Life by the Falls

Revised PR Analysis

2009-05-08T12:54:00.000-07:00

OK, thanks a lot Marty. Since you're so good at math you've pretty much ruined my marathon PR that I blogged about. How is that? I ran a 2:51:55 which betters my TCM 2008 time of 2:53:02. Well, here's how.

As I blogged about previously, at TCM 2008, I stopped for 90 seconds (I looked at my watch) for a bathroom break. So take that out, I was running for 2:51:32. This past weekend I had a much shorter bathroom break at mile 18 for 20 seconds. That means I was running for 2:51:35. Slower by 3 seconds! I didn't realize that until Marty pointed it out to me. Basically, that means if I can figure out that bathroom thing, I'm sitting on a 20-ish second PR!

Since the weather was far, far worse at TCM, what this really means is that I was slightly more fit at TCM than at La Crosse. Then again, looking at the splits (look at the chart in the previous post), I see that I ran much more evenly at La Crosse, a much smarter race.

Who knows, but I'm definitely looking forward to a solid summer of training and putting it all out there at TCM this fall!

Side running note: I had a blast last night watching Kirk, Nick and all the Team Unattached ladies run the TC 1 mile last night! Congrats to Nick and Anne on their PR's!

The men's elite race was dramatic. I won't give away the ending; you can watch it for yourself.

PR and a Podium!

2009-05-05T11:09:00.000-07:00

(thanks, Carly, for the title of this entry)

I know the 2 people who read this blog want a race report, so here you go!

I just ran the La Crosse (WI) Marathon this past weekend. I picked it because a friend was planning on running it (before an injury) and I have a lot of family down in that area, so it made a perfect excuse to get down and visit them!

I wanted to run a spring marathon just to help keep me motivated to run over the winter and not lose the fitness I had for Twin Cities in October. My training consisted mainly of mileage. I really didn't push my pace much on any of my runs, other than the occasional race (Frozen Half, Ron Dawes 25K, Rear in Gear 5K). But I did pretty well on mileage. I averaged 60+ miles per week, with a few weeks of 80 miles. I ran about 4 or 5 18+ mile runs, including a 23-mile run at Hyland Hills. The Ron Dawes 25K I ran pretty much at marathon pace (6:30) the whole way, so that was also a great training run.

All that aside, I didn't really think of the training as sufficient for a faster race than TCM. I ran TCM in 2:53:02 (read about that race here). So my rough goal for La Crosse was to come in under 3 hours. I planned to go out at a 2:50 or 2:55 pace and see where that left me after the halfway point.

Fast forward to race day:

The course was supposed to be relatively flat, but the elevation profile missed 4 large highway overpasses late in the race. I'd say in the end it was a comparable level of difficulty to Twin Cities.

And we're off! (I'm in the front row in red)

There were only about 350 marathoners and about double that for the half marathoners and relay runners. That meant there weren't a lot of people out cheering, which also meant that those that were there were more enthusiastic and moved around a lot. There were 4 VERY enthusiastic people cheering for me: Steve, Mike, Paul and Karen. I saw them numerous times, especially Mike and Steve since they followed by bike much of the way. Having them there was invaluable, especially since the crowd support was so light after the halfway point when it was just marathoners left on the course.

The start was pretty well organized, other than a ridiculously small amount of porta-johns. At the start I was asking other marathoners what time they were hoping to get, hopeful that I would have someone to run with for a ways. I found out there were 2 guys hoping to run 2:30's, and one guy hoping to run 3 hours. No 2:50'ers for me. Once we started over the bridge (an AWESOME way to start the race, really scenic), the pack fell quickly into place. The 2 2:30 guys were long gone and it was just me and some half-marathoners. I ran with 2 half-marathoners for virtually the whole first half and we all helped pace each other at 6:30's. We came through the half in 1:25 and I said goodbye to them.

The first half of the course was very residential with a lot of turns (too many turns, frankly). The second half of the course felt like an industrial wasteland. I really liked this race and I hope they improve the 2nd half and get rid of some of the industrial feeling to it.

2 miles to go!

In the second half I kept the 6:30's going for the most part, backing off a little on the aforementioned highway overpasses. With about 2 or 3 miles to go, I started realizing that I wasn't hitting the wall as badly as I usually do! In fact, I felt downright lucid. I kept my pace up, slowing about 10-20 seconds per mile and after much encouragement from Mike and Steve, I crossed the line with a PR of 2:51:55!!

My cheesehead cheering section! (Steve and Paul)

Throughout the race people kept telling me I was in 5th place overall, but I only knew of the 2 in front, so I thought I was in 3rd place. Turns out there were 2 relay runners in front of me so I really was 3rd place. That was good enough for a trophy and my 2nd place age group award netted me a nice duffel bag. Add to that a couple delicious cans of the local brew, Kul Light, and some turkey sausage and I can say the race was quite the success!

Photo credits to Mike. Thanks!

Here are my splits from this race (the 6:55 included a very short bathroom break):

1	6:25
2	6:22
3	6:22
4	6:32
5	6:31
6	6:30
7	6:30
8	6:31
9	6:33
10	6:25
11	6:37
12	6:28
13	6:33
14	6:33
15	6:34
16	6:30
17	6:42
18	6:16
19	6:55
20	6:36
21	6:31
22	6:34
23	6:40
24	6:41
25	6:52
26	6:48
26.2	1:24

I feel I ran a much smart and even race than TCM. I think I may be a little stronger from having run all that base all winter and thus was able to hold it together longer.

Here's a graphic showing the comparison between TCM and La Crosse (click for larger version):

All in all, a really fun race. I've never felt so good that long into a marathon. I felt like I stretched myself to the limit, but never cracked. Throughout the race I felt like I was running on the edge. In fact, 8 miles in I got a side stitch, but worked it out. I never felt like I could run faster, but I also rarely felt that I HAD to run slower.

I thought La Crosse did a great job with this inaugural marathon! I would suggest they choose a different route next time. I'm not that familiar with La Crosse (other than running Ragnar Relay there twice). I DO know that La Crosse sits on the most beautiful stretch of the Mississippi River and that the race only had 2 miles within site of it. I hope they can find a route that uses the river more. Also, I don't like marathons that have a relay component. There's nothing worse than having someone with fresh legs sprint by you 20 miles into the race. But other than those minor gripes, the volunteers were AWESOME, the crowd support was great for how few people ran it, and free local beer at the finish??? Fantastic job La Crosse! Pat yourself on your back!

Want to Buy My House? (blog not included)

2009-04-03T07:57:00.000-07:00

So as marriage is coming down the road, I am selling my house and Ashley and I are looking at moving to something perhaps a little more centrally located for both our jobs. I'm sad to be leaving my house and the neighborhood, but excited at the prospect of something new (with hopefully more room for a vegetable garden!)

My house is 2 blocks from the light rail, 2 blocks from Minnehaha Falls, and about a mile from Nokomis. There's no airplane noise due to the alignment of the runways. Odd, but true, and it makes it a quiet and quite pleasant neighborhood.

The best features of the home are the 2 enormous living rooms on the first floor, particularly the back one which has lots of sunlight and connects to a large wrap-around deck. 2 garage spaces and a spacious driveway make plenty of room for all your cars if you have 4 or 5. I've done a fair amount of work to the house. I installed heated flooring and tiles in the kitchen a couple years ago, and just recently we refinished the floors in the bedroom and living room. They look gorgeous. Take a look at the photos!

Also, last year I planted 4 paper birch trees in the front yard. As they mature, it will create a beautiful "room" in the front yard. A landscape architect at my firm designed it for me. Trust me, after I move I'll definitely be coming back to check on the progress of those trees, which I nurtured like my children last summer.

Here's the link again. There's an open house tomorrow from 2-4pm if you're interested. The property was placed online yesterday afternoon and it's already had 3 showings, so come and check it out quickly!

TP Update from Germany

2009-04-02T06:56:00.000-07:00

I was just going to send these photos to Ed and have him post them since TP-folding is his obsession, but that seemed like creating too much work for him. I'll just let him link to this if he so desires.

I just got back from Germany a couple days ago. Apparently folding TP is an art that is also appreciated by the Germans (or the American tourists that frequent their hotels).

I stayed at Hiltons in Berlin and Munich. As could be expected, the TP folding was nothing but classy:

Berlin TP - middle point-ish

Munich Hilton - great side point

The Berlin Hilton could work on their point, the fold wasn't quite right, but close enough. I appreciated the 45-degree angle fold at the Munich (Park) Hilton. Besides the TP, both places were phenomenal with great service.

Deeper into Bavaria, I stayed a couple nights at the Alpen Stuben under crazy Ludwig II's Schloss Neuschwanstein. Their TP folding was also nopnotch (nice point guys!), but what's up with the weird "Lady Bag" with a gun on it? I understand what the bag is for, but it was a little odd.

I'll leave you with a view from the hotel window:

If I ever have time, I'll post some more interesting photos from the hundreds that I took. No promises, however.

My turn for a Yellow Pages rant

2009-03-17T18:47:00.000-07:00

If you read Ed Kohler's blog (and if you live in Minnesota, like toilet paper, or hate Yellow Pages, then you should), you know all about how the Yellow Pages Menace is harming our environment, blighting our neighborhoods, and just generally pissing off everyone who uses the internet to find business listings.

So now it's my turn to throw some fuel on the inferno. I am preparing to move, and I've begun some cleaning to get the house ready. I have been constantly receiving Yellow Pages (from 3 providers) for 5 years, and I've never once used one. And I've never once thrown them away. In fact, for the past 3 years, I've left them to pile up on the screened-in front porch. Yellow Pages delivery folk just kept dropping them on top of books from previous years. My porch was getting a little crowded.

Well, no more! I took all my YP from the porch and from inside the house and deposited them in the recycling bin. With the YP from 3 sources (YP, Verizon and Dex) and a few White Pages tossed in there for fun, I had over 20 phone books and a brimming recycling bin. I present to you:

Check out the Johan Santana cover on the Verizon pages!

Wow, I've been really lazy for these last 5 years. I need to unsubscribe from these guys. Of course, we know that won't work.

I want me some free DQ!

2009-02-26T08:38:00.000-08:00

I'm not a journalist. I'm not above being paid for content. Yes, I'm for sale, especially when it comes to ice cream!

Go check out DQ's new deals (although I hear that depending on what you get, the deal may not be all that great - check out the comments as well).

So, according to DQ's new blog, I'm supposed to:

Write a blog post linking here about what deal you’d make with us to try our Sweet Deals for free.
Once you’ve done this, email blog@idq.com with a link to your post and your mailing address and we’ll ship you a gift card.

Well, what would I do? I'd compromise my blog!

Interested in reading about past content I wrote about DQ in Texas? Check it out here!

My love of DQ is pretty profound. I'd write more but I want to be one of the first 250 bloggers to submit this so I can get paid!

Obama: Taste of a New Generation?

2009-02-09T19:22:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty late to the game to make this observation on the interwebs, but until I Googled it, I hadn't seen anyone else remark on this. So for a moment, I thought I was observant and unique. The webs are good at making me realize I'm really not that special :)

Pepsi just rolled out its new logo a month or two ago (at least, that's when I noticed it), and the first thing I thought was, "wow, that's a total rip off the Obama logo." Then there was the Pepsi ad at the Super Bowl where we are told that every generation refreshes the world, which alludes to a changing of the guard, and I think clearly is inspired by Obama's historic election.

Turns out I'm not the first one to see these parallels (not by a long shot.) Turns out an ad blogger flagged this back in October. More here.

But who copied whom first? Slate argued in August 2008 that Obama's logo looked like Pepsi's old logo. Then Pepsi turns around and pushes the design further ripping off Obama's logo. What's next? "Obama Max" (with Ginseng of course).

(Disclaimer: I voted for Obama and I drink Diet Pepsi when it's cheaper than Coke at Target. I am not an unbiased reporter.)

2008 Recap, 2009 Preview

2009-01-05T18:22:00.000-08:00

While I don't generally make New Year's resolutions, I do usually set goals for the year (is there a difference? Probably not.) Anyway, last year, I set my goals down in this post.

sub 17:30 5K
sub 1:21 Half
sub 2:58 Boston Marathon! (a PR)
2,600 total miles run
another long trail run
run in more cities around the US

I did not run a sub 17:30 5K, a sub 1:21 Half, nor 2:58 at Boston. Failed? Not in my opinion. I PR'ed at every distance I raced from 1 mile to the marathon. In all, I had PRs at 1 mile, 5K, 8K, 10K, half marathon and the marathon. I'm most proud of my marathon improvement to 2:53. So while I didn't get that PR at Boston, I wasn't very far off, and I beat it 6 months later anyway.

I ended up running exactly 2,900 miles, far surpassing my 2007 total (which was actually 2,511. I messed up on my math last year). For a long trail run I ran the Nerstrand Big Woods half, and ran quite well for my abilities. I didn't run in many new cities in 2008, but I did log Albuquerque (and White Sands), Reno, and some new trails around Minnesota.

Here are the stats for this year (last year's stats in parantheses):

Miles Run: 2,900 (2,511)
Miles Biked: 1,697 (2,513 - I had 2 long bike trips last year)
Commutes to/from office by running or biking: 80 (80)
Different beers consumed: 279 (118 of them brewed locally, look to the list on the right)
PR's: 6 (3)

Goals for 2009:

To NOT have a running mileage goal!
To bike when I want to bike, run when I want to run, ski when I want to ski. REGARDLESS of how many miles I think I should be running.
Improve as many of my PRs as possible.
Commute by bike/run 100 times.
Drink some wine, some good beers, and not write down every freaking beer I drink.
Write a more interesting blog!

Happy New Year!

2008-12-29T13:14:00.000-08:00

This time of year means the Christmas Meisner family reunion! We gathered again this past weekend at Good Earth Village in the blufflands of SE Minnesota. Last year we frosted Christmas cookies and cross country skied. This year we once again frosted cookies but instead went sledding.

So many delicious cookies, and only 1 stomach...

Bride and groom cookies for the bride and groom!

The cousins showing their daring sledding techniques: tandem sledding (really scary actually, but lots of fun!)

My family also threw us a wonderful engagement party/shower during our weekend at the retreat center. We received many wonderful Christmas-themed gifts, mostly decorations. Everyone was very sweet and generous, and we are extremely grateful. However, I'm not sure what to make of the armless dancing snowman. It dances to the tune of Cotton-Eyed Joe. Seriously. Look at the look of amazement and wonder on our faces at this marvel of modern engineering. It actually tap dances.

Merry Beermas, I mean Christmas

2008-12-22T19:23:00.000-08:00

So I'm going on the road for a little while, which means a temporary hiatus to my near-permanent hiatus. Wait, that means I'd be taking a short break from NOT blogging. Nope, I'm just going to keep NOT blogging for the next week.

I'll have the final stats after the New Year, but as of this moment, I am at 270 beers in my 2008 beer quest. I'm drinking Great Divide's Titan IPA right now, and I have to be honest, it's not one of my favorites of the year. Too much citrus with too many hops, and a nice, thick resiny-feel. But, it's decent and it rings in at the prestigious number 270 of the year. I think the next week will be a dry week for my beer totals. I'm going to the future in-laws and they drink green-bottled beer, and I can't think of any easily-obtained green-bottled beer in Sioux Falls, SD. Maybe we can hit a micro-brew one night. And then it's post-Christmas with my family, where there are only 2 beers: Miller Lite and Coors Light.

But alas, there is far more to Christmas than drinking beer. It's a great time of family, fun and Christian fellowship (3 "f"'s??). Here's wishing you and yours a wonderful and safe Christmas!

Google Reader Recommends Me!

2008-12-21T14:29:00.000-08:00

I just logged into Google Reader to read all the blog posts I've missed over the weekend. Apparently Google Reader thinks that I should subscribe to my own blog!

If Google is recommending me, I should probably blog more than once every two weeks!

Minneapolis Bike/Running Trails - YOUR INPUT NEEDED!!

2008-12-10T20:39:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Ed for this tip.

West River Parkway, part of the fantastic Grand Rounds trail system, is finally getting a much-needed rehab. The trail is falling apart and the lighting is pretty much dangerous.

So next summer the trail will be closed for 3-4 months for a complete overhaul. The trail will be repaired, crossings will be made safer, and lighting will improve. Great, right?

Not so fast. Unfortunately, Ed reports that the running trail will be made concrete. Can I get a collective WTF??? There are 3 small concrete sections of running trails in Minneapolis that I can think of, very short segments around Nokomis, Calhoun and Isles. All 3 sections suck and I (and every runner I know) avoid those sections like the plague.

Concrete sucks, it hurts the joints. Nothing's worse than a long run on concrete.

I'd write more, but I'm wasting time that YOU could be taking action. PLEASE contact the following people with your comments (Ed, I stole this right from your post):

Nick Eoloff
Project Manager
612-230-6465
neoloff@minneapolisparks.org

Janell Wojtowicz
Communication Specialist
612-230-6414
jwojtowicz@minneapolisparks.org

Sandy Colvin-Roy - City Council Member Representing the Area
Phone (612) 673-2212
ax (612) 673-3940
Email form on website.

Scott Vreeland - Park Board Member Representing the Area
612-721-7892
svreeland@minneapolisparks.org

For more info (or "deets", if you will), please read Ed's post.

Christmas Beer

2008-12-07T18:50:00.000-08:00

So by now loyal readers of this blog are well-aquainted with my 2008 Beer Quest. I'm well into the 200's (my original goal was a mere 100 different kinds of beers in 2008).

So while I've been logging my beers on this blog (look to the right), I have offered precious few beer reviews and advice. But it's a new season which means this is the perfect time to give some winter beer reviews!

I'll start out with a previous favorite, Summit Winter Ale. This caramelly goodness was perhaps my favorite winter beer of this past winter. However, Summit changes the recipe every year, which I think is a neat idea, but their Winter Ale 2008 has fallen flat. It's a boring beer with no seasonal flavor. It's no more exciting than their Extra Pale Ale. While I like their EPA (and I find Winter Ale 2008 drinkable), it is a major letdown from last year's recipe. Anyone got a Summit Winter leftover from last year???

Next up, 2 Below from New Belgian Brewery. Pretty good, rich, caramelly beer. Everything from New Belgian is fantastic, so drink up!

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale: mmm.... seasonal flavors combined with Cascade Hops (as well as other varieties). Tis the season! (I drank a bunch of this Election Night, Celebration indeed!)

Anchor Steam Old Foghorn Barleywine Style Ale: I just polished one of these off which inspired this post, so obviously it's pretty darn tasty. Tons of alcohol, Cascade hops, and a phenomenal "mouth-feel". It's like drinking Christmas Beer Syrup. This is definitely a one-at-a-time beer.

And finally, my new favorite winter beer:

Bell's Hell Hath No Fury Ale. Caramel, more caramel with a dash of caramel. Wow, this is Summit Winter from last year taken to the logical extreme. While the $15/6-pack price should take this down a few notches (due to my cheap-ass leanings), this is one of the best beers I've ever had and it's worth every penny. It can be found at my new favorite beer store, the Four Firkins in St. Louis Park.

Enjoy the Christmas Hops!

