Day Off...Woohoo!!!

Joshua and I had the entire day off together and we decided to actually do something about it!!! What I wanted to do was get on our bikes and bike over to a winery, 44 miles there and back. Joshua was up for that the day before but when we woke up this morning, he changed his mind. Boo!!!

But we still went to the winery...by car. We got on the road at 10:40AM, hoping to catch the 11:15 tour. About two miles later, I asked Joshua if he had my ID on him. Nope!!! Neither of us brought our wallets but we did bring money! So we had to turn around and get our IDs. We prolly could have made it, but knowing we lost some time, we decided to get some lunch first then make it to the 12:15 tour.

We went to a small town (Sauk City) near the winery to eat lunch. We decided to forego the usual chains like Dairy Queen, Subway and Culvers and to eat locally. We found the downtown area, I believe, which had a gas station, a few bar and grills and some odds and ends stores. All this in a three short block radius. We decided on a bar and grill called The Press Box. It definitely was what you would expect for a townie restaurant. I settled for something safe, a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and Joshua got a reuben with some onion rings and a beer.

After eating, Joshua played a round of Shake at the bar, where for $1 per attempt, you shake a dice can containing 5 dice to get a certain number that's posted for the day. You remove the dice that you roll correctly and you get 3 chances to get all five dice correct. If you can do that, you get the money that has been sitting in the Shake $$$ can from everyone that attempted the game. We lost.

Onto Wollersheim Winery!! We made it to the 12:15 tour with plenty of time. I've been on this tour a few times but it was Joshua's first time!! He was really excited as was I. We had a great time on the tour, learning about the wine making process but especially at the end with the tasting :) Joshua enjoyed the wines so much that we bought a few to bring home to drink. Yum! Can't wait!

Entrance of Wollersheim Winery

Entrance of Wollersheim Winery

At the entrance of the winery

Outside with the vines

Joshua excited to taste some wines

Joshua even more excited with wine in the glass

Enjoying some wine

Joshua's favorite...Port wine that's got 20% alcohol

My favorite...River Gold

Done with the winery...onto the next fun thing! We headed north of the winery about 20 minutes away to Devil's Lake State Park. We got there around 2:00PM and decided to go out onto the lake. Joshua has never canoed or kayaked before and we decided on a two person kayak. Another first for Joshua today! We kayaked around the lake for an hour. It would've been fun to go longer and just be out on the lake and get a tan but my arm were getting tired and I was getting hot from the sun. What a workout for my arms!

View of Devil's Lake on the lake

View of Devil's Lake on the lake

On the lake

On the lake

On the lake

Being silly out on the lake

What's Joshua up to?

Joshua checking out if he can touch the bottom of the lake

"I am king!"

Land ho

Chilling in the kayak

Two thumbs up!

After canoeing, we went hiking. We've been to the State Park before...about 3 years ago or so and we've done some rigorous hiking so this time around, we decided to look for the waterfall trail that we didn't do last time. We got back into our car and had to drive 10 minutes to a lot that was away from the main lake area and very tucked in that we missed the lot the first time.

We hiked through Parfrey's Glen. However, as we got closer to the waterfall, we ran into a guy who gave us some background on the area. The bridges that led to the waterfall got washed out and had to be removed! But onward we went, and we really did hike. Balancing on stones and rocks and traipsing through the creek. A few close calls on tripping or falling but we made it. The waterfall wasn't as awesome as some we have witnessed in the past in the West or Hawaii trip but it was cute. And I really enjoyed the "trail" we had to hike through to get to it.

At the beginning of the trail

Balancing

Being silly

The waterfall...

...looks bigger in the pics than in real life

Check out the tree stump

That's one big tree stump!

