Holiday season has started and.......

The holiday season has begun and that brings planning the upcoming race season.

Thanksgiving morning I got up early to volunteer down at the Turkey Run 5K. Leann and Corrine picked me up at 5:30 am so that we could be ready to man the registration post by 7:00 am-what a mistake! I have never met such RUDE people! As usual the race people didn't order enough race numbers and shirts for the amount of runners, which sent people into a tizzy! After getting chewed out by the lady who takes her Christmas photo in the shirt and race number every year and the man who doesn't like ink on his hands, I was ready to be done and get a workout in.

While the race went on I did a short run and lifted some weights. Then once I got home, I finished up my run with Shadow-getting in a total of 6 miles in for the day.

I spent the rest of my Thanksgiving over at Jen's house. We had many conversations about politics and played board games-it was a blast!

Friday-I made my way downtown for a little shopping. I didn't find very many good deals, but I did get Owen's Christmas present out of the way. I met up with Liz later that day to watch the Holidazzle and watch some Jazz at the Times. It ended up being a early night as I had to be up early to lead run club on Saturday.


Saturday, Corrine and I ended up running 6.5 miles at the Dam. Thanks Corrine for pushing me along!

Today, I ran 3.5 miles on the treadmill and then got on the bike for a half hour. I finished my workout with lifting weights and doing abdominals

My pre-season training starts this week, which will lead into my training for the Liberty Ironman training. Training for Madison with start after Liberty in June. Oh-one other thing, today the Madison Ironman was televised and Jen, Cindy, and I were on TV multiple times-who knew that us crazy cats would be shown catching bikes!

Rock N Roll San Antonio race report

Shortly I will be heading to the airport to board my plane back to Minnesota. I can't believe this trip has come and gone-why does the time go by so fast? Anyway this trip has been a blast and of course interesting starting with my flight to San Antonio. On the way here I almost missed my connecting flight in Atlanta-I was quite worried that I might being my connection was only 3 minutes and it was sleeting in MPLS. The airline workers stated we would get to Atlanta early and not to worry.....I think they were worried too-being they moved me to first class so that I could be the first one off the plane. We hit a lot of turbulence along the way causing the man behind me to start barfing! But to make things worst, I sat next to a man that talked politics and the stock market the whole way to Atlanta!

Once finally making it to Atlanta, the pilot stated that we hit a bit of congestion so we were going to circle in the air for a while-try 45 minutes! By the time we landed my connecting flight was supposed to have taken off 20 minutes earlier! After sitting on the runway for another 10 minutes or so, we were finally let off the plane, I started sprinting through the airport.


Okay.....I took a few days off before finishing this race report. The trip down to San Antonio was super fun! We spent many hours down on the riverwalk which ran right behind our hotel. The overall weather was good-we did have a few chilly, windy days. We also visited the Alamo-I can't believe all the history!

Marathon day started early with my alarm to be set to go off at 3:45 am-I was up most of the night anyway, which is pretty normal for me before a race. After getting up I quickly got ready and re-checked back into my hotel room (yep they had my reservation messed up). Jen, Corrine, and I headed down to the shuttle at 4:30 am. It was a cold morning-I believe 28 degrees! Once the shuttle got us to the start we huddled around a generator until 7:00 am; along many other runners. We hung out with a group that was from Texas for most of the time.

At about 7:15 we headed to corral #18. There were 1000 people placed in each corral and a total of 32 corrals. While waiting to make it to the start line the rest of our group met up with us. We got a few pictures and then we were on our way to the start line. The course was combined with the half marathoners for a little over ten miles, which made it very crowded! Corrine, Jen R., Jerel, Andy, and I ran the first ten miles together.

The miles seem to peel off pretty quickly even though the course was kind of boring. We stopped and took our picture with a couple of the bands along the way and screamed Ya Vikings at all the Wisconsin people spectating. I got to spend some time in the several porta-potties along the way-stupid stomach issues. Overall my legs felt great and my energy level remained high. Jen, Corrine, and I maintained a good pace throughout and we may even have had negative splits.

I now back in Minnesota trying to get caught up on all the things that I got behind on during my trip. I spent the rest of the week busy with meetings for work and at a public policy conference. I miss San Antonio!

Last night marked another year served at Gillette.....we had our employee recognition dinner. Even in the midst of the horrible financial condition of our country and most businesses Gillette does always put on a formal multi-course dinner for the employees-it is nice to know that I am appreciated for the work that I do, especially after many mandated hours and expectations that are held by the organization.

I haven't had a lot of time to run this week, but I have been trying to squeeze some workouts in between the many tasks that need to be completed. Today, I ran a measly 2.5 miles on the treadmill and then lifted weights. I did try to incorporate some speed and hills into the short run-mostly to fight the boredom caused by treadmill running.

Over the coarse of the day I spent a good amount of time trying to get my hotel and flight stuff all worked out for my trip next week. The hotel was being a pain in the butt about the reservations and they had Corrine's reservation under my name-What a mess! I think that all the problems are worked out (it only took from 9 am-5pm) and some adjustments to my travel plans. I luckily have all next week off so I will be heading to San Antonio a day earlier and staying a day longer. I will at least get a chance to see the city a little bit.

No weather consistency here.......Monday's run was fantastic! It was great to get out and run in 70 degree weather again-even though it was just a little teaser! I ended up getting in 4 miles without hacking up a lung-was it the warm weather or the antibiotics have kicked in?

Tuesday, I started my workout with a short run and then I lifted weights.

Wednesday, I went to spinning class.

My workouts have at a minimum last week as I have been trying to get rid of my cold-to find out it isn't just a cold! Friday, after getting back into town from Mankato I had stopped at my parents house to pick up my Shadow (dog) and my mother was on my case to go into the doctor-because this cold that has lasted a month. In hope to not wait forever, I went to the minute clinic at Target and the NP only saw me for a MINUTE to tell me that I needed to got urgent care for a chest x-ray. I found out that I have pneumonia, a sinus infection, and an ear infection......so just a little more than a cold.

Like I said before my workouts have been kept to a minimum over the past week. Monday I did a pathetic two mile run. Then on Wednesday I did only a three mile run. I intended on doing more, however it was such a busy week with a test on Friday and having to be in Mankato Thursday and Friday-plus meetings at work, etc.

Saturday, I did a 11.1 mile run with Jen, Corrine, Sonja, ad Maureen down at the lakes. The run went pretty well except that I was really congested and hacking for most of it.....sorry guys!

On to a new week hopefully the antibiotics will help with my sickness and I will feel motivated to get back to a consistent workout routine. It is going to be another busy week with Tuesday being election day-GO OBAMA! And on Wednesday, I have my recognition dinner for work, then packing for San Antonio!!!!!