Monday, February 11, 2008
Happy Birthday K-Steph
Today, my wonderful mother Krista celebrates her birthday. I won't say exactly how old she is, but she's in her AARP years and doesn't look a day over 40. Right now, she's in a holding pattern until she can retire and really live it up. After several snow days and late starts the past few weeks, I think she's in retirement mode already, or at least practice mode. My dad has been practicing retirement often. He says it's because he's accumulated so many vacation days (thirty years working for the federal government will do that do a guy), but we know he's just practicing. I think mom's getting the hang of it, but don't get too comfortable yet, you're not there quite yet. Happy Birthday.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Snow!!!
Tuesday/Wednesday we had the second-largest snowfall amount ever in Madison. We officially had 13.3 inches of snow Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday evening. Most schools were closed around Madison and Milwaukee. Madison closed for the second time in as many weeks and has only closed three times in the past seventeen years. We only received an inch Tuesday, but the snow started again Wednesday morning around 8:00a and continued through the day until the evening and included wind and accumulations of two to three inches an hour. When I got home, I brought my nine horsepower, two stage, six forward speeds, two reverse speeds, power steering, 30 inch wide by 24 inch high clearance snowblower and cleaned of the 12 - 24 inches in my driveway in about fifteen minutes. That wasn't quite enough, so I cleared off the sidewalk in front of my two neighbors on each side and two of their driveways as well. When you have a cool toy, every boy just wants to play with it as much as possible. Boys will be boys.
Right now, we are only .7 of an inch away from a new snowfall record for a season. We already set a new record for the month of December, and the total season snowfall looks like it should fall tomorrow. We are forecast to receive 3 - 5 inches of snow from Monday afternoon to Tuesday morning. This is the coldest, snowiest winter we've ever had...and I love it.
Right now, we are only .7 of an inch away from a new snowfall record for a season. We already set a new record for the month of December, and the total season snowfall looks like it should fall tomorrow. We are forecast to receive 3 - 5 inches of snow from Monday afternoon to Tuesday morning. This is the coldest, snowiest winter we've ever had...and I love it.
PTs Everywhere
Last Saturday, to welcome the 'Nebraska Girls' (Ashley and Sara) to Wisconsin and introduce them to some of the UW Physical Therapy students, Kathryn decided to host a dinner at my house for Ashley, Sara and her PT friends and their significant others. Jake spent all Saturday cooking the entire meal from scratch for all twelve, myself and Jake included. I was in charge of the cleaning before and after the meal and Kathryn was hostess. The guests arrived around 6:30, and we started with meat, cheese, crackers and fried spinach as people arrived and we got drinks sorted out. Next was the meal. Jake made leek soup for an appetizer, a salad with balsamic vinaigrette, potatoes, veal ruladen, and Bluephie's carrot cake for dessert. All of it was very good and everyone was very impressed by Jake's culinary talent. At 8:30, we finished eating and considered going to the bars. We had this thought the rest of the night as we chatted and played Catch Phrase. We really didn't need to go out because I was a good host and kept the drinks topped off properly.
(I'll post some pictures later today.)
(I'll post some pictures later today.)
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Reclaiming My Good Name
(Why Blogging is More Fun with Venom...albeit fake)
So, if you have have been reading my blog posts from this week and if you've seen girlfriend 2a's defaming of me on her blog (http://alp-asthewheelturns.blogspot.com//), I feel I need to defend my good name.
I have been called out for not running outside Tuesday when the temperatures were in the low single digits, the winds were 30mph and it was snowing...so sue me. I've gone out running twice this winter when it was below zero, she did not, so I have a hall pass (neener, neener). The reason I did not go out and run is because it would have been dangerous to run on ice. The high that day was 45 and the low was -5, it started the day with rain, then it changed to ice and last snow. I didn't feel like it would be safe to try to run on top of that mixture especially when visibility when heading into the wind was greatly reduced. Not running outside in dangerous conditions for forty-five minutes for not being able to train for four months is a trade-off I would gladly make.
For the record, Fraulein Trainsalot (in her mind) is pleased as punch each time she makes it to a training session, either by herself or with someone else, like it is a great accomplishment for her and the rest of the world should look to her as a beacon for training guidance and we should all feel fortunate that she decided to grace us with her presence. Please! Congratulations. You showed up. Here's a medal. This isn't third grade rec soccer, Princess. You have to show up and bring it. Showing up isn't some great success. No one cares. Talk to me at the end of the race or training session. Fist bumps only for doing. Just because you're not on a specific training program doesn't mean you can stop training. There is no off-season, toots.
