Week 6: DIYS Summer 100 Challenge

Day 36. Monday, July 1st

Deb and I got to spend the entire day together. We put our bikes on my car and headed for Canada. I had brought my passport just for this ~ a new stamp!!! As we headed off it started raining. The temps dropped to 70. But we are troopers. We stopped at the Detroit Riverfront, pulled our bikes off the car and headed out on the US side of the Detroit River looking across to Canada. It was such a trip. And wet and freezing. We didn't last long at all. We only logged 1.4 miles before we ran out of the bike path. We headed back and stopped for ice cream. As we sat eating our ice cream, shivering, we decided to abort our bike riding expedition and head to Canada for lunch (yes, we had ice cream first).

Ambassador Bridge heading into Canada.

Back in the car, I actually turned on the heater. The temps had now dropped to 61 degrees. This weather is just crazy. In the rain we headed over the Ambassador Bridge, a suspension bridge that connects Detroit, Michigan in the USA to Windsor, Ontario in Canada. Much to my disappointment, after handing over our passports, being questioned, and paying the fee to cross the bridge, I was handed back my passport with no new stamp. SUCKOLA. However, the Chineese food we had in Canada (I know, strange, huh?) was very good and seeing speed limit signs posted in kilometers instead of miles made the jaunt well worth it.

So that marked the third country I have been in: Mexico, Greece and now Canada. Hoping Scotland is next.

Day 37. Tuesday, July 2nd
I started my day out with a run down Sayers and through the cemetery again. This run is always a challenge, but I am really happy with my time. Somewhere around Taylor's birthday I started doing something different. On my last mile, as I counted my breath, I would run as hard as I could to the count of 24 (how old Taylor would be) and then continued counting to 50, my current age, trying to recover my breath. I was really happy with the time of my last mile today.

10:51 Mile 1
10:44 Mile 2
11:17 Mile 3
09:56 Mile 4 fastest mile ever
01:21 Mile 0.12
--------------------
44:10/4.12 miles

When Deb got home from work we got on our bikes a did a quick 5 mile ride. Life is good.

TOTAL MILES TODAY: 4.12

Day 38. Wednesday, July 3rd
Denise and I headed into Ann Arbor for lunch and then over to Crazy Wisdom. Ann Arbor is a trip ~ kinda like a smaller version of Westwood, but more friendly and much older. I love the architecture. There are also a lot of one way streets which always seem to throw me off a bit.

Once back home it started to rain again. It's a good thing Denise and I do nothing and everything well together. It is easy to be here. We watched more Merlin, had another great dinner and more ice cream with chocolate sauce.

Day 39. Thursday, July 4th
Fourth of July and a really nice day. Deb and I headed over to the lake for a swim and guess who shows up on her bicycle???? Yay, Denise. We all swam in the warm water, enjoying the lake to ourselves. I managed to swim about a 1/2 mile.

We went over to Cris and Janet's. They have added llamas
since I was here last summer. I was set to help pick cherries until the mosquitoes decided they were gonna feast on the California girl. Maria and Kate came over and we taught Maria how to shoot the bow. She was very good. We had some great food and left in time to save Nico and Tilly from the fireworks. I think we were all in bed pretty early.






Day 40. Friday, July 5th
Another rest day. Deb and I have the Manistee Firecracker 5k race tomorrow, my very first 5k. The three of us were going to drive up north today and stay up at their property for a few days, but it just seemed too much. So instead, we are staying home and eating and watching Merlin.

Day 41. Saturday, July 6th
Deb and I got up at 3:30 and headed to Manistee. We watched the sun rise. I was feeling pretty good about this race until I saw the hills. Then the conversation in my head just went like this: just don't walk, keep your feet moving, you can do this. Deb, the exact opposite of me, doesn't care a bit about time or placing. She is just there to have fun and enjoy the experience. Something I really need to get better at. My head always goes to win! win! win!

We checked in and got our bibs and t-shirts. Turns out there were no finishers medals, only plaques for 1st place and medals for 2nd and 3rd. That sucked. Oh well, it's my first 5k, at least I'll have a time to beat next one, right?  I got up to the front of the line and the crazy coach of Manistee High School lit the firecracker (hence, Manistee Firecracker 5k) and off we went.

I had my music on and my first mile was the best I ever ran, 9m:16s! Wow. This must be adreneline. Or downhill. Or both. Second mile was 9m:53s. Hot damn. Third mile. Fuck. Uphill. There was no way I could keep going at this pace. In fact, I was about to heave. So I walked. For about 30 seconds and took off again. But had to walk again. Twice. Damn Damn Damn. Mile three was 10m:45s. In all honesty, that wasn't terrible, but no record setter in this group of runners. I was being passed up all over the place. I crossed the finish line at 30:26.6. I had no idea what my placing was. Seemed to take forever for them to post them.

And then they were up. I took 3rd place in my age division. I could not believe it! I was so excited.

By the time I had my medal around my neck it was nearly eleven and Deb and I were starving. Like desperate for food starving and this tiny town has nothing open except fast food. After driving through the town twice (and seeing my first draw bridge lifted up) we actually had to stop at Burger King. I hadn't eaten fast food in so long (Inn & Out doesn't count) I was almost panicked until I realized I could just have a breakfast sandwich and convince myself I was eating real eggs and bacon.

Once we had food in our stomachs we headed to Onekama to hang out at the beach. Now it has taken me a while to call Lake Michigan a beach, but a beach it is. And the most beautiful beach ever. I love, love, love the fresh water although it was just too cold to go in past my thighs. The cold, cold water felt good on my sore legs though.

Then to top the day off, on our way out of town, we stopped at  the House of Flavors Ice Cream Parlor on the way out of Manistee for the BEST ice cream in the world. Unfortunately, my waffle cone has a hole in the bottom and I had to eat it as fast as I could as it was dripping all over me and the car.

Such a good day with Deb. xoxoxo

TOTAL MILES TODAY: 3.09

Day 42. Sunday, July 7th
Rest day.

TOTAL MILES THIS WEEK: 7.21
TOTAL MILES TOWARDS THE CHALLENGE: 44.61 (end of week 6)