Riot and Frolic

a mostly ballroom dance, but also a bunch of other stuff, blog

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about

I own and rock people’s faces off teaching ballroom dancing at Dancers Studio in St. Paul, MN. My husband and I compete professionally in American style and wrangle eight children in our spare time. I’ve been teaching and competing in ballroom dancing for over 25 years and have lots of opinions on it. I am an expert by any means, but there are quite a few dancers who are better than me and I have a solid knowledge of basic technique, so suck it.

Category: Runnerific

  • A Huge Mistake

    I went for a run today.   If you're in Minnesota, you might say "WHY?" because while it was a balmy 36º degrees out, it had also just snowed three inches.  For those of you who are not familiar with snow and 36º, that means it was slushy.  Like, inches of slushy puddles because despite…

  • On Running

    I run three days a week.  I have done this off and on for four kids (it's easier to say that than keep track of the years).  Each morning, as I hit the sidewalk, I groan.  Not merely an under-my-breath, mostly inaudible sort of groan, but a loud, full body, complete with eye roll GROAN. …

  • Hey, you, crossing the street…

    It's winter in Minnesota.   Yeah yeah, I know it's not Winter, it's Autumn, but the windchill is below 10°F and there's snow on the ground, so WINTER. Going from inside to outside is not entirely pleasant and you probably want to get to another inside destination as quickly as possible.  And you know about…

  • FitBit and #%$^#&$

    Recently, I got one of those damn FitBit devices. I have the super boring black one, but I want THIS ONE I'm a sucker for fitness-tech gear and figured it was a nice stepping stone to getting a heart rate monitor.* Along with keeping track of my exercise (eventually there will running again) without draining…

  • Why Running in Winter is Better

    Besides looking like a total badass plowing through snowstorms (or "a crazy white lady", as my friendly neighbors call me), there are TONS of reasons running in winter is way better than running in summer: don't have to look nice – no one can tell who you are under those 7 layers of clothes, so…

  • Want = Sacrifice

    I was waxing philosophical on my run today, thinking of my motivations to be a runner.  Like, why would I really run, not just lace up my shoes every 10 days and jog about the neighborhood (like I have been doing this summer).   photo courtesy of Diestler! There are a lot of reasons I'd…

  • List of Last Week’s Labors of Love

    – rumors about me made their way back around into my ear.  Hey, silly people, I'm not opening a studio.  Do I have a business plan, business loan, a space to lease, or any of the other things needed to open a dance studio?  No.   If, at some point, I [we] decide to open…

  • I Kicked My Own Ass

    Today I laced up the running shoes (for the third time in five days! *shock and awe*) and decided to do the Magic Mile (a la running guru Jeff Galloway and his magnificent race time prediction formula).   not this Basically, one runs a mile as fast and evenly paced as they can without puking, inputs the…