So how are the balls of your feet???

As a tribute to “positive” splits, here are my times:
8:44 - 1
7:52
8:07
8:11
8:01
7:52 – good band!
8:13
8:17
8:00
8:24
8:20
8:35
8:17
8:52 – half way – slowing, but on pace to my goal! (barely!)
8:17
8:52
8:19
8:46
8:46
8:51
9:19
9:30
9:30
9:40
10:09
10:09
9:50
1:54


Well, I tried! I ran the Columbus Marathon on Sunday, hoping to get a Boston qualifying time of 3:35:59. I knew this was a lofty goal, but you have to start some where. I needed to keep up an 8:14 pace, and I was there for the first half (the easy half!) - Plus SHawn was able to cheer me on two times in the first half! But, as you can see, second half was not so good!

At mile 15 or so, my feet started hurting - like a muscle hurt (from flexing a gajillion times!) - probably due to the fact that I do a lot of cross training (bike and elliptical machine) to save my knees. Then I could feel I was getting a blister on the ball of my foot. The miles certainly took their toll…

I modified my goals as the day proceeded and my last and final goal was to run the entire way, no walk breaks – I managed to shuffle through and get this goal. In the end I was happy. I crossed the line at 3:50:19 – not great, not my goal – but my best marathon time in 25 year! It was sooo great having Shawn there, last time I ran it ('99), she could not get down to Columbus, maybe cause Aimee was swimming?? - we wern't sure.

Today I feel good, I am fatigued (for sure), my calves ache (esp. going down stairs) and I have that big blister on the ball of my right foot. I’ll survive and I’ll be back running in a few days or so.

On the last few miles of my other marathons, I was always thinking “why did I choose to do this?” after this run, I’m thinking, “I can do this - and with a little more training, I can get to my goal.” I’m pretty sure I’ll be running a spring marathon in 2010.

Fun along the way:

I liked a tee shirt that said “16 weeks ago this seemed like such a good idea!”

They had a band playing every 1/3 mile or so - some good, some not so good… my fav was at about mile 5 (note my fast split!) that was playing the Jet’s song “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”. I was applauding and dancing a bit for that! I heard two bands play Johnny be good and I wondered if anyone else had my same exact pace to hear that. At another band, they were taking a break and a runner ahead of me was ribbing the band for not playing – “Give us some guitar at least” he said, I yelled out “at least your generator is sounding good!” .

At the end I saw a lady in a Winnie the Pooh sweat shirt and I was able to give my favorite “Hey, you got Pooh on your shirt” joke – I think I heard the people she was with chuckle a little bit : - ).

Whadda ya got, a holes in your head???

. . . no dad, just one!!

Well, I didn't want 50 to mean I was getting old!! When Walt, Aimee, Shawn and I finished our pizza and beer on my birthday, I asked Aimee to drive me to 2048 C St. in Anchorage. It was a huge mystery to the group where I wanted to go - Aimee thought for sure it was the pawn shop, but nope - it was the piercing studio in town. I wanted to get an ear piercing that I had seen on a bike rider in the Tour de France had...

Unfortunately, the piercer had gone home when we got there, so we could just discuss the work, but Aimee and I went back the next day and did the deed. Yeah it hurt, but it's healing just fine, the guys at work have not harassed me that much and Shawn says she kinda likes it. :-)

I'm planning on putting something "claw-like" in it for bike racing, other than that, I won't do any thing to draw that much attention to it...

I figure 50 is as good a time as any to turn hippy!

keep it groovy cats!

Birthday Bike!

I picked up my birthday present tonight! (Shawn is such a good shopper!). Like I need another Bike, but this was just so pretty I had to add it to the collection. This is a Masi Speciale Fixed LTD. I've always had a love of Masi's (pronounced mazi) - My favorite movie is Breaking Away and the main character, Dave Stoler, rides a Masi. I haven't had a chance to ride it - just about 50 feet in the parking lot (and through the TV room and living room). It's raining out and this will be a good weather bike!

Chao Cats!

21 day challenge

So’s Shawn and I are on a long car ride, listening to radio talk shows and this lady (Kathy Freston) is on talking about a doing a 21 day diet or cleanse. We usually don’t like the crazy diet thing, but this caught our interest. Give up 5 things for just 21 days – not so much a diet – but a challenge to your “stick-to-it-ness” and proof that you are not ruled by certain foods. (Later on we found out it was an “Oprah” diet – I was not so happy about that – but we certainly didn’t glop on to this cause it was Oprah’s doing).

It sounded like a good challenge, so for 21 days, we are giving up: Caffeine, Sugar, Alcohol, Gluten and all animal products.