More Fun Race Photos

2008-11-23T18:15:00.000-08:00

Since I haven't raced in a while (2 weeks!!!) and I'm not racing for a long time (4 days!) I thought I'd toss out a couple more fun race photos. Last week was a nasty photo from Victory 5K. This week, Rocky's Run 8K from earlier in November.

This was a fun race on the U of MN's course (site of the Griak Invitational). I've watched the real runners race at Griak before, so it was great to get a chance to race on the same course, albeit much more slowly.

I wanted to run sub 30 minutes for the 8K (it's on the U's golf course and it's VERY hilly, so sub-30 for me would be solid). I went out aggressively at my goal pace and went through the 4K mark in 14:56, right on target for my goal. The 5K came in around 18:30, which is a pretty decent 5K time for me on a tough course like this. But then the wheels began to wobble. I struggled through the next 1.5K, but the last 1.5K or so I hit a major second wind and cranked it in for a time of 29:30ish. (We found out later the course was short by 0.08 miles, so I estimated that I'd still be right around or just under 30 minutes on a full course).

The best part of the race was that aside from being passed by Sits-In-The-Weeds Mike (who by the way needs to blog about his freaking sub 2:50 marathon at San Anton. I'm jus' sayin') at 2K, I was never passed during the race. And even better, I passed 2 people in the last mile including someone I had been trying to catch up to all race. I paid the price the following week at the State XC meet when racing 5 times in 6 weeks (the first being TCM) finally caught up with me.

All in all, a fun USATF XC series.

Now, for the promised Rocky's Run photos:

Chris coming out of the Jimmy Johns John... Later we ate at Jimmy Johns down the street (true story)

My camo racing flats helped me sit in the weeds during the race

Other highlights from the race:

Kirk winning the MDRA Grand Prix in style during 5K
Me locking my keys in my car, in the ignition! Thanks to AAA and Nick for bailing me out

Worst Photo EVER

2008-11-16T16:30:00.000-08:00

Do not look at the photo unless you want to be momentarily blind. Nick, this photo should be your next Photo Friday winner.

Seriously, this one has it all: random chest hair, nasty hot dog (actually it was tasty), and shorts that are way too short. Not to mention the funky hair.

(taken at the Victory 5K/10K)

230

2008-11-04T10:19:00.000-08:00

230? What's that number signify, you ask? Is that my ridiculously absurd marathon goal time? Is that what time I got home from the bar last night? Nope and nope. This morning I was voter #230 in my precinct.

After 2 years of constant campaigns, billions spent, it all comes down to this simple equation: 1 person = 1 vote.

Voting was pretty smooth this morning. I got there just before the polls opened and joined the growing line. I went with my roommate who needed me to vouch for her residency. The whole voting process took about 1 hour, but there were some inefficiencies. I had to wait in 5 different lines!

Line 1: Just to get into the polling place: approximately 20 minutes
Line 2: To check in as a pre-registered voter to obtain a piece of paper so that I could then get a ballot. ~5 minutes
Line 3: Vouch for my roommate and help her register to vote. ~10 minutes
Line 4: Hand in piece of paper, receive ballot. ~2 minutes
THEN VOTE ~3 minutes (there are a lot of judges to vote for!)
Line 5: Wait to HAND IN my completed ballot. This was the longest line and most annoying. ~20 minutes

But it was all worth it for church coffee and a cinnamon bun! THANK YOU ELECTION VOLUNTEERS!! You all made the voting process smooth and enjoyable.

By the time I left, all the lines were starting to dwindle. I'm sure the post-5pm rush will be pretty big too.

So when I had finished voting, I hopped on the bike and cruised toward the office, passing churches and schools along the way that were serving as polling places. It was so neat to see democracy in action like that!

I then stopped in at Starbucks to get my free coffee for having voted, and I discovered to my dismay that I had lost my "I Voted" sticker on my bike ride. I am really bummed about that. REALLY bummed. It's weird that such a small thing as a sticker could evoke such a powerful emotional response (ok, I wasn't that distraught). It speaks to the power of voting, and to the fact that we all want to feel like we have a say in our government. That sticker represents the pride we have in our democracy. So I'll just have to live with an "I Voted" sticker on my blog.

But thank you Starbucks, you gave me free coffee even without the sticker. I applaud you, butplease don't put any stores in my neighborhood to compete with the local coffee shops!

Change

2008-11-04T02:52:00.001-08:00

If you're reading this today, and you haven't voted yet, then stop here and go vote! Unless you're reading this right after I'm posting it (5am). Then the polls aren't open. So go ahead and read this and then go vote in 2 hours.

There, that's the extent of my get out the vote efforts! Actually, Minnesota has same-day registration, and my roommate needs someone to vouch for her residency, so I'll be doing that for her. I knocked on doors and made calls for a few elections, but this is the first time I'll be sure that my efforts will actually get someone to the voting booth.

So who do I support for pres? The Fonz, who else?

Ehhhhh.......

Why Fall Rocks! (And why I already miss it...)

2008-10-23T16:08:00.000-07:00

Fall has to be the best time of year. Crisp weather, honeycrisp apples... Ok, ok, I'm a broken record on all that.

But now the nice part of fall is over. It's cold, dreary, cold, dark early, cold, brown, and cold. The leaves are gone or ugly and apples are beginning to be in short supply. With snow in the forecast for Sunday, it's time to clang the gong for fall.

However, this past weekend I had the most fantastic wrapup to my fall. I hit 3 parks (state, regional and county), and spent pretty much the whole weekend enjoying the fall colors in the 50 and 60 degree weather. Can't ask for much more!

Saturday I ran the Nerstrand Big Woods Race near Faribault. It's a half marathon and the course is on very hilly trails. It was a lot of fun and the course was beautiful with the leaves covering the ground (which made running somewhat treacherous). I headed down with Mike and Chris. Mike placed 2nd overall, Chris placed 2nd in his age group (9th overall) and I placed 4th overall. MDRA is becoming quite the force! For his efforts, Mike won free meat. Who could ask for more than that? I ran the half in 1:23:40ish, about 1.5 minutes behind the winner. It's weird running a race almost completely by yourself. But this is the kind of race where I enjoy doing that, where the terrain changes and it's scenic.

The photo below shows Mike and Chris at the start of the race, which is at a little church with a spooky cemetery. (Misty Mike earns his name).

Later Saturday I raked some leaves. OK, a lot of leaves. 12 bags! I like raking, but I HATE bagging. Especially by yourself. I need to get a big vacuum cleaner or something.

Then on Sunday, after a nice run with the guys through Lebanon Hills in Eagan, I went for a nice hike with some friends at Hyland Hills. As often as I've run, biked and skied there, I had never just hiked! We walked all around looking at the prairies and the leaves. My friends had never been there before so it was neat to see the look on their faces when they saw this hidden jewel of a park for the first time!

I love fall...I miss fall...

Apple Season is in full swing!

2008-10-12T14:52:00.000-07:00

Ah, fall is here again! And with it, comes apples. Lots and lots of apples! I've blogged about my love of apples and fall in general previously, but it bears repeating. Fall rocks. Crisp days, and Honeycrisp apples. The photo below says it all. I bought 1/2 peck of Honeycrisp and 1/2 peck of Macoun apples at an orchard yesterday, a couple Firesides at the Midtown Global Market today, and was treated to a bag of Regents in my CSA (farmshare). Good thing I like apples, because I've got some work to do to polish those off!

An interesting thing I just learned, the Honeycrisp is a cross between a Honeygold (which I knew) and a Macoun (which I didn't know)! I had never even heard of a Macoun until yesterday. Turns out I owe a lot to that Macoun apple. And as far as I can tell, 3 of the 4 apple varieties I bought were all developed here at the U of M! Can't get much more local than that!

The other thing you can tell from this photo is that I own too many knives. All the better for cutting up apples for some delicious apple crisp!

Good Luck Chicago-Bound

2008-10-09T06:28:00.000-07:00

To all my Chicago Marathon-running friends: Kirk, Anne, Marty, Deb, Mark, Rob, C-Fletch (?) and everyone else:

GOOD LUCK!!

Make sure you look like this at the finish so people think you've given it your all:

(Photo used with permission from wkphotography.com)

You all are going to have an incredible day! Make Chicago your kind of town!

And good luck to those (Drew, Jim) running Whistlestop this weekend too!

2:53:02 and a little extra motivation

2008-10-06T13:26:00.001-07:00

This is a race report I am looking forward to write!

A lot of people have made statements about how it was a great day or a crappy day with all that rain and cold temps. I'd say it was a good day. Not ideal, but much much better than we've had at Grandmas and TCM in recent years. So I'll take it! We had about 40 PRs in my marathon training group (MDRA), and I'd attribute most of that to the fact these runners had PRs just waiting for a good day.

I had pretty much the best overall race of my life! Prior to this, the best race where I ran to the best of my abilities was Chicago 2005 when I shocked myself and went under 3 hours for the first time. The best race in terms of support of friends and family was TCM in 2006, but I had a bad running day.

I pulled it all together and removed my doubts about the Twin Cities Marathon. I've never run TCM well until yesterday. I'll just give a little race recap here:

I got to the Dome around 6am to wait for all my fellow MDRA runners. It was great to see them and have the chance to wish them well. After a cool 5 minute warmup with Nick, we were ready to roll. We headed for Corrale 1 and waited for the gun (note: my only TCM complaint was that the entry into corrale 1 was too narrow, it took way to long to get in. There should be an alternate entrance from the plaza.)

I decided that I would go out with a local runner whose goal was similar to mine. I paced off him and that was a mistake. Since he is such a great racer I assumed that he would run a smart race. He might have, but he didn't run MY race. So lesson learned, run your own race. After a 19:35 5K, I knew that I had to step back 20 seconds a mile. I did so and settled into a long string of 6:30s.

The race was going very well (even though at this point I'm getting passed by a lot of runners who DID NOT go out too fast), but then at mile 12 the sky opened up. Until that point the rain was nice; after that the rain was torrential. I was stuck on the bridge over Nokomis, easily the most exposed part of the race. That was momentarily demoralizing as I feared that might last hours. 15 minutes later the rain stopped. 15 minutes after that my shoes stopped slogging and I was no worse off! Time to keep pounding the pavement. I had crossed the half at 1:24, but I knew that I would positive split based on my fast first 5K. I knew that 2:50 was still in sight, but that would be a stretch even keeping my pace consistent.

At 21 I was still feeling great, but I was quickly and immediately struck by the need to stop for a particular reason. Unfortunately I lost 90 seconds to that stop. But I jumped back on the course and was back to some pretty consistent miles and felt great (actually, felt better!)

About 23 the wheels started to become wobbly, really wobbly. My brain started shutting down and all those doubts crept back in. But I knew I had some people waiting for me at 24, and an even larger contingent at 25, and finally an even bigger group at 26. So I struggled for a couple miles, but still kept things at 7:00 pace or slightly better. When I saw that Cathedral and raced down the hill, I felt so great! I knew I had accomplished 2 goals: PR (by over 5 minutes) and I went under 2:55. That last 1.5 miles I was a little emotional. I was in a great deal of pain, but I knew that I was going to do it. And seeing my friends, family and fiance along that stretch just made it even more emotional.

After reloading on food in the corporate tent, I walked out to be greeted by my fiance (seriously, that word sounds too pretentious. I'd rather say wife-to-be.) We (slowly walked up the hill to watch the rest of the race. I got to see a lot of good friends finish, and finish well. I am SOOO happy and proud of my friends who finished their first marathons. Seeing them was even more emotional for me than my own accomplishment.

That night our running club had a celebration. It truly was an emotional one. Everyone seemed so happy, and some of the PRs that people dropped were just mind-boggling. Even those that didn't PR had good days and good runs, and were happy as well! Everyone should feel so proud for finishing and gutting out the rain. Running 26.2 is not easy (for most of us), no matter the conditions. Major props to everyone who made this accomplishment yesterday! And good luck to everyone racing later this fall at Chicago, Whistlestop or whatever marathon may come!

I'm an engineer and therefore a numbers guy. Here are some numbers for those who want to see them:

1 6:11
2 6:26
3 6:08
4 6:44
5 6:21
6 6:27
7 6:30
8 6:25
9 6:30
10 6:30
11 6:26
12 6:38
13 6:26
14 6:31
15 6:31
16 6:49
17 6:28
18 6:32
19 6:28
20 6:29
21 7:44 (6:14 without the 90 second break)
22 6:49
23 6:49
24 6:45
25 7:00
26 6:59
26.2 1:25
Final Time - 2:53:02!!!!

INSPIRATION

A lot of friends have told me that they were impressed with my race and that I inspired them. That is so touching. But first, I have to say that those friends who braved the cold and cheered me in multiple spots provided me with a lot of inspiration. Knowing that the MDRA group would be at Mile 25 made me run that mile when my legs said stop. And once I was up that hill at 25, I just HAD to keep on going to the finish!

But there's someone else that gave me some inspiration on Sunday. A coworker's brother was recently diagnosed with cancer and is battling bravely. I don't know him aside from his name, but I know his story, and I know how he is holding his head up through all the chemo and pain and hospital stays. I cannot even begin to imagine what he is going through. So when I saw that runners could wear a sticker to show their support of someone with cancer, I knew I had to "Run for" Chris. I put the sticker on and ran. I thought about him and prayed for him early in the race, but I forgot about the sticker for a good chunk in the middle. Around 21-22 I was starting to hurt and I heard someone say, "Go Chris Go!" They were looking at the sticker. I got a little choked up (like I'm getting as I type this). I remembered Chris and thought about how laughable it was that I was even thinking about my own momentary discomfort. I said a few more prayers for Chris and charged up Summit Avenue. I finished the race, and my "battle" was done for the day. Finishing the cancer battle is not exactly a luxury Chris has yet, but I pray he will beat it soon. Thanks, Chris, for providing me with extra motivation yesterday.

PHOTOS: (some people who inspired me by cheering or running THEIR first marathon)

Family and soon to be family provided phenomenal cheering and support!

Sorry ladies, we're both taken. Wait, you don't care? Well, fine then. :)

2 of my best friends, and 2 first-time marathon finishers! You guys rock!

Who needs more inspiration than this? Post-race grub!

Restaurant Review - Corner Table

2008-09-20T15:02:00.000-07:00

Last night I had a phenomenal dinner at the Corner Table, a local food restaurant at 43rd and Nicollet. This is the same intersection that boasts Anodyne, which is one of my favorite coffee shops/breakfast stops in all of Minneapolis. So it's odd that I hadn't yet tried the locally-themed restaurant across the street!

This was the perfect time of year to go, since the chefs had the most local ingredients. When I went to Heartland several months ago, local veggies were in short supply. Pretty much beets only (still quite delicious!)

For drinks they had a small but impressive list of beers and wines. Considering that Corner Table prides itself on local food, it was odd that there was only one local beer option and ZERO local wine options (Note to Corner Table: There are some good wines and lots of great beers you could highlight from Minnesota). I had two delicious beers, an Oktoberfest beer from Hacker-Pschorr that was the best Oktoberfest beer I've ever had, better than even Paulaner. Then I polished dinner off with a Belgian Kwak. My only gripe with that was that I was given the wrong kind of glass. They gave me an oddly shaped "hour-glass"-shaped glass, but not the traditional Kwak glass with wooden stand as seen here (and as served at Busters on 28th). Drinks: A- (lack of local options).

For an appetizer we split a cold app, Grilled Vegetable (see menu here) medley. For the price, I was a little surprised that it was so tiny, but the presentation (chopped up zucchini, squash, etc) in a cylindrical shape was great, and the taste was fantastic and did the job of whetting our appetite for more. Appetizer: A- (size outweighed by taste and delicious bread, probably from Rustica???)

The meal came and wow, it was superb. My date had the Vegetable En Croute, which was basically a meat pie without the meat. The crust was flaky and looked delicious, and the ingredients were local and fresh. I had the lamb. It was the first lamb I'd had in probably 7 years and it was worth the wait. It was juicy and flavorful. The orzo/corn mix was great, although a lot of the orzo stuck together. But really, it's hard to find anything wrong with this. Main Course: A++!!

The atmosphere: I got there a bit ahead of my date, and there was a nice small bar to sit at and enjoy a beer while I waited. Not much else for waiting room, but the bar was a perfect spot for that. Thumbs up! While I waited I checked out the dining options. The place had a nice, romantic, but not stuffy feel. The outdoor seating looked good, even with the busy traffic of Nicollet Avenue. While the main dining room had a great feel, we were placed in a back room that jutted off the main dining room. It was a small room with only 4 tables. When I first sat down, only 1 table was occupied by a loud and annoying couple on probably a first date. I didn't really enjoy the feeling that I was sitting at their table and in their conversation. But once the other tables filled with diners, the room became uniformly noisy and the conversations canceled each other out. Grade: B+ (A+ for the main room, C+ for the back room)

Service: Impeccable, friendly, just what I would expect for the price. Great job!

All in all, in the categories that matter most: 1) Would I recommend this place and 2) Would I return, the answer to both is a resounding YES!

I'd love to return in winter and see what local food they have.

The Key Lime Yogurt Challenge

2008-09-07T14:34:00.000-07:00

I often wonder about the subtle differences in food and beverage. This interest previously inspired my "Coke Challenge", where I had folks try 4 different types of Coke and Diet Coke to see if anyone could discern the difference.

In addition to drinking a lot of Diet Coke, I also eat a lot of yogurt. Lately I've been eating a lot of Key Lime-flavored yogurt for some reason. While shopping for yogurt the other day, I saw 4 different types of no- or low-fat Key Lime yogurt. So I bought all of them. And ate them. And now I'm here to blog about 2 of them: The Archer Farms Target Key Lime Yogurts.

When shopping, look for the colored bar! They look so similar.

Not only does Target make a low-fat Key Lime yogurt, they also make a NO-fat Key Lime yogurt. I ate both at the same time to compare. The results are interesting:

I'll start out with the essential 3 C's of yogurt-grading:

Consistency: Surprisingly, the low-fat had a slightly runnier consistency than the no-fat version. I was expecting the no-fat version to be runnier like the Light and Fit yogurt, which is basically like water. Winner = No-Fat

Low-fat sticks to the spoon...

But not like No-fat does!

Color: Both are a shade of green, but the low-fat is a more Key Lime shade of green. Winner = Low-Fat

Calories: No-fat has far fewer calories. 80 vs 180. Winner = no fat.

Ingredients: Well, since the low-fat version doesn't have ingredients that give lab rats cancer, I'll give the nod to low-fat.

Low-Fat's key to taste victory = real sugar and lime juice. But 100 more calories? (click on the photo to zoom in on the ingredients)

And most importantly, TASTE: No contest here. While both are quite tasty, low-fat has that traditional tart lime taste. And somehow it's a little sweeter too.

So the clear winner is Low-Fat Key Lime. HOWEVER, when consumed BY ITSELF, No-Fat Key Lime tastes good too. Let's call it the Diet Coke principle. Diet Coke is pretty good until it is consumed side-by-side with Coke or Coke Zero. Then Diet Coke starts to taste like a$$.

So what will I buy? Probably a little of both, tending towards the no-fat. I like massive quantities of yogurt, and the lower calorie option allows me to eat twice as much!

George McCain or John Bush?

2008-09-06T13:43:00.001-07:00

Now the question can be answered definitively. Thanks Tom Ridge.

