i'm a fan....

of this clip.

mark was in paris when this aired.

he too got a good laugh out of it when he returned to US soil...

for those who missed it or just have to see it again.

the resemblance/satirizing is scarily accurate...for fey more than poehler but both are hilarious together in my humble opinion.

Tiny Fey as Sarah Palin — SNL Video Clip | Amy Poehler, Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Tina Fey : Just Jared

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november 4th. vote. duh. for those who are all up on technology and already saw this on my facebook page, apologies for the duplication...now get back to work! ;) ~jd

coming soon to a forest near you...

okay well maybe you'll have to drive a little bit, but not too far.

lots of awesome state parks near the Cities...and beyond~



this is from my 23 Things list from this past spring when I had to learn to use new technolgies. A few of my peeps have recently finished their 23 Things, so congrats ya'll! This photo was shot on Heartbreak Ridge up near Tofte 2 years ago. Gorgeous road full of maples...

here's another helpful link to help you guage colors and if you should drive near or far...

so enjoy~ have some warm cider, mulled wine or just a good ol' caramel apple...
welcome to another season...~jd

another medal, another challenge, another nap..

this is all about my first duathlon. if you have no interest in reading this, then i won't be offended. i won't even know! so thanks for stopping by and i'll write about non-jock-y stuff next time...

so. i did it. :)

time out. today had another amazing event going on in memory of a woman who used to live in MN with her beloved, and moved out to LA a few years ago. sadly, Liz Logelin passed away in March right after her daughter was born. Today was the first ever Liz Logelin Memorial 5K, held by her dh Matt, and due to my previous plan to do the duathlon I stuck to that plan. but I thought of Matt & Liz & Maddie often on my ride....blessings, Matt, and hope your 5K went wonderfully!)

so....
the iron girl duathlon.

it's like a triathlon but without the swimming part.

as has been covered before, i don't know how to do this. yet. by next summer i plan to know.

today's duathlon was run 2 miles, bike 22, run 2.

and Iron Girl is for all women. 900+ of us. *including* Rena, my job swap anchor girl :) said a quick hello to her and to Diana Pierce, another KARE11 girl. and apparently this is the largest women's only duathlon in the nation....kinda cool.

anyway...(ADOS, right?)

woke up at 4:!5. didn't need the alarm as usual. woke up *earlier* than the 5 bells i had hoped for.

got myself ready, checked the news online, ate the proverbial pre-race banana, drank water, yada yada.

got to bloomington around 6:30am. i wasn't nervous per se, but i wasn't all calm either. just kinda 'what am i in for? how will this go?'

got my bike to the transition area. learned about drafting and other official terms and rules that i'd need to follow during the race.

felt like a total imposter...'why am i here? how did they let a novice like me in?'

but all went well.

Val found me right away. YAY! a familiar face! we were supposed to have 5 teamgirls of mine doing this event, but due to life's occurrences, only Val & I could do it.


she helped show me how to get my bike into the really crowded rack and then it was almost time for the start. (okay the below photo doesn't make it look that full, but believe me, they were! this was taken pretty early into pre-race set up...)


Aflac was the major sponsor, so instead of a horn for the start of each wave group there was a really loud AFLAC! duck sound. kinda different but fun...

First 2 miles were the warm up.....finished in about 20 min....

then, time to find the bike, put on the helmet, put on the gloves, figure out my new borrowed pedal basket clip things and off i go.

i didn't mean to, but i kinda left Val back during the bike part, but she had told me on the run part that i should just go....our bikes were pretty far apart in transition and she hasn't ridden lately at all, and i've done some training, albeit just some.

so i did the bike part (2 laps of 11 miles with some pretty good hills! my arss is still barkin at me!) solo and then got back to transition to take off the helmet, put on the visor and run my noodly legs for 2 more miles.

somehow i ran just shy of 9 minute miles for the last 2. how on earth i did that i don't know. i felt like i was s-l-o-g-g-i-n-g....like barely running.

then the finish line! HOO-RAY.



I got my medal, i got my Aflac duck sponge to soak off some of the salty skin i had goin, and waited at the finish to greet Val.

then it was time to eat!! good spread, found a few friends Val knew, and capped my first duathlon experience with another medal for my collection.