It was a pretty daunting list, but we are 7 days in and this is not bad at all. I dare say, I am feeling a little more energetic in the morning , and the rest of the day goes great with out all the coffee I was drinking (I was a 4 or 5 cup a day person).

This has been a really good thing, I’ve felt really good. I was worried about not enough protein, but we’ve cooked up some dang good Tofu dishes; I make a mean pablano pepper stir fry with black beans that has been a fav; we ate at a vegan restaurant and loved it; at Chipotle we had a veggie burrito (no shell) and that was great; I’m loving my PB on brown rice bread for lunch; and steel cut oats for breakfast has been a real treat!

We never feel starved. But we are happy we did this time of the year, when there are great fruits and Veggies around – that make snack time pretty easy.

We certainly won’t do this forever and frankly, I can’t wait to get a triple shot espresso on day 22! But I think it’s always going to change the way I look at vegan stuff - I will seek it out now and then. And, I’m going to try to avoid gluten products as well – except for cereal, cookies and beer!

Peace, love and brown rice cats!

We made it!! (Kinda)

Boy, I really learned how hard it is to keep up a daily blog! Much has happened since I last blogged!

I left off when we were heading to McBain. The best highlight from that day is the "Back Alley Bar" in McBain. McBain is a tiny town, there is a party store and a not much more. There are some DALMACers who like to head the party store, grab the drink of their choice and head to the alley to discuss the days ride and plan strategies for the next days ride (yeah right!) . It's all fun and we got to know our riding brothers and sisters a little better.

What a roller coaster day we had on Friday. This is the day we go from McBain to Elk Rapids. It's a favorite day, because it's relatively short - 60 miles or so, and we get to go on Williamsburg road, which is very rolloer coaster like and fun to do on our tandem. We had a riot biking! With the short ride we got to Elk Rapids pretty early, enough time to hit the watering hole - to make sure we are not at the camp too early - when the luggage truck needs to be unloaded...

After relaxing a bit we went to the alternate Elk Rapids showers - Elk Lake! Beautiful swimming there! After a swim we went to a favorite restaurant of ours - "Pearls" we had a nice meal there and headed outside when the trip took a nasty turn....

While we were in the restaurant our tire blew! The tube had a huge hole in it and (the worst part) our rim was bent! Impossible to mount a tire on it. We still don't know what happened the only possibility we can think of, started last Saturday in the rain...When it was rainy, we had lots of road sand and junk on out brakes - I used them one time to stop and they ground like crazy, and continued to grind a tiny bit as we rode. We think that maybe that rubbing weakened the rim enough to cause it to bend over.

Any who (someone on the ride said only Grand Rapids people say that- ha!), We were done riding on our tandem- A new rim for our wheel is a special order and there were no extra tandem wheels to be found in Traverse City. Obviously we were very disappointed. We fretted all night about how we could get to our car in Mackinaw City, How we were going to get bikes to continue our ride, and ... and... and....

We woke up the next morning to some very good news! A group of riders had a problem: The person they were going to meet in Elk Rapids to drive their car up to Petoskey (our next stop) had to cancel. They needed their car moved and they were so happy to have it moved that she said to use the car as much as we like! What a blessing! We would be able to check if there happened to be any wheels in Traverse City and if nothing else, we would be able to get to Mackinaw City to get our car! ( A few riders on DALMAC bring their car with them and keep moving it up as they ride with friends or riders who drive ahead and ride the route (or some of it) backward.)

OK - long story short...No wheels in TC...I drove our Tandem to GR and picked up our single bikes...back to Petoskey where Shawn had our camp set up...we drove to Mackinaw City on Sunday so we could ride across the bridge...we did not break our streak - every time we have ridden Dalmac, we have crossed the bridge! Of course it was awesome - it never gets old to us!

Ferry to Macinac Island, dealt with the crowds there, ferry to Mack City and then home. What a trip! We are already excited about next year. We've got to get those last 70 miles in to complete the round trip!!!


AND - Because you asked - Here's my Rathlips (they weren't too bad at this point)

Day 5 E.Lansing to Mt. Pleasant

Another beautiful day for riding. This was a long day and the weather was
cool so we were cranking away the miles. We got an early start and by noon
we had gone 60 miles :-O. So we had a lot of time to do the last 25. The
Shepard Bar was beckoning us so we stopped in. We were invited to a table
of bikers and had a great time yucking it up with those guys. Any time you
can swap stories about the rains of 2000 and the heat and wind going to
McBain in 2006, you know you are going to have a fun time.

Tonight we are camping at CMU. I hope these kids behave themselves!

