Meine Klein Welt

Hallstatt Half Marathon

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HallstattHallstatt is a quaint little village situated on the edge of a lake that just happens to be about 13.1 miles around. Besides the fact that it’s beautiful, I like this race because it has a bit of a small-town feel to it.

Race number pickup and pasta dinner are hosted at the local firehouse. Families stand alongside the course or lean out their windows to clap and cheer us through the race. You can even be stopped by the local train (as I did) if you don’t pace yourself just right.

I beat my target time of 1:50 by almost 4 minutes, turning in a time of 1:46:22. Not my best time ever, but I’m really happy with it. Especially since I lost about a minute when I was stopped at the train tracks.

There was also a man running barefoot and dressed like a caveman.

Hallstatt

I had the misfortune of being passed by him twice. Let’s just say that his outfit didn’t leave much to the imagination. YIKES!

 

Hallstatt

 

 

 

 

 

 

More pics of Hallstatt and the race are here.

Help for a Friend in Need

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My friend Lance is battling cancer. He’s been battling for a while now.  Six years in fact. As so many of you know, this battle is a hard one. Lance is gearing up for the next stage of his battle. He needs a bone marrow transplant. As a result of the transplant he’ll have to quit work and stay away from the public for 6-12 months. This will hinder his ability to earn money and pay his bills. Lance has set up a site for people to donate toward his expenses for the next year. Would you consider helping Lance? Even the smallest amount will make a big difference for him. You can read more of his story on his website: Lance Wiedenhaupt Will you also join me in praying for Lance? We know that our Lord is the great physician and he can work miracles in Lance’s body. Thank you!

Carnivale di Venezia

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Venice

Carnivale di Venezia. The Carnival of Venice. Amazing. A couple of weeks ago, we traveled to Venice with our friends Amanda, Carrie, Nicki, Kristi-Anna, Amanda, RheaAnne, and Petra. Venice is about a seven hour drive from Vienna, so we left at 4:00am (yes, you read that right), drove to Venice for the afternoon, then arrived back home at 11:30pm. It was a whirlwind trip and totally worth it!

Carnivale is the celebration before Lent. Apparently, there are a great many of these celebrations the world over. At least, according to Wikipedia there are. The concept is to get all of your partying done before the beginning of Lent, so that during Lent you can focus on God. Here in Austria, the celebration is called Fasching. We usually celebrate Fasching by eating the donuts that Petra brings to school. 🙂

Carnivale in Venice is fairly tame. Nothing like what I’ve heard about Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It’s a whole lot of people dressed in amazing costumes milling about, participating in parades, etc. You can have your face painted or buy carnivale masks. You can take gondola rides through the city or eat lunch along one of the canals.

Venice is such a beautiful city! Both of the times I’ve been there, it has only been for a day. I would love to spend a week there sometime and visit the various islands. While we were there we saw several people in kayaks. How amazing would it be to tour Venice by kayak!?! Maybe someday.

More pictures here: Carnivale

Venice

Dream Job?

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Dream Job?The following is an accurate representation of actual events the transpired on our living room couch:

Last night I was on mlb.com to listen to the Phillies spring training game, and came across the link to the right. Is watching baseball my dream job? Well, I don’t know, but it certainly doesn’t sound like a bad job.

*Click*

Tricia listens as I read the list of qualifications for the job.

M: Strong writing skills. Strong verbal communication skills.

T: Well you’ve got half of those.

M(ignoring comment): Strong organizational skills with the ability to give attention to multiple things at the same time.

T: Oh, you’re screwed, honey.

M: *sigh* yeah.

You’re Wearing THAT?

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Tricia: I’m not sure that sweater matches those pants.

Me: I’ve been wearing this sweater with these pants for more than 3 years!

Tricia: Well I never look at what you wear.

Me: *sigh*

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