It was a gorgeous day, perfect weather, beautiful course and something i really really want to do again....ANYBODY can do this. The last finisher came through with a time of 3:30, almost 90 min past when I finished. but she got a rousing ovation from all of us cheering her and her friend on and it was actully really emotional to welcome them to the finish line! hung out for a little while longer, took some snapshots, and then packed up to head home.


now it's time to n-a-p.

i earned it today. monday will be here before i know it and it's back to the rat race of library life (which is a-okay!)...peace, ~jd

so what's yours?

let's talk fun stuff...like what's your secret talent? stupid party trick? weird quirk? (moles or body stuff can be kept to yourselves people...;)

my crazy weird quirk is i have a pretty damn accurate 'internal' clock.

i rarely, if ever, set an alarm to wake up. i just wake up when i know i need to.

work at 8am? body wakes up at 6:30.

run at 7am? eyes flutter open at 5:45.

wake up in the middle of the night cuz i can't sleep? odds are it's between 3 & 3:30. maybe 4.

don't need to be up for anything? up by 8am anyway, but we have 2 dogs who have to be fed so *their* internal clocks wake them up.

a month ago when friend Lisa and I were up north, randomly throughout the day we were curious about 'what time is it?'. It became a game by the end of the trip for Lisa to 'quiz' me and within 5 min or so every time i was on. "can you tell time by the sun???" she asked. well i guess so. I just have a 'time' thing.

care to share yours?
~jd

ps for dad & other country friends....the new boots don't match the new hat. need to shop more i guess :) i never thought i'd buy brown boots..but i'm pretty attached...

apparently....

with the new facebook you can link your blog info in facebook and vice versa with a badge for your blog... well thank goodness because it's so hard to find information out about anybody these days! ;)

i think this might be overkill, but i feel like a) i want to know how this works for the sake of knowing how it works, and b) it could come in handy in real work life related to teaching others stuff about this...

it's really nice to be able to do this from home while drinking just a little red wine on a chilly evening. happy full harvest moon....

oh, wait. one more thing....there's a new Blogger link i'd like to request some help with. If you follow my blog now and then, or have it as a feed, could you help me with the "Followers" box on the right halfway down? I have no idea how that works....so sign up...please :) how's that for blatant?

please help teach the librarian runner cowgirl...
~jd

you find out who your friends are....

just like the song goes....

been a challenging few weeks especially.

so it's one day at a time i've decided. for now.

many challenges, nothing life or death, but i've been really sad. (family, don't worry. it's okay...life just has it's challenges sometimes)

i'm hoping this week goes muuuuuuuch better than last. but it's been day by day....get through one, hope for a better tomorrow....

a few updates:

*Mark & Rose are in France until later this week....a 6 day trip all for 2 gigs. Hey LW or SW....any cool conferences I can jet away to for work that match up to what Mark gets to do? ;)
probably not. darn.

*I have new cowboy boots that I am wishing went with everything professional i own to wear to work every day. Sadly, I'll have to wait until our once-a-year-yes-you-can-wear-jeans work day in November to wear them as an employee. :(

*Dogs are good. There have been some cooler nights in the past few weeks, meaning, yes, it's Jammie Time. If they don't wear their jammies and it's cold they get up during the night to nest nest nest nest nest nest, oh, and NEST, their blankets. SUPER annoying. Put the jammies on? they're much better...

*Cats are all just lovely. Ellie is the best at coming to see me at night, Lucy comes while I'm working on work stuff on the warm laptop. When she wanders up, I put the laptop aside and she takes residence in it's spot. purring away...

*I become an Iron Girl in one week. Run 2, bike 22, run 2. Get a medal. And celebrate with some great girls that night. I would absolutely suck living on a desert island by myself. I have to have my friends.

be well, stay warm (if you need that) and hope everyone has a good upcoming week...

the blog is open....again...

there are a few reasons for this.

1) a few folks actually had links to my blog through theirs. to which i was unaware of this. until the past few weeks. I knew i was part of my girl Ally's blog, but that was it until a few others came forward...and if Ally is getting people knowing her in races *from her blog*, well then.....i want in on some of that action too :) Ally *is* my superhero. this girl can do anything....she's had a phenomenal summer and i look forward to our iron girl experience in a week (yikes!!)

2) those who actually read my blog (still humbling..it's just me...) and had it as a feed (really??) could no longer get the news of the jd-blogging world. they had to log in. and why would i make them take that extra 2 steps??

3) as long as those that i post pictures of don't care if strangers find it, then okay.

so the "anybody" button was checked and unless i get a creepy stalker i don't know asking or posting weird stuff, then i'll open up the bar, er, blog again...

it's been a heck of a week. to those who have had to witness it, my apologies. i hope to be back to whatever normal is soon...~jd

facebook thoughts...

it's crazy at work lately.

facebook people everywhere.

there's this 23 Things that librarians were encouraged to complete to learning today's newest technologies, etc.

the two "Things", admittedly, that stuck with me most were facebook & blogging.

i'm now helping teach classes to the general public on both. 6 months ago i had absolutely no experience with either.

they're not hard. they're rather addicting in ways.

but with a few good friends joining facebook just in the past few weeks, now it appears to be all facebook all the time at work. which is fun and exciting and great to see folks all jazzed up about new technologies.

'did you get my flair??!!'

