Swim Team

Bring on Summer.

The kids have completed pre-season after-school practices and the official season started yesterday. There are 100 kids signed up this year. Our club combined with another for swim team purposes and we have so many kids there are two practices. So every morning I am sitting around the pool from 8:45 to 11:00. Big chunk of time... but there are worse ways to spend big chunks of time.



Here Coach Damon talks to the team and gets them to stretch a little before workout.



Bobby and Ally having lunch after practice.

I took these pictures of Bobby and Ally the other day and converted them to black and white... they look so grown up!

Tonight we are having my high school Headmaster and some other people over for a reception. Even though Westminster School is located in Connecticut, there are a lot of alumni and future students that live out here (it's a boarding school). Some of the guests tonight were actually there when I was, so it will be cool to see some of my old classmates. I'll post pictures and stories later.

I'm in Love....!

...with South Dakota. Absolutely-crazy-I-miss-you-already in LOVE.

How did I get to be 45 years old without knowing what I was missing? Granted, I've always wanted to see Mt. Rushmore, but there is so much more than Mt. Rushmore over there.

The first thing you can't help but notice is that this area is a geologic wonder. Fabulous hillsides crumbling and sliding off their own faces, revealing sparkling teal, orange and green slate. Waterfalls just everywhere. One minute you are driving through a canyon, then you make one final turn and wham - you see nothing for miles but open ranges of buffalo grazing on ranches stretching to the next set of mountains on the horizon. It's just like the Dances with Wolves movie. Only in 360 degrees. The gentle roll of the hills are practically over-crowded with babbling brooks. Did you know that the entire town of Deadwood is a National Historic Landmark? Me either! But I can totally see why.




This is me with Holly at Mt. Rushmore. I can't imagine my life's work being something so gigantic and permanent. There is nothing else on our planet like it, except maybe Crazy Horse which is 50 times bigger and even more magnificent. I guess maybe the Great Sphinx is about as impressive... but it's sitting on the ground, not carved out of the entire face of a mountain.


This guy was just walking down the road swirling his gun like Hoss from Gunsmoke.


Here we are with a couple of cowboys.


Holly made a friend.


OK, this is pure Holly. I go in to use the bathroom about an hour after she did, and I see THIS on the floor. I freak out thinking we have some kind of animal in there. Then she just laughs and goes over and picks it up and says something like, "I love this thing - it really works!". Really... how many of you have friends that still travel with plastic toy poop?????


This was the outhouse at the start line.


Me with Holly at the start in Rochford, population 25.

One of the "houses" in Rochford. It's slapped together with scraps of wood and plastic bags. But you can't argue that the yard is AMAZING.

This girl looked like the bride of Grizzly Adams. She appeared to be running as a bandit. She sprinted like mad, then walked, then ran again, then walked. No race number, wearing canvas shorts, no bra, no pony-holder. I was guessing she lost a bet in a bar the night before. I wonder if she made it very far.

On the trail.

There was one spectator who drove all along the course and stopped every few miles to cheer people on. She became like family and we looked for her all day!

Running over another babbling brook.

Boulder, Stronger, Chris, and TriJack... this guy has your shirt!!!!!

View of Deadwood from the final resting place of "Wild Bill" Hickok and Calamity Jane.

This says "Courtesy of Tri-Club".... didn't know they had one of those in Deadwood.

From the "Weird..." file. This is a wreath made from human hair.

...It's on display next to a two headed lamb and a dinosaur skull.

The famous Bullock Hotel that Holly was too chicken to stay in with me because it's haunted - even featured on Unsolved Mysteries. So we stayed a block away at the Bullock's "Branch House".

The small orange square brick building is the Branch House of the Bullock Hotel.

So anyway, Holly wakes up last night because in the middle of the night she hears music playing really loudly. Thinking "who would be having a party this late? How rude", she rolls over, then starts thinking that um, there's no one else even staying at the Branch House that we've seen all weekend. Then she hears the sound of feet running down the hall. Maybe ten steps. Our room was at the END of the hall, and there were only two other rooms on our hallway, then you hit the steep and skinny stairs. It wouldn't take anywhere near ten steps to run down our hall way. Anyway, she didn't hear a door open or shut. So who ran down the hall, and where did they go, and why did it take so many steps? There were only a couple of rooms at this Branch hotel, and truthfully, we did not see anyone other than ourselves the whole weekend. Only 350 runners did the marathon, anyway.

Hmmmm.

Main Street in Deadwood.

The mirror where a lot of people have seen ghostly images. You can see scratch marks on the mirror, and I am telling you truthfully - there were no marks on this mirror. Not until I loaded them on my computer. I have several pictures - the all have these scratch marks, but in one picture they are shaped like the letter "A". Quite different than the way the marks look in this picture. Interesting.

I will be going back there for a week in August with Bob and the kids. There is so much to do that they will love:

1- pan for gold (seriously!)