Classic pic...on our way back to the car

We left Devil's Lake State Park at 4:30PM and headed back to Madison. We decided we might as well go out to dinner too. So we went to a Peruvian restaurant kitty corner to our apt complex called Pollo Inka. Joshua got Tallarin Verde, linguine mixed in Peruvian style basil sauce topped with beef steak. I got Lomo Saltado, beef tenderloin sauteed with tomatoes and onions in a soy and wine sauce served with pommes frites (french fries) and white rice. So delish!!!! We wanted dessert as well since it looked really good but we had no room.

After dinner, we went back to our apt so Joshua could rest his eyes for a half hour then onto softball! I'm in a co-ed softball league on Wednesdays but not Joshua. So he cheered me on from the sidelines even though he was tired. He was tired?!?! I was the one who woke up early to go on a 3 mile run before the festivities even began and was sprinting around the bases! I even played a second softball game since another team was down a girl! But I was glad he was there to cheer me on.

What an AWESOME day it was!!! Tomorrow, we're going to go golfing after I get done with work around 2 and spend the rest of the day together but most likely it will be more low key than today. I LOVE THESE TYPES OF DAYS WITH JOSHUA!!!

GUR Results

267 teams participated

211 teams finished in the allotted 5 hour time limit

First Place team finished with a time of 1 hour and 57 minutes

We finished with a time of 3 hours and 39 minutes

Finishing in 85th place!!!

Not bad considering I thought we were in the back of the pack

If only we hadn't wandered around or went to the wrong places

GUR

What is GUR? Great Urban Race. There are a few of these events in different cities around the US, even one in Canada. Teams of two get together to solve 12 clues in whichever city you are participating in. First through third place get money and a free entry to the national championships in Las Vegas. And fourth through twenty-fifth get entries but need to pay for the national championships. Everyone else gets a great memory of what they did.

We could only use our legs or public transportation which in Madison means only buses. Luckily, we could use our phones as well to either call someone or use the internet which my smart phone came in handy. Clues can be done in any order and you can skip one clue to do. Each clue done had to have either a photo, a flyer or stamp (sometimes a combo) as proof we did the clue. Madison's GUR took place starting at Noon at the Essen Haus and also ended there. We had five hours to finish the course.

So the morning of, I had packed us a small backpack filled with two water bottles, two gatorade bottles, protein bars (which we never ate), maps, Advil (in case we weren't feeling well), money and our phones including an extra battery for Joshua's phone. We were so excited for the race. Unfortunately, Joshua had injured his ankle the night before so my partner was a gimp but he wanted to go through with it, pain and all. What a trooper! We had to have a themed "costume" but I'm not a fan of overly doing it so we just wore our Old Chicago I Heart Beer t-shirts, which we got a lot of compliments on from GUR participants and non-participants.

At the Essen Haus, we got registered and got our bib numbers and t-shirts. There were so many people there! And dressed up so creatively! Right before noon, they handed out the envelope that contained all the clues and at noon, we all tore open the envelope.

Joshua and I, like many many others, went aside to solve out our clues then figured out which clues to do first and so on. There was one clue that we couldn't figure out right away so we left it, hoping to call someone. Of course the first two people I called didn't pick up. Then I called my work, Old Chicago, hoping a gang of people were there to help us figure out the clue. Even though it was lunch time, someone there who I thinking wasn't working wrote down our clue to figure out. So off to the first place while they figure out the clue for us.

Getting to our first clue was not easy...I got turned around in a neighborhood that I was not familiar with. I knew something like that was going to happen! I feel as though we lost a half hour wandering around.

Our first clue was about 2 miles away and it was to help the animals (local dogs and cats). We had to purchase a treat, toy or food item and then donate to an address that was given to us. Once we donated it, we got a temporary tattoo of 'Dane County Humane Society' which I volunteered to be the subject, since I was the less sweaty one. The line was so long since I think it was the first clue that everyone decided to do first since it was the closest to the starting point. 

