Ordered Chaos

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to cross a big ticket item off my list.  And I didn’t just succeed, I ultra-succeeded.  Yes, it was my very first ultramarathon!! For the past few years, ever since I heard about people running farther than 26.2, it’s had an enticing lure. That gentle pull soon turned into ambitious curiosity, and a few mouse clicks later I was signed up for the North Face Endurance Challenge 50k in Wisconsin.

Because teaching doesn’t allot me the luxury of taking chunks of time off (well, at least three seasons a year), and because running 26.2+ doesn’t leave me with record breaking motivation to drive 8 hours back home, my mom & stepdad graciously decided to roadtrip with me to Wisconsin.

Even without considering the race, we all had a great time!  We laughed, we ate, we drank, and I almost cried.  More on that later. Race morning began not so bright and early at 5am.  And with a quick shower, bowl of oatmeal and coffee, we hit the road for the 20 minute drive from our hotel to Ottawa Lake.

Mom & Jerry at race start

The race atmosphere was nothing like a road marathon. It was fairly low-key, but with plenty to eat and plenty of stories to soak in with all the ultrarunners exchanging tales of blood, tears, blisters & victory. At 8am sharp, the race began with instructions to stick together until the course’s first highway crossing.  You’d never get road runners to obey these kind of instructions.

Race start

Although it was a brisk morning, it was perfect for us runners, and the course was beautiful! The path wove through Kettle Moraine State Forest, through heavily wooded areas, prairies, tall native grasses, and the Ice Age Trail.  Though never too brutal, some hills were definitely not runnable. The most common piece of advice I’ve heard & read is to establish a run/walk strategy throughout an ultra.  That is, maybe run 25 minutes & walk 5.  I don’t think I walked at all during the first 10-12 miles of the race.  At that point I deliberately started to insert some walking on the uphills while scarfing Clif Bars.  Mmmm, chocolate brownie…

Throughout the race I exchanged many words of encouragement, and chatted it up with fellow runners. Ultrarunners are definitely a chatty bunch, and this makes the race atmosphere much more enjoyable and less competitive. What also makes a race more enjoyable is spectator support, especially family support.  I’m officially naming Mom & Jerry uber-spectators. The plan was for them to hang around the first three aid stations at miles 1, 6 and 11, where the course wove back to the same aid station three times.  Then, I’d see them next at the finish. However, to my relieved surprised, they hit every single aid station except mile 16! One thing about having your mom cheer you on during such a long race is that you have to do some “mom” things.  Like pose for a picture with cheerleaders at mile 27.  Thanks Mom! :~)

Me & the cheerleaders at mile 27

The race was long, and I started to feel it after leaving Mom & Jerry (and the cheerleaders) at mile 27. But those feelings were put to death upon spotting a lady on a seemingly endless uphill.  Upon passing her she said, “Great job! Only 1.7 miles to go!”  And that was it.  I surged ahead and started running like I was running the mile in junior high.  I passed several runners during that last stretch, and as I crossed the finished line I think I choked on my own tears. If Allison had been able to make it to the race, I’d have been sobbing at the end.

The emotional uplift that follows the accomplishment of such a big ticket item is priceless.  But one thing’s for sure, I’ll never run my first ultra again.  But I will run my second.  And I’ll run longer. I’ll do many things I’ve never done before, because that’s what I enjoy most.  The challenges of the unknown, the freshness of new goals, the exhilaration of sweet victory.  Also, the presence of family & friends throughout all walks of life, cheering me on both in person and over the phone.

Victory! (and a medal to prove it)

Call me lazy, call me busy, call me an absentee blogger.  Call me whatever you want - it’s been awhile.  A serious while.  Hell, we didn’t even round off our trip to Europe with tales of the last few cities we visited.  But life goes on, and so do new careers.  While Al has been slaving for the Med Center, I’ve been slaving in the classroom. Our newfound endeavors are time consuming, to say the least.  To say the most, I know that I’ve found my niche.  Teaching has turned out to be just as rewarding as expected, and double the intensity as anticipated.

