Happy Halloween!

A Run, and then the Ranch!!

So today was the Big Woods Run in Faribault.  (I did the 10k.) The run started at 9, but I was told I should get there as early as possible to get parked and ready.

Leaving on a cold morning, in the dark, at 6am was a pretty harsh start to a Saturday.  This was tempered by a few things:  the radio was quite friendly, pumping me up with some great dance hits I'd recently downloaded to my running mix AND (which was the coolest) -- Michael Jackson's "Thriller."

Totally epic at 6:30 am.

Also, I had done a poor job of having food in the house to prepare for a run, so I got to stop at McDonald's for hash browns, OJ, and a sausage McMuffin.

So delicious.

So anyway, it was a chilly morning but I was hopeful it would warm up a bit once the sun was up.  It wasn't too bad, but the first (and last) mile of the race was on a paved county road with fields on either side.  It was nice and warm to the east, from the sun, but you were simultaneously buffeted from freezing winds to the west.  I managed to make it to mile 1 before I saw the first of the 5k runners hit their final mile.

Yup.  I was pretty much last.  That's fine by me, though.

The whole morning's challenges was rendered completely worthwhile once I hit the trail in the park.  Dappled sunlight, a fairly flat trail, no one around... Gorgeous.  And I did pass at least one person so I wasn't totally last.

My reward was lunch at the brand-new Pizza Ranch location in Lakeville!!!


It was epic.  I totally heart Pizza Ranch.

Here it is!!!  Shiny and new!!!

Fantastic decor!!!

Settle in for some fine food, cowpokes!

Ahhhh... Summer.

A belated post, but I just finally got the pictures off my phone.

One of my summer "To Do"s was to dine on the patio at the new Psycho Suzi's.

It was awesome.

What I didn't know beforehand is that the building Suzi's took over used to be... what... a church? A funeral home?  I don't actually know.  But I was making some assumptions.  I probably could figure it out with more time inside.

But not on a gorgeous day like this was!!

I got a burger.

And tater tots are always a welcome addition.

We were right by the tiki fountain!!

One of the coolest parts was the occasional paddle boat on the river.

So... awesome.

Oh, and for dessert? Birthday Cake!

With a candle!

Tasty.

It's the End of Summer!

It's Labor Day -- the last day of the State Fair.

I'm driving home from a fantastic birthday celebration in Elk River, it's getting dark, I'm tired -- but I have one more pre-purchased State Fair ticket, and I haven't had my root beer yet.

So I stop.  And park.  Just for that.

I hadn't been to the Fair at dusk for a while!  Here are some bad cell-phone pics...

Liked catching the sign "in action."

Look!  Not every TV personality makes me look short!

The Grandstand looks H-O-T in this light.

It's my root beer!  SO DELICIOUS!!!

Dig that Space Needle! (Or Tower. Whatever.)

It's the FAIR!!!

Three words: Llama. Costume. Awesome.

Corn Dog.  Delicious.

It's true! I visited the oink booth - for the hat.

This is always my favorite part.  Really? A hammock? At the Fair?

Don't Mess with the Messersmith!

I had a tough day yesterday. Not to get into details, but suffice to say I don't usually see 20 out of 24 hours on any given day.

Thankfully, I wrapped it up at my first Music at the Zoo concert: Jeremy Messersmith with Rogue Valley.

Rogue Valley was very good, and I was impressed that they had put out FOUR albums in 2010! (One for each season. Yes, of course I bought all four! The packaging was so adorable!)

Jeremy was likewise faboo. He played all my favorites, PLUS two words: string quartet. AND one of his guitarists last night is a member of The Owls, another local band of which I am a fan.

I thought the setup at the zoo was great -- not a bad seat in thw house. Should have brought a cushion though. (Next timee!)

It finished my night off right, and made the rest of the day seem not so bad. I love music.

Circus Juventas!

Basically just a post of poor-quality cell phone photos!

W00t!

Trail Run #2!

...oh, the agony!!

Murphy-Hanrehan Park in Savage, you have bested me but I shall not be conquered!

