Category Archives: Highlights

January 2011

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Here is a sad looking chart from the past month of my running.

Read 12 books with a variety of topics, genres, and styles. I was on a roll and finished two books this month.  First was the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin on my Kindle and the second was The Confession by John Grisham in hardcover.  Grisham’s book as most was easy to read and captivating.  Its a compelling story that lays out a case against the death penalty.  Franklin’s autobiography was free for my Kindle and I thought it would be ineresting to read more about him.  Probably not one of his finest works, it still lays out a lot of good thoughts and information.  I learned a lot about his life and some of his pursuits. One of the doctors Christy works with recommended Benjamin Franklin by Walter Issacson.

Complete a Triathlon Square Lake Short Course, September 10. 0.5 Mile Swim 16.5 Mile Bike 5 Mile Run. I’ve been running a little, as you can tell.  I’ve done one bike workout.  My plan is to slowly add bike and swim workouts into my training schedule and by mid-summer start full on training.

Finish this YouVersion devotional plan (Bible Study). So far so good.  It really only takes a minute or two and I leave the site up in the browser.  The harder part is actually contemplating or thinking about the “deeper thought” presented.

Make a substantial change to one of my programs at work Still trying to figure out specifically what this means.

Blog Regularly Since I quit doing Project 365 this year that is one less thing to worry about.  It has been hard to keep up with the photo blog for Nadia, mostly just because we don’t have as much time with her as we did when she was first born. We are still trying to capture pictures of her in every outfit, but now that she’s wearing 3-6 month outfits she has a ton of those so it is hard to keep track! I feel like I’m doing a good job on here and have pretty much given up on my personal blog.

Learn how to use my digital camera and experiment with its features. Since I’ve been riding the bus I’ve had more opportunities to take random pictures that would have been good for Project 365. I took my camera out to this past weekend’s Art Sled Rally.  It was sunny and snowy, so I used the “snow” mode on my camera.

The most viewed post of January 2011, Curing Plantar Fasciitis.  8 of the top 10 keyword searches that resulted in traffic to my site had plantar fasciitis in them.  Strangely, Kirk Walztoni was number 6. He’s a popular guy.

Looking Back at 2010

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Last run of 2010Here is a look back at some of the goals I set for myself coming into 2010.  You never know what awaits you when the new year starts.  Who knew that I’d have a beautiful daughter? Or that I’d get Lyme’s disease?  Those would be the two biggest highlights of my year.  Putting together a Ragnar Relay team and finishing it was quite an accomplishment, especially given my injury.  I still haven’t eradicated Plantar Fasciitis, but it feels pretty good most days.

In 2010 I ran only 255 miles and completed one race – Ragnar.  However, I rode 1,300 miles on my bike, including commuting miles.  I swam 9,229 meters (approximately) which is 5.7 miles of swimming. I snow-shoed a few times, skied once, and aqua jogged to round out my cross training!

Run Around All Named Bodies of Water in Minneapolis

Being injured for a good chunk of the year and having a baby really messed up my running this year. I ran about 255 miles this year, not counting aqua jogging.   Shoot, I only ran 1 race. So, I didn’t come close.   I’m going to put this on the back burner for 2011 and maybe try again in 2012.

Read the Entire Bible in a Year

I finished up and read through all 66 books of the Bible.  I fell behind a lot, but this year’s plan allowed for at least 5 days each month to catch up. You can find the plan here.  Reading through this way means I saw new things, but you also go fairly fast through a lot. A lot of days I also was just reading to get it done, not really to study.  For 2011 I’m going to do a different study plan through YouVersion.com

Read a Book a Month

While some months I didn’t finish a new book, others I read several and made up for it.  I read a total of 13 books (if you count the Bible).  The last one I finished on my Kindle.  These books are in no particular order.

  1. In A Sunburned Country
  2. The Associate
  3. The Expectant Father: Facts, Tips and Advice for Dads-to-Be
  4. On Becoming Babywise: Giving Your Infant the Gift of Nighttime Sleep
  5. The Perfect Mile
  6. Enjoying Prayer
  7. Born to Run
  8. A Walk in the Woods
  9. In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership
  10. Cause Wired
  11. The Bible
  12. Muslims, Christians, and Jesus
  13. Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World

I’m going to do this again for 2011.  I liked the pressure forcing me to find time to read.  I’m going to add a different dimension and try to read a greater variety/diversity of books.  Do you have titles that I should add to my list? I’m also going to try to balance reading books on my Kindle and “real” books.  I downloaded 20 free books to my Kindle and I have a ton of hardcopy books that I need to read.

Blog Regularly

I started out really well and then things fell apart this fall.  Oddly, this blog turned into almost just a picture blog. I hope you enjoyed the pictures! I’m surprised at how well I did on the 365 picture blog.  I know that I missed one day completely and a couple of days I took pictures but they were so bad I couldn’t post them.  Hopefully, next year will provide more opportunities.  I’m not sure what I’ll do in 2011.  I want to keep blogging, so I’ll figure something out.

How did you do on your 2010 goals? What do you have planned for 2011?

Happy Memorial Day & May Update

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Today we celebrate Memorial Day, honoring our military men and women who died in battle and marking the unofficial beginning of summer.

Summer came early with many hot, hot days in Minnesota. We’ve already had a handful of days in the upper-80’s and 90’s. I go back on the 1st for my follow-up on Lyme Disease and hopefully permission to run again and that my body is disease free.  I just watched a video about Bart Yasso, Comrades, and Lyme Disease. I haven’t really been doing much besides biking for workouts and frankly a 3 mile ride to work isn’t much of a workout.  But this past week I biked almost 28 miles.  I was going to aqua jog on Tuesday night, but the pool was full and the lady said I couldn’t aqua jog, but I could join her water aerobics class.  I did and actually got a pretty good core workout.

