Make Like a Groundhog

    This morning was the annual Groundhog Race at Hunt Midwest Subtropolis in North KC. It's an office park in underground caves, which nature keeps at a constant 55 degrees—so it's guaranteed to be a good run, regardless of what the weather may be doing outside. (Two years ago was icy & snowy; today was 35 degrees, on its way to 50!)
   I met Lexie off I-35 and Johnson drive early, and we carpooled up to the site, which made the day a lot more fun! In the caves, we met up with a bunch of the Hallmark crew: Tom & Bess, Aaron, Brett & Mary, Danielle, David Eaton, and more! (Which was good, because I never saw any of the other 13 Meetup folks.)

me, Brett & Danielle

An hour before the race, the caves were still fairly empty...

But with a max of 3500 runners, they fill up quickly!

   I ran a not-very-fast-but-still-respectable 28:25 (562nd place), pacing ~9:30/mile. Considering that my last week has been focused on snowboarding rather than running, and that I've generally fallen off the wagon the last few weeks, I'll take it. (But this was 2:30 slower than my time in 2010... ouch! At least I have a goal to strive for...)

And between the 5k & 10k races, TONS of people milling around!

Danielle, Lexie & me, post-race

KCCC: YOU ARE GOIN' DOWN

   My coworkers are getting saucy... Aaron created greeting cards using Danielle's hilarious photos. They're sitting at the guard station so Hallmarkers can sign them as they're coming in to work, and we're going to mail them to our biggest competitors (Sprint, DST, Cerner & Garmin). My headshot is on the back (wearing my snowboarding helmet and goggles). I think someone is going to get their @** kicked, and it may not be Sprint, DST, Cerner & Garmin!

Happy Birthday, Dear Aki

    My little Aki is 4 years old today. We didn't do much to celebrate yet, as I had an event with the AMA at the Roasterie after work. They told us all about the partnerships between several Kansas City businesses and let us sample some of their food: Roasterie coffee and coffee ice cream, Oklahoma Joe's BBQ pork, sausage, and Cowtown BBQ sauce; Original Juan's chips, salsas and BBQ sauces, Andre's caramel-espresso chocolates and 75th Street Brewery beer. (Blanc Burger was there too, but inexplicably had nothing to sample—boo!) Danielle went with me, and we saw Jerrod there, and had a fun time snacking and listening to reps of each business talk about their process and their products. They really are innovative, and KC is a hidden gem in the culinary world as far as I'm concerned. We have some incredible restaurants here that rival anything I've had on my U.S. travels (OK, except for Nobu).

   So, I'll make it up to Aki by taking her to the dog park this weekend, after I've sent little Koko off to his new home (hopefully!) She deserves a party after being an awesome puppy raiser this week!

Kansas City Corporate Challenge: Game Faces

    Hey Sprint, DST, Garmin and the like, if you're wondering who's going to clean your clock this year, it's us.

(Looks like I'm ready for roller derby. They have that in corporate challenge now, right?!) That's Danielle, Aaron,  Kamaron, me, Tom, Bess, Ralph, Tom and Lory.

   Seriously, how about Danielle's handiwork on this promotional poster? She had a bunch of us meet at the gym in our official shirts and all the random gear we could carry, she took our photos, and then composed them into these awesome, vintage-looking shots.

Bravo, Danielle!

   I'm looking forward to the events starting up in May... hoping to run the 5K, any of the track events, and maybe tug of war, too.

GO TEAM!!!

Martha Stewart Express run

   I started early this morning with a 7 am run on the Plaza with a group from KC Express. It was a fun run to promote the Martha Stewart show moving to the Hallmark Channel. We were asked to bring Martha-related props, so I brought my dogs. C'mon, Martha loves dogs. (Ok, she has chows & French bulldogs, not necessarily shibas, but still...) We had a fun time & the weather was PERFECT for running—could not have been better. My gimpy hip actually felt pretty good & I was able to run nearly the whole course, stopping for traffic lights along the way. Afterwards I sat outside Panera with Jeanne & Danielle & enjoyed a pastry. Perfect start to the day. You can see all the photos here.

   (I'm not in the group photo because my canine alarm clock hit "snooze" this morning!! I was 5 minutes late.)

Danielle crossing the finish line:

...with the pups & me not too far behind:

Jeanne & friends:

Taylor makes friends everywhere he goes:

KCCC 5k

I woke up at 5:40 (on a Saturday!) to drive to Shawnee Mission Park (to fight the traffic of thousands of athletes!) for the annual Kansas City Corporate Challenge 5k. The start time for the women's run was 7:00 am (but the start was late!) and the weather was cold (FORTY degrees!) and I was still fighting off a sinus/chest cold (for over a week!). Despite all that (drama) I was determined to do my best, and I came in at 25:37 (25:34 according to my stopwatch). All whining aside, I was pretty happy with my time, and I came in 22nd place in women 35-40, which is a competitive group. Danielle placed first in our division! And if all that wasn't great enough, a group of us met at Panera afterwards and I got a spinach & bacon baked egg souffle. 
(I know, awesome, right?!) Great way to start the day. 

If you need me, I'll be napping.

This was the carb-a-rific dinner I ate Friday night: homemade butternut squash risotto (with shallots & pancetta!), my favorite bruschetta & blackberries for dessert. The risotto was SO GOOD, and I wish I could take credit, but I'm pretty sure it was the pancetta.