The second clue we did was around the same neighborhood and again, we wandered a bit. We had to go to the coordinates that were listed on the clue sheet, to a Mexican restaurant. My smart phone was not so smart and gave me the wrong street. Boo! We had run past a Mexican restaurant but thought nothing of it til we were on the wrong street. Backtrack to the restaurant we did see. At the restaurant, one person (thank goodness) had to eat an entire pepper, which ended up being a huge jalapeno pepper. Hands down, Joshua was going to do this one since I am the biggest sissy when it comes to spicy foods and he loves spicy foods. He took it down like a champ and then drank a ton of water. 

The third clue we did was about 2 miles away at a park. On our clue sheet, there was a search word box. The remaining letters would spell out where we had to go which was the park. Along the way, Joshua threw up A LOT from the pepper. So glad I didn't have to do it. So we had to go to the softball field in the park and we both had to spin around 8 times with our head touching the handle, then run around the bases. Whoa, I almost did throw up then. I didn't even do the 8 times but I don't think anyone was watching.

The fourth clue was in the same park but a half mile away. There we played "Object Freeze". They gave us an ordinary everyday object that we had to use in a non-traditional way. Our object was a watering can. Joshua used it as a purse. I used it as a hat. Then Joshua used it as a shovel. It was kinda fun. But now I know slightly how hard it is for improv people. Kudos to you guys.

The fifth clue we had to answer questions on the clue sheet and the circled letters pointed us to the right place. We had to know the last name of the Mayor of Madison (which I can spell and say correctly thanks to the Mayor's Report show that I have been doing for a few years with him...Cieslewicz), the first building on UW's campus, Madison's nickname, WI's state animal, City known as the Bratwurst Capital of the World, and WI's state tree. I had to look up half of them cause I had no idea but now I do. The clue led us to a bar near the campus which was another 2 miles away. There one of us had to throw a ping pong ball into any of the three fish bowls. Kinda like beer pong. Joshua missed his first three shots and had to wait to try again but then successfully made the shot on the first try of the second round! They gave us a card to note the completion but the clue was not done just yet.

On the card, it said we had to pretend to pump air into someone's tire. Easy enough. Stopped at a parked car and Joshua pretended to pump air. It must've been a sight to see for those who didn't know what event was going on!

We then headed down the street for the sixth clue. One of us had to perform a circus activity which we didn't know ahead of time. Looked up as we were jogging towards it and I say 'Thank goodness!' because what I saw was juggling. Back in the day during downtimes in tennis, I would goof around and try to juggle tennis balls. I'm not an expert but at least I can do a few rotations. I was not successful the first time around with bean bags. Joshua suggested I try with tennis balls. Bingo! I had to juggle a total of 8 times (not rotations but balls) without messing up. Took a few minutes but we were out of there before any of the teams that were there before us. I was so happy to really contribute to the race, because Joshua wouldn't have been able to do that. 

For the seventh clue, we backtracked down the street and went further down the street from where we came from. On our clue sheet, we first had to unscramble letters to know where to go. Easy enough since I do those from the newspapers at least 3 times a week, plus I had the jumble aid website on my phone in case it was too hard to figure out right away. We go to the retail store and we had to watch a video to answer three questions about the video. We only had two attempts to answer them all correctly. We got two of the three correctly right away but had caught the wrong answer for the third question. Listened more carefully and got the third one correct to get our sticker and move on.

Clue number eight...right on the clue sheet gave an address and told us what we'd be doing. Go to the pizza place and do the classic over-the-head pizza twirl. Thank goodness Joshua's a chef and does this from time to time at work. We watched a team before us and let's just say, I wouldn't order a pizza from them. Joshua's pizza throw was perfect as I expected it to be. Done and done!

Clue number nine gave us some difficulty. We had to figure out the restaurant that claims 'We're serious about fun food' where one of us had to feed the other a treat and take a pic of it. I inputted the slogan wrong and got Domino's. Boy, did the guy at Domino's look at us weird. Sat down, took the time to re-input it into my phone's internet and got the right answer. Luckily, we had not passed it by on any of our runs. The real restaurant Bluephies was the farthest away along with another clue that we opted to skip. 