2- visit the many caverns and caves

3- 4-story water park

4- biking on the gravel Mickelson trail - it goes right by Crazy Horse

5- visit the dinosaur graveyards

6- visit the 50 woolly mammoth graveyard

7- see the live wild west shows that are put on right in the streets in Lead, Deadwood, etc.

8- dig for fossils

9- ride horses

10- listen to some of the zillions of ghost stories told by the locals.

11- visit real ghost towns.

12 - learn about the history of the area (Bobby is a total history buff, and Bob actually majored in history)

and so on.....

Anyway, there is a race report buried in this post somewhere! Thirteen miles gently uphill, and 13 miles gently downhill. What I didn't realize was that we climbed up to an elevation of 6,225 ft. That's higher than Denver! Here in Medina we live comfortably at about, oh... 700 ft elevation.

We ran our usual pace, but found ourselves posting 11 and 12 minute miles instead! We finished in 4:47.

It was a beautiful, fun, but too short weekend.

Anybody out there been here? Were you as moved by this place as I am????

Prom Night for LLS

Steve Gunther, triathlete and president of our local chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, hosted a Prom Night party at the Marriott to raise fronds for the charity. Guests of honor were 4-year old Lucy who is in remission from her leukemia, and professional triathlete John Shelp, who is bravely, faithfully and successfully fighting lymphoma. She was diagnosed when she was two and is doing great. So is John! He actually took his final round of Rutuxin therapy a couple days after these pictures, and has posted remarkable results. He let me feel (what's left of) the lump on his neck last week and I could hardly find it!




Please continue to keep him in your prayers!

This is Steve, our host, and his wife Helen kicking it up to Twist and Shout.

And this is Jill , Dia, Laura and Jeff. Laura is demonstrating to all the doubters that she does too have the longest arm. I'm not sure what Jeff is demonstrating, but... nevertheless he has a sunny disposition!


And this is Greg and Laura with me and Bob.

And this is Laura and Jill cozying up with the Bartender. Always a smart move. Good job, girls.

And Nick with Ingrid and the-always-beautiful-inside-and-out Rachel. She's our friend who completed the Ride Across America last year in 8 days.

I'm not sure of the final tally from the silent auction and ticket sales, but it's all for a great cause! If you would like to make a donation, below is John's wife's website. If you have already made one, thank you!

http://www.active.com/donate/tntgsf/tntgsfMShelp

Yesterday's Swim

... 45 degrees, wind chill of about 40. This is as close as I got to the lake for my 1 hour swim. Jeff swam by himself, and I sat in the car and watched. Although if he were in any kind of trouble, I am still not sure if I would have gone in. I have my limits. ;-)

Fortunately I had my bike and we rode for 55 miles. It was a MN Tri Club ride and over 100 people showed up. They provided boxes upon boxes of Gel, candy bars, Clif bars, Gatorade, Fig Newtons, NutterButters... the WORKS. I can't wait to get invited on another one of their rides.

Glad to see some interest in the Jan 13th Rock-n-Roll marathon. We don't all have to stay together for the race - but we will all hang out before and after... Come on 21stCenturyMom - reconsider!

Who's in?

This is Laura's sister Sara whom I ran Fargo with last weekend. Don't we look happy? Doesn't it look like we had fun? Don't you want to run a marathon with us????!!!
;-)

I just registered for the Phoenix Rock-n-Roll Marathon on January 13th. Who's in with me?

TriDummy said he'd pace us to finish in "something under 4:00:59"...

Fargo splits

I just figured out how to get my per mile splits from my new polar... I always said I was consistent... On this flat course it shows! Here are Holly, me, Paul and Deb before the start.

1- 10:01

2 - 9:36

3 - 9:48

4 - 9:27

5 - 9:12

6 - 9:25

7 - 9:16

8 - 9:22

9 - 8:57

10 - 9:12

11 - 9:18

12 - 9:25

13 - 9:24

14 - 9:28

15 - 9:18

16 - 9:20

17 - 9:17

18 - 9:08

19 - 9:03

20 - 9:18

21 - 9:20

22 - 9:35

23 - 9:14

24 - 9:20

25 - 9:27

26.2 - 9:55

Total - 4:04:18

TriDummy's Birthday; Gear West Duathlon; FCA Huddle

Happy Birthday TriDummy! After a tough week fighting crime, TriDummy joins Trimama and TacBoy for some birthday cheer.



... it was an 80's themed party, so don't think we all dress like this everyday. Anymore, anyway.
Below is John and Micki and the girls.

And then it was up-and-at-em for the Gear West Duathlon in Orono. It was fun to show TriDummy our "hood". The course is on the same streets as many of our training rides.



TriDummy and Tac Boy did the race together, and finished together.




Tac, The Soapinator, TriDummy, and me. I volunteered on the course as trash-sweeper. I got to follow the last riders and pick up all the gu packets. Mmmm.

