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By kilax, August 30, 2018 6:07 am

• Ahhh!!! I received some super thoughtful custom gifts! This mug from my snis, and these socks from xaarlin. Both of them had me looking like the cat making home alone face emoji!!!

Christina said this originally said “All you need is love and a cat (and coffee).” I love that she changed “coffee” to “chai tea latte”! And I love that all my cats are on the mug!

Ha, when I opened these socks, I think I said “Is that Data?!” four or five times. So cool!

• The RAGBRAI store (finally) opened three weeks after the event and I was able to order my 2018 pin! And put it in a drawer with the other four. Why am I collecting these? Ha.

• We’ve been shutting Data in the bedroom, so he can eat at his pace without other cats gobbling up his food. Someone does NOT like that and digs up the carpet. Sigh.

• We let the dishwasher sit open after it’s done washing, to let the dishes dry. Not so much anymore. Someone thinks it’s a playground! Thanks for keeping us on our game, Apollo!

• Cute picture of Starbuck and Apollo:

• How is Data doing? Not great. He is eating a little and using the litter box, but losing weight. A few nights in a row, he seemed to like being petted for a long time, but he wasn’t interested in that last night.

• I was able to finish A Lady’s Guide to Selling Out, and The Last Time I Lied on our flights to and from Kansas City (I was almost done with both) and am now reading Extreme Ownership. I recommend both of those novels! A Lady’s Guide to Selling Out felt so current/relevant, and The Last Time I Lied kept me guessing until the end. Like, literally, the last page!

• Good news for anyone who cares, ha ha – I had previously lamented that the new gmail is getting rid of Labs, which contains “undo send.” Good news – they made “undo send” a permanent setting you can use! Woot!
• I had more random bullets on here but the internet ate them! That is probably for the better!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 192

Comments (10)

By kilax, August 28, 2018 6:12 am

When I started my blog in 2005 the purpose of it was to keep in touch with family while traveling abroad. It was before Facebook was prevalent, before everyone had smart phones, and before WIFI was widely available. Skype was kind of new. I still took photos with an actual camera. I didn’t text, I called (whut?!).

Anyway, things have changed. Now we can get in touch with anyone within seconds – IF we have signal, and IF they respond.

So the purpose of my blog is no longer to keep in touch with family. It’s to document what I want to from my life, and sometimes, to meet new people (rarely happens anymore though! blogging is dying!).

I’m writing all this because sometimes people say to me “Sorry I haven’t been reading your blog” as a reason why they don’t know about something about my life, OR, just because they actually feel sorry, and like I expect them to.

NO – do NOT be sorry. If you know me, if you are a family member or friend, and we are in touch with each other outside my blog, I do NOT expect you to read my blog to stay “caught up” on my life (I don’t expect anyone to). I’d really LOVE IT if you’d ask me questions about my life. I write all of this for me. And while I LOVE when people read and respond, I do NOT expect them to AT ALL.

PLEASE. TALK TO ME. I spend a lot of time alone. I crave someone asking me a specific question about my life. I crave someone reaching out and just asking me how I am doing. I crave purposeful interaction!

And I do have it! I do! What I am saying though, is, you don’t have to read my blog, or follow any of my social media, as a primer for talking to me! You don’t have to be sorry for not reading this!!! Really!

Social media* can make us lazy (along with a lot of other things). We see someone’s posts, and we don’t reach out to that person – eh, we got an update on Facebook. Or worse, we see someone’s post, and they are a completely different person online than in-person, and we don’t WANT to reach out to them anymore – the online them ruins the in-person them for us.

That will always blow my mind – having a completely different online persona than in-person. The internet DOES bring out the worst in some people! And then, yes, there are people who only post happy stuff online, so if you don’t reach out to them, you do think things are all hunky dory (usually not the case).

What is the point of all this? Ha. Just a reminder to actually talk to people, to ask how they are doing**. And if you want to be extra, to remember something important to them, or something going on in their life, and ask about that. I guarantee they’ll appreciate it! I do!

You can always ask me about our cats! Ha!

*Not that you need social media to be lazy in relationships. Some people are without it!
**And I am not implying that people need to be asked to share information. Just that it’s NICE to be asked!

Comments (16)

By kilax, August 27, 2018 6:44 am

We were in Kansas City this weekend to celebrate two birthdays – my snister’s and Steven’s dad’s. Steven’s dad, David, is turning seventy this year, and his brother, Andrew, had the idea to throw him a surprise party. So we bought flight tickets in April, and told Steven’s dad we were coming for my snister’s birthday.

