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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Wildflower '07

Second hardest athletic event I have ever completed. (I think it'll be a while before I can top the Birkebeiner ski marathon from February, but this was definitely the hardest triathlon ever for me). As we all kept talking about how challenging the bike course was, all I could respond was, "yeah, but how beautiful was that 360 degree view from the top of Nasty Grade?!"

The swim was a little choppy, but I felt really strong, so I was surprised when I found out my swim split was actually pretty slow for me. Oh, well. I got on my bike and then it got really bad.

I'm sure you heard that it was hilly. You heard right. Nasty Grade was a single climb that took me 29 minutes of stand/spin/stand/spin in my smallest gear to summit. We had driven it the day before, so we kind of knew what to expect, but it's different on your bike than in the car.

Once you are up there, though, all around you can see rolling hills, wild horses milling around under trees, deer foraging... That made it worth every pedal stroke, if you ask me.

I still haven't checked my official time, but TriNick txt'ed me that I had a 36 min swim; 3:30 bike; 2:21 run, so I must be somewhere around 6:30:00. Which is my PW (personal worst) for the half iron-distance, but I'm just happy to be alive right now.

Before I left Minneapolis, I had to decide which wheels to bring, and since I already had a cog set on my disc I just brought that. Huge mistake. I should have transferred a cog to a 404. But being inherently lazy, I just threw my disc in the box. So I was one of MAYBE 20 or 30 people who had disc wheels on (out of 9000).

The gusts were downright adrenaline-gushing-frightening. Even the steady non-gusting wind had me swerving all over the road. I kept apologizing to people. I had to sit upright and ride the brakes all the way down the hills, because if I picked up any speed over 30 mph I'd start losing control of my bike. Each of the 3 times I heard the ambulance I knew I had done the right thing by braking the whole way. When I coasted into transition, my brakes were screeching, because I literally had no pads left. It was ugly, but I was still alive. Praise God. And this time I really mean it!

I was so happy to be on the run, which was also hilly, but also very scenic as it was a trail run. The cheering was really nice from the spectators, and it seemed like the run was over pretty quick. Well, if you think 2:21 is quick. It seemed faster, just like the swim did. Hmmm. I need to manage my technical equipment better.

Anyway, the weekend was fun mostly because I got to meet so many of my blogger buddies. Iron Kahuna was the ultimate host. Thank you, friend.

Here are a few pics:

First we had to get on the plane. Before that, TaconiteBoy had to relinquish his "bludgeoning tool".


TriMama and IronJenny salute you with a toast. Um, we seem to have a lot of these pictures... ;-)

IronKahuna takes us for a walk on the pier where he was a lifeguard.


Then he took us to see his friend who has a nationally syndicated radio show. His name is Hugh Hewitt and he suprised us by interviewing us live on the air about triathlon and current events. It was fun!


Iron Wil and Curly Su at camp.


TaconiteBoy and Trimama set up their bikes.


Trimama on a warmup ride.


Greyhound on the ride. We cruised over to the other camp to see the other TriBloggers....


... and this is who we found!!! Bolder and Roman and the other RaceAthletes.


At Bolder's camp we saw this tent, which was Neoprene Wedgie's, that had a sign on it that said, "Iron Kahuna and Iron Wil - where are you?" It had a poster and a Sharpie marker on a string asking for our cell number to hook up with us. He came over later, so we got to meet him, too.



Iron Wil and I posed for a picture of CAF athlete Sarah Rinertson. Yes, I do know I look like a giant next to her!

Iron Wil hanging out in the RV.

Stronger demonstrates how to be the most popular girl at camp.

Greyhound wakes up to enjoy the sunrise. Check out our campsite. Thankfully there weren't any bears around. Boomer did say he heard wild pigs, and sure enough - there were candy bars that were half eaten with the wrappers still on, etc...

TriBoomer and me at camp. I just love this selfless, kind, natural born leader.

Curly Su out on the run course of the Oly. This is one of the sweetest and cutest (and talented) girls you will ever meet! I would be so proud to see Ally grow up to be just like her.

Stronger rocked the Olympic course. I think she looks so much better than the girl she is walking next to...

Kahuna, IronJenny, Stronger and her brother Chris wait for Iron Wil to cross the finish line.

It was a really fun weekend, but I think I don't need to camp again. That part was a lot of work. I loved getting to meet some of my favorite bloggers, though. I really enjoyed all of you and hope we can all meet up again for a race in the future. I'll make the hotel reservations... ;-)

Trail Mix

Yesterday was the 25K Trail Mix - it was a beautiful day, even though the two-loop course had us twice running up the back side and down the front side of the ski jump... you really only want to ever do that once, if you know what I mean. Have you ever seen the event in the Olympics called ski jumping? Well, we have one right here in the Minneapolis suburbs. It's steep. It's where the Trail Mix is held.

