Hi all. It's been a while, but we're on vacation here in La Crosse and life has been busy.
The overall project has been to set up shop for when we move here in December. We found a nice place to live (bottom floor of an old house). We have moved our stuff in and it already feels like home, although we haven't yet slept there. It's a wonderful old house, with a breakfast nook and creaky wooden floors. Unfortunately, so far, it's been nothing but trouble, with a gas leak that needed emergent fixing and a bathroom that was being remodeled the first few days of our moving in. But it's in the part of La Crosse that we wanted to live; right on the "grid", within walking distance of downtown and the bluffs.
It's going to be fun living here again. I know Natali is excited and even Andreas has indicated some satisfaction with having us around.
Christian is learning English the hard way - at the YMCA day care and by talking to his grandparents. It's amazing how he figures out how to say things, when it's something he really needs. He is so fascinated by everything, from the "Chucks" (trucks) to the "Punkins" outside people's houses.
I'm getting back into the world of the ER. Hematology is such a small field that we tend to consult on every little non-hematologic problem. That's just the culture at an academic center. In a small town ER, it's the exact opposite. No problem is too big or too small to be dealt with by me. I like this small town and the people in it, so I love working here. But, honestly, I miss that uber-specialized scope of hematology sometimes.
Running, you ask? Well, I completely tanked at the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon. Again, an unsuccesful road marathon for me. I was going for 2:45 but my private hope was low 2:40s. I ran the first half very slowly (1:24.xx), hoping it was slow enough to preserve my typical fast finish. But, as it turned out, the last few miles were terrible and I didn't even run a negative split (or, if I did, it wasn't very negative). My time was 2:49 something, which is a PR by 10 or 20 seconds.
I had lost a lot of weight, which had helped me PR on all my training runs, but the low weight didn't feel like a great advantage at the marathon. In any case, being here has made me put on a pound or two of fat, so I'm back in my "normal" weight range. I felt a little sub-manic for a few weeks, being so skinny, but it's very hard to maintain for me, especially being away from a routine.
Another problem with big marathons is running on pavement. Since I train on trails only, my legs were beginning to feel stale much sooner than I would have expected (probably around halfway). Afterwards, I made up my mind to race a trail marathon later this fall with a strategy of going out super hard, just to see what would happen. Now, that plan seems a little naive, but we shall see. I would need a marathon where I could easily drop out, like one with multiple loops, and I would need someone pacing me during the last half. It would be a fun experiment.
Training is going well. How could it not, in gorgeous La Crosse? I discovered a new trail that goes from the valley floor to the top of the bluffs. If you have seen La Crosse, it looks like the bluffs over the town are nothing but one big park, but that's unfortunately not the case. There is Hixon Forest, which has some amazing running trails, but there is also some private land up there. In between, there is the conservancy, which is a mix of private and public land, with undeveloped trails. Very few people go in there, so finding a runnable trail that goes all the way up to the top of the bluffs was very cool. I took the Girl out on it, and we had a nice run up it.
Well, the ER is quiet, so it's time for me to get some sleep.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Race Report and "What if I Died Today?"
First, a crazy little race report. Yesterday, I tried my hand at a duathlon. For those of you who don’t know, that’s a triathlon in which the swim has been replaced by a run. So you run-bike-run.
The race was pretty small. Of the 50 or so participants, there were only one guy with really flashy time trial bike. There were two distances, out of which mine (the sprint) turned out to be more of a fun run. Only a few people warmed up and people gave me the “Jeez, Focker, it’s only a game"-look, when I started doing strides.
Anyway, the race was so small that they had decided not to place volunteers on the bike course, which worried me before the start. I had a hunch that I would be the fastest runner, and this turned out to be very true. After the 4K run, I had almost a 5-minute lead to the next person on the short course (this turned out to be a woman, actually). Then, I had to time trial into the unmarked, unknown course into normal Danish Sunday traffic, with cars, bikes and pedestrians everywhere. I knew immediately that I would get lost, and I did. A guy, who I thought was from the organizing club, passed me in a car and told me to turn left at some point, which, unfortunately, turned out to be wrong. Anyway, I got off course, biked around for a bit and then found my way back to the transition and ran the final leg.
I felt ok the whole time, and doing a competitive duathlon one day might be fun. The organizers were pretty nice about the whole thing. No one could figure out why I had been shown down the wrong road.
Oh well. Which leads me to the question of “what if I died today?”
