Annual Remembering-A-Friend Bike Ride

I met up with my college buddy Jamey a few days ago. We rode in memory of our friend Aaron who had passed away 11 years earlier as he lost his battle with brain cancer. (It went viral back then, so you might remember his obituary where he admitted to being Spider-Man. And here was a bit more about Aaron. And if you've been a long-time reader, you also might also remember the 24 hour relay that I hosted in Aaron's memory and as a fundraiser for his family.)

Jamey, Alex, and I went for a ride, and we met up with Tony for coffee after:

Jamey, me, Spider-Man, Alex, and Tony.


We biked to Minnehaha Falls...


... and crossed the bridge back home in the fog!

When I got home, I took screenshots of my Facebook memories and sent them on to Jamey. I missed at least 1 year (maybe 2... but I think I just missed 1 and didn't take a photo on another), but here they are going back in time:

We were so young! And nerdy!

Miss you Aaron. XOXO

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A Ride to Remember a Friend

Friday was the 8 year anniversary of the passing of my college buddy Aaron. Our friend Jamey got the crew together for the annual memorial bike ride. We stopped at Alma for coffee and snapped a selfie with Spider-Man:

Alex, Tony, Spider-Man, Me, and Jamey.


Our bikes waiting outside.

I had to text my wife about our stop, because we had a nice date there about 4 years ago:

Caption from Nov 2018: "A fancy meal at Alma and then our first trip
to the orchestra last night. Always a good night when I’m with my cutie."

We rode a bit more and then headed for home. I ended up doing this loop on my mountain bike, which was just over 11 miles:

Miss you Aaron.

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Yearly Late November Ride

Eight weeks ago was the last time I was outside on my bike: it was an easy 2 mile ride with my boys to go cheer on my wife at her 21st TC Marathon. (My last "real" ride was over 10 weeks ago.)

But I got suited up on Thursday to head out into the windy 18-degree morning:

Red "winter running" socks with trail running socks over them.


Three tops: sliver gray lines, then the thick black one, then the REALLY thick brown one.


A turtle fur over my hat, and a fourth layer on my upper body.

I also had 4 layers over my crotch: wind-proof briefs (a STAPLE for winter running), tights, bike shorts, and thicker tights.

It was Thanksgiving morning, and I thought it was appropriate that I came across 14 turkeys:

A selfie with Jamey and Spider-Man.

Here's the text I posted along with those last 2 photos:

This morning was our yearly ride that we wish we didn’t have to do. Spider-Man was with us as always. We shared old college memories lamenting that those years were half our life ago. We were never best friends, but I’m thankful for getting to be a goofball in college with Aaron. #RIPBigPurm #SevenYears

We ride with Spider-Man because Aaron admitted to being the superhero in his obituary.

Seven years ago, I hosted a 24-hour relay fundraiser for Aaron's family, and every year Jamey gets a few of us together to ride in Aaron's honor (here are photos from 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2020 - I missed 2 years in there, but have hit 5 out of 7).

We did a little 8 mile loop before Jamey took off for home:

Hope you are watching your family grow with a smile, Aaron. :)

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Yearly Memorial Bike Ride

This past week, my friend Jamey and I went on our yearly memorial ride for our college buddy Aaron who succumbed to brain cancer. (If you've been a long-time reader, you'll remember me writing about his life and a fundraiser I wanted to do for his family, and then the subsequent "24 hour relay for Aaron" that a bunch of us put on.)

A few days ago, I posted this:

Caption: "6 years. #RIPBigPurm"

On our ride, Jamey and I bumped into another one of Aaron's friends who's actually done the ride once or twice with us over the years. And he wasn't planning on bumping into us - he was just out on a ride and would not have been that far south looking for us. Jamey had on his Aaron-related shirt, Tony had his Spider-Man figurine, and I had mine (as seen in the photo above). I posted this later:

Another pic from today (from Jamey, obviously). As we were on his annual memorial ride, we just happened to bump into Tony (another friend of Aaron’s). We rode the last half of our ride as a trio. As Tony and I split off across the river to our homes in St. Paul, Jamey shouted “See ya fellas! Think some good thoughts of Aaron today!” #RIPBigPurm

Another one of Spider-Man on the bridge:

We miss you, Aaron. Lots of people do.