This is me with Mark, Maggie, and Becca - all fellow triathletes. You can see downtown in the far horizon. Tac Boy started out with Trimama, then made a cameo appearance (maybe 30 seconds) to run with me, then scooted ahead toward Marz_Racer - not sure if he ever caught him. You sure must have had a lot of social obligations Tac - everybody said you ran with them for a while, before running ahead!

I averaged a little over 10 minute miles, which was good considering it was so hilly. But this was 15 miles, and Wildflower is only 13, so it was good training for that race, which is only a couple weeks away.

The best part - I almost forgot! I got "recognized" by a fellow blogger! Julie was working the volunteer desk at packet pickup... So nice meeting you, Julie! She's the one who runs ultras... ;-)

Way to go John!!!!!

My friend and ski coach (whom I have blogged about many times) completed his first Ironman as a professional today. Proudly representing the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, John Shelp finished in 9:48:12, good for 32nd position overall.

swim: 56:26
T1: 4:29
Bike: 5:08:34 (21.78 mph)
T2: 2:47
Run: 3:35:54 (8:14 minute miles)


http://ironman.com//events/ironman/arizona?show=tracker&y=2007&race=/events/ironman/arizona&bib=13

I don't even know what to say, I am so proud of him. John's faith has not waivered one moment during his year-long battle with cancer. I am speechless, and just want to cry, so I will quote our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ:

You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. (REV 2:3)

God bless you, John. Your friends back home were also with you all day today. We love you, Micki and the girls, and are so proud and happy for you!!!

Springtime in Minnesota

Easter weekend. It was freezing. Something about Ally's parka detracts from her Easter dress. But we found all the eggs the Easter Bunny hid and then joined our friends for a beautiful Easter service at Plymouth Covenant; followed by a fabulous brunch at Greg's house.

So we were still biking inside because it was too cold. Trimama, Tac-Boy, Tim, Irongirl Nyhus... we are all being really good sports about training when the weather has jsut sucked. Maybe in a few days it will warm up.

Well, here we are a few days later. It isn't better, it's worse!!!

At least the kids like it. And it's supposed to get to the mid 50's this weekend. Yeah. Right. Heard that one before...

Tile Project Complete

The basement kitchen tiling project is essentially finished... just a bit of accessory tweeking/ shopping needed... and maybe some fabric for the window by the sliding glass door.



Before/After view from partway up the stairs.

Before/After by the bar.

Before/ After view into the kitchen. I think the cholocate colored paint is much warmer than the pale sea green I had in there before.

These two paintings were made for me by my friend Kris King. He's an amazing artist, and the colors/ textures are perfect down here. The one on the left is a man playing guitar, and the one on the right is a dove with an olive branch in his beak. The table was made by my girlfriend Stephany. It's the island of Florianopolis, Brazil, where I did an Ironman last year. It's so beautiful. She even used real pieces of sea-glass in the waves of the ocean. The bike and run courses are dotted out in gemstones.

The reason there is hardly any artwork in my new house is because I want to actually know the people who've created what's on my walls. Most of the stuff from my last house is in the storage room, although there are a couple of pieces that I can't part with which were painted by strangers... so please feel free to contribute! I promise I will put whatever you make me in a great location, where it can (and will certainly) be appreciated!

Deadwood; Still winter?; long run

Deadwood, South Dakota

I am all signed up for the Deadwood Marathon, in the hills around historic Deadwood, pictured above. It's a trail run, and we run up 13.1 and back down 13.1. I hear it's really beautiful. Holly, Chae, Brooke and I are pumped up and ready. I got my plane ticket and reserved a room in the famous Bullock Hotel. It's supposedly haunted - it has even been featured on Unsolved Mysteries! I booked room 313 - one of the spooky ones. But no one will commit to staying in it with me. (Chickens!) So we also have a room in a quaint old hotel about a half block away, which is as close as my girlfriends say they'll get to the Bullock. So here's my question for the day:

Would you stay in a haunted hotel room?

Still Winter? Arghhhhhhh....

OK, so I did get to go on a couple of outdoor rides. They were a little chilly, but that's better than (yet another) indoor spin. But this weekend it was only 38 degrees and raining, and even I have standards... ;-) So Laura, Bob and I rode what was HOPEFULLY our last indoor ride on Saturday. Snow is in the forecast for tomorrow and Wednesday, but hopefully that will be the end of it. Nice helmet, Bob... tee-hee.

