Sometimes Lightning Strikes Only Once....

Yesterday was a great day for doing chalk art in the park.  I got several families and clusters of kids to help with the Pokemon creatures.   Together, we were able to almost completely fill in one of the Shuffleboard  areas..  I even stayed longer than I was planning on, because the kids kept asking for another creature. 

 

Now you would think that we could get a repeat of that day, since most of the people wanted to know if I was going to be out there today.   And I was!  However...

Kids get bored very easily.   Granted, not all of the kids that helped yesterday were present.    And the ones that did show up had trouble focusing on the simple tasks.   They wanted to do EVERYTHING all at the same time.  Basically.. chaos.  

Having no kids of my own, I can only wonder how parents deal with these little moments.  Well,  technically, I know how MY Mom would have dealt with things. ( Dad was a little more diplomatic...) But I would like to think not every parent had the same violent tactic.  Eric and I quickly learned to avoid "Adults" if we wanted to have  fun.  ( Not counting fishing with Dad, that was almost always a good time. And usually not violent.) 

But it does cause me hesitation now for going down to the park for chalk drawing.   I had been avoiding the kids up to this point.   Eventually, I figured if they "helped" me, it would be better than letting them stare at me and learn nothing.  I probably thought that they would learn the "tricks" and draw some of their own stuff.
But,  I imagine kids are a lot like electricity.  It can be productive at time...  Shocking during others.  It makes me realize parents have the toughest job in the world.   ( and so do electricians....) 

Well, it is scheduled to rain on Friday.   And we are heading to another race.. somewhere for the weekend.  So that means that there will be plenty of break time between  "kid encounters."  Perhaps keeping a little bit of distance is a good thing for the immediate future.  There are plenty of other places that are not in the park, where I can draw and doodle.   And if the kids take over the Park with their artwork, that might not entirely be a bad thing.  

Cheryl Crushes the Quad Cities Half Marathon.

"Crushes" sounds so violent.  Which is a good thing!  Taking in to account after the last blog post AND the 2019 "Disaster Melt Down."   Yes, yes!  "CRUSHES!"   In all Caps!  And "crushes" is a term that runners use all the time to show that their wimpy sport can be strong and violent sometimes.  Usually against the runner's own inner self and spirit.  But I digress....

Cheryl ran the Quad Cities Half Marathon today.  And it went well.  The end.   

Oh...  Some details. ( And here I was hoping it would be a short post today.) 

Early morning 3 AM wake up time.   Travel to Moline.  Bathroom break.   Bathroom break again.... and again. ( for me...  Because  Coffee!)  I was very grateful to the race for having a surplus to port-a-jons.   Honestly, that is pretty much the only thing we did as a pre-race activity.    Having done this before I knew that I had to say goodbye about 15 minutes before the race started so I could cross the river and get to the first spectator spot at mile 5.   

There were a few new additions to the Chalk art we left behind yesterday.  I was happy to see other folks joined in the scribbling.   It looked like either they used the foam brush and charcoal  I left behind or had one of their own.   Very nice.

Last time, I got kicked out of mile 5 because the race officials did not like me.  Or were overly protective for some reason.  But this year,  I not only got to see Cheryl at mile five.  I also saw her at mile 1.5 as she came down from the bridge.

By the way, this is the last year the race will be crossing the old bridge.  The new one next to it will be finished, ( supposedly) and they will finish dismantling the old one.  As a result, I could not cross the bridge as I have done in the past.   Instead, I had to drive all the way down to the end of Davenport to cross the bridge there. It took WAY too long and I was behind the power ball until I finally arrived at mile 5.  I also got to snap some cool pics of the runners on the bridge.

Because I'm her "Buddy"

As Cheryl raced past me,  I hopped into the car and drove down to mile 6.5.  Another spectator spot where I got scolded by race officials in previous years.  This year, however, the race folks were much more forgiving.  And I was able to see Cheryl again before heading to Mile 8. 

 

Mile 8 and then mile 9 were right next to each other and that was the end of seeing Cheryl on the race route.   I should count my blessings there because in 2019 I was only able to see her at a couple spots.   This year, I saw her in more spots and was able to cheer her on and give her her beverage...  However,  I missed her at the finish line. 

