Skipped the Run

Since it was below zero when the boys got dropped off at school I decided to dig the snowshoes out. The nearby county park has a few miles of hilly trails so that was my destination. Once I got warmed up I was able to take some pictures, I need to get out when the sun isn't so intense to shot the snow.

I almost for got the Cliff Crunch bar that came in the mail, I'm sure it will be good eating. Too bad my first thought was what a waste of packaging material, I don't know how many they sent out as samples but that is a lot of paper. Maybe next time just send me a coupon via email ?

Winter Running

Got out for 5 miles today, my first snow run this season. My Brooks Mach 11s worked alright but figured I should prepare for worse conditions. A trip to the hardware store to get sheet metal screws and five minutes and I'm set. I use #6 x 3/8" screws and base the pattern off of the wear on the shoe. I could probably skip the heel screws now that I land mid to fore foot but I'll take the cheap insurance.

Windshield Frost

Figured I try shooting the ice on the windshield after work with my phone. Might get our first decent snow Friday night, guess I better wax the snowboards.

Swag Bag

Stopped to pickup my bib for the  Thanksgiving Day 10k. Too bad the temps will be in the twenties instead on the sixties like there are right now.

Just how far ?

So last week I dragged out my Vibrams and went 3 miles and it hurt my calves. After a day on the bike I headed out twice more in the KSOs, 3.5 miles each time. I don't know how far I'll go in them but the 10k coming up might be my first race in them.

Motorola MOTOROKR review for running

A question on twitter from @nigelrunner and a borrowed headset and I've got something to post about. I have not run with music since my marathon in May so having my ears covered was strange. I kept the music low so I could still hear and most of my run was on a rail trail anyway.

The headset is my son's Motorola MOTOROKR his is an older model but fit wise look the same. I paired the headset with my HTC Desire, he uses it with an Ipod Touch since our cat chewed up many pairs of wired ear buds. The headset fits behind your head and over the ears, it was snug on me but after a minute it was comfortable. Trying to get the photo below not so easy, shaved my head to show the headset better.  

Anyway the run went well, I was expecting some bounce but it held tight once I was going. I chose to wear sunglasses just to see if it would work and it does. My running glasses have straight ear pieces so I tried a another pair of glasses at home and they fit as well. With the only drawback being I personally don't like both my ears covered I would say if you want to be cord free these are a good bet for running or walking.



    

Nice November Day

Headed out on the road bike, after fixing a flat. Good cool weather except for the strong head wind coming home. Two drivers tried to see how close they could get as they passed. At least one older guy waved which almost erased the two jerks from my mind. Rear facing helmet cam in order ?

Phone post test

Trying out posting right from my phone.

Fall Pumpkin Picking

OK, that's not a pumpkin, but it was good.  Cleaning out the camera and thinking back to what we have done the last couple of weeks I found this gem.  We went out to brunch at Bluephie's a couple weeks ago and I had a Bloody Mary to go along with.  This was an ultimate Wisconsin style Bloody Mary complete with bacon and cheese as garnish.  With all the veggies it was a meal in itself.  The rest of the meal was pretty good too.

We went to pick pumpkins "out of the patch" at our CSA farm, Middlebury Hills.  There were lots to choose from and they had a pumpkin wash tank set up so we didn't have to take the field dirt home with us.  There was a carving station set up, but we told the kids they better wait if they wanted their pumpkins presentable for Halloween.

Zack found a friendly face in the field

Which one did I pick?  That orange one over on the right, or maybe that orange one.....

My birthday also came and went in the last couple weeks.  There was lots of eating out, cakes and shopping.  Here are a couple highlights:

We went to Ginza, a hibatchi restaurant.  The show is great, and so is the food.  The flaming onion is always one of the most spectacular. 

Here is the cake I picked out, a pistachio chocolate cake from Whole Foods.  Their desserts are always spectacular in decoration.  The cake was super moist with multiple fillings, but it was quite sweet too with a thick white coating over the entire surface that was airbrushed with green and brown coloring.

Last Chance Fall Color

I went out to the nearby county park to goof around with the camera. I had passed by the park on my bike earlier and with a wind storm on the way figured the trees would be bare by the weekend.

Here are a few of the shots I took.

