Merry Christmas!

This is just a quick Merry Christmas post... It is also a post to acknowledge the 180 days to go mark for the big race.

Thankfully, Jenny has this as a rest week on the training calendar. It's not that I don't have any workouts, it's just that they are a little more flexible and allow for travel, family, and reflection on the past year and the holidays. It is a great time to have this flexibility since I am already a little stressed out about Crystal's upcoming wedding. There just seems to be so much to get done, and while I know we have plenty of time to do it, it's gonna be a lot of work!

At the last minute I decided to come home to the Quad Cities for Christmas. I rode over with Cam on Monday morning after we decided that the roads were cleared from the previous weekend's ice and snow storms. I was glad to get home in time to go to church with my parents. Mom was a big part of getting this church planted in Davenport, and on previous trips I'd not been able to go with her.

On Sunday night, I went to church with Cam and Michelle in Des Moines for a Christmas Eve Eve service. That was quite an experience as they were worshiping in their brand new, not-yet-finished auditorium. They figured that it would be a good dry-run with a couple hundred worshipers since this was a special service held in addition to all the other weekend services they usually hold. Instead, a couple thousand people showed up and packed the place to near over-flowing!

Both were really good services held by candle-light. What was great for me was to get the chance to experience the Christmas Story from a couple different perspectives - and they were even different from my own church. But regardless of how the story is told, the gift of Christmas still amazes me:

That God loves us enough to leave His throne and become one of us...
That He was born as a baby into a dirty, smelly barn rather than a triumphant entrance fit for a king...
That Jesus willingly came to earth, knowing that only persecution, torture, and death awaited Him...
That He did it for all of humanity, believers and unbelievers alike, but He would have done it just the same for me alone...

Merry Christmas.

Not to be Out-Done...

Not to be out-done by my cousins, I figured I'd better get on updating my blog.

It is only a few days until Crystal's wedding. There are a lot of fires to put out before then, and I am glad that I can act as a firefighter on her behalf. I'm sure she's feeling a little overwhelmed right now, but she really has everything under control; she just doesn't know it yet...

I went to North Carolina a couple weeks ago to check out Crystal's new digs in Salisbury and experience a little of the south. After taking off and touching down at the St. Louis twice in one day, I finally made it to Charlotte, where Crystal and Dana picked me up at the airport. We had a quick dinner, then headed north to get some rest before the half marathon that we were doing in the morning.

Sunday was shopping-palooza with Crystal's friend Heather. We did our share to strengthen the economy, and ate some pretty good chow while we were at it.

Around 9am on Monday we headed south again to rent some mountain bikes and hit the trails at the US National Whitewater Training Center. Although we were very much beginners on a more intermediate course, we still did well and no one broke anything during the ride. After a little investigating, we found the locker rooms and showers at the Center, then a great little place to have lunch. This looked like quite the spot. I think I could come back and spend at couple of days at this one place trying out all the activities. It certainly didn't hurt that the temps were into the upper 70's and lower 80's all weekend, too!

Of course, we followed that up with some more shopping...

The weather back home in Iowa was freezing rain/snow/sleet/crap on Tuesday, so rather than spend the day and night in the St. Louis airport, I called the airline and switched my flight to Wednesday. That meant another glorious day in 80 degrees and my flip-flops rather than sliding through the ice.

Right before I left for the south, Team Vardo held its annual end-of-season banquet. We ate, drank, and had a very merry time recalling all the adventures of the team in 2007. Between the photo slideshow, the white elephant gift exchange, and the pre-recorded message from Stephen Hawkin, I was left nearly speechless. Alas, I did end up making a little speech about the history of the team and how much it meant to me, but it is hard to put into words what this strange little compilation of folks has meant to me.

I was also celebrating the fact that five days previous I had completed my EMT class. We ended with our practical exam. Practicals always cause me to break out into a cold sweat, and this one was no different. As it turns out, I had little to be nervous about. But it sure does feel good to be done!!

I am looking so forward to having all many of my girlfriends in town for the wedding next week. We welcomed a new baby (Harrison Burkhardt) into "the Clique," and I've got to tell you, this is one very cute kid. Poor guy doesn't know what he is in for when the girls get their hands on him!