Moen 'Em Down

2011-11-02T10:25:00.002-05:00

My wife Theresa and I are finally homeowners! We decided early in the summer it was the perfect time to purchase a home. The interest rates were dropping and home values were near the bottom of the market. After looking at probably 15 homes or more we found the perfect home in Eden Prairie, MN. It's a nice fixer-upper with some good bones. We had some great agents, Brian and Marian Peterson, from Edina Realty. They are a mother/son team. I've worked with Brian for some time and was pleased when he wanted to help us find a home. They went to bat for us when it was time and knocked it out of the park. Sorry for the terrible analogy, but I can't recommend them enough.

Our dog, Ollie, is a new addition to the family. He's a red heeler/border collie mix and about 1 year old. I like to think he's an old soul in an old puppy. Mellow, Beggin' Strips, and thick, black whiskers best describe him. He LOVES to run. In fact, in the past seven days he's put in about 25 miles of running. Half of that was chasing squirrels. I'm a rookie when it comes to training dogs, although I've had some success with Ollie. Teaching him not to pull on a leash has been my biggest success followed by playing fetch.

Training has been getting heavy leading into the Olympic Trials marathon. Luckily, I have some great training partners in Matt, Jason, and Andrew to keep me company. The mileage is getting higher each week now and it doesn't get any easier. I'm learning that the running in Eden Prairie is much better than the Minneapolis chain of lakes. This is quite a surprise to me since I thought the lakes were the next best thing to Reeses' Peanut Butter Cups.

2011-10-12T11:09:00.003-05:00

Busy has been the status quo for Theresa and I lately. Much of our time has been spent buying our house. Yes, you read that right. We bought a home in Eden Prairie and will be moving in late this month or early next month after we close on the home. We are very excited about becoming homeowners!

Outside of purchasing a home, Theresa and I have adopted a dog. He is a rescue and is a real sweetie. We plan on naming him Oliver but will call him Ollie. No significance on the name other than it was the only name Theresa and I could agree on. I wanted to call him Gumper.

Training has begun for the Olympic Trials marathon in Houston. We (Matt, Jason, AC, and myself) did our first official workout yesterday of 8 x 1k on the road. I'll try to keep you all informed of my training much better than I have the past months. I know I can be a bit secretive about my training, but I'll open up some. We have a tough workout on Friday where we're going to do a 30 minute tempo followed by 30 minutes of 1 minute on and 1 minute off.

2011-07-29T11:23:00.003-05:00

The past couple months have been busy for me. I did some racing and then took a subsequent 2 week break from training to rest up before training starts again. While I enjoyed the break from training, I had to deal with the death of my Grandpa as well. He passed away a couple weeks ago unexpectedly. We were very close and spent quite a lot of time together. He was my personal hero and I looked up to him in every way. He grew up rural Iowa and was a farmer his whole life, even when he was suffering from cancer. He embodied the tough-as-nails Iowa spirit that I hold so dear. He never met a person who wasn't a friend and treated everyone that way. I know he's in a better place now, probably fishing, playing cards, talking about the weather, or checking out the crops. He was a great man.

2011-05-25T13:01:00.001-05:00

I've been traveling a lot lately and discovered something rather funny about port-a-potties. When I was running the Crescent City Classic in New Orleans I discovered the locals there call port-a-potties "Pot o' Gold". Not only is this emblazened on the restrooms themselves, but there is a very nice mountain scene as well. My personal favorite would have to be the "Honey Pots" located in Spokane, Washington. Not much honey in these I'm guessing.

Racing has been going pretty well for me lately. I've recently finished 2nd at the US 25k Championships (~15.5 miles) in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Here is a link to watch the race via runnerspace.com Two weeks before the 25k I raced the famous Bloomsday 12k in Spokane, Washington. I was the top American in a tough field and finished 10th overall in 35:21. A week before I was 8th overall in the Crescent City Classic.

I have to give a big shout-out to my friend and training partner, Matt Gabrielson, as he is getting married this weekend.

My current schedule for racing this summer is US 8k Championships in Carmel, IN, Steamboat Classic, and Peachtree. I'm thinking about some other summer races but haven't nailed anything down past Peachtree yet. More to come on this.

2011-03-02T09:45:00.002-06:00

A couple weeks ago I saw a movie that was truly corny on Minneapolis' THIS tv station. It was called In Search of Golden Sky. The storyline follows a mountain man who was given custody of his nieces and nephews. He flees into the wilderness with them to avoid the kids going to an orphanage. They are subsequently chased by vigilantes. Here is a trailer. If you do anything today, anything, watch this trailer. It says it all!

I'd also like to point out the movie ad. There's a lot going on here. The first thing I notice is the old man clicking his heels in joy. Seeing the raccoon on the boy's shoulder is truly realistic. If you've ever been around a 'coon, you know they don't like sitting on one's shoulder wile you're on a bear's back. Also, the girl on the left seems to be running in a completely different direction than her family. The untamed absurdity of this movie poster makes it the best of all time in my opinion.

Lately I've been doing quite a bit of running. My awesome coach, Dennis Barker, has been 'barking' orders to up the mileage to marathon level. When I run marathon mileage I get tired and hungry all the time, so it's appropriate that I've written this blog just after taking a nap and eating an early lunch. While I'm not preparing for a marathon, the higher mileage is a good way for me to focus on the task at hand and to build a large base for spring racing. Next up is the Gate River Run 15k in Jacksonville, FL. It's a USATF Championship. Not only is it a great race to run, but the people hosting the race are top-notch. Race day is March 12th.

This past Sunday I learned once again the truth is stranger than fiction. Trent Reznor won an Oscar at the Academy Awards for scoring the Social Network. Some of you probably have no idea who Trent Reznor is. He is the founder and singer of Nine Inch Nails, a seminal electronic/rock band. This is the equivalent of giving Snoop Dogg an Oscar.

2011-02-02T10:45:00.003-06:00

This past weekend I headed down to Houston, TX to run the US Half-Marathon Championships. While the race didn't unfold the way I'd have liked (fading to 12th place), I did encounter what could be construed as the worst business idea I've come across. I was on the shuttle back to the airport with a van-load of runners. We were all chatting and having a dandy time. We stopped at a red light and I looked to my right and saw what looked like a drive-up kiosk. It looked like it had been shuttered for a while. I've seen drive-up kiosks before. They're usually coffee establishments near busy roads for people to buy coffee. Good idea in my opinion. The kiosk I saw cut key copies. I just can't imagine too many people driving by and thinking, "Man, I sure could use a copy of this car key here!" This poses multiple problems, being the wait to copy the key takes a while and you will have to turn your car completely off and wait for the key to be cut. No radio, no nothin'! I wonder how long this place was in business?

Another bad business idea is in Eden Prairie and that establishment is a Car Wash/BBQ joint. Nothing like getting your car waxed while you polish down a rack of ribs. MMMMMMMM. Who comes up with this stuff?

While in the airport in Houston I was in one of those snack/newspaper/magazine stores looking at a wall of snacks. As I was looking at a bag of Skittles the wall the snacks were hung on turned into a secret door! The wall literally swung open to reveal an office and a man looking at me. Confused, I grabbed the Skittles and walked away. I've never experienced anything like that before.

I'd like to announce that I have signed with Mizuno for the next couple years. I've always loved running with Mizuno gear and am excited to continue doing so. My favorite Mizuno shoes are Wave Riders, Wave Precisions, Wave Ronins, and Wave Elixirs. If you haven't ever tried on a Mizuno I recommend you do. Stop by TC Running Company and I can get you in a pair! Mizunos are usually lighter and more flexible than other brands. They're just as durable too. Also, their clothing is top-notch. Highly recommended.

2011-01-24T13:41:00.003-06:00

The other day I got to thinking about old TV shows from my childhood such as Family Matters, Full House, Pete and Pete, Hey Dude, Home Improvement, etc. One I particularly remember is Bozo the Clown. While I enjoyed the show when I watched it as a youngster before heading off to school, the name Bozo the Clown confuses me. With a name like Bozo, do you really need to add "the Clown" at the end? Doesn't Bozo already sound like a clown name already? I particularly remember the grand prize game where you threw ping-pong balls into buckets from distances that got further away until you won..............wait for it..............a bike! A measly bike for all the skill that was needed. I feel like lots of kids got the short end of the deal when it came to prizes. Bozo the Clown aired on WGN and was nationally syndicated, meaning it was making some nice money. The show seemed like it was run rather cheaply too and all they could afford to give the kids was a bike the few times they actually made the last bucket? C'mon Bozo, you're acting like a clown!

Swiss Army knives are world famous. The Swiss Army isn't however because the Switzerland is a neutral country. It makes complete and total sense that their greatest accomplishment other than staying neutral through major world wars is that they would develop knives with many doohickeys and doo-dads, many of which the common person has no idea what they are, myself included. The only person I can think of that knew what every thing the knife had was MacGyver (This guy). I remember my first Swiss Army knife when I was a Cub Scout. There was this white awl-type attachment and I asked my dad what it was used for. He told me it was a toothpick. Those Swiss sure know what you need when you're out in the wilderness surviving......a toothpick just in case a wild piece of broccoli gets stuck in your teeth.

Since it's winter and I do many of my workouts inside on treadmills I've developed a list of songs that I always workout to. When choosing songs I look for a faster tempo. Here is an abbreviated list of songs that I prefer to listen to on hard workout:

Linkin Park: The Catalyst

Bloc Party: Flux (probably the best workout song I have. Period)

Nine Inch Nails: The Hand that Feeds

AFI: Beautiful Thieves

Rise Against: Prayer of the Refugee

Muse: Assassin

I'm heading down to Houston this weekend to run the USATF Half-Marathon Championships on Saturday. It will also serve as a preview of the Olympic Trial Marathon course.

2011-01-04T09:07:00.003-06:00

I've learned a few new things this past weekend that I'd like to share with you all.

1) Women LOVE shoes. This past weekend my wife and I decided to go shopping at a couple malls. This isn't anything new. What made these trips different is the fact that I accompanied Theresa while she went boot shopping. First stop: Macy's. As we got into the store I noticed it wasn't too busy but that all changed when we arrived in the "Women's Shoes" section! It was pure CHAOS. Women were rifling through shoes like they were going out of fashion (I'm guessing few actually were ever in fashion). I really felt bad for the salespeople because women shopping for shoes are like vultures in search of carrion. No success at Macy's. On to Macy MOA (Mall of America). Once again, pure CHAOS. This time I just sat down and let Theresa do her thing. I noticed a couple other things this time, mainly hearing "Tainted Love" on the PA and seeing a baby's lost bottle of milk slowly dripping under a shoe display. I also noticed I was the only human with any testosterone within a 200 foot radius. The 3rd stop was DSW. This is a store with rows and rows of shoes that just didn't make it in the big leagues and is deeply discounted. No winners here either but I did see a boot that looked like a human head of hair. Since no winners were found this past weekend, a subsequent search will be in order. I may have to pawn this off on my mother-in-law.

2) I hate mannequins. I can't say that a mannequin ever prompted me to buy something because it was "displaying" clothing. The lifeless stares, the pale-white coloring, the awkward poses, the often limbless bodies serve as objects that terrify me. I usually go into a store and wander around mindlessly, often being caught off-guard and jumping at least once by a well-hidden mannequin. Ah, I hate them! I think some managers place them in certain placed to scare people on purpose. Many times I mistake them for real people and at the last second realize they're mannequins. This is the heart of my terror. Some mannequins are creepier than others. The worst offenders are mannequins of children at Nordstrom's at the MOA. They have elongated, unnatural faces that are colored. If I had a picture I wouldn't post it because they are that scary. Visit the children's section at your own risk!

3) Rum flavored candy could be the worst idea of all time. Theresa and I were given a box of See's Candy from her mother. I love these boxes of chocolate because they're delicious. As I was eating a few chocolates I came across an innocent, yet delicious, looking chocolate. I figured it was normal. Taking a bite I noticed there was a nice nougat color. Just as I noticed the color I noticed the horrible taste that emanated from the nougat. It was rum flavored. I couldn't make it to the trash in time before I gagged and spat it out. Meanwhile, Theresa saw this and decided that she'd take a bit just as I gagged it out. Bad idea Theresa! She gagged it out too just as fast. See, I've never seen the appeal of rum flavored anything. It tastes terrible. See's Candy, please expunge the rum flavored chocolate from your candy line.

Running for me is going well and everything is clicking right along. Next up for me is the USATF Half-Marathon Championships held in conjunction with the Houston Half-Marathon. Race day is January 29, which is a Saturday.