I found a guy that had on the same three-year-old limited-edition shirt as me:

... and then we got to introduce TriDummy to some of our local "pride". That's David Thompson in the middle, winner of the Powerman in Alabama, as well as the innaugural 101 series last month. He set a new course record at the DU yesterday. Now this is a mah-chine!

.. and this is Carrie Tollefson, who represented the US in the olympics in track. On the right is one of my favorite people, Katie McGregor. She is often the fastest 10K in the country and usually ranks in the top 10 or 20 in the world.

It was a fun race despite the 45 degree temps and howling winds.

Sunday evening I hosted the huddle for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. TriDummy was a special guest and as a true believer, was great to have him worshipping with us. At the end of the huddle, we were doing our closing prayers and when John (my ski coach that I blog about from time to time) asked for a special prayer request about his cancer treatment, TriDummy jumped out of his chair to shake his hand! He hadn't made the connection that THAT's who John sitting next to him was. It was really cute. John truly is inspiring to be around, and TriDummy really is an inspiring believer, so it was awesome that they each were so excited to know the other person they'd heard me talk about.

This morning John will sit for his FINAL 6-hour Rutuxin drip, please keep him in your prayers, too. He has improved tremendously and really appreciates your continued prayers. They are working!

Today I think we are going to get a swim and a bike training ride in. ...

Finally, IronGirlNyhus, TriNick, Greg, Steve G, TriJack and Terri O finished the 70.3 in Orlando yesterday - go check out their results!

Fargo Marathon 4:04:18

Sometime's what you don't know CAN hurt you. I just finished the Fargo Marathon today in 4:04:18. I just learned that Boston qualifying for my new age group of 45-49 was 4:00:59. That means I missed it by 3 minutes, 19 seconds. And I was feeling great the whole day; sending text messages to Benny and Nytro! Next time... TriDummy said he'll pace me at Phoenix Rock-n-Roll in January if I want. Thanks! By the way, today's his BIRTHDAY!!!

Here we are at the Expo: Rom (my friend who is moving to Dallas and TriBoomer is going to show him around and introduce him to all his running buddies), Chae, Kevin, Andrea, me, Debbie, Robert (who just decided to do IM FL with us in November in a charity slot!), Cathy, and Holly.


It was a fun race! I ran most of the way with IronGirlNyhus' sister Sarah, below. She has run two marathons now and they have both been with me - she's a great pacer and I hope to do another one with her soon. She improved her time by over 20 minutes at Fargo. Way to go Sarah!



I had hoped that Nytro would carry her phone on her first ever marathon so we could keep each other company, but it was Benny who answered all my txt's! She finished the Ogden marathon and I am sure it will be fun to read her post which will likely be about those fun-loving Mormons that hosted it! Benny - thanks for entertaining me for 26.2 miles.

I drove home right away after the race so I can get to a good friend's party. TacBoy, Trimama, and TriDummy will be at this party, so I will add to this post tomorrow with as many compromising pictures and they will let me take. Ha ha... ;-)

Been busy...

We gots lots goin' on in Minnesota!

We have a special guest in town.. none other than TriDummy himself! All the way from Nebraska! He joined us for the Ride Of Silence (a ride to raise awareness about sharing the road, and to honor cyclists who have been killed by drivers) - I know - pretty solemn way to welcome our fellow triblogger...


... and hung out with the crew....


.... and afterward, joined Trimama and TacBoy for a cold one...



Tomorrow I leave for the Fargo Marathon, but the partying will start back up on Saturday evening at Jill's birthday party. I am sure there will be pictures to post for that, too!

It's been a busy week with projects for me:

I painted Bobby's room. It used to be a baby blue. This is much better suited for a 9-year-old. He wants his furniture painted black (great choice, son!), and I will make him a headboard from leftover fabric from his drapes. I think about 10" vertical stripes, padded onto a board and just hung on the wall. His bathroom will be dark chocolate brown, like I have in the basement.



I also painted Ally's room - it used to be purple. She wants one wall covered with green vines and pink flowers. So I will make it really "busy", like a graphic fabric pattern, and add the flowers into that. Next week. She will also need her bathroom re-painted and I think I will paint it a pale avocado to coordinate with the fabric in her drapes and bedding, and the vines on the wall.



This afternoon we planted 104 new plants for the last of the landscaping. Bobby and Bob helped. It was a huge job and we saved a lot of money by digging the holes ourselves, but it was a ton of work. Not sure if it was worth it as Bob dug into a sprinkler hose and water spewed (ok, flooded) everywhere and we had to make a few frantic calls to "real" landscape people.




Hopefully these plant will survive, since they aren't guaranteed like the others because we planted them ourselves. We'll see.


I will hopefully get some good pics from the Fargo marathon on Saturday. I have Nytro's cell phone #, as she will be running the Ogden marathon while I'm running Fargo. Who wants to place bets that she DOESN'T answer her phone during the race? Do you think Benny will at least pick up?

You gotta see this to believe it

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