The Sunshine State and the Windy City

At the beginning of the month I headed to Gainesville to surprise my dad for his 70th birthday. Despite a couple slip ups on the phone, the surprise was a great success. I really wish I had taken a picture of his face when he opened the door and realized it was me.

I was in Gainesville for a couple weeks and it was awesome! Sadly, I didn't take many pictures. I did a whole lot of nothing. You know, the good kind of nothing that is absolutely priceless? I hung out with friends and family, watched the Gators, shopped with my mom, ate fantastic meals, and celebrated my dad's birthday.

We do have some pictures from my dad's birthday party. We had a family canoe trip down the Santa Fe River. It was a gorgeous day. Someone came up with the idea of taking family pictures before we started canoeing. I got there a little early with the Brasingtons and took some shots of their family.

I think these shots actually turned out better than when the whole family showed up. I had more time and by the time everyone was gathered it was getting hot and we were getting cranky. It was nice though that my dad had all his daughters, grandkids, and great grandson with him to help celebrate.

Yep, I look just like my dad.

The canoeing was fun and the setting was beautiful. I don't have pictures because our family has a reputation of tipping canoes and I didn't want to ruin my camera. We saw tons of turtles and a couple alligators. Going down the Santa Fe made me remember how much I miss Spanish moss hanging from the cypress trees.

After the canoe trip we headed to Monica's for a feast that ended with homemade ice cream and apple pie. Delicious!

During my time in Florida I went to Niceville for a super fast trip to catch up with a lot of the friends I had made in England. I stayed with Jessica and her twins and Katie drove all the way from Albuquerque with her son Owen just to see me. Ok, she probably wanted to see Jessica too, but either way it was awesome! Jess put together a dinner where I got to see about 6 more friends from England. The crazy thing was when we were in England we were all kid free. Now I am the only one holding strong. Yikes!

I did quite a bit of running while in Gainesville. Most of it was from Monica's house, but one Saturday I met up with high school friend Faun and we did a 10.5 mile run. She's preparing for Chicago in October. She's going to do great. I also ran with my best friend from middle school, Kristina. It was so fun! She's marathon and tri training as well. One weekend I dragged mom and Monica to some trails out at San Felasco. They did great, but mentally I was fried as soon as I saw the soft sand. Luckily, they pulled me through.

I got to hang out with Mary multiple times and all I can say is that she is B-FAB! I love that we can hang out and act like no time has passed even when we're apart for a long time. When we're old and our husbands die, Mary and I will be roommates again. We'll probably have a lot of dogs.

One of the last nights I was there I met up with my best friend from high school, Nichole, and her family. I absolutely love the Arringtons! They might be the closest family I know. Nichole and her sister, Christi, live together. I know Monica and I love each other, but I think it could get ugly if we lived together full time.

Brother John was also at dinner, but I forgot to take the picture until afterwards.

And then, way too quickly, my time in Gainesville was up and I was on to Chicago to visit my friend Tiffany. She was my running partner in Okinawa and I still haven't found anyone to replace her. She's great!

She picked me up and we drove north to Rockford because we had a couple trail races to run. What? You're trying to tell me that not every vacation has to involve running? Hmmm, I'll keep that in mind.

The races were at Rock Cut State Park. This is an absolutely gorgeous park and huge! Our first race was at 8pm on Friday. It was a 10K trail run. It was dark and awesome! We had just our headlights. It was so much fun.

Since it's in the dark it is really hard to tell how far you've gone. You just run and feel one with nature. Earlier that afternoon we had done some recon. The trails seemed nice and firm so I decided to wear my new shoes I had bought in Gainesville. That was fine until about mile 5.75 where we encountered this:

Yep, a long, dark culvert filled with enough water to reach my ankles. After a minute of whining I bit the bullet and sloshed my way through. It was pretty cool with the glow sticks.

My shoes definitely weren't new anymore. Oh well, you've got to break them in sometime.