This was a heckuva race, ladies and gents. Firstly, I'd been mentally preparing for a 5-mile race (which was a bit longer than I thought I was raeady for) only to be told the course was actually 5.6 (or so?!) Secondly, there was not a lot of running going on - this course had some serious ups and downs. There was a lot of walking up, and actually a lot of walking down so I didn't die. (I did almost biff it once. That was terrifying.) Add to that the eternal "sunglasses or no sunglasses" question - the last few miles left me choosing whether to be blind from lack of light, or lack of glasses.

Yeah, it was tough.

I was impressed that I did manage to maintain around a 15-minute mile, I didn't die/injure myself, and I will show up for the next race.

Oh, and I wasn't last! I actually passed 6 people, and mky best mile was mile 4-5. I picked up some serious pace time.

The next race, at 3.2 miles will seriously seem like a walk in the park.

Woo hoo!

Oh AND I wore my totally bad-ass trail shoes. They are awesome.

AND AND my number this race was 113! I am having some serious number love... though I have still to win any serious swag. Maybe next time.

Puff-Puff-Puffing Along!

Last night I made my triumphant return to the Minnesota Centennial Showboat!  (The last time I'd been on-board was for its inaugural season -- Jekyll and Hyde in 2002.)

Some lovely black-eyed susans from Harriet Islad.

A beautiful vista... the boat, the river, and the skyline.

It's the boat!  Still beautiful, 9 years later.

And a view FROM the boat.

So I sat next to this great couple, who's been coming to see shows on the boat for the past 8 years or so.  They were just a stitch and a half, and made me feel like quite the Showboat Celebrity!  (The coolest part for me was when I saw that they were using the SAME BAG I made in 2002 for the Newsboy Olio!)  The show was wonderful, and my favorite olios were the parade olio (a Practical Man) and the one featuring a hotdog, ketchup, and mustard.  (Frankfurter Sandwiches!)

I kind of want to go again.

Great Light.

It's getting to that time of year when the light quality is very fetching to me.  (Early in the morning when I'm making my carpool pickup.)  If I hadn't recently loaned my camera to my brother, I was considering getting up early on my day off to snap some photos of downtown.  So here's one via cell phone.  It's not perfect, but pictures never are!

Warrior Dash Pictures!

Yup.  Still feeling good at this point.

Jumping the Fire!!!

Kind of thankful that I didn't have to run more 

 

of it

 covered in mud like this.

A Funny Night Out!

We had a department outing (and I was allowed to attend, even though officially I'm not in the department any more. *sniff*) We went for dinner and comedy at ACME Comedy Club.

For $30, you get a nice dinner at Sticks, and then tickets to the show!

I was impressed with the variety of options we had considering it was so inexpensive.  Drinks were additional, but that's reasonable.  I went with one of the fish options:

The red potatoes and roasted veggies were great, too!

 So after a tasty dinner we were seated in the club.  (Front row, of course.)  The MC/Opening act was hilarious, as was the second comic.  The headliner was a total stitch, and it was nice that we could tell that it wasn't all canned comedy -- he took a lot of inspiration from his audience.  (Including some nice IKEA-themed jokes.  Oh, and wondering if we were the most well-behaved bachelorette party ever.)

Trail Race #1!

I can't believe it's already started, but I had my first trail race of the season last night!

This is part of the Lifetime Fitness Trail Series -- it runs every other Thursday for 5 events.  This one was 4.58 miles in Hyland Park Reserve.  The weather was a little on the muggy side, and I was having a hard time with needing my sunglasses for the blazing sun, but being blinded by them in the more wooded areas -- but all in all it was a success!  My goal was to finish in a hour, and I got in at 1:03:38.  Not too shabby at all!

(I think I could have made it.  I didn't push myself tooooo hard.)

The only bummers were that there was no water at the second water stop, and then no water at the finish line.  (Or Gatorade!)

But I'm excited for the next one... or I was, until I just saw that it's 5.4 miles.

Erk.

A really good number!!  Except that I didn't win any prizes.

Warrior Dash!!!

My recommendations to you, if you wish to participate in Warrior Dash:

1. Actually train.  No, seriously.  Running. Pushups. Situps. Hill drills.  Seriously.
2. Do it with friends!
3. Get more than 4 hours of sleep the night before.
4. Don't fly in from anywhere the same morning.

In spite of not following any of my own recommendations, I survived.