Hail Chippawas cats!

Day 4 DeWitt to Lansing

12 miles for us today to get to Lansing. We needed an easy day and it was
nice!

One of my pedals broke today. There was a bike shop near the MSU campus so
it was easy to replace. No biggie. Other hi-lites: we saw the MSU band
practice - so cool! It was pretty neat to see those guys working so hard -
and could they fill those horns!! Then we went to lunch/dinner at el
azteca - Mmmm good margaritas!

We are all registered for the ride, arm bands are in place and our bags are
on the truck. We leave directly from the hotel tomorrow!

Head north young cats!

Day 3 - Clare to DeWitt

Long day, but we made it. - it did not help that this was the 3rd day in a
row that I had the wrong distance. Today I was 12 miles off - oh well :-/
! 1
We're pretty much in the suburbs of Lansing. Easy day tomorrow - 20 miles.
We'll be able to sleep in - we need it!

Started the day in Clare at whitehouse inn a tiny local dive. There were a
1/2 dozen locals on various rants - "I don't like all this credit card
stuff - I'll never own one! - can't get a hotel any where, can't get a
juicer off the TV". "Computers are ruining this country! - can't no one do
math any more!". Who was that fellers name on hee haw - the handsome guy.
Wish I could remember his name...that was good television! You could hear
a pin drop at our house when that show was on. What was that guys name? Roy
something??". It was too funny!!

Its a great place to eat! We can't wait to go back!!

See you at the turn cats!

Day 2 - Waters to Clare

Great day! A little uneventful after yesterdays rain. It was 79.95 miles of
straight south, with winds out of the north. A very nice ride. It was nice
to have Dan and Cynda with us for a distraction from the straight riding.

Lunch was at KFC - a bit of a 3 to 1 vote for a place to eat, but that's
what happens when I don't speak-up. But, it was pretty darn good!

C U tomorrow in deWitt cats!

Day one Mackinaw City to Waters

The first day of our trek south. Spent the night at Mackinaw Motor Lodge -
Great Place! We had a cute little cabin - very nice! It had rained all
day friday and through the night - Saturday was rainy too...all day! And
it was cold too! Miserable day right??
Heck no! We had a 10 or 20 mph tail wind most of the day! It made for a
pretty good ride! Stopped at Libby's in Cheboygan for breakfast - very
good and lunch at the elk something in Vanderbilt. It felt so good to get
our wet stuff off at the restaurants, but we sure got lots of stares from
the other patrons.

When we got to our hotel in Waters, we heard someone shout "look who's
here!" - we looked and it was our DALMAC biking buddy Cinda. She and her
husband, Dan, are the ones that gave us the idea to bike the round trip.
It was fun to see them - we caught up on the years events over dinner
(smokey bar - not so great). Tonight, Shawn and I are watching TV movies -
first up, Edward Scissor Hands.

Chop Chop Cats!

DALMAC - round trip version

So today we leave for Mackinaw City to stage a car for DALMAC. Drive to
M.C., bike to South Lansing then bike back to M.C.

Wouldn't it be easier to just camp out at the bridge for 9 days? Well
yeah, but where else do you get a chance to rub your backside raw, wait in
line for all your food and get cold showers?? We know how to live!!

See you in 9 days cats!!

Mushroom Sprouts

So's we are in charge of Aimee's plant while she is in the great north...I keep Bruce Lee in the plant for extra drama. Today I was surprised (and pleased!) that mushrooms had sprouted. Even more realism for Bruce... :-)

Hie Yahhh Cats!

Banana Beer

So's I walk into Banana Jacks Restaurant and the first beer on the list is
Banana Beer. Always looking for the next great taste, I was willing to
give it a go. I'm enjoying my first and last glass!! Amazingly it tastes
like beer that has had a Banana Bunt (mumber those?) Melted in it. I kinda
think banana taste has only been captured by Bananas.

It's been a good trip so far. I am getting the brazil thing down. Still
don't know much Portuguese but I am getting by. I was telling Shawn that
my co-worker Flavio (I smile every time I hear his name) is very confident
in my Portuguese skills. He will rattle things away with me, and I kind
of can follow what he is talking about and know whether it is important or
not. If it sounds important, and I don't understand I get Juliana who
speaks English, and she translates. I can get by pretty well with that
routine.

Well my burger's here, so I better get eating and forcing down the banana
beer.

Tchau (down) cats!!

(Via Blackberry)

The piano drop

So yeah, just another boring day on Maplewood - Follow these three links for the three attempts to break a piano. I can report that it is broken.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvGIdep3JRM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjBoAdZHf1Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN5G_7oXER0

Camera Card Reader Rip Off

Well cats, still no pictures from Jim :-( .

