Mostly Madness here

Just thought I'd check in.

Nothing too exciting to report. There's been some running. Mother Nature still hasn't decided if spring can officially arrive here in Wisconsin, although it is supposed to be almost 40 today and quite possibly break 50 tomorrow.

I've been watching a lot of NCAA basketball, because really, March Madness is an amazing time of year. And this year's there's been a lot of Madness. Surprisingly, my bracket held up pretty well through the first weekend of the tournament. But then last night happened and Louisville decided to lose to Kentucky. There goes one of my championship game picks. Ugh.

Source: Associated Press

But the Badgers.

Oh the Badgers. They're making me happy. They clobbered Baylor in a much-talked about Sweet Sixteen match up. Seriously, the Badgers went Bear hunting and the Bears looked like they didn't have a clue what a basketball was at times.

So tonight they play Arizona for a trip to the Final Four. And of course I'll be watching. And screaming. And pacing. And hopefully when it's all done, sometime around 10 p.m., I'll be a very happy Badger. If not? Well, they still had an amazing season.

And if you've got a few minutes to kill, read this. Seriously. The best piece I read in all of the Elite 8 bound Badger coverage (and of course I read a lot). It says nothing about Xs and Ox, rather it's about the people. Specifically coach Bo Ryan and his Dad.

Now, off to decide if I want to run today, or wait for slightly warmer temperatures and battle some potential wind tomorrow. I'm leaning towards tomorrow at this point.

Battered legs and sunshine

I've been on a bit of a running/working out hiatus for almost the last two weeks.

See, I nearly killed myself stepping into the shower two weeks ago Wednesday. I had one foot in the shower, one foot on the bathroom floor and the foot in the shower slipped. I nearly faced planted, but was able to avoid it. What I couldn't avoid was banging my other leg into the side of the tub.

Photos don't do the bruises justice.

That's left me with some pretty epic bruises from my ankle to my knee. So I babied it for the first three days. I was all set to go for my long run that weekend, but then I got this weird twinge in my knee (the one that was in the shower). I hurt. So I decided to take the time off, rest it and ice it.

It finally felt better this past weekend, but I had a family emergency come up and I wasn't able to get a long run in.

My training plan said today was a cross training day and I was excited to get back to P90X, but then the weather happened. And after the winter I've just been through - 50 or more days when the temperatures were sub-zero, lots of wind - meant I spent way too much time on a treadmill or running in circles on an indoor track.

So when it's 53 and sunny out on March 10, I didn't bat an eyelash at changing my training plan. I'm all for being flexible.

Especially when this is the forecast for the rest of the week:

I snuck out of work a little early and headed home to run. I can't remember the last time I dressed in capris and a short-sleeve T-shirt for a post-work outdoor run. Oh yeah, that was the other thing. Daylight! And the sun was still shining for an hour AFTER I was done running.

Since I wasn't sure how my beat up legs were going to feel, I took the run nice and easy. It was four glorious miles. The kind of run I needed to remind myself why I like to run.

Now if only the snow and cold would disappear from the forecast. At least until December.

February Reading Recap

The theme of February's reading choices is vacation mode. As in, I wanted quick, mindless entertaining books to read while in Key West. Because who wants to read books that actually require thought while on vacation? Not me.

So I finished six books in February 2,478 pages. That brings the yearly total to 12 books and 4,117 pages. I'd say I have a decent start on my 77 book goal. Only 65 more to go.

So what'd I read?

The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
Frostbite by Richelle Mead
Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead
Blood Promise by Richelle Mead
Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead

See the theme? Yup. I started in on the six-book Vampire Academy series. Nothing like YA books and vampires to keep me entertained while on vacation. And since I had all six in my possession, I had to keep reading them once I got home. I mean, it only makes sense.

And now for the brief reviews, complete with number of stars given out on GoodReads. Follow me here if you’d like a more timely update on what I’m reading, what I think and what’s been added to my to-read list.

The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood  ****
A psychological thriller. I'm not sure where I first heard of this title, but it was definitely a good read. Kind of kept you thinking throughout.

