I'm Back...

Wow! I have had some time off to experience life. And all that it has to offer. Good and bad. This year has flown by so fast and I can't believe that it is October already! There was a blow up snowman erected today outside my window at work. Not sure if I like him yet or not. We'll give it some time to see if he and I become friends.
I've had a chance to do some fun things this year. I did the Madison half marathon, the Warrior Dash (yes, I am a Warrior), and few fun bike rides with family and friends. I'm moving a little slower than last year, but the tortoise beats the hare. I have a few fun runs coming up still for Halloween and Thanksgiving. And then the holidays will be upon us...

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.