Monday
- 8 mile Mercy Hospital run. I could tell I ran hard this weekend.
- Long walk with Boo in the morning
- 2.5 hrs on the mountain bike
- Threw the light on the mountain bike and headed to the park.
- Met Bob Dahl (actually he came up beind me and scared me out of my shorts). He was on his cyclocross bike and took me through some singletrack.
- Right around sundown Bob told me he'd better get going because last year he t-boned a deer riding at night. Whoa.
- Headed back towards Hoglund's woods and saw the man himself coming back from downtown on a popcorn run. Talked a little and he had to get home for a beer.
- By now it's too dark for me to ride in the woods alone (I can't outride the boogie man through the woods) so I head along the paved trail over to Zachary and meet up with the corridor trail.
- I rode the "horse" trail all the way to the dam and it was a deeeelight. My speed was slightly lower and effort was slightly higher than it would have been the paved trail so I stayed nice and warm - almost hot. The night, tunnel vision aspect made it pretty interesting for an easy doubletrack grass trail. Interesting contrast between seemingly wide open prairie sections and sections where I was practically in back yards. I think I've found my new fall ride.
- On to cross 610 and come back home along the Coon Rapids side of the river.
- Threw the light on the mountain bike and headed to the park.
- Rollerblading for 1 hr over lunch.
- Lilly swim class:
- HyperDash and Memory with Holly & Lilly.
- Walk with Boo while listening to the final presidential debate.
- 7 miler at lunch with Joe and Nelson. "We're two fast asians", Joe says. He really wants me to do the marathon next year with him. It would be a good year to do it as I won't be bike commuting until Lilly starts school in the fall. If Nelson does his standard 3 marathons next year Twin Cities will be his 20th. Wow.
- Evening ride on the mountain bike. I started in the park riding some singletrack and met Neil to ride the paved trail. As we rode along you could tell the temp had dropped and I was quickly getting cold. We had a laugh as we passed by the ski challet while they were testing the lights on the ski trails. Something like, JayT says, "Hi" and "Can you leave the lights on for us?". We followed my Tuesday ride and rode the "horse" trail from the park over to the dam. I had the idea of stopping by to "trick or treat" at Dave & Diane's house and see how Dave was doing. Great time. A cold ride home that started with trying to hold Neil's wheel back to his house. I think he saw the boogie man and bolted for the barn.
Some blurry Elm Creek pics:
- 10 mile run over lunch at work. Saw Todd roller skiing in the park.
- Walk with Boo. Downtown Anoka from the pedestrian bridge:
- Went to bed early as we're all sick.
- Buffalo for breakfast ride. Neil, Jake Cohen, Paul R, Dave G and I rode to Buffalo and had breakfast at J's Family Restraunt. Nice easy ride. It was great to see Jake and talk some Cat 2 racing with him. He graduated this spring and is a phlebotomist at the St. Cloud hospital. He had a white Cannondale exactly like White Lightning.
- Lilly, Jacob, Mia and I went over the landing to drop off the boat trailer. On the way back we stopped at the park to play and found out it was the pumpkin carving contest for the Anoka Light Up the Night parade float. We all teamed up to carve this one:
- Anoka Light Up the Night Parade. A great parade in downtown Anoka where the floats are lit up. Neil, Belinda, Rose and Owen came up to head to the night parade. The neighbor kids (Hailey, Jacob and Mia) came along too. Great time! Here's our pumpkin lit up:
The kids dancing before the parade:
The pumpkin float:
- We tried a new church (Mount Olive in Anoka) and enjoyed it. Lilly was excited because she saw Ms. Sarah from preschool.
- Holly treated lunch at Panera. Black bean soup in a bread bowl!
- Holly, Lilly and I rode to the wood park. After playing at the park and a game of tag we headed home the long way. Lilly rode 18 miles on her tag-a-long. Good job Lilly! Holly and Lilly:
All of us. We mistimed this one a little bit:
- I winterized the waverunner and boat. Jet boats are pretty easy - although I left the oil changes for next spring. Now I just need to get into the storage area under the basement garage to get the storage cover and tarps. When we had the driveway sealed they sealed the door shut!
- Amy Xu's 40th birthday party! A good time at Melinda's house around the campfire. Uhhh....
