Time for another chapter

What's happened since I last posted? LOTS.

• My Anytime Fitness club in Savage is off and running. We repainted the place (thanks to Taconite Boy and Paradise Painters) which really warmed it up. Seems that Battleship Grey isn't the best color for inducing fitness so we went with Richmond Gold and Sedona Clay. Nice :)! Had an Open House and Member Appreciation day which was fabulous. We signed up lots of new members, were welcomed to the community by the mayor and lots of friends and gave away a ton of gifts to members. I'm proud to say we turned the place around which in 2 months is a great accomplishment! We're even making a little money!
• Of course I joined the Gear West Tri club and other friends at this year's Lake Minnetonka Polar Plunge in Excelsior. See the pictures and the following link for news video http://www.kare11.com/video/player.aspx?aid=60093&bw=. Tiffany Storms and I were partners and we made the news somewhere but haven't been able to track down where. Anyway it was really cold (-1 at jump time). Talk about an ice cream headache. But drinking beer and bloody mary's after and having pancakes at Perkins with friends was awesome. Plus we claimed the world record for the largest group of idiots to jump into large hole cut into a frozen lake. Woo Hoo!
• The family and I headed off to Mexico shortly thereafter. Good move, huh!? What a welcome change to be on the sand and sun again. Can't wait for the weather to warm up in Minnesota. What am I saying, we're already at 12 degrees this morning!! p.s. Thanks to Rachel for dog sitting for us. Brody loved it and actually gained a few pounds so he must have been eating well.
• January ended with a trip to Boca Raton, Florida and a dream come true for Helen. She celebrated a big birthday last year and I bought her a weekend at Fantasy Camp with tennis great Chris Evert. It was thrilling to meet her and Helen had an awesome time being coached by her and playing with and against her. She looked great (Chrissie did too). And we had a surprise visit at dinner on Saturday night by Chrissie's fiance, the Shark, Greg Norman. We had a great time.
• Afterward we drove to Naples to visit with Helen's bosses and good friends Bob and Mary Ritter. Unfortunately, Mary had to fly home to Minnesota before we got there because her daughter gave birth a few weeks early. Bob was getting in the way so he was sent down to Florida. Baby and Mom are doing well. Anyway, the Ritters have a gorgeous pair of beach front condos (either one is for sale if you're interested....bring lots of cash and tell 'em Steve sent you) Helen and I spent Super Bowl Sunday with Bob at the Ritz watching my Giants deal out the punishment to the cheating Patriots. Naples looks awfully attractive as a winter hideaway. The beaches are great, the water is warm and the biking looks flat and fast. I may head down in March to check it out. San Diego just might fall down my list a bit as the place to be a snow bird.
• Once we got back we went right to work concentrating on our next record setting sporting event. This year we broke the record we set last year for the largest crowd of people doing an outdoor spinning session in sub freezing temperatures. With 20% more people than last year (we had 12 this year - you do the math), we set up our trainers in the brutal tundra and proceeded to spin for the lesser part of an hour(20 minutes?). Once again we're record holders. Some even donned snowshoes and skis and headed onto the lake to celebrate. I think most of them made it back. And the party afterward was awesome. I really miss all of my triathlon buddies in the winter.
• In summary, it's been a great year so far. As successful fitness club turnaround, a sweet family vacation, two world records, tennis with a legend, the Giants winning the best Super Bowl ever, finding a possible winter home. Sweet.

AnyTime Now

I thought I had some breathing room last month and then another surge came on. Well my latest venture is now launched. I'm proud to announce that I am officially an owner/operator of the AnyTime Fitness club in Savage! I've been working on this quietly for a month or so and we finally closed the deal on December 13th. The club is located just off Highway 42 in Savage at 14233 O'Connell COurt and is FABULOUS. Its 3500 square feet, has 4 treadmills, 4 ellipticals (Octane Fitness of course for Andeeeeeee) and three bikes. Life Fitness strength equipment, 2 tanning beds, 2 showers and 2 bathrooms and 9 or 10 TV's round out the furnishings. Look for my Open House on January 25th and 26th. No there's no football that weekend and so, like my motto says, NO EXCUSES!

