Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Full Speed Ahead

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone and we are full speed ahead to Christmas.

Thanksgiving was spent in Grand Forks with Blane and Melanie.

First off we celebrated a late Blane’s birthday-

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Kitten Love

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Happy 33rd to Blaney!

The next day was Thanksgiving and Cody and Maral came with Buzz the dog.

Why I didn’t get a group photo with some delicious vegetarian dinner I have no idea. But i didn’t. It was so good. Melanie got some vegetarian loaf that was super delish. She also whipped up some potatoes and bread, and I brought stuffed acorn squash and pie. All in all it was the best.

The following day was sunny and warm. Yep, until this week the weather has been pretty warm.

We walked the dog Buzz and took some selfies and pics of the Red River.

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and the boys, of course

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Cody thought it was cold but we thought it was warm!

The sunsets are so lovely there.

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I got back Friday night and on Sunday I went to the Festival of Trees-

Bad selfie but it’s me, Laura, and Mary back there.

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The people who decorate these trees are so creative it’s rediculous

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We also had some entertainment by Just for Kix. Sooo cute.

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The next weekend it was off to San Antonio to run the Rock n Roll.

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We also visted the Alamo that day--

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It’s pretty neat, surrounded by the city.

We took a night time walk on the Riverwalk, which is really pretty.

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On Sunday Cathy and I ran the half relay and Randy ran the half.

It started out rather hot and humid.

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But with about a mile to go it started raining-hard.

A wet finish selfie. I look worried but really I’m pretty happy.

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and….done.

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We were all VIPers and that meant free drinks for all!

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We didn’t drink ALL that, but we did end up with some extra….

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I repped Insight Brewing with this…whatever it is.

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And after it was said and done we ate at the Republic of Texas

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Night time on the river walk.

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The next day was full of sight seeing--

Market Square

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O Henry’s House

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A walk and cruise on the riverwalk

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and then out to dinner in the Pearl area-

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We ate here. The name is about the cured meats…

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But I ate vegetarian-

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When we got done there were carolers waiting to serenade us

I tried and tried to embed the video but I can’t fight blogger. So annoying.

Our view was not bad from our hotel either-

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San Antonio Skyline

We left early the following day and stopped over in Atlanta

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It was 80 degrees in San Antonio on Monday……

And it’s 19 degrees today.

But I have to say, it was pretty fun!

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Breaking every rule while being culturally insensitive.

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Sorry….not sorry……………

Friday, November 17, 2017

Catching Up

After Ireland I had all sorts of plans. The following weekend was Women Run the Cities, and you all know that’s my favorite race of the year. It’s a beautiful 10 miler in Minneapolis. The following week was my Michigan Ragnar Run which was sort of stressful to plan as Michigan has a bit of a shortage on rental cars and hotel rooms. September was packed with activities.

But there is a little saying I like to live by-You make plans and God laughs.

So, right before we left Ireland Laura started to feel a little flu like. Nagging cough, nothing fierce. But on the day we flew home she started out strong but by the time we got to MN she was NOT doing well at all. Fever, flu symptoms, the works. The next day I felt good, rested, went about my business…..except in the afternoon I started to get a little cough and I knew I was had. By the following morning, when I was supposed to return to work, I had a temp of 102, body aches, pounding head ache, cough, and overwhelming fatigue. Dave had a little bit of a cough and I told him he wouldn’t last-he was already done for.

He came home at noon.

We spent the next four days rotating from the couch to bed. We couldn’t shake the fevers. Laura, patient zero, got better in two days. Not us. We finally went to the doctor on Friday, but only because I thought we’d need a note for work. This is how we looked.

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It wasn’t our best day. I was actually fever free at that point (Tylenol is a miracle drug). Dave was still at 100 or so.

Needles to say, when I told the NP that I had a 10 mile race in two days she wasn’t all that encouraging.

I was like-I can do it! I can do it!…..I can’t do it. However, because we had an unseasonable over 90 degree heat wave with a huge bunch of humidity they called the 10 mile distance off. I could have gone up and run a 10 K but I really couldn’t have. So I didn’t feel so bad and I got a discount for next year-which is a whole other story for later.

So that was that. But I missed a week of work AND I still had Michigan Ragnar the following week. Are you kidding me? That I couldn’t back out of.

So-the following Thursday off we went to Whitehall MI, me and Tiff, to run Ragnar MI 2017. It was the weirdest Ragnar I’ve ever run. I hooked up with a team called the Humpty Dumps (don’t ask) and was in van 2. Two of the people had their own cars and drove themselves. It was crazy. I basically went for the scenery though, and it didn’t disappoint. I also want to give a shout out to the hotel, the Maple Tree Inn. If you ever go to MI—stay here. Not only was it affordable, it was clean and quiet AND they let me leave my stuff there free Friday night, even though we weren’t there. Just the nicest people.

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But as I was saying, the scenery was beautiful and I had the most amazing night run. It was cool and dark and the sky was brilliant. I wish I could have taken a picture of that. It was a very pleasant 7.8 miles…except for the coughing fits. I wasn’t completely 100% but I was able to do it.

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Lake Michigan

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We saw giant sand dunes—who knew?

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See them in the background??

We had a delish dinner at Big Hart Brewing

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We stayed on Lake MI Saturday AM  (I apologize for the quality of the picture but you get the idea)

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We stopped by a lake on Saturday

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where I took a bad selfie.

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And we finished in Travers City, at a lovely park.

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And so, another Ragnar in the books.

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And that’s how September ended!

And here’s these two, with their best behaved, walking for a cause.

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