I Ran a 5K!

Ever since Kelli ran in Des Moines last year, I've felt inspired to run more. I challenge anyone to go hang around a marathon on race day and not feel inspired to be a part of it. The people are so genuinely encouraging and happy for one another. It's awesome.

I made it a goal to run a half-marathon this year at some point. I practice in spurts. I do well for a month, then get lazy. February and March were great! April, not so much. I picked it back up a little in May but by the end of the month, had gotten busy with other things. Maybe it was just eagerness to get out on a golf course once school ended.

Our friends from Down Under, Dave and Kara, were planning a visit in June. Kara runs all the time. She has run multiple full marathons (26.2 miles!) and she wanted Kelli to run the Sturgis Falls Half Marathon with her. Kelli didn't feel up to it but offered me instead. Having never run an official race before, I thought the 5K sounded better. Start small.

Dave and Kara stayed with us Saturday to help celebrate Kelli's 29th birthday. Kara helped Kelli prepare for a get together with friends during the day while Dave made a new friend in Charly. We had a lot of fun Saturday night, celebrating Kelli's birthday with friends, but didn't settle down until well after midnight. We were up bright and early yesterday morning (5:40 am) and out the door (6:30) for our 7:00 runs.

My hope was to finish in under 30 minutes. A 5K translates to 3.2 miles. Thankfully, I accomplished this small goal. Kelli snapped a photo of me crossing the finish line around 27:27 (above), but we have to wait and see what the official results say.

Kara was awesome. At this point in time I can't imagine staying focused long enough to complete a half-marathon, let alone run one while on vacation! If we ever find a way to swing a trip to Australia, I don't foresee a race as part of the itinerary!

It was great to take part in a run like this and even more awesome to do it with friends we never get to see anymore.

My support team (Charly refused to take a picture with me)

My running mate (sort of, she ran a lot farther than I did)

My photographer (and hired muscle)

Rain Delay

When Kelli and I watch baseball, rain seems to find us. Of course, in the Metrodome we never had to worry about this. But one summer we followed the Twins to Kansas City and sat through rain while Johan Santana pitched them to victory and later that same summer, with Marty and Melissa in Colorado, we watched a thunderstorm literally roll in off the Rocky Mountains while sitting in the centerfield "rock pile" of Coors Field for a Rockies/Cardinals game. We found shelter in some unused and covered seats for the majority of the rainy game, but still, we decided then and there that we were meant to watch outdoor baseball wearing ponchos.

We had great luck last year at Target Field, in its inaugural season. We attended two games, the first of which was a gorgeous night game and the second of which with Shawn and Kali and was sunny and hot. Both games were won by the Twins. This year, I bought tickets to five games. Last Tuesday was the first game Kelli and I would have attended together this year. Hated rival Chicago was in town. I had never seen the Twins battle the White Sox in person. I still haven't.

We drove through pouring rain near Medford and the sky cleared up some by the time we reached the Twin Cities. We arrived at Target Field at 6:00, an hour before the start of the game, and the tarp was on the field. We watched an episode of Twins Live tape with host Roy Smalley and when 7:00 came around, the game was officially in a rain delay. We walked up to where our seats would be and talked for nearly half an hour with a retired usher whose niece teaches at North Butler. He offered us his house to stay in that night and we told him we had friends near the city. Funny thing was, neither of us think he was merely being polite. If we wanted to, we seriously could have stayed the night at this man's house!

We wandered into some areas of Target Field we had never seen, primarily the Delta Sky Legend's Club and the Metropolitan Club, and a little after 8:00, it was announced that the game had been postponed. We waited out the rush of exiting fans in Hrbek's bar and got a drink in before they tossed us out, then we drove back to Cedar Falls. We thought of staying with Kali and Shawn but with the game not getting made up the following day (our tickets will still be good for the makeup date), and with a daughter sleeping peacefully at her grandparents' house, a full night of sleep in our own bed sounded like the perfect way to cap off the rained out night (sorry DeBoers).

Speaking of Charly, we should have followed our instincts. Charly came down with the start of an ear infection (her first ever!) late Saturday. We got her to her doctor early enough on Monday and by Tuesday morning, she was acting pretty good. Our doctor thought we had warded it off. We contemplated not going and just sacrificing the tickets. Ironically, they'd still be good anyway! Suffice it to say, we went ahead. All in all, it was still fun to road trip together, hang out in Target Field surrounded by other Twins fans, and at the end of the day, I suppose I'd take a rain out over sitting in the Metrodome any time.

Here's hoping the weather cooperates next Tuesday when we go up to watch the Twins take on the Dodgers!

Happy Father's Day

Big Heart...you always put our family first and love me so much

Big Smile...you are always in good spirits and content which makes me the happiest girl in the world

Big Shoes to fill...you are the best daddy in the world and nobody compares!!

You are my hero, my world, and I thank you for being my daddy!

Love your little girl,
Charly

Thanks for making our little family the happiest it can be! We are so lucky to have you in our lives and look forward to all the memories we will make together!

Love,
Your girls

Friday Favorites: Food

Kelli and I love to eat out. For the most part, we love simple things. Nothing too wild and crazy. So, this Friday, our favorite things to eat in the Cedar Valley:

Jordan's Favorites:

1. Chicken Burrito at Pablo's (with rice and no beans)
   
2. Chicken of New Orleans at Mulligans (sadly, no longer on the menu, but their Californicated Chicken is close)
3. "The Local" at The Pita Pit (buffalo chicken pita)
   
4. Seafood Lasagna at The Brown Bottle
5. Five Cheese Pizza at The Other Place

Honorable Mention: Buffalo Chicken Wrap at Toads

Kelli's Favorites:

1. Cheese Cannelloni at The Brown Bottle
2. Seafood Lasagna at The Brown Bottle
3. Chicken Salad Croissant at Soho
4. The Philly at Mulligans (with chicken, not steak)
5. The Original at Mulligans
   

Honorable Mention: Oriental Wrap at The Pump Haus

Fun With a Hose

For a little while now, Charly has not been the biggest fan of her bath time. When water gets in her eyes she squeals and rubs them vigorously with her soapy fingers, which actually only makes matters worse. She's enjoying them more as she gets used to water running down her face, but suffice it to say, we've been a little worried that come summer time, Charly was not going to be a fan of water.

