Live Races are Back! And so much more!

Races are back!  And this Slow Runner is back on the Road!

Catching up

It has been a long time since I last wrote here and sooo many things have happened! 

Moderate travel returned for us before we were really ready, due to family issues.  We had planned to visit Glenda's family in October.  We had barely determined to suck it up and go (while being very careful) when we were told that her father was ill.  At that point they had thought it was a sinus infection and cough that just wouldn't let go.  Of course we were concerned it might be COVID, but he had a negative test and the doctors were quite sure that that was not the case.  And we felt we definitely had to go. 

It was clear that my father-in-law, Robert, was quite ill.  A week or so after we came home we got a definitive diagnosis, sarcomatoid mesotheleoma (lung cancer).  We went back to help with some things in early November and Glenda went again by herself around Thanksgiving.  Several days after this third trip, in early December, Robert Adams passed away.  From an active 80 year old who travelled the world and shepherded young boys through all manner of projects when volunteering to run the boys' club at church, to gone....in less than 3 months. We went back to St. George, separately and together,  a number of times since then...for the funeral, to help with some clean-up projects, and just to visit Glenda's mother, Janice. And of course Glenda did the St. George Half Iron in May. 

Winter was rough. Within a few week's of Robert's passing, my mother's last remaining sibling passed and my son's family lost a beloved pet (a puggle named Drucker) rather suddenly.  Right before Christmas my daughter was diagnosed with COVID-19.  She did reasonably well despite being one of those people who tested positive (with no symptoms) for months.  Spring couldn't come soon enough for us!

Running continues...virtually and in person

We were what you might call "early adopters" of the return of in-person racing.  Our first one was a trail race in late October.  However, it was different from earlier races.  Masking was required when near others and start times were broadly spread out to ensure maximum social distancing.  Still it WAS a race with other people.  What didn't change was our penchant for costumes! 

Cookie Monster chases a Girl Scout for our first in person running race

The virtual races continued, from September 2020 to July 2021, I did 20 or so virtual races, everything from 3k to sprint dus and tris.  It helped me keep my sanity, but I'll admit, I was plenty ready to get back to in-person racing more regularly.

Just some of the virtual races, in costume and not during the time that live races were very rare

After the October trail race we took another brief hiatus from in person racing until the socially distanced spring race series...three 5ks in March and April.  We got even more brave in May and drove to Mackinaw Island for the Fort to Fort 5 miler, then 2 5ks on Memorial Day weekend and one on the 4th of July.  Each had some new rules in an attempt to keep everyone safe and healthy....but they felt more and more like the real thing.

As live races resumed, the costumes continued....

Pleasure travel is back

Given the rate of our travel before the pandemic got in the way, we were beyond eager to do some traveling.  A brief winter weekend visit to a cabin an hour from home helped, but by Spring we really wanted to get away a bit. Sooo, even before we were vaccinated we signed up for the Mackinac Island Fort to Fort 5 mile race and made plans to stay isolated and masked up (the race itself already had a good social distance plan).  

Fortunately, by May 15, the day of the race, we were both fully vaccinated, making the trip even safer (though we definitely had qualms on and off).  So off we went on a road trip, and some fun adventures. Highlights included a spur of the moment trip to Kitch-iti-springs (Big Springs) in the Upper Peninsula and, of course, the race. (Fort Mackinac played a role in the War of 1812 and our costumes were based on uniforms from that era).

Glenda on the view boat at the springs

What you could see from the boat

In addition to racing, we took a bike ride around the island

...and enjoyed the view and the food at the Pink Pony (a popular local restaurant)

In July Glenda's mother, Janice came to visit and we took her and my mom, Jeanne on a road trip to Door County.  More adventures!

Mom, Janice, me and Glenda enjoying a sunny day in Door County

And of course there were S'mores!

Now that we've caught up...what's next?

Well for one thing, we've gone back to live racing...carefully.  And we have further plans for that. 

Glenda has retired at the grand old age of 54, and I will be retired (again, ha!) by the time I publish this. So there will be new and different adventures.

My daughter Melanie is "between places" in a respite nursing home setting, and what's next for her remains to be seen.

My son and his family built a house and got a new puppy during the height of the pandemic...and I'm sure there will be more stories and adventures from that quarter too.  

Glenda's sister is going through some life changes, part of which involves her moving further from their mother.  So I'm sure there will be plenty of issues, stories and adventures for us (and them!) too. 

In other words, I am unlikely to run out of things to talk about. And so, until next time......

The rest of the cruise and home again

Pontouf examines Glenda's yellow hat once we are home

In our last installment, Glenda and I had swapped stories and were headed for San Juan.   I would be remiss if I did not tell one of Glenda's stories, as it became one of the stories of the trip.  