And thank you Daily Show. It was a great 2 weeks of convention episodes. Looking forward to the homestretch this campaign season.

Tale of Two Races

2008-09-01T17:59:00.001-07:00

The title of this blog has two meanings as will become apparent. This morning I ran two 5Ks. I first ran a free 5K sponsored by LifeTime Fitness and the Mayor's Office at Minnehaha Falls (obviously I had to run that, look at the title of my blog!) Then after chatting with some folks at the race, I ran home, jumped in the car and drove up to North Minneapolis for the Victory 5K.

These were two very different races. The first race in South Minneapolis is part of More To Tri, a series of races put on by the mayor to highlight Minneapolis' amenities and fitness. The event is timed to coincide with the Republican Convention, and a push was made to get delegates to attend (it didn't look like there were any there as far as I could tell). About 100 people showed up at the beautiful pre-dawn hour and ran the race. It was a fun, but small event, run entirely on bike trails and sidewalks through Minnehaha Park. And of course Mayor Rybak competed as well.

The Victory Races (10K and 5K) are races sponsored by the Minnesota Distance Running Association (disclaimer: I belong to and coach for this running group) benefiting the Folwell and Webber-Camden neighborhoods. This is a long-standing race (26th year) that draws much of the running community and the neighborhood. The course is flat and fast, and follows Victory Memorial Parkway, which is a gorgeous boulevard lined with tall and historic trees. Each tree along the parkway commemorates a fallen Minnesotan from World War I. It is a gem of a location in North Minneapolis, part of the Grand Rounds bike route, and a living part of Minnesota's history. During and after the race, the neighborhood throws a big block party in Webber Park and serves unlimited hot dogs while the tired racers watch 5-year-olds run around in the toddler race. It is a wonderful party and probably one of the best races I've ever been to.

So 2 races, one in South, one in North. But while these races were separated by only a 10-minute car ride, they felt much further apart. The Folwell and Webber-Camden neighborhoods have been at the center of the foreclosure crisis, and are right at the center of the homicide heat map. This is a neighborhood that is hurting. Yet this is a neighborhood that hasn't lost its fight. While a drive up Lyndale from Broadway revealed easily a dozen boarded up or demolished homes, there were so many bright spots in the neighborhood as well: exquisitely-maintained homes and parks full of children. Clearly this is a neighborhood that is fighting back against crime and the economic crisis that has hit harder in North than anywhere else.

But where does Mayor Rybak choose to showcase Minneapolis to our out-of-town guests? Beautifully manicured South Minneapolis. It's hard to argue that Minnehaha Falls is a bad location for a race. Easily a dozen races a year are held at this location, and, obviously, it's my favorite location in the entire Twin Cities and I feel so blessed to live 2 blocks from it.

But the mayor missed a great chance to showcase a wonderful neighborhood, a place that feels as friendly and welcoming as (and probably more so than) any other part of Minneapolis. The real story today was in North Minneapolis. It's a great story for people of Minneapolis to hear. It's a great story for the RNC delegates to take home to their foreclosed neighborhoods. And it's something inspiring for all of us. In spite of the physical and economic pain that North has endured, people live, have fun and throw a great party. There were two parties in town this Labor Day, and I feel so blessed to have been included in the one in North Minneapolis. Mayor Rybak is an energetic mayor with a passion for Minneapolis. His cheerleading does good for our city, but on this day, his cheerleading would have been better placed in North Minneapolis.

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OK, so most of you that read this are probably more concerned about my race report than my non-running ramblings, so here you go!

Race 1: my intention was to run this as a fun run and a warmup for Victory. So I sandbagged the first 2 miles, yet was winning handily. Or so I thought. Some LifeTime Fitness guy caught me with a quarter mile to go. I let him go thinking, "I'm saving myself for Victory 5K". Then I got competitive. I sprinted the last 40 meters or so and almost caught him but he kicked and beat me by half a step. Finishing time: 18:07. I regret not racing this one from the beginning. How many chances will I have again to win a 5K in Minneapolis? Probably not many. I should also be clear that I'm sure the guy that won probably would have beat me on a head-to-head. He really sandbagged the race and only kicked as much as he needed to in order to win. But if I had gone out at a 5:30 pace, I would have won. Oh well.

Race 2: Fun race, fun times with lots and lots of good friends. While the shirt at the first race was better, this race was so much better organized and was just a blast from beginning to end, with great racers in the 10K and 5K (especially the 10K with all those Team USA-MN racers). I placed 6th in the 5K with a 17:43....er...45. They called out 17:43 and my watch said 17:43, but the official time was 17:45. Shouldn't be a big deal but that's the difference between a PR and not. So I'm calling it a PR, but hopefully I'll beat that again and the official time will reflect that. I'm happy with how I raced, but a larger lead pack would have been nice for that extra push.

This was the first time I ran 2 races like this. Obviously not the best way to PR. I would have done better at either one if I hadn't done the other. But I enjoyed both for very different reasons, and it was a good way to spend a Monday morning!

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CORRECTION: The Victory Races are co-sponsored by the Folwell and Webber-Camden neighborhoods, and while the race benefits the neighborhood in many ways, there is no direct monetary benefit for the community from this race. They are partners in the race, not recipients of any assistance.

Barack, Our Savior!

2008-08-29T20:38:00.000-07:00

Well, I hate the Republican talking points that suggest Obama has a Jesus-complex, but you have to admit, Jon Stewart has a funny take on this!

1 Down, 1 to Go!

2008-08-29T20:08:00.000-07:00

Well, now that the DNC Obama-LoveFest is over, it's time for the RNC to come to town. I'm looking forward to their arrival like I am a colonoscopy, but since they're going to drop something like $100+ million into the local economy AND still lose Minnesota to the Dems, I'm ok with that. Give us your money, I'm giving Barack my vote.

My thoughts on the DNC Convention: Pretty good, as good as it had to be. I still don't really like Bill Clinton, but wow, what a speech! That guy still has the magic, so dynamic. And Obama, you keep saying you're going to elevate the campaign. Snarky ads and comments about how rich your opponent is makes you a typical politician. You still inspire me and you have my vote, but I'm disappointed with the direction your rhetoric is going.

But next up, RNC! I'm so freakin glad I live and work in Minneapolis. What a cluster St. Paul will be. Most of my small readership is probably equally annoyed that we got the RNC instead of the DNC, so while you're bitching about road closures and crowded St. Paul restaurants this next week, enjoy this hilarious video by Current TV about the convention right here in the Twin Cities by Trace Crutchfield.

I know it's going to suck next week, but let's all be nice to those Republicans. They have a lot of money and when McCain and that "Alaskan hockey mom" leave, their money will still be here with us.

I Love Lamp....and Summer

2008-08-08T12:55:00.000-07:00

Many are already lamenting the end of summer, but complaining that it feels like it only just began. Well, get over it. Stop complaining and go enjoy the outdoors!

After a 3 hour run in Lebanon Hills this morning and a trip to the North Shore looming, my mind is definitely NOT on working. I'm thinking about all the fun I've had so far this summer!

So since I'm lazy and not in the mood to write a lot, I'll let the photos speak for themselves. Here are a couple photos of random fun things I love about summertime in Minnesota.

In the category of "Exploring My Backyard":

I started out the summer by visiting Fort Snelling on Memorial Day. Re-enactments and history, so you know I loved it!

I am embarrassed to say that I had never been to Eloise Butler Wildflower Sanctuary. A special treat was seeing my first Lady Slipper in bloom. It's not the Showy Lady Slipper (MN's state flower), but it was incredible nonetheless.

Well, I had to wait 4 years, but it was worth it. 4 years after their wildly successful Art Mini-Golf course, the Walker Art Center did it again. This time, there were 2 courses set up, and even better, the sculptures functioned so much better (generally) for actually sinking a putt!

I LOVE Minneapolis at night, especially on the Stone Arch Bridge. I've been down there several times this summer for fireworks and festivals. A new reason to go this summer was Red Bull's Illume photography exhibition. The photo exhibit made for some great photo opportunities! neat how that works.

Exploring just beyond the urban core, I had a fun weekend camping with some friends in Afton State Park, an incredible retreat just minutes from the Cities. With the hike-in sites and the gorgeous river views, it's easy to forget how close to the city you are.

Afton is a short hop from Stillwater, where my FAVORITE festival of the year, Lumberjack Days, takes place. I haven't missed a Lumberjack Days since I moved to Minnesota, and I can only say that about HighlandFest in St. Paul as well. I don't really have any photos of HighlandFest, even though I went twice this year and had a great time listening to music and climbing the water tower. But I took some great photos of the Lumberjack competitions in Stillwater. Here's a fun photo of the dog jumping competition that you can see sometime this fall on the OLN channel I think.

But Minnesota saves the best for last. The summer will close out soon with the Minnesota State Fair! There's nothing better than the fair, not even Lumberjack Days. It's the great get-together, and I just can't wait! I biked by the empty fairgrounds a couple weeks ago. Soon, this photo will be filled with tens of thousands. I'll leave that as my parting shot, of summer fun yet to come!

More PRs!

2008-08-04T14:17:00.000-07:00

Stop the presses, 2 posts in 4 days!

I've had a hiatus in blogging and racing lately. I finally got out for a race, the Hennepin Lakes Classic 10K. Oddly, I've never raced that distance before. That meant I was guaranteed a PR! 10K is an weird distance for me. So short that you need to push harder than is really comfortable, but too long so that you really can't just will yourself through it like a 5K.

The race was basically 2 laps of Lake Calhoun. The first I went out a little too slowly perhaps, but that let me hammer it in for the last lap for a nice negative split. I ended up finishing in 36:37, which is in the range of what I was shooting for based on race calculators and my other PRs from shorter and longer distances.

The race also featured a 5K, with a "doubleheader" option of running both the 10K and 5K. The true MDRA superstars were the flying married duo of Kirk and Anne. Both took 2nd in their age groups. Great job guys! They also have the annoying distinction of being the two most photogenic people WHILE racing. They always look like they're enjoying running. What gives?

To prove that racing is painful, I submit to you a photo of me at the halfway point of the race, running side by side with local running great Dan Morse (editor's note, he ran the doubleheader and I only ran one race, which is the only way I could keep up with him). He's demonstrating to me proper form. However, I'm apparently not paying any attention! I am generally an exhibit on how not to run!

Nathan, don't punch yourself in the face! Get those arms down.

Since I last posted, I also PRed in the 5K at Brian Kraft. So that makes PRs in the 1 mile, 5K, 8K, 10K and half marathon, all in 2008. The one that eludes me is the marathon! Here's to a PR at Twin Cities in October! It's been a great running year thus far, and hopefully that continues!

August 1

2008-08-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't blogged in a while. Like most of you, I'm out having too much fun in the summers to blog. And of course, I probably have more blog-worthy material now than ever, but no time to actually blog it.

But I couldn't let today pass without a post. One year ago today I was biking with the youth from my church in southern MN when time seemed to stop all over the state. I don't want to over dramatize a tragic event where (fortunately given the circumstances) ONLY 13 people died, but those first few days after the bridge collapse, there was a different feeling that palpable, and reminded me of living in DC through 9/11.

Photos speak much more clearly than I can write, so I'm going to just put some photos online that I have taken over the past year for you all to see.

Photo taken from Stone Arch Bridge days after the collapse

The old bridge takes shape down on the river flats below the UofM

One month later the bridge is still on the rail cars

One month after collapse

It's hard to see the 35W logo, but this is from a post-collapse Twins game last fall

Bridge is really taking shape - July 13, 08

This past Tuesday I had the extreme privilege of taking a hardhat tour of the 35W bridge reconstruction. I was able to walk around the entire site. The progress they have made in less than a year is astounding. Absolutely astounding.

Play Ball! (almost)

2008-05-28T09:38:00.001-07:00

I'm in a baseball mood! Maybe it's from watching a thrilling 12-inning game last night (inside the park 3-run homerun in the bottom of the 9th!!! Are you kidding me Delmon??? Get your head in the game!) Maybe it's because it's spring/summer (all 3 months we get here in MN) and that always puts me in a baseball mood. In any case, I want to blog about the future of Twins baseball today. No, not the future pitcher down in AA or who we should draft. Heck, I don't know anything about that. But I do know WHERE the Twins will be playing in 2 years.

A couple weeks ago I was fortunate enough to get a tour of the new Twins stadium under construction. It's a fascinating site, and they are literally shoe-horning that stadium in there between 2 bridges, a freeway, a coal rail line, 2 future rail lines (Northstar and LRT), a waterbody (Bassett Creek) and the Target Center. The constraints on this construction site probably make it one of the most challenging buildings ever built in Minnesota. They are cantilevering the stands over a railway, building the stadium from the inside out so that heavy machinery never rests on top of the future field, and building the stadium OVER a 20-foot span over the aforementioned Bassett Creek which is now in box culverts deep underground.

The location is really superb. It has great access to all the municipal ramps, 2 rail transit lines, multiple freeways and all the restaurants and amenities of the Warehouse District around the Target Center. You may have your opinions on whether this is an appropriate use of public funds (as I have strong opinions too), but it's hard to not get excited about the future of baseball in Minnesota after seeing this site. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

The view from around 3rd base

View of stadium from new plaza near Target Center

Another Race, Another PR

2008-05-28T08:58:00.000-07:00

Hot on the heals of 2 PRs earlier this month, on Monday I hit my 5K PR at the Brian Kraft Memorial 5K around Lake Nokomis. I finished 5 seconds better than my previous PR at a time of 17:44. I am pretty happy with how I ran since I finished with very even splits of 5:41, 5:45 and 5:44. I kicked in the last .1 and felt pretty good at the finish. Good enough for a PR (albeit a small one) and good enough that I know I have more improvement ahead of me. I think I ran a little too conservatively, but frankly, after the cold winter of training, while I may have the base, I have little speed. That will change this summer.

In MDRA news, the team did great! We had 3 guys go under 17:00, and we placed 7th out of 11 teams (and once again, edged out those dentists!) Our women's team did even better, placing 3rd out of 6 teams. Great job everyone!

Here's to a summer of fast road races! May the PRs continue to fall! And if not, well, 3 PRs (1 mile, 5K and half-marathon) in the month of May will keep me quite satisfied for a while.

My Job's Pretty Cool

2008-05-21T22:49:00.000-07:00

I'm at a conference on flooding in Reno right now. It's a long conference; I'm actually gone for almost a whole week. I'm learning a lot and I'm really glad that I came. I'm working hard, putting in 14+ hour days, but I'm still finding some time for fun, as I always do. It helps that 2 fun coworkers came with too.

I'd like to blog more, but all I really have time to do is post a couple photos proving that I have found time for fun in the midst of work...

Here are 2 photos from a quick hike at Lake Tahoe...

One of our conference events was at the National Automotive Museum (over 200 beautifully restored, historic vehicles):

And tonight we explored downtown Reno!

It's a pretty neat town, but I'm looking forward to coming home soon! I don't know if I'd come back to Reno, but I'd definitely love to spend some serious time at Tahoe.

Bikers Unite!

2008-05-14T09:36:00.000-07:00

As many of you probably already know, May is National Bike to Work Month, this week is National Bike to Work Week, and today is National Bike to Work Day! So many reasons to bike, none better than the fact it's gorgeous outside. It was so encouraging to see the Greenway and all the streets around Uptown just flooded with bike commuters.

This morning I biked to Common Roots Cafe, a local organic restaurant that focuses on local ingredients. I'd been hearing all sorts of great things about their bagels, and wow, they did not disappoint! Common Roots was one of many places around town providing free breakfast today to anyone who biked or walked to work. So I met a friend there and enjoyed a bagel and some Peace Coffee. Then I picked up 2 dozen bagels for my company's own version of Bike to Work Day.

I can't say enough great things about where I work. One of the things that I like the best is the commitment of so many people here to reducing their carbon footprint. A big part of that is biking to work, and there are about 30 folks that bike at least occasionally, out of 300. This morning, we had at least 18 (and most of our regular bikers were out of the office this week)! People had to chain bikes to signposts all over the building! Anyway, the bagels were a hit, and good times were had by all. Another successful Barr Biking & Bagels Day.

Three Days, Two PR's

2008-05-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

It's been a great week for racing for me!

RACE #1
On Thursday night, I ran the TC 1 Miler in downtown Minneapolis. Perfect weather for a fun downtown event. I ran this last year in 5:15. My mile PR (personal record) wasn't much better: 5:06 on a track. So when I clocked a 5:04 on Thursday on an uphill mile road race, I was pretty surprised and really happy! Especially coming off Boston with virtually no speed workouts since last September.

I ran as part of the MDRA team. Everyone did really well. 3 of our members went 5:00 or better, and everyone else did well, especially considering that for one guy, it was his first timed mile since the Reagan administration! USATF results are here: We took 6th out of 7, but who cares!!?? We had a blast! Running down Nicollet Mall with the cheering crowds was phenomenal, felt like finishing Boston (except, I can remember finishing this race!)

Our women's team (Unattached) did even better, placing 4th out of 6. Individually, Joseph, Misty Mike, and Anne all placed in their age groups, with Fancy Kirk just getting edged out by Mike.

The USATF-only wave was a great change from last year. It was awesome to be running with and against all the same people that we see at all the races year-round. I hope they keep this format. And finishing and watching the elites run the next two waves was perfect. I won't recap, I'm sure you can find good recaps on DtB or even the Strib's site.

Two more shoutouts, great finishes to our other MDRA bloggers, Colin and Nick. Great to see you guys out there! Next stop, Brian Kraft!

OK, RACE #2!
This morning I ran the New Prague Half Marathon for again, the 2nd straight year. I PR'ed there last year, and strengthened my PR again, with a 1:21:59. Since this was NOT a USATF race series event, not as many of the fast guys showed up, so I actually was able to place 10th overall, and 2nd in my age group! (awesome medal too!) Fancy placed 8th and 1st in his age group. He could have done better, but paced me for the first 10 miles. At that point we both brought the pace way down and finished strong. However, Kirk's top gear is a good 10-15 seconds/mile faster than mine. Just like last year I had a strong 2nd half, and that's what I feel best about after this race. A lot of MDRA folks were there and PR's were plentiful. Another great day for racing!

So there you have it, 2 PR's in 3 days. I think I should run a marathon on Monday :)

Oh, and to you non-runners out there, I apologize for my most boring post ever, but the runners in the field may find this slightly interesting!

You Ate What??

2008-05-01T15:09:00.001-07:00

What am I eating??? Read on for the answer...

I returned to Amarillo, Texas, again this week for work. I've been there about 6 or 7 times in the past 3 years, but this time I made sure to get some new experiences since this may be my last scheduled visit for sometime. As far as I can tell, there are THREE (3) places to go in Amarillo:

1) Downtown. I'll toss that one in there even though there really isn't a ton there. It's run-down, quiet, and clearly not the focal-point of the city. There are about 2 blocks of restaurants that look like they're only busy a couple hours a day. But it's an intriguing place and shows how our car culture really takes the emphasis off downtowns and leaves them ghost towns, even in a city of several hundred thousand like Amarillo. There are a few attractive buildings like the City Hall and the Chamber of Commerce.

