Run Club LL Bean Shopping Spree

We made it to the big LL Bean Boot!

The top 3 Run Club Boys and Girls are: Ramiah, Jakeylah, Nakita, Tommie, Lebron and Lavon!  Load up in the van we are headed to the Mall of America for our LL Bean shopping spree.  

We record and chart our daily mileage at Run Club and this week marked the final week of Spring Run Club.  One of the competitions we have been having is for accumulating the most mileage.   The Mall of America trip has been a goal for the entire spring!  

Happy Shoppers

A huge thank you to LL Bean for their support of the Twin Cities community and our Run Club with the Boys and Girls Club.  LL Bean is a major supporter and sponsor of In The Arena connecting elite athletes with at risk youth.

Jakeylah (48 miles), Nakita (34 miles) and Ramiah (59 miles).

Ready to go to the Mall!

Ramiah picked out a new running outfit

Nakita bought new sunglasses and a new L.L. Bean water bottle.

Elliot one of the employees helping us became friends with Nakita and bought her a cookie.

Jakeylah also picked up a new running outfit!

LaVon enjoyed a Bean Boot cookie during his shopping

Lebron and his new Camo Back Pack.

Tommie picked up some new sandals, sunglasses and a water bottle for summer.

LNR Man Camp

LNR Man Camp in Cable, WI

We had our first training camp of the year this past weekend up in Cable, WI.  When I first moved to the Midwest I lived in downtown Cable and it was fun to train some familiar loops that have become some of my favorite over the years.  The roads in the area are incredible with lake views, rolling terrain and smooth pavement.  Lake Owen drive has to be one of my favorite all time roller ski roads.

Sam, Nick and I drove up Friday afternoon after school for a nice run on the Ojibwe trail and a feast at the River's Eatery.  Mick and Beth the owners of the River's Eatery are very supportive of the community and it was fun to show the boys my favorite place to eat in Wisconsin.

Temperature were in the low thirties so it felt like we were back in Winter.  The LNR group is a fit one and the nice thing about roller skis is we can adjust wheel speed so that everyone can train together and be at their right pace or close to it.  

I have trained thousands of hours in the Cable area but there is still more to explore.  The crew took me on a run on the North Country trail through a wilderness I had never seen before.  Crossing this dam bridge was pretty fun.  We did a morning combo of 1.75 skate roller skiing and 1.25 running.

We kept our eyes open for bears, but this is the only one we saw.

After a big morning we had a good nap and hoped on our bikes for a 50 mile ride.  

Nick learned the hard way to make sure you hydrate and fuel a lot on big training days

Nick impressed me the most of everyone at camp.  He is in his third year of skiing and his first year of LNR and this was his first training camp  He put in the most hours on Saturday after taking a wrong turn on the run.  It didn't phase him.  He also opted to go for the longer bike ride option in the afternoon.  With about 2 miles to go in the ride he felt kind of funny, or rather just really tired, like he could fall asleep on  his bike.  He then proceeded to yo-yo a bit off the back and then bonked real hard.  You can learn a lot about someone when they bonk and there is a certain bonding process you have with your training partners when one or both of you bonk.  Nick was awesome.  He asked what he should do in the future to prevent such a feeling from coming over him.  The rest of the team impressed me too when we arrived home. They had the steaks on the grill and helped Nick recover from the days long effort so that we could all rally again the next day.  Next time I will be sure to bring some extra food to share too.

Steak Dinner!

Roller-skiing Blue Moon Road

Enjoying the blue sky and sun

Run Club and Big Beef Dinner

Do you think we have enough beef?

The BBD or Big Beef Dinner has become an annual tradition for skiers here in the Twin Cities.  Our friends Matt and Kuan started the simple event around 10 years ago and it has continued to grow.  It is fantastic to connect with so many of the local skiers and supporters and enjoy the transition from one ski season to the next.  

Grilling up the beef, Korean BBQ style.  Thinly sliced, beaten, marinated and wrapped in lettuce with Kimchi

The kids have been busy at Run Club accumulating their miles and adding stickers next to their name on the Run Club board.  Collectively the kids have run 708 miles which is 2124 laps around the park.  It is pretty cool to see the progress of not being able to run one 1/3 mile lap continuously to being able to run 1 mile continuously and 2, 3, or 4 miles each day depending on the goal of the day.

Shaniyah and Kennuyanah earning their LL Bean water bottles by hitting the 10 mile mark.

Ramiah, our first runner this season to reach 26.2 miles.  She has earned a pair of FITS socks.

We have fantastic sponsors that support our athletic goals and dreams and it is wonderful that they also support our civic goals and dreams.  FITS socks has donated socks that the kids earn when they run 26.2 miles.  Thank you to LL Bean, Fruitshare and FITS

Nakitta running her way to 3rd place in overall mileage!

We have our first 5km fun run coming up next week, at Endurance United's: Go Spring Run!