That's enough from me. Tonight I'll be riding inside for two hours, watching the Badger game. This weekend I'll ride inside again Saturday morning for two hours and get out Sunday for a long run, 90 minutes. All of this I will be doing alone, just like this week, next week, and next weekend because 2a has another excuse, big surprise. 'New boy' might be impressed that you show up, but I'm not...not impressed at all. See you... some time...eventually...maybe.
Oh, and thanks for going out to eat last night. It was fun. Have fun in San Diego.
5-5 (that last five-liner doesn't count)
So, if you have have been reading my blog posts from this week and if you've seen girlfriend 2a's defaming of me on her blog (http://alp-asthewheelturns.blogspot.com//), I feel I need to defend my good name.
I have been called out for not running outside Tuesday when the temperatures were in the low single digits, the winds were 30mph and it was snowing...so sue me. I've gone out running twice this winter when it was below zero, she did not, so I have a hall pass (neener, neener). The reason I did not go out and run is because it would have been dangerous to run on ice. The high that day was 45 and the low was -5, it started the day with rain, then it changed to ice and last snow. I didn't feel like it would be safe to try to run on top of that mixture especially when visibility when heading into the wind was greatly reduced. Not running outside in dangerous conditions for forty-five minutes for not being able to train for four months is a trade-off I would gladly make.
For the record, Fraulein Trainsalot (in her mind) is pleased as punch each time she makes it to a training session, either by herself or with someone else, like it is a great accomplishment for her and the rest of the world should look to her as a beacon for training guidance and we should all feel fortunate that she decided to grace us with her presence. Please! Congratulations. You showed up. Here's a medal. This isn't third grade rec soccer, Princess. You have to show up and bring it. Showing up isn't some great success. No one cares. Talk to me at the end of the race or training session. Fist bumps only for doing. Just because you're not on a specific training program doesn't mean you can stop training. There is no off-season, toots.
That's enough from me. Tonight I'll be riding inside for two hours, watching the Badger game. This weekend I'll ride inside again Saturday morning for two hours and get out Sunday for a long run, 90 minutes. All of this I will be doing alone, just like this week, next week, and next weekend because 2a has another excuse, big surprise. 'New boy' might be impressed that you show up, but I'm not...not impressed at all. See you... some time...eventually...maybe.
Oh, and thanks for going out to eat last night. It was fun. Have fun in San Diego.
5-5 (that last five-liner doesn't count)
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Goals and Races for This Year
So yea, I have to come up with some more blogs, so I'm posting the races I'm planning on doing and my training plan for the year ahead.
Last year, my training was focused on Ironman. I focused on the Madison Marathon at the end of May, the Blue Mounds Classic in July and then the Wisport World Championships in September, hosted by my team Brone's Bike Shop. Besides those, I raced a full road schedule and trained for the Ironman. This year, I want to focus on road cycling, marathoning and staying in shape for 2009 Ironman Wisconsin, respectively. For running, I plan to run the Madison Marathon May 27th, Grandma's Marathon June 21st in Duluth, MN and probably the Chicago Marathon October 12th. For cycling, I plan to race every USCF cycling race around southern Wisconsin that I can and hopefully the Bob Cook Memorial Mt. Evans hillclimb outside of Denver with other teammates from Brone's Bike Shop. Mt. Evans is the highest paved road in the world, and since I'm a climber, this seems like a good idea. Unfortunately, this coincides with the Blue Mounds Classic, another good climbing race I won last year after years of great results. Beyond training for cycling and running, I plan to swim and lift regularly, and train with friends.
That's it, I'm off to train...alone...because girlfriend 2a is too busy for me...at least now I can be fast.
4-4
Last year, my training was focused on Ironman. I focused on the Madison Marathon at the end of May, the Blue Mounds Classic in July and then the Wisport World Championships in September, hosted by my team Brone's Bike Shop. Besides those, I raced a full road schedule and trained for the Ironman. This year, I want to focus on road cycling, marathoning and staying in shape for 2009 Ironman Wisconsin, respectively. For running, I plan to run the Madison Marathon May 27th, Grandma's Marathon June 21st in Duluth, MN and probably the Chicago Marathon October 12th. For cycling, I plan to race every USCF cycling race around southern Wisconsin that I can and hopefully the Bob Cook Memorial Mt. Evans hillclimb outside of Denver with other teammates from Brone's Bike Shop. Mt. Evans is the highest paved road in the world, and since I'm a climber, this seems like a good idea. Unfortunately, this coincides with the Blue Mounds Classic, another good climbing race I won last year after years of great results. Beyond training for cycling and running, I plan to swim and lift regularly, and train with friends.