It’s 9-11. I’m waiting to board a plane to London for a hematology meeting. 9-11 and a flight from Copenhagen to London, both cities high on the terror target list.
Let me just say, though, that it annoys me to look up and see BBC and CNN broadcast 9-11 accounts and speeches all day long. When 50 Pakistani or Afghan civilians are killed by errant missiles, we shrug our shoulders and move on. And this happens almost daily. Of the hundreds of thousands of family members of those killed by Western missiles during this war on terror, no one got a second's public grieving on CNN. No grieving husband or son gets to slowly publicize their memories of the death of their loved one. It’s hypocritical, to say the least, to pretend all these hundreds of thousands (by some accounts, millions) of lives matter less than the ones lost on 9-11.
With that off my chest, just what would happen if I died today? I would be gone, which wouldn’t matter to me (me being gone and all), but a good number of people would be affected.
What would their 9-11 speeches in 2021 be about? Probably tangible stuff, like what I said in a final call or text message from inside the crashing plane. But drama aside, how would they fare without me?
Andreas, at 8, is so estranged from me that it wouldn’t matter tremendously to him. I aim to change that dramatically in the next few years, starting just a few months from now, but if I died now, he would feel nothing more than a symbolic loss of a faraway father figure. In the last three years, I have seen one single sign of sadness from him during all those goodbyes. And I say don't say this jokingly: that one time may be because he learned at the same time that he wasn't getting pizza for dinner! But I hope it was me leaving, not the pizza. I wonder what he would tell his kids 30 years from now about the father who left him for no particular reason, and then died on 9-11-11. In fact, even if I don't die today, I wonder what he will say about me!
El Guapo, at 7 weeks, would grow up without a dad, of course. He would hear more about me than Andreas, and , through that, would end up at least somewhat influenced by me.
What would Christian remember? This morning, he begged me to take him along to London. We played outside in the sun, with a very palpable sense on his part that I was leaving. When I told him it was time to go inside, he pointed at everything at said, “but we haven’t tried the sandbox... or the playhouse... or the other sandbox!”. If I die, he will remember this morning like John Wheelwright remembers the day his mother gets hit with the baseball in A Prayer for Owen Meany. I imagine them talking about me at family dinners, after a while only remembering the extremes of me, like the crazy things I said or did. Christian would look at pictures and be amazed that I was yet so young when I died (he would remember me as an ancient father, of course, as all kids do).
Natali would suffer most, I think. She would receive the news and cry inconsolable, as she has so many times over the last three years, saying her histrionic goodbyes. But over time, she would settle into normal Wisconsin life, her bi-cultural edges wearing off, her unique personality disappearing behind reruns of Glee and How I Met Your Mother. She is the one I worry the most about; the one I feel the need to protect the most.
And the Girl? It’s a difficult question. She is more of an island than the kids. I would miss her more if she died, than vice versa. Her life’s trajectory has been pulled so much off course by meeting me that if I died, leaving her with two little kids, she may even end up resenting me. Sometimes, I sense that her idea of me is more important than the actual me, our lives a homeopathic version of what it would be like with me dead. Again, it hard to imagine exactly what would happen. She is not nostalgic, as I am, and I worry her memories of me would be kept alive mostly to please the kids.
Addendum: I lived!
The race was pretty small. Of the 50 or so participants, there were only one guy with really flashy time trial bike. There were two distances, out of which mine (the sprint) turned out to be more of a fun run. Only a few people warmed up and people gave me the “Jeez, Focker, it’s only a game"-look, when I started doing strides.
Anyway, the race was so small that they had decided not to place volunteers on the bike course, which worried me before the start. I had a hunch that I would be the fastest runner, and this turned out to be very true. After the 4K run, I had almost a 5-minute lead to the next person on the short course (this turned out to be a woman, actually). Then, I had to time trial into the unmarked, unknown course into normal Danish Sunday traffic, with cars, bikes and pedestrians everywhere. I knew immediately that I would get lost, and I did. A guy, who I thought was from the organizing club, passed me in a car and told me to turn left at some point, which, unfortunately, turned out to be wrong. Anyway, I got off course, biked around for a bit and then found my way back to the transition and ran the final leg.
I felt ok the whole time, and doing a competitive duathlon one day might be fun. The organizers were pretty nice about the whole thing. No one could figure out why I had been shown down the wrong road.
Oh well. Which leads me to the question of “what if I died today?”
