Posts Tagged ‘fitness’

Day 365… What a Year! Is This The End Or Just Another Beginning?

Posted: September 10, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Friday, August 5, 2011

So, all good things must come to an end and our second honeymoon is no exception.  Wait!  Did I call it good?  Sorry.  Make that great!

It was so amazing to share this time with someone who I’ve known and loved for years, and yet in the context of a “new” relationship.  It was truly some of the most blessed days imaginable.

Our room was terrific, as always.  All the rooms have kitchens and we always bring a lot of groceries and do a lot of cooking and relaxing while we’re there.  They also have several great restaurants on site, so we took advantage of that as well.

It was extremely hot all week, so when we weren’t indoors, we were usually either in the lazy river or in one of the several swimming pools.  We also went canoeing in the early morning on the lake and took walks in the evening around the resort.

Tonight we drive home and tomorrow morning, we get up early for our 62 mile Tour De Cox.  Today is 365 days – exactly one year from the day we woke up after our separation and started over on the day we had planned to ride our first Tour in 2010.

Tomorrow, after the Tour, we will welcome family and friends from near and far who will come to share our vow renewal ceremony.  After that?  Well, it will officially be the end of the Restoration Tour, but it will only be the beginning of the rest of our lives.

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Day 361 and Counting… Our Second Honeymoon begins!

Posted: September 3, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Monday, August 1, 2011

We woke up this morning and Ceecee realized that she needed to get her bike adjusted today, before we leave for our honeymoon!  We’ll come back Friday evening and Saturday morning is the Tour de Cox.  She needs a tune up, so we hurried down to the bike shop, explained the situation, and they were very good about taking care of her.

After that, we swung by Mothers, our local craft brewery.  We wanted to get a growler (which is a gallon jug with a sealed lid that you can fill with tap beer, so you get the fresh taste) to take with us to Big Cedar.

They have this tradition where they want you to take pictures with their growlers at different events or places you travel to and they sometimes give away prizes for them and we wanted to do that.  When we got there, they weren’t open, but we found an employee and when we told him what was going on, he took us around to the tasting room and got us one.

We drove down this afternoon and our room is just fantastic.  Big Cedar Lodge is amazingly beautiful and they have tremendous amenities.  It’s supposed to be really hot this week, so I’m sure when we’re not in the room, we’ll be spending lots of time in the water!

Day 360 and Counting… One Year After “The Phone Call”

Posted: August 28, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Sunday, July 31, 2011

One year since “the phone call!”

One year ago today, after completing the mock triathlon with my training group prior to my first triathlon, Ceecee called me and asked me to move back in with her.  Why I had it so firmly in my mind that when I completed the triathlon, somehow we would be reconciled, I don’t know.  I just had an incredible amount of faith for that.  Of course, I thought it would be when I completed the actual triathlon; I never imagined the mock tri having any significance.

Anyway, that was exactly a year ago and two days later, I moved into the loft with my wonderful wife and a week later, the restoration tour began.  Now it’s nearly finished and it seems that it’s only been a few days and that it’s been forever, both at the same time.

Two days from now, one year to the day that I moved back in, we leave on our second honeymoon!  We’re going to Big Cedar Lodge, a world class resort south of Branson.  My wife used to work there and we have quite a history with the place.

Just go to the search bar on this blog and search “Big Cedar” and you’ll find numerous posts related to it.  From the tornado, to the ice storm, to shortly before we split up, Big Cedar Lodge has been a part of our lives.  Now, we will restore that beautiful place in a way that I’m sure neither of us will ever forget!

Day 348 and Counting… Living the Dream In Wine Country!

Posted: August 18, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Thursday, July 21, 2011

Wow!  Our first two days in California have been a blast!

Well, almost.  Our first day was nearly a disaster, thanks to a problem with our bank.

We landed in San Francisco, took a shuttle to the rental car location, and had our bank card declined for no apparent reason.  Turns out, there was “fraud activity in the area” where we were and they had put a temporary stop on all transactions being conducted there on their cards.

We were to meet our PR connections at MacMurray Ranch for lunch and a tour of the vineyards and we couldn’t figure out how to pay for our rental car to be able to get there.  After a number of increasingly unpleasant telephone conversations with our bank, we finally got something worked out and were nearly on time to our first appointment.

Lunch was family style and Kate MacMurray was the perfect host.  The property was magnificent and the highlight was when they drove us to a point high on a ridge, where we drank Pinot Noir overlooking the entire estate.

Our hotel has a nice pool that we enjoyed in the afternoon and we ate at a really cool place in downtown Healdsburg called Spoon Bar where the outside walls are actually accordion doors that they had opened all the way up, giving us the feeling of dining outdoors.  Healdsburg is a great little town with all kinds of great places to eat and drink, especially down around the square.

Today was super busy and fun.  We started off by taking a run down and through Healdsburg.  The early morning temperature in the mid fifties was a very welcome change!

We had lunch at Louis Martini Winery, then visited the CIA – that’s the Culinary Institute of America – in St. Helena.  That and driving past Alcatraz have been the highlights for Ceecee, so far.

After that, it was back to Healdsburg for a tasting at J. Vineyards and winery, and we actually reached the wine saturation point, so we went to a little Brat place called The Wurst and tried a local brew with our dinner.  It all ended with a drive to Sonoma for dessert at a place on their square that I really love called El Dorado Kitchen.  Whew!

Day 342 and Counting… Restoring the “Girls Just Wanna Run 5K

Posted: August 11, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Saturday, July 16, 2011

Today was the annual “Girls Just Wanna Run” 5K, the largest women’s only 5K in the state of Missouri.  Since I’m obviously not running, but Ceecee is, I volunteer to be one of the traffic control people out on the course.

