This past week, although it is only Wednesday, has been interesting. Last weekend we traveled up to Andy and Jennifer's house on Saturday night. Andy made us homemade sushi, which was very very good. Jennifer kept Benjamin and I entertained while Mike helped Andy in the kitchen. The next day all of us but Andy (who had to work) left the house early for the Milk Run at the State Fair. Mike and I have made it a tradition to have at least one of us run this race every year. In 2007 I ran it alone, 2008 we both ran it (with Jennifer) and this year I chickened out AT THE START LINE so Mike ran it alone. I haven't been running lately and didn't want to risk injuring myself, so I skipped it. I didn't know what would hurt worse: my pride or any possible pain I would have felt from running. All I know is that it was really hard to miss out on running the race. I felt like a failure and beat myself up inside all morning. Fortunately for me though, very close to the finish line is my all time favorite fair food: creme puffs! My sorrow melted away with my first bite of that creamy goodness. Since the puffs actually are mostly made up of egg, Benjamin was able to only enjoy the whipped cream inside. Don't worry, he didn't even miss the puff!

Mike ran the race less than a minute slower than he did last year, but he came in 11th of all the males from 30-34, which I consider to be great! He said that the hills were once again pretty tough, but the race is always fun. The four of us strolled around the fair for a while in the morning before the crowds got too bad. A little later we met up with Mike's parents and cousins who were visiting from Wisconsin. Grandma Cindy took Benjamin on the Old Mill ride, which was a favorite of the Schmitt boys when they were little. Benjamin was a rock star all day and he really enjoyed the fair. He's been asking to go back ever since we left!

On Monday we jumped into our newest adventure with Benjamin's orientation at his new school. The first day was just a short introduction to the school that was a 15 minute visit with his teacher in the classroom. The past 2 days have been slightly longer visits (about an hour) with some of the other new children to the room and the next 2 days he will go for a 1/2 day. Next Tuesday is his first official FULL day of school. We are so pleased with our decision to send him to the Montessori school. He is really enjoying it.

The above title is actually the slogan for this year's Ragnar Relay Series, but I feel as though it actually was the catchphrase for our most recent weekend adventures! A whole bunch of hard work and preparation finally came to a finish as Mike departed for the relay race start line early Friday morning with half of his team. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Ragnar, it is a relay race which is run from LaCrosse, Wisconsin to Minneapolis, Minnesota by 180 teams of 12 runners. There are 36 legs of the 205 mile race which are each between 2 and 9 miles long. Each runner completes 3 legs over the course of anywhere around 30 hours. The teams are split into 2 vans which make exchanges every 6th leg. Mike was the team captain this year for Lost in Pace, his team which was comprised of friends/members of the Rochester Track Club. Mike was in van #1 and was runner #5. The race began for his team at around 9:30am on Friday and they finished at around 3:00pm on Saturday. They slept in high school gyms, friends/family houses, and in the van. The entire race is one big crazy event and everyone had a great time.

While Mike and his team members were all running on Friday, Benjamin and I drove up to spend the day with Jen, AJ and John. The boys had so much fun playing together! Then we met Grandma Chris and Grandpa Ed for dinner and so that I could drop Benjamin off with them for the weekend. I headed back to the east side of the cities to stay with Cindy and Bert so that I could get up at 2am to volunteer for the race (each team has to provide 3 volunteers to staff the race). It was an awesome experience to be up so early and cheer on the teams in the semi-darkness. I later met up with Mike and his team near the finish line so that I could watch them all finish the race together. The weather was spectacular! It was so exciting to see all of them receive their medals.

After the team finished, we all went to Longfellow Grill to enjoy their stories and some food. We had another race and an early morning wake up on Sunday, so we both headed to bed early Saturday night to prepare.

