>Location:<a href='http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Canal%20Park%20Dr,Duluth,United%20States%4046.780175%2C-92.092715&z=10'>Canal Park Dr,Duluth,United States</a></p>Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05118053011554488449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-75001012902126733312013-01-26T09:52:00.002-06:002013-01-26T09:52:38.900-06:00Once a Lakette....Always a LaketteSomething I've been waiting years and years to hear....the Lakettes are having an alumni dance performance. <br />
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YAY!! For those of you that didn't know me in HS, I honestly can't express how much danceline and jazz/marching band meant to me. After I graduated, I did spend an extended period of time feeling quite lost and like I left behind who I was and had to start all over. <br />
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Good grief...ok the point of this blog is not to be all sobby and bleh so I'm going to move on....geez...<br />
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So over the course of a month, we had a couple two hour practices on Sunday nights. I REALLY looked forward to those practices :D And it was so much fun to be in a room of alumni from 2012 all the way back to 1974. Now let's not forget that when I was in danceline we won state my sophomore year and won again my senior year in jazz funk and took second that same year in high kick.....so I can't help that edge of competitiveness to be perfect. But right off the bat, I knew it couldn't be perfect, we all have lives scattered all over the Twin Cities so not everyone could make every practice and we only had really one day to work on formations. So I let go of caring about the little things and just enjoyed practicing again in the gym, in the cafeteria, in my kitchen, my living room. <br />
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Our performance was during an intermission at the Lakettes Dance Invitational. It brought back a lot of good, bad and indifferent memories walking through the front doors of WHS again but maybe luckily, the building has gone through a lot of changes. We all had shirts with our graduating year on the back and "Once a Lakette.....Always a Lakette" written on the front. In the end there was about 40 of us on the floor. So many of us that our kickline had to be a U shape so we all fit!<br />
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It was really exciting and fun for me to introduce Mark to something that was such a huge part of my heart and my life when I was growing up. I suppose I should have clued him in to how guys typically guy their dancer girlfriend/wife a flower ;) The crowd was SO loud for us and it gave me the chills and made me feel so amazing. </div>
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I just wish I could continue to perform as an adult. I'm not classically trained, I'm not a ballet dancer and it just seems like unless you can go out and find actual paid jobs as a ballerina or a backup dancer for JLo, the closest I'll ever get is DanceFIT class at the gym. <br />
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Ok here's the video we made:<br />
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Anyone know of an "outlet" for a precision dancer? I've often thought that maybe I could do something with the local community theaters or something but with dancing often comes singing and while I can kind of sing, I'm not up for auditioning my talents as a singer.<br />
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Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05118053011554488449noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-54516219049694345952013-01-07T13:11:00.001-06:002013-01-14T15:37:24.908-06:00Christmas and the ALARC Ice Dive 2013<span style="color: purple;">We had a great holiday season this year spending lots of time with family. Although within a two week period, I likely consumed enough food for the month of January. </span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">A quick recap of Christmas:</span><br />
<span style="color: purple;">"Santa" once again got us a really fun gift that we are looking forward to trying out this next weekend. We both got x-country skis! We took lessons in classic skiing a couple years ago and quickly learned what a great workout it would be.</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">My highlight gift from Mark was the amazingly beautiful frame that Mark put together for me of my Grandma's Marathon and Boston Marathon photos, medals, bib numbers and finisher's certificate.</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime;">This was the gift that I have been super excited to give her ever since we got back from Boston in April. A truly amazing accomplishment needs to be put on display.</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">New Year's....</span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;">As we have the past 3 years, we started the New Year with the ALARC Ice Dive. We volunteered for the event and then did our dive at around 10am. It was below zero but finally we got a year with no wind so it wasn't as bad as past years. The water is still painfully cold and every year I seem to forget how much it makes my toes hurt. That would be thanks in part to the fact that I had frostbite on them about 16 years ago so they are very prone to freezing....quickly! </span><span style="color: lime;">This makes 5 years in a row for me and I have now attained the rank of Barracuda 5 (The first salt water fish) and I am half way to earning my Shark Robe.