2) Palo Duro Canyon State Park. They call it the Grand Canyon of Texas. That sounds hokey, but actually, this is far and away one of the best state parks I've ever seen. It is a major canyon that is also rather accessible. It has gorgeous terrain and is heavily used by mountain bikers and trail runners. You know I got my run on!

3) Oh yeah, the BIG TEXAN. Home of the 72-oz steak. If people have heard of anything about Amarillo, this is usually it. This restaurant is pure tourist-trap Texan kitsch. And it is a must-see. I had been avoiding it for years, but I finally made a visit. And it was amazing. Their claim to fame is that if you eat a 72-oz steak, potato, roll, salad and shrimp cocktail in 1 hour, it's free. Many have tried, most have failed. I did not attempt this feat/feast since I had to work the next day, but I was tempted. Randomly, the Big Texan was featured in this MSN article the same week I was there!

While I was dining at the Big Texan, at the urging of some of my Texan colleagues, I tried some seafood. A local variety of oysters. Rocky Mountain I believe. (I wasn't fooled, I knew what they were). I tried one and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. But I didn't eat a second one (although I suppose they should be consumed in pairs). I'll throw in some photos from my Big Texan experience.

The Big Texan himself looms over the Interstate

Can you eat the 72-oz steak and fixins?

The table where the "magic" happens. Many have tried, most have failed...

OK, It's Official, Spring is Here

2008-05-01T06:36:00.001-07:00

I know it's May 1, and spring has TECHNICALLY been with us since late March. And I realize that we've had a few random days of warmer weather. But for pete's sake (who's Pete, I always wondered), we had snow just this past weekend! And while buds came out on the trees a few weeks ago, a wave of cold weather prevented their opening in most locations around the Twin Cities.

I feel like I've been in spring the past couple weeks. After spending 4 days in Boston where spring was in full bloom, I spent a couple days in southern Minnesota which got their spring a week or two before us. And most of this week I was in Amarillo, where I did trail runs in 90+ degree weather. So I am READY for spring to finally come to Minneapolis.

And, I can report with confidence, that it has finally arrived. I ran in Hyland Hills this morning, and it was gorgeous. The leaves are just starting to emerge from the buds. The turkeys, deer, cranes and pheasants were making their appearances. The frogs were singing, the birds were chirping. It was a natural choir out there!

With the exception of Friday/Saturday (of COURSE it's the weekend), the long range output has highs in the 60s. That's full-on spring, thinking about summer!

Of course, now that I'm excited about spring, what am I now doing? Going up to northern Wisconsin where spring is probably still a week or two away. Smart move.

What are your signs of spring? I mentioned last year that my sign of spring was when the DQ by the falls opened up. But that happened months before. Here are my top signs.

1) Big guys in cotton tee's start lumbering around on the trails, trying to run off that winter gut. The trails get clogged for about 2 weeks until softball season starts, then they're gone.
2) All the accumulated dog sh!t from the winter starts to decay and smell up the neighborhoods.
3) That first hyper-pollinated day. I know pollen bothers most people, but I love the smell and it makes me happy (and only slightly itchy).

The problems with this winter is that it gave us brief glimpses of spring and gave us all those signs already. Then Old Man Winter said, "just kidding" and came back with cold and snow, on numerous occasions. So I have a new sign of spring: When I stop complaining about the weather for one whole week.

Then again, it will be in the 30s tomorrow. Dangit! Does that reset the clock?

Boston Report!

2008-04-21T13:35:00.000-07:00

I'm blogging here within hours of my finish at Boston, so I'll give some initial impressions.

First of all, my finishing time was 2:59:17. That is actually 14 seconds slower than last year at Boston, when the gales were blowing. That's a little disappointing, but I'm still very happy I went under 3 hours. And I had a great time, and being out here in Boston for the Women's Oly Trials and with my friends has been an incredible experience! So I have to say that this has been quite the rewarding experience.

I ended up getting 1 of my 3 goals. I may not have bested my PR (although it was close) nor did I go under 2:55, but I did go under 3 hours, so that makes for a successful race by that measure.

Here's my race recap:

The day was pretty near perfect. Low to mid 50s, light wind. The sun did come out right at the start and I think that did become a factor. But I gotta be honest, these were the closest to ideal running conditions for a marathon that I have EVER experienced. I have zero excuses. Not that I'm upset with how I did, I'm actually quite happy. But I didn't hit all my goals, so I'm thinking about what went "wrong."

My plan to run 2:55 meant I needed to average 6:40 miles. I hit that plus or minus (depending on the hills) for the first 22 miles. I was very close to my goal at the half, coming in at 1:27:35. That's about perfect. And I felt great far longer than I did last year. Last year, I slowed down markedly on the Newton Hills miles 16-20, but this year, I felt pretty good through them. The wheels started to wobble (not come off. Kirk has assured me that my performance was NOT the wheels coming off) around mile 22-23 on all those downhills. Frankly, my legs hurt. Bad. I was in serious pain. Manageable, I suppose, but still pretty consistent.

My last 5K coming in was slow, about a 7:30 pace, although I did pick it up the last mile. I DID stop once for about 3 seconds, and I walked at 3 water stops for the length of time it took to drink a glass of water (~5 seconds), and I wish that weren't the case, but it is, and I know that had minimal impact on my finishing time so I've made my peace with that.

Here are my possible reasons why my race went bad:

1) I got dehydrated. I stopped sweating at mile 21. 2 miles later I was hurtin' bad. After the race I rehydrated, I could walk well and felt reasonably fine (but I'm still sore, let me tell you!). A sure sign that my legs had a tiny bit more in them than I pushed them to. The sun dehydrated me more than I had anticipated, and I failed in properly hydrating. Rookie mistake.
2) Those hills were tough. The pounding down, the long climbs up, and that long downhill after Newton all hurt. My training may have improved in terms of mileage this year, but I probably neglected the hill workouts more than I should have.
3) I kissed too many Wellesley girls at mile 13. Just kidding! :) Those women rock though. They have the most phenomenal vocal cords.
4) Bad (but improving) running form, inadequate upper body and core training left my upper body exhausted for the last couple of miles. I'll need to fix those things before my next marathon.
5) This is probably the hardest one for me to admit, but perhaps (and probably), I just wasn't mentally tough enough today. I should have powered through those last few miles. Stopping even for a few seconds with so little left to go really does bother me. And I should have pushed harder at the end. It's a race, it's SUPPOSED to hurt. I know I've gutted out a lot of races, including marathons (see last year's Boston), so I know I have it in me. I just may not have today. Compounding that may have been the dehydration which weakened my resolve. But this is also something I need to clearly work on.

I huge HUGE congrats to my training and marathon travel partners, MDRA's Kirk, Anne and Mike. You guys showed tenacity, and ran excellent races! And moreover, you made this weekend so much fun. Great job to local blogging legend Chad. I'm looking forward to your race report (if you haven't already done it!) And a huge thanks goes to those who were there cheering me on, my best friend from college's parents who drove all the way from Bellingham to the halfway point to cheer me on. I'm so glad they got to see me looking strong. And a huge thanks and shout-out to the lovely Emily, who besides putting up with Misty Mike (jk Mike, I love ya like a brother), came out and cheered us on and presumably cheered me on (I was too tired to notice) and hopefully won't tell me how bad I looked at mile 23! :)

And thanks to everyone else who tracked me online and sent warm messages of encouragement. Thanks for making me feel like a star today! The marathon is such a selfish (and perhaps pointless) endeavor, but it gives me a lot of joy, and the fact all my friends and family are so supportive means so much to me! (I must be on the proverbial runner's high right now, I'm feeling downright sappy!)

Boston on my mind

2008-04-18T15:19:00.000-07:00

last couple thoughts before Boston...

Check out this great article from MinnPost about Michelle Lilienthal, possibly Minnesota's best hope for an Olympic qualifier at the women's trials. I'll be cheering for her and all the other Minnesota women on Sunday.

Great video on the MDRA blog to psyche me up for Beantown!

And lastly, weather's looking great. Could it be better than this??

Boston-bound

2008-04-18T06:59:00.000-07:00

No...sleep...'til Boston?

I'm getting pretty excited about the race. Training partners Fancy Kirk and Misty Mike are already in route. I'll be joining them out there tomorrow. My blog will most likely be silent for a few days. But since half my readership will be in Boston with me...if a blogger stops blogging and nobody is on the Internets...finish this proverb.

This will be my 2nd year running Boston. I ran it last year (and blogged about it). Hopefully the weather is better than last year. It should be, but even if it isn't, running this with my friends will be a great experience. And watching the Women's Marathon Oly Trials will be such a treat (watch it here), especially after watching the Men's Trials back in November.

My goal is the same as last year's goal, to run a sub 2:55. I know I've trained well enough for that, but I just need the guts to go out there and run it!

Good luck to all Boston runners. Shout outs to those Boston-bound runners in blogland: Mike, Kirk, Anne, Chad, and Chris! Run well, blog well.

I've been looking for a new car

2008-04-17T07:16:00.000-07:00

This is my new ride:

Looks like Pope Benny could have put on his big hat, he's still got a lot of headroom...

My Winter Recycling Footprint

2008-04-16T20:30:00.001-07:00

This past Sunday I watched the National Geographic special, "Human Footprint." Or rather, I LISTENED to it while reading and doing other things around the house.

The show selected certain items that most people use (cars, bread, milk, and many more) and figured out how much the average American uses in a lifetime. Not surprisingly, it's a lot. It's mindboggling. So Elizabeth Vargas and her team placed all these large quantities of items in a field and showed how much room this crap takes up. It really is incredible how much we consume. I tried to watch this program, but basically it was 2 hours of the camera panning sloooooooooowly over a lot of crap. 2 minutes slowly panning over the 5,504 newspapers each person consumes in a lifetime, the 80 gazillion loaves of bread, and so on. It was interesting to see all that stuff in one place at the same time, but after about 10 minutes, it was kind of boring to watch, so I did other stuff and listened for the brief snippets of information that came in between the slow panning.

I was reminded of this show yesterday, as I finally put my recycling out for the first time since...oh...DECEMBER! Why, you may ask? It's not necessarily because I'm lazy. You see, in Minneapolis, recycling must be separated into glass, plastic, tin, aluminum, and paper. I have a separate bag for the paper recycling in my house, but I just lump the other items together. I just don't want to devote half a room in my small house to multiple recycling receptacles.

So instead when the bag of recyclables gets full, out to the garage it goes until I have enough bags out there to make sorting worth it. But when it's cold (as it has been since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, or possibly just since December), I just leave the sorting in the garage for a warmer day. Well, we finally had some warmth so Tuesday night I sorted! A lot. Turns out, in 4 months my roommate and I generate a lot of recycling. The photo below shows how much we went through. Keep in mind little of it is paper because I have been setting that out at the curb all winter. It's mostly bottles, possibly due in part to my beer mission to drink 200 different kinds of beers in 2008.

I was concerned that Minneapolis crews would be mad I had set so much out, but to their credit, they picked everything up and left no nasty notes!

I've heard that in the 'burbs, all recycling is lumped into one receptacle. Minneapolis, don't let Coon Rapids show you up! Show us you're serious about wanting to make it easy for us to recycle. I'll always recycle, but I worry that not everyone is willing to take the time to sort.

So there you have it, there's a portion of my footprint for 4 months. Pretty scary! (slow pan over the image for full effect).

My iPOD playlist is better than yours

2008-04-15T18:56:00.000-07:00

While I was an early adopter of the cell phone (owing to my East Coast days) I am DEFINITELY a late-comer to the iPOD craze. I just got an iPOD Shuffle from my Boston-bound friends (Boston 2008, holla!) I have had fun the past week playing with the iPOD, podcasts and old songs I have on my computer.

I'm not really a running-while-listening-to-music kind of guy. I love to run and be absorbed by my surroundings. There are 2 exceptions: 1) At the gym: running on a dreadmill SUCKS! 2) On my way to/from work via Richfield. Richfield, I love ya, but I get so bored running the entire length of 73rd Ave. I know every house, every crack in the sidewalk, every barking dog for the entire length. I need a distraction. And typically, NPR/MPR provides the perfect distraction.

But, enter the PODCAST! Now I can get CarTalk, Marketplace, the news, when I want it! Woo freaking hoo. While I like that, what a boring blog entry that would be. I'm here to write about my music!

So tonight I ran home from work. I had already listened to my podcasts, so I listened to some of the 30 random songs I put on my Shuffle from my computer. Typically, these are pretty old songs! I learned a few things.

Great running songs include:

Eminem's Lose Yourself
Tom Cochrane's Life is a Highway
Cake's Going to the Distance
ANY Clubbing song. I particularly like that old-school "One More Time" clubbing song
Foo Foo Fighter's Everlong (best workout/running song ever!!!)
ANY Jimmy Buffett song...seriously
Dave Matthews Band Crash, the hip-hop remix version. find it, it rocks!
Tom Petty FREE FALLIN!!!!! (the caps and exclamation points are for you, Misty Mike)

The best song I listened to on my way home was Will Smith's Summertime. Since it was 65 degrees it was the first time I could actually fathom that summer is around the corner! Running in shorts and a t-shirt and STILL sweating was fantastic. Bring on summer!

Be careful about using music from these bands:

The Beatles: seriously, not that great. When I'm 64 doesn't cut it when you're trying to hammer in the miles
Dan Wilson, Dave Matthews, and Guster are definitely hit or miss. You'll know it when you hear it. I have to delete some of those. Great songs, but impossible to run to.

Favorite workout songs? I mean, besides Everlong. Nothing's better than that.

The only problem with finding great songs to run to is running too hard when you don't mean to. Between the warmer temps, my low running mileage this week, and those awesome songs, I put in my last 5 miles of a 10 mile run at a 6:45 pace. Whoops.

Oh yeah, and I'm running Boston again in 6 days (hence the whoops on running too fast!) A few years ago my running mantra was from Eminem's Lose Yourself. It's lame, but listening to it tonight reminded me that it can be fun to psyche myself up for races. So, for Boston, here's the old mantra:

"Success is my only mothaf**kin option, failure's not... So here I go it's my shot. Feet fail me not this may be the only opportunity that I got."

I can't believe I just quoted Eminem in a blog post. Shoot me now.

A Shapely State

2008-04-13T16:43:00.000-07:00

What is it with Minnesota's love of, well, Minnesota? I'm not talking about the fact that most of us (particularly me) love every aspect of Minnesota and must rave for long lengths about how such and such in Minnesota is SOOO much better than what's in your state.

What I'm blogging about here today is Minnesota's love affair with the SHAPE of Minnesota. See the photo below I took yesterday at the Minnesota Historical Society Museum:

You actually walk THROUGH Minnesota and are immediately confronted with the shape of Minnesota again! (and again and again throughout the MN150 exhibit).

Beyond that, it seems that the shape of Minnesota is omnipresent. It's on our license plates, the Minnesota quarter, and logos of all the great Minnesota institutions.

Minnesota is hardly alone in this. Pennsylvania celebrates their status and shape as the "Keystone State". Florida rejoices in being "America's Wang". And probably no other states are more proud of their shape than Colorado and Wyoming, which obsess over their respective shapes so much that both states mandate that all windows and pizza boxes be in the shape of their states.

Yet there is something about Minnesota's shape that is so enchanting, so popular that many businesses and organizations incorporate the shape into their logo. I believe it is the distinctive nature of our state. The sharp angular points of the jutting chin of SE Minnesota (driftless zone), the nose of the arrowhead region above Lake Superior, the tuft of hair that is the Northwest Angle by Lake of the Woods, and that odd bump on the west side of the state that is part of the upper Minnesota River. Who doesn't love that weird bump? It fascinates me more than the NW Angle, yet as close as it is to the Twin Cities, I've never been there. I wonder if the people living there have weird bumps on their backs too.

The other thing about Minnesota that I alluded to above, is that it looks like a face of sorts. And it seems appropriate that the face is facing East. There's so much going on just immediately to our east. I think there are great things about North and South Dakota, but come on, if you had to pick an eternity to face one direction, wouldn't you rather be looking out over Lake Superior than the North Dakota pocket wetlands? I'm just sayin'...

To read about how Minnesota REALLY got its shape, check out this MnDNR article on the history of Minnesota's odd shape.

I'll leave you with the greatest Minnesota-shaped logo of all time:

CORRECTION: I love Metro Transit!

2008-04-10T18:32:00.001-07:00

OK, so I know last week I had a bad Metro Transit experience, but thankfully I did not let that sour my mood completely on taking using Metro Transit as part of "commuting toolbox." Even for someone who does a quasi-reverse commute, using public transportation is important.

Today is the perfect example. I rode my bike to work today, in spite of the dire predictions of snow/sleet/locusts. Why? Well, if I hadn't, it wouldn't have snowed and I would have regretted not biking. So I biked, knowing that by biking, I was screwing all of us into bad weather fortunes. But I thought I could be hardcore and bike home. Well, come 3pm the winds were gusting over 40 mph (a headwind no less) and a sideways rain was turning into snow. So I decided I just couldn't stomach the thought of biking home in that. So instead, I turned to the handy-dandy Trip Planner option and found out I could be door to door in about an hour. Not bad, considering I knew the highways would be so bad as to make the commute an hour of sheer tension and gridlock.

So I ran to the bus, took the bus to MOA, the train home, and 1 hour and 1 Newsweek magazine later, I was snug in my house! While 1 hour would have been unbearable if running/biking/driving had been more pleasant options, in this situation, it was perfect!

Daily Haiku!

2008-04-10T10:52:00.000-07:00

Those who know me well may know that I love Haikus. In fact, I have been known to compose one from time to time. In 2005, I wrote and submitted the following Haiku to Tuesday Morning Quarterback (Gregg Easterbrook). TMQ occasionally highlights NFL cheerleaders in his column, and since the NFL season had ended I was trying to cheer up legions of NFL fans. My suggestion of attending Lacrosse games was printed in Easterbrook's column, but my Haiku was not. Here it is for you:

Seven months no cheer?
Don't fret, traditional males
Lacrosse-babes are here

For the original TMQ column, go here and search for my name. The original post is not available online anywhere I can find.

I also composed a Haiku of my love for Victor's 1959 Cafe's corn pancakes (the best substance on earth):

Victor's Corn Pancakes
So juicy and delicious
I want one right now!

But I just received the best Haiku ever! This comes from Emily via a friend via the Internets via Runner's World or whatever:

Fairweather runners
Emerge like they own the place.
I ran all winter.

AMEN TO THAT!! And you fairweathers can stay off my trails tonight during our mid-April blizzard!

Thanks Emily and welcome back online!

Pre's Alive!

2008-04-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

And he won the Golden Valley 10K!

This is Bullsh!t

2008-04-09T06:26:00.000-07:00

We're having a fantastic spring, weatherwise....or not.

Instead of shoveling out of another foot of snow, stay inside and watch this awesome song!

100 Beers! No Way!

2008-04-08T12:58:00.001-07:00

So yeah, I beat my goal, and it's still winter, or at least it still feels like it. To recap, my original goal was to drink 100 different beers in 2008, focusing on LOCAL beers (loosely defined as MN and WI in origin, but NOT Miller beers). I quickly realized that goal was too easily obtained, so I changed my goal to 200 beers, 100 being local.

This past weekend (on my birthday no less) I hit the magic 100 different beers (the original goal). The beer to put me at that milestone was a New Holland IPA (MI) that I thought was quite delicious. My friend James from Michigan said he wasn't a fan, but I thought that the intense hops made for quite a good beer to sip on.

