The turkey trot

Along with thousands of others in minneapolis, and I suspect millions nationwide, I paricipated in a thanksgiving day race. Mine was a very cold 5k through the warehouse district in downtown minneapolis.

Normally, I don't run if its below 40 degrees outside, but I already paid for the race, and just wouldn't feel right wearing a shirt from a race that I didn't actually participate in. It was about 15 degrees out, with winds up to 15 mph, so easily not in my normal range of tolerance. To add more fun to the event, there were some patches of ice on the road. I bundled up, though, and ended up finishing under 20 minutes. Not my goal time, but all things considered, not too bad for the conditions.

The Black Hills of South Dakota

This past summer I was fortunate enough to spend a day in the Black Hills of South Dakota. While this wasn't nearly enough time to see everything, I was still able to take in some great views.

The last time I was in the area was to see Mt. Rushmore as a pre-teen, so it's been quite a while. My friends and I decided to head out there because one of us hadn't taken this common road trip from Minnesota as a kid. When he finally saw Mt. Rushmore, he made sure to text his mom!

Waking up in Rapid City (yes, we stopped at Wall Drug the previous day), we quickly made our way towards Mt. Rushmore. When we finally got to the park, we didn't really want to pay, so we continued to drive around.

We ended up finding a winding road with some bridges and tunnels that continued to climb up the hill. It was exciting as we looked through one of the tunnels, you could see Mt. Rushmore in the distance. We hiked around a bit and took plenty of pictures. It was much more scenic than I remember as a kid. I think all of us would have loved to spend more time there, but we had to make our way to Colorado for the rest of our trip (see post: Hiking to Conundrum Hot Springs). I know I'll go back there sometime, and will probably blog about it then as well.

Treadmill time!

I enjoy spending time outside, and ideally, I would only run outside. I don't enjoy freezing my butt off, though, so in the winter I tend to find myself working out indoors.

Even though running is one of my favorite outdoor activities, the treadmill seems to take some of the fun out of it. My advice to all those reading is to make your treadmill days short and fast. I like to use them to do speed tests, such as a one or two mile. Another great thing to use is the incline function. It makes the workout more challenging and once you begin to decline, you begin to feel stronger.

If you absolutely cannot stand the treadmill, but want a great cardio workout, give the rowing machine a try. It will hurt, but will also get your heart rate going if you put some effort in.