Madison Mini Marathon Packet Pickup

So here we are in Madison Wisconsin.   The race is tomorrow and we are looking forward to a fun and exciting race in a foreign city on a cool summer day. 

We shall see if all those things come true. 

First:   I shall begin with the note that this is the first run we will have done in this state.  ( plu-perfect passive!)  I made sure Cheryl got the Welcome sign this time.    It’s important for the blog records after all!

The race and the packet pick-up are on the University Of Wisconsin  Campus.  Pretty cool after being surrounded by all those Hawkeye fans to see a city covered in Badgers!   I had no idea that the Wisconsin won back to back Rose Bowls! I always thought only Michigan won those. 

Packet pick-up was fast and easy.   Cheryl did not want to hang out with the other vendors.  I was ok with that since we are here to get pictures for the blog……Oh!  And run!

   Trying to figure out tomorrows Parking situation might be a challenge ( it always is whenever we are in a new city)   We had to park up on the fifth story of the parking garage.  I’m hoping we can arrive early enough to find a close space and one that is low to the ground.  The Layout of the campus is similar to the Iowa City one in that the campus and the city are basically one giant cluster of confusion.   It is difficult to distinguish what is college and what is the city! I imagine there are people from Iowa City who will think differently from my opinion….but we attended Michigan State where the line between East Lansing and the College Campus was very clear. 

Why the big deal?   Well,  Student Pedestrian and Cyclist are the WORST when it comes to not paying attention.   Or…they are just rude!    They know that cars are going slow and must yield to them so they approach on blind spots and waltz out into traffic willy nilly!   Call it a Pet Peeve….

  Back at the room,  Cheryl tried on her new shirt…..a standard tradition by now.   I like the color. 

And now we are winding down and sampling a local brew from Wisconsin.   This Capital Lake House beer is pretty darn good!     I would say this summer beer rivals Honey Brown!   Many of the notes of flavor are there and similar.   I always knew that if I tried enough beers, eventually I would find one that rivals or is a close substitute for the Golden Standard for Beers.   The only problem is that the only reason to FIND a substitute is because Honey Brown is not located in Iowa anywhere!   But what good is it if the Substitute beer is ONLY found in Wisconsin?  

We also are sampling a Local Root Beer.   Nothing to write home about on this one.   It is drinkable, but not as good as A&W Draft….Or Schell’s 1919 Draft Root Beer.   Cheryl continues to search for that elusive Black Cherry beverage we fell in love with in Duluth,MN.   Maybe next time. 

Wish us Luck tomorrow!   I’ll need it trying to find the best places to take pictures.     And,  It may be impossible to notice from this posting, but my “H” key on my keyboard keeps skipping……it is annoying because I have to constantly go back with Spell check and repair the damage of Typo’s.    And sometimes Spell Check does not catch everything.   It’s a toug life sometimes, but I guess you ave to eroically drive on. 

Cheryl’s Uneventful 20 Mile Run

    20 miles today!   For Cheryl, that is.   I simply rode alongside with the bike. 

Aside from the weather been very nice today,  there were no events worth mentioning.   There were no freak animals….

no Bessie….

No Big Foot….

 

And no space Aliens to speak of. 

 

Just Cheryl with me in tow.  Perhaps it was because we started about an hour after sunrise this time.   Everyone knows that those “unusual” items come out just before first light.  When shadows are long and picture quality is fuzzy.

 

 

I guess the only “event” that could be noted was that part of the trail was covered with a thin slippery moss.   It was quite pretty….and irritatingly slick!   Cheryl, several times,  had to slow down and pretend she was ice skating rather than running.    Even I slipped a bit with the bike…..never a confident feeling.  The frustrating thing was that we can not risk any injury at this point. ( Heck,  when is it EVER a good time for an injury?)

 

 

  In addition,  Cheryl did the entire 20 miles without any additional water.   Not that that is a good thing….but at least she now knows it is possible.

She even skipped any breaks!    The only mid-run fueling she had was one banana.  

  It worked out so well that she may consider doing the next long run without any Oxygen.   If She can pull that off,  then pretty much any marathon ( or climb up Mt Everest)  is possible!