The 100th beer!! (of the year, not the night)

My favorite beer was one I just had last night, #105. A local beer (WI) Viking Whole Stein. It's called a "breakfast beer" because of the coffee, oatmeal and milk flavors. I wouldn't drink it for breakfast, but I thought it was smooth and the flavors mixed so well together. Thanks Tom, a very tasty birthday treat!

95 beers to go to 200, and 54 more local brews needed for 100. With almost 9 months left in 2008, I think I've got a good chance.

Best Birthday EVER!

2008-04-08T09:18:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend I turned the big 2-9. Yes, that's right, NOT 35 as many friends are trying to say. Heck, 35 would be great, I'd get more buffer on my Boston qualifier time!

I seriously had the best birthday of my life. I've had a lot of really good ones, but this one was the best. I really am indebted to all my friends and family for taking the time to really show how much they care! It was really overwhelming, and frankly, I wouldn't need another birthday party for 3 or 4 years.

I started to write about all the fun things I did, or people did for me, then I realized: All of my (local) friends and family were there, or heard about it. No one else in the blogging world would really care! :) Here are some highlights with photos:

Saturday I ran the Golden Valley 5K. I finished in 17:58 (NOT 18:11 as the official results say). I was hoping I'd have no competition and win, but I guess it's OK that I lost to an Olympian!

Yep, that's Team USA Minnesota's very own Carrie Tollefson. Misty Mike, Fancy Kirk and I had a nice chat with Carrie and her husband Charlie. Mike, Kirk and I are running Boston in 13 days (if you didn't know), and Charlie has run it before, so we talked about that for a while. Anyway, Carrie ran strong and looks ready to kick it in for the track Oly trials. Good luck Carrie!

And congrats to Kirk for his big 10K win!

Later that day I embarked on a fun and very sweet scavenger hunt organized by my girlfriend. I followed clues all around town to various places that have special meaning to us, the last clue taking me of course to her! Very surprising and fun!

I had 2 parties as well. One was a happy hour with lots of friends that I planned, and the other was a family get-together my mom surprised me with on Sunday! I really had no clue my mom was planning it. I had family come from as far away as Madison for it, about 40 in all! It was very overwhelming and wonderful.

So there you have it, I have the best friends, family and girlfriend in the world, all combining to make it a birthday I'll never forget. Thanks guys!

The Ultimate Dome Dog

2008-04-04T08:11:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love the Twins?? And more to the point, who doesn't love Dome Dogs? Well, there is only one thing better than an average Twins game: Opening Day. And only one thing better than a Dome Dog: a footlong Chicago Dog! Put those 2 things together and you have you have a recipe for a perfect night! I already blogged about Opening Day here, and you can read Misty Mike's or Beth's takes on the game too.

Since I just posted a rather whiny blog entry, I felt I needed to put something positive up here. And even though the Twins offense has been positively atrocious, there's something about Twins baseball (or my obsession with them) that makes the outcome of the games virtually irrelevant. Each new game has the promise of a win, and besides, fun is always guaranteed.

Here are some photos from the occasion!

At Hubert's for a little pre-game action. Check out that blizzard!

Our seats were AWESOME! Thanks Em!

Close-up on Torii's first post-Twins atbat. This is the photo I was taking when we were on TV.

Misty Mike and I are about to dive into our Chicago Dogs

Closeup on the Chicago Footlong. Now that's what I'm talking about!

(note, the photos looked a lot better, but I foolishly tried to edit them in the browser. I apologize that they are so pixelated)

Multi-Modal Transportation

2008-04-04T05:43:00.000-07:00

I've been envisaging this blog entry for a couple days, but it's not quite going to be like I thought.

This week (like most weeks) I went to and from work 5 times, for 10 trips. 2 of those I ran, 2 I biked, 2 I carpooled, 2 I drove, and after tonight, 2 I will have used public transit. This works out to equal usage of 5 different types of transportation, for a roughly 80% drop in my carbon footprint. I was pretty jazzed about that when I thought about it. I was all set to blog about how easy it is to compile a "toolkit" of multiple transportation options (of which car travel generally has to be an option). The key is to try each option and become comfortable with it so that each day, depending on what one needs to do before/during/after work, an appropriate decision on transportation can be made, hopefully with the end result that a less fossil fuel-dependent option is selected.

While that was the hope of the blog. That is NOT what's on my mind now. Basically, Metro Transit sucks. Big time. I live 10 miles from my office in Edina, and generally, it takes 15-20 minutes to drive, 40 to bike, 75 to run, and now, apparently, it takes 80 to take the bus. For the second time in 2 years, Metro Transit has changed the route that serves me to make it substantially longer. Of course, I didn't realize this until I was on the bus and wondering why we kept going back and forth across 494. I need to go WEST, not zig-zag north and south. If REI was open, I would have stopped for a while. I'm sure the bus would have waited for me while I shopped.

Seriously, Metro Transit, this is the 2nd time in 4 years you have changed my route and made it substantially LONGER. I used to be able to take the bus to work in 35-40 minutes via Southdale. That route was canceled so then I took the 45 minute route via Light Rail and the Mall of America. Now, apparently, the route I took needed to serve more areas of Bloomington, hence my longer commute and $2 tour of Bloomington this morning. Metro Transit, you wonder why ridership goes down in the burbs, I have the answer for you.

Obviously, I understand the economics of why routes are canceled when ridership is low. What I don't get is why a route will be changed to meander more. If ridership is low, making the commute even longer will kill ridership on that line. So, goodbye, 540C. I have a feeling this change will kill you. It's like moving a sitcom from Tuesday to Friday night. You can spin it as a positive change, but it really means the end is near.

Thank goodness for biking and warmer temps!

(editor's note: I just read on Metro Transit's site that there is a temporary detour due to a bridge being taken out. That still doesn't explain why the bus had to cross 494 so many times, or why they can't have 2 buses now to serve each area as quickly as before. They are going to kill ridership with this long detour.)

Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

2008-04-01T12:54:00.000-07:00

8 inches of freakin' snow? Are you kidding me??? Check out my blog post from 1 year and 5 days ago. Yep, 81 degrees. And today we have over half a foot of snow on the ground.

Last night I went to the Twins Opener with Misty Mike (he calls me Nasty Nate for no other reason than alliteration, so I thought I'd return the favor), Dr. Em, and one of my friends (and by far the biggest Twins fan I know...nah, 2nd biggest Twins fan I know. NO ONE is a bigger Twins fan than Beth. Check out her blog for a recap on the game). Anyway, I'm sure you all already know that since we were prominently featured by national TV. During the standing O to Torii, the cameras lingered on us. Why? Because we're beautiful people, that's why! Then the text messages started pouring in from friends who saw us on TV. Good to know so many people are watching the game!

The game was incredible, great pitching by Livan. Good hitting, base running and all-around great small ball baseball which is always fun to watch. Hopefully the power turns on. We've got a lot of guys with that capability. I'm going back tonight for the game, so hopefully we get a power display! Come on Morneau, earn that huge salary! One guy who DID earn his salary upgrade was Joe NATHAN. He is so money! I was proudly wearing my Joe Nathan shirt, and he did not disappoint.

In other news, I'm going back and forth on this snow business. For one, I'm really tired of it. I'm so sick of walking through it, running through it, and mostly, NOT being able to pull my summer bike out of storage yet, although I'm sure the winter bike is enjoying the extra attention this year. BUT, this morning, I ran to work, and while it was the toughest 12-mile jog (and probably the slowest) I've done in years, it was also the most beautiful. The Minnehaha Parkway wasn't plowed, but that made it more picturesque. Seriously, it was really magical out there. I may have even had a runners high (there, now officially every running blog on earth has linked to this NYT article), and I didn't even need a harvest moon to get excited about running! But as magical as it was, I'd like the snow to magically disappear so I can get back to training for Boston and get back on the soft trails.

Spring, really?

2008-03-31T11:00:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm sure this has been a constant conversation around town, but seriously, snow? And lots of it??? Oh well, on the bright side it gives me a great excuse to post some winter photos from a recent trip to Bayfield, Wisconsin. I went up there with a few friends a couple weeks ago for a relaxing weekend of cross country skiing, exploring Madeline Island and wandering around the ice caves. The caves were incredible! Thanks, Chris, for your warm hospitality and genorosity!

Take a look at some of the photos:

Good times! We'll miss you Tim. Have fun in MI...

Odds and Ends on a Snowy Day

2008-03-22T11:33:00.001-07:00

It's officially spring! That favorite time of the year when things get green, short sleeves on runs come back out, and my hands finally warm up! Well, 6+ inches of snow later, it sure looks like a winter wonderland to me. The big plus of a late March snow? Shoveling the driveway is optional, because it's gone within a couple days. (shoveling the sidewalk, mandatory and courteous). The Strib weather page says that the snow should be gone in 2 days, which is hard to believe because there's so much of it, and it's not supposed to be that warm this weekend.

"Don't panic: most of the snow will be gone by Monday or Tuesday, sun angle is too high for snow cover to linger for long."

I'd never thought about the sun angle aspect before, interesting. Actually, it's great because while I love the snow, I am ready for the next season to happen. The skis are put away, and I'm done with that. I'm not even a little tempted to get one last ski in. Well, maybe a little.

But instead of skiing, I'm enjoying a nice Sam Adams Cherry Wheat and thinking about the Boston Marathon! The first and only time I had a Cherry Wheat was last year immediately following the Boston Marathon, and since I just ran my next to last long run, thoughts of Boston are pretty fresh.

Also, those of you who read this on Google Reader may have missed out on a small change I made to the blog. I put a banner across the top, from the Human Race 8K that we ran last weekend. It's a great photo (thanks Marty!) that shows 5 of us running (the guys in red, I'm in the middle somewhere). Hard to believe that we were running in singlets just last week, and today we trudged out a long run through inches of snow. Welcome to Minnesota! (Read Mike's 8K wrapup here - he's the one in red leading the MDRA charge).

Hope everyone has a happy Easter! I'll toss in a plug for my church. I'm going down to New Orleans with our youth group in a couple months, and we're doing an Easter pancake breakfast as a fundraiser from 7am-noon. It's Park Avenue Church at 34th and Park in So. Mpls. It's a wonderful church with awesome praise and worship. The music there is phenomenal, and the preaching is inspiring. In any case, no better time to check it out than Easter Sunday! Park Ave will definitely have the Spirit moving.

Tourney Time!

2008-03-19T12:55:00.000-07:00

Every year I partake in a friendly online NCAA pool with a friend from my DC days and her friends/family. I always lose, badly. Every year I lose to her dogs. Yes, her dogs always submit an entry where dog mascots dominate, and because of UConn and the Zags, my friend's freaking dogs kick my butt.

So this year, instead of actually thinking about my picks, I came up with a strategy. Below is what I posted to our message board:

Most years I watch very little basketball, mostly because I
don't really like basketball that much. I enjoy watching my
college teams play, but that's it. So as a GW-alum and a
Gopher-stater, I haven't had too much to cheer about this
year (until Minny's drive in the post-season!)

So this year was an all-time low for basketball for me. GW
didn't have a single nationally televised game. I ended up
watching 3 games all year. I watched both Duke-UNC games,
only because I was forced to, and I actually attended a
Gophers-Hoosiers game in the Barn. That was great, I didn't
think any atmosphere could be nearly as exciting as college
hockey, but basketball in the Barn in the Tubby era is
amazing! Almost made me a fan, almost...

Since I have ZERO NCAA knowledge, what's a guy to do? I
filled out a bracket with the most ferocious mascots
winning, then I noticed ESPN did the same (and did a better
job than I, and I didn't want to explain why I thought a Tar
Heel is pretty formidable since they fought in the Civil
War). So here's my bracket method:

Rounds 1 and 2: I go with the masses. Whomever more CBS
users picked to win those games wins.

Rounds 3 and 4: I go AGAINST the masses. I figure this is
where most people's brackets get hosed anyway.

Final 4: I go with the masses again.

Basically this means if Stanford wins it all I'm money.

Check back to see if this strategy works better than previous years'!

How do you make your picks?

There's a new force in town!

2008-03-18T11:41:00.000-07:00

MDRA is back baby! We may not be in the glory days of Gene and Marty, and we may be nowhere able to compete with Run N Fun and the sub-5:00 milers, but we're here, and I'm impressed with our team!

At the kick-off for the USATF Road Race Circuit (Human Race 8K on Summit Ave in St. Paul), MDRA took 6th place (out of 10)! I'm really happy with how our team did.

We've run an MDRA team for the last two fall cross country circuits, but this is our first road circuit in years. We welcomed a new teammate, Joseph, who quickly soared to near the top and brought our average way up! It's great to have you aboard Joseph! Mike, Kirk, Mix-master, Professor, Taylor, Nick and the rest of the team had great runs, with lots of PR's and post-collegiate PR's being set.

Personally, it was a great race. I was guaranteed to PR since I've never run an 8K race before. But I had no idea I'd be in such shape to run as fast as I did, racing as fast a pace for an 8K that I do for 5Ks. My final time was 28:54 or a 5:49/mile pace. After my poor outing at the Winter Half, I was really nervous about Boston (which is less than 5 weeks away!!) But now my confidence has returned and I'm really looking forward to seeing what I can do at the marathon distance.

And lastly, with this being my first Human Race, I can't say enough about how much fun it is to run a race where so many great athletes are racing. My overall place wasn't good, but that's because pretty much every top runner in the state is toeing the line at this one. It makes for great competition. Thanks have to go to the nameless individuals who pushed me the last mile as I struggled to stay ahead of them. While I did succeed at that, it came at the price of losing my breakfast at the finish line, so I never got a chance to see who was behind me providing that extra motivation. But I am grateful for it because I can honestly say I've never pushed myself so hard at the end of a race before. I learned a lot about racing on Sunday!

Our women's team placed 5th out of 7, and they are right on the heals of 4th place! Great job ladies! I'll let your blog speak for itself.

Looking forward to next year's Human Race already!

Page 123

2008-03-04T20:33:00.000-08:00

Today I was tagged, or something like that, by Ed at The Deets. I've never been tagged before, and conceptually it sounds like those lame forwards circa 1998 where you had to fill in your favorite this and that and then forward the email to your 8 closest friends, but this is a pretty fun idea, and I'd expect nothing less from Ed! Plus, I'm not tagging anyone else. If anyone reading this who has a blog would like to be "tagged" by this, then consider yourself tagged.

Here are the instructions:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people. (I'm not doing this part, lame)

I've been reading Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. It's an indictment on King Corn and even the industrial organic industry. Very eye-opening. I especially liked the part about Joel Salatin's grassfed farm, Polyface, and how that represents a model for the small farmer on how to make the farm sustainable. While sustainable is a word that is thrown around so much that it starts to lose meaning, Salatin seems to have found the essence of that concept.

OK, so enough about this amazing book. Time to follow the instructions:

We think of grass as soft and hospitable stuff, but once it's been dried in the sun and shredded by machines - once it's become hay - grass is sharp enough to draw blood and dusty enough to thicken lungs. I was covered in chaff, my forearms tattoed red with its pinpricks. The other - Joel Salatin, whose farm this was; his grown son, Daniel, and two helpers - had gone off to the barn for something, leaving me with a most welcome moment in the pasture to gather myself before we cranked up the bailer again.

I love that passage, because it reminds me of my summers spent helping my aunt and uncle on their farm in SE Minnesota. It was such a beautiful, if small, farm, deep in a valley with tall bluffs. I loved the farm, I loved driving the tractor, carrying stones, feeding the sheep. But I HATED baling hay. And I was always there to help with that. No matter how thick a shirt I wore, my city-slicker skin would be shredded to pieces by the time we were done baling that hay.

So thanks Deets! Your "tag" brought me down memory lane.

OOOOO, We're halfway there

2008-02-28T19:13:00.001-08:00

Or rather, I'M halfway there. To my 100 different beers in 2008 that is!

Raise a glass (half a glass), because I'm halfway to my goal!

I logged #50 last night, a Bass Ale. It was the only beer on tap at Spike's Bar downtown (at the Hyatt) that I hadn't yet tried.

So mid-goal report time.

23 of my beers have been "local" (MN or WI, not counting Miller). Although when I was in Omaha, I drank 2 more beers that were local that city, which helped with the whole carbon footprint thing.
My favorite (or should I say favourite) was probably Rodenback Grand Cru, a delicious Belgian I had at Buster's on 28th. Very sour with a rich, but not confusing, flavor.
Favorite Local Beer: Summitt Winter Ale. So delicious, so caramely. It's almost too caramelly to be a beer.
LEAST favorite beer: Brau Brothers Scotch Ale. Out of Lucan, Minnesota, this beer had too much flavor, and too MANY flavors, and really upset my stomach.
Beer that I worked the hardest for: Yeungling Lager. I brought a 12-pack back on flight from DC. I LOVE that beer. Yeungling, PLEASE sell that here!
Most prestigious beer: Delerium Tremens. Best beer in the world apparently. It's hard to argue with that.
LEAST prestigious beer: Grainbelt Premium. Man, do I love my premo!
Most likely to drink again: Well, probably 10 or 20 of 'em
Most likely to be the NEXT one I drink: Summitt Winter Ale. Too delicious and the lifespan is too short to pass up.

So what's on tap for the rest of the year? Well, it's still February, and I'm halfway there. I think that I need to revise my goal upward to 200. But more importantly, I'm making it my goal to hit 50% local beer. I plan on trying more from New Glarus, South Shore (Ashland), Great Waters, Town Hall, and anything new from Surly.

Reduce your carbon footprint, drink local!

Getting Closer, Getting Closer....

2008-02-26T18:11:00.000-08:00

It's almost here! What, you ask? My wireless internet. I've been waiting 2 years for this.

See! The USI website graphic says that my neighborhood is "coming soon". Whatever that means. I was supposed to have service by December 2007.

Quick question: What will happen first?

A) Crosstown Reconstruction Complete.
B) Outdoor Twins Stadium sees its first game.
C) I-35W bridge is complete.
D) I get USI wireless working in my home at the speed they promise.

My money is on the I-35W bridge. They're doing an awesome job.

Here's the order: C->B->D->...Let's be honest, A will never happen.

Hillary Rodham...CAMPEAU???

2008-02-19T19:56:00.000-08:00

Hillary, bring back the '92 do!

WTF??

I previously posted how I am an Obama-guy. Heck, I stood in line for hours just to see him speak his standard stump speech. I've read all his books, and I'm inspired by him! So I should hope he becomes president, right?

Well, turns out I have a reason to root for Hillary. We are long-lost cousins. No, seriously. Through a random email (misdirected email) I started an email conversation with this nice 76-year-old Quebecois, and we discovered we have the same common ancestor of Étienne Campeau, who was one of the first settlers of Montreal. I know that I'm descended from Étienne from my dad's extensive geneology work. So then this nice man drops the bombshell on me. I'm related to Hillary. I didn't believe him. So I checked the Googles. Turns out, if you can believe the internets, he's right! I AM related to Hillary, although about 10 generations back (maybe a little less). Here's the website to prove it. Go down near the bottom and look for Étienne. He was the grandson of a knight in Limonges, France.