This year, there were expected to be close to 1000 participants.  I didn’t count them as they came by, of course, but it was pretty impressive to watch that sea of women flooding out of the park and onto the streets.

Last year, we were separated during the race, but Ceecee still gave me a high five as she came by, although it was very awkward after the race.  This year is as different as night is from day and we were extremely glad to be a couple throughout the entire event.

For me, there was no hoping that she would spend any time with me afterward, or having to say goodbye again when it was over.  I didn’t have to worry about our future because we are as committed to each other as any two newlyweds.

Tonight is date night and then we only have a few days to make preparations before flying out to California!

Day 340 and Counting… A Dog Bite Cuts Our Ride Short

Posted: August 7, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Thursday, July 14, 2011

Awfully unexpected turn of events during our training ride this morning.  We were intending to try to ride the entire route of 62 miles, a metric century for those of you who are familiar with the term.

Around 20 miles out, we turned down a farm road with a few houses on one side and a Bassett Hound came running out into the street.  There’s always a worry of dogs getting tangled up with your bike and causing a crash, so that was where my focus was, on avoiding hitting the dog.

It had other ideas.  It bit me as I came up alongside it.

I kind of kicked it off and kept riding to put a little distance between us before I stopped to take a look.  It was bleeding, but not badly.  We usually carry some minor first aid items with us, so I cleaned it up and put on some neosporin.  It was pretty sore, so we decided to just head back toward the house.

Later, I went back in the car and tried to find the house it had come from by asking some neighbors.  I wasn’t sure what my plan was, but I definitely wanted to at least confront the owners if I could find them.

A neighbor knew of the dog and said it had been known to bite before.  I kept thinking it was a good thing it was me that it bit and not my wife, because I wouldn’t have handled that well.  As it was, i made a police report, but declined to take any action against the family.

Day 336 and Counting… Invitations Done, Getting Close

Posted: August 6, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Sunday, July 10, 2011

Things are definitely coming together.  Today, we got the invitations all done.  We’re doing a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party theme loosely based on the recent version of Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp.

Ceecee created them herself on the computer and they turned out really neat.  There are several outdoor patios and pavilions at the park and we just decided that we will have our ceremony outdoors and the weather will just have to cooperate.

I’ve picked up most of the stuff for my costume at thrift stores and we ordered a Mad Hatter’s hat on Amazon.  Ceecee found a dress at a store downtown.  It’s going to be really silly and that’s the way we want it.

We’re planning two training rides this week and we leave for California in a week and a half.  When we get back, it will only be a few days until we leave for our second honeymoon! Hard to believe everything is this close.

Day 330 and Counting… The Firecracker 5000

Posted: August 1, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Monday, July 4, 2011

Ceecee got first place in her age group in the Firecracker 5000, an Independence Day 5K in Branson this morning.  She never expected it, but I was sure proud of her.

I had hoped that I might have placed for my age group, but no such luck.  Even so, I ran a good race and it was a pretty neat course, going along the shore of Lake Taneycomo during the last mile.

We won a couple of ridiculous door prizes, too.  Ceecee won a huge box of fireworks, which we gave to our son-in-law’s family, and I won a quilt with an Americana theme.  It was funny, though.  On the way back home, we decided to stop and eat a picnic lunch and we used that quilt as out picnic blanket.

Day 326 and Counting… Training, Pizza, and Plans

Posted: July 29, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Thursday, June 30, 2011

Today we took a long ride to Ozark and back.  There are some wicked hills in the country in between, but it’s good for us.  It’s only a little over a month until the Tour De Cox and we still have never ridden 62 miles before.

Once we got back to town, we stopped at Rosati’s, a fairly new pizzeria that is supposed to have authentic Chicago pizza here in Springfield.  We had lunch there, and it was good, but definitely no competition for places like Pizzeria Uno or Gino’s East in Chicago.

Our California trip is all booked and paid for.  We leave nere July 20th and we’ll be there a week!  So looking forward to taking Ceecee to wine country and to see the pacific Ocean.  It’s funny; with her upbringing, she’s been all over Europe, but has never been to California or seen the Pacific.

Day 320 and Counting… Hospital or Thrill

Posted: July 23, 2013 in Love and Marriage
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Friday, June 24, 2011

This morning, we decided to ride from our loft out to the Wilson’s Creek Battlefield where we used to train.  It’s in between Springfield and Republic and our phone gps system got us completely lost.  We eventually go there, but we certainly took the long way.

On the way back, we saw some really cool places and got into some pretty good hills out on the country roads.  One in particular, on the way down, was a “hospital or thrill” hill.

I don’t’ like to ride the brake going down steep hills and I know that if a dog or other small animal gets in front of the bike, or anything goes wrong, I’m going to the hospital.  It isn’t wise, but I love it.  It’s part of the thrill of road cycling, and I don’t want it any other way.

I have no idea how long the ride ended up being, but it was a good one to train for the Tour De Cox, which is only about 6 weeks away.

Tonight, I’m taking my wife on an 80’s date.  We’re both 80’s high school graduates and some of the baggage from the past has contributed to some of our problems when we separated, so we’re going to restore the 80’s tonight,

First we’re going to 1984, a video arcade downtown that’s full of nothing but old vintage video games like Pacman, Frogger, Asteroids, etc.  Then we’re going to Branson to watch an 80’s cover band who wears wigs and dresses up in all the crazy stuff bands used to wear back then.

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