Girl Trip! and X/C ski update

Ally and I are off to Chicago tomorrow for the American Girl Destination Tour. We will stay in a fancy hotel downtown on Michigan Ave., attend the American Girl Revue Theatre Production, and shop at the American Girl store for a doll and accessories.

I've been warned by other moms that once we get that American Girl doll, we can helplessly watch a few thousand dollars evaporate into AG outfits and accessories. It can't be that bad, can it? Any AG moms out there??? If so, I'm doomed!!! But Ally is so excited about our trip that I'm "in". She's only little for a little while and it won't be long before she's a teenager and hates me. But for now, we can get dressed up, go to a fancy restaurant, go to a show, stay in a fancy hotel, shop at the American Girl doll store, and enjoy a blissful mother-daughter relationship. I understand that we can even get her doll a school uniform that matches Ally's. Aye.

I've decided to start a workout log. I've never kept one, but reading so many other people's blogs, it sounds like you all keep one. Yesterday I ran 5.5 miles and then later skied 6.8 miles. I still lack confidence on the skis... I still fall down. Twice last night. This race I'm doing is 31 miles long, and hilly!. Last night I felt like 6.8 miles was plenty. I was soaked with sweat and dying of thirst. I have to start wearing my water belt... I just never thought about it for skiing, but I always wear it for running, and wouldn't dream of biking without water. So I will start bringing it. We were eating snow.

Anyway, IronLaura and I did stop to talk a lot, but 6.8 miles took us 80 minutes. So how long will the Birkie take us? It's so much hillier than our local trail, too. I'm actually open to a DNF, but am going to be at the starting line anyway. Going up the little hills at Elm Creek had my heart-rate pounding out of my chest. I have to hook up my new Garmin 305 (I decided to get the one with a heart-rate monitor ;-)) to find out just how hard this is on me -- especially up a hill that has about 8 inches of powdery loose snow on it. What will it be like in Wisconsin? Those of you who have done IM WI know how hilly it is in that area... It's the same hills, only on skinny little horse trails on skis. I'm doomed.

Bikin' Dirty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJnYVm4iaqc&eurl

I hope this works.

Merry Christmas! (or "Happy Seasonal Celebration"!)

It was a beautiful, noisy, quiet, exhausting, and meaningful Christmas. Yesterday my step-kids Peter and Marnie (and her hubba Ryan) came over. We exchanged gifts and ate a traditional dinner.
That's Ryan with Marnie, and Peter with Bobby and Ally.

After we ate, we all went to church. (Well, not all - Peter is an atheist and is unapologetically intolerant of Christianity, Christians, me (go figure!) - so even though we asked him to come along, just to be with us - he didn't have to pay attention or anything -- he said he had somewhere else to go. Well, OK, then... to each his own!

It was a beautiful sermon. Pastor Dan talked about how Jesus is the light of the world, and how when He came, He shined that light not on Himself, but on God, so that we would understand how great God is and know how much He loves us. One analogy Dan made that hit home for me was this: that lightness has an impact on darkness, but darkness doesn't dim lightness. In other words, the darkness can't make my candle dimmer. But if I walk into a dark room with a candle, the light will change that darkness. Relating that to myself, although I am often "unsettled" by Peter, his darkness can't impact me, and if God's light shines through me upon him, well, so be it. I (and my faith) cannot be dimmed if I am around dark people. But it is possible for my light (my faith) to change "darkness" into light.

After church we drove 50 miles to Wisconsin where Bob's brother was having another dinner. It was great to see everybody. All his neices and nephews are growing up - they're adults with "real" lives now - it's all going by so fast. It was fun to see everybody, but we had a long drive back home to get the cookies out for Santa!

I think the gifts were right on. Ally was most excited to get skates and a digital camera. That's her below hugging her camera. We were out and skating on the pond in the woods by about 9:30 this morning. Thankfully, it was covered with about an inch of snow, and the ice underneath was quite rough, so it wasn't too slick for her.... good to gain a little confidence the first time out! She wants to take lessons again, even though she has taken them twice before and dropped out.