On an interesting sidenote, my new-found Canuck pen pal told me a story about how my great-great-great.....(10 of them) grandmother was sent by King Louis XIV to "comfort" the men of Montreal who were so lonely. I'm glad it worked out for poor lonely Étienne!!

So does this mean I have to root for Hill? Well, by that logic Dick Cheney would be rooting for Barack Obama. And the day Dick comes out for Obama'08, I'll switch to backing Hillary.

It's Time for a Fish Fry!

2008-02-16T13:55:00.000-08:00

It's Lent! So there's the religious aspect to Lent (which I already blogged about here), and then there's the Fish Fry. Being a Lutheran by upbringing, fish on fridays wasn't mandatory (except at elementary school when we were subjected to nasty fish sticks.) But I have come to appreciate this tradition.

Last night I went to St. Albert the Great's famous fish fry. It's ridiculously popular, attended by hundreds each night, and even City Pages has weighed in and deemed it the best fry in the Cities. (More reporting here at Kare11).

And as usual, the fry did not disappoint. The fried fish was tasty and crispy and the desserts were varied and so delicious. And then there's the best part of the night, B-I-N-G-O!! Yep, after gorging on fish (fried and baked), mashed potatoes, spaghetti and desserts, there's no room for more food, but there's always room for BINGO!

The best part of BINGO this year was the caller. She had all the BINGO jokes flowing. "B-4......and after" and other similar jokes had the crowd rolling. Great times! And the best part is we don't have to wait til next week, just til next Friday. Hurry B-4 all the fish is gone!

Favorite Overlooked Run

2008-02-13T20:16:00.000-08:00

Tonight I was a ZEN runner. I almost didn't run today. I certainly would have been more than ok NOT running. But on my way home at 9pm, it was snowing. A nearly perfect, peaceful snow. I previously wrote about how I love running on freshly fallen snow. Well, there's only one thing better than that, and that's running on freshly fallen snow while a light snow is STILL falling. And tonight, that's what was happening. There was about half an inch on the trails, and a light snow coming down. So I laced up and hit the trails, even though I don't usually like to run after 9 or so. But the snow was calling. And it was peaceful. No traffic, the streetlamps illuminating little oasises of falling snow. It was like running from one island of light to the next.

My only debate was which trail to take. My default one hour run is the Lake-Ford loop, but I am getting sick of that, and I thought there might still be traffic on the river roads. Then I remembered I could take the Minnehaha Parkway to Nokomis. I rarely do that for some reason, even though it's so close to my house. The reason is that then it's doubling back on the parkway, and I hate running the same terrain twice. Give me loops! But the section of Minnehaha Parkway from the falls to Nokomis is in my opinion the most beautiful part of the Minnehaha trail. It is completely separate from the actual road by several blocks at that point, so there's no traffic nearby. And the floodplain is pretty wide so you're further from houses too. And to top it off, the foot and bike traffic on this stretch is oddly very light.

All of these combine to make for a perfect night of quiet zen running. I was just in awe of the beauty around me, and it just gave me a chance to clear my head and feel some peace. I usually pray a little while I run, but usually not too much because there are too many distractions. Tonight there were no distractions other than the peacefulness that enhanced my prayer. I'm rambling here, but basically it just felt great to get out and feel good about running outside again, instead of slogging through the run which is how I've felt lately.

Below I've inserted a map of that stretch of trail that I love. I think it's my "favorite overlooked run". What's yours?

View Larger Map

Mmmmm....beer....Homer like beer

2008-02-10T15:28:00.000-08:00

I don't necessarily have the most discerning tastebuds. I try to eat and drink things that taste delicious, but honestly, I just can't tell the difference between a $10 and a $20 bottle of wine. And while I prefer more expensive, flavorful, hoppy beer to mass-produced domestics, I can't always tell you WHY I like one better, or pick out the individual flavors in each.

Kirk has embarked on a year-long adventure to drink 100 different wine varietals. That sort of challenge would be wasted on me since I really probably can't discern, and would most certainly never remember, the subtle differences between most of them. However, I like beer, and I think I can drink 100 different types of beer!

So I will have a running list on the side of my blog for the remainder of 2008. The ones listed are ones that I already have consumed so far this year. Considering that this year is only 41 days old, it may shock you (and it definitely shocks me) to realize I've already had 32 different beers. But when I really think about it, it's not too surprising. I don't drink much, rarely to excess, but when I do drink, I always have a different beer each time. In fact, the reason I've had so many Summits, Leine's and Schell's is because I bought sampler packs and had one of each.

I've categorized them into 4different categories. 3 are domestic, 1 is imported. For domestics I have LOCAL (which I'm most proud of), then DOMESTIC (which are small breweries or microbrews only) and then lastly CRAPPY DOMESTICS which is your standard mass-produced beer. I certainly like a Miller Lite every now and then, but let's be honest, compared to a Surly, Miller Lite is pretty crappy. Check back to see if I hit 100 beers before Kirk hits 100 varietals!

Tis the season

2008-02-09T17:56:00.000-08:00

What season you ask? It's not Christmas! (even though I went to my final holiday party only 2 weeks ago). No, it's Lent, and it snuck up on us early this year. So early, in fact, that due to St. Patty's Day conflicting with Holy Week, the Catholic Church has MOVED St. Patrick's Day up one day! I'm not kidding, read more about it at TVSnacks.

So I observe Lent pretty reverently, even though I'm not Catholic. This always gets me some questions this time of year as to why as a Protestant I take Lent so seriously. Well, I grew up in a Lutheran church that observes Lent (still does, according to my aunt, 2 services EACH Wednesday throughout Lent). But since I came to really have faith later in life, in my early 20s, it's not just my upbringing that led to my respect for this preparation for Easter.

Well, I don't like to preach and my faith is very personal, so I'll keep this brief. I really am overwhelmed at the thought that Jesus came here and went through so much, just for us. It's really quite a remarkable realization, and life-changing. So observing Lent, taking the time to think about Christ's sacrifice, and making a small sacrifice in my own life to remind me of His sacrifice, is very important to me.

This past Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. For me, this is one of the most powerful times to go to church for me, only preceded by Good Friday and Easter itself. This year I went to the St. Paul Cathedral. This is a beautiful building that I've driven and walked past many times, and run past numerous times, including 3 times during the different Twin Cities Marathons. Well, as anyone who has run past can attest, not only is it a wonderful sign that the marathon is nearly complete, it's also a gorgeous building. It's also beautiful inside too.

The service was very beautiful and reverent. While I disagree with many Catholic doctrines, I admire how serious and sincere their masses are. The best part at this Ash Wednesday mass was the homily. The priest explained the reason for Lent and what we should try to get out of Lent. He first used a baseball analogy (so naturally, that grabbed my attention). He said that Lent is like Spring Training. It's a time when you focus, recenter, and practice the fundamentals. It's all about developing good habits that can take you through the rest of the year. So much like batting practice in the spring can help Joe Mauer get hits later in the season, focusing on the Lord and His sacrifice during Lent can help us throughout the year.

The priest said that there are 3 aspects to observing Lent: Praying, Fasting, and Alms Giving. The fasting for me is what I give up for Lent. When I choose what I give up for Lent, I don't necessarily make it some big dramatic thing, rather, I make sure it's something that I'm going to notice everyday so that it reminds me of Jesus' sacrifice. And prayer and alms giving are important habits too that I practice during Lent to help me the rest of the year.

While Lent can be a solemn and sad time, we know that the joy of Easter is just around the corner!

Skiing by Candlelight

2008-02-08T08:35:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday evening, some friends and I headed down to Lake of Isles for some late-night skiing. But there are no lights on Isles, you may ask, why didn't you go to Wirth or Hyland for lit skiing? Au contraire I say. The course was lit the whole way as part of the City of Lakes Loppet (pronounced LOH-PET) Luminary Loppet. This was great fun! There were about 1,000 skiers that came out for this leisurely ski around Lake of the Isles. The course (about 5K or so) was lit by 800 luminaries (candles inside of ice). It was very serene.

Overall, the event was great, and a neat way to get non-competitive skiers interested in the Loppet (which I watched a bit of the next day as Mary, Peter and Chris all competed in the Freestyle race). Read Chris's wrapup here (Chris, my hope is that by linking to you I will encourage you to post more often!) My only complaint with the Luminary Loppet is that it was heavily promoted with all the hot chocolate, cider and coffee that would be served along the course. I saw ONE spot where hot chocolate was being handed out, and that wasn't even by Caribou (the sponsor of the event), it was by a local church, St. Paul's I think. While the luminaries and the friends who came far more than made up for the lack of hot beverages, I was disappointed, especially since we know Caribou can afford it, and our $18 should have returned hot chocolate as promised. Let's hope next year they get their act together.

Another highlight was being able to ski over one of the small islands in Isles. Running around the lake I see the islands all the time, so it was neat to be able to to one without the use of a canoe!

Here are some fun photos I took. The first one is hard to see, but it's the group of us by a big luminary. The second photo is a series of luminaries along the course on the north side of Isles. More photos on Skinny Ski.

Are you ready to...Caucus?

2008-02-07T06:41:00.000-08:00

Seeing as how it's Thursday and the caucuses were on Tuesday, this post is a little belated. Kirk and Ed already beat me to the punch with their wrapups.

I actually did not participate in the caucus beyond showing up, waiting in line 30 minutes, voting and getting out of there. I had wanted to, but Tuesdays are tutoring night, so I couldn't stick around. I wish I had after hearing stories from my friend Tim about how his caucus spent time debating the merits of insuring "Doulas" for the birthing process. Very weird, read about them here on Wiki.

The voting process was a little Mickey Mouse. I basically wrote the name of my candidate on a piece of paper and stuck it in an envelope. I'm pretty sure voting for class president in 3rd grade had a more formal process. And what's with the polls only being open 1.5 hours? That is ridiculous and undemocratic. So many people were disenfranchised as a result of that. Wake up Minnesota! Time to move into the 20th Century. Although it was cool hearing about people trying to vote in bowling alleys.

So who did I vote for? Well, since it's a caucus it's not exactly a secret ballot. I'll give you a hint. I went to this candidate's rally over the weekend. Still not sure who I'm talking about? Here's a photo I took at the event. And since I was sitting far away and perhaps you can't see who it was. Here's another hint: He won 2/3 of the DFL vote in Minnesota! Finally, I'm voting for a winner!

Don't worry about me, I'll be here in the spring

2008-02-06T12:10:00.000-08:00

This photo is from Uptown on 27th Street. Looks pretty obvious this guy's been chained up since before our first snow in December. I wonder about the back story on this bike. Who left it? Are they coming back for it? Why hasn't anyone stolen it yet!!?? I'd like to think the bike will get some use again once the roads are clear...

There are actually 2 more bikes chained to a pole about 20 feet away that have also been there since at least before Old Man Winter unleashed his fury. What's up with leaving your bikes out that long on busy streets? Did these people die?

Snow Running

2008-02-04T20:31:00.000-08:00

I was feeling a little under the weather today, but nothing could keep me from running today (although it could keep me from going any respectable distance). Why, you ask? Well, it snowed an inch today! That is my favorite time to run. An inch of snow is perfect. It's just enough to muffle the sound of running, and the sounds of the city, and not too much to make running extra difficult. So here's to running, and here's to snow!

What are your favorite conditions for running?

You Know You Were Watching

2008-02-04T09:20:00.000-08:00

I guess last night's sporting event was the most watched ever. So you know you saw it. And you know you were watching the ads too. Lame game until the end. And even then, lame because now we have to endure another 36 years of Don Shula and his undefeated Dolphins with their sub 0.400 opponents winning schedule. But whatever. I don't really care about football. I do enjoy watching the ads though.

And I was disappointed. A couple shone through. I loved the Doritos man-in-a-rat-suit ad. That was my big ad favorite. I generally agree with THE ROCK that ads with animals suck. But that's a reason why this ad was so money. It wasn't a cutesy or sarcastic animal. It was a dude in a rat-suit kicking the crap out of someone. High-larious.

But the best ad was the Twins ad they played. Watch it here:

I miss TK. (no offense to Gardy). It was a sign of the times (and the age of the people I hang out with), when only a couple of my friends recognized TK. Then again, most of us were the same age last night. It must be a sign of my Twins obsession.

Win Twins!

Sometimes you run the race...

2008-01-27T14:27:00.001-08:00

Sometimes the race runs you. OK, that made no sense.

I'm not feeling great about my speed right now (Frozen Half was somewhat of a disappointment), but that's OK. As Kirk pointed out, we've got almost 3 months until Boston. I've got the base mileage I want, and I suppose now is when I should start hammering on speed.

In other news, besides the Frozen Half, St. Paul is also hosting the Winter Carnival. It's somewhat scaled down, but no less fun. I like the downtown Rice Park venue better than Harriet Island last year. It's worth a trip to see the ice sculptures. And the Hot Dish Tent was as good as advertised. Tater tot hot dish, yum!

The Coke Challenge

2008-01-25T06:23:00.000-08:00

I'm reading Omnivore's Dilemma right now, which is a great book that explores the culture of corn. According to this book, corn's triumph over our food industry became complete in the early 80s when Coke switched to corn syrup from pure cane sugar. I wonder if people could tell the difference?

Well, since I can't answer that question without a trip to Brazil, I thought I'd find an answer to a more local question. While I was at Target a while back, I saw boxes of Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero and Diet Coke with Splenda all sitting next to each other. It looked a little ridiculous as these products are supposed to taste pretty much the same. And since the 12-packs were running $2.50, I had an idea, I could buy these and host a taste test! So that's what I did.

The scene: Barr Engineering Lunch room
The food: Eben's delicious homemade pizza
The participants: Fellow engineers (and one HR rep)

I poured the sodas into lettered cups so that no one knew which soda was which. Then I had everyone guess which Coke each cup contained. Pretty simple concept.

2 people out of 8 guessed all of them correctly (kudos to Jenny and Bethany). Only 2 people guessed Coke itself incorrectly. Everyone else got Coke and Diet Coke, but messed up on the Zero and the Splenda. That's understandable as the sweetener makeup of Zero and Splenda is nearly the same.

So what about taste? Well, everyone agreed that Coke was the sweetest. Diet drinkers found it too sweet, non-diet drinkers liked it best. Nearly everyone thought Diet Coke was just plain nasty in direct comparison. I drink a lot of Diet Coke, and after having sips of the others, I found straight Diet Coke to be a waste of taste buds. Seriously nasty. No thanks, but I'll get my caffeine another way.

While Coke Zero and Diet Coke with Splenda tasted similar, there were subtle differences in the TYPE of sweetness. There was no clear winner there, but I'd say for me that Zero came out slightly ahead in taste. HOWEVER (and this is weird), Coke Zero fizzed twice as much as the other 3 sodas, and the fizz had a weird color to it. It just seemed more suspect, as if it were really just a hair overprocessed! (we're all just basically drinking petroleum anyway).

I did not compare Diet Coke Plus as that has a weird chalkiness nor did I want to introduce caffeine-free as that tossed in too many variables. This was just a comparison of sweeteners. And a successful experiment too I might add! Next time I'm going to Brazil to get cane sugar Coke, purely science-based reasons.

Best Post on the Internets!

2008-01-16T21:16:00.000-08:00

By someone I know, at least. You have to read this post by fellow SoMpls blogger (and truly blogger extraordinaire), The Deets (Ed). It's an interesting and maddening post, then suddenly gets frickin hilarious...well, just read it and see for yourself! Target beware, the Deets is on your case!

My 3 Cents on Running/Cross Training

2008-01-13T17:12:00.000-08:00

I made the promise on this blog to limit my running blogging, and for the most part I've kept running topics to a minimum, however, I have some thoughts on running mileage and cross training, so here goes my second post on running within 2 weeks (probably a record for me).

There's been some discussion on Chad's blog (Chad, why doesn't your blog allow perma-links?) about running and cross training. A lot of people have weighed in during the last week (including me) about their opinions on how much running is necessary for the weekend warrior runner. The answer seems to boil down to, "Whatever works best for you." Well, that's obvious, so what works for me? (and of course what works for me may not work for you!)

By almost every count, 2007 was a great running year for me. I had several PRs (although not at the marathon distance, but blame a Nor'easter on my narrow miss of a PR at that one!) I improved at every other distance and overall felt very healthy. That was a big change from 2006 where I crashed in the fall and had 3 months where I physically felt awful, and had corresponding slow race times.

So what was the difference between '06 and '07? I actually ran a little more in '07, and biked a LOT more, so it wasn't a decrease in workouts that helped me. But I was smarter in WHEN I did them. I gave respect to cross training as an actual workout, and made sure that I didn't do too much activity each week. The cross training (biking, x-c skiing) was meant to assist with recovery, which allowed my runs to be more focused and occasionally, more intense. This helped greatly with speed.

Personally, I know I'd get burned out only running, and while that's the activity where I try to maximize my performance, running cannot take the place of the efficiency of a long bike ride, or the satisfaction of commuting by bike, or the quiet peace of an early morning ski. So I can use those other activities to pad my "base mileage". I may run "only" 50 miles/week, but with the additional output of easy bike rides, it's as if I'm adding a couple hours a week of easy runs, easily putting me into the 70-90 mpw zone.

To avoid the overtrain that tanked me in 2006, I keep track of all my mileage, and I make sure that my "equivalent running miles" never or at least rarely exceeds 80 mpw. I convert bike mileage at a 4:1 ratio. For example, if I bike 100 miles and run 50, that works out to be equivalent running mileage of 75 (50+100/4=75). Any more than that and my body will tell me to slow down. (X-C skiing I convert at 10 minutes of classic or 8 minutes of skate = 1 mile).

Obviously, this is very individual and everyone needs to find their own place that feels comfortable/safe/healthy. This is what I've found through trial and error. Could I push myself a little harder? Probably. But I haven't had a major running injury in years, and I haven't run my immune system down and been sick in over a year. And honestly, any more mileage and I'd be making compromises with the other, more important parts of my life: my family, my friends, my church, my work, and my other leisure pursuits. Running is great and I hope to make real improvements in 2008, but in order to balance running with my health (mental and physical), and my job (which is NOT subsidized by winning races), this is the strategy I employ. And cross-training is essential to that for me. I can see that it would be possible to only run and make these same improvements, but this is what works for me. And again, what works for me may not work for you!

I hope we all find what works for us! Best wishes to all on physical and emotional health in 2008!

Why Food Rocks

2008-01-11T05:57:00.000-08:00

This photo from the Nook says it all.

So what looks more delicious? My fish n chips or Mike's Juicy Lucy? Trick question. The correct answer is my Summit Winter Ale. Hands down the best beer going right now. Less hoppy with 3 times the caramel. It's like drinking a Caramelo. Dang, I wish it weren't only 8am. I can't drink a Summit Winter this early in the day, and at work. Or can I.....?

Happy Winter Days!

2008-01-10T06:02:00.000-08:00

Since I sort of missed a Christmas post, I'd like to wish you all a season's greetings, the season being winter! It's been a great winter so far with all sorts of snow to enjoy, and with more snow in the forecast to replenish our ski trails, I'm a happy man!

It's also the season for sugar cookies. Check out this delicious dish pan cookie that I frosted, Jackson Pollack-style. I ate it a couple days ago, it was quite tasty!