The next race was a 25K trail run at 8am the next day. That's right, over 21 miles less than 12 hours apart.

I know you all are used to my pictures on the run, but this is all I've got.

I actually put my camera away and ran! That's a first in a long time for me. It felt good (in a really painful way) to push myself again. The 25K course was gorgeous and besides a few thunderstorms the weather was great too. I was pretty pooped so I told Tiffany to go on without me. She came in right at 3 hours and I was 4 minutes behind her. We basically rocked it.

We got back to the hotel, took quick showers, and headed to the big city. Tiffany did a great job planning this trip. I gave her no input and she came up with a great itinerary.

We stayed at Hotel 71 right on the Chicago River. The views were awesome! These shots are from our 27th floor window. We had a corner room so the views were even better.

We decided we hadn't exercised enough today so we walked a couple miles to Sprinkles. If you've never been to a gourmet cupcakery, GO!

Sprinkles started in California and now has multiple locations. There was a line that was about 15 minutes long and it was so worth the wait.

We both got the red velvet, she also got a dark chocolate, and I got a peanut butter chocolate. Despite having run 15.5 miles we only indulged in one that day. The red velvet was heavenly.

Here are our room views at night:

That view was only beaten the next morning as the sun was rising giving the buildings a fantastic glow.

We had booked a kayak tour for that morning, but the company cancelled because the weather was threatening thunderstorms. Too bad it was a gorgeous day! So instead of kayaking we went on a bike tour.

The total ride was 22 miles. We rode along Lake Michigan (my first Great Lake) and saw Obama's old apartment and house. We also went past Soldier Field and Buckingham Fountain. It's hard to take pictures on a bike (and against the rules) so take what you can get. It really was a beautiful day and there were tons of runners along Lake Michigan preparing for the marathon in October.

I am such a rule breaker!

The skyline was stunning and Tiffany and the tour guide said it was one of the clearest days they've seen (we could see Gary, IN).

We went to a Japanese garden (funny, I know):

And that's where I fell in love with Jack:

He's a labradoodle and so stinking cute. By the way, if I was naming that hybrid I totally would have gone with poodador.

After the bike tour we went back to the hotel and devoured our second cupcake. My peanut butter chocolate was amazing. It was so moist and just melted on my tongue. It was kind of like peanut butter cookie dough, but better. And it had rich, creamy, dark chocolate icing. Mmmm.

That afternoon we went and saw Blue Man Group. It was so cool. I can't really explain it. There's music, paint, and audience participation. If you have a chance to see them, definitely do.

On our walk home we went by the famous Chicago theater and had to snap a shot:

The next day we did a double decker bus tour. The guide was great and very informative.

Before the tour we ate lunch at Gino's and had a little deep dish. It was delicious. I like the sauce on top because then you can really taste it. Yummy.

That evening, what did we see from our hotel window down on the Chicago River?

Taiko drummers, of course! I wonder if they are from Okinawa.

My last morning before getting on the plane, we decided a final run was in order. We went to Millennium Park (I think where Obama gave his acceptance speech) and got to see the "bean". It's a pretty sweet sculpture and with the sun rising I got some good photos.

We then turned and headed towards the water to run. I know you can barely see Tiffany (on the right side), but I love this shot.

Just a hop, skip, and a jump later I was back home in Okinawa.

I start my new job tomorrow. I will be Kadena's Youth Sports and Fitness Coordinator. I will basically be doing registrations, creating rosters, coordinating with refs, parents, and coaches for all the sports that Kadena offers. To give you an idea, we just did soccer (I was on loan from the Youth Center). We have close to 700 kids between 5 and 15 and I had to create over 40 rosters taking into consideration preferred practice days, when siblings are playing, and special requests. It's like a huge logic puzzle and I love it!

In other news, my toes are really loving the increased mileage due to marathon training.