We were about three miles away. Looked at a bus schedule and yes!, a bus was coming in 10 minutes that would take us right to the restaurant. Seemed like everyone else had the same idea. Although the bus was empty where we got on, it got super crowded along the way, filled with GUR people. Nevertheless, we all made it to the destination and some people went to the clue we opted to skip and some like us went to the restaurant. Joshua took a pic of him feeding me a dessert. Even though I'm on a runner's diet right now, that tasted so good and I have no idea what I even ate. 

After clue nine, we wanted to head back to the finish line. The bus that took us to the restaurant was not coming for 40 minutes. So we mapped it out and saw we were a mile away from a street where buses go by on. A mile later, still no busses for another half hour. Joshua then decided we should head to another busy street where busses go on. Weekends suck since busses don't run as frequently. As we were walking to the next street, I was looking up the routes that would go by. Crap! Next bus should be there in 3 minutes and we were a good 5 blocks away. Joshua ignored his ankle, I ignored how my legs were on fire and we started sprinting because we didn't want to miss the bus. When we got to the bus stop, the bus came 30 seconds later. Thank goodness we sprinted although it hurt badly to do so.

What about clue ten and eleven since there were twelve clues and we could only skip one?

Those clues we did along the way throughout the race.

Clue ten on our sheet had a tic-tac-toe box with things we had to do and we had to do three to make a tic-tac-toe. I took a picture of Joshua honking a stranger's car horn, then one of him shaking a dog's paw (those kids were so excited we picked their dog) and then we were going to take a pic of us pretending to dive into a fountain that was next to the juggling act but it was turned off!!! How cruel! I couldn't think of another fountain so we opted to do some of the other tic-tac-toe boxes that would include one of the two we already did. So we took a picture of Joshua and a random guy who had two or more visible tattoos. He had two right next to each other on his arm. Thanks stranger! Then we purchased an apple at Cosi because we had produce a piece of fruit at the finish line besides a banana since they had bananas out at the finish line as food for us racers. TIC-TAC-TOE DONE!

Clue eleven was the clue we had problems figuring out and that's when I called Old Chicago. They got back to me pretty quickly after I had called them. They are so smart! Thanks guys! It was a riddle which stated a guy liked BALLOONS, BOOKS, WEEDS, SWIMMING, LETTERS, NOODLES, APPLES and COFFEE but NOT PARTIES, READING, FLOWERS, WATER, WORDS, PASTA SAUCE, PLUMS OR TEA. We had to take a pic of us in front of a street sign that the guy WOULD like based on the riddle. How the heat and the pressure can get to us. We could not figure it out and didn't really want to spend the time trying. Looking back and knowing the answer, I'm like DUH!!! Did you figure it out? The answer is, the guy likes double letters so we had to find a street sign with double letters and we passed by a ton of those.

So back on the bus, I say to Joshua, let's get everything organized. I wanted to have everything together so it would be easy to show the judges at the finish line. Luckily we did a check because somewhere along the way, I misplaced one of the flyers we needed. Shoot!!! Do we go back a mile and do the juggling thing again or take the 30 minute penalty for missing a clue? Take the 30 minute penalty. When we got off the bus, we still had a few blocks to walk and as we neared, we passed by two girls who were finished. Lightbulb! I asked Joshua if we should ask them for their flyer since they finished. We both hesitated but then I decided to. I had to run a block or two to catch up to them and asked them. Thankfully, they felt sympathetic because they had lost one of their clues and would've loved to have someone help them out so they gave me the flyer that was needed. Thank you strangers!!! No 30 minute penalty.

We finished the race and got no penalties thanks to those girls. We have no idea how we placed since they have account for the penalties and there's too much going on for them to do that right away. The results come out three days from when I posted this so I'll update this when I find out. 