That's it, I'm off to train...alone...because girlfriend 2a is too busy for me...at least now I can be fast.
4-4
My other girlfriend won't get off my back
I've been told that my blogging quantity and quality has been sub-par according to some unseen blogging standard. So, after snarky blog posts on other blogs (http://alp-asthewheelturns.blogspot.com/), I have decided to blog to defend my good name.
This blog was started to highlight my Ironman race and to cut my 2007 Ironman Wisconsin race report from one large, unmanageable email to smaller blog posts, complete with pictures. Since then, I have posted accounts of some of the races I have done and a few posts from time to time about random stuff. Most of the blogs this winter have been short, uneventful and infrequent, due to the lack of racing and a general lack of updates other people would find interesting. This reality has seemed to not pacify critics (girlfriend 2a) who is frankly not been that great of a backup girlfriend now that she's found more of a permanent boyfriend. Also, the seriousness of her training has also been called into question after missing last week's regular Tuesday run because of cold and wind (10 with 15 mph is not 'bad' weather) and this week because she's busy (but has plenty of time to see 'new boy'). She didn't even run two weeks ago when only another layer and a face mask was required (-5 is still very runable). Though she might come back with a retort that she trains more often, this is actually my off season, which will end next week with the start of my Madison and Duluth marathon training and my road cycling training.
While not all of us have jobs which allow us to do nothing but blog for days at a time, most of us do not, so we are resigned to blog in the evenings and on weekends, unless the wife insists on going to the Home Depot to redo the bathroom because it looks 'old'.
I am still a blog behind, but I will try to post my goals and races for this coming year if I can get my taxes done this week. Yes, I am working on my taxes already and nearly have them done.
4-3
This blog was started to highlight my Ironman race and to cut my 2007 Ironman Wisconsin race report from one large, unmanageable email to smaller blog posts, complete with pictures. Since then, I have posted accounts of some of the races I have done and a few posts from time to time about random stuff. Most of the blogs this winter have been short, uneventful and infrequent, due to the lack of racing and a general lack of updates other people would find interesting. This reality has seemed to not pacify critics (girlfriend 2a) who is frankly not been that great of a backup girlfriend now that she's found more of a permanent boyfriend. Also, the seriousness of her training has also been called into question after missing last week's regular Tuesday run because of cold and wind (10 with 15 mph is not 'bad' weather) and this week because she's busy (but has plenty of time to see 'new boy'). She didn't even run two weeks ago when only another layer and a face mask was required (-5 is still very runable). Though she might come back with a retort that she trains more often, this is actually my off season, which will end next week with the start of my Madison and Duluth marathon training and my road cycling training.
While not all of us have jobs which allow us to do nothing but blog for days at a time, most of us do not, so we are resigned to blog in the evenings and on weekends, unless the wife insists on going to the Home Depot to redo the bathroom because it looks 'old'.
I am still a blog behind, but I will try to post my goals and races for this coming year if I can get my taxes done this week. Yes, I am working on my taxes already and nearly have them done.
4-3
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Girls, girls everywhere
I originally purchased my house with the thought of having a few friends live with me to help pay the mortgage and offset some of the utility costs, but things didn't work out quite as well as I had hoped, so Jake and I moved in August 1. Jake is one of my best friends and we've lived together for the past few years. Jake's a great roommate and I'm glad he's living with me in my house. A month or two ago, my girlfriend Kathryn received an email from one of her professors saying that two girls from Nebraska were looking for a furnished place to live for two months. Things worked out well, and Sara and Ashley moved in a week ago. They are both Physical Therapy students from Nebraska-Omaha who will be graduating in a few months. Kathryn was able to sub-let her apartment for the remainder of her lease, so she moved in this past weekend.
Sara, Peter, Kathryn out one night
So, for those of you scoring at home, three girls and two guys in one house, kind of like one big funhouse. I'm glad to have the extra people to help pay the mortgage and utilities. Plus, it's also fun to have a bunch of fun people together. I also had another friend look at my house this weekend to rent after Sara and Ashley move out in March.
More people = more better.
More people = more better.
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