Winter is coming!  It is getting colder in Minnesota and the frequency of seeing my foggy breath from cold air is increasing.  My first races of the season will happen a little over a month from now in West Yellowstone, MT.  I am doing the last dryland training for the year over the next 2-3 weeks in preparation.

I should have updated earlier this week but I got super busy and the training load was very high this past week.  Thursday I had my skate rollerski TT and did very well… I won and I skied very fast… I’ll go at it again in 2 weeks time to see if I can improve on my time.  My ankle felt good all week and I am know running with very minimal pain and rollerskiing pain free.

My mother in-law, Sherri, was very surprised on Saturday because we had a Surprise Party for her 50th B-Day.  It was a lot of fun and I cannot believe everyone was successful at keeping this from her over the last 3 months during all the planning.

This weekend was pretty low key.  Saturday was spent watching Grant while Marybeth went shopping with her mom and sister.  Grant and I meet Kuan at the REI scratch and dent sale and then went out to lunch at a sweet Vietnamese place on Eat Street, Quang Restaurant.  Grant was very good but he started to miss mom by the end of the day.

Sunday was great weather and Kuan and I did a relaxed OD in the Plymouth/Golden Valley area.  This upcoming week I have a TT on Thursday.  My ankle is getting better every day but it still swells up every now and then.

This past Sunday the entire family went ski walking in French park. My good friend Kuan was able to pick up a sweet backpack for me at the REI scratch and dent sale. Now I can haul Grant around with me!

Not so sure about this DAD!

Ok, I think I like it.

Through the woods.

Up the hills.

Go faster!

What a workout… time for a nap.

Saturday was a very busy day for the entire family.  In the morning I did some long threshold skate intervals and my ankle felt pretty good.  The workout went well, but I would have rather been running the Autumn Woods 10k run in Elm Creek Park ,however my ankle is not ready for a 10k.

Once I finished my work out we went  to the Apple Orchard to enjoy a very warm and sunny fall day (maybe the last one of the season).  Grant loved the orchard and he helped pick some apples. 

Grant stopped picking to sample the fruit of his labor.

… not so sure about the Hayride.