It’s 9-11. I’m waiting to board a plane to London for a hematology meeting. 9-11 and a flight from Copenhagen to London, both cities high on the terror target list.
Let me just say, though, that it annoys me to look up and see BBC and CNN broadcast 9-11 accounts and speeches all day long. When 50 Pakistani or Afghan civilians are killed by errant missiles, we shrug our shoulders and move on. And this happens almost daily. Of the hundreds of thousands of family members of those killed by Western missiles during this war on terror, no one got a second's public grieving on CNN. No grieving husband or son gets to slowly publicize their memories of the death of their loved one. It’s hypocritical, to say the least, to pretend all these hundreds of thousands (by some accounts, millions) of lives matter less than the ones lost on 9-11.
With that off my chest, just what would happen if I died today? I would be gone, which wouldn’t matter to me (me being gone and all), but a good number of people would be affected.
What would their 9-11 speeches in 2021 be about? Probably tangible stuff, like what I said in a final call or text message from inside the crashing plane. But drama aside, how would they fare without me?
Andreas, at 8, is so estranged from me that it wouldn’t matter tremendously to him. I aim to change that dramatically in the next few years, starting just a few months from now, but if I died now, he would feel nothing more than a symbolic loss of a faraway father figure. In the last three years, I have seen one single sign of sadness from him during all those goodbyes. And I say don't say this jokingly: that one time may be because he learned at the same time that he wasn't getting pizza for dinner! But I hope it was me leaving, not the pizza. I wonder what he would tell his kids 30 years from now about the father who left him for no particular reason, and then died on 9-11-11. In fact, even if I don't die today, I wonder what he will say about me!
El Guapo, at 7 weeks, would grow up without a dad, of course. He would hear more about me than Andreas, and , through that, would end up at least somewhat influenced by me.
What would Christian remember? This morning, he begged me to take him along to London. We played outside in the sun, with a very palpable sense on his part that I was leaving. When I told him it was time to go inside, he pointed at everything at said, “but we haven’t tried the sandbox... or the playhouse... or the other sandbox!”. If I die, he will remember this morning like John Wheelwright remembers the day his mother gets hit with the baseball in A Prayer for Owen Meany. I imagine them talking about me at family dinners, after a while only remembering the extremes of me, like the crazy things I said or did. Christian would look at pictures and be amazed that I was yet so young when I died (he would remember me as an ancient father, of course, as all kids do).
Natali would suffer most, I think. She would receive the news and cry inconsolable, as she has so many times over the last three years, saying her histrionic goodbyes. But over time, she would settle into normal Wisconsin life, her bi-cultural edges wearing off, her unique personality disappearing behind reruns of Glee and How I Met Your Mother. She is the one I worry the most about; the one I feel the need to protect the most.
And the Girl? It’s a difficult question. She is more of an island than the kids. I would miss her more if she died, than vice versa. Her life’s trajectory has been pulled so much off course by meeting me that if I died, leaving her with two little kids, she may even end up resenting me. Sometimes, I sense that her idea of me is more important than the actual me, our lives a homeopathic version of what it would be like with me dead. Again, it hard to imagine exactly what would happen. She is not nostalgic, as I am, and I worry her memories of me would be kept alive mostly to please the kids.
Addendum: I lived!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Half marathon race report
I thought I was in 1:15 to 1:16 shape and the Girl wanted to PR. There were some good prizes, so the main objective was to win.
We have had terrible storms in Denmark this last month, and 20 seconds into the race it started thundering all around us. The RD, Charley Proedel, had stated before the race that no matter how bad the lightning got, he wouldn't cancel. Still, when lightning struck a few hundred yards to the left, I was wondering whether the lead-out bike would pull over and seek cover.
He didn't, and I was able to stay in the lead the whole race. I started out slowly, hoping that we could get a little group going, but no one wanted to come with me. A number of the runners looked really fit, including a lean, mean triathlete.
My time was 1:19 something. I lost some time from starting really slowly and had a crisis at 12-16K as the storm came from straight ahead. Still, 1:19 is a little disappointing.
Here I am, confused about what to with the finish line tape. It didn't seem like it was something I could run through, so I stood there looking stupid. Stupid and lean as hell, you have to admit.
The Girl ran in 1:39 and won. Her hip hurts a little, but she is in great shape.
