Sunday, July 29, 2018

Running is an Amazing Adventure

This week was all about recovery. I felt surprisingly well after last Sunday's Rock'N'Roll Chicago Half Marathon. I thought I'd be really sore but mostly I was tired.  While there was some running, I did nothing for time or distance. The fun part about recovering from a race is not having training goals to meet. Instead, I took my time and soaked in everything around me.

Whether you are training for something specific or just running for fun, running is an amazing adventure, isn't it?



After a couple days of rest, I took my legs for an easy 4 mile run on Wednesday. Running through my neighborhood, I was enjoying the glorious sunshine and the low humidity. After hitting mile 3, I headed back towards my house. I heard someone mowing their lawn and yelling loudly. As I approached, I saw that the woman was alone. After all my years of living in this neighborhood and running by this house, I had never seen her before. I kept running but stopped at the field across from her house to take a yoga picture. The woman kept mowing and yelling. She spotted me taking my pictures and directed her tirade at me.

Half moon against the wall. I spy a hip that needs to open more. 
After I  started running again, I could still hear her carrying on. There was a man walking his dog and I stopped to ask him about the woman. He told me she is his next door neighbor and as I suspected, has mental health issues. He was surprised I had never seen her before because apparently, her rants are legendary. He told me the police are well acquainted with her. She lives alone. Kind of sad all around.

I tried to be as stealthy as possible when taking this photo. 
On Thursday, my youngest son, his girlfriend, and I packed up the car and drove to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for his orientation. There was also a parent orientation. I skipped out on a lot of the sessions. Instead, I soaked up the beautiful day and walked up and down State Street. We all met up after Matthew finished and went over to the Memorial Union Terrace to listen to the live music. It was his birthday and instead of attending the evening sessions, we went out to dinner. While I'm pretty sure we didn't miss anything important, I felt like a bad slacker mom. Interestingly, Matthew didn't seem to mind at all.

We ended up walking over 9 miles that day (21,000 steps).

On the terrace
The next day, Matthew got up early for advising and registration. I was excited to go for a run. It was a cool, sunny morning. I started off running through the quiet part of campus to the lakeshore path. When I got back to the Memorial Union, I had only run 3 miles, so I decided to run up to the Capitol and run the square that surrounds it. We've had fun spotting all the Bucky Badger statues that are located all over Madison and I was pleasantly surprised by all the statues located on the square. I stopped to take pictures of all the Buckys I saw on my run.

There are 85 Buckys. Here are 27 of them, as seen on my run.
I ended up with 6 miles, lots of smiles, and I completely enjoyed this impromptu scavenger hunt/running tour of Madison.

Running along the shores of Lake Mendota at the UW-Madison campus.
We drove up to Door County later that day for a long weekend of rest and relaxation. The weather wasn't great when we got there but we enjoyed dinner alfresco and an early night. Saturday was spectacular. Feeling a bit fatigued, I decided to postpone my run to Sunday and instead took the kayak for a paddle around the bay.

First kayak outing of the year. What took me so long?
I woke up early Sunday to bright sunshine. After a cup of coffee, I headed out for a run. I ran down the big hill into the little town where we spend our summers and ran along the water. There's a summer retreat here called The Clearing. I like to run on their packed gravel drive which meanders deep into the woods. While running under the canopy of trees, I saw a mama deer and her fawn running into the woods. I also saw this beautiful spider web. Truly a work of art, I don't think I've ever seen one quite so large!

I'm so glad I didn't see the spider!
On the way back, I stopped by the water to play in handstand. This time I held it!


I wanted to try out my handstand skills on a SUP, so my son, his girlfriend, and I took to the water. While I couldn't quite get up in handstand, I was able to do forearm stand. It's much more difficult on a SUP than on land. It was fun trying, though, and landing in the water feels a heck of a lot better than landing on the ground. 


How was your week? Have you ever done a running tour of a city? What is the most exciting city you've ever run in? I try to seek out routes when I'm traveling that allow me to see some fun sites in the cities I'm visiting. Those runs are all about the adventure without attention to pace. 

