Marathon Support Crew - Brady

Well. I've got it bad. I watched that stupid video Kelly posted of the Chicago Marathon and now I wish I was running it.  (I also just read this super inspiring book Born to Run that my dad gave me for my birthday, and that's not helping things.) I want to sign up for another marathon asap, but I might hold out for Chicago next year. 

In the meantime, I'm making it my business to be super fan #1. From my own experience racing, I know how awesome it is to be cheered for, even by strangers. I remember once Kevin's dad came out to bring the two of us Gatorade during a training run around Lake Wawasee, and I almost cried when I turned the corner and saw him. And sometime you should ask Kevin how he feels about the store Target (they had encouraging signs at the halfway point during Grandma's Marathon, and I think they made him a customer for life). 

Two weekends ago my sisters had an 18 mile training run on the schedule. I decided to bike down to their turnaround point (way down near 30th street on the Lake Shore Trail) with snacks, water, Body Glide, all the essentials. I was also able to meet up with them on their way back, about 4 miles from the end of their run, and then again when they were d.o.n.e.

Here are some pictures from the day:

Waiting for my sisters at the nine-mile turnaround. With supplies. 

Waiting...

Here they are! Looking fabulous after an hour and a half of running! 

Meeting point #2.

Here comes Amy to the finish line! 18 miles done! 

Time for brunch!

Only a few more weeks until the big day. Can't wait, ladies! I'll be living vicariously through you.

Excuses, excuses... - Kelly

I could give a million excuses for why I've been so absent on the blog recently, but instead I'll just share three...

1)  I've been training for this:



2)  I've been spending lots of hours getting used to my new team and responsibilities here:

3)  I've been enjoying an active, adventurous summer you can read more about here, here, and settling in here.

Next time I won't stay away so long. :)

I'm back! - Brady

I think I can say that I'm 100% back to running normally now. A couple of weeks ago, I signed up for my first race since my broken ankle. The Hot Chocolate 15K on November 4th. A 15K is about 9 miles. I figured this would be a challenging distance to work up to post-injury, but not super intimidating and that training wouldn't take over my life. Plus, I really love this race. The cold weather...the hot chocolate waiting for you at the end...the great swag they give you.

(Does anybody want to run this with me, by the way? As of now I'm flying solo, which is fine, but I'd love some company!)

I started my training today. Previously, I'd run up to 4 miles, so I figured two months before the race I'd start adding one mile to that per weekend and then do some shorter runs during the week. Today I reluctantly headed out for a five mile run. And I killed it. I averaged about 9 minutes, 50 seconds per mile, in the humidity, after having a couple of drinks last night. This is as good or better running than I was doing a year ago, before I got hurt. Although it was sweaty, hard, and I'm still rocking a beet red face, I felt no real pain during the workout (although I'll be stiff tomorrow in my ankle, I have no doubt).

Whoo hoo! Now we just have to get Kevin well.

Birthday Week in Michigan - Brady

We celebrated Kevin's 30th birthday in San Francisco. For mine, I wanted to be able to spend time with lots of family, so we rented a cottage in Union Pier, Michigan for a week. (As fun as it's all been, I think our finances are ready for a non-milestone birthday year.)

It was a true vacation. (Except that we both worked a little - Kevin even went into the city two days.) We didn't rush around, and cloudy weather gave us a great excuse to sleep in and do a whole lot of nothing. Just lots of relaxing, bike rides and runs, some fun dinners at Brewster's, Timothy's, and the Red Arrow Roadhouse, a Sunday barbecue with family, and some overnights with friends and siblings throughout the week.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the week.

Kevin's dad took this picture of the two of us at the beach. 

The Whistle Stop Grocery. My mom gave me a gift card to spend here, so I bought a vanilla candle to take home as a souvenir. (Also, I had to get some of their amazing coffee while I was there, of course.) 

Breakfast on the beach.

Campfire on the beach! My favorite night.

My cocktail at Journeyman Distillery - rye, lemon, and simple syrup. We also went wine tasting at Round Barn Winery. 

It's not vacation without lots and lot of ice cream. 

I made multiple trips to David's in New Buffalo. This particular stop was with my mom after walking from Union Pier to New Buffalo on the beach. We sat on their back patio where they have a ping pong table and lots of seats in the shade.  

Our walkway down to the beach.

Our cottage. 

Sunrise.

Sunset.

Summer Fun and Slacker Sisters - Brady

Well, my two sisters must be too busy having summer fun to post on this blog. But don't worry, I'm here to share my own adventures with you.

Here's what I've been up to.

- Kevin is still hurt, still on crutches. He sees the doctor again on August 20th and might be able to put weight on his foot at that point. We shall see.

