Duly Noted

As a teacher, I am a creature of habit.  5:30 alarm, sleep 5:40 alarm, sleep 5:50 wake up Head downstairs, get coffee and oatmeal started. Do 8 minutes of abs while waiting for coffee and oatmeal. Eat breakfast, read emails, check weather, and toodle around feedly and pinterest 6:30 Feed Misha or prep milk, brush teeth, floss, comb hair and get dressed.  Pick out a scarf to wear. 7:15 Bike to work, enjoy the fall colors 7:45 Meet with students about essays, respond to work emails, get ready for classes 8:30-11:30 Teach! 11:30-12:00 Wrap up materials, get ready for tomorrow's classes. 12:00 Bike home, enjoy leaves again! 12:30 Home sweet home!  Cuddle and feed Misha. 1:00 Eat lunch outside on our picnic table and make plans for the afternoon. Unlike my mornings at work, weekday afternoons have yet to fall into a routine.  Although sometimes I yearn for this, I am okay with no routine with one caveat.  I need to spend some time moving, and...

***(I wrote this but forgot to publish.  I must have been distracted by a little love nut.  Better late than never.) Yesterday, I turned 29 but for a minute, I thought I was 30 and I was totally okay with that. For the last three years and forevermore, my birthday shares the same day as our wedding anniversary.  As my brother in law put it, "Happy Biversary!" July 24th is certainly a date for the record books.  This year, Mike and I fondly reflected on my last three birthdays and anniversaries. First, our wedding day. Then, our epic 50 mile bike ride followed by a three course dinner at Muffuletta's. And then...our discovery in a bed and breakfast overlooking the Duomo in Florence Italy in 2012. This year, we kept things simple.  A picnic in the park.  Perusing vintage finds at neighborhood shop.  An evening bike ride to dinner at Muffuletta's. And lots of smiling with our little darling boy. And...apparently...we didn't ta...

Preface: I wanted to write this race report while it was all still fresh, but with a four month old and my return to work, this post quickly dropped its priority status.  Luckily, I jotted down some key memories immediately after the race to stimulate my writing later.  Those anecdotes are included here! *** Almost two weeks ago, I crossed the YWCA Women's Sprint Triathlon finish line for third year in a row.  As I raised my hands in the air, the announcer cheered me on, "Molly of Minneapolis- This is her first triathlon post baby Misha!  She just had a baby and triathlon!" This shot truly captures the thrill of the finish line.   Last year, Misha completed the race with me and my mom in the "buddy heat."  Only a few weeks pregnant, I kept my mom company as she worked her way through her first 500 yard open water swim, 15 mile bike ride, and 5k run.  This year, we signed up as a "mother-daughter team" with each of us competing in our own age g...

Photo from twin cities business mag. Yesterday night I took my new tricked up road bike (okay, road bike is used but it is now full of new tricks thanks to Grand Performance) on a 10 mile journey to Wirth Park for my trail running club. The bike ride was glorious as the heat has broken and my bum no longer hurts due to the awful men's bike seat. Our trail workout was also a blast: 1.5 mile warm up, 9x1 minute hill repeats with abs and arm exercises between sets, and 1.5 mile cool down. I love hills. I am weird. The bike ride home was equally delightful. My trail club coach was heading in the same direction so we biked together as she gave me tips for an upcoming triathlon (she is an ironwoman). After she broke off, I finished the ride and crossed the bike bride in the photo above. I really wanted to take a photo like this one as I was crossing the bridge but I was also dreaming about dinner at the time...But, nevertheless, the evening air was just magical and I f...

(via The Sartorialist ) The Twin Cites are apparently the top bicycling city(ies) in the United States. This label likely stems from our extensive bike trail network connecting the suburbs to urban centers, our hardcore winter riders, and our anarchist do-it-yourself-ers with bike powered pig roasts (no joke, witnessed it myself). Yet, there is something missing in our bike culture. I feel like the nytimes article, "The Dutch Way: Bicycles and Fresh Bread," gets close to the heart of it. Author, Russell Shorto writes, "The coexistence of different modes of travel is hard-wired into the (Dutch) culture. This in turns relates to lots of other things- such as bread. How? Cyclists can't carry six bags of groceries; bulk buying is almost nonexistent. Instead of shopping for a week, people stop at the market daily. So the need for processed loaves that will last for days is gone. A result: good bread." Now this article continues with many good points about g...