Christmas is the MOST WONDERFUL time of the year!

I love Christmas! I have always been way into the holidays... It is SSSOOOO much better when you have kids! My daughter (will be 5 in 2 weeks) just goes carzy with excitement. It is so wonderful to watch her, and soak up that PURE energy. Watching "The Polar Express" on Christmas Eve, and getting the milk, cookies for Santa, and carrots for the Raindeer. It is the best! Enjoying just being with your family is the GREATEST gift of all! It's a great time to reflect and be thankful for what you have.

"off season"

In this wonderful sport and lifestyle it's hard for us "type-A" personalities to take time off. I highly recommend it! I am fortunate enough to have been married for 10 years. In our society's current state, I am very proud of this accomplishment. We were lucky enough to get some time alone, and we went on our first cruise. It was great! Although I brought gear to do some "light" running...it never came out of my suitcase. I was a bit disappointed, but the more I thought about it I realized it no big deal. It has actually helped! I feel re-energized and ready to continue to work on maintaining a strong "base." If you can take a week off...relax, reflect, be thankful for what is in your life, and thankful you are able to participant in this great sport!

Winter Blows into Chicago

December 1, winter is officially here.... Training in the snow! Great times to run, (as long as it's not slippery) very peaceful. Great for mountain biking too. Good scenery! I look forward to a nice run later today. Happy shoveling!

"Playing Possum" - 112 miles in Madison

So, we are about 60 miles into the bike. I see a guy in front of me about 50 yards on a really nice Cervelo P3 (his number was 69). I see something come out of the woods, and this guy nails it! T-bones it! He hits it, locks up the back brake and rights himself and keeps going! It was a possum, and it probably weighed in at least 25 pounds. The possum lay there for about 5 seconds, and then got up, crossed off into the woods on the other side of the road. I rode extra hard up to him and said, “That was fuckin awesome!” In a French accent he asks me if I saw what happened, and I said, “yea, that was awesome…dude you hit a huge possum.” He asks me “what sort of species is this?” I tell him that it was a possum, and of it’s approximate size. He then tells me that his front Zipp wheel is out of "true" from the impact. That was one of the coolest things ever…to hit a possum at about 20+ MPH (slight downhill) and pull it off!!