She checks her Garmin every 20 seconds, which drives me nuts. She looks like this when she runs intervals:
Life outside running is good. El Guapo is gaining a pound a week and is almost able to defend himself when Christian tries to kill him in various ways. The Girl's mother is here to help us out, which makes all the difference. The Girl continues to work part time, which is very unusual for Denmark. Most women take a year off, where they focus solely on being mothers. This may be more unique to Northern Europe/Scandinavia than I had previously realized. My cousin, an ambitious star biochemist, took a whole year off with both her boys, and apparently loved that life.
The Girl hates that life. She is thinking about going back to Wisconsin early, just so she can find a daycare that accepts babies. It probably won't come to that, though, and we'll have to use our baby-sitters a lot, so she doesn't go crazy.
This weekend, we are running "Skovloeberen", a trail race. I'll do the half marathon and the Girl does the full. It's pretty competitive, but top 3 or 5 should be doable.
We have had terrible storms in Denmark this last month, and 20 seconds into the race it started thundering all around us. The RD, Charley Proedel, had stated before the race that no matter how bad the lightning got, he wouldn't cancel. Still, when lightning struck a few hundred yards to the left, I was wondering whether the lead-out bike would pull over and seek cover.
He didn't, and I was able to stay in the lead the whole race. I started out slowly, hoping that we could get a little group going, but no one wanted to come with me. A number of the runners looked really fit, including a lean, mean triathlete.
My time was 1:19 something. I lost some time from starting really slowly and had a crisis at 12-16K as the storm came from straight ahead. Still, 1:19 is a little disappointing.
Here I am, confused about what to with the finish line tape. It didn't seem like it was something I could run through, so I stood there looking stupid. Stupid and lean as hell, you have to admit.
The Girl ran in 1:39 and won. Her hip hurts a little, but she is in great shape.
She checks her Garmin every 20 seconds, which drives me nuts. She looks like this when she runs intervals:
Life outside running is good. El Guapo is gaining a pound a week and is almost able to defend himself when Christian tries to kill him in various ways. The Girl's mother is here to help us out, which makes all the difference. The Girl continues to work part time, which is very unusual for Denmark. Most women take a year off, where they focus solely on being mothers. This may be more unique to Northern Europe/Scandinavia than I had previously realized. My cousin, an ambitious star biochemist, took a whole year off with both her boys, and apparently loved that life.
The Girl hates that life. She is thinking about going back to Wisconsin early, just so she can find a daycare that accepts babies. It probably won't come to that, though, and we'll have to use our baby-sitters a lot, so she doesn't go crazy.
This weekend, we are running "Skovloeberen", a trail race. I'll do the half marathon and the Girl does the full. It's pretty competitive, but top 3 or 5 should be doable.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Running log August 2011
27: Half marathon in a terrible storm. Won in 1:19. Slow time, but hard course/conditions.
25: 5k very slowly
21: Tri club championships
19: Fartleks
17: 10 hills in 21:18 PR!
9-16: Can't remember. Decent training with hard sessions every other day.
8: Long run. 2:09. Steady, decent pace. Ran 5 x perimeter loop.
7: Some core stuff while watching TV. Last night of paternity leave.
6: Hill loops. 39 laps under 2:20 average. New PR!!
4: Long run. 40 minutes in the morning, 2:10 in the afternoon.
2: Back to reality. 6 x 1 mile. 29:38. This is probably around 40 seconds slower than my fastest time from last year and 20 seconds slower than my best time from 2 years ago. On the other hand, it may be the 4th or 5th fastest time out of 30 tries. So, although I was hoping for a little more, I'm not far off being in really good shape.
25: 5k very slowly
21: Tri club championships
19: Fartleks
17: 10 hills in 21:18 PR!
9-16: Can't remember. Decent training with hard sessions every other day.
8: Long run. 2:09. Steady, decent pace. Ran 5 x perimeter loop.
7: Some core stuff while watching TV. Last night of paternity leave.
6: Hill loops. 39 laps under 2:20 average. New PR!!
4: Long run. 40 minutes in the morning, 2:10 in the afternoon.
2: Back to reality. 6 x 1 mile. 29:38. This is probably around 40 seconds slower than my fastest time from last year and 20 seconds slower than my best time from 2 years ago. On the other hand, it may be the 4th or 5th fastest time out of 30 tries. So, although I was hoping for a little more, I'm not far off being in really good shape.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Running log July 2011
31: Two hours at night. Last 5K with great legs. Engine is running a little hot; maybe it's time to back off a little before I get injured.
