New Fundraising Endeavor

After my two trips last year to New Orleans where I volunteered for the St Bernard Project, I've wanted to do some fundraising locally. Maybe a bit of help from upriver on the Mississippi to our neighbors to the South? I had considered trying to organize an event but after some late changes it was decided that it wouldn't be a go in time for Mardi Gras. The other thing that has been taking up a bit of time for me lately is running and training with a group for a few half marathons. I was thinking that with all of the charity events out there it would be good to just pick an event and a charity. After just a bit of googling I found a way to do this! There is a tool called Firstgiving and they allow a person or group to set up a website where they can accept donations for any non-profit as long as it is a registered 501(c)3. So... I now have a website and hope to raise $1000 for the St Bernard Project by the time I do the Stillwater 1/2 Marathon in May. Check it out and pass the word on! Thanks!

Upcoming Events

I've been on a registration bender lately and have signed up for lots of events. The first one is the Get in Gear Half Marathon on April 25. My friend Jen is doing that one with me but as I'm slow and she's fast, that just means that we'll see each other at the beginning and end. It's pretty cool because it's the first time Get in Gear has had a half marathon. They always have a 5k and 10k and the route is right by my house. It starts at Minnehaha Falls and then does a loop around the Mississippi. Since April can be questionable for weather (last year it snowed for Get in Gear), it will be interesting to see how it goes. For the most part I'm going to treat it as a training run for the Stillwater Half which is on May 24. The other event I signed up for isn't until September but it fills up so I figured I'd better get my registration in while it was cheaper. That one is the Irongirl which is a duathlon. It's a 2 mile run followed by a 22 mile bike ride followed by another 2 mile run. I know a lot of people that have done it in the past and have really enjoyed it. I've never done a tri or duo so it will be a new experience. I don't think I would ever do a tri anyway since that involves swimming. Yuck!
Most of my recent events have been due to my participation in the running club at The Running Room. It's a great group and the coach asked me to be a group leader for the back of the packers. Slow running while chatting with nice people, life can't get much better. We go running for 3 or 4 miles on Wednesday and Thursday evenings and do longer runs on Sundays. Our training program for half marathons just started a few weeks ago so our Sunday runs are still pretty short. We add a mile or so each week and our last long run was 6.25 miles on Sunday morning. Next week is 7. Sweet!
The only other registration I need to get done is for my volunteer activities during the summer, specifically the Red Ribbon Ride and probably the Breast Cancer Ride. The Red Ribbon Ride is near and dear to my heart and even though some of my friends are taking this year off, I'm pretty sure I'll take part in some capacity. The Breast Cancer Ride is newer and although the cause is not as dear to me, some pretty good friends work on it and as long as it's just a Saturday and Sunday event, I would guess that I will eventually sign up.
After all that talk of activity, I do have to fess up that I ate a lot of chocolate today in my effort to get it out of my system before I give it up for Lent tomorrow. Getting my love of chocolate out of my system, now that's funny. Not possible at all.
Ok, off to watch the Presidential Address to Congress...

Minneapolis in Winter

I don't actually have a video camera but came across this youtube video that shows winter scenes from the lakes here. The first section is Lake Harriet which is one of my favorite places on earth, especially during the summer when the bandshell has a different concert every single night. Then you can see the paraskiing on Lake Calhoun which is cool to watch.

Today was the Valentine's 5k at Lake Harriet which was fun. Definitely a little warmer than the Reindeer Run there a few months ago although a bit colder than it has been lately. It seems we get spoiled by temperatures a little warmer pretty quickly. Unfortunately it's been so warm and now cold that ice rinks have been appearing wherever there's a low spot. The city does a great job of clearing the trails and roads but the grassy areas of parks collect water and there isn't a real way to avoid it unfortunately. It's just this time of year.

In other adventures, I bought new pots and pans at Costco last night. I didn't have a real set and the ones I had were all scratched up which I guess means that they shouldn't even be used anymore. However, in true Jen fashion I have injured myself before even using them. I put a nice cardboard cut in the tip of my finger while putting the box in the cart. Bummer... I am excited about them though because they have the exact specifications I was looking for which was glass lids and coated handles. Now to try them out!

Ellen's Phone Call

In order to have something posted other than words, I'm adding one of the funniest videos ever. I think Ellen Degeneres is great but this video shows that she is at her most hilarious when she just finds a way to bring out the comedy in others. The woman on the phone will have you laughing out loud. Enjoy!

Running and Rosa Parks

No, those two things aren't related. Last night our running clinic started again. Last September/October I started the half marathon clinic to train as I hadn't ever done one before. Unfortunately I still haven't. My longest training run was about 11 or so miles but the weekend of the Frozen Half was definitely frozen and the half was cancelled. My friend and I decided to do the 5k instead as long as it wasn't going to be the 1/2 anyway. Now I'm training again in hopes of doing either the Fargo or Stillwater 1/2 or if I'm really good, maybe both. They are May 8th and May 24th respectively. It's getting warmer and with the exception of some days of watching your step, running is getting more fun every day.

I finally decided to rent Tropic Thunder and was planning on watching that tonight. I had done a happy hour spin class instead of getting up early for the gym so I'm just vegging tonight. Tomorrow I volunteer at Open Arms as I do every week and I think I might check out R.T. Rybak's mayoral re-election campaign kickoff as it's at the theater just two blocks up from me. I've never been involved in mayoral politics but I think R.T. has done a great job with the limited resources he has had and he's a very genuine guy who loves the city more than almost anything else I think which is a big component of his job.

Finally, to get to the Rosa Parks part of the story... I realized that The Rosa Parks Story is on TV and I couldn't bring myself to watch a comedy when civil rights history is on. It's pretty well done with excellent acting (Angela Bassett plays Rosa Parks) and the thing I like best about it is that it shows her as a civil rights activist throughout her life which is often forgotten. Refusing to give up her seat is one of the many things she did throughout her life to fight segregation and bigotry and it was far from the first time that she had done so. Here's another little known fact: A bus seat has room for two and only one white man needed a place. A black man had already stood up and Rosa Parks had slid over to accomodate him but it was demanded that he have the whole seat since it was unacceptable to have to sit on the same seat with a colored person. (using the language of the time) The movie also doesn't gloss over the fact that women were instrumental in making the Montgomery Bus Boycott but sexism prevented them from becoming known. JoAnn Robinson was a professor who organized students to print and distribute flyers to alert the community to the incident and the boycott and the movie mentions her if only briefly. One other last tidbit: Dexter King plays his father, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and while he's not known for being an actor he is Dr. King's most handsome son.