But some things never change. When the pot has all but boiled over and the you-know-what’s about to hit the fan, I still just go for a run. And it seems that over the last four months I’ve done a bit more than usual. Though the last month or so has been somewhat sporadic, I’ve set my sights on uber-long distance goals. Next Thursday I’ll head up to Wisconsin with Mom & Jerry to run my first ultramarathon.  More of a starter ultra at 50k. Even though this will be farther than I’ve ever run, in my mind it’s the pregame tailgate party for 50- and 100-milers.  My goal is to have run a 100-miler before the age of 30, and I’ve got a couple years left.  Truth be told, though, I’m looking to cross this off my list within a year.

All that being said, I ran my fifth marathon on September 28th, and it panned out beautifully.  Starting off convservatively, I did my jaunt around dowtown and headed south for the hills of Rosenblatt and the zoo.  What a joy it is to have a family cheer squad bounce around the course for support!  Allison, Mom, Jerry, Rob, Caity, Collin & Dylan all made it down to the race to zip around Paparazzi-style, as if I were a rockstar. Though I am but a rookie teacher and mediocre runner, they sure make me feel like a rockstar - thanks guys!

At the halfway point I felt pretty good and decided that I’d increase my pace by about 15 seconds per mile. Though I fell off pace slightly toward the end of the race, this proved to be a reasonable adjustment.  The second half of the course is monotonous and draining, and I really do believe that this is the case aside from the fact that a marathoner’s attitude tends to take a downward spiral between miles 18 and 25.

At any rate, my yearnings to be done running for the day were erased by the sights & sounds of the finish line atmosphere, which is so much improved now that the course finishes at the Lewis & Clark Landing. I finished with a chip time of 3:35:07, my second best marathon time, but what I consider my smartest-run marathon yet. Another marathon down, and many more to come. Stay tuned for a race report on the North Face Endurance Challenge 50k that I’ll be running on October 25th.

We arrived in Venice after a short flight from Madrid.  A bus then brought us to a port where a water bus was to take us to various docks scattered throughout the city.  Venice is basically a series of roughly 100 ‘islands’ separated by lagoons, rivers, and the Grand Canal.  Motorized vehicles are not allowed on the island, so boats carry people (and goods) from one end of the city to the other.  While we were taking the water bus to our stop, we saw water ambulances, water UPS vehicles, and water taxis (even with the little TAXI sign on the top!).

After settling into our amazing hotel (complete with balcony and river view), we decided to do what we normally do in new locations: take a walk and get lost.  Lucky for us, the first place we ran across was a gelateria and enjoyed our first true Italian gelato.  To be honest, I have no idea what we got since this was one of MANY cups of gelato we would treat ourselves to while in Italy.  After that, we continued on to St. Mark’s Basilica, called by some the most beautiful Catholic structure in the world.  Since it was later in the afternoon at this point, we decided to just check out the exterior and the rest of Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square).  Our eyes were overwhelmed by the intricate mosaics, statues, and domes covering the basilica.  In addition to the basilica, the Piazza San Marco is flanked by two glorious bell towers: St. Mark’s Campanile and St. Mark’s Clocktower.  The Clocktower (part of which is shown below) is an example of an astronomical clock in which the position of the sun and moon along with other zodiac information can be determined.

This astronomical display is topped by a what looks like a digital clock with Roman numerals.  You can actually see the numbers change every five minutes.  Then, above that clock are two bronze statues next to the bells.  These statues have blackened over time, so they are known as “Moors” (how politically correct, huh?) At 55 minutes past the hour, you can actually see the statues swing mallets against the bells to appear as if they are the ones striking the bells.