</span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;"><br />One thing we were discussing though is that we may take a year off from the Ice Dive and then come back to continue our pursuit of the Shark robe (you get that after you dive 10 times). Mark and I have been together for 4 New Year's now and have never actually gone out to celebrate because we always have to be up super early to get to the Dive. So next year may be our skip year so we can go out someplace fun, have dinner/drinks and actually be awake at midnight :) </span><span style="color: lime;">It was already hinted at that staying out late for New Years is not excuse enough to miss the Ice Dive, so we might just have to travel somewhere to celebrate New Years.... I have always wanted to watch the ball drop in Times Square.</span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;">Things are going really well for our UpTempo business and we have a positive outlook for 2013. There is just so much going on that we do hope to find a way to get ourselves a few more hours in the day. The biggest thing weighing on my mind lately is the fact that we haven't done any type of workout in over a month now. <span style="color: lime;">(Sigh... The worst month possible, all of the food and treats associated with the Holiday season)</span> Since the Reggae Marathon. We have been turned off to actually enjoying working out since it's been so much of a hassle around our super busy schedules. So I'm looking for our window of opportunity to start training again. We don't have any goals really set for racing yet this year until fall marathons so I suppose that is something we need to work on.</span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;">Another thing I'm hoping to try to do more of this year is not only write our blog but do videos again too. We were watching a bunch of the short videos we did back in 2011 while we were doing the #Geocache365 challenge and it was so fun! Only two years ago but it's surprising even the little things we found in the videos that have changed. Sorry if this disappoints anyone but my efforts in blogging are not to entertain any of you. I just want to document our lives, the little and big things, so we have that diary to go back on. </span></div>
<br />Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05118053011554488449noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-20572380715951060972012-12-20T10:44:00.004-06:002012-12-20T11:02:29.172-06:00CATCHING UP – PART 3 - Two over-privileged Americans! And how we’ve earned the title.<span style="color: purple;">Now to explain to you how we ended up in Negril, Jamaica
today, which also happens to be our 2 year anniversary. Prior to leaving for the Boston Marathon in
April 2012 I was, as usual, signing up for random contests on Facebook and
Twitter like I normally do. Puma had a
Twitter contest: Tweet us your favorite inspirational running message and use
hashtag #inspirespeed. Will be posted at
the Boston Marathon expo and you could win a trip to Jamaica.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">So I quickly typed in “I may not be the fastest and I may
not be the strongest but damned if I’m not trying my hardest. #inspirespeed”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;">About a week after we got home from Boston I received an
email stating that I won! Holy crap
right?!!? Flight to and from Jamaica, 4
nights at an all-inclusive resort plus two entries into the Reggae
Marathon! Ironically the marathon was
December 1<sup>st</sup> and we were slated to come home on the 3<sup>rd</sup>
but my quick thinking hubby (who at the moment is laying on his bed in pain
from massive sunburn today) found a Groupon deal to extend our trip by 3 days
and allow us to stay over our anniversary <3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;">We got to Jamaica pretty late in the day and after being
encouraged to exchange some of our currency and surviving the taxi ride that
was almost 2 hours, it was very dark by time we got to Club Riu. Another lady in the taxi bus was talking
about how so many hotels and resorts don’t support the local economy but yet so
many people flock to them and won’t leave their comfort zone to go out and get
to know the real country they are visiting.
They just want everything provided for them just like at home.</span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<span style="color: purple;">After taking the taxi through tiny streets with a driver
that had little personality and seeing areas that looked much like poverty and
LOTS of people that did not look Jamaica friendly….my first impression was to
do anything BUT leave the resort. Although after a few days you realize that
Jamaicans are a very friendly people and you just have to get used to pretty
much all of them trying to sell you something.
Clothing, art, jewelry, boat rides, jet ski rides and the occasional
side deal of hash and/or “brownies.” But I’d still recommend staying in the resort
areas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;">Club Riu was great in that it was very nice and clean and
meals were 3 times a day, all buffet style that included Jamaican food along
with plenty of American staples (fries, burgers, chicken, pizza and ice cream).