Long Run

Sunday it stopped raining long enough for Laura, Mike K and I to get in our long run. I logged 20 miles and felt like a million bucks throughout as well as afterward. Don't you just love when that happens?! Every one of us needs to have that long run or bike where you just feel great and strong. It really charges up your batteries and rekindles your confidence. Mike is a guy on my running club who is the same speed as I, so we have been running together for 3 or 4 years. He doesn't believe in God, (and I do) so we always have these conversations that really make the time go by fast. It was the first time Laura has met Mike... I hope we didn't drive you crazy! (did we??)

I love peer pressure!!!

Holly, one of my "lifer"s (see Momo's post) and running buddy just called to say she wants to do the Deadwood Trail Marathon on June 3rd. It's in the Black Hills of South Dakota, (!) Thirteen-point-one miles uphill and then 13.1 back down.

Resting place of Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane; real cowboys and real Indians. Close to Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse.

I looked at my newly, actually-written-down training calendar, and that weekend is scheduled as my last long training day before IM Zurich.

So I said, okay, sounds fun.

Anyone else feeling weak to peer pressure? It'll be fun! Come on - how often in your ENTIRE LIFE will you go to South Dakota on a whim?

Boston; First outdoor ride

We took the kids to Boston for Spring Break - it was great! Bobby is really into history and it was his choice that we come here for vacation. We saw lots of historic sights and did a lot of walking, Everthing in Boston is close by, but being a city-vacation we did use lots of different kinds of transportation: plane, train, taxi, trolley, ferry, and foot, as Bobby pointed out on the way home.

Below we found Paul Revere's gravesite near Boston Common... perfect place for a family portait. (?)

This is a photo I took in Salem - the architecture is so quaint. We didn't actually meet any witches but the kids thought they saw a ghost at the birthplace of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Did you know that he changed the spelling of his name? He added the "w" because he was so ashamed of his grandfather (spelled Hathorne) who was one of the judges presiding over the trials that accused (and ultimately put to death) 19 innocent people during the Salem witch trials.

Of course the hotel pool was a hit every night. Here Ally is being a swimming fashionista.

I took this picture below because if I just told you all there was such a place as "Bunghole Liquors" none of you would have believed me:

Below is Bobby by a cannon on the USS Constitution. Amazing that ship is 209 years old and still seaworthy. They still take her out at least once and up to several times a year. Those cannons pull back 4 to 6 feet when they are fired... those sailors really needed to have their sea legs! We saw a few sailors before we boarded for the tour, and we thanked them for serving and the kids wanted to get their picture taken with them. While we were on board, we noticed they too had boarded and were engaged in a ceremony to re-enlist. I am just so grateful for the brave souls who look out for the rest of us. I love America, and being an American, and feel so blessed that only by the grace of God was I simply born here and that was all it took to be entitled to enjoy the freedom we have here, which was and has been ensured by the sacrifice and commitment and conviction of these folks and all who went bravely before them. Made me a little weepy watching them voluntarily re-enlist.

Here is Ally at Paul Revere's house, reading about his historic ride telling of the charge of the British soldiers.

Here we are having dinner in an old Boston restaurant just across the street from Faneuil Hall.

It was a busy and interesting week of history, science, architecture and most importantly: family time.

I did try to train while we were gone, but it just didn't pan out. It only took 3 strokes of the pool before it was time to flip turn, so I lasted all of 5 minutes and gave up. Then I ran on the dreadmill for 3 miles one day. That was it. But I enjoyed the rest time and my life doesn't need to revolve around triathlon. I figured I'd jump back in upon returning. So on Saturday I squeezed in 3 workouts to try and catch up. Today is Sunday, I'm pooped, and I have been drinking water, eating well, and playing with the kids. I am commited to a real, actually planned-and-written down schedule starting tomorrow.

We rode outside on Saturday... finally!! It was about 60 degrees or maybe even warmer. There are eight Zurich IM triathletes in this picture. Taconite Boy is third from the right; Marz_Racer is on the far right; Steve is fourth from right; Cliff is front and center in white jersey; Eric is 5th from left; Terri is 4th from left; I am 3rd from left; Tim is second from left.

Below is an interesting Before-and-After picture: This is why I felt so weak on the 52 mile ride yesterday, well, besides actually BEING weak from not riding as much as I should have been... On the top is my derailleur and chain. It's a little dirty, no? When I pulled that black thing out today it looked like a worm - only it was made of bike grease, salt, and sand -- all held together with hair. Gross!!!!! As we rode along yesterday, I imagine it kept picking up more snow-plow salt and sand from the freshly thawed roads. I kept getting more and more tired and started asking people if I had a flat tire. So it was only HALF my fault that I was slow and getting dropped. Oh, and maybe that I ran 17.1 before the ride. But I toughed it out and was so excited that I didn't quit and go home that I ran another 2 1/2 miles after the ride with Tim and Jesse!

Before; After