Fall update
Okay, so I've already been delinquent with my posts...bad blogger. Here's what's been going on over the past few weeks...which might help explain why I haven't had time to update the blog:
1. Stenson got free tickets to U2...it was a great show, even if we did get nosebleeds. Beggars can't be choosers when the tickets to see The Edge are free. Bono was a litte fruity (e.g. picture Bono blindfolded and stumbling around the stage trying to find his microphone)...but The Edge was better than ever...he is the epitome of cool.
2. The same weekend of the U2 concert, Susan and Thom were in town for a wedding. Saturday was a rainy day, so we bored Thom by sitting around watching tv all morning. But it was good to have some QT and catch-up while watching golf.
3. Pete and I took a random Friday off from work, and it turned out to be a gorgeous day. We walked to the coffee shop and lounged around all morning, then headed to the River Bottoms to do some off-road riding. It was muddy and messy, but a ton of fun...I almost crashed about twenty different times. But luckily, none of my "almost crashes" led to an actual broken bone or loss of skin...just a lot of bruises.
4. Earlier this month, Alyssa and I watched a few of our friends run the Twin Cities marathon. That was the first marathon I've ever watched and wow...I was so impressed and inspired by all of the people who do this. And they're all crazy. Amy and Renee were running their first marathon, so Alyssa and I had a plan to cheer them on at 3 different points along the 26-mile route. At the first stop (Lake Harriet), we got there just in time to see a bunch of the leaders flying by...and there was Mark (sportin' a nasty handlebar mustache)! We scanned the thousands of runners for familiar faces, and found almost everyone we knew then headed back to the car, and drove to our next stop at Lake Street and West River Parkway. We missed Mark at the second stop because he was running so dang fast, but we saw everyone else...Keith and Dan (my co-workers; Nesler--I still feel bad about not coming up with some encouraging words!), Snide (fellow cyclist randomly running the marathon), Jeremy (Pete's cycling teammate) and his wife Jenny, Dave (another cyclist), Dan (lives in our condo building), and Amy and Renee. So after cheering at stop #2, we headed to St. Paul to cheer for everyone near the Cathedral (just before the finish at the State Capitol). We saw almost everyone except Mark again, and I was so proud of Renee and Amy as they finished. When we saw Renee, she looked great and her only concern was "how's Amy?"...it was so cute (we assured her that Amy was fine). Then we waited for Amy who came running down the road with Maren (Maren ran the last few miles with her)...she looked so tired and yet so happy...I almost cried for her. We celebrated at Renee's...Sbrocco-style...as usual, Marion and Renee were the hostesses with the mostesses. And one note: if I ever decide to do something as crazy as running a marathon, I want Alyssa there cheering me on...she seriously cheered for every single runner who had their name, logo, nickname, or a saying on their shirt (e.g. "go Betty", "go Cargill", "go Army", "go Bodacious")...someone even asked her if she knew all of those people!
5. Mark ran the marathon in 2 hrs and 37 minutes. And while he claimed the marathon "sucked big donkey balls" and didn't have a personal best time, the rest of us were all impressed. He was the 6th Minnesotan, and the first guy with a handlebar mustache to cross the line! (He claims the 'stache was only there for 24 hrs...for Meggan's sake, I hope that's true).
6. Not only did Stenson run a marathon that Sunday...she also got to see her hero (and mine) Dave Grohl, in concert with the rest of the Foo that night. The Edge is the epitome of cool, but Dave Grohl is the epitome of rock star. I'm seen a lot of concerts (albeit most were in my younger years) but the Foo put on one of the best shows I've seen. DG has more energy than any other performer I've ever seen...the man is amazing, running through the crowd, throwing his head around, swearing, telling stories...crazy. I think he's one of the very few people in rock history who can scream and have it sound good and musical. Oh, and two words I never thought I'd hear Dave Grohl say "Cannon Falls".
7. I spent the next weekend feeling under the weather, and trying to recover from the previous weekend. I worked on a new website I'm helping pull together while Pete did the Lake Rebecca cyclocross race. We also drove around Mpls looking at houses for sale, then climbed St. Paul's Highland water tower to see the awesome fall view (it's only open a few weekends of the year). Oh, and we went in seach of a Mr. Pizza-like pizza joint, and had pizza at Jakeeno's in Mpls with Alyssa and Erick, Renee and Mike, Andrea, and Stenson. Fun times, but it wasn't even close to as good as Mr. Pizza, so the search continues. That Sunday night, we hung out with a few friends at Hareland's house, and I had the pleasure of watching three grown men chase a mouse around the house. Good times.