I got pretty used to the 2-3x a day ice
cream treat <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span> Funny though it took both of us to figure out
how to get into our resort room. Real
keys instead of the typical key cards and you had to turn it 3x to get the lock
fully disengaged. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;">Our first full day at the resort on Friday we pretty much
took it easy, walked the beach and took a taxi over to go shopping. Breakfast buffet was great. Lots of fruit and bacon <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span> I found myself getting hooked on the yogurt
though with a few spoonfuls of granola and fruit on top. Unfortunately though the coffee was not that
great but for me it was mostly because I need Splenda and cream and all they
had was milk and sugar. Not wanting to
be in the sun a lot or drink too much (yes all drinks were also included in the
stay) it was a fairly relaxing day to just take in the sites and happily got a
few pictures of the one bird we were hoping to see. </span><br />
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<br />
<span style="color: purple;">That evening was the pasta feed and pick up
our packets. <b><i>We were supposed to have someone
arranged to pick us up but that never happened so we ended up having to pay a
taxi ($10) </i></b>There were a number of different restaurants there serving
different types of pasta dishes and while I tried a number of different kinds,
we both went back for seconds on the good ole beef lasagna. After the dinner we stayed to watch the
steel drum band for a bit and then grabbed our taxi back to the hotel. Luckily this place had in room air conditioning
that did fairly well and Red Stripe beer, bottled pop and water available at
all times. Plus an in-room alcohol
dispenser of your basic liquors. Cheap
stuff but still, it was free. Mark
enjoyed the Red Stripe a lot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;">While we did use some of the Jamaican currency at this
point, pretty much everyone took US Dollars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;">Oh and by the way sorry if I jump around but there’s a lot
to remember as I’m writing this post-trip on the flight home. Flying AA which is great but I’m craving a
cookie…..Brandon…… <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;">Sleeping was ok although you had to get used to their
birds. It was some kind of black bird
that basically sounded like a chirping alarm all night long. Marathon morning was a 3-something AM wake up
call. It was over 70 degrees at the
start with about 1,000 people all starting at the same time either doing the
full, half or 10k. It was completely
dark and the leadout had a bunch of people holding tiki torches so that was
cool. What I thought was funny was
instead of some really upbeat, fast-paced song blaring at “go,” it was Bob
Marley’s "Jammin" which gave me a good laugh since I felt like I
should be walking with a head bob instead of running. First 8 miles or so were pretty much dark
and consistently dotted with second-hand of marijuana. And the water stops did not have cups of
water, they were sealed plastic bags, about the size of a small bag of chips,
containing either water or Hi-Lite which is their local version of
Gatorade. You just tore the corner with
your teeth to drink it. Weird but I
found it to be nice since you could easily carry it along with you much farther
than you could a cup.</span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<span style="color: purple;">Our first sighting of the sun was at mile 9 something and it
was HOT. By mile 13 when we had to run
through the finish area for the half marathoners I was already ready to jump in
the water but we had to go out for a second loop of the course. There were just under 200 registered for the
full marathon so the course got very quiet in terms of company and as you went
along, more and more of the daily life started to spring up around us. Somewhere around mile 21 we even started
becoming second priority and were moved to the sides of the road so traffic
could flow down the middle. The heat had
us walk a number of times and unfortunately that was leading to my knee getting
quite sore so we had a lot of walk breaks and finished up at 4:35 and
change. The finish line was pretty calm
except for a few spectators and the photographers. The medals are super cool and getting a
coconut hacked open for you to drink the water was a nice touch too. Unfortunately they were out of beer by time
we finished up so Mark didn’t get any until we got back to the hotel. We stepped out into the water to cool our
legs and do our best Usain Bolt impression before we headed out. </span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;">Pretty much no vendors anywhere selling
anything or chatting with participants and no sight of PUMA anywhere
either. A little annoyed that I didn’t
even meet any of their reps or anyone since I won the trip from their contest
but oh well, their loss. Could have been
a good little plug for them with a photo and especially since I am one to blog
about things <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">After the marathon was time to get cleaned up and pass out
for the afternoon. Went to dinner at
the resort wearing our marathon shirts and medals and got lots of people
sharing stories and asking how it went.