Welcome to the Weekly Wrap! Holly and I host this fun linkup where like-minded women share their weekly training and/or race recaps. If you're not a fitness blogger, please don't link up with us. If you do link up, please be sure to link back to your hosts and comment on our blogs. Even better, comment on some of the other linkers' posts. As always, thanks for supporting the weekly wrap. 





84 comments :

  1. I love that you found so many Bucky Badgers! I'm trying to notice more when I run, too - it makes for a different-feeling run, doesn't it?

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    1. Running slower definitely has changed my perspective! I'm enjoying taking in everything around me.

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  2. I'd have to say San Fran is my favorite city to run in, though I only have been there once (but I ran three different times while there). Chicago, obviously, is a very close second. Tulsa? Not so much (way too hilly LOL). I love all the painted college mascots....of course, I may be partial to U of Iowa's Herky.

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    1. SF is my favorite city--I've been there multiple times--but can you believe I've never run there?

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  3. Looks like you had a great time in Madison! I love that you took in the city through running - that's one of my favorite things to do as well. Some cities are better suited to it than others. Philly, Boston, DC, Chicago, and Dublin have all been great running-tour cities in my experience.

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    1. I love running in a new place but I agree with you, some cities are more running friendly than others! Seattle had a fun waterfront park with art structures.

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  4. I love running in new places -- which I suppose is rather self evident. We have some nice places to run, but the truth is I spend most of my time running the same routes & it gets so boring.

    I had 10 days of lovely low humidity only to be slapped in the face with it once again at home!

    ID had a lot of really great places to run!

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    1. I vary my route at home, but even though I do that, it gets old!

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  5. That sounds like an amazing weekend! I'm glad you were able to get away and soak up some rays and time on the water. That spiderweb is pretty amazing! I saw a good one on my run on Saturday (meant to stop and take a picture on one of my loops but I completely forgot) but it was definitely not as impressive as that one.

    Most exciting city I've ever run in? (as in running tour, run in?) Well, that would definitely have to be my recent run in San Diego. Prettiest running tour I've ever done? That's definitely Vic sur Cer in France when I flew over quite a few years ago for my cousin's wedding. I'll tell you what - there aren't many runners in that sleepy little town in central France. Everyone I saw stopped and stared. haha! Totally friendly though!

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    1. That trip to France sounds fun--how did your cousin find that small venue? And arrange the whole thing? I bet it was lovely!

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  6. How fun that you saw so many of the Bucky's around town! I'd say you are a pretty cool mom :) I love seeing new cities while running best way in my book. Thanks for the linkup

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    1. I just can't sit in those kind of informational sessions. I definitely do better if I can just read it all--which I did online. Sigh...

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  7. Bucky keeps popping up all over my feed this week 0 and not just run bloggers. Seems like a fun scavenger hunt. Hope your neighbor isn't a danger.
    I can't decide if that web is wonderful or frightening, to be honest

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    1. I thought the web was beautiful--it made me think of Charlotte's Web and the 'some pig' that Charlotte spun into her web!

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  8. I think its hard to say my favorite city for running! They are all so different. Looks like you had a great week of recovery runs.

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    1. I really enjoyed my crazy busy week. I'm exhausted and the fun isn't over yet! :)

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  9. Running is such an adventure. My favorite adventure for sure. Impressive forearm on SUP! That takes a lot of core and balance strength!!

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    1. I tried to do full handstand but holy moly is it hard on a SUP! My son was able to kick up, but he is a gymnast.

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  10. I love discovering a city on the run. I’ve been lucky enough to do that in Paris, Florence and other US cities. My best one though was taking a “memory tour” through Palm Springs, a city I lived in when my youngest son was born. It was cool to see old stomping grounds plas the changes that happen in 30 years!

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    1. Its' fun to be a tourist in your own city, isn't it? I did that once in Chicago too.

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  11. This was such a fun post to read! I love that there are 85 Bucky's and you spotted 27!

    And that spider web - gorgeous!

    A handstand on a paddle board...I wish I had that kind of talent. Impressive!

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  12. How cool that your son is going to be a Badger! I love Wisconsin! And your pictures of Bucky's make me want to go on a run in Madison now!!

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    1. I'll be running there a lot in the next 4 years. Kind of excited about that!