FRIDAY!

Unfortunately, when it was time to go on Friday, Steven and I were feeling uncomfortable leaving Data. He was having a rough day – not eating much and he peed on the bed (ALL HAIL THE MATTRESS PROTECTOR) –  both things our vet told us to watch for as signs he was declining fast. I was worried things were going to go way downhill when we were gone, but they didn’t (he ate and used the litter box). Bobbi took great care of him and sent me lots of updates. Love her!

But I would be lying if I said I was feeling chill Friday night, traveling there. I wasn’t. I was worried about Data.

SATURDAY!

I slept horribly Friday night and woke up feeling sore and achy, and had a headache. Yay! Perfect for a day filled with activities and being social! Excedrin Migraine, a short run, caffeine, and lots of water helped, thankfully. I didn’t want to travel all that way just to miss out on the party!

The “surprise” party for David was at a restaurant he likes around noon. Surprise is in quotes because as we were parking by the restaurant, all of his family who traveled in from out of town walked in front of his car and he saw them. Surprise!

Saturday was my snister, Christina’s, actual birthday (David’s is this upcoming Thursday). So, yay, snister, come celebrate your birthday with me and all my in-laws. And Mom and Dad. Ha. (She was totally fine with it.)

David and Christina

After lunch, we hung at David’s for a bit, then nine of us (from Steven’s family) went to the Indians vs Royals game. The Royals won 7-1, the game was in the shade (it was in the 90s), then in the dark, and I had vegan hot dogs. So, all in all, a good night!

Steven went to get his free popcorn refill and this is what they gave him. Score!

After the game we hung out with all of Steven’s family in their hotel room for a bit.

SUNDAY!

Whenever we visit David, Andrew brings over donuts one morning. So the rest of Steven’s family came over to partake.

Andrew picked me up two vegan donuts from Mud Pie! I’ve already included Mud Pie in my vegan donut tour in January. But I got those donuts in Kansas. These donuts are from Missouri. Do I include them in my tour? Hmm.

We hung out with Steven’s family for a bit, then when they left to drive home, we left to meet my family for lunch at Lulu’s Thai Noodle Shop. Everything was amazing, and if you’re ever in Kansas City, go! This was the best food I had all weekend, EVEN BETTER THAN MY BALLPARK HOT DOGS!!!

After our short lunch we went to the airport and went home. Our evening was spent unpacking, playing with the fur babies, and doing a few chores! Data was really purry and happy to see us. I think I spent thirty minutes petting him before I went to bed.

I’m glad I got to see my snis on her birthday again this year, and that we got to do something special for David for his seventieth. I think the last time we were together with David’s brother and his kids and their families was in 2011. So that’s special!

Comments (2)

By kilax, August 26, 2018 2:38 pm

Highlight of the Week: Swimming outside!

Monday | August 20, 2018: 6.55 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: VP Woods Loop, Temp: 73°/73°, Time: 1:10:25, Pace: 10:45 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: decent
Strength: BOSUs, Felt: good
Tuesday | August 21, 2018: 5 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 68°/69°, Time: 53:02, Pace: 10:36 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Wednesday | August 22, 2018: rest
Thursday | August 23, 2018: massage
Friday | August 24, 2018: teaching strength class + 3 m run + 1,000 m swim
Strength: Dumbells & core/cardio, Felt: good
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 63°/64°, Time: 29:07, Pace: 9:41, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: Grayslake Pool, Air Temp: 64°/62°, Time: 19:57, Pace: 2:00 min/100 m, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Saturday | August 25, 2018: 3 m run
Loc: Line Creek Trail, Temp: 80°/83°, Time: 30:55, Pace: 10:18 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Sunday | August 26, 2018: rest

Notes:

• Monday night’s strength workout was fun! We used BOSUs, which I usually use with a weight, but this time I used them as the weight (and on the floor from time to time), and thought it was fun to do something different. Hopefully my workouts don’t feel as repetitive to my students as they sometimes do to me. I try to freshen things up without making crazy complicated moves, but I feel stale sometimes.
• Swimming in the outdoor pool is so much more enjoyable than indoor! Unfortunately, I swam in it on the last day it’s open for the season, and the indoor pool I go to is still closed until September 15.
• We traveled to Kansas City this weekend, and I chose sleep over getting longer workouts in. I’m looking forward to being home more in September, and working out more. I feel off when I don’t. (But am grateful for anything I get in!)