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead  ***
Frostbite by Richelle Mead  ***
Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead  ****
Blood Promise by Richelle Mead  ****
Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead  ***
These all get lumped together because, well, vacation read. Mindless and entertaining. Pretty quick reads. Although I am kind of getting to the point where I'm wondering if this really needed to be a six-book series. But of course I kept reading, because I need to find out what happens.

So I've got one more of the Vampire Academy books left to read and then it's returning to some non-vampire books this month. And of course the library has come through with about a million of my requests at once. So it looks like I'll be doing some reading and probably collecting a few late fees at the library in the process.

What are you all reading?

Ragnar Florida Keys - Part V: The Rest of the Fun

So after we finished running from Miami to Key West, I still had 2.5 days to enjoy the sights and stuff that Key West had to offer.

I present to you the rest of my Key West vacation, in picture format with limited words:

After waking from the dead on Sunday morning, I enjoyed some quiet time next to my hotel's pool with my book. Seriously, I could have spent the rest of my vacation here, but there was so much more to do and see.

First it was off to a little Cuban place for some pretty tasty tacos. I may have seen a rooster sneak into the kitchen and steal a piece of meat while I was waiting for my food. Apparently roosters wandering around Key West is completely normal.

Then it was off to jet ski around the island with Erica, Chris and Mo. So. Much. Fun. I hadn't been on a jet ski in nearly 20 years, but I figured out what I was doing pretty quickly. Mo and I doubled up on a jet ski, and I may have almost lost her once or twice on the choppy Atlantic side of the island, but no worries. We made it around the island and no one was lost. The tour was fun, we stopped in a couple of places, learned some Key West history and even had a chance to have fun near the end by either heading off and doing crazy things on the jet ski or floating in the Gulf. Yup. I floated with Mo and Erica. And then fell off the jet ski trying to get back on.

Later Sunday it was time to relax by the pool side tiki bar with some margaritas while watching some Winter Olympics (biathlon). Not kidding.

There was some celebratory drinking and eating on Duval Street at night.

Monday started off with a pool side massage that was to die for.

Then Mo and I headed out to explore the island. This day was a lot of fun. I've known Mo for a few years on Twitter and through mutual friends and we've gotten a chance to meet at races before, but this was the first time I got to spend a lot of time with her.

We took our hotel shuttle down toward Duval Street and started off with some pizza at this little pizza joint. What? You mean you don't go for pizza while in Key West? Well, both Mo and I had been craving pizza since sometime around the end of our nighttime legs. So we got pizza. And it was delicious.

Then it was off to explore.

We headed down to see the cruise ships.

Wandered around Mallory Square and then headed to the check out the Southern most Point. I tried hard, but couldn't catch a glimpse of Cuba.

Then it was time to rehydrate with margaritas at the Southernmost Beach. While watching the Winter Olympics. Today it was curling.

Then we found Mile Marker Zero on our way back.

Mo and I then stopped at World of Beer. So many beers. So many choices. And for this beer drinker it was hard to choose. But I ended up with some tasty drinks. And of course, we caught some more Olympic coverage.

After a couple of drinks - and some chips and salsa - we realized it was nearly sunset and we were close to this fabulous pier where a lot of people watch the sun go down and there's a nightly festival. So we high-tailed it over there. And it was totally worth it.

We got some food at this little out of the way restaurant. It had a restaurant dog! And the quesadilla I had was amazing. And we sat at picnic tables. Then it was time to head back to the corner where the hotel shuttle would pick us up, but not before we got some gelato at the pizza place we ate at earlier. There was talk of maybe heading down to the pool, but both of us sprawled out on our beds with our books and called it an early night.

Tuesday was my last day in Key West, and I only had a few hours before my flight left. But I got up early and headed out for a short run along the ocean path with Mo and our teammate Michelle. The reason? I wanted to catch a sunrise run in Key West.

While the run itself was hard, it was totally worth it.

And on our way back, Mo and I had to stop at the Welcome/Thanks for Coming sign.

Then it was back to the hotel to shower, eat and get ready to head home.

