Jackie Gleason... Wish you were here.

Ok so maybe this isn't the exact location of the Jackie Gleason show, but it sure felt like it. This fuzzy picture was taken from a small sandy area overlooking Biscayne Bay in Miami. Tomorrow I return to snow. (ugh).

Five Points of Life Marathon

All that training over the winter is beginning to pay off. At 7:00 a.m. on the 24th the gun went off for the Second Annual Five Points of Life Marathon. The intention was to run a pace that would be considered a bit slow for a marathon, but a bit fast for an ultra. This would be about a 10-12 min/mi. pace with a target finishing time of 4:30-5:00 or so. [pictured here, pre-race with my game face on... and crooked sunglasses - what a dork].


Well it all sounded good as pre-race strategy goes. The first 13 miles or so, were very casual and very easy with a half-way time of 2:03. So I picked it up a bit, not feeling any pressure and finished 38th with a chip time of 3:48(and change). Not bad considering I wasn't trying to race at all. By comparison, this time was a bit over a minute faster than a Twin Cities Marathon time (last fall) when I raced pretty hard. The temperatures were comparable.


I jogged back to the car, and drove 7 hours to Miami where there is a conference on Email (not SPAM) marketing. In five weeks the legs get the real test... 100 miles of trail in Umstead Park (North Carolina).

From Freezer to Oven

When I woke up Sat. morning there were fewer than 6 degrees outside. By the time I arrived in Orlando (later that morning), there was a deluge. Sure looked a lot nicer than snow.

Then when I was heading out to dinner, it was 85 and humid.... in Gainesville, FLA. When I saw the Azalea's, I thought of the regular interviews that Noah Adams conducted with Red Barber on NPR. I can still hear his sage drawl, "Good Morning Colonial. It's sunny down here and the Azaleas are in bloom."

Tubers

Chalupa, U-Babe, E-Babe and Beaner are dragging tubes back to the launch pad for another decent down Mt. Kato.

Here is Beaner... the snow bunny.

Look who's taking pictures. Gotta be faster on the trigger than that!
And even the Big Dawg got in on the action.

Peanut Begins a New Chapter

Blowing out the candles was the easy part. Now she must contend with the trials and tribulations that accompany her twelth year. Happy Birthday Peanut!

I Musta Blinked

I seem to remember taking Beaner to daycare... wasn't that just a week or so ago? Good gracious they grow up fast.

Busy

We have a hostage situation in our household as Side Track is traveling and left our Attica to the mercy of the prisoners and warden. At any given moment the power of authority shifts from one to the other.

Been tough to put in mileage because the weather has returned to sub-human temperatures and windchills. Truth be told, it's the wind chill that keeps me from training extensively outside. Anyway, weekly training miles have reached a fevered pitch with a marathon in less than 2 weeks. I squeezed in 41 miles last week, but with the hostage crisis and crappy weather, I'm afraid this week will fall short of a 40 mile threshold.

In other news, we are exploring the posibilities of moving to a new location in Mankato. It would be something a bit more affordable with a bit more land. The search has been underway for a few weeks and we have our eye on a very nice place... but we still have a ways to go before anything definite will happen.

Other than that... it's the same old, same old round these parts. Always something going on.

Super Tuesday

TO DO Tonight

• Reschedule Chalupa's guitar lession
• Pick up Big Dawg
• Make sure Peanut eats before she leaves for Soccer
• Shrove Tuesday Pancake Dinner (Church)
• Get Beaner to Piano
• Get Chalupa to Basketball Practice
• Pick up Beaner
• Put gas in van
• Oh yeah.... and CAUCUS

Reminder

Frost on the pinecone is the result of a heavy ground fog in winter temps. A gentle reminder that there is more to Life than the comercial-bowl and corresponding distractions.

Basketball and Football

Between basketball games (tournament play) this weekend, a few of the players held their own Super Bowl of sorts. Paper football was the rage. You can see the "goal posts" in the background, and in the foreground, it appears that the Chalupa was charging down the field.

I didn't know this, but in some circles, this game may be called "Chinese Football".

The girls finished 2nd in the bb tournament. In the championship game they lost 18-20 under controversial circumstances. The other team was awarded two mysterious points in the first 30 seconds of the game, when the first actual basket was not made until a minute and a half into the game! Despite our protests, the score stood, and the parents reminded ourselves that it was only 5th grade girls basketball.

Our wounds will heal quicker than those suffered by the Patriots in the ensuing football game against the Giants.

Evans, Taylor, Vernon Reunion

The first of what promises to be many micro reunions between the Evans, Taylor, Vernon cousins was a resounding success. Between all the catching up and getting-to-know-yous, there were plenty of laughs and a level of comfort ... dare I say unspoken familiarity that pleasently encompassed our get together. We suspected our Great Great Grandparents were smiling down on us as we reconnected distant branches of our exended family tree.

Certainly there remains promise and optimism for more tales to be told, sagas to be shared and perhaps adventures to be had. In fact there was some cursery talk of a canoe trip down the St. Croix River as well as a possible Boundry Water excursion.

I can't help but feel a certain comfort that we share a collective and sincere appreciation for our new (and renewed) frindships, our family ties and a comitment to future get togethers. It should be great fun.

For more on how this reunion came about... click HERE.