We had a great time minus some fatigue and injuries, and I think we'll be doing this again next year if we have nothing going on. There were some low points like when Joshua and I were yelling at each other or when he was throwing up but there were a lot of high points especially being able to spend time and do this with Joshua. I am so proud of Joshua for pushing through. He was hurting afterwards and probably will be for the next few weeks for running on his sprained ankle. We learned a lot and know some things we'd change next time we would participate. Next year GUR!

Here are the pics from the race:

Our clue sheet...

...filled with our notes and
stamps of completion

Start and finish line

Our matching "costume"

All smiles before the race

Clue 1...My temporary tattoo

Clue 2...Joshua eating a huge jalapeno pepper.
I wish I had a better pic of him doing it

Clue 4...Object Freeze game

Clue 5...Ping Pong action
Too bad the guy got in the way of Joshua's sinker

Clue 5 part 2...Fake pumping air into tire

Clue 8...Pizza Twirl, look at that form!

Clue 8...On the bus on the way to Bluephies.
Bus was not packed yet but you can see the other teams

Clue 9...Joshua feeding me the yummy dessert

Clue 10...Honking a stranger's car horn

Clue 10...Shaking a dog's paw

Clue 10...Man with at least two visible tattoos

Clue 11...some teenage girls helped us out and took the pic.
Terry Place...the riddle guy likes double letters

MC200!!! (it's a long blog)

June 11-12, 2010. The weekend came and left so quickly. Friday morning, Joshua and I woke up at 5:45 to get ready and to finish packing. Our teammate Kevin picked us up at 6:30, we finished picking up the rest of the carload and headed over to the Sheraton Hotel in Madison to start the race. We did our check-in and attended a safety meeting around 7:30ish. We were all super excited and anxious and curious as to how this weekend was going to be.

Our van was just packed with bags, sleeping bags, pillows, food and drinks. We had so many bananas that a monkey would be happy with and so much gatorade. But it's better to be prepared and have leftovers than to scramble to get more.

The very little decoration but it worked

Car 1 'Roadkill Running' Team

Mandy, Andrew, Me, Joshua, Kevin, Beth

Our smiling faces...before running

Beth (in the back somewhere) starting 

it off at 8:00 with a few others

The morning went by real fast. After Beth started running, we drove to the TA (transfer area) where the next runner would begin. It was pretty cool seeing everyone running along at the beginning. We honked and cheered when we drove past Beth (as we did for everyone else on our team later on in the race). Kevin then took over for Beth and I was next.

Attempting to put the cell phone into the pocket.

All runners on course had to have a cell phone, 

a bib number and the baton aka thecool slap bracelet.

Off to run my 4.97 miles

I was feeling great for my first run around 10AM. Call it excitement. Call it nervousness. Call it adrenaline. Whatever. My first run started at Messiah Lutheran Church on the far East side of Madison. Oh my goodness, was that brutal!!! Not even a half mile into it, I already have a steep hill to run up but at least I already knew that by doing research of my runs two weeks before the race. It got a bit scary during the run because I knew I had to turn at a Vilas Road. However, before my actual turn, I saw a Vilas Hope Road and started thinking 'Hmm, am I suppose to turn? I know it's suppose to be Vilas. Maybe I didn't read the entire road on my map beforehand.' Then I saw an arrow to go straight but I was a bit skeptical since we had stopped earlier to cheer on Beth at a corner where an arrow sign was and saw about 5 runners go by on a different street. I didn't know if I could trust the arrow or not. But I did. There was not a runner in sight in front of me nor behind me for most of my run so I couldn't just trust to follow someone. After passing Vilas Hope Road and the arrow to continue straight, the next two minutes I kept thinking 'Should I get the phone out and call my teammates?'. Finally, I saw Vilas Road and sighed a big relief. Besides that bit of a scare, I was enjoying my run except for the 3 more hills to run up. I definitely appreciated the two very short downhills I had during that run. By the time I reached the fourth hill I had to run up, I actually said out loud to myself 'Seriously?!? Another hill? You've got to be kidding me!' and started cursing all the way up the hill. For the last 1.5 miles, someone finally appeared behind me. That gave me an incentive to not let that person pass me. I think that person kept trying to catch up to me and I kept running faster to not let them pass me so thank you random runner. I never stopped running and was extremely proud of myself for getting through that run with the 'awesome' hills. At least the weather cooperated with me; it was cloudy and cool. But, I was so happy to pass the baton to Andrew at the Fireman's Park in Cottage Grove. That run took about 44 minutes to run, an average of 8:45 minute per mile, about my normal pace.