Sunday morning we drove out to the Great Minnesota Get Together with Jennifer and Bert for the Milk Run, a 5k race that begins and ends at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. I know what you're thinking - Mike ran and drove 205 miles over the course of 2 days without much sleep and he woke up Sunday morning and ran MORE?!?!? Yep! He's crazy! The Milk Run was really fun and we were lucky enough to have another beautiful day for the run. We spent a few hours after the race exploring the fair and eating some tasty foods. Later that day we drove out to Mound for a BBQ at my parents house for most of the Schmitt clan. It was so nice to have everyone together. Since we knew that we would be having a late night on Sunday, we decided to stay over one more night. Mike worked remotely on Monday so we could have a relaxing day. We actually stayed the whole day so we could meet Mom and Dad after work and spend some time on their new boat. Summer is ending too quickly and we didn't want to miss out on our first time on the boat. It was a gorgeous night and we had a great time. Mom even caught nearly a 5 lb fish! She was so excited!

We are still recovering from the weekend, but wouldn't have it any other way. It was a busy one, but full of great times spent running, with friends and family and having fun! Next up: a Labor Day weekend getaway for Mommy and Daddy!

As you can see from our flickr photos, Mike's relay race went splendidly. He ran in a team for the Great River Ragnar Relay Race. Mike and the other 11 people on his team ran a total of 198 miles from Lacrosse, WI to St. Paul, MN in just under 34 hours. Just to give you an idea of how grueling this was, Mike ran UP A BLUFF for 7.1 miles at 2:30 AM in the DARK! Very impressive! He compared it to adventure racing and said that he had a blast doing it.

Mike isn't the only Schmitt who ran in a race last weekend. I raced in the MN State Fair Milk Run 5k race on Sunday. Fortunately it was a gorgeous day! The course was much hillier than I had anticipated, but I had an awesome time and ran a great race. My return to the racing world (the last race I ran was back in Sept 2003) has inspired me to keep running and I cannot wait for my next race!

We spent a few hours wandering around the state fair after the race was over while Benjamin was able to hang out with his Grandma and Grandpa Schmitt. Here is a classic Benjamin story: At dinner that night we were trying to teach him Grandma and Grandpa's first names. First, we told him that Grandpa's name is Bert. He said "Grandpa Bert!" just fine. Then we asked him what Grandma's name is and he responded immediately with, "GRANDMA ERNIE!" We got quite a laugh out of that one! I think that now Cindy will forever be known as Grandma Ernie to Benjamin! :-)

Speaking of Bert and Ernie...I took Benjamin to see Sesame Street Live Friday night while Mike was doing his relay race. I went down to the Civic Center to pick up tickets Friday afternoon and thanks to a cancellation, I was able to get FRONT ROW, DEAD CENTER seats for us! It was awesome!! The characters danced right in front of us and even came by and said Hi to Benjamin. He just loved it and is still talking about seeing Elmo!

Little Benjamin sure is on the go lately! He is sporting a brand new pair of Stride Rite shoes and is now walking everywhere! This morning he WALKED up all 10 stairs on the way into daycare!! He's so proud of his walking accomplishments. He giggles and smiles while walking all around.

Mike and I are nearly finished installing our kitchen floor. Speaking of being proud...we have done it all by ourselves and it looks great! It feels so good to be close to finishing such a major home improvement (well, major for us, anyway...we are no Uncle Terry!).

Last weekend Mike ran the Rochester Track Club Half Marathon, a pretty major race in the season here. He finished at 1:31:41 (a 7 min pace), a personal record! He's been training so hard for the Chicago Marathon (Oct 22) and is very pumped to conquer his goal this year!!

We went to the State Fair on Friday. Benjamin was able to travel around in his new kid carrier backpack, which worked out great! We didn't have to hit anybody in the ankles with our stroller and were able to go in and out of the crowds without any problems. We met up with Uncle Joe, Aunt Jen and AJ and Jen's family there, which was great! AJ is getting to be such a big boy!

Grandma and Grandpa Andrews visited us all weekend. We celebrated Grandma's (last) birthday with a trip to one of our favorite restaurants, the Redwood Room. The weekend was relaxing and everyone had a great time!