40K

I skied 40k at Elk River this morning. The snow was fast as the temp was already on the way to 40. Who saw that coming? Todd, Eric C, Erik H and Larry were all there at the start. Todd, Eric and I did one lap at a steady tempo and then two more with 5 minute intervals. Afterwards Todd mentioned to me, "You might want to think about doing the Birkie." So it looks like I may be racing again this year. I did a 4th lap to get used to skiing while whiped out.

Lilly had "Ice is Nice" at the Anoka Ice Arena. Hailey and Mia (neighbor girls) were there - Hailey did a great job of skating around and keeping them both interested.

We all took Boo to the dog park. What a great day. We saw JayT out on a ride! Outside, in January! "It's my first ride of the year," says Jay.

A friend helps

Lilly had a new person in swim class yesterday. What a difference. I think all the shyness was due to being 1-on-1 with the teacher. Once the class started she didn't look back.

Got word from a high school friend that he'll be doing RAGBRAI this year as well. That is really cool. I can't wait.

This just in: Minnesota is Cold

Temperatures aproaching 30 by this weekend. That's fine by me. This is the time of year when we really start to crawl the walls. It's not that we don't get out. I run outside and we both ski. It's the in between times. It's so much nicer to play outside than be shut up in the house. February is a hard month for Holly and I.

Ran with JVD and Joe at lunch yesterday. John is fast. I'm not really hurting when I'm running with him. But then again I'm not talking like he is.

Renzo (a friend at work) forwarded this to me.

Happy Birthday Holly

Lilly and I took off work early to shop for Mom's present. We bought her an electric toothbrush (she had been asking for one for the past few Christmases). We wrapped the gift and setup a "treasure hunt" around the house while she was downstairs lifting weights.

Ran on the treadmill at work and did a half hour on the rollers in the evening. I wanted to try out the new handlebar tape and see how it'll perform on RAGBRAI.

The Fort (or Castle)

Here's a couple shots of the fort:

Holly went for a nice long ski today at Elm Creek. She aggreed that the snow is pretty hard. Lilly and I did Mc Donald's Playland while she was skiing.

Boo Ski

I just got back from a ski with Boo on the Elm Creek muti-purpose trail. What fun for both of us. He made it one loop (probably around 6k) and as we passed the parking lot he ran right to the car. I took that as a sign he had enough. I was then free to ski on the ski trails and skied another hour or so.

We could use some snow. Elm Creek is groomed beautifully, but we need some more loose stuff to work into the top. Better than the 2.5k loop at this time of year though. And in actuality this winter has been pretty stinkin' good.

Carol came over last night and her an Holly rode inside for a couple hours. Good for them. That's a heckuva lot easier to do with a friend.

Holly, Lilly and I had built a fort before Carol came over so Lilly and I watched a movie in the fort while they were spinning. Larry is one funny cucumber.

A nice ski

Ok, so skiing wasn't as warm as I thought. I had hoped for mid 20's and got mid teens. I took it easy with a few hard efforts. As I told Neil, I just didn't have that fire to work really hard. At one time Neil was about to propose some type of handicapped race for us. I cut him off and said, "Can't we just ski?" It worked out well. We skiied a lot side-by-side and just enjoyed the night. Nice to be out before it gets cold again this weekend. Darn.

I'm reading and enjoying A Dog in a Hat. It has a genuine and down-to-earth quality missing from most of the cycling books I've read. And it's funny. My favorite quote so far:

"De Vlaeminck smiled at me in such a way that I felt a need to check my pocket to make sure my wallet wasn't missing."

(De Vlaeminck has just found out Joe is doing Paris-Roubaix for the first time the next day)

Swimming

Lilly and I went swimming last night. She had her swim class and I swam laps during the class. Very nice to share that together. She was still a touch anxious when class started but warmed up to Ryan quickly and we were off and, well, swimming.

Got an email today about a co-worker whose little girl has a brain tumor that has spread to her spinal cord. They're flying to Argentina every few weeks for treatments that are not available in the US. Wow. A friend once told me, "Every day my kids wake up healthy is another day to be nothing but thankful for what you have." Amen.

Holly went skiing last night. I'm looking forward to skiing tonight. It'll be fast and warm.

Went for a run with Joe over lunch. It's amazing how nice 25 degrees can feel. Joe is a great guy.

Tacos

Lilly and I met Rob and Kyle at Maverick's for some $1 tacos. Great time. Lilly danced. Kyle tried to burn the place down. Mmmmm...tacos.