Bob (Mr. Romance!), got me an emergency kit for my car. Blanket, flashlight, tire air, ... all the necessities. It's gotten to the point where it's funny... even to me! But where does a guy learn that girls want this stuff as a gift? After 11 1/2 years I know to put stuff I really want under the tree myself and label it, "For Jenny, From Jenny". So I got some cool boots, a couple of Gwyneth Paltrow movies, and I'm going to get myself one of those Garmins at the after-Christmas sale!


Cheers, and enjoy the holidays, everyone!

Snowy Trails to you

This morning about 15 of us ran 2 hours 10 minutes on wooded trails. It was beautiful!!! It was such a great way to wake up. Much as I love lounging around in the morning, enjoying the smell of coffee brewing, it still can't top running through the woods with my friends listening to the snow crunching under our feet. After you get home, the coffee tastes really, really good. Better, even.

I must admit I am a bit sore now, though! We probably ran 13 miles, about twice as far as I have run since IMFL. So I will admit there must be a fine line between under-training and too-little training. My joints were even getting a little ache-y the last couple miles and that rarely happens. Anyway, it was beautiful out there.

Today I need to buy the last one or two gifts that I have been putting off. My step-daughter got married this summer and I haven't bought anything for her husband, Ryan. He's a pilot about to get laid off, so he's in law school now, hoping to have something to do when the inevitable happens. It's a shame that he was only able to live his childhood dream of being a pilot for a few years. Back in the old days it was a glamorous, high-paying job. Now it's kind of like being a union bus-driver; the only difference being that you're in the air and not on the road. His salary kept getting cut, and now his hours, too, so it was wise of him to get Plan B underway before he's completely jobless.
So much for all those union dues. I'm not a big fan of unions. Kind of think they had their purpose and their day, and now they are just extorting money from the last certain workers that still have any faith in them... anyway - another topic another day. Today I need to figure out what to get for Ryan for Christmas.
Bob's meeting with some buyers today so I can't make him do it. Is a shirt lame? What about a portable GPS? I think that would be fun to have. Marnie (my stepdaughter) wanted walking shoes, so we got her those along with some stylish layering outdoor wear. Maybe Ryan would like to join her on her walks and he can tell her how fast and far they are going? Am I grasping at straws? He is so hard to shop for!

Let it snow!!!

Bobby nails me with a snowball.

Finally, FINALLY! It's December 21 -- the winter solstice -- the days will start getting longer tomorrow... and it finally snowed for the first time in Minnesota. It was a heavy wet snow, too, perfect for snowangels and snowmen.

Bob's up north ice fishing and playing poker and godknowswhatelse with his buddies for the weekend, which means I get to shovel the driveway, which is pretty much the only household chore I actually enjoy. I really should learn how to use the snowblower, because on days like today where there was a half inch of slush under the snow... let's just say I got in a two-fer workout of weights and cardio.

The kids' last day of school was today -- sweet!!!! They keep saying they can't wait for Christmas, they can't wait for Christmas, they can't wait..... Ally really wants a kitty (a real one) so we've been telling her that Bob is allergic, so she started advising us about allergy shots that Dad can get... That's the one big present that she's not getting. Bobby wants a snowboard, and will probably get it, so now I have to figure out how to NOT have Ally all upset that she didn't get her big gift when Bobby DID.... aye, aye, aye. If it were up to me, I'd get the kitty.

Short post today - gotta get out and play with my little treasures...

Triathlon Sign-up Party

I love parties. All of them. Invite me to all of them. I never get sick of them.

Steve and Helen had one on Saturday night which was a blast. Everybody brought their calendars and Steve had typed up a master spreadsheet with all sorts of fun-sounding races. It had the dates, locations, and sign-up dates on it. We could see what everybody else has signed up for, and determine what else we should register for. That's Steve in the background mixing up what sure appears to be a girly-drink.

