Summertime

This past weekend was the official kick-off to summer. We opened up the cottage for the season which included:


-putting in the docks
-dewinterizing the boats
-chopping wood


We also had plenty of time to hang out, horse around, and have fun. I made it my goal to be as active as possible all weekend long. I can't complain about the results as I was able to run, bike, play volleyball, golf, split wood, play wiffleball, ski, tube, play basketball, and swim.

A momentous occasion happened this weekend. All three Elenbaas Dodge Caravans were in the same place at the same time. My parents recently handed their second caravan down to Carissa and bought their third.

1994 - Green - Randy - 216,000 miles

2001 - Red - Carissa - 135,000 miles

2007 - Blue - Gail - 2,000 miles

Add another Smith to the Census

On Saturday Jenny, Erin and I enjoyed the weather by taking a 25 mile bike ride from Grand Rapids to Rockford along the white pines trail. It was a great trail and a good tune-up for Erin's bike trip across the Netherlands next month.

While biking I got an exciting phone call from Eric. At 2:01 on Saturday Eric and Amy became parents! They are the first among my friends to have a child so this morning I drove down to visit them in the hospital and hold little Kaylee Smith.

The birth went as well as you could expect for a first child and Kaylee was a healthy 7 lb 2 oz little girl.

Staying true to his nature, Eric had to incorporate something mathematical into the name of his daughter. There is a linear algebra theorem for the famous mathematician Arthur Cayley. Poor child, she has no idea how much worse the math analogies are going to get being the daughter of Eric. At least Eric can take comfort in the fact that she won't be able to roll her eyes at him or talk back for a good year.

Congratulations Eric and Amy!

Riverbank Run 2007

Saturday was the 30th running of the Riverbank Run in Grand Rapids, and what a great day it was. There was a record turnout in all the events and the weather was spectacular, especially considering it has rained the last three years during the run. To go along with the great weather we also had a lot of friends and family that participated making it an excellent morning.

This run has become my favorite race and the one I put the most effort into. I feel it is the perfect distance for me where I'm challenged to run the whole thing but am able to push myself the whole way and focus on my time.

I felt very well prepared going into the race and was quite sure I'd break my personal best time of 2:07 from last year. I had an outside hope of joining the prestigious "2 hour club" but was mostly just focused on running as well as I could (and of course hopefully beat Jason and Darren).

This year Jason, Darren, and I got in line on time and started in the correct pace group so we didn't have to dodge slower runners for the first few miles. I started out fast and consistent and was able to hold a great pace for almost the whole race. Unfortunately, at mile 9 I felt my legs start fading and knew 2 hours was going to be unrealistic. I continued to push as hard as I could and miles 10-15 were pretty painful but I never slowed too much. My calves were extremely tight by the end but I pushed through to finish with a personal record of 2:01:18, which is about a 7:50 min/mi pace. Here are my 1 mile splits:

Mile 1: 7:59

Mile 2: 7:34

Mile 3: 7:29
Mile 4: 7:37

Mile 5: 7:36
Mile 6: 7:33

Mile 7: 7:43
Mile 8: 7:38

Mile 9: 7:37
Mile 10: 7:59

Mile 11: 7:49
Mile 12: 7:51

Mile 13: 8:01
Mile 14: 8:14

Mile 15: 8:20

Saturday was also a monumental day for Erin. Erin ran her very first 5k race and did AWESOME! She did some mild training beforehand but always had a lot of leg pain after she'd run so she couldn't do too much. Her main goal was just to run most of the way and hopefully have a decent time.

She ended up running all but about 1 minute and posted a great time of 33:28, nice work Erin!

Marv and Derek ran their first 25k races and successfully crossed the finish line. Marv finished the longest run of his life without walking. Derek bypassed the training and didn't fare so well towards the end, but it is still very impressive that he could do this run at 17 years old.

Last week I harped on our friend Laura all week to sign up and run the 25k even though she had gotten sick during her training and hadn't run for the past 3 weeks. She very reluctantly gave in nervously took to the course. But much to her delight, she ran the whole thing without walking and even had fun doing it. Great job Laura.

It was a great Riverbank day. Here are all the times from our group:

25k Run

Randy Elenbaas - 2:01:18

Jason Schaaf - 2:04:01

Darren Schaaf - 2:06:32

Marv Elenbaas - 2:41:12

Derek Elenbaas - 2:42:27

Claude Bos - 2:43:51

Laura Demann - 2:50:02

5k Run

Jenny Scott - 26:12

Steve Elenbaas - 27:30

Lindsay Elenbaas - 27:32

Doug Elenbaas - 29:39

Mike Johnson - 29:39

Erin Elenbaas - 33:28

Melissa Schaaf - 33:30

Amy Klein - 33:32

Jan Bos - 41:37

5k Walk

Ken Schaaf - 41:16

Cindy Brink - 44:02

Kathy Schaaf - 46:55

One other cool part of the race was at mile 5 I was passed by Bill Rodgers, who was one of the greatest American marathoners of all time.

Stinky Suprise

The other weekend Erin and I were doing some landscaping. After some work we had piled up a bunch of weeds that I wanted to dump in the woods behind our house, so I went to go retrieve the wheel barrel. I keep my wheel barrel about 20 feet into the woods so that it doesn't clutter the garage. I also store it upside down so that it doesn't collect water and then rust.

So I walked out to the wheel barrel and the moment before I lifted it up this thought crossed my mind: "hmmm, this has been sitting upside down and undisturbed for the last 6 months, I wonder if something might be living underneath it...oh well." As soon I lifted it I saw movement underneath, and then I saw WHAT was moving! A SKUNK! Ahhhh.

I was sure I was going to get sprayed as I was standing about 2 feet from the little devil. But I was lucky, the furry critter only seemed to be half alive and didn't move much. After my initial shock and run towards the house we revisited the skunk and he hardly budged. Thankfully.

Cadet Campout

It was a great weekend for a cadet camp out. On Friday, 21 of us from the Kelloggsville CRC cadet program went to the cadet grounds south of Grand Rapids and participated in the Grand Rapids Council "Camporee." In all there were about 15 churches and about 150 boys.

It was fun cooking over an open fire and staying in tents (for a night at least). I also learned a good deal about how to make a meal for 20 people over an open fire.
On Saturday morning there were a few team competitions for the boys and I volunteered to help run a game. Randomly, another guy and I got put together to run the relay race. We made small talk for awhile and about an hour into the event, we found out that we were both Elenbaas's! Quite unlikely to be randomly paired with someone who has the same last name as you, especially an uncommon last name.

The boys enjoyed the sprinting and it helped drain some of their seemingly limitless energy.