2010-11-15T14:18:00.005-06:00

A new entry for you all after quite some time off. I will try to update this more often for you all........

Does anyone remember the singer Meatloaf? I sure do and I wonder why Marvin Lee Aday would choose the alias "Meatloaf" to stage a career. There are so many other names in the food world he could have opted for instead of a sludgy meat product that is only palatable when doused with ketchup. Maybe he could have gone with Ravioli......or even Green Bean Casserole?

Thanksgiving is a great holiday to celebrate. Normally I celebrate by eating lots of food and falling into a food-induced coma for a couple hours. This year was different in that I chose to dress up in a silly turkey costume and run the Lifetime Fitness Turkey Day 5k. Lifetime asked me to be their official turkey and that anyone that beat me would receive a free turkey. I didn't see any turkeys at the finish line when I got done so I'm assuming they thought I'd win. It was a very bitter morning with the temperature being 5 degrees and a rough wind. Not only that the roads weren't in the best condition. That's no excuse for Turkeyman. So, I got out pretty good, hitting 4:50 for the mile, just gobbling up ground. The second mile was the make or break section. I had this other costumed runner in a Spiderman outfit that was tough to drop. His costume probably gave him an advantage since he had no air resistance. After about 3/4 of a mile of Spiderman drafting off me I dropped him on an uphill that I hammered as hard as I could. I finally relented for a while and kept a good distance. Near the finish I looked back and saw someone else gaining ground and I was forced to keep him at bay by sprinting as hard as I could in a turkey costume. It was a battle of the will for me folks. I ended up winning the race! Here is a video of the race. Enjoy!!

This past weekend was a doosey. 17.1 inches of snow fell here in Minneapolis and then the temperatures fell through the floor to -10 F. Getting around has been trouble. I was only able to my wife Theresa's car and mine yesterday. The plows have really been having a hard time in this and I can't blame them. So many people won't (or refuse) to move their cars during the snow emergency days. It's not that hard folks! Anyway, today I went out for a run around the lakes. The paths still aren't plowed, which I completely understand since all the city workers should be working on streets. I had to run the sidewalks around the lakes and neighborhoods and must say that it was a really cool run! I did have a mishap when I slipped and fell and then landed right by a car that was stopped by a stop sign. I'm very lucky that she didn't roll me over.

Running is coming along for me quite nicely. I'm healthy again and training at full volume. I've had some solid weeks with some good workouts. Nothing too impressive, but solid. The USATF 1/2 Marathon Championships in Houston will be my next race. Last year I ran 62:53.

2010-10-26T10:50:00.003-05:00

I love cereal. Cereal is a staple in my diet that I absolutely love. You name a cereal and I like it. Some I like more than others. I have had a very tough time in the past naming an all-time favorite. Until 2 weeks ago I didn't have a cereal that I disliked, although Grape Nuts was probably my least favorite and I can't tell you the last time I at them. When I was a kid I begged my parents to buy me some because I thought it'd taste like grape candy or grapes. I was mistaken. I should have learned from this lesson when I found a cereal at Cub Foods that caught my attention. I begged my wife to try it. She relented and I walked down the aisle feeling like a King. Anyway, there now is a King in the bad cereal department. This cereal tops the list (there's only 1 on it) and rules with anger and hatred. Not only that, the King's cereal, King Vitaman, tastes like a bland Cap'n Crunch with a potent gasoline-like aftertaste. Sadly, 193 people have voted this the "All Time Greatest Cereal". Here's the cereal's profile from Quaker Oats. Quaker Oats, you've failed.

Easily, I've come to the decision that John Fogerty's "Centerfield" is the worst song of all time. I have nothing against baseball, in fact I enjoy playing it when I rarely do. I do have something against cheesy lyrics, rhythmic claps, organ toots, and just an all-around bad song. It's my belief that Fogerty rode the wave known as Creedence Clearwater Revival to successfully release this song to the public, who has taken it as an anthem for baseball. Sadly, some of you reading this are probably fans. That's OK, but is it really? Yeah, I'm giving you a hard time. I really don't want to do this, but here is a link to this song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04KQydlJ-qc&feature=related The only solace is only 85,000 people have watched it.

The past couple weeks have been a little rough on me in the running department. I've had a strain on my right adductor muscle and it's certainly hampered my training. I've taken some days off and some easy days. I have only gotten 1 workout in. On the plus side, I feel it's on the mend now and hopefully will start real training again soon. Dr. Wade Foelske has helped me out quite a bit. He uses ART (active release therapy) work it out. His website can be found here www.folskeclinic.com Highly recommended!

I heard today that Minneapolis had the 2nd-lowest recorded reading of barometric pressure ever! Duluth set the all-time lowest ever this morning as well (28.39).

Follow my training on strands.com/joshmoen

Wear Mizuno shoes and apparel. I prefer the Wave Rider 13's and love my Breath Thermo clothing.

2010-10-08T07:24:00.003-05:00

I had a pretty rough day last Sunday at the Twin Cities Marathon. I only made it to 16 miles and then pulled the plug. I'm still not too sure what the deal was. I started to feel sluggish around mile 11. The only race I'd drop out of would be a marathon because they can really set you back as far as training and racing goes. Since I was smart and folded, I can live to race again soon and that's what I plan to do!

As a direct result of a poor showing, Theresa and I drove up to the cabin and fished. I caught a couple nice fish, being a good sized largemouth bass and the HUGEST crappie I've ever seen. Frank, as I've named him, was 12.5 inches long and a meaty fella. I'm guessing he was at least 2.5 pounds. I don't have any pictures to show you. I haven't even used my camera in 2.5 years! I almost kept Frank to stuff and put on the wall he was so awesome, but alas, I quickly put him back in the water so somebody else can meet him. Maybe we will meet up again. Next time, I assure you, I will either eat Frank or stuff him. I don't think Frank will want to meet me again as the last time we met wasn't on good terms as I put a hook in his mouth.

There are two fruits in this world that are classics. Apples and Oranges. Oranges are citrus fruits. I'm astonished and I find it hard to believe nobody has paired these greats together in a juice! I feel the only way to do this successfully would be to buy a Jack Lalanne's Power Juicer, as scene on late night television nightly. I don't wanted to make 3 easy payments, I just want someone to do this for me and get back to me. I don't have the courage to try this as I've had bad experience mixing fruits together in the past. (Think of my tomato/fruit medley). Yes, a tomato is a fruit and no, don't add it to fruit salads! Lesson learned.

Last Tuesday Theresa and I saw one of the best concerts I've ever been to. I've seen many acts in my days and this was the best show I've seen. The band was Muse and here is the first 10 minutes of the show. Please spend some time viewing this. I can describe how great the visuals were. This will help a little but it isn't even close!

2010-09-23T09:47:00.002-05:00

This past week I've made up a new word to add to the English lexicon. It's a blended word formed from "probably/probable" and "possibly/possible". That word is "prossible/prossibly"! I define it was "a mix between the words 'probable' and 'possible'" As used in a sentence: Jessie Spano thought it was distinct prossibility she was scared. I don't know how often I will break out this new word, but you can be sure to hear me say it more than once.

My friend and co-worker, Darius Montezemi sent me a Facebook message with a great video. I'm a fan of all things hilarious on Youtube and this was no exception. The following video comes from the TV show, "Amazing Race". I'm not a fan of this shown and have never watched it, but I might view it sometime after this little gem! (Note the juggler and the slow motion voice)

In other news, I've decided that mixing cranberry juice and milk would NOT be a good idea. I also feel that vanilla ice cream and ketchup don't mix either.

An adage courtesy of my dad: Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

The Twin Cities Marathon is October 3rd and I am running in it. I'm pretty excited since it's my home course and I will have many people there cheering me on as I run from Minneapolis to St. Paul. A week and half ago I did my marathon paced run of 25k. I did it in the race called the City of Lakes 25k. It's a great race that circles lakes Calhoun and Harriet a couple times. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves the lakes. It's a completely new perspective as you're on the parkways instead of the paths. I averaged 5:05/mile for the 15.53 mile course and hope to run near the same pace for the marathon.

Underrated/Overrated: barefoot running

The past 6 months to a year I've been inundated with customers who are interested in trying the newest fad called barefoot running. They've all read the book "Born to Run" or listened to the media tell them that it's the natural way to run. Reading the book, they learn the opinion of one author who has no real background in running. He espouses that shoe companies are conspirators that over build shoes and people get hurt because humans evolved to run and wearing shoes induces this. This inspires them to do all their running barefoot or in Vibram shoes. While this all sounds intriguing and cutting-edge, the author is highly biased. There are no comprehensive studies regarding this. The media is all about it because it's something unique and different. While there are some benefits to limited running barefoot a la strides/plyometics, it will be abused by many taking up this style of running. What I mean is they will try to run barefoot for many of their runs and not work it into their training as an ancillary tool. The whole movement is overrated because it hasn't been properly implemented. Here is a great video from Jack Daniels, the running coach, not the liquor, that really takes on this movement. He has a lot of great things to say that make sense. Really pay attention to what he says because he is highly respected among long-time runners.

2010-09-08T09:26:00.003-05:00

Finally the weather in Minnesota has settled into a nice little groove. After what seems like endless days of oppressive heat and humidity we're finally getting some much loved fall weather. When fall weather starts all I can think about is growing up in Iowa and playing touch football during recess at Fairbank Elementary. When I say 'touch' I really mean 'tackle'. We called it touch but really we played tackle football as long as Ms. Ferris wasn't watching. She seemed to love staking us out and taking away our football privileges. Each grade had a different area of the school ground the play. The best place was for 6th graders, which was in front of the teachers' cars. "Oops, I didn't mean to kick the football at your car Ms. Ferris! It was an accident!" Here is a nice picture of a handsome devil in 3rd grade in what would be the beginning of the Golden Age of football for this fella!

Buick cars have always irritated me. Well, maybe not the cars themselves but more like the drivers. Whenever I see a Buick on the road I immediately think of three things: 1) Old person, 2) creepy guy, and 3) high school student driving their parents' car. Often times it's old people manning the wheel. Fact (via Pat Rizzo): the average age of a buyer of a NEW Buick is age 73! What this tells me is that cars that look like giant boats with smooth, bulbous contours attract geriatric purchasers by the dozens. Maybe, just maybe, one day I will purchase a Buick when I'm a AARP member and have collected Social Security for a few years. I will most certainly used antiquated words like "cool", "rad", and "gnarly" to describe my purchase.

My brother Chris has always been a great source for funny websites and/or videos. I woke up this morning around 7 and was checking my email when Chris dropped this bomb on me and I literally burst out laughing. It's from a most underrated website, StumbleUpon.com. I will let you check this one out yourself. Make sure you're not eating or drinking anything!

ABSOLUTE HILARITY

As always, you can view my training at http://www.strands.com/joshmoen. Strands and Mizuno are sponsors of mine and I'm darn proud of them.

2010-08-26T11:02:00.002-05:00

OK, so last Saturday night Theresa and I were invited to my Adam Lindahl's new home for a work party. Great home by the way! Anyway, we were just relaxing and talking about George Burns when all of a sudden I looked to my left and saw a raging game of Jenga being played. If you've ever been around me and Jenga, it's like a bull in a china store. I'm terrible! I just had to play. The tower was stacked and just waiting to jumble and tumble when all of a sudden a twist came about. When you pull a piece you can stack it anywhere and however you want on the tower. INCREDIBLE variation! I give credit to my co-worker and current UW-Oshkosh runner Darius Montezemi. On a side note, his mom is very cool and they live in a home called Del Roshan. Darius, on the off chance that you are reading this, this is how you will be remembered, that and your penchant for overusing the word "so".

Last Thursday Team USA Minnesota and our supporters held a very nice reception to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. It was held at the Minikahda Club on the bluff overlooking Lake Calhoun. This was a very nice event that celebrated all that our group and sponsors have done over the years. Team USA MN as made such a positive impact on all that are associated with it and will continue to do so for years. A truly world class group that I'm proud to say I'm a part of.

Now I've seen some big fish in my day while fishing but last Saturday took the cake. I was wasting some time waiting for Theresa to come home from work and was casting a top-water frog lure from the shore right outside the apartment. I had a few hits from some bass but never hooked 'em. It's tougher with this kind of lure as the hooks are embedded to make it weedless and they don't grab the fish too easily. Anyway, I was just about to call it a day and head back in when I saw one of the largest pikes I've ever seen. I think it might have been a tiger muskie, which is a hybrid of a northern pike and a muskie. It had to have been 40+ inches long and it was probably a foot from the shore just looking at me. I think I jumped when I saw it and my heart started pounding. I casted it's way hoping the fella would take the bait. No chance. I tried a few more times but alas, he was a smart one and knew it was artificial. I must congratulate my friend Chris Lundstrom on catching a true muskie in Canada last weekend. It's the fish of 10,000 casts.

