15 Things for 2015

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!   We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season. This year we came up with the 15 things about 2015. Mostly happy and fun, some sad and a lot is running relate which has pretty much taken over our life!
Love, Eric & Kim

15 Things for 2015

1 – Half Marathon:  In November we traveled to Tulsa, OK for the Williams Route 66 Half Marathon. It had the name Williams in it so we had to run it. Eric's brother Phil joined us and ran the full marathon. It was an amazing experience. We can't wait for the next half marathon on December 27th (yep, Kim's birthday) in sunny California. There was also one baptism, our newest Godchild, Carmen Helen Stayer.

2 – Funerals attended: 2015 started out on a sad note with the passing of Eric’s brother, Dan and just before Easter, Eric’s Grandma Kate passed away.

3 – Weddings attended:  Kim's niece Danielle to Bradley on ultimate pi day (3.14.15). Kim was one of the attendants. It was a great time! Also, Kim's cousin Paula to Tom and Kim's college roommate Angela to John.

4 – Graduations attended:  Eric’s nieces:  Juliette in Papillion, NE; Katelynn in Eugene, OR; Judy in Rapid City, SD. Additionally, Eric finally finished his Master's Degree and graduated in October!!

5 – Races at random distances:  Including 2 relays, an 8K, and 2 15Ks: the Hot Chocolate 15K in Minneapolis and Hot Chocolate 15K in Chicago. The Hot Chocolate 15K series is really great. They give awesome medals and finisher jackets as well as chocolate fondue with food for dipping at the finish. Kim runs for chocolate!

6 – Countries Visited:  In June we traveled to Iceland (layover but we actually went outside), United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Germany, and Netherlands with Juliette and Katelynn. We had 4 days in London before taking the Eurostar to Brussels to visit Eric's cousin Elizabeth and her husband, Jim. Elizabeth took us all around the countryside of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. And she introduced us to the BEST BELGIUM WAFFLES EVER! It was an awesome trip.

7 – 10K Races:  Valleyfair Run & Ride Rt. 76 10K, Summer Breeze 10K (in London!), Women Rock 10K (Kim)/Chili 10K (Eric), Brooksie Way 10K (in Michigan), TC 10K, Mankato 10K, and Marine Corp 10K (started by the U.S. Capitol building and ended in Arlington National Cemetery). Eric’s brother Chris ran the 10K with us and Eric’s brothers Phil and Byron and sister-in-law Paula ran the marathon.

8 – Eden Prairie Community Band Concerts:  Kim still plays trombone with the Eden Prairie Community Band.

9 – High School Varsity Soccer Games:  Eric refereed a lot of games during 2015. This fall he refereed 9 varsity high school games. He also refereed 13 adult/youth games during the summer.

10 – Different states/countries raced:  Virginia, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Wisconsin, & United Kingdom

11 – Days off/worked during June:  Kim jokingly said she only worked 5 days in June. Well that wasn't quite true. She worked 11. Eric unfortunately had to work one extra day.

12 – Months in a year:  We have had at least one race a month in 2015. Actually we are going on 26 months in a row with at least one race. We have registered for a race every month through July 2016!

13 – Twins Games:  This was a low attendance year for us. Twins had a lot of games in June and as stated above, we weren't around much in June. We got to one Twins away game this year in Detroit.

14 – 5k Races:  Ok so that is a lie it is actually 18 but we couldn't come up with anything for number 14. We are not going to list them all as you probably don't care.

15 – States/DC visited:  So this list obviously includes the locations listed above for race locations. We traveled the US a lot in 2015 and the states visited include Arizona (Kim)/Colorado (Eric), Nevada, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Maryland, Virginia, DC & Oklahoma.