Sunrise to Sunset

Our main goal in Mongolia was to complete the trail marathon, except for Anna. She was crazy enough to sign up for the 100K (um yeah, that's 62 miles). Months ago Kathleen sent out the link to the race kind of as a joke. I think she was surprised when multiple people wrote back that it sounded like a great idea.

We all loved Mongolia when we got there. As you know from the previous post the country was stunning. We also liked the camp and the other racers were great, but the sanitary conditions left a little to be desired. The bathrooms were a little sketchy, there was no refrigeration, and electricity was available when they turned the generator on between 9 and 11pm. None of us really minded these primitive conditions until early Monday morning when Avery (Kathleen's 17 year old daughter) got sick. We thought she just had a virus because the rest of us felt fine. However, after dinner Monday I got majorly sick, Andrea got moderately sick, and others also didn't feel well. I'm pretty sure my food poisoning came in the form of the packed lunch that just sat out all day until you were ready to eat it. The camp directors and race doctor wouldn't admit it was food poisoning, but at least 10% of the camp went down that night - pretty much everyone who ate the lunch with meat.

Yep, that's right. The Monday night before the Wednesday morning race I was losing fuel at both ends. It wasn't pretty and Anna can vouch that it didn't sound good either. So I eliminated all of my Monday fuel and on Tuesday I wasn't feeling like eating, especially anything from the camp kitchen. I was able to keep down 6 ritz crackers and forced myself to have peanut butter on 2 of those. I also ate a few pringles and Sprite tasted heavenly. My main focus for Tuesday was staying hydrated and not tossing my crackers. I think I was pretty successful.

So, if you're keeping track, at this point (less than 24 hours before the race) we have 3 folks with food poisoning. To top it off Kathleen was walking in flip flops, slipped on wet grass, and her foot went over the top of her toes. She broke her fourth toe. We were starting to look like quite the motley crew.

On Wednesday morning a horseman rode through camp playing a flute for our 3 am wake up call. This horseman would go on to take second in the male division of the marathon. My stomach was still not quite settled when I woke up. It felt like maybe I could use the bathroom, but that wasn't happening. I ate a quarter of a pita with a smear of peanut butter, but that didn't stay with me long.

With little food and a queasy stomach I was unsure if I would be able to finish this race. I've never DNFed (Did Not Finish) and I didn't want to start now. I knew that I would leave everything on the race course.

We lined up and at 4:30 the race began. About 75 people started the race for the 42 and 100K. We started in the dark and immediately went in to a forested, rocky, rooty section of the course. Most racers speed walked this first couple kilometers because nobody wanted to get injured and taken out of the race so early. After this treacherous bit we popped out on to a road that hugged the lake until we hit the first aid station at 12K. It was still low light, but headlights were no longer needed.

I was still feeling pretty crummy at this point, but I knew I felt better than Avery. That poor girl was flushed and pale at the same time. I was a little nervous for her. Kathleen was running with her broken toe and this flat part might have been the least painful section for her. Luckily, her 15 year old daughter Corinne had a lot of pep and kept us all going. She was the youngest female competitor to ever attempt this race.

Trying to "fake it 'til I make it" with a smile and wild horses behind me.
At the first aid station even though we were all attempting to run we were still near the back of the packers, some of who were walking. It was going to be a long day. We all had enough water in our packs that we didn't want to chance a refill. We were told the water at the aid stations had been boiled, but after getting sick I was less willing to chance anything. At the aid station I did grab this little apple and it was deliciously sweet, but again, that didn't stay with me long.

Me and Tam at the first aid station.

Kathleen at the beginning of the climb.

Once we left the first aid station we started the first big climb. This is the climb that made me question my sanity when I saw it on the elevation profile. We climbed about 2500 feet over 5K (about 3 miles). It was brutally steep with a lot of switchbacks. I also took myself out of this climb mentally. There was a thick fog that was suffocating. I felt so claustrophobic and I hated not being able to see the top.

The fog beginning to roll in.