Link to Training Week 461

Comments (19)

By kilax, August 23, 2018 6:12 am

• Thanks for all of your kind and thoughtful comments on my post yesterday about Data. They really made me feel better, and supported!
• I’m going to keep posting silly posts like Random Thoughts Thursday as long as I feel like it – a lighthearted distraction is good for me.
• Our library was closed for a week, and it seems like all the books I’ve had on hold for several months came in during that time. Eek. I’m still trying to finish A Lady’s Guide to Selling Out!

• We saw Mission: Impossible – Fallout, and I really liked it (and figured I would!). I knew this was a movie I wanted to see in the theater from the time I saw the first trailer. The end was so suspenseful, I kept wanting to bite my nails (but didn’t since I have a no chip, ha. Instead, I just kept tapping them together). I knew I should have worn some bracelets so I had something to twirl when the movie made me feel anxious!
• We shared baby pictures at work yesterday, and guessed who everyone was. A few of us younger people on the staff were saying we should have made ours black and white to throw people off. Ha. Ha ha ha. It was fun to see whose was SO obvious, and which ones weren’t!

• Apollo got to try being outside on the harness yesterday, for the first time. He was definitely freaked out – he had his tail low between his legs! He eventually chilled a bit.

• And, I have to share this picture of Steven’s lunch companions yesterday. What a bunch of troublemakers.

• Yesterday someone at work told me that an email I sent was the best part of their day because it was so concise and clear, and had everything he needed in it. And that he was going to send it to someone else as an example. Hearing that made MY day, especially as it was for something where I don’t feel like I know what I am doing (project management).

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 191

Comments (40)

By kilax, August 22, 2018 12:09 pm

We didn’t get awesome (paw-some?) news at Data’s vet appointment yesterday. Data is losing weight fast (a half pound in under three weeks), and based on the symptoms, our vet suspects Data has GI lymphoma.

We knew he might have lymphoma in June, and made the decision to treat the symptoms with steroids, rather than have an ultrasound and do potential cancer treatment.

Our vet said there is nothing else to do at this point, and that Data is in the “end game,” meaning end of his life. He said we can take him off the steroids – they aren’t doing anything at this point.

I didn’t ask how much time he suspected Data has left. That information doesn’t help me. I just asked what signs to look for to know when it’s time. He said when he stops eating and going to the bathroom properly, or, earlier (if he’s in pain, and so on).

We’re obviously hoping Data has more time than less. He’s still eating, going to the bathroom, and enjoys going outside. He doesn’t want to be on the floor (he’s still camped out in the bathroom sink), but he likes being held, and will sometimes sit in my lap and watch his siblings play.

So yeah. That’s where we are. We’re both upset, but weren’t expecting better news, either. Now we’ll just focus on spoiling Data for all his future days with us.

It’s so strange to have him here with us, cherishing our moments together, but also thinking about when he’ll be gone, and trying to prepare for how hard it’s going to be to say goodbye. There is NO WAY to prepare. There’s just no way.

We gave Data some drugs to help with his vet appointment, which meant he was okay with being upstairs on the bed after

Data’s sisters wanted to show him some love

I can’t get off the struggle bus lately. This month has been a mess. I’m so overloaded at work, that I can’t do anything to the best of my ability – I just need to get things DONE. I don’t feel like I’ve had a “normal” week in a while that’s letting me get back in to a groove. I feel myself becoming shut off because of all this. I’m trying to fit it. And really hoping that having a travel-free, somewhat normal (???) September helps me. This is all normal adulting stuff, my life is pretty great except for a few things (see above), I just wanted to acknowledge I don’t currently have my sh*t together. And am struggling. And realize I will get it together in time. But blah.

Comments (21)

By kilax, August 21, 2018 5:58 am

I’m a lucky gal – I got to see three of my girlfriends this weekend! I’ve been feeling lonely lately, and it was good for me to connect and share with them.

THURSDAY!

I’m starting my weekend recap with Thursday because Anne spent the night! She was in Chicago for a conference that ended that day, and instead of going home, she hung out with me and Steven (and our fur babies). I appreciate her traveling up from the city to spend time with us!