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  13. I remember when NYC had all these painted cow statues around the city. It was a lot of fun seeing as many as possible during that trip.

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    1. I do love all these installations. Chicago had one with horses. Very fun.

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  14. That spider web is amazing! Madison is a beautiful place to run -- at least this time of year. Is your son there for the semester now, or was orientation early?

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    1. UW has orientation going for all freshman right now. There are 8,600 incoming freshman, so they have rolling orientation. I was so impressed at how organized it all is!

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  15. What an incredibly wonderful week you've had! While it's bittersweet sending Matt off to college, it is an amazing adventure and I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised at how much he will mature in his first year away from home. What fun you had up in Wisconsin, and great job on landing that handstand! I, too, would be extremely happy not to have come face-to-face with the spider that built that web!

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    1. I'm nervously excited to watch him blossom into an adult. I'm so glad he's not going far from home.

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  16. 27 is a lot of Bucky statues! Which one was your favorite? Your kayaking looks fun. Weather permitting, I hope we get to do that on our next adventure. See you soon! EEK.

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    1. Fingers crossed--I've never done kayaking in the rapids but I'm sure excited to try it!

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  17. Awesome job on the SUP forearm headstand! Everything on the SUP is harder but you make it look easy.

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    1. You know what's the hardest pose? Warrior 2. I did it but not before I fell into the water a few times!

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  18. Matt's going to have SO much fun going to school in Madison. I love it there. Wow that's a holotta Bucky's! Too many great city running tours to pick just one. Of course I loved running in Italy and Greece but a long run I did along the water in Oceanside CA really stands out.

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    1. Exotic locations always sound like fun for running but sometimes the simple runs are the best, right/

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  19. So much fun in your post I don't know what I like most ;) The best pose I've done on the SUP was crow.

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    1. I intended this to be an easy week of recovery, but it was an absolute blast!

      Crow is hard on land--I can't imagine doing it on a SUP!

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  20. Sounds like you had an amazing week! Your impromptu Bucky Badger scavenger hunt sounds like a lot of fun.

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  21. Looks like you had a great week! I really want to try SUP boards (but I definitely wouldn't be able to do any kind of yoga on them lol). So nice meeting you last weekend! Your personality just lights up the room!

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    1. I loved meeting you too! It's so fun to meet everyone IRL. You are just too kind. I was so happy to see it all come together!

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  22. Wow - what a great week! Sounds amazing. And that handstand while SUP? I can't even do regular SUP - you're incredible!

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    1. The best part of SUP is that falling off the board, it doesn't hurt! So it's a lot more fun to play around than on the ground.

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  23. Wow! That is an impressive spider web. I don't think I have ever seen one like that. I have been seeing a lot of deer this season while running trails.

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    1. I loved seeing the mama deer and her baby. But I couldn't get a picture-they were running so fast.

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  24. Your handstand skills are amazing! You look so relaxed and like you're having fun kayaking. Hope you enjoyed your recovery week!

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  25. Sounds like you had a wonderful relaxing week and great time with your college boy! That's a lot of 'bucky's'! Lol Your handstands are so impressive and while the forearm stands may not be as difficult, they sure show off your sculpted triceps!!!

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    1. I love that I can do the inversions. I never was able to do any of this stuff as a kid. For me, it's more than strength, it's overcoming the fear of doing something so hard!

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  26. Ha - love the Bucky Badgers, I'm not sure I realised the US has these kind of things, too. We have had owls (lovely) and bears (a bit weird - their nether regions were kind of exposed) here in Birmingham, but there's always one miles away where you never go.

    I am awestruck at your handstand and water-based exploits. And how did you get the pic of your half-moon? A mystery (or a friend lying on the grass?). My cousin has a lawn-mowing neighbour who does it every early almost every morning (we have been treated to a tour going past the patch in question). No shouting, though.

    Loving the link up as always, though I was late to the party as went to bed before your posts were up last night (for me).

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    1. I used a stick for a tripod and set it up before I got in the pose. I wanted it head on but I was on a wall and couldn't get the angle right.

      Sorry about the late post--I was on the water and we had to post a little later than usual!

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    2. Oh don't worry about that: I was early to bed before my long run this morning! And now I know how you get the pics! I love taking pics for my running posts, I did a super one this morning!