After people-watching on the plaza for awhile, we decided to start thinking about dinner.  (Okay, that’s a lie, because we probably had started to think about dinner the minute we landed in Italy. . .).  We went to a casual eatery deep in one of the Venetian neighborhoods.  Before I mention what we ate, I should mention that a typical Italian meal is endless with multiple courses.  First there is the antipasto course (appetizer), follwed by the primp piatti (typically a pasta).  Following that, a secondo piatti (a meat or main course) and then a contorno (vegetable or side dish).  Finally, the dolce (dessert) is enjoyed with a caffe.  So, you can see why a meal might take two hours and cost a lot of euros!  With all of that information, Chris and I decided to split an antipasti (an appetizer of various seafood pieces) and a primi piatti (pasta with salmon and zucchini).  For dessert, we split a piece of tiramisu.  At that point, Chris made a decision to try a piece of tiramisu in every city we would visit.

The next morning, we decided to trek back to St. Mark’s Basilica and view the inside.  One of the most interesting parts of the interior was the tile floor, which was literally warped so badly that it formed deep divets that looked like waves.  Venice is literally sinking, and as a result, the tiles have started to sink unevenly.  In addition to the actual nave, we visited the treasury which included an impressive collection of precious gems, pottery, relics, and other rich treasures from the days when Venetian Crusaders conquered Constantinople.

Following the Basilica, we popped into a Venetian glass studio where we were treated to a private glass-blowing demonstration.  I bet you never realized that a glass lemon could be transformed into a glass cat, huh?  After that, we continued on our walk where Chris indulged on a pastry filled with chocolate-cafe cream before finding a little restaurant for lunch.  Feeling a little bit rushed, we both ordered the same dish: raviolis stuffed with porcini mushrooms in a lobster sauce over arugula.  This meal may have Chris’ favorite meal the entire month we were in Europe, and a top contender for me.

More walking and more snacking, we finally decided that it was time to head back to the hotel for a little rest.  On our way back, we picked up some groceries and had a little cocktail party on our balcony.  For dinner, we decided to stay in our neighborhood and visit a pizzeria for some Italian pizza and beer.  We ended our last Venetian night with a walk over the Rialto bridge (one of the four bridges that crosses the Grand Canal) and a little people-watching on St. Mark’s Square.  Tomorrow, we had a six-hour train ride to the Cinque Terre!

Well, first of all, Chris and I apologize for being total slackers on the blog. Once we left Spain, it became increasingly hard to find an internet cafe with a reasonable price AND that had a semi-fast computer. Now that we’re home, we’ll try to fill in the blanks on the second half of our journey. . .

When we arrived in Madrid, both Chris and I were craving something healthy to eat, so we looked in our trusty Rick Steves guidebook for a vegetarian restaurant. Lo and behold, we found one right near our hostel with delicious food. By no means was it “Spanish” food, but this may have been the first time on our trip that we both felt full. After lunch, we decided to take a walk and explore the sites. We walked from Puerta del Sol (the architectural center of the city) to Plaza Mayor (the social and cultural center of the city). Our trip led us to a convent known for its sweet treats. In order to get said desserts, you were supposed to ring the bell, say “dolces!” (”sweets!), and someone would let you in. From there, you walk to a small, covered window above a lazy susan and request the sweet of your choice. Then, like magic, the lazy susan starts spinning, and a treat appears! The lazy susan is there to “hide” the appearance of the nuns so that they never expose their faces to the public. Unfortunately, Chris and I showed up on a day that they were not selling any treats.

After walking a little bit more, we ended up in front of the Palacio Real, or Royal Palace. This is the official residence of the Royal Family of Spain, but the current royal family has actually chosen to live in a smaller palace (how modest!). Nonetheless, this Palace is still used for royal functions (meetings, dinners, etc.). There were even red carpets rolled up along the sides of the rooms that could easily be unrolled when a royal event was to take place. The inside was immense, gilded from top to bottom. There were rooms for everything: one for the china and another for the silverwear.

After our walk, we headed back to our hostel for a little siesta. That evening, we decided to have an unconventional dinner: the tapas crawl. We headed to our first bar for a tapas (olives) and glass of wine. At our next stop, we dined on grilled peppers, and for our final stop–pigs’ ears and chorizo. The next logical things for me to talk about were those pigs’ ears. Lets just say this might have been the only dish on our European adventure that did not get finished.

