The Luminary Loppet!

This was my first year participating in this event... Due to the lack of snow, it was moved and the snowshow/ski event was changed to a hiking event.  It was chilly, but beautiful! Add hot cocoa, Maple-leaf shaped cookies (thanks, Canada!) and toasting marshmallows, and you have a darn good time.  (And free Surly, but you all know how I feel about beer. Even Surly.)

 

(I was also distressed that - due to the cold I think - my camera refused to work after the first couple shots.  Thankfully, my phone camera was willing to step in. I think it did a fine job!)

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.

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.

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. ;)

Food Truck Rodeo!

Today I experienced the Food Truck Roundup in downtown St. Paul.

It was delicious.

There they are... all lined up on Kellogg, across from City Hall!

It was about noon (they open at 11:30) and it was totally packed!

This is the Grateful Dog -- Hot Dog with sweet relish, mango chutney, and curry!

 

 

 

 (Also, from the GastroTruck: a Lemongrass soda.)

And no, I didn't just pick the Magic Bus because it was purple.

Do the Du!

Today was the first training session for the Minneapolis Duathalon.

It was also beautiful and gorgeous and I happened to wake up without the aid of an alarm with enough time to get ready.

So I ate, dressed, and loaded my bike into my car. (It still weirds me out a little to just take the wheel off... I'm concerned that one time I won't get it on quite right and it'll fall off while I'm riding.) Thankfully, I had plenty of time built in, because I never did find Peace Coffee (who had agreed to let participants use their parking lot.) -- Later I would discover that I was looking in the complete wrong neighborhood, but oh well, right?)

I hopped on the Greenway right off River road.

The Greenway is Awesome. Capital "A" Awesome.

So it was about 2.5 miles in to Freewheel Bike (a co-sponsor of the training.) They are the only business to have an entrance right off the greenway! They also have a cafe and WiFi and bathrooms and lockers and showers.... AND space you can rent to store a bike, AND a Metro Transit rack you can practice putting your bike on! Freewheel is pretty sweet.

My glorious steed!

So everything was done by time instead of mileage, which I appreciated because it meant I only got passed by everyone during the transitions. It was 15min run, 45min bike, 15min run. I did about 1 mile, then 8.5 miles, and 1 mile again. Tack on the 5 mile round trip to get there and back and it was a really great workout! (And in spite of forgetting sunscreen I didn't get burned. I got lucky.)

Pineapple Cream Cheese Coffee Cake. Nom.

I wrapped up the morning with brunch at the Birchwood. 

And now I'm a little wiped out! But in a good way.

To Duluth!! (Link-o-Rama!)

A whirlwind trip to Duluth this weekend.  I came into some surprise concert tickets -- and the show was awesome.  Every hotel within 20 miles was totally booked, and I am thankful that I have generous relatives who will let me crash in their cabin overnight.  Waking up to the sunshine over the lake -- priceless.  Almost enough for me to wish I drank coffee.  I bet that would just add to the enjoyment!

Then into Duluth for a run along the lakeshore on the boardwalk, followed by a delicious breakfast at At Sarah's Table Chester Creek Cafe.  Everyone should go there.  All the time.  I left a postcard to my friend's Fringe Festival show.  Everyone should go to that, too.  Seriously.

THEN a quick stop by the Park Point Art Fair, where I bought a spectacular photo from Pat Parnow Photography (the pear one under "fruits & veggies.")

Oh, and a few rousing games of Road Trip Bingo (thanks to an iPhone app) on the road home!

SO fabulous.

I am SO TIRED.

I'm Alliiiiivvveeee!

Me and Kristin and our 
well-deserved hardware!

And not only am I alive, I finished the half marathon in 3 hours -- 30 minutes faster than I expected!!

<happy dance>

Of course, I'm tired and sore (and I know that is only going to get worse in the coming 48 hours or so) but all-in-all it was a fabulous time.

The weather was beautiful, Team Ortho really knows how to put on a race, and I had a wonderful brunch featuring the company of my fabulous sister!

(This post sounds like I'm still riding the runner's high... and I might be.  I spent the last 2 hours on the internet researching possible races to fill the gap between now and the duathalon in August.)

I'm looking forward to a quiet night at home, doing laundry, with an early bedtime.

I am not looking forward to tomorrow so much.

The Final Countdown...

Today was the last long run before the Half Marathon.

Officially, it should have been a "taper" week where you take it easy since the race is coming up.  However, that is a luxury left to those who managed to stay on track with their training.  I am envious and in awe of such people, for sure.  Anyway, I decided after the big jump to 12 miles last week, that I could probably get away with something around 8 today.

To be honest, I don't know how far I actually ran today.  My goal was 8, at a pace of 15 min per mile... so I set out to run for 2 hours.  I took a nice meandering route through a lot of Como Park, through the Midway Parkway median to the State Fairgrounds, and then back again.  It was kind of pleasant.

I also made a 10-minute pit stop at ye olde Java Train for some Izzy's ice cream and water.  And that probably helped my longevity a bit.  If I think about it, I don't think there's an Ice Cream stop on the Marathon route.  I think I may need to talk to someone about that for next year.

Not that I'll be doing any Half Marathons next year.

Anyway, here are some pics I snapped on the run!

The Conservatory -- another one of those beautiful things that is so close and I never go to.