Training has been ramping up for me. I've been hammering out the miles like a madman. My next race is the New Haven 20k in New Haven, CT on Labor Day. After that I'm planning on doing the Twin Cities Marathon. You can follow my training at http://www.strands.com/joshmoen Strands is one of my sponsors and is a great website to record your training and talk with like-minded folks.

Lastly, the other night Theresa and I were out for a nice walk around Lake Harriet when all of sudden we saw a guy just start walking into the weedy water with all his clothes on. It was weird. He kept walking, the moonlight dancing off the water, and then started swimming to a boat. I don't know what happened next, but I guess I don't really care. Sorry, that was a pointless story but I'll leave it on here because it was so strange to witness.

2010-08-13T09:42:00.003-05:00

Once again I've been lagging on putting up posts on a regular basis. I'm sorry about that and I plan on working a little more diligently to keep this page updated.

I'm not even sure where to start. I will just kind of let this one go very randomly and whatever comes out comes out.

I had a great run this morning in Hyland Park with Kurt and company. They've been meeting at 6:00 AM Fridays. This was my first run with this group of ultra runners (Ultra meaning they run races over the marathon distance. Some race 100 milers.) I've always respected ultra runners and now they get some more. What a great group! I need to get out there and run with them more often.

Theresa, my sister, and I went to a Tool concert about a month ago in St. Paul at the Xcel Center. It was sold out! It was my third time seeing them and they didn't let down. I will leave you with a video clip of the concert featuring one of my favorite songs, "Lateralus" at the end of this post. Maynard and company lived up to my high expectations. On a side note, we sat in the nose bleeds with probably the worst seats in the house. It felt like Cheech and Chong's basement with all the 'smokers' near us. Parts of "Lateralus" is performed based on the Fibonacci Sequence, which all of you math geeks will remember as 1+1=2, 1+2=3, 2+3=5, 3+5=8, 5+8=13, etc. The verses are sung like this. Something cool.

I've decided that a tall glass of cold water with ice cubes in it is a true delight in this world.

And what's up with these RV's these days? Some have inspiring names painted on them like, "American Spirit", "Born Free", and "Silent Prowler". I saw probably the worst name ever and it certainly doesn't invoke traveling, pioneering, or anything related to travel for that reason. It was called "Leprechaun". What RV company brands their vehicles "Leprechaun"? I've seen two of them thus far.

Here are some videos that I've found lately to be funny:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5I5H7EeC8k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUajY-8mVTs&feature=fvst (This could be the best of all time)

Tool "Lateralus"

2010-07-16T09:19:00.003-05:00

I'm so sorry everyone for the long lapse since my last post! I've been quite busy as usual. Anyway, here's a brand spankin' new entry:

The World Cup is finally over. I didn't know much about soccer before it started and still don't. To this, I don't really care. All I really learned about was there is something called a vuvuzela that fans seem to love. Among the vuvuzela, all I noticed was a bunch of people running around kicking a ball around. Why would you want a game to tie? What fun is that? Reminds me of a King of the Hill episode where Bobby joins a soccer team called "the Wind" where the coach is a fruity guy who thinks tying is a good thing for a kid's mindset. Here is Hank's reaction to soccer!!

Have you ever had a yawn interrupted? I have and I believe that it is a travesty. It's so unfulfilling. I try to avoid it whenever possible.

This past weekend Theresa and I visited my grandpa's farm in NW Iowa. It's a very unique place in that his water actually burns! Yes, you read that right. He will turn on the tap, place a match near the water coming out and then the whole sink will ignite into a fireball! It's very true. You have to see it to believe it. The reason this happens is actually simple and interesting. Turns out a very large asteroid landed in the area many millenia ago and compacted the earth so tightly that methane has been blended into the water table. When you get yourself a glass of water, you have to wait a minute or two to let the bubbles out before you can drink it. As we all know, methane is a highly flammable gas and putting a flame near the newly poured water will light it.

And what's the deal with candy canes? People fawn over them around Christmas and then don't talk about them again for another 11 months. I think the reason is they just aren't that good and are overrated. I mean, who really likes a candy cane? I sure don't and I bet you don't like them either. You may think you do, but when was the last time you had a craving for them? 6 months ago perhaps? Maybe?

On the running front I haven't been up to much at all lately. It's my summer downtime to rest up. I did the Peachtree Road Race over the 4th of July weekend. I was the 10th American in the 10k race with a time of 29:10. It was an average race for me that left me wanting more. I'm excited to start training again.

So I came across this video the other day about a new thing I've yet to try but would like to if given the chance. It's called Ghosting. What that means is following someone as closely to them as possible without them knowing about it. Some guys Aussies have developed this game and showing the public with much hilarity. Check it out:

2010-06-22T11:41:00.002-05:00

The past week or so has been a duesey, let me tell you! I think I will start with the most obvious, being I encountered an albino robin. Yes, they do exist and I'm here writing this as living proof. It happened in the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis, not too far from Lake Harriet. Theresa and I were talking a leisurely stroll and then I saw it. Not only did I most likely leap into the air in excitement, I probably said something! I don't remember though. I was excited. It wasn't purely evil white, but was somewhat splotchy. To my relief it didn't have devil eyes. Seriously, I saw it and it saw me.

I've discovered that I am a very slow walker. It's not uncommon for Theresa and I to take a walk around Lake Harriet every now and again. It's a fun lake full of latte-sipping yuppies with their designer dogs. I guess that isn't fun. Anyway, we were taking a nice walk and I noticed we weren't passing anyone. Quietly, I asked Theresa if I was a slow walker. She hesitated and then the bomb dropped. I have to admit, I was a little hurt, hurt by the fact that old ladies were buzzing by me and I couldn't do anything about it because I'm not a gifted walker. We didn't pass one person the whole time we were out there. Dejected, I've thought about quitting walking altogether. Maybe I could buy a Rascal and buzz along next to Theresa on our "walks".

Yesterday I saw creatures I've never seen before. I was running in Northern Wisconsin and there they were, running across the road. They were big and hairy. Claws, scary faces, and quick, they were wild animals. I had no idea what they were but I knew they might be creatures. It turns out they were creatures of the wild. In fact they were fishers. Gave Theresa and I quite a scare! VERY cool.

Had a good weekend of fishing and learned some new things. The biggest new thing I learned was a saying by my grandpa, a fishing legend. "Wind from the south, hook 'em in the mouth. Wind from the east, fish in the least. Wind from the west, fishing is best. Wind from the north, hook a red horse." He says it's a good guideline to follow due to weather changes and such. He also shared with me a secret lure to catch the big ones. I can't share that on here though!

On the running front, I have the USATF Outdoor Track Championships this Thursday. It's at Drake in Des Moines and I'm doing the 10k, which is at 8:20PM. Should be a good race.

2010-06-10T11:00:00.000-05:00

Lake Harriet is an interesting lake. To those of you who aren’t familiar with Lake Harriet, it’s in south Minneapolis and is frequented by boaters, fishers, coots, ducks, latte-sipping yuppies, runners, dogs (not wild), and many gnats. Case in point: Theresa and I were heading to the Lake Harriet bandshell to get ice cream cones. On the way I made a very loud and disgruntled cry, “Where are these bugs COMING FROM?!?!” I made a very exaggerated swat in the air as I said this. As soon as I finished a lady came right up to me and answered my question. Instantly I thought, “What have I done,? Did I strike a nerve? Was this a scientist?” Not exactly. She told me, waving her hands like a magician, that “From a magical bug universe!” She had quite the pitch going with her voice too! I think I erupted in laughter and shock as I was actually hoping to get a response from my question. If I was fishing, I caught a huge bass, bigger than my mother-in-law’s she caught a month ago.

Along with my revelation that bugs come from a magical bug universe, Theresa and I also learned that “Violence is never the answer!”. Last evening on my 2nd run of the day, Theresa and I were run/biking around Lake Harriet. On my second loop near the Minnehaha Parkway a non-descript SUV drove by. A kid (probably 4-5 years old) yelled to everyone that, “V…V…Violence is n…n…ever the answer!!!” I immediately understood what he said, but some people near us didn’t. They thought the boy was provoking them, but he was just sharing his sagely advice, advice learned only through years of experience. Thank you, wise child, for making me laugh very hard and learning a wise lesson at the same time. Now I know that I don’t have to be violent to get an answer.

I’ve been working with stars lately. No, not the stars in space. They seem distant and don’t speak. I mean stars like Brad Childress, Jim Thome, and Kevin Rogers. They’re sports stars you could say. Brad Childress is the Vikings head coach, Jim Thome is the DH for the Twins, and Kevin Rogers is the quarterback coach for the Vikings. And, they’re all TC Running shoppers and fans and I’ve helped them! I’ve helped Mr. Childress purchase a heart rate monitor and tried to help him set it up. While I failed at exacting his HR zones, he did leave with a sense that I tried my best! Mr. Thome was great and inconspicuous. I didn’t even know who it was until someone told me. Nice guy. Mr. Rogers was great as well. We had a great chat and I learned that the Vikings coaches like to rib each other some. He thought it was great that Mr. Childress bought a HR monitor. I hope he takes it easy on Brad. Anyway, stop by TC Running sometime, you may see a Twin Cities sports star.

In other news, I’ve decided that I just don’t like Oreo cookies. The black cookie part sticks to you teeth and is hard to brush off. The extra work it takes to clean your teeth after eating them makes them not worth the investment. Plus, they’re way overpriced.

Another thought I had recently is why cargo is called cargo when on a ship. It makes no sense. It should be called a shipment. Conversely, it’s called a shipment when it comes by car. Why can’t they be changed?

Lastly, when you take the famous number 3.14 and mirror it backwards is spells P1.E Try it for yourself!

2010-06-03T12:24:00.002-05:00

This past week has been great. Memorial Day came and went in style. Theresa and I headed up to her parents' cabin in northern Wisconsin for some much need rest and relaxation. The first thing we did when we got there Friday night was head out on the lake for some fishing. Fishing is a very calming activity for the most part. The only stressful times are trying not to get savaged by a northern pike on a hook. Northerns are fun fish to catch and reel in, but taking them off is another ordeal. Not only are they quite slimy, but they have innumerable teeth that remind me of cat's grooming brush. Not pleasant! So I caught a few northerns, a couple bass, and lastly a very nice crappie, which we kept for lunch. Since I caught the unlucky fellow, I got to fillet him! I'd never done this before and Jim (Theresa's dad) taught me now. After negotiating the blade carefully a few cuts in, I decided I was doing well. Not too well I guess, as I filleted a little chunk off my right pointer finger. No harm done, but that knife was sharp!

Bears are somewhat common where the cabin is and there was one spotted the week we visited on the property. I had the job of taking the carcass of my butchered crappie out in the woods far away from the cabin. It was dark, very dark. Theresa came along and brought a plastic flashlight along. In truth, I wasn't scared. Should I have been? Yes! I dropped off the carcass about 10 yards from the drive about 300m away from the cabin. Theresa and I headed back, seeing the lights of the cabin the in distance. As we got closer I knew we'd be OK and Smoky the Bear wasn't going to make dinner of us. I was settled, until I heard a big noise! "RAAAAHHHHH!!!" I buckled and almost swore. Jim, Sue, and Luke all hid in the woods and waited to terrify their son/brother in law. The sad thing is Theresa was scared too, even though she knew of their plan! I should have seen it coming, but it was too dark and I was so excited about filleting a fish that I overlooked it. I haven't lived down how my legs buckled and shook.

Underrated/Overrated:
Wife Swap on ABC

This reality TV show follows two families as they trade wives with the other families. The families are always polar opposites of each other and conflicts and hilarity ensue. Many times one wife is defiant while the other is a doormat. The wives first live with the family under the family's rules for a week. After the week is up the visiting wife gets to make up her own rules for the family to follow. Often times, the family will resist the changes in a dramatic way. Take a look at this video of some weird people who eat raw meat. They were encouraged by the visiting wife to eat cooked food and this happened:

Yes, I know these strange people are from Iowa. And no, I've never met and Iowan like this. Anyway, a show this hilarious, dramatic, and underrated needs to be watched by more people! Fridays 8/7c on ABC.