So, tomorrow we leave for Wisconsin for a half marathon in Madison.   Looks like it is the only race in August….so we are going.   I’m hoping for some good pictures and some good beer sampling.   I guess the After-party will have lots of  samples from the Wisconsin Brewing Company.   Perhaps we will be able to bring back some samples home with us,  after Ice cream.

In the mean time,  We sampled a New Omme-Gang beer a couple nights ago.  The Dry hops have a wonderful refreshing snap.   Not to bitter or tart.   It was a nice taste test, but the single bottle was rather expensive, and I’m not sure I would want to have that flavor all the time at that price point.   Let’s just say that I believe there are “nicer” beers out there for a more affordable price.  It was pretty good though, and if you are looking for something different,  give it a try.  

As for now,   I guess Anime,  Then Packing up for the trip tomorrow.   With Madison only three hours away, we should have plenty of time for packet pickup and a small tour of the city.   Perhaps I will be able to stratify my picture taking locations like I did During the Lincoln Run.   We shall see 

Cheryl’s 14 mile T-Rex Run!

Well,  Cheryl has been trying to up her mileage lately, so we have been incorporating a “Medium Long Run”  somewhere mid week.   I don’t mind because I get to bike along side her on a groomed trail instead of the rocky gavel roads around here.

Today was a pretty good day for running.  I think Cheryl might have set a record!    A cold front was supposed to roll in last night, and it has been overcast the better part of the day so far.  But,  Perhaps the most important factor….was the T-Rex we stumbled upon during  the run.

Seeing animals on the runs have been fairly common…especially in the morning.  We have been seeing animals that you just don’t regularly see during the day.   Sometimes we see things that are REALLY rare….so I guess seeing a T-Rex should not be too surprising…given everything that has happened before on these runs.

At first we were a little surprised.   You just don’t see these things outside of a Steven Spielberg Movie.   However,  after the initial shock,  we decided that we did not want to hang out and become friends with it….so we decided to continue our run……away from it.

Of course it had to give chase…..That IS what these things do, after all.  Luckily,   it has been raining and we just happened to be next to a bog.   A Tar Pit would have been arguably better, but we were not in the position to be fussy. 

  Everyone knows Tar Pits and Bogs seem to draw Dinosaurs like moths to flames.   I guess they find them irresistible.   The T-Rex  was no different.  I’m not sure what the appeal is….they can’t swim very well with those tiny forearms and big teeth.   Once he dipped his toe in,  he sludged down to a crawl….allowing us to gain enough distance to lose him.  I was tempted to look back and see what became of him,   But sometimes it is better to let extinction and natural selection take its coarse. 

Other than that,  the run was rather uneventful.  I’m sure the Dinosaur chase helped provide the motivation for Cheryl’s new personal record.  No one wants to be eaten by a T-Rex on a training run, after all.     I was not too concerned since I was on a bike.  I’m sure if there had been other people with us, Cheryl would have been more relaxed as well, since she would have been able to outrun at least one of them.  Having a group of people helps take the stress off the individual……since there is safety in numbers. 

Hope everyone is having a great week so far…..oh! and avoid any bogs in Keota for a few days….if you find yourself in the area that is.

Cheryl’s 12 Mile Possum Run!

Either that or Fog run.   It was rather misty this morning.   However,   We have never seen a possum on the trail, until today.   Thus…the title.  He was cute, and small…but I was unable to snap a pic of him before he ran into the shrubs.     

12 miles might not seem like much as Cheryl works back up to her Marathon peak, but we ran 18 miles on Friday!   She wanted to run 12 miles yesterday, but the heat was predicted to be over 90 degrees, so we opted instead to run today.    I guess she was feeling frisky, because she tried to keep an 8 minute per mile pace for all 12 miles.   The boredom on yesterday must have energized her.

As for me,  I was able to try out my new Subaru Cycling attire.   The bottoms are more like a high school wrestling uniform and that presents a challenge when having to go to the bathroom.  I’ll leave it at that. 

Then there is the top…..it is left handed!   Meaning I have to zip it up backwards!  Perhaps because it was created in China?    That also explains the 2XL size…..a just fit for me, but I guess in China, people do not get quite that big.

Other than that,    Cheryl has been sewing up some additional key rings and I have been helping with the embroidery.    It took a few tries to get back into the swing of things.   Who would think that you forget how to use the machine after only a few months?