I'll shorten the story by simplifying that I had trouble getting back across the river, ( because of road closures and race routes and parking issues) and arrived just in time to MISS her crossing the finish line.  Ah well... Can't see them all...  

Cheryl with Mike ( in gray tee) his wife Pam and son, Wyatt

I should mention that the "Mike" character from the previous post was there as well.   He ran the half marathon  as well and was about 10 seconds in front of Cheryl until mile 9,  where he pulled away and finished 2.5 minutes ahead of her.   We could give Mike some credit here for being fast,  better trained, older and MALE!  But Cheryl would really rather believe that she dropped back because she was out of energy after mile 9.    Her mile times do not support this theory, but you know how runners are:  Always blaming something for their lack of performance.  ( It was hot,I'm too young and inexperienced,   I'm just a girl... I was lost.) 

Mike takes better pictures than Cheryl

Speaking of being lost!  The top two runners for the Marathon were disqualified!  Because they stepped out of the race route and followed the lead bike... who made a wrong turn.   Apparently, the race route was clearly marked... And the number three man saw the Kenyans take the wrong turn and decided to follow the signs and not  follow them.  He won!  And it will mark  the first time in 20 years that an American has won the race.   Bad luck on them.  But the ELITES have a pre-race walk-through of the course to prevent this from happening.  And the top racers had probably run the race previously.  Stories like this are frequent in Ultras and even Marathons as well, so this is unusual, but not rare.  It shows that setting your mind to "autopilot" is not wise when the race is on the line. (And you have a LOT to lose!)   Elites are measured by speed, training, and knowledge of the course.    The last one apparently only comes into play now and then... but can make all the difference. Too bad for them....  And I guess the lead bike was devastated by the error.  Every now and then, we find out the Elites are just as Human as we are after all...

But back to Cheryl!   We eventually found each other and sat down to enjoy the post race goodies.  Beer and brownies, hotdogs and chips.    We also linked back up with Mike and his family, ( They ran the 5K while Mike and Cheryl ran the Half.)

Because beer is her "Bud Light"

So the only lazy bum in this story is ME!    We swapped pictures and talked about meeting again in Des Moines in a few weeks.    Seems like their entire family is getting the "Running Bug" as well.   

Cheryl found out she won an award... again.   This time first place in her age group.   Apparently, even though Mike beat Cheryl by a solid 2.5 minutes ( or so...)  he still placed only 5th in his division.   See!  The standards are HIGHER for dudes! 

Still, I would have been happy had I run Cheryl's time. ( 1:41:19  With an average 7:44 minute per mile pace)  13.1 miles in less than 2 hours! uh,  Yeah!  Perhaps if I was actually in shape..  Like the Army days.   25 years ago...   But I digress.

We celebrated at Tees in Muscatine... again.   It was a repeat of yesterday with Burgers and Ice cream.  And now, we are home, resting with the cat and writing up this epic blog post so we can laugh about things  in the future.  ( Maybe not!  Nothing really funny happened this year.  But, at least it is recorded now. )   

The Start cannon.  I missed it again this year.

Hope everyone had a great Weekend this weekend.   Cheryl's will be a little bit happier since she did not melt down at the Quad Cities this year.  It turns out that the weather WAS a factor... and it was cool and breezy.  Pretty much optimal for running a half marathon.  So if Future Cheryl and Ethan are reading this.  Remember:  55 degrees at the start with a cool breeze and low humidity.  Factor that in before signing up for this race again.  ( which you said you would never do again, Cheryl!)    To everyone else:  Thanks for stopping in.

The Quad Cities Marathon Expo and 1 Mile Pre-Run For Tacos...

Like any person revisiting a scene from their past that has caused them trauma and permanent psychological damage.. Today!  Cheryl revisited the Quad Cities Marathon.  

2019 dis-satisfaction.

You may remember 2019....  so long ago.  Yet the emotional scars still linger. As any Hero that rises up after a  humiliating defeat,  Cheryl chose to sign up for the Quad Cities Half Marathon once again.   This will be the third time she has endured this torturous event. The previous two times have been plagued with a sudden autumn Heat Wave,  sending her into a tailspin of disaster.   But.... Perhaps... This year might be different....

