The Rivalry Run

Our friend Wade started the Domestic Violence Protection Services Agency, a non-profit which provides protection services to battered women who are transitioning out of abusive environments. As a fundraiser, he and his wife Abbey put on a 5K race called the Rivalry Run. We ran it this past Saturday while we were in KC. They did a fantastic job and it was a great event.

Post Race at Johnny's Tavern for beer and breakfast.

Pre Race close up.

The whole gang. Love these guys!

The 2 step

Christina taught Chris how to two step last night. Chris was a dancing machine!

Kansas City

We are in Kansas City this weekend. I also found a way to take sepia pictures on my phone. This pic was taken at KCs largest honkey tonk called Denim and Diamonds. We had a blast!

KERF

I have a health coach through work. The past 10 weeks I have been working on my nutrition. My health coach suggested the food blog Kath Eats Real Food to get healthy food ideas:
katheats.com

I really like it. Its a sort of food pictorial.

el Scorcho

I was ironing a dress for work. The tag simply said "dry clean" (should have been a red flag) and some linen/cotton blend percentages. I was ironing away since anything linen is a wrinkle-fest, when all of a sudden I noticed a really nice scorch mark right on the front of the dress. Uh oh.

Google to the rescue! I ran downstairs, entered "iron burns on clothes" and had my answer in 0.18 seconds. So, here is what you do in case this ever happens to you:

Dampen a washcloth with peroxide.
Place the dampened washcloth over the scorch mark.
Iron lightly over the washcloth.
Voila! Scorch mark gone.

I continued to iron the dress, but turned the setting down from linen/cotton.

Golf Lessons

My boss told me I need to learn to golf. I would ask for work to pay for lessons, but I knew that would be out of the question with all of our administrative cost cutting. So, I am taking the cheap group golf lesson route and tonight was my second lesson of four. We are learning with a 7 iron. Next week we move to woods (metals). I am borrowing clubs from the golf pro since I don't have my own.

Tuesday we learned set up and grip, tonight we focused on swing and follow through. My instructor says she really likes my form, but it is very deliberate, and I need to speed up my swing pace in order to gain more distance. Tonight I estimate I was driving ~60 yards. Not bad considering a week ago, I was mostly hitting grounders, and my swing is SLOW. I do feel improved.

Now I am looking into buying clubs. A Women's set with added length is recommended by my instructor. I think a half set of clubs should do for now. I also need to find people to golf with. I suppose it would help to have friends in CO or UT. I miss my KC girl friends - they were all golfers.

Tour of Utah Prologue

Today after work I walked up to the State Capitol to watch a little of the Tour of Utah prologue. George Hincapie and Levi Leipheimer are in the tour this year. I didn't get to see them, had to leave early for my golf lesson (had a great lesson, by the way). The prologue results are here. There is a criterion in Park City on Saturday. The tour ends at Snowbird Resort on Sunday.

The Start.


Warming up.

Quinoa Pudding

I made a variation of this recipe this weekend: I omitted butter, subbed Truvia for sugar, added cinnamon and nutmeg, and used skim milk instead of whole milk.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 3/4 cup quinoa
• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• salt to taste
• 1/2 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Rinse and drain the quinoa. Bring water and quinoa to a boil in a saucepan over high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat.
2. Blend together the milk, bananas, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a blender or food processor until smooth. Pour the milk mixture into the saucepan with the quinoa.
3. Place the pan over medium heat. Cook and stir until the mixture becomes thick and creamy, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir in the butter and vanilla and serve warm.

Reflecting Pool at Temple Square

We are out enjoying the nice evening with a stroll. Erica is wearing short shorts and a tank. We are also drinking sodas. We are hoping that is enough to keep the "suits" aka missionaries away from us while we are here. We are too far gone to be saved!!

Public Service Announcement

Don't forget your sunscreen!

Utah Swimming & Diving & Biking

Here we are overlooking the University of Utah Natatorium

Tooling around at the U

It is hard to tell, but that is a waterfall in the background. We also saw the marching band, color guard, and drum line practicing while we were out.

Welcome to Beervana!

To continue with the beer theme, we headed on over to The Bayou for dinner. Over 250 beers served here !!!

Chris in Heaven

We finally made it to Epic Brewing! Spiral Jetty IPA, Hopulent IPA, Capt'n Cromptons Pale Ale, Intermountain Wheat, and Wit Bier are in our future.

Cutting the Cable

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! No more cable TV! No more DVR! How will we survive!!!

We got rid of cable TV in Colorado. So far Chris has survived for two nights. We have Netflix to stream movies and TV shows. We have our nooks to read. And we have the great outdoors to explore!

I think we will be OK.

The Power of Rugby

Rugby is a rough game, but can sometimes teach life lessons. As Jeff Glor reports, competing in this sport isn't a problem for some young men and women with no shortage of heart.

More Wild West Relay!

Erica starting her first leg

Chris finishing his second leg.

Waiting to start a night run.

Chris on his second leg.

So, What's a Trunk Monkey Anyway?

Our relay team was called the Trunk Monkeys. We got asked about this A LOT during the race. This video should clear it up:

Back to the Fort

We left Steamboat at 10am. Back home and time to do laundry!

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The Finish Line

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Finished!

Our van finished the relay so we headed into Steamboat Springs. Enjoying the patio at The Rio. Meeting the other half of the team at the race finish line around 2pm
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4am ready to run!

We "slept" for a few hours at a high school where we were able to grab a shower.

Chris ran 10 miles total yesterday, Erica ran 14. Chris last leg is 6 miles. Erica 4.

Chris is the next to run out of our van. He says he feels good. Erica's legs are tired and sore. Hoping icy hot and stretching will come to the rescue.
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Stormy

Thunderstorm complete with rain and hail. Passed through just in time for Chris to start his second leg. He has a 1200 foot climb over 5.4 miles. He is running now.
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Chris started the race at 7am

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Today We are Running the Wild West Relay

12 team members each run 3 legs. Chris runs the first leg and starts us off in Fort Collins at 7am. Our team runs around the clock and will end in Steamboat Springs around 2pm on Saturday.

Course Fly Over

Andy Samberg and Adam Levine (Maroon 5) serenade Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Thought it fitting to post this since Mahmoud was in the news today.

Jamba Juice on the course

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Golf Cart

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Alpine Home Medical Golf Outing

Work does not suck today!!!
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Corporate Games

This summer I am participating in Salt Lake County Corporate Games. Companies of all sizes compete in over 30 events for the coveted Corporate Cup. Over 50 companies compete.

I am on the Volleyball team and the Go-Kart team. Tonight was the first night of volleyball. We lost our first set and won our second. More volleyball action next Monday.

Winging It

Chris found this wing in the Fort Collins yard while mowing. The feathers will make a beautiful homemade duster. With the feathers gone all we need is a little wing sauce and dinner is served.