Trimama and Taconite Boy were there - (in the hot-tub). Everybody's completely sober, as usual. Steve and Helen live on one of the 10,000+ lakes here in Minnesota. They host 6am swims every Wednesday all summer long. They put out real triathlon buoys (the big orange pyramid style ones) and we all take turns driving their pontoon one-way... most people swim across the lake and back for just under two miles.

Anyway, we are all going to Zurich to do the IM there. If you are looking for a late June race, there are still 214 spots left. I will be there along with twenty - that's right - twenty - of my friends. We are going with Endurance Sports Travel. It's a company owned by Ken Glah (he has won a few Ironmans, and he still participates, most recently in Kona just a couple months ago). Now they just take people all over the world to do Ironmans. We went with them to IM Brazil in May '06, and I swear will never do an overseas race without them - they totally ROCK. THey take care of EVERYTHING. Anyway, please join us! Marz-Racer is the only other "blogger" that I know of who is coming, but if you like me, you will love the Minnesotans that make up the Gear West Tri Club.

Temperatures soar today!

Right now it is 41 degrees is sunny Minnesota. I love living here... seems like forever ago I was whining about the cold - it's great here. Today.
This morning I ran with SCS Multisport's "group run". I usually run with Lifetime Fitness' Running Club, but my x/c ski coach is one of the owners of SCS, so I came out to give it a try. We ran on Eden Prairie's hilly trails and park-paths mostly, but got lost and tried to take a shortcut which was actually a deer trail that soon disappeared. So we were bushwhacking and crossing frozen streams, getting covered with burrs from unknown weed-y plants. .. but it was fun - just like exploring the woods as a little kid.
We ended up running for 93 minutes and averaged 9:24's. A little fast for me - I like my comfort zone and I know it as soon as I leave it, but didn't want to get left behind in the woods. I suppose it's actually good for me to leave my comfort zone occasionally. Do many of you pick a comfortable pace and just stay there? Is anything wrong with that?
Now it's off to two kids-invited parties, then a real grown-up party in Excelsior. Trimama and T-boy -- are you going to Steve-n-Helen's tonight? If so I will see you there.... ;-)

Ally and Bobby at the kids tri

Ally starts the run...

Bobby exits the swim...

Ally and Bobby at the finish - the best part is the free plastic bottle, medal and the pizza - just like for us grownups!

The kids did the Lifetime Fitness Kids Tri last summer. Ally was only five, so she and the other "little" kids swam 50 yards, biked 2 miles, and ran 1/2 mile. Bobby (8) had to swim 100 yards, bike 2 miles and run one mile. It was so adorable. These kids are INSPIRING.


During the swim in the 8 lane pool, there are 8 lifeguards - one per lane. The kids are given the option of having the lifeguard stand at the end of the lane, or get in the water with them and stay by their side. Some of the littlest kids that needed the lifeguard with them were the most inspiring because even though they struggled and had to hold onto the lane line a bit, they would NOT give up. Some would rest for what seemed like forever, but with that lifeguard by their side, they just dug in and stayed committed. Made quite a few spectators a little weepy - including me. What determination.


Bobby cut his ankle on his pedal during the bike, so he was all bloody at the finish, but he was kinda proud of it. He kept saying, "it's nothing - I'm allright". I was volunteering in transition, so I didn't even know he had finished (or was hurt) until I heard my name paged - I guess they expect the parents of bleeding kids to come to their aid. Bob (with camera) was busy looking for Ally to come in off the bike course, so neither of us even saw Bobby's finish - oops.

Brrr - temperatures dipped below zero!

Just last week it was warm enough for the kids and I to walk over to the club for dinner. But today, I know winter is really, REALLY here in Minnesota. It dipped below zero last night. And it was only 3 degrees at 11 am today when I was scheduled for my x/c ski lesson, so I canceled it. It that lame? Can I count it as only half-lame since I did get up and swim 3,000 yards this morning at the crack of dawn?