Interestingly many of the local wait staff didn’t really seem to get
it. Kind of that “you paid money to do
this and you weren’t even trying to win?” kind of reactions. But as usual they were all very nice about it
and were just making conversation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">Sunday we were hoping to get on the Rick’s Café and
snorkeling cruise but we checked in a few times and it was booked full so we
wandered back down to the water sports area and wanted to at least book on the
snorkeling tour. Our salesman was very
chatty and helpful and just as we were about to pay, Mark mentioned that we
wanted to get on the Rick’s Café cruise and the salesman quickly said that we
could go today. Just a few minutes
before we arrived, 2 people canceled. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">So off on the cruise we were! We boarded the catamaran with about 60 other
people. 40 of which were a group from
MN. They had a wedding the day
before. There is pretty much a wedding
every day on the beach of that resort.
Our first stop was the snorkeling spot over a beautiful reef. I guess Mark and I were more adventurous as I
think we got much further away from the boat than most people did at
first. There was a really cool old
anchor and lots of fun fish. We spent a
few minutes playing with the GoPro camera too <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: purple;">Next stop was a cave you could swim in to (GoPro battery
dead at this point…damn it!) and was a location for filming of Pirates of the
Caribbean 2. Once again, Mark and I lead
the way into the cave and climbed up on to this little set of steps and you
could see there was electricity in there at one point. Probably for the movie I’m guessing. And there were bats flying around in there
too. Once back on the boat, there were
these 3 local boys that were waving at us to get our attention and then were
diving off the cliffs. Once they dove,
they would come over to the boat and ask for tips since they just “gave us a
show.” I gave them credit and a few $$. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">From there it was a longer ride over to Rick’s Café. At one point I decided to steal a good idea
from another couple and sit with our feet off the front. Big enough waves we would be touching the
water. About 2 minutes after we sat
down, 3 dolphins started swimming just ahead of us and jumping out of the
water. It was SO cool!</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<span style="color: purple;">Upon getting to Rick’s Café, we decided to grab a couple
drinks and some food and watch the cliff divers. I was thinking about jumping from the smaller
10ft or so spot but right after we ordered food, Mark had his shirt and sandals
off and was standing at the 25ft spot.
He took that one with no problem but standing at the 35ft spot I could
see he was a bit more nervous but all the liquid courage he’d been drinking up
to that point helped him over the edge ;)
During this time a couple local guys were gathering tips and if they
made it to $20 the one guy would jump from the 70ft landing. And of course he did it in diver style with a
flip in the middle. (Wonder if he
aspires to go to the Olympics?) I had a
really wonderfully fruity drink called “Sex with Rick” and we had some
appetizers before hitting the gift shop and then it was back on the boat.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;"></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKSK_ZJMnOWg-rezA9xjWPM4ysqq3IKOpo04FtOD8hOXGjSqCyCgzy4qKCahpNmJR5GRIK9QrROY_tRIlcs8nd3EUdH4n_ht5QwyQaE4oU_SBwSbBbFN3G8yipE8yvfVijjYUJFTuVpnW8/s1600/J_0256.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKSK_ZJMnOWg-rezA9xjWPM4ysqq3IKOpo04FtOD8hOXGjSqCyCgzy4qKCahpNmJR5GRIK9QrROY_tRIlcs8nd3EUdH4n_ht5QwyQaE4oU_SBwSbBbFN3G8yipE8yvfVijjYUJFTuVpnW8/s320/J_0256.JPG" width="212" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcdT0_WuKZWdHGAQ1GcucB1L3ras3xoXcB5zqFCAgk0IkMKNL_j9U7wuZO_sI7Z_ifwCCCQI1_CSqTOdIRBlMMK315FtB8XP0RTykFizNVbpr2iZ3eml0txHsr27Xd8nGt8Xayer8OwG88/s1600/J_0263.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcdT0_WuKZWdHGAQ1GcucB1L3ras3xoXcB5zqFCAgk0IkMKNL_j9U7wuZO_sI7Z_ifwCCCQI1_CSqTOdIRBlMMK315FtB8XP0RTykFizNVbpr2iZ3eml0txHsr27Xd8nGt8Xayer8OwG88/s320/J_0263.JPG" width="212" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">Cruising back I decided we should sit in front again. 5-10 minutes in I said “I hope we see the
dolphins again,” and at that very moment, there they were <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span> It was fun going back through the waves too
since many times the front of the boat dipped down far enough that our feet
were about 12 inches under water.