More about the club. I bought it off of Craigslist (of all places) with 2 other guys. One is Jody Erickson, the husband of Shelly, my personal trainer and the other is Bruce Kleeberger, an acquaintance of Jody's who works at a subsidiary of Anytime Fitness Corporate. (BTW Bruce's dad used to work at Seagate when I started there. Small world. )Anytime is a franchise model that is 24 hour access with great security, hi end equipment and super owners :) The club we bought was dying on the vine cause the old owners lived up north somewhere and didn't pay much attention to the members. We've been told that after one week, the members have seen more of us than the previous owners in the last 2 years.

Shelly is our General Manager and head of personal training. We spent the first weekend cleaning the club from top to bottom and spending a ton of time greeting and getting to know the members. Its going to be fun!

People will ask me why I'm doing this. Its not for the money but because my retirement dream is to own a bike store on the beach in San Diego. This is just one step closer to that. And it keeps me occupoied with another "start up" in the winter months.

Anyway, thats it for now. Stay tuned for more info. Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Hope to see some of you at the Polar Plunge in Excelsior on January 1st!

Finally I've got some breathing room!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Its been a really long time since I posted anything in the blog world and a lot has happened in my life. Among the many things:

• Spent a few days with Helen in Palm Springs where she played in a national seniors (foxy lady) doubles tennis tournament and did pretty well considering she's been injured and hasn't picked up a racket in weeks. I saw the effect of personality intrudung into the team spirit (an outside guest thrust herself into the competitive mix of the team and spoiled a fun weekend for many of them).


• Afterward we drove through the canyons with the Santa Ana winds at our backs and headed up to the Santa Barbara wine country. We stayed at the Fess Parker Inn (a super, quaint, romantic place) and hit a number of wineries. Helen had planned to hit 5-6 a day but after biking for an hour or two in the heat (had to get our exercise in) and then drinking (I mean tasting) a bit, the room started spinning so we had to quit early. BTW, this is the area where Lance and the Discovery Team does a lot of their hill training. Anyone who wants to consider a springtime training session with wineries sprinkled in, let me know. We rode an out and back to the base of the hills where Lance does his climbs.


• Finished up my contributions to the Gear West Triathlon Club Improvement Team. We came up with a host of things that I think will make the team so much more fun and valuable for next year. Hope the members (past current and future) appreciate it and will join us for next year!


• I spent a week and a half in Real Estate Licensing class and passed my test with flying colors. I still have 2 more weeks of classwork to get my license but there is no test involved so that will be a piece of cake. Why am I getting my license? Not because I want to follow my wife Helen into the Realtor world but becuase I want ready access to investment opportunities in today's market. I learned a whole lot while enduring the fire hose training. Plus the instructors from Kaplans were truly outstanding!


• I flew up to Buffalo to pack up my parent's stuff and move them into another assisted living home. This is their 4th or 5th move in as many years. My dad is soooo impulsive but this time I hope they'll stay in one place. Of course with every move we whittle down their crap a little more. My brother Dave and his wife Marcia live in Buffalo and have done a ton of work for the 'rents. I may be inclined to give them my share of any inheiritance for all that they've done (inclined but not gonna :)) HINT: If you have kids, start throwing away the crap you never use NOW and do them a favor. They'll have to do it for you at some point in their life.


• I attended the annual Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Volunteer Leadership Conference in Anaheim for a few days. Got to learn all about what's going on in the research world to put an end to a dreadful disease and how we need help more than ever to makethings happen.


• I (along with my band of merry men and women) pulled off the annual Tri Night banquet last Friday. We had over 240 of our best friends in for a night of mirth and laughter (and looooooonnnnnnnggggg award speeches). I was lucky enough to win an award my self, having bribed everyone. The coveted "Most Embodies the Spirit of Triathlon " award was whisked my way this year. It really is quite the honor and I am so thankful to have friends who will vote for me instead of the (obviously more worthy) other candidates. (Cue Elvis voice here...) Thank you very much! Pictured are Helen and three of our best friends (Sue Newman, Rachel McGrady and Kristine Heilman) at the Tri Night Banquet


• I am close to becoming an investor and part owner in a small fitness club! More to follow on that one but it will give me something to do in the cold winter months and offer me a way to provide a great product to some great customers at a reasonable price. Look for more information later in the year and for our grand opening in 2008!


