Here We Go!

This morning, in the midst of other details and phone calls, I received a call from my wife. She was violently calm. She had just been told that there was a strong chance that our embassy date would be moved up by two weeks. (We are adopting two little girls from Ethiopia). "Should I buy tickets?"

I reminded her that we needed to have confirmation that our embassy date was in fact moved before rescheduling and buying airplane tickets. Many promises are made in the adoption process. About 20 minutes later, she called back. The new embassy date was confirmed. I was assigned the task of contacting the place of lodging there to move the date. Marty was assigned the task of rescheduling airline tickets and confirming one of the girl's birthdate.

By 3 this afternoon, everything is in place. Our good friend Lisa who is traveling with Marty is still able to go with Marty.

So, even though we have two fewer weeks to prepare, Marty is going to be back home with the girls before she would have even left.

Still, I am parenting for 10 days alone. Well, actually, Sponge Bob and McDonalds will be parenting for 10 days!

Meeting Our New Children

My eldest daughter spent two weeks in Ethiopia recently.

To read some great writing, read her blog. Right now she's writing about the experience of meeting her new sisters.

My Mom Reads My Blog Last

Usually one saves the best for last. Being last can be a badge of honor.

Not for me. I learned tonight (Marty was talking with my mom) that mom reads Marty's blog, then Emma's, and mine last.

She said it was because she is afraid to read mine.

Hi, Mom.

Full Moon River Run

The First Annual Full Moon River Run was a great success. We had 11 runners, 4 of whom might now be interested in coming to the dark side of ultra running. The distance turned out to be 16.2 miles, and when one traverses a distance on snow covered ice, the distance really needs to be multiplied by 1.7 to get an accurate distance.

Back row: Pete, Chris, Matt, Hank
Middle: Mike, Jeff, Marty, Joel
Front: Helen, Chris(Jake), Shawn

At 10pm, ten of us began running down the little trail behind the general store in Marine on St. Croix. Mike took an early lead as we headed north into the wind, looking for William O'Brien State Park. Crossing a little lake, we came to a running stream, and Helen stormed across a frozen patch. We navigated around open water by bushwhacking through a forested area, then through the boat landing area, and back onto the river. About 10 more minutes until we were at the northern tip of an island where we committed ourselves to a southerly run for the remainder of the evening.



It was here that I called Marty and told her to "up" the halfway meeting time. I was running back with Chris at a 9:15 min/mile pace, and up ahead I could not even see the front runners.

The group spread out for the next hour. I could tell by the footprints in the snow that everyone was following the group in front of them and that the front runners were running smart: staying close to the WI side, avoiding ice patches, using the snow mobile tracks only when they were advantageous, and cutting straight lines so as to minimize distances around river bends.

I caught up with Pete. It's been over a year since Pete and I have run together. We used to run once a week and put in 20 - 30 miles together at a time. It felt great to be running with my good friend again.

As we neared the halfway point, we heard voices from the left. Helen and Jake were plowing through a reedy area. They had gotten to the halfway point, turned around to run back to us, but had gone too far over to the WI side. (At this particular place in the St. Croix River, the river is a mile wide)

We gathered everyone* and headed up to the van where Marty waited. Helen drank her Red Bull, me my Coke, and we headed back down to the river to find Chris who was further behind. We found him, way past the halfway point. He said that he couldn't find where to get off so decided to just keep going - figured he'd eventually get to Stillwater! Wow.

*Hank and Mike didn't stop at halfway. Hank later said that it hurt too much to stop! Again, wow.

Well, Matt and Jeff took off first (Hank and Mike were actually first). Helen, Marty, and I then took off. Pete, Jake, Chris, and Shawn called it a night and drove the van back.

For a very short time, Marty and I ran with Helen. She is a gracious, running machine. Marty wanted me to take this photo to prove that she actually ran with Helen. I took two photos for extra proof!

Marty & Helen under the High Bridge

The remainder of the run was glorious: full moon, no need for lights, running with my wife, fighting the cold, savoring life, thankful to be living where we live.

Marty ran ahead of me for quite a while because I cramped up so badly. At the end, Helen, Jeff and Matt were waiting for us.

We pulled in to Stillwater at 1:36am. Still don't know when Hank and Mike finished. They did a great job for being so concerned about not being able to keep up!

Full Moon River Run - The Excitement Grows

As of today, there are 11 folks intending to run the first Full Moon River Run on Saturday night.

This will be a glorious 15 miles run, entirely on ice.

If you are still interested, please call me before Saturday. 612-805-6861.


Tonight, as Grace and I were taking out the trash, one of my fingers froze to the garbage can. It will be cold Saturday night. I may look for a better pair of running gloves tomorrow!

This Bitter Sweet Touch of Home

Emma arrived home yesterday from two weeks in Ethiopia. She is bearing up well in spite of being out of sync with time and being very sad as she thinks of all the folks she met, spent time with, and had to say goodbye to.

Emma's insight into her experiences and her responses to it are more grown up than her age.

Her blog is worth a read, especially right now.

Levi is a River Rat

Tonight, Levi and I drove up to Marine. We jumped on the river and ran north for about 15 minutes, then ran back to town and ran south for about 5 minutes.

Levi is a great little runner.

The river is frozen and getting more frozen. The moon was out. It started to snow. Emma is now home from Ethiopia. It has been a good day.