Lastly, I'll talk about running for a bit. I've picked up a great agent named Brendan Reilly from Boulder, CO. He's doing a great job. On the training and racing front, I'm preparing for the USATF Track Championships, which will be held at Drake in Des Moines June 23rd. I'm running the 10k. Training for it the past few weeks have been tough. Workouts are dense and long. My easy days have been very easy to recovery correctly. This summer I plan on running Peachtree and Bix again. Two classic road races that should be on everyone's list to run sometime in their lives. You can follow my training at Strands.com. I wear Mizuno shoes/apparel.

2010-05-24T11:40:00.005-05:00

Here's a wedding picture for everyone. This was 8 weeks ago!
Photography by K. Noel Photography

So, I've been excited to write a new entry for the past week! I've got so much on my mind it's incredible. To start things off I'd like to revisit my Underrated/Overrated column from last week re: Waterworld with Kevin Costner. As Theresa and I were reading the paper yesterday, Theresa happened upon an article saying that some machinery Kevin Costner invented for Waterworld was going to be used to help clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico! As weird as that sounds, it seems to be true. It's some sort of siphon that promises to separate the oil from the water efficiently. The truth is stranger than fiction, as the old adage goes....

There is a word in the English language that doesn't seem to fit it's namesake very well. What is that word? Fruition. The dictionary gives the definition: the state of bearing fruit. While all that sounds nice and dandy and actually makes sense, I propose an alteration of this word altogether. I would like it to change to truition. The definition would be: the state of coming true. Truition will make the word fruition obsolete. Victory! So far I have one follower on this campaign (or crusade) to abolish fruition. Together all of us can rid the English language of this most heinous word, a word that has beleaguered all of us into confusion. Let's send fruition to a lesser language, say.........French. Let the French use this word!

I'd like to make a quick shout-out to my sister Katy for winning the Iowa state track meet 3000m run! Good job Katy.

Underrated/Overrated: Africa by Toto

This is a classic 80's song with cheesy lyrics. You can take a listen here to encounter this song again.....make sure to check out the guy hitting the gong 1:34 into the video! The video is full of hilarious gems!

Now that you've experienced the exotic and appealing sounds of this underrated song, you probably feel inspired to travel to Africa and miss the rains. You might also want to dance on top of Mt. Kilamanjaro. Wow, I don't really know what else to say. I'm blown away by the shear cheesiness of this video. Watch it again, you'll be very glad you did.

Here's a video I stumbled upon from StumbleUpon.com It's probably rated PG-13.

And lastly, I'd like to leave a little tribute to Ronnie James Dio, who passed away last week from stomach cancer (1942-2010). He was great musician who was loved by all. Here is a video of one of my favorite songs, "Rainbow in the Dark"

2010-05-18T10:27:00.004-05:00

These past couple weeks have been very busy. After our trip out to Stanford, Theresa and I headed down to Iowa for my sister Katy's graduation party and then drove up to the cabin in Wisconsin that very night! We needed some good rest and relaxation. Got in some fishing (no luck for me), dirt bike riding, and plenty of running. I've also been dealing with my car situation, which is finally settling some.

This past weekend Theresa and I went out to San Francisco (again) to run ING Bay to Breakers 12k. It's certainly in my top 3 favorite races. The race this year went OK for me as I finished in 10th place out of around 65,000. The race seems to have a new mascot named Tommy, which is a pink gorilla. 2:18 marathoner Tommy Greenless donned the suit for the 2nd year this year. Here is a taste of what Tommy is all about! Here is another funny promotional clip! I'd like to give a shout-out to Josh Muxen, the elite athlete coordinator, who has done a fantastic job with this race. This is the second year in a row that there has been a world record for 12k in this event.

While I'm talking about San Francisco, I can't help but not talk about coffee. To me, there are 2 main coffee establishments that are worth noting, Blue Bottle Coffee Co. and Peet's. They make the best brewed coffees in the world. If I had to choose between the two, I'd take Blue Bottle, but Peet's would be a very close second. If you are ever in the Bay area, make sure to check these places out!

In a quick note regarding my underrated/overrated post about the Heartbreakers, my good friend and Grand Master's running ace Paul Giannobile, sent me a clipping from Rolling Stone Magazine showing the 40 most underrated things about rock. Guess what? None other than Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers was listed! Looks like I'm ahead of the game, eh? Thanks for the letter Paul!

Overrated/Underrated: Waterworld featuring Kevin Costner

Costing a then record $175,000,000 to produce, Waterworld was the to costliest film ever. Grossing half that in sales, the movie tanked. I don't even know where to start about this film. Let's start with Kevin Costner having gills and floating on a vast ocean, or how about characters called "Smokers". Pretty cheesy. What makes this even more cheesy is a clip like this! (note: rated R scene) While this movie is watchable, if only for mockery, it parallels another movie. Just what is that movie? The Road Warrior, featuring Mel Gibson as Mad Max! Another terrible movie. On a positive note, the only redeeming quality about Waterworld is the Univeral Studios stunt show in Hollywood, which I saw in college on a track trip. Hopefully, this show is recouping the lost money spent on this epically overrated movie!

Follow my training at strands.com Better yet, join up and keep an online training log and connect with others like you!

I wear Mizuno shoes and clothing and you should too!

2010-05-07T11:23:00.002-05:00

These past couple weeks have been a blur. I've been on two separate trips to San Francisco, a couple races, early flights, a fair amount of work, hired an agent, had my parked car hit by bad driver, and now I'm dealing with insurance companies!

Let me start with my car. I own a 2008 Ford Focus. It's a great car. In fact, I call it the White Knight. Anyway, as I was leaving to go to work on Tuesday I walked outside and saw an envelope on the windshield. It thought it was going to be a parking ticket, which I thought was weird since it was legally parked. Upon closer inspection it was a Motor Vehicle Accident Report from the police. Shocked, I looked at my car and saw some serious damage to the driver side passenger door and rear quarter panel. Not only that my tire is smashed into the wheel well, rendering it undrivable. I see a number to call and I followed suit. Turns out some lady (who lives in MPLS) rented a car and rammed into mine carelessly. You would almost have to purposely drive at my car to hit it. Thankfully she called the police, and thankfully I wasn't outside when it happened. So, you would think an insurance company would do some work and help a guy out who had nothing to do with the accident? My insurance company has nothing to do with the accident since I wasn't in the vehicle. It's all on the other company, the company that the rental car place purchased. They've been helpful (other than not getting me a rental car), but I'm frustrated because I have to do all the footwork and arranging. Hopefully all of this will sort out easily and fairly.

I raced the 5k at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational. I ran 13:57 in some windy conditions. I wanted to run my projected 10k pace for my 10k the following week at Stanford. The 5k went fine. The 10k on the other hand was sub-par. I was planning on running 28:00 or faster. My worst case scenario for time was 28:15 or so. So the race went off and I felt pretty good. I went through the 5k in 14:01. I wasn't straining much and feeling rather OK. About a mile later things started to unravel. I ended up running my last 5k in 14:42, giving me 28:43 for 10k. I can't say I gave it my all the last 2 miles. I basically coasted in when I was off pace. This is something I need to work on.

In that very same 10k, Chris Solinsky (a Stevens Point, WI native) ran 26:59.60, making him the fastest American ever for the distance. I feel that I gave him the 0.40 seconds it took to run under 27:00. Only two people moved to the outside of lane 2 when he was lapping the field. I was one of them. And yes, I got lapped running a 28:43 10k.

Thankfully, Theresa came with me out to Stanford. We stayed an extra day so I could show her around San Francisco some. The first thing we did was go to the Ferry Building do grab a cup of Blue Bottle Coffee. Then we got tickets to visit Alcatraz. Very creepy and cool place. Highly recommended. From there we drove around the neighborhoods some. We made sure to visit Haight/Ashbury to look at all the weirdos. That is a very, very strange place! We are going to be heading out to San Francisco again next week to participate in the ING Bay to Breakers 12k. This is a fantastic road race and I can't wait to run it. Quite the spectacle!

In other news, Theresa has a new nickname to go with mine. She is the Wife Pine and I am the White Pine!

Underrated/Overrated will appear next week with the topic being "Waterworld" featuring Kevin Costner. Stay tuned for this one!

2010-04-21T11:46:00.003-05:00

This past week has been filled with fun experiences. Some of these I will share with you all, my rabid readers! First things first though, Friends.

Underrated/Overrated

the Heartbreakers

Yes, I'm talking about the back-up band to Tom Petty. When most people are asked the question, "Who is America's greatest songwriter?," they will reply, "Bob Dylan." I beg to differ on this one. Tom Petty has been chugging along steadily all these years. Not all of America's greatest songwriter's credit can be given to just himself, but to his back-up band, the Heartbreakers, who are sorely underrated. These 5 men have enhanced America's Greatest Songwriter, Tom Petty: Mike Campbell, Ron Blair, Steve Ferrone, Scott Thurston, and my favorite, Benmont Tench (only because of his name). As my friend Paul Giannobile says, "Mike Campbell can really rock his guitar. Awesome man, Awesome!" That's the kind of enthusiasm that we need, Paul! Here's to you, the Heartbreakers, my sub 4:30 mile salute. I will dedicate the first mile of my 5k this weekend to the Heartbreakers. Keep on rockin'!

This past weekend Theresa and I got some great people watching at Lake Harriet in Minneapolis. Our first GREAT encounter occurred Saturday night as the sun was setting. We were sitting on a bench quietly taking in the scene and all of a sudden we heard rustling and heavy breathing from our left. We both looked and gasped at the sight. A grizzled man who looked like Grizzly Adams was running with ski-poles. "Heeeve, Hoooo, Heeeve, Hoooo," he sounded! As he ran by I remarked, "You see something new every day here." How true that is. About 20-30 minutes pass and we started walking back when all of a sudden we heard a song being belted out. "Raspberry Beret......the kind you find in a second hand store!............Raspberry Beret!" It was the Grizzly Adams character again, this time walking and singing A-Capella. I would like to say he sounded like Adam Lambert or Clay Aiken, but it was more like James Lewis. There was no iPod involved.

The next great experience came Sunday evening after a nice meal on the patio with Theresa. We were watching people once again and saw a convertible driving our way. Nothing new to us, except that there was a St. Bernard in the backseat! Not only was this dog getting a ride, he was riding in a car seat. His head was a elevated higher than the windshield and he was loving life. Reminded me of Bernie from Weekend at Bernies! That dog was awesome!

Next up for me is the NYRR 5k Invitational at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational in Berkeley, CA. It's this Friday. I'm using it as a tune-up for the 10k at Stanford. I planning on running it just slightly faster than my 10k goal pace. The race will be broadcast live on flotrack.org

2010-04-14T08:59:00.003-05:00

Every once in a while there is a whirlwind of activity that amazingly converges into a apex of weirdness. Yes, folks, this last week was for the birds. Last week I saw a loon. It was on Lake Calhoun. In my opinion, the loon is the greatest Avian. They're black and have white stripes and are great swimmers. They can swim for quite a while underwater. I think they like hunting for fish. I was watching this loon and pointed it out to a fella who was walking. He didn't seem too enthused. Maybe he thought the loon was boring. Well, I think you're boring! The loon is majestic and interesting.

And who knew there was a species of bird called a Coot? Never in my life have I heard of a coot nor seen a coot until last week. They're basically small ducks that are all black and have a white beak and white forehead. They also have devil eyes. They swim around in packs, making them more intimidating. Their red eyes keep me running by without looking at them too long for fear I will provoke them to attack me.

Theresa and I were running the other day in the Bird Sanctuary near Lake Harriet when we saw a bird. It was taking Sanctuary I guess. That bird was a wood duck. I'd never seen one before and was fascinated. Theresa thought it looked like it was wearing an animal helmet. I then saw a whole bunch of them on my run last Saturday with Matt Gabrielson. He too had never seen one. More bird happenings!

I'm still not done with the birds. Just the other day Theresa and I were getting ready for the day when we heard 2 finches outside calling to each other. One was perfectly on pitch and sounding normal. The other was struggling, badly. It sounded like it was tone-deaf or ate a rotten berry or two. It sounded horrible, but unashamed. They kept bantering for a while as Theresa and I mocked it and laughed. Ignorance is bliss in the finch world as Mr. Finch had no idea he was being critiqued on his call!

Now for something different, not Avian related, but fish related! I was running around Lake Calhoun yesterday when a man walking his weiner dog stopped me. He said something I didn't understand. I said, "What!?" He then spoke more clearly, "Are you a fisher?" I nodded and he said, "Go over to the bridge by the boat launch and look down. I pulled out a 15-20 lb. Northern Pike." I ran off excited to see this thing while wondering what kind of person just catches a fish and leaves it on the rocks. So I get close to the spot he told me to look. I searched a bit and there it was! My first thought was he didn't catch this thing, it had died of old age and he literally pulled it out of the water and put it on the rocks. My second thought was he wasn't much of a fisherman because this thing was at least 20 lbs. I'm thinking it might have been a Muskie too!