Glenda's bike ride had a beach stop on the French side of St. Maarten Island.  What she didn't know until she was off was that the stop was at a nude beach.  The group was told before the stop...but thought the guide was joking.  He wasn't.  

Glenda's Facebook description of the experience

John talked about it at breakfast the next morning, whereupon "just don't look for their race bibs"  became a catch phrase within the group.  It was also at this breakfast that Glenda received her coveted yellow hat for being the fastest woman in the 10k on St. Maarten.

Seen in the Streets of Old San Juan

Our event in Puerto Rico was an "Amazing Race"  which is essentially a teamwork-based race in which you have to find and document various locations.  Each location is worth a number of points, and the team that gathers the most points in NO MORE THAN 60 MINUTES is the winner. The timing is important, because it adds a wrinkle to the race.  In fact I heard one team got the highest point location, but arrived back 3 or 4 minutes late...disqualified. Our strategy was to walk this one, and go for the low-hanging fruit and enjoy the sights and sounds of Old San Juan.  It was the perfect choice for us. 

The amazing race was pirate themed and there were a variety of pirate costumes.  We had ours too, but with a twist that turned out to be important. 

A particular type of Pirates takes to the streets in Old San Juan

What we had not thought about or really realized is that Roberto Clemente played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and he and his son Roberto Clemente, Jr. continue to be very popular here, so the Pirates are well known in Puerto Rico.  We got cheers everywhere we went.  Not only that, we were stopped by one gentleman who had to tell us about how he'd met Clemente as a kid,  as the baseball player was a friend of his abuela.  And another stopped us to tell us how Jr. was his friend and customer...and pulled up a selfie on his phone to prove it.  We didn't win the race, but we won the day in terms of connecting with the locals and having a fabulous time.  And we saw a lot of sights like...

The colorful streets of Old San Juan

This was not an official checkpoint...but it is an important landmark!

The view from a checkpoint at the top of the city (Old San Juan is "hill-ish")

After the race, we met up at Señor Frog's near the port for a Running Cruise Celebration...including food, drinks (who doesn't need a margarita at 9:30 in the morning?), a DJ and various other shenanigans. 

We were presented with fashionable headwear

Glenda reminds us not to look for the race bib

Yep, I even got on stage to help lead Sweet Caroline and YMCA...did I mention morning margaritas?

It was an early day in Old San Juan as we had to be back on the ship by 1 pm and off to our next and final port.  Originally we were to go to Coco Cay in the Bahamas, but weather patterns did not allow, and we went instead to Labadee, a Royal Caribbean private port, in Haiti.

A view in Labadee

First order of business in Labadee?  A race of course! This time a relay.  To win this one, you needed to  choose 2, 4 or 6 miles and then predict the finish time for your team of 2.  Each runner had to run a half mile loop and hand off to the other to run the same loop (continue back and forth until you reach the miles...must be between 30 and 60 minutes). Glenda and I chose 4 miles and made our prediction. 

Getting ready to start the relay

Of course we had costumes for the race, as well. We have worn these on a couple of cruises, but they are a favorite.

Mermaids in Haiti

We ran our best and came within a little over a minute off our prediction...not bad, but other's were closer on their predictions.  We then received our medals for the cruise and went off to explore. 

Artsy shot of the medal, which is also a coaster

Afterward we spent the rest of our time in Labadee doing all kinds of tourist things, like...

The splash pad (HEY, why didn't we run through here on our relay??)

The amazing teal ocean

And the best kind of beach time

On the final day of the cruise, we were at sea.  The day started with a wonderful talk by Coach Jenny about her coaching philosophy and ideas about making workouts work with your life.  It was very interesting and enjoyable.  It was followed by lots of laughter as John told stories about his life as a runner and columnist. 

The rest of the day was packing and lounging until the evening when we had our final social and awards ceremony.  Always a good time, as we made a final toast to each other and had one last chat.  

The end of another great trip!  Will we be back next year?  You betcha!  Already signed up!

2020 Caribbean Cruise...Pre-Cruise Days

The Run Florida race crew

Every running cruise we have ever done includes a pre-cruise "warm up" and run, where those who choose to come and meet up ahead of time, get to know each other and run a race together.   Sometimes it is a race that is already happening at the venue, like last year when we ran the Tropical 5k, or the group organizers work with a local group to put on a race just for us...like the Run Florida 5k, 10k and half this year.  But I'm getting ahead of myself....

First we had to get here, which require a trains, planes and automobiles kind of day...

Temperature on departure morning

We started with the Van Galder bus to Chicago...fortunately we timed everything well so that we weren't hanging in the cold tooo long. As we sat on the bus we saw the announcement

for next year's Caribbean Cruise (and oddly started planning our costumes...so I'm guessing we will be doing that too). 

