Another Weekend With Cheryl.

I know what you are thinking....  Aren't these two married? Why does he have to blog about every weekend with her?   What's the big deal?   Well no one ever said that Long Distance relationships are easy! (Unless you can't stand your spouse. Then I can imagine that the distance is not only easy, it is possibly a requirement!  Just ask my Dad....) 

Besides...  Several of my Co-workers believe Cheryl is a made up figment  of my imagination. Well  I'll show them with plenty of Selfies and Spectacular stories that she really is REAL!  And to do this.. I have to include myself in the picture.   I personally dislike selfies.   I think they are self absorbed and narcissistic. (Unlike anything in my awesome blog about Me....) And... The angle of the camera always makes me look fat! 

But let us get back to talking about My Awesome Wife...  What's-her-name.  She runs FAST!   How fast?  Faster than you!  Phil!  Or Scott!   And to prove it I will write a story...  With PICTURES!  And "No!"  She is not a paid Actress....  She has never had any acting lessons what so ever.   And I only gave her $300....  for travel expenses and Hotel.

So anyway...  Cheryl!  Yes!  My WIFE...  signed both of us up for a 5K this weekend.   In Milwaukee. A Run for Bacon and Beer!  Also known as the Bacon and Kegs 5K.  ( Get it?  Bacon and KEGS instead of Eggs?   It's a pun....) I reluctantly agreed because I'm not a sissy and I wanted to sample the beer.  And thankfully.. It was only a 5K.  ( Which I have run one before... In case I have not mentioned it.) 

The race was to be along the beautiful coast of Lake Michigan.  No one ever said it was going to be hot.   You might think : Lake Michigan = Cool!  You would be wrong for this one instance. I think it was in the 80's at the start of the race.    Cheryl was not very happy,  telling me that she would never get a PR in heat this bad.   But then we found out that there was a cash Prize of $100 for the winner!  

Did I mention that I paid Cheryl $300  to show up.... for  travel expenses?   Well, she really wanted $400!  ( Typical WIFE..  Phil! Always needing more money for "bills and stuff."..) But I told her about an expensive Car repair on Subie this week and that I was a little short on Cash.  ( I think she bought it....)    And that if she wanted the money.... She would have to EARN it by winning this race.  No pressure or anything.

We lined up at the start and the announcer said that the folks who were going to attempt to win the race should line up in front.   I pushed  Cheryl to the front of the line, siting that she had Run the Boston Marathon in 2017.  ( no pressure or anything.) The crowd parted as  a spotlight from heaven illuminated Cheryl  as she slowly walked to the front.  Sometimes,  to achieve greatness,  you have to push people to the peak of their potential. No pressure or anything.

At the sound of the gun,  Cheryl was OFF!  Like a rocket!  With Jet Engines and Nitro Turbo Shoes! She sprinted out in front of everyone, including the men... to take a solid lead for the first mile.  It was at that point that I knew that all of MY hard work had paid off...  I provided the much needed motivation she was going to need to win the race.  

I would love to give you a play by play of the actual event.   But I was forced to actually participate in the event and therefore, could not take any action pictures or even see her as she blazed out over the horizon line.  This is not an admission of how slow I am... No!  I had a strategy for this race from the beginning:  Let Cheryl win.  And that is what I did. 

So Cheryl won. ( Shocker!)  And I huffed and puffed to the finish line in some time that I do not care to admit here.  But I will say that I beat an Ex Marine!  So.. Go Former Army Guy! ( Me!) Hurray!  Cheryl was there cheering me on and telling me that I'm really not as slow as I obviously was.... OR at least I was almost faster than the old lady with the walker in front of me.   I think that was helpful. 

After the race,   There was beer.   And Bacon.  I enjoyed both.   The beer was from a local Brewery and they were one of the sponsors of the race, promotion their new line up of craft beers.   They brought 5 kegs for  approximately 200 people. 

Five kegs... Five Flavors!   We had to try them all or else the entire effort would be in vain.   Right?  