Holly didn't do the tacos in favor of going to spin at Trailhead.

Ran outside for the first time in week or so. Boy 20 degrees seems nice after -20. Footing was slushy but I'll take that over the cold. Good to see Todd and Eric again.

MLK Day

Lilly and I stayed home today as it was a Medtronic company holiday. Holly had to work at ATK. After shoveling the snow of the deck Lilly and I did her science experiment she had received as a Christmas gift.

The mad scientist:



We met Holly for lunch at the BBQ joint. After lunch was some sledding with the neighbor kids and some playtime inside. I went skiing after Holly got home from work and finished an outer loop in the dark to the sound of coyotes. Yikes! I guess that's why Lilly calls it the coyote park.

Broomball

My friend Wade had his annual MLK Broomball Weekend this weekend at his parents' house on Lake Pulaski in Buffalo, MN. Lilly and I went up to play while Holly skied in the park with Carol and Diane. Great Minnesota winter day to be outdoors. We caught a ride with Rob and Kyle so even the ride there and back was fun. Lilly played a little broomball, sledded, played Mario Kart (Wii) and played inside with Lachlan (Wade and Stacee's little guy) and the other little ones.

We went to United Methodist Church in Anoka this morning. Our neighbors attend so it was nice to see them.

More Skiing

Holly, Lilly, Boo and I went to the Elm Creek multi-use trail this afternoon.

Lilly did great on her skis:





Boo loved it:

Boy, with a little wind Fernbrook really drifts over. Reminds me of living in rural Iowa.

Skiing at Elk River

I finally made it up to Elk River for the first time this season. It was totally worth it. It had warmed up to 15 degrees, the snow was a little fluffy on top and the hills were just as hard as I remembered. What a great place to ski.

Rubes:



Neil and I went to the new Martin's Anoka Cafe (formerly Cal's) for coffee and breakfast afterwards. We joked about eating with a tiny fork and how good Miller Genuine Draft tastes when you drink it in Dave Hemstad's garage. We hoped Larry had a good race at Seeley and that Tom Cowan will come out and ski with us again.

!Skiing

I did the spin thing last night as it was too cold to ski. Had a good conversation with Neil afterwards at Mavericks. We ride with some very good people.

Speaking of good people I had heard a rumor that Dave Hoglund broke his leg mountain biking in the park Wednesday night. I gave him a call and it was partially true. He was biking in the park and did wipe out but didn't break anything. The temp on Wednesday night had to be -15 or colder. I can't decide if Dave is He-Man or a complete goofball.

Lilly had gymnastics again. She's doing great and likes to see the older girls doing some pretty amazing stuff.

My sister Beth took a new job. Actually a higher ranking job at her previous employer. Good for her.

Our friends Cory and Lacey's newborn baby Ellie had heart surgery this week. I can't even imagine what that must be like.

Colder than La Crosse

Apparently the engineers at La Crosse Technology didn't think their indoor/outdoor thermometer would ever see -20. Or they did and realized they're no longer telling you something you don't already know: "It's (explitive deleted) cold."

A horse is a horse

Of course!

Lilly has been into playing the Sleeping Beauty game (I'm the prince). We eat poison apples, fight goblins and play in our "kingdoms". Last night we made a horse to make inter-kingdom travel easier:












Hwy 10 was really slick this morning. Plenty of cars in the ditch and a few on their roofs. Incredible sunrise through the cold mist:

Cold + Sledding Video

It is -20 right now. Our garage doors are probably frozen shut. :)

Here's a 1st person view of the sledding hill:

Snow!

Probably about 4" out there today. Maybe 3" more Tomorrow night. Seems like the first decent snowfall we've gotten. Jason was home today and shoveled the upper driveway for us.

Lilly and I went sledding with Jacob and Mia. Mia only lasted about 10 minutes as she was clipped by Lilly's sled while walking up the hill and was ready to go in. Jacob and Lilly took turns hitting either the hay bale or the pine tree. Jeez...

Holly went skiing with Diane as Wednesday night is going to be cold. She said the snow was loose and it was kind of slow but she got in two hours and still had a good time.

Speaking of cold. Apparently Chicken, Alaska hasn't seen a high temp above 0 degrees since December 1st. Holy crap.

Went for a run with Joe today. Snowy and windy but I hadn't talked with him for awhile so it was a great run.

