Life on the Runn...

When work ended on Friday, it was time to hit the road.  Brian and I had packed the car the night before -- with all sorts of things including: climbing gear, his brand new, fancy computer, enough clothes to get him through a month-long stay in Boulder, and running gear -- so we were ready to get moving as soon as my work day ended.  We did something totally unprecedented and attacked the drive west in two parts; yep, no sitting in the car for 15 hours straight.  We made it to central Iowa on evening one, and after hunting down a hotel room, which was no easy task thanks to a high school track meet that brought a billion people to the city, called it a night.  We took our time with the second half of the drive on Saturday as the weather in Colorado has been uncharacteristically awful.  We made it into town around dinner time and were able to settle into our pal Peter's house (he's hosting Brian for a few weeks while Brian remains in Boulder).  And then we ...

This has been a weekend I've been anticipating for months.  Some time ago, my wonderful cousin Jenna asked me to save the date for Friday, May 8th.  She had a surprise for me.  Both of us happen to enjoy "Parks and Recreation" and the surprise she had for me was tickets to see Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally at the Riverside Theatre in Milwaukee.  Leading up to the big day, we often joked about how we'd have to put on our big girl pants to make it to and through the show, which was scheduled for 10:30pm. But once our date day arrived, we were set. We started our night with drinks and a fantastic dinner at Cooper's Hawk, a restaurant with an extensive wine list (and a wine club - how are we not members?!).  We had lots of time to sit, sip our wine, and chat.  Any time I spend with Jenna is a good time.  Be it a chat before Body Pump or some nervous conversation at the starting line of a race, we have a wonderful time together; we have since we were l...

It has been a while, but this past weekend, Brian and I finally went camping again.  Between trips to Kentucky, where we have wonderful friends who share their cabins with us, and splitting time between Colorado and Wisconsin, we haven't found time (or the need) to set up the ol' tent and rough it...so to speak...but I am glad we finally changed that with our trip to the Lake this weekend.   When Brian told me about the Wisconsin Climbers' Festival at Devil's Lake State Park, I suggested we see if our friends Billy and Courtney wanted to join in the fun.  I knew Brian would be in heaven with all the climbing, the talk about climbing, the pictures to take, and his climber pals to chat with, but I wanted in on the fun too.  Climbing with Courtney and Billy would fulfill that, for sure.  We headed to the Lake Friday evening and spent all of Saturday in the sunshine, climbing, hiking, and laughing (a lot).  After our day of climbing, we went to the party...