T-minus eleven weeks to race-day (American Birkebeiner) and I finally put my freestyle skis on last night for the first time - it was great! -- I only fell three times. But it was very cold.

I am SOOO glad I bought those roller-skis to practice with on the streets this fall.

I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but I am doing this ski thing with a bunch of other Ironmen who have also never skied before - we are all just learning. We figured that since we're Ironmen, how hard can a 31 mile ski marathon be. We'll find out in eleven weeks. Now I am thinking the Birkie may have been a bit aggressive - there are lots of shorter races. Why did we have to sign ourselves up for the grand-daddy of all x/c marathons? Are we really that full of ourselves? What we were thinking? I had to herringbone-walk up the "hills" which at Elm Creek are what is considered "flats" on the Wisconsin course. (Those of you who have done IM Wisconsin -- imagine x/c skiing up and down those hills. It's the same hills. ) How long is it going to take me to finish this thing? Five hours? Six? What if it's really cold like last night? and windy? My fingers and face were frozen.

I'm going to check into some extreme cold-weater gear. Some old timers had on neoprene face masks. Any of you ever used one? Does is adhere to your skin? I felt like my "turtle-fur" neck gaitor that I pulled up onto my chin was "rubbing" my skin.

Ringing for the Salvation Army

This is my daughter and our friend Greg outside of the Cub Foods in "X Suburb" (can't give the name of the town because I don't want to get the manager in trouble). We rang the bell, sang Christmas songs, and dared say..... (OK - please keep an open mind... I could get in big trouble for admitting this, but.....) we said, "Merry Christmas!" to the customers!! The manager of the store said that we could say whatever we wanted because people will complain no matter what you say and frankly he'd like to hear it a little after so many years of this greeting being censored. So we did and it felt good, too! We are clearly (and some would even say "harshly") discouraged from any public mention of God here in Minnesota, so this was quite risky behavior on our parts... but this public display of our faith was making us downright giddy....;-)

But political correctness aside, I was amazed and touched by the generosity of the patrons at Cub Foods. Roughly half of the customers put money in those red kettles. Did you know that? I would never have guessed the percentage was that high. I think it was important for my kids to see that so many fellow humans give so freely. It put us all in such a great mood.... 'tis the season.

Last night Trimama and Taconite Boy, my hubba, and 4 other friends went to the Michael W. Smith Christmas show . We had a fancy dinner at a really cool "French Mediterranean-style" restaurant beforehand in downtown St. Paul, went to the show, and then stopped back at the local tri hangout, Kip's Irish Pub. It was a lovely night - the music was beautiful, the company perfect, the trees brightly lit, the reason awesome.

Wildflower Registration Now Open!

Don't forget to register for Wildflower, registration for which opened this morning. I signed up as a member of Tri Blogger Alliance for the long course.

A New Tradition

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving! I am thankful for all of you.

My perfect Thanksgiving Day went like this: my friends Laura and Greg got up to run the Turkey Trot with me (along with over 8,000 others) around the streets of beautiful Minneapolis. If we had run it as a relay, we could have circled the globe. I am so thankful I live here in Minneapolis. This city is so beautiful, with so many fun things to do, and if you don't really love it there is another one, St. Paul, just across the bridge. Each has its own distinct personality.

On the drive home I received a text from my dear friend Mike (far left), just saying that he was thankful for me. I am thankful for him, too. What a crazy and fun friendship we have had! We've traveled to Vegas, Colorado, Chicago and other neat places for marathons, relays... Once he let me watch while he got 12 stitches in his head (playing basketball in a bar in Chicago). And he was there for me when a dear friendship of mine disolved (over my friend's new girlfriend who didn't like that he had a friend that was a girl - even a happily-married-uber-Christian-totally-square-mom-type like me). It made my day that he thought to text me on Thanksgiving morning.


After the run, Laura and I met Trimama, Taconite Boy, Hyphen Girl, and their dog "A" for coffee. As we left we all voiced that we were thankful for each other, which is just really so nice to hear! I get home and check my email, and there is one from Boomer and his wife! (Thanks!! You, too!)

