Lake Minnetonka 1/2 Marathon 2012

A successful 2nd barefoot 1/2 marathon for the year! Finish time 2:04:52. 1487 out of 2450. Shaved 22 minutes off my time from the race in April, 99% attributed to my pace "group" Laura Jester, my support team Paul Jester, and my barefoot partner in crime Steve Jester. Without them my only other 1% chance of finishing this race faster was the 100% chance of rain we were supposed to get by 10am (race started at 8am) that turned into 100% no rain for the rest of the day after 6:30am.

 
Oh, and did I mention that there was about a mile of gravel trail we ran on starting somewhere near mile 11.5?  I lost 2 minutes to this section.  Laura and Steve managed to keep their pace and finished 2 minutes ahead of me.  Paul was kind enough to stay with me and make sure I didn't need to be carried back to pavement.  It wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't already have blisters on my toes from incorrect running form.  

Overall it was a really great day.  I had lots of fun running with my siblings, and I'm pretty sure Steve and I were the only ones running completely barefoot.  We even had an unofficial race spectator specialist tell us we were part Kenyan.  My goal for the next race (Summerfest Rock 'n Sole on June 23) is to run it barefoot under 2 hours, and hopefully without the blisters.

"Treeple"

"Treeple"
acrylic on board, 5'x4'
painted by Kelli Busch and Greg Schoeneck live during Art Milwaukee's "Wedding" Gallery Night After Party event at the City Center, April 20, 2012.

"Wedding" event you ask? That's right. The wedding of 10 artists on 5 canvases in the time span given of approximately 3 hours. Each pair of artists were put together to create a unique work of art together on one board.

Attempting to capture the different stages of our painting, I took a photo roughly every 15 to 20 minutes. You'll notice there are only 5 photos; after only about 2 hours of painting we were asked by a couple if we could stop because they liked the piece so much they wanted to buy it how it was in its current state. Eager to acquire the painting they put cash in our hands and our paint brushes took a bow, signing the lower right corner to make it official.

Stage 1:

Stage 2:

Stage 3:

Stage 4:

Stage 5, finished piece:

13.1 miles Barefoot COMPLETE!

Today's race was the South Shore 1/2 Marathon located in Milwaukee, WI. My goal was not just to finish, but to run the entire 13.1 miles of bike-path pavement while barefoot. Not in those "barefoot" running shoes, not minimalist shoes, nothing. No shoes at all. And although I did carry my minimalist shoes with me for that "just in case" satisfaction, I managed to complete the whole course skin to asphalt, step after step. Speed was not my concern, however I made a secret deal with myself to try and finish under 2.5 hours. I crossed the finish line in 2:26:19 with a smile on my face, no blisters on my toes, and no glass stuck in my feet. Lake Minnetonka 1/2 Marathon here I come!

As a side note, there was 1 other person running without shoes, and 1 person running in sandals who was transitioning into barefoot but didn't want to risk it for his first 1/2 marathon.

Running Fool

Next weekend I will take part in my first scheduled 1/2 marathon for the year. If anyone is interested in watching, it is the South Shore 1/2 Marathon in Milwaukee, WI. The run starts at 8:30am on Saturday, April 7th. It's a 13.1 mile out-and-back (meaning we turn around at mile 6.6 and run the same route back to the start/finish line). It starts and ends at the South Shore Park Pavilion in Bay View (2900 South Shore Drive, Milwaukee, WI 53207) along the Lake Michigan coast line. The route heads south along the Oak Leaf Bike Trail - there are a few spots that come close to S. Lake Drive, so spectators who don't want to be too far from their vehicles can watch at those spots. We'll run through Bayview Park, past St. Francis HS into Sheridan Park, past Cudahy HS into Warnimont Park, and make our way past the Seven Bridges area in Grant Park before we turn around and run that route in reverse order. I expect this race to take me about 2 hours 15 minutes to run, faster if I'm having a good day and the weather cooperates. If you want to see me at several spots along the course, you'll have plenty of time to drive between viewing areas. Wish me luck!