Funny story. I had a connecting flight in Atlanta, and this was the day a massive winter storm was supposed to start hitting the south. I barely made my flight and as I was boarding, the flight attendants were asking passengers to get settled quickly so we could get out of Atlanta. I didn't think anything of it until we landed in Milwaukee and the airport didn't have a jet way for us. Turns out my flight was one of the last to leave Atlanta and Milwaukee thought our flight had been cancelled!

Ragnar Florida Keys - Part IV: My Final Leg

Two-thirds of Van 1 getting ready to start our last legs.

After getting a couple of hours of sleep at the sketchy hotel, an alarm went off, telling us it was time to run again.

So we gathered up our bags and headed back downstairs (in the dark, it was like 5 a.m. or something) to the SUV and off we went to the major exchange. This exchange was located at the airport on Marathon Key. I never actually saw a runway, but I did see a hangar and the grass field that we parked in.

Soon it was time for Erica to set off on her final leg. Once she finished and Kelsey took off for her jaunt across the Seven Mile Bridge, the rest of us hit up a McDonald's in Marathon for some food. I'm telling you, hot cakes are a good way to fuel in prep for a run.

I got to play in the water while waiting for Kelsey to run across the Seven Mile Bridge.

It was only mid-morning, but the sun was out in full force and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Oh, and the temperature was flirting with 80. Not a good sign of things to come.

Eventually it was my turn to run.

I had 5.2 miles to run. Once again, it was a straight shot. Start on one key, run over a bridge, run through another key and one more bridge before finally ending on a third key. I think I started this run around 11:30 or noonish. Remember how it was warm in the morning? It was even hotter by this point.

Not good.

I took off for my run and was immediately faced with the first bridge. I just kept it steady. One foot in front of the other. And I stuck as close to the side of the bridge as possible in hopes of getting a little bit of a breeze, which I did. I passed one runner on the bridge.

I got to the other side of the bridge, saw my teammates and was still feeling OK.

Then somewhere around Mile 2 the bottom fell out.

It was hot. The sun was beating down on me. There was no shade. And once I was off the bridge, there was no breeze. I slowed way down. Walked a bit. But that wasn't helping. My head was feeling funny. I was a bit dizzy. Just not feeling right.

So I walked. A lot.

Because I know my head (remember The Monster?) and I know what will trigger a nasty migraine. Heat is one of those things and I really didn't want to spend the rest of my vacation in Key West dealing with a migraine and the after effects.

So happy to see this sign.

So I basically shut it down. When I came across my teammates again, I told them this. One of my teammates offered to run the rest of my leg (and her leg that immediately followed) for me, but I said no. I wasn't going to be that runner who quit. I'd finish the miles, it was just going to take me longer than expected.

I will say one thing, the other runners and teams out on the course were amazing. So many offered water or Gatorade. I did get some ice from a van full of guys at one point. I promptly shoved it down my sports bra.

I eventually finished. Grabbed a Diet Coke and pretty much downed it in a couple of gulps. Then we headed off to the last major exchange to meet our runner and hand off running duties to Van 2.

Van 2 is done!

Then it was off to Key West! We checked into our hotel and took a quick shower. Then we set off on foot (apparently we hadn't run enough miles in the last 36 hours) for Higgs Beach, where the finish line and post-race party were being held.

We got there with about 20 minutes to spare before Ian, our final runner got there. Then Team #Whale ran as a team through the finish line arch, had some photos taken and then headed off to claim our free beers.

Team #Whale

Most of Van 2 headed off to the hotel to get cleaned up before we all met up for dinner. And while the plan may have called for heading out for a few drinks on Duval Street, I'm pretty sure most of the team was dead to the world by 10 p.m. At least I was.

Stay tuned for a recap of what else I did while I was in Key West.

Ragnar Florida Keys - Part III: My Second Leg

 Why sleep when I can explore a race track?

When I last blogged, our sixth runner had finished her run and we had handed off running duties to the six runners who were in Van 2. That left us with a couple of hours to burn.

