Team in Training Triathete

As some of you may know, it's been a longtime goal of mine to participate in a triathlon. I've done a half-marathon (Minneapolis Aquatennial, 2001), marathon (Grandma's Marathon, 2005), and I felt like a triathlon would be a fun next step.

I've also always been interested in getting involved with the Leukemia and Lyphoma Society's Team in Training The Team in Training is a nationwide training/fundraising organization. This year, they are celebrating their 20th anniversary. In 20 years, Team in Training has raised 800 million dollars for cancer research!! This is a cause that is near and dear to my heart, as my older sister passed away from lymphoma in 1992.

This past Wednesday I gathered my courage and attended an informational meeting for the Team in Training. It was so inspiring! Tons of enthusiastic, friendly people who were really passionate about the Team. I figured there's no time like the present, so I signed up. I joined the team! I will be training for the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon, taking place at Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis on July 12.

The Team kick-off is on Saturday and training starts next week. I'm super excited to see how this experience unfolds. I'm sure you will hear a lot more about this from me in the weeks and months to come.

Ode to the Dog Bed

As many of you know, an important member of our family is our chocolate lab, Luther. We lovingly refer to him as our "hairy beast child," because in many ways he is our "baby." Luther is 80 pounds of love, energy, silliness, and loyalty. We can't imagine our family without him.

Anyways, after we moved into the house, we found that having a kennel set up was unnecessary. Luther has free reign of the house when we are gone during the day, and he lays by our bed at night. So we never bothered to set one up.

Soon, however, it was clear that Luther needed a soft place of "his own." We started catching him on the furniture, and he was really restless at night trying to get settled. So, with the help of cousins T.J. and Sarah (thanks, guys!), we ordered a bed from L.L. Bean. I'll let the pictures tell you the rest of the story...

As you can see, Luther loves it! Although he still is a semi-frequent floor rester, he does most of his lounging on his new, nicely monogrammed bed.

He still has a slight addiction to laying on the furniture when we are not home, but we are working on that problem (perhaps that deserves a post of its own).

All in all, Luther is completely content in his new house, loving the yard, the front window, and now his new bed! Our home would be incomplete without him.