My holiday party for work is this weekend. I've been helping plan it for over a year now. We're going to be at the Central Library in downtown. It's a gorgeous building with a beautiful atrium. Should be a good time! (click here for a great photo)

So, Season's Greetings and happy skiing to you all!

There's a NEW Mexico?

2008-01-09T07:25:00.001-08:00

No one said it better than Homer Simpson.

My trip last week to New Mexico was interesting. Very productive from a work perspective, but also a lot of fun from a personal side as well. I took a day to travel around and see parts of the state I'd never seen. Here are some highlights (with photos):

So you think steers come big in Texas? Well, I don't know if they come any bigger than this. 81 inches! This was from a ranch near my job site.

On my way to White Sands, I had to make a little Wal-Mart stop for green chili and the Boss. Those things should always go together: Dusty desert towns, Wal-Mart, green chili and Springsteen. I love it!

I wish I had had something to mail. I wonder if the postmark would have been a mushroom cloud. What do you think?

Random lava field from 5,000 years ago called Malpais. Very stark and beautiful. Reminded me of my trip to the Big Island last year.

On my way to White Sands, I came within a whisker of getting stranded in the desert. Very dumb.

I visited the New Mexico Space Museum in Alamogordo. Pretty neat place. Worth a visit for a space or military freak/geek.

The best and most ironic billboard I've ever seen. "Friendliest place on Earth"? Probably the people that are getting bombed by those fighter jets would disagree.

And the reason for the trip: White Sands National Monument. All I can say is wow. It was 65 degrees, that's not snow; it's white gypsum sand.

And lastly, no photo for this, but on the way back to Albuquerque I was pulled over by border patrol and asked if I was a US citizen. Yikes!

OK, one more photo. I LOVE New Mexican food, especially green chili and sopapillas! Yum!!

How do you measure a year in the life?

2008-01-02T21:28:00.000-08:00

5,250,600....miles? Well, not quite, but it sure felt close! This year I logged 2,400 running miles exactly, which is 100 miles more than I logged last year. Not only that, my biking mileage (due to increased bike commuting and a couple long bike trips) doubled to over 2,500 miles.

Wow, that's a lot of miles. That works out to about 46 miles per week. Doesn't sound like a lot to many of you fellow runners? Well, I took 3 weeks off for biking trips, and about 3 weeks off due to a hand surgery which made running difficult. That's 52 miles/week on the weeks I ran. Still not sound like a lot? Well, fine, it's not elite, but I'm not winning any races and I'm just trying to have fun. And I can say all of those 2,400 miles were a great time! So here are the stats on the year:

2,513 - miles biked
2,400 - miles ran
250 - estimated number of beers consumed over year (shouldn't that be closer to my miles logged)
80 - commutes to and from work by bike or running, instead of by car
6 pairs of shoes
3 new PRs - 17:49 5K (TC5K), 63:15 Trail 10-Miler (Backyard Burn - Wakefield, VA), 1:22:45 Half (New Prague)
1 Boston Marathon finish! (2:59)

And what about goals for this year? If I had to toss numbers out there, I'd say that I'd like to run:

sub 17:30 5K
sub 1:21 Half
sub 2:58 Boston Marathon! (a PR)
2,600 total miles run
another long trail run
run in more cities around the US

(non running athletic goals)

Complete a long distance bike tour (Alaska perhaps)
Cross country ski race of some sort

I'm already partway on my goals. I just ran my first run of the year, a run up the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This was amazing trail running, and I spent half the run navigating above the snow line. Good times, if you're ever in ABQ for a day, I would highly recommend running/biking or hiking the Sandias.

So that's the running recap on '07 and a preview of '08.

To return to the cheesy "Rent" song, however, the way I measure my year is not in miles logged or races run, it's the friendships I have. Or, as the song says, "measured in love". I feel very blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family. 2007 was a great year, with some wonderful experiences across the country and right at home in Minnesota. I have a feeling that 2008 will be even better!

Happy New Year friends!

Yep, I am that stupid

2007-12-14T14:21:00.001-08:00

A couple weeks ago (the day of the first big snow storm actually), I was hanging out with Eben, Kevin, Mike and Kirk after our run, just sipping on some hot chocolate at a local coffee shop. Kirk started talking about getting new eyeglasses, and I started raving about my Nike Flexon glasses, which are really awesome for running. They flex, don't slip, they're the best glasses I've ever had. In fact, when I bought them, the person at the eyewear shop showed me multiple times how they could bend and flex. I thought that was pretty cool, but I was wary to bend and flex them as much as they did at the store. I was fine with the minor flexing that occurred during my long runs.

Well, I guess I was pretty jazzed and trying to sell Kirk on these things, because the next thing I know I'm showing him just how much they bend! Well, you can imagine what happened next. And if you can't, look at the photo below:

Now I'm wearing an old pair waiting for a replacement set. And I'm back to glasses that suck for running!

Also, notice in the photo the beard I'm working on. I should have some sweet photos for a future blog on my facial hair adventures. I can't wait for the moustache party next weekend! (and neither can Ashley, because after that I have to shave).

(And thank you to Tim for the photo!)

Sellouts?

2007-12-02T19:29:00.001-08:00

So I'm watching football tonight and all of a sudden I hear a familiar tune. "Come On" by Guster was playing on the TV! Guster has been my favorite band since 1998, and I like that song quite a bit. I look up to see what interesting product Guster is shilling for, and it's a freaking big pharma ad. It's an ad for Cypher, which is a medical stent. It has something to do with clogged arteries, which is ironic because at this moment I am eating peanut butter straight out of the jar.

From a quick Google search, it appears that Cypher is a drug-coated stent made by Johnson & Johnson. Apparently this stent's safety has been called into question, although the FDA now has determined that it is indeed safe.

The fact Guster is doing this ad bothers me a little. With all their greenie tendencies (they even won an MTVU award for their efforts), I'd hope they would lend their music to more progressive ventures than a stent made by one of the biggest pharmaceuitcals in the world. Oh well, I still love their music, appreciate their commitment to ending global warming through the group they started (Reverb), and I suppose I can close my eyes during this commercial and just enjoy the song. But big pharma, are you kidding me? Come on guys, what about doing a spot for wind energy... Or better yet, give your song to an ad that encourages exercise and eating healthy, which is a MUCH better way at managing clogging arteries.

Hot or Not - D-town style

2007-11-30T18:41:00.001-08:00

So y'all remember that Hot or Not website? You'd spend hours looking through photos judging total strangers on their looks. Well, here's your chance to do it again, 1999-style.

My friend Tim's brother, a resident of the Detroit area, is in a contest to see who is the hottest guy in Detroit. I know what you're thinking, that's like being the cool kid in engineering school (or so I've been told), but hey, he'll win a trip to Mexico if he is chosen to be the hottest.

So go to this website (both of you), and vote for SHAWN GREENLEAf!! Thanks

http://www.foxspacelive.com/pages/hottest_guy_and_gal.html

Cable-Stay This!

2007-11-27T07:23:00.000-08:00

OK, those of you who know me well, and especially those who know me from back in the day, as it were, or rather, my college days, know that I LOVE BRIDGES!! They are my favorite part of the built environment. I love how simple and functional bridges are, yet how unique each one can be. My favorite bridges are (in no particular order, and only ones I've been to):

Sydney Harbour Bridge, Australia
Millennium Bridge, London (looking TOWARDS St. Paul's Cathedral)
Cable-stayed bridge in Savannah, Georgia
The Big Sur bridges on the PCH in California (see previous post about that trip and photo at end of this entry)
Bay Bridge, San Diego
Golden Gate Bridge, San Fran (see previous post)
Duluth Lift Bridge (see end of this entry)
Stillwater Lift Bridge
Key Bridge, DC
Ford Bridge, Minneapolis/St. Paul
Mendota Bridge, Minneapolis, Dakota County (also has my favorite view in the Twin Cities)
Rail Bridge over Mississippi north of Lake St., Minneapolis (see end of this entry)
Stone Arch Bridge, Minneapolis
Hennepin Ave Bridge, Minneapolis
610 Bridge, Coon Rapids (JUST KIDDING!!)
Cable-stayed pedestrian bridge in Baltimore's Inner Harbor (why, because it was the first cable-stayed bridge I had seen)
The collective bridges of downtown Pittsburgh
Brooklyn Bridge
Verrazano Narrows Bridge

and now there's a new entry to this list....

The Midtown Greenway Bike Bridge in Minneapolis!

This bridge opened within the last few weeks connecting the Greenway segments on either side of Hiawatha Avenue so that bikers/pedestrians do not have to wait at the 4 minute (literally) stop light. It's a sweeping bridge that actually adds about a quarter mile or more to a bike ride due to the site constraints of existing buildings and the light rail. One has to ride to the north 2 blocks, cross the bridge, and then travel south 2 blocks to return to the Greenway. On the west side of the bridge, one has to cross a somewhat busy 4 lane road (28th Street) with no signal. It's a slightly dicey crossing. And the bridge cost $5 million. So $5 million to create a crossing that is a longer distance and adds an uncontrolled intersection... Interesting.

I have been using the bridge for a few weeks (mostly on my early morning trips to Uptown to have breakfast with Team Whitney). So I know you're all dying to know my opinion on the bridge and whether or not it was worth the $5 million. Well, there has been a lot of chatter and blogging about this bridge for a year or more on just those issues I mentioned above. A lot of the blogging has been at the Strib's Roadguy blog. Here's his most recent post here.

While watching the building of this bridge, I was very excited. I love cable-stayed bridges for their elegance, and I was happy to have one being built right on one of my usual bike routes! So I definitely was more optimistic than most on how useful it would be. But that also means my expectations were high and frankly, this bridge does not live up to my expectations. To be honest, the extra distance IS annoying, and if I were walking, I would probably just cross at the light on Hiawatha and skip the bridge altogether. With biking, it's about the same amount of time.

And the 28th St crossing? It is VERY dangerous. It seems more dangerous than the Hiawatha crossing because there is no control. Traffic moves very quickly here and is looking AHEAD towards the light at Hiawatha, and is not paying attention to the bikers/peds in the crosswalk.

Here's what works: This bridge is gorgeous. It gives great views of downtown, and great views of the neighborhood. There was a recent Strib editorial that said the bridge was good IN SPITE of the views of the industrial area around the bridge. I think those views ENHANCE the bridge. We're talking about Midtown, you've got to love it for what it is. The view of the old water tower and Midtown Commons in the background make this trip worth it.

Case in point, this morning as I was biking to breakfast, the wind was howling and gusting to 25 mph out of the NW. So what do I do? I bike up the ramp to the bridge directly into the wind instead of the easier crossing at Hiawatha. What? Because I love the views, I love the beauty of this bridge (especially before sunrise). But maybe I bike over it because we paid $5 million for that bridge and darn it, I'm going to get my money's worth. Ever buy a bagel or a donut and it's a little dry, not very tasty. Do you throw it away? NO! You eat it because you paid for it! So I'll be biking on my new favorite South Minneapolis bridge, on good days and bad, and I'll enjoy, whether I want to or not!

Thoughts on the new bridge? Anyone else have a favorite bridge they'd like to share? A few photos of some of my favorites below (photos that I happen to have on my computer right now):

Duluth Lift Bridge...

Rail Bridge in Minneapolis

Big Sur!!!

Trials Tragedy

2007-11-04T12:27:00.000-08:00

Most of you have probably heard about the tragedy at the US Men's Olympic Marathon Trials yesterday. Ryan Shay, a highly competitive marathoner, and considered a dark horse in the trials, collapsed at mile 5.5 and died. Most of the runners, including his good friend and eventual winner, Ryan Hall, had no idea of Shay's death until almost 2 hours later. This is a sad day for the running community, but especially for Shay's family, friends, and his recent bride, Alicia. We should keep them in our prayers, and since the competitive running community is so close, there's a chance that someone reading this knows someone personally touched by his death. Shay's friends and family will need all the support they can get.

I was watching the Trials yesterday, while here on the East Coast visiting friends. I took the early Chinatown from DC to NYC in time for the start. Due to the nature of the race course, I was able to see the start at Rock Center, and get up to Central Park and see the marathoners 8 more times as I ran around the course. After the start, I hurried up to mile 6. The packs were still pretty tight then, and I watched all the racers pass before moving up the parkway to get about a half mile or up the course (I was trying to get to 79th St or so.) I saw one of the marathoners pass me walking (Abdi I think), and I thought, that's weird, I guess it just wasn't his day. Next thing I saw, there was a runner laying on the ground with about 5 or 6 people over him giving him CPR. All of us who were walking had to walk around him due to the lack of sidewalks, so we walked within feet of him. I looked over as I stepped past, and I felt sick. I could tell that their CPR wasn't working, but I said a prayer for him and hurried away so that the ambulance (which still wasn't there yet) could get by without spectator interference. The rest of the race I had no idea what had happened to this runner, and it was obvious the finishers didn't know either since at the finish, the look of joy on Ryan Hall's face was incredible. It wasn't until I saw the news ticker in Times Square that I learned of Shay's fate.

There are some good postings and links to stories about Shay's life on letsrun.com.

Aside from that tragedy, it was a really good race. It was great to be able to cheer for so many great runners with Minnesota connections. The highlight really was tracking Jason Lehmkuhle's performance throughout the race, and being able to watch the runners pass so many times. It was like watching a cross country race for over 2 hours. I really hope that this sort of event happens more often than every four years, and that the course is tailored to spectators like this one was. It made it much more of a sporting event. Usually a marathon is much easier to watch on TV, this one was better in person.

I could write more about this race and how well Ryan Hall ran. Perhaps later I'll post some photos, but sadly the story here is about Ryan Shay. Hall, Ritz, and Sells have a lot to run for and to inspire them in Beijing.

You Mean I Get PAID to do this???

2007-10-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I spent the entire day wandering around Washington County doing inspections for a watershed district. While I spent a fair amount of the day crawling around storm sewer manholes getting dirty, most of the time I was walking through fields and parks. We always schedule these inspections for this time of year so that the flow is lower, but that usually means it's cold too. Not yesterday! 65 and sunny! And I got PAID!! I love my job!

But that's not really blog worthy. THIS is. I saw a couple things that I thought were just hilarious. First, this is a sign on a frontage road along I-94. Take a look at the detail on the brim of that farmer's hat. Pretty impressive I'd say.

Then there was this car at an Arby's in Woodbury. Come on, I know you like their coffee, but TWO bumper stickers? I hope Caribou is paying your gas or at least giving you a free latte. This brings up the larger question of shilling with bumper stickers. A lot of people have their favorite radio station's, band's or team's bumper sticker prominently displayed (I have a Twins sticker on my car, and YES, my car is TWINS TERRITORY). But there seems to be something different about putting a sticker from a big company like Caribou or Cub Foods on the back of the car. If it was a bumper sticker promoting the Seward Coop or Betsey's Back Porch, I wouldn't have a problem with it, yet with these big corporations, it just seems silly. You can see billboards for Caribou and Cub on the highway, do we need to see them on the car in front of us as well? You may "Love Your Cub", but does Cub really care?

Stop reading this and GET OUTSIDE!!

2007-10-28T16:01:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed my blogging has been a little weak lately. It's not that I don't have anything fun to blog about, in fact I have a couple hundred photos sitting 0n my camera at this moment from the past few weeks. It's just that it's the best time of year, FALL! Yesterday I was all of a sudden overwhelmed with how amazing it is outside and how lucky I am to be able to enjoy autumn. Here's a list of all the things I love about the fall that come to mind right now:

Honeycrisp apples. Best apples on earth, and you can only get them right now.
Any other Minnesota apple (fireside, haralson...) See above
Cool, crisp weather
Frost on the grass in the mornings, warm afternoons
Cloudless days
Red sumac
Yellow sugar maple leaves
Running in state/local parks. Lake Elmo Park, Hyland Hills are AMAZING RIGHT NOW! Leave the computer and go to one of those parks at this moment! I've spent the past two days at those parks.
The Mississippi River Gorge. Walk/run/bike the river roads. Stand on a bridge and look up and down the gorge. Go down to Pike Island. I start to forget I'm in a city. The yellows are just phenomenal right now, especially on the river road by St. Thomas.
Harvest moon. Bright nights. Low humidity means you can see the finer details of the moon. Stare at it. For a while. The moon is waning right now, so enjoy it tonight!
The promise of winter, the memories of summer.
Halloween and Thanksgiving, 2 holidays that are all about food and fun!

So get outside! There's no rain and virtually no clouds forecast all week. Take a half-day from work, or a whole day, go enjoy the last bits of fall. Then let me know where your favorite spots are!

And in other news, congrats to Ed on a great Marine Corps Marathon today! I'll be in DC in a few days. I wish I had time for a Shenandoah trip. This would be the PERFECT weekend to go...

Welcome Friend!

2007-10-11T07:02:00.000-07:00

OK, I FINALLY added Beth to my blog friends list (look to the right). I highly recommend her blog for 3 reasons:

1) Beth is awesome!
2) She's the biggest Twins fan I know
3) She takes great photos and updates her blog often! The only person I know who is as diligent as Beth is Ed (aka The Deets).

Welcome friend, it's about time I add you to favorites list!

See you at Storyhill tomorrow night Beth???

Climate Mash

2007-10-10T06:49:00.000-07:00

This video is creative, hilarious, and SCARY! Check it out:

Climate Mash

In other climate news, it seems our warm October is coming to an end. I froze my fingers off on my ride to work. But for anyone who doubts climate change, I don't have to do more than point to the Twin Cities Marathon where the last SIX marathons have had above-"average" temperatures. I think the average is being redefined. But props to those hot, sweaty and delirious runners who braved the heat. I wussed out and ran the 5K and 10-miler. I PR'ed in the 5K (17:49) and had a blast running the 10-miler with Ashley. I've never been so glad to NOT run a marathon. Perhaps photos to come... perhaps not.

Enjoy fall now that it's arrived!

Signs I'm an Old Man

2007-10-05T08:22:00.000-07:00

I don't believe that your age defines you, or really says that much about you at all. I know plenty of 40-year-olds who are in better shape than most guys in their 20s. I know guys in their 50s who party harder now than I ever have.

And then there's me. I'm 28, and I'm done. Old, over the hill, finished. College is still fresh enough in my mind that I consider myself a younger person. I'm not married, no kids (or pets) so I'm certainly free to do whatever I want whenever I want. And I do just that. But what I want these days is more likely to go to bed by 10pm. Sure, I may stay up until midnight every now and then, but considering the latest I've been up in months was when I worked until 1am the other day, I can say with certainty that I'm an old man.

Case in point, last night. I have the opportunity to go to a fun concert with friends at 9pm (until 10 or 11pm). So going out until 11pm on a Thursday? Sounds pretty reasonable. I'm totally in and planning on going, until I realize I missed my ride. At this point (9pm), I can still bike home and go out for a while, but nope, I decide that it's too late to go out and off to bed for me!

Next sign, this morning. I'm driving to work this morning at about 6am. I see a group of about 5 high-school-aged kids walking up the alleys in my neighborhood. Due to the recent graffiti and thefts in the alleys of my neighborhood, I decide the prudent thing to do is call the police and have them make sure all is kosher. Calling the cops on kids? Who am I, my dad????