30: 5 (five!) runs throughout the day, to the playground, to the store, with Christian etc. PR on 10xHills: 21:16!
29: 5K jog with the Girl and the Dualie jogger. Weight: 65.7kg
28: Long run: 2:15. Five loops on the perimerter trail.
27; Mixed stuff. Can't really remember. 1X Stenskoven
26: PR on 10XHills: 21:28!
25: Biked 3xStenskoven. Ran a little bit?
24: Treadmill intervals (in the rain). Couldn't remember how I did them last year. Now, I run 4000 twice, like this: 3X800 fast with 200m at 12.5kmph in between. The last 1000 I run at 0% incline (the rest at 1%). Got 15:11 and 14:55, I think.
23: Hill loops under 2:20: 35 loops!! New PR
19: Hills loops under 2:20: 29 loops. New PR
17: 10x Hills: 21:35. I think close to a PR, but I'm not sure.
The early part of the month, I ran in Sweden and in Denmark, but nothing was timed.
30: 5 (five!) runs throughout the day, to the playground, to the store, with Christian etc. PR on 10xHills: 21:16!
29: 5K jog with the Girl and the Dualie jogger. Weight: 65.7kg
28: Long run: 2:15. Five loops on the perimerter trail.
27; Mixed stuff. Can't really remember. 1X Stenskoven
26: PR on 10XHills: 21:28!
25: Biked 3xStenskoven. Ran a little bit?
24: Treadmill intervals (in the rain). Couldn't remember how I did them last year. Now, I run 4000 twice, like this: 3X800 fast with 200m at 12.5kmph in between. The last 1000 I run at 0% incline (the rest at 1%). Got 15:11 and 14:55, I think.
23: Hill loops under 2:20: 35 loops!! New PR
19: Hills loops under 2:20: 29 loops. New PR
17: 10x Hills: 21:35. I think close to a PR, but I'm not sure.
The early part of the month, I ran in Sweden and in Denmark, but nothing was timed.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
A good day
It's hard to complain about life right now. Getting back into shape should be my priority number 6 or 7, or whatever number sounds good to you. Without a doubt, there are bigger things on my plate right now, like the Girl, the kids and work.
But I have to admit I've been waiting to get fast since last fall, and finally being able to train hard feels great. This winter and spring, my work (and commute) and being a dad to Natali took too much time to seriously train. One would think that exchanging a 10-year old for a new-born would add more work, but I was more or less a single parent to Natali for most of the time. Most nights, it was a question of going for a run or spending time with her, and she could manipulate me very effectively.
So I'm coming into this late summer very undertrained but perhaps the most excited about running and competing I have ever been. And I'm not even that undertrained. Sure, the miles have been low, but I've run 4 or 5 marathons around 3:10 to 3:15 and they should be able to count for long runs through spring and winter. So, I'm not starting from scratch.
These last weeks, I've gotten serious. I've lost weight and I'm improving quickly. With everything else going on in life, it's intoxicating to feel myself getting faster almost daily. Maybe it's escapism, but at least it's a healthy form of it.
So what am I training for?
I still have enough track runner in me to think of ultras as just a little bit of a cop-out. You can't really compare the times in those races, not to races of equal distance or, really, to the same race previous years.
On the other hand, I train almost 100% on trails, and when the Girl and I talk about races for the fall and next year, they are all trail races and/or ultras. I think a compromise will be to run a few "real" races, just to post some times to show (myself) that I am fit, and then run the trail ultras for the awesome experiences they can be.
This evening, a solid PR on my hilly route capped off a perfect day of paternity leave. I've gotten so incredibly close to Christian since the baby was born. It's a combination of having time for him, while also wanting him to know that the new baby isn't going to replace him. He is such funny age (three and a half), and his language is such a comedic treasure trove. I can feel that just this last week I have changed the way he looks at things, and I love getting that feedback from him.
The baby is perfect, meaning that he is cute, eats and sleeps well and holds the promise of becoming someone with a personality soon. The Girl is a superwoman, for good and for bad. She is being watched, both in real life and on her blog, while she pushes the envelope for what's possible post-partum. She would do well to take a day off now and then and enjoy her maternity leave but I have very little to say in that matter.
And the two kids in America are doing well. Andreas is spending the week in northern Wisconsin and Natali is about to start soccer camp.
