The Wonderful Month of March

March continued with special visitors!  Renee and Sipke arrived, and they were nice enough to bring some tastes of Wisconsin for us!

 

 

Then, Terese came for a visit!  (You didn't think she'd stay away long, did you?) We welcomed her to DC by giving her a subtle hint that she should probably move here.

 

The cherry blossoms were kind enough to bloom while we were in Myrtle Beach, but we saw the buds starting while Terese was here.

 

We ran the Rock n Roll DC Half Marathon (in costume of course) on St. Patrick's Day weekend.

 

There was a time in our lives when running a half marathon granted you a few days of rest afterward.  Not so when training for an Ironman.  Post-race beer has been replaced with elevated icing in preparation for the next day's workout.

 

 

Terese wanted to see Shenandoah, so we headed out the day after Rock n Roll and had a hilly bike ride and some more hiking along the A.T.

 

 We headed for a week of Boogie Boarding, Sand Castle Building and cold water training in Myrtle Beach with Renee and Sipke...but we were so busy we didn't take any pictures! You'll have to trust us that it was awesome!

 

 

 

March concluded with Nikki's week-long birthday blow-out.  (That's what happens when the Navy causes you to miss your wife's birthday several years in a row....the one you are home for has to be AWESOME.)

 

We went to The Melting Pot and DC Improv on Nikki's birthday.  Then, the following weekend, Nikki's sister Jill flew in and (almost) surprised her (thanks to big in-law mouths.)  The weekend included dinner at Ruth's Chris...

 

 

...and a surprise party at Lucky Strike Bowling!

 

 

Then Nikki ran the Cherry Blossom 10-miler (along with new tri-friend Emily!) 

 

And we went to see Bruce Springsteen!

 

Spring in the City Rocks!

Happy 30th Birthday Michael!

Michael turned 30 on March 4th 2012!

 

 

 We had a fun-filled day, which included a visit to the Building Museum...where the Lego exhibit was a hit.

 

Being that it was his birthday, (almost) nobody rolled their eyes when he ordered pumpkin pie at Pie Sisters in the middle of a beautiful spring day.

 

 

We also visited the Museum of Natural History...where the taxidermists have quite a sense of humor

 

Henry helped wrap Michael's birthday gifts.

 

 

We finished the night off at Hill Country, which has since been deemed Michael's favorite place in all of Washington DC.

Winter in DC (Or lack thereof)

After being in snow-less Oak Harbor for five years and watching the East Coast suffer through Snowmageddon, Snowpoclypse, etc, we were SO excited for winter in DC.

 

There were no snowstorms this year.  It conveniently snowed a tiny bit in October the day before the Marine Corps Marathon...but that was it.

 

We still made the best of Valentine's Day and pretended winter was here! After the most delicious dinner ever at Medium Rare, (where there is no menu) we went ice skating at the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden outdoor ice rink.

 

 

We again invited snow by selling the truck (not as good at snow as one would think) and bought ourselves (ok, bought Nikki) a fancy new all wheel drive SUV!

 

A few days later, a silly little plastic car decided to tangle with the Volvo.  The Volvo had a small crack in the bumper, the silly little plastic car had to bed towed to the junk yard.

 

Then, because winter was clearly not going to make an appearance, we figured some fancy new bikes were in order. As it turns out when you sign up for an Ironman, you also sign over all of your spare time and cash. Oh well, sexy bikes are awesome.

 

Winter decided we'd not get any snow, but freezing temperatures were in order...but only on days when Nikki had a long bike ride to do.  No fear, Renee's fudge to the rescue!

 

We're holding out for Winter 2013 now...come on snow!!!

Happy 2012!

Happy New Year every one!


We're planning an exciting year!  Somehow, a marathon (or six) just didn't seem challenging enough for 2012, so we're both currently training to complete an Ironman in 2012.

Nikki is registered for Ironman Coeur D'Alene on June 24th 2012 (and is doing it with her step-Dad Bruce) in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho:  http://ironman.com/events/ironman/coeurdalene#axzz1ldZgeuBs  and Michael is registered for Ironman Wisconsin on September 9th, 2012 in Madison, Wisconsin: http://ironman.com/events/ironman/wisconsin/?show=results#axzz1Xkn4gf1u  (A special appearance is being made by Renee and Sipke as swimming course safety boats at IM Coeur D'Alene!)


The training so far (9-ish weeks in ) is hard, and time consuming, but very rewarding.  We've been training with Tri-Team Z here in DC: www.triteamz.com The team is great (the Coach is a bit grumpy all. the.  time. but we'll get over it) and it's a lot of fun to have friends working towards the same goals.


So, if you're near Madison, or near CDA (that's you, Whidbey folks!) save the date and come join us, we'll be in town for each race for 5-6 days total:


IM Coeur D'Alene: Sunday June24th, 2012
IM Wisconsin: Sunday, September 9th, 2012

Happy Holidays from Michael and Nikki!

Happy Holidays!!

 We hope you're enjoying your holiday season!  We've been busy here in DC...

