Ghosts and Pets and 5K's - Oh My.

1st 5K of 2014!

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".

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 ZapEvent 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 :) 

Home for Life

After the 5K we had to get home and get cleaned up as today was also the Home for Life 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.

As in past years, we got to visit Jonathan who Kris sponsors and some of our favorites including Stormy, Mozart and Celeste. 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.  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.

Oh and don't forget your favorite avian friends, Candy and Penelope!!  Erin was also there, she's a local runner we've gotten to know through Home for Life because she is Nike's owner and comes back often to spend time her

Ghost Peppers

So after spending the afternoon at Home for Life it was back home to get ready to meet our friend Mike  for dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings 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.

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.

The Never Ending Love I Have for the Residents at Home for Life

Kris: I wrote this up and submitted as a possible guest post to the Home for Life blog.  It's not posted there yet but I wanted to make sure and post it to my readers as well.  If you want to put your money towards a wonderful animal charity, please consider Home for Life.
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I need to start this story back a few years. I had been sponsoring a Feline Leukemia positive cat named Freeway.

He was a quiet, sweet, white cat with one blue eye and one green. We knew his time was limited but I got to give him lots of love until the end. It was a hard loss but when it was time for me to choose another cat to switch my sponsor to, another sweet white cat with one blue eye and one green stole my heart with her ridiculous amount of cuteness.



Her name was Olive and I learned from Lisa that was one of the first cats in the HFL crew. Over the years I sponsored her I just couldn’t get to see her enough as she treated my visits like she just won the kitty lottery. Always so happy and cuddly. So to cut right to it, her death was a painful loss. Her life was significantly lengthened by the care and attention she received from the Home for Life staff but unfortunately in her advanced age, an infection got the best of her very quickly.

It was hard to visit the sanctuary and not see her there but we recently made a special visit to decide who I would be transferring my sponsorship to. We spent time meeting lots of new cats and giving some love to a few that I have met many times before. I spent a day with Celeste with I volunteered at the MOA this past holiday season so she has earned a special place in my heart.

From the HFL website: Celeste was first sighted running as a stray at a trailer park in Wisconsin. Kind residents there left food and water out for her and she enjoyed and appreciated the attention. It is very likely she would not have survived had these people not reached out to her—Celeste is blind.

But you've never know it.  She gets around obstacles with ease and will come running right to me when I call her name.  And she's a serious cuddler!!  More than I've ever seen in any other cat.  She loves me to hold her and will put one paw on each shoulder and nudge my neck with her little wet nose for hours I think if I'd let her.  I’ve had a few people ask me why I didn’t choose to sponsor her but it’s only because 1) I know she already has sponsors and 2) whether I sponsor her or not, I will always go spend time with her when I’m at the sanctuary.

I had made a decision that I wanted to sponsor a cat that did not already have a sponsor. There are so many “normal” cats at the sanctuary that often get overlooked for sponsorships. They don’t have any special medical condition, unique situation or tragic story; they are just cats that need love as much as the next cat. Freeway had a horrible disease and I will always miss him. Olive, was a special cat with a special situation and I will always miss her too but now Mark and I are proud sponsors to just a sweet black cat who is a little hard of hearing.

His name is Jonathan. I didn't notice right away that he was quietly following me around. He would walk around me, give a subtle rub against my leg, then watch for an empty spot in my lap. He doesn't have any defects or known diseases, he's just a cat that was found to be deaf and found his way to Home for Life.

He's got lots of character and handsome, glowing yellow eyes. We spent a few minutes with him while Lisa was giving us his story and all of a sudden he decided the best place to perch would be on my shoulders. We have two wonderful rescue cats at home, one of who loves to spend time on my shoulders. So in that one move by Jonathan, he stole my heart. He chose us.

Live95 Concert and Christmas as Mr & Mrs Kuhn

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

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

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

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

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

That guy is actually passed out...

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

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

Miss you sweet girl!

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

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

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

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

Playing on the Wii with the nieces:

And Lily playing Silent Night on the infamous Bontempi:

Then Christmas Day was over with Mark's family:



Running:  

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

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

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

Geocaching:

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



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