Cross Ride

Went out for a ride on my Specialized Tricross SS and stopped to take a few shots of this cabin. My new phone is turning out to be pretty handy despite the not so pocketable size. Down the road I came across this group of goats eating every green thing inside the  fence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall Color Tour 2010

We headed out last Saturday to check out the fall color.  It was quite warm, up into the 80's which is completely NOT fall weather in Wisconsin.  Some trees around us were changed so we traveled west in search of more.  This was an impromptu trip, and Chad thought of the idea of going to Mill Bluff State Park.  Zack wanted to go geocaching and with Chad's new smart phone we didn't even need to look up any coordinates before we left the house.  I must admit I am addicted to his phone, it kept me very occupied on the trip.  If a question came up about lunch, directions, information...I used the phone to look it up.  It's magical!

We grabbed a late breakfast on the way out of town at Barriques.  It was good, and I ordered a miel(espresso with milk, honey and spices) and it came with a design on top.  Cool!  We also picked up a cheese plate for lunch later.  This turned out to be a huge disappointment.  It was a bunch of bread rounds, half toasted with garlic, some cherry chutney, and ONLY 3 SMALL PIECES OF CHEESE.  The size of the pieces was not much bigger than I would cut at home to put out on a plate.  This IS Wisconsin, and I think I deserve more cheese...especially enough to go with the amount of bread.  Otherwise, don't give me so much bread!  It was dry bread too; Zack the bread lover wouldn't even eat it.

The color improved during the entire trip, and the state park had great color.  Unfortunately, the park was closed for the season.  You would think they would stay open until the end of October to allow visitors to have services while enjoying the views from the bluffs.  The pump water still worked.

We parked along the road and headed up a trail that took us to the top of Mill Bluff.  223 stone steps took us to the top of the bluff, where we hung out for awhile and enjoyed the views.

We also thought the cache was up here since it was called Mill Bluff cache, but after checking out on top and then on a trail below the bluff we knew we would have to find another bluff on the other side of the interstate.

There is a train track that goes right across the road from the park.  The kids heard a train coming and watched for it.  Thinking I would get a cute picture of Zack watching the train go by, I waited as it got closer...then closer....then closer....then the train and it's horn got too loud for him and he sprinted in the other direction...

 After eating our small lunch, we headed over to another area of the park and hunted the cache.

On the way home we stopped at a rather unusual ice cream shop in Mauston.  It advertised 24 flavors of soft serve and they had that and so much more.  Most of the menus were written with marker on construction paper.  I had a coconut soft serve cone.

Since it was such a warm day I thought we should eat out on a patio for supper.  We headed down to State Street to The Tiki Shack.  Chad and I spotted this place earlier in the summer when we saw patrons outside eating buckets full of crab legs.  State Street was hopping with people eating outside, post-game Badger fans hanging out, and high school kids dressed for Homecoming Dances on their way to their dinner destinations.  Chad waited patiently(?) while I took a picture with his phone.

After dinner we cruised around the Capitol to further enjoy more of the day.

Door County Century - Her Story

Chad's post pretty much sums up the trip.  Here is a little extra from me...

This was my FIRST CENTURY!  It was nice; end of the season, fairly flat, and in a beautiful area of Wisconsin.

The day before, we did some of our favorite Door County things.  See Chad's post for a play-by-play!

Our hotel room was beautiful.  It is the first floor suite in the picture with the porch out front.

There was a piano in the entry to the building.  I think there were four suites all together in the house.  The bed was super tall, but very comfortable.

 I'm not sure Chad was as impressed with the fanciness, as he used the poster of the bed as a coat rack.  The bathroom had a two person whirlpool(not used), and a wonderful shower with a great shower head.  Yes, I do judge my hotel rooms by the shower head.  This one had powerful jets and was tall enough I did not have to contort myself to rinse my hair.  There were soft, comfy robes to slip into after the shower too.

We walked through downtown Fish Creek and picked up some fancy sparkling water to have with our other treats in the room.  That is a Monster Cookie from the Pink Bakery in Egg Harbor.  I think the thing weighed 2 pounds! That is a lot of frosting in there between two huge chocolate chip cookies.

Waking up in the morning, I jumped out of bed and turned on the in room fireplace to warm up.  It was hard to leave the warm, wonderful room and head out into the cold early morning air.  It was even harder to miss the breakfast included with the room, but we did get our on the ride snack here later.

The park in Sister Bay was a previously photographed family vacation stop, and it felt a little weird being here on bike.  Most of our rest stops were quick as there was not much food to consume.

One of the strangest things I saw on the ride was a sign every mile.  I haven't been on a ride before that did this.  Kind of nice, I guess.  You couldn't loose track of how much farther you had to go.  The signs counted up in mileage until the 70 mile course joined back in and then it counted down in miles left to go.

Finally, the end came...

My first century was done, and it wasn't even bad at all.