8. That brings me to last weekend...another busy one. Friday I picked up my aunt Carol from the airport then picked up Pete from work, and we headed to my parents place on the lake. Chuck & Dianne, and Karen and the boys (Pork Chop and J-Dawg) were already there. My cousin Paul got married on Saturday, so the whole family was around. Pete and I spent some time with the Pork Chop Saturday morning throwing rocks in the lake and looking for clam shells...small wonders. Between the wedding and the reception we had some extra time, so we went to see my Grandma Stratton...she was surprised to see us all, but got the cookies out in record time. It was good to see her...it had been a while. When J-Dawg started tearing her house apart, we decided it was time to go. We headed back to the reception and chit-chatted with all of the relatives...then Pete and I hit a wall (sadly, it was only about 9 pm). We headed back to the cabin and tried to get a good night's sleep in preparation for Sunday's cyclocross race in Mpls. Dad and Aunt Carol made a yummy big breakfast, then we headed home...we walked in the door, changed our clothes and packed our backpackes, then jumped on our bikes and headed to the race. My race was first. It was my first CX race of the season, and I had forgotten how hard they are. It was a half an hour of pure pain...my lungs burned and my whole body hurt. In hindsight it was fun...but at the time it sucked. I totally bonked, and made the poor decision of drinking a beer after the race (instead of water and food). Pete's race didn't start so well either...he got a flat tire on the second lap, so he was trying to play catch-up for the whole race. By the time we got home it was about 5:30 and I could hardly move...I was bonked, dehydrated, sun/wind burned, and sore. Pete was kind enough to go do our grocery shopping...and when he got home we chowed down, and I was finally able to function again. I'm still sore today, but looking forward to this weekend's races...there are two of them this weekend...I guess we're glutons for punishment.
Happy belated anniversary to Karen and Chris, and happy belated birthday to Alyssa and Angie!
Strats out
1. Stenson got free tickets to U2...it was a great show, even if we did get nosebleeds. Beggars can't be choosers when the tickets to see The Edge are free. Bono was a litte fruity (e.g. picture Bono blindfolded and stumbling around the stage trying to find his microphone)...but The Edge was better than ever...he is the epitome of cool.
2. The same weekend of the U2 concert, Susan and Thom were in town for a wedding. Saturday was a rainy day, so we bored Thom by sitting around watching tv all morning. But it was good to have some QT and catch-up while watching golf.
3. Pete and I took a random Friday off from work, and it turned out to be a gorgeous day. We walked to the coffee shop and lounged around all morning, then headed to the River Bottoms to do some off-road riding. It was muddy and messy, but a ton of fun...I almost crashed about twenty different times. But luckily, none of my "almost crashes" led to an actual broken bone or loss of skin...just a lot of bruises.
4. Earlier this month, Alyssa and I watched a few of our friends run the Twin Cities marathon. That was the first marathon I've ever watched and wow...I was so impressed and inspired by all of the people who do this. And they're all crazy. Amy and Renee were running their first marathon, so Alyssa and I had a plan to cheer them on at 3 different points along the 26-mile route. At the first stop (Lake Harriet), we got there just in time to see a bunch of the leaders flying by...and there was Mark (sportin' a nasty handlebar mustache)! We scanned the thousands of runners for familiar faces, and found almost everyone we knew then headed back to the car, and drove to our next stop at Lake Street and West River Parkway. We missed Mark at the second stop because he was running so dang fast, but we saw everyone else...Keith and Dan (my co-workers; Nesler--I still feel bad about not coming up with some encouraging words!), Snide (fellow cyclist randomly running the marathon), Jeremy (Pete's cycling teammate) and his wife Jenny, Dave (another cyclist), Dan (lives in our condo building), and Amy and Renee. So after cheering at stop #2, we headed to St. Paul to cheer for everyone near the Cathedral (just before the finish at the State Capitol). We saw almost everyone except Mark again, and I was so proud of Renee and Amy as they finished. When we saw Renee, she looked great and her only concern was "how's Amy?"...it was so cute (we assured her that Amy was fine). Then we waited for Amy who came running down the road with Maren (Maren ran the last few miles with her)...she looked so tired and yet so happy...I almost cried for her. We celebrated at Renee's...Sbrocco-style...as usual, Marion and Renee were the hostesses with the mostesses. And one note: if I ever decide to do something as crazy as running a marathon, I want Alyssa there cheering me on...she seriously cheered for every single runner who had their name, logo, nickname, or a saying on their shirt (e.g. "go Betty", "go Cargill", "go Army", "go Bodacious")...someone even asked her if she knew all of those people!
