WASB Wives Weekend

Meet WASB, a group of Jason's closest guy friends who have an annual golf trip with epic stories.

This year at our wedding, the WASB wives had a rare chance to hang out together.  The group quickly meshed and immediately started planning a girls weekend.  

Six of the eight of us made it for the inagural WASB wives weekend in Lake Geneva. 

 The weekend started with a pool day at The Grand Geneva, champagne toast and dinner at the Geneva Chop House.  Plenty of wine, delicious steak and great conversation later we found ourselves by the outdoor firepit before heading back to our 3 room suite.

Saturday we spent the morning on a rented pontoon boat touring Lake Geneva, enjoying some sun and gauking at the beautiful homes and landscaping.  I was captain (and a little "sea sick") which gave me a rare chance to be a listener.  What an incredible group of women.  Each equally beautiful and confident, each with such different backgrounds, hopes and aspirations.  All so genuine, open and non-judgemental.

Hats and cocktails

The evening we started out at The Baker House 1885.  If you're ever in Lake Geneva this is a spectacular place for a sunset cocktail with a side of CHEESY.  I LOVED IT.  Set in a 127 year old mansion, with decor and hats for everyone to wear from the time period.  At sunset a champagne toast is held in the front garden lawn overlooking Lake Geneva while you listen to the history of the house. 

Champagne toast

Sunday we split up a bit.  Julie and I went for a run on the Lake Geneva lake front path.   This was quite the experience.  The path is really dirt. bricks, stones that go directly through people's front yard all the way around the lake 22+ miles!  Up close and personal to mansions both old (like the Stone Manor pictured below) and new,

fancy boats and people's private docks.  The trails are rough and you have to watch your footing, so not the best for a real, fast run, but worth it for the experience. Highly recommended.

USAT Olympic Distance Age Group Nationals

USAT Age Group Nationals were held this weekend in Milwaukee.  The top age group triathletes from all over the country received notification if they qualified and had the option to participate.  

I did not.  When I heard about a way to participate in the race, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to race with this caliber of athlete in my own city.  Walking around the race expo and transition, I was blown away by the race gear and bikes these people own.  The best of the best.  Somewhat comical to see Milwaukee transition into a super fit, spandex and aerodynamic helmet wearing community for a few days.

USAT had opened up the category Athena/Clydesdale for this race.  The racers would not have the opportunity to qualify for Worlds if they won the category, which deterred many from entering.  Since I was looking forward to being a part of such a huge and inspirational event, I didn't mind that.

The Athena traditionally has been for women >150 lbs.  More body to haul through the water and up the bike hills.  Since I haven't weighed under that since 1995, I figured I was safe.  I have raced Athena one time before and came in next to last.  Heavier doesn't mean slow, that's for sure.  Somewhere along the way, the weight minimum was increased to 165.  My Ironman weight was 164 in 2009, we get weighed the day before in the case that an athlete ends up in the medical tent, staff can calculate how dehydrated someone is.  So the weigh in was a little intimidating.  I really wanted to participate in this race and I didn't qualify as an age grouper.  Luckily, I made the weight with a few pounds to spare.

Being Nationals, the race swag was pretty impressive.  Hats, socks, compression stockings, bike gear, t-shirt all in the goody bag.  By far my favorite was the tattoo race numbers.  No more sharpies! The race was perfectly run with more volunteers than you could imaging.  The course on my home turf was also a very cool experience.  The transition and finish line right in front of the Art Museum.  The bike and run course up the lake front nearly to our house.  Running by farmiliar places is such an advantage.  I thought I might be intimidated by the high speeds of this race.  I wasn't.  It was cool to see how the human body can move in it's most impressive form.

Kathleen (Athena >40 3rd Place winner) and me showing off our tattoos

Despite a beautiful day and wonderfully run race, overall I was disappointed in my experience.  I've only raced in one Olympic distance race before, so maybe it was the distance, but I think it was the level of competition that made this race different. The comradarie, the support, the FUN, the reasons I love triathlon were lacking.  The swim was the most frustrating, catty experience I've ever had at a race. Punching, pulling, kicking, scratching.  There were very few "looking good out here" or "nice work" on the bike.  An elite coach once told me if his athletes interact with the crowd or other athletes they aren't focused enough.  So, I understand, at a certain level it's expected to be inside your own head and your own race.  This just isn't a level I ever want to be a part of.  My favorite part of racing is thanking the volunteers, high fiving kids, cheering on others who are working so hard to make it to the finish line and achieve their goal.  So I continued to do that.  A girl feel about 800 yards from the finish line.  I stopped and helped her up.  Time was not a thought in my mind.  I just wanted to soak in the experience of racing at Nationals.

The lack of community spectators was also disappointing.  Other than near the transition, there were few people along the course cheering us on.  COME ONE MILWAUKEE!  You can make up for it next year.

 I'm on the left, in case you were wondering.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking these elite athletes.  Their drive, dedication, competitive spirit is more than impressive.  Their speed and agility is mind blowing.  I'm just trying to point out that it's not the only reason to get out there and race.  The only person I compete with out there is myself, my times, fighting off my own negative self-talk.  But this was Nationals, so my race attitude was a minority.

