Here it goes

Welcome to my lil' blog about my outside adventures.  I am primarily starting this to keep record my trials and tribulations while training for marathons and other outdoor pursuits.  

I started running this year in early Spring and have not looked back.  What truly inspired me to start running was watching my girlfriend, Lindsey, run in the Minneapolis Marathon.   I had never seen anything like it before:  the personal trials, camaraderie, public support ... it was simply amazing.   So, I registered and ran the Twin Cities Marathon this past October and loved every moment of it.  I have been bitten by the marathon bug and now plan on running a few more over the next year.  I am currently training for the Austin Marathon this upcoming February ... have not registered for it though.

Well, for those of you that followed the news in the past few days, know that the midwest got its butt kicked by mother nature (map from MPR). Here in the

Twin Cities, we got a lot of snow the first few days but then on Xmas it switched over to ran which subsequently turned to ice.  This ice was just in time for my long run on Saturday.  I ran from my apt to the west bank and back (18 miles) and it was MISERABLE.  For much of the run I had to run on the road (not safe) because of all ice on the sidewalk and quickly ended up with wet shoes from breaking through the ice into the puddles of water below.  All and all, I am glad I got it done but it was a crummy run.

Today, I was up for a recovery run and decided to check out how the trails were around Lake Phalen. 
I happily surprised that about 90% of the trail was mostly ice free and had did two loops (~6.5 miles).  It was a good run.

Only five days until the Polar Dash.