In due time we arrived at O'Hare and our flight to Ft. Lauderdale was thankfully uneventful, as was the cab ride to our hotel.  

Once here we checked in and took a peek out the window.  

It looked something like this :)

We checked in checked in and got our race shirts, bibs and beach towel, as well as our trip packet.  We also saw John, Jenny, Cathy and Pam and some fellow cruisers.  It has been like old home week...seeing not only the crew, but many people we have cruised with before.  It's like meeting up with your second family. 

Fun race number...yay alphabetical order!

Race morning started early as we had to meet up with the group to walk to the race start at 6:30 a.m. There are about 120 in our group, but only about 50 came in early to do one of the three distances.  I did the 5k, and Glenda did the Half marathon. 

In following our personal tradition we were dressed in outfits we referred to as "tutu tropical." 

Our tropical tutus were festooned with iridescent parrots

We have fun outfits/costumes for each of the 5 races during this trip. 

The 5k and 10k courses were out and back, while the half did multiple out and backs...so we got to to see everyone.  And it was along the beach, so there were great views as well. 

Overcast, but warm and humid (80 degrees warmer than the day we left Wisconsin)

I thought this window on the beach was kind of neat

I broke the tape at the finish (everyone did, it was one of the perks of the small race) solidly mid-pack on the 5k and got my medal from John Bingham himself. 

The race medal

I got water and a banana and settled in to people watch and wait for Glenda to finish the half.  I had tucked my little Canon PowerShot camera in my skirt pocket and decided to take some photos while I was sitting on the wall waiting and chatting with other folks.  Got some photos of fellow runners, as well as just some "atmosphere."

Coach Jenny chats with runners at the finish area

Glenda finishes the half marathon first OVERALL

Once Glenda had smoked the competition and come in first in the half, we hung out for awhile before heading back.  

I would be remiss if I did not take a moment here to give a shout out to Team in Training who worked with Jenny and John to make our race happen.  They did an absolutely outstanding job, from the friendly volunteers to the post race snacks, to the ice cold water and gatorade at the water stops.  The race was a joy. 

We had to make a little tourist stop on the way back to the hotel...

Glenda is ladylike in the big beach chair

I'm a little more Edith Ann (with apologies to Lily Tomlin)

The day became blustery and rainy, so we spent most of  the rest of the day indoors, eating, watching  basketball and just generally chilling (it is a vacation after all). 

There was a celebratory seafood lunch

The day ended with a welcome reception where we got to meet more of our cruise mates, Glenda got her award for winning the race and there were greetings and announcements....

And a bit of libation

Tomorrow we board the ship for more shenanigans...

Glenda says this pic looks like I'm ready for those shenanigans

A few of my favorite things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings....these are pretty good favorite things, but they aren't necessarily MY favorite things. 

So, I would like to share a FEW of my favorite things.  I can't possibly share all of them, because if you know me at all, you know that I am not the world's most focussed human being and that I have lots of interests and "favorite things."

Again, if you know me at all, you know that one of my favorite things is to run in costume.  Sometimes Glenda and I wear costumes in expected races...like being Jungle Cruise Skippers at a Disney World event, or at a Halloween race.  Sometimes we wear costumes and themed outfits in totally unexpected places, where we are the only ones in costume. Either way it is a blast!

 Some of the costumes and themes are pretty obvious, and sometimes they are obscure or not as clear to others...but clear to us.  Like these Team snowbird themed outfits that include snowflake skirts and feathered headbands.

But what many people don't know, judging from the number of "where did you get that?" questions I get, is that I design all of our costumes (with huge input from Glenda) and create them (also with significant help from Glenda). Sometimes I sew the whole thing, sometimes I use both pieces I've made and pieces we've bought and often I start with basic running pieces and embellish them.  The Jungle Cruise, Blues Brothers and Mermaid costumes all include basic shirts that have been embellished...I also made the mermaid skirts.  For the Snowbirds I made the skirts and headbands. 

I run about 80% of my races in costumes or themed apparel. And the act of creating costumes is part and parcel of the running experience for me. The act of designing and creating costumes that are recognizable or make us laugh is a super joyful one for me and a creative challenge.  The costume (unless one of those that is an in-joke for us) has to be recognizable to other people at a distance, designed to fit our body types and most important of all RUNNABLE.  That's what removes what I do from CosPlay, which is also cool...but not my particular thing.  I've even had the opportunity to create a few costumes for friends who are not built like us...like turning a very tall female friend into a Christmas Tree for a holiday race or creating skirts for groups whose members vary a good deal in size and shape.  I love it all.  