Yes, survived.  The thing about having the race at a ski hill is that you've got to run up the hill.  And down.  And up.  There was not a lot of flat.  (And therefore, there was not a lot of running on my part.)
The obstacles were fun to tackle -- I did bow out of two of them, but I think I would give them a tray next time.  There was a length of trail that was really (shoe-sucking) muddy, and that was unfortunate... but I made it across the finish line and got my medal!

The socks got trashed, and the shoes got donated.

WARRIOR HELMET! ...and a medal.

My Denver Drinking Adventure

Okay, so those who know me know I'm not a drinker.

In fact, to my knowledge I've never been drunk.

It's never prevented me from being the life of the party if I chose to, but I thought since I was in a strange city with even stranger friends (who would totally have my back) I'd thought I'd try something new!

It started with a couple blended margaritas from The Denver Rio (peach and mango) as well as some fantastic fish tacos!

(Yeah, it's empty now.)

Then we walked around the corner to the Fox and Hound for further entertainment. I ordered a blackberry long island iced tea (but only drank about 1/4 of it) and since I knew it was important to eat, I also ordered chocolate cake.  They were both delicious, but the cake was finished.  (A friend helped me out with the drink.)  Then I was gifted a Wild Cherry Kamikaze... which I hear is not the strongest thing ever.  (Thank goodness... and it looked less scary than the "Dead Smurf" shot that was the other offering.)



All this happened with many glasses of water (I nearly passed out on Tuesday thanks to Denver's increased elevation and I learned my lesson!) over about 6 hours.

Needless to say, I wasn't overly impressed.  I think I'll be sticking to my Shirley Temples and Roy Rogers.  They're awfully more affordable. ;)

However, a great time was had by all -- and it was a fun adventure!

(What happens in Denver stays in Denver... right?)

Denver - It's Dessert!

Something apple-y and fried and delicious at 3 Margaritas.

A delicious cinnamon cake while out to dinner with my grandma, aunt & uncle!

Denver - It's Art!

One of the places I visited was the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver.  It looks pretty bad-ass.

  

The first thing that got me was that there were no doors.  I mean, I'm sure there's a way to secure the building, but you just walk up this concrete ramp and you're in!  (I forget that not everyone has ridiculous winters.)  I was also surprised to discover that I got $1 off my admission because I took the light rail!  Awesome!

So, the whole museum had been transformed for an exhibit called "Another Victory Over the Sun."  They had covered all sources of natural light in the museum, which I didn't think I would really notice -- but I was surprised how good it felt to be out in the sunlight.

Anyway... one of the pieces totally freaked me out.  I like to think I'm not afraid of the dark any more, but this room was pitch black and running a video of a panther (shot in black light) so all you got was angry cat noises an a flash of huge teeth.  Freaked me out. 

Spencer Finch, Between the Moon and the Sea

This was my favorite piece.  (Probably the Asian influence -- and also it didn't growl at me.)

The other surprising piece was from Juan Munoz, called Waiting for Jerry.  It was a mouse hole cut into the wall, with bright light spilling out and the theme from Tom and Jerry playing.

Crazy artists, eh?

It was a nice introduction to Denver, and it was air conditioned. ;)

Denver - Day One!

So, the first thing to remember when you think it's a good idea to catch a SUPER early flight -- is that you most likely will NOT get to check in to your hotel upon arrival.  AND sometimes even though they tell you you'll have a rental car -- you won't.

Thankfully, I had already planned on utilizing Denver's awesome Light Rail to get to Downtown.  What I didn't really plan on was ridiculous heat and a 1 1/2 mile walk to the train station.

But I sucked it up and totally did it.  Here are some photo highlights.

I liked the "kiss and ride" - where people could drop off their loved ones to catch the train/bus.

 

This is the Pedestrian Bridge that gets you across 25 to the train station.  It's long.

Look!  It's IKEA Centennial!

Train approaching!

I couldn't get over how CLEAN the trains are!

A little scenery.

Union Station -- under construction, but I bet it's awesome!

There was more construction around the Eternity Bridge, but all the chainlink was decorated with crochet flowers!

Didn't read about this statue.

Look!  Proof that I was actually there!  (Hard to secure when you're traveling alone.)