Lighting the Cathedral

random
The Cathedral of Saint Paul is celebrating its 100^th anniversary this year. To help celebrate, a St. Paul resident, John Dowdle, has donated special lighting for 2 nights so the Cathedral and the Capitol will both be lit. Last night and tonight the front of the St. Paul Cathedral will be flooded with spot lights. I actually saw this last night and even did a double take. It is a stunning sight against a dark night sky. A statement from the article on the lighting emphasizes this: Cass Gilbert, architect of the State Capitol, once said, "If the dome of the Cathedral of Saint Paul and that of the new State Capitol were part of the skyline in a city in Europe, they would be world famous."

runnnings

Cheese After Church

random
You know you’re in Wisconsin when coffee fellowship after church consists of not only the obligatory cookies, but a large tray of cheese and crackers. When I pointed this out to my parents, my dad commented that he can’t remember the last time there wasn’t cheese after church.

runnings

Frommer's Ranks Minneapolis as a Top Destination

random
A friend of mine said he heard a story on the news about Minneapolis and Minnesota ranking among the top travel destinations in the world by number of tourists or business travelers. We couldn’t find supporting information on this on the internet, but I did find that Frommer's feels Minneapolis is among their top 12 travel destinations for 2007. Right along with Tokyo, Japan and Zurich, Switzerland.

runnings
Several people I work with have started running at noon so we can sometimes have groups of 4 or 5 people out for a run. We’re all of different abilities and like different paces, so frequently these are easy, relaxing runs. Historically I’ve not been good about taking days to do recovery runs so this has been good for me. However, yesterday I finally felt like I’d been doing a few too many recovery runs, without a run to recover from, so I got out on my own for a quicker paced run.

Pickup of Bikes

random
Today I happened to come across a pickup in St Paul loaded with bikes.



runnings

Biking and Breakfast

random
Friday is Twin Cities Bike/Walk to Work Day. The event tries to encourage new bike commuters by sponsoring organized bikes and walks to downtown Minneapolis and St Paul. From 6:30am – 8:30am there will be a gathering at the north plaza of the Hennepin County Government Center which will include free breakfast. I’m not counting on much more than a granola bar, but a friend of mine and I plan on biking to work and making a stop for breakfast.
On the note of biking, an excerpt from The Downtown Minneapolis Transportation Management Organization:
Based on the recently published 2000 Census Supplemental Survey, Minneapolis is ranked #1 in the country for bicycle commuting with an estimated average of 5,366 people riding to work each day on a bike, 2.63% of commuters.

running

Sold Out

random
This past weekend a friend of mine went to First Ave to see Andrew Bird. Neither of us expected the show to be sold out so we hit happy hour and then made our way to buy tickets before the show. We arrived to find no tickets available. I’ve never tried to buy tickets outside of a venue but we set out with purpose and started approaching people. We found our two tickets and made it into a great show. Andrew Bird’s singing, whistling, violin and glockenspiel playing was remarkable, especially when he improvised with each. I just didn’t realize enough other people to sell out the show would think the same.

runnings
Part of what can cause knee pain from running is an imbalance between hamstrings and quadriceps. Running builds the hamstrings more than quadriceps. I’ve started to do some distance cycling and the first muscles I’m noticing it in my quads. I’m enjoying the cycling and even though it’s a challenge, it seems it building some needed muscle.

Missing Lyndale Meters

random
This past weekend I met friends at Herkimer and was completely surprised to find no parking meters on Lyndale. The free parking was a nice surprise, but this week I headed to Stella’s rooftop and found myself a good 10 minutes late because Lyndale and Lake was down to one lane. The missing parking meters should have been a warning. Looks like construction throughout the summer.

runnings
Over 80˚F at noon today was a little much for me. It was unseasonably warm today, but soon enough I’ll have to start thinking about morning runs instead of noontime ones.

Sauerbraten

random
I recently went to Glockenspiel for dinner with friends. The atmosphere was casual and we all had a good time, but I think we also all probably enjoyed the German beer better than the German food. This cuisine is not something I usually seek out, but I do have a favorite: sauerbraten. Well, Mom’s is better. I’ve now tried both Black Forest and Glockenspiel and Mom’s still wins hands down. I’ll recommend Glockenspiel for the beer, atmosphere and wait staff (the waitress didn’t take offense when one friend was trying to figure out what a waitress would be called in Germany and called her a wench), but its not the best German food in town.

runnings

Sprint and a Beer

random

runnings
The 1 mile tonight was a success. I had a time of 6:32, a good improvement over last year. I was certainly winded at the end but enjoyed the run. The best part was watching the elite runners. The race is run in several waves and the last two waves are the elite males and females. These people are sprinting. It’s exciting to watch. Especially with a beer in my hand after finishing my own race.

Forgetful

random

runnings
After a high pressured few days, I was ready to take a break from work this afternoon and go out for a run. Unfortunately, I forgot an important article of clothing for running today. I guess I’ll rest up for the 1 mile tomorrow.