Sunset was behind us and there were a few clouds to make it “OK” but I’m
a bit biased in that I’m not sure the Key West sunset experience can ever be
topped. Back off the boat we stuffed
ourselves with dinner and called it a day.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">Monday we had to switch between hotels so we got packed up,
grabbed breakfast and headed out. Our
new resort was much deeper into Negril and while you could tell there were lots
of nice places to stay, it was a little more “Into Jamaica” feeling. It was a small, quiet resort on the
Cliffside. We got there and learned this
was a different type of “all-inclusive” from Club Riu. No drinks or fridge in the room and meals
were served at more specific times.
Dinner was the one that just about killed us. It wasn’t served until 7-9pm. No drinks in the rooms, no snacks in between
meals and ice cream cost extra.
Ratz….. We did get in some sun
time on the lounge chairs and some fun sunset pictures on the cliffs but no
swimming as the sea was really rough that first night.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSvQ63U2BHUf_A1PKCxueH37SBzSGafudaaLEuSzI3m93bM1RAHXW7VXvyaWsISjw8A7Y_s5yzhCIN0-0nanOnp9rQl9M839XCorqpb4y1HevXGl8IiVFElUJobEE3Q85MEY3lrVZLjGcn/s1600/J_0323.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSvQ63U2BHUf_A1PKCxueH37SBzSGafudaaLEuSzI3m93bM1RAHXW7VXvyaWsISjw8A7Y_s5yzhCIN0-0nanOnp9rQl9M839XCorqpb4y1HevXGl8IiVFElUJobEE3Q85MEY3lrVZLjGcn/s320/J_0323.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivoMvBSHAni_kdLrIduuM4sfsa-Wk8z5oSTc_1jAIX7eZ3X_3je1zeqFhMYtTQ5NomF1brUqmPSPQX9V1M04t1XSf2N5y3Z_XmyZv27-RHb3DLC3bgJQe9GQnijXGuPh4hkVKL6-8ZRLUp/s1600/J_0350.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivoMvBSHAni_kdLrIduuM4sfsa-Wk8z5oSTc_1jAIX7eZ3X_3je1zeqFhMYtTQ5NomF1brUqmPSPQX9V1M04t1XSf2N5y3Z_XmyZv27-RHb3DLC3bgJQe9GQnijXGuPh4hkVKL6-8ZRLUp/s320/J_0350.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: purple;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">I read a lot of feedback before we left on the trip so I was
prepared for the likelihood that our room would not have A/C. Which it didn’t. It was a cute space and worked just fine but
the room lights were dark, the windows didn’t close and there was plenty of
noise from animals, neighbors and the road to keep us awake most of the first
night. Oh and the beds were fairly
small and on opposite sides of the room so we actually slept in separate beds
since it was much too warm to cuddle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">Tuesday we were up early as we booked to take the Zipline
Canopy Tour. It was a long drive in the
shuttle, over an hour but our driver taught us a lot about the different things
and areas of Jamaica as we drove through.
