RunningMoms' Blogs

Nope, not a condiment for the taste more of a I ve been busy with life that I haven t written, but I ll try to 'ketchup' everyone on how busy life is .The last time I wrote it was a race report and giving some excitement to a new product I was going to be testing/demonstrating for a good friend of mine at Bite Tech (www.bitetech.com) that has partnered with Under Armour (www.underarmour.com) to release a new line of mouth guards. I m a firm believer in mouth guards since I have 2 fake teeth, I ve tried eating a couple of softballs in my day and have a chipped tooth to show for it, and have been saved by mouthguards as I dig playing volleyball in the past, not to mention the times I ve probably been saved of a concussion in hockey and/or bandy. Yes, they are a part of my equipment no matter what

Minneapolis Duathlon Race Resultsbib number: 572age: 30gender: Foverall place: 150 out of 814 (Top 18%)division place: 10 out of 89 (top 11%)gender place: 32 out of 398 (top 8%)time: 1:48:11run1: 23:51 (pace = 7:41)trn1: 1:52bike: 54:04 (pace = 20.0 mph)trn2: 3:02run2: 25:24 (pace = 8:11)The morning started out just beautifully with my usual support crew waking me up Reese ready to go for another couple of hours on the leash outside while Thom cheers me onto the finish line! The weather started out a tad on the chilly side, but nothing that wasn t easily adjusted to by getting started on the run!The course was a 3.1 mile run, a 18.5 mile bike ride, and another 3.1 mile run. The course was mostly along West Riverside where I ve ridden my bike many times before, so I had an idea of what to expect that was to my advantage I think, however, it could have also been to my disadvantage

The 4 R sRagnar Runningmoms.com Race ReportRun, Rest, Refuel, RepeatThis is the 3rd year I ve done this crazy race where you and 11 of your crazy friends cover 200 miles from Lacrosse WI to Minneapolis, MN this year, though, they moved the start line to Winona, MN so our route took us from MN to WI back to MN. The changes they had to make this year were due to some permits that they couldn t obtain or something. With those changes came a change to which leg of the race I would run. To clarify there are 2 vans, each van has 6 runners and any designated crew they may want (our van had 2 crew members). In our van was Casper, Dani, Amy, Erin, Karen, and myself and yes, we ran in that order. Our crew was Thom and Joel. The other van was led by Coley

Race Report TurtlemanWhat s a little water?Well, if it s in the lake for a swim during a triathlon, a little water means that you are running in muck and crap instead of swimming in a nice lake. It also means that you could end up running the swim portion instead of swimming it because it s falling from the sky. A little water has a big impact!A little water is also a threat when you are riding a bike on roads that have painted lines and the painted crosswalks. Those things are slick when a little water gets on them.A little water means that you will feel it on your skin as it pelts you while running. Your shoes become 5 pounds heavier per foot and you

How in the world did I ever decide to do a race that spans across the state of Minnesota from the south to the north, covering about 550 miles of the great state? I still am not sure how it all began, but Paul claims he sent me an email stating this would be fun and I jumped on it agreeing and saying we should sign up. I can t find that original email, but I do remember looking at the web site he sent to me and thinking it would be fun .What exactly is this race ? The race is called the Minnesota Border to Border (http://www.mnb2b.org/) and it takes the racers ~230 miles via bike from Luverne, MN to St. Cloud (day 1), ~220 miles via bike from St. Cloud to Virginia/Evelyth (day 2), 50 miles of running from Virginia/Evelyth to Orr (day 3), and 50 miles of canoeing from Orr (Lake Vermillion) on the Vermillion River to Crane

Still here, yep I am!I finally bought THE dress for the wedding. No details can be posted - Thom can't know about it, so you'll have to wait until post wedding to see those pics! For those that don't know - the wedding is a destination wedding in Miami, FL. We are boarding a cruise ship with our immediate families and that's about it. We are keeping it small and simple and we are focussing on the marriage - sounds cheesy, right? Well, it's true though that we want to be stress free and just enjoy the beginning of our lives together. Don't worry - we'll still have a party to celebrate! We'll do that in Minneapolis next summer some time. Invites will come out eventually.Besides wedding stuff, I've been working on the kitchen and with mom and dad's help this past week while they visited, we made some awesome changes in the Living Room and Dining areas! We have yet to get the table top (backordered at Ikea), but when

Nearly 4 weeks post marathon and I haven't written...wow am I slacking?!I've been incredibly busy lately trying to get some things finalized for the wedding, train for the Border to Border race, and do some home improvements. It has been great that rink bandy has started up for the summer too on both the Women's team and the Men's team that I play for, so I'm getting on the ice two times a week on average now...and of course, I am truly enjoying every moment of that!Just a quick recap of what we have been up to - the weekend after the marathon, I did some dress shopping and we went to Thom's nephew's graduation party which was a cool experience - it was at a park which was a mile from our house and I never knew it was there. I have since been back to run the trails in the park! After that it was a weekend with the Wynns at the quarterly family party, which was a nice relaxing weekend in Wisconsin at Thom's

It was going to be a gorgeous day and I was happy for that!! Rain wasn t planned to come until late in the evening, and the morning hours were supposed to go from 55 degrees at 7:00, race start, to 71 by 11:00, when I had hoped to be done with the marathon.My race prep hadn t been as diligent as it should have been so I was a bit worried going into this marathon. I had a goal of finishing at 4:00, if everything was perfect , and why I had that goal was only because of some friends of mine who had finished the Stockholm Marathon a few years ago and did it just under 4:00. It wasn t set at that because that was how I had trained no, that would have made more sense! It really doesn t matter how quickly I finish a race such as this, does it? It s all a personal goal anyway

It's a beautiful sunny day here in Minneapolis...finally! We've had some cool days lately, and that has been great for my marathon training...I love running in the cooler air. However, Marathon day is Sunday and it's supposed to be up in the 80's from what I last heard. There are so many bits of the "cotton seed" blowing in the air, I don't like that...I can just see it now, taking a big inhale and 'cough cough'. ick! Currently, the hourly forecast for Sunday morning looks favorable - mid 50's from 7:00 AM until about 10 when it gets to 60...and I should be within an hour of finishing my marathon then if I cross the starting line right at 7:00! Yep, my goal is a 4 hour finish. I've been training pretty hard for that, but each day brings different challenges. I just hope that Sunday is challenge free and all of my training has paid off.To get ready for the race, last weekend was Memorial day weekend. Thom, Reese, and I

I tell ya, my schedule has not slowed down one bit! If anything it's picking up some major speed and not stopping for anyone or anything! whew.Last weekend was busy busy busy! I spent all day Saturday with my friend Christie doing wedding dress shopping - we had a great time giggling at some of them as well as some good "oohs" and "aaahs" :) We were, however, disappointed with the way one of the most popular wedding shops here (coincidentally named "The Wedding Shoppe") treated us. Perhaps our standards were set a bit high from the first shop we went to, "Grace Bridal" in Excelsior where they had very beautiful dresses and the owners were so very attentive to my needs, listening to what I wanted/didn't want, etc. We found some awesome dresses let me say...but...they come with a "not so awesome" price tag! Seriously! I tried on a dress that was $7500!!! (I can send you pics if you wish, I just will not post them here as I cannot let my man see them ;) ). When