- I turned 30! Yikes! When did that happen? Where did all those years go? I had a lovely day. You can see pictures by clicking here. I took a nice sunrise bike ride by Lake Michigan, went to a yoga class, had a study date at a favorite coffee shop, and finished it all up with dinner at The Pump Room with Kevin. The next day, Friday, I headed to Second City with some family and friends and then out to drinks across the street. And then Saturday I had dinner in La Porte with my parents and donuts the next morning with my grandparents. AND THEN on Friday we're headed to Michigan for a week in a cottage to continue the celebration. I'm embracing my father-in-law's "birthday month" philosophy.

- I started my dissertation! Today, I actually opened a document on my computer called "Dissertation." I'll be working on said document for the next year and a half of my life.

- Kelly and I were saying yesterday on our bike ride to a sunrise yoga class on the beach (case in point of the rest of this paragraph) that it's been an active, active summer. People keep giving me free/cheap yoga classes. I bought a bike and have been riding the heck out of it. I'm running almost as fast now as I did before I broke my ankle. I've done some wake-surfing. I think I'm being twice as on-the-go as normal to make up for Kevin's immobility.

- Speaking of wake-surfing, a couple of weekends ago my mom's side of the family rented a house at Lake Wawasee. We used to do this when I was a kid, and it was awesome to have everybody back where we have so many happy memories. Here are some photos from the weekend.

A pretty sailboat, close to sunset time. 

The pier.

The house my family rented.

Kevin's bandaged up leg. 

Me on the pontoon at sunset. 

Get off that boat and write a blog post, Kelly!

Kevin was our boat driver all weekend long - what a trooper. 

There. I think you're up to date! It's been an awesome summer, and I'm trying to make the most of the month or so of hot weather we have left!

Family Weekend in Vermont - Brady

Last weekend my very generous Uncle Jeff and Aunt Margaret flew us all out to their beautiful house in Stowe, Vermont to celebrate my grandparents' 80th birthdays. Below are some of my favorite photos from the trip.

Uncle Jeff and Aunt Margaret's swimming pond. Fantastic.

Hammock on the porch.

Hiking up Mt. Mansfield. This is where Kevin and I realized we took a wrong turn.

But the views were worth it!

View at the top. Notice my red face - it was hot!

My grandparents midway up the mountain.

The hike was great, but poor Kevin broke his foot in (at least) six places when he fell off a ledge! It feels like Freaky Friday around the Jones-Rasp household these days...I'm taking care of him just like he took care of me when I had my broken ankle.

Kevin's therapy dogs.

And our cousin Charlie, an excellent masseuse.

On our last day we went to a farmers market in the home of farmers markets. I tried one of the maple sodas. Yum.

 And just for fun - some pictures of family from the nights we hung out at the house.

Kelly and Miles

Roger and Kate

Kelly and her twin, Kate

Fourth of July in Chicago - Brady

Other than a couple of New Year's Eves, I've never spent a major holiday in Chicago. My (and Kevin's) family in Indiana is close enough that we can always make it home for the big ones.

This year, though, Fourth of July fell in the middle of the week, plus we're leaving for Canada (for a conference I'm presenting at) on Friday. So this year I did something I've never, ever done in my life - spent the Fourth away from La Porte.

We had a pretty awesome day. My sisters and I planned to spend the holiday at Montrose Beach, a wide stretch of sand up near Amy's apartment.

Kevin and I arrived at nine to stake out a good spot. It was really lucky we got there when we did! This was the last shade available anywhere near the beach.

While we waited for my sisters to arrive, we just lazed around, drinking iced coffee and reading. It was one of the hottest days of the year, so it was a bit uncomfortable, but overall a really nice morning.

One thing I personally loved was that, mostly because of the neighborhood we were in, we were surrounded by people speaking Spanish. Below are some photos of a guy selling balloons (notice the grills, hammock, and tents in the photo...the people at this particular park were SERIOUS about their "urban day camping."), a mango "nieve" I bought from an ice cream cart, and, best of all, a Mariachi band we paid to play us a couple of songs. 

Kelly, Amy & Roger, Roger's brother Ryan, a bunch of Kelly's work friends, Kevin, and I all hung around in the shade, jumping into a very, let's say, refreshing Lake Michigan when we needed to cool off. We grilled out, grabbed some drinks, worried when they cleared the water to search for a little boy (he was okay...wandered down the beach, apparently), talked, and sweated until about 5 when we finally gave it up to go home, shower, nap and head out to the fireworks. 

It was a hot one, and a much different Independence Day than I'm used to, but I was glad to spend it in this city I love so much with some of my favorite people!