Another Race Weekend. Lake Monona 20K!

An expensive Training run...

After a long day of scoring yesterday,  Cheryl and I raced out aimed the Subaru towards Madison Wisconsin...  Where Cheryl had a Training run mixed with a 20k race planned. 

Add to Cheryl's "Trinkets."

 Complete with a Finisher's medal and a shirt!

Who cares that it will take away from our otherwise relaxing weekend....  After all, our whole existence is to make Cheryl look good.   And what better way than to add to her Runner's swag.

Vending Machine Mocks me!

It won't happen three times, right?

We arrived at the Hotel later than our usual time.   All of the cookies were gone and there was no time to go out and look for alternative snacks.   Cheryl urged me to visit the vending machine and purchase a package of M&M's   She gives me 4 dollars and a handful of coins.

As expected!   The vending machine takes my money and then taunts me.    Forget buying any variety...I'm now locked into buying another Peanut M&M to dislodge the first one.   It can't possibly happen twice!

How is this POSSIBLE?

DOH!

It DOES!   IS this a bad omen?    Third time is the charm.


No Way!   But at this point in my life,  I have come to expect such things.   if there is one thing I'm good at... it is Bad luck. 

Time to us my "thinking" cap....

 I weigh the options of heading back down three floors and bringing up the front desk guy...OR  beating and breaking the vending machine.   I see that there are numerous signs suggesting that I play nice....But they only put that there to see just how helpless a law abiding citizen could be.   I decide to show them what "self-sufficiency" means to me.

A couple of vigorous taps and I manage to shake them loose without tipping over the machine.  My night is saved...mostly.  Now I have to eat three Peanut M&M's....

Not so Early Rise.

Packet Pickup.

I did not blog last night because the internet at the Hotel was kinda crappy...  so that is why that story is on the posting.   I could hardly wait to put the experience into prose.   Now back to Cheryl...

Free Shirt.

It was almost a late wake-up today,  seeing as we have been getting up this early for work each morning.   Cheryl was concerned that the heat might play a part in her performance with such a late start time.  But I reminded her that this was only a training run and that she is not out to disappoint or kill herself.   That is my job. 

Killing Time...

We pick up her bib and race shirt and wander around aimlessly for a little over an hour.   Arriving early to beat the crowds has its advantages when dealing with parking;  But also has the disadvantage of having too much spare "Pre-race" time on your hands.   The temps began to climb as they announced the morning muster.

Trying to look cool. 

Surprisingly Absent.

While waiting,  we looked for any of the latest Boston Marathon jackets from this year.  Last year there were many other runners who had braved Boston with Cheryl and showed off their accomplishments at this race.   I urged Cheryl to wear her jacket this year so she would not feel left out again. 

But other years were here

With Cool colors.

However,  the Orange 2018 Boston Jacket was no where to be seen.   We did catch a few other years.   One 2015 and one from 2010.   Both of those jackets were pretty cool colors.  Maybe the orange one was missing because it was such a hard race this year.   Pouring rain and freezing temps kicked most of the Kenyans out of the top 10.    I guess Americans and Canadians like that cold weather better.

One last smile before the gun. 

Cheryl lines up

The race started at 9 A.M.   Cheryl waved at me as she passed by.   I think the bright sun prevented me from getting very many "focused" shots of her this race.   The race was pretty big for some random distance around some lake in Wisconsin.

Waves as she passes

Off she goes.

   But what do I know about distance... Or running?   Or Racing!  Other than how to be a Semi-grouchy critic. (Possibly because of my bad coffee, lack of breakfast donut, lack of free hotel cookie, and let's not forget those peanut M&M's!)

Around the corner..and the lake!

5k-ers line up in racing colors.

Note the sea of green shirts.

About 30 minutes after the 20k  started,  the 5k  runners lined up.  You can tell the 5k-ers by their desire to wear the race shirt.  (Hint:  Race shirts are NOT meant to be worn on race day...  you will DIE from heat exhaustion.)

Add in the dogs.

Lots of dogs.

There were many dogs and Children running the 5k as well.  Under normal circumstances,  A dog can outrun a human.  However,  evolution and human meddling have forced many breeds of dog to suck at running.  For this reason,  most of the "responsible" owners limit their dog running to the 5k.

Gotta keep those dogs healthy..

And those kids.

Another possible reason is to get the dog back into shape after feeding them Science Diet.  (A dog/cat food that "Bulks up" your pets.)  The dogs did not complain much.   At least from what we humans can understand.  Maybe they were barking profanities as they lumbered by.   Only the dog spectator would know for sure.

Showing "tough love" 

Tossed into the "Deep End" 

Mom is tired of Pushing you!

As for the children...  About 200 yards from the finish, the parents kicked them out and forced them to run the rest of the way.   Talk about tough love!   I can only imagine that the parents were tired of pushing their kids around... despite the fact they will be doing it for an additional 18-20 years.  I would have to think that is "good parenting" to get those little munchkins out of their parents shadow as soon as possible.  Fortunately,  the kids are still to "dumb" to know what is going on and ran the rest of the way in....mostly.   Who says ignorance is not bliss?

And I thought I was having a bad day

I don't feel so bad now. 

A few other notes:  several folks with Prosthetic ran the race.   One of them was actually pretty fast!   I think those new tech legs make up for the lost function a real leg would have.   Then again,  this guy was missing arms as well.   And I thought I was having a bad day....  I can only imagine what happened to this guy.  Another lady had what looked like a bionic leg.  She was walking mostly,  but the new actuators can take signals from the brain and actually move the foot.   Pretty cool technology out there these days.

Cheryl comes in.

Five minuted ahead of Schedule.

She looks pretty good. 

Finally Cheryl came in.   She finished 5 minutes faster than I expected her... and she said she actually had to walk a little.   She had developed a lovely blister near her big toe and it was really bugging her.  Still,  despite the heat and the untested distance,  she was happy that she did as well as she did.   Any run she does not melt down or break something has to be a good one,  right?

She wants the BADGER!

Gimme the BEER!

Showing off her medal

We grabbed our goodies and headed off for the free Wisconsin Beer.   Cheryl was very excited.    We lounged on the grass while listening to the live band.   They offered two types of beer, so we decided to sample both.  The Rattler was very refreshing while the badger was pleasantly hoppy.   What a great School the U of Wisconsin must be where they Make Beer as part of the Curriculum!   The Grapefruit beer is a special brew.   Maybe it is seasonal.   We could not find anyplace that would sell us a 6 pack.  But it would have been a great one to take home.

Closer look at the medal

Cheryl relaxes

Live Country Music.... Or "Noise" 

Cheryl is ready to go now. 

We hung out for a while and then headed home. (Picking up several beer samples before leaving the state.)  Cheryl was not in a hurry to leave since she was pretty tired. Luckily, the country western music eventually drove her crazy and we were done around noon.   There is only so much you can cram into a single day and fit it all on a blog post.   I have left out so many details and this posting is already HUGE.  Maybe I will be able to fill in the small anecdotes in a later post.   But for now,   I'm looking forward to sampling some of that Wisconsin Beer and relaxing for the remainder of the weekend.   Thanks for stopping in and have a Great Saturday.