Overrated/Underrated: Girl Scout Cookies

Girl Scout Cookies are sold by Girl Scouts who want to raise money for their troop. They walk door to door knocking and soliciting a public who is in love with Thin Mints. People love these things and I don't know why. They think they can only get them in the Spring when the Scouts stop by. Wrong! Keebler actually makes the Girl Scout Cookies, which is why I'm placing them in the Overrated column. I don't like them (the cookies). While I appreciate the hard work the Scouts put in, I just don't appreciate their product. I don't think this will stop me though from buying from them. I can always eat cookies. Right now I'm feeling really bad for the Boy Scouts, who sell their Trail's End popcorn every year. That stuff is terrible.

Upcoming races: Brutus Hamilton 5k and then Stanford 10k. Follow my training at Strands.com Wear Mizuno gear!

2010-04-07T11:27:00.004-05:00

So it's been far too long since I've posted. Many things have happened since I've last logged on and written. I'm not even sure where to begin and just what to write. I've decided I'm just going to wing it here.......

March 27 Theresa and I were wed in Marine on St. Croix, MN. There was a total of 14 people there, including Theresa and me. To us it was the perfect wedding. It was very intimate and personal. All in all, it was a perfect day. I can say it was the best day of my life. We followed up the wedding by taking a honeymoon on the North Shore of Minnesota. We kept busy by doing a lot of hiking and taking in the North Woods. I will post a picture of us sometime down the road for you all.

Easter was last weekend. Easter is a time of reflection and family. Theresa and I headed down to Iowa to visit my family. We all like to have fun when we get together. You never know what's going to happen. Case in point: Katy, Theresa, and I had a hugging contest in church. The goal was to see who could get the most hugs while on church property. There were 3 main opportunities. The first being before the service started. The second was during the greetings, and finally after service. I took the early lead with 3 hugs before the service started. Katy and Theresa were quite impressed. I tacked on a 4th during the greetings. It was here that Katy and Theresa started their assault. Katy racked up an impressive 5 hugs during the greetings, putting her in the lead. Theresa picked up 3. I was in 2nd place and wasn't willing to hug dudes, which girls can do. What could I do? Here's what I did. I just shut down completely and let Katy take over. There was no way I could compete with the 8 hugs she received. Theresa ended up with 3, which I was impressed with since she doesn't know anyone at church. Maybe I should alter my strategy and block Katy next time. Theresa could help too!

Underrated/Overrated 2nd Edition
Monopoly by Parker Brothers

Arguably the most popular board game of all time. A classic game that everyone has played at one point in their lives. The game that takes real estate and chance and combines it with a mustachioed small man. I guess his real name is Rich Uncle Pennybags. Well, I'm sorry to break you bank Mr. Pennybags, but you cannot pass go on my judgement that Monopoly is overrated. Have you ever actually completed a game or know someone who has? I haven't and after taking a small poll on this very topic I've found nobody has! Not only is the game a marathon, it's actually mundane. Two thumbs down! Plus, who wants to visit a place called Marvin Gardens? I sure don't and I'm willing to bet you don't either. I will offer an alternative board game that's one of my favorites, Apples to Apples.

Lastly, I will leave a video for you all. My co-worker Kurt Decker used to manage a record store and is really into good music. His depth in music knowledge is unrivaled. He introduced me to this band the other week. DJ Danger Mouse and the lead singer from the Shins.

2010-03-17T11:13:00.003-05:00

This past weekend in Jacksonville, FL at the Gate River Run I had the opportunity to eat something salty and crunchy. You might be thinking I ate a potato chip or even a burnt french fry. You are wrong. I ate high on the hog (as Iowans say) last Thursday night when I tasted caviar! Where do I begin describing this 'delicacy'? Let me start by saying I almost threw up when I tasted it. Not only does it taste like the odor of a fisherman who gutted 5 catfish barehanded (and didn't wash his hands) it is also crunchy. To top off shock of the texture it was also very salty. It was as black as sin too. I have no idea why or who would pay exorbitant prices for this stuff. A kilogram of this stuff is going for $6,330 right now. My friend and Jacksonville connection, Bobby Green, tells me the caviar I ate was from Atlantic cod. It is died black to make it look like the 'good stuff,' whatever that is. I must thank Richard Fannin, elite athlete coordinator, for taking the Dream Team (Team USA Minnesota) out to eat at the Chart House.

Speaking of the Gate River Run, I had a rough race down there. I was hoping run much better and place higher but I imploded to a 20th place finish in 46:00 for the 15k (9.3 mile) run. There's always next year folks.

I'm implementing a new section to my blog this week. It's call Underrated/Overrated and I plan on doing it every now and then. The plan is to pick something and decide if it's underrated or overrated. Then I will tell you my opinion on why it is so. Please leave a suggestion or two for me to judge. I will only consider good submissions. I came across this idea from my friend Mike Morgan. Here goes the first edition:

Underrated/Overrated
Junior Mints

We all know Junior Mints as the chocolate covered gooey mint candy that comes in the box. What we don't know is that this candy is very underrated. It's flown under the radar for way too long. Junior Mints should no longer be relegated to 2nd or 3rd class candies, save that for Skittles, Laffy Taffy, Charleston Chew, and Jolly Ranchers (the Green Apple JR's are a classic though). Junior Mints, now is the time to shine. Everyone, go out and buy a box. Enjoy the flavor and share. No one turns down a Junior Mint! Not all the candy pieces are equal. Some are gooier than others. I prefer the least-gooey ones.

Put your suggestions to be rated below in the comments section.

2010-03-03T11:02:00.002-06:00

My sister Katy has been on my case ever since I changed the same of the blog to "Moen 'Em Down". She wants credit for the name idea. Fact is, I did give her credit a couple entries ago but I will still give Kathrynian some more credit. Katy and her friend Alyssa Beierschmidt came up with the name last fall. I'm shamelessly using it. Thanks Katy!

Does anyone remember Pat Benatar, the 80's pop/rock star? I barely did until last Saturday when Theresa and I had 4 run-ins with this 80's has-been. It all started when my fiancee's brother Luke was talking about girls. I gave him a nice, random quote. I said, "Luke, always remember what Pat Benatar said, 'Love is a battlefield.'" I didn't think anything of it except that it was hilarious. Not too long later Theresa and I were getting our marriage license at the courthouse. There we saw a lady getting ready for her driver's license picture. She was not only getting ready, she was gussying herself up! She preened herself for probably 10-15 minutes before the picture. She wanted to make sure she looked just like Pat Benatar. Well, mission accomplished. I don't know how her picture turned out, but I do know she really like this song. While waiting (still) for our number to be called, G555, there was a quiz game playing on the TV. We hadn't been paying attention at all but Theresa randomly looked over and saw the answer, "Pat Benatar." That was weird run-in number 3. At this point we were sure there was no way the day could hold more Pat Benatar. Wrong. Later that evening we went to a delightful place called Chatterbox. It's a restaurant where order food and play board games while you eat. Pretty novel and fun idea if you ask me. Well executed too. After I beat Theresa in a close game of Stratego I noticed a picture that was behind her left shoulder on a shelf. It had been there all evening. Yes, it was a picture of Pat Benatar on the cover of "Trivial Pursuit: 80's Edition." Thus our day filled with random Pat Benatar references ended, and none of them were songs.

Theresa and I share so many things in common. Many are expected but some are odd, such as our love for the movie, "What About Bob?" Another odd one is our affinity for the book series, "Uncle John's Bathroom Reader." Yes, you read that right. These books are made for restroom use, although we prefer to read them while not in the washroom. The topics are short and usually pretty random. It's basically a book full of useless (and sometimes useful) trivia. If you love etymology these books are for you. The BRI (Bathroom Readers' Institute) releases a new one every year. Did you know that 65% of test subjects had the urge to yawn after reading the word "yawn"? If you like that fact, this series of books are for you!

Next week is the Gate River Run in Jacksonville, FL. It's host to the 2010 15k Championships. As usual, it's a great field. Last year I ran 44:34 for the 9.3 mile race and I hope to improve upon that considerably this year. Training has been going well lately. I've been getting in some good miles. You can see for yourself at Strands.com. Join the fun and become a member. It's a fun community that appreciates endurance athletes.

2010-02-24T11:04:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago down in Miami I had the rare opportunity to see a great friend of mine, Pat Rizzo. You never really know what's going to happen when he's in your company. Never a dull moment. This time was no exception. I got to watch him eat rice for the first time in his life. Pat is a self described "Pizza lover with lots of carcass" type of eater. He will honestly eat a pizza every day and shun fruits and vegetables. Well, if they're on pizza I suppose he'd eat them. As we sat down at some Chinese restaurant, he declared his intent to ingest rice for the first time in his life. To everyone's utter shock at his lack of food culture, we were excited to experience this with him. Anticipating his Chinese dish to arrive, he was nervous. I think he was most nervous about what rice looks compared to the insect world, maggots. His first bite was cringe-worthy and he gave a disgruntled and disgusted look. Being the closed-minded eater he is, he gave it another go. After a while he started to just push the rice from side to side to make it look like he ate a lot when in fact it was probably only a handful of bites. I used to do this in elementary school to get out of eating my peas and green beans. I knew his little trick. He said he needed to get used to Asian food because he was slated to run the Ohme 30k in Japan this month. Good luck Pat! I hope you don't starve in Japan.

Last Friday night Theresa and I cooked a delicious meal. We made burritos and let me tell you, they were delicious, scrumptious even. Now, I've eaten many burritos in my life but what made these do fantastic? Pineapples! Sounds odd I know, but I had this hair-brained idea to add fresh pineapple to the chicken and rice burritos. It worked out great. I'm thinking I may be the next Alton Brown (my favorite Food Network personality). I'm just a cooking machine folks. I really need a creative name for these burritos and I need your help. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Ingredients:
flour tortilla
1 chicken breast (shredded)
taco seasoning
black beans (from a can)
can opener (for the can)
cheese
salsa (prefer Pace Mild)
Red bell pepper (cut up of course!)
white rice
Pineapple (only fresh, not canned)

Sometimes people ask me what kind of music I listen to when I run for motivation. What I tell them is faster paced music. The faster the tempo the more your body will respond automatically. Here are some examples of what is on my iPod when I'm cranking it out:

Bloc Party "Flux" Probably my favorite song of all time. My brother Chris introduced me to a couple years ago.

The Bravery "I have seen the future" A song about the book "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley

Rise Against "Prayer of the Refugee" This band is against all that is injustice and rails against almost anything political.

Rammstein "Ich Will" What the angry Germans are singing about I don't know. What I do know is I like this song.

2010-02-17T12:28:00.003-06:00

Here are a couple pictures from my long run in Iowa this past weekend. We had a hoar frost, which is when fog freezes and collects on anything solid. Very beautiful!

I've made a couple subtle updates to the design of the blog. First, it has a slightly different color scheme. I also changed the comments section so you can respond without registering. Lastly, I changed the name to "Moen 'Em Down". This is a reference to a t-shirt that was designed for my sister when she won state cross country last fall. I shamelessly copied the idea and implemented it for myself. On to the blog.....

I love it when I get a shipment of gear from Mizuno. It's like Christmas in a giant box! I opened the box to find 5 new pairs of shoes! There were two pairs of my favorite shoes, Wave Rider 13's. There were also 2 pairs of Wave Elixirs and 1 pair of Wave Ronins. They could'nt have come any sooner as I desperately needed some new trainers. I must encourage you to try Mizuno shoes if you haven't already. They have a very unique feel to them as they put you lower to the ground and give you a feel for the road. Generally, they are lighter and more flexible than other brands too, which is very important in my opinion.

2 days ago I moved to a new location. I was living near Cedar Lake in St. Louis Park, MN. It was a great location but I was getting tired of living in a basement. Now I'm renting an apartment from my friend and former training parter Chad Johnson. It's right on Lake Harriet and is perfect. The location couldn't be any better. I actually live in Minneapolis proper now. It has a very cute stove too!

