This is what happens when I dedicate Friday night to cleaning, errands, and studying:
Before:
After!
Before:
After. All clean!
Oh, and I learned 15 nervous pathways of the brainstem.
Hope you’re having more fun than I am tonight!
A Bike Ride OUTSIDE!
After brunch at Saddle Ranch to celebrate our 5K victories, Darren and I headed to Arizona Outback Adventures to pick up my Specialized Roubaix rental for our bike ride. Needing a 48cm frame made finding a bike my size a bit of a challenge. After calling several places, AOA had the only rental in town that fit me. I completely lucked out ending up with a racing bike and the staff at AOA was great!
Darren took me out for a 50 mile loop around McDowell Mountains. The key word around here is around the mountains. No 20% grade epic climbs for this out-of-shape snowbird! It was a great ride and very scenic. Every time I ride, I’m amazed at how far you can get on a bike and what you see that you’d miss in a car. It never gets old!
Here’s a picture I borrowed from Google to give you an idea of McDowell:
Near the end of the ride we passed through Fountain Hills, which is known for its….wait for it……Fountain! According to my favorite tour guide, Wikipedia, it is the fourth tallest fountain in the world (562 feet) and spouts water once an hour. Magically, we ended up in front of it just in time to catch the excitement!
Even though I look fairly happy during this picture, around mile 40, it didn’t last too long! It started to get cold (ok, 50 degrees, but that’s cold without a base layer!) and the reality of this being my only ride outside in the last four months started to set in. I teetered on the brink of a bonk. Luckily, Darren stuck with me for the last 10 slow miles.
Moral of the ride: It was great to be out on a bike again and stretch my winter legs out but I have a looooong way to go (literally) before I’m in any kind of racing shape. This is an unfortunate realization since I have my first race for collegiate cycling season at the end of February! Time to hit the trainer!
Phoenix 5K Race Report
One of the benefits of visiting Eva in Phoenix is that “winter” for her means 70 degrees on a cold day. Of course I took advantage of the gorgeous temperatures as much as possible and even signed up for a local 5K and set up a bike rental for the weekend. I called my new Phoenix training partner in crime, Darren, and he graciously agreed to accompany for both these ventures.
Bright and early Saturday morning, Darren and I met up at Papago Park for the Women’s Business All the Way 5K. It was the second year for this fun run to raise money for business start-up loans for area women. The race was an out and back and very relaxed – no chip timing and the race director counted down from three to signal the start.
Darren took off and was soon out of sight. I had expected this and warned him before we began that I wasn’t even going to try to match him! Instead, I settled in at a comfortable pace enjoying the lightness of my Brooks T6 Racers. Nothing like racing flats to make you feel fast! I was a little worried about shin pain running on a sidewalk in flats, but happily it didn’t bother me at all.
The first part of the race, one of the high school cross country runners from a local team was hot on my heels. We hit a series of rollers and for a while I thought her gangly legs and youthful abandon on the downhills were going to get the best of me, but in the end she was no match for my crush-you-like-a-walnut cyclist thighs on the uphills. I pulled a way and for the rest of the race I was chasing a pack of cross country boys with a large enough gap behind me and the next runner that I couldn’t hear his footsteps.
About a hundred people showed up for the race and speedy Darren ended up second place overall.
I finished a few minutes later claiming 8th overall and first place female! I’ve never won a running race before, so it was great to taste victory, even if it was a small race. In addition, there were almost as many medals as there were finishers – I ended up getting one for overall finisher and another for winning my age group, plus a $15 gift certificate for a RoadID. The race organizers were so nice and it was great to see so many new 5K runners and walkers finish the race. There were quite a few people along the course and people who finished stuck around to congratulate the people coming in. If I end up in Phoenix again this time next year I’ll definitely do it again!
Climbing Camelback
I’m so happy to have a long weekend away from cold Wisconsin! I couldn’t have picked a better time either; it’s supposed to snow every day that I’m away! Yesterday, Eva and I hiked up Camelback Mountain. I think the “mountain” part probably deserves air quotes, but it was still a challenging hike that took us about an hour to get up and an hour back down.
At the top we took a moment to reflect and enjoy the view of Phoenix.
I even got to enjoy a moment of feeling taller than Eva!