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Wordless Wednesday: Side-By-Side Workouts

This was my view from on my bike as I was in the basement this past weekend:

The boys love to come down and row with me. That's awesome. (And Henry has his grip "backwards" because he wants to work his biceps more.)

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TC 10 Mile Spot Sold

Two weeks ago, I sold my TC 10 Mile slot. Even if I got better and was able to start running, I didn't want to have have looming thinking "if I push myself a BIT I could be ready for that on Oct 6!" Nope, it would not have been smart. (And I'm still far from running, so it was a good call to sell it.)

In about an hour, a Facebook friend claimed it. If you've been a looooooong time reader, you might remember her from when we did "Speed Saturday" workouts at the track with friends. Here's Jennifer (who bought my race entry) running with my wife:

As seen in this post from 2008!


I didn't know she had a "fresh" little one!


My last run where I knew something was wrong with my foot/heel was with the boys in the stroller. :(


How she addressed her check to me. Nice.

Good luck in 3 weeks Jennifer!!

p.s. This is the pic Jennifer was referring to...

From this post in 2012: "Henry's 2011 Training Totals."


The post-shits shower to start 2012. Such a CHUNK!!!

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Long Ride Remembering a Friend

My buddy Jamey emailed a few of us a week ago. He wanted to go for a ride this past Wednesday in memory of our college buddy Aaron who passed away exactly 1 year before (Nov 25).

Aaron, Nora, and baby Ralph.

Jamey and I met near downtown Mpls, rode south along the river past Minnehaha Falls, past Lake Nokomis, around Lake Harriet and Calhoun, hopped on the Greenway, and worked our way back toward downtown to drop Jamey off at work. We biked around 20 miles together, and with some extra riding on the way home, I ended up with over 30 miles on the day.

I posted this on Instagram after our ride:

Caption: "Got an email from Jamey a few days ago saying we should ride.
Today is the 1-year anniversary of our college buddy Aaron's passing,
so we rode with Spider-Man in his honor. Miss you Aaron."

If you remember, Aaron revealed in his obituary that he was Spider-Man. And he was the one who inspired the "24 Hour Relay for Aaron" last December. Click that link if you want to see his obituary. And click here for the relay "race report" from last year where we carried that same Spider-Man figurine over 175 miles in 24 hours (and raised about $4k for Nora and Ralphie).

Aaron, we miss you buddy.

p.s. This ride put me at over 200 miles on the month. That's the biggest mileage month since May of 2010. We'll see if I can get out on Monday for a few more miles to break THAT record too.

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Gut-Busting Duathlon Workout

Yesterday, bro- and sis-in-law Matt and Angela came over to get sweaty in my garage. Yep, it was time for that "duathlon workout" that we like to do. It starts with a 10 minute warm-up on the trainer, and then right into a 1-mile run. After that, it's 3 more intervals of biking (on the trainer) for 9.5 minutes each doing 0:30 hard and 0:30 easy (ending after a 0:30 hard, and hoping back on the bike starting with 0:30 hard), followed by a 1 mile run. Basically, bike/run x4. It's killer.

The workout came at a good time for me because Duathlon Nationals is in 11 days. I'm doing the short course, which is a 1.55 mile run, 14 mile bike, and 1.55 mile run. So all the transitions in this workout were good for me, along with running fast on tired legs after hopping off the bike. (That last one is always a good skill to develop, but I feel like it's extra important because this upcoming race is super short - there's no time to "ease your way into" the run. It's off the bike and then run at 100% for less than 10 minutes at this short race!)

It was also good timing because the 3 of us were at Matt's younger brother's wedding a few days before...

SIDENOTE: LOOK AT HOW CUTE MY FAMILY WAS AT THE WEDDING!!

OK, back to your regularly scheduled blog post.

... and I kinda ate crap for a few days. So this was a good JOLT back into reality.

