I completed my first Half-Marathon

Yes. I did it. I signed up for a half marathon race... the Red, White and Boom... part of the July 4th festivities in Minneapolis.

The race started at 6:30am! It was a beautiful day. I had not trained at all for this which was pretty stupid on my part but I decided I would not back out. I was doing this on my own without the running group.

Here I am at the start (which you can see way in the back ground). I think you can see the trepidation on my face.

There was one familiar face in the crowd. My state senator, Scott Dibble, who runs in lots of these kinds of races. He was there and very encouraging.

And here I am at the finish... having gotten a raisin roll, banana and water.

I was very very happy with my time - 2 hers 11 minutes. I came in at an overall 10 minutes per mile pace.

I admit to walking parts of the second half. I did run the entire first half, 6.5 miles.  There was an incredibly nice woman who gave me encouragement on miles 7 through 9.

Following the race when I finally stopped for a bit I got some awful cramps in my calves... especially my right calf and even up into my quads. It was fairly short-lived but painful.  Jenny and Andrew rode their bikes down to cheer me on. They just missed my finish but I was so grateful that they showed up. We had breakfast at Wilde Roast. It was fantastic.

North country trip

Quick trip up north to visit with Jenny and Andrew at their blissful cabin on Gust Lake.

I drove up on Monday afternoon. The plan was to leave around 12:30 after work teleconference. It was almost 2pm by the time I actually got out of Minneapolis.

The drive up takes 5 hours.  There is only one way...straight up I35 then MN61 up the north shore.  The MN61 part is interesting but it is still a long long drive.

I took a big bunch of apples and a pre-made store pie crust to make a fresh apple pie.  Turns out Jenny really wanted help with her very difficult 1000 piece puzzle. So we started in on that project as soon as I arrived. 

We were working late into the night on the puzzle and I decided to take a puzzle break and bake the pie.  I brought most of the ingredients with me but figured there might be sugar at the cabin.  Jenny didn't think she had any so I substituted some maple syrup.  We did end up finding sugar so I added a little bit.  The pie turned out to be one of the best, if not the best, apple pie I have made.  We had hot apple pie and puzzle assembly till 1:30am.

The best apple pie EVER!

Tuesday we decided to take a hike in the BWCA from Brule Lake to Eagle Mountain.  We knew it was long and we knew there would be elevation changes.

 

It was a beautiful hike but it was really really long....10 miles long.  We saw lots of moose tracks and moose poop and even some very fresh bear poop.  But no actual animal sightings.

Andrew taking the lead on our long long hike.

  

Jenny pretending she is having a good time hiking.

Andrew and Jenny crossing one of the many water features.

Wednesday was more puzzle assembly.  Jenny and I took a break to paddle around Gust Lake.  The day started cool and sunny.  Our paddle was cool and cloudy.  We saw a bald eagle and some other bird of prey.  

 

When we got back to the cabin, the goal was to finish the puzzle before I left in the afternoon. AND WE DID! It was an exciting finish. 

Jenny and her 1000 piece puzzle (minus one piece)