Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Summer Revisited

With Labor Day being the unofficial end of summer, the time seems right for a recap of the summer's events...

Memorial Day Weekend - Tampa, Florida:
In January and February, I took the SCUBA certification class, but I still needed to do two certification dives. My options were to dive in Big Blue in Mason City in May (BRRR!!) or go dive somewhere else. I did NOT want to dive in an Iowa lake, so Laura and I decided to head to Florida and take care of it there. Laura was already going to Tampa for a conference the week after Memorial Day, so we just pushed the trip ahead a few days.

The plan was to arrive on Friday evening and dive on Saturday and Sunday mornings, then I would head home on Monday. The best laid plans... Laura's plane (we were on separate flights out of Des Moines) was delayed leaving DSM, missed her connection in Memphis (which happened to be the last flight out of Memphis that night), so she didn't get to Tampa until after my first dive was over. For reasons I still don't understand, she opted not to do her dives that weekend, but I finished my certification! And, we had a great time in Tampa, too!

June - Races and more races:
Dam to Dam is always one of my favorite races. It happens the first weekend in June and is the largest 20K race in the US. I ended up having a great race and PR'd. A really good way to start out the racing season.

Dam to Dam

The following weekend, I drove back up to Madison for the annual Ironman Epic Camp. This year the participation was sparse, but my good friend Terri had just moved to Madison, so we just turned it into a a fun time for the two of us. We rode 56 miles on Saturday and ran about 12 miles on Sunday. In between we ate some great food and just really enjoyed hanging out together.

Next up was the big event: the Hy-Vee Triathlon. It was one of the premier triathlons in the country this year and was held right in Des Moines. Besides the great age-group race, there were also ITU World Cup races for the pros that afternoon. This was roughly equal to having the Super Bowl in Des Moines. It was a VERY big deal. It was incredibly hot that day, and even the pros were going down. There is so much to tell about this great event, but the end result is that it went so well that next year the race will be an Olympic qualifier for Team USA! Too bad I'll be in Couer d'Alene...

My wave at the swim start of Hy-Vee

A couple pics of the Des Moines Tri Club after the race

Then, the following weekend was the Dutchman triathlon. Roehr was coming to town to participate, so I signed up at the last minute. A few days before the race, they announced that the water in the lake was too high (and contaminated) to swim in, so they changed it to a duathlon. The format was 5K run, 40K bike, and 10K run. I can honestly say it was one of the hardest races I've ever done. I was sore for a couple days after that. But, I did enjoy it enough to say I'll try another one next year!

The last weekend in June I didn't have to go anywhere or do anything (except lots of laundry to gear up for July!!

Fourth of July - the start of the travels:
Really, I didn't leave until the 5th of July, but whatever... I flew to San Diego for a conference for work. Let me just say that I loved San Diego! The weather is amazing and the part of town we were in was a ton of fun. The conference was great, and I managed to learn a lot, get some decent runs in, and eat lots of fish tacos!!

That Saturday, my good friend Danielle and her husband and 13 others from their church in Minnesota showed up in San Diego. I left the conference and joined up with them to prepare for our trip to Mexico the next day. There is a whole post on that trip, but let me just say again what a blessing to me it was to get to hang out with that amazing group of people and to serve that wonderful family in Mexico.

We spent a week in Mexico, then I came home to Iowa for some more serious laundry and more packing. Crystal came back to Iowa in the middle of that week and we set to packing for RAGBRAI. This was one of the best RAGBRAIs we've had yet - fun, relaxing, flat, you name it!

Again,the following week was spent cleaning, washing, drying, and re-packing again! The first weekend in August Crystal, Betsy, and I drove to Minneapolis to meet up with Sondra and Cara. The five of us (six, if you count baby Burkhart in Betsy's belly) climbed aboard a plane to South Carolina. We met up with Robin in Charleston and caravaned to Pawley's Island where Robin had rented a condo for the week. We spent four days going to the beach, reading books, shopping, eating, and generally trying to stay out of that oppressive heat and humidity! I'm a life-long Iowa girl, and I could not believe the heat and humidity of that place! Whoa!!

Crystal's Unofficial Bachelorette Party at the House of Blues


Back home in Iowa, we went to the State Fair on Thursday night (Gary Allan concert - VERY good!), Friday night (East-sider night), and again on Tuesday night (Dierks Bentley concert - also very good). It was another fun fair, but three nights was plenty for me.


Gary Allan

Sid and I at the Dierks Concert

No good pictures of Dierks on stage, but the truck was cool...

I finished my 2007 tri season with the 27th annual Big Creek Tri. It turned out to be a very hot day with most finishers' times a bit slower from last year. I can't be sure why no one thought of this earlier, but they had snow cones at the finish line this year. They were the perfect recovery treat right after crossing the finish line. So good, I had two! Another great way to recover after a hot race was in a tall, cold one. No, no beer at this event; the ice baths however looked quite refreshing!
Heading out for the run...

Post-race ice baths... ahh!


Since the fair ended, I have just been trying to get back in the swing of working again! This was a great summer - I got to travel so much and see so many great people and places, but it was exhausting, both physically and financially. I didn't do much of anything over Labor Day weekend and that was just fine with me!

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