Folks, Monday was a day to remember for me. Something happened that will mark this day in my mind for the next couple hours. Just what happened you might ask? Well, how can I put this without shocking all of you? I will just put it out there for you to read and let it settle. On second thought, I'm going to draw this out and make you read a bunch of words and sentences before I tell you. The day began normal enough and then took a turn for the intriguing and shocking. The previous day was Valentine's and I received a gift from Theresa's parents. It was a box of See's chocolates. Innocently, I opened it up and took a look at the contents. Looked good enough to me, but everything does as I will eat about anything. I took a bite out of one and decided it was delicious, scrumptious even. Just like a snowball rolling down a hill, the box slowly emptied until nothing was left except the cute little wrappers around the chocolates. They reminded me of what I'd done. I ate a whole box of chocolates! Did I feel guilty? Yeah. Am I going to dwell on it? I did for a minute or two and now I want to eat another box of 'em! They are a good gift for distance runners.

Now for an update on the Gertie situation. A couple entries ago I wrote about how every time I near this cute little Golden Retriever she goes #1. The fountain is still flowing folks! Gushing like Old Faithful even as I know what's going to happen when she sees me or hears my voice. I've never heard of such a thing and now tip-toe around when she awake as I'm afraid to get wet. Quite the conundrum. Any advice is welcomed.

I've been doing some hard training lately. 100+ miles weeks are the norm. It's a grind that will pay off down the road here. You can follow my training at Strands.com. Here are a couple pictures from my long run in Iowa this past weekend. We had a hoar frost, which is when fog freezes and collects on anything solid. Very beautiful!

2010-02-11T10:17:00.000-06:00

It's not too often I come across something that is as funny as Carl Weathers' short videos that proclaim "Change is Beautiful". Before I link you up to one of these treasures you need a background on Carl himself. Carl Weathers is most famous for playing the part of Dillon on the first Predator movie as well as Apollo Creed on Rocky. From these two roles alone you should be impressed. Not resting on his laurels, Carl also played in the NFL and CFL for a time before taking up his "Change is Beautiful" campaign. When you watch these, keep your humor open as well as your heart. Carl has something to say! You can watch the rest of the videos via the right hand column.

About 1 month ago I took up a new hobby. COFFEE! It is delicious. I always told myself I wasn't going to be a coffee drinker and denied my longing for a hot cup. Years of this festering desire finally erupted last month in Hawaii when I decided to have my first official cup with Theresa. It tasted a little rough at first and I didn't care for it. I tried another the next day and I was hooked! Now I'm up to probably 6 cups a week. I think my favorite parts about coffee are it's taste and how hyper I get after drinking a cup. I feel like Carl Weathers wanting to change the world or maybe even Eric Clapton. Right now my favorite coffee is the gas station brand Super America's Dark Roast. It's $.99 for 16 oz. Go buy some today!

This morning I did a quick 7 miler to shake my legs out and saw a sight I've yet to see in my 27 years of existence. Just what did I see on this cold, 1 degree morning? You guessed it, a man with a pouch for his beard! Let me frame the scene. I was running East on the Greenway and saw a biker coming toward me with a yellow jacket on. As he got closer I noticed something rather peculiar protruding from his chin. It was an oversized strap that was evidently keeping his beard warm. I could easily see it tucked in there and immediately wondered where someone can procure these delightful pouches? What would the cost be? I decided he probably made it himself since it's so weird and bizarre.

Let me give you all a quick update on the running scene. My next race isn't until March 13 (Gate River Run 15k) so that means I can get a mean block of training in, which exactly what I'm doing. Things are going according to plan. I've been getting in lots of tempo work and some VO2 max. My big goal is to run a good 5k at Brutus Hamilton and then a really fast 10k at Stanford. I'm excited to get into specific training when Matt, Patrick and I get to sync up.

2010-02-03T10:50:00.000-06:00

There is a dog I know named Gertie. She is the Anderson family's dog and she is a large golden retriever puppy. She's probably 4-5 months old and she has a serious crush on me. I'm unsure why she has chosen me to adore and urinate for, but I'm her object of affection at this point. Every time, and I mean every time I visit the Anderson house, she just decides to go #1 when she sees me. At first I thought it was funny, but now I avoid her and tip-toe around so she doesn't know I'm there. Maybe it all stems back to the time I petted her stomach. She seemed to like it. Maybe she likes my moccasains. Maybe she just likes my ruggedly handsome looks. Either way, she has it out for me.

I was in Miami over the weekend at the ING Miami 1/2 Marathon. On the flight back I was sitting behind 2 Haitian refugees that were adopted and heading for their new home in Minneapolis. The siblings were 6 and 8 years old and sitting with their parents, whom they didn't understand as they only spoke Creole (a form of French) and very broken English. I felt inspired sitting behind them and hopeful as they left a 3rd world country and were going to live with some great people in the best country in the world. It made me feel fortunate and blessed to live where I do and have the opportunities I do. Let's not take what we have for granted.

Theresa and I have finalized our wedding. It's on March 27 in Marine of St. Croix, MN. The ceremony and dinner is an immediate family affair, just parents, siblings, and grandparents. We really want to keep it simple and private.

I've been doing quite a bit of travel lately and am now relaxing some knowing I don't have to do too much for a while. In the last month I've been in Hawaii, Houston, and Miami. Next week I'm heading down to Iowa to visit my Mom for her birthday (Feb. 14) and Dad. That's the last bit of traveling until I head down to Jacksonville, FL for the Gate River Run. That means that I have a big block of training I can put in to prepare myself for a big 10k later this spring on the track.

2010-01-19T15:45:00.000-06:00

I’ve been all over the map the past couple weeks. I was in Hawaii for 12 days followed by 2 days back in Minneapolis and then down to Houston for a few days at the USATF ½ Marathon Championships. I’ve got a great deal of things to blog about but I’m going to limit myself on this entry and share a few moments that really stick out. Some entries I may have to save for a later date. Hawaii has proven to be a very good place for unique experiences.

I’ll give you a bit of background before I go into this entry. I was on vacation with Theresa and her family in Hawaii. They go every year and have visited many places multiple times. They are savvy travelers. Without their knowledge I wouldn’t have had such a great time in Hawaii!

On day 2 we visited Pearl Harbor, which was a very somber experience that wasn’t taken lightly. Oil still drips to the surface from the USS Arizona. We took a boat out to the sunken ship and it was eerily quiet as everyone was reverent. Before we took the boat to the memorial we had to watch a short film in a theater giving a background to the start of WWII. Lots of people were in there. The film played and ended. When it ended and the lights came on nobody moved. Everyone just sat there looking around. They needed guidance. Theresa’s parent said that normally we exit and go to the boat outside the theater. This crowd wasn’t moving. They were beginning to get restless. I took a dare to be the first to move. I casually stood up proudly and looked to my left behind me. One person stood, then another and then en masse! I started a movement. Who’d of thought I’d move so many people with simply standing up? I can tell you that I’m for standing up for myself!

Geckos are interesting critters. Think the Geico Gecko if you can’t picture one. The one’s I saw didn’t talk, they just creepily moved and hid behind things. I was starting to get used to seeing them outside and actually like them. That all changed on eventful evening when I saw one inside the condo. Theresa’s parents and gone to bed leaving just myself, Theresa and her 3 brothers Adam, Phil (Phyllis) and Luke up. Someone spotted on of these beastly things up in the loft. It was time to relocate the fella to safer grounds, mainly outside. Being the Stand-Up guy that I am I went up to the loft ready to capture the thing with Luke’s help. He brought up a glass to cup it in. We got really close to it and quickly put the glass over it. We thought we caught it but we only caught it’s tail, which was wiggling on the ground, separated from it’s body! All the while I saw it fall about 10 feet to the living room floor. It landed with an audible smack. It didn’t move. I was horrified and laughing at the same time. Everyone else was too. The tail, the gecko, jet-lag all lead to hysterics. Adam was downstairs and went to pick up the gecko and throw it outside thinking it was dead. Turns out he was WRONG. It quickly scampered behind end table. Tough critters. It turns out that geckos have a self-defense mechanism that lets them shed their tails when frightened. They grow back. The hunt was on again. This time we had an easier time apprehending it. To this day, I think, the gecko is alive and tail-less (it may have a stub by now).

Being the elite and professional athlete that I am, sometimes I notice other people who are professionals in their respective sports. Theresa and I were sitting on the lanai at the Marriot on Waikiki (that’s sounds really snobby) drinking coffee and people watching 13 floors below on the beachfront. Many people were forgettable except for one person who piqued my interest. This character needs a description. Think Asian, average height, medium/thin build, short hair, and very agile. He was practicing his sport by a tree on the sidewalk, mere meters from crashing waves. He would dart quickly from the left to the right a few steps, all the while swing his right hand rapidly. He’d do this ‘dance’ a few times and then walk around a bit and come back and do it again. This went on for about 10 minutes. Theresa and I decided (mostly my decision) that he was a professional Ping Pong player! He milled around further and then really went at it. Swing wildly like a mad man swatting bees. Note: he didn’t have a paddle in his hand. He then walked away, just walked away. He walked for a few minutes and went at it again. His routine looked great. Finally, he walked away for good. Very entertaining way to start the day.

Last Sunday was the USATF ½ Marathon Championship, sponsored by Aramco. I went into the race looking for the win and ran aggressively. My training partners had the same thing in mind as well. At one point all four of us were leading the race. 5k passed in 14:40 and 10k in 29:12. It was at about the 10k that I started to feel the pace a bit and got gapped by out little group of 6. It was a mistake that cost me in the end as I didn’t recover the gap and finished in 6th place. I ran a PR of 1:02.52 which is an average of 4:48 per mile for 13.1 miles. I was really hoping to win the race today but it wasn’t in the cards. I’m excited to be representing a new company this year. Flotrack race coverage is here. Strands.com is a great website to record your training and share your thoughts with fellow athletes. My gear sponsor is Mizuno, which makes some of the best shoes/clothing on the market. Very nice stuff. That’s it for my shameless plugs.

Next up as far as running goes is the Miami ½ Marathon. I don’t think I’ll be running US Cross this year but I haven’t ruled it out. Gate River 15k is a go and then it’s time to hit the track with the 10k being the focus again this year.

2009-12-29T11:32:00.000-06:00

I know, it's been a while since I've updated the blog. I've been quite busy but updating this thing hasn't been too far from my thoughts. There's always something interesting happening to me and I know you all just love to hear about it all.

Have you ever been in an awkward situation where you don't exactly know what to do other than give a blank stare? I was in this exact predicament a week ago.
The scene: Lifetime Fitness on a bench near the entry.
Time: 7:56 AM.
Who: Myself and some random guy (middle-aged, probably near mid-life crisis and possibly a runner)
What Occured: I was sitting by myself comfortably anticipating my 20 miler with Jason and Antonio. I looked out the corner of my right eye to see a man waving excitedly in my direction. Not a frantic wave, but a "Hello" type wave. I looked around a little bit to see who he was greeting. After a quick glance I realized there wasn't anyone he'd be waving at. This left one person: ME. At this point I had to make a decision. Should I wave trepidly wave back, ignore the wave and act like it didn't occur, or wave back wildly like a long-lost friend? I chose the middle. It was just too weird of a situation for me. I felt very uncomfortable. Every one of you has been in a situation like this before. You know how it is.

Santa was good to me this year. I received some nice gifts from family and friends. My brother got me some Blu Blockers sun glasses. Yes, they are the ones that used to be on commercials back in the day. Let me tell you, they not only live up to the hype, they have enriched my life! Never have I looked forward to driving as much as I do now. I ONLY wear sunglasses when driving or canoeing. Picture this, a world without the color blue. That's what Blu Blockers deliver and it's great. I have a deep seated hatred for the color blue and now all blues are either a green color or gray. I might have made up that I have a hatred for the color blue. I actually enjoy blue. I highly recommend this product. You won't look at the world the same ever again!

I've got an update on Boris and Ethel from a previous post. You may remember that Theresa's dog Gertie decapitated our candy snowman while his bride Ethel the Snowwoman watched. Gertie is a monster. We did recover Boris' head and plan to make it into a Christmas ornament for next year. Theresa and I thought it would be a great way for Ethel to remember Boris by having his gumball head hanging from a tree.

Speaking of snowmen, I saw a snow leopard last night. Al Witchger built a snow leopard out of snow. What a magnificent creature! It's about 10 feet long and 3 feet high. It's in a crouching position, like it's stalking Richard Bogeyman. I'm quite impressed with this snow creature.