"City Commute"

The Tool At Hand: Milwaukee Challenge
Guidelines: Create a piece of artwork using only one tool.
Exhibition date: Saturday, March 17th at Sweet Water Organics in Bay View WI.

Here is the finished piece I created for this challenge:



Title: "City Commute"
Date: March 2012
Size: 24" x 32"
Materials: Acrylic paint, 16, 20, and 22 gauge wire on stretched canvas
The One Tool: American Painter Golden Nylon Round #3 Paintbrush
Concept Idea: To create a bicycle silhouette made out of wire using a paint brush as my tool for shaping the wire. This wire sculpture will then be attached to a stretched canvas which I have created the scenery/backdrop for by using that same single paint brush.

I spent about 4 weeks working on this piece. The background was first painted black, and I worked the rest of the colors up from that. The brush I used was very small; I picked it so I would be able to get a slightly detailed painting, but also force myself to use many layers of paint to build up the colors of the scenery. Once I had the painting completely finished, I started working on creating the wire bicycle sculpture. My original idea was to just have the silhouette of the bicycle attached to the painting, but after I finished the bike and held it up to the canvas I realized it needed to have a rider to give the whole piece a sense of action. Luckily I had chosen a small brush, who's thin handle provided a starting point to wrap the wire around to create hair for the rider. Safety first - the rider was also given a helmet. The final touch of wire added to the piece was the radio tower I attached to the top of one of the buildings. This helped connect the city scape in the background to the wire bicycle rider in the foreground.

No piers, wire cutters, or tin snips were used (or harmed) in the making of this piece. Guidelines adhered to; mission accomplished.

Socks: 1 Year in the Making

You read that right: 1 year in the making. Last year for my birthday, Zac bought me a sock knitting loom. I was all excited and picked out some fun colored yarn to start the project. Starting the project: not so easy. Read the "instructions" that came with the loom a few times through, thinking perhaps they forgot to send a page with the info on how to start the socks. Good thing we have internet these days, and multiple websites with information on pretty much every subject you could ever want. This time, YouTube was the most helpful, since other people found it necessary to provide some instruction on how to use this loom. "Cast on; got it. Knit in the round until you reach the desired length of the ankle part of your sock. Ok, this shouldn't take too long."

Fast-forward about 10 months.

"Alright, well since I have no idea how much yarn I've already used, and how much more I'll need for the rest of the sock, I guess I'll make these ankle-length socks." (That equates to about 3" completed in the last 10 months.) Back to YouTube for the lesson on how to knit the heel. "That makes more sense than the instructions they sent. This should go pretty quick." Heels on both socks finished in approximately 2 evenings.

Continue knitting in the round for the arch of the foot until you reach 2" less than the desired length of the foot. "Crap. That's 7.5 more inches. This is going to take forever."

Fast-forward to February 2012.

"Ok, if I can just get the 7.5 inches finished before my birthday, I'll declare this project successful." 4 inches, 5 inches...."this is taking forever"...6 inches..."So much for finishing before my birthday."

That brings us up to March again, almost exactly 1 year from when I started this project. Finished up the last 1.5 inches of "arch" this week, and hopped back on YouTube for a refresher on how to knit the toes. Both toes completed last night before and after watching a few episodes of Star Trek. Today I lost an hour (daylight savings) but woke up and sewed the toes together to complete my 1 year sock project.

Bad news: socks take a long time to knit.

Great news: finished knitting my first pair of socks, and THEY FIT!

Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek at part of the art project I'm making for the "Tool at Hand: Milwaukee Challenge" put on by the Chipstone Foundation. Finished piece will be on view for the public to see on Saturday, March 17th from 1-5pm at Sweet Water Organics, 2151 S. Robinson Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53207 (Bay View neighborhood).