Malung 5K

Today was the Malung 5K - raising money for the Malung Community Center.

It looks like Faith snapped this picture at the same time the starting gun fired.

All smiles at the start...

Here, at the end of the race, I could barely lift my arm to wave at my Faithful photographer.

Not fast, but I finished...

...and took home first place! (With Gregg Iverson and Tracey Stoll)

Miles for Melanoma

Normally, I'd be running the Yellow Rose 5K in Warroad on the second week of August. However, weddings sometimes change one's plans. This time it was a wedding in the Twin Cities. So I started searching for a 5K. Do you realize that there are about a dozen 5Ks on any given weekend in the Cities?

I settled on what looked promising - a 5K that went completely around a lake - Lake Phalen in eastern St Paul. I wasn't disappointed. What a beautiful location for a 5K! Of course, my personal photographer came along. Some pictures of the venue:

There were 600 runners and walkers raising money for the Melanoma Research Foundation. Together we raised over $50,000. There was even a dermatologist on hand doing free screenings - a nice bonus.

As for the race itself - it wasn't easy. It was a lot more hilly than what I'm used to. And, even though there was a lot of shade, it was pretty hot when we weren't in the shade. And even with 600 people, apparently there weren't any elite runners because the best times were over 20 minutes.

Make a Difference for ALS 5K

Today day we ran to 'Make A Difference for ALS'. This is one of my favorite 5Ks because it basically starts and ends in my back yard.

There were about 250 runners and walkers in total:

It was mostly cloudy - which was great - the sun was not sapping our energy.

Ellie came in 2nd overall:

Brian beat me (again)...

...but I was very happy with my time of 30:55:

Altogether, over $27K was raised for ALS! (Perhaps we can raise that much for Living Hope next year  : )   )

Mission Accomplished!

Year five is now complete. With a three mile run last Friday I completed running all of the streets of Roseau - 90 miles in all. Thank you to all who supported me. Together we raised $667.50! All of the money will be sent to Living Hope Ministries.

34th Anniversary

My bride and I celebrated our 34th anniversary with a weekend of biking, feasting, and running in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Faith loves seafood, so I took her to Red Lobster Thursday evening. We began by sharing the Langostino Lobster-Artichoke-and-Seafood Dip:

... and then moved on to the Seaport Lobster and Shrimp:

...mmm delicious!

We were up early the next morning to do some biking on the Greenway Trail:

It's a great bike path. We began by crossing a bridge at the southern end, followed the Red River north for about five miles, and then re-crossed the river and followed it south until we returned to our origin at Lincoln Park. I highly recommend it to any bikers in the area.

We spent some time shopping that afternoon. I was reminded once again how the sports I enjoy are a bit obscure to this corner of the world. Scheel's has a huge sporting goods store at the Columbia Mall. I was surprised to learn that, due to lack of interest in this area, they no longer carry flies for fly fishing. And no badminton nets... sigh... Faith had more success with her shopping.

That evening we felt like Mongolian Grill, so we went to HuHot's (our first time):

I decided to go surf and turf with this creation of beef, shrimp, crab, and a few other things:

Faith's meal wasn't too bad either...

All of this was in preparation for a 5K race Saturday morning. It was the 'Run for Your Buns' race sponsored by Altru. Run for Your Buns is an annual 5K run/walk benefiting colon cancer. Over the course of a lifetime, one in 20 adults will be diagnosed with colon cancer. When detected early, colon cancer is treatable. Colonoscopy is the best line of defense in reducing risk.

Net proceeds from the race are donated to Altru Health Foundation to help uninsured and underinsured patients pay for screening colonoscopies.

Faith, my official 5K photographer, took a few photos:

This is only a small part of the 300 or so runners and walkers.

Already a lot of people are passing me...

I felt almost as tired as I looked...

Of course I had to walk through the colon to see what polyps look like up close.

We didn't realize how strange this photo was until afterwards...

:)

Next 5K: The Make a Difference for ALS 5K Walk/Run, July 16th in Roseau.

'E:60' - Catching Kayla

This young woman inspires me...

Stomp Out Cancer 5K

This was the coldest 5K I've ever run. The mercury might have made it to 32 degrees by the start of the race...

We began at the park - everyone was bundled up pretty good.

No sweat...

...not very fast, though...

Year Five!

A few days ago I put on my shorts and running shoes and took my first strides of the year on Fourth Street. Only about 100,000 strides left to achieve my goal of running every street of Roseau.

I'm running to raise money for Living Hope Ministries. Living Hope Ministries (LHM) was started in 1993 in order to bring the "living hope" of Jesus Christ to the people of Northeast Minneapolis.

LHM serves in Northeast Minneapolis and focuses especially on an area of one square mile which they have coined "the Miracle Mile.” This is a wonderfully diverse area, with an estimated 20,000 people within a mile radius of their building, 5,000 of which are under the age of 18. Financial poverty, relational poverty, and spiritual poverty are prevalent in our community, but the living hope of Jesus Christ is making an impact.

Will you join me in this endeavor? Perhaps you'd like to pledge a certain amount for every mile I run (90 miles). Perhaps you'll be reminded to pray for Living Hope when you see me running by on the street. Perhaps you can even say a prayer for me that I'll 'run with perseverance the race marked out for me...'