Even taught us a little about the Jamaican language. The zip lines were a total blast as most of
the 8 lines took you out of the trees and across these beautiful open
areas. The few longer lines were fun to
run and cannonball off the platform so you got a good bounce ;) And our tour guides were hilarious, Al and
Rennie (not completely sure on that spelling but it sounded like that). What was also very entertaining was the
middle aged, not so little, hill-billy type couple that was in our group. He was just kind of goofy and always chewing
on a toothpick and she was a little ditzy and afraid of the whole thing but did
seem to enjoy herself. Once back to the
base, we bought into the Jamaican jerk chicken lunch and I entertained myself
by feeding the couple cats that were wandering about.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEIcTpAHxv_eBULSUkNvxUa8Phqih9xFb37Hwjz7EmkVWXeNVZxP19AP_1k73k4eX0nTqSVPeiJrBhz53e4epApcCAW5rUZhYkwQTaQ1RK1i82NOkvA-raVD3qh06o6jqhk6fxurmlCAxn/s1600/J_0404.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEIcTpAHxv_eBULSUkNvxUa8Phqih9xFb37Hwjz7EmkVWXeNVZxP19AP_1k73k4eX0nTqSVPeiJrBhz53e4epApcCAW5rUZhYkwQTaQ1RK1i82NOkvA-raVD3qh06o6jqhk6fxurmlCAxn/s320/J_0404.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">It was fun to see cats and dogs wandering around Jamaica but
they definitely have an over-population problem. I don’t think there is any spay or neutering
going on so it’s kind of sad too. Oh and
our driver on the way back to our resort was explaining to us why we kept
seeing so many goats along the road.
People own the goats but they just roam free and sometimes wander along
the roads for up to 3 miles away from home and then make their way back before
night. And they are really good about
staying off the road but occasionally they do get hit and the deal is, either
the owner of that goat pays you to fix your vehicle or you get to keep the goat
for meat. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">Back at the resort we were getting the munchies and I was
craving ice cream so Mark handed me a $20 and I picked up snacks. Now unfortunately this resort doesn’t deal
much with US dollars so every time we bought something, our change came back in
Jamaican. Which is worth a little less
so in my perspective I was paying more like $6.00 for a Drumstick and small bag
of Doritos.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">Wednesday was our laid back day. Got up and had a nice breakfast with coffee
that I once again just couldn’t drink without my special blend and then we
caught the shuttle over to the sister property the Legends Resort which was on
7 mile beach. Up until now I’d been
keeping the sunscreen on pretty thick but knowing today was my sun day, I kept
it fairly light. Now my mistake was in
not ensuring Mark thoroughly covered his delicate pale self. We got over to Legends about 10:30 and
bought a couple cheap snorkels and headed out into the water. 7 mile beach is almost completely sand and you
can walk out into the water a long ways and still touch bottom. We saw a few stingrays float by and tried to
grab a picture. A few areas along the
beach had good spots for finding shells so we are bringing a good load of those
home too. I didn’t realize that on the
beach amidst all the resort areas were a lot of vendors selling once again a
little bit of everything and/or trying to get you to go out on their boats
snorkeling or parasailing. And at any
given time you can find a jet ski to rent out. The largest section along the beach
belonged to Couples Resort which looked really nice but kind of quiet at the
same time so I’d have to look into that one more to see if it would be worth
staying at. By time we got back to the
Legends section of the beach, we grabbed some lunch (I fed a cat) and were in
awe of the shade of red Mark now had all over his front and back. So he pulled his chair into the shade while I
worked on my tan for a little over an hour before we had to catch the shuttle
back. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">Now for those of you in the know, you’ll know that this day
was our anniversary so we wanted to do something special. The front desk staff was super friendly and
today there was actually a guy there that seemed pretty “American” and
understood what we were looking for in a nice restaurant. He helped us pick out Ivan’s and make
reservations. He even told us to let
them know ahead of time it’s our anniversary.
We got cleaned up and had the driver take us a little past Ivan’s
restaurant to the Lighthouse on the western tip of Jamaica. We got there just in time too. Luckily the keeper was there and gave us a
little tour and took us to the top just in time to see an amazing sunset. Mark was in heaven <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">From there it was about a 20 minute walk back to Ivan’s. Not walking on these roads is something you
do carefully as the drivers are fairly…..erratic. They pass whenever and wherever, tailgate
and honk all the time. Now mind you
none of this is aggressive. It’s just
the way they drive. They honk for just
about anything – when they are going to change lanes, pass a vehicle, pass a
pedestrian, round a corner, see a friend, see if someone needs a cab, etc. And I learned along this walk that if a taxi
honks and quickly flashes their lights, they are asking if you need a cab so
you can wave them along at that point.