Then while eating dinner with my wonderful immediate and extended family, I got a similar text from Commodore, (thanks buddy!) and so I just had to sit on the couch for a half-hour, texting my friends, too. At each name as I was scrolling down, I got to think of each person; and each one has brought something important to me. (Trimama, I love this picture of us at the start of Ironman Florida... I found it in my phone yesterday while I was busy texting!) Sorry I didn't go people watching (I mean shopping) with you this morning. After your 4 a.m. phone call (thanks for the invite, though!) I laid my still-drunk head back on its pillow.

Life is so great. YOU are all are so great. I feel so Blessed. I hope I didn't miss too many "letters" in the alphabet in my address-book ---- if so I aplogize. But I am indeed thankful for all of you in blog-land.

So this will be my new Thanksgiving Tradition. Now that I figured out the "duplicate" button it won't take quite as long, but I will truly enjoy thinking of you all when I send yours. Thanks everybody for texting back, too. It was so sweet to keep hearing the text bell ring all night as people would discover their text and hit "reply". There sure was a lot of love flying around the satellites yesterday.

mmmwaaaah!

Jenny

Tri-Night 2006

Last night was the annual end-of-season Awards Banquet in the Twin Cities. The usual Best Performance, Rookie-of-the-Year, and Age-Group awards were presented. This year we also began a new tradition of People's Choice Awards.
Cathy Lee won Most Flats.
Chad Milner won Fastest Flat Changer.
Santi Bromley won Most Gruesome Road Rash.
Laura Nyhus won Most Present Cheerleader.
Dan Cohen won Most in Need of a Map on Rides.
Kris Swarthout won Smelliest Running Shoes.
Brett Lovaas won Pees the Most in his Wetsuit.
I forget who won Most See-Through Bike Shorts, but he won a new pair of Perl Izumi's. (sp?)
I was the winner for the much coveted "Best Road-Trip Roommate", so all of you doing Wildflower with me in May can rest assured that I do not snore, hog the blankets, leave toothpaste in the sink or hair in the shower.

Trimama and TaconiteBoy were at the party so I had a beer with them, and then tried to eat T-Boys dinner.

John Shelp (my x/c ski coach) won our most sincere award "Most Embodies the Spirit of Triathlon" and he was pretty moved by that, and we were all touched by his emotion. He's had a rough, fantastic, beautiful and horrible year with his cancer diagnosis and new baby daughter. I think he and Micki have hit the highest highs and lowest lows in the span of the last 6 months.

It was a really really fun evening full of surprises and hilarious presenters. Plus it's always fun trying to identify your training buddies with nice clothes on, smelling fresh (as in "clean" fresh, not "ripe" fresh), and no sunglasses or sweaty helmet-hair.

Triathlon season is now officially, OFFICIALLY over now. It was a great year for a lot of reasons. Bring on the snow now....

Cheaters on the Course

This is a photo my buddy took while at the 70.3 World Championship in Clearwarer FL last weekend. I say we look up their race numers and post them on www.cheaters.com, just as Paul Huddle suggested (at the Mandatory Race Meeting in Panama City the weekend before. remember that commment? ... and the whole room broke out in cheers and laughter?).

Yet the next day on the bike course at Florida IM, I had never seen so much cheating in any race of any length ever. Seems the drafting issue is getting worse.

On the course at Ironman I passed a girl late in the race. She was still on somebody's wheel, as she had been when she passed me hours earlier. But now I had the tail wind and with my new disk wheel was FLYING. I finally had the chance to ask if she was still planning to call herself "Ironman" tonight even though she cheated all day. OK, after almost 6 hours of watching cheaters, I started speaking up!

This picture at the World Championship tells it all. Comm's also got an article on cheating on his site today, check it out.

Where's the snow?