I'm currently creating costumes for our races in February.  Most notably for a Caribbean Running Cruise that includes 5 races of various types, where some of our favorites will reappear, but there will be new content too.  We have done several running cruises now...and how could we disappoint by showing up without our suitcase of costumes?  Just thinking about it makes me giggle. 

I come by this particularly creative pursuit naturally. I learned to sew very early.  My mother sewed a lot of my clothes.  Then in my college years I got involved in theater (another favorite thing!), ultimately ending up with a Theater Arts degree and lots of costume experience (as well as acting and a little lighting, make-up and scenery work).  I always sewed and did other crafty stuff, but it was only after I started running and then discovered that running in costume was a "thing"  did the passion for costuming re-ignite. 

To see more of our costumes http://www.suellenadams.com/running-in-costume/

Anyone who follows us (particularly Glenda) on social media, you know we have an affinity for rabbits.  I love dogs and some cats too, but Glenda is allergic.  When I little someone gave us a white rabbit and a guinea pig (at different times) and I loved them both, especially Sweetheart the bunny.  So, I suggested bunnies and piggies when Glenda and I wanted a pet.  We like and have had both...but are particularly nuts about our bunnies.  Our current girl, Pontouf, pesters us for a slice of banana every morning and many loves at night.  Her favorite place is on the couch next to Glenda in the evening, getting pets.  She is getting older now and has had some health issues...but sweet and lovey.

And she follows 23 years worth of lovable scamps.  There was Netherland Dwarf mix, weighing in at about 3 pounds, Boggle...and mini lop, Britches....and Florida white, Bebe (who was the size of a medium sized cat)....and mini-Rex, Devon (who got into everything)...and Satin Brothers, Rusty and Reggie. Each had a different personality, and all were "house rabbits" which means they were litter trained and allowed to roam in either all or part of the house.  I don't know that I would recommend rabbits to everyone, but they are certainly perfect for us. 

I guess it will come as no surprise to anyone that traveling is another of my favorite things.  Whether it is a trek to France for my 60th birthday (race included) or a drive to Door County in northern Wisconsin...it is one of the joys of my life. Every time we get ready for a trip I wonder if I have lost my mind, because preparation is stressful...but once I get there, I forget all the stress.  Travel memories are some of the best. I'd rather spend my money making these moments than buying just about anything else. 

Glenda and I travel somewhere, whether close or far away probably about once a month. And our airline and hotel loyalty points definitely get a workout!  

But that isn't the only way we travel. Sometimes we like to travel with friends.  One of our favorites is Fleet Feet of Madison and Sun Prairie's yearly Destination trip.  We have done 3 of these winter trips so far...and always look forward to seeing what is coming up.  We have also done the less formal trips in the Spring and Fall organized by various members of the group.  The neat thing is that we have met a few new runners and gotten to know our friends better. And sure, we run, but we also get in some hard core "chilling" like taking over the hotel hot tub.

We also enjoy trips with family.  Sometimes the whole bunch of us, and other times just one or two.  We've made travel memories with and for our parents, siblings, children and grandchildren...and look forward to many more. And it is wonderful to learn and see new things...or just goof off with family (like granddaughter Ellie above) 

And finally (because I said a FEW of my favorite things)....let's talk "sports ball."  I'll be honest...before I met Glenda and moved to Texas, I could not have cared less if Venus played Mars.  Sports were only barely on my radar. I had been a huge ice hockey fan of the Waterloo Black Hawks, the semi-pro team in my town when I was  in high school (I was once accused of having a hockey puck for a brain) and I had attended a few football and basketball (men's and women's) games in college (Go, Peacocks!), but after that I had mostly lost interest.  But it didn't take long to reawaken when I went to my first University of Texas basketball game when dating Glenda.

So it started with basketball, at UT.  Glenda's Bachelor's and my Ph.D. are both from that storied institution and we followed all the sports, with my favorites being men's and women's basketball.  

By 1998, I was also pretty well entrenched as a UT football fan, attending nearly every home game when we lived in Texas...and traveling every year or so since to see them play.

But 5 years ago, we moved to Wisconsin to be near my family. My Masters is from UW Madison, so I was fairly ready to return to being a Badger, but it took Glenda a year or so to get on the bandwagon.  Now we attend many basketball games, both men's and women's.

And I've kind of returned to my hockey roots, too!

And we've added a few other teams to our sports repertoire.  Like the Milwaukee Brewers (here with my brother and sister-in-law)

The Milwaukee Bucks (thanks for the tickets Christian B!)

And, of course, the Green Bay Packers. (Here with friends Amy and Christian B.)

And here's a team that combines sports with two other of my favorite things...my granddaughter Maeve (red head second from right, standing) and my son Josh (coach, standing far right).

So, when the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad...I simply remember my favorite things and then I don't feel so bad!

What are your favorite things??