I bought a card reader at a open air market - yeah I like to live
dangerously... The packaging said it would fit my "xD" card, but it did
not. When I looked closely at the device, "xD" was not mentioned in the
list. Oh well, 10 bucks down the tubulacao. (Tube - in brazil, every kind
of pipe is called a tube - I'm sure they have a name for a drain, but I can
say "tube" and they understand me. Tubes are used for water and electrical
here).

Things are going well here, the store is coming along, it does not look
like much now, but the walls will be done on Monday and on Tuesday the
ceiling goes in. That will be a big change here!

I am working for a bit this Saturday morning - you know, the big american
boss making sure everyone is working! Not really - the workers get a lot
done on their own. They work hard.

I found a place that rents bikes, so I am going to rent a bike this
afternoon and ride along the beach on the bike/running path. Its good to
have "butt on bike" time!

Then tonight I am going to the "Lapa" area - its where the traditional
Samba houses are. That should be interesting. He said they don't get
started until 11pm - a little past my bed time, but we will see what
happens...

Tchau cats!

(Via Blackberry)

Heading south!

I'm on my way to Brazil again. This time for one week and 2 days. I just
realized I forgot my camera cord. I may have to look for a cheapo reader in
guatamea (not spelled right) a fancy mall in Sao Paulo

Right now, I'm stuck on the runway at O'hare -theres a thunderstorm and
they are not letting any ramp services guys on the ramp. I know dad would.
be chewing his lips over that one! Or maybe he'd just go out and take care
of everything on his own.

(Via Blackberry)

Flying Boat!

Today we put our boat in the water.  I guess the official word is " we splashed today".  This is a new deal for us - in and out service.   They keep our boat in the building in the back ground.  When we want to go boating, we call and they put the boat in the water for us.  Easy Schmeezy lemon cheesy!  

After one day, we can already tell this is going to be a great thing.  We went boating today and my feet didn't even get wet!  It's so nice to not have to worry about retrieving the boat and trailering it home.  Now we just need a little bit warmer weather!

So if you want to come over to west Michigan for a boat ride, Come on down!!  (Or over or up!)  We'll even provide the Blatz for a day in the sun!

Splash on in Cats!

CNN

Hey if you cats read this on Monday afternoon - check out CNN - I submitted
a picture of Shawn and I bile commuting, and they said they would put it on
the air. 3 minutes of fame!!

(Via Blackberry)

Heading home!

No picture, but I thought I'd send out a note. All is well, accomplished a
lot. Construction on the store is getting a slow start, the guy says all
his tools and supplies are in Rio, but no trucks are allowed on the street
until night time, so tonight they start!

It was a challenge talking to the job foreman, because he did not speak
english and I don't speak portuguese. After a while I pulled out my
blackberry, and went to the "bablefish" translator. Before long I was
typing away and he was under standing everything I said! World travel is
much less scary with technology as your friend!

I have a crazy route home - Rio-Sao Paulo-washington Dullas-chicago-Grand
Rapids - YUCK. I hope I make it in time for my 25k run on saturday!

Catch you "state side" cats!

(Via Blackberry)

Sao Paulo

just a quick posting
of course the standard out-the-window shot. you can see how huge Sao paulo is not a ton of big buildings - the city is really spread out.

The other picture is the store I talked about on my last blog. these out side cafes are very common and seem to be the neighborhood meeting place...It would be nice to live near such a business...

Back to work cats!

Oh the temptation!

I didn't take any pictures while I was out and about in Sao Paulo today - I was pretty busy and got alot done, but didn't have any "wonder around" time...

So instead of a nice brazilian scene, you get this arrangement. I am greeted by this everytime I come to my room. I'm pretty good about keeping out of it, I'm cheap - even when it comes to spending the companies dime (well some times!). The candy/7/11/pop/mini restaurant/coffee shop/bar/ice cream parlor/bakery is right accross the street from the hotel, and I would much rather dine on ice cream than a candy bar.

Crazy thing, it's colder then the last time I was here - quess what? Winter is coming! I don't think it get very cold here, but I know it is cooler at night and it is darker earlier. That is a hard concept to switch back and forth...my mind has to really work at that!

Tchau Cats!

Crossing the Border

As I am writing this, we are waiting at the border, waiting to cross back
to the US. We had a great trip and are sad and happy to leave our "little"
boy in Vancouver - he is going to great! We're so proud of Walt and all
our kidsis!!

And due to our crazy week, this will have to serve as my Valentine greeting
to all you'll!! Happy Valentines Day!!

Be home soon, Marais!!