But I have to admit I've been waiting to get fast since last fall, and finally being able to train hard feels great. This winter and spring, my work (and commute) and being a dad to Natali took too much time to seriously train. One would think that exchanging a 10-year old for a new-born would add more work, but I was more or less a single parent to Natali for most of the time. Most nights, it was a question of going for a run or spending time with her, and she could manipulate me very effectively.
So I'm coming into this late summer very undertrained but perhaps the most excited about running and competing I have ever been. And I'm not even that undertrained. Sure, the miles have been low, but I've run 4 or 5 marathons around 3:10 to 3:15 and they should be able to count for long runs through spring and winter. So, I'm not starting from scratch.
These last weeks, I've gotten serious. I've lost weight and I'm improving quickly. With everything else going on in life, it's intoxicating to feel myself getting faster almost daily. Maybe it's escapism, but at least it's a healthy form of it.
So what am I training for?
I still have enough track runner in me to think of ultras as just a little bit of a cop-out. You can't really compare the times in those races, not to races of equal distance or, really, to the same race previous years.
On the other hand, I train almost 100% on trails, and when the Girl and I talk about races for the fall and next year, they are all trail races and/or ultras. I think a compromise will be to run a few "real" races, just to post some times to show (myself) that I am fit, and then run the trail ultras for the awesome experiences they can be.
This evening, a solid PR on my hilly route capped off a perfect day of paternity leave. I've gotten so incredibly close to Christian since the baby was born. It's a combination of having time for him, while also wanting him to know that the new baby isn't going to replace him. He is such funny age (three and a half), and his language is such a comedic treasure trove. I can feel that just this last week I have changed the way he looks at things, and I love getting that feedback from him.
The baby is perfect, meaning that he is cute, eats and sleeps well and holds the promise of becoming someone with a personality soon. The Girl is a superwoman, for good and for bad. She is being watched, both in real life and on her blog, while she pushes the envelope for what's possible post-partum. She would do well to take a day off now and then and enjoy her maternity leave but I have very little to say in that matter.
And the two kids in America are doing well. Andreas is spending the week in northern Wisconsin and Natali is about to start soccer camp.
Friday, July 22, 2011
A Baby is Born!
Mattias was born yesterday. Everything went well and we were back in our apartment with a perfect brand-new baby 5 hours after we left home. The epic details can be found on the Girl's blog, of course. She is already at the gym working out and showing off her newborn son.
Becoming a dad for the fourth time has released a lot of strange emotions in me. I've thought even more than usually about my two kids in La Crosse. We skyped yesterday and Natali was very interested in everything. Andreas took a quick look at the baby and promptly went back to playing Wii Mario.
Christian had been with my parents for a few days and already knew that the baby had been born. When my parents brought him to our house, we had put the baby in the back bedroom, so we could "discover" him together. He exclaimed, "there is my baby" and ran over to look him over dilligently. He did poke at the little eyes, and a few times an elbow found its way drilling heavily into the defenseless baby, but he seemed genuinely excited to meet his little brother.
The impending delivery and all its uncertainties, like whether it would produce a normal, healthy baby, had blocked our view of the future a bit. But now it seems realistic to start planning the life that starts after my fellowship ends on December 31st.
We had talked about moving to Madison, but it turns out that we'll be in La Crosse next year. No doubt Madison would have been cool, but I'll be working a lot closer to La Crosse and it will be great to live right by the kids. Also, La Crosse has somewhat better running and much better biking opportunities than Madison.
Which leads me to our racing schedule for next year. For the first time in months, I am starting to train seriously. I have already dropped 3 or 4 pounds and I can feel that I am getting faster every day. We have Skovløberen, a trail marathon, and the Milwaukee marathon planned. I don't think neither I nor the Girl will be able to hit peak shake so early though, so hopefully we can find a race in late October/early November. Maybe the Copenhagen 6 Hours? I will have to look into that; for now I just enjoy getting back in shape.
The plans, in terms of race schedule, are also solidifying for next year. I think Ice Age (50k for me, 50m for the Girl) and Voyageur are pretty certain as is a little triathlon near La Crosse (the first triathlon we ever did in 2008). La Crosse has a marathon now, called Granddad's Marathon (named after the big bluff towering over the city), but it's all on roads and the level of competition has varied a lot in its first two years. We may run the Tuscobia race, which is put on by my ex brother-in-law, Tim Roe. And we're talking about the Birkie, although the Girl has never cross-country skied.
The Girl is home, beaming from being able to exercise the day after giving birth.
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