Three Weekend Things

1. Foggy Run
2. Photo Show
3. Beanbag Toss Tournament

1. Foggy Run: Saturday morning, I was staying at my folk’s house in the middle of southern Minnesota. I woke up early so I could get in a good run, but it was pretty foggy! Here’s what it looked like looking out Mom and Dad’s window:

Driveway and corn


My car, 2 trees, and more corn

I let the fog burn off a little, and then I hit my run. It was STILL pretty foggy, but it was so calm that I could hear a car coming a mile away. After a long warm-up, I was to do 2x2 miles at race pace (5:50-5:55 / mile or so). You know what? It still freaks me out to know that my 10 mile race pace is hopefully around 5:50 / mile! Sheesh! In the middle of southern Minnesota, the roads are straight and the fields are predictable, so I could take my splits at least every 1/2 mile along line fences between the fields.

First 2 Mile Interval: 3:03, 2:58, 2:52, 2:53 = 11:48 (5:54 pace)

Near the end of those first 2 miles, my heel gave a little twitch. Not a good sign. So I took the 2-3 minute break between before my next 2 miles to stretch it and massage it a bit. Then I was off again.

Second 2 Mile Interval: 3:02, 2:55, 2:52, 2:43 = 11:34 (5:47 pace)

That was a solid run. After my cool-down, I grabbed my camera and shot a photo down Mom and Dad’s road showing the fog still lingering:

After the cool-down, I stretched, took an ice bath, and got ready for the day. I was heading to a little photo show, which brings me to #2......


2. Photo Show: I received a $2,000 grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board to print, frame, and show my work at “Kernel Days,” my yearly hometown summer celebration. Much of my work over the last few years has revolved around my hometown, so it was fun to come back and show the images to the people from the area. Check out my Photo Blog to see photos from the weekend! And scroll down through the last few posts (in my photo blog) to see photos of everything being printed and framed to get ready for this mini-exhibition.

So that’s why I was at home at my Mom and Dad’s place. Dad (and Grandpa and Grandma) helped me set up my work on Friday night, and they kept stopping by to see how I was doing all weekend long. I was there Friday night for a few hours, ALL day Saturday, and then after the parade on Sunday (yesterday) for a few hours. FULL weekend! I’m exhausted!

So swing by my much less popular Photo Blog to learn more about that.


3. Beanbag Toss Tournament: Grandpa wanted me to enter the Beanbag Toss Tournament with him, but we learned it was full. He figured he’d keep checking to see if any of the teams backed-out at the last minute, and MAYBE we’d have a spot to compete. Sure enough, right as the event was starting, Grandpa came cruising up on a golf cart to the building where I was having my photo show (see #2 above) and shouted "Hop on! We’re in!!" (Grandma watched my work while we took off to have fun.)

It was a “double elimination” tournament. We took the first team down with no problem:

Grandpa throwing


Final score of the first game

We beat the 2nd team with no problem as well!

Here we are playing the 3rd team (with Grandpa throwing to the far right), and you can see by the back of the scoreboard that we’re whoopin’ their butts:

Finally, we had our first loss in the 4th round. These 2 younger guys (mid-20s) took us down pretty easily. But because we had won so many before losing, we were already going to be in the “money round” - we just had to wait for a lot of other teams to play before we were up again.

In the next round, we were up against an old couple from a nearby town. They were good. (They had their own beanbag toss that they’d play every evening!) The games go to 21, and they were winning 19 to 18. Then they were winning 20 to 19. Grandpa tied it up at 20 to 20. I had a decent round, and I got the winning point to win 21 to 20! Grandpa was thrilled and shocked that we were doing so well!!! (I was too!)

Guess what? In the finals, we had to take on those younger guys that beat us once already. And because we lost to them and they had NO losses, we’d have to beat them twice to take the win. Well, there was no Cinderella Story here. They beat us in the first game. No... correction... they KILLED us. It was 3 to 21. Game over.

Gramps and I took second place. But second place still was 80 bucks!!!!

Grandpa and I with our winnings!

What a fun weekend!! OK, now back to real life. Vacuuming, phone company issues, fixing a toilet, mowing, watering the plants, and training......