First we got food. Then we headed to Homestead-Miami Speedway, the site of the next major exchange. Some of my teammates promptly laid a blanket down on the concrete underneath the bleachers and fell asleep. Me? I tried, but I don't typically nap. So trying to sleep on concrete while some cars did practice laps on the track and military jets flew by was downright impossible.

I closed my eyes briefly, chatted with my parents, hit up real indoor bathrooms. You know, important stuff. It was eventually time for us to get ready to run again.

Quite possibly my favorite Ragnar van.

The sunset and pretty soon I was getting ready for my run in the dark.

I had 7.1 miles through Key Largo to look forward to. Unlike my first run, there were no turns on this run, so there was no worry about me missing a turn and adding on extra miles. Therefore, I didn't bother to take a map of the run with me.

Decked out in my reflective vest and head lamp, I got the slap bracelet from my teammate and headed out. My run started at the high school in Key Largo and headed out onto a bike path. Normally I wouldn't have a problem with a bike path. But this bike path was different.

It was under construction.

So I was running on an unpaved dirt trail that wasn't even packed down. Add in the fairly big rocks that littered the path and the massive craters I needed to avoid in order to make sure that I didn't twist or roll an ankle and it was an adventure.

And remember, I'm running at 11:30ish at night, so it's dark.

Fun times.

So I concentrated on slowing my pace down a bit, not killing myself and enjoying the nighttime run through Key Largo. I did throw in a little bit of speed every so often when I saw a runner in front of me that I wanted to pick off. I ended up passing seven people during the run - and none of those runners passed me again - so I was happy.

After about 3 miles, I got some relief and actually found myself running on a paved trail and sidewalk, but even that ended. The final mile was back on uneven, rocky, crater ridden ground.

But soon I found myself running to a parking lot area and handing off the slap bracelet to my teammate. She took off and we headed to the next major exchange where I, along with my teammates, inhaled a full pasta dinner at 1 a.m.

What? You don't inhale an entire pasta dinner at 1 a.m.?

After that it was off to this somewhat sketchy hotel room where most of us took quick showers to rinse off the day's sweat and sunscreen and then caught a few hours of much needed sleep.

Then it was time to run our final legs.

Stay tuned.

Ragnar Florida Keys - Part II: My First Leg

 Van 1 of team #Whale, from left, me, Michelle, Mo, Erica, Jenny and Kelsey.

We woke up in the dark at 3:45 a.m. and loaded up our SUVs. I snagged a spot in the back row, this would be my home for the next 37 hours or so.

Our first runner started in the darkness at 6 a.m., and three hours later, after four runners finished their legs, it was my turn to run.

I had an easy 3.6 mile run to get my Ragnar Florida Keys adventure started. It was about 9 a.m. and it was a little overcast. It had been a pretty foggy morning, but by the time I ran, the fog had burned off and it was just cloudy. I was glad for the clouds since it was already heating up temperature wise. It was kind of humid and the thermometer was already flirting with 80 degrees. Just a bit different than the sub-zero temps I've been used to.

What I was supposed to run.

Runner No. 4 came in a bit quicker than I was expecting, so I grabbed the slap bracelet and was off, while trying to put my ear buds in my ear and turn on my iPod. It was a good excuse not to take off too quickly, I guess.

My run started along a trail in a park. I dodge some piles of bird poo and steered clear of some odd looking ducks and before I knew it, I was out on the streets of a neighborhood. The trip through the neighborhood was short lived though since when I made that first left hand turn I found myself running on a busy street in a commercial district.

Not the most scenic run.

Although I did see some road kill that I'll never see in Wisconsin: A dead iguana.

There wasn't much exciting about this run. Well, until I was on the final straightaway.

See I was just running along. There were runners around me. The sun came out and it started to get really hot. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but all of a sudden I noticed there were no runners around me. This was odd. And then I glanced at my Garmin and it told me I'd gone 3.7 miles. Ummm, I should be at the finish line and I didn't see any signs of a finish line.

Thankfully I had my phone with me and for some reason I had thought to snap a picture of the route I was supposed to be running. So I stopped and pulled out my phone.

What I actually ran. I realized I missed a turn at the star.

