Ketchup

OK, it's been awhile since I've posted and there's a lot to write about. First, we went to Ogden, Utah, in early March to watch Kurt compete in the Xterra World Championship Winter Quadrathlon (seriously). It was an amazing event that includes mountain biking in snow, snow-shoeing, x-c skiing (UP a ski slope) and running on snow.

I've never seen Kurt so exhausted in all of our 15 yrs of marriage! It took him over 4 hrs to finish (partly due to going off-course - more on that later) and he was going all-out pretty much the entire time. I'm really impressed that he did it.

We stayed with our really good friends, the Hansen's: Julie (my long-time close friend) and her husband, Rod, and kids, Ruselle and Isaac. Julie is a dietitian from Kansas, just like me, and we've been friends for a long time. She used to live in Ft. Collins and Rod got his PhD in nutrition the same time I did so we have a lot in common.

We had a really good time staying at their house. Julie is a really good runner but this time we didn't get to run together because she just had surgery to remove a benign cyst. But I got in a couple of really good long runs while I was there and we got to go shopping together (Julie is THE best person to shop with!). We hope to go see them at least once a year.

Kurt took the kids skiing on Saturday and then he did the race on Sunday (see pic's below). Julie and Rod came up to watch with me. Fortunately, it was a relatively warm, sunny day because we waited for Kurt to finish for a REALLY long time (like 90 mins or so). We had timed it so that we would get there about the time he would finish but little did we know, he had gone off course. At a key turning point, there wasn't a race marshall there and he missed the turn. So he had to re-do a section of the course and that took an extra half hour. But he finished anyway and was happy that he did it.

I do have to mention how he came across the finish line because I've never seen this happen before....he ski'ed down the hill toward the finish line, just like everyone else, but as he slowed himself to a stop, he just fell and layed there...he didn't get up! We all ran over to him and he just layed there. A medical person came running over too but as soon as I saw a smile on his face, I waved the official off. He was that tired; he just couldn't get up. Later, at the awards ceremony, he was literally laying his head on Katerina's shoulder and groaning. I have never seen him this wiped out before!

But all in all, it was a good trip. Even the drive there and back (8 hrs, with stop for lunch), the kids did really well (thank God for DVD players!). We played the alphabet game for the first time, read books, sang, and had our first taste of a road trip with the kids. Hope to go on more in the future.