Monthly miles –

Biking – 134 miles

Run Around All Named Bodies of Water in Minneapolis

This whole not being able to run thing is still cramping my style on this one.

Read the Entire Bible in a Year

Another good month.  Almost half-way through.

Read a Book a Month

I didn’t start a new book until last weekend, so it was a good thing that it was short.  It was actually a thought provoking read. Henri Nouwen has written a lot of though provoking books, this month was In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership.

Blog Regularly

Now that we’ve been getting our CSA again, I’ve been at least posting a picture of that on my personal blog.  I’ve struggled to have the free time to keep this blog updated, even though it just celebrated its 3rd birthday! My 365 blog is still going strong. It is a creative challenge some days when I realize at the end of the day I haven’t taken a picture yet.  My hyperlocal Midtown Phillips News blog is still going well.  I’d like to have the free-time to develop it some more, but it is good. I was told it was too conservative for our neighborhood – which is odd since it is mostly aggregating news from other sources!

Treatments for Plantar Fasciitis is back in the most popular post for the month by almost twice as much.  Google blows away all other referral sources!

This week’s ONE POST is It’s time for… (a discussion about shoes).

Lyme Disease & April’s Thoughts

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Lyme Disease.  That is my my final diagnosis for my knee.  When my sports doctor got back from a conference the final results from my blood work had arrived and showed that I had a confirmed case of Lyme Disease.  This is the dreaded thing ticks carry.  We aren’t sure when I actually contracted it, but I never had the tell-tale rash and being a runner Lyme Disease wasn’t an obvious choice.  So now I’m on a month-long course of antibiotics.  Assuming they work I should return to normal life.  I didn’t realize this but Bart Yasso has chronic Lyme Disease.  Obviously the knee has helped set the tone for the month.  I logged 68 miles on the bike, most of which are commuting miles and did a 3 mile test run.  Hopefully by the end of May I’ll be running again.

This weekend I went backpacking with a friend at Jay Cooke State Park.  We had a good time hiking and exploring. Last year Jay Cooke was our final run of mancation and hiking there brought back some memories from then!

I’ve set a few random goals for the year:

Run Around All Named Bodies of Water in Minneapolis

This whole not being able to run thing is really cramping my style on this one.

Read the Entire Bible in a Year

Another good month.  Mark is a really small book, but they’ve spread it out over 2 months!

Read a Book a Month

I read Cause Wired which is about the digital revolution and the social (philanthropic) sector. It combines two of my favorite non-running topics – social media and the nonprofit/social justice realm. I received it free for taking part in the Blog Action Day Against Poverty.

Blog Regularly

I haven’t posted since March 10 on my personal blog (I hope it isn’t dying).   I posted regularly on here and that’s more important for you!   I continue to do well on my Project 365 (taking and posting 1 picture a day). I’ve almost forgotten to post a picture and have actually forgotten to post the picture I took, but I’ve taken a picture (some better than others)!

Other things of note… Things have been really good but very busy.  We’ve gotten some yard work done and ended up doing more landscaping than we’d planned on.  I was getting a little tired of looking at weeds in the “flower beds,” our yard is full of dandelions and I’m pretty sure my one neighbor hates it.  Sorry! One of the things I did was buy a hanging plant, sadly a bird created a nest in it and destroyed the flower, but there are pretty little Robin eggs in it!

The most popular post for the month is my more up to date Curing Plantar Fasciitis which finally outstripped the older Treatments version.  One a side note, I still have PF.

This week’s ONE POST is about Recovery and Detraining after a big race.

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Thoughts on March

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March 2010 is the first time the Twin Cities hasn’t had snow in March since 1878. The month ended with temps in the 70’s.

March barely surpassed January (18 miles) for total running mileage with a sad 19 miles for the entire month.  I can’t seem to get a break on injuries.  Who would have thought that my knee would randomly swell up? I was doing pretty well at the beginning and was going to step up the mileage.  I did get the bike out for a total of 20 miles, a quick swim, and some very easy cross-country skiing round out the month.

I’ve set a few random goals for the year:

Run Around All Named Bodies of Water in Minneapolis

I didn’t add any new bodies of water.

Read the Entire Bible in a Year

This was a much better month.  It was actually fitting to finish reading Matthew during Holy Week.

Read a Book a Month

I finished two this month. I actually finished the Enjoying Prayer book that I started in February. I had started reading another book but was getting bored by it and we happened to stop in Magers & Quinn and I got several running books including Christopher McDougall’s  Born to Run. I finished it, so look for a book review coming soon.

Blog Regularly

I only posted 3 times at my personal blog.  I posted regularly on here and that’s more important for you!   I continue to do well on my Project 365 (taking and posting 1 picture a day). I also started a new “hyperlocal” news blog for my neighborhood.  It is more of a news aggregator than a publisher of new content.

Other things of note… I found out that my position at work will be funded again for next year, so that is good news. We’ve really tried to get outside as much as possible, though its been a little hard being gimpy but we had our first picnic.  Sadly, we had to cancel our first camping trip of the year due to my knee. It didn’t make sense to go camping and hiking when I couldn’t really walk normally.  So that was sad.

The most popular post for the month continues to be Treatments of Plantar Fasciitis! Actually, so far for 2010 this post has double the visits as any other (except for visits to my home page).

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