I have to say,  I have never had a race happily and readily give out this much beer at one setting.   five beers later... and we were both feeling the happiness!  Of Completing and WINNING a 5K of course!  There was also bacon... did I mention the bacon?    The five flavors of beers were spectacular!   They had a Pistachio flavored beer!   Who would have ever thought of such a thing?  They also had a 14 % IPA.  I never knew you could get that high of a percent in an IPA... But there it was.   And I was so Thirsty I drank it down in practically one gulp.   Did I mention Cheryl WON the race?

Yes, yes... Cheryl won the race as  First Female OVERALL  this time.   She won $100 and this cute little pin to add to her trophy collection.   Better than a Heavy Watermelon or Sippy Cup!  We are talking cold hard cash! (In check form... so it will have to go through a bank before it becomes available...) And no downgrade to "Master" like what happened in Muscatine. She was recognized for being the best of all ages.

It took a little while to "sober up" after that awesome event,  but eventually we went back to the hotel room and took a nap.  Because.... Old People need their sleep.   And waking up and running a 5K at 10 AM can be taxing on one's system.   We had  to change our plans because of the time and eventually found ourselves at IKEA for some Meatballs and french fries.  What can I say... We love IKEA.  ( Possibly because they are Swedish... Everyone loves the Swedes!)  We also toured the displays and  fantasized about the small apartment set ups.  A typical IKEA visit.  

And then we  got dressed up and headed to the Pho Cali.   We had been here before and Cheryl liked it enough to revisit it.  A nice touch to end the day, dressed up and looking fancy as we slurped noodles from a bowl filled with broth.  

Ok, that was mostly just me.   Cheryl ordered the Spring Rolls and I offered to share the noodles, but she politely declined.    With all of this eatin',  I think we are going to have to run some of this food off for tomorrow.

And that is what we did this morning...   We drove to the shore of Lake Michigan and ran... Cheryl ran 7.5 miles and I ended up running 5.   Why five?   I would love to say it is because I'm strong and tough... and an endurance athlete.  But the real reason is I had no sense of where I was or how far I had run.  Cheryl has a Garmin on her wrist, so she runs back after I had run 2.5 miles.   She informs me that I am at 2.5 miles and I think I only have to run an additional . 5 miles to complete the run.  

But she meant I was 2.5 miles FROM THE CAR!   Meaning I had to run 2.5 miles BACK...  Luckily,  there was cloud cover and a cool breeze blowing off the lake this morning.   And I tried to keep up with Cheryl  But Cheryl is FAST!  And, for some reason... did not want to slow down for me.   

We ended up having a good run and almost burning off all of the food we consumed the night before. I actually felt pretty good that I ended up running 5 miles instead of three.  Somehow, I think that makes me almost look athletic.   Except for the slow part....

With time running out,   Cheryl and I headed to the Beach to enjoy our last remaining hours together.   The wind had picked up and the surf of Lake Michigan had become violent.  Perfect for Beach combing.     We managed to find a handful of Beach Glass and some cool rocks that Cheryl found interesting.   

Eventually, as with all things in life,  The spell wears off and we all turn back into a Pumpkin.   Cheryl headed back with some  cat food and IKEA purchases and I had to head back to Kenosha.  A sad goodbye, but  nothing ever lasts forever.   Except the memories.   Unless you drink too much beer the night before... at a race.   Which we totally didn't do!  So... Memories!  Good thing I have this Blog to remind myself of the things I once did in my youth.  

A long blog post.   And this is the abridged version! Imagine if I had gone into detail of all the happenings of this weekend.   But... Things were trimmed out for time and left on the cutting room floor to achieve the PG rating that would be Blog Worthy.  It was a lovely weekend and a Wonderful Visit.   And even though almost all of the plans had to be changed, we still managed to find  the fun in the experience.  With a LOT of selfies... to prove to Phil and Scott that What's-Her-Name is really real.  And she wins Money because she is an Olympic Runner!  Or at least could be if they did not have those stupid restrictions on contestants. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday weekend this weekend.   I know I did.   And I think Cheryl did too.  I have tomorrow off and I'm not sure what to do with the extra time, but I think I will try to relax and recharge my batteries in Prep for Work on Tuesday.  Running with Cheryl can take a lot out of a person.    Because she is kind of fast.      Thanks for stopping in.