Running is coming along very well right now. Things are starting to click and fall into the right place. It's hard to train in a Minnesota winter. You have to be very flexible and adapt to the weather. Winter is half over in my book and only gets better from here. Houston is coming up and I'm hoping for a great one, but the next couple weeks are important for preparation

2009-12-15T11:08:00.001-06:00

Sorry for the delay on putting up a new blog post. I've been really busy with many things going on.... Now, without further ado, here is a new entry:

One of the few things in life that I really want to accomplish is to write a Christmas carol that trumps the rest. One that EVERYONE will want to sing all the time. A timeless song that hearkens back to simpler times. Times when you were a kid wide awake on Christmas eve unable to sleep. I plan on calling the song "White Pine Christmas". With lyrics like this how can you resist singing it all the time?
(blogger's note: you have to imagine me singing it)

At 3:11 AM White Pine all wide-eyed. Can't sleep it's no surprise.
All he wants is Red Rider BB Gun.
Leg lamp flickering in the night, parents sleeping tight.
White Pine is wondering about the fun. Will he get his BB Gun?

It's still a work in progress, but it's shaping up nicely. It sounds great in my head.

Theresa and I made a ginger bread house a couple weeks ago. It turned out great. It has M & M's, candy canes, sugar drops, ginger bread, frosting, and other candies on it. It even has a sidewalk and windows! Right now you are impressed. I will impress you more because we even made 2 snowmen. Their names are Boris and Ethel. Ethel is a real looker and Boris is her husband. They are inseperable, or were, until Gertie, Theresa's family's dog, bit Boris' head off! Sadly, Ethel has been left to look at Boris' torso without a head, while Boris' head lays nearby waiting to be reattached. Thankfully, Gertie didn't eat the head, she just gnawed on it a while and spat it out. Thanks Gertie!

And what's the deal with deviled eggs? Why did they get that name? Have they been corrupted and turned to the dark side? I've thought about this some time now and cannot come up with an answer. I guess I could google it, but what fun is that? Why can't they be called angelic eggs or even evil eggs? Not to sound mean, but whoever came up with the name deviled eggs might be a little looney. This might be the worst attempt at a paragraph I've ever written, but this was a thought I had.

Fitness wise, I'm coming along. It's hard to tell what kind of shape I'm in since it's winter here in Minnesota and it's almost impossible guage fitness due to the cold/snow. Not to mention having to do some workouts on treadmills. Next race is the Houston 1/2 Marathon, which is the 2010 host of the US Half-Marathon Championships. From there I will run the Miami 1/2 Marathon a couple weeks later.

2009-12-01T12:40:00.000-06:00

Let me start by thanking everyone for their wishes about Theresa and my engagement. They mean a lot to us. With that said, let’s get down to what happened the past week or so.

Thanksgiving this year proved to be one of my all-time favorites. I headed up to Theresa’s parents’ cabin in northern Wisconsin. It’s a beautiful place. We had a delicious Thanksgiving meal. After the meal came the Triathlon, consisting of Texas Hold ‘Em, Ping Pong, and Around the World Darts. The players were Luke, Theresa, Phil, myself, and Theresa’s dad, Jim. The poker was won by Luke. Jim won* Ping Pong in a still debated paddle stealing ruse, so I will put an asterisk by that one. The first two games of the Triathlon were pretty non-descript, save for Theresa totally hustling her brothers in poker. Darts was another case altogether. I’ve never seen such dartsmanship in my life! The way Around the World Darts is played is simple. You have to hit the certain numbers in sequential order and finishing hitting the bullseye. You have 3 throws each turn. If you hit a number you get another 3 throws. We decided to play to 7. Luke went first and didn’t hit anything. Jim was next and what I saw was something that defies human achievement. It makes eating 2 pounds of mayonnaise in 2 minutes insignificant. He hit all the numbers and the bullseye before I even had my first turn! He hit probably hit a target 2 out of 3 throws. Jim, this will not be forgotten. Entry in the Darts Hall of Fame is a goal of mine for you.

Being that Wisconsin people love to kill things such as deer, I had to run with caution. I ventured out for my run less nervous because I had a blaze orange hunter’s vest on. Sure, it was an XL but that didn’t bother me because I wasn’t going to get buckshot sprayed at me. The vest was quite uncomfortable. There were places to put your shells in the pockets. I was a renegade like John Rambo except I don’t eat things a billy goat would puke out. I took a bite out of dog biscuit once and that was the grossest thing I tasted. I returned from the run safely thinking about how glad I am not being John Rambo eating weird things.

It’s that time of year now when everyone asks me what I want for Christmas. I usually just say I don’t know and receive whatever I’m given. This year is a different deal altogether. I’m actually making a list and checking it twice. I don’t care who’s naughty or nice, I want what’s on that list! Here’s what I’m thinking thus far. A new Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader, new moccasins (mocha colored), Blu Blocker sunglasses, a new flannel shirt, the complete and total collection of The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross and other various items. Items on my DO NOT GIVE list: Snuggie (or the rip-off version, the Slanket) Enrique Iglesias CD’s, various fruits, and something I won’t mention that my sister gave me last year. Traumatic Katy, traumatic.

I’m finally back on the horse as far as running goes. Not too much going on lately, just some LT and sub LT work. It usually doesn’t take me too long to get into good shape. The Houston Half is about 6 weeks away. Plenty of time....

2009-11-24T10:22:00.000-06:00

I'm going to just put this out there right away. Theresa and I got engaged last Friday night! Yes, you read that right. This is very exciting news for our family and friends and all of you reading this. Some of you may ask, "How did you propose?" My answer is this, "I asked her and she said, 'Yes.'" An exciting time. My mom started crying and gave us a big group hug, even my sister joined in. When we got back to Minnesota Sunday night we told Theresa's parents. More excitement! Her brother Phil promptly went downstairs to grab a bottle of Mumm's champagne. Celebrating in style, like Greg Focker from "Meet the Parents." Mumm's is a little rough, like a cat's tongue. I do not recommend it unless you like cat tongues. A date has not been set, although we are looking at sometime this spring.

Other than the engagement, Theresa and I spent the weekend in Iowa. We went to an auction on Friday night because my sister Katy was selling 1 autographed shoe for charity. It was a pink Brooks Burn 3. Amazingly, it sold for $160! I'm still shocked. I know she is the 2009 Cross Country State Champion, but that's a lot of money for 1 shoe. 2 pairs retailed for $85 brand new.

Burning leaves is a fall tradition. Theresa had never heard of people burning leaves. It was time she had the full experience of raking and burning leaves. At the Moen house, we take this to the extreme. My dad has been called a closet pyro. We raked up a huge pile of leaves and put it in the field. I poured gas all over it. I really like it when it ignites and lifts the pile off the ground. I was hoping for it to occur this time. As I was getting ready for this, I made a speartorch for Theresa to chuck at the pile to light it. The gas was poured and tensions were high. Theresa threw the flaming spear beautifully. It landed on the pile to our disappointment. There was no big WHOOSH and leaves lifting off the ground. It was boring. A real let down folks.

I'm back on the horse as far as running goes. I was asked to go to Tokyo a couple weeks ago to be on the Chiba Ekiden team but I had to turn it down because I hadn't run for a week when the asked me. I feel bad doing this but I don't want to represent the USA when I'm not in great shape. I'm starting up doing double runs this week, hoping to get in around 90 miles. From there I will begin training in earnest for the Houston 1/2 Marathon.

2009-11-13T09:20:00.000-06:00

Now that we're getting closer to Christmas, I've been thinking about something. We all know Mr. Claus has a name, Santa, but what is his wife's name? Has it ever been mentioned? All I ever hear is Mrs. Claus. That's not acceptable in my opinion. Santa is a living legend and his wife needs a name! When I picture just what her name is, I come up with a few possibilities. The first one would be Agnes. I picture an old lady endlessly knitting pothandles and eating radishes. The next name is Doris. This one reminds me that Santa's wife was once a lunchlady, cooking food for schoolchildren. She would constantly ask them, "Butter samwich? You wanna samwich? Answer!" The last name I think of is Beatrice. Beatrice Claus to me represents an old lady who has alot of cats, cats with bad breath. Beatrice always has cat hair on her clothes and a herd of cats not far behind her. If you have any ideas what her name might be, leave a comment below.

My next topic deals with a food you probably haven't thought about much, Marshmallows. What a strange food! Think about them. They are white (or other colors). They have a unique consistency and expand exponentially in a microwave. This last trait is my favorite. Who thought up the idea to create such a bizarre food. I bet it was a nihilist. You can bet that I don't own any marshmallows. Also, Marshmallow is a terrible name for a pet.

YouTube last week featured one of the funniest videos I've ever seen. If you at all know my personality, you'll understand. The video is of the Today Show on NBC the Friday before Halloween. Everyone was dressed up in Star Wars costumes. The stage was set for absolute hilarity when a couple small people were dressed up as Ewoks. They are mischevious. They find a couple martinis on the table and try to drink them through their masks! At one point an Ewok starts to moon dance. Al Roker laughs hysterically. Another highlight is an Ewok getting a little too close to Al Roker. This part isn't suitable for children even though it was on live TV. Watch HERE.

I've taken some time off lately from running as the ING New York City Marathon has passed. Yesterday was my first run back and it felt like a first run back. Soon enough I'll be back running 100+ miles/week getting ready for the Aramco Houston 1/2 Marathon.

2009-11-05T08:58:00.001-06:00

This past week I've been in New York City for the marathon. The race itself didn't go too well for me as I dropped out around mile 18. I guess it just wasn't in the cards last Sunday. I was incredibly fit going in and even went through the half in 66:46 feeling pretty good. It wasn't long after that the monkey jumped on my back and I started to fade. The Queensboro Bridge is where it got rough. I tried to shake it and run another mile to see if I could bounce back but it wasn't going to happen. I'm disappointed but I'm not beating myself up over it. Bad races happen and there are more races to be run.

After the marathon I had a few days to explore the city some more. I've been there a few times and love New York City. This time I wasn't alone as Theresa was there. We went to the Carnegie Deli for lunch and had a rather interesting dining experience. This place is BUSY and seating is rather cramped. We shared a tabel with some Brits, a lonely man, and two old people. We ordered 1 sandwich and it turned out like this! No, we didn't finish it, not even close. The old lady ordered a cheese sandwich and it arrived when I decided I was going to have a heart attack at age 27. Quite the experience. Please visit if you are in Midtown Manhattan! Note: Cookie Jarvis has eaten here......

We snuck into the Plaza Hotel, which is the most famous hotel in the world. Think Home Alone 2, Dunston Checks In, and other various movies. I don't think it was featured in any Pauly Shore movies. Think how much better BioDome would have been if it were in the Plaza Hotel! So here's how it went down. Theresa and I were walking on 5th Ave and I mentioned something about the Plaza. We decided to check it out. We walked in the entrance undetected and proceeded to explore a little. There was nobody around, which leads me to believe we accidentally snuck in. We didn't care. We found a nice loveseat to sit on and reflect on the day (in style of course).

From the Plaza, we decided to take a ride on a carriage through Central Park. I paid the nice man and we were off. I believe our horse's name was Rusty. It was a lovely day and the ride was nice. After about 10 minutes things took a turn for the worse as Rusty passed some gas. It was pungent. I gagged. The storm passed for a few minutes before Rusty struck again. More malodor. Theresa and I looked at each other and decided to forget about it. Rusty had other plans. The next wave of pungent odors broke the camel's back. I said, "Rusty!" I asked the driver what he fed Rusty. He replied with a song, "I'm so Keen-O on Beef-a-Reeno! What a delicious cuisine-O! Fit for a king or queen-O!" Bewildered by his response I asked the driver his name was. He said it was Cosmo. I asked Cosmo for his money back and how he can sit behind Rusty all day with this terrible odor. He gave me my money back and then just smiled. I know we won't ride with Rusty and Cosmo again.

2009-10-28T11:42:00.000-05:00

Last Friday I was sent a product in the mail to 'test' from a company to see if it would be appropriate to sell in the store. I was quite excited to be receiving mail at work. I opened the package and was taken aback. There were two canisters labeled Go-Girl. The motto on the canister read, "Don't Take Life Sitting Down." Along with the motto was an outline of a pink woman crossing her legs and her arms. Curious, I opened the cannister and what was about to unfold (literally) I wasn't prepared for. This silicon funnel unraveled quickly, like one of those snakes in a can! I think I jumped a little. It came with directions for how women can use the Go-Girl to pee in public. We decided not to carry the Go-Girl in the store, but I will give them a outlet for promotion here.

I have a problem I've been working on the past week and that is my addiction to the word Fantastic. I knew I had a problem when I noticed how much I was saying it. How many times can someone use the word fantastic in one day and it not be considered passe? I've quite cold turkey and refuse to say it anymore regarding anything! It's a fantastic idea.