'hey, i wrote on your wall first!'

that kind of thing.

that said, it makes me crave the bigger picture.

real conversations.

real people.

real experiences away from a computer.

it's actually rather scary to think that while, yes it's fun to see what sally jane is doing right now, i'd rather go with her for a drink or coffee or something *in person*....if my real friendships start waning due to computers the blog and my facebook account stops.

maybe it's just a funk i'm in. but i really crave the 'in person' thing lately....i feel almost lame as i feel like i'm constantly asking friends 'what are you doing this weekend?' 'wanna go to xyz?'....maybe i'm too much of a planner. i have to give up the 'must plan everything' trait.

maybe that's way to open. or honest. maybe it's just that today was just like alexander's was from a long ago kids classic. it was a terrible horrible no go very bad day. let's hope tomorrow or the next day or even the one after that, is better. ~jd

what to do at 5am?

*yawn*
well post a little i guess...

yesterday one of our little neighborhood breakfast spots was turned into a hollywood set....Joel & Ethan Coen (the geniuses behind Fargo and No Country For Old Men) are shooting for a few days at the Keys Cafe about 2 miles from our house. lots of 1960s cars around as I guess the film is set in '67....so that was cool to drive by a few times...

LibraryLand is good...looking forward to the time coming up in early winter when it looks likely our building will close and pack up to move to a temporary locale for a year while they build an entire upstairs onto our building. I look forward to jeans jeans jeans and good hard work. Our county board still has some big decisions to approve, and once that's done next month (we hope!) the ball really starts rolling...it's been really interesting to be part of the redesign committee and see how major projects like this take shape.

RunningWorld is going well. less than 2 weeks til the first of 3 big races this fall...the team and i have set dates for our post-races fall retreat, and it looks likely it's going to be at our friend Kim's cabin, which I have heard nothing but great things about....on a lake, brand new home, campfires outside.....heaven basically. and right after my birthday...way to ring in 35 :)



and looking forward to some harvest time this upcoming weekend....one of my favorite little local wineries hosts anybody who wants to bring in the grapes every weekend in September to come out and do so. Nan, the owner who I adore, is awesome and she gets local chefs to come and make lots of yummy food (usually big huge pots of soup and other easy to feed a crowd meals) to feed the folks who want to help a small farmer/vinter out. It's great fun and will keep me occupied while Mark is off in Paris for a week singing.

so I should try and nod off again if possible before heading to storytime in a few hours. The chill has returned to the early morning hours here in MN and we fired up the pellet stove for warmth for the first time this season just yesterday....hi to Dad & Leesa and those family far away who I don't see often enough....be well. ~Jen

are you ready???

another sure sign of fall ~

good ol Hank, singing his modified-from-a-classic football song, and getting the nation (and a few good friends of mine) pumped up for the 39th season of Monday Night Football! how can you not get a little psyched up for games when that song is on?? that and the ABC football theme which i can hear in my head but can't really transfer to blogland without a sound bite...

And what a way to start the season....the big local rivalry bringing it to the main ESPN stage on Monday the 8th @ Lambeau. I'll abstain from which side of the border I'll root for...I have friends on both sides of that tussle...

Break out the chips, belly up to the bar (or hit the couch by the big ol' tv), & crack open a cold one....(yes, even i LOVE chips with dean's french onion dip!! or chips & salsa.. and beer! runner girl or no runner girl. i still have my 'off' nights of salty alcoholic goodness...)

i won't have my new cowboy boots in time for this weeks Monday night game but likely by next week's.....sing it Hank Jr....and to all my rowdy friends, come on over anytime ;)

heading to work on my day off. there's always too much to do....at least it's payday ;) TGIF ~jd

summer turns to fall....

literally in about 4 hours.

left the house this morning to head to work...jungle feel outside. hot. humid. HU-MID.

leave the library for lunch....rain has since occurred and the temp is at least 15 degrees cooler.

aaaaaaahh..

also, i turn the page of the calendar to start a new month of stats in my running log.

August left me with these numbers:

Miles run: 109.7
Miles biked: 22.0
Grand total: 129.7

Time it took for all of this: 21:20:17

For someone who 3 years ago had never run a mile, to me, it's amazing to see this on paper. I'm still just an average Jane. Who happened to fall into the laps of an amazingly supportive and stellar group of women at a local gym a year ago, who have helped get me over some major goals since then. More to come....thanks, sistas~ couldn't/wouldn't have done it without all ya'll...

3 more major events for me racing wise in 2008 coming up in the next 6 weeks, then it's break time for a while. that doesn't mean no running, it just means cutting back without having to start over again next January. Iron Girl Duathlon in 19 days; TC 10 on Oct 5th and Whistlestop Half Marathon on Oct 13th. yeehaw! Time to groove it back to the workplace....~jd