... and rest of the weekend

Saturday Kirsten and I took part in the Irish Fest 5K Run/Walk for the Arthritis Foundation. The rain that has been going on the past 4 days here in Milwaukee hadn't hit yet so the run was quite pleasant. Not too hot, not too cool. When the sounding gun went off, I broke out into an unusually fast (for me) pace and knocked out the first mile in record time (again, for me).

I paid the price though as I had to walk a few steps during mile three but I still finished in 29:20 which is by far the best I've done so far. Kirsten on the other hand, was quick to show me up though winning her age division with a time of just over 21 minutes I believe so she got a cool medal. I was totally jealous. The winning dude finished in 15+ minutes which is just crazy.

After that we went home quick to shower and change and then hopefully go back to Irish Fest to get in with our wristbands that we received for taking part in the run. But alas, it was seemed that it was not to be as the rain had begun and picked up pretty quickly. We instead went to the Riverfront Pizzeria for some lunch to maybe wait out the rain. We finished up lunch but the rain was coming down even harder so that officially put an end to Irish Fest for us.

Sunday morning the rain was still going on so there wasn't any chance for a nice outdoor brunch after church so we decided to head over to Chez Jacques down on First Street. Kirsten had been to the previous location and I hadn't been to either. We were greeted by the man himself as we entered the restaurant. He was sitting at the bar, white moustache and all. I'm still trying to figure out if his "good morning" was authentic or sarcastic, but for the purpose of this, let's call it authentic.

The place is really cozy and nice and the food is just ridiculous. I had the Ham & Cheese Omelette which was just delicious. It was packed with sliced ham and fresh cheese. It also came with potatoes that were fried up with onions. I've had my fair share of omelette's in my life, but this one goes right to the top of the list. If you find yourself looking for a nice breakfast spot, go there. You will not be disappointed.

reunification, irish fest

This past weekend Kirsten and I headed up to Merrill for her 10-year high school reunion. My expectations were pretty low but I would say it was a good time. The main reason we wanted to go was to see a couple friends who have moved away but were coming back for the event.

One such friend is Kirsten's friend Randy who currently lives in L.A. He and his girlfriend Ashley, or Ashelt as her name tag was spelled, made the long trip back home, which was nice. I had never met Randy but he was fun to hang out with, as was his girlfriend. We were wondering what she would be like. Would she be a busty blonde type that LA seems to generate? No, she was originally from Austin, Texas and still held on to her find Southern upbringing and was really nice to hang out with. As for Randy, the funny part there is that he works on post-production of films and TV shows. Well apparently people in Merrill weren't sure what that meant because he was treated like Steven Spielberg. I think one guy even gave him a script. Pretty funny stuff.

There were the other usual suspects that you would expect to see at such a reunion: a couple meatheads, a couple ladies that just looked like disasters with full makeup and Paris Hilton dresses, and a few really nice people whose company we enjoyed. Oh, and beer and food.

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This weekend is Irish Fest at the Summerfest grounds and if you have nothing going on, you should head on down. Kirsten and I and a couple other friends are taking part in the pre-fest 5K run Saturday morning so if you're looking for some exercise, stop by, say hello and get a quick run in!

5K and the Curse of the Cristo

As I eluded to earlier, Kirsten and I were in Indianapolis this past weekend participating in a big run called the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon. It's one of the largest half-marathons, if not the largest, in the world with 35,000 people participating. It's a weekend event really as we found out Friday afternoon when we got down there. We rode down with our friends Emmett & Julie and were to hitch a ride back with other friends Mark & Carmen who were coming down a little later than us. When we arrived around 2, tons of people were already in the convention center where you could pick up your registration packet and then go through the center where various sponsors had booths and were pimping their products and also giving away some free stuff. Pretty good time. I had no idea there are so many all-natural drinks out there. Some of which tasted like snake pee though. Gross.

Friday night we headed over to a restaurant called Bennigan's which is like an Applebees, or a TGI Fridays, only not as good. Time to carb load for the run early the next morning. Around the table we go placing our orders. And then we come to Emmett who orders.... The Monte Cristo.

From the Bennigan's Menu:
A delicious combination of ham and turkey, plus Swiss and American cheeses on wheat bread. Lightly battered and fried until golden. Dusted with powdered sugar and served with red raspberry preserves for dipping.

Yikes. The first sentence makes this out to seem like a delicious, healthy club sandwich. The second and third sentences destroy all possibility of that. He orders it, we all laugh.

The meals come and then we laugh even harder. This thing was ridiculous. First of all, they say it's "lightly breaded." Lightly breaded my ass. This thing has a good 1/4 inch of breading on it, deep fried and if that wasn't enough, it's covered in powdered sugar! I mean I'm all for being disgusting and eating things like chicken wings for every meal, but you have to draw the line somewhere. Emmett manages to knock down about a quarter of it before he started to lose consciousness. This "sandwich" has no business being on a menu anywhere in this fine nation of ours. Just gross.

The next morning we're up at 5 AM to get ready to go down to the race. (We were staying at a hotel outside of the city) and Mark, the one non-runner in our bunch, decides to be proactive and go get gas while we're still getting ready. Well he goes outside starts to back up the car and snap! breaks a strut and a spring on his car rendering it useless to us. The Curse of the Cristo is born.

Emmett & Julie swing by and pick us runners up while Mark has the unfortunate task of waiting until normal business hours to see if he can get his car fixed. (Our fingers were crossed since they were our ride back!) So we all pile into one car and head on downtown for the run.

The 35,000 or so half-marathoners get a move on including Emmett, Carmen and my lovely wife (all of whom completed the 13 mile trek with ease) and I wait with the 2000 or so people left for the 5K which includes morbidly obese people, retirees and me. Off we go...

... and I finished! My first 5K that I was able to run through to completion. I'm not sure why running comes so hard to me but it does so leave me alone. Next up for me, the 5K Storm the Bastille run this summer. Looking forward to it.

So we finish the run and, with perfect timing, the car has been fixed! So we go meet Mark, who has been at Midas and it's surrounding shops for the past 5 hours. Off we go, just need to stop for gas. Mark fills the tank and click! The car's battery is dead. The Curse of the Cristo continues. Back to Midas for a new battery.

We eventually get out on the road and make it back home, conquerors of the races but not quite conquerors of the Cristo.