So the sunrise was pretty.  And we managed to beat the heat before it became unbearable.   I guess the temp is supposed to cool off over the next few days.  We shall see how things go there. 

Perhaps I will try to fold up something this afternoon.   It has been a while since I have tried anything overly complicated.   Maybe a challenge is what I need to kick start the Origami bug within me.  We shall see.

The Inability to Make It rain

Life as a Creative can be challenging when the Well Spring of Creativity runs dry.  Lately, I have been unable to fold or write or do much of anything!   It would appear that the only thing I HAVE been able to do is eat lots of Boston Creme Donuts and watch endless videos on YouTube as I wait for the inspiration to rain down upon me. 

 

 

However,  watching endless YouTube videos seem to only give me a serious case of “Bad World Syndrome!”   I’m now convinced that the world has only two types of people:   Serial Killers and Rogue Cops!

 

  

I guess I could add in “Bad Drivers”;  However, most of those are  (Thankfully) in Russia.  

  How YouTube manages to “custom tailor” my viewing suggestions  by looking at my past viewing history,  I will never know.   However,   I somehow continue to watch the suggested videos and thus;  I’m caught in an endless cycle of guilt and paranoia.

It’s like an addiction!   Perhaps there is some signal piggybacking on the electron wave or flickering pictures that each video sends.   This signal  ( obviously placed there by either the shadow government…or space aliens…Or BOTH) was meant to exert a basic mind control on the unsuspecting masses. A form of Mind Control…if you will.  The signal travels to the inner reaches of the Cerebral Cortex, causing us to veg out and become zombies.  We lose all motivation and creativity.

I would like to have a better outlook on humanity than all the dark stuff.   Humans can’t be all that bad….right?   We do so many cool things like write music and cook food.  Everyone loves those cat videos and “future gadgets” infomercials.  Why must I gravitate towards the Dark side?  

Truth be told,  I sort of like the “dark side”…in moderation!  Of coarse!  Viewing into corners and alleys where I would NEVER tread in real life is something of a curiosity for me.   I drive the speed limit..Do not use drugs…Avoid Fights….Obey Traffic signs and signals.  Basically,  I’m a wimp…..or upstanding citizen.  ( which ever one sounds best)  And isn’t that what the Government wants? ( or the Alien Race that is planning on taking over the Earth!)  Perhaps this conspiracy theory is another layer of the governments plan….or a hidden message from the future resistance fighters who have managed to send a signal back in time.   Man!  I really have to stop watching  YouTube….

 

 

On a brighter note,  Cheryl has given up ( temporarily anyway) on the job search;  opting to make some key rings for the Iowa Shop instead.    At least she is Doing something!  ( Unlike myself!) Then again, I should probably cut myself a little slack since I just finished a project 5 days ago and have another one lined up in two weeks.  She has informed me that she will eventually require some embroidery for the “Iowa Key chains”.   Perhaps that will trigger something inside me to actually become productive again.  

Other than that,  guess things are nice and boring around here.  The weather seems nice ( though a little too hot for my taste) and the Landlords are still ( Three days now!) trying to fix the leaky ceiling in the bathroom.   We currently have a VERY large hole in the ceiling.   At least they now know what is causing the leak and have formulated a plan on how to fix it.   I have ( almost) every faith that they will fix it by the end of the week….end….hopefully.   We shall see.

In the mean time,  I had best avoid You Tube and instead focus on finding another really great Anime to watch.  It’s a better substitute.   They almost always have a positive moral message and try to shape humanity for the better.  Plus the Japanese seem to have a serious fear of “big Government”  taking over the populous. 

Finding new animes are challenging.   There are thousands of the out there, but finding a “good” one is the hard part.  Ah well,  the search continues……as well as the hope that my creativity will return in a timely manner.   Hope for the best!

DISCLAIMER:   I feel weird putting these after every post lately,  but I’m JOKING!   I’m really not a conspiracy nut.  (Though it is fun to “pretend” from time to time) These ramblings are because I’m currently BORED and have nothing to write about in the real world….And since no one reads this blog…. I should be safe from the Men In Black taking me too seriously or even finding me out.   Hmmm…. Maybe next time I’ll write about my alien abduction experience….( with out all the “probing”)