Whew... 4 days at the cabin over the Fourth of July. Buddies coming town today and tomorrow. Family coming up next weekend. July is a busy, busy month this year.

The Fourth was a blast. I got in a couple of good hill runs through the woods. On the first one, I got scared half to death by a bald eagle, which took off from the ground about 20 yards in front of me. Funny, that never happens to me in the cities :-) It was a nice, relaxing weekend. Got out on the boats, did some kayaking, saw some fireworks, and of course, ate and drank too much. Thank you so much to the Gubrud family for including me!



Maybe I'll post something from this weekend after my buddies leave. Maybe I better not :P

Blue October at First Avenue

My new camera got a tryout at Blue October last night.

Racing Season is Upon Me

And so it begins. Racing season has officially begun for me (and with it, hopefully, blogging season, as I obviously have been doing a terrible job in that category). The Inaugural Get In Gear Half Marathon was on Saturday, and I finished it along with only 805 others. I kind of expected it to be longer, considering the 10K drew over 3,400. Much thanks to Lori and her family, as well as Kyle and Lindy for coming out to support me.

I finished in a somewhat respectable 1:54:37 (official results here, GPS data here). I say "somewhat respectable" because it's a pretty good time for me, based on the times in my running history, yet I absolutely can do better. I've been averaging about 10 - 20 miles a week. That's obviously no where near enough. So I tried to think of this as an early season long training run in preparation for Dam To Dam, and in that regard, it was a success. I would like to hit one run this summer that I'm actually in peak condition for. Something where I used a training plan that doesn't end in a long protracted beer and pizza infused taper.

I also hope to start blogging again -- hopefully someone out there reads this :p

New Years Resolutions Revised

So after a few weeks to think about it, I'm revising my New Year's Resolutions. Revising them to be a little more specific. Dropping one or two. Adding a couple more.

1) Learn a foreign language.

I've settled on Latin American Spanish. I think it will serve me well in future vacations I hope to be lucky enough to take. I thought about French, but ultimately thought that Spanish would prove more useful. Who knows though, maybe I'll find time to do both? Doubtful.

2) Run a 5K in under 20 minutes.

This is incredibly ambitious for me. But I ran one last year unprepared in the 23 minute area (I don't remember the exact time), and ran a 10k while training for the Twin Cities Marathon in 46:30. This makes me think that it's at least possible, if I train for it. I'm putting this goal in place of running another marathon. Just looking for a change. I'm not ruling out another marathon, however ;)

3) Post at least once a week to millcitysnap.com.

I need to get some creativity back. I need to get back to my long lost hobby of photography. That is why I set that site up. Now I need to actually use it. I might try Project 365. Haven't decided yet (Thanks for the idea, Paul).

4) Start a tech blog.

No description at this time. More to follow, probably next week.


So I'm dropping the marathon resolution -- kind of. I replaced it with another running one. So I'm not counting it as "dropped". I also dropped the musical instrument one. I really want to learn to play something again. But there's only so many hours in the week, and I need to pick a hobby. So for now, I'm settling on learning Spanish and getting back to photography.

Pictures From Cancun Are Posted