The other night I was watering some repaired spots in our yard and Charly became very interested in what I was doing. She was mesmerized by the stream of water coming out of the hose and just had to try and grab it! Lets just say we're no longer worried that she may not like the water this summer. We had a blast playing around for nearly 20 minutes.

Trying to grab the water.

Waiting patiently for more.

Holding her breath in anticipation.

Soaking wet and loving it.

Friday Favorites

Just to get some posts on this blog more frequently than we do, Kelli and I thought we'd post about some of our favorite things every Friday. First up, our favorite TV shows!

We're both TV junkies and for the most part, have similar taste, yet Kelli has some strange bitterness toward reruns. I could watch my favorite episodes of The Office, or Modern Family, or Community over and over and over. Kelli just cringes.

Kelli's Top 5 Favorite TV Shows:

1. Cougar Town - This might be the one and only show that Kelli could watch over and over and over.
2. American Idol - Guilty Pleasure #1.
   
3. Modern Family - We both love this one!
   
4. Glee - Pushes the envelope a bit too much at times, but overall, very entertaining. Especially the musical numbers.
   
5. Mad Love - Very similar to How I Met Your Mother. One of Kelli's favorites, but sadly, has already been canceled.

Kelli's Runners up . . .
Bold and the Beautiful (although lately she's fed up with the storyline so she's giving it a break); and practically any show on HGTV (Divine Design, Sarah's House, House Hunters, Curb Appeal: The Block, Dear Genevieve, and The Outdoor Room with Jamie Durie)

Jordan's Top 5 Favorite TV Shows:

1. Modern Family - There's not a character on this show I don't like. Each episode is hilarious.
2. Community - Great characters. Troy and Abed are my new JD and Turk (Scrubs).
3. Fringe - Awesome mind-bending sci-fi mystery. Everything producer J.J. Abrams (Alias, Lost) touches is gold in my book.
   
4. The Killing - Who killed Rosie Larsen? This AMC mystery is more engrossing than the channel's hit show Mad Men.
   
5. The Office - Losing Steve Carrell will hurt, but Jim and Pam may be the best couple on TV. And the possibility of James Spader maybe taking over Dunder Mifflin is rather intriguing.
   

Jordan's Runners up . . .
Chuck, Mad Men, How I Met Your Mother, Friday Night Lights, Parks and Recreation, and PTI (Pardon the Interruption)

On a Plane!

Earlier this year, a fifth grader in my class (who's family has done rather well for themselves) made reference to attending a Sunday night Packers vs. Vikings game in Green Bay. He was in school on Monday so I asked him how this was possible. He replied, "We fly my dad and uncle's plane to all the Vikings games." As if I was an idiot. This is the same child who gave me a Tom Brady football jersey for Christmas!

I wondered what that kind of lifestyle would be like. This boy responded the way he did because he didn't know any better. He was used to attending Vikings football games, regardless of what city they played in (usually) and returning home that same day. How many Twins games would I go to if I only needed to fly 45-60 minutes north instead of driving 3 and a half hours?

Last Thursday my buddy Chris sent me a text message asking me if I wanted to come along with him and his brother to a White Sox game. His brother is a White Sox fan (ugh) and Chris's favorite team, the Dodgers, were in town for an Interleague matchup. Chris's boss owns a small plane so Chris said we'd take that to the game and return just a few hours after the game ended. I love rooting against the White Sox almost as much as rooting for the rotting Twins right now, so the chance to travel this way, was just too cool to pass up.

The plane was like a sportscar with wings. Silver and sleek, seats four comfortably. We flew out of Waterloo at 10 am for a 1 pm game. We made it to Chicago in 80 minutes! Compare that to a six-hour drive! We rented a car (should've taken the train) and got to US Cellular Field in plenty of time to grab a Dos Equis and roam around the stadium.

New Comiskey was built in 1991. In 2003 it was renamed US Cellular Field. A wave of new ballparks swept through the MLB in the years to come, so whereas US Cellular Field was ahead of its time for a bit, it now seems to be lacking in special personal touches that other newer ballparks have worked hard to create. It was a great atmosphere inside the stadium though, sitting in row 2 behind first base, and the open concourse stretching the entire length of the outfield was a neat feature. Overall, the building felt a bit generic, but that's a pretty weak complaint given that a beautiful day spent watching baseball outdoors is about as good as it gets.

The Atlantic airport we flew into is the same airport MLB players use when coming into Chicago. It's also the airport the White Sox players fly out of for road trips. It was pretty cool being shoulder to shoulder with guys like Mark Buehrle (who's truck could pass for a Transformer, or a tank), Alex Rios, Jake Peavy, and Paul Konerko. I resisted the urge to punch Hawk Harrelson in the face and key A.J. Pierzynski's Chevy Tahoe.

We had to wait for some sketchy weather to pass through Chicago, the same weather that forced Kelli and Charly to spend a little quality time in our basement while I was away, so the idea of returning home shortly after the game ended was shot. But it was still a lot of fun and a great experience. If only I could travel this way more often!