Nikki's first Thanksgiving turkey. 

Michael approved.

The National Harbor Christmas Tree

Sunset at National Harbor

We got to take a tour of the White House when it was decorated for the holidays.  There were many, many, Bo the First Dog figurines in the decorations.  They were made from lots of different materials...Licorice Bo, Button Bo, Tissue Paper Bo...all sizes!

 Outside the White House

On Christmas Eve we went to FedEx field for the Vikings/Redskins game.  Michael showed his support as usual.

We rang in Christmas Day at midnight doing a monument run with our Triathlon Team.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year!

We have some big things planned for 2012 (again, it's not that, jeez) stay tuned!

Las Vegas Rock n Roll Anniversary!

 This December was our 5th wedding anniversary!  It's hard to believe we're so old and have been married so long.  To celebrate, we went to Las Vegas and got married again...by Elvis!

We suckered convinced some very important people to come celebrate with us at "An" Elvis Wedding Chapel, and by running the Las Vegas Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon.

Las Vegas Rock n Roll is unique because the race is run at night: Start time is 5pm.  The highlight is running right down the strip.  Low points included unmanned water stations, water stations being filled from a fire hydrant, almost freezing temps, rain, wind and some parasite or virus that struck many participants.  Luckily, nobody in our party got sick: Read about it here.

 We had a ton of fun!  Renee (Nikki's mom) and Sipke came from Minnesota, Mike and Terese (Yeah, boohiss if you thought Terese would stop appearing in the blog just because we live on opposite coasts now,) came from Whidbey, and our friend Sam, who we met in Pensacola, lived near in Whidbey and is now our neighbor in DC all came, and EVERYBODY ran!  It was a first time 1/2 for Mike, Sipke and Sam.

Marine Corps Marathon 2011

On October 30th, 2011 we ran the 36th Annual Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC and Arlington VA

This was Nikki's 3rd MCM and Michael's 2nd.  We both had PRs!

 

The weather was cold and clear...a beautiful day for running!

Ragnar DC 2011

We completed the 2011 Ragnar Relay Washington DC!

This was Nikki's second Ragnar (she did Ragnar Northwest Passage in 2008,) and Michael's first.

Ragnar Washington DC is part of the larger Ragnar Relay Series, there are 15 races around the country: www.ragnarrelay.com

Ragnar Washington DC is a 198 mile relay race, from Cumberland, Maryland to National Harbor in Washington DC.  Teams consist of 12 runners, alternating running the 36 legs of the race.

Team Fortune Cookies (named for our team captains Will & Shelly Fortune) started at 6:30am on Friday, September 23rd and finished at 4:30pm on Saturday, September 24th, 2011. 

 Roughly 35 hours of racing included only 4 hours of sleep, which was partly on a highschool gym floor and later on a tarp in a field somewhere in suburban Maryland and one trip to Denny's at 3am (for dinner or breakfast...we weren't sure.  Michael didn't really care as he slept through it.)

Unlike Northwest Passage, where Nikki did all of her runs during the daylight, we ran a lot of this race in the dark.  Add in rural roads and terrible fog, and there was zero visibility for us while we ran at night.  It was a bit scary and disorienting only being able to see the 3-foot radius that a headlamp illuminated, but it was an excellent adventure!  Below is a picture of one of our runners at night...you can see how dark it was...

Poor Michael was assigned as Runner #3 (ok, he asked for it.)  His first leg, #3, was a 7.8 mile run with a 1247 foot elevation gain.  He and other runners assigned that leg got a special medal for completing it.  (Perhaps this difficult leg explains the complete meltdown he had about 15 hours later over a sleepng bag.  A meltdown he claims to not remember having.  Ask about it sometime, it's funny now that it's over.)

All in all, it was an excellent adventure!

Congrats Travis & Jillian!

Nikki's sister Jillian wed Travis Dahl on September 10th, 2011 

 Nikki had the pleasure of being Matron of Honor for her little sister!

Congrats Jill & Travis!

What Exactly Does Michael Do?

Michael's job can be hard to explain, but we'll try! The last four years have been his first "sea tour," during which he flew the EA-6B Prowler, an Electronic Attack aircraft. For the next 30 months or so, he is on his first "shore tour." His job now is to analyze threats to naval air warfare and brief other aviators on those threats. Being on a "shore tour" means he won't be deployed during this time. (Unless something very unfortunate happens...)

There is an article in the L.A. Times that explains what Electronic Attack aircraft do, and focuses on their role in the Libyan conflict. (The article talks mostly about the "Growler" which is the aircraft that is slowly replacing the Prowler; they do the same job.)

Michael's old squadron, VAQ-140, is deployed again out of Whidbey...this is the 3rd time in 3 years for VAQ-140, which puts a big strain on both the service member and their family. While most of the folks Michael flew with have also moved on to other jobs, we still have some friends back there, and they are always in our thoughts!


Here is the L.A. Times Article...
EA-18 Growler: U.S. is using electronic warfare to attack in waves - Los Angeles Times