Dubuque : Chicago

Adventures to see friends get married on back to back weekends us on a ten day whirlwind trip around half of the US a couple weeks ago. Trip number was to the far off land of Dubuque, Iowa to be a part of our friends Paul and Jenna Mountain's wedding.  We flew into Chicago and made the three hour drive west for an excellent weekend getting to catch up with friends and celebrating Paul and Jenna's marriage along the banks of the Mississippi River.

After a great weekend with friends in Dubuque, we drove back to Chicago to spend some time in the city.  Sara has never been in Chicago while the temperature is above freezing so this was a perfect time to enjoy spring weather in one of the greatest cities in the world.

We spent all of Monday and Tuesday (May 19 and 20) cruising around the city on Divvy Bikes taking in as much as we could.  Chicago is an incredible city with countless places, neighborhoods, and attractions to explore.

Roscoe Village, Lake Michigan, the Lakefront Trail, Michigan Ave, Millennium Park, Lurie Garden, Navy Pier, John Hancock Tower, deep dish pizza, Lincoln Ave, italian beef, Lincoln Park, Lincoln Park Zoo, world famous Wrigley Field (for a rare Cubs win!)....we covered a lot of ground in two days.  Excellent experience. Great to be able to share it with Paul and Chloe.

Thank you to cousin Jordan for the gracious hospitality.

Ouachita Trail 50k

Yes, this is another post about running.  No, this blog isn't turning into a running blog. 

Sara and I traveled to Little Rock last weekend for my second race of the year, the Ouachita Trail 50k.  The Ouachita Trail 50k (and 50 mile) is an out and back race that follows the Ouachita Trail through Pinnacle Mountain State Park and along the shores of Lake Maumelle northwest of Little Rock.  Friday night we camped at the Maumelle Park, which is where the race started and finished.  It was a perfect night for camping complete with perfect weather, good food, and a solid campfire.  

Saturday morning came early with a 4:45 alarm to get up for the six o'clock race start.  After a quick breakfast, we walked to the race start in time to pick up my race bib and to listen to some last minute words from the race director.  Six o'clock came and we were off.  The first three miles of the course follows Pinnacle Valley Road and then up the big hill into Pinnacle Mountain State Park.  The rest of the race is along the Ouachita Trail.  The highlight of the first section of the race is a boulder scramble up the east face of Pinnacle Mountain with great views from the top.  After the scramble up and over the mountain, I fell into a comfortable pace somewhere in the top 10.  The crowd spread out quickly and I ran almost all of the rest of the race by myself.  After Pinnacle Mountain, there area rolling hills and rocks along the banks of Maumelle Lake.  I cruised along pretty comfortably until the turnaround point at mile 16.9.  After perfect running conditions during the morning, the heat slowly started creeping in and with that so did the cramping.  I first started cramping somewhere around mile 22-23.  The rest of the race was a bit of a struggle.  I got some pretty severe cramps in my calves and thighs so there was some walking involved in last 8 miles after not walking at all through the first half of the race.  Luckily we didn't have to make the big climb back up Pinnacle Mountain on the way back so I was able to hobbled along at a decent pace the rest of the way.  I finally hit the road section again with about five hours and twenty minutes elapsed.  I ran that final road section and finished in 5:43 (good enough for 8th place overall)...my 50k personal record by twenty five minutes.  I was really happy with the effort. I put in more training than ever before for this race and I am happy with the results.  This was a really great race in a beautiful area in Arkansas.  Thanks, as always, to Sara for being my support crew.

RESULTS

Some great action shots from the top of Pinnacle Mountain:  Black Dog Photo

Lots of runner pictures here:  Arkansas Outside

After the race, we stopped at Hot Springs to check out the National Park and surroundings.  We had originally planned to camp in Hot Springs but the threat of tornadoes Saturday night changed those plans.  There wasn't a lot to see and do in Hot Springs.  Reminded me a bit of Gatlinburg.  We decided that we can check that one off the list and probably won't be visiting again.