And let's not even talk about weekends. I used to use my early morning running on weekends as the reason/excuse why I didn't like to stay out past 11pm on a Fri/Sat night. I'll admit right here right now, that really, I just like going to bed then.

But here's the thing. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm probably the most over-scheduled, busiest person they know. I am ALWAYS up for anything and love going out. But I'd rather hit the town at 8pm so I can be home by the time most are just going out. And my preferred hangout time? Breakfast. So next time you want to hang out with me, schedule a breakfast at French Meadow Bakery or Victor's 1959 Cafe. You may go to the Uptown Diner at 3 am after bar close, but I'll be there at 6am on a full night's sleep!

Buster's on 28th Review

2007-10-02T07:00:00.001-07:00

After reading about a new restaurant in my neighborhood on the Deets' Blog, I had to check it out. Well, a short 2 months after I read his review, I finally got my ass over to Buster's on 28th.

Well, the Deets was all fired up about the lame Juicy Lucy, but I noticed very quickly that it was absent from the menu, probably a good thing since they never got it right, and there are plenty of other great places to score a delicious Lucy.

I'll do the food review first. The menu is pretty much elevated bar food, decent, but not outstanding. They had a buffalo burger that 3 of the 4 of us tried. We all agreed that the burger itself was delicious. Here's my problem with it. It is a huge burger smothered in BOTH mayo and a sour cream-based chipotle sauce. Why the need for both? Seems excessive. I asked for mine SIN mayo. The burger (cooking options: medium, medium-rare, charred, whatever... were not offered) showed up and there was about half an inch thick of the chipotle sauce which the waitress INSISTED made the burger. NO WAY! It was delicious, but the sauce was so spicy that it completely masked the flavor of the burger. I scraped off the sauce and discovered that the burger itself was pretty darn tasty too. I would highly recommend this burger with no or just a light amount of the sauce. Other than that, fries were good, onion rings were good.

They did have a difficult time finding BBQ sauce for my fries and malt vinegar was not an option. If they want to be a little better than bar food, those options should be available.

On to the beer. This is their specialty. Busters is owned by the same folks who brought us the Happy Gnome, and they bring their love of good beer. I must say I was exceedingly impressed with the beer list, especially with what was on tap. The gluten-free beer option was a nice touch since I was there with my old roommate Molly who cannot have gluten. I had a Hennepin Ale from NYC that I had had only once before in Brooklyn. I would HIGHLY recommend that. I also tried a MN beer, Flat Earth Element 115. Really interesting taste, but perhaps too many competing flavors. This unique beer is worth a try though. One complaint with their drink menu is that their draft root beer is Frost Top. That sh@t is nasty. Get some good ol' 1919 root beer from New Ulm! But I'm not there for the root beer so I don't really care.

Last comment, on the decor. Hopefully they spruce this up. I like the mirror at the back so even the last table (which we were) can see the whole restaurant. But if you're a place specializing in beers, show that! There's pretty much nothing on the walls, no flare. Of course we know from Office Space that too much flare is a bad thing, but no flare = no personality.

All in all, I'd recommend this place if you live in the neighborhood, but not as a destination, unless something off of their drink menu compels you.

This is why you should be glad I bike to work

2007-09-28T08:53:00.000-07:00

So most of you have probably seen this since it's linked to MSN's homepage, and probably will be for the next 8 weeks the way MSN does their linking. In fact, if you miss it, there's a good chance they'll link to it again in a year and act like it's a brand-new story. Anyway, I digress... So this caught my eye: Crash your car? Blame the stars. The premise is that people with certain astrological signs are more prone to auto accidents than other signs. Apparently this is a stronger indicator of auto accidents than age or zip code. Maybe the insurance industry will pick this up. If so, I'm in trouble. Aries didn't fare so well. I love this quote from the article: "Aries, on the other hand, 'have a "me first" childlike nature that drives Aries into trouble.' ... 'I would think twice before getting into a car with an Aries.' "

So watch out! And be glad I biked to work today so I can't give any of you a ride, and I can't cause significant damage to your SUV even if I do crash into you.

Welcome to the Neighborhood!

2007-09-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

So my 'hood has a new addition that is perfect for me! A Grand Old Creamery just opened at Cedar and Minnehaha Parkway, where an old Dairy Queen used to be. Considering that there's still a DQ close by at the Falls, I can say that I love the change and the new option for ice cream delights!

I am a big fan of the GOC in St. Paul, so I was excited to try this one, especially since they are giving out coupons in my mail (finally, something to look FORWARD to when I get the mail..."where's my next GOC coupon???)

While GOC is no Sebastian Joe's or Izzy's, it is quality ice cream, and local. I must have looked hungry when Ash and I stopped by the other day on our rollerblading adventure, because the kids at the shop gave me a mountain of ice cream. I asked for a SINGLE SCOOP, half peanut butter chunk and half pistacio. Well, you be the judge as to whether that qualifies as a "single scoop." Needless to say, I was a happy camper and will be a loyal customer for years to come! (side note: Ashley had the sherbert and can attest to its deliciousness). Thumbs up all around on this one! Welcome to Nokomis!

Favorite ice cream shops?

Bike Safety

2007-09-14T05:40:00.000-07:00

I know this post is a bit belated considering that the cyclist by Calhoun was killed last week (story here), but I've been thinking and reading about this quite a bit. I've been biking to work much more often this year, usually 3 to 4 times per week. The benefits are great, mostly in the decreased frustration with traffic. This week I've had to drive to work more, and with all the construction, a normal rush hour commute for me is 30-35 minutes, EXACTLY what my biking commuting time is.

I always ride safely, but I still worry about motorists who don't see me or who have an axe to grind with bikers. Way too often I get passed by someone who "buzzes" me, with only inches to spare. There is certainly a lot of animosity out there against bikers by motorists. I can understand their frustration with bikers who break the law, they frustrate me too. But the anger out there towards bikers is just so venomous. Bike commuting is a legitimate form of transportation, and small infrastructure expenditures in that regard are certainly justified. The MN taxpayers subsidize your SUV by building you bigger and more highways, why not toss us bike commuters a bone and give us a bike path or lane here and there? But I digress...

I noticed an interesting item on Road Guy this morning, and wanted to share it with you. It's a website about defensive biking, and for the regular bike commuter, it's a must-read.
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In other news, my roommate is moving out to live with her boyfriend, and while I'm happy for them, I'm looking for a roommate! Here's the craigslist ad.

Ghost Riding the Whip!

2007-08-28T07:08:00.000-07:00

I've been hearing a lot lately about this new craze, "Ghost Riding the Whip" where you find a stretch of road, put the car in drive and while it's cruising along slowly, everyone gets out stands on the car and dances! It's all over You-Tube, you can find great videos all over the place on there. Here's a great one! Check out this blog on the craze and listen to the music!

While I have yet to kick it on the Subaru, while I was on my bike trip with the kids from my church a couple weeks ago, we did a stationary ghost ride on the car of one of the other leaders. I captured the moment on video. Watch it below, it's hilarious! My favorite part is that the leader (a different Nate) is jammin' on his own car, but by the end is freaking out and telling the kids to get off the car. Be careful what you unleash in teenagers.

Minnesota Wines are Delicious...really??

2007-08-19T18:36:00.000-07:00

OK, this isn't one of those, "Minnesota is better" posts. Sure, we have the best park system in the nation (IMHO), and it's hard to beat our summers (except when we're getting 8+ inches of cold rain in August). But Minnesota just can't compare to California or even Virginia when it comes to wines. Heck, I'd say even the ridiculously fruity Door County, WI wines are better than Minnesota wines on average.

But I have found an exception. If you haven't had a chance to check out their wine, the Cannon River Winery in Cannon Falls, MN is exceptional. The winery is located in downtown Cannon Falls, conveniently enough right at the trailhead for the awesome 20-mile Cannon Valley Bike Trail that goes from Cannon Falls to Red Wing along the scenic Cannon River. Twice now I have biked Cannon Falls to Red Wing and back and stopped at the winery POST-RIDE. Many of their wines are delicious, but most use exclusively or near-exclusively California-grown grapes. In my mind, that's cheating. If I want a great CA wine, I'll buy one from CA, not one where the grapes are shipped to MN. It defeats the whole reason for buying local in reducing transportation costs and cutting CO2 emissions.

My favorite wine from this winery is the Minnesota Meritage. It sells for about 16 bucks at the winery, and apparently is sold at several local liquor stores, although I have yet to see it one yet. If you find it, I would suggest trying it. Of course the best place to get it is in Cannon Falls itself at the beautiful winery. So next time you're driving to Rochester (the Rock as Strats calls it), pull over for a refreshing pit stop. Better yet, do the bike trip, have lunch in Red Wing, and bike back to Cannon Falls for a glass of red. It's better than Gatorade!

Anyone had any other good MINNESOTAN wines?? Wines that are primarily Californian grapes like what Carlod Creek does don't count. I've heard Morgan Creek in New Ulm is good, but I haven't tried it yet.

Pablo is Gay, I Have Brown Hair

2007-08-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is definitely going to be a random stream of consciousness-style blog. Those who know me (and I suppose that's both of you who are reading this) know that I can be really random, but I think this will take the cake. I came up with this blog while I was biking home last night from work.

So, I have basically 3 methods I use to get to and from the office. It's about a 10 mile jaunt, and if I disregard the 6 weeks my hand was broken, I have commuted by non-motorized means the majority of the time. My 3 preferred commuting options are: 1) Biking, 2) Running and 3) Driving. I have also used public transit and carpooled, but only very rarely. I prefer biking when possible to the other options because it's pretty quick (35-40 minutes), allows me to do other errands, and helps me reduce my carbon footprint. Running is slower and more inconvenient to coordinate getting food/clothes to the office, but when I'm busy and still need to get my runs in, it's a good alternative. Obviously driving is my least-preferred option.

The one thing I dislike about biking is that I don't get a chance to listen to MPR. When I'm driving I do, and when I run for commuting purposes, I listen to MPR since the route is so boring. But when I'm on the bike it's just me and my thoughts. Which is actually really relaxing and a wonderful benefit to the biking, but sometimes my mind wanders...

So last night I'm biking home and crossing 35W on the 73rd Street pedestrian bridge in Richfield, something I've done hundreds of times. There's a lot of graffiti on the bridge, and one prominent piece says, "Pablo is Gay". This is my resulting internal monologue:

Me #1: "Pablo is Gay, that sucks for him."
Me #2: "Why does that suck for him, are you homophobic Nathan?"
Me #1: "No, it's just that through this piece of graffiti Pablo's entire identity has been reduced to this one fact about him. Perhaps he is a great musician or has interesting opinions on politics. All of that is lost to the world. We only know about Pablo's sexual orientation."
Me #2: "I'd never thought of it that way, interesting point Nathan. It'd be as if someone said, 'Nathan has brown hair.' While that is true, it says very little about the entire person you are. You are always saying you don't want to be just called a runner because that doesn't define who you are."
Me #1: "Exactly."

At this point I decided I was crazy and started wondering whether I had a couple personalities. Then I realized I had at least 3. The first Nathan who noticed that Pablo is Gay. The second Nathan who accused the first of being homophobic, and the third Nathan who critiqued the whole crazy conversation. And perhaps a 4th who then thought this would be a great thing to blog about.

And now you all have way too much insight into the inner workings of my head.

Time Magazine Shady Dealings

2007-08-13T12:58:00.000-07:00

This isn't really a scam, but it's damn close. I have been receiving Time magazine for a couple years now, and I've enjoyed it. But when my subscription expired in the spring, I decided not to re-up because they were charging about double what I had originally paid. My magazines stopped arriving as expected, but the renewal notices did not. Eventually last week I received a letter from Time saying in big letters, "IMPORTANT COLLECTION NOTIFICATION. Dear Mr. Campeau, YOU'VE LEFT US NO OTHER OPTION. To avoid further collection efforts, you must respond WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY."

So I'm freaked out that my credit rating is going to be affected over some stupid magazine that I didn't renew, so I almost sent in the money, but I decided to call Time first. They informed me that they had sent me 6 extra issues and had automatically put me in the auto-renewal program. I have never encountered this with a magazine before, and I thought it was pretty shady. Apparently a lot of other people do too because as soon as I called the nice Time phone rep immediately offered to take the charge off and stop collection procedures. And she apologized profusely for the tone of the letter. So if Time realizes that what they are doing is shady and harassment, why do they keep doing it? Obviously they're banking on people succumbing to the pressure and taking the path of least resistance and forking over another 45 bucks. I actually like Time and may re-up someday...maybe. I'll probably switch to the Economist, more news.

Me and mine are Safe

2007-08-04T08:55:00.000-07:00

I still can't process what happened. I've been gone this past week helping lead a high school bike trip with my church. We biked around the southern portion of the state and we were in Faribault at the time of the tragedy. I feel very detached from what happened and I'm now just able to see images and learn the full extent of what happened. It's hard to wrap my mind around. I am just so thankful that the loss of life was so minimal with how bad it could have been. My heart grieves for those who died and their families. I still feel very emotional about it. I just watched some online coverage of the collapse and honestly, I started crying, 3 days after it happened.

My reaction to this reminds me of two different events in my life. The first is obviously 9-11, when I learned of the Pentagon attack by looking out of my apartment at the Pentagon in flames. Yet in many ways, my reaction is more similar to how I felt when my Grandpa Meisner died when I was on a boat in Australia. His funeral happened by the time I even got word he had died. It took me months to fully process that because I feel like I had missed out on part of the grieving process. And with this 35W tragedy, I feel like being out of town, away from TV and media, I missed out on that initial grieving process. It's an odd feeling, and feels rather selfish, but it is what it is.

My prayers go out to all who have been affected (and for that matter will be for years to come).

Fun Photo!

2007-07-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

File this under, "I'm SOOO sure this has never been done before!"

As cheesy and cliched as that is, I LOVE our city's monument. And I love it when friends visit and give me an excuse to be a tour guide! Thanks for coming ladies!

Hope you enjoyed your visit and enjoyed all the greasy fair food! Come back soon for another Jucy Lucy from Matt's! I know y'all don't have those out east.

Be a Friend of the Mississippi!

2007-07-18T06:25:00.000-07:00

OK, so most readers of this (both of you) enjoy the Mississippi River. You run along it, stroll along it, take scenic drives along it, some of you even paddle in it! Well in a few weeks I too shall be paddling it, as part of the Mississippi River Challenge. This event is to benefit Friends of the Mississippi. This group works to clean the river and educate others on what they can do to keep it clean.

The event is a fun (still room left, so please join if you're interested) journey down the Mississippi from Coon Rapids (my old stomping grounds) Grey Cloud which is somewhere downstream of St. Paul, with an overnight at Ft. Snelling (my current stomping grounds).

I'm doing the paddle with my roommate Molly and we're raising money for this through this website: http://www.firstgiving.com/nathancampeau. If you'd like to donate, please do so! Thanks for your support!

Here are some photos from a trip down the Mississippi Gorge that Tim and I did last year. It is such a different experience than running along the river. Being down in the gorge makes you forget you're in the city. Other than the bridge crossings, you feel like you could be miles from civilization.

Paddling the Gorge

Old Meeker Dam

In the Ford Dam Lock

Pike Island Bridge

Pacific Coast Part I

2007-07-05T16:30:00.000-07:00

This will have to be a multi-part post because we saw just too much to put into one post!

I'm still in LA (100+ today in the valley, can't wait to get back to Minny).

DAY 1

My aunt Barbie and cousin Jeff drove Joe and I up to San Francisco. Long trip, those two are troopers for driving there and back in the same day! We got to Fisherman's Wharf and spent some time tooling around, had some ice cream at Ghiradelli's (see photo below).

Our rule was ice cream EVERYDAY of the trip. We never failed to achieve that goal!

Then Joe and I started getting our bikes ready to make the ride from San Fran north to the campground in Marin Headlands. But before we even got going, Joe and I each had a flat tire!! Luckily, those were 2 of the 3 flats we had the entire trip (and the other was a really slow leak). Mechanically speaking, the trip was incredibly smooth.

After that ominous beginning, we started north to cross the Golden Gate Bridge to get to our campsite at Marin Headlands. The weather was clear and gorgeous (not typical San Fran weather), so we took our time, taking tons of photos.

Look at that skyline... and those legs!

Alcatraz... and a purse-snatcher????

That night we got to the campsite sort of late, and since no one was there to check us in, we set our tent up in the wrong spot and had to move it at about 10pm when the park ranger came around! And since by then the marine layer had settled in and it was in the 50s, it was not the best start to our trip! Luckily, the rest of the trip was really smooth!

DAY 2

We woke up and biked BACK across the Golden Gate Bridge and began making our way south along the coast, first through San Francisco, and then the suburbs to the south.

Mark Twain once said, the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Fran

About halfway through our trip for the day we came upon a stretch called the Devil's Slide, which is part of Highway 1 that is very steep, has no shoulder, is VERY busy with semis, and prone to landslides. It was definitely the most nerve-wracking part of the trip as we were slowly climbing this long pass with semis screaming by at times inches from us. But we passed through the fire and eventually made it to the other side, where the beautiful Half Moon Bay State Beach was waiting for us. Had some great pizza and ice cream and watched a beautiful sunset.

DAY 3

We woke up that next morning to COLD again. But the marine layer soon lifted and pleasantly never returned! For the rest of the trip we had perfect weather, never too hot or cold, and always sunny. We found out later that the rest of inland California was suffering through a major heat wave due to the nice weather we had along the coast. Worked out well for us!

That day we had a longer ride (60+ miles) to New Brighton Beach south of Santa Cruz. There were some hills and a lot of beautiful coastal scenery that day, and the wind picked up and blew us up over some pretty major hills and made for a nice day of riding. Once we got to Santa Cruz, however, the directions got murky and we lost our way a couple of times, so we were a little cranky by the time we reached camp. But we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset and some Sierra Nevada beer!

Day 4

This day we road south through the strawberry and avocado fields along the coast and into Monterey. The first part of the trip was gorgeous through rolling fields and interesting watching migrant workers do the tough but obviously communal work of picking our nation's fruit and vegetables. Very fascinating and eye-opening. The last part of the trip was kind of boring along highways but we were treated to a night at a motel (as opposed to campground. read: SHOWER!!!!)

Along the way we picked some illicit strawberries, delicious!!!

Me riding through strawberry fields south of Santa Cruz

That afternoon, since it was a shorter ride, I decided to take an extra ride around Monterey and see the sights while Joe rested at the motel. I toured through Cannery Row, and then onto the 17-mile road that goes by Pebble Beach and along the coast. I was following the directions in the book, but I read them wrong and my leisurely 19 mile planned route turned into a grueling 30 mile death march (Joe's phrase) through some major hills around Pebble Beach. It was gorgeous and quite worth it, just more than I had bargained for! In total, 72 miles on the day, by far the most I had ever ridden in one day!

Cannery Row, not quite as Steinbeck would remember it

That night we went down to Fisherman's Wharf and had the most overpriced and disgusting seafood I've ever had. It's a tourist trap, avoid it all costs! Well, take a photo of it and then move on. But that night we celebrated our ride with a bottle of Fat Tire (which should be sold in Minneapolis by the time I get home!!)

The harbor in Monterey at sunset

That's all for now, Days 5, 6 and 7 to follow!