(Via Blackberry)

Lazy Blog update

Please check Shawn's blog. She's doing a wonderful job documenting the
move. Check it out here: http://srblog.blogspot.com/

(Via Blackberry)

The GREAT northwest

I think the reason they call it the GREAT northwest is the fantastic coffee stands they have at most of the major intersections. This one was called "Highway 2 brew". It was delicious!

Traveling across the state of Washington was very interesting - We were in thick fog, baren tundra, totally white snow fields, graggy mountains, snowy mountain tops and rain forests...A little of every thing! Even fish Tacos half way across the state!

It's a big country cats!

In Spokane

We made it to Washington State. We agree with Candy - Montana takes
forever! Tomorrow night we will be in Everett for dinner with the
Tuohimaa' s. Can't wait!

Keep on truckin' cats.

(Via Blackberry)

Bright Blue skies!

We're in wyoming - into the foot hills! The sky is looking huge and we
aren't even in big sky country yet. We are hoping to make Boseman MT
tonight.
Walt bought some prime rib jerky at the last stop - sure it's pricey, but
it may just be the best big hunk of beef I've had since Christmas!

Keep your pemican handy cats!

(Via Blackberry)

Badlands

We made it to the Badlands. We are well packed and making good time - what
more can a dad ask for!

We stopped at Wall Drug because we needed dental floss - no better place to
stop. Thankfully, they had gummi bears. We stocked up cause we know that
there is no travel worry that can not be solved by gummi bears!

Quote of the day ". . . I was born a ramblin' girl! --- Shawn

Into the sun set cats!

(Via Blackberry)

Here we are on the way! We have the Dodge Journey totally packed to the gills. Although, Shawn keeps reminding walt and I that we did not fill-up the storage containers. I was just leaving room for incase we bought a crate of Clementine Oranges along the way :-/ .

It's been a fun trip (the back seat is not so much). It's funny why Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota fave not figured out that high interchanges are great places for gas stations and meijer stores. We have done a lot of searching for gas stations and grocery stores!

A few more images:

...And don't call me Shirley

Our hotel is on Shirley . . .

We made it to sioux falls, South Dakota. We had a long day driving - its
good to relax a bit!

Tomorrow on to the Mountains!

Cya cats!

(Via Blackberry)

GroundHog revelers

This is Tom (fellow civil engineer / MTU alum / Aimees' friend's dad) and our neighbor Karen.  Just a scene from the party.

I put the party on face book and dang if a lot of people didn't see it, and now they want to come - We are all ready making plans to expand the living room...Or maybe we should rent a hall!

Tomorrow we are off for the great Northwest.  We have the rental car, a new Dodge Journey.  I'll give a car report from the road.  So far it's a good car, cause I think we will be able to get Walt's ski's in no problem.  We hpe to make it to Minnesota tomorrow - maybe farther.

Happy travels cats!

WInd up the cat and throw out the clock!

I wanted to share a christmas present I got this year...

I have grandpa Traxler's old Cuckoo clock in the basement, always thinking I could get it cleaned up to run.  I tried, but no matter what I did, the thing just wouldn't go.  Then I read that these clocks get very gummed up as they run, and,  at some point they just kind of give up the ghost.  So I asked Santa for a wind up Cuckoo and he(she ;-)  ) came though for me.   

I love hearing the tick tock and of course the cuckoo on the hour and half hour is so fun to hear.  I am still trying to get the timing right - it's a little different then the quartz movement on your Timex Ironman watch.  I have it down to about 5 minutes slow a week...I will get it!

Don't be cuckoo cats!     

We had visitor the other day

This little guy wandered into our back yard on Saturday.  He was a little goofy - shaking like crazy and not trying to get away from me.  I have heard the Opossums are really not designed to survive michigan winters.  They just find living with us up north is kinda nice cause we got good garbage!  

I let him go -  I'll have to see if he'll survive.  If I see him again, he may get some anti-freeze  frosted cake.  

I learned today that these guys ..er..ah..gals, can have 18 little ones 2 times a year.  One of the reasons they survive is they can be very prolific.  

Stay warm cats!

New Bars!

This is my Single Speed Mountain bike - Black Max.   Shawn got me new handlebars for it for Christmas.   They are raked back, just like an old school bike.   Also, she found these ergonomic grips, that I am really looking forward to - no more numb hands!  

I took Max for a ride around the block today, but then I took Felix for a 16 mile ride.  Felix has studded tires, so it is the ride of choice for winter time.  It's nice day here, overcast, but a few blue spots here and there and very bright.  Slightly above freezing. 

Vote for Jimmy Cats!