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  27. I'm super jealous of your handstand abilities! I'm working on building back some functional strength right now, but I want to incorporate some yoga too. Just don't have enough hours in the day!

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    1. It is hard to squeeze it all in--I had to give up my studio classes and do yoga at home. I just didn't have the time to travel to the studio!

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  28. That's very sad about the mentally unstable woman, and also so sad that she lives alone. She's obviously not getting the help she needs :(

    You had a really cool week, especially with your visit to Wisconsin. I love the photos from your Bucky scavenger hunt run!

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    1. I talked with her neighbor about that--he says that she refuses to take her meds. There's not a lot you can do with mentally ill adults until they break the law. So sad.

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  29. Running really is a great adventure. I need to go into town and run there more often- I'm such a creature of habit.
    I'm so impressed with your SUP moves!!!

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    1. You do live in a beautiful place! Sometimes our runs close to home are pretty nice too.

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  30. Madison is such a cool city for running - sounds like you had some great runs there! Your SUP handstand is super impressive. I can't even do that on dry land!

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    1. It's been interesting that as I've gotten older, I've been able to get stronger. I wish I could get faster, tho!

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  31. Running is new places is the best. Ii was in Conn. and I got up early just to run.

    I try to vary my routes at home as well but there's just so many.

    That's funny about the statues. I did the same with the dogs in Albany.

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    1. I normally wouldn't have taken so many pictures, but it was kind of fun to see them all!

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  32. running is indeed an adventure! I usually seek out trails rather than run through cities, but either way it is a great way to explore.

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    1. We just don't have access to the trails, but this was a lot of fun!

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  33. What a wonderful week you've been having! So excited for Matthew and the start to his college adventure. He's going to have a blast. You must be very proud.

    We've kayaked a few times this season, but yesterday was my first day on the SUP this season. No tricks for me - the wind was up and the current was strong. However, I did have a nice long paddle and got a great workout that way.

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    1. We got lucky with the weather!! It wasn't more than a couple hours later when the wind suddenly shifted and blew waves into the bay. I'm grateful we got to do this!

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  34. This sounded like the perfect week - running because you can and not because you are chasing anything. Taking it all in, spiderwebs, Buckys and all - just enjoying being out in the open, exploring and being playful. Love it! Shathiso @ www.thegaboronerunner.com

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  35. Your running scavenger hunt sounds like fun! Nice reminder how great it is to just head out for a run with concern for pace or distance!

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    1. I'm kind of liking this training method! I've got Zooma in a 6 weeks, so I'll need to get somewhat serious!

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  36. It sounds like you had fun trip with your son and his girlfriend, and I especially love that you were able to find time to play on the water. Like Bucky Badger, we have Hokie Bird statues all over Blacksburg. :-)

    Thanks for the linkup!

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  37. A scavenger hunt run sounds fun - that's a lot of Buckys! I don't think I've ever run in an actual city. As far as running in places other than home, my favorite is the lakeside trail that leaves practically from my grandparents' front door.

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    1. I've done a lot of city runs. It's a great way to see the sights!

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  38. Great weekend and I am in awe of your core strength.

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  39. Favorite in terms of sightseeing: London along the Thames. Favorite just because I was so excited it wasn't too cold to do it: Reykjavik, Iceland. Most amusing? New Orleans - if you stay in the French Quarter and get up at dawn to run... it's just you and a bunch of passed-out drunks from the night before. :-)

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    1. I wasn't a runner when we visited NOLA but I'd sure like to go back.

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  40. Sounds like a really busy week! That’s pretty impressive you were able to do the forearm stand on the SUP :)

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  41. Running is amazing and a great way to explore a city! Looks like fun to see all those badger statues. Nice forearm stand on a SUP!

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  42. Madison is gorgeous, and hilly to boot! I love your Bucky gallery.
    I hope I'm not done running--it really is my favorite way to explore.

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  43. I love running around new cities. It's one of my favorite ways to explore. Back when we lived in Charlotte, I got acquainted with the city by running. I knew all the roads and how to get everywhere! I love SUP and yep, all of the balance involved in yoga is harder on the water, but so much fun!

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