making the most of my time in wisco.

i moved out of madison a few days ago. my last night in madison included an enjoyable dinner at buraka on state street and several cheap drinks at the big ten pub with becky, dan, liz and colin. i barely managed to cram the rest of my belongings into the ol' trusty '89 camry. the drive home was all-too-familiar. unfortunately, the car does not have working air conditioning and only the driver's side window rolls down. i can deal with the heat, but pearl (my cat...soon to be leah's) could not. i have never seen a cat with its mouth open so wide, tongue sticking out, panting like a saint bernard. i stopped by dexter's to say goodbye to jeff, but could not stay long because of the feverish feline. she settled in eventually as the sun went down and even fell asleep.

wednesday night, i met aunt paulette, uncle mike, amelia and matthew at the VFW for b-i-n-g-o! i was hoping to continue my winning streak (last summer i won $200 on the final blackout game). however, no one in our group won anything. anything monetary, at least. of course we still had a great time by mocking the bingo caller who sounded exactly like bob barker, by gawking at the grandpa hubert look-alike, and by trying to converse without getting "shushed" by our serious neighbors.

thursday included a much-dreaded trip to the dentist. the only good thing that came out of this adventure would have to be the free toothbrush, floss and three tubes of travel-sized toothpaste.

friday was when dad and i left for our mini-weekend trip. a few days before, i had signed up online for the hayward inline marathon. since the race started at 7:30am on saturday, it was necessary to drive up there the day before. we found a beautiful camping area next to the namekagon river. the best part was that it was free! we each set up our own tent and then headed to town. i picked up my registration packet: #122 and was ready for some exploring. we went to moccasin's bar, had a beer while ogling the world's largest muskie, caught by cal johnson in 1949. it wasn't really that spectacular, but the northwoodsy-small-town-tavern feel was appreciated. dinner involved a chicken taco pizza from coop's restaurant. once again, nothing spectacular, but we were hungry. i retired early, knowing that i would have to be up by 6am the next morning to get ready for the race.

i slept for a few hours soundly, but then awoke to some weird music around 1am. i figured it was some live entertainment at a bar and would be over by 2. i was wrong. the music continued until 5am. the noise combined with a tent pitched on an incline did not lead to a satisfactory sleep. i was awake before the alarm went off, yet excited to participate in my 2nd inline marathon. i was a bit intimidated by all of the hardcore, semi-pro skaters in their one-piece spandex get-ups, but felt confident with the training i had done in madison.

the race was a mass start, which is a guarantee for early crashes. several men in front of me stumbled upon each other and rolled. luckily, i was able to swerve to avoid them and continued on my merry way. it was only merry for about 2 miles...then i reached the first of many hills. people had described this course as having rolling hills, but that was a bit modest. after skating the flat capitol city trail in madison, my legs were not prepared. i still skated hard and tried my best. i won a mini-sprint race within the race which earned me a t-shirt. a large t-shirt that will now be worn by my father.

i finished strong, with a smile on my face, knowing that i did not meet my goal of 1 hour and 40 minutes. i was shocked when i found out that it took me 2 hours and 9 minutes. later, however, we were informed that the course was actually 28 miles instead of 26. also, i had to skate the entire race by myself....no pace lines or drafting. the top skaters were too fast and the rec skaters were too slow. due to the hills and added length, everyone's times were slower. in duluth, the top skaters will finish in about 1 hour, but here, the top skaters came in at 1 hour and 23 minutes. compensating for those differences, i was really happy with my time. i found out later that i placed! for the full marathon, i was 3rd in females 30 yrs. and under. i also was 3rd place for the "athena" category (women over 160 lbs.). i received a wooden plaque and was recognized at the awards ceremony. other goodies included: embroidered socks, a coffee mug, a tasty sub sandwich, microbrewery beer, and no new injuries! i would definitely do this race again in the future.

last night after i returned home from hayward, i quickly showered and headed over to sam's graduation party. i felt awful that we had gone over a year without seeing/talking to each other. however, once we saw each other, it was as though we had just spoken. we had a lot to catch up on, but it immediately felt like the good ol' days. sam will be headed off to law school in st. paul in one week, so hopefully we can get together before we part ways for at least another year.

today was a day of errands. i mowed the lawn and helped get stuff together for our next adventure. tomorrow, my mom, dad, aunt jenny and i will be going to the turtle flambeau flowage near mercer, wi and the manitowish waters area. we will be camping on the islands in the flowage and kayaking around them during the day. i don't know if i will be able to do any kayaking in korea, so i must enjoy this opportunity. i love paddling.