I'm only hamming it up for comedic effect.  Yes, last year was a bust.   ( thanks a lot, Covid) and 2019.. the year of "Winning" was blemished by this "less than satisfactory" event.  And Yes!  The Heat  and rain was a factor.  ( She still managed to win an age group award!) 

So today was the EXPO and packet pickup.  It was early and it was cold!  Subie said it was 44 degrees!  That is a little cold for me as a spectator, but Cheryl loves those temps for running.  

The early fog eventually lifted and the blinding sun emerged.   As the sun rose, so did the temps.  However, they remain cool even now.. late in the afternoon.  Perhaps we will get lucky for tomorrow after all!

At the Expo, Cheryl picked up her packet and also got a little trouble cleared up with her "One Mile Run For Tacos!"  Apparently, there were a LOT of people with the same problem.  They signed up for the half marathon AND the mile, but the computer only posted them in one event. 

The Run for Tacos was to take place at 10:00 and there was very little time to do much else than get in line at the start.   The cool thing about a mile run is that it is over on just a few minutes! This was Cheryl's first Official Mile run!  So "Officially"  she set a new Personal Record. 

She also came in second overall female!  So she also won a Major Award!  Too bad it is not edible this time.  

The lady standing next to Cheryl is Ann.   She is 65 and ran the Clinton Half Marathon a few weeks ago.  We thought we recognized her from a previous race.   She was also standing in line to get the Packet for the one mile race.   She will be running the FULL Marathon tomorrow as well.  And she is coming off of running an ULTRA last week!  ( 50K)   Not bad for an "Old Lady."  She won the second place Senior award, and gave Cheryl a "run for her money."   Cheryl said if she can run like that in her 60's,  she will be very proud of herself.

Beer!

After the race, and the awards,  Cheryl hit the beer tent and got the "free taco" that came with the race.   The free "taco" was really chips and salsa.   rather disappointing.  But the Beer was excellent, and that makes up for lack luster bar food. 

Tacos????

Cheryl wanted to head back into the EXPO to swap out a shirt and maybe purchase another one with a better style.   She met a runner named Mike along with his family.  They were also at the Clinton Half Marathon and told us they would be here today.  I'll be looking for them tomorrow in the line up when the halfer kicks off.  

As for me,  I did not want to wear that mask any longer than I needed to, so I joined the kids outside to "chalk the Walk."   I even had some of my own chalk in the car!  So I set out to draw a doodle and make all of the little kids look bad. 

 

What.. exactly, is this a picture of????

 

 

 Don't worry.   Cheryl dished up plenty of humility by taking plenty of pictures of my ASS.  Yes, yes,  BUTT SHOTS seem to be the most flattering feature of me.   Thanks Honey!  I will be sure to remember than in the future when I take pictures of you running. 

I'll spare you the rest of the "Butt Shot" portfolio and try to show off the logo and pokemons I added in the limited time I had.   Cheryl only gave me a half hour to doodle.   But thankfully, a number of kids joined the battle and we all had some fun.   And... before I became aware of the butt pictures, I was brimming with confidence that I had defeated the 6 year olds in the chalk competition.   Hey,  All if fair in love, war and chalk.   And perhaps they will try to up their game in the future to try and defeat me.  Time will tell....

For the remainder of the evening.... Rest!  Naps,  Perhaps a massage or two.. ( for ME!)  because we will be getting up insanely early  ( 3 AM) to arrive in time for the start in Moline Illinois. ( 7 AM)  Hopefully the temps remain cold at the start and warm up more slowly than today.   I will also be attempting to "help" Cheryl along the route, as she crosses the Mississippi several times along the old Davenport bike path.  They are tearing down the first bridge and this will be the last time the race is scheduled to cross there, so I may have a tough time getting ahead of her initially.  But, we shall leave that worry and adventure for tomorrow.   But now... SLEEP!  Naps,  and maybe a massage... I will need it. 

Thanks for stopping in!  And Wish us luck tomorrow. ( especially me... )