Then came the finish line.  The one and only Chrissie Wellington, smiling (of course), wrapped a medal around my neck and congratulated me.  Later at the award ceremony she spoke about how everyone should take a moment to soak in their achievement, every last finisher, not just the winners.

 
And so I did.  I was called to stage as the second place finisher in Athena Age 40 and Under.  As I stool looking over the crowd, I was elated.  I did not know at the time, but I now know I finished in the bottom 150 of the women who raced that day.  My category was extremely small.  I am still celebrating this moment.  The feeling of accomplishment.  I'm proud of how I raced.  And it was a PR by a few seconds over my only other Olympic distance tri from 2009.

Ozaukee Interuban Trail

This summer, I've been exploring bike routes in the Milwaukee area.  I've been riding along the lake shore to a town called Port Washington about 30 miles from Milwaukee and back.  The views are outstanding, the homes beautiful but unfortunately the road conditions are not the greatest.  Very bumpy and somewhat painful on my long rides.  Last week Tuesday I went for a long ride after work and was about an hour north of Milwaukee when I discovered the road was covered with gravel.  I saw a few people changing flat tires and I turned around before I had a flat of my own.

View of Port Washington

Wisconsin has an impressive set of paved bike trails extending more miles than I could imagine.  I decided to try out the Ozaukee Interuban Trail.   This trail is along an old train track which was used to connect Milwaukee and Sheboygan in the early 1900s.  Now paved and free to the public, I picked up the trail about 15 miles north of my house.  The trail is bump free, mostly shaded and ideal for a long summer ride.  The biggest draw-back, lots of stop signs when crossing busy streets.  There were plenty of dog-walkers and kids on the trail as well, but everyone was very conscientious.  I felt comfortable riding 15-20 mph, unlike the Chicago Lakefront trail.  Since it's a trail, if something had happened, it would have been hard for anyone to locate me, but there were plenty of fitness enthusiasts around so I felt safe.

I rode the trail north through well maintained old towns of Cederburg, Grafton, Port Washington and Belgium before reaching my 50 mile turn-around point at Oostburg (not on this map).  Using my iphone, I found I was only 7 miles from Kohler State Park.  I was half-tempted to keep going to see it, but I knew adding another 14 miles on my already extremely long ride was more than my legs would be able to handle.  So I turned around.  I met a nice group on the trail from West Allis and rode with them for awhile before heading on my own.

By the time I made it to 100 miles, I was exhausted but proud.  Ready for a shower, a nap and some seriously salty southern comfort food at one of my favorite Milwaukee restaurants Maxies.

My first 100 mile ride since 2009.  One of only two century rides I've set out to do alone in my life. 
Riding 100 miles alone is like 7 hours of meditation.  Peaceful.  Grateful. Sore.

The Cole Family in MKE

Saturday morning I woke up to pitter-patter feet running in the hallway. So what if it was 5:30am. It still brought a huge smile to my face.  We figured we would spread our joy with the neighbors, so Elizabeth and I went outside for some pre-7 am bubbles, sidewalk chalk and screeching.

Ellie asked "Does Uncle Jason sleep in for a LONG time?"  I told her usually until at least 7am on the weekends.  She was disappointed.  He woke up soon and we headed to the beach a few blocks away.

It was a perfect day for some wave jumping and Elizabeth's first time in Lake Michigan.

We had a view of some of the Milwaukee Air and Water show and enjoyed climbing on the playground equipment on the beach (one of three playgrounds Ellie visited in one day!)

After a brief lunch and break, we then headed to Estabrook Beer Garden in a nearby park along the river.  The adults enjoyed some German Bier from Munich Hofbrauhaus served in 0.5 L glass steins.

Elizabeth and I enjoyed dancing to some accordion music and watching the futbol game.  Afterwards we wondered to look at the river and hit the playground (stein in hand).  This park is great.  There is disc golf, a skate park and plenty of BBQ areas, not to mention a bike path!

Short but sweet.  We had fun exploring our neighborhood with the Cole Family and hope we can visit their new home in Ann Arbor very soon.

Wisconsin State Fair

The last time I went to a state fair, I was probably in middle school and excited to roam around without my parents.  The state fair is a BIG deal here in Wisconsin.  We're talking traffic jam kind of big deal.  Last year I had no desire to go.  This year, Jay was so excited to see Weird Al (yum, yes) so we had tickets for Friday. 
I'm so glad we went!

We started off looking at the prize animals (cows, ducks, bunnies, chickens, you name it).

Next stop, fried goodness.  Hey.  When in Wisconsin....

After some cheese curds and corn dogs we headed to the rides.  

This was my favorite part!

 

These rides are pretty wild.  I was more scared than I remember.  Mostly because the teenager running the thing seemed to be clueless.

And then the main event.  Weird Al.  Front and center for the steep price of $20.  This show was actually hilarious.  He wore different costumes for each parody.  I didn't know many of the words except "Just Eat It" but listening to them, this guy is so creative and well, weird.

Finally we wrapped up the night with some Fried Smores.  Of course.

Good times at the state fair.  Highly recommended!