apple crisp time!

okay, so yeah, i stole that from the star trib site.

however, i'm also passing on news from just below that pic on their site as well...

this recipe.

it was devoured by my co-workers in about an hour today.

granted i had brought it to work right from the oven, so who doesn't like warm apple anything?!?

but it's really super easy and really delicious.

i used honeycrisp apples instead of the mix they call for in the recipe, and it was still awesome and not overly sweet like i feared...

so enjoy!

i'm off to spend a blissful afternoon off from libraryland listening to the much needed rain, reading, baking (another apple crisp that i can have here and to feed my neighbors with) and maybe a nap.

more soon....

retirement...

from marathoning.

yes. you read that right.

2010 will likely be a year i won't talk one time about running 26.2 miles.

i am sick of running.

yes. you read that right again.

while it's done phenomenal things for me mentally and physically, it's also become something that is *work* lately and not nearly as fun as it used to be. i'm just plain tired of spending every free moment running. while new york will be phenomenal (and completely overwhelming in every sense of the word), i look forward to november 2nd (mark's 42nd birthday coincidentally) as my official retirement date.

i'll keep running over the course of the winter. (i can't really fathom putting all of this work into this year to lose it all by totally giving it up.) so i'll only run 3 or 5 miles every few days. none of this devoting 6 hours every saturday morning to running 18 or 20 or 22 miles. (yawn). my friend ally is going through the same strife...so i'm glad i'm not alone in feeling like i do. there is such a thing as 'burnout' and i don't just mean those high school kids who used to hang out on the corner smoking...

that said, there *are* plans already in the works for 2010 in relation to travel and running. but it's much less running than *training* for a marathon...

i plan to run here.

pretty right?

those are the wasatch range mountains in utah.

there happens to be a ragnar relay there.

that we've already got a team put together for :) jd meet altitude.

i've never run in the mountains. actually mountains and i haven't ever really bonded, much to my chagrin. we just don't have too many mountains close to MN that i hang out at regularly. the mother lake is awesome, but she doesn't come with big range mountains...so next june (coincidentally over grandma's marathon weekend) we'll be heading to utah for 4 or 5 days of fun, running and adventures!

not else much to report. mark's in texas as i write this. he's singing for just a few days, and we found just one day in mid october that we can actually take a day trip to either leaf peep or hike or bike or something just the two of us. which, again, running takes me away from. the husband. not good. but the same goes for his singing. we really don't have the traditional life of seeing each other every evening or on weekends. we see each other, literally, at bedtime and *maybe* one or two evenings a week. if that. i hope by retiring, this will help us see each other more...

we leave for nyc on oct 30th. we fly back nov 2nd. we leave for winnipeg for mark's big 'rock star' solo of a concert on nov 6th. come back the 9th. that's going to be quite a week!

Cora is still hanging in there, and still doing pretty damn well for getting diagnosed with what usually takes greyhounds down within a few months back in June. Quinn is Quinn. lovable. goofy. afraid of all hard surface floors including our own. felines are just as snuggly as ever (as long as they aren't in the same vicinity. ellie still give lucy grief at every turn...)

happy autumn to all (since it's almost equinox day) and be well...~jd

it's been a while...

first and foremost, thank you to everyone who passed the word and donated what ever amount they could towards my MS NYC goal. I have exceeded the $2000 mark! TWO. THOUSAND. DOLLARS. All for a great cause, a great friend and a huge event. So thank you from the bottom of my heart....Race day is 52 days away...it's never too late to pledge. See my previous post for the link love...

Okay, so after posting that, I then left for about a week in early August with my BFD. That would be my Best Friend David. He's single. He's straight. (and he'll kill me for even saying this out loud but I don't care..) and he IS one of my best friends. And yes, Mark is okay with this. David, Mark and I all used to work at B&N back in the day, and David and I are just great friends who travel well together. And who doesn't love travel???? I thought so....

So David and I went camping. For the first time together and for the first time for him in like 25 years. Pitched the tent at a campground way back in the Superior National Forest just outside Ely, MN (about 4 hours NE of here). And then 2 nights at Bear Head Lake State Park. Also beautiful but much more crowded. I am learning I love deep private campsites that are not often found at state parks...I am not a fan of loud people, barking barking barking dogs or screaming children running around my shared nature spot. I'll share with those for a few minutes but if it's all the time? No way. I'll find camp elsewhere. (rant done). then for another 2 nights we traveled even further north and stayed at Big Bog SRA, which had a campground and camper cabins. Small cabins with electricity but no running water. Delightful though. So here's here's photo mini-album one.

Birch Lake with morning coffee


campsite off the lake...


Big Bog boardwalk. One mile out. One mile back. Beautiful and desolate. Reminded me much of Alaska..(minus the big gorgeous mountains).

fast forward to the weekend of august 21-22nd.
ran my first Ragnar Relay.
what's that, you say?
195 miles. Mostly through WI next to the Mississippi River...
2 vans.
12 runners.
and about 36 hours of awesome camaraderie.

I ran my fastest legs ever.
my first leg was just shy of 8 miles. and I got to start the race at 7:30am in the rain that Friday morning. I apparently ran so fast my 2nd runner wasn't quite ready when I hit the exchange point.

next leg was 6.2 miles long, about 12 hours later. Run from Stockholm to Maiden Rock, WI. That was a tough one. Big hills, not a very happy tummy most of the day lead to a very tough 58 minute run. But I did it, and my girls got me through...Our team was the Chicks. Hence all the yellow. Our Captn Ally did an awesome job sewing aprons for us and decking us out in yellow finery.

starting leg two...the sayings on the truck say it all...

last leg, 5:00am. Run from Stillwater to Bayport.
No one around but runners...
and a stray car or three.
Ran 3.1 miles in about 28 minutes if I recall. (which honestly, I don't. but it was something like that...)

Our Van 1 was done around 10am. Van 2 finished about 2:30pm with CJ being our 12th runner and we brought it home across the finish line as a team. An amazing experience that was a blast and I'd totally do again next year...(ps, Dad, there's a Ragnar relay that runs from Prescott to Mesa every February. Maybe someday...


The Chicks waiting for CJ, our final runner to come in at the finish area.

Okay then to finish out, last weekend was Labor Day somehow.
So we headed outta town.
A friend asked today if I was camped out.
HELL NO.
oh wait, I'm sorry. I tend to speak my mind.
um, why no. maybe no reason to be so emphatic. (except that's sort of how i roll in case you haven't known me long.)
better?
I mean how could anyone get tired of the woods and nature and no electronics??? (okay this girl doesn't get tired of it..not even a little.)
campfires.
camp coffee.
camp moon.
you get the gyst.

But we actually didn't camp as we'd had plans with Don & Mary (great friends of ours) for over a year to stay in a cabin in Itasca State Park. The headwaters of the Mississippi River. So here's a few mini-album shots from that trip. Amazingly perfect weather for 4 days, a stunning state park (also Minnesota's oldest) and we stayed in a renovated 80 year old cabin that used to be where people would check in to use the park back in the 40s and 50s up through the 70s.


the four of us outside the cabin just before departing for home..

we hiked to the top of the old fire tower.
because things like that are there to CLIMB.


we did it! (the wobbling at the top? not so awesome. so we took this quick and started heading back to at least a few stories down..)

now it's 9/9/09 which is good luck in China.
My 2nd marathon is in a month, NYC is in 53 days and then? I am going to retire from long distance running for a while. I'm rather burned out on running long long LONG miles.

But I just found an adult ballet class.
If it's anything like the I Love Lucy episode, I'm SO there :)