I also made a new friend on the way down:
Tulum, Mexico
We stopped for a few days in Tulum, Mexico to meet up with Francesco’s friend, Lou. Francesco had been raving about the beautiful beach in Tulum so I knew I would love it! Tulum is about 2 hours south of Cancun and is known for it’s ruins that are right on the cliff overlooking the ocean. We explored the ruins in the morning, which were definitely not as impressive as Copan or Tikal but still pretty awesome given their amazing location!
There were also huge iguanas everywhere! I don’t know what was more fun, running into these huge lizards sunning themselves or watching the tourists go crazy taking pictures of them! Given it’s proximity to Cancun, there were busloads of tourists checking out Tulum. There were lines of tourists taking pictures of iguanas on the cliggs that made me think of Disney World of tourists.
The afternoon was spent snorkeling and laying on the beautiful beach. Tulum is lined by part of the second longest reef in the world and the sand on the beach is amazing! It is very powdery and doesn’t get hot in the sun.
We celebrated our last night together with a few Sol beers at a restaurant in Tulum. Instead of bar stools it had swings! I also indulged in one last plate of tacos. There were 7 different options on the menu, so I ordered one of each! It was a ton of food but I cleaned my plate. Good thing I’m going to be working out a ton when I get back to the States!
The boys did some shopping and then for some reason needed a second dinner! Pizza!? Given that I ate twice the number of tacos than they did at dinner I definitely wasn’t hungry.
Tomorrow I’m off to Cancun to catch my flight home and Lou and Francesco are going to spend a week checking out the Yucatan Peninsula. I can’t believe I’m about to head back to cold Wisconsin!
London – Tower of London, Beefeaters & the British Museum
Yesterday I went to the fabulous Tate Modern, the modern art museum of London. It had works from many of my favorite artists….Picasso, Warhol, Matisse, and more. I really enjoyed wondering around the museum enjoying the art. I also did a bit of grocery shopping and updated the blog….did you notice I added three posts!?
Today I toured the Tower of London in the morning. It’s a bit chilly here, which is unfortunate because I didn’t pack for bad weather. Who thinks about sensible clothing when they’re going to an island tomorrow! The Tower of London is located right on the Thames and is famous for being a fortress, a palace, and a prison. It is the place where many famous people were executed from 1000-1600.
A replica of the torture devices:
Legend has it if the ravens leave the Tower (there are six, and they are named) the Crown and England will fall. We were warned – they bite!
If I only had a twist of lime and some tonic with my Beefeater!
The Tower of London is also the home of the Crown Jewels. I can’t even believe how beautiful they are. They took my breath away!
On the way back to Dan’s I caught the bridge going up!
I met Dan for sushi! After eating it two or three times a week at home, I was craving it, so it definitely hit the spot. After lunch I went to the British Museum – a lot like the Smithsonian as far as scope and quality of works. The difference is, many of the pieces are not behind glass and you are allowed to photograph everything! There aren’t even metal detectors to get in the museum…and it’s free!
The Rosetta Stone! Holy crap!
A stoneware figure from the Ming Dynasty. The figure of a judge’s assistant is holding records of evil deeds under his left arm.
Think I’ve become an art history buff? Just kidding! I also took a picture of the caption so I could share the story!
Probably the best part of the day, and one of the highlights of the trip was catching a play at the replica of the Globe Theatre. The show, En Extremis, was a play written just for the theatre. It’s the story of two lovers who struggle with the religious views of the time and try to make religion more accessible for the masses. I bought a very cheap ticket (10 pounds) but got the best seat in the house! I was in the front row center of the first level. The play was great…very modern with a lot of activity. One memorable line was said by the Mother Abbess: “There will be no more f*ing in the trees!” Like I said, this was a modern version of Shakespeare. The show was amazing.
On the way back to Dan’s I once again caught Tower Bridge rising:
Quickly though, everything returned to normal:
Tomorrow afternoon I catch a flight to Ibiza! I can’t wait to do nothing but sleep, lay in the sun, and sleep while laying in the sun! It’s going to be spectacular!
Tomorrow afternoon I catch a flight to Ibiza! I can’t wait to do nothing but sleep, lay in the sun, and sleep while laying in the sun! It’s going to be spectacular!