You don't see this everyday

We heard something out back the other night thinking it might be raccoons we found this instead:

Cousin Pictures

Trader Joe's Boise

I am of the belief that Boise could support 2-3 Trader Joe's and it seems they will eventually get here but for now we are not on the suply line. So it is a little annoying to Boise that Bend, OR has broken gound on a Trader Joe's to open next year. The news it seems is that Trader Joe's plans to put a store in Boise after it puts a store in Spokane. Here are the news clippings that I could find.

Boise Trader Joe's 1
Boise Trader Joe's 2
Bend Trader Joe's

I suppose that Bend is closer then any other Trader Joe's (maybe SLC) and it is on our route to OR and only 4-5 hrs away. On a regular basis we lament the fact we don't have a Trader Joe's and every time we go out of town we make a trip to stock up. I have a feeling that once they do open here they will be overwhelmed by the hordes of shoppers on their grand opening.

Did I win the 5K race? Did I cure Breast Cancer?

The answers are no and maybe. I did not win but did post a personal best. As I have never run a 5k before it must be a personal best, right?
Well, after my extensive training which amounted to 2 short bike rides and wearing my new running shoes for a week to break them in..........I can say we finished. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what place or what my time was. In fact it was not the most organized event and there were 13000 people in the race that just kind of did their own thing. The kids and I hung around for a while waiting for a chance to start the race as people with strollers were supposed to go last but I saw plenty of others with strollers going so I figured I better hop in. The bad part is that a good many of the horde in front of us were walkers and it was next to impossible to pass with a bike trialer turned to stroller. I probably only got to run half of the race because of the traffic.
The winning time was something like 16.06 mins. The course doubled back on itself so we saw the leader coming back toward the finish line. He was screaming at the pace car "GO! GO! GO! for them to hurry up as he was about to run over the top of it. One of my coworkers from the hospital finished in about 10th place at 19 mins and we saw him almost wipeout as a little girl wandered in front of him and he had to essentially hurdle her to keep from colliding with her.

My legs are a little sore but not too bad. That night we also took a 6 mile bike ride that evening with some friends so I guess I am on a fitness kick.........I just need to keep it up.

If you watch all of the video clips you might see us but I didn't bother. Next year we will try it again but with a new strategy. Get out in front of the walkers. The nice thing is that it is just out our backdoor and the race route is the road off our backyard.

You are still wondering about my curing cancer. It is possible that my meager donation will pay for the reasearch for a cure. So, if there is a cure in the next year you can bet it was my 20$ that made the difference.

New Leaf? - We shall see

So here is the deal. Although I have lost a fair amount of weight in the last year the one thing that has not changed is my general couch potato attitude toward exercise (hey we live in ID we have to support potatoes right?). I work in an office where everyone else either plays tennis, mountain bikes or runs. Two are training for a half marathon and I can only get tired when they talk about 10 mile plus runs over the weekend. Now on occasion I do take a little 2-5 mile bike ride but that is about the extent. So at work the other day my coworkers sign me up to run a 5K in the Race for the Cure sponsered by the hospital. That may not sound like much to you but I have not run 5K consequtively ever and not collectively over the past 10 years. I am not really a runner. I tried a couple times in MI but never quite made it. I think I need someone to run with me to keep me going or something. In NV Jim got me to go a few times and I almost got to the point where I felt like I wanted to go but then I remembered that I probably didn't.

So here I am 6 days before my big run. My training has amounted to this:

1. Buy running shoes.

So maybe this is one of my problems. I have lots of shoes (at last count 25 pair or so) but no running shoes. Now that this is taken care of I think I am set. I don't think it makes sense to go out a try to do a bunch of running to get ready as it ain't gonna happen in 6 days.

One of our favorite family stories is about a Swiss brother in law (to remain nameless) that decided to see how many situps he could do in a minute the night before his military duty physical. He did great with 50 some situps that night but the next day struggled to make 10.

I have a feeling that walk or run as long as it is a start in the fitness direction that is a victory. We have no excuse as we are right off a great trial for running and biking. BTW my wife go some shoes as well so no more excuses for her either. I am not so sure that I will ever become a runner and do any marathons or anything like that but I would be happy in being in decent shape and not get so winded just listening to the women in the office talk about there weekend runs.