Can't let there only be one post for February

I can't believe that it will be March tomorrow, it seems like Christmas was just two weeks ago... man, time flies when you are old. I remember when we were little that a school year took forever, but now the years just fly by, man are we getting old.

We have been staying pretty busy lately. We had some great dinners with our friends. We ran the last of our Winter Series races, I did a 10K and Mikey did a 20K. Maybe we will be ready for our Half/Full Marathons in May at this rate! A short note about the race, it was windy. Really windy. Wind tunnel windy. At times we'd be running full speed ahead, only to barely move at all. Fortunately it wasn't snowing and it wasn't really cold, so I guess we'll take it. Here is a picture of Mikey finishing his 20K.

Then this last weekend we did go to dinner in Denver for their Restaurant Week called $52.80. It is pretty neat thing where a bunch (over 100) nice restaurants in Denver and surrounding areas offer a special menu for 52.80 (get it, 5280 feet!) per couple. We went to an Italian restaurant and had a great time and some pretty good food. It might have been really good food, except that our reservation wasn't until 8:30, which meant we got the main course over an hour later and didn't eat dessert until about 10:00. Did I mention that we are old now? Anyway, I snapped a picture of our dinner and then had one of Mikey and I taken! Hopefully we'll write more in March!

Time Flies

Well, It has been what seems like a month since we wrote a blog, sorry, just not much has been going on. We have just been passing colds back and forth and running in the snow and working. Being sick has really taken a toll on our so called training, we both have not been running nearly as much as we were a few weeks ago. It is a little scary to think we are both not nearly ready for our races, but it is a good thing that we have two more months to get there. Here is a picture from the last race we ran, which was just kind of horrible. There was anywhere from 3 to 10 inches of snow on the trail at all times!

Other than all that stuff, we have just been working and hanging out with friends and family. We have had a few snow storms in the last few weeks, nothing super horrible, but there was an accident on our street where someone hit an electric box so we didn't have power for about two hours. And the cop even blocked off the little hill the suv slid down. It was a lot of excitement for us during all the cold snow.

We did make some homemade granola bars, we have to keep up our hippy-ness. They turned out pretty well, I especially like our cherry, white chocolate, almond granola bars. And for Valentine's Day we made some delicious chicken pasta by Giada. It was great.

We also have been trying to get stuff together for our trip to Europe!! We can't wait!! We have all the reservations done and a good list of things we want to do and see, but we are just waiting for it to actually get here!

Running Against the Wind

Well, we have another week of marathon/half marathon training behind us, and after last Tuesday's run, I am pretty sure I will be going to the gym to run if I think it might be the slightest bit cold or windy!

We went for a four mile run after work and we were hoping to make it back home before the sun went down... well we didn't. As soon as the sun disappeared behind the mountains the wind picked up and it was freezing. It felt like running in cold water. It was so cold, well not freezing or anything, but it was so cold the whole front side of my body turned red (even under my running pants and two long sleeve shirts). I was just about over a cold I had for a few days, but I think that running in the wind made it really mad at me. After I got home I was exhausted. I think I never wanted to run again!

Wellll... then Mikey came up with his plan to run on Saturday so I felt compelled to go for a run too. It was nothing like Mikey's run, he did 19.5 miles. He ran from Palmer Lake all the way into Colorado Springs, just a few miles away from our house. I keep telling him that he is nuts, but he is one impressive nut that I am really proud of. So my run was only about 5 miles and the weather was perfect! The sun was out and it was 55 degrees, and it was only 9:30 in the morning! So, I think I will just have to suck it up and go to the gym when it is cold and dark outside and wait for spring to bring more 55 degree weather days around!

Besides the running, and the cold that I am now really almost over, not much has been going on... we are just enjoying the -12 degrees outside tonight! I will not be going running outside anytime soon! BUT we are still working on planning our trip to Europe! We have reservations in London, Paris and Istanbul and we are getting really excited to see everything across the pond! I bought a tripod so I can take awesome night pictures of Eiffel Tower, I am a bit excited to see it!

Istanbul not Constantinople!!

We're going to Europe!! We booked our tickets and are heading to London, Paris, and Istanbul! The plan is to spend about four days in each city! We can't wait! We are trying to figure out everything that we want to see while we are there. Any suggestions?? I am sure we will probably hit all the major tourist attractions... like the Tower of London, the London Bridge, Big Ben, The Globe Theater, St. Paul's, the Louvre, THE EIFFEL TOWER, Notre Dame, maybe Versailles, maybe Stonehenge, the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sofia (Ayasofia). But really, I am still thinking about seeing the Eiffel Tower!

While there I am sure we will be walking around to wherever we can get on foot. Besides all the walking, we also are going to be doing a lot of running while we are there, because we are officially in TRAINING! We have our half marathon and marathon the week after we get back from Turkey, and I am getting a little nervous about having to run for 2 and half hours (that's my goal). We found a place to stay by Hyde Park in London so we can run around there to keep up the training, and we even found a running tour in London that we were thinking about doing, but it is a little too pricey for a jog around town. I know that we are going to have to do a lot of laundry while traveling otherwise we are going to have some smelly clothes!

So, I guess people might be a little curious about why we are going to Istanbul... it turns out that our friends Andy and Pam are going to be at a conference in another town in Turkey and they are going to be ending their trip with a stop in Istanbul and we are going to meet them there! We are really looking forward to spending some time in the only city that is on TWO continents with some great friends! Mikey is really looking forward to eating lots of lamb and I am looking forward to finding lots of hummus!

Well we have been singing this song for about a week now, so I thought maybe you would want to sing it with us!

The Christmas Story

Well no one got a Red Rider BB gun, but we did have a wonderful time with our families to celebrate Christmas... seeing how it was almost a month ago, this should be a quick update...

We spent Christmas Eve with Mikey's family and had a fantastic day filled with delicious fondue, presents, a movie and more fondue! We were all stuffed and excited about our new goodies! Here is a picture of Jo Ann with her wonderfully wrapped present from Zakie-poo. And then there is a picture of Mikey surrounded by all his presents!

Then we spent Christmas Day with my family at my parents house. We had a delicious turkey dinner for lunch and then snacks for the rest of the day. We played Trivial Pursuit and I think everyone who wasn't working on a puzzle took a nap. We had another great day of family. Here is a picture of Amanda showing Breckin his first homemade quilt from Mom. It has turtle's on it! And then there is a picture of Jim and Breckin while waiting to open presents!

It's Going to be COLD!

I just thought I would share with you our forecast for the next two days... I think we will be celebrating the New Year from home under a big pile of blankets with the -7 degree forecast coming our way! Hope everyone has a safe New Year's Eve! And we will post a Christmas update soon, I am just sure of it!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone!!! We hope you all have a great day with family and friends! And we hope that you have been good all year long and Santa brings you everything you asked for instead of coal! Here are a few more pictures from Mikey's Christmas party and our Christmas tree!