Back to Normal

A full week of work...

Monday

• Ran 7 at lunch w/ Todd, Joe, JVD and Eric. Tough run when part of your energy goes into slipping.


• Holly and Lilly played Trouble after dinner and Lilly won! We all played tag.


• I rode a half hour on the rollers - Holly rode an hour on the trainer.


• Boo and I went for a short walk. We saw Jeff and he asked why we left the dock in the river. Uh-oh...

Tuesday

• Sledding w/ Lilly and the neighbor kids. After putting the hay bale in front of the pole at he bottom of the hill, the kids tried to hit it.


• Holly did spin at Trailhead


• 1.5 hrs on the elliptical to the 2nd "half" of the Fellowship of the Ring.

Wednesday

• Reading Buddy


• Swim class. Lilly took a little while to get used to her new teacher so I cut my swimming short and watched her class. She's the only kid signed up for this time slot so 1:1 instruction may be a little weird for her too.


• Holly went skiing with her friends.


• An hour on the elliptical to the 3rd "half" of The Fellowship of the Ring

Thursday

• 7 mile run at lunch. Just me and JVD (one of the best masters runners in the state). Fairly hard run. :)


• Lilly's gymnastics class.


• Skiing at Elm Creek with Bernie, Neil and JayT. Neil had the idea of racing each other with handicaps. I was to do 5 laps, Neil and JayT 4, and Bernie 3. We all were cooked afterwards.

Friday

• The snow that was predicted to go just north of us missed us to the south. Darn.


• Holly and I watched Casino Royale while working out. She rode the trainer for the entire 2hr movie while I did the rollers for half and the elliptical for half.

Saturday

• Skied with Neil, Bernie, Larry and Tony. We did two loops of the multi-use trail (the "outer" outer loop) at Elm Creek. Coffee afterwards at Hudy's.


• Holly, Lilly and I went ice skating. Lilly is getting better but looses interest quickly.

Sunday

• Holly skied the multi-use and outer loop at Elm Creek. Great skiing after a couple inches of light snow.


• A quick shovel job.


• Coffee at Avant Garden espresso bar in Anoka
  
  
  


• A trip to Minnesota Children's Museum
  
  Hmong settlement:
  
  
  Face painting:
  
  
  
  
  Fish:
  
  
  
  
  Rock video:
  
  
  Doggie:
  
  
  Water fun:
  
  
  Turtles (the real one smiled!):
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Bus:
  
  
  Chillin' with Ron:
  



• An lively hour on the elliptical.

Happy New Year

2008 was a great year. I think 2009 will be even better.

Monday

• 8 miles on the treadmill at lunch. 7:00 for the first 6, 6:30, 6:00.

Tuesday

• Musical machines at work over lunch. 15 min each on elliptical, spin bike, treadmill, stairs.


• Dinner with Holly for our 10 year anniversary. Drinks at Maverick's Wood Grill and dinner at Buona Sera.

Wednesday

• 1:10 on the elliptical (early AM)


• Drive to Sioux Center. Stopped at Mc Donalds for a break:
  
  
  
  


• Lunch at the bakery.


• New Years Eve in Sioux Center.


• Boo and Skipper celebrate the new year:
  
  
  
  
  

Thursday

• 1 hr run in Sioux Center. 4 laps of the road by the new golf course.


• Christmas with Holly's family.
  
  Lilly got a guitar:
  
  
  
  
  
  Kelsie got Guitar Hero:
  
  
  
  
  

Friday

• Our 10 year wedding anniversary. Holly got me a great book of pictures from the beginning of our relationship. She also bought me a new ring. It has all of our birthstones:
  
  
  


• Volleyball at Dordt


• Snowmobiling with Rusty


• I ran a few laps on the indoor track and ran home


• Dinner with Lynette, Rylee and Bob at Blue Mountain Smokehouse in Orange City.

Saturday

• Brunch at the bakery


• We decided to take off early to try and beat the ice/snow storm. Here's the car when we got home:
  
  
  
  
  


• An hour on the elliptical to the first hour of The Fellowship of the Ring

Sunday

• Holly and Lilly dropped Kalie off at the airport while I shoveled the driveway.


• Took down the Christmas decorations and lights. It was a little big cold taking down the lights.


• 1.5 hours (2 outer loops + 1 Northern Lights loop) at Elm Creek. Squeaky, cold snow. Listened to the first half of the Vikings playoff game on the radio.


• Roast for dinner.