However, when we got to the top the fog lifted and the views were spectacular. I thought to myself that those fast suckers at the front missed this by getting over the mountain so quickly. Sometimes it's good to be sick and slow at the back of the pack.

Slopes are just a wee bit steep, eh?

Top of the World - I am a champion!

After the climb we got to a great pass and realized that we were now the absolute last runners. How did we know this? Because at this point the local horseman started following us. It was kind of like the sweeper van, but more up close and personal.

When the downhill started I kept thinking about Kathleen and her poor toe. It was steep and made up of loose gravel. My toes were taking a beating being pushed into the end of my shoe. I couldn't imagine how it felt with a broken toe, but then I remembered what Kathleen told me before the race. She had talked to her husband, a Navy doctor currently serving in Afghanistan, before coming to Mongolia. He told her that he had just sent a young man home who had lost both his legs and one of his arms. We've got it so easy.

The Lennard Family

We continued on over some pretty easy terrain for a few miles and then slogged through some wet, mossy areas near a beautiful clear river. Our shoes and socks were soaked, but my stomach was starting to feel better. The cold water was numbing Kathleen's toe and Avery was getting a second wind as well. Things were starting to turn around.

The second aid station was at 25.5K. My camelbak was dry at this point so I chanced the water. It tasted slightly funny, but like water treated with purification tablets. This is also the point in the race where I decided to try eating my Clif Shot Bloks. These were the first calories that I actually kept in me. At the aid station it was our group of 4, our new, Australian friend Tam, and 3 runners from Hong Kong.

Aid station at 25.5K

Avery and I decided to push it a little at this point and with that push we never got passed again. Corinne and Kathleen stuck together a little ways behind us. This section was beautiful. There were meadows with flowers as far as the eye could see. A lot of this section was run near the river and was fairly rolling. The course was well marked and I was glad Avery and I were together. Neither of us talked much, but it was nice to have company. I wasn't sure how I'd like running an entire marathon without any crowd support because all of my road races were huge, but I loved it. I had my mp3 player, but I never took it out of my bag. I've never run for so long, but I was in this strange, zen place. I felt calm and at peace and after the first mountain I knew I was going to accomplish my goal.

The second hill was also a beast, but it was shorter and steeper. The fun part was that it was all this mossy, spongy terrain that was soaked from recent rains. Our feet sunk in water up to our ankles with almost every step. With all of this water I was worried about blisters, but my shoes treated me well. The steepness of this hill was brutal. Whenever I would stop to catch my breath I could hear my heart trying to beat its way out of my chest.

The second big climb was basically through a creek bed. There was no way to avoid soaked feet.

The downhill was almost runnable. It was long grass and would have been fun if it wasn't wet and slick. I only fell once and the only injury came in the form of a few scratches on my camera. Yes, I ran with my camera the whole time. During this downhill was our final water station before the finish. It was just one local man and his son. In exchange for water I gave them a Clif Shot Blok. They seemed to like the raspberry flavor.

I definitely took time to enjoy the scenery. The race director told us to expect to double our road marathon time and despite being sick and stopping for photos I was right on the money.

After this station the ground flattened out and we only had 10K left. This is where I started to feel really good. We had some rolling hills and instead of single track we had more of an established trail and then a dirt road for the last 5K. I had some shooting pain in the bottom of my left foot, but felt good otherwise. I tried to pick up my pace, but still took a couple walking breaks during the last 10K. Avery pulled ahead of me a little and I had to let her go. I just couldn't keep her pace. The finish was tough because you could see the finish forever, but had to go around a lake before crossing the finish line. I was so relieved to finish this race. I was out there for 8:39. Yep, over 8 hours of fun were run on 200 calories worth of Shot Bloks. I'm amazed at what my body can do.

Overall, I really loved this course. I wouldn't do the race again because staying at that camp and eating that food holds no appeal, but if I could just be dropped on to the trail I would gladly start running.