We got Chinese take-out and ate and chatted. I feel like we still have so much catching up to do! We email a lot, and text a bit, but nothing beats face-to-face time.

FRIDAY!

On Friday Anne came with me to the 5:00 am strength class, and we ran after. Then she left for Columbus. Sad face! But I’m grateful for our time together!

Apollo helped Anne with her towels

In the afternoon I drove to Rachel’s house. I got to meet her newest cat (!!!), Nala, and we hung for a bit then went to the expo.

We both commented on how they make you walk by ALL of the vendor booths to pick up your bib and shirt, but we both also ended up buying a few things (for ourselves and gifts) after we picked up our stuff. Ha! They got us!

A bell we knew we wouldn’t be ringing

We went to Fuego, a Spanish restaurant in Madison, for dinner. They have a full vegan menu, and a full meat menu too. We decided to get vegan stuff and split it all.

We thought the tapas were the best – guacamole and salsa, and patatas bravas (fried spicy potatoes). We got the chile relleno and paella for our main courses, and didn’t like them as much! The chile relleno didn’t have much flavor other than spicy, and the paella was deconstructed and had a huge freakin’ eggplant in it that tasted way too earthy to me! Gag! I enjoyed trying something new though, and the opportunity to have so many choices!

The paella – the best part was the crunchy bread dipped in the savory broth

Of course, we got drinks too, and cake (mango coconut) to celebrate Rachel’s birthday!

After checking in our hotel, we went to Dane Dances on the Monona Terrace rooftop, where Rachel’s coworker’s group (well, one of a few that he’s in) Orquesta Sal Sol del Mad was playing! I enjoyed their salsa style music, and thought it was fun when they covered a pop song – it made the song even better (or helped the song if I didn’t like it – I’m looking at you Ed Sheeran)! We danced until they ended their set then got a drink with her coworker.

And went to bed close to midnight! On the night before a half! But we were running for fun so I totally wasn’t concerned.

SATURDAY!

On Saturday we ran the half marathon, had an interesting experience at the Farmers’ Market, and shopped/ate on State Street.

We were planning on having ice cream for lunch <— adulting!, but when we walked by Ian’s, we had to stop in for a slice. Ian’s is one of the very few places I like to get pizza, because they have so many vegan options (surprise surprise, pizza isn’t very fun when you’re vegan, unless the place caters to that diet!).

My jaw hit the ground when I saw they had three vegan slices ready to order (I thought I’d have to wait for a custom order) and one of them was mac n’ cheese. While we had been standing in line, staring at all the ready-made pizzas, I told Rachel mac n’ cheese was what I would get if it was vegan. So, that they had it?! BEST. DAY. EVER. Dreams do come true!!! Here’s a horrible photo that makes it look completely unappetizing:

We shopped a bit after pizza (gah, so many fun shops on State Street!) then got rolled ice cream. We had walked by the rolled ice cream shop on the way back from the race and didn’t have enough cash with us to get any, so that’s when we planned to go back for lunch, because, again, adulting. It was my first time trying rolled ice cream and I liked it! Watching them make it was a lot of fun.

We headed back to Rachel’s after that. I hung for a short bit then drove home. I could tell I was going to be tired when we were riding back to her place and I sure was on my drive. Eek. Too. Much. Fun. (really, too. little. sleep.)

Since this post is recap style, I’m saying more about what we did and not really explaining how nice it was to be together for a chunk of time catching up, but also, hanging out and making NEW memories. We’re typically together for only a few hours and trying to cram in as much catch up as we can!

I admire Rachel – she’s got a lot going on, and she has her sh*t together, and goes after what she wants. She’s actually very good at adulting, beyond our initial plan to have ice cream for lunch. Ha. And talking personal and work things out with her this weekend gave me some insight. Yay, friend time!

I spent the rest of Saturday night hanging with Steven and the cats. We made dinner and watched an episode of Mad Men (we just started season six).

SUNDAY!

I was lazy on Sunday. I got up at 5:00 and fed the cats, then went back to bed until 7:00 (!!!), and ran errands from 9:00-11:30. Errands were frustrating and I kept telling myself “these are small things that don’t matter,” but I’m in a state where I’m just waiting for one small thing to make me crack and lose my sh*t and it almost happened but didn’t. Phew.