OK, on to the workout! We started spinning for our 10 minute warmup, and I hopped off to get a shot near the end of that:

When the workout was done, I accidentally cleared my watch instead of saving the numbers, so I don't have my exact bike times or my transitions. But I'm 90% sure I remembered all my run splits correctly. We hopped off our bikes, switched shoes ASAP, and took off for our first 1-mile run. I went out hard and ran the first half mile in 2:54, and the final half mile in 3:00, for a 5:54 total first mile.

Then it was back on the bike for some hard (then easy) spinning. The 2nd run FELT MUCH WORSE. Heavy legs right away. I did that one in 6:06 (3:06, 3:00). Ouch. I climbed back on my bike, did my 0:30 hard, and snapped a selfie when I started my 0:30 easy:

Sweaty. But still presentable.


Angela back on her bike behind me, and Matt coming through to get on his.

There was lots of suffering in the 3rd run. I knocked down my time a bit from the 2nd run, running a 6:04 (3:04, 3:00). Then, back to the bike and another selfie once I got a little break:

Gross. My apologies.

I ripped a BIG fart right as Angela got back from her 3rd run. And then Matt came in and walked through it too. I'm not a very good host. Sorry guys.

My stomach gave some churns on the final run - I think it was a few days of wedding food and continental breakfasts catching up with me. I figured I'd be running straight into the house to the bathroom. But I was fine. (Had the run been another half mile or there been 1 more interval, it would have gotten ugly.) My final run was 6:01 (3:07 [yikes] and 2:54). I started stretching a bit as Matt and Angela finished up:

Angela coming back up the last hill.


Matt finishing up.

Technically, I had a PR for this workout, finishing in 1:03:59. My runs were NOT the fastest (I really hoped they'd all be under 6:00, but that didn't even come close to happening), but my transitions were fast - I noticed 1 under 0:10, and a few of 0:10 or 0:11. And again, I cleared my watch accidentally, so I can't be sure on all of my transition times.

Speaking of Duathlon Nationals: I think I'll be posting a bit of a "course preview" this weekend. So check back for that.

Not that anyone cares (this is more for me than for anyone else), but I've apparently done this workout 9 times now. Here's links to the first 8 times: first at the track with Marie, then a shorter version on the track with Matt, then near the track by myself, then out of my garage by myself, then out of my garage with friends on a HOT day, then on a chilly day in the garage with my Garmin, then 2 years ago with Matt, and finally last summer with Matt, Angela, and Jeremy.

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"Race Report" from the "24 Hour Relay for Aaron"

From noon on Friday through noon on Saturday, we kept a Spiderman figurine moving around the small indoor track at Hamline University as a fundraiser for my college buddy Aaron's family. (Click that link if you don't know Aaron's story, but you all do by now - he's the one who admitted to being Spiderman in his obituary and asked his son to avenge his death.) I'll show some images below, but I'll post lots more in a Facebook album, and I'll share the link once I get those up (in another day or 2).

Set up on the edge of the track with goodies donated by Colle+McVoy (where Aaron worked).


Our baton for the next 24 hours.


There was a gymnastics meet getting ready to start below us.


Catherine kicked off the relay for us - her hubby worked with Aaron.


From Instagram: "Kare11 is here taping our runners! #24HourRelayForAaron"

So there was a super short mention about the relay on Kare 11 on Friday night. Catherine got a call from her Dad saying he saw her on the news, and other people who came in on Saturday saw it too, but I wasn't able to find it online. I'll share it if it turns up.

A handoff between 2 beginnertriathlete.com buddies in the 1 p.m. hour.


In the 2 p.m. hour, the football team did some warm ups on the track with us, and it was
a little intimidating to our runners! The whole track shook when they came by!


Steve Q showed up to run a few laps in his long undies (complete with butt flap)...


... and then he did a plank with me.


We were told to grimace. My "grimace face" apparently looks like Popeye.

Remember, I gave myself a plank challenge during the 24 hour relay to see how many minutes of planking I could do. I got 1 pledge for $0.50 / minute. So I had a lot of work to do to make some extra $$ for Nora and Ralphie.

A boyfriend/girlfriend team handed off to each other during the 5 p.m. hour.
(We generally did 11 laps at a time before handing off - 1 mile on the 160 yard track.)