Huh. Apparently I missed a turn. Like almost 10 blocks ago.

This kind of sucks, I thought to myself.

So I turned around. Walked a little bit. Ran a little bit. Prayed that the city of Miami magically skips numbers when it came to streets. Finally I got to the corner where I spied the sign that told me I should be turning. Yeah, I don't remember that being there before, but it probably was.

I was finally back on track. The exchange was in sight. I ran. Passed a girl and finally was able to hand off the slap bracelet to my teammate.

5 miles later I was done.

In the end my 3.6 mile leg turned into 5 miles. Yeah, that's just a bit of extra running.

But it was nearly time for Van 1 to go off duty and get some food.

Stay tuned.

Ragnar Florida Keys - Part I: Getting there

When I sign up for a Ragnar, I know I’m going to be in for an adventure.

Little did I know when I signed up for Ragnar Florida Keys, the adventure would start even before I left the state of Wisconsin.

After the longest three-day work week ever, I took off for Milwaukee on Wednesday night after work. With an early Thursday morning flight, I was going to be crashing at my friend Erica’s place (she was also on my team) and we’d leave for the airport in the morning. After food, a beer and trivia with friends, we called it a night and got ready for an early morning wake up call.

Our flight was supposed to leave Milwaukee at 7:25 a.m., so we got dropped off at the airport shortly after 6. That gave us plenty of time to check in, get through security and find food before we would have to board our flight.

Sounds simple, right? Yeah, didn’t happen that way.

 

We checked in our on the self-service kiosks, and seriously, as soon as the machine spit out my boarding pass, the ticket agent made an announcement that anyone on the flight from Milwaukee to Houston should not check in because our flight was delayed. Or cancelled. She kept interchanging the words. And last I checked, they didn’t mean the same thing.

So Erica and I went up to the counter to try to figure out what was going on.

 Hint: This is not the airplane window seat I wanted.

Yup. Flight was cancelled. And there were no other flights from Milwaukee that could get us to where we were going. So instead the woman booked us on a flight leaving from O’Hare – at 9:30 a.m. Umm, looking at my watch that did leave us much time. So with new boarding passes in hand, along with a $7 food voucher and a boarding pass for a bus that would take us to O’Hare, we were off.

This bus was supposed to show up just after 7 a.m. and of course it was late. So our already tight travel time to Chicago – the ticket counter lady told us it would only take an hour to get to O’Hare, which we found hard to believe – got worse, especially when we found the bus taking the city streets to a little bus depot instead of getting on the interstate.

And at the bus depot, we stopped. And waited. And waited some more.

And there may have been talk of me hijacking the bus, a la Speed.

We finally left the bus depot and got on the interstate. We drove. Then got off. And waited. Back on the interstate. Back off. Erica and I just looked at each other. It would have been nice had the ticket counter woman told us this bus was going to be making multiple stops to pick up phantom passengers. Instead we just started freaking out. Because we were going to be cutting it really close in O’Hare.

As in, we pulled up to the airport with 25 minutes before our flight was supposed to leave.

I ditched any plans to check my bag and we rushed to the security line. While waiting, I ditched some liquids so I wasn’t completely breaking TSA rules. We got through security and made it to our gate, where our flight was already boarding.

Thankfully it was a big plane, which meant it was a long line to board. After catching my breath, I went to grab my boarding pass and nearly had a heart attack.

I didn’t have a boarding pass anymore.

I figured I must have left it in TSA, so I sprinted back to the security gate. The TSA folks looked at me like I was crazy as I explained I lost my boarding pass. Then they just told me, “Just tell the gate agent TSA lost it and they’ll print you another one.” Apparently lots of people lose their boarding passes in TSA land.

 We're getting on an airplane!

So I ran back to my gate, got a new boarding pass and within the next few minutes, Erica and I were on a plane and headed to Miami via Houston.

The rest of our travels to Florida were uneventful. We got to Miami, hailed a cab to or hotel where we met up with our team.

Then it was lights out for a very, very early wake up call at 3:45 a.m.

Then it was time for the Ragnar Florida Keys adventure to really begin.

Stay tuned.