We got to Ivan’s which is also a resort and were very happy to see a
beautiful seating area overlooking the cliffs.
It was very nice accommodations with nice lighting and music. They had a great table setup for us and all
wished us Happy Anniversary and had little rocks in the shape of hearts on our
table. The food was spectacular. We shared the crab cakes and I had the Mango
Chicken while Mark went for the “hot” chicken penne. I gave it a try and I can’t imagine what the
“hot hot” would have been like!! We had
a couple glasses of wine and a really nice Banana flambé (with Jamaican rum) of
course before they hailed us a taxi back to the resort. </span></div>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">Settling in for the night we were certain Mark was going to
have a difficult night sleeping. I
tried not to feel guilty that I didn’t make sure he was fully coated in
sunscreen that morning but at the same time….you’d think after putting it on
every day for the last 5 days he would have thought to do it himself.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg34V-F7vRTtDaAdQ-ounVZWwOI92oHaGwcvLJ0NHKN7TQTy4NLAMurjSeJMCEAPRa8KG_XyqgsyFB4ow_bdARmKCtxveVNE7dcym_45ztnEgCQd4y1cd6u14T5qqk6dyUsOmVbBSaHlJy-/s1600/J_0476.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg34V-F7vRTtDaAdQ-ounVZWwOI92oHaGwcvLJ0NHKN7TQTy4NLAMurjSeJMCEAPRa8KG_XyqgsyFB4ow_bdARmKCtxveVNE7dcym_45ztnEgCQd4y1cd6u14T5qqk6dyUsOmVbBSaHlJy-/s320/J_0476.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">So now we are at that unfortunate Thursday where we needed
to pack up and head home. Our flight
itinerary has us leaving at 4pm so we figured we had until noon to play in the
water one last time and pack up. Luckily
it was finally a calm day so we could swim around the resort cliffs a bit. I finally got in a couple cliff jumps in the
water. Yes ladies it’s confirmed…..
about 10 ft is all it takes to hit the water and bring your bikini top to your
neck. It would have been great
snorkeling around mid-day so we were both kinda bummed we had to get going.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;"><b><i>We were supposed to have transportation to and from the airport on this
trip but the cab ride back cost us $80. </i></b>And
where things got interesting was when we tried to check in and found out our
flight was leaving right as we got there.
We didn’t get any communication that there was a change to our
flights. This information would have
been sent via email to my contact at Puma and the message was never
relayed. <b><i>So we had to pay $150 to switch
flights and an extra $12 to buy another bag so disperse our weight and not get
charged for a heavy bag fee (we didn’t find out until we took our first flight
from MSP to Miami that we had two bag charges covered with the trip that Puma
paid for so we tried to stuff everything into one. That would have been useful information to
know….) </i></b> So now instead of
already being in the Miami airport, waiting for our flight that would get us
back to MSP around 10:20pm, we are in route to Dallas/Fort Worth and won’t be
getting back to MSP until probably after midnight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">All in all we had an amazing trip and agreed we would love to
come back to Jamaica and stay in Montego Bay which is close to the airport and
a lot of the other day trips that we wanted to do (Bird Sanctuary, Dunn River
Falls and Mineral Springs and the Dolphin Cove)</span><span style="color: purple;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: purple;">And in summary:</span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: purple;">Not venturing too far from the resort</span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;">Expecting food to be readily available whenever I’m hungry</span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;">Always expecting to have a/c</span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;">Wishing everyone used American money</span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;">Expecting WiFi everywhere, for free</span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;">Wanting a little authentic food but mostly pasta, pizza and burger-like options</span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;">Being surprised when I don’t get creamer, Splenda and Sweet n’ Low with my coffee</span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;">Wishing all rooms would include windows that closed and walls were sound-proof</span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;">Would like to be left alone when I’m walking down the beach</span></li>
<li><span style="color: purple;">Somehow wishing Puma would read my Thank You and send me a check for the $252 that we weren’t expecting to spend</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: purple;"><em><strong><span style="color: yellow;">= a great trip had by two over-privileged Americans</span></strong></em> </span><br />