Before the 7 p.m. hour, I was challenged to do a 5 min plank to raise some extra $$.
I was sweating like CRAZY by the end! The next photo I shared on Saturday night...


From instagram: "I was challenged to raise some extra money at the #24HourRelayForAaron.
Joe J wanted me to hold a plank for 5 mins. At 1 min, I'd earn $5, and that would double
every minute until I hit $80 total by minute 5. He threw the cash in front of me as I earned it
every minute. It got shaky as hell, but I held out for the full 5 mins. Oww."


Krista handing off to Joe in the 7 p.m. hour.


Little Connor took off FAST during the 8 p.m. hour. His first lap was sub-6 pace!
And then he held on to run a 8:34 mile! He earned LOTS of cheers!


KY challenged CY (his wife) and I to do a 2 min plank for $20 in the donation box.


From CYs Instagram: "Thx @stevestenzel for creating the #24hourrelayforaaron #RIPBigPurm"


The gymnastics meet was still going strong.

Here's something I didn't know about youth gymnastics: did you know that EVERYONE does the same floor routine? So that means they all have to use the same song. I endured NINE HOURS of that same "russian ballet"-like song blasting over the speakers. When someone would say at the end of their hour "Oh, that song's getting a little annoying," my face would start twitching as I'd say "Yeah. After an hour it's a little annoying. It's 7 p.m. It's been playing for me for 7 hours." Good times. Good. Gosh-darn. Times.

Oh, other funny side-note: 3 different Moms from the gymnastics meet came up to ask why people were running around the track with Spiderman. They thought something fishy was going up up here.

Lisa cranking out one of her 3 6:27, 6:18, or 6:22 miles in the 9 p.m. hour.


Lisa's sister and her boyfriend sharing their mile duties: Heather and Patrick. Heather is
super fast (WORLD CHAMP, really), but took it easy (REMEMBER THAT POINT LATER!).
Also, you may or may not have seen these 2 with their identities protected in this post.


Brian was also part of this 9 p.m. hour running 3 miles in 5:20, 5:08, and 5:04!


Thank GOD the gymnastics meet was done!


Team "Skin and Bones" wrapping up the 10 p.m. hour.

I went home for a few hours of sleep from about 11-4. I initially had planned on staying the entire 24 hours, but then it ended up working out that my sister-in-law could come over and watch the boys Saturday evening (the next day). She was doing that so my wife and I could have our first date since we saw "Argo" in the theatre 2 years ago. I didn't want to be sleepy, grumpy, or other 7-dwarf-adjective on our date, so I figured I should get a few hours of sleep. I ran into the Mill City Running crew just outside the track as they were coming for their 2 shifts (11 p.m. and midnight).

A group lap for the Mill City Running gang!


Josh from Mill City Running tweeted me this after they snuck onto the gymnastics floor,
saying "After the 11pm-1am shift we even had a little balance left."


The only people I didn't get to say "HI" to! Thanks 1 a.m. crew!!

There was an awesome group of people on the track from 2 a.m. through 5 a.m. They were from the YWCA of Minneapolis. They brought Tim (their trainer) with them. He made them do all kinds of crazy stuff if they were "resting" and not the current runner on the track. When I got there around 4:30 on Saturday morning, I opened the door to Walker Fieldhouse and I heard AC/DC blaring from the track on the far end of the building. Here were some photos they sent me:

What? Awesome.


Sally holding an iso exercise that I could never do.


Insane. Awesome.


Oh sure. Just do shoulder presses with one of your relay partners as your runner
goes under. Yeah, no problem. We all do that. No big whoop.


They ran fast for those 3 hours too.




Still smiling at the end of a 3 hour shift (getting ready for a BIGGGG breakfast).


Thanks 2-5 a.m. runners!

The 6 a.m. shift was a "college buddy" shift. It was Jamey, Joe, Dena, and me - 4 college friends of Aaron's. They all teased me because I went last and was the only one to not cover 2 full miles. Jerks.

Dena asked me not to point out that she was making Spidey touch her boob. So I won't.


Joe, Dena, Jamey, and me post-run. We had a LOT of inappropriate chatting
during this 6 a.m. hour. Aaron would have greatly approved.