The next morning, was spent holed up in a laundromat/internet cafe. At this point in our trip (about the halfway mark), we really needed a real washing machine to get the stink out. We also needed a dryer to shrink our clothes back to size as well. Up until this point, we had hand-washed all of our clothes. I think we had a little skip in our step carrying that backpack full of clean clothes back to our hostel.

We spent the afternoon at the Museo del Prado, quite possibly the finest collection of European art anywhere. We rented an audioguide to help us along to make sure we got the most out of our experience. We saw El Greco’s, Goya’s, Ruben’s, Titian’s, Rembrandt’s and Boticelli’s among others. I think that the highlight for both of us was seeing Diego Velazquez’s Las Meninas:

Besides the fact that it is an unbelievable picture with a great story, this was also meaningful to us because we had already seen Picasso’s interpretation of this painting when we were in Barcelona:

Anyway, we spent over four hours in the museum, only seeing about 60% of the art. To say it was overwhelming would be an understatement.

Since we were so (mentally) exhausted from the Prado, that evening we decided to have another picnic in our hostel. We did our usual picnic meal: wine, a baguette, jamon and cheese.

The next morning, we went on a day trip to Toledo, the former capitol of Spain. Another Spanish city with a lot of Moorish/Muslim influence, the first thing we noticed when we arrived was the wall surrounding the entire city. We first visited the Cathedral, impressive for it’s atypical skylight, El Transparente. Back in the day, the parishioners of the church decided that the church itself was too dark inside. To solve the problem, a giant hole was torn through the ceiling, and a cascading mural of marble and stucco was built around it to soften the appearance. What resulted was a stunning 3D masterpiece of angels, prophets heralding in the natural sunlight.

After the cathedral, we walked around town, grabbed a bite to eat (venison and apricot skewers and a Mediterranean sandwich) and then topped it off with Toledo’s famous marzipan candies. We then caught the next bus back to Madrid. Our last evening in Madrid (and Spain) was spent over a nice dinner of artichokes, swordfish, shrimp and wine. We mentally prepared ourselves for the next leg of our trip, Italy. The next morning, we travelled to the Madrid airport and boarded a plane to Venice, Italy!

Also, there are more pictures from Madrid and Toledo in the post below!

Okay, I’m not really going to write about all of those (in detail) here, but that’s where we’ve been since we last posted.  Here they are in a nutshell, though:

Madrid Busy metropolis of hard-core city-lovers (most of whom smoke), and quite the array of “ladies of the night”.  That being said, the Prado Museum was absolutely amazing - we spent an exhausting 4 hours there, but saw arguably some of the greatest artwork of all time.

Toledo Rich in history and hills, this day trip from Madrid was a nice retreat from the city.  As the former capitol of Spain, its fortress-style city walls still house 10% of the city’s population.

Venice This picturesque and charming city, though swarming with tourists, has a way of capturing the heart.  Their public transportation system floats tourists and residents around town via an abundant system of canals.  St. Mark’s Basilica was a gem, and our live demo of glass blowing proved to us that a glass lemon can, indeed, be quickly melted and shaped into a cat…crazy!!

Cinque Terre These five villages sit quietly along the Italian Riviera and serve as popular vacation spots for Italians.  We racked up quite a few miles on the shoes with our hikes between the towns.  Though sometimes a bit dangerous, they were worth the rewards of phenomenal views.  Ordering anything but seafood in these towns is slightly criminal.

Lucca Ahh, the family homeland to the Ramacciottis.  Our trip there today was slightly disappointing due to the fact that today is the Italian independence day, and city offices are closed.  With hopes of looking up the family name, we’ll return via train sometime in the next couple days.

Florence We’re here!!  This city is beautiful and is somewhat of an citywide sculpture exhibit.  More to come, and hopefully we’ll expand these blurbs soon with pictures (we currently have over 1500).