5. Mark ran the marathon in 2 hrs and 37 minutes. And while he claimed the marathon "sucked big donkey balls" and didn't have a personal best time, the rest of us were all impressed. He was the 6th Minnesotan, and the first guy with a handlebar mustache to cross the line! (He claims the 'stache was only there for 24 hrs...for Meggan's sake, I hope that's true).
6. Not only did Stenson run a marathon that Sunday...she also got to see her hero (and mine) Dave Grohl, in concert with the rest of the Foo that night. The Edge is the epitome of cool, but Dave Grohl is the epitome of rock star. I'm seen a lot of concerts (albeit most were in my younger years) but the Foo put on one of the best shows I've seen. DG has more energy than any other performer I've ever seen...the man is amazing, running through the crowd, throwing his head around, swearing, telling stories...crazy. I think he's one of the very few people in rock history who can scream and have it sound good and musical. Oh, and two words I never thought I'd hear Dave Grohl say "Cannon Falls".
7. I spent the next weekend feeling under the weather, and trying to recover from the previous weekend. I worked on a new website I'm helping pull together while Pete did the Lake Rebecca cyclocross race. We also drove around Mpls looking at houses for sale, then climbed St. Paul's Highland water tower to see the awesome fall view (it's only open a few weekends of the year). Oh, and we went in seach of a Mr. Pizza-like pizza joint, and had pizza at Jakeeno's in Mpls with Alyssa and Erick, Renee and Mike, Andrea, and Stenson. Fun times, but it wasn't even close to as good as Mr. Pizza, so the search continues. That Sunday night, we hung out with a few friends at Hareland's house, and I had the pleasure of watching three grown men chase a mouse around the house. Good times.
8. That brings me to last weekend...another busy one. Friday I picked up my aunt Carol from the airport then picked up Pete from work, and we headed to my parents place on the lake. Chuck & Dianne, and Karen and the boys (Pork Chop and J-Dawg) were already there. My cousin Paul got married on Saturday, so the whole family was around. Pete and I spent some time with the Pork Chop Saturday morning throwing rocks in the lake and looking for clam shells...small wonders. Between the wedding and the reception we had some extra time, so we went to see my Grandma Stratton...she was surprised to see us all, but got the cookies out in record time. It was good to see her...it had been a while. When J-Dawg started tearing her house apart, we decided it was time to go. We headed back to the reception and chit-chatted with all of the relatives...then Pete and I hit a wall (sadly, it was only about 9 pm). We headed back to the cabin and tried to get a good night's sleep in preparation for Sunday's cyclocross race in Mpls. Dad and Aunt Carol made a yummy big breakfast, then we headed home...we walked in the door, changed our clothes and packed our backpackes, then jumped on our bikes and headed to the race. My race was first. It was my first CX race of the season, and I had forgotten how hard they are. It was a half an hour of pure pain...my lungs burned and my whole body hurt. In hindsight it was fun...but at the time it sucked. I totally bonked, and made the poor decision of drinking a beer after the race (instead of water and food). Pete's race didn't start so well either...he got a flat tire on the second lap, so he was trying to play catch-up for the whole race. By the time we got home it was about 5:30 and I could hardly move...I was bonked, dehydrated, sun/wind burned, and sore. Pete was kind enough to go do our grocery shopping...and when he got home we chowed down, and I was finally able to function again. I'm still sore today, but looking forward to this weekend's races...there are two of them this weekend...I guess we're glutons for punishment.
Happy belated anniversary to Karen and Chris, and happy belated birthday to Alyssa and Angie!
Strats out
posted by Strats at 9:54 PM
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