An open letter to Minnesota: More snow, please

Oh Minnesota, why have you forsaken me?!

Dear Minnesota,

In my 27 years of existence, I like to think we've grown to know each other pretty well. I've camped in your parks, I've fished in your lakes, I've biked on your trails and -- begrudgingly -- rooted for your Vikings in good times and bad. While others clamor for the big cities, big mountains and ocean views, I've remained loyal to your river valleys, rolling hills and abundance of lakes.

I've stuck by you through thick and thin. I toughed out the Halloween blizzard of '91, pressing on for more candy in my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles costume while other trick-or-treaters cowered in your snowy wake. I've also endured your hot n humid summers year after year by keeping myself cool with regular trips to the lake and icy cold beverages in the malted hops variety.

Like a spouse in a marriage, I've grown to appreciate you for both your strengths and your shortcomings. I don't ask you to be perfect; I only ask you to be yourself

It is with that in mind that I come to you with this simple request: Enough with the wimpy weather, send some snow this way.

Most would agree that you've been pretty easy on us this winter, more so than most even. There's been an occasional cold day from time to time, but those have been lost amid a steady stream of days in the "sunny and upper '30s" variety.

Even worse, the snowfall has been substandard. In Faribault, it's been downright abysmal. My sled hasn't come out of my closet all winter and the snowshoes I got for Christmas have yet to be used. Meanwhile, friends of mine in more southern locales have been posting Tweets about snowstorms and photos of snowmen on Facebook. I even saw a post about a sizable snowstorm in -- gasp! -- Texas.

This is unacceptable, Minnesota. One of the things I've always appreciated about you is your tough-love approach to winter. While other states baby their residents with mild temperatures and brown landscapes, you barrage us with sub-zero temps and white-out conditions to toughen us up. Instead of shying away from you wintertime fury, we've learned to embrace it with activities like ice fishing, skiing, curling and polar plunges.

Heck, Paul Bunyan never complained about it being too cold in the winter. He just put on a flannel, grew a beard and started chopping wood to keep warm. If he tried to do that this winter, he'd probably die of heat stroke.

Minnesota, the fact of the matter is that we've come to expect a certain level of performance from you in the winter and you simply haven't been delivering the goods this year. Texas, Oklahoma and other wimpy southern states should not be stealing headlines for their massive snowstorms. You're supposed to be the top dog for harsh winters and even got recognized for it in a Leslie Nielsen movie.

In my opinion, your title as heavyweight champion of winter weather is in jeopardy. You're also running out of time to turn this wimpiness around. Temperatures are expected to be in the 40s and 50s this week and we're drifting closer and closer to those spring/summer months, when the expected norm switches to hot, humid temps, swarms of mosquitoes and the occasional rainstorm.

You made a solid effort to buck that trend last week with a snowstorm that blanketed parts of the state with close to 10 inches of white, powdery goodness. However, the effort wasn't consistent as Faribault got nothing but rain for those days. Instead of breaking out my snowshoes for a long-awaited maiden voyage, I went running in a long-sleeve shirt and shorts and skipped a rock across the near-flooded ditch by my apartment.

The ball is in your court, Minnesota. I know you have at least one more big snowstorm in you.

Sincerely,

The frustrated guy in Faribault who wants to go snowshoeing

It's always sunny in ... Minnesota?

Every once in a while, Mother Nature goes and pulls a temperature two-step on us

Fresh off an unseasonably cool summer and one of the harshest Octobers weather-wise in recent memory, temperatures decided to go in the other direction in November. In a month normally reserved for winter coats and scarves, temperatures have hovered in the 40's and 50's for most of the month, with a recent stretch of days being in the 'sunny and 50-something' variety. The weather forecast for the rest of the week bodes for much of the same.

It has actually proven to be a little disorienting for me. Today, I actually broke out my rollerblades for possibly the first time ever this late in the year. Yesterday, I came to the startling conclusion while running that I was actually OVER-dressed for a 40-minute jog. I also had a lot more company than I expected, as the Red Jacket trail was crowded with dog-walkers and bikers like it was the middle of August. Heck, if it gets much warmer, I might have to bike over to Hiniker and work on my tan for a bit.

Granted, there are drawbacks to the weather being this nice so late in the year. For one thing, the ice fishing crowd is probably watching their gear collect dust in the corner of their garage, as my co-worker makes light of in his recent blog post. Although the temperatures at night have been cool enough to cause a freeze, it's unlikely any lakes are forming much for ice at this point. I can also see this making Minnesota winters seem all the more brutal once the inevitable days of -15 temperatures start rolling in.

However, being the outdoor enthusiast that I am, I say put the winter hibernation on hold for awhile and enjoy the weather as much as you can. Take the dog for a walk, put some air in the bike tires, break out the hiking boots, dust off the tennis racquet and dig the baseball glove out of the closet. It doesn't matter what you do, just bask in the warm weather while it lasts.

Because knowing Minnesota, it ain't gonna last for long.

P.S.: If the weather immediately becomes Minnesoata-esque after today, you can blame my blog post for jinxing it.

A marathon through Mankato

Runners of Mankato rejoice, a marathon is coming to your backyard next fall!

The Greater Mankato Growth Convention and Visitors Bureau announced Thursday that it will be hosting the inaugural Mankato Marathon on Oct. 23 in 2010. Although the marathon is still largely in the planning stages and the race's website is currently under construction, here is what we know so far:

• The event is scheduled to have full marathon, half marathon and 10K racing options. There will also be an expo, kid's run and pasta feed the night before.
• The marathon course is still awaiting approval, but the proposed route is to start up at MSU's campus and end down at the City Center. A coworker suggested the course follow the same path as the now-defunct Nature Valley Grand Prix cycling race, which included four trips up Main Street hill to finish the race. For the sake of all runners and medical staff involved, let's hope the course follows a different path.
  
• Race coordinators are hoping to draw between 400-500 runners for both the half marathon and full marathon, making it much more quaint than the 10,000 or so that turn out for the Grandma's in Duluth and the Minneapolis Marathon. However, if numbers hold true, it will still be considerably larger than my first marathon, which consisted of 180 runners on a bike trail mostly out in the country. There were points of that race where other runners weren't even within eyesight. Talk about lonely.
• With the Twin Cities Marathon scheduled to take place Oct. 3, the Mankato race will be the last chance in 2010 for Minnesota runners to try for a qualifying time for Boston Marathon in 2011. Incidentally, the Des Moines Marathon is taking place Oct. 17.
  

As an avid runner, I couldn't be happier to have a marathon taking place so close to home. Road trips are fun and all, but it's nice to be able to come home to a hot shower and a hearty meal after a grueling race. It's also nice not having to crash on a friend's couch the night before the race.

I also think Mankato is a prime location to host a marathon. Mankato is a beautiful community for a race to run through, and the city's geography (read: hills) offers a welcome challenge to all participants. The city has had a lot of success with its annual triathlon and other smaller races in terms of drawing participants and presenting the community in a positive light; a marathon just seems like the next logical step.

I don't know about anybody else, but I've already got the date circled on my calendar. Whether you're running in the race or just coming out to watch it, it's going to be fun.