Sprinting in to exchange to Andrew

I now have about 8 hours til my next run. After I had finished running, I rehydrated, ate some snacks and stretched out. Stretching was the key to not getting injured for the weekend. I stretched before and after all my runs. I even stretched on my downtimes when others were running so then my muscles couldn't tighten up. Time to cheer on my teammates. Andrew was now on the course and Joshua was next. I was really excited for him to get going.

Joshua off to run 3.6 miles

Joshua finishing his run 

I was so proud of Joshua! He ran so fast! I guess when he would go running with me, he would keep my pace even though I knew he could run faster. He finished with a time of 26 minutes!!! A pace of about 7:30 minutes per mile! Impressive!

Our last teammate Mandy was after Joshua and the brutal sun showed up in time for her and her trail run with no trees or shade. I was not jealous at all. She made it through the sun and finally our van was done around 1, 1:30PM. Time for Car 2 to have their five runners (Erin, April, Matt, Kristen and Allison) run the course and us to have a break. 

9 of 11 Roadkill Runners while Mandy was out running

We drove to where our first runner Beth would continue for Car 2 in Dousman, WI. Checking out the small town, we opted to go further and stop at a bigger city Delafield for more food choices. We kinda wanted to be healthy since we each still had two more runs to go. Subway!!! Once we got some food in us, we returned to Dousman to wait for the other car. While we were waiting for them to get to the TA, our van pulled out the sleeping bags and pillows and took a catnap on the grass. Our second car came around 4 and most of our entire team got to hang out. The hanging out didn't last very long since the last runner of Car 2 came by and our first runner in Car 1 Beth was on her way for her 2nd run. And here our van goes again.

Our team minus Allison who was running

Still all smiles while waiting for our second runs

I was feeling great while getting ready for my 2nd run. Unfortunately, dusk was approaching and I had to put on the night safety gear. But at least I was the first person to use them so it was all sweat free! My blinking vest was too big for me. If only I had grabbed the other blinking vest which was a lot smaller.

Modeling my awesome blinking vest and headlight

Getting ready for my 2nd run, 3.5 miles

My 2nd run started at Apostolic Church in Waukesha, WI. I went back onto the Glacial Drumlin Trail that our team had been running on for a long time. It felt nice running on a trail as opposed to pavement because it was a lot easier on my knees. No hills on that trail! Woohoo! I was on that trail for about 2.3 miles. At least for this run, there were people behind and in front of me in seeing distance. One guy ran past me pretty fast and I didn't care. I did however hear footsteps behind me throughout the trail and saw a guy running about my pace so again that kept me going, not wanting him to pass me. On the trail, I ended up passing two people. YAY! When the trail ended, it led me to College Ave going towards Carroll College. I passed another 3 people on this street and then heard someone behind me. The guy was now on my heels, about 10 feet behind when what did I see? A f*ing hill. He caught up to me and said 'It's all uphill from here on out' and I'm thinking 'Wonderful!'. He passed me going up the hill but I think that winded him because he started walking when the hill flattened out. I caught up to him and as we were waiting for a street light to change, we saw the end was near. I said to him 'Let's finish strong' so we picked up the pace then it turned into an all out sprint. I don't think Andrew, who was the next runner, knew what was coming. I think I surprised him. But I pulled out an even faster sprint and finished ahead of the guy. I hadn't sprinted like that since high school. Everyone watching was pretty impressed with our finish. Time to rest up and rehydrate again. Run 2 done with a time of 30:02, about a 8:30 minute mile average. A nice run with no sun again but a bit humid. I was soaked in sweat when I was done.