• We had a fun T-day dinner last night. Helen cooked an outstanding bird with all of the trimmings and our sons Jim and David were home. My mother in law Trudy, Helen's brother Richard, wife Ruth and lovely daughters Emily and Beth joined us. As did our good friend Kristine Heilman who brought these delicious and addictive toffee bars. Watched the Packers win (Favre is an animal!) and had a good time visiting, eating and drinking.

Anyway, I hope someone reads this to know what I've been up to. Hope everyone is doing well.

Is it Wednesday already!?

I'm sitting in my office looking out over the lake and fall is coming. The leaves on the trees in the park across the lake are turning and the chill is in the air. I'm sorry to see summer go. Our weekly training swims are over so nobody stops over Wednesdays at 5:30 in the morning anymore to put a wetsuit on and swim into the rising sun or battle the ski boats. Its a great way to start the day but its done for the year. Except for those training for Ironman Florida. Monday nights at 5:30!

Had an awesome bike ride Sunday with a many of my friends. We rode 35 miles in two hours around the local lakes. It was fun to have some people to hammer with but we always waited for the group to catch up (right). The best part was sitting on the deck eating salty food and drinking beer. What a life! Wish I could do that more often (the biking too).

Right now I'm spending time coordinating a committee of volunteers to put on another AWESOME Minnesota Multisports Banquetin November (16th). The banquet is an annual affair for 300 of our closest triathlon/duathlon friends. I worked on the organizing committee last year and again this year. Actually a lot of fun, especially at the Party. We have some really cool new things planned for this year so BE THERE! AI'm also working with a small team to improve the Gear West Triathlon Club. None of us are happy with how it ran this year so we're going to change it. It will be the envy of the triathlon clubs around the world! You heard it here first!

Have you set up your account on Linked In yet? Its a great professional networking site and definitely worth being engaged. I've reconnected with some lost contacts and arranged connections between two otherwise unknown people to jump start a business. Way cool! http://www.linkedin.com/.

Keep in touch!

p.s Thanks to tstorms for showing me that you can put music videos on my blog. I love it. Hope you like my choice of the best version of "One" that I've heard. U2 and Mary J Blige. Sweet.

Where has the summer gone?

It's time to get serious about this blogging now. I'm finding its a great way to catch up with friends when I can't otherwise call them or get hold of them. Since my first post I have:
1. Completed Ironman Switzerland in my best time ever (12:44:25.1) in June. AND made the IM official video with good friend Jenny Moore (ironmomjenny)
2. Toured parts of Switzerland with the best wife and friends ever after the race. Ask me about "Canyoning" sometime.
3. Hosted Paula Newby-Fraser and Paul Huddle at our house for our 2nd Annual Tri Camp Minnewashta in July. (A little known fact...Huddle could not get up on a wakeboard (but I never raced IM Kona on the other hand - yet)
4. Participated in the Ragnar Relay, a 200 mile+ running relay from Lacrosse, Wisconsin to Minneapolis. REMINDER: That smell you smell coming from Robert's sneakers is "the smell of speed"!
5. Volunteered at Ironman Wisconsin and cheered on lots of friends. Made the TV news and the IM official Video also!! :)
6. Raised over $32,000 for the Leukemia Society in a 9 week period with a LOT of help from my friends. Thanks! As a result, I was featured in an article in Chanhassen Magazine in September. Hope you saw it!

Anyway, those are among the highlights. I'll get regular on posting now...Any tips or words of advice are very welcome.

On your mark, get set, GO!!!

Okay off I go into the world of blogging. I'm Steve and I live in Excelsior, Minnesota. Its an outer ring suburb of Minneapolis, about 20 miles from downtown. I live on a beautiful lake with my lovely wife Helen and handsome mixed breed dog, Brody. Jim (age 21 on March 26th) and Dave (age 19 on March 20th) are my two handsome sons. Jim's in College at Penn (not Penn State) in Philadelphia studying economics, political science and philosophy. Dave's at Chapman University in Orange, California studying film production, screenwriting and directing.