The 7 a.m. crew: Liz, Amanda, and Matt.


We had more entertainment starting: there was a swim meet going on through the window,
and the gymnastics meet was starting up again. BUT WITH A DIFFERENT SONG. Praise Jesus.


Oh good. I'm stuffing my face with junk food over there as Erin runs.


Spidey!


Someone named Heather on Instagram posted this: "Just happened to be at
the State Gymnastics meet for @maiya_gymnast9 and just realized that the runners
above are carrying Spider-Man! Happy coincidence. #RIPBigPurm"


A preggo STILL KICKIN shirt in the 10 a.m. hour!


Jana Shortal (Kare11 reporter) is a friend of Aaron and Nora's (she did a beautiful story
on his funeral here), and she wanted to run a bit for them. So she took 2 miles at 10 a.m.


Jana posted this photo after her run, with the caption "So that went well. I mean.
What grown ass woman doesn't puke after a 2 mile jog?"


Pregnant Rachel across the track. See her?

About a week ago, Dena (college buddy from the 6 a.m. hour) asked me if I would run the last hour with her too. So we tag-teamed the 11 a.m. hour. We both sort of figured we'd each get 4 miles in, but we were faster than we expected. We didn't realize it at the time, but once we finished up, we were shocked to find that WE were the hour that covered the most ground! The speedy 9 p.m. hour the night before traveled 100 laps (9 miles + 1 lap), and I had predicted that group to travel the farthest. The Mill City Running group at 11 p.m. and midnight traveled 99 laps in both hours. Dena and I traveled 103 laps! She laid down some impressive splits, with only 1 mile being over 7 minutes!

Dena in the 11 a.m. hour.


People brought more goodies throughout the day, so the goodie table was overflowing!
(Lots still in the bag under the table too!)


2.5 minutes left in the 24 hour relay!


A final handoff to me, and I finished a few more laps before noon.
Hey, the first photo of me actually running!


In 24 hours and 6 seconds, we traveled 1922 laps, or 174.7 miles!


ALL DONE!

It wasn't a race, but here are some numbers from the event:

24 HOUR RELAY STATS:

FASTEST MILE (MALE):
Brian S, 5:04 (and 5:08 and 5:20)
Steve S, 5:25
Tim P (trainer), 5:29

FASTEST MILE (FEMALE):
Lisa L, 6:18 (and 6:22 and 6:27)
Sally H, 6:34
Dena V, 6:39

FASTEST MILE (KIDS):
Cal, 7:03 (age 13)
Connor, 8:34 (age 6ish)
Henry (age 11), 8:38

FARTHEST DISTANCE OVER AN HOUR:
Dena and Steve, 103 laps (11 a.m.)
Lisa, Heather, and Brian, 100 laps (9 p.m.)
"Mill City Running," 99 laps (at both 11 p.m. and midnight)

MOST MILES RAN (MALE):
Steve S, 8 miles + 1 lap (between 3 hours)
Frank H, 5 miles (solo)
Joe J, 4 miles + 9 laps

MOST MILES RAN (FEMALE):
Dena T, 7 miles (between 2 hours)
Catherine M, 7 miles (between 2 hours)
Krista J, 4 miles

TOTAL LAPS IN THE RELAY: 1932, or 175.64 miles (955 first half, 977 last half)
TOTAL LAPS BY ANYONE RUNNING FOR/WITH US: 2144 (estimated), or 194.91 miles

Another important stat is that after the relay was all done and I took the donation box home, I found over $1,000 in there for Nora and Ralph! ($1,057 to be exact.) And during the relay, a lot more of you donated to our YouCaring page - as of Wednesday morning, donations had really slowed down and I showed that we'd earned $1,420 of our $2,500 goal. But over the next 3 days, the donations rose to $2,250, which is just shy of our goal! So I just raised the goal to $3,943, which seems random, but that number added with what we earned on the track equals a nice even $5,000. So please donate if you can. There's a week left before it closes. And if you missed the first post about Aaron and Nora's story, click here to check it out.

More shortly. (Including a Facebook album with more photos.)

UPDATE:
- Here's a link to a few more bits of final info about the relay.

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