This past week was a busy one…mostly from all the last minute prep work for my 3^rd Annual Matt Liebsch Golf Tournament.  The event was a great success and we had wonderful weather and everyone I talked with enjoyed themselves.  The putting greens were a little difficult to navigate given they had just been aerated, but it did seem to prevent Team Kowalke (the ringers) from shooting a 10 under par… nice work guys.

Thank you to all the golfers who showed up to play a round of golf on my behalf and thank you to my hole sponsors…Midwest Production Supply, Sauer-Danfoss, Melvin Liebsch, Dave Labelle, Pioneer Midwest, and Central Container .  Also, thank you to all the friends and family who help out and a very big thank you to my wife, Marybeth, who kept my head from exploding by taking care of all sorts of details I would have missed.  My last thank you (I promise) is to Kuan Teoh, who is the master chef and did a great job with all the food… the food was awesome and I had way too many pork sandwiches.

Below are the tourney results…I will post pictures if I get my hands on any.

As I write this I am sitting in the Detroit Airport waiting for a flight to Lake Placid, NY where I will meet my team and attend a 2-week training camp at the Olympic Training Center in conjunction with US Ski Team…more updates on that to follow.

3^rd Annual Matt Liebsch Golf Tournament Results

1.  -10 Team Kowakle – Dan, Chuck, Jeff, Brian

2.  -8   Team Japor – Rick, John, Jon, Tom

3.  -5   Team Fries – Mike, Bill, Mark, Bryan

3.  -5   Team Mullet – Joe, Bryant, Ben, Jeff

5.  -4   Team Englund – Jim, Randy, Lee, Jerry

6.  -2   Team Mulligans – Ron, Brian, Pat, John

7.  -1   Team Bolduc – John, Kim, Neil, Stewart

8.  +1   Team Grussendorf – Josh, David, Jenny, Brian

9.  18   Team Soloist – John Betzold

This past weekend was a busy one with the CXC team at local ski stores promoting our sponsors.  Andre and I worked together at Hoigaards and we moved a lot of product for them.  I worked retail about 5 years ago and forgot how tired it makes you… although some of the fatigue could have come from the morning’s workout which was tough.  Some of the CXC team headed out to St. Paul very early to do 7 by 3min classic intervals near Lower Afton road.  It was a very tough workout on some hills so steep we could not ski back down them.  Luckily, Caitlin Compton convinced her boyfriend, Ben Kremer, to drive us back down the hills.  Thanks Ben! (Ben is also the mastermind behind creating my website)

Yesterday was Marybeth’s birthday and it was a lot of fun.  Grant and I got her breakfast in bed and then we all went shopping at Mall of America and spent the day together.  It was a very full day.  I didn’t even train yesterday but was so tired from all the fun that I had to take a little afternoon nap when we got home.  Today it is back to work and back to training.  This weekend the CXC team will be in the Twin Cities and we will be at local ski shops promoting our sponsors… check out skinnyski.com or fasterskier.com for details.

The intense training week finished up very well for me.  Our team had another OO rollerski time trial on Saturday.  I was able to improve my time and set another PR.  This time I was finally able to crack 13 minutes… it has only taken me about a 1/2 dozen attempts.  Check out Brain Gregg’s website for a great recap of the week along with some very cool pictures and results… www.xcskilife.com.  As a reward to myself for a good training week I splurged on the drive home and got a cookie dough blizzard.  It was delicious, especially because I had just finished up a 3.5 hour workout.

Today was Grant’s first day of school… his early childhood family education class.  He crawled around and played with other babies in the 6-10 month range.  Marybeth said seeing Grant with other babies his age made her realize just how advanced he is for his age.  He turned 6 months old a few days ago and he has already been crawling for a month and a half…. maybe I’ll have him on skis before he can walk!  It makes me happy and sad to see him growing up so fast.  The days of leaving him in a room by himself and coming back and finding him in the same place are over=(

Tomorrow is Marybeth’s birthday and I will be spending the day with her and Grant.  I have a few good surprises planned so I know it will be a fun day.