We had lunch together and Bobbi and her girls came over after to play with the kitties (and talk to us too, ha). It was fun sharing cat stories – their cat is our kittens’ mother! We want to socialize Apollo and Starbuck with lots of people so they aren’t shy/scared, so I keep inviting people over to meet them. Come on over!!!

They were pooped after playing with their visitors!

We took Data out for a walk in our yard in the afternoon. He’s still playing the floor is lava game inside, but seems completely fine outside, so we stayed out there for about an hour. When we came in, he didn’t immediately run back to the bathroom sink – he hung out with us for a few hours!  Is this progress?! It made me so happy to have him hanging with us again (he did go back to the sink at the end of the night). He has an appointment with the vet today – we are concerned he’s losing weight too fast.

Steven was craving corn on the cob so we made that part of our dinner, and watched Avengers: Infinity War. And that was my Sunday, besides a few chores, and a lot of kitty time!

Random cute cat pics from the weekend:

We got this tent out of storage and it ended up being very popular!

Comments (14)

By kilax, August 20, 2018 6:25 am

I am still editing my weekend recap, so in lieu of that here is a story from Saturday!

During the beginning of Saturday’s half marathon, we ran by the Farmers’ Market, and I asked Rachel if it would still be open when we finished running for us to check out. It was, and we did, yay! (She warned me about how crowded it gets, and while it was shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, they were at least moving. I appreciated the warning – I don’t always do well in crowds.)

I had no idea the “Saturday Market on the Square” had so many vendors! Whoa! I was impressed by the variety of produce, baked goods (even some vegan ones!), and crafts. I decided to buy peppers, since we kept seeing them, and they were on my shopping list anyway. Fresh peppers would be a treat!

Then Rachel and I had the strangest interaction with one guy selling them (although I wonder if he was actually selling any, with his attitude…).

He was selling sweet peppers, and I said to Rachel “I wonder if these will be good on salads, or if they’ll be too sweet?” I always buy bell peppers for our salads, and didn’t know! So Rachel wondered that out loud to the vendor and he answered “No, they won’t be good.” Then scowled and said “Of course they would be, why would you ask that?”

We were both so taken aback with what a dick he was being. I said something about typically using bell peppers so I just wondered how these would be, and he quipped back with “just go back to using your watered-down tasteless peppers” (or something like that, it’s been a few days now, ha).

Um. What. Da. Fuq. Did he want to sell his peppers or not? Is it offensive if someone asks if the thing you grew and are selling would be good eaten a certain way? So freaking bizarre. And he definitely was NOT trying to be funny. He was straight-up rude and pissy with us.

So we obviously walked away! I bought peppers from someone else who was nice and let me ask questions about what she uses them for. Because YES I have been buying conventional bell peppers from Aldi for five years so please enlighten me. Jeebus.

Nice lady peppers (some bell, some sweet)

That interaction didn’t ruin our market experience, just made me wonder what the hell was up that guy’s butt and how he expected to sell anything if he was being such a dick to anyone who asked a stupid question. Maybe you should NOT be at the Farmers’ Market, interacting with people, buddy. Know your limits of human interaction! I am proud that my interaction with him didn’t take me to my limit for the day, ha ha ha.

Comments (4)

By kilax, August 19, 2018 5:57 pm

Highlight of the Week: Runs with friends!

Monday | August 13, 2018: 3 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: hood, Temp: 82°/82°, Time: 29:51, Pace: 9:56 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: creaky
Strength: BOSUs and medicine balls, Felt: fine, hot
Tuesday | August 14, 2018: rest
Wednesday | August 15, 2018: rest
Thursday | August 16, 2018: 7 m run
Loc: VP Woods Loop, Temp: 70°/76°, Time: 1:13:02, Pace: 10:26 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: happy to be moving
Friday | August 17, 2018: teaching strength class + 3.5 m run (w/Anne)
Strength: BOSUs and medicine balls, Felt: good
Loc: Rollins Savanna, Temp: 67°/68°, Time: 44:22, Pace: 12:38, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Saturday | August 18, 2018: Madison Mini Marathon (w/Rachel)
Loc: Madison, Temp: 62°/68°, Time: 2:20:50, Pace: 10:45 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Sunday | August 19, 2018: rest

Notes:

• My pool closed on the 15th, for a whole month, for annual maintenance. A month seems like a long time! Maybe they will open it back up early – fingers crossed!
• I was in work training Tuesday and Wednesday and didn’t make the time (by getting up at 3:30 am) to run those two days so… I felt very happy when I could finally run again on Thursday! Especially after sitting for two full days!
• It was a treat to have Anne come to my class on Friday and to run together after. I miss her coming each Friday (she did before she moved).
• And it was a treat to do the half with Rachel on Saturday! Lucky me, running with friends two days in a row!
• I should have worked out on Sunday. I wasn’t sore from the race. I was just being lazy. Sigh. I am not doing a good job of getting my workouts in this month! I foresee another crap week coming up (travel), then hopefully I get my act together! I’m not training for anything, but I feel super blah.