One of my favorite "behind the scenes" part of the Fair.

No, this is not what I picked for my pit stop.  But I really wanted to.

Mango Ice Cream and Water!  Fuel of Champions!

A nice pool and a gazebo... what a great place for a rest.  (Yeah, right.)

Is it the Rapture?

Oh, SO many NEWs today.


First, I ran 12 miles. It took over 3 hours. I started in the rain, and then with less than a mile to go, when I finally felt dry -- downpour. Oh you are cruel, Mother Nature. (Also, if the end of the world was coming, couldn't it have come BEFORE I ran? That would have been nice.)

Noms.  Delicious, well-earned noms.

On to lunch at the Birchwood.  I indulged in a rhubarb bar with cream cheese frosting (better eat dessert first.  Heaven knows if the Rapture might come early.) Then I enjoyed a cup of cauliflower fennel soup and a tofu Thai sandwich.  Delicious as usual.  If I ate at the Birchwood every day, I'm pretty convinced that I could just sit on my butt all day and still lose weight.  Such great, good food.

The sky was blue when we arrived.

And then, for dinner -- Duplex on Hennepin.  The weather was looking a little inclement, but we opted to dine on the patio.  It was lovely.  I had a fabulous bison burger and fries, and then we split a Boston Cream Cake for dessert.






...and we didn't get rained on.


...nor were we Raptured.


All-in-all a great Saturday.

Cleaning out and setting up!

I'm really struggling for a NEW here... but how about starting to clean out my NEW desk? That's kind of fun. Nothing like going through years of documents you don't know anything about, and having to decide what's "important" and what can get recycled. It's pretty freeing, actually.

Another NEW is that Cirque du Soleil is setting up in the overflow parking lot of the mall. This morning when I drove in it was just a lot -- but by lunch they had their first tent up! They sure are speedy professionals. The tent is blue and yellow, too... so at least they won't clash with our building. :)

Going the Distance

Today's NEW... Running 6 miles.

I know, right?

According to the established half-marathon training schedule, it's a "rest week" and the run is 6 miles. According to MY awesome training place -- I'm just finally reaching 6 miles. So, it allowed me to partake in a group run with a good friend. We totally got lost, but we also got to run by a very scenic cemetery and check out some buff guy turkeys trying to mack on a girl turkey.

And the weather was perfect.

IKEA Superstar!!!

Today I was in the same room as IKEA North America President, Mike Ward.

He talked to us for over an hour!

It was AWESOME!

Strangely, he kind of reminded me of a subdued Henry Rollins.

Yeah, I'm gonna sleep on that.

Gambling.

...or rather, I shouldn't explore gambling.

We had a team dinner tonight at Dave & Buster's, along with alcohol (which I didn't partake in) and pre-loaded game cards!!

Apparently it was also half-priced gaming night or something, so I would have lost my arm playing all that Whack-a-Mole.

So, I decided to try one of those games where you drop coins to try to make other coins fall off the cliff which in turn gives you tickets. Not usually my gig -- I'm more likely to blow all my bucks playing Time Crisis or something.

Anyway... Strangely addicting.

So Many New Faces!

Today's NEW has to be meeting (most of) the people who do my same job at the IKEA stores across the country. I can probably say I've got 6-8 names down solid... but there are almost 40 overall (plus trying to remember which store they work in.)

Thankfully(?) we have another 13-hour day of training ahead of us today!

Know what another NEW is that I particularly like about a new place? New places. Grocery stores like Rite Aid and Giant. Restaurants like Friendly's. "Competitors" like Bob's Discount Furniture and Sleepy's - The Mattress Professionals.

And what the heck is a Wawa?!

Obviously I don't have any time to actually see them at all, but I've driven by!

Ugh. Directions.

I pride myself on a fairly innate sense of direction, as well as a fairly honed skill at reading maps.

This morning was not a shining moment for me.

Thankfully, I always try to be early. Because of that, I was still able to be precisely on time. And the last to arrive.

*sigh*

I was also surprised to discover that though it was my first day on the job, there was another woman who was experiencing her first day of IKEA as well! I was uber impressed with her ability to speak about IKEA product and concept during the mock interviews we went through. Big kudos! Talk about NEW!

I did try to maintain a little of my old routines here... Today on the way back to the hotel I picked up groceries to make my lunches for the rest of the week. A little structure in an otherwise whirlwind of a week! I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Unstructured Awesomeness!

I never did pick a theme, and here it is the first of the month.

So... I celebration of today being my FIRST day of my NEW job, and I'm currently in a NEW city ready to start all kinds of NEW learnings in training this week... I guess it will be a month all about new.

So, let's see what's new today...

MSP airport now has US Bank ATMs, instead of Wells Fargo... It also sports a Surdyk's Wine Bar.

I happened to fly with a nice gentleman who is ALSO starting a new job tomorrow, and will be commuting from AZ to DC to do it. (Crazy.) However, I think I did convince him to look at IKEA when he and his wife consider redoing their kitchen.

Though rental car upgrades can be awesome, having to spend 5 minutes trying to figure out how to move the seat forward so you can reach the pedals is a little embarrassing. It would be nice if they would keep the car manual in the glove box.

Driving in the dark can be exciting, but I would prefer to drive in new places in the light.

...I anticipate all kinds of new tomorrow!!