Garage Complete!

The garage is fully complete. It's actually been complete for a couple weeks but we haven't posted about it yet. Now we are setting up the inside and have it somewhat organized. Last weekend we had 3 cubic yards of soil delivered to the house to fill in the areas around the new driveway and to do some general grading around the yard.

In other news we are staying busy with work and training. I was in Michigan for most of last week just south of Detroit setting up field equipment for a multi-month dredging project. This morning we went down to Racine for a 56-mile group bike ride.

All Done!

Ski Storage and Camping Gear

Tools!

Diana is excited to move that big pile

Now we need to grow some grass

High Cliff Triathlon

This past weekend we kicked off the triathlon season with the High Cliff Sprint Triathlon. We drove up on Friday evening to camp with other people from Tri Wisconsin at High Cliff State Park. It was nice hanging around the campfire the night before the race knowing we only had to go a mile down the hill to the start in the morning.

Cassie woke us up early Saturday morning at 5, but that was okay since we had to get up for the race. We made some coffee on the stove and had breakfast before getting ready and stowing the pup in the car. It was cloudy and the car was in the shade so we weren't worried about leaving her for a few hours.

We made our way down the hill and set up our transition areas. Since they assigned numbers based on registration time, Diana and I were right next to each other and in the same wave for the start. The race started at 7:00 with waves going off every 2 minutes. Diana and I were in wave 20 so we started around 7:40 with a 1/4 mile swim. Diana came out of the water first in 6:50 and I was right behind in 7:03. We met up in the transition area and headed out onto the bike at the same time.

The bike starts off going straight up the "high cliff" for the first mile. It was a slow hill but then most of the rest of the course was flat with rolling hills. The wind was blowing pretty good but the clouds made for a good riding temperature. I had an interesting moment towards the end of the ride when approaching a railroad crossing and the flashers started and I could hear an approaching train. Fortunately I got across the tracks before the train stopped some of the riders. I guess the race directors can't really control the trains and they did adjust peoples times who got stuck. I finished the 22 mile bike in 1 hr 4 min (20.4 mph) and Diana finished in 1 hr 13 min (18.0 mph).

The 5k run started out running straight up the same route as the bike ride. Again it was a slow climb and then the run went off road onto the trails of the state park. Most of the run was spent watching your footing on the trails, which took some of the thinking off of the actual running. I finished the 5k run in 21:37 and Diana finished in 30:59. Overall I finished in a time of 1 hr 36 min and Diana finished in 1 hr 54 min. Official results are here.

We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out at the campsite and relaxing before heading home on Sunday morning. Sorry for no pictures!

RAGNAR Relay 2012!

This past weekend we competed in the 2012 RAGNAR Relay from Madison to Chicago (198 miles). For those that do not know what RAGNAR is, I'll explain... You take 12 people (preferably friends since you are going to spend 20-30 hours packed together), split them into two vans, have one person start running, drive ahead and drop off the next person, pass off the baton (snap bracelet), and repeat 36 times through the night until the finish line. Each person runs 3 times with total mileage ranging from 14 to 21 miles. The night legs are pretty interesting running through the dark with a headlamp, although the night is often the most comfortable since it was scorching during the day.

Oh and then there are the costumes. Most teams decorate their vans and have some theme going throughout the race. Our team name was "everyday we're shufflin" based off of the LMFAO music video. I had to google it to figure out what we were doing.

Those are the basics, the first van runs the first 6 legs, passes off to the second van, and then gets to "rest" until 6 more legs have passed and it's time to run again. The off time is really only 4ish hours so the maximum amount of sleep during the race is 3 hours at best. We slept under the stars in a field next to the YMCA in Racine, WI. Overall it was a great time and it is quite the experience. There were 423 teams with 2 vans each, some extensively decorated, driving through the back roads of Wisconsin and Illinois. Our team finished 52nd with a time of 27 hours and 43 minutes. We are tentatively planning on racing the RAGNAR Adirondacks next year from Saratoga to Lake Placid so stay tuned east coasters. Enjoy the pictures.

Typical exchange. This is our teammate Michelle finishing one of her leg.

Typical night attire. We had to run with reflective vests, headlamps, and flashing tail lights. 

Quick nap in a field

Post-race beer!

Our van: Chris, Lauren, Diana, Me, Nikki, and Joe. Yes Joe is wearing a speedo and yes he ran his last leg in it (Bucknell colors no less... supporting his alma mater)

Team "Everyday We're Shufflin" all decked out.

Almost summer

We have been having some great weather and it is starting to feel like summer. On the last day of May we had our first aquathon (1000 m swim + 5k run) of the race season and we had a fluke day of 50 degrees with rain. The open water swim was the warmest part. We both finished well, I came in 22nd and Diana came in 48th out of 86 racers. We have 4 more aquathons spread out during the summer.

The following weekend we went to our first Brewer's game of the year. We tailgated before the game and then watched the Brewer's beat the Pirates. Hopefully we will get to a few more games throughout the summer.

Miller Park

Enjoying the game from the nose bleed section

The next day we went down to the lake front to walk around and let Cassie go for a swim in Lake Michigan at the section of the beach that allows dogs. She loves swimming and we look for any chance to get her in the water.

Cassie waiting patiently to get to the water

Me supervising Cassie in the cool sub-60 degree water

 After walking along the beach we hiked up the bluff through the woods.



Family picture during our walk

View of the lighthouse

Hiking up under the bike path bridge