Link to Training Week 460

Comments (18)

By kilax, August 18, 2018 10:23 pm

Rachel and I were hemming and hawing about what to do to celebrate our summer birthdays and decided to go back to our roots (the day we met, we ran 31 miles together), and run a half marathon!

Rachel lives near Madison, has done the Mini-Marathon before and liked it, and it was the day after her birthday. Perfect!

We signed up, and I did NO research about the race, beyond looking up packet pickup times on Friday night, and what time the race started. Rachel knew where to go to get our packets, and where the race started, and that was all I needed to know. Ha, I didn’t know where the course went, if it was hilly, what the aid stations were like, or even what the weather was going to be like (until I woke up that morning).

All that is not to make me sound like an unprepared a-hole, just to point out that beyond crucial logistics (how do I get my bib, where do I go) I didn’t really care about the details because I was just there to have fun running and chatting with Rachel!

And we did! As we do!

We stayed at a hotel near race start and got in to our (surprisingly not filled-yet) corral ten minutes before the start. We ran in to two people Rachel knew walking to the start, which was fun (and a theme of the day)! They had a local a capella men’s group do a beautiful rendition of the national anthem, and we were off, at 7:00 am. It was sunny, 62°, with 100% humidity, and a dew point of 62° when we started. Really, NOT bad for August!

We started by running up an incline toward the capitol building – which is a view I enjoy! – then ran around downtown, through parts of the arboretum, around campus, and toward the lake. Again… I didn’t pay much attention to the course map (I did look for different Buckys on Parade though, you can see one in the photo with us wearing our medals below!)!

We wore “birthday princess” sashes and crowns, cause why not? And that ended up being A LOT of fun – we got so many “happy birthdays!” a lot of “is it really your birthday?” (um… yeah, close enough) and several “is it really both of your birthdays?!” (yes, sure… we’re both Leos?). The crown didn’t move at all, and once I was covered in sweat (by mile .5) the sash stuck to my shoulder perfectly. Ha.

It WAS definitely humid. I could see it in how soaked everyone was (and not just from the sprinklers)! And feel it in my socks! But whatever. It’s August. I felt great, minus needing a bathroom stop in the middle of the race (and feeling like I pulled a chest muscle wiping, what the heck, Kim). And it actually became overcast during the end of the run! Which was AMAZING, and helped us finish strong! When we finished, it was 68°, with 93% humidity, with a dew point of 68°. We finished in 2:20:50 (with our last two miles being the fastest). I was thinking we’d finish around 2:20!

And we did just chat and catch up the whole time! I think Rachel said someone asked her why we didn’t sign up for the 5K (because we hadn’t been specifically training for a half). Well, there is a lot less talk time during a 5K, silly! This is what Rachel and I do – run and talk! And I loved it! We kept saying how nice it was to be doing a race for fun, with no pressure, and no care if it was hot, or we needed to run slower, or walk through water stations or whatever. Not to imply we are always going for fast times and PRs – we aren’t. We know how to have fun – I guess we just like to talk about how grateful we are for it. So, yay! This was the third race I’ve run with Rachel this year! If we don’t fit another in, I know we’ll for sure be meeting for some runs.

A few other thoughts!

• Rachel saw so many people she knew – before, during, and after the race. Fun!
• I had my first post race beer ever, at the post-race party! (I drank about half of it, ha)
• The race had free photos AND had them up within several hours. How cool is that?
• There were SO many aid stations (sometimes, two within what seemed like a mile) and they had fun themes. I enjoyed that. We walked through most of them. (I also enjoyed that)
• The course seemed really flat for Madison.
• I love the race shirt!

• I actually got a few things at the expo for once. And the expo was super simple to get in and out of, yay.
• I definitely thought the race was well organized, and fun. I’d recommend it! Just make sure you get the overcast finish if you run it!