Pending Retirement

 Eck, in just 15 months, I will be "retired."  That seems hard to believe and I'm struggling with how to feel about it. On one hand, I'm terrified and anxious, on the other, I'm curious to see if there is life on the other side. If I can make a life beyond MWU and my current place in the world. 

Here is my plan: Retire March 1st, 2027, then head out on a round-the-world bikepacking trip on about March 15th. That way, I can avoid actually thinking about being retired and about how depressed I am!  

This coming March, I will do a trial run on my new bike (see photo), riding from just south of LA back home to Chicago.  This will give me a chance to see if I have what it takes, as well as help figure out what more I need and tweak all my equipment and training. Here is my tentative route, but I'm really only going to map-out a few days in advance since its too hard to plan long term given the scale of the trip, weather, unforeseen circumstances, and my fickle body! Not to mention bike trouble. 🤞

  

Florida- the last visit

So sad to say goodbye to Fort Pierce, FL.  Erin and Joe are moving, but we had a blast with them for a final time in FP!  Spent lots of time with Kim, Carly, Sydney, Erin, and Joe, as well as Kya and Scott. 

Carly took us fishing and we caught enough for two nights of fish dinners. Kids swam every day, and the weather was awesome.  Hard to come back to snow and ice here.  Such a unique place and I have so many great memories of trips there!

Goodbye Fort Pierce!😥

Kids 23rd B-day and Thanksgiving, 2025

I can't believe L & M turned 23!  Just too hard to accept.  They have turned into the most wonderful people, kind, smart, motivated, athletic, and beautiful!  So proud of both of them!!!

These are some photos from their B-day celebration. Lance was out of town on their actual B-day so I included one from our Comedy night to see Ronnie Chang. Hillarious!  

Perdue Half-marathon

So, so proud of Mikaely for all she does and the upstanding person she is! We drove to Lafayette, IN this past weekend to watch Mik run the Perdue half. She set a goal to not stop and run faster than 9:30 per mile pace and did just that. She looked great the whole way and ran it at a 9:15 pace. 

Then we went out for bagels, then the farmers market, then ended up at the “No Kings” March! Crazy busy 24 hours! But so much fun!

Chicago marathon #21 in the books

 Marathon went well this year. 3:16 and 7th in 65-69 age group! Also really fun because Lance and Diana came to watch and I got to see them at mile 24, the most grueling part of the course. Also saw lots of PT students at finish line. Beautiful day to run and overall fun race! 

Chicago marathon 2025

Feels like I’ve been away from the marathon for years but it’s only been two years. Still I’m really excited to run again. Diana came across this bold Chi Marathon bib from 25 years ago. Not sure if I was rolling around in the dirt during the race but it’s filthy! 

But I’m also nervous. I’ve really lost my edge over the last year. Hopefully I’ve got one more of these in this aging body! 

Lance’s friend, Matt Gollins is running and Lance will be coming to watch,, so that will be really fun! 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼🏃🏼‍♂️‍➡️🏃🏽‍♂️🏃🏃🏻‍➡️🏃🏽‍♂️

Back to MN

 Last weekend was really fun. Diana, Mik, and I went back to St. Paul, MN for a Mac Women's Soccer game. We drank lots of Dunn Bros coffee, had good meals at classic MN restaurants, and nice workout on the trails and around the many lakes. Sadly, Mac lost, but it was great to see some of the players I recalled from last year and Mik had a fun reunion.  

Here we are after the game

Mik with her coach (they're now besties!)

Apple picking

I love that area!  

Triathlon Age Group Nationals 2025

Fun time with Diana in Milwaukee, WI this past Saturday.

The race was fun but difficult. The swim was no-wetsuits and I swam particularly slow. The good thing is my watch glitched and I couldn't see my swim time, so I thought it was ok. That ended up being good becuase I didn't get discouraged right out of the gate. Bike went well and I had fast transitions. My run was the fastest of the age group even though that was pretty slow too (7.2 min/mile). But it was really hot (high 80s and humid).  Ended up 6th in age group.  

Best part was our Italian dinner the night before in a cute restaurant

, then good coffee after the race at Anodyne Coffe Co.    

Fun LiveAid 40th Anniversary Party

 Diana and I had fun at our friend's "40th Anniversary LiveAid Concert" party and dress-up.  Here we are as Bob Dillon and Madonna.  

Rockford 70.3

 This may have been my last IM race. Still not sure, but I don't know what next year will look like and I don't want to commit to another one right now. Yesterday's race was a tough one!  Thankfully Diana and Mik drove out to watch and caught part of the bike and the run. I was so out of it at the end of the run, I past right by the turn off to the finish. Mik saved me by running me down a few block into an extra lap.  I had to run back against traffic, but finished!  It was in the upper 90s with a heat index of 110 degrees!  I'm toast today. 

 Followed my coach, Liz's advice and swam in the middle of the river, hugging the buoys. This paid off: good swim time, 35 min! Somehow still won my age group too. Difficult but kind of  a fun day (I guess)! Will I miss this if this was the last one?  I think so.