Theresa and I have been playing a knock-off version of Jenga lately called Jumbling Towers. It's basically the same thing except the blocks are little longer. I like the name Jumbling Towers. There is only one tower but the company insists calling it Jumbling Towers. Also, what is there to Jumble? Why don't they call it Tumbling Tower? Makes more sense to me. Anyway, I have yet to win. I've lost 4 times in one week and am beginning to get hopeless. Theresa is just too good and getting better. She has fantasic finesse and great concentration. She also intimidates me and trash talks like a baseball catcher. Maybe I need to get tougher.

The ING New York City Marathon starts this Sunday at 9:10 AM EST. I leave Thursday and will be coming back next Tuesday night. Tapering usually makes me feel a little off my game and it's no exception this time around. Got in a little turnover today for my last workout before the marathon. I'm excited to head back to NYC and spend some time visiting after the race.

Here is a video that the Twin Cities Marathon posted on Facebook a week ago or so regarding the US 10 Mile Championships.

2009-10-21T13:42:00.000-05:00

A good friend of mine, Paul Giannobile, came into the store last week. The first thing he said to me was "White Pine!" I looked at him confused. Again, "White Pine!" I give up. After clarification, White Pine is the nickname he gave me. As far as I know it's an anti-nickname to Abdi Abdirahman's, which is "the Black Cactus." I kinda like this nickname and it's caught on somewhat with some people. When I'm running now I imagine myself as a majestic white pine. I have green skin with green needles and pinecones hanging from my arms and legs. I seem to find myself trying to stop birds from landing on me though. Let me know if there is an interest in a "White Pine" t-shirt as I could personally design one. You all know it would be a unique shirt!

My mom had her trees trimmed the other day by a professional tree trimmer. From the sound of things, the tree trimmer was very good. He trims Britney Spears' trees! Can you believe that? This guy actually trims Sue Moen's trees and Britney Spears' trees. I wonder why he doesn't just live in Hollywood and trim all the stars' trees instead of trimming trees in podunk Readlyn, Iowa? If I ever meet Britney Spears I have an ice breaker for sure.

Last night I watched the movie, "Cujo" and wasn't too impressed. I thought it would be about some devil dog from the netherworld. Instead, Cujo is just rabid and misunderstood. In parts of the movie I think Cujo was conflicted. Should he tear apart Farmer Fred or beg for a Beggin' Strip? Maybe Cujo found out Beggin' Strips aren't really made of bacon and took his rage out on Farmer Fred. My favorite part of the movie was when a soon-to-be hapless victim asks, "Cujo, what are you growling at?" Cujo immediately went for the jugular. Evidently, that poor man said the wrong thing.

The countdown to the ING NYC Marathon has begun. Nov. 1 is creeping up quickly. I got in a good last 7 mile marathon pace run this morning. From here on out is EASY, EASY, EASY for the most part. I ran a local 5k last weekend around Lake Nokomis. The Run for Oromia 5k. I won in 14:13, running alone the whole way. Not too bad I'd say for running alone and being tired.

As quick sidenote, it has been brought to my attention that somebody walked an albino cat on a leash around Lake Harriet the other day. Keep on the lookout for this devil-eyed feline!

2009-10-14T13:39:00.000-05:00

Every once and a while it's possible for an amazing coincidence to occur. Yesterday Jason and I were working out together near the Highland Golf Course in St. Paul. We were running under a tree-lined boulevard near Snelling Ave when I saw a furry critter up ahead with a strangely familiar color. I thought, "This can't be what I think it is!" Running a few steps further I had a positive ID on ANOTHER albino squirrel! I made a quick comment to Jason about what we saw and he said, "I bet he's happy with the weather." Just as I was going to ask what he meant he interjected, "The snow camoflouges him and hunters won't shoot him." If I was a squirrel hunter, I wouldn't shoot the majestic albino squirrel. They are just too cute and I'd fear seeing their fire-red eyes up close.

Fall brings with it many new things such as the changing of the leave, random 3" snow falls, fresh apples, and Boo Berry Cereal. Boo Berry Cereal is easily my favorite fall cereal as it is delicious and not very nutritious. The picture the the ghost on the box looks a little confused, kind of like he was caught in a bad picture. Since it's supposed to taste like blueberries I added a 1/2 cup of blueberries to a bowl the other day. I had the highest of hopes but they were dashed immediately. A real letdown folks. Don't try this combination.

A couple months ago I put out a request for a good survival expert name on Facebook. There were some great submissions such as Moentain Man. I opted for another suggested name, "Wolverine." The reason I bring this up is yesterday it was offically given to me as my surival name. With mud smeared on my face and a new walking stick, I conquered the upper Wisconsin woods with my sidekick, Hawk, who was also newly inducted. We blazed a path and looked for bears and scavenged for foods. We only found a weird mushroom and a couple acorns.

Running has been pretty low-key since the US 10 Mile Championships. Jason and I did a 28 mile run in Eagan last Saturday in cold and windy conditions. I've done a few of these and this one felt the best yet. Yesterday we did 5 x 2.5 miles and that didn't feel the best. Things weren't clicking too well, but it wasnt bad either. Jason felt the same way. We are chalking it up to the weather. It was 25 degrees at the warmest and we just aren't used to running at that temperature right now. I did a quick interview with Runner's World the other day which was fun. Scroll down a little bit and there it is!

2009-10-05T13:57:00.000-05:00

Big weekend! I'll start with the obvious which was the Medtronic TC 10 Mile, the US 10 mile championship. Things went really well as I finished 2nd to Abdi by 3 seconds in 46:38. That's 4:39/mile. I'm in great shape and I decided to really go for it yesterday. We traded leads and surges. Unfortunately, Abdi put me away with a mile to go and I couldn't respond. I only remember a few splits: 2 miles (9:06) and 5 miles (23:01). It was a great race and a good sign going into the ING New York City Marathon on Nov. 1.

Not only was the race exciting yesterday, but seeing a special squirrel was! I was walking back with Theresa and her family to their car when someone (I think it was Theresa's mom) pointed out an albino squirrel. Instantly I was excited and crossed the street without even looking to get a better view. I wanted to make sure it had red eyes like the Devil. Just as I noticed the devil eyes, a lady was walking by. Time to share my excitement I though. I say, "Ma'am, have you ever seen an albino squirrel?" She looked at me absolutely terrified like I'm some sort of drug-crazed weirdo. "Take a look over there!" I pointed. Her fears set aside, she proclaimed, "Oh yes, we used to have one in our neighborhood when I was little." We stared at it awkwardly for a few moment and then she darted off. The devil eyes must have scared her.

One last thing before I sign off. My family came up for the weekend to watch the race and that means another trip to the Mall of America. I don't really like going there very much. I was going to meet them there. I called Chris I got there but he didn't answer. Time to people watch I though! I sat next to the Barbie Hut and proceeded to watch many people stream by for 30 minutes. One of the great mullets I've seen on a lady was in the cards today, along with an old man with white hair wandering around aimlessly for 10 of those minutes by the Easy Reader kiosk. I tell you, watching people never gets boring to me. I just may head back to my bench near the Barbie Hut sometime soon as it was that good.

Coverage of the US 10 Mile Championships

2009-10-01T16:15:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted as I've been quite busy. I've moved out of my old apartment by Lake Calhoun to a new home near Cedar Lake only a couple miles away. It's a quaint place that has lots of tree and is more secluded. Much more to my liking.

Last weekend I went back to God's Country (Iowa for those of you who don't know) to watch my sister Katy run at Independence. Now I expected her to win like usual, but this time she toyed with everyone for a mile and then nonchalantly sprinted away and cruised in. I saw her just before the mile and she looked like she was in jogging mode. When I saw her next ~800m she was smiling and having fun. It was fun to watch.

Theresa came home for the weekend so we decided to do a little site-seeing while we were there. We took a trip out to the Amish, which only took about 5 minutes, to buy some pies and check out their goods. Came back with an apple pie and a blueberry pie, both of which were better than any of your grandma's ever made! Sunday came along and we canoed the Upper Iowa River in Decorah. It's supposedly one of America's 10 greatest canyons. I never get tired of being outdoors and it was no exception Sunday.

Running has been good for the most part. The mileage is coming down some in preparation for the Medtronic Twin Cities 10 Mile, which is the US 10 Mile Championship this fall. Got in some serious training though. Did 1 session of 4 x 2.5 miles and a long run of 24+. At one point I'd done 42 miles in 24 hours. I took the rest of the week easier.

2009-09-21T11:57:00.000-05:00

So I don't know where to begin so I will start in sequential order....
Saturday was a great day. One of the best days I've had in a little while. I woke up early to do my long run, which was only 20 miles. I just wrote 'only' in front of 20 miles. That tells you how much running I've been doing. It was a gorgeous day and I was feeling OK after the workout the day before. I must thank Theresa for biking along and keeping me company. After running it was off to canoe the St. Croix! Now I've canoed the Upper Iowa River a number of times and was expecting a small river that was quite curvy, but the St. Croix is much larger with broad, sweeping turns. The bluffs were an incredible view. After the canoe trip Theresa and I hiked the bluffs. The trip back home lead us to the Dinnerbel restaurant in Lindstrom, MN. A nice, old restaurant that is supposedly haunted. I didn't see Casper and I probably would have ran if I did! I got home late and discovered I'd lost my wallet. After some searching I decided I actually lost/left it somewhere on our trip. A couple calls later and it was at the restuarant from the night before, the haunted one. Road trip again to the Dinnerbel! So begins another trip....

I've got an easier week of running ahead of me than last week, which was a big mileage week. Hopefully I'll be a little more peppy this week than last. A bonus will be heading home to see my siste Katy race. She's quite the racer and will hopefully be a state champion this fall.

I was introduced to a new song this week by Theresa that has been running through my head non-stop since I first heard it Friday evening. Weird name for a band, but a seriously awesome song:

24 Miles Later.....

2009-09-12T21:46:00.001-05:00

7 bells came early this morning as I had 24 miles on ahead of me to run. Luckily, Patrick Smyth joined me for 18 of them. Before we met up I got a quick 6 mile run in. After a glass of Gatorade and packing away a couple PowerGels we tore off into the distance. I was expecting to feel the distance the last few miles but was happy to finish feeling quite fresh. It must've been Famous Dave's bread pudding from the night before! It was just one of those runs that come easy.

Lindahl introduced me cover of one of my favorite songs the other day. I believe the cover is actually better than the original.

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A Bare Knuckle and $300

2009-09-08T11:27:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure where to start so I will start with my left pinky knuckle, or what's left of it. It all started when Theresa and I were riding dirtbikes at her parents' cabin. We rode for about 45 minutes with no mishaps, which I was impressed since I haven't ridden a dirtbike in probably 10 years. So things were going well until we decided to take one little lap around this trail before we were going to put them away. I followed Theresa since I didn't have a clue where we were going. As is usual for me, I lost a little concentration and ran into a tree! Or, maybe I should say my left hand did. I'm sure there is considerable skin still clinging to that tree from my knuckle.... To my relief, nobody saw the pathetic crash, or so I think. A little Neosporin later and a bandaid and I'm a happy camper. As a side note I got to drive a boat, which I've never done before. All in all, it was a fantastic day at the cabin.

Yesterday was Labor Day and that means racing. I've raced every Labor Day for the last 4 years. This year's race was the Victory 10k in Minneapolis. I've been planning on doing more racing this fall and this was my first race since the Bix 7. My first mile was a fast 4:35, second was 4:47, 4:54, 4:43, 4:42, and 4:38. I was alone from the gun and basically ran hard, but not race effort hard, winning in 29:30. Second place was well over a minute back.

2009-09-05T20:25:00.000-05:00

Been busy lately training for the ING New York City Marathon. Yesterday was what I would consider the first full-on workout which consisted of 10 miles at MP. Ended up running right at 50:50. That's certainly not my planned pace, but I was helping Vega along as he was doing 15 miles at that pace. Gatorade Endurance in the bottles was a nice addition.

In other news, I have a quote to share with you via my boss, Adam Lindahl (owner TC Running Co.): "I didn't come to watch the pony rodeo, I came to ride the Bull." I like it!

Victory 10k Monday in Minneapolis. This kicks off my fall racing season. It'll be a rust-buster to get my legs and head back into the racing game. Last fall I didn't do any racing leading up to Twin Cities and I plan on changing gears this fall and doing some racing even though I won't be too race sharp.

Going to give a shout-out to my 'lil sister Katy as she won her first cross country meet this fall. She ran a 13:42 for 4k and won by over a minute. That's right around 5:30 pace for 2.4 miles.

Update Stat!

2009-09-03T21:14:00.000-05:00

Hello world! Time to begin letting my ideas and thoughts loose. Good luck keeping up.....