Joshua putting his night gear on for his 2nd run

Runners not running but getting out still 

needed vests, the cheaper ones

Joshua coming in from his 2nd run

Joshua handing off to Mandy

Again, I was extremely proud of Joshua. Night running is so much harder. Joshua ran in the complete darkness whereas I still had some sort of light in the sky. He ran 4.54 in 36 minutes, just under an 8 minute mile average. We were now anxious for Mandy to get in from her run so we could get some sleep. It was about 10PM when Mandy finished. Time to find a place to sleep. Some of the bigger TAs had sleeping areas but luckily Andrew's mom's place was on our way to where we would start off again. But we had some problems. 

Andrew didn't call his mom til 10PM to let her know we'd be there in a half hour or so and got her voicemail. We got to her place and as Andrew tried to get in with his key, he realized he didn't have another key for a different door that was locked so we couldn't get in. We were all so tired so we all sat down on the steps while Andrew tried to figure out what to do. Rang the doorbell a few times, then called his mom again and yes she picked up this time! Success! Everyone took a shower and slept on and off for about 2 hours. 2:30AM came by very quickly and we all unhappily got up. Andrew's mom was a lifesaver and put out fruit and some snacks for us while we were sleeping.

We got to our next TA, met up with Car 2 at around 3:30AM. They were not happy at all. They had not slept yet and had been running throughout the late evening. They were happy to give up the vests. Round 3...

You definitely could tell people were really tired and lazy because there were no pictures of me at least that I could round up from my third leg. And my team had to drop someone off at their car because they were leaving us after their last run. 

My 3rd run was the longest of the 3 legs. 5.4 miles. Even though it was light outside, it was super cloudy and foggy so I had to put on the safety gear. By this time, several people have worn it running so it was super sweaty especially the headlamp. But at least I got the smaller vest that fit so much better. 

I started off at St. Andrew's Church in Racine, WI. I got to run along Lake Michigan for some of the run. That run was not so much fun. Even though I had no hills, thank goodness, I had a lot of bugs. Half the time, I was running with my head down so I wouldn't swallow any bugs. Bugs vs Hills...I think I would rather have the hills so than I could run normal. During the run, I could tell the faster teams were approaching. People who were passing me were the ones that were running like I was running on my first leg. Strong and looking good. Definitely didn't care about them passing me. When I was coming upon the last stretch of my run, I began to sprint. When I see the end in sight, it's like I have a second and third and fourth wind in me. My team had just gotten to the exchange 2 minutes before me after dropping off our teammate at her car. I ended at North Beach Park in Racine. My 5.4 miles took 54:47, about a 10 minute mile average. Definitely had slowed my pace down.  I finished with Andrew still stretching by the van. He wasn't happy about not properly getting ready for his run. And now, I'm done with the race! So you think...

We didn't have a full team so we still had 3 runs that were unaccounted for. Then also, our 11th runner had to leave after her second run so now we have 4 runs unaccounted for. I caught my breath, stretched out and rehydrated. I think I can do one of the extra runs. But we'll wait and see how everyone feels.

Joshua getting ready to run his last run of 6.71 miles

Joshua getting Andrew's vest because of the fog.

Joshua's off for his longest run of the race.

Joshua coming in...

...to exchange to Mandy

58 minutes for a 6.71 mile run! A little over 8:30 minute mile average! Couldn't believe he still had energy and kept going strong. However, I think he may have pushed too hard because his right knee started bothering him. He was limping and had to buy a knee brace and an ace bandage wrap. But he still wanted to help out with one of those extra legs but we said, we'll just wait and see how people are feeling.