Mid November in Minnesota and not a spec of snow, so I have to get my kids to ride their bikes with me around the neighborhood while I rollerski. It gets dark here by 5pm, so either we do homework OR we go around the block with mom. My hubba got home from deep-sea-fishing this evening so I got him to do their homework.
I am eager for the snow so that I can try out the actual "skiing". I've never done this x/c freestyle thing, so before I go getting confident on the rollerskis, maybe I should find out if they relate/ translate to skiing. The Birkebeiner is only fourteen weeks away. Does anybody know how may miles 51 kilometers is, anyway? Should I be concerned?

Tuesday Night Kitchen Spinning

On Tuesday nights at 6pm we set up our bikes and watch Spinervals DVDs or movies or a few episodes of Futurama.... If we move the furniture into the hall, we can fit fourteen trainers. After spinning last night we cooked dinner and then sat by the firepit and had a beer. Just this one bike session per week over last winter was SO GREAT for our tri season. When we were able to begin biking outside, we didn't have that "My-legs-are-so-out-of-shape" conditioning curve. Plus, we got to see each other all year round.

Me and Bobby

This is me with my son, Bobby. He is sweet and cute and smart and I can't even remember my life before he was born.

Jenny's "Major Award"

This is me getting my plaque for 1st place in the Athena Division.

My time was 11:48:50, by personal best.

Florida Ironman Photos

Trimama, Kahuma, Comm, Robo-Stu, Ironjenny on the Panama City Beach. T-minus 45 hours...

But I can explain...

I don't know why I am posting this picture. Somebody sent it to me and I just cannot stop laughing. He looks to be about 3-stories up on that building. Maybe it's romantic in a desperate sort of way. Anyway, it's sure funny from down here!

Ski class update

I bought those roller-skis that you see people using on the park paths all around Minneapolis a few weeks ago. I'm still pretty uncoordinated, but the learning curve is quite steep. After only 7 or 8 training sessions, I didn't fall at all this week! The American Birkebeiner is the race I will attempt - it's Feb 24th, 2007. It's 51 kilometers (30-some-odd miles). I'll be 45 and this will be my first x/c ski event ever.
The legend (as I understand it) is this: the infant King of Norway was about to be killed by his uncle, who was trying to steal the throne. So a group of birkebeiners ("skiers"?) skied in with their swords and shields, rescued the infant, and he became the rightful King of Norway. I have no idea when or if this happened in real history, but 9,000 other believers and I will ski in this infant-king's honor in just 3 months...
To this day, there are Birkebeiner races in several countries all over the world. Several die-hards actually do the whole race on wooden skies, brandishing real swords and shields. They carry fake babies in back-packs most of the race, then switch them for real babies for the last mile or so. After the babies cross the finish line, a giant Norwegian Drunken-fest is launched for the 9,000-odd skiers. That was all I needed to hear. Drunken-anything is a good enough event for me and my pals. We signed up before we actually bought any of the equipment. Which, by the way, is kind of pricey!!!
We don't have any snow yet, but it's only November 11th in Minnesota.... I'd kind of like to see what it's like on skis rather than my roller-skate-skis... but I guess we all have to wait.
My coach, John, has been working with me weekly, and I am gaining both skill and confidence out on the park paths. Just so you know, John has his own struggles. In May he learned of his stage 3.5 of 4 non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He reminds me of Lance Armstrong - he is standing strong and standing down cancer. It is so inspiring just to be around him; I doubt he realizes that. Sometimes I forget he's sick because he looks so "normal". On occasion, he's really tired, but shows up for me at practice anyway. I ran my 20th marathon last month as a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He needs a cure, bad. He has two little girls under 3, and a lovely, funny, fun-loving wife.
So those of you following my ski adventure, I ask you to please pray for John. Everytime you read my blog, please pause and mention John to Him.

Me and my daughter boating last summer

This is so hard. I've never blogged before and I just can't figure out how to set this page up.

At a mock tri, and exiting the swim at Brazil Ironman 2006

hoisting my bike after finishing Ironman Brazil May '06