Wonder what Derek does all day at work?

(Okay, so I really just wanted to push the Amazing Race video down so it didn't take up the whole screen... But this is a funny picture featured in our application).

Amazing Race Application!

We are determined to become the next contestants on the Amazing Race season 10! Aside from the 10 page application questionnaire we filled out, we had to record a 3 minute video. It's dorky, just like us:



Edit: So, right as we finished converting it back to the DV camcorder and then onto the VHS to fit the AR's format, we looked at our paper applications and realized, "Uh-oh. We're applying for the Amazing Race Season ELEVEN!!!" So we reshot the scene where we say "Because we're applying for season 10, Here are the top 10 reasons why you should pick us...." and made it say season 11 instead and make it just a stupid joke. We fixed the application VHS but I'm way too lazy to fix it on the web just yet. So, let me rephrase the beginning of this entry -- We are determined to become the next contestants on the Amazing Race season 11!

Derek and Dawn, 2 : BolderBoulder, 0

You see, we made a mistake last year. Having no expectations for having to run the 6.2 miles of the BolderBoulder in 2005, we were full of excitement and energy due to the fact that we were still running at every mile marker when we had previously figured we would run some and walk when we were tired. We finished in 66:47:00 and impressed the heck out of ourselves and anyone else who knew us as the untrained, out of shape fools we were.

This year, we felt the pressure of that past performance with every mile marker. Quitting was not an option, despite the fact that my ankle was throbbing, my stomach crunched up in a cramp and my right knee feeling like it needed to be oiled. Apparantly, another year of age and lack of training made a difference. By the time I crossed the finish line at 69:05:00, I was completely and utterly spent. There was no ecstatic sprinting like last year. Derek might have been able to manage it, but I was aching. Don't get us wrong; we're darn proud of having run the whole way, which was our goal. We're just not so sure that we can do this whole run a 10k without any training / being in shape thing every year. We're not the young whippersnappers we once were! (Okay, I should put a disclaimer: where I wrote we, I think I should substitute "I" - Derek's back home with me and we're complaining and icing our achy knees, but he was actually much stronger than I was during the race).

Good thing Katie was there to add to our trio! Here are our sweaty, messy hair, and red-faced photos from the CU stadium afterwards:

Derek is too tired to smile and I'm collapsing into him. Therefore, this is the only picture we took of ourselves -- post-10K pictures aren't incredibly flattering. But, please notice my bib number! Oh yeah, respecting the 401!

Katie looks much better than us, because she's a BolderBoulder superstar! Check out those real running clothes and everything! That's definitely why she finished a minute ahead of us.

Runners and their cheerleaders, united in section 210.
Molly and her Derek, Katie and Brian, Molly's friends and my Derek.

BBQ avec les chiens

You can count on Leslie to host a barbecue for a holiday weekend; Kobe, Derek and I loaded up and headed out to Lafayette to meet Emily & Brendan's newest addition, Brooklyn, as well as the rest of the gang. There was plenty of puppy play, volleyball, and croquet for all to enjoy!

And the perfect puppy photographer award goes to... Dawn! Perfect puppy photography attention-getter award goes to... Derek! Perfect puppy photograph stars are cousins Roxie & Kobe, with the newest addition to the family, Brooklyn.

Dogs & People! Photography award goes to Brianna Poley!
Emily with Brooklyn, me strangling Kobe, and Derek coercing Roxie into a sit.

Aww, they like each other, they really like each other!
(Or, they really like that toy...)

Brendan winning an exciting game of croquet, as evidenced by Emma's apparent emotion. Yes, see, we did things besides just play with the pups -- we just didn't take many pictures of them, because let's face it, dogs are cuter! (Featured behinds of Emma and Katie, with sideshots of Paul and Brendan)

Summertime and the living's easy...

Well, it's almost summertime anyway! It's sure felt like it in the past weeks under that Colorado sun. So far, May has only yielded two photo ops (or, we have only remembered the camera twice): during a hike on the Anne U. White trail in north Boulder on the 13th and at the Rockies game at Coor's Field on the 21st. Observe:

(Well, Kobe's almost looking at the camera...)

by a waterfall you can't see because we trusted random fellow hikers to take our picture

Derek & me; Brendan & Emily; Katie & Brian & their visiting friend
Our view from the rockpile seats (It looked a lot closer in person).