President Obama Comes to Madison!

We waited in line for a few hours to see Obama in Madison. This is the second time an incumbent President has been to the University of Madison campus. The last time was Truman in 1950! We got to see Russ Feingold speak too. They are just awesome. Ben Harper played a few songs in between the speakers for us. It was worth the long line. Unfortunately, not all of the people in line got in to see him speak. We were very lucky.

We were about 30 feet from the President of the United States on Tuesday! He was awesome to see in person. Much cuter than photos and TV action. He is getting a little greyer and it looks great on him.

(no Michelle at rally though)

This has been a great year for me. I went to see the Dalai Lama in person earlier this year, and now this!

Congrats to Jules and Sethley!

Well, they finally tied the knot!

We were all looking very dapper that day...

Jules looked great in her wedding gown.

There was a large wedding party- the more to party with! We had a blast and then they were off to Mexico on their honeymoon.

Welcome to the family Seth! I needed a new 'in-law' to hang with. :)

Great Urban Race Madison 2010

I talked Jeff in to competing with me in the 2010 race. There were a lot of walking, running, heat, sweating, adventure, scavenger hunt elements to it. It was an interesting race and we did pretty well. We were unable to secure any public transportation to help us along the way, so it was about 12.5 miles worth of foot travel for us to conquer today (I used the new website I found www.mapmywalk.com to help calculate the miles I go). The costumes were pretty good too. We opted for "Nytesformayor.com" t-shirts, since that is what we had that was matching. We had a few people ask us about them. Jeff's favorite costumes were a pair that dressed up as "Madison Gladiators". The Wizard of Oz set was one of my favs.

***We had to find a person in an uniform to do a double 'high five' with and make sure to get a photo of it. She ended up being the only uniformed investigator in Madison that day. She was great with the double high five, by the way.

***We had to photo ourselves in front of a road sign with a double letter in the name (based on a riddle we were given as a clue).

***We had to find and meet a stranger to us that had 2 or more tattoos. She was walking down the street and was very friendly. Vern- this may be a good client for you. And yes, she didn't mind that I fondled her a bit.

***We had to honk the horn of a stranger's car as well. I hope this person was not angry with me touching their car as they were shopping/eating somewhere near by. We figured a convertible was easy access for our task. Thank you to whomever parked their car in our way that day.

***I got a tattoo for donating a pet food item to the local Humane Society.

Race for the Cure

I decided to put some of my energy toward a good cause this time. The Madison Race for the Cure was just that. It was 5 days after the Marathon race, so I gave myself a goal of 28.5 minutes for the 3 mile race. Well, if I wouldn't have gotten sick at around mile 1 on the side of the road, I would have made my goal probably. I did finish in 32.5 minutes overall though. The last 2 miles were not very fun and I was VERY excited to see that finish line. I did a bad thing and ate food before the race. (I still remember hearing a little boy passing me on the side of the road cheering me on- HOW EMBARRASSING)



I think I am hooked on races. This one was very inspiring and I was almost in tears watching the thousands of people there to run and walk in support of those who have died from breast cancer and those who have survived it.

2010 Madison Marathon

Yes, yes... I'm am truly insane now. I was talking to some co-workers after our Crazy Legs race about the Madison Marathon coming to town on Memorial Day weekend. We usually stay in town for the infamous Brat Fest, so I figured I would be game for some more bodily punishment. My co-worker Nicole decided to run the 1/4 marathon (6.55 miles). My other co-worker Brian decided to ditch the event at the last minute due to a knee injury (knee or ego injury? the jury is still out on that one)- so that left me with a BIG decision. Do I go for it with a half marathon challenge for myself or do the quarter run? I walk my dogs every day, so I figured I could conquer the half marathon walk. But the challenge didn't stop there for me. I decided to do a little homework on the half marathon walk option. Most places I turned to said that I could probably do that walk in about 3.5-4 hours. I put down a goal of less than 3 hours for myself. I made my goal!!! It was a truly HOT walk today! 90 degrees and the race finally got shut down after 4 hours due to the heat conditions and participants were encouraged to quit. I was 1st in my age group and 23rd overall at a time of 2:59.57.3. Some of the spectators were great on the sidelines. They had hoses and sprinklers out to keep us cool as we whizzed by them. 13.1 miles on foot is a long way to go and I'm so glad I did it. Maybe I'll work towards a full marathon sometime. Baby steps at this point for me.

Good luck kisses from Reggie are always a great way to start any challenge...

Here I go off to the race (in my new wheels)

Coming up to the finish line. It is 90 degrees now and I'm excited to see the finish line at the Capitol Square.

A high five from Logan is just what I needed to finish my goal. He is a rockstar for cheering me on. And thanks to Jeff for taking the photos for me.