By Lake Michigan waiting for the last runner in our car

Tired but still happy

Once Mandy finished around 9AM or so, we went straight to a breakfast place to eat. We hadn't eaten a real meal since the Subway the day before at 2PM. We ate so much, getting in some protein and carbs. We all had a feeling that our van was going to be running those extra legs. We left the breakfast place and headed towards the TA where the 3rd runner from Car 2 would be ending. We passed out in the car after running and eating. Then bad news...storm/rain delay. The 2nd runner from Car 2 was out running when they stopped the race due to a storm coming through. She was able to finish her leg of the race but then no runners could leave til the storm passed. I think we waited about an hour before the race could start again but I had been napping so I wouldn't know for sure. Finally, we met up with Car 2 and we talked about those extra runs. And yes, it would be left up to Car 1 to finish the race. I volunteered to do one but one of the shorter runs and by shorter I mean, 5.86 miles...even longer than my last one!

Stretching out for my 4th run, 5.86 miles

This run was definitely an experience. I ran mainly on a bike path that cut through north of Chicago. Yes the path was nice. However, the path would end and there would be a parking lot. Okay, just keep running and yes good the path starts again where the parking lot ended. And same thing happened again and again and again. My team however, stopped their cars at one of the lots to make sure I was doing alright since I was doing an extra run. I gave them a two thumbs up and told them I could do this. During this run, I ended up passing 5 runners! Hooray for me! After 4.5 miles on the bike path, I got stuck at a light that seemed to take about 2 long minutes and two runners that I had passed a half mile back had caught up to me. When we started running again after the light, we ended up running somewhat together, the three of us. That helped a ton because I think after stopping for just a minute at the light had deteriorated my energy. We ended up keeping each other in check. Me and the woman ended together and a guy was right behind us to the exchange. Again, with the end in sight, I sprinted as did the woman. We both said out loud to each other to end strong. Thanks random runners for running with me the last 2 miles. If they hadn't, I think I would've walked but I just couldn't let them pass me after passing them. I ended up running about 55:30 for a 9:30 minute per mile. That's when I said to my team, 'I am totally done. I can't run another step.' 3 more runs to go as a team...

Sprinting in with the woman...

Giving each other high fives.

They both said they couldn't 

have done it without my pacing.

Mandy was next to run an extra leg, then Andrew and finally Kevin, our strongest and fastest runner to run the longest extra leg. Apparently, he ended up passing 25 or so runners. He was a lifesaver and helped our team finish before 8PM.

Teams waiting for the last runner so they can finish together

Waiting for Kevin to get in

Excited to be done

The finish line that we all crossed together as a team

The finish line

Getting our medals

Getting our medals

Talking about the crazy weekend

Joshua scarfing down his pizza slice

Scarfing down a pizza slice...so hungry,

I'd even eat those black olives.

Check out our cool medal for finishing the race.

To sum up, our team ran 200 miles in 35 hours. We ate lots of bananas, drank lots of water and gatorade, and got no sleep. I ran about 20 miles in 3 hours. The simulation runs we did a week before helped but still didn't prepare us fully. This was definitely an experience to have had. Will I do this next year again? Joking around after the race, someone said 'Same time next year?' and I was thinking 'Hell no'. Got a good night of rest and food. Today, Monday, almost 48 hours later...I'm thinking 'Yes, I will do it next year if they ask'. The people I was with were awesome. Yes there were some low points when everyone was crabby but there were A LOT of high points when we had so much fun. We've got experience under our belt. So maybe next year...

GREAT JOB TEAM ROADKILL RUNNING!!!

Car 1: BETH, KEVIN, CINDY, ANDREW, JOSHUA, MANDY

Car 2: ERIN, APRIL, MATT, KRISTEN, ALLISON