<span style="color: purple;"></span><br />
<span style="color: purple;">Full album of photos here: <a href="http://photobucket.com/Kuhn_Jamaica2012">http://photobucket.com/Kuhn_Jamaica2012</a></span>Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05118053011554488449noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2736069386094485400.post-51605976318128716092012-12-20T10:43:00.004-06:002012-12-20T10:43:41.775-06:00CATCHING UP – PART 2 – FOUNDING OUR NEW BUSINESS:<span style="color: purple;"></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">So back about February 2011, Mark and I were asked to direct the ALARC Legends
2011 race that would take place in June of 2011. Being part of the ALARC group we knew the
race had a lot of potential and had seen a huge decline in participation over
the past few years. Having little idea
of how to direct a race, we took on the challenge and managed to double the
participation from 60-some people in 2010 to over 120 in 2011. Only one minor hiccup with the Minnesota
Department of Health in that the pancake batter was too warm and we had to
scramble the crew to mix up an entirely new batch. Lesson learned! <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><br />
<span style="color: purple;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<span style="color: purple;">It was shortly after the race was over that Mark and I
looked at each other and knew we had stumbled upon something. We really enjoyed race directing and felt
we could make a business out of it. And
so…UpTempo Race Management was born.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.uptemporacemanagement.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_sYisR-LuB1UJZp2ZwLUR2AI0FmvPbEgEJAZ0ytBR8g1OOpt1rwoDU_pcJLTXZlmgW-Exnkm5U3zxU2xfTbspUveirRwp0qRcSm3yNd0dfBbN_FyDZi7Fz-hQvYc4BKQol6PCuK7gNKmt/s320/logo_final+(on+white).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: purple;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<span style="color: purple;">“<em>Our Passion for Racing, Working for You</em>” – that’s our
tagline and we feel it’s very important as we are not just in the business of
putting on races but we are also out there running races and understand what is
important to runners. </span><br />
<span style="color: purple;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: purple;">We’ve helped a number of race directors put on their events
and successfully managed our own production “Fast and the Furry” which raised
$10,000 for Home for Life Animal Sanctuary.
2012 will benefit The Pet Project MN and Gentle Touch Animal Sanctuary
and will once again be hosted on Harriet Island in St. Paul. The business hasn’t gotten to a point where
either one of us can quit or full time jobs but the hope is it will come in the
near future. 2011/2012 we worked with
Race Against the Odds, Shrapnel Happens, Forest Lake Calorie Burner, ALARC
Legends, Ki Chi Saga Days, State of MN Run at Work Day, Jon Francis Foundation
(brand new very successful half marathon and 8k), North Point Mpls Fit for Fun,
Shrapnel Happens 2012 and the new Races for ACES. </span><br />
<span style="color: purple;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<span style="color: purple;">I could go into novels about each one of those events but
I’ll leave that out for now as my hopes and dreams include blogging about each
one as they pass going forward.</span><br />
<span style="color: purple;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<span style="color: purple;">Fortunately we have seen much success in our first year and
a half or so but unfortunately some days it has sucked the life right out of
us. Both keeping our full time jobs
during the day and then having to spend most evenings working on the business
leaves little time for ourselves or any training. We haven’t done a triathlon in two summers
now and barely keep up our run training.
It was a lot more fun to train when you weren’t trying to cram it in
during the evening after working and also before work. The hopes is someday sooner than later I can
spend at least part time on the business which should give us back more time in
the evenings.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">PS – AND if one business wasn’t enough on the side of a full
time job…..we also launched <a href="http://raceguide365.com/">RaceGuide365.com</a> with Jeff, the owner of ZapEvent,
and hope to morph it into a useful race calendar site for both participants and
race directors throughout the Midwest.
Getting a really slow, awkward start but we’re pressing on.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Krishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05118053011554488449noreply@blogger.com0